each day is new

..he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows. (Isaiah 53:4)..... I concentrated on the silence of the morning and the sound of acorns dropping from the trees to the porch... the porch that he worked so hard to build, to create an enjoyable area for his family... There are people all around to visit, but I don't feel like socializing, I don't feel like laughing but they are here to show us they care..... I move about the house to continue to do the things that have to be done, but things go undone and sorrow and grief fog my mind. Once again a great man plucked from this earth, a man that many depended on and needed but God needed him more. God was ready for him and God has no respect of person. When it is time, it is time. There is a great respect there for God, but still a deep sorrow...... A deep sorrow to try and pick up the pieces that are left, and go on. Sadness floods my heart, but peace and hope is there as well. Peace that surpasses all understand...

   Danny has been teaching/preaching on God's commands to us.  I have heard this spoken before but I awoke this morning with it on my mind. I woke up thinking of my mom and how I wish I could do more for her and I wish I was closer and my mind started thinking about her neighbor.  She calls on this neighbor often for any immediate need she may have and I began to thank God for this neighbor and I prayed for her.     Who is my neighbor.... It's the woman around the way that dosn't drive and asks for help It's the widow man down the street who has no one to cook for him, so he dosn't eat It's the girl at the cash register who dosn't smile because she is having a bad day It's the man on the corner who looks in disarray It's the person who stole your parking place, It's the child who is at your school who looks lonely and sad It's the person next to you in the check out line that might need a smile So your neighbor isn't your neigh...

Does anyone know Hagar in the Bible? She has an amazing story and it was quite comforting to me this week as I read it and studied her journey. I have read it before, but as I was reading my daily devotional it talked of Hagar and her situation and really prompted me to look at it closer, so here it is. First of all Hagar was an Egyptian.  She was Sarah's slave or a better word, some refer to her mistress, or her handmaid.  Sarah could not conceive a child so she had Hagar sleep with Abram her husband, and wanted her to be a surrogate of sorts so that Abram would have a son. Once she conceived, Sarah was obviously upset, jealous, etc., and some theories imply that she humbled Hagar and some say that she "dealt harshly with her".  Well, Hagar fled and in the wilderness, but God and told her to go back.  8  And he said, Hagar, Sarai's handmaid, whence camest thou? and whither goest thou? And she said, I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai. 9...

As I was pulling weeds the other day, something that I don't usually do. I have never been much of a gardener because I had so many other projects to do and raising a family, working and being with that family that I help raise... I just never made time. Well as I was pulling weeds I found it quite therapeutic might I add, and as I was pulling the weeds I began to contemplate and pray on family and things in my life and I thought about how the weeds are stubborn and bothersome like some things in our life and then there are the weeds that are harder to get up and that is like some things that even though you pray and pray and deal with it, it just won't go away. Some of them as I pulled, just the tops came off and I heard the words of my sister, Ali, well that is a solution but just a quick fix, just a band aid for the problem, if you want that weed gone, you must go in there after the roots and that my dear is a solution to this problem.  So I go in there after the root. As I ...

Wow.... can I say moving is stressful, new job, new town, ect... not only dealing with it on a personal note, but having two children and helping them deal with it too and a husband that's is dealing with change, and a lot of it might I add.... So the stress is on, good stress, motivational stress at times, but stress all the same. Then there is the spiritual battle I have been dealing with for a couple of months now, you know the one that gnaws at you deep down, the one you really can't fix without a lot of prayer, and coming to terms with some things within you, things you didn't want to let go of, or ever see happen but all the same they have and you must embrace it and go on with life and let God deal with it.... well that's where I am on a couple of levels and what is it really..... is it the way I think things should go, but they are not going that way? Heart issues that tear at you and you don't really have a good answer but you feel you have the right answe...

This morning as I was reading and praying, I came across a quote by someone"desperation leads to dependence on God" and I thought about that and how true it is. I can remember growing up as a pre-teen and teen, broken. I lived in a dysfunctional home and I felt defeated, sad and lonely most of my early years. But I had a grandmother that was a strong Christian. She was faithful. She prayed and she was a rock for my family. I like to think I took after her in a lot of ways, at least her determination. She was a widow and she was self sufficient and strong. I sometimes wonder what makes me different others?  Why do I have a strong connection to my faith, to Christ? I would have to give my grandma some credit for being an example but for also taking me to church. It was those years, though at the time I did not like going to church because I didn't feel like I fit in, but it was during that time I learned some dependency on Jesus Christ. He gave me hope in the darkness...

  I can remember a time, when I wasn't sure if I would get to be a mother.  After loosing two children to miscarriage I would often think, "Lord, what have I done wrong to deserve this"?  Other people all around me having children and I would think, why do they have no problems, and I can't seem to keep a baby in my womb?? On a good day, I would bask in the peace of my Lord and Savior and trust him in knowing what was best for me and I guess that is how I got through the terrible experiences of loosing a child that was growing inside of me. Maybe God has something different or better in store for me, maybe now is not the right time..........................is wasn't.....................God knows and we have to trust.    It wasn't his timing, it wasn't the right time.  Lot's of tears later, here I am.....  I have two beautiful girls, today I spend a lot of time and energy on wishing I could be home more, be at more school functions, be around more, ...