One Body

"For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another."  

Romans 12: 4-5

God is watching us everyday in our lives.  It is difficult to think about sometimes but we are only a small part that makes up the whole body, which is apart of God.  It is easy to get involved with only our family and loved ones but God calls us to a greater responsibility.  He calls us to reach out to the stranger or to the neighbor or to someone you see for maybe only a few seconds in your lifetime.  We must know that we will make up God's kingdom and we have to show God we can work together, not just for ourselves.  This is a hard one for me because I need a constant reminder of what others may be going through and what a simple smile or holding of a door can do for someone.  We all have special gifts that God has instilled in us and if we use them to help the body and bring the body together and closer to God, He will be pleased.  One day we will all be as one.          

Call on Jesus

"I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications.  Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live."  Psalm 116: 1-2

It is hard to imagine a powerful almighty Lord being brought to tears but in a world today that is lost and broken and filled with evil we must remember that Jesus wept too.  Jesus wept at the garden, at the grave and over the city that was lost and gone astray.  There is only One who is by your side, who knows the way you feel.  He knows the fears deep inside you, He knows your sorrows and your deepest griefs.  Jesus cares.  He feels our sorrow when we don't know why and I am so thankful for that.  He listens and He knows when to pass the cup and when we can endure and transform.  I can call on the Lord for understanding because I know He is listening and I know He knows my pain.  He is the only One that can save, so call on Him everyday!   

"For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.  I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.  I believed, therefore, I spoke. I am greatly afflicted."  

Psalm 116: 8-10  

Life

When I was a young girl I would look forward to my birthday for many weeks before the actual day.  I would day dream about what I would get for presents and who would come to my party and when I blew my candles out on my cake I would wish for more material things for myself.  A typical child in love with life and all it had to offer for me.  As I got older, I would reflect on my past years and set new goals for the next birthday.  Now that I am a little wiser I know it was never my life to celebrate.  My life has always been in God's hands.  It is not mine to waste away or wish upon.  The only reason I live and breathe is because of what Christ suffered and endeared for me.  And at any second He can decide to take my life back.  So today I do not celebrate my birthday, another year gone by or my many accomplishments or failures.  I celebrate my life belonging to Christ.  And I am so happy to celebrate that!  I have a light inside my soul that shines bright and burns to get out.  For I know that my flesh is nothing.  It is my Spirit that lives strong everyday.

"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.  The words I have spoken to you are the Spirit and they are life."  John 6:63.        

My birthdays will come and go but my life with Christ is forever.

"For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord."  Proverbs 8:35

"I am the light of the world.  He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life."  John 8:12

Christ is my life and my way for my future.  The only way.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."  John 14:6

Get out of your boat

"And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain to pray.  Now, when evening came, He was alone there.  But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.  Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.  And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying it is a ghost!  And they cried out for fear.  But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer!  It is I; do not be afraid.  And Peter answered Him and said, Lord if it is you command me to come to You on the water.  So He said Come.  And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.  But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out saying, Lord save me!  And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?  And when they got into the boat the wind ceased.  Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, Truly You are the Son of Man."

Jesus walking on the water is one story in the Bible almost everyone knows.  It is such a great miracle of faith.  But, besides walking on water there are other important messages of faith we should notice within this story.  First, and probably most important, Jesus sends the multitudes away to pray.  Even in His busy schedule of saving the world He made it His priority to pray and spend time with God.  This is something that is so important to me and yet sometimes gets overlooked in my busy day.  I need to remember that even Jesus made time for what was most important.  Then, you see the disciples not recognizing Jesus.  I thought this was weird because they had spent so much time with Jesus.  But, many times when I am in my own storm I do not recognize Jesus.  Afterwards, I see He was right in front of me the whole time.  But it is always so easy to see Him when we are looking back.  I need to trust what is right in front of me more often.  Peter doesn't start to sink until he starts to look at the wind and waves around him.  This happens to all of us when we take our eyes off Jesus.  We start to focus on the difficult circumstances around us and our problems begin to sink us.  This happens every time.  If we can keep our eyes on Jesus and trust and know that He will carry us through the storm we won't even think about what is under us.  We will be able to overcome any obstacle and do things people never thought we could do.  Jesus takes us by the hand and gets us through any circumstance.  Peter's faith falters just as every one of us in this world has done at one time or another but it doesn't end in failure.  Jesus doesn't falter.  He is still there for us immediately when we cry out.  It's amazing how strong His love is!  I need to remember to be strong and step out of my boat even if it seems impossible and there are scary things around me.  I need to remember who is holding my hand the whole way even if I can't see Him.  I can do amazing things with God on my side.  I can step out of my boat I am comfortable in and risk everything knowing I will meet Jesus on the water.  At the end Jesus gets in the boat and the wind ceases.  When we bring Jesus in our lives all chaos stops and He takes over.  I love this story all over again.  Jesus is so amazing!!                 

Father's Day

"For the word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two edged sword; 

and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow,
and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."  

Hebrews 4:12 ~ Douay Rheims version ~

I have read Hebrews before but this verse never drew my attention as it does now.  And just in time for Father's day.  I got my dad a Bible for father's day.  He has a Bible already.  A Bible I remember all through my childhood.  He would read to us at the dinner table with that Bible, he would take it to Bible studies, and late at night I remember seeing him read from it by his bedside.  But over the years the Bible has become worn and tattered.  In fact, the whole Book of Revelation fell out at some point and now is no where to be found.  I like to think that the Book of Revelation is in the hands of someone who really needed it.  However, since my family is doing our Bible study on Revelation I felt my dad really needed a new one.  He only reads from the Douay Rheims Bible so that is what I got.  I wanted to quote a scripture from it for him for Father's day but the trouble was picking just one.  I wanted one that summed up the importance of reading the Word of God and everything that it has taught me. And it came to me in Hebrews 4:12.  This is exactly what the Bible has done and continues to do for me.  The Bible, of course, enlightens and informs me but it is becoming all there is to be known about me.  It reaches every part of me and becomes every part of me.  The word has pierced through my soul (the eternal part of a living being) and filled my spirit (a force within living things), gotten into my joints (allows movement and provides support) and right down into the marrow (tissue that fills the cavities of the bones).  It has invaded my thoughts (organized beliefs) and intentions (goals) of my heart.  And I have to thank my dad for the foundation he has set with me.  There have been many trials in my life so far.  And there were more upsets than victories.  But my foundation has stood strong.  It did not crumble.  I only hope the foundation I am laying with Lane is as good.  He is the next generation of who will spread God's word.  I thought this verse was fitting for Father's day because of the obvious effect our Father in Heaven has over our bodies, thoughts and heart.  His Word transforms us and makes us who we are.  But one word did catch my eye more than the others, marrow.  This is the tissue that fills the cavities of the bones.  But it also holds the red and white blood cells.  This to me is what dad's pass down genetically to their children.  This is the best part to me because it is usually the parents who instill the beliefs in their children.  A dad guides his children like sheep to the Word of God.  We are all guided by the Holy Spirit and I am so glad I have my family to help me.  I had a great Father's day with my family and I am so thankful that God makes it possible for us to still get together because I still have so much to learn from my father.              

God is my judge

I have been reading the book of Daniel and I have really enjoyed reading it.  Daniel was stripped of his home, everything he had and even his name was taken away, but his faith was never shaken.  Daniel was obedient in every way.  He had such strong faith in God that even before he knew answers he knew he would be told the answers by God.  Then, once he was told the answers the first thing he did was give a prayer of thanksgiving to God.  And when he made known the answers to the king he first gave credit and glory to God.  How many times do we ask for things from God and then forget all about where they came from?  And how many times do we take credit for our works when the credit is all God's?  Have great faith and be willing to give your life to God and you will see just how much God loves you.  My favorite act of Daniel is when he was told he would be thrown in the fire.  Daniel was not worried.  He did not plead to the king.  He knew God would save him or he would be with Him in heaven.  Either outcome for Daniel was a blessing.  What a beautiful way to look at what seems like a very scary moment.  When Daniel was thrown in the fire he was not touched by the fire and an image of the Son of Man could be seen walking with him.  This must be what it looks like when we are in what seems like our worst moments.  A shadow of the Son of God is there with us.  How amazing is that?!  A life led by fear is not led by God.  Help me to live like Daniel.  Help me have stronger faith because I too have a shadow of the Son of Man wherever I go.

"I lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me;

and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever:

For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,

And His kingdom is from generation to generation.

All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing;

He does according to His will in the army of heaven

And among the inhabitants of the earth.

No one can restrain His hand

Or say to Him what have you done?"

Daniel's name rightfully means God is my judge.  There are so many more messages in Daniel about the end times we will face and the Book of Daniel is very similar to the Book of Revelation.  God will judge every one of us.  I am happy to have the scriptures to remind me of what is important.  

      

Oh Happy Day!!!

I have some wonderful news...

Lane did get the scholarship for St. Monica!! I just received the notice in the mail today. I think they have been behind this year because when I called just last week he wasn't getting it and then we got the email that tuition was due. I am so happy and blessed that Lane is receiving this! He was a little down when I told him he wasn't getting it. So I know he will be so happy when I tell him the good news. I waited and checked the mail for this for a long time but at the same time I accepted whatever God's will was going to be. I knew everything would work out somehow. Let me tell you how this week has been. First, on Monday I got a notice from my credit card company saying they were increasing my credit limit. I thought this was the blessing we were waiting for because we really didn't have any room on our card to charge and they increased it by $2000 which is what we needed. Then, mom and dad came by wanting to buy a car for my brother Michael. And I thought well this helps more because now we don't have to charge and incur interest and it too would be $2000 for his school. And now today this blessing came. All week long God has been answering my prayers and letting me know that Lane is exactly where He wants him to be. And God has shown me that blessing abundantly all week long. I know none of these things are mere coincidences and truly the works of God. I am so proud of Lane and thankful beyond words that God has brought this blessing to my family. I give all my thanks to God! I am so happy!