Inspirations

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”  John 16:33 My life stinks!  I hate my life! Most of us have heard, or even said these words ourselves. I confess I have used them myself occasionally. In fact, I was using this phrase just the other day as I was filling out some paperwork.  In my case, and probably yours as well, I don’t really hate my life.  I only hate a situation in my life that is causing me stress at that moment.  Sometimes, when we are going through a struggle, we can lose our perspective.  We often feel as though we are the only one who has problems in their life.   In reality, we know that other people have problems; yet, somehow, we forget this as the storms of life are raging and threatening to swallow us up.  We often forget that Jesus, himself, promised that we would have trials.  Still, none of us likes ...

 whoever believes  in me will do the works I have been doing,  and they will do even greater things than these,   John 14:12     Yesterday I had breakfast with my husband, daughter and son-in-law when God me gave an “ah ha” moment.  As we were lingering over our beverages, we started talking about a website I had created.  I was explaining what my thoughts and hopes were for the website.  I was hoping to pick up some pointers on how to work a few of the kinks out of the site.  While we were talking, my daughter’s husband asked me a question that stopped me in my tracks.  He asked me what I would do if someone wanted to order, what seemed to me, an astronomical amount of the item I was selling.  It was at that moment that I realized that I was not thinking big.  I was thinking sell a few and he was thinking sell a lot.  It was then that I also realized how that thinking can carry over into the spiritual realm...

Drama, you can find it anywhere; at church, at work, at home, at social events.  In short, anyplace you find people, there will be at least one or two that like to create drama.  Some people thrive on discord and disputes.  They live for it, and they are not happy unless there is drama, and they will tattle, gossip and stir the pot just to cause drama.  Me, I do not like anger, strife and negative talking.  I prefer peace, unity and harmony.  Yet, often it seems I get caught in other people’s drama; sometimes sadly it’s my own fault, and I could have avoided it if I had wanted to avoid it.  I know at other times the drama is unavoidable, and we have to deal with it. While we may not have a choice about whether we want the drama or not, we do have a choice about how we deal with it.   It seems to me that, as Christians, we need to manage drama in a way that glorifies God. Here are a few suggestions:   Refuse to participate in gossip. ...

Tonight at work, we were changing the oil in the fryer.  We got the fryer all cleaned, went to get the oil and realized that there was no oil.  Now we had a problem because we can’t fry food if there is no oil.  Normally, this would really bother me, and I would be upset because it was my idea to change the oil tonight and I should have checked first to make sure we had the oil we needed.  Lately, I’ve been making a conscious effort to be bold about my faith at work.  I decided to pray that there would be oil.  My coworkers saw me and thought I was crying.  I explained that I was not upset; I was praying that, somehow, we would have enough oil to fill the fryer.  Less than five minutes later, another coworker came with the oil.  It had been left in another part of the store.  I praise God that he cares about even the little details.  How encouraging it is that if I can go to him with small things; then it shouldn't be a problem ...

I decided to go for a walk tonight.  As I was walking God reminded me that when I was younger, I was horribly afraid of the dark.  Yet, here I am now walking after dark and loving it. There is something almost calming about watching the night come alive; the crickets singing and the fireflies and stars lighting up the night.  I’m not sure when I stopped being afraid of the dark, but tonight as I was walking; I realized two things that made me see how silly it was for me to be scared.  There was nothing in the dark that was not in the light. I know that sounds funny, but it is true. The other thing I realized was that God was the same during the day as he was at night.  He  didn't  change or go anywhere.  If I could trust him during the day with what I could see, then I could trust him at night with what I could not see. What an amazing truth! The God of the Universe does not change.  He is the same today as he was yesterday, and He wil...

I rejoiced with those who said to me, “Let us go to  the   house   of   the   Lord .” As I was sitting in church last Sunday, I noticed some people who were in the service that were checking the clock when the service started and at varying intervals during the service.  This is something that has bothered me from the time I was a young person. While I cannot presume know or judge another’s motives for their actions, I do question them.   I have always felt that, as a Christian, we should desire to be in God’s house and among his people.  We should never be concerned about the length of the church service. We are putting limits on the Holy Spirit when we are consumed with time in a church service. In addition, we lose our focus; we forget why we are at church. Finally, we may distract others who truly desire to worship God.  Friends, fellow Christians, if your passion in going to church is to love and worship God then put the watches away...

A few weeks ago, I was hiking at Jakes rocks.  It was relaxing to walk in the woods.  Even though it was fun as I was reflecting on the excursion, I could not help but imagine how much more fun it would have been if I had a guide to lead me.  I needed someone familiar with the trails; that would be able to lead me and guarantee that I would not lose my way.  Truth is I was afraid to go too far along the trails because I did not want my darling husband to have to send in a search party for me.  Friends if our desire is to get to heaven, then we need someone who has already been there to show us the way.  There is only one person, which I’m aware of, who qualifies for that job; that is Jesus Christ. He knows all about life on this earth; he lived among us.  He faced every struggle that we could face, so he is more than capable of leading us through this life without getting us lost.  There is no pitfall that can surprise him.  When we trust hi...