LACED WITH GRACE....declined calls

Today I shared a devo with the readers of LACED WITH GRACE entitled "Declined calls"!

"Just as easy as it is to decline calls on our cell phones, it is also easy for us to miss the calling of the Holy Spirit. There are times when honestly, I don’t want to do some things that I know God is asking me to do"...CLICK THE LINK to read this entire post...http://lacedwithgrace.com/devotion/declined-calls/

Where are you?

Once in awhile, my husband asks to use my car. His car is quite abit older than mine and when he has to spend time outside of the city, he likes to have mine. I really don't mind at all that he uses my car, but almost always, he is delayed when it comes time for him to come and pick me up from work.

I don't know why, but him being ten minutes late seems like an eternity to me! I get very impatient waiting on him. I will call him and say, "Where are you?" and always he says that he is on the way and will be there shortly.

I wish I could be more patient. One thing I know is that I am so glad that God has more patience with us than what we muster up over a ten minute wait. God is infinitely gracious and patient and will wait for us to meet Him anytime, anyplace.

Isaiah 55:6 Seek the Lord while you can find Him. Call on Him now while He is near.

How often, I wonder, does God wait upon us? I wonder if He ever asks the question, "I'm here, but where are you?" May we be seeking Him daily, and continually have an attitude of praise. I would never intentionally make God wait, but yet that is what I am doing each time that I do not make Bible reading and prayer time a priority!

Often times, in our hour of need, we talk about our problems to everyone else except God. All the while, He waits patiently for us to come before Him with our needs. Instead of making Him last resort, it may be time to make Him first priority.

He should be the first One that we seek for answers to our physical problems, for help in our financial decisions, for counseling in our relationships, and for wisdom about career moves. He should be the One we give honor, glory and praise to for our financial blessings, for that promotion at work, and for the good report from the doctor. Unfortunately, it doesn't always go that way.

Even though we do not call upon Him first...He still waits for us. Ever so patiently. Today would be a good day to not keep Him waiting any longer, may we all take time to seek Him.

LACED WITH GRACE...how strong are your roots?

You can find me over at LACED WITH GRACE today where I have shared a devo entitled "How strong are your roots?"

"There is nothing more breathtaking than to see a big old tree that has weathered many storms from the beginning when it was just a seedling to now a strong, towering presence, standing tall and fearless. Such a tree started out just ordinary and after some time became an extraordinary piece of history. You and I are like such a tree..."

CLICK THE LINK to read this post! 

THANKFUL THURSDAY...The harvest

We have been enjoying, daily, fresh vegetables from my husband's garden. Cherry tomatoes, green peppers, banana peppers, garlic, cucumbers, beets, squash and beans! Everything is coming in so fast, that we give alot of it away.

It is a treat for us to share with others the harvest of our labor. No thriving garden can be successful without  hours of planting, sowing, watering and tending. The crop would not be the same without such labor. We are just now reaping what we have sown over the last couple of months.

Many times we do not think about the sowing part, not when all we can think about is the reaping. We want to reap much but work little. It is true, even in the spiritual world, that we will reap what we sow. We must be careful of what we find ourselves investing in now, later it may come back to bite us. I read a story recently that this very thing happened...

A teen-ager set out to pull a prank on his neighbor who was a farmer. He and some of his buddies snuck into the farmers field one night and spread crab grass seeds all over. It didn't take long for the crabgrass to sprout up and every time the farmer attempted to get rid of it, the teen-ager had a good laugh.

A few years later, the teen had long forgotten his prank on the farmer and he fell in love with the neighbors daughter, the farmers daughter that is. They married and soon after, the farmer passed away, leaving the farm to his daughter and her husband. For the rest of his life, the young man had to deal with the crabgrass, the result of what he had sown all those years ago.

GALATIANS 6:7
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap."

In other words, when we are hard on others, others will be hard on us. When we do not give to others, nobody will be willing to give to us. Typically, it is the law of the harvest. If you plant a cucumber plant, you WILL NOT get tomatoes. You will reap exactly what you have sown. Just as tomato plants will render sweet, juicy tomatoes, so will kind words and actions towards others reap the same towards you.

When I look at our wonderful garden, I realize that without all of the previous hard work, we would have nothing but weeds and nothing good to show for our effort. I wonder, if we would consider the labor that we are investing in others, if we would come up with a plentiful harvest or just a bucket of crabgrass?

It is my prayer that we are working hard, praying diligently, and being a light of encouragement to those around us that need a seed of hope planted within them.

 Today, I am linking up with IRIS for THANKFUL THURSDAY and giving thanks to all of those who have invested in me, who have planted a seed of hope and watered it with love and kindness. I am so thankful for those who have nurtured me by being faithful to Gods Word and faithful in praying for me, for the ones who have encouraged me by standing by my side even when I fall down. So grateful for the ones who have picked me up, who believed in me and who never got weary of laboring so I could one day stand strong and do the same for someone else.

I am so grateful for the harvest. Now, may I go out and plant some seeds of my own and see what I can reap.

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LACED WITH GRACE: God is NOT to blame

Today I shared a devotion with the readers of LACED WITH GRACE. So many times when we endure difficulties we want to blame someone or something. We even play the blame game with God.

CLICK THE LINK to read this devo!

 http://lacedwithgrace.com/faith/god-blame/

A TRUE Friend loves our warts and all!

I've been doing alot of thinking about friends.

Recently, I noticed that a few of my "friends" on facebook no longer want to be my friend. The reason I know that is because they deleted me from their friend list. My first reaction to seeing my name deleted was curiosity. I was curious as to why they deleted me ... did I offend them? Or did they not want to be my friend anymore? After a few moments of speculation about that, I then pondered on what level of friendship I even had with them. It couldn't have been a good level if they chose to delete me, I guess.

That is the problem with social media connections such as facebook or twitter. It is easy to friend people who are complete strangers to us and at the same time just as easy to cut out people who really aren't our friends, they are just acquaintances or acquaintances of acquaintances. Social media makes it easy to collect a long list of "so called" friends that we have never met before and have not even made a connection with. Face it, there is no real connection with some of these folks. Not like a real life friend. A friend that we have a face to face, heart to heart connection with.

I define a friend as someone I have connected with, one I can talk to about anything, a person that I spend time with and have similar interests with. A good friend will not only tell me about their life events, the good, the bad, and even the sad times but they will in turn listen to my good, bad and sad times. They will encourage me. They will believe in me. The will love me. And they will stand by my side, no matter what. When I fall, they pick me up. When I prosper, they rejoice. When I am sad, they cry with me. When I doubt, they pray with me.

These kind of friends are really hard to find. In my lifetime, friends have come and gone. There are two different kind of friendships that I have experienced. Those that are for lifetime and those that are seasonal. I have found that most friendships are seasonal. I don't know why that is, I guess because just like the weather, seasons come, they go and they always bring change. Change often times affect our relationships, including our friendships.

I have some friends that have come and gone in my life that I honestly can say I really miss. Relocation, divorce and even death has separated us. Even though these deep friendships are not what they use to be, I am so glad that I have one friend that no matter what the season I find myself in will always be near.

"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24

Jesus is faithful. He is kind. He is loving. He will never leave us. He accepts us the way we are...warts and all. His friendship is the kind that is everlasting. His love and affection is not dependent upon where we work, how much money we make, who we are married to, how beautiful we are or the kind of car that we drive. Our circumstances may change but His love never does.

He always has time for us. We will never get His answering machine or His personal secretary. We will never have to worry about not getting a call back or being deleted from His friend list. He is always on-call and waiting to hear from us. There is no sweeter friend than our friend Jesus. What a friend we have in Jesus!

Oh how I wish more earthly friendships could be like this. There would be so much more joy, unity and love and a whole lot less sadness, loneliness and broken hearts. Having a long list of friends that you cannot personally touch is just a list, but seeing a friend thru the fire and rejoicing on the other side is being a true friend, one who loves the warts and all!

Next time you are tempted to "delete" someone from your friend list, think about the influence and difference you can make in their life. Jesus is my friend, and I am ever so thankful that He never hit the "delete" button on me.