Slip on by - Finding Favour

Better get your tissues ready…. Great song!

As I get older, I realize now how fast time is going by.

The other day my niece told me something her 5 year old son wrote in a note to her. He said, “Mom you hurt my feelings.” The reason is because she told him to go outside and play and get off the electronics.

When I was growing up we use to play games outside with our friends like, Red light, Green light… Statue… Hide and go seek… Mother may I… I can go on and on… We were always playing outside, and hated to come in when our parents called us.

I really miss how it use to be. My husband and I had a conversation about technology, and how we could put the blame on it, but it is really peoples choices on how we spend most of our time. I don’t know whether to love technology, or hate it.  In my time of raising children, we sat on the floor and  played games with our kids. When we pushed our children in the stroller, we had both hands pushing and watching where we were going, instead of looking at our phone with the other hand. We played with our children when we took them to a park, or at least watched them play with the other kids. When we went out to dinner with our spouse we had conversation, instead of our heads buried in our phones. When we got together with family, everyone interacted. How about when people are driving, do we really need to go there?

I am a people person, and I just love talking to people. Getting to know their story, and them getting to know mine. The other day at work I said good morning to someone, and they barely looked at me because they were so busy on their phone. I didn't even have the opportunity to ask them how their morning was. My heart was hurt at just thinking about so much damage we've allowed to come into our relationships with other people, and our own families and children.

What happened to relationships today? What happened to eye to eye contact? I really think if you took computers and phones away for 2 weeks, some people would go through withdrawals.  Is technology getting the best of our time, and our children, and our time with each other?  Don’t let time slip by.

Thank God we don’t need technology to have a relationship, and a conversation with Jesus! No texting, or emails, just good old conversation. Mark 6:31, Jesus says, “Come with me to a quiet place and get some rest.” We all know how much Jesus loves us, and wants to spend time with us. Maybe you’ve let time slip by with your spouse, or children, or parents. It’s never too late to make it up.

My prayer for us all, is that we don’t let the precious time with getting to know Jesus slip by. The life God gives us is so precious, and we only get it once, so make the best of it before it’s gone.

Kim

Is God good, is he fair? While I'm Waiting - John Waller

Is God good, even when the wait can be painful? In my opinion, yes.

Are you a complainer? Do you think you have it bad? Sometimes I am so ashamed at my behavior in the small problems, that I think are so big. Even when no one else may hear me, He does. What a wonderful, merciful, unconditional loving Savior we have.

I really need to think more before I speak. I was so glad that I was alone in my car the other day when I lost it with my language. I knew that God heard me. It was over something so stupid; I had to wait 2 hours before seeing the doctor. I wasn't thinking at the time how thankful I should be that I could at least see the doctor, when some people can't even do that. Sometimes  I think I have it so bad, and then I hear or see someone who has really got it so much worse. God lets me know it too, and I thank Him that He treats me so gently.  Sometimes I think, that if God could reach down with His heavenly hand, He would wash my mouth out with a bar of soap. I am so ashamed sometimes of the things I complain about in my pathetic humanness. They certainly don't glorify my Savior.

I read in Psalms 103:10 that, "[He] does not treat us as our sins deserve..."  Wow.  God is good and fair. Can you imagine if He treated us as our sins deserve?

As I listened to this song, I couldn't help but have a special person on my mind who is terminally ill, and told there is no cure. Now that is something to complain about, but yet he shows such signs of God's strength.  He was also given a time frame of living. He has a wife, and 3 small children who would be left behind. I can't even imagine that, or how I would be in the waiting time of suffering.  Would I say, "God this isn't fair."  Would my life glorify God? Would I still be a good witness for Him? Would my family be mad at God, or would their lives continue to glorify God?

We are all going to die, we just don't know how, or when. I thank God for my life, and the crosses He chose for me so far along this journey with Him. I don't know what's around the corner of my life, and either do you. But I know He has been there for me, and I could only hope you have Jesus too.

As I continue to pray for Matt, and his family, I am reminded in the many ways how God is glorified.  Yes... even in illness, suffering, and sometimes death. Even in what we think is unfair.

I am so thankful for salvation through Jesus Christ. That my sins past, present and future are forgiven.  Ephesians 2:4, I thank Him that He is "rich in mercy, and made us alive with Christ." because of Jesus, and only because of Jesus and His death for us on the cross, we are forgiven.

Jesus glorified His Father in life, and death. Even as brutal, and ugly as His suffering was, Jesus always counted on the power of praying to His Father to give Him strength and peace. Do you think the death of Jesus was fair? I don't, but it was the will of His Father, and Jesus followed in every step of obedience while He waited to go back home.

The words that really get to my heart that Jesus said is, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Also when he says "don't cry for me, cry for yourselves and your children," (Luke 23:28).  Jesus knew what this world holds for us. I thank God this is not the end, and certainly not our everlasting home if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior.

Jesus'  life on earth was short, and with the purpose of saving us from our sin. It was no vacation to Him. The only time of rest Jesus got, was when He went to His quiet place to pray, and be with His Father.

When I think of Jesus and His life on earth, serving His Father, worshiping His Father, praising His Father, even though He knew how He was going to suffer and die, I look in TOTAL AMAZEMENT! Oh how He glorified His Father in life and His suffering.

Matt, who is terminally ill, is doing the same. Every post I read of his, I read with amazement on his words of wisdom, even in his illness, he is still glorifying God.

We all are still praying, and hoping for that miracle, because nothing is over until God says, "it is finished." But while he is waiting, he is not fainting, he is running the race even while he waits. 

I can only pray that when my time comes, I will glorify God as well.

We may not understand things this side of heaven, but God is STILL GOOD!

Kim

Matt Weeks' blog: caringbridge. org

Another Way - Tenth Ave. North

GREAT VIDEO!!!   Very powerful lyrics, enjoy!

If you live in Kissimmee Florida, and you wake up as early as I do to go to work, you may have noticed how thick the fog has been. You can't see 5 feet in front of you. It makes it very dangerous to drive. Then you hear the weather man on the radio saying, "as soon as the sun comes up, it will burn the fog away to a beautiful sunny day." Wow, isn't that just like sin. Until the "Son" comes up in our lives, the dense fog will remain, and that could be very dangerous. Not just on your ride to work, but for eternity.

Are you just standing on the surface? Jesus wants to know who we are, even if we're falling apart. Some of us keep all the shame within our hearts, and still say, " I’m alright, everything's o.k.", when we know we're really not. It's not enough to say we're o.k. Jesus wants our hurt and pain, it's not love any other way. We may be able to fool people with our mask on, but we can't fool God. He knows all the things that keeps us apart from Him.

Psalm 51:17 "A broken and contrite heart oh God, will not despise."  We could never please God, or fool God with our outward actions. Our inward heart attitude has got to be right with God. , Jesus wants us, "who are weary and burdened, and [He] will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28).  The rest that Jesus promises is love, healing from our sins, and peace with God.

Jesus won't close His eyes. Go to Him, don't just say your o.k. He needs your hurt, and needs you pain, "It's not love any other way."

Kim

Prayer for a Friend - Casting Crowns

This is such a beautiful song and prayer. It is a beautiful way to show love for someone, through prayer, and forgiveness. Allow God, through all the painful situations you go through, to keep making you into the image of His Son.

I’m sure a lot of us can relate to the lyrics of this song. Especially when it says, “ I've done all that I can do, I lift my friend to you.” Some of us call our spouses our best friends, and they very well should be. But there is no denying that the road can get very tough at times. No matter who you consider a friend, and you are just exhausted with words, lift them up to the Almighty, to the Great I Am!  "He will not grow tired or weary." (Isaiah 40:28).

Galatians 6:9 tells us, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Don't let the voices you hear make you feel foolish for walking the path Jesus put you on. Listen to the One that matters, and YOU WILL reap a harvest.  It’s a promise of God’s, and in HIS TIME, when the situation, and all the work, is complete, you will! "[He] shall loose none of all those [He's] given to me." (John 6:39).

There is nothing too big for God, or to hard. You have to believe that with all your heart, mind, and soul.

Our best friend in the world means much more to God. We want so much to help someone, but it all comes down to them really wanting it for themselves. So if you don’t have the words to give them anymore, and you've done all that you can do, trust God in prayer, and lift them up to our merciful Father.

Kim

Music of My Heart - Nicole C Mullen

I hope you enjoy this song, and performance as much as I did...

We all have "strings that need mending, out of tune in certain parts."  When we become Christians, God makes us different on the inside. He is the Creator of all that is lovely, and when He writes a tune upon our hearts, we should sound like a beautifully tuned guitar.

The bible tells us in Matthew 15:8, "These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me." We could put on a good religious front, but the way we are deep down, where others can't see, matters very much to God. He sees all, and knows all.  "For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45).  Jesus reminds us here, that our speech and our actions reveal what  we believe deep down. It shows itself in our behavior.

It should be our desire to show the whole world how much Jesus has done for us. When He strums our life with His chords of mercy, restores our soul completely, and lays His hands upon us, He becomes the lyric that just doesn't stop at our ears, but becomes the music that flows from our thankful hearts. When Jesus becomes our all in all, what we have learned from Him, should go beyond our ears, and is just stored in our heads. It should go much deeper and further than that. Like anything we practice at, practice makes perfect. God wants us to be with Him daily, practicing to be made perfect. He opens our, "minds to understand the scriptures." (Luke 24:45).

I personally don't want to just read the scriptures. I want them to change me inside and out. It's our personal choice to have as much of Jesus as we want. He will not push Himself on us. But once you TRULY have an inward taste of the truth, of how much the grace of our Lord Jesus cost, the melody within your soul will show a changed life.

I pray that we allow the Master to create His masterpiece in, and through us. To tune us up whenever we are in need of it.

Kim

Invade Watermark - Christy Nockles

May this be the cry of His people: "Jesus invade the walls of this house!" Spending time with God, and in His word is the only way to know Him better.

I believe we would be better Christians if we spent more time alone with God. Isn't that what a relationship is all about? Getting to know someone better, by spending more time with them?

The world has become too much a part of us, and it is affecting even those of us who call ourselves Christians. We make excuses for sin, and candy-coat the truth of the word of God. If we would let Jesus invade all He sees of us, welcoming Him in to turn us inside out, only then will we see things for what they truly are. When we open the door to Him, and allow His light to come in and illuminate the floors to this house (every room), only then will His truth be on our steps, and flow from our lips, instead of sounding like the world.

It pleases God, just like it pleases a spouse, or a friend, when we set time for Him alone in our busy schedule. Then He can influence us with heavenly thoughts, instead of the world influencing our thoughts, and compromising truth. I have read somewhere that, "meditation is the Sunday of the mind." I have heard a lot of Christians say that they don't need to go to church. But when you talk to them, you see how far off they have let themselves go from the things that are passionate to our Holy God. You can tell that they really aren't spending time with God, by how they view things that even we, who call ourselves Christians, should be passionate about. What breaks the heart of God, should break ours.

I love my family, and the church is also a part of my family. They have helped me with many questions I have had, and still have. Questions like raising my kids when they were in those teen years, questions about marriage, and many other things that I know will come up. Now my daughters will need the help of the church too, for wisdom on how to raise a family, and any other questions they may have on this journey with Jesus. I love talking with other believers, and I love praising and worshiping along with the choir about our Savior.

We are all welcomed here, anyone who wants to walk this road with Jesus. So you really shouldn't mind praying that He would, "reach in with the hand that heals" and conquer all that is not of Him, in you (Selah). 

Kim