This day I give you.

We can desire to give every day to the Lord but we will not always experience victory and it can be very discouraging. In the Desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. Exodus 16:2 The Lord knew they would grumble even after all they had witnessed of His mighty hand and yet the Lord God provided and brought glory to His name.The whole Israelite community had set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin... Exodus 16:1 It is interesting that they came to the desert of sin. I for one find my life there when I least expect it. I do not go out blatantly thinking 'I desire to be sinful today'. Quite the contrary. I go out with a hopeful heart of pleasing my Lord and bringing Glory to Him through my life; only to encounter the onslaught of the day's circumstances and fail miserably! Or at least the enemy would have me think that. If I were to look at the day through the grace of my Lord's spiritual awareness I indeed failed and I did indeed succeed . For through my Father's grace He lets me see where in my heart I am residing in the desert of sin. This is a very deep and spiritual matter between our heart's and God's and it is a one on one appointment only. On the worldly side others may think I handled my circumstances of the day with grace, but only God can discern the heart my friend. It is our heart that can make us anxious, angry, and crazy and it is the heart that can find peace that surpasses all understanding. Yes indeed, it is all about the condition of our heart. If we desire to live a life pleasing to God we can be sure our Father has much to teach us as He did the Israelites. Looking spiritually (in the light of God's word) at my day I can learn much about myself. How are we to grow and live a pleasing life if we do not apply scripture to our daily circumstances? "Give us this day our daily bread, and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, the power and glory forever and ever. amen" Delivering us from evil often hurts! And it must or we will never have complete humble submission. That is what we are aiming for, running the race for, are we not? Sorry to say I find myself at the back of the line in that race more times than one can imagine. Only God knows where I am, though, and the same goes for all of us. If I should even dare to think I'm at the front of that race that in itself is a good indication I am not! On the other hand I rejoice at God's mercy and amazing grace to let me see my shortcomings when I do see them. I am thankful when I realize at least I didn't blurt out my negative hurt feelings and cause all kinds of damage to others. The real gain is when I quit putting myself in the equation. The life I now live I live through Christ who gave His life up so I might live. Galatians 2:20 Jesus was hated and crucified and if we truly desire Christ will we not be? "Pick up your cross and follow after Me." Joy comes in the morning! I do not long to stay in the desert of sin, no I know I long for the everlasting water of my Savior. We will have many battles on this earth to contend with but we also have the awesome privilege to lay them at the foot of the cross. Lay our wounded hearts at the foot of the cross and rest in the unchanging everlasting loving arms of our Father. He will graciously heal our wounds, restore our joy and give us strength and wisdom to face our day.

"Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer, precious Lord, to the cross where Thou hast died."

Heavenly Father

Life is indeed bittersweet! Thank you for your everlasting love. Let us run to You and live. When the world persecutes us may we remember the battle has been won and rejoice at Your victory; knowing we will one day all cross the finish line of our race. May we love without condition or expectation for then we will shine your light through our vessels. Give us the strength to keep on loving. In Your Holy Son's name I pray Amen

Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)

The Holidays

(Christmas has come and gone but I'm putting this one out anyway regardless of the time of year. It is still food for thought that's worth thinking about.) Just the title of this one conjures up a whole slew of feelings. So let's take a deeper look at what the holidays do to us. If we are honest, the child-like anticipation of Christmas wanes into some kind of dreaded stress for the majority of us. As children we are delighted at the thought of goodies to eat and presents under the tree; we are not concerned about the preparation or what anything cost. We are as small children and therefore are also unaware of others around us who go without. For most adults the hurry and stress of providing for our young ones (or elderly ones) helps us ignore those who are in need the best we can; we have enough to think about with our own. It is not that we do not care, it is that we are overwhelmed with the world's idea of celebrating, and it has little to nothing to do with the birth of our Savior. The irony here is suffocating if we have eyes to see. I do want something for Christmas this year. I want eyes to see more clearly the elephant (so to speak) in the room. We all know we have materialized Christmas to where it has nothing to do with God's gift of His Son . It was sacrificial, His only begotten Son, given to undeserving sinners who were and are in a nose dive. God sent His Son, His Son! to save us! Yet so many refuse Him. Buying gifts to express to loved ones that we love them is fine, but I dare say it has become an empty obligation to a great degree. Yes, we have twisted this gesture of love to where there is little joy in it. Why? Two words: selfish expectations. Ours and theirs, but mostly our preconceived ideas about giving and receiving. Yes, I dare say for the most part we are screwed up! And it has robbed the most precious joy and celebration we have as believers; the birth of our Savior! I do not have some list of priorities to follow that will take away the stress of the holidays. The only thing we can do is turn to the One whose birth occurred so that we might be delivered from the weight of sin we are under. It is personal and it will look somewhat different for all of us for we are all given different gifts with which to glorify God. If we want our joy to be full we must glorify Him with the gifts He so freely gave us ! " Rejoice Rejoice Emmanuel...!" Does our Christmas celebration come rejoicing or do we sing half heartedly under the pressures and stress of expectations; ours and others?!

Heavenly Father You have commanded us to "Love one another". Father grant us the courage to get involved in loving one another. Help us to see where we get consumed with our own selfish desires and expectations, so we may lay them down for the Glory of the Lord; so that our joy may be made full.

May we all receive the gift of opened eyes and true joy! Love to all in Christ Jesus C:)