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

The Fire

So, I am sitting here thinking... "Wow, it's been a while since I posted". I am sitting in my new chair in front of a fireplace roaring with perfect heat. I am sitting here on my laptop with wifi hooked up to my iPhone syncing and getting ready to sync my new iPhone 4 so I can get my other iPhone ready to give to my sister because some dishonest person stole hers. Then I begin to think "Wow... look at all of this 'stuff' that I have around me". I assure you, my intentions for this blog are NOT bragging... but more that God is humbling me and reminding me that I am truly blessed and that I shouldn't take advantage of anything!

God has given me a job that I love and that job allows me to make purchases to bring comfort to my home. My home in itself is a blessing. There are so many without a warm place right now and here I sit in front of a fireplace so hot right now that my nose is red.

My Prayer:

Thank you God for my blessings, and my you pour out your love and blessings on those which don't have the warmth over them during this cold season. Bring a warm fire, and warm clothes, and warm food to those who don't have any. Please provide shelter to those who don't have a home. Please Lord, turn this economy around so that those without jobs who are earnestly seeking jobs may obtain one. God, I know this Nation has done it's very best to get rid of you from everything, but God... You are bigger than them. God, please show our leaders just how powerful you are. Lord, I pray blessings over my family and friends. I thank you again for my tremendous blessings. Thank you for the things I need, and help me not take for granted the things that I don't need, but have. Help me to use these "things" to glorify you and not be selfish. Lord... Please use ME to show your love. It's in Your precious and Holy Name I pray, Amen.

Family Rocks!

THANK YOU!

So, we are here at Thanksgiving and it makes me sit back and really take the time to thank the Lord for each of my friends and family. I know this is a silly picture, but I was searching through pictures and came across this. I was having a tough time with my government class last semester and as a "cheer me up" my cousin Kristen drew this AWESOME picture for me!! (on a dry erase board). The moments like this I truly cherish. The little things in life that we don't HAVE to do for each other, but we LOVE to do because it makes us happy. Thank you Jesus for dying for our sins. Thank you to ALL of my family for loving me, putting up with me, making me laugh, making me cry, helping me grow and picking me up to help put the pieces back together when I seem to fall apart. Thank you my beautiful friends for loving me for who I am... I love you for who you are. Thank you for the forgiveness you offer when I might be having a "bad day". Thank you to those who read this blog and take any of it to heart and reflect on things you might be thankful for. I love you my family. I love you my friends... but most of all... I love you my Jesus. You are my rock, you are my fortress. You are the reason I CAN be thankful for all of the above.

I love you all, and until next time........

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Indecision is a fatal decision

So, have you ever been faced with making a decision? Well, if you are human then the answer is YES. Do you always make the right decision? If you are human, then the answer is NO. If you could go back and change your decisions, would you? MAYBE. Well... I am here to tell you that when it comes to salvation, "indecision is a fatal decision".

John 4:36 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him".

There are a few things that I would like to point out in the verse above.

1.) Notice the verse doesn't say "will have" eternal life... it says "has" eternal life. When you believe in Jesus as the savior of your soul, and confess, you will be saves so whosoever "believes" "has" eternal life! So... if you believe, you have it!

2.) The verse says that whoever rejects the Son won't see that life. In other words... that means Hell! Sorry, but I love you all and don't want you to go there... this is why I am asking you to search your hearts. I want you all to be in heaven with me :)

3.) The next thing I would like to point out is that "Maybe" is not yes. There is no such thing as "maybe" or "later" when it comes to "Do you want to accept Jesus as your savior?". When it comes to THIS question...... MAYBE=NO and YES=YES.

I pray that each of you say "yes". Remember, you could die in a car wreck tomorrow. Or die in your sleep tonight. You don't control when you die. Please be prepared. If you have searched your heart, and you are still contemplating... please, at least just pray to God and ask him to reveal to you that you are a sinner and ask that he reveal to you the need for salvation and the love he offers. Then please ask him to come into your heart and life and be Lord of your life for now until eternity.

What will you answer? Yes, No, or Maybe??

(Bible says "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God", it also says "For the wages of sin is death {Hell}, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord", it also says "For God so Loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life).

Hulk"ish"

I think this might have been me today. Do you ever have one of those days? You know, the ones where you want to just put loud music in, jump on a treadmill, run until you throw up just so you can release frustration? I am not exactly sure why I felt so "hulkish" today, but WOW! I must say, I sure am glad I can listen to some "loud, but good, music" from TobyMac. I think I listened to "Boomin" like 6 times. Work sort of got to me today, but it's okay now... well... at least I am not green anymore! Haha. OK... I am better now. LOL. Actually I was better earlier. Just had to share that my "green side" came out today! Thought you all might want to know I turn into the incredible hulk from time to time. ;)