What an Awesome Father We Have!

Please watch this video and then come back to the blog.




Are you thinking "Wow! What an awesome Father!"?
Your Heavenly Father has loved you that way since before you were born. When you couldn't go another step, He carried you. You may not have always felt it, but it isn't about feelings, it is about faith.
Can you come to that place of absolute surrender and allow Him to carry you?
His plans for you are for good and not evil.
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Jer. 29:11
His expected end is bigger than you could ever imagine.

The Birth of a Wonderful Man

Over 30 years ago, I married a wonderful man. I called him my Sugar Bear. He was a bear of a guy but was so very sweet and kind to me.
I was a divorced woman in my 30s with three children under 12.
He had two children under five. We probably came together for the wrong reasons. I needed a daddy for my children and he needed a mom for his children and we enjoyed each other's company. That is not quite enough for a good marriage, but Ray was tenacious. When I as a wounded woman would push him away, because I knew that he was going to leave me or abuse me like everyone before him had, he never insisted that I respond differently. He just loved me right where I was. Often that place was a miry pit of self-pity that I refused to leave.
I remember once about the end of the first year of our marriage when we went to Marriage Encounter. The priest told me, Diane, there is no reason in the world why this marriage should work except that Ray is not going to give up on you. He is giving you the same kind of love that your heavenly Father has been trying to give you. It is time for you to receive it.
Something broke that night.
Walls from years of protecting myself came tumbling down. I wish I could tell you that immediately we lived happily ever after, but that is not so. I laugh now and say that the first year of our marriage, he re-wrote The Taming of the Shrew. My programmed self-hatred, made it a bumpy road, but the good news is we stayed on the road.
By trade he is a professional driver and in our marriage he has been a professional driver driving us through life's mountains and valleys from Florida to Texas to Africa and Georgia with an awesome second honeymoon in Ireland.
Today is Ray's birthday and I praise God he was born! I am a blessed woman to have him in my life. Happy Birthday, Baby.

Who Do We Give Our Heart To?

Our worship honors and magnifies God, but it also builds us up and strengthens us. The joy of the Lord is our strength. (Neh. 8:10) No matter what is facing me if I receive His joy simply by worshiping Him I will be strengthened. To stay strengthened I must also have His Word in me alive as rhema.

We become like unto those we admire and worship. When we worship God we tend to value what God values and gradually take on the characteristics and qualities of God.

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty.

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Cor 3:17-18

When we worship God we receive His forgiveness, tenderness, mercy, righteousness, holiness, gentleness and love. As we let go of the things that bind us, these traits become gifts we can give to others. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. Colossians 3:2

It is journey. Christ in me, the hope of glory. How can He be in me unless I ask? As Philippians 2:5 says, "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ." How do we take on the mind of Christ?

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans 12:2 We renew our mind as we study and meditate on God’s Word and worship Him.

Help Me, God

Because of the years of abuse I experienced over 25 years, the Lord seems to bring the wounded across my path. Often I am unprepared to help in my own strength. If I look at the situation in the natural, I am done.

One young woman we got involved with had addictions as well as an abusive relationship. We ran the full gamut over a period of time from inviting her into our home to her running away from us and then back to us with her abuser close at her heels.

When you feel that you fail someone, it makes you reticent to get involved with another's life.

However, if I remember that I offered love, she was unable to receive it at that time, and there are others still needing it.

If we focus on those we fail, we will never reach out.
Some many need God's love and He uses ordinary people to give it. They don't need my love. I am just a girl and I will fail them and disappoint them.
They need the Father's love. Am I willing to be totally devoid of expectations and just be a vessel?

Valentine's Day Every Day

Valentine's Day can be a lonely day for many. I try to spread the love, those little hearts with sayings and chocolates to those whose paths I cross.

However, what a sweeter place this would be if we took the time to love every day.

Love takes time- time to care, time to listen, time to get involved, time to hug and hold.

As I get older I am at the past the middle of my time line and time is very precious. Yet that makes the gift of time even more special.

When you give time, you tell that person that they are valuable. You give them hope.

I am well aware of the time I waste. I work full-time and am developing my Mary Kay business. Nevertheless, I find time to watch television. What if I made a phone call instead or send a note of encouragement? How many of the 10,080 minutes that I am alloted each week, do they get?

How I spend my time is a reflection of my priorities. Do I spend it on people or things?
Spend some time encouraging and loving others today.