LACED WITH GRACE...special blue box

TODAY I HAVE SHARED A DEVOTION OVER AT:

"As a young teen, I remember visiting my friend and finding her sitting on the floor of her bedroom. The closet was empty. Tracy’s bedroom had the look of a war zone. Boxes, papers, photographs, old CD’s were strewn all over the floor. The shrapnel of her memory was almost overwhelming to her. As she reached across the mess, she came upon a photograph of her..."

CLICK HERE to read the rest of today's devotion!

THANKFUL THURSDAY

Lynn is hosting THANKFUL THURSDAY this week and if you stop over at her place, you will find her giving praise for summer blessings.

I also love the season of summer. It brings alot of things that I love...

Fresh vegetables from our garden

swimming

going to the beach

hot, sunny days

cool breezy mornings after a night of rain

rainstorms

spending extra time with my daughter

sleeping in late

staying up late

fresh lemon-aid

watermelon

did I mention the beach?

Each season in our year brings many blessings, just as do the seasons of life that we find ourselves in. Enjoy each moment and take time today to give God praise for His Heavenly touch in your world!

Find more thankful hearts today over at Spiritually Unequal Marriage by clicking HERE!

WEDNESDAY WEEKLY WORD ...what enslaves you today?

FREEDOM

Many of us have no idea what it would be like to be enslaved. Even though, if I asked each of you, you might say your place of employment may seem like enslavement. But nothing compares to the kind of enslavement that people like Corrie Ten Boom experienced.

Corrie Ten Boom was imprisoned by the Nazi's during World War II for sheltering Jews. Her experience was, as you can imagine, traumatic. When she was finally released from her imprisonment, she had a hard time seeing it all as real...

"I could not believe it. Perhaps we were only going to the Siemans factory; tonight we would march back to camp. But at the top of the hill we turned left, toward the center of the small town. I could feel my feet swelling in the tight new shoes, but I bit my lip and made myself stride along. I imagined the guard turning around, pointing a scornful finger: 'Edema! Send her back to camp."-CORRIE TEN BOOM

After Corrie Ten Boom and the other captives were released, it must have been difficult for them to live in joy and peace. Certainly doubt and denial became a part of their every day living. This part of history reminds me of the returned exiles that returned from Babylon when they rebuilt their temple and rebuilt their culture. At first, the people shed tears, but then Nehemiah told them to do something...

"Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, because your strength comes from rejoicing in the Lord." -NEHEMIAH 8:10

How many times do we want to do exactly what the exiles did here in Nehemiah!

In last week's YOUR OPINION MATTERS POLL, I polled the readers the following question: "When you suffer an injustice, how much are you likely to talk about it?" The top 3 responses are...

1. 42% of those voting said that they would only talk to God about it.

2. 28% of the readers voted and said that they would vent about it to one or two close friends.

3. 14% voted and said that they would spout off a few times and then drop it.

Sounds to me like some of us ARE much like the exiles ... we whine and we cry! I love what Nehemiah instructed the people to do, the same instruction is good for you and me today:

"Do not grieve because your strength comes from rejoicing in the Lord!"

WHAT ENSLAVES YOU TODAY?

Why not trust God and rejoice in His freedom!

WEDNESDAY WEEKLY WORD is a weekly post where I share a personal study I have done that week. Today I have shared some thoughts of a study that I am currently doing on being enslaved by things that chain us. It is my prayer that you will find freedom from the things that keep you from being all you can be in Christ!

A PIECE OF MY HEART ... everything is ruined

Have you ever put something red with a load of white clothes in the washing machine? I have had perfectly good clothes ruined because of colors bleeding onto other colors in the laundry.

As you pull the clothes out of the washer, you discover everything is just ruined. Everything has been tainted with red splotches!

Reminds me of what happened when the darkness of sin entered the pureness of the Garden of Eden. When sin entered the world ... many things were changed.

humans became hateful

creation was cursed

the animal kingdom no longer was tame

the ground became full of thorns and weeds

Sin ruined everything! and everything was changed!

Today, we still see the effects of that curse of the first sin. Death, disease and destruction are realities of our world that lives under a curse.

As bleak as this all sounds. There is hope.

Romans 8:22 says "all creation has been groaning under this curse. But the day is coming when the groaning will end."

If we could ... we would restore that load of clothes in the washer that was ruined. But the truth is the kind of restoration that this world needs is the kind that only God can give.

DON'T DESPAIR ...

THERE IS HELP ON THE WAY!

and that is a piece of my heart today;

TRUTH...or dare

TRUTH...what is truth?

In today's society, it is hard to be able to know what is true and what is not true. The news proves this to us each day.

The weather report says sunshine but it rains.

The Dow Jones reports a decline in what your broker promised to be good.

Politicians breaking pre-election promises.

If truth be told, it is not only hard to find truth on our news channel, but in our workplaces, in our homes and sometimes, sadly enough, in our churches.

broken promises

people not keeping their word

teaching against God's Word

I am blessed to be part of an awesome church that DOES teach God's Word, but I was reminded this week that not everybody has this freedom. All you have to do is turn on the TV and see some TV preachers teaching that the way to heaven is thru works or to guarantee your salvation just send them a hundred bucks!

TRUTH ...you must know the Truth in order for it to set you free!

The TRUTH is that salvation is not any thing that you can earn! In fact the debt has already been paid. Salvation is free and it is as easy as BELIEVING, ASKING and RECEIVING. That's right Believe on Jesus Christ and that He died on a cross for you, so that you can have eternal life. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins, repent and then receive His promise of eternal love, forgiveness and peace.

TRUTH ... you may not recognize it in your world today but the Truth is not found in our world but found in Jesus Christ!

Have you opened up the book of Truth today? .... go ahead, I dare you!

CIRCLE OF LOVE... meet Lauren

MEET LAUREN who pens "WALKING BY FAITH"

Lauren is a new friend to me here in blogger world. Believe me, just one visit to her page will leave you feeling pretty blessed. She has a very eye catching blog but the one thing that caught my eye the first few visits were the statements of faith and encouragement found on her side bar.

Lauren is married and mother of two precious sons living in Heaven & two foster sons who are no longer with them physically but always in their hearts. After reading this about Lauren ... I immediately realized that this is one incredible woman of faith!

Lauren's statement of faith continues on and she shares with her readers that she strives to be a Proverbs 31 woman - which can be pretty tough some days! But she is convinced that "He who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Jesus Christ." Phil 1:6

Lauren makes a statement that she wants to live her life by faith and take it one stepping stone at a time. Though she cannot see ahead to the next stone, she knows the One who does. As she puts her hand in His, He faithfully is guiding her through all the rivers, valleys, and mountains of life.

Haven't you already fallen in love with Lauren's spirit? One of Lauren's most recent posts on her blog shared a few of her favorite things. I couldn't think of a more marvelous way to see a little piece of her heart than to share with you this recent post. (the first thing on her list linked our hearts forever because the beach is also one of MY favorite things!!) Read on and get better acquainted:

A Few of my Favorite things....

The beach! I love soaking up the sun, salt water, and sand!

Unpacking! We loaded up the moving van last weekend and put
all of our things in storage. We move into our new home in mid August… I can’t
wait! I love unpacking and setting up our home – it’s like Christmas for
me!

A really awesome sermon… like the one I heard Sunday night. WOW – it was about being filled with the Holy Spirit. How there is no such thing as being 95% full of the Spirit … it’s ALL or NOTHING! If there is 5% of your life that you just can’t surrender to God, then you are living in 100% rebellion. He doesn’t ask for a piece of us – He commands our WHOLE hearts! The word picture that came to my mind is this:You have a cup of water and a vial of red food coloring. The water is the Spirit … the coloring is that thing in your life you can’t let go and give to God; Sin, idolatry, ANYTHING that is not bowed to Him. If your cup is nearly full of pure water, but you put even one drop of coloring in it – the whole cup is tainted. The whole cup turns pink. There is no pure water left. The same is true for our souls. If we have even one thing that we refuse to surrender to the will of God, then our whole heart is
tainted.

“Throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the Lord, the God of Israel.” Joshua 24: 23 Praise God for His mercy and grace … for without it we would all perish.

Let our hearts be like those who said, “We will serve the Lord our God and obey him.” Joshua 24:24

And these verses: “Speak to one another with psalms hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 5:19-20

WOW. What a great list of favorites! RELAXING (at the beach), MAKING HER HOUSE A HAVEN (preparing a home for her family) and THE WORD! Sounds to me like Lauren is making strides towards that goal of striving to be a Proverbs 31 woman!

Recently, Lauren shared her heart with me online and answered some questions that will help us see exactly what makes her heart beat in her ministry of writing. Come along with me and get better acquainted.

YYYYYYYY

1. PLEASE TELL US YOUR NAME AND WHERE WE CAN FIND YOU ON THE WEB?
Lauren Casper ~You can find me at my blog "Walking by Faith" --- laurenalexis1.blogspot.com

2. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN BLOGGING AND TELL US YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT BLOGGING?
I have been blogging since January 2009. My favorite thing about blogging is that it allows me to be creative. I can get my thoughts and feelings out where I can see them. I also love that it opens up the door to a whole group of people I wouldn't otherwise know. It's a wonderful tool for spreading the gospel and encouraging sisters in faith.

3. WHAT ARE THE MAIN THINGS THAT YOU BLOG ABOUT?
I mainly blog about Jesus - what He's doing in my life, what He's been teaching me, what I've seen Him do in others lives. I also occasionally give little updates on what's going on in my world.

4. TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF...if you work ~where? ...have a family ~ tell us about them?
As of right now, I am a stay at home wife. I'm 25 and have been married for 4 years. We live in the mountains, but all of that is about to change! We're moving to the beach sometime this summer for my husband to attend seminary. At this time I will **hopefully** be working full time to help support hubby in his time at school. I am the mother of 4 precious boys. I have 2 sons (Asher and Cyrus) living in heaven. Alex and Avery are our twin foster boys who we love with all our hearts. They were returned to their "real parents" last year... but they'll always be my boys. Other than that, I love: music, quilting, painting, scrap-booking, violin, guitar, reading, and old musicals!

5. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SERVING THE LORD?
I've been serving God for 5 years. I came to Christ when I was 20 years old and have been running after him with all my heart ever since!

6. CAN YOU GIVE US A TESTIMONY OF HOW GOD HAS PROVEN HIMSELF FAITHFUL TO YOU?
Just one?? haha Well, foster parenting is a great example of God's faithfulness. He was definitely calling us to do foster care, so we started the paper work. Social services said we probably wouldn't get a child for 6 months to a year after everything was complete. We signed up to start out with just 1 child, in the age range of infant - 2yrs. We were advised not to go out and buy anything until all the paper work was complete. Well, the day our social worker called to tell us it was complete she also said "can you take a set of twins in 2 hours?" !!!!! So, we prayed (already knowing the answer) then asked for an extra hour to run to walmart, and said yes. Alex and Avery came to us with nothing but the filthy clothes on their back. They were just dropped off in our foyer and then we were left to figure it all out from there! We were at a loss. We hadn't ever been parents before. So we begged God to help us ... and He did. We took it one day at a time, and sometimes one hour at a time! I have never been so tired in my life!! But, while I was completely empty, I watched God come in and provide time after time. He was totally faithful to us for the months we cared for the twins. Then, when it was time for them to go, God was faithful once again to pour out His grace and let us say goodbye. It still hurts, but God is always there with me every step I take.

7. COULD YOU SHARE WITH YOUR CIRCLE OF BLOGGING FRIENDS YOUR FAVORITE SCRIPTURE?
"Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." Matthew 6:33

8. HOW HAS THAT SCRIPTURE MINISTERED TO YOU RECENTLY?
As we move forward with our plans for seminary we're experiencing a lot of struggles. Our house isn't selling, we're having trouble finding new jobs, and time is running out as August quickly approaches! But, God has promised that if we seek Him first, above all, He will provide. It may not look like what we desired ... but He will always provide "all these things..."

9. WHAT ADVICE ABOUT BLOGGING WOULD YOU OFFER TO YOUR CIRCLE OF BLOGGING FRIENDS?
oh wow - I don't know, seeing as I am fairly new to the blogging world. I guess... pray and read scripture before you blog. Let your heart and mind be totally saturated with Jesus before you let your fingers hit the keys.

WOW! What wonderful advice Lauren! I love the thought of being saturated
TOTALLY with Jesus before even sitting down to the computer. I believe that we
would never have writers block if we adhered to that advice. Thank you so much
for sharing your heart and sharing the love of Christ with your readers. You are
a great encouragement to me and to all of those TAKING A STAND! -blessings,
Laurie

Please visit Lauren today over at WALKING BY FAITH! (click here)

THANKFUL THURSDAY...victory

VICTORY

Whenever I think about victory I immediately think about the Israelites and Gideon. When the Israelites called out to God for deliverance from their enemies, the Lord called upon Gideon to lead the people and Gideon was promised a victory.

DEUT. 20:4 "It is the Lord ... Who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to give you victory."

Gideon raised a mighty army and felt comfortable that the Israelites would succeed. However, God didn't want any doubt about Who would be providing the victory. It was clear who had provided the victory when God had Gideon send 70% of his men home, defeating the enemy with only a mere 300 men.

Just like the Israelites, God wants us to trust in the power of His grace for our victories. Victory in life comes thru walking with God on a daily basis. Trusting in Him will give each of us the confidence and hope that we need to overcome any situation. Thus making us victorious Christians!

Aren't you thankful for the victory we have in Jesus?

Lynn is hosting TT this week. Stop by her place today and share your grateful heart with us.