The Plan I Have For You

Isaiah 43:19 (The Message) Forget about what's happened;    don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new.    It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert,    rivers in the badlands. An opportunity, one that appeared so right it felt like it had been placed in my path.  Yet God closed the door in a way that left me feeling like I forgot to move my hand and left my fingers throbbing in the threshold.  In a matter of hours, someone close to me received a similar opportunity with all the pieces of the puzzle falling into place.  While extremely proud for her great news, something inside hurt deeper.  Discouraged, I opened my devotional guide, and the verses above spoke so vividly to my heart. The last couple of years have seemed the hardest for me physically, spiritually, emotionally.  I'm not saying they haven't been good ...

Its a beautiful morning.  The sun is shining brightly across the multi-colored landscape.  Leaves drop like rain as Fall will soon make way for winter.  Coffee is always a welcome start to the morning, but something about the crispness in the air makes it taste that much better. Seasons.  God's reminder of how things change.  The beautiful fall leaves and the joy of bringing out the long sleeves will soon be replaced by winter, with its brisk, short days, and hopefully a little snow mixed in to delight the heart.  Winter melts into spring with the tiny budding leaves and reemergence of beautiful flowers.  Then summer, with long days made perfect for play time and enjoying the beauty of the world outside. Our lives change.  Our babies grow up into toddlers then into teens.  Young adults look up one day to realize the are middle agers no longer living a carefree life, but one of responsibility for a family.  As quickly as those days c...

We counted down the days beginning a month and a half ago.  Vacation.  I don't know who was more ready, us or the kids.  So where did we go?  Santa Claus, Indiana.  A tiny town in Southern Indiana named for the great Christmas legend.  The story of the economic development of this area as unbelievably special as Santa himself.  The featured attraction:  Holiday World, a family-friendly amusement park situated in a town of 2,200 people that draws crowds that large and larger on a daily basis. As we drove in Tuesday, I looked winding, two-lane road.  Nothing in sight but corn fields and farm houses.  Then, in the distance, a huge wooden roller coaster appeared.  There it was, that pit in my stomach...you see, I'm not a thrill rider.  My last two ride adventures had left other fair guests a little surprised by my inability to deal with the round and round motions.  My greatest fear was leaving behind a "souvenir" in Santa C...

Philippians 4:6-7 (The Message)   6-7 Don't fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God's wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.  Philippians 4:6-7 (Amplified Bible) 6 Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition ( [ a ] definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God.     7 And God's peace [shall be yours, that [ b ] tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall [ c ] garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. ...

I've been waiting on those great messages of inspiration to make a good blog entry, but I think God has been speaking to me in language I can understand during Relay season...short and sweet.  My heavenly father knows more than anyone the best way to get things through to me! So here are a few short and sweet thoughts that have come from several places about prayer. We have not because we ask not.  God doesn't answer prayers we don't pray. Sometimes not hearing a yes means no, or not now.  We need to listen to that too! We should go into a worship service prayed up and asking God to use us as his tool.  If we lead worship in any other way, we are simply entertaining and not serving God's purpose. Yesterday on K-Love I heard someone talking about our children and prayer.  Parents, listen up!  Prayer is the way we have that deep, loving relationship with our Father.  We pour out our hearts passionately to him and wait on his all consuming love....

Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge.   Psalm 16:1 NLT  Well I should have taken Mercy Me's song a little more seriously.  Not only did we have "rain" last week, we had ice and snow.  Being alone all week with the kids, juggling a whirlwind of a schedule, a stubborn husband who refused a prescription to lower his blood pressure-then sending him off to a sales show three hours away, and ice storm...it was a long week.  Then Sunday morning, we awoke to sun, and glistening trees that looked like they had been adorned in silver.  Top that with a great time of worship at Mount Hermon.  Suddenly the stress of the week melted away as I gave my all in song and praise.  As I listened to "How Great is Our God", I realized he is quite amazing.  My husband traveled home safely Saturday, and I had an evening to vegetate...a rare happening.  Within five minutes our our first power outage during the ice storm, I had...

Mondays for me bring all sorts of anxiety.  I guess its being out of routine.  Somehow staring at the day and week's to do list always sends pits through my stomach.  (Stops momentarily to read my earlier post on worrying). Anyway, I awoke yesterday morning to Mercy Me's song "Bring the Rain."  A song whose words are so powerful, telling "if that's what it takes for us to praise you, Jesus Bring the Rain."  Praising God in our trials?  Seems like an amazing feat. Most of the time I want to hang my head in the corner and pretend its not happening.  After I've failed at "fixing things myself," I shamefully cry to God for help.  Yes, he's seen me through many trials, and delivered me from even my own not so Mrs. Fixit self.  See...God does perform miracles. So yesterday as I drove, I talked with God about this song.  Angie Smith has a beautiful blog called "Bring the Rain" that tells of their joy during the birth and death of...

Jeremiah 29:11-13 (The Message) 10-11 This is God 's Word on the subject: "As soon as Babylon's seventy years are up and not a day before, I'll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. 12 "When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. 13-14 "When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." God 's Decree. "I'll turn things around for you. I'll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you"— God 's Decree—"bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it. Friday on what I though was a normal work related visit, I stopped by a place of business to annou...

The Cure for Anxiety Holman Christian Standard Bible Matthew 6 25 "This is why I tell you: Don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the sky: they don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they? 27 Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don't labor or spin thread. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! 30 If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't He do much more for you—you of little faith? 31 So don't worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will...