Happy New Year

Jesus has given us everything that we need in order to believe, serve and live for Him.  He gave us His Holy Spirit and His word.

June the 29th, I received a devotional book from First Baptist Church Chipley Fla at a festival. I began this book on July 1, the second half of the year for the first half of the book.  I have constantly been amazed at how often the day's lesson was just what I needed.  God is good and His timing is perfect. I am very excited to begin the second half of this book tomorrow and see what blessings God has for me this year.

To summarize this book and to use it to form New Year  Resolutions  for 2014, here is my list:

1) Begin each day praising and worshiping God and ask Him to open my eyes and heart to opportunities to serve Him daily by serving others....Pay it forward".   "Lord Make me  a channel of your blessings today."

2) Make me a person of  Prayer:
to pray out of desire, not duty
to pray about everything and before everything
to pray with a humble spirit that reaches your heart
to pray in the name of your Precious Son, Jesus.

To recognize that:
Prayer restores, heals and gives rest to my soul
Prayer puts me near the heart of God
Prayer is essential to the Father/child relationship

Lord, teach me to pray according to your will and character for what will bring honor and glory to you with an obedient heart; asking and believing, by Faith with persistence and determination and a forgiving heart

3) To Study and Apply the Word of God.
Help me to apply your wisdom to: My work, my walk and my worship.
Help my to fall in love with you more every day by falling in love with your Word.
Help me to be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only.
Help me to hide thy word in my heart so that I may not sin against you
Help your words to direct my path

Lord help me to:
Love and be Loved
To be encouraged and encourage
To forgive and be forgiven
To know truth and speak truth
To Trust and Obey
To Trust God and do good
To delight in your Word and
To delight in You  Lord.

Happy New Years
Tomorrow begins a new Chapter

Very Blessed this Christmas Eve

This is a very quiet Christmas Eve for Mark and I.
Gone are the days of shoving a chair  under the doorknob
 so that the kids can not catch us up late on Christmas eve
No more trying to figure out how to put "this thing" together
and wondering what to do with extra parts.
No more looking for a  strange red light in the sky
No,
this year, Christmas Eve is strangely quiet

We had family Christmas early this year.
Saturday, we had a wonderful day at Mom's.
Sunday, we had all of our children and grands
We love watching them enjoy each other
and we feel blessed.

Monday, I got up early, my Quiet time was almost over....
and the phone rang....
My Mom is heading to the hospital and I am scared
We quickly pack a bag and head to Tallahassee,
thinking about my wonderful Mom and praying.
We find her in the emergency room looking very vunerable.
My strong Mom who feeds the masses and takes care of every one,
can not catch her breath and her numbers look bad.

We all  rally  around the matriarch of our family.
So proud of my family as we crowd into small  rooms to
hear what the staff is telling us about our precious Mom.
The cell phones are working overtime
as we keep every one informed.

She is a remarkable woman.

Even surprising the staff with her
rapid improvement.  They were able to get
most of the fluid off her lungs. After many test,
she was able to go  home with the promise that she
 will follow-up with her doctors.

She is one tough, determined lady

Tonight, we are back home with the Red Cross ERV
in our drive way.  There has  already been a fire in this county
today  with no  injuries and a call about a lost child,
where the child was found safe and sound.
Too many blessings to count.

So, even though this Christmas Eve is different
and so much quieter than usual, I realize that
We are truly blessed.

Merry Christmas to all
and to  you young parents
have fun
 this time goes by very fast,
and hide the extra parts,
 in case you need them later...

Trust and Obey

The words  for today seems to be trust and obey.

Makes me think of the old hymn

"Trust and Obey 

For there's no other way

to be happy in Jesus

But to Trust and Obey"

I Found this in my daily devotion book

"God promised to bless Abraham and  

to make him a blessing to others.....

If He obeyed Him"

The same promise applies to us today.

We need to ask God to make us more

sensitive to each and every opportunity.

When we encounter those who are 

hurting or  despondent or desperate, 

 let us speak words of encouragement.

Ask God to give us the right words to say

and to be open to what He tells us to do.

God blesses us so that we can be a blessing.

Remember, obedience proceeds blessings.

Then I picked up my Franklin Graham book

The chapter title is "learning to Obey"

This lesson

 comes from the unsung  hero of the Nativity

Joseph

Over and over in the gospels we read...

"And Joseph obeyed the command of the Lord"

Joseph is described as a righteous man

righteousness = living by faith, believer,

 trusting  God, doing what is right.....Even

 if we do not understand or know the end result

 Trust and Obey

Joseph heard the message and did what he was told

God knew that He could trust Joseph with the enormous

 responsibility of  raising His son.

God saw a heart of faith and obedience 

Joseph obeyed God and saved His family.

Maybe we can learn from our unsung hero

How to start the Christmas season

We finished the busy Fleetwood Fall  season.

Then, it was time to take a breath and reflect

 on all of our many blessings  and thank God

Thanksgiving or Giving Thanks.

Now, we are in the Christmas Season.

Our life has become very simple.

We are not into the hustle and bustle

of Commercial Christmas

No Malls

No crowds

No hassles

I pick up little things all year

that I think the kids might like.

Buy something for Mom.

a little something to charity

and I am done!

Our gift to each other is:

Time and Travel.

So, today we travel north

I am studying my Bible

I found a great way to start

this season in Psalms.

"Praise the Lord...Praise God

Praise Him for His mighty acts

Praise Him according to His excellence

Let everything that has breath

Praise the Lord

We were made to worship.

So, we will find something to worship

Worship the one true God who is worthy.

If you sense emptiness in your life,

especially during this season.

Then, find time to Worship God

It satisfies that empty place in your soul

Worship comes in many forms

praise, prayer thankfulness

nature, song, Bible study,

acts of kindness and love.

You will receive joy of the season

that will last a life time.

Begin Today

This Month I plan to read Psalms

to help me worship God.

And

Read the Gospels (Matthew, Mark

Luke and John) 

To spend time with Jesus