Falling Short

Many times in my life I have fallen short. I’ve missed the mark. I’ve judged someone & given the guilty verdict without a fair trial. We all do it from time to time. That doesn’t make it right. Sometimes our motivation for the judgment is fear. The not knowing that makes us instantly put a stamp on someone.

It is hard to love everyone no matter what they’ve done. I have asked God many times, “How do you love everyone the way you love them?” In my mind I couldn’t possibly love the way God loves. God loves with PERFECT LOVE. I don’t love with perfect love. PERFECT LOVE casts out fear. (1 John 4:18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”) God can do what I cannot. I am not perfect. I will fail and fall short.

Thank God, that He can love us perfectly. He is the only one that can love us that way. When something bad happens to someone who has wronged me or someone I love, I tend to say they deserved it and feel a sense of satisfaction that justice was served. I am wrong to feel that way. Proverbs 24:17 “Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble.”

Ouch! I hate to admit when I am wrong, but I’ve been wrong. I challenge you to ask God to show you where you’ve fallen short and ask him to help you make changes and to love more like him. We’re not a perfect people but we’re loved by a perfect God.

I will pray for you all and ask God to help you. I ask him every day to show my where I’ve done wrong and help me to do right.

Love in Christ,

Iva Mae

God where are you?!

We’ve all wondered where God is sometimes. It seems like he isn’t anywhere. We know he is there but he feels so far away. The past several months I’ve felt dead inside. I knew God was there but I couldn’t feel him. I felt so lost, so broken and so afraid. I’ve been going through a spiritual battle. Literally there is a spiritual battle in my home. I have felt the presence of evil in my own home.

The other night my husband was gone and it was just me and my dog, Bandit. We were in the kitchen. I had just washed dishes and was getting ready to put some more things away. All of a sudden I got a horrible feeling and my dog took off running and ran and his on the couch. I went to him to see what was wrong and he was shaking. I sat with him for a moment and the feeling came back but this time it was stronger and I could literally feel a horrible evil in my home. My dog saw something and watched something walk across the living and the something stopped directly in front of us. I immediately got down on my knees and started praying. I asked God for protection of our home. I asked that if there was anything in our home that was not of God, that it be removed and be made known it was not welcome in Jesus name. I prayed and I honestly do not even know what else I prayed. Words flowed from my mouth and peace overcame me and my dog. As I knelt at the couch and prayed he laid down beside me and closed his eyes. After I was done praying a verse came to my mind. Matthew 19:26 “…With God all things are possible.”

 

I wrote it my fridge calendar and underlined ALL. I stood in my kitchen listening to a song and I lifted my hands, sang, praised and worshiped God. I felt his presence and was overwhelmed with joy all I could do was cry. I had peace in my heart for the fist time in a long time.

Believe it or not but it happened. I’ve been pressed down and felt like I was in chains of sadness and doubt. My heart was broken and I felt trampled. Things may not be perfect but they are getting better and I am thankful! The song Find You On My Knees by Kari Jobe came to mind.

 

Find You On My Knees – Kari Jobe

Troubles chasing me again, breaking down my best defense, I’m looking. God I’m looking for you.

Weary just won’t let me rest, fear is filling up my head, I’m longing. God I’m longing for you. But I will

Find you in this place I’m in, find you when I’m at my end. Find you when there’s nothing left of me to offer you except for brokenness. You lift me up, you never leave me thirsty.When I am weak, when I am lost and searching. I’ll find you on my knees.

So what if sorrow shakes my faith? What if heartache still remains? I’ll trust you. My God I’ll trust you. ‘Cause you are faithful. And I will find you in the place I’m in. Find you when there’s nothing left of me to offer you except for brokenness. You lift me up, you never leave me thirsty. When I am weak when I am lost and searching. Find you on my knees.

When my hope is gone, when the fear is strong, when the pain is real and it’s hard to feel. When my faith is shaken and my heart is broken and my joy is stolen God I know that you lift me up you never leave me searching.

Find you in this place I’m in, find you when I’m at my end. Find you when there’s nothing left of me to offer you except for brokenness. You lift me up, you never leave me thirsty.When I am weak, when I am lost and searching. I’ll find you on my knees. 

This song speaks to me. So what, IF sorrow shakes my faith? So WHAT, IF heartache still remains? I’ll TRUST YOU. MY GOD, I’LL TRUST YOU. I will trust God! He never leaves me thirsty or searching. Other things in life do but not God. He is my healer, my savior, my love, my life, my joy, my hope and my salvation! So even when everything is falling apart God is allowing that so he can pick up the pieces and put them back together better than my attempt. He makes the pieces fit even when think they cannot.

 

 

Mirrors, Relfections and God

We all have days where we feel bad about ourselves and we pick ourselves apart piece by piece when we look in the mirror. That’s why I hate mirrors. If we aren’t careful we can lose all vision of who we truly are and only focus on the outward appearance. I’ve been guilty and getting back is hard!

All of my life I’ve struggled with my appearance, my weight, my height and my identity. It all started in middle school/junior high. I was tall and skinny. My nose was too big for my face and I was awkward. I never quite fit in and always felt out of place. It’s funny in a way because at times I still feel like I don’t fit in. I can be in a room full of people and still feel alone and out of place. (That’s another story for another day)

I felt like maybe if I was skinnier that people would like me. I would eat lunch in the cafeteria and then go to the bathroom and throw it up. Sometimes I’d use it as an excuse to go home because I didn’t want to be at school. I hated it that much. I used to be embarrassed by it but it’s a part of my life. Throwing up so much damaged the enamel on my teeth and I still deal with getting cavities easily today as a result of that.

Once I got to High School I just wouldn’t eat. I had gone from a size 3 to a 7 from my Freshman year to my Sophomore year. I felt like I was too fat and that I needed to get the weight off. The worse part of it was that years later when I told someone about it they didn’t believe me. The next year couple years of school I ate. What I ate was not so healthy. I had bagels 2x a day with fatty cream cheese and 4-6 cookies from the cafeteria. I drank tons of soda and didn’t walk or get in any exercise. I started packing on the pounds. I’ve never been athletic and I didn’t play sports in school. I was basically a couch potato.

I’ve never really enjoyed eating meat growing up. I never really liked the taste of it (Something I still struggle with today). When I would eat it in high school it would be at fast food restaurants like Taco Bell or it would be deep fried at Wendy’s or KFC. My friends and I would frequently go to Taco Bell after school and hang out. I would then go home and eat dinner again. It was a vicious cycle. I was diagnosed with cancer at the end of my Junior year. I had a couple of surgeries and the last one they removed the tumor along with the small bone above my ankle bone. Thank God, God healed me and I didn’t have to go through the chemo or amputations. This added to me being sedentary. I couldn’t walk anywhere far and if I had to go far someone pushed me in a wheel chair.

I was in size 11’s and 13’s by my senior year. To add to the weight gain from being sedentary and from eating so poorly I was on prednisone for my asthma for an entire year. It added to the weight gain. I had no idea how much weight I had gained until I watched a video of me from a class assignment and I was mortified! I had a gut and a roll hanging over my jean skirt. It was shocking and embarrassing. It was near the end of Senior year. My friend and I had our picture taken in our graduation outfits and it was posted in the year book. My face was so large I was unrecognizable to myself. I saw the picture and thought that the girl in the picture couldn’t possibly be me.

That summer I went into depression and didn’t really leave the house much. I started college in the fall. The campus was spread out really far and all my classes were in different buildings and different floors. I walked everywhere and walked up and down 3-4 flights a stairs several times every day. Before I knew it, I had lost a lot of weight and was healthy again. I started eating in moderation and had a sensible lunch every day. I was so happy and proud of myself! My entire time at school I always took the stairs over the elevator. I was doing great. I met a guy we dated for a couple years and eventually it ended. I was devastated over the circumstances of it and quit eating. I thought I was too fat and that is why he didn’t love me. I lost 30+lbs and at one point weighed 120. I am 5’ 7 ½“ and should weigh around 145 or so. I went from 8’s and 10’s to 6’s and 4’s. I was unhealthy. When I chose to eat, my body rejected it from not eating. Eventually I got better and unfortunately started in this pattern of fast food again. I also got a full time job where I sat down all day long. I was used to walking all over downtown going on errands and such. I started talking to this guy and we hit it off. We started hanging out after my night classes and would go by McDonald’s and grab some food. I started packing on the pounds. We got married less than a year later! I was so happy to marry this guy who was my best friend and the love of my life. (We are still happily married 4 years later!)

I looked at myself in my wedding dress and was shocked at how big I had gotten again. My husband and I lived with my parents because he lost his job right before we got married. He was having a hard time finding anything. 7 months after we got married, my Grandma passed away in June. Then in November my Grandpa passed away. I was devastated by both but more so after my Grandpa died. We weren’t expecting it. He fell and 2 weeks later he was gone. He was my best friend. I thought the world of him. I spent every day of my childhood at his house. Almost every dinner was at his house. I didn’t know how to manage that. My Mom had to start taking care of my Grandma. She has Alzheimer’s. She spent the night at her house almost every night. She eventually had to quit her job to take care of her full time. I started helping more around the house. The car my husband and I just bought had the engine blow, and then a few months later the transmission went. Needless to say it was stressful. I turned to desserts and food for comfort.

At my heaviest I was 190lbs. I am not sure my current weight but am guessing it is somewhere in the 160lbs range. I am currently trying to get healthy and get the rest of the weight off that isn’t healthy for me. I need to lose about 15lbs to get to where my doctor wants my BMI to be. I take long walks every day with my dog. I am trying to kick soda and fast food. I would like to get down to 145lbs this year and do it the healthy way. No more not eating and no more throwing my food up. I know I need to eat healthy food and exercise to be healthy. God gave us life and bodies. Our bodies are our temples. We should take care of them and love them. Both of those are hard to do sometimes.

1 Corinthians 6:19 “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”

I’ve struggled with loving myself but until I did I couldn’t love my husband the way God intended me to. I still struggle some days with my appearance but at the end of the day what matters is that God loves me for exactly who I am and he sees me for who I am. He sees my soul and knows my heart.

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”

Romans 5:8 “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

1 John 4:10 “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

The above verses tell us God formed us, he loved us so much even when we were sinners that he sent his only son to die for us so we could go to Heaven and live forever if we accept his son and believe that he is God’s son and that he died for us and rose again on the third day. We also must confess that we are sinners and ask for forgiveness.

I invite you to examine your heart and ask God to help you love yourself and see yourself in his eyes. For you ladies, if you are going through any of the same things I have please get help. I was lucky to get through it on my own. I am not going to lie, there are days where I honestly consider not eating to get the weight off or eating whatever I want then throwing it up. No matter how much weight is off sometimes I can’t see myself as looking any different and all I see is me being heavy. Don’t let anyone convince you that it is normal. It is not healthy and can be super damaging to your health. I still have days where I don’t want to eat and days where I want to make myself throw up my lunch. (It feels weird just admitting that because I’ve told no one that) Anorexia and Bulimia are eating disorders and you can get help. See the link below.

http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/find-help-support

It’s hard to see yourself as you truly are when your body image is distorted in your mind. I know. I feel that way a lot of days. It’s getting easier but it is a process. Know if you have an eating disorder you are not alone. There are people who will support you to help you get through it and to get healthy again. I am one of those people! Don’t let anyone make you feel that you aren’t beautiful for being heavy or being too skinny. Be healthy and your body will look the way nature intended it to. We are all beautiful no matter our story or the way we look. God sees us as beautiful and he loves us.

One of the best things is to find a hobby. Find something you love doing and do it! Read, bike, walk, run, cook, bake, sing, dance, knit, crochet, craft, write stories, get a journal and write your feelings, paint, take up a musical instrument, take classes at your local community college, draw, collect rocks, collect stamps… you get the point. It helps relieve pain and gives you an outlet for your energy and for your mind to focus.

I love to cook, bake, craft, read and take walks with my dog. Doing all of those things, helps me to feel like me and to feel happy. Finding happiness is so important! Another important key to happiness is having a relationship with God. He can carry your burdens and pick you up when you fall. If you don’t have one, I encourage you to have a relationship with God. It’s the best decision I’ve ever made. My life hasn’t been free of problems but God has made them easier when I let him take them for me.

I invite you to follow me on my journey to health and happiness! I am going to try to start posting recipes and workouts and tips. I hope you will join me on my journey!

Love from above!

Iva Mae

 

 

When My Heart is Overwhelemed

Psalm 61:2 “…When my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.”

I love when you’re going through something and a verse pops into your head. I’m beyond my breaking point in a certain situation. My husband and Mom have been reassuring me that everything will work out but I cannot see how.

I was thinking about how overwhelmed I’ve been and Psalm 61:2 popped into my head. I was sitting at my desk and started to cry. It was just like a breath of fresh air. I felt like God was reminding me to give my burdens to him because he can handle them. I know that no matter the outcome whether the situation is resolved or not, God will help me through it. If the situation isn’t changed he will give me the strength to get through each and every day.

I have to believe that change is ahead for me and that a new door of opportunity will be opened and the doors that need to be closed will be closed.

Job 36:15 “He delivereth the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression.”

While I’m waiting for God to move I need to keep my ears and heart open to listen to what God has to say. Sometimes we busy ourselves so much we don’t take time to listen to what God is saying. We miss Him reaching out to us because we are so caught up in our lives.

Maybe all this time I’ve missed the little reminders that God is with me and that he is working on it because I’ve been too caught up in my situation.

Psalm 62:5 “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.”

Sometimes God doesn’t change our situations because he’s trying to change our hearts. That sometimes is the hardest words to swallow. They are bitter and hard to chew.

I think I’m going to have another serving of humble pie! If you think of me pray for me that God will move and change my situation or change my heart about it.

Wishing you many blessings!

Love from above,

Iva Mae

Let it Go!

Proverbs 15:13 A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.

 

Have you ever felt just broken? You may have even felt like there is no hope. I have been there. I have had a heaviness on my heart before that weighed me down like an anchor cast off of a freight liner in the ocean. I have felt like I was sinking and drowning and no one could help me.

Even once I got saved I have felt that way. I think it is safe to say that we all have felt that way at some point in our lives. It seems like nothing anyone says or does makes that feeling go away.

Psalms 119:28 My soul melteth for heaviness; strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

Sometimes we let people & what they do, circumstances and situations control us. We let those things control our happiness and our lives. Jesus can bear all of weights and burdens and pains. He broke the chains and sometimes we still let those chains keep us down. We are like animals who when caged won’t come out of the cage once it is opened so they can be freed. We are fearful. We are forgetful and we want to carry our burdens we don’t want to give them away.

Isaiah 9:4 For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

I am trying to give some things to God and it’s hard. I don’t know why I think I need them or that I can handle them better but sometimes I just can’t let go. I am going to work on it. If you are struggling with it, I encourage you to ask God to help you let go and give it to him. Know I will be praying for anyone who reads this. So Let it go!

P.S. Although I’ve not had the pleasure of seeing Frozen I realized my title is a song from the movie. I asked my husband for the movie for my birthday in a few weeks. I CANNOT wait to watch it!!!!!

God,

I ask you to please help those of us who have a hard time letting go of things that are holding us down. I ask you to give us peace. We struggle with giving things to you even though we know you can handle them better than we can. I ask you to guide us and direct us. For those who have heartaches and are broken I ask that you would please pick up the pieces and give them comfort. help those who feel like they are drowning in their problems. I love you and I thank you for all you’ve done and all you will do. I know in your hands I’m safest.

Amen

 

Bringing Down The House!!!

 

After reading this verse today, I thought about how I was building my house and what was I doing to tear it down?

 

Am I doing enough to lift my house? Am I praying enough for my husband, for our marriage for our future children if God allows? Am I gossiping, and causing strife?

 

I take the role of a wife very seriously. It is my desire to love my husband and put God first in our marriage. I want to see my husband excel and succeed in many things. Most of all I want him to excel and succeed in his walk with Christ.

 

I try to make sure I encourage him and pray for him every day. Am I doing enough?

 

How many times at home do I work on the actual house instead of praying for my house? I have a clean freak problem. I cannot stand clutter, a dirty bathroom or kitchen. I’ve have stayed up late just to make sure my house is clean. What about my spiritual house and my duty as a wife to the spiritual leader of my home?

 

I wonder if I am doing more building or demolition. Sometimes we need to get our spiritual house in order. We need to check ourselves to see where we stand.

    

Each week before I go to the store, I check the cabinets and the fridge to see where I stand in supplies. I make a list so I won’t forget. I also look for things that are going to expire soon so I can use them and I throw out things that are expired and rotten. They make your house stink. After I do that I take the garbage out so the smell of the rotten food won’t make my house smell.

 

In our lives and our spiritual houses we need to look for rotten and expired things and do a check to see what we need so we can get it. We can clear out the dead things that are weighing us down and giving us a spiritual stink. Once you throw it in the trash, take out the garbage so it’s not even in your house anymore.

 

I encourage each of you to think about what things you may need to clean out of your house to get rid of the spiritual stink. Think about if you are building up your house or tearing it down. If you’re tearing it down, what things do you need to do to build it up and fix the parts that are torn down?

 

 

 

Some examples of things to get rid of:

Gossip, envy, strife, pride, bitterness, jealousy, idols, lying, and anything else you can think of.

 

Examples of things to take stock of:

Prayer, daily reading and devotions, fruits of the spirit, encouragement, and joy

 

Say NO to the cookie!!

The past few days have been a real struggle for me to not eat the things I told myself I wasn’t going to eat. I have been eating healthy and drinking a lot of water. I made a decision to not eat fast food, greasy or fatty foods. This also includes sugary foods.

 

While I could munch on chips and fried chicken any day… sugar is my real weakness. I cannot resist chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies with icing or donuts. Of course yesterday we received some Shamrock Shaped iced sugar cookies with one of our supply orders.

 

Every time I walked in the back to put things away I was tempted to eat one. However I chose to not eat one. While the cookie is pretty and will be tasty for a moment, I will end up regretting it and that is something far worse than being tempted by the cookies.

 

Today we had a large work meeting and guess what was in the kitchen when I walked in… donuts!!! I love donuts. I love glazed, sprinkled, chocolate, cinnamon, powdered, and Boston crème filled. It has been so hard not to eat one!!! AHHH!

 

It got me thinking about other things in life. Sin may appear pretty and will come in a form that appears attractive to us. However we must see past that and realize that it is not worth it. When we sin we are hurting our relationship with God. Sin takes us farther away from God. Just like by me eating that cookie it will take me farther away from my goal and my commitment. Once I eat that cookie or donut I will say well I already did that might as well eat another or might as well eat KFC and drink huge Pepsi since I already made one mistake. What is three or four more?

 

It can snow ball farther and farther. It’s like sin. We can do one little thing and then keep going until we have let something small snowball into something big and we are so far off the path we cannot find the way back.

 

Jesus got baptized (Matthew 3) and immediately after the devil tempted him. He fasted 40 days and 40 nights. He was hungry. The devil tempted him to turn a stone into bread. Jesus didn’t. He instead told the devil that man shouldn’t live by bread alone, but every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4)

 

Jesus went through temptation to show us that it can be done without giving in to it. He may have been God’s son but he was in human form and any human that hadn’t eaten in 40 days and nights would be hungry. It would be tempting to turn the stone into bread, but Jesus didn’t.

 

While eating cookies and donuts isn’t a sin, me eating one would have been breaking the commitment I made with myself. When we sin we break our vow to be Christ like. Christ never sinned. We are not perfect and that is why God sent his only son to this world to die in our place. He knew we would make mistakes. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. When we sin we have an advocate. We can pray and ask God to forgive us when we mess up.

 

The important thing is when you sin or fall off track, don’t quit! Ask God to forgive you when you sin and when you break a commitment to yourself, forgive yourself. Get back on the way of the Lord and get back on track! When we fall the most important step is getting back up.

 

I hope that when you fall you will get back up and keep on keeping on! Remember be strong in temptation and do not fall into it. You can do it!!! If I can pass up a cookie you can pass up something that is tempting to you!

 

Love from above!

 

Iva Mae

Fearfully & Wonderfully Made

A few days ago I caught glimpse of myself in a large mirror. I almost shrieked with horror! I was not prepared for what I saw. I have always been self conscious. I tend to judge myself harshly. I tried to look at myself with God’s eyes instead. He sees me as his child. No matter what I look like, he loves me. He created me to be exactly as I am. Every part of myself is what he designed.

I started reading The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren. The first day really got to me. So far every day has really gotten to me. It has made me mad, sad and hopeful all at the same time. If you haven’t read it you need to! It is a 40 day thing. There isn’t much to read each day.

Day 2’s “Point to Ponder” was I AM NOT AN ACCIDENT. The entire section for Day 2 was filled with how God made us and let us have the parents we have, the bodies we have, our brains , our pasts, circumstances and everything else about ourselves and our lives because he wanted us that way. We have a specific purpose that can only be fulfilled by us the way we are.

That really hit home to me. I never thought that everything about me was made the exact way God wanted it to be. I’ve always compared myself to models and other women and it left me feeling less than I should. It was refreshing looking at things that way instead of my normal view of myself. Have you ever felt you were less important or that you weren’t as good as others? This is a lie!!! God made each of us special. We are all custom designed. We are not cookie-cutter people!! Something I always thought was a bad thing is actually an amazingly wonderful thing.

Psalm 139:14 “… For I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”

When I was a little girl, I remember catching part of a movie on T.V. It was an older movie, maybe made in the 50’s or 60’s. Everyone was to be transformed in this machine to a certain look. “Normal” people weren’t acceptable. There were 3 or 4 models you could chose from. There was a homely looking girl who refused to be made into this image. She was determined to stay true to the way she looked because it made her who she was. The scientist argued with her and even said but don’t you want to be beautiful like everyone else?

I never knew if she was forced to be changed or not but she didn’t want to be anyone but who she was made to be. I honestly forgot about that until now! 

I no longer want to be look or be like anyone else. We are our best, when we are ourselves.

On that note I am sick and tired of being sick and tired! I am not treating myself very well. Last year I ate only things that would help my body perform the best that it could. I have almost completely fallen off of the healthy eating and lifestyle wagon. In fact I’m starting to lose the tracks from the wagon wheels! I am starting today going to treat myself better and eat what is best for me and exercise so I can have a healthy body to God’s purpose. I am also going to try to get enough sleep. I always have a problem with that.

I am telling anyone who reads this (maybe only my mother) so I can be accountable. I am going to strive to become spiritually and physically fit! Every once in a while I may post recipes or other things but for the most part this blog will be centered around bible verses and what I get from them to help me in my life and hopefully in your lives as well.

God Bless you all!

 

You can’t always have what you want

Matthew 7:7-11 “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

 

We don’t always get what we want but God gives us what we need. I haven’t posted anything in a while now. The reason is because I was doing two jobs at once, my current one and assisting in another. There was talk that I would move into this other job. I had been praying for some time that God would open a door for me to be able to have another position or job that would be easier when I have kids. I was excited that God had finally answered my prayer.

 

After some time it was decided that I didn’t have the experience necessary for the job and I agreed. Christmas eve I went back to my old job full time. I was a little disappointed in myself that I didn’t have the skills for the job. I had prayed that God’s will be done. I told God I wanted the job, but I wanted what he wanted for me more. I truly believe that God knows what is best in our lives. God has showed me he is in charge of my life in more ways than one. It gets better.

 

Kyle and I have been looking for houses. We have lived with my parents for 3 years going into the 4^th year. Circumstances have kept us there and we are more than ready to be on our own. We love them but we’ve not really gotten to start our lives together yet and it’s getting old. We found a house that we both loved and wanted to make an offer on it. The day we made the decision I called our realtor and left her message explaining our decision. She called back that night and said that someone else had put an offer on it and it looked like it was going to go through so the house was no longer available. That day Kyle and I both said the same  prayer without knowing it that if God doesn’t want us to buy that house to make it to where we couldn’t. He did exactly that.

 

We are still looking for houses and we are still praying the same prayer. We know God has the perfect place for us, we just have to wait for his timing. You never know where that may be. We have to ask God to point us in the right direction. Let him lead us. Psalms 3:6 “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

 

If you are waiting for God to answer a prayer or you’ve been given an answer you didn’t want, hang in there. God knows what he is doing. He gives us what we need when we need it! I truly believe it.

 

I love the above statements! I think they are so true! Keep trusting in Him!

Beauty From Ashes

 

How can something beautiful and wonderful come from something so ugly, dark, sticks to everything, leaves behind so much dust, goes where the wind blows and what seems nothing? How can you get beauty from ashes?

 

Sometimes things seem so terrible. Our lives can get burnt to the ground in an instant. We suffer death, sickness, pain, divorces, losing a job and many other discouraging things in our lifetimes. Sometimes the pain is bad we feel there is nothing left. Our lives become ugly & dark. The pain covers every other aspect of our lives and clouds our view. It goes with us wherever we go. We try to wipe it away and forget it. Like ashes, sometimes no matter how hard you try to get rid of the pain, some still remains.

 

We have a wood stove to heat our house. All my life I’ve seen my Dad put wood in the stove. I would watch it burn, feel the warmth and sometimes watch it go out. Once it would go out, my dad would clean out the ashes. The remains of what used to be wood, burned by fire. Most of the time, Dad would spill the ashes all over the bricks and the mat in front of the stove. I would try to clean up the ashes with a broom and dust pan. No matter how much I swept some would always remain there. I would even use a Swiffer. Even several swiffer’s and the vacuum could never get up all the ashes. If he opened the door to go outside before I got the ashes cleaned up, the ashes would go everywhere from the wind that would blow in the door. It would be a mess!!!

 

When my Dad took the ashes outside, he poured them on our garden. The ashes helped to make the soil rich and be full of nutrients.

 

Our lives are like this. Sometimes the most terrible things happen to us. Our lives may seem like they are burning to the ground. We don’t understand the pain, suffering or ugliness of life. Life isn’t fair, but we have a God who can take the ugliness, pain and suffering and make is beautiful!

 

My husband has been having terrible headaches for years now. They have recently gotten worse. I know God can heal him but I also know if God chooses not to heal him, he will get the glory in it and it will be beautiful.

 

When I had cancer, life seemed so bleak at first. After the initial shock, I decided that I was going to let God heal me and if he didn’t use me to help others. It turned out he allowed me to go through it so I could grow, become stronger and help others. I got my healing in more ways than one. I’ve never been so thankful for my legs or for the ability to walk. I love to walk!! I love to be active. God gave me a blessing by allowing the tumor in my leg to be benign and allowing me to keep my leg.

 

You may be going through something difficult and it seems like there is no end. Just remember to hold on. God is going to use this hardship to help you grow. We all need more nutrients sometimes so we can become richer and the seeds we plant of Christianity will grow and flourish.

 

I got today’s post after my cousin Emily told me to read Isaiah 61:1-3

 

Isaiah 61:1-3 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.

http://youtu.be/M-GPbYcTDbQ   

Beauty From Pain by SuperChick Click on the link above