Friday, August 17, 2012

The Promise of Joy

Sometimes....

Sometimes the joy from our lives leaves.

      The sunshine keeps shining, and the summer continues.... kids splash in the water, laughter   
      continues but not yours.

      Days continue - almost on without you.  And the lack of joy almost paints everything grey - as if   
      nothing is important anymore without the sometime you lost.

      Have you felt this way before?  Have you lost something great or small?  If you have, you know 
      how I feel.

But then sometimes that joy returns.

       You keep walking, keep moving through the grey - sunshine nagging days. One step at a time,
       one single day at a time, believing, hoping, trusting that things will get better.

       Things we lose never can be replaced but there is a deep something in Life that can never be  
       taken.  And that something is the Giver of Joy.


It is a beautiful thing when in the stepping - trusting - that joy returns.

Here, in the midst of pain, we find a wholesome joy - because - we realize that we can have it in the midst of our reality - it never left us - we just forgot that it is not conditional.


Thank-you Jesus for Joy.

Real Joy. 


When you settle into it in the reality of life it is a beautiful gift- because it holds the promise that it can never be taken away.

Thank-you Jesus for Joy and Thank-you Jesus that I can hope for Bigger things too!  I'm glad that joy protects me and supports me in my hoping.


Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Harvest Time

A few thoughts and beliefs....

It's Harvest Time

Get READY








Just wait - the fruit you have been waiting for WILL produce.......that's a promise *


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"He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither.  In all that he does he prospers." - Psalm 1 

"But I am not ashamed for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me." 2 Timothy 1: 12

"Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.  For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your offspring will possess the nations and will people the desolate cities." - Isaiah 54: 2-3
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It's Time to 'JUST DO IT'


 There is a time to learn grace and understand that God does not condemn us when we mess up and return to Him and then there is a time to understand and act. 
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"For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God.  you need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.  But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil."  Hebrews 5: 12-14
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Things we need to DO:
(scripture shows that his promises are conditional!  You will reap harvest if  you... meditate on his word day and night...)

1. Read the WORD daily

2. PRAY (Intercede)

3. Have FAITH

4.  Flee EVIL

5.  Pursue RIGHTEOUSNESS



I pray that we can 'buck up' and get ourselves ready for the harvest - because the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.  There is grace for us to be mature! Let's not just expect for these things to happen for us - we must act!  Expect that when we act according to scripture there will be grace - and it will be GREAT!  Just as promised.