God is great is 2008!!

Ok, I know it's corny, but at least it rhymes!! hahaha

Let me start with a few quick comments about my weekend. It was an AWESOME time!! Jimmy hasn't been happier and slept like a log with all his "babies" under one roof!! The kids had such a great time together and so many times I found myself just sitting back, watching and often moved to tears at how good God has been to me! To give me such an AMAZING man, 3 INCREDIBLE kids that I adore and to be stepmom - and now mother-in-law - to these kids who have grown up to be so WONDERFUL! My stepson is the youth pastor at his church, my daughter-in-law works as the secretary over the maintenance dept at their church and my stepdaughter is a Junior in high school and co-captain of the cheerleaders at her Christian school. She has also started a Bible study night with the squad. AMAZING! Kids thrown into the drama of divorce at such a young age, now grown and serving the Lord! THAT is a testimony of the power of God!!!

Ok, so with 2008 breathing down our necks and this being my last post of the year, I wanted to just share a few things the Lord has been speaking to me about. First, is His faithfulness and I think the above paragraph kinda explains that!! Second is His provision. God equips us for whatever He calls us to do. Sounds simple, because it IS simple! Lately He's been showing me that I am the one who makes that process difficult. I mess up His plans with my unbelief! He lays things out, opens doors for me and then I sit here going, "Are you sure?" "You really don't mean that for me, do you?" "I am certainly not equipped for THAT!". Rev. Airton Pupo, our Brazilian church minister spoke at church last night on Mark 6 where Jesus returned to Nazareth but the people there "blew it" with their unbelief. They didn't stop Jesus' power but "He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them." Mk 6:5. It's not that he "couldn't" do it, He is after all God, it's that their unbelief caused the consequence of His "limited" power. It's like Jesus held back miracles in their lives because they refused to just believe. That hit me like a ton of bricks! In my notes last night I wrote "How many times has Jesus been amazed at my lack of faith?".

Thirdly, this morning my "God Calling" was titled "Jesus the Conqueror" and here's a line or two or three! haha "'Thou shall call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.' And in that word "sins" read not only vice and degradation, but doubts, fears, tempers, despondencies, impatience, lack of Love in big and little things. Jesus. 'He shall save His people from their sins.' The very uttering of the name lifts the soul away from petty valley-irritations to mountain heights. Jesus. Say it often. Claim the power it brings." Is that good stuff or what? Then my devotional reading this morning was all about worry. “Worry” literally means “to be pulled in different directions”. The old English root from which we get our word “worry” means “to strangle”. Worry literally strangles our peace and honestly, has no place in the hearts of women.
· Worry is a control issue.
· Worry is wasted energy.
· Worry is consuming and unhealthy.
· Worry is a joy thief.
· Worry is the interest that we pay today on tomorrow’s problems.
· Worry is practicing atheism. (OUCH!)
· Worry makes everything seem bigger than it really is!

When we choose to trust God, we are choosing against worry. Isaiah’s prayer of faith should be our prayer as well. “You, Lord, give true peace. You give peace to those who depend on you. You give peace to those who trust you.” (Isaiah 26:3 ICB) It is simple. God rewards our trust with His peace. How is must hurt the heart of God to see His children caught in the trap of negative attitudes when His plan is a peaceful mind-set. We will never minister in freedom and power until we consistently choose against worry and deliberately choose to trust God alone. " (these words came from Mary Southerland)

This weekend while window shopping with my 3 daughters we saw a sign that said "Don't change the way you look, change the way you see." If I could sum up 2007 with one sentence that would be it. God changed the way I look to the way I see! In 2008 I do not want to make a list of resolutions that I'll break the first week and spend the rest of the year beating myself up over, but I will simply see. I will do my best to see with the eyes of God. To see that it's NOT about me! To see that I am responsible to take care of my temple, but it's not about how fat or skinny I am, or my hair color, or my newly found wrinkles. To see that it's NOT about what people think of me, or if my clothes are "in" or if my shoes are old (and believe me THAT one is a struggle for me cause I LOVE me some shoes! haha). To see that what my year is about is telling others about Jesus. About showing Jesus to my kids. About showing Jesus to my friends. About loving the way Jesus loves! My prayer for 2008 is that God will show Himself greatly in me, in my life and in the lives of all the ones that I love!!!

Ya'll be safe tonight and I'll see ya next year!!!!
Sing it with me now.... After all it's all about love, love, love, love, LOVE!!!

MY SURPRISE.......

Jimmy's Christmas Surprise! My stepson JV (2nd from rt), his wife Charlotta (rt) and my stepdaughter Cassie (2nd from lt) came in Thur. night and dad had NO CLUE!!!! This is our crew!!! Happy holidays!!! I'll blog more later but now I'm lovin' havin' all my kids under one roof!!! Love to all!!!!

Here we go.....

Busy, busy, busy! You'd think that since Christmas has come and gone I wouldn't be saying those words, but the fun is just beginning at the E Ranch! I can't go in to much detail as my man ventures on here once in a while to read, but I have a HUGE surprise in store for him this weekend!!!

I'm busy today preparing my house for the days to come. I wish I could take the time to apply that sentence to my spiritual life, but I really must get with it. I promise to come back in a day or two and share the surprise with each of you! Who knows, maybe I'll even post a picture!!! (start prayin' now since I'm so techno-challenged!)

Love to all and I pray your Christmas was so full of Christ's joy that you were about to bust!!! I know I sure was!!!!

The Reason....

Merry Christmas to each and every one of you. May we all stop and celebrate the birth of Jesus and love...

200th POST!!!!!!!!

Can't believe it's #200! Thought I'd share this AWESOME song as we celebrate this Holy season and what it's REALLY all about!!!!

Clash of the Choirs

Did anyone else watch this show? Being a singer you know I was going to! This was my favorite choir because they didn't sing everything in unison, but like a choir!! Thanks NBC for a refreshing breeze from all the JUNK we usually get on TV!!!!

Unfailing love...

My, my, my, Abba Daddy, you sure have been layin' it on me this week!! I thank you for loving me enough to speak to me!! You are amazing!

Oh yeah, I forgot ya'll are reading this too! haha I've been doing the Romans study online by Beth Moore. I'll be honest that it has been QUITE heavy at times so I took a couple of weeks off. I needed some time to process it all. It's funny because I never really thought I was one of "those" people. I used to think that I either got it or I didn't and then move on. Maybe that explains alot!! OUCH!!

So anyway, we're on week 21 - yes I said week 21 - and guess where we are? Romans 5:1-8!!!! See why I needed a break?! She started this back in June and I doubled up some to get caught up but land sakes ya'll - GOOD STUFF!!! WHOA! So this week I've been talking with a friend about how much our earthly dad's represented God to us in our lives. DEEEEEEP stuff! So yesterday I sit down and we're on these precious verses in chapter 5. Ya'll know how Beth does things. She'll take either a word or a phrase and give you such a fresh insight that you'll truly believe those words were NOT in your Bible before! Even if they're underlined, highlighted and everything else! (Ok, I know it's God doing that, NOT Beth, but ya'll know what I meant, right?!) So I'll just share a few of the notes I took instead of trying to tell you everything.

"We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand." Rom 5:1b-2 Consider that grace is more than just a gift from God or something God does but grace is a physical place. A wide open spacious place! How different could my life be if I could stand in grace? How different could my relationships be if I could choose to stand in the place of grace? Where do I go when the enemy tries to squeeze me into a corner of fear, depression or hurt? I go stand in the openness of grace! See what I mean ya'll, GOOD STUFF!

Here's where it really gets good! Rom 5:5"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Ok. She give us Four Confessions of Divine Affection - in other words four things we can know FOR SURE about God's love.
1 - God is PERFECT love.
2 - Nothing can separate me from God's love.
3 - God pours His perfect love into my imperfect heart.
4 - When accessed, (God's perfect love) I can love anyone thru anything!!
Ok, ya'll, I'm so excited about this that I can barely get my fingers to move fast enough! Ya'll remember this is from Beth Moore it's not mine! (don't want any credit for this!) Love isn't something God does or feels and circumstances or behaviors don't affect it - It's part of WHO HE IS! It's His Divine DNA! There can never be anything big enough or anything bad enough that I do to change that about God! I was NEVER good enough to do something BAD ENOUGH to mess up God's love for me! Does anyone else get that?! I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH GOD'S LOVE!!! I can't change it, I can't be worthy of it, I can't control it! It's WHO HE IS!!!! Somebody wants to shout!! YYAAAHHHHHOOOOOOOO-JAH!!!

Ok, Prov. 19:22a says "What a man desires is unfailing love". Now what was #1? God is PERFECT (unfailing)love. So since God is the ONLY ONE capable of giving me what I desire most - unfailing, perfect love - why can't I let some of the people in my life off the hook?! Ok, go back and read that again! Really, do it!!! My HUSBAND will never give me unfailing, perfect love! My PARENTS (remember the conversation I'd been having with my friend this week - WOOOOOHOOOO) will never give me unfailing, perfect love!! My KIDS will never give me unfailing, perfect love! No human being anywhere on this planet will EVER be able to give me what my heart desires MOST!!! That job is left SOLELY to the One who "demonstrates his own love for me(us) in this: While I(we) was(were) still a sinner(s), Christ died for me(us)." Hold on ya'll, gotta go run a praise lap!!!!!..........

Here's one of the last things I'll leave with you. I'll quote Beth here "We will never love well if we do not feel well loved." I can't love my man, my kids, my family, my friends, anyone well unless I get it thru my thick skull that while I was yet a sinner, Christ died for me to show my unlovable self how much God the Father agape's me!!!! How much He agape's you!!!! All He asks is to love Him in return and to love my neighbor as myself! And not just say "Oh, love ya in Jesus" but to love them even if it's a sacrifice to myself. In fact, there's no greater offering to the Father than to love someone who is unlovable. After all...it's what He did for me!!!

Ok, gotta go run some more......

(Forgot one thing first, I didn't mention that the title to my God Calling yesterday morning was "Perfect Love" NO LIE!!! I read that BEFORE I listened to the study! Then today's title was "Depression" and I'll share a few lines with you. "Depression is the impression left by fear. Fight and conquer, and Oh! for Love of Me, for the sake of My tender, never-failing Love of you, fight and love and win." Does that kill you?! I just love God-stops in my life!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!)