Messenger Of God

Maria Urso shared this story that I want to share withy you. Life is special even when things happen that we least expect.

With tears flowing down her cheeks, my youngest daughter said, "Mom, I'm pregnant." My first reaction was silence. My second was immobility. My third was crying and my last reaction was screaming, "I can't believe you did this!" I was raised in a Christian family and had morals and values that despised the words spoken from my daughter's lips. She was 15 years old. How was she ever going to take care of a baby? What about school? Her whole future was headed downhill as far as I was concerned. Quickly my mind flooded with thoughts of ways to rid her and our family of the situation she brought upon us. A single mom of two daughters, I struggled for 10 long years after my divorce. "How could you?" I asked her. 

For the first several days, I was in shock. I then contacted my church and one of the pastors had a meeting with my daughter and I. He suggested strongly that we give the baby up for adoption. Again my daughter cried and cried. She said, "I can't give my baby up, I can feel it moving inside. I don't want to go around wondering if this child or that child is mine." I could understand her feelings having had two children of my own, but she didn't understand how drastically her life was about to change. She couldn't comprehend how she was also changing my life and her sister's life. I felt she got pregnant on purpose. I told the pastor to give us time to think about all that he had said and told him I would get back with him. 

We went to the first doctor appointment to see how far along she was in her pregnancy. We thought she was about 8 weeks or so. She never gained weight, no signs of pregnancy at all. Once again, I felt as if someone hit me with a stun gun of 10,000 volts. The doctor told us she was 7 months pregnant and we had little time to prepare. The sonogram showed she was going to give birth to a baby girl. Somehow all the anger, all the hurt, all the emotions involved seemed to disappear. Adoption was now the farthest thing from our mind and I felt as if God had a purpose for this baby. I believed it was meant for us to raise this child, not another family, and that God would provide and He did. 

There was a huge baby shower thrown at work for me as the Grandmother. Baby clothes, high chair, bed, stroller, bottles, everything you could possibly need to get started and more were received. We decided to come up with a name for this baby girl and struggled with several names. I've always loved the name Gabrielle. It is a derivative of Gabriel which means "messenger of God". My daughter wanted the name, Destini. She said, "Because she is destined to be." I thought about the full meaning, "Destined to be a messenger of God" and loved it. And so, Destini Gabrielle was born in January 2000. 

Two years have passed and Destini was two years old this month. In the short time she has been with us some "strange" things have happened. When she first began to walk, she would go over to the angel figurines I have and just stare, almost as if in a trance. Then one day I was sitting at my desk and she was talking mostly baby talk. I turned to look at her, when her eyes were focused in the air as if she were talking to someone in the room. The chills swept over me as I watched in awe, then she shook her little head and said, "Yea!" and smiled. She stood staring for a few more seconds and then went about her way. There were several of these occurrences and I felt deep within my heart that she was really seeing something or someone. Time went on and she was learning more words, mostly puppy and mama, nothing out of the ordinary. 

Then came the day when I was cleaning my living room. I have a picture of Jesus that hung on the wall in the back of the living room that hardly anyone noticed because it was in the corner. I had taken it down to wipe the walls down and Destini walked over to the picture and stared that trance-like stare and out of the blue said, "Jesus." I said, "What?" Again she said firmly, "Jesus." I said, "Yes, that's right, that's Jesus!" This child never spoke that name, no one has ever taught her that name, she could barely speak her own little words, yet she knew. How I don't know, but she knew. When I pondered all these things in my heart, the verse of Scripture came to me, "Suffer not the these little ones to come to me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." 

I cannot explain how she knew what she knew, nor can I explain the conversations she had with someone I sincerely feel she saw. But I do know that these two years have brought so much laughter, peace and joy to our home, when there was nothing but arguing, lies, and deceit before she was born. I have to believe with all my heart that it was for this very purpose that we were suppose to keep her instead of giving her up. Through this child, God has restored my own child to me and He has restored our family. I thank God everyday for the wonderful gift He has given us and I pray He continues to use Destini Gabrielle to complete His purpose for the rest of her life for she is His little messenger.

Friendship and Love

FRIENDSHIP AND LOVE

• Love starts with a smile, grows with a kiss, and ends with a tear.

• Don't cry over anyone who won't cry over you.
• Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget.
• You can only go as far as you push.
• Actions speak louder than words.
• The hardest thing to do is watch the one you love, love somebody else.
• Don't let the past hold you back; you're missing the good stuff.
• Life's short. If you don't look around once in a while, you might miss it.
• A best friend is like a four leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have.
• If you think that the world means nothing, think again. You might mean the world to someone else. 
• When it hurts to look back, and you're scared to look ahead, you can look beside you and your best friend will be there
• True friendship never ends.
• Friends are forever.
• Good friends are like stars....You don't always see them, but you know they are always there.
• Don't frown. You never know who is falling in love with your smile.
• What do you do when the only person who can make you stop crying is the person who made you cry?
• NOBODY IS PERFECT UNTIL YOU FALL IN LOVE WITH THEM. (Isn't that the truth?)
• Everything is okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end.

Most people walk in and out of you life. But only True friends leave footprints in your heart.

Send this on to everyone special in your life, even the people who really make you mad sometimes. Whether we realize it or not, everyone we know is very special to us.

When we look back on our younger years, we will  remember the people who went to school with us, the people who made us laugh, the people who hung out with us when nobody else would, and the  people who made our lives much better simply by being a part of it.

There may be somebody who is thinking about you RIGHT NOW and wishing that you were around. That's the wonderful thing about friendship-you always feel loved and cared about.

The most important thing to remember is... Always appreciate the friends that you have.

A fight may come and go very easily, but a friendship could last forever. 

For every second spent in anger, a minute of happiness is wasted.  So send this to your friends and let them know that you care.

Buy The Milk

A young man had been to Wednesday night Bible Study. The Pastor had spoken about "listening to God and obeying the Lord's voice."

The young man couldn't help but wonder, "Does God still speak to people?" After service he went out with some friends for coffee and pie and they discussed the message. Several different ones talked about how God had led them in different ways. It was about ten o'clock when the young man started driving home. Sitting in his car, he just began to pray,"God, if you still speak to people, speak to me. I will listen. I will do my best to obey."

As he drove down the main street of his town, he had the strangest thought to stop and buy a gallon of milk. He shook his head and said out loud, "God is that you?" He didn't get a reply, so he started on toward home. But again, the thought came to him... buy a gallon of milk.

The young man thought about Samuel, and how he didn't recognize the voice of God, and how little Samuel ran to Eli. "Okay, God, in case that is you, I will buy the milk." It didn't seem like too hard a test of obedience. He could always use the milk. So, he stopped and purchased the gallon of milk and started toward home.

As he passed Seventh Street, he again felt the urge, "Turn down that street." This is crazy, he thought, and drove on past the intersection. Again, he felt that he should turn down Seventh Street. At the next intersection, he turned back and headed down Seventh. Half jokingly, he said out loud, "Okay, God, I will".

He drove several blocks, when suddenly, he felt like he should stop. He pulled over to the curb and looked around. He was in a semi-commercial area of town. It wasn't the best, but it wasn't the worst of neighborhoods either. The businesses were closed and most of the houses looked dark, like people were already in bed.

Again, he sensed something, "Go and give the milk to the people in the house across the street." The young man looked at the house. It was dark and it looked like the people were either gone or they were already asleep. He started to open the door and then sat back in the car seat. "Lord, this is insane. Those people are asleep and if I wake them up, they are going to be mad and I will look stupid."

Again, he felt like he should go and give the milk. Finally, he opened the door and said, "Okay God, if this is you, I will go to the door and I will give them the milk. If you want me to look like a crazy person, okay. I want to be obedient. I guess that will count for something but, if they don't answer right away, I am out of here."

He walked across the street and rang the bell. He could hear some noise inside. A man's voice yelled out, "Who is it? What do you want?" Then the door opened before the young man could get away. The man was standing there in his jeans and T-shirt. He looked like he just got out of bed. He had a strange look on his face and he didn't seem too happy to have some stranger standing on his doorstep.

The man asked, "What is it?"

The young man thrust out the gallon of milk and said, "Here, I brought this to you," he said. The man took the milk and rushed down a hallway speaking loudly in Spanish. Then from down the hall came a woman carrying the milk toward the kitchen. The man was following her holding a baby. The baby was crying. The man had tears streaming down his face. The man began speaking and half crying, "We were just praying. We had some big bills this month and we ran out of money. We didn't have any milk for our baby. I was just praying and asking God to show me how to get some milk." His wife in the kitchen yelled out,"I ask him to send an angel with some. Are you an Angel?"

The young man reached into his wallet and pulled out all the money he had on him and put it in the man's hand. Then he turned and walked back toward his car and tears were streaming down his face. He knew then that God does still speak to people... and answer prayers.

Shipwrecked

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.

Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements and to store his few possessions. But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the  sky.

The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me!" he cried. Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.  

It is easy to get discouraged when things are going badly. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering. Remember, next time your little hut is burning to the ground it just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.

This Is Good

An old story is told of a king in Africa who had a close friend with whom he grew up. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, “This is good!”

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off. Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, “This is good!” To which the king replied, “No, this is NOT good!” and proceeded to send his friend to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake. As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone that was less than whole. So untying the king, they sent him on his way.

As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. “You were right,” he said, “it was good that my thumb was blown off.” And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. “And so I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this.”

“No,” his friend replied, “This is good!” “What do you mean,’This is good’? How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?” “If I had NOT been in jail, I would have been with you.”

Celebrating Miracles

Miracles are things that happen to me and you every single day. Most of them we miss because in ourlife we are to busy trying to figure out how they can happen daily rather than believe that God says it's already done.

I will turn 60 on September 1st and I want this new year of my life, this first of my 60's to be a year of celebrating the miracles of God. I don’t want to spend a year dreading turning 60 and crying because someone else got their miracle and I didn't. I want to celebrate the miracles, the gifts from God to not only myself and my family, but for my church family and church as well.

I want to celebrate the miracles in my life and those in the lives of people that I love. I’m not planning to ignore the pain and the struggle of life. I live, you live, in a breathtakingly beautiful and breathtakingly broken world. They come together, they do, the beauty and the brokenness. Denying the brokenness is wrong as well as the beauty. While acknowledging the pain and the struggle, I want to embrace the grace and the loveliness of this precious, wild thing called life.

Miracles are gifts from our Heavenly Father. So why don’t you join me this year and, together, we’ll celebrate the miracles of God daily. He is a good God that will make a way where there is no way.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.....But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:1, 6 KJV)

Living a praise-filled life

It is vitally important to live in an attitude of praise toward God. But what can you do if you are having difficulty maintaining a life filled with praise?

1. Commit your life to Christ. First, be absolutely sure that you have placed your complete faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of your life. The Bible says that "if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved" ( Rom. 10:9). The life of praise begins here, with the confession of your mouth that "Jesus is Lord."

2. Confess sin and repent. Sin, including prideful self-reliance, separates us from God and from His love and protection. But we have the assurance of forgiveness if we come to Him in repentance ( 1 John 1:9). Confess any known sin and ask God to search your heart. Then, receive His forgiveness.

3. Praise God anyway! Despite your present feelings, it is important to offer praise to God, what Hebrews 13:15 calls a sacrifice" of praise. Despite our feelings or circumstances, God often asks us to take the first step, especially when He is trying to help us grow in our faith (James 1:2-4).

4. Join together with other believers. Sharing your struggles with another brother or sister in Christ is not only good idea ( Ecc. 4:9-10), it is commanded ( James 5:16). Uniting with other believers in regular worship is also a key to being able to praise God ( Heb. 10:24-25).

Weeping

What is your weeping? Whatever your weeping is, God knows all about it. 

-Have you ever considered that you may be the cause of your weeping? 

-Or maybe your weeping is something that God has allowed to come your way. 

But whatever the reason is you’re weeping, you can’t dwell on the weeping or the night you’re in.

The longer we dwell on the night, the farther we remain from the joyful morning. Do you know that you may be the reason why you’re still in weeping nights? If you’re trying to fix a situation that you have no control over, then as long as you do so you will remain in your weeping night. 

Maybe you haven’t completely turned your problems over to God, if you haven’t you will remain in your weeping night. When we allow God to have control in our weeping nights, then we will be able to clearly see the joyful morning approaching. But to better understand the night season and to clearly see the morning approaching, we have to know what our weeping is.


You get what you wish for

No Gun Hunting

A guy shows up at a cabin where hunters have gathered to hunt bear. Only he shows up without a gun. 

The other hunters are very curious. "How you gonna get a bear without a gun?" they ask. "Do you have a knife?" 

"No," says the guy. 

"Do you have a club?" 

"No," says the guy. "Don't you worry. I'm gonna get myself a bear. Just wait right here and see." 

The guy leaves the cabin and disappears into the hills for several hours. 

Eventually he happens upon a bear asleep in his den and he kicks the bear and gets it really angry. As the bear wakes up, he starts to chase after the guy, so the guy starts running back towards the cabin. 

Finally the hunters hear him running down the hill and yelling, "Open the cabin door! Open the door!" 

They open the door and the guy runs into the cabin and holds the door open behind him. To the terror of the other hunters, an angry bear follows close behind, running into the cabin, too. 

Then the guy slams the door shut, and says, "You skin that one. I'll go get another one."

Into His Likeness

2 Corinthians 3:18 "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

We are being made to be like Jesus, to reflect His glory and holiness with greater clarity and distinction. In everything we do, from the big issues of life to the mundane everyday routine, we reflect Jesus.

-Being in a hurry gives way to patience.

-Procrastination becomes perseverance.

-Harsh words have the edges cut off and are gentle.

-Bitterness and resentment turn into forgiveness.

-Envy and covetousness becomes contentment.

-Boastfulness and conceit learn humility.

-The clenched hand of stingy selfishness opens with generosity.

-An angry short fuse is replaced with self-control.

-Deception and half-truths melt away and are replaced with honesty and integrity.

-Doubt and fear are transformed into faith and confidence.

Little by little we reflect Jesus more and more; with an ever increasing glory we are transformed into His likeness.

What kind of day is yours?

If you spend too much of your time alone then sooner or later you'll start talking to yourself. Everyone does it and most of us know enough to not let it get the best of who we are. Talking to yourself, or allowing the subconscious to control your every waking moments can become self-defeating. Whose life is it anyway? Your's or your subconscious? Often your past controls your subconscious leaving your present cloudy and dark and your future in jeopardy.

Take in the awe the day God has created. Taking time to smell the roses actually is pretty good advice. Take it from me, I'm an expert in dealing with the past because for most of my life I've worked with people who continue to live in it.  Sounds great for most to dwell there, except for the fact the 'present' disappears and you find yourself reliving the past for whatever it was worth, or shaping the future on false premises.

Congratulate yourself for becoming aware of what's going on in your life and having made the decision to change the hurts of yesterday. Walk on the sunny side of the street and quit judging others as if they're books on a shelf and the only way you'll read the book is if it has a nice cover. Don't continue in yesterday's mistakes. Yesterday is over and today is a new day.

Let's face it. The past and future are only a heartbeat away - too close to measure. In fact so close it's easy to see how you can get squeezed from the present without knowing it. The only thing you can control is your present state of mind. Be there, in the moment, and soon you'll appreciate just how grateful others are to know you, in the same way you'll feel about them.

Never blame a day in your life for your problems because good days give happiness, bad days give experience, worst days give lessons, and best days give memories. 

So what kind of day is yours today?

The Church (Part 3)

We also develop the character of Christ through bearing with one another in the body of Christ.

Ephesians 4:2 "With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love..."

How else will we grow spiritually unless we interact with other believers? We learn humility, gentleness and patience, developing the character of Christ as we relate within the body of Christ.

-In the body of Christ we exercise our spiritual gifts to serve and minister to one another-1 Peter 4:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:11; James 5:16 

We will discover a satisfying sense of fulfillment when we begin to carry out our purpose in the body of Christ. We are the ones who miss out on all the blessings of God and the gifts of our "family members," if we choose not to be a part of Christ's body.

God has placed us into the body of Christ for our own protection and blessing. Just like every earthly family, it's not always fun. We don't always have warm and fuzzy feelings in the body. There are difficult and unlovely moments as we grow together as a family, but there are also blessings that we will never experience unless we become relational and connected in the body of Christ.

Jesus went to church as a regular practice. Luke 4:16 says, "He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom." (NIV) It was his custom—his regular practice—to go to church. The Message Bible puts it like this, "As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place." If Jesus made it a priority to meet together with other believers, shouldn't we, as his followers, do so also?

Resolution

So, if you are disillusioned with church, perhaps the problem is not "church in general," but rather the type of churches you have experienced thus far. Have you done an exhaustive search to find a good church? Perhaps you have never attended a healthy, balanced Christian church? They really do exist. I would encourage you not to give up, but continue to search for a Christ-centered, biblically-balanced church. But as you search, remember also, churches are imperfect. They are full of flawed people. However, we can't let other people's mistakes keep us from a genuine relationship with God and all of the blessings he has planned for us as we relate within his body.

The Church (Part 2)

Christ's body is made of many parts, yet it is still one unified entity.

1 Corinthians 12:12 "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ."

1 Corinthians 12:14-23 "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness."

1 Corinthians 12:27 "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular."

Unity in the body of Christ does not mean total conformity and uniformity. Although maintaining unity in the body is very important, it is also vital to value the unique qualities that make each of us an individual "part" of the body. Both aspects, unity and individuality, deserve emphasis and appreciation. This makes for a healthy church body, when we remember that Christ is our common denominator. He makes us one.

What about church?

What does the bible say about church attendance? The Bible tells us to meet together as believers and to encourage one another.

Hebrews 10:25 "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."

The reason I encourage Christians to find a good church is because the Bible instructs us to be in relationship with other believers. If we are part of Christ's body, we will recognize our need to fit into the body of believers. The church is the place where we come together to encourage one another as members of Christ's body. Together we fulfill an important purpose on the Earth.

As members of the body of Christ, we belong to each other.

Romans 12:5 "So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another."

It is actually for our own good that God wants us in fellowship with other believers. We need each other to grow up in the faith, to learn to serve, to love one another, and to practice forgiveness. Though we are individuals, we still belong to one another.

When you give up on attending church, what's at stake? Well, to put it in a nutshell: the unity of the body, your own spiritual growth, protection and blessing are all at risk when you're disconnected from the body of Christ.

Small Churches (Part 3)

The church at Philadelphia had “a little strength”.

Verse 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”

-Greek culture, international commerce, and religious diversity dominated them. 

-The pagan goddess Dionysus was worshiped. This ancient Greek god of wine was credited with inspiring ritual madness and ecstasy. Worship of Dionysus was thought to bring an end to care and worry. 

-The city was also a center of orthodox Jewish worship.

This small church could have surrendered to the pressures around them. Yet they did not! 

-They had a little strength.

-They kept God’s Word.

-They did not deny His name.

They received this wonderful encouragement in Revelation, and history tells us that for nearly 1400 years, this city stood as a Christian city in the face of Muslim pressure. It was only after centuries of courageous resistance that the city was overthrown by an unholy military alliance of Byzantine and Muslim forces.

How did this church overcome inferiority and have a ministry that would last for 1400 years? They came to know the Lord of Opportunity. 

Verse 9 "Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee."

Obedience always leads to opportunity! God promised this church the “key of David.” With God’s favor and their dependence upon His superiority, nothing could stop this body of believers!

Small Churches (Part 2)

That’s why God deals strongly with the Church of Philadelphia in Revelation 3:10-12:

“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.”

Too many churches and individuals use their smallness as an excuse for failing to advance the cause of Christ. Such notions and statements are foreign to the New Testament portrait of the church. It comes from a stronghold of inferiority, self-pity, and weakness. The enemy deceives those manifesting this spirit by making them think their size is actually gives them an excuse to do less than their larger counterparts. This counterfeit humility is debilitating to the kingdom of God, crippling the advance of the gospel, and it insults the Holy Spirit.

The church at Philadelphia was at risk to be overtaken by such a spirit. If they were ever to become a “pillar” in the kingdom, they would have to overcome this spirit of inferiority.

The scripture sets forth the church as a victorious company. 

-Matthew 16:18 declares, “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” 

-In his great prayer for the church in Ephesians 3:14-21, Paul ends with this benediction in Verses 20, 21, “Now to Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages.” 

It is only “in the church” that Jesus loses His divine ability, energy, and glory. The answer to our inferiority is His superiority. It is not in trying harder, but in trusting wholly that His work is accomplished. It is according to the power that works within us that He is brought glory within the church.

A Mother's Dictionary

1. ADULT: A person who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle. 
   
   
2. BATHROOM: A room used by the entire family, believed by all except Mom to be self-cleaning. 
   
   
3. COMMITTEE: A body that keeps minutes and wastes hours. 
   
   
4. DATE: Infrequent outings with Dad where Mom can enjoy worrying about the kids in a different setting. 
   
   
5. EMPTY NEST: See "WISHFUL THINKING." 
   
   
6. FABLE: A story told by a teenager arriving home after curfew. 
   
   
7. GUM: Adhesive for the hair. 
   
   
8. HINDSIGHT: What Mom experiences from changing too many diapers. 
   
   
9. INFLATION: Cutting money in half without damaging the paper. 
   
   
10. JUNK: Dad's stuff. 
    
    
11. KISS: Mom's medicine. 
    
    
12. LEMONADE STAND: Complicated business venture where Mom buys powdered mix, sugar, lemons, and paper cups, and sets up a table, chairs, pitchers and ice for kids who sit there for three to six minutes and net a profit of 15 cents. 
    
    
13. MAYBE: No. 
    
    
14. NAIL POLISH: part of an assortment of make-up items such as lipstick, eyeliner, blush etc. which ironically make Mom look better while making her young daughter look "like a tramp." 
    
    
15. OVERSTUFFED RECLINER: Mom's nickname for Dad. 
    
    
16. PANIC: What a mother goes through when the darn wind-up swing stops. 
    
    
17. QUIET: A state of household serenity which occurs before the birth of the first child and occurs again after the last child has left for college. 
    
    
18. REFRIGERATOR: Combination art gallery and air-conditioner for the kitchen. 
    
    
19. SPOILED ROTTEN: What the kids become after as little as 15 minutes with Grandma. 
    
    
20. TOWELS: See "FLOOR COVERINGS". 
    
    
21. UNDERWEAR: An article of clothing, the cleanliness of which ensures the wearer will never have an accident. 
    
    
22. VACATION: Where you take the family to get away from it all, only to find it there, too. 
    
    
23. WALLS: Complete set of drawing paper for kids that comes with every room. 
    
    
24. XOXOXOXOXO: Mom salutation guaranteed to make the already embarrassing note in a kid's lunch box even more mortifying. 
    
    
25. "YIPPEE!": What mother's shout the first day of school. 
    
    
26. ZUCCHINI: Vegetable which can be baked, boiled, fried or steamed before kids refuse to eat it.

Small churches ( Part 1)

“Dealing with the Spirit of Inferiority” 

Revelation 3:7, 8

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name."

We live in the day of the Mega Church. They have the large buildings, the kickin’ praise band, the larger than life ministries, the huge staff, and so many people that you hardly get acquainted with any of the folks that attend. The Mega Church is not your norm in America, but everyone seems to think that their model is the thing that we should pattern our church after. In fact we often feel inferior because we cannot match them in numbers or finance.

We have come to a place today where we think the church has seen its best days behind them. Most barely scrape by financially, hoping for volunteers and praying for people to be faithful. So many wish we could be just like those other churches that have the staff, the fiancés, and the large groups of people. But let me tell you here and now that the average church in America today only runs about 80 in attendance. So what that means the size of the church is no excuse for not doing and being the best that we can for God. 

So let me say something here:

-Small Churches are not wrong, broken, sinful, or theologically incorrect.

-We are not prayerless, faithless, lazy or old-fashioned.

-We will not automatically grow as soon as we fix what’s wrong, because there’s nothing about being small that needs to be fixed.

-Small Churches are not the best way to do church – we’re just the most common way. Big churches aren’t better than Small Churches, but Small Churches aren’t better than big churches, either.

-We are not closer to the New Testament church model than our big church counterparts

-It’s not about big or small. It’s about big and small.

-Being small is not an excuse to do church poorly. 

-While many small churches may not be able to afford a lot of things they’d love to have it cannot stop us from being everything Jesus has called us to be.

-We cannot wait until we grow to do what Jesus is calling us to do right here, right now.

-A local church doesn’t need to be big to do the Jesus stuff well and the Jesus stuff is the only stuff that matters anyway.

When we say, “We are just a small church…” our tone often implies a sense of weakness or inability, but there is nothing “little” or “insignificant” in the kingdom of God. In fact there are still people who want to be able to talk with the pastor, know other folks in the church, and cultivate relationships that will help them spiritually.

Destined and Determined

Steve Goodier wrote this story I want to share with you today:

A sky-diving instructor was asked, "How many successful jumps must a student make before he or she can become certified?" 

He answered, "All of them." 

Sky diving, however, is the exception. Is your life built on a series of successes? Do you usually attempt something new and immediately succeed, then succeed again and again? Or more likely, do you find that it is the other way around? 

Our successes are often built on smaller failures. We fell off the bike a few times before we learned to ride. And we produced a few culinary failures before we baked a successful layered cake or prepared a satisfactory omelet. 

Tom Hopkins observes, "The number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep on trying." And Winston Churchill stated, "Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm." They both agree that discouragement, rather than failure, is the enemy of success. Those who can remain hopeful and focused, though they fail, are those who will eventually succeed. 

In all, Emily Dickinson is said to have written nearly eighteen hundred poems. Though fewer than a dozen were published in her lifetime and the first volume of her poetry was not published until four years after her death, Dickinson's success is attributed to the fact that she did not allow discouragement to keep her from her poetry. 

As she wrote so beautifully: 

"Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all."

Hope … never stops. Where would we be today had Emily Dickinson lost her enthusiasm for writing? Though largely unrecognized, she kept her desire alive and we now remember her as one of the great poets of all time. 

It's good to remember that success may be just beyond the next failure, and you'll get there, not because you're destined to, but because you're determined to.

    

Grow into reaching the impossible

Action always overcomes inaction when reaching for the impossible. 

James 2:26 “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

A plan is good, a good plan is even better, but if that plan doesn’t get put into action it’s as useless as a four fingered glove. Learn to get into action, start today, whatever you’ve been postponing-just do it. If you wait for the perfect time, you’ll never accomplish anything.

It takes others who can dream the impossible with you to make it possible.

You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.


Proverbs 29:18 “Where there is no vision, the people perish…”

NKJV “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint…”

HCSB “Without revelation people run wild…”

Without people the vision will perish. Our life as believers is about serving others. When you serve others, you serve yourself, and you give God a real opportunity to prove He can do the impossible.

Grow into reaching for the impossible daily.

1 Peter 2:1-3 “Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

Every day you should become a little better than you were the day before. If you can become one percent better daily, you can recreate your life every 100 days. Learn to get better daily; look for ways to improve, to be kinder, more intelligent, and more helpful.

You can do it

If you can dream the impossible, you can do the impossible.

Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us…”

If you can dream it, God says with His help you can do it. Life is too short to spend it just doing the possible. 

Learn to pursue the impossible, pursue what others say can’t be done, pursue what has never been done before, pursue your dreams, and turn them into a reality.



When you believe something, believe in it all the way, implicitly and unquestionable. If you’re going to believe, you might as well believe all the way.

T.E. Lawrence said, "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." Let us all become a little more dangerous. Let us become men and women of enthusiasm, passion, and of conviction for a dream.

The Impossible

Troubles keep you on your knees when dreaming for the impossible.

Psalms 31:7 "I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities..."

Troubles make you better and will keep you on your knees. Never shrink away from trouble nor fail to see the value of it. Your adversaries can provide you with more value than your friends. You can learn from your troubles and you can grow in your dependence on God. It’s critical that you embrace trouble as a growing part of life. Someone once said, “All the adversity I've had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles have strengthened me. You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.”

Passion increases your faith to believe for the impossible.

Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

Your passion must be that God can do what no man can do. Passion is what gives you the strength to overcome the obstacles associated with every dream. Passion is what keeps you going when everyone else is tired because passion is power.

To succeed at your dream, you have to have unshakable belief. Times will get tough. The road will become hazardous during your journey. So you must have faith and hope to keep on going. You need a faith in God, in yourself, and in the importance of your dream no matter how impossible it seems. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." Passion is the key to realizing your faith into reality.

Dream the impossible with family

When you dream the impossible you must remember the importance of your family.

From Ephesians 5:25 through Ephesians 6:4 God talks to the church and individual believers about the importance of family and the need of devotion to each other rather than neglect.

Yes, I know in Luke 18:28-30 Jesus talks about the blessings that obedience to God brings, especially to those who have to leave loved ones behind to do the Lords work. 

"Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting." 

But there is a difference in being obedient to God’s calling and moving away from your loved ones and neglecting your loved ones in pursuit of an impossible dream.

Your family must be part of your dream and should always remain within your focus. You must never become so consumed in the affairs of life that you neglect the individuals that you need most. No one can reach the top of the mountain all by themselves. They need the support of their loved ones to see their dreams of the impossible become a reality.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, could not understand all that was happening to her or why she was chosen by God. But because she saw the miracle pregnancy of her barren cousin Elizabeth in her old age, she understood how the impossible could become a reality and said to the angel of the Lord, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” (Luke 1:38)

Dreaming the Impossible

The dictionary defines the word “Impossible” as "that which cannot be or is impracticable; not feasible; that cannot be done." Yet, God makes  a habit of doing what others label impossible.

Webster's defines a habit as "a disposition or condition of the mind or body acquired by custom or a frequent repetition of the same act. Habit is that which is held or retained, the effect of custom or frequent repetition. Hence we speak of good habits and bad habits."

God makes it a point of repetition to tackle what others said was impossible. The things thought impossible with man become possibilities with God and He constantly took action for those that believed throughout the Bible. Because of that we know about the waters parting, the storm subsiding, the blinded eyes opening, the deaf ears becoming unstopped, the dead rising, the unclean cleansed, and the unforgivable forgiven.

You can’t make something come true that you haven’t envisioned. You have to start somewhere. God starts with nothing and makes something extraordinary.

When the rich young ruler who did all the religious things walked away from Jesus without accepting true salvation, the disciples wondered out loud to Jesus about who could enter into the kingdom of God. Jesus said in:

Luke 18:25-27 “For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”

It is not that prosperous people cannot go to heaven or that God is against prosperity, but it’s that mans wealth, knowledge of religious practices, or doing good things cannot save you. You must be willing to give it all away if necessary and be subject unto God and His will for your life. It’s learning that what men think is impossible with themselves is all possible with God.

Believing the Impossible

He was 65 years old, broke, and alone. He got his first social security check for $105, and he got mad. But instead of blaming society or just writing congress a nasty note, he started asking himself, "What could I do that would be valuable for other people? What could I give back?" He started thinking about what he had that was valuable to others.

His first answer was, "Well, I have this chicken, recipe, everyone seems to love! What if I sold my chicken recipe to restaurants? Could I make money doing that?" Then he immediately thought, "That’s ridiculous. Selling my recipe won’t even pay the rent." And he got a new idea: "What if I not only sold them my recipe but also showed them how to cook the chicken properly? What if the chicken was so good that it increased their business? If more people come to see them and they make more chicken sales, maybe they will give me a percentage of those additional sales."

Many people have great ideas, but this man was different. He was a man who didn’t just think of great things to do. He put them into action. He went and started knocking on doors, telling each restaurant owner his story: "I have a great chicken recipe, and I think if you use it, it’ll increase your sales. And I’d like to get a percentage of that increase."

Well, many people laughed in his face. They said, "Look, old man, get out of here. What are you wearing that stupid white suit for?" Did he give up? Absolutely not! He had the #1 key to success; he believed in turning the impossible into reality. Every time you do something, you learn from it, and you find a way to do it better next time. Instead of feeling bad about the last restaurant that had rejected his idea, he immediately start focusing on how to tell his story more effectively and get better results from the next restaurant.


He was refused 1,009 times before he heard his first yes. He spent two years driving across America in his old, beat-up car, sleeping in the back seat in his rumpled white suit, getting up each day eager to share his idea with someone new. Often, the only food he had was a quick bite of the samples he was preparing for perspective buyers. How many people do you think would have gone for 1,009 no’s - two years of no’s - and kept on going? Very few! That’s why there was only one Colonel Harlan Sanders. I think most people wouldn’t get passed twenty no’s, much less a hundred or a thousand! Yet this is sometimes what it takes to make the impossible become possible.



If you look at any of the most successful people in history, you will found this common thread: They would not be denied. They would not accept no. They would not allow anything to stop them from making their vision, their goal, a reality. Did you know that Walt Disney was turned down 302 times before he got financing for his dream of creating "The Happiest Place on Earth"? All the banks thought he was crazy. He wasn’t crazy; he was a visionary and, more important, he was committed to making that vision a reality. Today, millions of people have shared in "the joy of Disney", a world like no other, a world launched by the decision of one man.

Can God do what He Said?

Can God bring it to pass?

Do you believe in the impossible?



A Smile

-A smile is so much more than just a show of teeth. 

-A smile is a prelude to laughter. 

-A smile is a spreader of joy. 

-A smile is a messenger of peace. 

-A smile is a sharer of happiness. 

-A smile is a giver of love. 

-Smiles help to heal the heart. 

-Smiles help to nourish the soul. 

-Smiles help to build a better world one grin at a time. 

-The truth is you don’t smile because you feel good; you feel good because you smile. 

Don’t be stingy with your smiles then. Share them with joy. Let everyone see your smiling face. Let Heaven see your smiling soul. Let God’s love flow through your smile until like the morning sun you light up the world.

Guard Your Heart

That old saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me." is such a lie.  You can even add actions, secrets, really anything in the place of words, because it all hurts. 

I have experienced a lot of heartbreak as many of you who read my blog may have experienced as well.  Some of my heartbreaks were so severe that I closed my heart completely. Other heartbreaks that I have experienced just allowed my to put up a wall around my heart brick by brick where over time my heart was closed off.  When you build a wall around your heart brick by brick it takes a little while to actually enclose your heart.  So there is always a chance that as one brick goes up one comes down.  Walls that go up immediately are there to stay and only walls that Christ can break down.  Walls that go up over a period of time, are hard to tear down, but with love and affection by the person we are protecting our hearts from they can begin to pry the bricks off.  It takes a lot of effort for that person to tear down those walls, but eventually they do come down.  

So what do you do when you build walls, take them down, turn around and build walls and take them down.  Eventually you stop taking the bricks down and keeping them in place, and over time you just stop taking bricks down because that person continually keeps hurting you either in the same way or different ways, and it is tiring building walls all the time.  So much easier to keep one wall up and build another brick.  Over time you will find that your heart is completely blocked off and no amount of anything will cause you to begin tearing down that wall.  It gets to the place where Christ is the only one who can break that wall down, and once that wall is broken down the heart that has been enclosed for days, months, years has withered and dried. 

Why do we build walls around our hearts?  We build walls around our hearts when people we love continually hurt us by their lies and secrets. When those lies and secrets become exposed we use them to build bricks, and this begins the process of building walls.  In the bible it tells us to guard our hearts.  To be honest I am tired of building bricks to protect my heart.  I don't know about you, but building breaks every other day is tiring. 

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you.  And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh."  Ezekiel 36:26

Why do I tell you this, because as long as our hearts have a wall around them, nothing can penetrate it.  Gods word needs to penetrate our hearts in order for us to be effective in the world, in our marriage and in our families.  As long as we have this wall, Gods word can't penetrate.  Yes the Bible tells us to guard our hearts, but not in the way where we block out the ability to love and be loved.

Proverbs 4:23 "Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life."

If we are not suppose to be building walls around our hearts to protect them, then what do we do to protect our hearts?  Awesome question. it was one that I was asking last night.  I found myself looking at the book of Philippians and found this passage:

"And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  Philippians 4:7

Let me encourage you with this:  If you have a wall completely around your heart, begin to ask Christ to tear down.  If in the process you find that your hear is hard, ask God to give you a new heart.  If you are beginning to build bricks STOP!  Use the peace of God to protect your heart instead of bricks.  Let Gods word begin to penetrate your heart, and heal what has been hardened.

Again, if you are in a place where you are just wanting to call it quits, allow God to minister to you, and seek good solid christian counselors to counsel you.  Begin to allow God to work in your heart, and begin seeing your heart changed.

Let God help you choose the right path

Starting Fresh...No Regret

If you regret what you have done in the past,

if you lament how your years have been spent

It's not too late to turn your life around.

It is never too late to repent.

Our God is the Father of forgiveness.

It doesn't matter what you've done in the past.

The Lord will hold you in His merciful embrace

with an enduring love that will always last.

When you come to that fork in the road,

so you don't regret the road not taken,

choose Christ's path, which leads to light and life,

so you won't find yourself among the forsaken.

Jesus loved you enough to die for you,

in order to save you from sinful strife.

He wants you to spend eternity with Him,

in the city of light and of life.

Just believe in the holy Word of God,

and that each and every word is true.

Just accept Jesus into your heart and life.

The Holy Spirit will show you what to do.

You'll be set free from the regret and shame.

You won't miss the person you were before.

When you no longer have to shoulder the blame,

You'll realize your life can be so much more.

If you will seek His guidance from above

He will take the lead. He will do His part 

to point you in the direction you need to go,

to help you to make a fresh new start.

~ Lanette Kissel ~

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