BUSY?

Have you ever found yourself too "busy" to spend time with God?   I have... but that's exactly what Satan wants right?  He wants to draw us away from God, away from our comforter, provider, safe-house, and Love!  Well... this picture should explain it all!



I started reading my "Bible in One Year" on January 1st... it wasn't hard to keep up until about the 23rd of January and then I found myself too "busy" to continue.  I go to work, go to school, try to spend time with family and friends so they know I still love them, I spend so much time studying, I need to be working out... etc.  But after reading my sister's blogs this morning, reading my cousin's blog... I realized there are more important things in life.

God, I am sorry that I fell behind on my daily reading of your Word... I ask that you forgive me.  I felt SO GOOD when I was staying faithful to reading daily, I felt refreshed, I had a much better attitude, I let anger go and chose to be a blessing... I want to work toward not being too "busy" for you.  I want to take on Your yoke... I want you to be who I think about before letting the things that I have to do daily bombard me.

Satan, leave me alone... I have God on my side.  I don't want to "Be Under Satan's Yoke" anymore!  Jesus said that HIS Yoke is easy and HIS burden is light!  I think I will stick with him... you do nothing but try to destroy my life.

Smile - It's Contagious!!

"When they were discouraged, I smiled at them.  My look of approval was precious to them." - Job 29:24


I was reading through Job and I run across where he is talking about his former blessings.  No matter what Job was faced with, and everything that was taken away from him... he still mentioned a smile.  What if we were all as faithful and loyal to God as Job was?  Everything but his life was taken from him, and yet he chose to praise God through it all.  Why?  Because he knew the love of God. 


I find it funny too that the last few Dove Chocolates messages to me were "Smiles are Free", and "Your Smile brightens the room".  We get little reminders daily that what we project with our attitude is contagious.  


Job could have infected others with complaining and cursing God, and this is what some of his friends wanted him to do... Curse God and Die!  But Job chose to let his love for God and devotion be contagious.  

Now, I'm not saying put on a plastic smile... I'm not asking you to be a pretender.  We can all force a smile, or force others to smile... What I am asking is that you find that inner happiness that makes you smile!!!  Job found that... his happiness was his love for the Lord, and knowing that God loved him too.  I know I have said it time and time again, but count your blessings.  I assure you that if you make a list of Pro's and Con's about whatever you might be facing, your list of good will usually outweigh the bad.  I know I have myself made Good and Bad / Pro and Con lists.  I know I am not always optimistic about everything, but I sure try to be.  I try to look at the glass as half full, and thankful that I have anything in my glass at all.  Each of us take for granted daily blessings.  Job didn't do this... he knew his blessings and he thanked God for them.  Satan tormented Job... the reason he smiled was a reflection of his heart.

Don't be the frown in the crowd. Find your blessings and be that smile that stands out!!!

Encouragement - It's what we should do...

Ephesians 4:29b Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.


I start this post with a picture and a bible verse. The picture is of my husband Brandon and my sweet niece Neve.  She was a few days shy of 9 months in this picture and she is pulling up on things and trying to walk.  It was a blessing to see the "encouragement" that Uncle B showed this weekend.  This is just one example of how encouragement is given.  Another form of encouragement may not be physical, but could be just as (if not more) important... verbal.  I was having a stressful day the other day and just out of the blue my friend Desiree texts me bible verse, I stopped... read the verses and then thanked God for sending his word through a friend.  We can all be an encouragement to one another in at least one way.  We can encourage those who are discouraged, those who need that extra push, those who are facing trials, and even those who everything seems fine!  You never know how much a friendly hello text, e-mail or phone call can mean to someone.  The text I got meant more to me than anything that day... it was that reminder of God's love, the reminder that there are people praying for me.  How uplifting this can be.  I encourage you, or should I say challenge you, to uplift someone with either a friendly hello, a helping hand, a phone call, or having coffee with a friend or loved one.   Just "Be There", be a friend... be that encouragement.

The butterfly... God is Good

I think I figured out the other day why I am in such awe about butterflies.  Take this caterpillar here.  This is a black swallowtail caterpillar.  He is black and white striped with orange spots and what looks like spikes on him.  He is made this way by our creator.  There are MANY different caterpillars... I would like to identify myself with a caterpillar.  I am made differently by my creator.  Here comes the fun part.  When I give my life to him, I feed on his word, and once saved, I was transformed.  My old life (as a caterpillar) is dead, and my new life begins.  I liken this transformation of salvation to the caterpillar that spins his cacoon.  God reveals his power, his love, his beauty, his amazing power when the cacoon is broken (which I liken to being set free from the shackles of sin).  NOW we are a new creature in Christ... he has made us a reflection of him... we are now beautiful.  This black swallowtail caterpillar is now transformed into a black swallowtail butterfly.  Our God is an Awesome God.  He has the ability to turn us from a hungry, sometimes ugly, caterpillar into a beautiful creation that expresses his power.  Anyhow, I just wanted to share with you why I love butterflies so much.  I pray you find the blessing in this. 

Faith... The hem of His garment.

So I got to thinking lately (since I have been sick and all), this reminds me of a story.  We talked about "Faith the size of a mustard seed" in church recently... but to me the matter of "faith in the Power of Jesus" is put better in Mark 5:25-29 as well as Luke 8:43-48.  I think about this woman... she has suffered with sickness for so long and so many have looked down upon her.  She is like the "lepers".  She is an outcast and she is unclean because of her "illness".  She knows though (because of her faith) that just to touch the hem of his garment is ALL she needs to be healed.  Even a righteous man such as John the Baptist said in Mark 1:7 "There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose.", so when you put the righteous man of John the Baptist in comparison to this "unclean" woman, it took a LOT of faith to reach out and touch the hem of his garment.

What if we all had this faith?  Faith in our Lord to know that he CAN heal us?  This woman gives me inspiration.  I think of people who have incurable diseases, or who have only a short time to live.  Goodness, a good friend of mine's pastor (Matt Chandler) had a brain tumor... (doing better now).  I had a friend who has won two battles with cancer (Donnette)... I have a nephew  (Dallas) who is alive I believe 100% because of prayers.  Faith in healing is powerful yet temporary, but Faith in our creator and the salvation he offers will last an eternity. 

I have pasted the two verses about the bleeding woman below for your reference:

Mark 5:25-29 (New King James Version)

²⁵ Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, ²⁶ and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. ²⁷ When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. ²⁸ For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
²⁹ Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction.

Luke 8:43-48 (New King James Version)

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

  
⁴³ Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, ⁴⁴ came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped.
⁴⁵ And Jesus said, “Who touched Me?”
When all denied it, Peter and those with him^[a] said, “Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’”^[b]
46 But Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.” ⁴⁷ Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately.
⁴⁸ And He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer;^[c] your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

The Red Words are the COOLEST!!

So, I had sort of a rough day (not sure why)... and the honest to goodness truth... (don't remember all that I was upset about). Either way, I call my sister on my way home from taking a grueling history test looking for encouragement because she seems to always have something uplifting for me :) I ask her what she is doing and she said that she and Josh were looking up scriptures. Then it reminded me!!!... and all the sudden I just popped and and starting singing "the red words are the coolest, their the ones that Jesus said", and Jamie and Josh start laughing. YES! I LISTEN TO VEGGIE TALES!!! But then it got me to thinking... just how TRUE this line from the silly song album really is.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

and

Matthew 6:25-34 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble"

So... these red words stand out to me... God is telling me that no matter what "bad day" I THINK I may have had... it is nothing. His grace is sufficient, his power is almighty, and he loves me.

I know this next one doesn't fall in the "red words" category, but it was the last that spoke to me to calm the day I was having:

Romans 8:31 What, then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?

That one sums it up. With God by my side... nothing else even matters.

I love you my precious Lord. Thank you for reminding me through your word that you love me too. Thank you for the saints you have sent to lift us up to you through prayer.

Until next time....
Ang

Team - JAK

So, this past weekend, I decided to go and spend the weekend with my sister Jamie and my cousin Kristen. They will be moving here shortly and I wanted to offer up some of my organizational skills and help them pack. (I will leave the no-so-fun unpacking to do for them... lol). Well, between Friday Night and Sunday Afternoon, we accomplished so much packing. You know what else we accomplished?? Girl time, bonding time, a time to laugh and reflect. We went to one of our favorite places IHOP. Too bad we had to sit next to some drunks who were obnoxious. It did however make me think back to when I fell into that temptation and how Satan just took the reigns and pushed me further away from the Lord. It then made me thank God for his constant tugging at my heart, his never failing love, even when I turned away from him... he still accepted me back. (I haven't had a drink in almost 8 years). Ok wow... I got off track from where I started (but that's ok... sometimes things come out when you start typing).

So, you should meet team JAK (Jamie, Angela, Kristen)... together, we accomplished great things this weekend. I just adore this picture of us. We make a great team. Not only did we get ALL of Kristen's stuff packed up, but we managed to get a bunch of Jamie's too. And we still had time for some fun, shopping, food, and fellowship. I went to Jamie's church that Sunday and my soul was FED! Thank you Jesus for the meat I needed for the day. I thank you that Jamie has a great church and great people that attend. After church, more family came over and we helped load up some of Kristen's stuff and then we all got to sit around and have a good time drinking coffee and talking.

Well anyways, I had a super wonderful weekend with my sister and cousin and just thought it was funny that our names create J.A.K. so I decided to blog about it... I know... Random right? That's me! Randomness I tell you... just plain Randomness. LOL.

-Until next time, Ang