Without ceasing...

How often do you pray? You don't have to tell me, but just answer the question for yourself.....I'm giving you time...(whistling the Jeopardy tune). Finished?  OK,  In Thessalonians 5:17, it plainly tells us to "pray without ceasing",but have you ever really tried that? Without ceasing, meaning continually, never ending! While mowing the grass this morning I began to talk with God, and I continued to do so while I weeded the flower beds, and then while I was  watering the flowers, and even more after I finished the outside work and got in the car to run some errands. Total time for all that was only about 3 hours!! Not all day -You don't  necessarily need a special place or special time to pray. You don't need to be in a special mood to pray. Praying  should be like breathing, continuous, essential, life-giving, praying is the conversation with God that goes on all of our days!! Have you ever tried to carry on 2 conversations at the same time?  While some people are better at it than others, no-one can fully devote themselves to 2 people at the same time. I think that praying without ceasing means being so caught up in your conversation with God that it is hard to concentrate on another. God knows our life and all the things that are in store for us, He is truly the only one that knows our destiny, we should be talking to him daily, hourly, minutely [yes, it's a word..;) ] I am challenging myself to take that scripture "literally" and seek Him in all of my thoughts, joys, hopes, worries and desires. I feel sure if I pray without ceasing, My Father will listen without ceasing. :)

Distractions...Satans' little trick?

I sure hope that I am not alone in the fact that there are days I feel totally overwhelmed! So much to get done and not nearly enough time to do it all. Afterall, I have an 8 to 5 job, a home that needs to be cleaned, mounds of laundry to be washed, dried and folded, toilets to be scrubbed, groceries to be bought, dishes to be cleaned, children to take care of, flowerbeds to be weeded, errands to run and yadda, yadda, yadda. Sound familiar?? They seem like just ordinary things everyone deals with, but what if in reality they are just part of Satans' (I capitalize because it is a name and that is the only reason) arsenal to distract us from the things that are truly important. I can't count the times that I have thought to myself, I am going to go have some prayer time or I am going to go read some scripture only to get "distracted" by a load of dirty dishes that need to be washed or a beeping dryer reminding me that the clothes will wrinkle shortly if I don't get them on hangers. Don't get me wrong, I am not in any way advocating living in a pigsty, or letting your children go hungry by neglecting what you have to do. I am however asking you to think about whether your "to do" list is just a note from Satan himself telling you to ignore God and do his business instead. Crazy thought? Maybe. But, what if...we let those dishes sit in the sink for a few minutes longer while we pray and thank God for all of his provisions? What if we let those clothes wrinkle in the dryer and instead we read the bible with our children? What if instead of weeding the flowerbed we pick a boquet for a sick neighbor or family member and go hand deliver them? Wouldn't we be more about the Fathers' business at that point? I wonder if we put His business ahead of ours what changes we might see within our own home? Just a thought. :)

Honesty..It does a body good!

Pet Peeves of mine...smacking on chewing gum, misspelled words, hair flipping and lying!! Have you ever told a little white lie? You know what I'm talking about...the friend that wants to know if those jeans make her booty look big, the boyfriend that wants to know if you are excited about the Wrestling match he's invited you to and so on. For those of you who "really" know me, and that list is not long, you will find this surprising, but I have on occassion held back saying what I  really wanted to about a situation or even told the little "white lie". Some would ask, what's wrong with a little white lie?  Those mistruths, even little white lies to protect someone's feelings can compromise our faith. Remember you are being watched and speaking and living the truth help those around you come to know the Truth. Christ said that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If Christ is Truth, then lying is moving away from Christ. Being honest is about following in God's footsteps, and if our goal is to become more God-like and God-centered, then honesty should be our focus. I expect honesty from the people that I associate with daily, my co-workers, people I buy goods from, neighbors and my family and friends.
Being honest is not always easy, we know how easy it is to fall into sin, but we need to WORK at being truthful, and yes, it is work! The world does not give us easy situations, but it is always better to be honest!  HONEST!

Luke 16:10 - "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."

I don't think Jesus likes nouns..unless it's YOU!

My son, Jarred and I were having a spiritual conversation on the way home from work the other night. We were talking about Gods presence in our lives and how blessed we are as a family and then the conversation turned to giving back to God. We were talking about things we could do, events that we had been a part of within our church and things we remembered from years ago in vacation bible school and all of a sudden it just hit me like a ton of bricks..God doesn't like nouns! (you being the exclusion) Think about it, the majority of things we take on as individuals or as corporate churches for others are ACTION things!  Notice the "ing" things listed Praying, Loving, Helping, Serving, Ministering and Giving.
All of them involve "physically" doing something for another.  We have made goodies for bake sales to raise money for missions, we called it "Baking for Jesus." We have done prayer walks several times with different churches, we called it "Walking for Jesus",  just a few short weeks ago we participated in donating food to individuals in need and it was a mighty hot day. We called it "Sweating for Jesus" , and the list goes on. Matthew 4:19 says, "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." Our God wants us to be a people of action, following His ways and being fishers of men! Get Up..Take Action! God is a VERB lover!!

Spring cleaning for the soul

The past couple of weeks hubster and I have been doing home renovations of a pretty major scale. We have been painting, painting and more painting, cleaning out junk, having yard sales and lots and lots of yard work! Needless to say our home has been less than inviting during this time and truthfully I am not sure the kids knew where to look for their beds each night,,,haha! I admit I do love the "after" (the during, not so much) when everything is sparkly clean, freshly painted and each picture and decoration is just in its right spot.  I feel very blessed to have the opportunity to have a home that we can care for and I do admit feeling a sense of accomplishment when our efforts result in the being able to relax in out comfy home or sit outside and enjoy the manicured flower beds and pretty flowers adorning the yard. The one big thing that I noticed while doing all of this was the amount of trash, dust or weeds that had to be cleaned out of the house or the flower beds! I got the Murphys oil out and wiped all the furniture in all the nooks and crannies I normally cannot get to, picked up little bits of paper that normally are hidden underneath the furniture and spent more than a few hours pulling weeds and spraying round-up on some of those toughies! The hubster even had to help out with a hoe to cut away some of the tough roots that seemed to go on forever.

I realized that we can, and some of us probably do have the same thing going on in our spiritual life. Just as the dust and weeds can easily overrun a clean home or beautiful flower bed, sin and neglect can overrun us when we don't care for ourselves spiritually. We too have to throw away the junk that clutters our heart and mind, weed out those pesky sins that seem to continually show up especially the ones that run deep, and spend time in the word and with our Father so that we may blossom to our full potential and be that beautiful creation that God takes pleaure in knowing that he created!

God Made Me, but he didn't fatten me.

We have 2 new mothers in our church with babies 2 and 4 months and neither of them look as if they just gave birth a few short weeks ago. They look marvelous, baby weight is gone, they look fit and toned and I am happy for them! I really am, but for me the dreaded extra pounds have been a struggle in my life as far back as I can remember! When I was younger and waaay more active than I am now I was able to keep it in check and stayed at a decent weight for my height and age. But as all things do, this changed! You grow up, begin working full time which limits your time to exercise which has never been a passion of mine, oh lets be real..I despise it. The whole out of breath, getting sweaty just to ache from sore muscles the next day hasn't ever grabbed my interest. I have done the cardio workouts, played raquetball, bicycled, taken the stair stepper and treadmills for lengthy climbs and  walks, and gazelled with the best of them but blatant fact is I dont like it!  Anyway, then those child bearing years come along and that just adds insult to injury. I didn't gain an enormous amount with either child, 25 with my first and 29 with my last but it was enough to sabotage whatever efforts I had made prior to the pregnancy. Life goes on and I, like alot of moms concentrated more on taking care of my family than I did myself and year after year the pounds have crept on and sadly have decided to take up residence and stay!  I have no one to blame for this but myself. I was not at gunpoint made to eat homemade sourdough bread, slathered in melted butter and rest my booty on the couch, It was a choice and a bad one. Yes, God made me a lady of short stature, 5 feet nothing and he also gave me a zest for the tasty things in life! What he did not give me is the permission to abuse this body as I have been doing for so many years. Overindulgence and sedentary lifestyle a healthy girl does not make! I live and am in love with a nurse, which is good and bad. He is the first to jump in and help when you need it, but is also the first one to point out when I'm doing things that aren't the best for myself. So I certainly have someone to keep me in check if I will allow it to sink in. (I'm a tad hard-headed..again God made me that way) I say all of this to say that a healthy body is a gift from God! I realize it and I am going to make a real effort to try and treat mine as such. So please pray for me as I try to make better choices to refresh and maintain this gift that God blessed me with, and if you see me eating out feel free to swipe my roll or dunk my dessert in ketchup. :) I give you permission. Off to walk!!

Chef trapped in a hygienists' body..

Some days I would like to put on an apron instead of scrubs. Don't get me wrong I love my profession and it has served me very well over the past 19 years, but as I grow older I realize some new passions in my life...cooking being at the TOP of the list! I have lots of great cooks in my family, my Grannie Turner who was known throughout Cairo for her famous cakes, my Mama who introduced me to cooking years ago even though I was reluctant to learn at the time and numerous aunts, cousins and in-loves (as a friend calls the inlaws) that have contributed yummy dishes to my recipe box over the years. Maybe that's one reason I have such an affection for the kitchen! Maybe it's because I love to eat and try new food combinations, or perhaps because in my kitchen is where alot of our family memories are made, maybe because through the actions in my kitchen I can make others content and happy, even if it's only for a little while! Whatever the reason, I love to cook, bake, knead, process and garnish! I love the aromas that float through my house when I am baking bread or have a huge pot of soup simmering on the stove. There is nothing more therapeutic, (except maybe pulling weeds from my flower beds) than rolling out dough, or whisking egg whites at the end of a stressful day and I get to eat the final result! For me..it's just a little piece of paradise! Plus..We all enjoy a good meal, right?
:) Happy Cooking!!