Eleventh Hour Gift

James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knows to do good, and does it not, to him it is sin.”

A Moral Compass

Yesterday I was reading one of my morning emails by Max Lucado, this one was titled “An Eleventh Hour Gift”. If you’re a Christian, you might know where I’m going with this and what it all means. The eleventh-hour gift was the gift of forgiveness as Jesus hung on the cross dying.

When one criminal hurled accusations at Jesus, the criminal on His other side chastised him for saying such a thing about a man who had done nothing wrong! “Yes we did something wrong, yes, but this man is innocent!” No one knows exactly what was said while three men hung bleeding to death on a cross but Jesus said something profound, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” My faith tells me that THAT is the kind of man Jesus was/and IS all about, love and forgiveness.

What? This criminal? Paradise? Full of sin gets to see paradise? Yes, people, that’s what Jesus’ death was for this tainted world, forgiving our sin-filled nature. Did these men attend church? Did they wash Jesus’ feet? Did they tithe and read scripture regularly, picking it apart word for word so they got it right with the Lord? Do they get to see paradise too? 

It gets tricky and I believe this is why we have an era stuck in a world judging God/Jesus and the moral compass. They answer to no one and forcing them to read a Bible that is full of sinners, rapist, killers, sodomy, and incest, the line of teaching gets lost and they come out on the other end with their own truth. Atheist didn’t become that way because they DIDN’T read the Bible, no, more than likely they read it and came away with their own summation.

I have a son, nieces, and nephews from blood and marriage and I know the different upbringings each of them had and what they carry with them. They define God in their own way, no matter what the Bible says, their parents said, ministers say, they come to their own conclusion of what a Moral Compass even is; they answer to no one. And even the ones that turned out to be Christians, came out believing ‘God didn’t mean it this way or that way, again, making their own truth fit what they’ve read and learned.

This is sad but when I read that email of Max Lucado’s it seemed pretty clear to me, Jesus didn’t die because we were all perfect in our moral compass worlds. He died because we are ALL sinners. So does that mean we get left behind because we’re out here with our high and mighty Moral Compass? We do everything right and honorable and fall on occasion, so does that mean we’re just going to be forgotten in our eleventh hour? I don’t believe so.

Will all of the children growing up today be forgotten because they don’t understand what the bible and the message said? No, they won’t! They are not being taught and much of what is taught is misconstrued, mixed and a jumbled up mess of laws, vows, deaths, and sins, they see no hope in the Word and are not taught of the HOPE in the Word.

People today are so vindictive, so eager to have the upper hand and smite the neighbor, it is a long line of misconceptions we teach our kids that it is okay, because of what, God forgives? TO ME, it is us, who already know that it’s a sin who will have trouble ‘knocking on heavens door.’

What I’m saying is, today is Good Friday, it is the day designated as the day Jesus was hung on the cross. I say designated because no one, and I mean NO ONE, knows of the day or hour our Lord was hung on the cross. One thing we Christians ARE certain of is that He died with one last breath forgiving a sinner who didn’t know any better all of his life, that Jesus was the God that many searches for. He forgave mankind, point blank!

I remember when I broke my femur last September and I laid crying in pain, what kept me sane at the moment was knowing Jesus suffered more as He made his way to the cross. The images of Jesus being whipped and beaten as He dragged the heavy wood to the top of ‘Skull’s Hill’ gave me something to focus on other than what I was enduring. Every drop of bloodshed, every laceration, every wail of pain from an innocent man, left my pain feeling small and petty.

As the past six weeks have been filled with pains all over my body that I DID NOT expect to feel, I thought I could handle any pain after Septembers rain of pain but this pain is just as immeasurable and I failed to conjure the images that I know might carry me through to the finish. I feel like a failure as I head into my New Year, no longer looking forward to ringing in the New Year in the fashion that I’ve done for years now. It’s all changed. Life has changed, the world has changed.

Easter Sunday will be different this year. My husband has to work, my son has to work, the family will rejoice with food and one another, sharing and caring and I’ll be left alone to celebrate my New Year in the fashion that I saw it coming, alone, with the One that forgave man, all of mankind, for being the sinners they are.

One thing I can say is that this Sunday I will RISE from my bed, and embrace the chance to live another day, basking in His glory! Another sunrise and sunset to tell the people of the world that no matter the sin, no matter the pain and shame you feel, there is the eleventh-hour forgiveness awaiting each and every one of you. Remember, it’s your magnetic moral compass that will lead you north or south

James 5:15 “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.”

James 4:11 “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.”

Unknown quote: “The more fake you are, the bigger your circle will be. The more real you are, the smaller your circle will be.

These are well known facts.”

May each and every one of you have a most Blessed Celebratory Day as we remember the reason for the Season!

The Moral of the Story Is...

Easter April 1st, 2018 - Snow - Lots of it

Isa. 55:9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

The Moral of the Story... 

All week I was undecided whether I was going to make it to the family’s Easter gathering. Since I haven’t been able to walk really well for a month now I cried out and said if I can’t walk I’m not going. It isn’t as if his family hasn’t seen me in this weakened state. Remember I’ve spoken many of time how their eyes speak of pity, dripping of poor Joni looks. It hurts me to see that look on their faces. It’s not my fault I can read people, but their eyes being the window of their soul, their pity pours from their eyes.

All month I’ve struggled to get better. His mom came out last week for my birthday and brought me an enormous fruit tray! She asked if we’d be coming on Easter and defensively I said, “I don’t even know how I’ll feel tomorrow nevertheless in a week.” I left it at that because each new day is a challenge and I feel different every day.

This week I almost forced myself to feel better. One day I would walk well and I kept myself busy and the next day the cane was back in my hand. Each day that I feel better I find myself trying to do too much in a day and am in pain the very next day. It’s the new game of what will I feel today. Friday I washed clothes, scrubbed up the tub and bathroom, vacuumed the floor as if I was preparing for guests to arrive! Saturday I woke and didn’t feel bad at all and went on with my chore for the day and that was going to be to make my mother’s classic macaroni salad to take with me on our Easter outing. With determination in hand, I was intent on going to a family get-together.

All week long the weather was predicting a cold spell for Easter Sunday. Cold as in twenty to thirty degrees after a mixture of the fifties and sixties on the clickity-clanking roller coaster ride of the transitional winter-spring event. I don’t know what day it was when I checked the weather and the word snow popped up but I paid it no mind and went on to healing, physically and emotionally.

Friday came and I checked the weather and it said more than just snow, it said Winter Weather Advisory! For some reason, I thought it was a nasty unethical April Fools joke but I knew deep down the professionals in the field wouldn’t do something of that magnitude. They were now calling for three to five inches of snow, eight if you were under the heavy band that was attached to the storm.

I trudged ahead with my plans; it took my whole day Saturday to make the macaroni salad with every intention of going to see the family on Easter Sunday. A whole day to make macaroni salad you ask? Well, when it comes to steaming the shrimp, cutting up the stuff that goes in it, hard-boiling eggs and mixing the sauce, yes, it takes about four to five hours to make it perfect, the classic way I remember it being made from childhood.

Everything seemed to be going wrong! I made this dish for years now but this time everything was going wonky on me from the noodles to the eggs, step by step it just kept getting worse and worse! The two-pounds of macaroni noodles were not the right ones. I usually use just the simple generic elbows but these were name brand and apparently, two pounds of simple elbow macaroni to generic brands is different than the name brands. I had enough fancier ridged noodles than I knew what to do with! 

From what felt like overcooked noodles to the undercooked eggs, and my dog circling my feet wondering if anything would drop for her, to my back in wrenching pain, this wasn’t going well. I persisted and went on winding up with making a meal for the guys with the excess noodles I had, making me something to eat and having more than enough macaroni salad for all. The optimist in me reigns!

For the entire week of Holy Week, I stayed focused on my faith and winding down the Lenten season with all that I’ve learned. My mornings and writings, as usual, were scripture, my movies at night were God related; winding down at a nice pace, pain in check but persistence won out very easily.

I didn’t even think of the snow until Sunday morning came. I woke and as I peeked out the window I could see a blanket of cotton covering the darkness. As the sun, or lack thereof, began shedding light on the horizon, I could see what I couldn’t see an hour ago, a little more snow than I thought. My son was due to drive home in the wintry white slippery stuff, yet again, after his two nights a week graveyard shift ended. He came home sore because of the shoveling he had to do and the lugging of salt. 

As the blustery temps remained below freezing, the snow kept falling and falling rendering us homebound for the day. I wasn’t willing to drive in the stuff since my back cannot handle the swerves a slick icy/muddy road causes and my husband, being blind in one eye, has trouble differentiating the ditch and the road when it is all uniformly white. We played it safe and stayed home. His mom was disappointed but she wanted us all safe too. Other family members couldn’t make it either, so I didn’t feel too bad about not being able to attend. Maybe she should set the time later than twelve noon from now on. Nope, tradition is tradition and one thing I’ve learned from this family is that they are steeped in routine and tradition.

I didn’t plan on being home for the day so now I had to figure out a meal. Plans are made to be broken I get, but I was certainly not ready for it to be seven inches of snow on April first to be what kept us home. Yes, we could’ve trudged through the snow, after all that is another thing I learned about Nebraskan’s, they don’t let snow stop them from anything. I live in a 4x4 red, white, and black state, Husker nation through and through.

By two o’clock the sun had pierced through the heavy blanket of clouds and the snow had finally stopped. I had shoveled a path for my dog earlier and the path was all but gone, filled in with snow, except for a sliver of brown peeking through. The roads looked very passable and finally cars were passing on the now slushy mess. The warming of the ground from many fifty and sixty degree days helped alleviate the plowing of the snow. The eight inches of snow I brushed from the truck was now sliding off the roof that I couldn’t reach, but the grass was still thick in the middle of the white stuff that defined the majority of the ‘Winter from Hell’! Temperatures stayed in the twenties the entire day of April 1st, 2018.

Then the words came through the tunnel…I have to go to the emergency room. * thud * I nearly fainted at the sight of blood and was rendered useless. Wrapped in gauze my husband drove off as I nurtured my near-fainting, dizzying spell and vomiting. Four stitches later and two hours passed (I was still woozy) my husband made it back home. Unless you want me to pass out, please don’t ask me what happened in my hubby’s new ‘workshop’. Use your imagination, DO NOT ASK! 

All in all the ending of the Lenten season’s highlight was the moral of the entire season; our plans are not God’s plans! Our ways are not His ways! He can and WILL do whatever He sets in motion to do! No one else is in control but Him! Let loose of the ego in you and be reminded, God is good all the time, ALL THE TIME GOD IS GOOD! 

Pss. 118: 5  “I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.

[6] The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?”

[8] It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

4 1 18 - Chrismas Pointsettias covered in snow! 

We couldn't have Easter without Christmas now, can we? 

The Month I LOVE

Col 2:16-17 "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."

The Month I LOVE

The beginning of Lent starts, ironically on February 14th, the day of LOVE! You might ask why I care if I’m not Catholic, well I blogged about this over the years, Lent is a Christian holy season, not just a Catholic season. Ash Wednesday begins the Catholic celebration of Lent on the same day. 

Matt. 4: 1-4 "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.   And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.  And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”  But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

For the past ten years or so I’ve fasted for Lent, not always giving up food, usually giving up meat, but this year I can’t do that because I’ve basically given up meat completely because of this disease.As in years past, I prayerfully ask for what I’m to give up this year, this is MY honor and respect to Him. This is MY ritual that you can laugh and tease me about. Every one of us praise, honor and worship differently, and this is one thing I somewhat have control over. Either I fast or I don't. It is totally my choice.

I feel I’ve been given my answer. With Google strong-arming the web searches I used for researching alternative treatments, and with their compadres Facebook being the schoolmarm, waving their ruler around correcting me with their sidekick Snopes (phony) fact checker, I feel more bullied than ever.

I think I’m being led by the Spirit into the wilderness, unknown terrain. It’s not unknown that I have a disease of a lifetime. I have my Spiritual family with their supporting arms all around me so the bullying tactic of the elitist might raise my blood pressure a bit, but it will not break me! I am not swayed by money, I cannot be broken by power, but my words are being noticed by someone to go as far as to flag an informative post, while other 'for the government' post get by with no problem. What a joke facebook has become. No longer a place for family and friends to get together.  

For Lent, if I give up posting my blog or sharing my journey on Facebook that will give the higher-ups the appearance that they’ve won. I don’t think Goliath knows me but they will. I may be small but my God is mightier than any earthly power, (and unearthly power for that matter.)

After February 14th I will retreat, an unnamed sabbatical will begin. I just need my friends to understand and respect this journey of mine. As they have always done in the past, they have given me nothing but the utmost respect, and support that’s why I keep them close. They make me laugh, smile and feel comfortable about this craggy journey. They let me know I’m not alone and never will be. 

While Lent will be signified by the day of love, Easter Sunday will be signified by the day of fools. How ironic is that? Lent begins February 14th, Valentine’s Day, Easter is on April 1st, April Fool’s Day! Now the jesters and jokesters of the world can have a field day mocking Christ, yet again.

Me, the little one, will be celebrating my New Year on April first. It is my marked significance of new life, a new beginning. I will rise from my dormancy healthier, wealthier and wiser. All praise and Glory to God, my God, whom hopefully I share with you.

I will not run, I will not stray, I most definitely will not fear!I am so done trying to mold my protocol to the likes of the naysayers who don't believe in anything but false idols. I may be quiet for a bit, a much needed time of reflection, a time to put in perspective the long journey I’ve left behind me and the new unchartered journey I walk forward into. My body has been put through the wringer. It doesn’t show to those who only read my words, it doesn't show in the smiles I give to people, but it shows when I look in the mirror or when I lay my head down for a long deserved nights rest. I feel it crawling slowly through my pained tendons and I’m left exhausted at the end of the day. When negativity seeps in, my tumor literally throbs! This is why I need negativity, and all of the harsh disagreeing with me as far away from me as possible.

Each morning I wake, refreshed ready to make the most of every breath in the day, and tackle whatever is thrown at me, with the slingshot in hand. This week it was mud where I never expected it to come from, Google, Facebook, and Snopes. I have to ignore the bullies, for now, I have too much work to do to be bothered by the negativity of the Giants of the world. 

I will move forward never looking back at what I leave behind in my dust. I’m on the right path and my Father has assured me, daily, that He is with me all the way…as well as my Spiritual Family cheering me on from a distance but always close in heart!

2 Tim. 1:3 “I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;”

Quotation Saturday ~ Life, Love, Spirit

1 John 4:13 “Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.”

“I do not celebrate the Pagan holiday of Easter. I celebrate a New Year, a new life, a new love for life and Spirit. I celebrate a resurrection of everything within me; my Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. May your day be a celebration of Christ in YOU. God Bless.”
- Joni Zipp

LIFE

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.” 
― William W. Purkey

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” 
― Oscar Wilde

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” 
― Douglas Adams,

LOVE

Jesus to me, Joni:
“I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.” 
― Pablo Neruda

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.” 
― André Gide, Autumn Leaves

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” 
― Martin Luther King Jr.

SPIRIT

“We must become so alone, so utterly alone, that we withdraw into our innermost self. It is a way of bitter suffering. But then our solitude is overcome, we are no longer alone, for we find that our innermost self is the spirit, that it is God, the indivisible. And suddenly we find ourselves in the midst of the world, yet undisturbed by its multiplicity, for our innermost soul we know ourselves to be one with all being.” 
― Hermann Hesse

“It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters,” 
― Amit Ray

“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.” 
― Albert Einstein

NEW YEAR

“Hope
Smiles from the threshold of the year to come, 
Whispering 'it will be happier'...” 
― Alfred Lord Tennyson

“For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.
And to make an end is to make a beginning."
― T.S. Eliot

“May Light always surround you;
Hope kindle and rebound you.
May your Hurts turn to Healing;
Your Heart embrace Feeling.
May Wounds become Wisdom;
Every Kindness a Prism.
May Laughter infect you;
Your Passion resurrect you.
May Goodness inspire 
your Deepest Desires.
Through all that you Reach For, 
May your arms Never Tire.” 
― D. Simone

links:

He Rose!

Chronology

Sin and Sin No More

Gal. 2:20 “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”

While man deemed the day Easter, my New Year and Resurrection Sunday was a blessed one. It was nice to peek into facebook and see how others celebrated the day. While some sat the entire day just posting pics and enjoyed sharing and liking, others celebrated with family, some boasted of a church service, and some respectfully didn’t post at all. Beautiful.

As my Holy season has come to a close, I realized something along the journey. I realized I don’t belong anywhere. I realize I am waiting the day I get married and become a united couple in the eyes of the Lord, while the world spins and goes on in the mundane manner that they deem okay.

I’m curious to know, did anyone look up at the sky early on Saturday morning? Were they so consumed with a social outlet that they missed out on something phenomenal taking place in the sky? Yes, I’m talking about the total lunar eclipse. I stood in the cold of the morning just gazing skyward and thanking the Lord for the blessings in my life as I watched the brightly lit full moon disappear darkening the sky.

It has been an awesome month and looks to be an inspiring wonderful year. I can’t say that for the rest of the world or the people in it. This is the time of the year that I am away from the computer more than I am behind it. This is the time I relish spending my days outdoors drinking in the sunshine instead of indoors sipping from the silliness of a society gone astray.

I’m saddened to think that the Resurrection Sunday celebration, which is really the Ishtar/Easter holyday, is relinquished to a reason to drink, a time to get together with family and get drunk. Drink and be merry the Bible says, but man takes that as a reason and a green light to sin; just as the death on the cross is nothing more than the go ahead to sin. Maybe the fall of man is because as you wish people a Happy Easter, you are in turn releasing the very presence of Ishtar into the lives of many. Christmas too has the same sin-filled overtones. It is no longer a celebration of the birth of Christ just as Easter is no longer the rejoicing in the resurrection after His death on the cross.

I know you’re thinking that drinking is not a sin, and I’d have to say I don’t make the judgment call of what sin is and is not, but there is many scriptures pointing to the fact that the Lord is well aware of man and his drunkenness and punishment is what He’ll unleash in His way, not my way. Many will spin their own take on truth, that’s what man does to justify his sin.

Titus 2: 2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

[4] That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,

[6] Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.

[12] Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Luke 21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares.

Jesus’ death was not an occasion to sin but I feel many see it that way. ‘He died for my sins so I can sin and sin and sin and He’ll forgive me.’ Jesus’ death was not an occasion to sin. His death did not mean, ‘go and sin some more and you’ll find me waiting to forgive.’ I think His death meant a time of transformation! The time of your sin was over, to go and sin no more.

I see all to often people knowingly sinning but relying on the Lord’s death on the cross as a means of forgiveness. “I know I’m sinning, but Jesus will forgive me.” And they go on and sin over and over again losing sight of the entire crucifixion and resurrection.

We live in a world where people hate and hate some more because they are justified in their hate. Jesus declared that we are to love our brother, love our neighbor. He didn’t mean just our family members or next-door neighbors; He meant the entire human race. We are to love and turn the other cheek; even our neighbor’s in a foreign country. Should we jump on the hate bandwagon because everyone else seems to be enjoying the ride? NO!

We are a world built on conformity. We human beings follow along like lost little puppies yearning for their mother’s milk. When she stops we all stop to drink what she has to offer. She leads and we follow. No longer does man seek the depths of his being because he is too consumed with being a falsified follower.

I do not sin so I can be forgiven. When I accepted Christ, I try each and every waking day to keep myself from falling victim to sin. I am changed, transformed by my Lord, not using His death as a means to continue sinning. Am I a sinner? Yes! What I thank Him for every day is dying for me and allowing me the chance to change and be more like Him. And this is why…“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me:”

Alleuia Amen! May the Resurrection of Christ transform you all! Not just with your lips but with your very heart and soul!

Isaiah 29:13-14 (NIV)

The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. Therefore once more I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish."

Quotation Saturday ~ Resurrection Sunday is Coming...

Lent comes to an end…

As we embrace a new beginning.

Matt. 28:5-6 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified.
He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.

"As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus' thirst...'Repent and believe' Jesus tells us. What are we to repent? Our indifference, our hardness of heart. What are we to believe? Jesus thirsts even now, in your heart and in the poor -- He knows your weakness. He wants only your love, wants only the chance to love you."

~ Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

"Whoever wishes to be my follower must deny his very self, take up his cross each day, and follow in my steps."

~ Luke 9:23

"Prayer does not change the purpose of God. But prayer does change the action of God." ~ Chuck Smith 

"Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons, but they are helpless against our prayers."

 ~ Sidlow Baxter

"It is not just about giving up our favorite food but its about going further and giving up things like hatred and unforgiveness. You need to clean your heart and prepare yourself for purity."

~ Amanda Jobs

“The Lord measures out perfection neither by the multitude nor the magnitude of our deeds, but by the manner in which we perform them.”

~ St. John of the Cross

"You cannot be proud and expect to be transformed away from your sins. You need to humble yourself and have a spirit of repentance within you. Then you will see real change."

~ Mable Vine

“If man had his way, the plan of redemption would be an endless and bloody conflict. In reality, salvation was bought not by Jesus' fist, but by His nail-pierced hands; not by muscle but by love; not by vengeance but by forgiveness; not by force but by sacrifice. Jesus Christ our Lord surrendered in order that He might win; He destroyed His enemies by dying for them and conquered death by allowing death to conquer Him.”
~ A.W. Tozer

“The gifts of the Master are these: freedom, life, hope, new direction, transformation, and intimacy with God. If the cross was the end of the story, we would have no hope. But the cross isn't the end. Jesus didn't escape from death; he conquered it and opened the way to heaven for all who will dare to believe. The truth of this moment, if we let it sweep over us, is stunning. It means Jesus really is who he claimed to be, we are really as lost as he said we are, and he really is the only way for us to intimately and spiritually connect with God again.”
~ Steven James

“And now brothers, I will ask you a terrible question, and God knows I ask it also of myself. Is the truth beyond all truths, beyond the stars, just this: that to live without him is the real death, that to die with him the only life?”
~ Frederick Buechner

“May the resurrection power of Christ, awake in us a greater spiritual force and strength, so that we can passionately pursue our God-given dreams.”
~ Lailah Gifty Akita

“It saddens my heart when on this Holy Weekend so-called ‘Christians’ lose the war with satan and give in. Their eyes are not on Christ and satan loves that. Focus on the Life and the Resurrection, your soul will feel much better."

Job 27:8 “For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?

Saved by the Good book 

Lent: Day Forty-six ~ Quotation Saturday ~ Easter

Pss. 69: 16 Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.

LENT

"All throughout my life I have been living recklessly. I have sinned a lot and done things that I know I should not have done. Now I will return back to God and change myself."

~  Genevieve Shaw

"As Lent is the time for greater love, listen to Jesus' thirst...'Repent and believe' Jesus tells us. What are we to repent?  Our indifference, our hardness of heart.  What are we to believe?  Jesus thirsts even now, in your heart and in the poor -- He knows your weakness. He wants only your love, wants only the chance to love you." 

~ Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

“God shapes the world by prayer. The more prayer there is in the world the better the world will be, the mightier the forces of against evil …”

~ E.M. Bounds

"Lent is like a long 'retreat' during which we can turn back into ourselves and listen to the voice of God, in order to defeat the temptations of the Evil One. It is a period of spiritual 'combat' which we must experience alongside Jesus, not with pride and presumption, but using the arms of faith: prayer, listening to the word of God and penance. In this way we will be able to celebrate Easter in truth, ready to renew the promises of our Baptism."

~ Pope Benedict XVI

FAITH

If I cannot hear “The sound of rain’ long before the rain falls, and then go out to some hilltop of the Spirit, as near to my God as I can and have faith to wait there with my face between my knees, though six times or sixty times I am told “There is nothing’, till at last there arises a little cloud out of the sea, then I know nothing of Calvary love. (Read 1 Kings 18:41-45)

~ Amy Carmichael

Believe that when you come into the presence of God you can have all you came for. You can take it away, and you can use it, for all the power of God is at your disposal in response to your faith.

~ Smith Wigglesworth

The issue of faith is not so much whether we believe in God, but whether we believe the God we believe in.

~ R. C. Sproul

The more we allow ourselves to personally experience sanctification by faith, the more we also experience healing by faith. These two doctrines walk together. The more the Spirit of God lives and acts in the soul of believers, the more miracles He will work in the body. By this, the world will recognize what redemption means.

~ Andrew Murray

 EASTER

When a man really gives up trying to make something out of himself – a saint, or a converted sinner, or a churchman, a righteous or unrighteous man,…when in the fullness of tasks, questions, success or ill-hap, experiences and perplexities, a man throws himself into the arms of God…then he wakes with Christ in Gethsemane. That is faith, and it is thus that he becomes a man and Christian.

~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

“Come, see the place where the Lord lay,” with joy and gladness. He does not lie there now. Weep, when ye see the tomb of Christ, but rejoice because it is empty. Thy sin slew him, but his divinity raised him up. Thy guilt hath murdered him, but his righteousness hath restored him. Oh! he hath burst the bonds of death, he hath ungirt the cerements of the tomb, and hath come out more than conqueror, crushing death beneath his feet. Rejoice, O Christian, for he is not there—he is risen.

~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon

And he departed from our sight that we might return to our heart, and there find Him. For He departed, and behold, He is here.

~ St Augustine

“Dost thou understand me, sinful soul? He wrestled with justice, that thou mightest have rest; He wept and mourned, that thou mightest laugh and rejoice; He was betrayed, that thou mightest go free; was apprehended, that thou mightest escape; He was condemned, that thou mightest be justified; and was killed, that thou mightest live; He wore a crown of thorns, that thou mightest wear a crown of glory; and was nailed to the cross, with His arms wide open, to show with what freeness all His merits shall be bestowed on the coming soul; and how heartily He will receive it into His bosom?”

~ John Bunyan

NEW YEAR

If this is to be a Happy New Year, a year of usefulness, a year in which we shall live to make this earth better, it is because God will direct our pathway. How important then, to feel our dependence upon Him!  

~ Matthew Simpson

I pray that the Lord might crown this year with His goodness and in the coming one give you a hallowed dare-devil spirit in lifting the biting sword of Truth, consuming you with a passion that is called by the cultured citizen of Christendom ‘fanaticism’, but known to God as that saint ly madness that led His Son through bloody sweat and hot tears to agony on a rude Cross—and Glory!

~ Jim Elliott

We should take advantage of His faithfulness and make every day a fresh start. Resolve to make each day the beginning of a new year, a new morning, a new adventure. He wipes the slate clean and goes back to zero so we can be filled up again with His spirit and give it out all day long. Enjoy the blessings of a new year, in Christ, one day at a time! 

~ Debbie Carroccio

Renewal is rooted in faith, not in resolutions! They are made for New Year’s and forgotten on an average of thirteen days later, say the surveys. Faith is the result of a decision about Christ. I cannot make a new me or a new you, but Christ can make you new and me new, as well, if we decide for Him. 

~ Frank Harrington

Easter Sunday I celebrate my New Year. It is when I renew my Spirit in the Lord and thus go forth to a year of transition and change.

May the Lord God be with you all. Have a blessed Easter one and all!

Luke 7:16 And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people.

Lent: Day Forty-five ~ It Is Finished

Matt. 13: 53 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence.

It is finished…

When I began the Lenten season I never really thought I’d make forty-seven straight posts but here I sit with you today, Good Friday, and you have before you forty-five posts. I’ll have my Quotation Saturday post and Poetry Sunday to finish off the season.

Today is the day Jesus carried the cross, the one He was to be hung on. I remember for many years it seemed Good Friday was always a bright sunny day but around dinnertime it would always darken and possibly a storm would hit. I’d say, “Well it IS Good Friday.” Everyone celebrates Easter with food, family, friends, maybe a church visit, and candy, lots of candy. They’re celebrating the Risen Christ, but what do they remember of this day, the day He DIED?

I normally fast during Lent but God didn’t want me to this time. He asked me to write for forty-five days and tell people of His Son. I thought it would be an easy task to take on because I’m a writer, but this has been much harder than I thought it would be. Then I thought, but I gain so much cleansing when I fast, what is writing going to do for me?

It hit me Wednesday as I was writing my Salt and Light post; clarity. For some reason things are becoming so much more clearer to me. I sense things in a strange fashion not the normal kind of sensing things I’m accustomed to; clarity. I have gained clarity in these writings.

Let me tell you when I began my postings I had a list of things I wanted to write. Well wouldn’t ya know it, God had different plans and each day I sat down to write, I’d ask Him what do I write today; and there it would be, a post that I wrote but read and wondered where some of the stuff came from. Not really wondered I was more amazed than anything.

Five days passed, then ten and suddenly I saw a shift. My stats went from maybe ten a day to a whopping 100 page views. WHAT? I thought for sure google was doing something wrong, and no I don’t track my own hits that I only do once a day or responding to a comment left.

My comments weren’t going anywhere but my page hits ARE! There were days I’d sit down to post and freaky things were happening. Either my internet wouldn’t work, I’d  have the post all ready to ‘publish’ and the screen would freeze, or the formatting would change. I know science would have an answer as to why these things were happening, they have an answer for everything, but I knew differently, satan was not and still IS NOT happy with me possibly turning people to Christ. Oh and to top it all off, I had another birthday, a huge tree fell in my yard killing four smaller trees a dea th in the family AND it snowed in April! Ha!

You might ask why I don’t capitalize the name satan, even though it has a red line under it to make me want to change it; I won’t give in! I won’t allow his name, even though I KNOW it’s a proper noun, to be capitalized. I guess it is my little way of fighting back.

I post my blog to facebook and I know of only one man who has been a faithful reader every day, thank you Steve! You’re a good, fine, Christian man. But others got bored with my posts along the way, I could almost hear all the negative comments under their breath (whether it was my lousy grammar, or tiring topic) but I’m okay with that, I’m reaching WHO I needed to reach and it isn’t all about the FB people; I’m reaching out there, to the world! I didn’t write these posts for the grammar, I wrote them to reach ONE single person that might need a positive uplifting word to guide them in the right direction.

And while I changed my ways on facebook, things are about to change again. With Good Friday here, I’ve kept my promise to God and it’s time for me to reflect on all I’ve written and accomplished. I leave people to be one with their thoughts and reflect on themselves. Hopefully this is the time they’ll do it if at any time at all.

As I carry a heavy burden, I must bear the cross. I must release and let go. I must bleed whether blood, sweat or tears. I need a break. I’m worn thin and I must gather all of my strength to prepare for my New Year, to begin anew. Today I am saddened, but Easter will shine in me a new Light and I’ll carry it throughout the year. A year of change is in store.

If you’re reading this and you’re not a Christian, please respect my love and compassion for someone who is much grander than me, more vast than the universe, willing to die for my sin, so I may have eternal life through Him. ETERNAL LIFE.

If you’re a Christian reading this, may you walk with God and feel the blessings enrich your life. May you have a blessed Easter and may God be with you always, my friend.

Remember these words:

Matt. 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Happy Easter

2 Tim. 4: 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:

Lent: Day Forty-two ~ A Christian Revival

God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, “I love you.” ~ Billy Graham

I don’t know if 2014 is supposed to be the year of a revival but as a Christian I can feel something stirring around the world where more and more people are coming to Christ, they're waking up and noticing Him. Movies are being made and it feels as if God is making His move. Recently, one particular movie, God is Not Dead, is having a positive affect on the Christian community.

I noticed the churning earlier in the year with the Duck Dynasty controversy where a man spoke the truth of his faith in Jesus and was condemned. A multimillion dollar franchise was on the line but he didn’t care, he was not going to be swayed by the media to take back his statements he had made which offended people NOT of any denomination, just the politically correct people of America.

Then we see satan fighting back with a movie called Noah where the story’s only real biblical truth of the bible is Noah built an arc and a few other facts tossed in for good measure; much of the tale is fabricated by the writer who ironically is atheist who doesn’t call God, God he calls Him the creator.

In God is not Dead, we have a young man attending college and is met with a professor of philosophy who asks the kids to do an assignment. They have to basically say that God is not alive. One kid says, "No I’m a Christian, God is alive." He almost refuses to do the assignment and the professor got an earful by the young man when he declared in his words that God is NOT Dead and gave astonishing proof! He met the professor head on with God as the Creator and Christ the redeeming Savior.

I have not seen the movie myself but many at my church went to see the movie this weekend and came out with positive reviews of what an excellent movie it was. Will it beat Noah in the dollar amounts taken in at the box office? I doubt it. But will the message be loud and clear that God is not dead? A resounding YES!

It seems this is the year for a revival! A revival that God is ALIVE! I hear more and more frequently people coming to Christ. Our Pastor does missions in some parts of China and he said yes God is alive in China and more and more are coming to Christ. This isn’t just a local revival; I’m talking global revival!

In nations that don’t accept Christ or the banning of bibles takes place, everywhere there is a lone house sitting unknowingly holding Christians gathering together to read the one Bible someone did get a chance to smuggle in.

Did you know that Easter and Christmas the Churches of all denominations, fill to capacity and some even have to add extra seating? Why? Is it because it’s the ONE time a year people go to hear the word that is being spoken about so often that they too want to taste what’s being served up?

I never understood how some people could attend church once or twice a year and feel filled with the fullness of God and see that as their respect to Christ. The last time I checked Jesus DIED for you and me and that is all you can do for Him is give Him one or two days a year?  I know, I know, you read, you believe AND go to Church twice a year. That’s all well and good but as a revival year? If you’re claiming to be a Christian, you might want to rethink the debt you owe to Christ.

This week is Holy Week, the week that Jesus rode through the streets as believers laid palms at His feet and praised His name and sang Hosanna, Hosanna, loud enough for all to hear. Then by the end of the week they sent Him to the cross and watched as He died a bloody death.

I have heard many people ask, “If Jesus was God’s Son, why did He send Him to His death? Why didn’t He save Him?” You know, over two thousand years ago, there were men at Jesus’ feet asking the same thing. Let me enlighten you! He died to save US! To redeem us in God’s eyes. He saved us from our enemy SIN. And y’know, when someone dies for you, in my eyes you OWE Him a little more than a passing fancy. You owe Him your LIFE! Some people see it that way, while others could care less. I understand, somewhat.

You still don’t believe in Him? Well you’re going to see a revival; a fleeing TO Him in the coming year and you’re going to wind up either with Him singing out Hosanna, or against Him waving your hand for Him to move on as He passes by. Guess what, He gives you THAT choice too!

So while my words might sound a bit hokey to some, there are others right this minute asking Jesus to come into their lives and save them, by the thousands!!! THEY don’t thinks it’s hokey, they can FEEL the uprising taking place and they seek salvation to live eternally. Those that have an ear, let him hear.

May the grace and the Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all!

2 Peter 1:2-8 (KJV) Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lent: Day Forty-one ~ Transformation

Rom. 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Holy Week begins. This week we are winding down the Lent post. By Sunday I will have written forty- seven days in a row with a Christian theme every day. That is quite an accomplishment for me, since I’ve never written forty-seven days in a row ever before. What is my gain from all this? Transformation. A spiritual transformation! I am truly reaping what I sow.

While some people have gone on their merry way in life thinking Lent is just for the Catholics, I’m here to tell you that Lent is MORE than just a yearly observance in the Catholic church. Lent is so much more to me than an observance; Lent to me is a full-blown spiritual transformation.

To some, people take Lent serious, they will fast from meat from Ash Wednesday until Easter Sunday, some take it more serious than that and take a sabbatical from all things food, and some take it as ritualistic atonement and some never care about the season and don’t do anything. I watch from the background as addictions are still being fed; there is no break from the media onslaught of demoralization, no pause in footsteps of routine, no break from redundancy, no looking to Jesus for even a moment nevertheless forty-seven days.

One of the definitions of transform is this: change in form, appearance, nature or character. There hidden in a nutshell is what Lent is to me. I am busy being transformed but not by my own hand, by the grace of God and the Holy Spirit filling me day after day.

I don’t know if my form is changing, I’ve practically been the same size since I was eighteen give or take a few pounds. Form could mean a change in spirit, spirit being that which FORMS you. Yeah I like that better. Appearance could mean how I appear to others (and I don’t mean changing my hair color or adopting youthful sleaze-wear either.) Nature or character? Well yes! I’ve always been quite a character, that’s been my nature BUT I don’t think that is what that means either.

Lent is a transitional phase each year in my life, ending with the celebration of my New Year on Easter Sunday. I will either stay the same old person or I will be transformed and become the true natured person that God has planned for me. This is a ME thing and doesn’t mean in any way that all people or Christian’s celebrate Lent this way. I am dedicated to becoming a better Christian, and Lent is the best time for me to pause, breathe and drink in everything God pours out to me. This year He wanted me to write from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday and thus transforming me.

Forty-seven days of writing has caused me to focus on the Word more intently than I normally would; I have been more focused on God, I have plunged into research, I have dove into a spiritual awakening within and I have provided comfort and knowledge to anyone seeking and I can feel the transformation taking place within me. I think my appearance is changing in that people see the Light of the Lord more fully in me; which in turn shapes my character and the nature of my being.

If I haven’t touched one person in these forty-seven days of posts, then I’ve still gained because it is I who is being transformed by these posts. While my stats are up I’m also seeing that someone out there is enjoying my writing and finding them a comfort and warmth to their own soul.

As we come down to the last seven days of the Lenten season, may you be filled with Christ and may you find yourself growing in new and improved ways. May you find at the end of the week that you too have been transformed!

May God be with you all!

Revival begins in the individual’s heart. Let it begin with you on your face alone before God. Turn from every sin that might hinder. Renew yourself to a new devotion to the Saviour. 

~ Lee Roberson

Lent ~ The Season of Renewal

“Sometimes God doesn’t change your situation because He’s trying to change your heart.” 

~ from Peace Be With You

Lent defined is this: the period preceding Easter that in the Christian Church is devoted to fasting, abstinence, and penitence in commemoration of Christ's fasting in the wilderness. In the Western Church it runs from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday and so includes forty weekdays.

Dan. 9: And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplication, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

I was raised in the Catholic religion and that meant Ash Wednesday we children would be marched off from School, across the street to the Church where we’d have a service and receive ashes in the form of the cross on our foreheads. The church always smelled so good on Ash Wednesday, the odor lingered for hours after the service departure.

We were not to remove the ashes and had to wear the cross of ashes on our forehead until it wore off or the next day. Imagine how that went over in a non-religious community. Boy was THAT a heavy load to carry a cross on my forehead for hours on end! But then it really made me think of the cross Jesus had to carry and it really was the beginning of rooting me in Christ.

I converted at the tender age of fourteen, much to the chagrin of my parents who were Catholic by mouth only, not religious by any means, they just deemed themselves Catholic. Christianity was my new course. I became a Born-again Christian.

I was mocked and persecuted more for becoming born-again than the ashes I wore on my forehead. Christianity was a heavier cross but one I was willing to carry for the rest of my life. It was as if I had become the bridesmaid and married Christ.

When I put it that way, it makes more sense doesn’t it? In marriage you vow to love, honor and cherish until death do you part? Well the good news was that I would never part with being married to Christ because He promised eternal life; then the hard part, being submissive and learning to LIVE Christ, another heavy cross.

Lent isn’t always about ‘giving something up’, it can also be about adding something that adds to the Glory of Christ. Say you don’t attend church, for Lent, you might want to attend every Sunday finishing up with the Easter service. A lot of people only attend TWO services a year, Easter and Christmas. Why? Doesn’t make sense.

Say you want to add time to your bible reading for lent; maybe attend a bible study group. All of these are a form of the sacrifice that Lent calls for. Adding bible scripture posts to your facebook wall IS NOT glorifying God, it is glorifying YOU. Glorifying yourself is not what Lent is about.

If it was warmer out, this is the time I’d be outside communing with nature. Instead my communing with nature will have to wait a few days and I’ll just walk and talk to the empty fields that will soon burst forth with life. Yes, to me, communing with nature is communing with God. God IS mother nature. God IS father time. God IS all those emotions you feel running through your veins. BUT God IS NOT hate! When you feel the need to lash out, sure, claim it as ‘just stating an opinion’, but really you are drawing AWAY from God and filling yourself with HATE. Then that negative energy will reseed and grow. That is also NOT what Lent is about.

Lent to me is sacrificing for God. Lent to me is a spiritual renewal ending on Easter Sunday when I celebrate my New Year’s Day. Lent to me is Glorifying God in all I do and not myself.

1 Cor. 7: 5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.

Holy Week ~ Holy Life

pic taken from the internet

Ephesians 5:8 “But be filled with the Spirit”

It would seem I am on a Sabbatical. This is the time I am reflective as my New Year is coming on Easter Sunday.

I’m strange that way, you know. I never celebrate the New Year on January 1^st because really all that is, is a calendar change. A man-made calendar no less. Easter on the calendar is a man-made holiday, but spiritually it is so much more to me.

I know many of my readers are not Christians, per se, and whatever you believe is fine with me. Don’t judge me and I will surely not judge you and your faith/beliefs/religion.

When I was a child, I was being raised as a Catholic. We were in no way devout Catholics, we went to Church, not as a family, but to put our little envelope in the offering plate, so we’d have reduced tuition for our Catholic school upbringing. Is THAT where I found God? I’m sorry to say, no. It is where I was introduced to Him, but not where I FOUND Him.

Later, when I was about 13 years old, I was sent to a Christian school for my high school years, this is the place I FOUND not only God, but Jesus, in action. I turned myself over to Him and became a born-again Christian, a foreign term to my family. They assumed it meant I was going to be weirded out and a ‘Holy-Roller’ in the process. By no means is that what being born-again means!

(Author’s note: I use the term Holy Roller loosely because we lived across the street from a Church of God, and the people of that church worshiped nightly, praising God.  To each his own.)

Being born-again, means turning your life over to Christ and allowing Him to live in your soul, via the Holy Spirit. In a sense, I did get weirded out, because I was no longer bound to ‘mans’ law, I was bound by God’s laws.

Did becoming a Christian make me a sinless person? Again, by no means. Instead it made me aware of being a sinner; awakened me to my sins. I call myself a Spiritual Christian, only because the Spirit lives and dwells in me, making me aware of all of my surroundings, my actions in life, my mistakes and most clearly, my sins.

I have found inner peace, I am one with nature and the universe, but note I believe that God is the driving force of inner peace, nature and the universe. These truths can be found in the Holy Bible, Old and New Testament, and while many will retort, “The Bible is man made.” I will reply, yes it is, man made, God inspired. Can you deny that? I mean really, I’m a writer with a creative mind, but even I couldn’t come up with the stuff in the Holy Bible and have ancient artiFACTS to back up the testimony, no less.

Matt. 13: 9 “Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”

That means, since the formation of Earth and before, there has been something out there divinely inspiring us to be better people, to be aware of our surroundings, to be awake in a world that sleeps in the closet called materialistic/consumerism/media-driven life.

So where did I find this ‘Jesus’? I didn’t find Him in a school, a church or even a book, I found Him in…my soul. He was there all the time, I just needed to awaken that spirit, to come alive in me, and practice all that He was showing me.

“…you have to be willing to sacrifice everything to follow God and to follow what He’s called you to do.” ~Patricia Heaton

Ten years ago, I did one of the scariest things in my Christian adult life. I gave up everything: my home, all the materials in the home, my husband, and many cherished belongings. I kept my most precious gift and that was my son and I swept him away because God was calling me to do something. Something against my nature and everything I had been raised to believe, and put my entire trust in Him and where He was leading me.

I could not see where He was leading me and it took a few years to grasp what it was He would have me do, but as I sit here now, ten years later, I have clarity and celebrate the New Year this Sunday as a continuation of my faith, beliefs, and trust in the only being that trusted me, 100%, no questions or doubts.

Throughout the ten years, I was brought into a church, I rejoice with like-minded people, and God’s grace showed me that not ALL churches are built on hypocrisy. Each Church, He chose for us, we attended, and found Spirit-led people, who loved and honored Christ.

In 2007: Roundgrove United Methodist Church (Lewisville Texas), Grace United Church (Lewisville Texas), to the place we praise and worship now, 2009-present: Efree Evangelical Church

As many of you will celebrate Easter in dressy dresses, new shoes, beautifully done hair and accessories, I will walk into church with the same clothes I always wear. Why? Because God accepts me as I AM!

I have changed a lot since I was fourteen and coming to Christ, but one thing that hasn’t changed has been this; I live by the Spirit and will die by the Spirit. Whether you believe or not, we are all interconnected and EVERY-THING happens for a reason.

May the Spirit that lies within you be awakened and guide you through your life. It’s a journey worth living.

Godspeed!

Luke 11:9  "And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."