You Are Amazing God

Decorating

All the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season is here.  Sometimes I have felt maybe I am not supposed to be so involved in the "stuff" of the season.  I love to decorate the house, EVERY room gets something!  And sometimes I have felt that maybe that was missing the reason.  I feel like all you hear sometimes is that Christians aren't supposed to be part of the craziness, we are supposed to remember the reason for the season and all that.   And it's true....we are supposed to be Jesus centered.

But you know what, as I was decking my halls, it came to me...I am being Jesus centered, in the way HE designed me to be.  Just like caring for His creation by working with the cats, I am honoring Him by my decorating because it is for HIS birthday that I am celebrating.  As He created me to care for the animals, so too, He created me to be artistic and express that part of me.  I don't have to be like other Christians who choose not to go all out.  I can be me!!  And being me honors God, because He is the one who made me.

As that came over me I was so honored and awed to be able to celebrate His birth and make a home that rejoiced in it.  I was so thankful, once again that the Lord gave me permission to be myself.  The self He designed me to be.  I believe this is all part of living out Hebrews 13:21 where it says:  make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.    As long as I am following His plan for my life, who I am specifically, what I am to be, and how He fashioned my make up to work I am glorifying Jesus and well pleasing in His sight.

It is said that we all walk to the beat of different drums.  And I believe that is true. I believe it is how our Creator desired it to be.  Lord, help me to encourage others to be what You want them to be, as You are encouraging me.  You have such a multifaceted plan for all of us, and that plan comes together as a beautiful tapestry when each of us is walking in the way you precise, individual path you destined for each of us.  Thank You.  You are amazing.

http://youtu.be/-fgen24eKiM

More thankful.

I came across some more spiritual blessings to be thankful for.  The Lord has been  drawing me to the book of Ephesians for some time now.  And I was just skimming the 1st chapter when I came across some wonderful blessings to be grateful for.  ( I am guessing if we did this with most chapters of the Bible we would find a ton of them in each book !!)

Ephesians 1:3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has BLESSED US WITH EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING in the heavenly places in Christ.  

v4:  just as HE CHOSE US IN HIM before the foundation of the world, that we WOULD BE HOLY AND WITHOUT BLAME BEFORE HIM IN LOVE, 

v5:  having PREDESTINED US TO ADOPTION AS SONS by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,

v6: to the praise of the glory of His grace by which HE MADE US ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED.

v7:  In Him we HAVE REDEMPTION through His blood, the FORGIVENESS OF SINS, according to the RICHES OF HIS GRACE

v9:  Having MADE KNOWN TO US THE MYSTERY OF HIS WILL, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself.  

v11  In Him also, WE HAVE OBTAINED AN INHERITANCE, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.

v13:  In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation in whom also, having believed, YOU WERE SEALED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT OF PROMISE.  

Every spiritual blessing, holy and blameless, adopted, accepted, redeemed, forgiven, included, inheriting, sealed.  Lord, I am truly blessed and I thank You.
You in Your kindness toward me have done all this.  Lord, the next time I am inclined to complain and gripe please bring me back to this, back to Your Word and Your blessings and Your promises.

Ephesians 2:7  that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.  

Thankful

I have so many things to be grateful for.  The normal things we all say, like family, friends, salvation, warm home, full frig, a job...But I wonder how many things I miss.  Mainly I am talking about the spiritual blessings.  I wonder how many little things happen every day that help me to be more of what God purposed for me to be that I miss.  Opportunities for growth, opportunities to bear fruit for the kingdom. Little kindnesses performed that the Lord allows me to participate in that show His love to another.  I wonder how many times I may have had a little victory that went unnoticed that caused me to grow closer to being like Jesus. When I help someone, do I say thank You Lord for showing your kindness thru me. When I praise God during I trial, am I grateful that I am acting more like Jesus, exhibiting His fruit.

I spend time praying for the Lord to work in me, to change me, to help me grow. Yet I think that I fail to recognize the methods He uses in answering that prayer. And because of that I unintentionally fail to be grateful.

 I don't know if this will make sense to anyone.  I only blogged today to express my thanks to the Lord for His goodness in my life.  Where the rest of this came from, well I would say I don't know, but I think we all know it must be the Lord.

So, I say it now Lord, thank You for the spiritual training and growth that You do in me every day.  I have so many physical blessings and I am very thankful for them all.  Help me to see You at work spiritually as well, so I can say thankful for those as well.  Thank you for using me in Your plans.  I am so honored.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Accept the you God created.  And rejoice in it.

The greatest gift has been given to me thru a dear sister in the Lord.  She gave me the gift to accept and rejoice in who God made me to be.

As long as I remember, I have had a love for animals.  All of them.  Dogs, cats, horses, hamsters, bunnies, whatever.  And I have always wanted to work with them, help them in some way.  I would have a hundred in my house if I could!!

So, life gets going, dreams drift away in the responsibilties, bad decisions and just the everyday living of life.  I have mentioned this desire over the years to people. And have heard things like, "maybe you can use working with animals to help people", or (and this is a big one I've heard often), " you love animals more than people".   And these things have come from Christians and people close to me.  I am sure they did not intend to demean my hearts desires, but it always made me feel "less than" in who I am.

For the last couple of years, I have been taking care of a feral cat colony.  And the last couple of months I have been helping out at a local kitten shelter.  I have been so happy and fulfilled in doing these things.  It's as if I found my fit!!  If you can imagine being happy cleaning out kitten cages, well you know you have to be given a special love for them, as the littlest kittens can make the biggest messes !  LOL

But again, those old words spoken to me rise up in my head, and I think, maybe this isn't important, maybe it's not what God intends my life to be about...I mean how could it, isn't it supposed to be about spreading the kingdom, saving people, helping others???

And then the words spoken to me by my dear sister: "Seems to me your path is leading to being a caretaker of God's animals on this earth...kinda like what Adam and Eve were supposed to do way back when!"   

She also said, " If something gives us joy and peace, then ultimately it gives Him honor because we are better human beings and show that we are in tune with what He wants us to do...does that make sense?

And it just clicked.  I am doing what God created me for.  He is the one who gave me this heart.  He is the one who desired and designed people to care for ALL of His creation. He gave certain people that task.  He gives different gifts to different people, but they are ALL His gifts!!  And there is nothing, absolutely nothing "less than" about His gift and purpose for me!! I am being who He meant me to be.  That honors my Father.   And I am so grateful to have received this.

Are there other things I enjoy doing, that involve helping people? Absolutely.  Do I know I have to remain in balance?  Definitely.  Do I need to keep growing and refining the giftings God has given me?  Of course.

Two things to take from this experience.  First, those things that come naturally to us, the things that make our hearts sing and rejoice, they are, I believe the gifts that God has given us to use for His purposes.  Take the time to get to know them.  And secondly, if you are struggling with something, know it is not in vain.  As my friend came upon this wonderfully insightful wisdom during her time of struggling and shared it with me, giving me one of the greatest blessings of my life, so too your trials and testings may be just what someone else needs to be helped.  God uses everything in our lives.  I am grateful for her obedience in sending me this email as the Holy Spirit prompted her.

It is so releasing and joyful to just accept who I was created to be.  And as I go to take care of God's creatures, I go with a new purpose, a new mission...to honor and obey Him.

I end this with something else my wise friend said:  "so let go of the things you think you "should do", hold lightly to the things you "must do" and embrace the things in your heart of hearts you want to do!"

Lord, please bless this beautiful lady with joy and peace in You.  Let her know Your love more deeply today.  Help her to hold onto Your hand.  And work all things out as they should in her day.  Keep her safe.  We need her here!!!  

Amazing

I had to include this song on the blog.  Yesterday was a very stressful day.  I really had too much to do, and could not seem to focus on anything, including the Lord.  I had heard this song the day before and wanted to post it, but of course by the time I got home from work, I had forgotten what the name of the song was.  When I finally thought about it again yesterday morning I was frustrated because I could not recall it.  (guess it was one of those things that fell out of my head when I overloaded it with all the other items to remember for the day).  Anyway, I just pulled into Stop and Shop to do some grocery shopping and there it was on the radio again!! I was so happy and it was so nice to just take a minute out of the craziness to focus on and worship the Lord.  I really needed this little visit with Him.  I also wrote the name of the song down, lest I forget again!!  I hope you enjoy listening to it and it blesses your day while you focus on our amazing God

Indescribable Chris Tomlin

Blessed Victory

God really does come through on His promises.  After applying the things Jesus has been teaching me in His visits lately, I can honestly say I am more at peace during my work day and getting closer to calmness during the rest of my day.

As I take time for a quick visit via my Scripture cards (you know, the little index cards many of us write out and stick in our bags or cars or pockets then forget to look at) it helps me to refocus on Him and His principles.  This brings a little measure of peace into my day. It's like I can just take a breath and feel....aaaahhhhh, calmer.   And as the Holy Spirit reminds me, Jesus is by my side.  This helps my attitude to improve while doing my job.  He has also been mentioning that I need to be doing all things as unto Him.  It certainly makes me want to do things with a sense of honoring Him.  When I do this, even the smallest of jobs, or kindnesses become a privilege and an honor to do.   I know I have a ways to go yet, but I am so excited about this progress.  He is so good.

As I sat in my truck on lunch last night, reading the latest Joel Osteen book, Jesus sat with me and it was almost like He started a conversation with me.  We reminisced about all those years ago, sitting in the same parking lot, alone or with coworkers, in a substance abuse induced stupor.  I was reminded how different things were now and such peace and gladness enveloped me.  I have such a quiet gratitude for my deliverance.  This was just the sweetest visit.

Lord, thank You for progress, great and small.  Please continue to work with me and each of us toward the goal of becoming like Jesus.  Be glorified.

Hungry?

John 6:57  As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.

I kind of see this verse as a continuing visit with Jesus.  How do I "feed" on Him? How do I consistently visit with Jesus?  How do I live?

The Word.  I need to be in the Word regularly, routinely, and persistently.  It can not be a hit or miss kind of practice.  I spoke of this a few posts back.  I wouldn't be comfortable or healthy if I didn't eat at regular intervals, neither can I be a healthy Christian if I am not in the Word frequently.

Next, I need to be focusing my thoughts toward Your presence.  Am I remembering You are with Me?  Your Word tells me on numerous occasions that You will never leave me.  Am I recalling this as I go through my day?  Am I praying and talking to you as my day unfolds?

And lastly, am I thinking about what You would do or say in whatever situation I am in.  If I am in constant communion with You, I will have access to this information.  You will lead me.

If I am not "feeding" on You, I will become a weak, malnourished Christian.  With that condition comes susceptibility to spiritual disease and apathy because I have no spiritual energy.  I have cut myself off from my food...You.  Like a physical body dies without food, so our spirit dies without feeding on Christ.  And this food, is something you can never overeat !!  No dieting needed here !!  And like a good meal, Jesus is best when shared !!

Lord, let me feed on You every moment of my day.  Let me draw my strength and direction from Your presence by my side, in me and around me.

Self control

Self control, that phrase we hate but all want!!  It's the gift of the Spirit that seems out of reach for many of us, myself included.  And 2 days ago God had a little talk with me about this self-control thing and the necessity of it for accomplishing His purpose in my life.

I was reading "Enjoying the Closeness of God" by Roger C. Palms and he brought up an interesting way of looking at self-control.  He stated that we can see self- control as an adventure and something that when done, is able to create a sense of accomplishment in us.  And really, isn't it the truth.  I thought about days when I eat all the right things and how good I felt at the end of that day.  Or when I held my tongue instead of blasting someone for annoying me.  It feels (after the initial anger subsides) so much better not to have that guilt and embarrassment of having to apologize for spouting off over nonsense.  And it feels great knowing that I listened and obeyed God!  I do get that sense of accomplishment.

I can only fully become what God intends me to be when I live completely with Him and for Him.  Self-indulgence gets in the way of this.  And that is where self-control comes in.

When Jesus was led into the wilderness, He could of at any time supplied His own need, given up and walked out or walked away, but He didn't and He emerged fully being what He was meant to be.  By exhibiting self-control, He became ready to fulfill His purpose and accomplish the will of the Father.  He was ready for ministry! Through the testing and the tempting, He was shown to be the overcomer we needed, the one to fulfill the unique purpose God ordained for Him.

Likewise, when I walk in the gift of self-control (following the leading of the Spirit), I become the person my Father designed me to be, ready and able to fulfill the unique purpose He has for me as well.

Areas I need to exhibit this self-control in?  MOUTH:  I need to watch what I say
ATTITUDE:  Pride, impatience, self righteousness, unkindness....EATING:  Am I taking proper care of God's temple so it is usable for Him?

From the author, "If we are going to be any kind of light to a rebellious, disobedient and undisciplined world, it will be only as we discipline ourselves under God's command and allow Him to demonstrate to the world that true experience of happiness that comes from obedience"

So the questions comes; Does my life cause others to believe?  Does my lack of self-control cause others to disdain Jesus?

Lord, help me to walk in self-control.  Let me not fulfill the desires of the flesh, but live for and by the Spirit.  Let my life look like You.  In John 5:19, Jesus stated:  "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son does also in like manner". Lord, let the same be said of me.  I can do nothing of myself, but let me imitate You through Your power of self-control.  Thank You.

Luke 5:16  So He Himself, often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.  

This was the verse from 31 Days of Praise that I worked on this morning.  As I meditated and prayed about this verse, jotting down my thoughts, I was once again reminded of Romans 8:29 where we are told that we are predestined to be like Jesus.

I thought to myself, I too wanted and needed these quiet, solitary times of communion with my Father.  And Jesus was the example I am to follow in this area as well.  So I prayed. I prayed that I would have the continuing desire for these times and that I would be like Jesus in this.

And then the phone rang.....as it always does when you are having these wonderful revelation times with the Lord!!  Luckily, it was a quick conversation, but I did decide to check out the verse of the day from my Bible App (I think it's called the Daily Bible, and it's only on the Android phones, but it's a great app to download).
And the verse was......da da da daaaaa:

Philippians 1:6 being confident of the very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

(and yes, you need to make the trumpet sounds !!!  LOL)

Is that not an amazing answer to my prayer?  And not only was it an answer to my previous prayer, it is the answer to the next one I would pray, which was based on Isaiah 50:4  The Lord has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.  He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear.  

I pray for a learned tongue and a listening ear driven by compassion.

Oh, I am so far from that place.  And carving out time in an already overloaded schedule for peaceful separateness with the Lord is sometimes seemingly impossible, but the encouragement of that verse is exactly what I needed to be reminded that God is at work in me and is answering my prayers.  I don't know what your life looks like, but I know if it is like mine, it is probably "under construction" and "behind schedule".  But I think that is exactly where and when God does His best work...and He is working.  He assures us of that!!

Lord, draw us away from the hectic chaos of life to your quiet presence, that we may be refreshed and renewed and learn to share that refreshment with others around us.  Thank You that You are at work and will not give up until Your plan for us has been completed.

Building a house.

I got this great picture from Jesus today.  The Scripture reference was Matthew 7:24-28:

24 “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. 25 Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. 26 But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. 27 When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 for he taught with real authority—quite unlike their teachers of religious law.

I could picture a person sitting on a rock(a very large, almost island sized rock). And all around the person were building blocks. And the person was just sitting there, guess he was contemplating the blocks!!  Jesus is the Rock.  He is that person's Salvation.  His teachings and words are building blocks given to the person for his use. 

If the man just sits there on the Rock, doing nothing, he is leaving himself open to the winds, the floods, the torrents of the world and Satan and he will ultimately fall.  But if the man picks up (obeys) the building blocks and and creates around himself a house of Jesus' teaching then he will be protected from the elements that would topple a disobedient man.  

We can't just sit there.  We have to obey His words.  Wouldn't it be nice to just "sit there on Jesus, la la la, here I am sitting on Jesus, all is well" and never have to do a thing?  But that is not what we are being taught.  Jesus says we stand because we obey.  

I just wanted to share this really cool picture that God gave me this morning. Hope you can picture it as well and it gives you a desire for obedience as it did me.  

Complaining.

Seems I've been doing a lot of it lately.   For whatever reason, complaining seems to come a lot more naturally than gratefulness.  And I find that very frustrating and annoying!!  Today I just had to repent (again) of this attitude and ask for God's help in changing this really really bad habit.  And talk about an answer to prayer....Right after asking for forgiveness and help I read Day 27 in "31 Days of Praise".  The very first paragraph:  "Lord, I extol you for Your great power toward us who believe...You are able to do infinitely beyond all our highest prayers or thoughts. Nothing is impossible with You!"  What a wonderful answer to my desire to lose the complaining lips !!  Does this mean that not only will I be speaking thankfulness, but infinite thankfulness and praise?  Multitude of gratitude. Plenitude of praise.  LOL  I love the thought of that.

Even more confirmation was given on my run this morning as well.  I was listening to Joyce M's teaching on living without frustration and she spoke on God doing the changing in us instead of me trying and trying and failing and failing.  I am not on a self improvement quest, but a God changing me from glory to glory path.

And the visiting continues....today's Bible verse from my phone app...For God knew His people in advance, and He chose them to become like His Son, so that His son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 
Romans 8:29   One of my favorite verses!  It's always 8:28 that gets all the play, but this verse gives us the reason and the final outcome of God working all things out for our good.  And that is an outcome that I really look forward to and desire with all my heat...to become like Jesus.

He chose me to become like Jesus.  And He is working to make me so.  And I am grateful that it does not depend on me, because that would just be a complete disaster!

And yet, O Lord, You are our Father.  We are the clay and You are the Potter. We are all formed by Your hand.  Isaiah 64:8

O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay?  As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand.  Jeremiah 18:6

I am so grateful Lord, that You do not give up and that You keep working to change me (even when I don't see it happening, it is).  Thank You for this encouragement. Help me to keep cooperating with You and please let my words and speech honor You more and more each day.

Check list

Is spending time with God, visiting with Him and Him with me, just something to cross off my "to do" list?

I just started reading a book "Enjoying the Closeness of God" by Roger C.  Palms. And not one page into it this was what was glaring out from the page at me!!  I had prayed before hand that the Lord would use this book to draw me to Himself and to make me more fruitful for His work.  I really want to enjoy and sense His presence in my life.  I want those times of visiting to be constant and consistent !!

The author was speaking of a visit he had made to Notre Dame Cathedral and how the intense tourist activity made it a very noisy visit.  He spoke of one couple in particular, and it is that passage with God used to speak to me.
     "The man had a checklist in his hand.  As they stopped into the sun light, the             man asked his wife, 'was that the cathedral of Notre Dame?'
      She answered that is was, with that confirmation, he took out his pencil,
      ticked off that item on his out list, and they hurried away."

It hit me so strongly.  Is this what my time with Jesus is?  Something to be marked off my "to do" list?  I really think in  some ways this is the case.  It's not that I don't enjoy my time with the Lord, but it does tend to get lumped into the to do list category.  And oh, how I am so sorry for that and do not want it to be that way at all.

Instead, I want it to be something I am looking forward to, like sitting down with a dear friend for coffee and talk.  A peaceful interlude to start or interrupt my day. A time of closeness and solitude with the Lord.  And it can be and is all those things, but I want to get it off the "to do" list mentality.  I think God wants me to start seeing our time together, our visits in a different light.  And I want to also.

Lord, help me to have to proper perspective of our time together.  It is the most special time of my day and I want to look at it in the right way, with the right heart. Thank You for correcting this attitude in me.

How will the world be different for my being here?

This was the question put to us by Tony as he shared God's teaching with us on Sunday.  A very unsettling question, which led to some very inconvenient answers and some more thought provoking questions.  God's visit today had a very definite message about what my life here on earth is supposed to be about.

It occurred to me that if I live for myself, there will be no difference.  Not now. Not for me.  Not for anyone.  And not eternally.  Quite inconvenient.  Who doesn't to live for self self self !!

But I I choose to live for God, then HIS difference will be evident!  So some questions came to me and I think we all need to answer them for ourselves.  I did, and am and I am not liking some of my answers.

1.  Am I building God's kingdom or Satan's?  (the Lord has brought this up before)
2.  Am I bringing peace to situations or more strife?
3.  Am I sharing the answer or contributing to the confusion around me?
4.  Can people tell I have been with Jesus, am I sharing His love with others?
5.  Would I want others to follow my example?
6.  Does Jesus' light shine in the darkness when I am around?
7.  What do I want my life to count for?

Hard questions.  Hard answers.  Lord, help me, help us to live for You.  Help my life to count for You.

God has a sense of humor !

God has been dealing with me on my critical nature and giving mercy instead of judgment for quite some time.  And yesterday was no exception.  I went into work, and as usual things were not what I wanted (and of course we all know that the way I want things is the right way LOL).  The area was messy, mail placed where it shouldn't be, equipment not charged.....Well the thought came into my head; "WWJD--what would Jesus do?"   Immediately, I got this picture in my head of what He WOULDN'T do.

I pictured Jesus saying things like; "I have to take care of everything...I do all the healing, all the teaching.  Can't anybody else do something !?!  I have to do the praying, all by myself, I have to provide lunch for 5000 people.  Can someone help out once in a while???"

It just was the funniest thing to get that image of Jesus in my mind.  And of course I know He would never, ever say things like that.  And that was the lesson.  By being critical and judgmental I was not being very Christlike.  I am so grateful for the conviction the Lord brought, but also that He did it in such an amusing way. We always think of God as serious, but He must have a sense of humor, just look at us humans!!  He does say, a cheerful heart is good medicine (Proverbs 17:22)

Lord, thank you for laughter.  Please help us not to take things so seriously. Perhaps if we look more for humor and less for perfection we will be kinder and more merciful with one another.

Holiness

1 Peter 1:16  You must be holy because I am holy.

In the "Set Apart" study, this verse is described as not just a command but also as a promise of God.

Once again, God confirmed this to me in a separate teaching.  As I was running (if you can call my pokey pace running) this morning, I was listening to a Joyce M podcast and  the verse that came up was:

1 Peter 2:9  But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people.  You are royal priests, a HOLY nation, God's very own possession.  As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness and into His wonderful light. 

Well the Holy Spirit light bulb went off in my head, as He linked these 2 verses together.  Like links in a chain or pieces in a puzzle it all seemed to just fit.  A promise and a declaration of holiness from the Lord, for His people.  The Lord not only promises us holiness, He declares it to be so.

This visit came at a time when I once again was beating myself up over the seeming lack of progress in my Christian walk (I guess my pace is slow there too!! I am sensing a pattern here!!).   I feel like I fight (or sometimes not, unfortunately) and struggle with the same sins and character flaws day after day seeing little growth or betterment.  I think sometimes I am at the same spot on the narrow road as I was a year ago, and the year before that and the year before that....

As I write this the Jesus reminds me that it is His shed blood that makes me holy, set apart for Himself.  And God promises and declares that He will bring my life into alignment with that truth.  Remember:  And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue HIS work until it is finally finished on the day that Christ Jesus returns--Phil 1:6

Thank You Lord for conviction of sin and the comfort of knowing that You are still working on me, never giving up.  It is You working out the details in me so that I may portray Your holiness to the world around me.  Thank You for the visit, reassuring me of Your promises and declaring over me Your holiness.  Let Your people rejoice in Your holiness.

Fall Pictures

I took these beautiful pictures just walking around my neighborhood.  God just visits all the time.  We just have to look at the beauty around us.  

Peace

Happily I remembered to ask Jesus to visit quite a few times during the last few days.  And you know what?  When I did take that few seconds to call out to Him, and just focus on His presence, I actually felt peace enter my spirit.  And I could feel a smile come to my lips.  It was just a couple of minutes of breathing in His presence no matter what I was doing or where I was.  And it was wonderful.  It would be so awesome to stay in that place every moment of the day.

I wonder if by doing that I would start to see not just peace, but more wisdom, more discernment, more kindness, more mercy, and more lovingness in my life as well. I am thinking that if by asking Jesus to visit He brings everything He is into that point of time.  I to do this more and more

Lord, please continue to remind us to call out to You over and over, all day long. Thank You that by focusing our minds on You we can be at peace.  You are our peace.