Happy Birthday Jesus song syncronized to Christmas lights

Something to think about --------------

As is.....
one grain of sand to all the sand on a beach;
one drop of rain to all the rain in a thunderstorm;
one snowflake to all the flakes falling in a blizzard;
one breath to all the breaths you will ever take;
one heartbeat to all the beats of your heart;

So is.....
your prayer to all the prayers God hears.


No matter how big you think the need is,
to our Father God, it is so tiny.

He said we only need enough faith as is the
size of one mustard seed.  That is so tiny!

We expect so much of ourselves, but God
requires so little.  Jesus already gave all for us.

I hope this Christmas season you will be able
to see how little your needs are to your
Heavenly Father, and that your tiny seed of faith
is more than enough for the miracle that you seek.

Need directions? Don't ask me unless you want to get lost!

Why am I so directionally challenged???  It is so easy for me to get lost.  I hate getting lost.  I spent at least an hour today not knowing exactly where I was.....yes, I was using the gps map on my iphone.  Yes, I was watching that little green dot moving along the green line that was my trip map.  No one ever told me that the green dot keeps moving if you lose your cell signal.  But all that means is, it moves whatever direction you are going.  You can no longer see the map - just the green dot moving on the line.  Next thing I know, the map is back.  That's when I noticed that the signal was back - which, by the way, I had not figured out before this.  That's also when I noticed that my little green dot was moving in the oppposite direction of my green line where I was supposed to be.  I was sooooo disappointed to realize that I was going the wrong way, and that, of course, I had no idea where I had taken a wrong turn (or not taken the right one).  To top it all off, I had been behind a white truck for miles.  At this very moment, they decided to turn right.  I figured they would think I was following them, if I chose to turn the same place (so I could turn around), so I kept going a little ways longer. 

As I turned around and re-set the trip planner from my current location, I couldn't help but think about some things I wished I had done differently this morning before I left home.  I made this same trip a few months ago with no problem, so I didn't really even think about getting the directions again.  Big mistake!!  Two other people from my town were also coming here.  Why didn't we caravan?  Cell phones are nice, but they cannot be depended on when there is no signal.  The only think that would have made me feel totally at ease would have been to know the directions by heart.  That would have given me full confidence that I knew exactly where to go and what to do.

I thought about my Christian walk then, and how important it is to have God's Word in my heart - to know some scripture from memory.  We don't always have time to look up a verse or call someone when something happens quickly.  What great assurance it is to remember what God promised when facing hard times.  It only takes a few seconds to go from worry to peace when you can recall what God's Word says about your situation.  It is the best thing you can have to help you know where to go and what to do. 

---- I added something to my blog today.  I made it at Wordle.net.  It's made to take ideas, comments, or feelings from a group and put the answers given most in larger print, and then smaller prints for other words, according to the number of times that answer was given.  You can also use it to enter your blog address, and it will make a wordle out of the words you used on your blog.  The words that occured more often are in the largest print. 

I got a big blessing out of this.  Check it out!  It's fun.  I hope you have a great week.  God bless!

Small Miracles

(but miracles, nonetheless)


Earlier today, I was standing at the kitchen sink and looking out the window, when something that was small went flying through the air.  Expectantly, my heart jumped, and I was excited.  Was it a hummingbird?  I felt such a thrill to think it might be.  Have you ever felt that way? 

I began to think about hummingbirds and how hard and rare it is to see one.  But then God reminded of something.  If you want to see hummingbirds, you have to create the right conditions - the sweet nectar they eat; the right kind of feeder; and the right kind of flowers.  If you have all those things, you will see hummingbirds quite often.  I don't have all those things, so on the very rare occasion that I do see a hummingbird in my yard, it feels like a small miracle to me and gives me such a blessing.

This made me start thinking about God and miracles.  Some people say miracles don't happen anymore.  I know they do because I have experienced some, and no one can convince me that they are not real.  However, miracles need the right conditions to be seen, just like hummingbirds do.  The most important thing you need is faith in God's ability and love for you.  Whatever you ask for must agree with His Word and His Will for your life.  You cannot have the faith you need if you do not know Him well enough to trust Him completely.  You cannot know Him unless you spend much time with Him in the Word and prayer. 

Think of someone in your life that you love very much.  How often do you think about them during the day?  How often do you spend time with them or talk to them?  Do you think about your Heavenly Father during the day?  Do you take the time to talk to Him and spend time with Him?  As far back as I can remember, I talk to Him every day.  I cannot imagine not doing it.  He is such a vital part of my life.  I don't want to go a day without talking to Him.  Still, I ask myself if I have enough faith to believe Him for a miracle.  Do you? 

Times are hard right now for a lot of people.  The Bible tells us that they will get even harder.  I know I need to spend even more time with Him and in reading His Word, which is our lifeline to survive in the trials and temptations of our lives.  I hope you will join me.  I pray God blesses you this week and draws you into His Presence and gives you so much joy that you overflow on others. 

Just a reminder...............

Nothing we are going through can come anywhere close to what Jesus experienced in his life while on this earth.  The only difference is that He didn't have to  -  we do, though. 

Whatever you are going through, just remember.  Jesus knows.  Jesus cares.  Jesus loves you.  He proved it by giving His life for you.  He gave His life so you could have the same wonderful Father that He does.  His Father is your father, if you accept Jesus' free gift of salvation.  Call Daddy and tell Him what's wrong.  He will answer you and help you.

Jeremiah 33:3 (in my own words) says "Call me, and I'll answer you, and show you great and mighty things you don't know."  His line is never busy, and He won't put you on hold.  He'll take care of it.

      OVERFLOW           


















I prayed all week for the Lord to give me a topic for my next post.  He dropped it into my heart Friday night with one word:  overflow.  After thanking Him for it, I have pondered it and prayed about it since.  Why did he pick "overflow" instead of "overflowing"?  Typically, when we think of this concept, we think of it as "overflowing", right? 


I did some research with the Strong Concordance and the Webster 1828 Dictionary (which is supposed to be the dictionary with the nearest definition to what the word meant in the Bible). And, of course, I knew that "overflow" is a noun, and "overflowing" is a verb or adjective (depending on how it is used in the sentence). "Overflowing" means spilling over.  We all know that, without even looking it up, and we know that God wants Christians to be overflowing onto others, leading them to Christ and eternal life by accepting his free gift of salvation through the sacrifice Jesus made for each of us by the shedding of his innocent blood. God wants us to live our lives so that others will want what we have, giving us the opportunity to share the source of any blessing in our life.


So, what is the Lord trying to tell us by using the topic "Overflow"?  The meaning of "overflow" is superabundance.  We cannot be overflowing until we have overflow, which is, superabundance.  Joy cannot be overflowing out of us onto others unless we have a superabundance of joy first.  The same can be said about any good thing:  peace, scripture, encouragement.....you get the idea. We have to be more than just full.  We must be MORE than full, to the point that we cannot contain it anymore!!  The superabundance is what starts overflowing onto others and ministering to them.


How do we have that superabundance in our life?  We get it by continually drinking and feasting from God's Word - then meditating on it, studying it, and applying it to our lives.  If we only read it, we will forget it.  We must do all these other things, too, to get it inside us.  If it is not inside us, it will not fill us up.  If we do not get filled up, we cannot overflow. 


We also need time in prayer.  Prayer is two-way communication with God.  It is not just us telling him our needs.  We also need to be still and listen.  He wants to speak to our hearts.  And we need to praise Him.  We have so much to thank Him for because He is so good to us. 


I encourage you to give Him time every day, if you are not already doing so, and put enough of His Word, prayer, and praise into your spirit so that you cannot contain it all, and then watch it spill over onto others and fill your heart and life with so much joy.  Please feel free to share a comment of something good the Lord has done for you.  I would love to hear if you like my blog, and I pray you have a great week in the Lord!

                STILL MAGNOLIAS                             



My good friend Diane recently shared some thoughts the Lord showed her during a quiet time with Him.  Instead of always trying to do things in our own power - and often failing - , God wants us to be "still magnolias", quiet and still before Him in worship, prayer, and studying and meditating on His Word, allowing Him to enable us by His Holy Spirit with His Power to tackle the needs in our lives.  Diane was gracious enough to give me permission to take her revelation and turn it into a devotion for the ladies auxiliary meeting at the church I attend.  I hope it blesses you in some way.

Steel is hard, cold, tough, inflexible, insensible, and unyielding.  In some of life's circumstances, women feel they have to be "steel magnolias", like the women in the movie of the same name.  We can tackle any problem and solve it, while enduring heartache and stress and never taking time for ourselves. Yet the problems don't stay solved.  We face the same ones over and over.

A still magnolia is silent before God, protected by Him, calm, at rest, and waiting on Him in service and expectation of His Goodness.  She trusts the Lord with all of her cares, and He meets her every need by the power of the Holy Spirit working in and through her.  As she rests calmly in Him, she grows and matures, blessing others God puts in her path.

Which type of magnolia do YOU want to be?

SCRIPTURE REFERENCES

Still - Psalms 4:4  "Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with you own heart upon your bed, and be still." KJV

Silent - Psalms 30:12  "To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent, O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee forever."

Protection - 1 Samuel 2:9  "He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail."

Quieted (Spiritual Maturity)  "Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother; my soul is even as a weaned child."

Calm - Psalms 107:29  " He maketh the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still."

Rest - Psalms 37:7  "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass."

Wait - Psalms 62:5  "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him."
                                                        
          To sum it all up, be still and silent before the Lord in a quiet place and examine your own heart.  Listen with your heart, and He will guide you in all your ways.  Worship Him and continually give Him thanks.  He will protect you by His Power.  You will mature as a Christian and be able to help others and share your faith with them.  By continuing in Him every day, you will have faith to sustain you in times of need and be calm.  Being confident that He has everything under control, you can rest and wait for Him.

                                            

Under Construction

Please come back in a few days and check out my blog. My aim is to provide a place where women can reflect on the blessings in their lives while they meditate on God's goodness.

I named this page White Hydrangeas because I associate them with peace, calmness, and pleasure - all things a woman needs in her day. I hope you will come back soon! God bless!