Stress Stress Stress

We are surrounded by stressful things continually. God's Word tells us in John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God ; trust also in me." But why is it continually so hard for us to trust in the Lord? I know many times this is a struggle for me more than I'd like it to be. Life is crazy for me and I don't see things easing up any time soon. I am going to have to rely on the Lord for strength. I've realized that I cannot make it without him. Shame on me for ever thinking I could!

My prayer today is that my faith will increase. I do feel this process happening inside my heart gradually. Just think about life for a minute. There are so many things that we do based on "Faith" that we don't even realize. We wake up in the morning and get ready for our day. Going out to our cars we have faith that they will start and that we'll get to our destination safely. We have faith that if we go to work our employers will pay us. We have faith that once that traffic light turns green its safe to proceed. I could go on. What I'm getting at is this question. Why is it that when the rubber meets the road in our physical lives we tend to trust ourselves more than we would ever trust the Lord with our lives?

There are so many things in my life that are uncertain at this very moment. I have taken on the task of pursuing my Masters Degree as a Physicians Assistant and I have no idea how it's all going to work out. I'm excited, a bit scared but mostly becoming more and more faithful. I know that in Hebrews 13 God's word tells me that he will never leave or forsake us and this is a great encouragement for me. This verse I'll hold onto as I let go of the stresses that seem to entangle so much of me. Thank you Lord for your Word!

Thank God it's Friday!!

2 Corinthians 4:16-18-

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

What a week this has been! My husband has been out of town for the past week and he flies back in tonight. It'll be so good to see him :) It's been somewhat of a stressful week for me. Sometimes kids can be a lot of work! Taking care of them on a daily basis is more work than people realize at times. Though by God's grace, I'm able to do a somewhat decent job of parenting :) Today as I searched through the Bible for encouragement I came across the verse above. God never promises us an easy life but in His Word He tells us that after we have endured and made it through this life, the reward is going to be priceless. This verse encouraged me because it gives me hope. If you don't have hope what do you have? God has been overwhelmingly good to me even with all of the challenges that life continues to throw at me. My challenge at times is being optimistic but by God's grace He's helping me to become increasingly grateful- not focusing on what I don't have but on what he has blessed me with. Thank you for a great week Lord. A week full of your grace and love showered upon my life. Thank you for providing me with every single thing I needed this week. You're the greatest friend a girl could ever hope for!

What? Who says I need God in my life?

God really has a way of getting my attention. I say this because we as people have the tendency to not bother with God until there's something to the effects of a dire emergency that demands our action. When you think about a relationship, no relationship functions well this way. Think about it. You're married and your husband/wife only gets to talk to you when you have a problem and need his or her help. Or you're in a relationship with someone and you feel that you don't really call them unless there is something you need. I think if we behaved like this with people we know, we'd probably cease to have any friends- any real friends that is. So why do I do this to God? Why do I wait and wait and wait until I am in a dire emergency situation, exhausted all of my options then think of God as my last resort? I think it's simple- human nature.

God my prayer today is that you will give me a deeper desire to love you and seek you with all that I have. I read a devotion the other day that spoke about us not loving the gift more than we love the "Giver". A scripture that comes to mind is the one about Paul and the thorn in his side (See 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 Below). Think about how annoying that must have been. Paul recognized that the Lord had put the thorn there as a reminder for him not to become conceited. What a thought. I definitely have some thorns in my life and I am coming to the realization that God has them there for a reason- For my dependence on him and not myself. Lord as strange as this may seem I am grateful for the thorns in my life. Do I like them? Absolutely not. But if they bring me closer to you and my Lord Jesus Christ then I guess I'd better stay grounded in you :)


2 Cor. 12:7-9:
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

What goes around...

Today was a great day. We went to church earlier then came home and I took a nap. Today was the birthday of my father in law. We went out to dinner at the Andiamo restaurant in Livonia. Almost everyone did NOT enjoy their meal and we were overall somewhat disappointed :-( We came home tonight to find that someone in our neighborhood who was walking their dog let him or her poop on our walkway on the side of our home. I just wonder what type of person continues to do this? If you're gonna walk your dog what's the problem with respecting the people that live in the neighborhood? That is one thing that I am sadly disappointed in. The people that live around us are really not that nice. Their dogs poop everywhere and most all of the people refuse to pick it up! I'm like come on this is ridiculous! I do believe that we all reap what we sow. I have a strange feeling that this is intentional. My husband refuses to believe it is but that's just my opinion. I just hope that someday these people- whoever it may be will wake up one day and say, man, this is wrong of me to do this. Only in a perfect world I guess. I do strongly believe that what goes around comes around. Whoever is doing this to us may mean if for our harm but I know that God will repay whomever this is. I just pray that my heart is right and that I can stop being so disturbed by this. I just wonder if anyone else has gone through this? Random neighbors walking their dogs and having them poop on your yard and just leave it there? Lord just please help me to be calm while you handle this for me. I'm remembering Romans 8: 28 tonight!

Today's a great day!

It's been a while since I've been on here :) I'm really not the blogger type, but I'll try to keep current, I'll try :) The last time I wrote that my kitchen was under construction and that I was eating sitting on the floor. Well now the kitchen is 90% done!! There are some finishing details but nothing like how it looked 3 months ago. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. We had our counter top installed today and it looks phenomenal!! I'm so happy!! Now all we have to do is to get the faucet connected and the garbage disposal! Then I can stop washing dishes in the 1/2 bathroom sink!