Daily Reading

I am now on day 12 of my daily Psalms reading. So far I have been very blessed. If there is one thing I have learned from the past 12 days it is that the Lord is my refuge. When I am in times of trouble or fear I can run to Him for protection. I don't need to be afraid of anything, what can man do to me? NOTHING!

Now the real question is what can I do to myself? Alot! My mind can be a dangerous place if I let my thoughts run wild. All kinds of fear, wondering, worrying and doubt can take over.

In most of the chapters I have read in Psalms it says that the Lord hears the cry of the righteous! He will be there to help me, even against myself! 2 Corinthians 10:5 tells me to take every thought captive. In a sense I have to put my thoughts in jail and force them to obey Christ.

I have to let the Lord be Lord over my thoughts and my mind. This is a very hard thing to do, especially when you are a worrier! I need to retrain my brain to think differently, like to give praise to the Lord instead of thinking about things that bring me down!

Palms 9:1-2 "I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart: I will recount all of Your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name; O Most High."

P.s. Click on the fish tank to feed the fish!! :-)

New Year

Well I can't believe that it's 2010. Where did the last 10 years go? I heard this saying one time and it is so true, "Life is like a roll of toilette paper, the closer you get to the end the faster it goes" (Thank you Pastor Paul!).

Starting out this new year I wanted to start fresh with everything, eating healthier, reading more, getting organized and changing my mindset. The Lord has done many wonderful things in last couple of years, but it has also been some of the hardest years. Life is going by faster and faster and if I don't set my mind in the right place it's going to pass me by. I need a change of attitude and a change of mind if I'm going to push through this next year no matter what comes my way. So I decided that I'm going to start reading though the book of Psalms. One chapter a day, at that rate it will last a good part of the year. The Psalms offer so many wonderful things, encouragement, wisdom, guidance and comfort, just to name a few. Already the Lord has shown me some great things.

Chapter 1, I need to be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, so that my roots will run deep. No matter what I go through, I will stand firm.

Chapter 2, I will be blessed when I run to Him for refuge.

Chapter 3, many are the enemies all around me, but He is my shield. He will answer me then I cry out to Him, He will sustain me. Salvation belongs to the Lord.

Chapter 4, He has put more joy in my heart than those who abound. He has set me apart and He will hear me when I call. In peace I will lie down and sleep, for in Him alone I will dwell in safety.

Wow, that's only in the first four days of reading. I can't wait to see what the Lord is going to show me as the days go by. I know it's not going to be easy and I'm sure some days will be harder than others. But with the Lords help I know that I will make it through this year stronger than ever before. Thank you Lord for Your Word and how it transforms lives and hearts.

Acts 4:12

"Nor is there salvation in any other name, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Some times people say that Christians are narrow minded, and to that I say, your right!!! Jesus is the only way to the Father. There are not many roads that lead to heaven, there is only one narrow road.

Jesus says in John 14:6, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me." Jesus is the Way: a travellers way, journey. Jesus is the Truth: this is truth in any matter under consideration. Jesus is the Life: the state of one who is possessed of vitality, the absolute fullness of life.

John 10:9 says, "I am the door, if any one enters by Me, they will be saved and will come in and out and find pasture." The Lord is the entrance to salvation and heaven. When we enter through that door we will be in the Lords pasture. Wow, that is where I want to be! Imagine what His pasture looks like, my needs will always be met no matter what they are.

In the bible we are compared to sheep. I can see myself in His pasture, happy, healthy and satisfied. But then I look over and see a patch of green grass off in the distance. It looks very inviting, deep down inside I hear voice telling me that I shouldn't leave the pasture. But something is drawing me, maybe there is something better over there that I am missing. So in all of my wisdom I decide that I'll just take a little jog over there, what could it hurt. As I start out, before I can leave the boundaries of the pasture, I feel a poke in my side. "OUCH" I yell. In my mind I am thinking who is poking me and why won't they stop!!! As I look up I am astounded to see my Shepherd, with His staff pointed right at me. "Why are You poking me," I ask. He tells me it's to protect me and keep me on the right path. In my mind I think, "how is jabbing my ribs going to help." The Shepherd answers my thoughts and says, "How else was I going to stop you from making the wrong decision and leaving the safety and protection of the pasture?" I say to Him, "well you could have just told me!" "Ah" He says, "but I did, in a still small voice." Oh how often I think that I know best. Why do I insist that my way is the best way and that there are greener pastures some where else? I am very thankful for the jab of the Lord keeping me in line and in His pasture of protection and safety.

Memorization

A couple of weeks ago I asked RJ to help me with scripture memorization. I am horrible at memorizing things so I thought it would be a good idea to ask for help. He can memorize quick, but sometimes has trouble remembering things. I can remember everything, but I have trouble memorizing. So we should be a good balance! :-)

So my first verse was Galatians 4:4, "But when the fullness of time was complete, God sent His Son, born of a woman, under the law." I love this verse because it points out that God sent His Son just at the right time. There were things that needed to be in place before He came to this earth to sacrifice His life for us. This encourages me to know that the Lord always has a plan, He is never late and never early. In my life certain things need to be in place before I can get married, I don't know what some of those things are but He knows. Then at that perfect time when everything falls into place, we will be able to move forward. Some times I'm tempted to ask why, but then I remember that the Lord has a plan!

My second verse was John 1:1-3, 14, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made that was made. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, like the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Wow, this verse is full of great stuff. It wasn't as hard to memorize as I though, because I already knew the first part. God the Father sent Jesus (just at the right time) to this earth, to live among us, His creation. He, at that time was fully God and fully man. This verse says that He became flesh (that is man) and He had the Glory of the Father (that is God). Isn't that just amazing to think about, that Jesus Who created the world would come to His fallen earth to buy us back and sacrifice Himself for ME!!!! Wow, how could I not sacrifice my life on this earth for Him and live my life the way the He wants me to. My trials on this earth, though they might be difficult, are pale in comparison the Glory of the Lord. He has shown me so many new truths for my life and situations.

I'm glad that I am memorizing these verses because the Lord is teaching me so much through them. I can't wait for my next verse!!

It's about time!

Well I figured since it's been 3 months since my last blog maybe it's time to update. But there really isn't much to update, everything is pretty much the same! I had my 1 year check up from my surgery and everything is good! So I'm really happy about that!

I guess one thing I have been learning lately is that Gods ways are not our ways. DUH! His plans are always perfect, even though I don't understand it! I really look forward to the day that I will be able to look back on these trials, rather than be right in the middle of them. I know all of the reasons why we go through trials, the Lord has told us many reasons. But it doesn't really make going through trials any easier. Right now the Lord is my strength, He is the only One Who can really bring us through these tough times! I hope that when I am done with these trials He will say to me "well done my good and faithful servant." Although right now I just want out, I pray for strength to endure until the end!

So enough about trials, we just went to a friends mountain cabin for the weekend! It was so nice, we went on a really long bike ride (I almost died), watched movies and just hung out! I hope we can go back in the winter time when there is snow!

I am still making my felt flowers, I'm really excited for some of my new designs! I will have some pictures to post soon!

So I guess your all updated now. Please remember to keep my family in prayer, we could really use it!!

Eeeewwww

Well, we didn't even last 24 hours on our raw fruit and vegetable diet!

We felt nauseous, dizzy and sick all day!!! Finally at 7:00pm last night I said to RJ, "Can I please eat some real food now?" Ohhh, the first bite was glorious! I instantly felt better!

I have learned that it is very important to incorporate raw food into our diets because they have a lot of nutrients that we can't get out of the cooked food that we eat! But all that raw, cold food was just not appetizing!

I am going to try and make some smaller changes in the way I eat to improve my health, less sugar, less starches (but I still loooove spaghetti!) and less soda.

So I guess it was a good effort, but poor execution!

Our Yosemite trip was awesome! We went on a big hike, lots of bike rides, floated down the river, had campfires, saw wildlife and got no sleep! hahaha! It really was a great trip and I can't wait to go back next year!

Look at my facebook to see some pix!

Up-dates

Well, I haven't written anything new in a while! So I figured it was about time to give an update.

Remember in my last post about the "detour" sign for the wedding. Well I finally know why that was there. RJ lost his job last month, so i guess the Lord was just preparing me for that! So for now things are on hold....which is ok I know that Lord will bring it together in His timing! We are still gathering ideas so that when the time is right we are ready to go!

I have started making custom felt flowers and cuff bracelets. So far I have fulfilled 4 orders! It's pretty cool, I love being creative! And it's really neat that people love my stuff! The Lord has definitely blessed me. I hope to be able to make a little business out of it!

Next week we are going to Yosemite, that will be awesome! I love going there, its so beautiful and a refreshing time! We weren't able to go there last year (but why live in the past). Thats about as close to camping as I like to get. Four brick walls and a patio with electricity. We ride our bikes every where and I'm gonna try to do a little hiking, even though I'm not that fond of it! But floating down the river is my favorite part! Hopefully the mosquito's will leave us alone. They like to eat me because I am so sweet! Heehee!

Then when we get back from Vacation, RJ and I will be going on an all raw vegetable and fruit diet for 14 days. Then after that we will add in meat again. It's a liver enhancing diet to strengthen our livers and detox our bodies. We went to a Christian Dr. last weekend and he is going to help us get our bodies healthy and into shape. Hopefully it will be a life long change for the better. We both have been under so much stress lately that it has taken it's tole on our bodies. But with the Lords help we will begin to distress! So I will give updates about how it's going. Just the thought of eating all raw veggies and fruits for 2 weeks does not sound appetizing, but I know the outcome will be well worth it! We will be trying some very interesting meals!

If you have some recepes that are yummy, let me know!!

Well that's the update so far!