I just have a really random thot.... I keep seeing that when I fix my eyes on Jesus....he seems to take care of all the details....that doesn't mean that my life automatically becomes easy....I mean come on...i have 3 boys ;) ....but i do see that He seems to make things fall into place and i don't get so stressed! But i know it is Him doing it, cuz i usually am a pile of stress....The reason for this post is basically a reminder to me ;)

I also included some pics of this weekend... we went to Warren Woods and picnic-ed....Travis didn't wanted to be photographed....so that blurry one above is him...I didn't want to leave him out ;)

This is a daily devotional that comes to my email everyday....so helpful to me to day!



"Tuesday, April 17, 2007
YOU HAVE COME . . . TO THE SPRINKLED BLOOD THAT SPEAKS A BETTER WORD THAN THE BLOOD OF ABEL.Hebrews 12:22, 24 Reader, have you come to "the sprinkled blood"? The question is not whether you have come to a knowledge of doctrine or an observance of ceremonies or to a certain form of experience, but have you come to the blood of Jesus? The blood of Jesus is the life of all vital godliness. If you have truly come to Jesus, we know how you came--the Holy Spirit kindly brought you there. You came to the sprinkled blood with no merits of your own. Guilty, lost, and helpless, you came to take that blood, and that blood alone, as your everlasting hope. You came to the cross of Christ with a trembling and an aching heart; and what a precious sound it was to you to hear the voice of the blood of Jesus! The dropping of His blood is as the music of heaven to the penitents of earth. We are full of sin, but the Savior bids us lift our eyes to Him; and as we gaze upon His streaming wounds, each drop of blood, as it falls, cries, "It is finished; I have made an end of sin; I have brought in everlasting righteousness." Sweet language of the precious blood of Jesus! If you have come to that blood once, you will come to it constantly. Your life will be "looking to Jesus." Your whole conduct will be epitomized in this--"to whom coming." Not to whom I have come, but to whom I am always coming. If you have ever come to the sprinkled blood, you will feel your need of coming to it every day. He who does not desire to wash in it every day has never washed in it at all. Believers constantly feel it to be their joy and privilege that there is still a fountain opened. Past experiences are doubtful food for Christians; a present coming to Christ alone can give us joy and comfort. This morning let us sprinkle our doorpost fresh with blood, and then feast upon the Lamb, assured that the destroying angel must pass us by. "



Please note: Devotional material is taken from “Morning and Evening,” written by C.H. Spurgeon, revised and updated by Alistair Begg. Copyright (c) 2003, Good News Publishers and used by Truth for Life with written permission. Scripture quotations are taken from Holy Bible: English Standard Version, copyright (c) 2001, Good News Publishers.
Truth For Life's agreement with Good News Publishers prevents the ministry from allowing a printer-friendly version of the devotional material. We are sorry for any inconvenience.

Need this reminder all around.... :) all the time, all the days, all the minutes, all the seconds, all the months, all the years, all the decades, all the weeks, all the milliseconds......


Mar 12:29 Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord,
Mar 12:30 and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'
Mar 12:31 The second is this: 'You must love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these."



ps.... :) :)---can't think of any other time measurements.....

Check out the http://www.girltalk.blogs.com/ March 16,2007 friday funnies
Hilarious

I just ordered a cd that is scripture set to music. I am very excited, cuz it is for the whole family! I listened to a couple of previews off their site and they seem really good.....

check it out yourself

http://www.seedsmusic.com/

I was looking at the epm.org website and guess what i found!!!! CS Lewis quotes....here i will share them with you!! ;)

Quotable C. S. Lewis


On Heaven and Hell:
Aim at heaven, and you will get earth thrown in; aim at earth, and you will get neither.

Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret? There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.

The safest road to hell is the gradual one—the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

If we really think that home is elsewhere and that this life is a ''wandering to find home,'' why should we not look forward to the arrival?

It is hard to have patience with people who say ''There is no death'' or ''Death doesn't matter.'' There is death. And whatever is, matters. And whatever happens has consequences, and it and they are irrevocable and irreversible. You might as well say that birth doesn't matter.

If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this.

All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.



On our life here on Earth:
I sometimes wonder whether all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.

There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "All right, then, have it your way."

We were promised sufferings. They were part of the program. We were even told, "Blessed are they that mourn."

Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.

Much of the modern resistance to chastity comes from men's belief that they ''own'' their bodies- those vast and perilous estates, pulsating with the energy that made the worlds, in which they find themselves without their consent and from which they are ejected at the pleasure of Another!

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.

The real problem is not why some pious, humble, believing people suffer, but why some do not.
Courage is not simply one of the virtues but the form of every virtue at the testing point, which means at the point of highest reality.


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Psalm 37:


4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires.


16 It is better to be godly and have little than to be evil and rich.
17 For the strength of the wicked will be shattered, but the LORD takes care of the godly.


23 The LORD directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.
24 Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the LORD holds them by the hand.


These selected verses have been my tool to cultivate joy in the LORD! In other words, I am struggling with joy and want to have that in the Lord. These verses, show me how much God cares about me and is taking care of me! That I can't do any of this life without Him! I am seeking Him to give me my desires and my needs.... He even delights in the details of my life! How cool is that!!

I couldn't get on here the last couple times i tried....

Here is my current obsession....

Get your hands on ANY of Randy Alcorn's things that talk about Heaven. Here are the ones I have encountered that are absolutely LIFE CHANGING!!!!!

Safely Home
Dominion
Heaven

Here's an excerpt from Heaven " Think of friends and family members who loved Jesus and are with Him now. Picture them with you, walking together in this place. All of you have powerful bodies, stronger than those of an Olympic decathlete. You are laughing, playing, talking, and reminiscing. You reach up to a tree to pick an apple or orange. You take a bite. It's so sweet that it's startling. You've never tasted anything so good. Now you see someone coming toward you. It's Jesus with a big smile on his face. You fall to your knees in worship. He pulls you up and embraces you.

At last, you're with the person you were made for, in the place you were made to be. Everywhere you go there will be new people and place to enjoy, new things to discover. What's that you smell? A feast. A party's ahead. And you're invited. There's exploration and work to be done--and you can't wait to get started."

Since my last post, i feel like God has sooooo enlivened me to Him, His Word and His things, so ...I want to praise HIM.

I have been reading through the Psalms and so enjoying them. I haven't enjoyed them so much before, but as I meditate on them, they are so amazing. I started my reading thru the Bible again too. I want to do both that and the Psalms. But all this is thanks to God for enlivening me to Him again!!

I have been reading Randy Alcorn's book Dominion during my exercise time. I highly recommend him to anyone. He has an amazing way of describing Heaven that i have never seen before!! He makes it seem so real, so genuine and it makes so much sense!! The God who made us human is preparing a place for us. If he is preparing it for us, it should fit who we are.... We aren't going to a whole new/different place but a NEW and unfathomably amazing chapter in our life ;) --ever lasting life!!!!! Of course that is just my take on what he is saying...see for yourself :) ;)

Here's a hard one.....

I have been struggling through my daily disciplines...many excuses, but basically wrong just not doing what i know is important. So as i was evaluating this with a friend she said, why don't you do it ?? are you to busy?? i said no, and i said basically, i know that i will love that time and be blessed by it, but i can't make myself go do it....and i thought...that is really the essence of Jeremiah 2:11-13ish....that i instead of using the fountain of living water to supply my daily need--i start to dig out or find something else....and that according to God is evil....

I have been striving for a holiday spirit thru these holidays and God has been helping me so much!! There have been several helpful things involved. My husband's guidance, Pastor Brian's Sunday message and God softly reminding me something. I was thinking about a Mary/Martha heart issue.... I guess Wes from church prayed that on sunday.... anyway, I always think of the Mary/Martha issue as a physical, work issue or lack of it. Than the Holy Spirit made me realize that it is really a heart attitude..... as i work thru things, be it chaos of kids, cooking, preparing, etc.... My heart needs to reflect the attitude of sitting before God. There are things that need to be done, there are people to go see, it gets crazy, but in my heart, that is where the peace, love and Mary heart need to be.... that really made a difference to me this Christmastime. Maybe it seems normal and basic, but that makes my relationship with God all the more personal this Christmas. Maybe that was His gift to me :)

I have an obsession.... well, lots of them really, but one of them is the TRUTH. In our world, at least our american culture, there tends to be such an absence of truth. That to me is the center of sin issues that i deal with--as in selfishness, pride, etc.... i think i am the main thing. Or as in lying, i think that lying will get me out of trouble--the truth, is God's way tho, and in the long run, only that is lasting, real and satisfying. The sin issues, or the lies only complicate and cause pain. So i was encouraged the other day to read in John 15 that Jesus was telling his disciples about 'the Spirit of Truth" and in John 16, He talks about sending the 'Comforter' or 'Spirit of truth'....so does it seem that the Holy Spirit guides us by giving us truth, and guiding us in that??? How cool is that!!!!

I like to play

my best time on this game so far was 43 seconds....can you beat me

(i am competitive too) :)

I am totally living off this passage today...it is sustaining me ;)


Lamentations 3
21 Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this:22 The faithful love of the LORD never ends!* His mercies never cease.23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!"25 The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.26 So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD.27 And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of his discipline:28 Let them sit alone in silence beneath the LORD's demands.29 Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last.30 Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies.31 For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever.32 Though he brings grief, he also shows compassion because of the greatness of his unfailing love.33 For he does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow.34 If people crush underfoot all the prisoners of the land,35 if they deprive others of their rights in defiance of the Most High,36 if they twist justice in the courts— doesn't the Lord see all these things?37 Who can command things to happen without the Lord's permission?

Praises to God today for:

yay, the sun is shining today ;)

I started my day the right way today...i usually don't read on the weekends, but i pay for it soooo bad...i don't want to be a legalist, but i absolutely need God's word everyday, or i become consummed with myself!! i can't stop it, so i have to fight it i guess! but I thank God that He made me desperate for HIS WORD....that only happens when HE puts that desire in me.

From a friend....very meaningful and needful for me today and really, my favorite passage ;)



Joh 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.
Joh 15:2 He removes every branch in me that does not produce fruit, and he cleanses every branch that does produce fruit so that it might produce more fruit.
Joh 15:3 You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
Joh 15:4 "Abide in me, and I will abide in you. Just as the branch cannot produce fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
Joh 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him produces much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Joh 15:6 Unless a person abides in me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up. People gather such branches and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
Joh 15:7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you can ask for anything you want, and it will be yours.
Joh 15:8 This is how my Father is glorified, when you produce a lot of fruit and prove to be my disciples.
Joh 15:9 Just as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. So abide in my love.
Joh 15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.
Joh 15:11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
Joh 15:12 "This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you.
Joh 15:13 No one shows greater love than when he lays down his life for his friends.
Joh 15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
Joh 15:15 I do not call you servants anymore, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.
Joh 15:16 "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. I have appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you.
Joh 15:17 I am giving you these commandments so that you may love one another."

meditating on this is sooooo helpful, needful and good!!

Yesterday, God really showed me some interesting things.... A very long story, but let's see if I can get some of it out at least ;)

Well, I have been really struggling through my times with God,and sometimes for days at a time avoiding it altogether. Not on purpose, but things happen and I just let it 'slide'. This has been happening on and off for about 2 weeks. Well, some things are happening as far as 'rest of my life' decisions with Tim and I and I just felt a really big need to hear from and sit before God.... sooooo here's what came really directly from God ....I am very thankful BTW....Because as I said, I have NOT been faithful to him, yet he continues to be faithful to me!! How amazing and wonderful....

So, I realize as I go to God's word that I need someone to preach to me....I am not getting it on my own, so I chose Spurgeon for this day, ( either choose him or CS Lewis :).....Well, the title of this particular entry was "The sin of unbelief"

"Thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof." Listen unbelievers! Ye have heard this morning your sin; now listen to your doom: "Ye shall see it with your eyes, but shalt not eat thereof." It is so often with God's own saints. When they are unbelieving, they see the mercy with their eyes, but do not eat it. Now, here is corn in this land of Egypt; but there are some of God's saints who come here on the Sabbath, and say, "I do not know whether the Lord will be with me or not." Some of them say, "Well, the gospel is preached, but I do not know whether it will be successful." They are always doubting and fearing. Listen to them when they get out of the chapel. "Well, did you get a good meal this morning?" "Nothing for me." Of course not. Ye could see it with your eyes, but did not eat it, because you had no faith. If you had come up with faith, you would have had a morsel. I have found Christians, who have grown so very critical, that if the whole portion of the meat they are to have, in due season, is not cut up exactly into square pieces, and put upon some choice dish of porcelain, they cannot eat it. Then they ought to go without; and they will have to go without, until they are brought to their appetites. They will have some affliction, which will act like quinine upon them: they will be made to eat by means of bitters in their mouths; they will be put in prison for a day or two until their appetite returns, and then they will be glad to eat the most ordinary food, off the most common platter, or no platter at all. But the real reason why God's people do not feed under a gospel ministry, is, because they have not faith. If you believed, if you did but hear one promise, that would be enough.

for meditation: The unbeliever needs to hear in order to believe (Romans 10:14);the believer needs to believe in order to hear"

the Scriptures that went with this devotional were 2Kings 7:19 and John 20:24-29 Which show 2 people and their unbelief. A king's messenger who says even if God opens heaven, that won't happen and Thomas who says I won't believe unless I see. God honors Thomas and punishes the messenger. How encouraging that God gently, kindly ministers to the needs of Thomas, even in his unbelief!!! Let me believe, but minister to my unbelief as well dear Lord!! I guess the difference is that the messenger says, no matter what God does, it can't happen! I pray that God will keep me from that! --- so belief is a big issue and i am sure it is going to apply to alot of my 'life decision' issues..... but i also need to know what to do in relation to my whole 'life decision' ---hope you can follow my 'random' thots.......but anyway........ we were not in agreement with our thots..... this was in the back of my mind...... and as I finished my time with God I really wanted to have a take away verse that I could carry with me and be encouraged by and this is the one God gave me! It's Philippians 2:2b (and beyond really) but this is what I needed in relation to my 'life issue'

"agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose" ---so there's my direction for this life decision. I didn't really have a feeling of agreement, but that truth from God's word confirmed what I need to do and changed my heart!! But I remember that I was faithless and God was faithful to me in the midst of that--so, it is nothing of me, but God in His kindness making me a little bit more like Jesus ;) and I am sooooo thankful for that!!!

and today, Spurgeon's title was "Self-Sufficiency Slain" scriptures 2Chronicles 32:30-31 John 15:5 and Philippians 4:6-13--i am glad for this as well, cuz i don't want to think "I have this down"..... i need God every bit in this area as ever....k, guess i better be done here.....

These verses have been sooo meaningful to me lately....I was sulking about something and here's what God said .....


Psalm 4
6 Many people say, "Who will show us better times?" Let your face smile on us, LORD.7 You have given me greater joy than those who have abundant harvests of grain and new wine.8 In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O LORD, will keep me safe.

Here's what I gained from this.... Ok, here's my circumstances....I can either A> ask for things to get better or B> seek to see the smiling face of God on me..... Well the passage goes on to explain how wonderful and preferable the B> is......So I choose to choose that --by God's enabling grace of course ;) smiles...... And do you know that after meditating on that some that I have seen the sun shining a lot more lately, that sure makes me think of a smile from God ....What a good, kind God!!!!!!!

I was reading a lot today, as I haven't been reading much...And I just feel like I am missing out on things.....SO I started in Romans and than I started reading in my daily Spurgeon book and that lead me to I Timothy and Ezekiel. I found Ezekiel extremely interesting, especially since my husband has been reading it and telling me how much he is enjoying it. So I am going to give an excerpt here....I will try to not make it long, but the whole chapter is just so good, so we'll see where I stop ;) (this is the NLT, which i read out of a lot...it is very simple and straightforward)

Ezekiel 36:16-37


16 Then this further message came to me from the LORD:17 "Son of man, when the people of Israel were living in their own land, they defiled it by the evil way they lived. To me their conduct was as unclean as a woman's menstrual cloth.18 They polluted the land with murder and the worship of idols,* so I poured out my fury on them.19 I scattered them to many lands to punish them for the evil way they had lived.20 But when they were scattered among the nations, they brought shame on my holy name. For the nations said, `These are the people of the LORD, but he couldn't keep them safe in his own land!'21 Then I was concerned for my holy name, on which my people brought shame among the nations. 22 "Therefore, give the people of Israel this message from the Sovereign LORD: I am bringing you back, but not because you deserve it. I am doing it to protect my holy name, on which you brought shame while you were scattered among the nations.23 I will show how holy my great name is--the name on which you brought shame among the nations. And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign LORD, then the nations will know that I am the LORD.24 For I will gather you up from all the nations and bring you home again to your land. 25 "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols.26 And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.*27 And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations. 28 "And you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people, and I will be your God.29 I will cleanse you of your filthy behavior. I will give you good crops of grain, and I will send no more famines on the land.30 I will give you great harvests from your fruit trees and fields, and never again will the surrounding nations be able to scoff at your land for its famines.31 Then you will remember your past sins and despise yourselves for all the detestable things you did.32 But remember, says the Sovereign LORD, I am not doing this because you deserve it. O my people of Israel, you should be utterly ashamed of all you have done! 33 "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When I cleanse you from your sins, I will repopulate your cities, and the ruins will be rebuilt.34 The fields that used to lie empty and desolate in plain view of everyone will again be farmed.35 And when I bring you back, people will say, `This former wasteland is now like the Garden of Eden! The abandoned and ruined cities now have strong walls and are filled with people!'36 Then the surrounding nations that survive will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruins and replanted the wasteland. For I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do what I say. 37 "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am ready to hear Israel's prayers and to increase their numbers like a flock.38 They will be as numerous as the sacred flocks that fill Jerusalem's streets at the time of her festivals. The ruined cities will be crowded with people once more, and everyone will know that I am the LORD."


I love this, because it stirs humility in me and reminds me of God's mercy, grace and kindness. It really is God's greatest kindness, to make much of himself and His great name and OOOO how i benefit!!

I am still working through JI Packer's 'Knowing God' Here is a really good quote out of the chapter that is titled "Goodness and Severity" (talking through the character's and attributes of God) Here it is.... (f you feel like it is to long, at least read #3)


"... Three lessons....

1. Appreciate the goodness of God. Count your blessing. Learn not to take natural benefits, endowments, and pleasures for granted; learn to thank God for them all. Do not slight the Bible, or the gospel of Jesus Christ, by an attitude of casualness towards either. The Bible shows you a savior who suffered and died in order that we sinners might be reconciled to God; Calvary is the measure of the goodness of God; lay it to heart. Ask yourself the psalmist question--'What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?' Seek grace to give his answer--' I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD....O LORD, truly I am thy servant... I will pay my vows unto the LORD now...' (Psalm 116"12ff.).

2. Appreciate the patience of God. Think how He has borne with you, and still bears with you, when so much in your life is unworthy of Him, and you have so richly deserved His rejection. Learn to marvel at His patience, and seek grace to imitate it in your dealings with other men; and try not to try His patience any more.

3. Appreciate the discipline of God. He is both your upholder and, in the last analysis, your environment; all things come of Him, and you have tasted His goodness every day of your life. Has this experience led you to repentance and faith in Christ? If not, you are trifling with God, and stand under the threat of His severity. But if, now, He, in Whitefield's phrase, puts thorns in your bed, it is only to awaken you from the sleep of spiritual death, and to make you rise up to see His mercy. Or if you are a true believer, and He still puts thorns in your bed, it is only to keep you from falling into the somnolence of complacency, and to ensure that you 'continue in goodness' by letting your sense of need bring you back constantly in self-abasement and faith to seek His face. This kindly discipline, in which God's severity touches us for a moment in the context of His goodness, is meant to keep us from having to bear the full brunt of that severity apart from context. It is a discipline of love, and must be received accordingly. 'My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord' (Hebrews 12:5) "It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes' (Psalm 119:71)