Some Destinations

Some destinations are just worth the fight!

We can often lose the focus when hardship is in

our view, when we only see the valley or the long

road ahead; God always has a plan and in the end

it's beautiful beyond compare.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.
                                                                                  Genesis 50:20

Whatever we face, no matter the trials, God will turn it around

for His glory and we can rest on that perfect plan. His love writes our story each and every day.

~You Prepare A Table~

When all is said and done, God is our strength and our hope in times of trouble. He is ever faithful in preparing a time of peace during our worst struggles, our worst trials in life.

Grave Of Regrets

And he gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

                                                         James 4:6

Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

                                                                                   Proverbs 11:2

Do Not Worry

Matthew 6:25-34

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 

 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 

 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?

John 12:24

The Light

Remember ;)

In Him Remains The Truth

God Will Always Remain As God

Filled With Truth

And Uncompromising Wisdom

His Ways Are Above Our Ways

God Established Truth

And No Man Can Remove It

My Treasure

     We so often get sucked into the rat race, the desire for wealth and prosperity. It either is coming from the media telling you to buy this car and you'll feel important to even some churches speaking about "The Prosperity" message. The problem is that Jesus, who was the most influential person in history, didn't have all the wealth in the world, though He could have had it. His goal was to save the world not His wallet. We are called to reach the lost and to speak to the hurting and to reach out to those seeking. Now the flip side is to understand that we deal with money in our everyday lives and Jesus knew this and in fact he spoke about money 11 out of 39 parables, so it was and is important. It's all about the focus, what is the real goal, is it to give God the glory or ourselves. Do we hide behind the "I'm doing this for God" card or are we actually doing it for God and not ourselves.
     Do we know who is our provider and do we lay everything at His feet, do we trust in Him when our wealth is great and when our wealth is scarce. Jesus walked in total reliance on God's provision but it was done in wisdom, prayer and in trust. Let's remember who really is the composer of our lives and for whom we really play the song, the symphony of praise. Lay everything at God's feet and take each day as it comes and pray in all things. God always has a better plan than what we could ever imagine.

Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

                                                Philippians 4:6

Fork In The Road

     I love walking through the forest, taking the time to unwind and just smell the fresh air and hear the birds whistling and listen to the sounds of nature around me. It never ceases to amaze me how God designed everything so intricately, fine tuning everything to it's perfect purpose. I love how the trees give us fresh air and we give them carbon dioxide, just imagine if no one was around to help trees survive or vise versa! Everything was perfectly put in place to explain the glory of God's amazing wonder and we are blessed with His love. Every single time I walk into the forest I see the profound intricate details even in the smallest of things and know that God is a God of detail, of immense wisdom, knowledge, grace, beauty, splendor and so much more. One day as I was walking along a path I came to a fork in the road and suddenly thought of a few moments in life where decisions made a drastic difference in where I am today. I think of many of these moments where I prayed and learned to trust in God's plan over what I thought I needed to see. Sometimes the journey needs to be taken and the experience needs to be felt in order for the greatest impact, we don't always need to know everything but what we do need is a little more faith, a little more trust and a lot more patience. 

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

                                                                          Galatians 5:22

For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

                                                                  Romans 1:20

In His Righteousness

We often think that somehow God's desire is to be the super genie in our lives, that somehow the unfruitful things we do will never be trimmed from our walk in Christ but the bible says the following

John 15:2
2 He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.

What God does with our lives is maximize the potential for bearing fruit for His kingdom and He is the farmer over the fields of harvest. The amazing thing is in God's righteousness, His love and yet firm hand of truth. A farmer goes through his field and he looks at his vineyard and his farmland and he prunes what must be removed for the sake of the harvest and for the joy of our lives in Christ Jesus. 

Psalm 1:1-3 
1 Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.
2 But they delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night. 3 They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.

The righteous are blessed continually, yes there is hardship, changing of season, drought, cold, heat waves etc. but they are planted by streams of living water and their fruit is in every season and that is worth rejoicing over! Remember that though you may be going through hardship, there is pruning and things are changing around you, don't forget God has a plan that is far greater than what you can see and He knows just how to make you bloom and produce fruit that will bring Him glory and you victory in Christ Jesus :)

Why Me

     Those dreaded days when we go through the worst of times, the times where we feel like we are being pressed from all sides. We look for friends who can comfort us in our long journey but instead we find sour words and false judgement. The amazing thing through all of life's disappointments is God's hand of love. 

Under A Thousand Tears

   Sometimes we bear the weight of our deepest fears in silence. We put on a brave face and all the while we cry on the inside, we break into pieces, thinking, pondering, wondering if anyone knows our pain and do they really care. The bible says this in Psalms

When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
                              Psalm 34:17-19
     The comfort we receive is in this very thing, that God is ever attentive, He is ever prepared to easily overcome anything we are enduring. He promises that He will deliver us out of all our afflictions. The great joy we receive is in knowing that God stands by His word, even to the cross! His mercy is ever enduring, ever compassionate and full of love and joy. We have hope because God does exactly as He promises and has never failed, His record is 100 percent perfect and He knows exactly everything there is to know about you and how to make all things new in His perfect grace. So take hope in this very thing, you are loved and that love that is so profound that it causes us to soar above the impossible, to do the very things we thought would leave us in the dust of weakness. God delivers! God Heals! God Restores! God Renews!

 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
                               Isaiah 40:31

Laughter Is Good Medicine

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Proverbs 17:2

New Ever Morning

The faithful love of the Lord never ends

    His mercies never cease

23 

Great is his faithfulness

    his mercies begin afresh each morning

                        Lamentations 3:22-23

                         Artwork By Ernie Kasper

Never Give Up

Never give up on doing good, keep pressing forward and hold onto God's promises!