Precious in the sight...

"Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants" Ps. 116:15 - I read this verse the morning my former mother-in-law passed away.  This lady lived life to the fullest. She truly lived out her God given gift of hospitality and giving.  She was strong in her faith in God and committed in her marriage.  Feb. 14th, sitting at her funeral there were many thoughts, memories and tears, thinking of a part of my life where my last name was Miller.  There were so many good memories filled with love, quality time, relationships, laughter, visits, letters, phone calls, camping, 4 wheeling, farming and the list could go on; then on the other hand a flood of sad memories came too filled with many tears, death of a loved one, the roller coaster ride in the hospital not knowing if he would make it or not, the phone call.  Through it all the Miller Family has always made me feel like I am still a part of the family and through the calling hours and funeral of dear Mary, they still made me feel like I belonged.  Before I left that day I gave John a hug and thanked him for making me feel a part of them and his reply was "you will always be a part of us".  Tears.  Oh what a happy reunion in heaven when Mom got to see her 3 boys who had gone on before her.  Heaven seems so much closer when we have loved ones there.  Let's live each day as if it were our last!

Captivating

I am reading the book Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge.  This book has been inspiring to me in the fact that "I am free to be me" and God views me as beautiful.  I just wanted to quote a little of what I recently read.  A woman in her glory, a woman of beauty, is a woman who is not striving to become beautiful or worthy or enough.  She knows in her quiet center where God dwells that he finds her beautiful, has deemed her worthy, and in him, she is enough.  A woman of true beauty is a woman who in the depths of her soul is at rest, trusting God because she has come to know him to be worthy of her trust.  This is why we must keep asking.  Ask Jesus to show you your beauty.  Ask him what he thinks of you as a woman.  His words to us let us rest and unveil our beauty.  "The scariest thing for women is to offer our beauty into situations where we don't know if it will make any difference.  Or worse, that we will be rejected.  For our question is "Am I lovely?" Remember in God's sight you are Beautiful - let your spirit be free to be who God wants you to be and your beauty will shine through. 

Miracles

Let me just tell you, my God is a God of miracles.  Let me tell you of one.  The beginning of 2011 I did a Beth Moore Bible Study called "Believe God".  That Bible Study had a big impact on my life.  The verse that stood out to me throughout the whole study was Mark 9:23 - Everything is possible for him who believes.  The night I read that verse I cried on my way home from Bible Study.  It talked about miracles and all we need to do is Believe.  Well, BELIEVE, became my word for 2011 and I gave Joe, and each of the kids a little stone that said Believe on it.  The other thought that kept coming to me throughout the Bible Study was that "I need to get out of the way" so God can work in Joe's life.  Well, life kept going on and things in our family life between my husband and I did not get better; it actually got worse.  I kept telling God, well, I am out of the way - what else do you want?  My life came to a point where I had to make a decision - I could not go on living the way I did with so much turmoil and stress in my life.  So, the girls and I moved out of the house and moved in the basement at my Mom's house.  I had a real peace about it all even though I didn't know what would happen but I felt this is what God had been telling me (Sally, you need to get out of the way so I can do my work).  After moving out for about a month, miracles started to happen.  Joe started to make changes in his life for the good - starting meeting with Pastor Larry for accountibility; reading and studying his Bible; praying; Joe became a different man and I became a different person.  God, has brought healing to both of our lives and is continuing to pour the ointment of healing in the cracks and crevices that still need it.  It has been 7 weeks and no, I am still not moved back home, but that will come with time. God is good - God is Faithful - and don't ever forget  Mark 9:23 - Everything is possible for him who Believes.  Thank You Jesus!

Special Verses

"God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of POWER and of LOVE and of        a SOUND MIND."  2 Tim. 1:7

*Fear causes tension and blocks the flow of God's power.

"I have no fear, for perfect love casts out all fear."  I John 4:18

*Approximately 80% of all illnesses, both mental and physical, are believed to be the result of fear!

"The Son hath made me free; therefore I am FREE INDEED"  John 8:36

START EACH DAY WITH A SMILE.  IT IS BETTER THAN A SERMON!  IT IS THE KEY THAT UNLOCKS EVEN THE HARDEST OF HEARTS!

Just Enough Light...by Stormie Omartian

Recently I needed something to read that would encourage my downcast Spirit and so I went through my books and found Stormie's book "Just Enough Light for the Step I'm On".  It has truly been a "Light" in my soul. Here is just a taste of it:  "No matter what your circumstances are, you can be sure that the Lord will be with you and help you successfully stand against whatever opposes you.  When you walk with Him in the battle, you're never alone.  The hardest part about letting God fight your battle is that He sometimes waits until the eleventh hour so you will have no doubt of where the power is coming from.  If that happens to you, hide kyourself in Him and refuse to lose faith in His ability to come to your defense." Remember, in the midst of the battle, the light you have will not only never be put out, it will be brighter than it otherwise would have been.

Praying the Scripture

Someone recently challenged me to praying scripture in my life; then I find this book laying on my desk at work that is filled with verses. On the cover of the book it says "one of the most effective ways to pray is to find out what God has said in His Word about the situation and agree with Him!"  This is truly what I want is to have God's word embedded in my life.  When fear and doubts and negative thoughts start coming in my mind I have been praying scripture out loud - let me just say God is Good! I will leave you with this verse:
God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of POWER and of LOVE and of a SOUND MIND   2 Tim. 1:7.

Mother Hen

I guess the "mother hen" nature came out in me the past couple of weeks.  I have a tendency when someone hurts my kid, I just want to slap them up side the face.  Well, I have had to do a spiritual mind check on dealing with "why does that make me angry" and dealing with it in a healthy way.  I found a book by Stormie Omartian about Stepping in the Light and it reminded me again that circumstances come our way not to bring us down but to help us grow and I was reminded that God is in control and He will lead me and help me love and not get upset.  So, I started praying in my heart and it is amazing how quickly my anger was replaced with love.  I am so thankful that God checked up on my attitude. 
So good to hear about Katelyn's trip to Africa and the impact it left on her.  The take away she took from her trip was "to be satisfied with what you have" cause in Africa they basically have nothing and they are happy and in America we want want want and think things is what makes us happy.  She loved going to the orphanages and holding the babies and she commented over and over about how kind and nice and funny the workers from Africa were.  Thank you God for giving her this opportunity!