Notes on message on love/personal thoughts about the holidays

I have been making notes on preparation for a message on love and how God’s love transforms our heart. Tonight I am not focused on the message but on the holidays. Thanksgiving was just a month ago and in two days we celebrate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ on a day we call Christmas. Memories of the holidays of my youth I can remember that they were much different than how they spent in the recent years. Stores closed early and families spent time together celebrating and enjoying family. The food, the smiles, and even playing football together. We took time to do the little things and there was love. Now I see selfish greed. There is so much hatred in the world today, the concept of peace seems unattainable. Shouts of ‘No justice, no peace’. Violence on top of an epidemic. The world is falling apart and is on a self destructive path and no one seems to realize they are a part of it. All we do is demand our own rights while stampeding over others. No life seems to be safe. Love and peace feel like a distant dream. So why even bother with Christmas. With everything going on in the world today it is not the presents and shopping that should matter. We should be thinking about the best gift we were all given, and that is the Son of God, our Savior, Jesus came to this fallen world to save each and every one of us. Loving us and forgiving us, by showing great mercy. Teaching us what love truly is, for He is love. It is not the trees, the decorations and lights, or the presents we buy, but the love none of us could buy or work for. A love given freely. A gift we just need to receive and give thanks. It is a time to remember this.

I pray that you all are blessed as you celebrate this Christmas, and that your hearts overflow with love, peace and joy. May the year to come give you hope and peace. God protect and prosper you in the fruits of His Spirit. Amen.

Call To Prayer ? Praying for our enemies

Jesus teaches to love those who hate you and bless those who curse you. Those who are in the world can find this almost impossible. Why would we love someone who hates us, and why would we want to bless them? To be honest I find this a difficult task. When someone hurts you, your reflex is to protect yourself and strike back. You have been hurt and you want to hurt the person in return, but this is not God’s way. While on the cross, Jesus said, ‘Forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.’ If it had been anyone else hanging on that cross dying for someone else’s crime, I do not believe they would have been asking for the ones who were responsible to be forgiven. It is His love that forgives us, even though we do not deserve His grace and mercy. We want the ones responsible for our pain to pay for what they have done, but Jesus died to pay that price. The best thing I can pray for one you would call my enemy is for them to receive the love of Jesus and repent. The blessing of His salvation, His love, and His healing. If they turn to Christ and give their lives to Him, they would no longer be our enemy, but a brother or sister in Christ Jesus. So I pray that anyone who has ever done you or myself wrong, repents and receive the blessing of His salvation. That they learn of His love and mercy, and that they grow in His love. I also pray that I can love them as Jesus loves me.

P.S. I hope this post makes sense, I am intense pain which fogs up my thoughts, but I wanted to write this while it was fresh in my mind.

Call To Prayer / A Hymn – In The Garden

I wanted to share this hymn with you today, because it speaks of spending time alone with God. Walking and talking. A special time, and even though this song is not about Jesus in Gethsemane praying, being in a garden reminds me of how Jesus prayed there. I hope you take a minute to enjoy listening to this hymn.

Also I hope you will leave any prayer request, for what ever need you may have, or for any one or church, organization or ministry you support, so we can pray together and for each other.

God bless you and keep you safe, in Jesus name.

It is only in your mind

1.It is only in your mind.
2.You are just seeing things.
3. Hearing voices?

The list above all happen in your head, Like get your head on straight, meaning straighten out your way of thinking. The land of imagination is found in your mind. Creativity comes from your mind not your hands. Even scripture tells us to take every thought captive, and put on the helmet of salvation. So much power is in your mind.  I think that without imagination it is difficult for a person to believe in a God who loves us. Loves us so much He sent His Son to die for us. Think about it. If you are a parent, you would sacrifice your life for your child. You however would not sacrifice your child for any reason, and definitely not for people who hate you. But that is what God has done for us. Hard to believe isn’t it.
John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
It is only in your mind – you must believe. Sin starts as a thought before it becomes an act and belief is a thought that can lead you to salvation. Believe in Jesus and you will have eternal life. Isaiah 55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.”
You are seeing things – He will open your eyes to see more clearly. Ephesians 1:18 I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, Psalm 119:18 Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law.
Hearing voices? – Do you hear Him calling you? John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: Josh 2:11 Hearing this has melted our heart, neither has there remained any more spirit in any man because of you, for the LORD your God is God above in the heavens and in the earth beneath.
If you have not already done this, I pray that you open your eyes to see the true love of The Father, an open your ears to hear Him calling you. Then open your mind to believe Jesus is the Son of God and receive Him as Lord and Savior.
Matthew 13:16 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear.

Testimony/ God restores / February 5, 2019

I do not know how many of you have read any other parts of my testimony. The dark and what could look like hopeless periods of my life. I have shared how I was falsely accused and criminally charged with felony assault. This had been done after I had been cleared by CPS three times, when they found the charges were not true. My stepmother had turned my daughter against me, and with the help of my father I was arrested and dragged through the criminal courts. In the end I lost my daughter and was banned from her life up to not having any contact up to 3rd party. It was a difficult defeat. My world had ended as I knew it. Especially when my mother died of a sudden stroke within a month of the courts ruling.  All of this is included in another testimony “I gave up on life and survived”. Well after 7 years my daughter did come back into my life almost a year and a half ago. I was so happy to have her back in my life that I trusted God that He would protect me and not let go to prison for having contact with my daughter, and the grandson you gave birth to while I was banned from her life. I had asked her to go to the courts last year so I could have permission to see her without fear of legal repercussion, because since it was a criminal charge she did not have to be used at this point to have me arrested again. Anyone with a grudge against me could tell the courts I was in violation of the court ruling. Mainly the people I feared was my own family. Since I was afraid of their actions but did not want to reject my daughter and wanted to get to know my grandson I tolerated any negative behavior on their part out of fear. Fear of going to prison and fear of losing my daughter and now my grandson.

Some may wonder how did I go on with my life after all that I had lived through. There is a scripture that I held on to, and shared with other parents and it is Jeremiah 31:16-17 But I, the Lord, say to dry your tears. Someday your children will come home from the enemy’s land. Then all you have done for them will be greatly rewarded. ¹⁷ So don’t lose hope.  I, the Lord, have spoken.(CEV)

Here is the news I have to share today. My daughter went to the courts yesterday and the good news is I am no longer banned from her life. I am angry to learn that the judge and attorneys had lied to me at my final hearing, and that the banning from my daughters life ended in April 2017, but the the judge, the prosecutor and the papers I received gave no end date, stating that I was permanently banned. I have lived with the fear of what they could do to me since my daughter had chosen to come back into my life. I tolerated their negative behavior and bit my tongue more times than I can count, afraid if I spoke up for myself all hell would break out again and I did not know if I could go through the trials again. So lived in fear and took whatever they gave with a smile, but the risk of what they could do to me was outweighed by the joy of having my daughter and getting to know my grandson made was worth the risk. I also had to trust God would not me to suffer the same pain again. Now that dark cloud is gone and the anger will go with it. I am so relieved to be free of that fear and I can say without doubt when He gave me that scripture, He gave me a lifeline.

I thank God my daughter is back in my life and now I have a wonderful grandson, He doubled my blessing.

Thankful February 22, 2018

Yesterday was an interesting day here in the little town of Bridgeport, Texas. First we had an ice storm move in, so I had to leave work after only working 2 hours and as desperately as I need every penny and cannot afford to miss work, I knew if I did not leave when I did I could end up missing a lot more work than a day or two. So I warm up my car and scrape off the ice that was already covering my windshield and head home. I didn’t make it out of the driveway of the apartment complex where my client lives before my windows were icing up, so I stopped and scraped the ice off again. I didn’t make it a block before the ice on my windows would not be moved by my windshield wipers, and unfortunately the road I was on there was no where I could safely pull over and since there were cars behind me I had to slowly trudge along using the lights on the car ahead of me to make sure I was on my side of the roan. A five minute drive turned into a 20 minute one, but thankfully I made it home safely without any incident. Thankful to be home safe and warm a power surge hit. Electricity went out. I was told ice on the power lines were to blame. Thankful to own thermals and sweats I layered up. Reports of accidents and hearing sirens from ambulances I was thankful to be home safe. Hours later still no electricity I was thankful for my little French press. I had decided to see if any work was being done to fix the electric for the apartments I live in and to see how other neighbors were doing. One neighbor said they were dealing without having power but they sure wanted some coffee. I told them I had a French press and could make them coffee. All I needed to do was boil some water and thankfully our stoves are gas. So they brought over some coffee and their coffee pot. So thanks to my little press we had coffee and they could take some home. Just as I finished pouring the coffee into their pot the lights came on. They took their coffee home and I went to blowing out candles. The second I blew out the last candle there was a loud bang. The transformer blew. Once again we were in the dark. It was hours later before it finally got fixed and the electricity came back on.

There are many lessons that can be learned from this day.

1 The true source of power comes from God alone. Jesus told His disciples He had to return home but that He would send us His Helper. This being his Holy Spirit.

John 14:26  (NKJV) But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

2 That even in the darkest hours of our lives when there is little light or none can be seen at all He is with us.

John 8:12  (ESV) Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

There are many more I could share with you but today the one that is important to me is this. Be thankful always. Not only when the sun is shining and you are happy and do not have any worries. James tells us to count it all joy when we face trials and tribulations.

Ephesians 5:20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

August 22, 2017 / Prayer for today

A light at the end of the tunnel/ Art by Julie Sheppard

May God provide for all of your needs, and may you be filled with His peace and joy.

Philippians 4:19 (KJV)  ¹⁹ But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Good news comes but sometimes you have to wait.

With so much of my testimony being about pain and abuse I thought it was time to share a small part but a part of my life that had a lot of impact and as painful as it was there was great joy when the news finally came.

This April it will be five years since my mother suddenly died of a stroke. Yes this is a sad fact. I love my mother and miss her. Yet I am not focusing on this right now.
You see when she died I did not know where she was with Jesus. We had finally started having a real relationship and mending old wounds. We were finally actually talking. I looked forward to our Thursday phone calls. Something I miss now that she is gone. I know this is sounding sad to you but it this story  does have a happy ending.
Okay a year and a half goes by after her death with this nagging question. Will I ever see her again? Did she receive Jesus as her Savior? I thought that I would go the rest of my life on earth without ever knowing till I was in Heaven. God was gracious to me and did not make me wait that long though. A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving I read an email from my Auntie Mary in Hawaii. In the email she included a video clip of the praise and worship from her church. As I watched the dancers and listened to the music play, I read her email which said, ‘This is where your Mom gave her heart back to Jesus’. My mother had recently went back to Hawaii for her aunties funeral and while there she went to church with my Auntie Mary. The news that I had so long waited for had finally come.
I still miss her and love her, but I am grateful that she is waiting for my by my Saviors side and our life together is not over. I thank God that this news finally came.

Here is a video of the praise and worship from that church.

A Bright New Year

Okay it is January and here in Bridgeport Texas it is 70 degrees the gray sky is gone and it is a beautiful bright blue sky. Not usual for us this time of year but enjoying the sunshine, tank tops and flip flops.

I know winter is not gone but I am enjoying the break from the cold of winter. It is like God is telling me that this year is going to be a much better year than the past five. In a couple of days the freezing temperatures will return but today I am basking in the sun and enjoying its’ warmth Thank you Abba Father for this beautiful day.

Genesis 8:22  “While the earth remains, Seed time and harvest, And cold and heat, And summer and winter, And day and night Shall not cease.”

Photography by Julie Sheppard

Even the tree in front of my apartment is enjoying the sunshine and has decided to bud.

Matthew 5:45  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Happy 2017

Happy and Blessed New Year!

May your year be filled with hope, peace and joy. The Love of Jesus Christ continue to grow in you, and lives be changed for good. God protect you and provide for all of your needs.