Staying Connected

"Stay joined to Me and I will stay joined to you..." John 15:4 (CEV)

What lengths do we go to find or make connections?  It is common practice for many to reside on social media sites all day to watch for the activity of their friends, comment on that activity, and make what seems up to the minute reports of their own activity.

It is quietly understood that one may have a thousand plus 'friends' on their site, but actually know one-third of that number, and there is an even smaller percentage of that number that one actually speaks to or sees on a regular basis.  We [yes, even you!] take pride in having all of these 'friends'; it's an esteem builder to have 'followers', people responding to your every move!  Technology has done wonders for finding people we have lost touch with, and the ability to share information in a more expeditious manner.

Technology has also done wonders in a not so positive way as well.  It has come to dissuade people from talking face to face, has reduced our feelings down to emoticons and the description of those feelings to abbreviated words that fit in a space of 140 characters or less.

I find it sad that so many of us have lost the art of simple conversation and believe texting is a sufficient means of communicating one's deepest thoughts and feelings.

Can you imagine your significant other robbing you of the the sweetest opportunity of telling you he/she loves you for the first time, by saying it via text or tweet?

Can you imagine trying to get into heaven, and receiving a text from God saying, 'u suck- u need 2 repent b 4 u can b here!"  Jesus said that He was the true vine and that we are the branches.  If we stay joined to Him, our lives will produce much fruit. Without Jesus, we produce nothing of value and definitely nothing that lasts!  Relationship is key to staying connected! It's about spending time, talking, listening, getting to know Jesus!  How we relate to Jesus, our primary relationship, should be the model on how we relate to and treat others in our relationships.  And last I heard, no one has yet to be able to text Jesus!

This is the world we abide in; a world with ways, some of our own choosing, others not.  But we can control how we stay connected to each other.  So, perhaps to the majority of your 'friends' you can say 'what's up' or 'poke' on FB.  And there may be yet another hierarcical layer that will get bestowed the pleasure of a letter via email, and if you're considered to be all that, you'll get the text from their personal cell phone.

 But my hope is, that you and I will be considered 'so special,' by people we consider 'so special,' and our connections so meaningful, that we would receive telephone calls, lunch dates, dinner dates and any sort of face-to-face interaction to show one another how much we mean to one another!  It's about staying connected!

ALL OF MY HELP....

"I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1-2 ESV

Help:  to give or provide what is necessary to accomplish a task or satisfy a need; contribute strength or means to; render assistance to; cooperate effectively with; aid; assist; to save; rescue; to make easier or less difficult; contribute to; facilitate; to be useful or profitable to.

Absolutely all of these phrases describe the God I serve.  God is omniscient, omnipotent, He is the Beginning and will be the End!  But, God also is love! [1 Jn. 4:8]  And because He is love, I know when no one else can love me-not even myself-God loves me!

I think it is an accurate statement that we will one day find ourselves in a situation or circumstance where we feel totally helpless.  A day when even the wonderful people God has sent into our lives, can only do so much to help us.  A day when there are no words that can make it better, no tender touch, no amount of money that can fix a pain or a hurt so deep.

It is in that hour and in that space, in the midst of our mess that we literally look up to where our one and only hope and help comes from!  It is only to our Creator that we can look to because He is the sole designer of not only our existence, but the whole world!  

When nothing else can help, I know all of my help, come from the Lord!

Let God Be God!

"And Moses said to the people, 'Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will work for you today.  For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again.'  The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to be silent." Ex. 14:13-14 (ESV)

We sometimes say that life is a struggle, or that we have to fight for what we want in this life.  And you know what, I will be the first to say that I struggled and fought to accomplish my goals!  But after a while, I discovered that I was tired!  

I believe that if we are not in touch with our Father, we lose sight of what we should be fighting and struggling for.  In fact, I would bet that we have fought for things that were not in God's will for us!

We find in God's word, God doesn't have a problem fighting and standing up for us against those that will oppose us and even for those things that are in His will for us.  Maybe it's time to let God be God and don't fear!  All we need do is what He instructs us to do in His word and see the salvation of the LORD!

The Journey

We are supposed to keep our eyes on road and stay alert while on the highway, but do you ever find yourself daydreaming just a bit? I'll admit that while driving I look at the road ahead of me and consider the 'journey.' 


What journey? My personal journey. Remember the song from the movie Mahogany? "Do you know where you going to, do you like the things that life is showing you? Do you know?" These are the sort of questions I ask myself about my life. 


 My life's journey has been exciting; its had some twists and unexpected turns. The bible says that "Man's steps are ordered by the Lord." I love that God has a grand design for our lives, I don't love that with God's gracious gift of free will, I step out of His will for my life and end up sinning. We need to give God the glory for watching over us and preparing a Plan B for us when we veer off of His original plan along this journey called life. I think the key at this present time is to look at that stretch of road ahead and ask God, "Which way Lord?" and let Him direct our path!


Blessings!




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Location:Bordentown,United States

Assessing Your Reality

"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free!"  John 8:32


Here's my reality: I am not in a job I love, I can stand to lose a few more pounds, I have a hard time planning for fun things or otherwise because on any given day I'm not sure how my body is going to feel and there are other things; good and bad that are a part of my reality.


What about you?  When was the last time you took an assessment of your present reality?  Now perhaps you feel that you are more than aware of what's going on in your world, but are you really?


Think about all the things in our lives and about ourselves that might need adjusting or to be totally changed that we turn a blind eye to?  


I know that if given the chance, I would do some things differently.  But the reality is, the past is past!  What we once were or did; how we may have once lived may not be how things are now because life's circumstances are always changing! 


So, stop deluding yourself!  Things are the way they are!  Assess your reality-truthfully and reposition your life to what you want it to be!  We all have the potential to be better than we ever were before!


But you cannot operate in fantasy!  Stop pretending to be something that you're not or that you and your situation haven't changed!  Not all change is bad.  And even if the present change is not positive, assess what you can do to fix it!


Blessings!

Solid Rock

Rock is a naturally occurring, solid aggregate of minerals.  In plain terms, it is a sum total a particular minerals.  Pulled together, minerals form something difficult to break. What would be the 'solid rock' in your life?  What or who is the foundation in your life?  Better yet, who or what is the cornerstone that you've built your life upon? Did you know that a cornerstone is the first stone set in the construction of a foundation and is important because all other stones are set in reference to it and the cornerstone determines the position of the entire structure.

The bible says in 1 Peter 2:4-7, "Come to Jesus Christ. He is the living stone people have rejected, but which God has chosen and highly honored.  And now you are living stones being used to build a spiritual house.  You are also a group of holy priests, and with the help of Jesus Christ you will offer sacrifices that please God.  It is just as God says in the Scriptures, 'Look! I am placing in Zion a choice and precious cornerstone.  No one who has faith in this one will be disappointed."

In life, surrounding yourself with smooth and polished living stones to help you stay grounded is wonderful!  But, when you want to build on your support system, think about starting with Jesus, the True Cornerstone! 

When you start with Jesus as your foundation, He helps you discern between the rocks and sand, the smoothed stones and the pebbles. With Jesus as your Cornerstone, you have a firm foundation in assisting you in developing a solid rock support system.

Blessings!

Yet, Still I Rise!

Shattered, but I'm not broken, wounded still time will heal. Heavy the load, the cross I bear; lonely, the road I trod I dare.  Shaken, but here I stand; weary, still I press on!  Long are the nights, the tears I cry; dark are the days, no sun in the sky.  

Yet still I rise!

Never to give up, never to give in against all odds!  

Yet still I rise!

Sometimes I'm troubled, but not is despair!  Struggling, I make my way through!  Trials they come to make me strong!  I must endure, I must hold on! 

 Yet still I rise! 

Above all my problems, above all my eyes can see.  Knowing God is able, to strengthen me!

                        Yet still I rise!   Yolanda Adams

The words to this song have inspired me since the first I heard them.  I don't know if Yolanda Adams penned these lyrics or not.  But the author did a wonderful job in summing up our hard times.  We do sometimes feel like we have been shattered!  We have been wounded by people in this game called life!  We get weary, we cry over the load we have to carry, we're struggling and sometimes trouble seems to follow us everywhere we go!  

But because we have that one mainstay; because God is the same, yesterday, today and forever-we know He is ABLE to strengthen us and Yet still we rise!  

As I sat in my car today, with tears streaming down my eyes, I felt compelled to share the words of this song, and the facts I've come learn over the years: God is able to strengthen, comfort and keep!  With God in your life, you may be at the edge of the cliff, but God is able to keep you from falling!  

Sometimes I feel low, YET STILL I RISE!