WEDNESDAY WEEKLY WORD...rejoice, again I say REJOICE!

We all love celebrations! Party hats, streamers, cake and ice cream, presents and lots and lots of laughter! Coming together to celebrate is also a wonderful way to get together with family and friends.

If I asked how many of you have celebrated a birthday or anniversary in the past 3 months, many of you would say you have! We just had a big birthday party for our daughters 15th birthday with a bunch of her friends. After all the teenagers finally left, and the cake was scraped off the floor and the final dish was put away...I wondered to myself, "why do we celebrate these things anyway?" One of the reasons we celebrate such events is to honor and remember that special day. The day someone was born or the day someone was united in marriage.

In last week's YOUR OPINION MATTERS POLL, I polled the readers the following question: "What is the last thing that you celebrated?" The top 3 answers were:

1. 25% of those voting said that they recently celebrated someones birthday!
2. Another 25% said they have celebrated an answer to prayer!
3. 8% voted and said that they have celebrated an anniversary!

No matter what you have recently celebrated, no doubt it was a time of rejoicing! One of the things that really surprised me about this weeks poll is that 0% (nobody) responded and said the last thing they celebrated was "their salvation". What a day that was when each of you bowed at an altar (or wherever you knelt) and asked Jesus to be Lord of your life. Such a celebration went on in heaven. There was rejoicing all over the golden streets that a prodigal had returned home!

1 Corinthians 13:6 "Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth."

From the very moment we close our Bible in the morning, nearly everything else that we will encounter for the day will be trying to lure us away from the Truths that we just read. The opinions of our co-workers or fellow students, the news reporters on television, the websites that we visit on the Internet - these and more will be working overtime to shape our mind on what is true and what is not true.

When we understand that God's Word is the Truth (and nothing but the Truth!), we will understand the meaning of "real life". The Bible holds the principles of what things really are or ought to be. God's ideals and instructions are the only pathways to attaining Truth. When we finally realize all of this and follow Him in obedience - that is surely something to rejoice about!

Each day with Jesus is a day worth celebrating! Have you accepted Christ to be your Lord of All? - then REJOICE, again I say REJOICE!

*If you are reading this post today and you have NOT accepted Christ as your Savior but would like to, it is very easy. God loved you SO MUCH that He sent His son Jesus to die for you so that you could have eternal life. (John 3:16) God knows that we ALL have sinned and come short of His Glory, (Romans 3:23) that is why He offers His gift of life freely (Romans 6:23). To receive God's gift of forgiveness and eternal life, all you have to do is confess that Jesus IS Lord and ask Him to forgive you of your sins. Because of your belief in Him, you are now set free! (Romans 10:9-10) If He is the Lord of your life ... let us know, so we can CELEBRATE with you!*

A PIECE OF MY HEART...Turn up your hearing aid!

“Doc, since you fixed my hearing aid, I don’t miss a thing!” crowed the elderly patient.

“Your family must be happy, not having to yell so much any more,” replied the audiologist.

“Oh, I haven’t told them,” he explained, “and since I’ve been listening to their conversations, I’ve changed my will three times!”

Many times, when people speak, we only hear what we want to hear. I would say that is also true of our relationship with God sometimes.

We pray.
We fast.
We pray some more.

But do we listen? What do we hear the Lord saying to us?

Many times, we do all the right things, (pray, read the Bible, fast) but we still tune out what the Lord is trying to speak to us. We allow circumstances and other people's voices stand in the way of what God is speaking. We tune Him out and listen to what we WANT to hear, instead of what the Lord is saying.

"Speak; for Thy servant heareth." 1Samuel 3:10

In order to hear clearly what God is speaking, we have to turn our hearing aids up. Be careful though, you might be surprised at what you will hear! 

and this has been a piece of  my heart today;

LACED WITH GRACE...digging it up

I have shared a devotion with the readers of LACED WITH GRACE today. Laced With Grace is another great place for you to receive encouragement as a team of awesome Christian ladies share from their hearts Monday thru Friday. Come check it out! Here is today's devo:

Several years ago, we had a family pet that we had for several years. "Stormy" was a German Shepherd/black lab mix that weighed in at 100 pounds. She was one of the greatest dogs we ever had. Stormy developed a tumor that became large enough that it slowed her down. She was an older dog, so we decided it best to put her to sleep. It was one of the hardest decisions we had to make, as we all loved her dearly

When the vet asked my husband and I what we wanted to do with her body, we decided that we would bring her back to the house and bury her on our property. The children would be arriving home from school soon, and we could have a family burial for our beloved pet of many years. So we wrapped that 100 pound dog up in a sheet and brought her home.

While my husband and my two older sons began to dig the hole on our property, I instructed them to keep digging and I would go pick up our young daughter from daycare and when we returned we could have our final good-bye. But before I could return with my daughter, my husband and sons finished digging the hole and went ahead and buried Stormy. Upon arrival back home, my daughter and I were horrified that they had gone ahead and buried our precious pet without us!

My oldest son stood, with his foot still on the shovel and looked over at us blubbering females and said to my husband, "We have to dig her up, don't we?" My husband replied, "uh-huh!"

We have had alot of pets since Stormy, but I can guarantee you that she was the only dog that died and got buried twice!

I was thinking about Stormy today and that burial story and it dawned on me that we are just like the dog who got buried twice. Many times, when we come to the altar with our sins, our problems and our struggles we give it all to God. We bury our burdens and walk away. But walking away just isn't enough. We tend to turn around and pick up the shovel and dig back up all those burdens once again.

“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).

I can only imagine how weary and tiring it must have been for my son to dig and dig and dig that grave for our pet,  not once - but twice. How tiring it is keep shoveling and digging dirt, without resting.

The problems that we carry around on our shoulders can become so heavy that it is difficult for us to escape or find rest. Giving it all to God will ease the load. Once we do that, God buries it, never to be reminded of it again! The problem is that we tend to take the shovel from God's hand and we dig back up those burdens and place them back on our shoulders.

So who has control of the shovel - you or God? Isn't it time to bury those burdens for once and for all? Today is the day, give the shovel back to God!

Can you hear me now?

I have learned a very valuable lesson this week. Have you ever heard the saying of "what you say and what you do is two different things?" I learned this week that this statement is not always true! In fact, it should go like this:

"What you say and what you do is two different things...but the third thing is, what do you convey?"

It is no longer enough to just speak your mind, and then allow your actions to follow up with what you have spoken. If people around you do not fully understand what you mean, then you have not fully conveyed the proper message.

For example: I can say, " I have to lose weight!", but then I constantly eat pie. This is two different things. I have said one thing, but I do another. But what do others convey about what I said and what I do? Someone could very possibly misunderstood me! Possibly what someone heard me say is ... "I have to lose weight", so in order to help me, they refuse to let me eat any pie. And as people continualy remove pie from me, I wonder, "Do they think I am fat?" The message has somehow gotten mixed up.

It is a vicious cycle, isn't it? God's Word says that we must make our yes be yes, and our no be no. This is talking about how we shouldn't talk out of both sides of our mouth, but I believe we also should be clear in what we speak. Our message must be clearly understood.

 If it is not understood, who is at fault? The speaker or the hearer?

MATTHEW 5:37 "But let your 'Yes' be 'Yes', and your 'No' be 'No', for whatever is more than these is from the evil one."

Can you hear me now? How about now? Today, I am learning to lean upon God for the right words to speak. May I speak with clarity and boldness, so those standing near can clearly hear the message I have.

THANKFUL THURSDAY...everything to everybody

I don't know about you, but I have a tendency to try to be everything to everybody. Not just in my family, but at work and at church. It is the hardest thing for me to say no to anybody and when I do say no ... I absolutely feel like I have let someone down.

As you can imagine, as a Pastors wife, one of the things that I have had to learn is that I CANNOT do everything! Nor should I be expected to. I am a wife and mother first, then a PW. People at our church have never, (let me repeat...NEVER)  put this kind of stress on me, it is I, who puts pressure on myself to try to do so much.

But I have been wrong. I do not have any kind of superpowers. I don't have bionic strength. I don't have nine lives. I don't even live in a time capsule. I have the same amount of time as everyone else in a day, and it is up to me to be a good manager of my time. God has been reminding me of this lately, that if my time is not His time, it may be a waste of time.

In all of the time I have spent trying to be everything to everyone, I have forgotten that it is not me who needs to be everything to everyone but it is God Who IS everything to everyone.

1 CORINTHIANS 15:28 "Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him Who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all."

When I commit everything to Him, He becomes the center of my attention and not things that I have absolutely no power over. I am so thankful that God does not put demands on me to be perfect, He loves me just the way I am and doesn't expect me to be the all in all. That's His job!

Today is THANKFUL THURSDAY, and we want to hear what you are thankful for today. Please join your grateful heart with ours and link your TT post below in Mr. Linky!

Next week, you can find TT over at Iris's place!

WEDNESDAY WEEKLY WORD: leaving on a jet plane

"Leaving on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again."

In the 1960's, John Denver wrote this song, "Leaving on a jet plane", sung by Peter, Paul and Mary. Truth of it is, sometimes in life, this is exactly what we would like to do: board a plane and not know when we will be back!

This just isn't really reality for most of us. Some of us are lucky to get to board a plane and be gone for a week's vacation. But to be gone indefinitely, well that just seems like a dream.

Sometimes I think about what a great adventure it would be to just pack a few things, and start over in a new town. The problem with this idea is that it would only be an adventure, not reality. When life hits us hard, we tend to want to just run or hide from it all. But no matter where you go or how long you run, the problems or issues at hand will always be there with you. Isn't it better to just stay planted and come face-to-face with your problems?

Fleeing seems to be how some people handle difficulties in their relationships. Instead of talking things out or giving grace in broken relationships, we just throw in the towel and walk away from people in our lives. Forgiveness seems to be something thrown out like the trash.

In marriages, I see too many couples breaking up because they choose to not forgive. Love is a choice, but when things get rough and tough, they pack up their choices in a bag and board a plane right on out of their marriage.

In marriage, God ordains a man and a woman to become one, this is not just an intimate thing. Becoming one with God as the headship over their home. Becoming united as one in mind and heart. When one in the marriage decides to pack and leave ... they are not one any longer.

GENESIS 2:4 "A man shall leave his father and mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh."

It is completely understood what God is saying... we must leave the apron strings of our mother and father when we wed, so we can become united, become one with our mate. But how can we become united or one with others in our life? You know... the ones that frustrate us, irritate us, anger us, get on our ever-last nerves ...is it possible to be united with these people or is it easier to just pack our bag and flee from them?

"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet fragrance." Ephesians 5: 2

From time to time, we all have the inkling to leave something or someone. In fact in last week's YOUR OPINION MATTERS POLL, I polled the readers the following question: "Is there someone or something in your life that you have been thinking about leaving?" The top 3 answers were...

1. 33% voted and said they were thinking of leaving their town.
2. 26% said they were thinking of leaving their job.
3. Another 26% responded and said they were thinking of leaving some stress behind.

There's nothing wrong with change. But what about some of the other votes: 6% voted and said they were thinking about leaving their spouse. Another 6% said they were thinking about leaving their church. 12% voted and said they were thinking about leaving their friends. Is it possible that these votes represent stress and difficulty in relationships to the point of wanting to pack up and leave on a jet plane?

Paul says in the book of Romans that our tribulations will produce perseverance, and through our perseverance, we build character and when we have a reputable character ... we have hope! (Romans 5:3) There is hope for those things that drive you to want to leave. So trust God and stay ... He will see you thru whatever troubles you today.

One day we will all board a jet plane and never return ... not to this earth as we know it, but we will go to our heavenly home. But until that day, we must press in and stay committed to one another and to God!

A PIECE OF MY HEART...doing the laundry

One of my favorite household chores to do is laundry. I know what most of you are thinking...I am crazy! There's just something about the freshness of folding the warm, right out of the dryer, clean clothes. I love it!

It is not just the clothes we wear on our backs that needs to be laundered. Our shirts are not the only thing that gets soiled, our minds and hearts do as well. Sometimes we just have to stop and sort out our own dirty laundry of the heart and apply the stain-out where needed.

If you profess to be a Christian, that does not mean that your life does not get soiled. Because it does. I know mine does, and most likely, yours does too. At least a little bit.

God’s Word comes with washing instructions. It tells us that all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God (Romans 3:23)… sin is the soiled laundry we need to keep washed clean.

Doing our spiritual laundry is easy, God's Word instructs us how to do it: God said that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness…

 “cleanse us from all unrighteousness”… (1 John 1:9)

Now that will get the laundry done! When we come to Jesus and confess our sins, our unrighteousness will be washed away like in a rinse cycle.

• that grape you ate as you walked by the fruit and vegetable stand at the grocery store ... your stealing will be washed away!
• that morning that you called in sick, when you really wanted to hit the big sale at your favorite department store ...your lies will be washed away!
• that morning that you were running late, and you cursed at the slow driver in front of you ... your loss of control will be washed away!

There is no such thing as the color gray when it comes to how we live our lives…it is either black with sin or whiter than snow, washed by the blood of the Lamb. God only sees our lives in black and white…we are either clean or dirty…and the only way to get into Heaven, to spend eternity with our Lord is to be clean!

Has your laundry been washed and is it whiter than snow? Apply the stain master today, apply His blood and you will surely be cleansed like never before!