Monday, March 2, 2009

   Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Coverin’ Friends

Hello Beloved,

What a beautiful snowy day!  Yes.  I know we get a lot of flak from our northern brothers and sisters, on how we handle snow and ice here, but oh well… it is what it is.  Despite it all, the majority of our office showed up for duty today.  Go DC!  Today, I have been thinking of the worth of good, Godly friends.  They are simply priceless.  I had one of those weekends where I just needed to vent.  Now, you can’t vent to just anyone.  One of my friends, just blew off the situation… he didn’t get it.. and that was fine.  It takes a special person to handle your ‘not so good stuff’ with grace, love, and discretion (Thanks Tina, Thanks Arlene).  My friends were amazing.  My irritation was nothing earth-shattering.  Most people would have probably thought it was nothing to even be upset over.  To my friends though, they made me feel as though it was the most crucial matter in the world.  They listened, and offered their take on the matter.  I left the conversation feeling so much better.  Like I had fallen into a ditch, and they helped me out of it.  Sometimes, that’s all we need.  The situation did not change overnight, but my prospective did change.  I believe that is why one of the first comments God made about man, was that it was not good for him to be alone.  God provided a helper for Adam … Eve.  However, even for singles, this rings true.  It is not good for anyone to be alone.  It is a wonderful feeling to know that someone has our back, the same as we have theirs.  God is our best friend, whether or not we know it, but I believe the good friends we have, demonstrate physically, the principles of what God is to us spiritually… loyalty, trustworthiness, honesty, realness.

… and that Beloved… is Good News!

U Blessed

Have A Fabulous Evening and Be Safe

Regina

“Cover Me”, Fred Hammond, J Moss, Smokie Norful

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9mkOhnJU98

Share The Load -Galatians 6:2 95 of 112   Jesus said “my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30). When we join with our brothers and sisters in Christ in a yoke of brotherly love, it makes our burdens seem lighter. September 14, 2008

Need a laugh? ~~~

Tim Hawkins (Comedian)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9fYaeGMX0A

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

“TOTAL SURRENDER”

“I Surrender All/No One” CeCe Winans

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjsz6fRnsDc

Good Morning Beloved,

Total surrender….ouch… I don’t know about you, but those two words make me a little nervous.  What that tells me about me, is that there are some areas in my life that I’m still trying to hold on to.  Certain rooms in my temple I really don’t want Jesus to see yet.  Why?  hummmm… good question.  The best answer I can think of is, that there are independent places my human spirit that I don’t want to release… the reason … fear.  Fear of doing something that will make me look a little foolish.  Fear of failure… fear of the price that comes along with great success.  Fear of getting hurt – did you notice how many times I mentioned the word “fear”?.  That is probably the main underlying factor.  God said He “did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind”(2 Timothy 1:7)… so where did it come from?  That is a question that we need to ask ourselves.  If we can discover where the fear came from, we can overcome it.  Yesterday’s thought was ‘Get to Steppin’… what hinders our movement?  What is stopping us from releasing ourselves to the God of our Salvation.  How is it that we can trust Him with our souls for the next 100 trillion years and beyond … but are afraid to give Him the 80 or 90 years here on earth….. the question of the ages. No matter what happens, God will do us good and not evil all the days of our lives.  Situations in our life may not always be good, but they will work out for our good….

and that dearly beloved is Good News!

U Blessed

Have A Fabulous Day

Regina

Some Assembly Required -Proverbs 3:5,6 104 of 104   Life is complicated, and it can be hard to fit all of the pieces together. The Bible is our instruction manual from God for how to put our lives in order. December 7, 2008

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Immediately after this, Jesus insisted that His disciples get back into the boat and cross to the other side of the lake, while He sent the people home.  After sending them home, He went up into the hills by Himself to pray. Night fell while He was there alone.  Meanwhile, the disciples were in trouble far away from land, for a strong wind had risen, and they were fighting heavy waves. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came toward them, walking on the water. When the disciples saw Him walking on the water, they were terrified. In their fear, they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” But Jesus spoke to them at once. “Don’t be afraid,” He said. “Take courage. I am here! ”Then Peter called to Him, “Lord, if it’s really You, tell me to come to You, walking on the water.” “Yes, come,” Jesus said.  So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. “Save me, Lord!” he shouted. Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. “You have so little faith,” Jesus said. “Why did you doubt Me?” When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped.  Then the disciples worshiped Him. “You really are the Son of God!” they exclaimed.

[Matthew 14:22-33]

Get To Steppin’

Good Afternoon Beloved,

This morning I attended home going services for a dear lady who was like an adopted grandmother to me… Lottie Wallace Hughes- “Nana”.  She was sick for a while, but she outlived all of the expectations heaped on her by doctors.  She was a feisty and seasoned 88-year old child of God.  She was simply ready to sleep in the Lord, and that is what she did.  It was good to listen to all of the glowing reports about her life… and know that the people were not lying in the presence of God.  I could testify to every beautiful word spoken about her and the legacy she left behind —three amazing grandchildren that she helped to raise (Tina, Cathy and Raymond), and six awesome, sweet, intelligent great-grandchildren (Christopher, Alexandria, Charlie, Mark, Raina, Fatima).  It made me realize even more the brevity of life.  It seems only yesterday that I, as a 16 year old country-girl, met her piercing eyes at her door.  Her grand-daughter and I were trying to sneak in, see, we had hooked school, and were going to hide out at her house and watch TV until the school day ended– her face we were not expecting.  (Don’t worry… I was on the honor roll when I graduated high school… I skipped school after I completed my assignments and taken my tests…. don’t try this at home kids…. I was totally wrong… anything could have happened to us).  The years have sped by at break-neck speed.  Our tendency could be to just mock time and do a little something here and there.  In the text we see Peter operating in great faith.  I went on the One Love Gospel Cruise in 2007.  There was a great storm out there and I can’t imagine climbing off the ship.  I can’t imagine trying to walk on calm sea, not to mention ferocious waves with winds and rains beating down on me.  Peter made his move because He trusted in the Word of His Lord.  Jesus said come and he went.  However, (this is why I like Peter… he is so like me) after this great act of faith… he noticed the waves and probably thought, “what am I doing?… people can’t walk on water”… that is when he began to sink.  Now Jesus could have rebuked him and let him drown, but no, when Peter called out to the Lord, “HELP!”… that is what Jesus did and they BOTH walked back to the ship with Jesus holding his hand.  This Word is for me, but I know that I’m not the only one that God is admonishing to …. in the words of Martin Lawrence… “Get to Steppin”….. why not?  We really have nothing to lose.. and everything to gain… Jesus is holding our hand….

….. and that precious child of God… is Good News!

U Blessed,

Have A Fabulous Day

Regina

Dynamite -Mark 11:22,23     The power of God can remove any obstacle that is preventing you from getting to where God wants you to be. Our faith allows God to release His power in our lives, to remove the mountains in our way.

 *********************************** 

11 year old preacher… he really blessed my heart…

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=7819375&version=1&locale=EN-US

I was caught by a song this morning by Jason Champion (love that name!). “Always”… There is a part in it that says:

Remember He loves you always

Forever, He love you always

And just because you have yourself a couple bad days

Don’t mean it gonna be this way, always

http://www.thefaithspot.com/videos/id_1283/

We know that stuff happens… that’s life… but sometimes a situation can seem to linger on with no end in sight.  God’s Word and His vessels encourage us that only death is permanent.  As long as there is life…. the situation can change.. for the good.  When we can’t see God’s Hand… that’s the time to trust His heart, and believe what He already told us.  We are people of purpose and vision.  That can present a very unusual problem.  We may see where God is going to take us, but we have no clue the steps we will have to walk in the middle.  People oftentimes give up right at the door of their breakthrough ….. Remember this Olympic story from 1996:

The women’s team was unstoppable through team compulsories and 3 events in optionals. And in the final rotation, the U.S. lead the Russians by a narrow margin when the Mag 7 were faced with the vault. Every girl had been hitting every event until now, and the Russians had the enviable floor exercise. The first 4 girls (Phelps, Chow, Miller, and Dawes) didn’t score outstanding on their vaults, but were still relatively solid. But the Russians were closing the gap in the race for the gold. Next was child prodigy Dominique Moceanu. If little Dom were to score a 9.743 or better, it would secure the gold for the U.S.. That didn’t happen. The young superstar surprisingly fell on both vaults! That meant only one thing–the 1996 Women’s Gymnastics Team Gold Medal depended on the bridesmaid. The little girl praying on the mountainside would get her second chance.

The crowd was roaring. All eyes were upon Kerri Strug. One vault scoring a 9.493 or higher will win it. Strug fell on the landing of her first vault, a Yurchenko with one and a half twists. But on this slip she noticed something was wrong with her left ankle. She heard a crack and a pop. She had one vault left as she limped her way back to the beginning of the runway. Looking at her coach she took a deep breath.

“You can do it,” Bela said confidently.

She looked at the vault at the end of the runway. Thoughts raced through her mind:

‘My ankle’s hurt, the All-Around and Individual competitions are still to come, I missed the All-Around by .014 four years ago, I’ve suffered numerous injuries working so hard to compete for this All-Around,’

Six girls waited on the sidelines holding hands and praying. This vault is very risky with an injured ankle. This would probably worsen it, and eliminate any chance to compete any further.

Strug made the decision to take the risk and sacrifice further competition for the vault.

“Please, God, help me out here. I’m just asking you once here. I’ve always tried to be a good person. I’ve always tried to do what’s right. Please, just let me do this vault,” she prayed as she stared at the apparatus.

The weight of the entire nation was weighing down upon a tiny injured ankle and a prayer.

The green light went on, the determined gymnast saluted the judges, and began her sprint toward the apparatus that can and will take her out of the All-Around. Floor…spring board…horse…air…

In a dramatic finish, Kerri vaulted a clean Yurchenko with one and a half twists, landing with both feet but immediately lifting her left leg in pain. Balancing on her right foot, she turned to salute the judges, and then fell to the floor until the coaches were able to reach her and carry her off the podium.

Kerri Strug had won the Olympic Gold Medal for the United States! She was carried to the medal stand by Bela as the world’s eyes filled with tears. When the officials gave the Magnificent 7 the medals and the national anthem was playing, Kerri got very emotional and told herself,“You’ve been waiting for this all your life. Thank you, God.”

Now, I’ve sprained both of my ankles TWICE…. and I can’t imagine jumping off of anything in that condition.  I saw something in this story. There are obstacles ahead of us, and we are working with weakness and pain somewhere in us….. But God is our strength, He is the healer….He will get us to where we need to be…He will be glorified in our life.  The more we grow to know Him… the more we will trust Him. The more time we spend in His presence… the stronger we will be.  We are what God said we are…. “More than conquerors”…. (Romans 8:37)

Cartoonist’s Comment:

If you are becoming weary in your faith walk, perhaps it’s time to draw on the strength and refreshing that God provides through the force of joy. Nehemiah 8:10 tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength.

“WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE” (Matthew 19:26 and Mark 10:27)

U Blessed

Have A Fabulous Day!

Regina

How’s it going?  I pray you walk in divine wholeness today and that it is well with you. Remember those old movies from back in the day.  You know the ones where the strong silent man rescues the damsel in distress.  Remember how she would swoon and say ‘my hero’…  I had that feeling this morning, as I read Mark 11.  There is a lot happening in that small chapter.  The triumphal entry, the cursed fig tree, Jesus straight going ‘off’ in the temple (sorry, sometimes ’DC’ shows out in me).  We learn much about Jesus’ temperament. If you listen to ‘the world’, they will have you thinking that Jesus was weak. They portray Him as this pitiful, wimpy emotionless chump, but the Jesus I see in Mark 11 is strong, fearless, tough, powerful, and just.  The bible says to “trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not to your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge  Him and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Proverbs 3:5).  Trust.  I remember I had my baby cousin for the weekend.  She was about 2 years old at the time.  She was sitting on a chair watching television, I was sitting on the couch a few feet away.  Someone upstairs dropped something and it scared her.  The next thing I knew my girl was ‘air-born’.  She leaped from the chair, into my lap.  I still don’t know how she did it.  That was trust in its purest form.  She knew that if she could get to me, nothing could hurt her.  She understood she was safe with me, because she knows how much I love her.   Aha!  That’s it. That’s the key.  If we ever realize how much Jesus loves us, we will trust Him more.  I’ll say it again. We will know that ‘all things work together for the good to them who love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose’  (Romans 8:28).  Sometimes we may need to ‘jump into God’s lap’ through prayer and worship.  No big flowery words are necessary, sometimes we will only have time for “JESUS!! … HELP!!!“.  He is nearer to you, than you are to Him.

Cartoonist’s Comment:

The world around us is dark & scary & full of sin. But if we stay close to Jesus, we will be safe in His light.

U BLESSED!

Have A Spectacular Day!

Regina