Tag Archives: encouragement

Sweet Spring Song Birds

Christ's rest, Discouraged Christian, Freedom in Christ, Hope, Jesus Christ, Spiritual Encouragement, To Rest in Christ, Trials, Troubles, , , , , , , , , , ,

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Sweet Spring Song Birds

I look so forward to spring. There are a variety of reasons we can list, but one of my favorite things to do is sit on our back porch and watch the songbirds. We keep food out during the winter as well, but there is just something about sitting in my rocking chair, sipping a cup of coffee and watching them interact with one another. Gosh, that makes me sound really old!

There have been a few times we ran out of food before we could get to the store. I worried about the birds and realized that in all honesty they weren’t worried at all. At all.

Why is it so hard for us? Why do we worry? Is it the fear of the unknown? Is it that we are taking the circumstances and outcome into our own hands? Will my son get that job? What will we do if the furnace breaks down? What if that test result comes back as cancer?

The truth is…we shouldn’t worry. In fact, we are told that the power not to worry is from the Holy Spirit. I just think I turn things over to the Father, and as if I physically laid down that piece of paper, I pick it right back up!! Sometimes I do it daily!

Jesus taught..

 “For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:19-34
I can just envision Jesus teaching this lesson. He pointed to the birds. He bent down to smell the lilies of the field. He held up his cloak. Why worry?
Some theologians refer to this passage as the biblical doctrine of God’s ‘providence’. God is our provider. Do we believe this?
It is our choice. In fact, believing the word of God is totally our choice.
I like that choice. And I choose to believe. He has always been faithful. He has never failed me yet. Worry has gotten me no where. Stress made me sick. So I have to actively make the choice to believe Him and what He says.
Afterall, I have the birds of spring to remind me.

Blessings
IN CHRIST ALONE



Isaiah 55:8-9

*google image, NIV Bible*

 

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Happy Mother’s Day

Where would we be without our mothers? Well, first of all…we would not be at all!! 

It would be wrong not to stop and say thank you to my mother for all she has done and continues to do for me.

When I think about the significant women in my life I have come to realize that they were all mothers. Grandmothers who I loved and adored. Special ladies who have mentored me spiritually and emotionally through the years. Friends who have allowed me to be honest and share my innermost fears about parenting with….the list grows each time I try to make one!

Jesus knew the importance of a mother. I cannot help and think about the time at the wedding when the wine barrel was dry…typical of a mother….”Ah, come on….help out, I know you can…” and what did he do? Yep, turned the water into wine for his mom.

God refers to His love for us as a hen with its wing protecting her chicks, a momma.

And of course the cross. While Christ hung on that cross for our sin, he was concerned about his mother and her life after he was gone. He asked his beloved disciple, John to take her into his house and care for her. Jesus was dying…and yet thought of his mother. 

Mothers do the best they can.
Being a mother is the best job I have ever had. And as I get older, I am told I “mother” those around me. Oh well, it is what it is. I wouldn’t trade motherhood for anything in the world..and that includes a secluded island in the tropics, which for me is really saying something.
I was on a panel of “older” mothers this morning at a meeting,  answering questions that they had about raising children and mothering. With all that I could recall, I answered honestly and humbly. And then I realized that I needed to say something that was most important.

“You, mom, are doing a fine job. You are doing the best you can do and that is all you can do. You cannot have regrets, or want ‘do-overs’. You just must give it to the Father, concentrate on His love and stay focused on Him. That’s all anyone can do. The kids will make some bad choices…some good…but they must know that they are loved, as are you.”

So dear mothers everywhere:

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!! You are loved dear ones, you are loved.

Be blessed~

IN CHRIST ALONE



Isaiah 55:8-9

Spring Stings!

Christ's rest, Christian encouragement, Discouraged Christian, Encouragement for Women, Freedom in Christ, Grace, Hope, Jesus Christ, Love of God, Spiritual Encouragement, To Rest in Christ, , , , , , , , , , ,

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Ah…the spring…and stings!

With warm weather comes the beautiful season of blooming flowers, budding trees, grass becoming green…and…duh, duh…duh (notice drama building), stings!!

Being outside has issues, but we still love being outside as much as possible. But the stings of anything can cause havoc in our lives. We were walking down the street just the other day and a little bee of some kind decided to fly near my husband’s eye and sting the corner! He did swell up, and thankfully it wasn’t in the eye (although with all the wailing I thought it was, just kidding!)

Over the years we all have suffered stings. Once I received the wrath of a wasp and swelled to such a large size that the emergency room proved the only refuge. Which later caused the need for an emergency epi pin to relieve any further sting damage in the future world of stinging. The pin should not have been prescribed for me I later learned from an allergy specialist, but it had been. So when I was stung by a very large, unhappy wasp which had gotten in my way, I used the pin. Bad choice. My heart raced uncontrollably and it did nothing for the swelling of the sting. It just caused heart issues. Not good.

My husband’s hand tripled in size one summer and he continued to deliver packages on his job. He had to have help just picking the packages up, and we won’t even talk about how hard it was to drive! Needless to say, stings are not pleasant experiences, as many of you well know.

The word “sting” translates to a word that means: “a sting, as that of bees, scorpions, locusts. Since animals wound by their sting and even cause death, Paul attributes death, personified as a sting, i.e. a deadly weapon”

I Corinthians 15:56-57 says this: “The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

“Sin” translates to “Hamartia” which means “missing the true end and scope of out lives, which is God.” STAY WITH ME.

Therefore, the thing of venom or poison is our eternal missing the true end and scope of our lives, God. When we miss God, when we miss that intimate relationship with Jesus, we we don’t know him as Lord and Savior, we know the sting of death. That pain, that spreading of poison! Eternity not spent with God.

The power and strength of that “missing the true scope of our lives….God” is the law! In other words, the sting of that wasp only had power over us if throughout that we had to do a certain amount of actions in a certain way…and only that way to bring us relief. Medicine, cool compresses gave us relief or victory over the sting by removing the poison. Just as Jesus gives us the victory over death and its sting! The shot I gave myself was the “law” that I was told I had to do..and it was wrong. It brought me more problems with the racing heart. The “law” did not relieve my sting.

Only Jesus Christ can give us that victory. There is no “law” that can bring us that peace. There are not a set of rules and regulations that will give us peace over that sin if we approach it in the manner of the law. A wise friend once told me: “The law commands your flesh to work and then it condemns everything it does.” We cannot do enough to rid us of that sting of death…but Jesus death on the cross bore that sing of death so that we might have victory over it.

Romans 10:4 says “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.“

Those wasps have no power over my husband and I! We had the victory through the meds and treatment to avoid the death of the sting. We are sometimes at the wrong place at the wrong time…bad things do happen in our lives, but death has no sting for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ!!

So as this spring shows its beautiful face, stay away from those stings…or at least know how to rid yourself of the poison!! Rely on what you know to be true. Remember through and in HIM we have victory!

Be blessed~

IN CHRIST ALONE

Isaiah 55:8-9

 *google image, NIV, Strong’s Concordance*