A Happy and a good Monday to all! I do hope that you had a great weekend, and that you are enjoying a good Monday. As you can see, I am up blogging early today (it was a little after 9 am when I started this) I have enjoyed one of those early morning quite times with God, that I love so much...the time before the phone starts to ring, before the television comes on, before one of my sons asks me where something is...the time when all is at rest. The Keurig is silent, the microwave is too...just peace and quiet!
I always so enjoy the ways that God teaches me about something. I still laugh and refer back to the teaching on His "Blowpop" revelation. (I blogged about this in a November 2011 post...check the archives). He is always using some unique illustration to get His point across, and today was no different.
I often ask God what is the one thing that He is concerned about today? Most of the time, about 90% of the time, He tells me that He is concerned that many in the body of Christ, have no idea who they are. Of course we talk about other things, but most of the time, it is about many in the body not really knowing who they are in Christ, not knowing what they are capable of, and seeing themselves as God does! More and more I read about people dying, about people being stressed and depressed, fearful, and hopeless...people who say that they love God and are His child, but who are sad, tired, depressed, giving up!
God said to me this morning that so many of His people are exerting too much energy in all the wrong things. He said that they are crying, begging, and working, fighting...not living and enjoying life. He said that too many are working hard to get stuff, they are crying out of frustration of trying to please Me and earn my blessings, they are not enjoying a relationship and fellowship with Me, instead they are begging Me for things as if I don't want them to have them, and they spend so much time trying to convince Me of their problems, and why they need things. They spend time talking about and fighting someone who has no power, and who has already been defeated (satan)!
This morning He showed me a big boxing match. It was in a Las Vegas or a Madison Square Garden setting. I don't know which one, I only know that it was a large venue and packed with people. He showed one of the boxers just knock the other boxer completely out...there was NO fighting, the boxer hit him one time and he was laying there still, not moving, utterly knocked out! The referee/official whatever he is, ( I am not a boxing fan) declared the match over and the winner was declared! As all of this is played out in my mind, the trainers for the boxer who was knocked out, are steadily trying to revive the boxer on the floor. The boxer who was knocked out, comes to, and he gets up and wants to fight the winning boxer again. The ref tells him that the match is over, you lost! There will be no more fighting! God then speaks to me and says, "Why would the winner put on his boxing gloves again, to fight all over? All he has to do is turn and walk away. He has already won, he does not need to fight again". God said that too many Christians are trying to fight a defeated foe! He said that Jesus has already defeated satan, but folks are trying to get in a ring and fight with him...he already lost! God said, "I did not say to fight the devil, I said to resist him.!" He said that there is a difference in fighting and resisting! Folks are using too much energy fighting! "You resist him by standing on the truth of My Word, that Jesus has already defeated him, that YOU are his master (satan)." We master him because God has given us power over him, we stand in the truth that in Christ we can't be touched by satan, we stand in the knowledge that the fight is over, that Jesus won it, utterly knocked him out, and we get the victory! Now for many, this will probably sound too juvenile, but it is what God showed me nevertheless. He said..."know who you are according to who I said you are...know what you can do according to what I said you can do, know what is yours and what you are entitled to according to what I said, not what people say".
Anyway, I received more understanding!
Monday, August 6, 2012
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
It's Been Here All Along!
Hello friends, I hope that everyone is enjoying their day. Remember that God gave it to you...so it is up to you to decide what kind of day that you will have.
Well, I wanted to share something that happened to me on yesterday. Ever had one of those "aha" moments? That moment when it seems like all that you can say is, "WOW! ... WOW... WOW! It isn't always earth shaking, not necessarily bad, nothing major, just one of those moments when it just seems like the light just came on! I had one of those moments on yesterday. I must admit that all I could do was smile, Praise God, and just shake my head.
Last year, I was blessed to be the receipent of a brand new HP Touchsmart computer. This was totally a gift that caught me by surprise! I had begun playing around with Graphics, some videoing and editing, now some photography and believe me, this computer is really great in all of these areas. I like pretty things, exciting things, and I like even more, being able to design things myself. I especially like playing around with the video stuff. I haven't quite gotten video editing perfect yet, but I like a challenge, and I have decided to keep working at it. I often observe the various television commercials, business advertisements, other graphics that I see in various places. I currently use a particular movie maker, which I love...but I have often thought to myself, how much that I would love a video editing program that could really add the fast movements, the special effects, and the real actions to my editing capabilities. Never have I ever mentioned this desire to one single person, not even God! I am big on asking God for a particular desire, but not this time. I am a strange person...if I have a particular thing, like the current movie maker program, or my current point and shoot camera, I don't want a bigger, more expensive camera, a bigger, more expensive program, until I can somewhat master the one that I already have. (I said that this is the way I am. I am sure that you are not like me, and you would want the bigger, newer, more expensive thing. That's good too...that's the way you do what you do...LOL!) So I was content to learn how to really get good at using what I already had. I just sometimes imagined using the newer programs for some of my videos.
Anyway, yesterday I was making DVDs, full of photos from an event that took place this past weekend. I was so proud of the DVD, sat down and watched it on my computer, played it on my son's laptop, to be sure that it was compatible with other devices. I would not want to send out DVDs that wouldn't work on other people's TVs, laptops or computers. Well, I decided to try it out on my big screen television, and to my surprise...it would not show...couldn't read image or audio data! Ugh! I had already made numerous copies of it. It would not play on any of my televisions in the house! Oh well...what now? I knew that I had a DVD program on my computer, maybe a I did something wrong? So, I then began searching the DVD Suite that was on the computer...as my grandmother would say, "with a fine tooth comb". To my huge surprise, I discovered a video editing program within the DVD Suite. I had looked at the Suite before, made DVDs before, but I had never seen this editing program. Oh my goodness...it is exactly the kind of editing program that I had been imagining! Remember, I never told anyone about my desire, and I never even discussed it with God, or asked God to give it to me. Not one time!
I was so excited, and immediately started to play around with it, to see what I could do with it. Suddenly God spoke to me and said, "It has been there, all along!" I have had this computer for a year now, and I never did see that program on it. God went further and said, "there are blessings all around you, that you have not seen in manifestations, that are not visible to you, can't see with your natural eyes, that are right there. You have asked for things that are not manifest to you, that you already have!
He said that others have asked Me for things, and those things are right there in their midst, even though they can't see them visibly"! They have been there all along!
This is what He said, and I am not going to add to it by trying to explain it! If you are reading this, and if it applies to you, I know that The Holy Spirit will show you.
That's all!
Well, I wanted to share something that happened to me on yesterday. Ever had one of those "aha" moments? That moment when it seems like all that you can say is, "WOW! ... WOW... WOW! It isn't always earth shaking, not necessarily bad, nothing major, just one of those moments when it just seems like the light just came on! I had one of those moments on yesterday. I must admit that all I could do was smile, Praise God, and just shake my head.
Last year, I was blessed to be the receipent of a brand new HP Touchsmart computer. This was totally a gift that caught me by surprise! I had begun playing around with Graphics, some videoing and editing, now some photography and believe me, this computer is really great in all of these areas. I like pretty things, exciting things, and I like even more, being able to design things myself. I especially like playing around with the video stuff. I haven't quite gotten video editing perfect yet, but I like a challenge, and I have decided to keep working at it. I often observe the various television commercials, business advertisements, other graphics that I see in various places. I currently use a particular movie maker, which I love...but I have often thought to myself, how much that I would love a video editing program that could really add the fast movements, the special effects, and the real actions to my editing capabilities. Never have I ever mentioned this desire to one single person, not even God! I am big on asking God for a particular desire, but not this time. I am a strange person...if I have a particular thing, like the current movie maker program, or my current point and shoot camera, I don't want a bigger, more expensive camera, a bigger, more expensive program, until I can somewhat master the one that I already have. (I said that this is the way I am. I am sure that you are not like me, and you would want the bigger, newer, more expensive thing. That's good too...that's the way you do what you do...LOL!) So I was content to learn how to really get good at using what I already had. I just sometimes imagined using the newer programs for some of my videos.
Anyway, yesterday I was making DVDs, full of photos from an event that took place this past weekend. I was so proud of the DVD, sat down and watched it on my computer, played it on my son's laptop, to be sure that it was compatible with other devices. I would not want to send out DVDs that wouldn't work on other people's TVs, laptops or computers. Well, I decided to try it out on my big screen television, and to my surprise...it would not show...couldn't read image or audio data! Ugh! I had already made numerous copies of it. It would not play on any of my televisions in the house! Oh well...what now? I knew that I had a DVD program on my computer, maybe a I did something wrong? So, I then began searching the DVD Suite that was on the computer...as my grandmother would say, "with a fine tooth comb". To my huge surprise, I discovered a video editing program within the DVD Suite. I had looked at the Suite before, made DVDs before, but I had never seen this editing program. Oh my goodness...it is exactly the kind of editing program that I had been imagining! Remember, I never told anyone about my desire, and I never even discussed it with God, or asked God to give it to me. Not one time!
I was so excited, and immediately started to play around with it, to see what I could do with it. Suddenly God spoke to me and said, "It has been there, all along!" I have had this computer for a year now, and I never did see that program on it. God went further and said, "there are blessings all around you, that you have not seen in manifestations, that are not visible to you, can't see with your natural eyes, that are right there. You have asked for things that are not manifest to you, that you already have!
He said that others have asked Me for things, and those things are right there in their midst, even though they can't see them visibly"! They have been there all along!
This is what He said, and I am not going to add to it by trying to explain it! If you are reading this, and if it applies to you, I know that The Holy Spirit will show you.
That's all!
Friday, July 6, 2012
Life- More Abundantly!
I am going to warn you at the start of this post...it is lengthy, you may have to stop reading...make a sandwich, grab a coke, and come back to it. I just had some things on my heart...things that I have been talking to God about, things that have troubled me, things that I just wanted to share. I am not mad at anyone, but the devil!
First of all, I love people. All people. People that I know, people that I don't know. People who have not even been born yet. People who I have not even seen before, who I have never met. Those who have been shunned by society, those who are lovable and those who are unlovable too. Those who may think differently from me, those who may not like me. Those who may disagree with me, those who may do things different than I do...I love people! You may be saying, "how can she say that, how can this be true?" I love everyone because God loves everyone, and He has given me the ability to do so too! I have come in contact during my life, with some people who are quite nasty, unkind, mean, prejudiced, who frankly, just weren't pleasant to be around, who treated me ugly for no apparent reason...strangers, family members, folks in the grocery stores, in the malls, just people. But, I still love them, because God loves them, and I know that He loves me, even if no one else likes me, cares for me, if others treat me crazy, I rest in the truth that I am so loved by God. I can smile every day, knowing that I am loved, forgiven, approved, blessed by His grace, and favored. I want everyone to know that He loves you too, and He wants the best for everyone, that means YOU!
Yes, I know that it is hard to believe that God could love a Hitler, a drug dealer, a prostitute, a person who could rob people of millions of dollars...an entire life savings, a person who could abuse a child, a spouse, a rapist...a racist, a terrorist. But God loves so differently from us! Our finite minds cannot grasp the love that God has for everyone...yes, everyone! Sadly, people relate to God and His love, like they relate to everyday love...the kind that may be here today and gone tomorrow...the kind that brings two people together, one gets sick with a lengthy illness and sudden the other leaves, or the girlish figure leaves and strands of grey appear, and suddenly she is not so attractive as at first, or someone else looks a little finer...prettier...or the kind of love that suddenly causes one to fall out of love, you know..when you love them, but you are no longer "in love" anymore, or the kind where you will love, as long as everything is going your way, and all of your conditions are met!
Thankfully, God does not love like that! His love is unconditional...not based upon someone loving Him back...not making us earn it, not making us do all of the right things...we don't have to look a certain way, we don't have to "work" for it. We don't have to jump through hoops, take all kinds of abuse. God has no conditions. He just loves us, because He wants to. He loved us before we knew that we needed Him to. He loved us before we touched planet Earth, He loves those who have not been conceived yet! I am not saying that He loves the unkind, unloving, abusive, destructive things that people do, but the people...Yes! When Jesus gave His Son, He did it for every one. He soooo loved the world...He didn't just love the world, He soooooo loved! He didn't pick and choose. His love is for every one...but sadly every one won't choose His love.
I said all of this because I am so saddened by all of the times that I read of suffering and hear of suffering, and oftentimes, I hear people credit God for causing it, or "allowing it". This is so NOT true. More and more, God is being accused of awful things...sickness and disease, foreclosures, poverty, natural disasters, children dying, killings and murders, etc...supposedly because God is trying to teach us something, or He is causing these things to happen, so that He can get the glory when he brings you out of it. Why can't He just get the glory for protecting us from all of these things in the first place! God gets no glory for killing a baby, for putting cancer in someone's body, or wiping out thousands of people with a hurricane, flood, tornado or sunami. No, God is not talking to us through these things. He talks through His Word, through His Spirit, to our spirit. Would real love do this? I love my sons, and I only want the very best for them. I would not dream of doing a deadly thing to them to punish them, or to try to teach them something. I would be in a prison today, if I did to my children...what God has been accused of doing! God delights in giving life, not taking it...in healing, not making sick...in supplying Wants and needs, not causing one to be in want, in poverty! God hates death, death is an enemy of God (Ezekiel is just one of the many Scriptures that God talks about death...He hates the death of him who dies...He has no pleasure in death..Eze. 18:32) God is not causing folks to lose their homes...God promised and is giving us good homes (more than one) and even filling them with good things, even with swimming pools if you want one-Deut. 6:10-11...He is not making people lose their home. Suffering for Christ is not suffering with sickness, with poverty, children lost to the world, a bad marriage. Suffering for Christ is suffering by being ridiculed, persecuted, rejected because you want to live holy, because you want to not engage in activities that you once did, that you now know is contrary to God's way, because you want to glorify Christ. Suffering is when you speak up for Christ and no one wants to include you in their gatherings anymore...it is doing things for the sake of the Kingdom...not lying on a bed with your body filled with disease for Jesus! All through the Gospels, we see Jesus healing...healing folks with sickness in their body, healing people who were possessed with demons, He stopped funerals, woke the dead folks up. If Jesus only said and did what He saw His Father do, then God must be healing too! Jesus got rid of sickness, except where people did not believe. Jesus has not changed...He is the same, still healing, still hate sickness and disease. He is the same yesterday, today and forever! I didn't say yesterday, today and tomorrow...not tomorrow. He wants you well TODAY!
I just hate to see all of the sickness, especially among professing Christians. A part of Redemption included divine health. God wants His people well, not suffering with one disease after another. It is almost impossible to sit and watch 30 minutes of television, without hearing about 10 new medications or diseases! Now, they are even telling a mother that it can be harmful to hold her baby! How crazy is that! God has said that He has already GIVEN us everything that pertains to life and godliness...good health pertains to life, would you agree? Having a roof over your head, a dependable vehicle, a safe neighborhood, money in the bank...these things pertains to life, and they give you a sense of peace when you are well, with money in the bank, a nice home to live in, and your children all well. (2 Peter 1:2-4). We have an awesome Inheritance, and it is for right NOW! Not for heaven, although we will enjoy good things there too, BUT WE CAN HAVE THESE BLESSINGS NOW, TODAY! We are included in an awesome will! Jesus has already dies so that it would go into effect, and He even came back from the dead to carry it out!
If you are a child of God and you are reading this, (if you have never asked Jesus into your heart, if you have never confessed that Jesus died for your sins, and was raised for your salvation, you can right now) you DO NOT have to put up sickness and disease, with spending all of your money going from one doctor to another, tests after tests, pills after pills and not getting better. Just believe God. The woman with the issue of blood, she kept spending money until she had spent everything that she had. Instead of getting better, she was getting worse. She heard about Jesus and she believed that He would heal her. He did! He wants to do the same for you.(Mark 5:25-34) I know that so many things just don't make sense, but God didn't say that it had to make sense, He simply asked you to believe!
He is still healing. He is still raising the dead. He s still providing. He still wants us to live a good life, an abundant life, a life overflowing with blessings, a life just like His! He has an awesome plan for you, yes, YOU! He said that He wants to give you a future...well guess what, we are living the future right now! Reach out and receive what is yours...receive the good plan that God has for you. Trust God. Trust His promises to manifest in your life! God LOVES His people!!!
I just want to see everyone live a good life. No more defeats in life, just barely getting along, scraping, struggling, hanging on by your nails, stressed, depressed, just surviving. We are not supposed to be just surviving...we are supposed to be living, flourishing, thriving! We have eternal life in us. Eternal life doesn't just have to do with quantity of life, BUT QUALITY of life also. Jesus said, "I come that you might have life (zoe-the God kind of life, the very nature of God, His essence, everything that God is...), and have it MORE abundantly! (John 10:10). Can you imagine that! God has made it such that we can have in us, everything that makes God, God. We have His very nature, His ability to love people, His ability to forgive people who have wronged us, His desire to see the best in others...and desire that good things happen for others, that we genuinely care and are concerned for others, not just always concerned about ourselves...wow! That's our Father!
Whatever you need...God has it for YOU!
I love you! Walk in your victory, abundance, peace!
~Gayle
First of all, I love people. All people. People that I know, people that I don't know. People who have not even been born yet. People who I have not even seen before, who I have never met. Those who have been shunned by society, those who are lovable and those who are unlovable too. Those who may think differently from me, those who may not like me. Those who may disagree with me, those who may do things different than I do...I love people! You may be saying, "how can she say that, how can this be true?" I love everyone because God loves everyone, and He has given me the ability to do so too! I have come in contact during my life, with some people who are quite nasty, unkind, mean, prejudiced, who frankly, just weren't pleasant to be around, who treated me ugly for no apparent reason...strangers, family members, folks in the grocery stores, in the malls, just people. But, I still love them, because God loves them, and I know that He loves me, even if no one else likes me, cares for me, if others treat me crazy, I rest in the truth that I am so loved by God. I can smile every day, knowing that I am loved, forgiven, approved, blessed by His grace, and favored. I want everyone to know that He loves you too, and He wants the best for everyone, that means YOU!
Yes, I know that it is hard to believe that God could love a Hitler, a drug dealer, a prostitute, a person who could rob people of millions of dollars...an entire life savings, a person who could abuse a child, a spouse, a rapist...a racist, a terrorist. But God loves so differently from us! Our finite minds cannot grasp the love that God has for everyone...yes, everyone! Sadly, people relate to God and His love, like they relate to everyday love...the kind that may be here today and gone tomorrow...the kind that brings two people together, one gets sick with a lengthy illness and sudden the other leaves, or the girlish figure leaves and strands of grey appear, and suddenly she is not so attractive as at first, or someone else looks a little finer...prettier...or the kind of love that suddenly causes one to fall out of love, you know..when you love them, but you are no longer "in love" anymore, or the kind where you will love, as long as everything is going your way, and all of your conditions are met!
Thankfully, God does not love like that! His love is unconditional...not based upon someone loving Him back...not making us earn it, not making us do all of the right things...we don't have to look a certain way, we don't have to "work" for it. We don't have to jump through hoops, take all kinds of abuse. God has no conditions. He just loves us, because He wants to. He loved us before we knew that we needed Him to. He loved us before we touched planet Earth, He loves those who have not been conceived yet! I am not saying that He loves the unkind, unloving, abusive, destructive things that people do, but the people...Yes! When Jesus gave His Son, He did it for every one. He soooo loved the world...He didn't just love the world, He soooooo loved! He didn't pick and choose. His love is for every one...but sadly every one won't choose His love.
I said all of this because I am so saddened by all of the times that I read of suffering and hear of suffering, and oftentimes, I hear people credit God for causing it, or "allowing it". This is so NOT true. More and more, God is being accused of awful things...sickness and disease, foreclosures, poverty, natural disasters, children dying, killings and murders, etc...supposedly because God is trying to teach us something, or He is causing these things to happen, so that He can get the glory when he brings you out of it. Why can't He just get the glory for protecting us from all of these things in the first place! God gets no glory for killing a baby, for putting cancer in someone's body, or wiping out thousands of people with a hurricane, flood, tornado or sunami. No, God is not talking to us through these things. He talks through His Word, through His Spirit, to our spirit. Would real love do this? I love my sons, and I only want the very best for them. I would not dream of doing a deadly thing to them to punish them, or to try to teach them something. I would be in a prison today, if I did to my children...what God has been accused of doing! God delights in giving life, not taking it...in healing, not making sick...in supplying Wants and needs, not causing one to be in want, in poverty! God hates death, death is an enemy of God (Ezekiel is just one of the many Scriptures that God talks about death...He hates the death of him who dies...He has no pleasure in death..Eze. 18:32) God is not causing folks to lose their homes...God promised and is giving us good homes (more than one) and even filling them with good things, even with swimming pools if you want one-Deut. 6:10-11...He is not making people lose their home. Suffering for Christ is not suffering with sickness, with poverty, children lost to the world, a bad marriage. Suffering for Christ is suffering by being ridiculed, persecuted, rejected because you want to live holy, because you want to not engage in activities that you once did, that you now know is contrary to God's way, because you want to glorify Christ. Suffering is when you speak up for Christ and no one wants to include you in their gatherings anymore...it is doing things for the sake of the Kingdom...not lying on a bed with your body filled with disease for Jesus! All through the Gospels, we see Jesus healing...healing folks with sickness in their body, healing people who were possessed with demons, He stopped funerals, woke the dead folks up. If Jesus only said and did what He saw His Father do, then God must be healing too! Jesus got rid of sickness, except where people did not believe. Jesus has not changed...He is the same, still healing, still hate sickness and disease. He is the same yesterday, today and forever! I didn't say yesterday, today and tomorrow...not tomorrow. He wants you well TODAY!
I just hate to see all of the sickness, especially among professing Christians. A part of Redemption included divine health. God wants His people well, not suffering with one disease after another. It is almost impossible to sit and watch 30 minutes of television, without hearing about 10 new medications or diseases! Now, they are even telling a mother that it can be harmful to hold her baby! How crazy is that! God has said that He has already GIVEN us everything that pertains to life and godliness...good health pertains to life, would you agree? Having a roof over your head, a dependable vehicle, a safe neighborhood, money in the bank...these things pertains to life, and they give you a sense of peace when you are well, with money in the bank, a nice home to live in, and your children all well. (2 Peter 1:2-4). We have an awesome Inheritance, and it is for right NOW! Not for heaven, although we will enjoy good things there too, BUT WE CAN HAVE THESE BLESSINGS NOW, TODAY! We are included in an awesome will! Jesus has already dies so that it would go into effect, and He even came back from the dead to carry it out!
If you are a child of God and you are reading this, (if you have never asked Jesus into your heart, if you have never confessed that Jesus died for your sins, and was raised for your salvation, you can right now) you DO NOT have to put up sickness and disease, with spending all of your money going from one doctor to another, tests after tests, pills after pills and not getting better. Just believe God. The woman with the issue of blood, she kept spending money until she had spent everything that she had. Instead of getting better, she was getting worse. She heard about Jesus and she believed that He would heal her. He did! He wants to do the same for you.(Mark 5:25-34) I know that so many things just don't make sense, but God didn't say that it had to make sense, He simply asked you to believe!
He is still healing. He is still raising the dead. He s still providing. He still wants us to live a good life, an abundant life, a life overflowing with blessings, a life just like His! He has an awesome plan for you, yes, YOU! He said that He wants to give you a future...well guess what, we are living the future right now! Reach out and receive what is yours...receive the good plan that God has for you. Trust God. Trust His promises to manifest in your life! God LOVES His people!!!
I just want to see everyone live a good life. No more defeats in life, just barely getting along, scraping, struggling, hanging on by your nails, stressed, depressed, just surviving. We are not supposed to be just surviving...we are supposed to be living, flourishing, thriving! We have eternal life in us. Eternal life doesn't just have to do with quantity of life, BUT QUALITY of life also. Jesus said, "I come that you might have life (zoe-the God kind of life, the very nature of God, His essence, everything that God is...), and have it MORE abundantly! (John 10:10). Can you imagine that! God has made it such that we can have in us, everything that makes God, God. We have His very nature, His ability to love people, His ability to forgive people who have wronged us, His desire to see the best in others...and desire that good things happen for others, that we genuinely care and are concerned for others, not just always concerned about ourselves...wow! That's our Father!
Whatever you need...God has it for YOU!
I love you! Walk in your victory, abundance, peace!
~Gayle
Thursday, June 28, 2012
A Pat on the Back!
Wow, here I am again, almost at the close of June, and I am smiling from ear to ear, and I had to even stop, and pat myself on the back, and tell myself that I did a good job! Sometimes, we just have to do that...stop and take the time to commend our self, for the good job that we do!
Ever been at a place in life where you know that a particular thing must be done, no way of getting around it, no matter how long that you ignore it, procrastinate in doing it, you know that it must be done? Things that I know must be accomplished, especially the things that I like to do...(not the things that cause a little anxiety, or that are not especially fun...) I seem to do those things. I will jump right on things that I especially like to do...but those things that I don't want to do, I usually put them off, knowing that I will eventually have to come back to them and do them anyway, because if they are going to get done, I must be the one who gets them done. It might be small things around the house, which was my case, or it may be something major, that you just don't want to face at the moment..like telling something to your spouse, calling a creditor about a past due bill, sharing something with a boss, a friend, a co-worker that isn't easy to say, etc. All of my life, I have been asked to do things, not wanting to do them, but not having the nerve to say no. Then my family had to listen to me whine about having to do something that I just didn't want to do!
Well, I decided that some things just had to change! I had to handle things that needed to get done, stop putting them off and I also had to stop being forced into doing things that I din't want to do, in other words, I had to learn to speak up! I am too old to be stressed, and Jesus has done too much for me to allow myself to be stressed!
Well I had to stop and smile today, pat myself on the back. I set some goals for myself, for the month of June. I had to tackle some things, and I had to tackle them, my way. I see that I am going to have to set monthly goals for me. I am not telling anyone how to get things done, I just know that I am going to have to handle things on a monthly basis...that seems to work for me. Ok, you know that I am Mrs. Christmas, love, love, love to decorate...not just one tree, but many trees. These are not counter top trees, these are 61/2 and 9ft. trees. One tree has 2400 lights on it...one tree! It is so much fun beginning in October, when I start decorating. It is a major accomplishment when I can light up the house on Thanksgiving night, and enjoy all of the trees and lights, all of November and December...but here comes January! In January, when I face all of the decorations...I really don't feel like taking all of that stuff down! Putting it up is so much fun, but taking it down is another matter!
So here it is, June, and yes I am still looking at trees (don't judge me-LOL!). Every day since January 1st, I keep telling myself that I am going to start taking down decorations...and every evening I tell myself...tomorrow. Well six months into 2012, outside temperatures are at 100 degrees, and I have a Winter Wonderland and snow in my Living Room!
Well I decided that I must tackle this, and tackle it NOW! At the beginning of this month, I set a goal for myself...I was determined to have all decorations in the front three rooms of my home...totally free of any trace of Christmas. About 30 minutes ago, that goal was accomplished! I totally removed every Christmas item from each of those rooms, and I even totally rearranged the furniture in my parlor...Jesus and me! Living room, dining room, parlor, totally empty of any and every Christmas items...even glitter! It took an entire month to get it done, but it is done! thus the pat on the back, and me blogging about it! I just had to shout about it, and share this accomplishment. Hey, I even spoke up, and did not do some thing that I was asked to do by someone! I did not feel like doing it, and I didn't! Yay me! That set me free!!! I actually had to have a serious conversation with myself. I had to tell myself, "Gayle, you are a grown woman, married, raised two adult sons, 55 years old...and you are allowing someone to make you do what you don't want to do...what's wrong with you! Well when the day came, I didn't do it, and I felt good! I was free...I am forever free! I had to tell myself that Jesus made me free indeed, then I has to ask myself, why am I allowing myself to be bound by not speaking up! I broke free, and I am not going to allow myself to be bound again!
So June is a great month for me! Goals were reached. I am now busy setting my goal for July...take down more trees. I know that Jesus and I will get this done too!
Yes!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Peace and Quiet....Priceless!
Good Saturday morning to you! It has been a while since I have been here, but I could not let this moment pass today, without posting this morning. It is a beautiful, sunny, peaceful, still, calm, Saturday morning, and I am absolutely enjoying it! No one besides me is moving at my house. The birds are still asleep...all I hear is the tick-tock, tick-tock of the clock in the room. I seems like the trees, birds, insects...are still asleep. I am sitting and looking out of the window of my family room, and the trees are still, the shrubbery is still, nothing moving but one brightly colored , green lizard. He seems to be glad that the has the whole outside to himself!
There are many things that I enjoy in life, but there is nothing that I cherish more and enjoy more than peace and quiet. I love these special moments, moments when I know that it is just me and my Father, no one else! Moments when I know that He is sitting right there besides me...I have Him all to myself, I have all of His attention, yet in reality, I know that someone else on the other side of the world, is sitting and perhaps saying the very same thing, and feeling exactly as I am right now, that it is just the two of them! He has this way of making you feel like there is no one else in the world, that no one else matters at the moment but me, but the two of us, and no one can get in the way of us! I love these moments...sitting and just meditating on how great He is. Just sitting, not rushed, not worried, not afraid, just still, peaceful, quiet, lost in His embrace, talking back and forth, not having to say everything grammatically correct, not having to be formal, and not having to feel that I am not worthy to be enjoying being with Him. I can really sit and enjoy my Father.
I love Him, but He loves me so much more! I am just sitting here thinking about how free that I am. How blessed that I am to have the assurance that I am loved, and always will be, the assurance that there is nothing that I can do to cause Him to ever stop loving me. That's so freeing to me...to know that someone will always love me, even if I mess up, say or do something so stupid, if I don't pray today, if I don't pick up my Bible today, if I get mad at someone, if I just don't feel like doing anything today...I am still loved! I will always be loved because it is not about what I do, how I perform. I don't have to perform, keep a list of rules, a do and don't list, to be accepted by Him. I don't have to perform to get God's blessings, to get His love, His favor or His grace, I am so accepted by Him.
I was just sitting here and thinking about all that God has done for me. How He created us because he wanted a family that He could shower with His love and abundant blessings, someone just like Him! The angels weren't enough, He wanted a family just like Himself, so He created you and me. I am just thinking about the length that he went to, to keep us, to keep our relationship even after Adam messed up and plunged us into sin, God still didn't let us go, He still wanted His family back! Every now and then, I have to stop and remember all that He did to get us back. Sometimes life will cause you to forget the real, the truth of life. What we see here on this earth with our natural eyes, will sometimes try to convince us that this is reality, but really it isn't. The truth that I am eternally loved, forgiven, kept, protected, healed, prosperous, righteous, that I can never have God mad at me, that He will never reject me...that's real, that's reality!
Anyway, I am just enjoying this quiet calm, and rejoicing, and so at peace! I hear a little stirring in the house now. Seems like nature is also awake now...I hear some birds!
I am going and continue to enjoy this wonderful day that God has given me. What will you do with your day? I hope that you will enjoy it!
Gayle
There are many things that I enjoy in life, but there is nothing that I cherish more and enjoy more than peace and quiet. I love these special moments, moments when I know that it is just me and my Father, no one else! Moments when I know that He is sitting right there besides me...I have Him all to myself, I have all of His attention, yet in reality, I know that someone else on the other side of the world, is sitting and perhaps saying the very same thing, and feeling exactly as I am right now, that it is just the two of them! He has this way of making you feel like there is no one else in the world, that no one else matters at the moment but me, but the two of us, and no one can get in the way of us! I love these moments...sitting and just meditating on how great He is. Just sitting, not rushed, not worried, not afraid, just still, peaceful, quiet, lost in His embrace, talking back and forth, not having to say everything grammatically correct, not having to be formal, and not having to feel that I am not worthy to be enjoying being with Him. I can really sit and enjoy my Father.
I love Him, but He loves me so much more! I am just sitting here thinking about how free that I am. How blessed that I am to have the assurance that I am loved, and always will be, the assurance that there is nothing that I can do to cause Him to ever stop loving me. That's so freeing to me...to know that someone will always love me, even if I mess up, say or do something so stupid, if I don't pray today, if I don't pick up my Bible today, if I get mad at someone, if I just don't feel like doing anything today...I am still loved! I will always be loved because it is not about what I do, how I perform. I don't have to perform, keep a list of rules, a do and don't list, to be accepted by Him. I don't have to perform to get God's blessings, to get His love, His favor or His grace, I am so accepted by Him.
I was just sitting here and thinking about all that God has done for me. How He created us because he wanted a family that He could shower with His love and abundant blessings, someone just like Him! The angels weren't enough, He wanted a family just like Himself, so He created you and me. I am just thinking about the length that he went to, to keep us, to keep our relationship even after Adam messed up and plunged us into sin, God still didn't let us go, He still wanted His family back! Every now and then, I have to stop and remember all that He did to get us back. Sometimes life will cause you to forget the real, the truth of life. What we see here on this earth with our natural eyes, will sometimes try to convince us that this is reality, but really it isn't. The truth that I am eternally loved, forgiven, kept, protected, healed, prosperous, righteous, that I can never have God mad at me, that He will never reject me...that's real, that's reality!
Anyway, I am just enjoying this quiet calm, and rejoicing, and so at peace! I hear a little stirring in the house now. Seems like nature is also awake now...I hear some birds!
I am going and continue to enjoy this wonderful day that God has given me. What will you do with your day? I hope that you will enjoy it!
Gayle
Friday, June 8, 2012
Happy Friday All...
Well hello everyone...I hope that everyone is having a good Friday. I sure am! I know that it has been a while since I have posted, so I decided to say hello today. I have really been enjoying myself, and quite happy about things around the house that are getting done, finally! Guess what, I have spent the week taking down Christmas tress! Yeah Christmas trees. You think I don't know it's June. Now that you have finished laughing and talking about me, I don't just put up one tree, and I don't just put up a wreath on the front door, I really decorate a tree and I really decorate our house. Sometimes as my sons says, "mama, I can't see the green tree, so many ornaments are on it"! As I have admitted before, I love to decorate at Christmas. Yes I know that it is June, but I am finally getting them down, and I am happy with myself. I am so quick to add that it was only by God's power and strength, that I am able to do so. Putting the trees up is always the fun part, but taking all of them down, is something else. I have to be in the right frame of mind for such a sometimes monumental undertaking.
I have always believed that God will use any situation to teach us a lesson (no I don't mean like making you sick, causing you to have financial problems, killing your child...things that people so often blame God for,) I mean He many times uses the day to day activities of life to show us something, and that is exactly what he is doing with the tree situation!
I absolutely, positively know that God loves me, and cares about me, and cares about the things that I care about or am concerned with. While taking a break from taking the trees down, God spoke to me and reminded me that He cares about me taking down Christmas trees, because He knew that I really was determined to take them down. For the last few weeks, I have been looking at them, and I wanted them down, but when I decided to start, I removed maybe 5 or 10 ornaments, got tired and turned and walked away. Yuk! Finally, this week arrived and I decided that I would begin again. I set a goal and I was determined to reach it. I always know that God is with me...but this time it was like I got a shot of power, and before I went to bed last night, I'd taken down two trees, boxed them both and put them away. I went to bed feeling pretty good last night, feeling that I had really accomplished my first goal.
Today, I decided to press on, but before I got started, God talked to me and reminded me once again, that He cares about what concerns me...He cares about me taking down trees, He cares about me wanting a particular outfit, He cares about me having good service and good food at a restaurant that I eat at...He cares about what I care about. God is so amazing. He told me while talking to me today that so many people "save Him" for the big things in life. They save Him for the family problems, marriage problems, sickness and disease problems, problems with finances or a job. He said, "I care about everything! I care about the little things that you care about from day to day. I care about you getting a good parking spot. I care about you getting a good sale, cooking a good meal, your child wanting to go back to school, getting that right shade of lipstick. I care about that, because you care about that! God is so good!
I must say, "we are having fun talking and taking down trees", and we are getting it done. Being able to do it at mt own pace, not on schedule, being able to walk away from it, and coming back to it, helps a lot too.
I just wanted to share some of my day with you and encourage you at the same time. I want you to know that God really, really does care about you. He even told us to cast or give our cares to Him, BECAUSE He cares for us. That sounds like someone who really wants to get into our day, our activities. Someone who can do something about a situation for you. It doesn't sound like someone who doesn't want to be bothered with you, who couldn't care less about you, who does not care if your bills are not paid, who does not care if you have a pain. He cares about everything. There is noting that I cannot talk to my Father about! I can't think of anything! He absolutely cares about what you care about. He is teaching me about Photography. I want to know, and He is teaching me. He is teaching me about Graphic Design. I like that, and He is teaching me. We talk about everything, and I do mean everything. He's my Daddy!
Have a good day and a great weekend!
I have always believed that God will use any situation to teach us a lesson (no I don't mean like making you sick, causing you to have financial problems, killing your child...things that people so often blame God for,) I mean He many times uses the day to day activities of life to show us something, and that is exactly what he is doing with the tree situation!
I absolutely, positively know that God loves me, and cares about me, and cares about the things that I care about or am concerned with. While taking a break from taking the trees down, God spoke to me and reminded me that He cares about me taking down Christmas trees, because He knew that I really was determined to take them down. For the last few weeks, I have been looking at them, and I wanted them down, but when I decided to start, I removed maybe 5 or 10 ornaments, got tired and turned and walked away. Yuk! Finally, this week arrived and I decided that I would begin again. I set a goal and I was determined to reach it. I always know that God is with me...but this time it was like I got a shot of power, and before I went to bed last night, I'd taken down two trees, boxed them both and put them away. I went to bed feeling pretty good last night, feeling that I had really accomplished my first goal.
Today, I decided to press on, but before I got started, God talked to me and reminded me once again, that He cares about what concerns me...He cares about me taking down trees, He cares about me wanting a particular outfit, He cares about me having good service and good food at a restaurant that I eat at...He cares about what I care about. God is so amazing. He told me while talking to me today that so many people "save Him" for the big things in life. They save Him for the family problems, marriage problems, sickness and disease problems, problems with finances or a job. He said, "I care about everything! I care about the little things that you care about from day to day. I care about you getting a good parking spot. I care about you getting a good sale, cooking a good meal, your child wanting to go back to school, getting that right shade of lipstick. I care about that, because you care about that! God is so good!
I must say, "we are having fun talking and taking down trees", and we are getting it done. Being able to do it at mt own pace, not on schedule, being able to walk away from it, and coming back to it, helps a lot too.
I just wanted to share some of my day with you and encourage you at the same time. I want you to know that God really, really does care about you. He even told us to cast or give our cares to Him, BECAUSE He cares for us. That sounds like someone who really wants to get into our day, our activities. Someone who can do something about a situation for you. It doesn't sound like someone who doesn't want to be bothered with you, who couldn't care less about you, who does not care if your bills are not paid, who does not care if you have a pain. He cares about everything. There is noting that I cannot talk to my Father about! I can't think of anything! He absolutely cares about what you care about. He is teaching me about Photography. I want to know, and He is teaching me. He is teaching me about Graphic Design. I like that, and He is teaching me. We talk about everything, and I do mean everything. He's my Daddy!
Have a good day and a great weekend!
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