Singing His Praise!

I am still here.. just hanging on. Letting life go by for now.

I praise God for the things he has given me over the last few months. Things are getting better, still not back to normal, but slowly moving forward.

I am going to start posting again in the next few days, I just haven't been making the time to sit down and write out my thoughts. I miss it, so will continue very soon.

God is good!

Insight

Insight into your own life is hard.

Trying to make changes in your own life to live for the Lord is hard.

Keeping up with the changes is even harder!

How long o Lord must I call for help?

Sorry I've missed a few weeks posting. Did you miss me? The night after my last post, January 16th, I was involved in a car accident. My daughter and I were very lucky. She seems to be doing well and I came out of it with whiplash, left hand injuries, shoulder, and back pain. My car is totaled. At this point I can't finance another car so I am back to driving the paid for car, my husbands work car, that will just get us around town. That means no weekend trips to see my family that lives 2 hours away. Oh, and did I mention we are still without medical insurance? Everything I need medical wise has to come out of my pocket. I know I will get reimbursed at some point from her insurance company since she was at fault but the out of pocket costs are killing us. On top of the medicals I now have to pay, thanks to some lady not paying attention, I still need to pay for utilities, housing, groceries, etc.

So I started asking God why do some people get what they want? Why do I always get the bad luck? Why do mean people prosper? I feel like God is dangling the Kong ball in front of my face. You know the dog toy ball that you fill full of treats like peanut butter but you have to work like heck to get a taste of the peanut butter. When can I taste my peanut butter? Those questions bring me to the book of Habakkuk.

Habakkuk, did you know that was in the bible? I have seen it several times but kept skipping over it until it was brought to my attention on a show that was played for us with Beth Moore in it. Habakkuk is one of the small books hiding in a group of small books in the Old Testament. It is a very small book, just a couple of chapters, but it doesn't play around, it gets right to the answers. What a powerful message you can receive in just those few chapters. If you've ever asked yourself or God why the wicked prosper, like I was asking, this is your book with answers.

"How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen!...Must I forever see this sin and misery all around me? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence...The law has become paralyzed and useless, and there is no justice given in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous." Habakkuk 1:2-4 (NLT)

I can't get the peanut butter! I know it's in the ball but I just can't get it. Like Habakkuk I know God has to let me deal with the decisions and choices I've made but sometimes it's hard. I know I'm not disciplined enough to follow his words and this lesson is a long hard one to bear. I know that God doesn't mean to hurt me or make me sad. It's just hard to understand when you're still in the midst of things. I know God is teaching me discipline and making me walk closer with him and follow his word. If I just hold on I know the prize in the end will be well worth it. Just like the peanut butter is a prize worth the trouble in the Kong ball to the little dog who tries so hard. When he finally reaches the middle he has succeeded. When I finally get through the trouble, sorrow, and heartache I will be closer to God and through my faith and trust in Him, I will get to heaven and that my friend will be victory, my peanut butter!

I would like for you to continue to pray for my family and I as we continue to take ourselves through these hard times. I would like to pray for you as well. If you have any prayer requests, please post them in the comments for me.

Volunteering - My Responsibility

"Don't be selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don't think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing. " -Philippians 2:3-4 (NLT)

Don't live to make a good impression on others. That's a strong statement in today's world. It seems everyone wants to keep up with their neighbors. I fall into that trap sometimes. I look at what others have and want, want, want. But, this year I am going to focus on making a good impression on God. That is my top priority. Walk in his steps and he will lead you down a path full of hope and love. Don't worry if you step off the path, he is still there to guide you back. "Put people first". I hope to do a lot of that this year as I look for some great agencies to volunteer my time to. After much talking last year and not starting...don't sing it, bring it, lol...I hope to get very involved with other people. I may not have a lot of material things to give but I do have my time to share. God has opened my days so that I can be faithful in his word and start putting his plan into action.

I hope you will join me this year in volunteering your time or resources to an agency or program that God has put on your heart. If you do volunteer, please comment and let me know where you volunteer and what you do. I am still looking for some places to share my time with and I would love to hear your experiences.

New Year...New Resolutions

I know a lot of people don't make resolutions because they are hard to keep and you feel bad at the end of the year when you haven't reached your goal. Well, this year I am going to make some resolutions that I can keep (hopefully)!

#1: Have a closer relationship with God and keep my faith in him.

#2: Keep up with my morning/night studies and readings in the Word.

#3: This year I am truly going to work on finding out how he wants to work through me. I want to find out what gifts he has given to me to be used for him.

#4: Volunteer in my community. I looked into this at the end of last year, but never fully committed myself.

#5: Learn to pray the right way. Well, I'm not sure there is a right way and a wrong way, but I sure want to find out!

#6: I'll just throw this in there since it's on all the lists every year, learn to eat healthy, continue the gym and all that mumbo jumbo, right? lol

So, I want to be closer to God, that's my #1 right? In order to do that, I have to have faith. Faith is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. No ifs, ands, or buts, it will happen.

"So, you see, it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him" Hebrews 11:6 (NLT)

I have faith that God will protect me and my family and provide for us. But I intend on working to keep my faith at all times. When things are going badly I lose a little faith but God always comes through. Even if he uses someone totally unexpected to send the message. My faith was restored this week and my heart is bubbling over. I totally was in a pit and something so awesome came to me last week and I was shocked, and excited. Overwhelmed actually! God knew I was at the bottom and trying to reach out of the pit and couldn't get a grip on the side. But, he gave me that little hope and now I can't wait to see what else he has planned for me.

So, Resolution #1 has started... now to move on to #2!

The Ultimate Gift

This holiday season has been extremely hard in our family. If you've read other entries in my blog then you know my husband was with out a job for several, several weeks. That makes Christmas time hard. Gifts aren't cheap. As I sat down with my Christmas list trying to find a way to buy anything on it my mind kept drifting off. I kept thinking about the ultimate gift. God gave his Son.. his ONLY son for us!

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 (NLT)

We all know that verse. It is one of the first verses we learn in Sunday School I think. God gave us his son - but do we think about what else He gave us? He gave some of us the ability to preach and teach, to help, to guide, to serve, to give encouragement, to show mercy, and to lead. God has given us these gifts to serve him.

He will "gift" us eternal life in heaven if we follow him. With all the gifts he is bestowing upon us, he is the ultimate gift giver, right? We just have to follow him. His path will guide us. My small pile of gifts seem insignificant compared to that. I can't give anyone gifts compared to what God gave. But, I can tell everyone about his awesome gifts so they can enjoy them with me.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas. On this day remember to take time to inventory the gifts you have from God, learn to use them, and give him praise.

Did you hear about her?

"Did you hear about Anna?"
"I don't mean to gossip but, "
"Can you believe she did that?"
"Well I heard Paul has been cheating on her for months and they are heading straight for a D-I-V-O-R-C-E!"
"But, I don't mean to gossip so let's not talk about it."

How many times have we ended a conversation like that? After we have already heard all the gossip? Gossip is everywhere. It's in schools, colleges, your work place, even in churches. When we get out of school we are so excited because we think all those years of lies, gossiping behind backs, and untruths are long gone. Then we get a job and realize that was just a dream. We hear them in the break room and they are flying through emails and telephones burning up the lines.

"What dainty morsels rumors are but they sink deep into one's heart." Proverbs 18:8 (NLT)

Gossip and rumors are hard to resist. People always want to be friends with the ones "in the know". But, we have to remember there are people associated with the rumors and hurtful words being spread about them. Someone will be hurt. We don't mean to hurt others, but we do. It always feels good to be the person everyone wants to talk to. Doesn't it feel good to walk in a room and everyone wants to run up and talk to you? Well, here is my chance to break the mold. I want to be the one everyone can't wait to run up to and share all the good things and praises about the Lord to. I want to be the one that everyone would love to share their week with. I want to spread God's word, not gossip and rumors.

"I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises. I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are discouraged take heart. Come let us tell of the Lord's greatness; let us exalt his name together. " Psalm 34:1-3 (NLT)