Thankfulness



 

 

Colossians 2:2-3 "....that you may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden ALL the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.  Col 2:6 "As you received Jesus Christ as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with THANKFULNESS."

Thank you Lord for being a mystery, it creates in me a yearning to seek and learn of you more.
Thank you Lord for letting me know my true treasure, your promise of eternity with you.
Thank you Lord for building the foundation of trust I have in you.
Thank you Lord for strengthening me with your word, by speak through scripture and through others.
Thank you Lord for your consistency so I can say, I have faith because I know you were and always will be there for me.
Thank you Lord for joy, for being filled by your spirit, when circumstances around me say I should be feeling different.
Thank you Jesus, for every time I think I've arrived, you let me know the road has just begun.
Thank you for letting me see opportunities in every situation and forgive me for not always taking them.
Thank you for impressing upon me to never be idol and forgive me when my I stand motionless.
Thank you Lord for letting me enjoy life's moments, and not being sad when they go, for I know you will have more to come.
Thank you Lord for my gifts and forgive me for not always taking opportunities to use them for your glory.
Thank you Lord, for your divine intervention in my life and for being patient with me when I am slow to let go.
Thank you Lord, for not letting me look back with regret, but with eyes that see you have used every situation to create the person you intended me to be.
Thank you Lord for your love, when I cried out in pain, when I struggled with my demons, you were always there.
Thank you Lord, simply for letting me be thankful.
Thank you Lord for letting me be happy.
May your praise me forever on my lips.

God you are so good. You bring us together to praise you Lord.

I love this song by KALLEY HEILIGENTHAL - YOUR PRAISE WILL EVER BE ON MY LIPS ...

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9AarM9w5lU

He is thankful for you, He restores when it seems impossible to rebuild.
Lord, please let this message be from you and let everyone who reads it know that you are with them in this moment.
I am pray, you can experience the joy and thankfulness only Christ can supply.

In His Precious Name I pray.
Jeanne



May we see His reflection
 despite the traffic in our lives

His Revealing Light

God's Revealing Light

   Ezekiel 1:28

" Like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance of His face. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of the Lord speaking."

     He fell facedown at the appearance of the Glory of the Lord!!  Can you even imagine, if the curtain was pulled back and we were in the complete presence of God?

     I have known God for almost my entire lifetime and though I stumble and fall He continues to reveal His glorious light to me a little at a time. It is like being in a dark room and the curtain is being slowly opened to let in the sun. If the curtain was pulled back all at once the light would be blinding.

     God has the perfect plan, He knows our human minds could not comprehend all of His Holiness at once, so he reveals Himself slowly throughout our lives. He allows us to settle into a season, to learn to trust Him in that situation before He moves us to the next level of our growth.  When we enter into the next season we again are weak, needing His light to be revealed to strengthen and uphold us.

      

      If God gave us all we asked for at once we would not be able to absorb it, our darkness would deflect it, but His perfect plan of slow and steady light throughout our lives makes our relationship more dependent on Him and our lives a testimony of His steadfast love.

     Thank you Lord for your perfect plan. Thank you for shining your light on us at every age, giving us new growth and purpose. You Are a Good Good Father.

  In Your Precious Name I pray, you all know His Light.

  Amen

  Jeanne




May we see His reflection
 despite the traffic in our lives







Our God is an Awesome God

     How many times have we heard that, "Our God is an Awesome God'? I know I've heard it, but when we are going through life's struggles sometimes it's not always easy to see the bigger picture. And He does!

     God's faithfulness is never ending, His love so encompassing that it can be inconceivable to comprehend that He has amazing plan for our lives, if we just let go and let God. 

Proverbs 3:5

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."

 

Romans 8:28

"And we know that all things work together for the good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

     This is easier said than do," to let go".  For each time I even want to let go I am afraid  I will loose a part of myself.  It can be as simple as getting rid of a piece of clothing that has out grown its use (or I have out grown it ;) or as big as letting my children go.

     How thoughtless of me to hold my children hostage to be obligated to stay near home base, just because I was afraid of separation, of change. I decided instead of being sad they were growing up, I looked at it as a blessing. After all we had worked hard raising two great kids, and it was their time to spread their wings. I looked at them as a gift from God and how could I be selfish to not share them with the world.  
     By letting go, it allowed all of us to grow. Me stronger in my faith and in developing passions I didn't even know I had. My relationships with others became more meaningful and genuine. My life's pace  slowed from the pressure I often felt with being "on call" all the time as a mom. My husband and I are more relaxed and just have fun being together again.  Our children traveled other country's and many states, they grew more independent, self confident and secure in themselves. They discovered on their own that Christ needs to be the center of their lives.

God is an Awesome God, He allowed us all to let go and grow, which helped us become stronger as individuals, yet never loosing the tight bind us as a family.

   Fear and control could have prevented this growth. To come out of our comfort zones takes courage and do not let anyone tell you otherwise. We never know the big picture God has in store for our lives, but in every situation he is teaching us something new. We are NEVER to old to change to grow to be still and listen to His Spirit speak to our souls.

    I am so grateful God releases me from my fears instead of letting them hold me back.  He is with me in every situation, and out of every situation I then become closer to Him.
   I pray you are able to let go of something, even small and be blessed by how much more God will pour in.
   In His Precious Name I pray.
   Amen




May we see His reflection
 despite the traffic in our lives

Love Your Neighbor as Yourself









God is soo good!

How many ways are there to reach our neighbors. Yet I regularly seem to miss the simplest opportunities standing in front of me. My neighbor doesn't have to be in a shelter, it could be my co-worker who just needs someone to talk to. 

I am amazed at God's timing. I started this post March 6th and life had me busy. Then today I was doing my devotion and my thoughts kept going to love your neighbor as yourself. I was like I need to post something on this yet I do not have much time this morning, but feeling prompted I opened my blog and could have cried. I had totally forgotten I had started this post a month prior, but God knew and must have been prompting me to finish, as I opened my Bible I read

Matthew 19:19 "...love your neighbor as yourself"

Mark 12:30-31 " Love the Lord your God with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is love your neighbor as yourself."

The Holy Spirit is powerful, he reminds me of the important things in life, spending time with Him, thinking of others, being more compassionate. Sometimes we do not understand the season of life we are going through, but I am amazed how Christ brings it full circle if we keep our eyes, hearts and minds on Him.

I am humbled by my illness last summer, until then I had always been healthy. Now I see people and their situations differently, my empathy has expanded and I can relate to their suffering. I am so grateful that God has given me the life I have, He goes before me and knows the outcome, all I have to do is trust and obey in Him.

Life is continual, we are here for many seasons, never stop living exploring and trying new things. This opens opportunities to share His word, sometimes just by others observing the life we lead will prompt them to ask questions and follow Christ.

I pray we all follow the prompting to love our neighbors as Jesus loves us.

Jeanne





May we see His reflection
 despite the traffic in our lives



Learning to Slow Down and Live Your Life

 

Seeing His Beauty in Every Situation


I love you Lord and I lift my voice to worship you oh my soul rejoice, let it be a sweet sweet sound to your ears. (from the song I love you Lord by Petra)

I love it when out of no where the joy of the Lord fills my soul. What a blessing it is to be completely in His Presence. I know from my own experiences even as a Christian,  I tried to fill that void or longing to be complete by staying busy.  I would try to fill the days with working, volunteering anything to keep moving.

But all God really wants us to be is still in His presence and He will fill that void and direct our paths.  That stillness does not come easy in a world that implies we need to be constantly busy, social media leads us to believe if we are not moving then we are missing out.  But in reality if we are able to block out the world and focus on our creator He will bring us the fulfillment we are longing for.

 

Matthew 5:6
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."



Last summer I was gravely ill, prior to that I was trying everything possible to quench my thirst. I was in constant motion. God literally had my life come to a complete halt both physically and mentally in order for me to hear Him speak clearly to my soul.  It took being laid up in bed to realize that the world will keep going even if I do not. That I was not really missing anything and there is nothing more important then living the life God intended for me, not even the one that I was so desperately trying to create on my own.

While confined to the house I read the book  God Isn't in a Hurry, Learning to Slow Down and Live Your Life by Warren Wiersbe. I highly recommend it.  Initially I even found this book difficult not  to "hurry" through ;)
This book helped reveal that all the "things" I was doing to get closer to God, were really getting in the way of what God wants and that is a communal relationship with us.

I feel blessed for my illness, obstacles in life are not planned, but they do not  need to be stumbling blocks. Instead we should use them as opportunities to grow closer to our heavenly Father. By drawing closer to Him, He will set us on the path that He intended for us.

In His precious name I pray that you allow the path you are on to bring you to a closer fellowship with Him.

Jeanne



May we see His reflection
 despite the traffic in our lives

 

~God is So Good~

         My son sent me this picture from his phone while walking a trail in Petaluma, California. I on the other hand just finished shoveling four plus feet of snow. But when I saw that picture I immediately went to that peaceful place in my mind, my happy place.

         How often do we focus on the situation we are in rather then what gives us that internal joy regardless of the snow piling up all around us?

2 Corinthians 4:18

"We are to fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

Clarity comes when we are able to push aside the chaos jumbling up in our minds.

Here is my go to song by Chris Tomlin~ Good Good Father

http://www.bing.com/search?q=chris+tomlin+good+good+father&src=IE-TopResult&FORM=IETR02&conversationid=

When you have a moment to be still, please listen, let it speak to your soul. You are loved, we are  uniquely made for His perfect plan. I pray you know Him personally, Christ can encourage you out of any struggles you may be facing.
In His Precious name I pray.

Jeanne





 

May we see His reflection
 despite the traffic in our lives

     

Being His Reflection

 

~God is Good~

 

~I journal, that is what I do and what I love~

 

Spending time in God's word is so revealing to me, as hopefully it is to many of you.

He speaks to me not audible but through Scripture.

Often I journal then read my Bible and find that He guides me to scripture that reinforces what I believe the Holy Spirit has been impressing on my heart.

I constantly struggle not with being better, but a more consistent Christian.

 

Mark 13:35 "...watch (be ready) because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back...."

 

Wow, to me this reiterates what I needed to hear. Be ready, though I know I am saved if the Lord would come at this minute or while I am in the grocery store, or talking to a telemarketer or with my husband would I be proud of that moment? Would the other person walk away knowing by my actions and words that I was a child of God? 

 

I can not undo the past, but I can live from this moment on trying to emulate His likeness, this may be the last encounter I have with that person, let it be of love and reflecting the joy Christ has given me.

 

In His Holy name I pray.

Amen







May we see His reflection
 despite the traffic in our lives