Greetings!!
As Christians, each of us will be called to walk through the fire at some point in our lives. In other words we will all have trials and tribulations to go through. These trials and tribulations often are a way of God testing and proving us to be His children. It is how we come out on the other end of that fire that shows who and what we are. Do not be afraid!! God says, "Fear not, for I am with you." And He means it!! As we go through these trying times all we have to do is call on Him and He will help and guide us.
When I go through a fire I try to remember the 3 that were thrown into a furnace to be killed. But their faith was so great, they called upon the Lord to protect them. And He did, He was right there with them in the furnace, fire surrounding them. Yet when the furnace was shut down and the door opened, all three walked out, not a hair on their head was singed!!
The trials and tribulations of today are not nearly as bad as that of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in that fiery furnace, (Daniel 3), but you can bet God will still be with you today as He was with them!!
Each time we got through trials and tribulations or "walk through the fire" we grow stronger, we learn lessons that will help us grow in our faith. Count your "fires" as blessings. God is molding you, and teaching you. In short, He is not done with you yet!! I personally hope God is not done with me until Jesus returns!! I will gladly go through fire after fire until the glorious day when I see my Lord and Savior returning in the air to catch up His bride, His church!! What a glorious day that will be!!
We have just a few days left until Christmas, the day we celebrate the birth of Christ Jesus, let's not forget the true meaning of the "Holiday Season" and give thanks to Father God for Jesus!! And the next time you are taken through a fiery trial, think about Jesus, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and have faith that you too shall be victorious with Jesus!!
Merry Christmas and great blessings for the coming New Year!!
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
It's just a thing,,,,,,
Greetings!!
God just laid on my heart a message to give as I was chatting on FB.
Some of you may know that I have blown out some disks in my back as well as messed up the sciatic nerves pretty bad. I have no steady income or insurance at this time. Finances are really tight to say the least. So, when the going gets tough, we sell things, LOL. Or give them away to reduce bills.
This past week I emptied out my storage unit which costs me $51 a month. I kept some personal things but for the most part gave furniture and other things away. I was able to help some people in need and gave the rest to a place that helps developmentally disabled people. One bill eliminated!! And I was able to be a blessing in God's name to others. To me that is very cool. :-)
Tomorrow, I am taking my car to the local auto auction to be auctioned off on Saturday. Some folks are upset I am giving up my car, but it's just a thing. Between insurance and gas I am laying out close to $100 a month. I know to most people that is not a lot of money. To me, it is. The other reason for opting to give up my car is I am concerned about driving it safely. The pain in my lower back and legs, coupled with the lack of feeling in my legs causes me concern if I were to have to hit the brakes suddenly to avoid an accident. Would I be able to do it? I'm not sure, and frankly, I do not want to risk the safety of others to find out.
Material things, such as cars and furniture are just that, "things". In the grand skeem of things they mean very little. What good are things if I cannot afford the much needed medicine to help control the pain and muscle spasms? What good are things if I have to put others at risk just to keep them? Not much!! The bible tells us to store our treasures in Heaven. They will do us much more good there than here. Life on this earth is very short but Heaven is for all eternity!!
Please do not feel sorry for me going through this rough spell. I am blessed in much more important ways!! I have a great peace in my heart making the decisions I have made about "downsizing" my bills and eliminating the things that cause those bills. I will be fine!! I truly believe the old saying, "when you are down to nothing, God is up to something". I cannot wait to see what He has in store for me!!
It has taken a long time for me to learn this lesson but it is true. Nothing, and I do mean nothing on this earth is as important as where I spend eternity. I am a child of God and I will spend eternity in Heaven!! I hope you know where you will spend eternity. And I pray, if you don't know, you seek God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit with all your heart, mind and strength. Find a good church and get to know Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the light. Without Him you cannot get into Heaven for all eternity. Going to Hell for eternity should NOT be an option. God can and will forgive you anything through faith in Jesus the Lord and Savior!!
As we approach this "Holiday Season" please remember were it not for Jesus we would not have Christmas!! Jesus is indeed the reason for the season!!
Happy Birthday Jesus!!
Until next time,,,,,,,,,,Blessings!!
God just laid on my heart a message to give as I was chatting on FB.
Some of you may know that I have blown out some disks in my back as well as messed up the sciatic nerves pretty bad. I have no steady income or insurance at this time. Finances are really tight to say the least. So, when the going gets tough, we sell things, LOL. Or give them away to reduce bills.
This past week I emptied out my storage unit which costs me $51 a month. I kept some personal things but for the most part gave furniture and other things away. I was able to help some people in need and gave the rest to a place that helps developmentally disabled people. One bill eliminated!! And I was able to be a blessing in God's name to others. To me that is very cool. :-)
Tomorrow, I am taking my car to the local auto auction to be auctioned off on Saturday. Some folks are upset I am giving up my car, but it's just a thing. Between insurance and gas I am laying out close to $100 a month. I know to most people that is not a lot of money. To me, it is. The other reason for opting to give up my car is I am concerned about driving it safely. The pain in my lower back and legs, coupled with the lack of feeling in my legs causes me concern if I were to have to hit the brakes suddenly to avoid an accident. Would I be able to do it? I'm not sure, and frankly, I do not want to risk the safety of others to find out.
Material things, such as cars and furniture are just that, "things". In the grand skeem of things they mean very little. What good are things if I cannot afford the much needed medicine to help control the pain and muscle spasms? What good are things if I have to put others at risk just to keep them? Not much!! The bible tells us to store our treasures in Heaven. They will do us much more good there than here. Life on this earth is very short but Heaven is for all eternity!!
Please do not feel sorry for me going through this rough spell. I am blessed in much more important ways!! I have a great peace in my heart making the decisions I have made about "downsizing" my bills and eliminating the things that cause those bills. I will be fine!! I truly believe the old saying, "when you are down to nothing, God is up to something". I cannot wait to see what He has in store for me!!
It has taken a long time for me to learn this lesson but it is true. Nothing, and I do mean nothing on this earth is as important as where I spend eternity. I am a child of God and I will spend eternity in Heaven!! I hope you know where you will spend eternity. And I pray, if you don't know, you seek God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit with all your heart, mind and strength. Find a good church and get to know Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the light. Without Him you cannot get into Heaven for all eternity. Going to Hell for eternity should NOT be an option. God can and will forgive you anything through faith in Jesus the Lord and Savior!!
As we approach this "Holiday Season" please remember were it not for Jesus we would not have Christmas!! Jesus is indeed the reason for the season!!
Happy Birthday Jesus!!
Until next time,,,,,,,,,,Blessings!!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Where does the time go???
Greetings!!
Another week has flown by. Where does the time go?? Naturally I am very busy with ceramic orders and that helps the time pass, but geeze it seems like it is flying and I am not getting everything accomplished that I want to.
Yesterday I had to go to the doctor's office. My back has been getting much worse over the years and on Thanksgiving day I made it even worse. I really hurt it lifting the turkey out of the oven. The sciatic joint area and lower lumbar are both in really bad shape. I need surgery but with no insurance and no steady income that is not going to happen any time soon. I can barely walk. When I go grocery shopping today I will use the motorized cart and ride through the store. I absolutely hate the idea of this but with every step the pain gets worse. I will never make it through the store otherwise.
When I go to the basement to work on ceramics I stay there a little longer than usual because the trip back up the stairs is a killer. You've heard the song, "One Day at a Time", well I am now taking it one step at a time. With each step I pray, "Lord, give me strength to concur this next step". Yes, it really is that bad!! There is no such thing as a comfortable position whether sitting, standing, walking or laying down. The morphine I am on helps take the edge off just a bit, but sometimes that is better than nothing. I don't like taking pills if I can avoid it so usually wait until I just can't tolerate the pain any more.
I rely more and more on the Lord every day just to get me through. The bible says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". I have to constantly remind myself of this when I want to give up. Fighting pain is hard on the body and mind. I also have chronic pain with the fibromyalgia, but even as bad as it gets it is not as bad as this. I can somewhat push through that and at least take care of the basic household chores. Now, I can not even take care of myself without help. I hate feeling like this!! I refuse to give up!! Never give up!! That is what I keep telling myself as I struggle each day to have some sort of a normal life. But alas, normal for one person is not normal for another.
On the bright side of my doctor's visit, I have managed to get my blood pressure back down to normal range without medicines since August. So the doctor has decided to keep me off the meds so long as I continue to lower my blood pressure. Getting people out of my life that has caused me an unusual amount of stress has helped a lot. I know it is not from exercising because of my back the way it is, there isn't any exercising going on, LOL. Maybe it is someone new in my life that is always positive and uplifting. Someone I can trust with my life? I'm sure that is what it is, a dear friend that I can lean on completely. :-)
I'm sure to some this post sounds like I am just moaning, and complaining. But in every dark cloud there is a silver lining. As my back grows weaker my faith grows stronger. My Lord and Savior, Jesus, helps me get through every hour of every day. The less moving around I can do, the more time I have for my ceramics, which I love, and for reading my bible or other Christian books, which I also love. And I know that this too, will someday come to pass. My suffering is nothing compared to what Jesus endured for a lowly sinner like me.
The day will come when I will be given a new body, a spiritual body, one without pain and illness. One without sorrow. There will be no more tears from pain of the heart or of the body. There will be nothing but joy, peace and true happiness. Knowing that this time here on earth is nothing but a blink of an eye compared to all eternity with Jesus gives me the strength to endure. I suffer, yet I am blessed beyond measure because the riches that await me in heaven are far greater than anything good or bad that I will see in this lifetime.
Do you know Jesus? I pray you do!! But if you do not, I pray you seek and find Him for He is the one and only key to all eternity!!
Until next time,,,,,,,Blessings!!
Another week has flown by. Where does the time go?? Naturally I am very busy with ceramic orders and that helps the time pass, but geeze it seems like it is flying and I am not getting everything accomplished that I want to.
Yesterday I had to go to the doctor's office. My back has been getting much worse over the years and on Thanksgiving day I made it even worse. I really hurt it lifting the turkey out of the oven. The sciatic joint area and lower lumbar are both in really bad shape. I need surgery but with no insurance and no steady income that is not going to happen any time soon. I can barely walk. When I go grocery shopping today I will use the motorized cart and ride through the store. I absolutely hate the idea of this but with every step the pain gets worse. I will never make it through the store otherwise.
When I go to the basement to work on ceramics I stay there a little longer than usual because the trip back up the stairs is a killer. You've heard the song, "One Day at a Time", well I am now taking it one step at a time. With each step I pray, "Lord, give me strength to concur this next step". Yes, it really is that bad!! There is no such thing as a comfortable position whether sitting, standing, walking or laying down. The morphine I am on helps take the edge off just a bit, but sometimes that is better than nothing. I don't like taking pills if I can avoid it so usually wait until I just can't tolerate the pain any more.
I rely more and more on the Lord every day just to get me through. The bible says, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". I have to constantly remind myself of this when I want to give up. Fighting pain is hard on the body and mind. I also have chronic pain with the fibromyalgia, but even as bad as it gets it is not as bad as this. I can somewhat push through that and at least take care of the basic household chores. Now, I can not even take care of myself without help. I hate feeling like this!! I refuse to give up!! Never give up!! That is what I keep telling myself as I struggle each day to have some sort of a normal life. But alas, normal for one person is not normal for another.
On the bright side of my doctor's visit, I have managed to get my blood pressure back down to normal range without medicines since August. So the doctor has decided to keep me off the meds so long as I continue to lower my blood pressure. Getting people out of my life that has caused me an unusual amount of stress has helped a lot. I know it is not from exercising because of my back the way it is, there isn't any exercising going on, LOL. Maybe it is someone new in my life that is always positive and uplifting. Someone I can trust with my life? I'm sure that is what it is, a dear friend that I can lean on completely. :-)
I'm sure to some this post sounds like I am just moaning, and complaining. But in every dark cloud there is a silver lining. As my back grows weaker my faith grows stronger. My Lord and Savior, Jesus, helps me get through every hour of every day. The less moving around I can do, the more time I have for my ceramics, which I love, and for reading my bible or other Christian books, which I also love. And I know that this too, will someday come to pass. My suffering is nothing compared to what Jesus endured for a lowly sinner like me.
The day will come when I will be given a new body, a spiritual body, one without pain and illness. One without sorrow. There will be no more tears from pain of the heart or of the body. There will be nothing but joy, peace and true happiness. Knowing that this time here on earth is nothing but a blink of an eye compared to all eternity with Jesus gives me the strength to endure. I suffer, yet I am blessed beyond measure because the riches that await me in heaven are far greater than anything good or bad that I will see in this lifetime.
Do you know Jesus? I pray you do!! But if you do not, I pray you seek and find Him for He is the one and only key to all eternity!!
Until next time,,,,,,,Blessings!!
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