Tags: #Encourage, #have a great day, #smile, Christian Moms, encouragement, inspirational writings, rejoice
Tag Archives: rejoice
This is the Day and the Time!
4 JunThis is the Day and the Time!
This is the Day that the Lord hath made, We will rejoice and be glad in it!
Psalm 118: 24-This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
Today is a gorgeous day in Georgia! The sun is shining brightly and a breeze is gently blowing through the trees. It is amazing to me that just a few short weeks ago we were still cuddling up under blankets because Winter just would not give up her hold. However, especially in the South it seems as though our Spring seasons are getting shorter and shorter. We’ve had very few mild days of Spring, instead it has gone from Winter to Summer! Not that I am complaining, I just wish the seasons of time would not race by quite so quickly. This is the day which the Lord hath made; I will rejoice and be glad in it!
I remember as a child wishing I were this age, and then that age. My parents would always tell me “Stop wishing your life away that time flew by! They told me, “Enjoy the age that you are right now, because soon you will wish that you were young again.” I of course thought they were just saying things like that because they were “old.” It is amazing to me that my parents knew so much of what life was going to be like for me before I ever really began to live it for myself. They doled out little pieces of wisdom all the time but like most kids I guess, you do not recognize their wisdom until you are grown up, out of their homes with a family of your own. After realizing that they had told me the truth, as every year races off to begin a new one, I’ve tried to stop along the way and enjoy my time, especially my time with my family. I have learned to slow down and be grateful. I have tried to enjoy the life that I’ve been given and be grateful for every day as that day cannot be relived. I find myself saying to my boys the same things that my parents have said to me in hopes that they too will “stop wishing their lives away!”
My children are thrilled of course with each season, especially Summer. School is finally over for the year, the pool is being maintained and our Summer trips to our local Mall are upon us as it holds our only cinema. Local businesses and churches sponsor Summer Family Movie Festival and so our local theater shows $1.00 movies through the summer two times a week! This makes for great family time as I and my boys have made it our little family tradition starting when they were tiny little things.
As this Summer approaches my oldest son will be Fourteen years old and my youngest has already turned Ten. I can’t believe how time is flying by with them as it seems as though I just brought them home from the hospital yesterday! I feel so pressed to just soak up every precious moment with them. I know that soon, my oldest will be driving which honestly I do not even want to think about, then out of High School, off to college, etc. This of course is our hope for him, but still as a Mom it is heartbreaking to think of letting them go. Because of his older brother, my youngest has always acted much older than he is. He has not really ever wanted to be a baby! He has always wanted to do what his big brother was doing. I can’t help but feel a lump in my throat as I see how big they are growing and how quickly they are maturing into wonderful Godly men. I just wanted to rejoice and be grateful today that I am blessed with both of them!
Today as I have shared my heart with you about my boys, I just wanted to encourage you with an old cliché “stop and smell the roses!” This truly is the day or the season that the Lord has made for you, will you rejoice and be glad in it? I know that in today’s world we have so much more going on in our lives. We have to do this thing and that thing, but may I suggest that one of the most important things to do is to take some time to stop, take a deep breath and truly be grateful. Take that moment and realize that you are blessed. Honestly I have found that in my busiest, most hectic and even my worse times, If I will just stop, take a deep breath, and think about what is good in my life, it changes my whole attitude and clears my head . It gives me a new perspective. I can honestly say “Psalm 118: 24 This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
God’s Not Through With Me Yet!
12 MarGod Is Not Through With Us Yet!
Isaiah 64:8 But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
Can you guess what kind of bird this is? Below are several hints:
- It is the official bird of at least 7 states.
- These birds do not migrate, but have adapted to northern and southern climates.
- They frequent birdfeeders
- Unlike some birds both female and male birds sing.
- The male bird has a brilliant red color and the female is an attractive brown
- A baseball team has been named after them!
- They usually have three eggs at a time.
- The male often feeds the female especially when she is on the nest.
Have you had enough hints to guess the type of bird? If you guessed the Cardinal you are correct. I wanted to put this little homely looking bird up as a visual lesson, because all too many times we look on the outside of a thing and judge it before we even know what is on the inside. While looking at this little gray mass of feathers with its little pump knot, it is hard to believe how something so unattractive could become something so beautiful! This bird in my opinion is one of the most brilliant and beautiful birds. When it comes to my birdfeeder or sets in a blooming dogwood tree, my breath catches in my throat for a second because it is so exquisitely gorgeous! When it sings its song, I have to stop and think about the many songs that the Lord gave his creatures to sing his praise!
I know that when people look at me, they may not see beauty, but please don’t judge me yet! God is not finished with me. Like this little bird, I may not be the most attractive thing, but what the Lord is making me into is breathtakingly beautiful! You may say, “well that is a very conceited thing to say!” But I say unto you, I am on the Potter’s wheel, I am being made into his image and his image is indeed perfect and beautiful! You too are on His wheel!
7.Jeremiah (KJV) 18:2 Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
8.Jeremiah 18:3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
9.Jeremiah 18:4 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.
6.Isaiah 64:8 (KJV) But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
We all have our flaws and according to the scripture we are made to be marred in the Potter’s hand! Why? I think we all have flaws so that we will not be judged by others! This truth puts us all in the same boat if you will! We all have need of the Perfect One Jesus! If we find out whom we are in Him and that we are made in His image and began walking in that calling or purpose, we are just like these gorgeous Cardinals. Our life becomes a song of praise to the Master! So don’t judge me yet! God’s not through with me! I am spinning on the wheel being made into another vessel that will hold His glory!
I hope that the next time you see a beautiful Cardinal or hear its song of praise to the Master that you will realize that you are a precious vessel of clay in the Potter’s hand and that regardless of what you are going through, that you are valuable. You’re his greatest creation created in His image! You are being changed from faith to faith and from glory to glory!
A little Spring to Lift the Spirit!
27 FebThe First Signs of Spring to Lift the Spirit!
Matthew 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
The past few days in Georgia the weather has been simply beautiful, the earth is waking up! It is amazing to see how green the grasses have become. It blew me away to see how fast my beautiful jonquils shot forth out of the ground and began to bloom! Less than two weeks ago, we had an ice storm and snow! Also my wisteria is starting to have little green shoots. They will probably bloom this week as well. I don’t know about you, but with the change of season, comes a change in mood!
The mornings are still really cool, but I throw on a flannel shirt and get out on my front porch and just listen to the sounds of the birds singing their songs! The other day I had the privilege of getting to see a huge flock of Robins land in my yard. There must have been several hundred of them! I love to hear them communicate to each other. I am sure they were saying “Look at what treasures our Father has provided for us beneath all of these dead leaves!” This usually always means Spring has sprung. Through the signs of Spring, the Lord lifts my spirit!
With everything coming alive and the birds singing their praise to the Lord, it seems as though the following scripture is coming alive! Matthew 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Why worry, when the Lord has already told us in his Word and showed us that He intends on taking good care of us! I hope as you hear and see the signs of Spring outside your window or if you are like me, you get right outside in the thick of it, that you will know that you are valued and that the Father is taking good care of you!
Let us Remember!
13 Feb
Have you ever gone through something that just seemed so horrific that it felt as though you weren’t going to make it this time! Well, I have, more times than I can count! Maybe you are still going through something like that. Today, I hope to encourage you by pointing out the fact that I had gotten through it and am now on the other side! You too can get to the other side! Sometimes, the easiest, but most effective thing we can do to begin seeing victory in our lives is to simply remember!
I am sitting in a place of such restoration that I am in Awe of what the Lord has done for us! I do not say that to boast, but to really encourage you that God is not a respecter of persons! I guess the thing that keeps coming back to me is the fact that the Lord has continued to be so faithful to us even in times when we were a little shaky. There were times I must admit that we wondered if we were going to make it this time. We didn’t know how he was going to do what we were asking of him, but just kept holding on to the fact that the Lord has been faithful to his word to us in the past!
Our Pastor preached a message when I was going through a devastating time in my life that absolutely stirred my heart. The message was basically this: “Miracles erase options for the believer!” What he preached on was the fact that once the Lord performs a miracle in your life, that it is something that is concreted into your spirit. You are never the same, and hopefully as Pastor preached “You will remember!” You will remember the miracle when the next trail comes or the next obstacle comes, because if the Lord did it once for you, he’ll do it again….Always! That settles it! There is no changing in God. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. What he has done, he will do again…
My husband and I are living proof of the miracle-working power of the Lord. But you know sometimes we forget what the Lord has done for us. Recently, I thought that I would begin writing down all of the miracles that the Lord had performed for me. Honestly, I became so overwhelmed. He had done so much that I had not even thanked him for or realized it was him! It is our nature sometimes to forget, but as I began thinking back of all of the times when the Lord came through for us, I suddenly realized, if he did anything for me before, He is the same God! He will do it for me again just as he had done it over and over again in the past! So, I want to encourage you today, right now! Take the time to REMEMBER what the Lord has already done for you. You know all of those good things that happened before that we sometimes call coincidence! Realize that those good things were not coincidences but God was working on your behalf. Oh what a faith builder it is to take the time to simply remember! It could be the very thing you need that will thrust you forward like a catapult and land you right into the miracle that you are believing the Lord for right now!
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Christine Gilliam Hornback
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