Just Follow the Word

Hello everyone!! It is December 12, 2013 today and I cant seem to get our real Christmas tree event out of my head. This is not a post about promoting real or artificial trees. This is not a debate about you loving your artificial tree or you loving your real tree nor is it a post telling you are not doing the "right" thing with Christmas if you have an artificial tree! This is simply my thoughts since last Christmas as I packed the fake tree away in the box. I put our tree away last year and remember saying I am not taking it out again. It felt fake! It felt mechanical! It felt yucky! It was another task that had to get done. So... this year... WE WENT OUT AS A FAMILY TO CUT DOWN THE REAL TREE!!! Yes I was very excited and yes we did have a great time. We took pictures, I got a face wash, Our two boys tackled each other because someone put snow down someone's crack as he went to cut the tree down, yes it was quite real! It went up very uneventful and I b

I typically do not post today but I can't help it! Excited about the message of the Lost Coin!! Did you know God pursues sinners!! That would mean that God pursues ME!! and "you" if you can identify with being a sinner in need of Gods grace. Maybe you are just in the spot of needing something and you don't know what it is. Could that need be something that only Jesus can fill? Picture losing something very very important to you.....Got it? What does that look like? What have you lost lately that made you go nuts, sweeping every corner of the house, over turning every nook and cranny to find it. For me it is was my purse. It has everything I need from my date book to my wallet to grocery lists.... What do you do when you find it? Do you call your friends and neighbors and rejoice? Well....Heaven rejoices every time a sinner is saved Even though God doesn't need us He pursues us relentlessly by His grace. I need my purse to do the things I do in this

Matthew 26:36-46 Have you every read a passage and missed some tiny part, or large part? There are so many times that I read a familiar passage and blaze right through it. This happens often to me simply because I have grown up hearing the stories of the Bible, which is a GREAT privilege and yet poses the issue of "I know this one." With so much knowledge we can miss wisdom. Have you been there? Sometimes as we get together with other believers we get to hear bits and pieces of where they are in the word and learn something new that God reveals to them! I am having a hard time getting to what has been placed on my heart today via this blog but here it goes...Gethsemane! Yes you guessed it I missed or maybe even had some "wrong" thinking on Jesus in Gethsemane. Maybe it was wrong thinking or maybe God wanted to reveal it to me now and not when I was 15, 20 or 30, I am not sure but it doesn't matter when or why for today. Here is the question?

Psalm 27:14 Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the LORD! So...I am cleaning my shower today and I get inside to clean the inside (hhmmm...something like Jesus does with us...He gets inside to clean the inside of the cup AND he takes up residence too! :)) well anyways, I close the door to the shower so I can wipe the inside down. I keep talking while I am doing the wiping simply because I am watching a little girl today and I wanted her to know that I was there and I didn't leave her. She could hear my voice and as she listened and wondered where I was, she kept crawling closer to where the voice was coming from. Yes, you guessed it I started thinking about my life with my Father in heaven! I think ALOT!! If I was this little baby I would have cried the second the door closed! Sure I can hear a voice but I want a person that I can see! This little bundle of blessing crawled to the door and talked and giggled while I finished my job talking

Do you ever hold back because of what others think? Do you ever get the nudge to praise or step out and do something odd? Well today and many many times lately I let fear of man stop me dead in my tracks. I know the truth that God is not a God of fear but of love and power and of sound mind, and yet I find myself camped out in fear before I confess fear as sin and claim truth and walk away trading my lie for His truth! I was traveling through Ephesians, I believe it was chapter 5 or 6 and God reminded me there to please him out of a sincere heart not please men out of eye service.... ... then as I noticed a Bible opened on a nightstand I picked it up to see what this one may be reading and it was Luke 11 where it told me they kept quiet because they loved the praise of men rather than God.... God in his ever present drawing himself to me continues to hold out the truth of HIMSELF... These last few messages have come to me months after he gave me another verse reminding me to

So....I am reading my Bible this morning and I come to this verse in Philippians. It says "And My God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus. The next verse that pops into my head is from Psalm 23:1. By the way...verses normally do not pop into my head...I am ever so thankful God in His mercy put the Bible in print! So...the verse in Psalms say. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. So...I don't know about you but I have a list of a lot of good things I am asking God for right now. I am not asking for a new car, an RV or a vacation. I am asking for good things that I am sure He would consider good holy needs. Really? Maybe? I read that verse in Philippians and I started breaking it down in my head and I landed on the last phrase. "In Christ Jesus". What are my needs? What is one thing I need the most in my life? From the day I was born I had one need and one need alone. When did the rest of my needs start to appe

Good Morning, It was an interesting experience last Sunday. It has been on my mind all week. It was an event that I have never been a part of before. It was something that was personal. It was something I was invited to. Are you wondering what IT was? My experience last week isn't for me to share but my observations in it and of it I want to share with you this morning. The phrase "I laugh in the face of my enemies" keeps coming up for me as I recall the moment last Sunday. I got to watch an absolutely beautiful gal/lady/friend laugh in the face of cancer. I watched her teach her young daughter what life on this earth is about. I watched her draw her strength from her sheperd. I watched her tears as cancer screamed to try take away her joy and who she is in Christ. I watched her connect her daughter to the creator. I watched her as I have watched her before as she lives Christ out before all who know her. As I thought of the phrase, "I laugh

What a title for todays entry! The answer to every sunday school question, along with God. If only we knew that the answers we gave when we were 2 barely able to talk, would be the answer that gave us life abundant as we came to know and understand the gift of salvation! So thankful that God knew before time began who His children were (Ephesians 1)and would call us out for adoption as sons and daughters!! Good news!! A few weeks ago our Pastor asked this question. Where do you picture Jesus? Where is He? Stop and think about that for a minute. Where is he in your mind? ..... ..... Read Hebrews 1:1-4 ..... ..... He went through the possible places where He might be in your mind. He could be in a cute baby in a manger. He could be walking the road in Jerusalem. He could be on the cross. He could be in the tomb. He could be on the throne. I probably missed or added one, but as I sat and thought about where He was in my mind, I was amazed that God showed me each plac

What is the best day in your life that you can remember? That was the question that was asked this past Sunday are our church. If you want to hear the sermon travel over to hrc.org and you will find it. The date is the 14th and it was the morning message. Is the question important? Maybe.... Is how or why we answer it the way we do? Maybe... He began the sermon with the question and than began to throw out a TON of scriptures that you couldn't look up cause we were traveling fast. I began to write them down and thought to myself, "What a great way to encourage and entice me to open my Bible myself this week to discover answers." I had my answer immediately in my head and my family knows my answer. Dinner time conversations were interesting. Some not wanting to answer because of what they thought their answer "should" be and some thinking their answer wasn't holy enough. It was fun listening to a few really big days that included coming home

Meet With Me - Acts 19: 1-22 Many of you know the book Meet With Me is designed as a place to start for you and I. If you open it up and read the passage and find other things that strike your heart, start there! I say that again because almost everytime I open Meet With Me more or totally different questions come up. Gods word really does meet you right where you are! We have four questions today from page 290 Did God do extra ordinary miracles through Paul? Why did the Jews want to do awesome miracles? What happened to the Jews who used Gods power for their own glory? Do we need to reverence/respect how we handle the power/talents/gifts God gives us? Two of these questions could be Yes/No answers. If I could rewrite the book I would add How or Why behind most of the seemingly short answer questions. Spend some time today thinking about why or how God did miracles through Paul. Why was he a servant of God? How did God draw him to Himself? Who was Paul about? Is

Good Morning! The alarm went off this morning and my were, "I need you today Lord." My bed felt good and I didn't want to get up and "do" life. My attitude already needed an adjustment and I wasn't even out of bed yet. It is now a few hours later and as I recall those early morning thoughts I wonder if I might utter those words tomorrow morning with a different attitude. Maybe one of joy? What a gift to need the Lord! Look at so many Bible people that asked for help. David, Saul, Hezekiah... Look at some that didn't ask for the Lords help. The first one that comes to mind is Judas...did he ask for help? Today I choose to ask for help many times and choose to thankful he asked me to be yoked with him. I think He asked us to follow Him and then provided the way AND asked for my hand. Has he promised His hand to you like he does in Isaiah 41:10? How about the promise of Genesis 15:1? See you tomorrow where we will travel over to page 290 of Meet

We really are going to finish this chapter today!! Maybe! I jumped in at verse 15. "Let those of us who are mature think this way and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you." I love this one! So those who are mature really do realize they are not yet mature/perfect! We don't and won't have it all together. In reality we won't ever totally get it until...HEAVEN! So, let us hold on to what Christ has attained for us!! No room for worshipping self as you hold on to Christ! Paul continues on in verse 17 to say imitate me, keep your eyes on those who follow Jesus's example. Is Jesus's example to deny self? What does that look like? I am looking at verse 18 where it says many live as enemies to the cross, their god is their belly and their minds are set on earthly things. What does that really look like in our day to day life? How do I choose to live for things that will fade away? And my favorite word in the Bible! B

In my Bible the first phrase of verse 10 is on one page and then I have to flip the page.  The phrase is, "that I may know Him".  I caught myself thinking how often we see the best part, the most exciting part of a story, or another persons life and we want it. That is until we find out the rest of the story and what else goes with another persons life.  Have you been there? I can say with much excitement, "Yes, I want to know Him!" I think knowing Him means discovering more and more about Him and His life.  I wonder if the more I discover about Him the more I become amazed at the rest of the story.  What is the rest of the story of chapter 3? I get to know Him and the power of His resurrection!  What is the resurrection power? Once more I find myself asking, "Why don't I ask God these questions as I walk through life?  I ask Him for a lot of concerns could I ever ask questions that will reveal more of Him to me?  We get to share in His resurrection po

Hello January 2, Day number 2 of 2013 and day number 2 of new year resolutions! Have you made them this year? Have you ever made one? What is a new years resolution that would bring glory and honor to Christ? I have a friend that I chat with when making choices and one thing she always asks is, "What choice would bring the most glory to Christ?" Sometimes both decisions would bring honor to Him and sometimes it it very evident which choice I need to make based on that question.... New Years Resolution? Do you need to make one or not? Yesterday we talked of one verse in Philippians and today I am following the direction of our pastor by reading chapter 3. I hope you got a chance to read it yesterday and if not maybe today is the day! I think I can really identify with Paul and His previous way of life. To be honest I find it an old habit (old man) that I still get to put off and put Christ (new man)on Those verses 2-6 explain how easy it is to put confidence in m

Hello January 1! Do I look forward? Do I look back? Phillipians 3:13 says forget what was behind and press on to what lies ahead. Is that the answer? Simply forget? Forget what you may ask yourself. Our lives look so much different at so many times. For some 2012 and every year that you can remember has been one blessing after another. For others 2012 may have been the worst year and the years before that were no different. So once again we have the question of, "What or why should I forget?" My Bible cheater notes at the bottom of my study Bible say that Paul is reminding us we are still involved in the struggles of life in a fallen world and thus we still sin. The full glory of the ressurection remains in the future!! Does that help the pain of 2012 via divorce, cancer, seperation, depression of? Does that help the success of 2013 via health, new life, successful business year? Whether 2012 was amazing or hard to handle one thing remains the same as we