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The Father’s Good Pleasure!

5 Mar

 

via The Father’s Good Pleasure!.

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The Father’s Good Pleasure!

5 Mar

The Father’s Good Pleasure!

Little Lamb Luke

Luke 12:32  (KJV) Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

As I write this, I was thinking about the past few weeks and how the Lord has just blessed my family beyond anything that we really asked him to.   I also thought about people who are still waiting for their promise to come.   Sometimes when it seems the Lord is passing out to everyone but to them, something just sort of rises up in them and mumbles, “Wait a minute, why am I not getting blessed? They are asking the Lord, “When is my season going to come?”  I know about those questions because I’ve been there, and I have asked them myself.  The one thing I’ve really learned, however, is that it is all available to me and has always been available.  I don’t want to get upset because others are getting theirs and totally miss mine because I’m off pouting somewhere. My Pastor calls a pouting mentality an orphan spirit.  If I am a child of God then all that He has is mine!   I’ve learned to rejoice with others, because I know that the same blessings are available to me!

When the prodigal son left the Father’s house to go and “live it up and waste what his Daddy gave him” He had to come to a place of realization.  He had to realize that regardless of what he did or didn’t do the Father’s love was enough and that he could go home to the blessing. His older brother, however, was upset that the Father would just welcome the prodigal son back home and throw him a party, kill the fatted calf, put a ring on his finger, give him His best robe…Why? The older brother didn’t realize that all of it had been available to him all along.  The eldest brother could have lived in a perpetual party, but he let envy and bitterness rob him from receiving the blessing of the Father. How sad it will be that many Christians will get to heaven and only then find out what was made available to them while they lived upon the earth, but they never received it because of envy and jealously.  

When Jesus bled and died, He said “It is finished!” So everything is available to us, but not all things are entrusted to us right away.  Like the prodigal son had to go through some character building lessons, so do we.  My son would love to have a mustang car, he is only 13.  Do you think I will give him a mustang car now?  NO WAY….Why?  Because he is a child and he is not mature enough to handle a mustang…Many Christians are still childish and they are not mature enough to handle all that they want from the Lord.   As the above scripture states, Luke 12:32 (KJV) Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  The Father is not withholding from you, but maybe he is protecting you long enough for you to build up a strong character, that whatever you want from him will not destroy you, but will benefit you!

 

Please check out my weekly post at www.lakeviewtimes.com

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Life’s little Rewards!

20 Feb

Spring on the Farm

 

Life’s little Rewards!                       

          Everything that I have ever accomplished in my life was always with the help of others.  Whether they physically helped me or just encouraged me to do it, when I achieved it, we all enjoyed the reward of having accomplished something.  I believe that as human beings, brothers and sisters, that we have been put on earth for purpose and reason.  I also believe that we all have our own journey or path to walk, but that the God of the universe who has made us and put us on planet earth intended for us to interact with one another to complete that journey.  No man is an island unto himself, but we need each other along the way!    This is why I am writing this story or blog!  I want to encourage you!  I want to encourage and pep you up, and be your cheerleader and shout, “Come on you can do it!”

I grew up in a little rural community in Kentucky.  We owned a pretty good size farm and raised tobacco on our farm at well as on others.  We learned firsthand as we drug our bodies out of our warms beds at 4:00 in the morning the meaning and value of hard work and sweat.

I remember looking on my Daddy’s face when Spring would come.  His whole persona would change as he couldn’t wait to begin tilling the fields for our huge garden, and of course the tobacco which was our money crop.  He would go outside and began walking a huge field that was seated at the end of our side yard.  My Mom would have us girls, six of us altogether; open up the windows to let the fresh air and Sunshine take the winter’s stale odor out of our two-story farm-house.  When we opened the windows wide, we could hear faint whistling sounds coming from that field.  It would be my little Daddy whistling a tune of gladness!

As we all worked to raise the crops our reward of our labor would come at different times as the crops were harvested.  I could remember picking green beans and tomatoes for my mother to can.  She lined the shelves of a root cellar in an old smokehouse that sat behind the house.  We dug a wagon full of potatoes and God only knows how much cabbage Mom put up for soups and  Sour Kraut .  When she would finish canning and the shelves were full, she had this satisfying proud look upon her face.  This was one of her rewards. She knew that she was providing food for her family for the winter.

I remember my Daddy would have that same look of satisfaction on his face as my Mom’s when he sold the tobacco at the end of the year. It was usually always around Christmas time!  His reward was providing for his family by selling his crops. Although it was backbreaking work, my Daddy simply loved being out there in those fields and doing what he had to do for his family.

My Dad and Mom however, wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the rewards of their labor!  My parents would call all of the girls into the kitchen and dining room area that was just one big old room.   We would gather around the dining table in great anticipation as my parents wore a smile upon their faces.     Our faces beamed as well, as my Dad would start with the older girls who had done the most work.  He handed them a crisp new 50  or 100 dollar bill, which was a lot of money back then.   The amount would usually depend on how much tobacco we had raised that year and what it sold for.  Then, of course, he gave the younger girls their share! We were all excited and felt like we were the richest people in the world.  We had received our reward for the year’s long work!

In my own journey, there were many pathways that I could have taken. I feel that the way my journey began made a huge difference in how I chose pathways and viewed the roads I have taken. We learn by experience whether those experiences are good or bad.  I have found there were milestones in my journey!  Some of those milestones were good and some bad that propelled me to the next pathway.  The important thing is to learn from your journey.  There are many goals that I’ve set in my life that I just have not been able to accomplish. I cannot use the unrealized goals as an excuse to stop! Those goals are still a possibility for me! I’ve realized that even the mistakes that I’ve made have lessons to be learned.  If I will let them teach me, they may have something in them that will help me on my next path.

Nothing is wasted!  Even the bad experiences have their reward if you will glean from them.  The important thing is to keep pressing toward the goal!  Also to simply notice that Life’s rewards come disguised sometimes, but that they are always there.   I cheer you on my friend!  I hope that your Life is full of great blessings and rewards!

check out my blogs also published at http://www.lakeviewtimes.com/U/2.htm

 

 

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Feeling all Rosy!

7 Feb

http://www.lakeviewtimes.com/U/2.htm

Feeling All Rosy Inside!

Hewlett-Packard

I wanted to encourage someone today with these rosy benches.  You might be saying to yourself,” This gal has gone off somewhere.” When I found these old benches at a flea market, they looked like they once were possibly stained red, but they were so weathered that it was hard to tell for sure.  I shook them and they were pretty wobbly, but I bought them for practically nothing and took them home.  I remember asking my husband if he could tighten up the legs to see if they would become sturdier! Well when he had done as I had asked and tightened the screws that were in them, the benches were as solid as could be.  They were really sturdy and stable.   I then sanded and repainted them with a base paint.  I found that I honestly liked them just with the base color.   However, I could see something else in them.  I began painting the first rose and then the second until Viola! I had two matching rose benches that I received awesome money for at an arts and craft show!

“Okay, okay, you’re still wondering, what does that have to do with me?  How could that possibly encourage me?” Well, I once was like these old benches. I had been through some things that really made me look and feel pretty wobbly.  You might say I was very unsure of my purpose and wasn’t the least bit stable in my mind, will, emotions, spirit, or even in my body.   Life is a rough game to play sometimes, and especially if you play it hard!  Eventually the life you’ve led catches up with you.  But one day, when I thought I was no longer useful, or was so ugly that no one could ever want me, The Lord Himself bought me with the highest possible price!  He didn’t just slap a coat of paint on me, but he cleansed me from the inside out and totally remade me. He tightened up every” loose screw.” I was stable again and had new purpose and meaning.   I was in HIS eyes as beautiful as any rose….like these benches, He seen something more in me!

Jeremiah 18:2-4 (KJV)

2 Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.

3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.

4 And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

He is looking at you right now with the piercing eyes of the great Creator, The Master Potter and Artist.  He is remaking you and creating something so beautiful in you.  I just wanted to encourage you to know that you are of great value, worth and purpose.   He has paid the ultimate price to purchase you.  He loves you so much and considers you His finest piece of art!

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It Came to Pass

31 Jan

Check out this published blog post at  http://www.lakeviewtimes.com/U/10.htm

“It Came to Pass!”

the-four-seasons

 

Ecclesiastes 3 (KJV) To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

In Georgia, this year, the winter seems to be exceptionally long and cold.  Normally in the South, the winters are very mild and we may have one winter event when we actually have snow or ice. I call it an event because many Georgians are thrilled to see snow; however this winter for many that I’ve talked with this winter season seems to be wearing down a lot of folks with sickness and just plain bone chilling cold! I know that compared to the Northern States that we do not have anything to complain about, but if you’re not used to the cold then it is very difficult.  I think we are definitely suffering from “Spring Fever!”

After Christmas is over I personally crave the Spring!  I can’t wait to see my crocuses peek out of the ground, which are usually followed by my Daffodils.  It’s not long before my whole yard is awakened to Spring and is splattered with brilliant colors such as yellow Wisteria bushes, vivid fuchsia and white Azaleas.  As if they are ordered, here come the pinkish white blooms of twenty-one Dogwood trees, along with a splash of deep purple Rhododendrons, red Tulips and blooming fruit trees that burst forth in all their glory!  Song birds fill the bushes and trees with their sweet melodies as the warmth of the Spring season marches in like royalty!  I love it, Spring seems to warm the soul of the weary!

What Season are You in?

The seasons are wonderful in that they are truly only supposed to last for a certain amount of time.  However, some people seemingly become stuck in a dark, dismal winter season that last way longer than a season should last.  Many feel as though their winter season will never end?

I can relate to those of you that may feel like you are stuck in a winter season! I can especially relate to those of you that may have been driven into a winter season because of a chronic sickness or maybe grief or loss of a loved one.  Sometimes things can hit our lives that absolutely knock us to our knees, but I am here to encourage you, that it is possible for you get back up! If you have ever read Ecclesiastes 3:1 To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.   In this scripture, it plainly states that in everything that there are seasons, whether good or bad.  I once had a Pastor years ago preach a message that I’ve never forgotten and has encouraged me through many winter seasons in my life.  He preached “It came to pass! It did not come to stay!”  Regardless of what it looks like or feels like right now, again whether good or bad, “It came to pass! It did not come to stay!”

Your Spring is waiting for you!  It’s time for you to stand upon your feet again.   Start living again and looking forward!  Yes, much easier said than done, but it starts with a made up mind.  In order for me to come out of my winter, I had to make up my mind that I was going to begin walking forward, even if it meant I took tiny little baby steps!  The great thing about being a Christian, is that my Heavenly Father, just like a natural Daddy held out his arms and encouraged me “Come on you can do it! You can make it!”  I hope that if you are a Christian that you can hear him tell you the same thing.  However, if you not a Christian, then I hope that you hear my heart and hear my cheers for you, “Come on you can do it!  If I walked out of a dark winter season, so can you!”

Welcome Spring Season!  The Winter cannot hold on forever! “It came to pass!  It did not come to stay!”

 

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Three Steps to Change!

27 Oct

I do not know who it was that posted {Three Simple Rules in Life} on my facebook

Timeline, so this is not my original idea, but it really rang true to me.  If I want change in

any area, then I must be the one who moves toward or presses into what I

desire!

some-beautfull-life-saying-quotes_Inspiration-Quotes-of-life-13

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Be Blessed with all Bountifulness!

9 Oct

Fall

I know some may be offended at this, Please do not email me, because I’ve already read this in the word of the Living God and it would be too late to convince me otherwise.  The word of GOD is true whether one chooses to believe it or not! Act on it or not!  ….God does not want us to lack.   I heard someone tell my son that you don’t get what you want from GOD, that you only get what you need….This is totally contrary to the word of GOD. If this were true then why did he teach the disciples to pray the prayer that says “on earth as it is in heaven?”  Is heaven bankrupt and broke?  Does heaven lack any good thing? Don’t get me wrong,  GOD is not irresponsible!  He gives to whom he can trust.  He knows our hearts, but the truth is if you are generous when you are poor, you will be generous when you are rich.  If you are greedy when you are poor, being rich is only going to make you much more greedy!

2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

2 Corinthians 9:6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.

8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.

10 Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

11 Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

HE said we can be enriched in EVERYTHING to all Bountifulness! Sounds like I can have what I need and what I WANT as long as I remember who gave it to me and am thankful!  Well, I didn’t mean to preach, but why is it okay that some drug dealer can dress his finest, drive the fanciest cars, live in the fanciest houses, but Christians are supposed to be poor?  NO SIR, my Father in Heaven owns it all and He said What THINGS whatsoever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them and you SHALL have them!  Not maybe I can have them, but that I SHALL…I think I Shall just have what I WANT because my DADDY owns it all! Thank you!

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We’ve all got a Story!

26 Sep

http://www.mydoterra.com/covenantessentials/

 

I am writing this blog today because I truly hope to help someone who is living with someone that

is facing or has faced an undiagnosed illnesses.  This road is not an easy road, but thanks be to GOD we are finally seeing the light at the end of a long, long

tunnel, knowing that according to the Bible that “Healing is the children’s bread.”  We will see complete healing, but hopefully on this journey that my husband and

I have had to walk,  we can help others by encouraging them to never give up hope.    According to Psalms 107: He sent his word and healed and delivered from every destruction.  So no matter what it looks like, my husband and I have complete faith that he will indeed be whole and well again.

I wanted to share very briefly our story although it is a story that spans 6 longs years as I am writing this……..

My husband got up one December morning in 2007and our lives were forever changed.  He was having trouble with one of our vehicles so he being a Jack of all trades was going to fix it.  He crawled underneath his Ford F-150 only to suddenly be overwhelmed by a sensation in his body that he could only  describe as feeling like he was drowning from the inside.  He explained to me and many doctors that it felt as though water rushed through  from his feet and went all  through his body and literally hit his lungs.   He was barely able to crawl out from underneath the truck because he couldn’t take a deep breathe.  We live in a home that has steps at every door, so he attempted to come up the stairs into the  house and could not hardly take more than a step or two that he would have to stop and try to breathe.

What happened on that day sent us into a tale spin searching frantically for help.  We are indeed Christians and no we hadn’t sinned….but we know that bad things happen to good people all the time!  We of course began to pray and seek GOD for healing and used wisdom as my husband’s symptom’s grew worse.  We sought out a number of doctors which included many specialist, to only be crushed when they would shake their heads and automatically try to treat him for diseases that they had not proved he even had such as COPD or Asthma.  Don’t get me wrong, I thank GOD for doctors, at one point last year when my husband was placed in ICU, I was never so appreciative of the doctors and nurses who helped take care of him, but still when he came out of the hospital there was still no definite answers after 10 days of rigorously being tested as to what is really going on.

Long story short or shortened, it was suggested to us many times about going more to an Holistic approach. You’ve got to know my husband….He is a good old boy, a Redneck some may call him…He is all man, No foo foo stuff for him, but when disease is robbing you of time with your family and living in general, you will do whatever you can,to find help. No we are not weirdo’s, we are desperate for answers and needed someone to help us until the full manifestation of my husband’s healing manifest.   Maybe those of you who do not believe that GOD still heals today may judge us as being crazy and weird, but honestly, your opinion has very little baring on how we believe.  Until you walk our road and our journey, you really have no clue and I as a Christian pray that you would never have to face what we have had to walk through.  I am not debating with those who do not believe that GOD heals, I am searching out GOD’s healing in whatever form He choses for it to happen.  Doctors are not GOD they do not heal, they treat symptoms, my husband and I know that ultimately GOD is the healer.

Anyway, we took the advice of so many who had suggested that we go to a Naturopath and Holistic approach.  Our decision to go and have my husband tested proved to be a right decision.  We found out that there were several issues with his body and immediately the Naturopath began treating him with natural Essential Oils and Detoxing supplements to help flush out the toxins in his lungs and throughout his body.  As crazy as it may sound, immediately my husband began getting relief.  His Oxygen saturation levels which stayed entirely too low has began coming back up in the 90’s where they should be and daily we can see an improvement with his strength and energy levels coming back.

I said all of this so that those who read this would understand, that I am not just trying to sell Essential Oils and other products, but I am passionate about pointing others to something that is so pure and simple.  GOD placed Adam and Eve in the garden and told them to simply live off the land.  Why do we think that we can live off of processed foods and work in toxins and pollutants everyday and think that our bodies may not be affected somehow?  I am not speaking sickness or disease over anybody, as a matter of truth, I personally declare the word of GOD over you in Isaiah that states: By Jesus’ stripes you are healed!

I am, however, simply sharing that 100% Essential Oils can possibly be something that one can use as natural preventive tools to help ward sickness and disease off before they occur.  If this resonates with you in anyway, please check out my webpage’s link  http://www.mydoterra.com/covenantessentials/ which contains information on how you or somebody you know may obtain the natural products that may be able to help them as they have my husband.  Not only have they helped my husband, but I now use them for my whole family especially through allergy seasons etc… If you are walking through some kind of sickness, I encourage you to always trust GOD first, let him lead you down the pathway of healing for you.  I’ve seen the healing power of GOD and have experienced in my own body, so I know he is our healer however he chooses to manifest it in our bodies.

 

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Painting Classes Calendar! Come and Join us!

12 Sep

Studio B calendar

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Be Encouraged to Walk on!

11 Jul

Be Encouraged to Walk on!.

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