Praise

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Praise him all creatures here below.
Praise him above ye heavenly host.
Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
Amen

Thanks Be to God

I am just sitting here at the computer, rambling around in cyberspace, and I looked up at the notes I have taped to my desk.

And I noticed I have 2 scriptures that both start off, Thanks be to God.

1 Corinthians 15:57-58 says, Thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

2 Corinthians 2:14 says, Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him in every place.
 Both scriptures are the NASB version.

Thanks be to God!!!!!

Can we ever thank him enough?

Right now my heart is singing out to God, my creator, my life, my one true love, for all his blessings on me.

Can you hear my heart beating with thanks to you God?
Can you feel the love and the gratitude I have for you God?

I know I don't deserve your mercy, God, but I am ever so grateful.
I know I don't deserve  your blessings, God, because I don't tell others enough about you and your love.

I know I don't deserve all I have, but God, you have so much love and grace and mercy, you overlook my faults, you supply my every need.
You are always with me, you never leave my side, even when I think I'm all alone.

Thanks Be To God, who gives ME victory though My Lord Jesus Christ!

With a Thankful Heart I praise You!


Blessings,
Kathy

Aggravation

I have a Facebook page called Prayer and Praise.
It is a page I started intenting for people to post prayer requests or praise reports.
I use it to invite people to my churchs' early morning Praise and worship service.

I am aggravated because no one comes except for a few faithful family members of mine, one sweet lady who loves music and the pastor and his wife.

Oh some people do "like" the post about the service,, but no one comes.

So I  wrote a post saying that I wasn't going to invite anyone to the service anymore. If they wanted to stay home with their excuses and were satisfied with their worship practices that it was fine with me. That if they wanted to miss out on blessings, then that was their fault.

But I couldn't hit the post button.

Why?

Because I got to thinking about how "I" aggravate the Lord.

When I don't speak up for him at work.
When I tell a little "white" lie.

When I don't tell the people I work with I don't like some of the language they use.

When I don't tell people about God and his love for us.

The praise service was started because the pastor mentioned it and I ran off with it offering to help do the service. It was a vision of mine to have a service like that. And it was a vision of the pastors too. The service is God's and I need to stop thinking it is mine. I need to stop being "aggravated" that no one comes.

It's not mine!

Nothing in this life is "mine"!

It all belongs to the most high God. I am just a vessel used by him to bring glory and honor to him.

So who am I to think the service is mine and what right do I have to judge others?

Absoluteley none!

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

1Peter 4:8-9 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves for charity shall cover a multitude of sins. Use hospitality one to another without grudging.

So instead of not asking and inviting people to come, I will lovingly keep inviting and asking because if God can still love me with all the aggravating things I do then I should do the same.

God doesn't give up on me and I shouldn't give up on serving him.

Many blessings to you,
Kathy

Praise

Psalm 106:1-2

1.....Praise the Lord!
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
2....Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord?
Who can ever praise him enough?


This past Sunday I was heading to our early praise and worship service. I was listening to K-Love radio station and they read these verses, and they stuck in my head.

Think about it. God is good!!!!!!!!!

There is an exclamation point. It's not,Ho Hum, God is good.

It says, GOD IS GOOD!

Praise the Lord, God is good!
His faithful love endures FOREVER.

Not for a few days, hours, or minutes.
FOREVER.

And that is a long time.

Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord?
Who can ever praise him enough?

I was at work today. I have a new job and still getting used to it.
As I was working I started thinking about those verses.

And I started praising God for all my blessings.

My back was hurting (like I said, new job and not used to it), but I praised  God for that because that meant I was alive and had a job.

I praised him for waking me up in time this morning to get to work.

I praised him for blessings.

And my back stopped hurting.

When you get down and out....
Praise God!

When you don't feel like praising God...
do it anyway.....

Praise the Lord, for he is good!!!!!!

Blessings,
Kathy

Trust

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not onto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.


Trust. Small word. Loaded with meaning.

I did the One Word Challenge. You pray and ask God to give you one word to live by for the whole year.
My word was trust.

I was at the end of my rope. Spiritually, financially.

I was relying on myself to take care of myself.

I can't do it.

As I prayed, the word "trust" came to mind.

I was reminded of another time when God asked me time and time again, "Do you "trust" me?"

8 years ago, through the most trying time of my life,, as I cried out to God, he kept asking me that.

This time, as I asked God to give me a word to live by this year I heard, " Do you trust me?" Do you trust me to take care of you spiritually and financially?"

So I started praying harder. Trembling, I asked God to open my eyes and my heart.
I asked for help to trust him more.

 I took all my bills, laid them on my open Bible and asked God to take care  of them.

I quit my job today.

I walked away from a full time job with benefits and vacation time to go to a temp job at another factory with no benefits or vacation time.

Why?

Because I have had a restlessness in me for a few years. I have felt smothered in that place, and I felt it was time for a change.

I didn't get the job that was my first choice.

I asked God to lead me to the right place. I asked that if it was wrong for me to leave my job, that I wouldn't get a call.

Some people will call me crazy, and I'm sure a few already have.

But I'm trusting God.

Blessings,
Kathy

Christmas

It's the day after Christmas. I went back to work. I didn't want to, but bills don't pay their self.

I have been a little down lately. To be honest I have been bordering on being Scrooge and the Grinch rolled up in one. I almost asked my mother if I could borrow her t shirt that says...Give me one good reason to smile.
I wondered around for a month, down, bordering on depression, because I knew Christmas was more than what I could buy for someone.

I mean, really, the way Christmas is portrayed in the media, unless you spend a boat load of money, buy the biggest, best and most expensive gift, you don't love your family, your friends, or your co workers.


I prayed. Rather I tried to pray. My feelings were that they weren't going any higher than the ceiling.
When I did try to pray, I got frustrated because I didn't know what to pray for.

My emotions were all over the place. You know how tornadoes have all the wind, all the destructive force in them and the center, or the eye of a tornado it is calm.
That's how I felt.
By looking at me, you would think I was calm. But swirling all around me was debri and self doubt.

Am I supposed to preach? What makes me think that I have anything to say to anyone about God?
I'll never get a better paying job. I'll  be struggling the rest of my life. And if I do get another job it will be through a temp service so will I be digging myself deeper in a financial hole? How in the world will I pay the taxes and dr bills that are due plus the regular bills?
Will I ever meet anyone to love? Am I destined to spend the rest of my life alone? If I get sick, who will take care of me? Why haven't I met someone to love? Am I "that" ugly no one would have me?
I felt like crying. All The Time........ And a lot of times .....I did.
You get the picture.

I was looking for a miracle.

Christmas Eve night, the pastor of my church had a Communion service. The way he does it is by families. It is a personal experience. He speaks about the meaning of communion and why we do it, then serves it and then prays for the family.

I went by myself.

I cried all the way to the church and almost didn't go. But I did.

Another family was ahead of me and as I sat in the back of the church waiting my turn, I bowed my head and prayed like I hadn't in a long time.

I asked God to open my eyes and my heart to what he wanted me to know. To show me the way.
I took communion, humbly asking God for forgiveness and to be with me. To show me how blessed I am.

And you know what? He did!

Christmas night, my mama, sisters, nieces, brother in law, and my sons and my daughters came to the house for supper. Just like they do every year.

And this morning on the way to work I realized just how blessed I am.

I saw it in the faces of those precious little girls as they played with their toys they had got from Santa. How they wanted me to play with them. I saw how healthy they are and I thanked God for them.
I saw the 2 yr old playing with my keyboard. She put on headphones (which weren't hooked up) yet she was turning the volume up and dancing and singing. She was so happy (until I unplugged it. ) You can only take so much :)

I saw my family, laughing and talking.

I saw my precious sons and their wives, sitting around the table, playing cards laughing and talking about memories of their childhood. Telling stories about work. And there was some wild stories!

I thought about how the people at the church I preach at once a month, have taken me under their wing and accepted me.
I thought of all the people I have been blessed to know that are not with us anymore.

And I thanked God for all he had shown me.

I'm not perfect. I never will be. I will let doubt creep in.

But, I know that I have someone who loves me with all my faults, all my doubts, all my imperfections.

I still need that financial miracle. But I'll trust God to take care of it for me. I have to, because I can't do it on my own.

I have been working on a Bible study written by Rebecca Aarup called  The Word...6 Lessons from Psalm 119. I haven't gotten far in it because I want to take my time and savor every bit of it. So many of the verses stood out to me and touched my heart.
It was exactly what I was needing.
God is like that. When we ask, from the heart, God is just to show us.

Psalm 119:28 I weep with sorrow; encourage me by your word.

Psalm 119:37 Turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life through your word.

Psalm 119:49 Remember your promise to me; it is my only hope.

Psalm 119:71 My suffering was good for me, for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.

Psalm 119:84a How long must I wait?

Psalm 119:94a I am yours; rescue me!

All scripture is from the NLT version.
As you can see these scriptures spoke volumes to me.
Whenever we get in the shape I was in, remember to pick up your Bible and read the "Living" word of our Lord.

Every answer to every question we have will be there!!

Dear God, I thank you for your love, grace and mercy. I thank you for sending your son Jesus to come to earth as a little baby to grow and teach and die for our sins. Help me to remember what the real meaning of the season is. It's not about how much I spend. It's about the love you have for us.
Amen

God's Blessings to you.

Love,
Kathy

Count Your Blessings

Well here it is. Thanksgiving.
 A day we have set aside to get together with family and friends to eat turkey and dressing.

 And to count our blessings.

We should be thankful every minute of every day. I try to be , but I know I fail at this. It's hard to try and remember to be thankful for every thing, all the time.

But the Bible says we are to be thankful in all things.

It's hard to be thankful when you don't feel good or you are tired.
I believe I had a gall bladder attack during Thanksgiving. It wasn't easy being thankful when your stomach felt like it was going to explode or whatever you ate was going to come back up. I didn't get to eat all I had planned, but I guess that was a good thing. At least I was off from work and could suffer at home by myself.

It's hard to be thankful when your child (no matter how old) is sick or hurting.
My boys are grown and married now, but when they hurt I hurt, when they are sick I want to make them feel better.

It's hard to be thankful when your marriage is falling apart.
I wasn't very thankful when this was happening, but looking back I see the how God was working.

It's hard to be thankful when you are in a low paying, going nowhere job.
But you don't have to stay in that low paying job. I have a few possibilities for the new year.


It's hard to be thankful when you see so much injustice in the world. People are hungry, hurting, abused , alone, scared...........

Ephesians 5:20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I thank God for every trial, every blessing, every thing He has given me.

Blessings,
Kathy