Moment By Moment

You wake up in the morning and first thoughts in your mind are..I have to get the kids up, what am I going to make for breakfast, how am I going to pay that bill, I have to get that report done for work, someone is in the hospital in your family and you worry how they are, all these busy thoughts. Then your feet hit the floor and you begin your day with stress and worry. You get the kids off to school and you get yourself ready for work. While you are walking out the door for work you see a neighbor who is going through a rough time and you have been trying to be there for them. Then you get in your car and drive to work. You get to work and deal with the stresses at work. Your mind gets bogged down because your boss or a co-worker is not being as nice as they should be to people. You go to lunch and while you are in the line at Sonic you see a homeless man who is asking people for money to eat and everyone passes him up. You reach in to your purse and give him a $10 bill and hand it to him all the while your worry about the stress that awaits you at work. Then its back to work but all the day you worry about the bills that are piling up and it weighs on your mind. You leave work and get a phone call from someone who just wants you to listen to their problems so you listen to them on your way home from work. You get home then the kids are arguing and they are asking for this and that and you just want a moment to yourself. You get dinner done then you get a shower and try to wind down but you still have all this on your mind and it never shuts down. By the end of the day your exhausted and you just want to go to sleep. Often times this is how it is we don't start are day off with God. We say well I dont have the time to in the morning I have too much to do. There is always time to make for God if you just stop and be still. Most of us don't want to stop and be still because then all the flood of thoughts take over and we dont know how to stop them from over taking our mind. You never seem to get peace of mind. Most people dont know what peace of mind is or how to get it. We are to take rest in God and give him all the burdens for us not to carry them anymore. You say how do I do that? You do it moment by moment. Whenever you start to have a flood of thoughts that are over taking you and you are stressing out just stop in that moment and say God I praise you and thank you for my peace of mind and I give it all to you. You may have to do that a thousand times a day until you get peace of mind. Don't let the enemy have a foot hold in your mind he has no power unless you give it to him. The enemy wants us to have our minds full of chaos so that we are not hearing God speak to us. We can't hear him because we don't get still and listen. It's not going to be easy for some to just be still and quiet thats when you stop and take it moment by moment and just praise HIM.

My Prayer Today To My Father

Just the thought of being without you in my life is enough to bring me to my knees. I can't think of anyone or anything else. There isn't anything that I wouldn't do for you or anything I wouldn't give up. To wake up and start my morning off spending time with you makes my day full of joy and to be able to face the day whatever challenges I may face. I want to tell everyone of how much I love you and what you have done for me and what you will do for them. I want to be lost in your presence. If anyone man wants to have my heart he will have to seek you because my heart is held by you and he will have to seek you to get to me. The love I have for you is unexplainable in meer words. I sometimes am speechless at the thought of how you love me so much that you would send your Son to die for me. I long to do your will and wait for your guidance and not to jump into what I want but wait for what you want. I am your vessel use me as you will. When I dance its only for you and for you to use me to speak to others. I am nothing without you in my life.

Trust In Him

I had an old friend tell me it broke his heart to me say that I was in pain everyday from the arthritis in my foot. He took it as if I was accepting that I was defeated and wasn't walking in faith enough to know that I can be healed. I told him that not to think that for one moment that I dont know that I am healed. It isn't because I lack the faith. I don't understand why some of us still walk everyday and deal with the pain, sickness, or disease that we do. There are some things that is hard for me to understand and do not have the answers to all I know to do is trust in him to know that I am healed and walk in that healing everyday no matter how I feel. I know that God has been dealing with me that there are things that I need to do to take care of myself better and I am making those necessary changes so that I can carry out what he has for me to do.

His Plan or Other Distractions?

This has been a rough past several days for me being sick. I don't like for anything to make me feel so bad I can't get up. I felt good enough to go to church yesterday morning and normally I wouldn't even think of doing flags but I knew I had to yesterday. There have been many things thrown at me lately that has tried to distract me from what God has called me to do. I told a friend yesterday that I have come to far and God has done too much in me for me to throw it away on a bad choice. While I was up there doing flags yesterday I couldn't sing out like I normally do when I do flags and I'm sure the look on my face was intense. I'm not a cheesy grin kinda person by nature but I do smile :). I was getting lost in his presence yesterday and didn't care who was watching or what they thought. I was praying God I have come too far now and you have done so much that I don't want to disappoint you by making any more bad choices. I was praying that he guide me and give me the wisdom to know when it's a distraction. I want more of HIM now than I ever have and nothing else is satisfying that hunger inside me anymore but HIM. This has been a year of reconnection with people from my past. Some of those people I have mended relationships with and some it was to make peace and close the door. I know that God has something big in store I feel it inside my spirit. This is not a time for letting self get in the way it's time to let God take over.

Who Is Ashamed?

I couldnt sleep very well last nite so I got my laptop and a few movies and crawled back into bed and started watching them. I was watching one night with the king. I love that movie and I havent had the opportunity to read the book yet but I plan too. Everyone always talks about the story of esther or even haman or vashti, but what stood out to me watching this movie was something that we as christians do all the time. We hide who we are in fear of what others may say or think. Esther hide who she was for fear of her life and her people. Yes the story ends well, but that doesn't always happen in our lives today. It's as if we are too ashamed to tell anyone we are christians and tell others of Gods love for them. We go to our jobs, schools, stores, churches, and even our own homes and hide who we are inside. Oh we say we are christians but we don't tell others of how God sent his son to die for them or what good things that God has done in our lives. What has caused us to be ashamed of who we are and of God? Was God ashamed of you? He sent his only son to be beaten, bruised, humiliated, scorned, and made the ultimate sacrifice and gave us his life in turn that we may live forever with him in heaven. We hide and cower at the thought of people thinking we are crazy pentecostal snake charming christians....ok some people see pentecostals that way but not all. I want to shout from the skies to anyone who will listen that Im a born again blood bought pentecostal christian. Im not ashamed of my father in heaven nor should you be. Stop letting others dictate what you say and feel. God wants us to tell others of his love, mercy, and grace that he has given to us if we but just ask for it. Dont' pass up your opportunity to tell others of how wonderful God is and how he wants to wrap his loving arms around them. He is not ashamed of you so why should you be of him?

Overcome With Unspeakable Joy

I was sitting and eating lunch by myself in a restaurant and just thinking about the dance that DIO ministered this past Sunday and I couldn't help but you smile when I thought of it. When I was up there dancing I didn't think about anyone or anything. The only thing I saw was how God had given me this dream over and over again of this dance and seeing it play out before my eyes was overwhelming. After we finished dancing I was so overcome with joy that I couldn't stop crying when we got out into the hallway. I love when God gives you something and you step aside to let him bring it to pass as he wants. Thats what its all about is not making it about ourselves. I was so proud of our DIO team. Each and every lady has their own story of how God has broken those strong holds off their life. I can't wait until we minster it again at the women's meeting.

HOARDER TO WHOLENESS

Have you ever watched that show "Hoaders"? It's about people who literally are buried in their stuff. I has over taken their houses and their life to the point that they can no longer live a normal life. They have such huge piles of stuff everywhere they can't sit on the furniture, eat at a dining room table, sleep in their beds, use their showers or tubs, or even cook food in their own kitchens. Some of the worst shows I saw they didn't even take out their trash so the home was crawling with rodents and cock roaches. The people would get very upset if others came in and tried to remove anything. They would say "That is my stuff not yours...you can't take my stuff". They would rather wallow in filth than to give up their stuff. Not all but most of the people associate a memory or an event with their things. It was usually something that happened in their life that had caused them to hoard to such an extreme. Do you know that we all have things that we hoard? I'm sure you are saying "Uhm no I don't live like that in filth and full of stuff that I don't need. Just because you are not surrounded by stuff and filth doesn't mean you are not a hoarder. What about that pain, anger, unforgiveness, insecurities, sickness, brokenness, sexual immorality, hatred, or anything else that doesn't belong inside you? Wouldn't that make you a hoarder too? Inside you you have built up so much of you have such huge piles of it and filth that it has over taken you that you are not living the life that God meant for you to live. You would rather wallow in it than to give it up. It's easier to hold onto it because it's like a security blanket of sorts. You get mad because God is moving in others lives but yet you still continue to hoard inside until you become bitter. Some of you are too stubborn to let go of your STUFF because you have a right to feel that way because of what someone else did to you or said to you and you want to continue to complain about it. God doesn't want you to hoard all that inside of you. He's waiting for you to take the first step toward him so that he can come and clean all that STUFF up that is inside you. Don't let your hoarding keep you from the freedom, joy, peace of mind, and wholeness that God has for you. As christians we would rather hold onto it than to admit that we are hoarding it inside. Don't let what others may say or think hold you back from letting God come and clean up the STUFF. He wants to take you from Hoarder to Wholeness and live the life that he has waiting for you.