Looking Back- God Cares For Us

This morning I was sitting in our sun room,watching the birds so eagerly eating food at the feeder.  Seems like there are so many lessons to be learned from birds.  There is a pecking order for sure.  A oriole was being pushed back out of the way by a tiny  little sparrow.  I thought it was kind of funny considering oh big the oriole is.  But than I thought of David and the giant.  The giant laughed when he saw David come out to do battle.

As I sat there for my morning devotions, I considered some of the needs that I and others have.  Those birds come flocking to the feeder because they expect food to be there.  If the food is not there, God has still provided for them. There is seed in the grass and surrounding flowers.



Mat 6:26

Do we come to God expecting? Our heavenly Father tells us we are so much better than the birds.  I am reminded of a time in our marriage when  John had lost his job and we had no money, for housing or food or gas.  We saw God provide for us in ways we didn't think possible.  From unheard of directions.  Nevertheless God provided for us.    Because of proving God a match for the difficult times, I know nothing is too hard for my God.

The secret?  Put God first. We paid our tithes first.  We trusted God even when we didn't understand. Jumped up with our testimony of how good it was to serve God.

Lessons we learned? God became our Redeemer, our Father, friend, healer and provider.  We learned that if God did it for us that time , He would do it again.  We learned it was not important for us to have the answers.  But we learned that God already had the answers.


Going thru difficult times is not fun or easy but it enables you to become a victorious christian.

Heb 13:8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Fine tuning

In the last week I have been learning new things with video taping.  At our camp meeting, I  ran three cameras and enjoyed doing it.    It seemed so easy.  One button for each camera, six corresponding  buttons for each camera,that enabled you to preset shots. I would think I had camera close enough. My teacher would say "Closer Paula Closer!"  I would have too much unnecessary things in the screen . Thus taking away the attention from what we wanted to focus on.  Sometimes I would be told, " Give me something I can work with, Paula!"   What a thrill,when I was told, " That's good, Perfect.  Don't move the camera" 

As I was focusing on my subject, my mind went to our Jesus.  Do we make Jesus the focus of our daily walk? Spending  time in prayer, helps us to focus. What does Jesus want of us?  As we surrender our will to His will, the picture becomes clearer.  As we rid our self of those unnecessary "things", We find that we didn't need them as much as we thought we did.

Can we give God something, He can work with?  Our life, our mind and body?  Those promises we made when He saved us.  He has not forgotten them, have we? Daily prayer and reading God's word helps us to grow.  Applying what we have learned will strengthen our relationship with Jesus.

My desire is to stand before the Lord and hear him tell me," Well done."   No greater  joy than what, we will experience when we   hear these words from our Lord and Saviour.Mat 25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, [thou] good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.



2Pe 3:18 But grow in grace, and [in] the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I'm excited

There is a song I have heard that goes like this:

I 'm excited I'm excited

I'm excited in the Lord

When You walk with the Lord,

You don't get bored

That has been so true for the last 30 some years.  Ever since I got saved when I was 16 yrs old.  Its has been a exciting walk.  Right now,we are getting ready for camp meeting. The excitement of getting out the suitcases, choosing your clothes, trying to remember everything you need.  Getting calls and texts from others that are going.  You feel the excitement going ,with the questions that are asked.  Do you think it will be hot or will it be cold this year?   Wonder if my friends from last year will be there. Wondering who is preaching the first sermon. And will they have the aqua Launch, canoes, minuture golf?

One person we know will be there is, Jesus.  He will be there to answer prayers, heal bodies, mend hearts.

Going with a excitement to know that Jesus can and will meet you there not just once but everytime you reach out to him.

Driving on to the grounds and seeing that friend you haven't seen for maybe a year. The joy of making new friends and reaching out to old friends.  Does it get better than this?

1Th 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 1Th 4:17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Soon and very soon, our Lord will be returning.  Are we excited? Are we making preparations?  Have we forgot anything?

Psa 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:Psa 139:24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
 Like we, call our friends to share or excitement of camp and questions of what we need.  We need to read God's word, search the scriptures. Communicate with Jesus on a daily basis, asking him to search you and show you. 

IT WILL BE TIME WELL SPENT

Happy Sunday

I love my Sundays.  I enjoy the preparation the day before,esp the evening before. Getting ready, doing my best to be ready to enjoy my day with the lord.  clothes ready-check Sunday school ready-check house cleaned-check jump in shower-check

God knew we needed to set a day aside. Focus on those blessings of the week. food on the table, roof over my head, wonderful husband, healing, the list goes on

I love seeing the children arriving for Sunday school,telling me all the news from the week before.  I am encouraged with the music in the services, the saints sharing how good God is, God's message given to us at the pulpit by the man of God.

Six days a week, we rush around as if there is no tomorrow.  I like to keep my meals simple.  I choose not to shop on Sundays unless a emergency.  After all I has 6 days to buy whatever I needed.  Sometimes we get so busy,just doing. 

Maybe when we get so worn out,we should examine what we are doing or not doing. I am not one to get up early.  Lately I have been waking up between 6 and 6:30 am and can't go back to sleep.  I have found a joy in getting up grabbing a cup of coffee and bible .  I meet my lord in prayer on our deck. I am able to spend a hour or so, praying and reading the bible.  I feel like Jesus wakes me up because He is anxious to visit with me.  I have discovered a joy in my day when I start it out abiding with my Lord. Asking the Lord to take control of my day.  Knowing nothing will happen that is not in His plan.  Asking the Lord to send me too some soul that I can share the good news with.Psa 118:24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Abiding

John 15:4

Abide in me and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except in abide in the vine, no more can ye,except ye abide in me.

My Husband, decided He wanted to let the raspberry vines grow,so that He could have a patch of them. He is very happy to have the berries. The berries would not have happen if it was not for the vines. As you can see, the vines have just exploded and are more than I would have thought possible.  The vines did exactly what He wanted them to do, produce berries.  Unfortunately , it was hard to get to them because of the weeds that were also growing so well too. That and the mosquito's that would attack.

In John 15:4, we are reminded that to be a victorious Christian we need to be connected to Jesus just as the berries are connected to the vine.  But as I sat this morning looking down at my husband berry patch, I also was reminded that we need to let the Lord prune our spiritual relationship also.  Is there things in our life's that draw us away from Him? Things we have more time to do and less time to spend with him?  This can cause spiritual weeds, thus stealing our joy.John has decided that he wants to do some pruning and eliminate weeds and line the plants up in rows. Spiritual pruning is a good thing.  The Lord wants a vessel that will bring much fruit.

Those mesquites made it very   difficult to pick the berries.  We had to find some protection that would enable us to pick the  fruit.  As Christians, we want to go to the  word of God, become familiar with it so that we can defeat the snare of the devil.  Ephesian 6:11 tells us to put on the armour of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

Don't let Satan steal your joy!