12,13 and 14

I have had the privilege of seeking out several graduation cards and gifts for some fine young family members and neighbor and I kept running across something that I guess you might say did not sit well with me completely.

Jeremiah 29:11 is a favorite verse of mine that I know I share with many, very many; I saw it on a lot of the cards I read and engraved on plaques and other resources to be considered gifts for a young person entering a new phase of their life journey.

But…..what about the verses that follow 11, what about 12, 13 and 14? They seem to get lost amidst the popular 11 yet hold so much of what should complete the infamous 11th verse.

12 “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”

13 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

14 “I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and will bring you back from captivity.”

That’s what it takes, fellow children of the King. It’s all about seeking Him with all of our hearts and calling upon Him to receive those plans of hope and a future He has for us. When we indulge in the precious gift of communication He has given us, He delights in listening to us, in having a personal relationship with us so much so that He will be found by us and bring us out of and through any captivity and bondage we will go through in our lives,  that’s our hope and future.

You can see that for yourselves in others lives too if you will go to youtube.com and type in Cardboard Testimonies. Get ready to be moved to tears, tears of joy and then next time you see or hear the verse Jeremiah 29:11, bask in the verses to follow…12, 13 and 14.

Thank you, Heavenly Father

Bugged….

I had a Christian Living magazine at work this week with the front cover featuring Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus aka Hannah Montana. One of my co workers walked past the magazine, looked down and saw the front cover, made a smirk and commented with sarcasm, “humph, wonder if that was before or after she posed in that magazine.”

I didn’t make a comment at the time but it has sure bugged me all week. I have pondered what she thinks of Christians, that we think we are some high and mighty humans that are above doing any wrong?

I once heard a pastor say that Christians are not perfect, they are sinners that have found a perfect Savior. I love that! I want to tell this to my co worker and hopefully the Holy Spirit will guide me to do so at the right moment where it will make an impact on her way of thinking about what she said. It got me to wondering why non believers feel like we think we are “above” them. What do we do as Christians that lead them to believe this?

I want to tell her that we are all born with a sinful nature but those of us who have come to know Jesus and have accepted Him as our Savior are convicted of our sinful nature by the Holy Spirit who guides us in our every day living. From what little I have heard of this incident with Miley posing in some magazine, she has expressed that she is concerned by her actions (conviction) where a non believer would not have thought twice about the situation. We are all human and sometimes it’s hard not to get sucked into this culture we are exposed to today. That’s why God tells us in His Word, His “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth”, that we need to meditate on His Word day and night so that we will know the truth from the lies of the world.

We need to remember that greater is He (Jesus) that is in us than he (satan) that is in the world. We have a Redeemer that will pull us out of the miry pit of the worldly culture we fall into and  we need to plant seeds in the lives of those who haven’t a clue what the truth is, who do not know Jesus personally, by our own actions..as humans with sinful natures that will make mistakes just like everyone else but who have been redeemed by the blood of the Savior.

No comparison!!

This afternoon I stayed in town after work until it was time to go to sign up for Bible Study Fellowship for the fall, studying Moses for 9 months at the host church in Sandy Springs. I’m pretty stoked about that!

My husband was working in town and had some time between radio shows so I met him at the station and we drove down Peachtree Street to eat at Moe’s. It was a perfect afternoon weather wise but oh my gosh, the traffic in town was enough to make me lose my appetite!! Well, I might be exaggerating a little, not much makes me lose my appetite. It was crazy with cars pulling in front of you without warning and lanes closed due to road repairs backing up traffic and traffic lights at every corner, lots of braking and twice as long to get a short distance. We sat outside at Moe’s since it was such a beautiful day and the noise of the heavy busy traffic put somewhat of a damper on our nice quiet (?) meal and conversation. I did enjoy the little birds that flew down to keep us entertained by pecking gingerly at food dropped on the patio and tried to tell them there is a better place to dwell but I guess they are used to the area.

Once I was on my way home, I felt myself decompress as my car exited I 20 and headed back into a more peaceful serene drive. What was that noise I was hearing?……….nothing! Absolute peace and quiet, decompression complete!

Yep, there is something to be said about living out of the city, high gas prices and all!

Okay, excuse me while me and our dogs go outside and enjoy the beautiful evening. Think I’ll sit a spell in the rocking chair on the porch, relax and soak in the peaceful country evening and tell God how awesome His creation is ……country or…..sigh, city.

15 Years

Today is our 15th wedding anniversary. That’s quite the milestone for me. I am not real pleased to admit that I have now been married longer in years than all the years of my other marriages put together.

There’s a huge difference though between those marriages and this one. Even though it sounds simple it is actually pretty huge. We have invited Jesus to be a part of this marriage, therefore it is not just the two of us but the three of us. We have been through some tough times just like all other couples, just different types of challenges and there will be more to come. We are both sure for a fact that we would not have made it through some of those times if we had not had Jesus by our side to guide us through those times and bring us through them. We see the impact of walking with Him daily in our marriage and even in the midst of tough times we know we will make it through because we have His promise that He will never leave us or forsake us. We have learned that greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. We have also learned that we must keep our eyes focused on Him.

We are still growing in our daily walk with Jesus. We both realize from being in marriages without Him the tremendous difference it makes to have Him with us.

I am reading a book right now in my Christian book club titled Marriage Without Regrets by Kay Arthur and it is an amazingly brilliant book on how God expects us to live our married lives His way and not the way of the world. It’s rich, powerful and full of His truths. I very highly recommend it to every couple, whether you have been married for many years or just thinking about getting married.

When my husband works over nights, he sleeps in one of our bedrooms upstairs instead of our bedroom on the main level so he will not be disturbed by our dogs and the phone during the day. So, this morning when he went up and opened the bedroom door he was greeted by 15 red mylar heart shaped balloons and one smiley face balloon luring over the bed. . He loved it!

So here’s to many more years of marriage, for better or worse, knowing and trusting Jesus to walk every single step of the way  with us!

(Oh, by the way, here’s a little tip you may not know,you can buy mylar balloons at Dollar Tree for just a buck a piece! Sure saves money!)