THANKFUL THURSDAY...sweet tooth

Do you have a sweet tooth?

If you put a dish of m&m's or snickers in front of me, I just can't stop at one. I know that is suppose to be for Lay's potato chips, but it also works for chocolate!

My love for sweets, particularly chocolate, stems from a desire I had at a very young age. For as long as I can remember, I never liked the taste of milk. White milk that is. The only way, as a child, that I would drink milk is if I could sweeten it with some chocolate. I loved me some chocolate milk. Still do.

But like most good things, it wasn't long before I realized that all of that sugar and chocolate was not good for me. Too much sugar can lead to problems such as tooth decay, obesity or even diabetes. Truth is if we have too much sugar and not enough milk in our lives, we become unhealthy!

"As newborn babies, desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow." 1 Peter 2:2

As I grow older, I am slowly realizing the importance of drinking more milk and eating less sweets. Milk contains important nutrients that cannot be obtained by sweet things. The vitamin D and the calcium found in milk is exactly what is needed for my bones to remain strong. If I only eat the sweet things and neglect the things that are needed to keep me healthy and strong, it will only be a matter of time before I become weak, frail and broken.

Spiritually speaking, we are the same. Just like a baby who needs milk to grow and just like how we need the nutrients from the milk to remain strong, we also need spiritual milk to keep us growing spiritually. We need to limit the sweet stuff. You know, the sweet temptations that keep us from growing in Christ.

We all need to feast on more milk, or the Word of God. It contains the nutrients that we need to grow spiritually. Without His Milk, we will become weak, frail and broken Christians.

Are you getting enough of His nutrients to be strong or are you giving in too much to your sweet tooth?

Today is THANKFUL THURSDAY and I am so thankful that God's Word contains all of the sweet flavors needed to sustain me. His Word fulfills. It satisfies. And it keeps me strong and healthy. What are you thankful for? Join your grateful heart with ours over at GRACEALONE. Iris is hosting TT this month!

Sheep among the wolves

When God sends us out, it isn't always easy. He doesn't just sent us out to labor among a bed of roses. Sometimes, we are among the wolves. And if you know anything about wolves, you know that they are hungry and they will devour if given the chance.

“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” (Matthew 10:16)

Wolves prowl, especially at night, they look and they wait for the chance to pounce. They know what they are looking for, they can smell their bait for miles away. Christians need to be warned that there is not only sheep among us but also wolves. Sometimes it is difficult to tell them apart, for the wolves sometimes dress up as sheep to fool us.

Sometimes the wolves dress up as sheep in order to persuade others to follow them. And at other times, sheep will dress up as wolves so they can take charge, manipulate and deceive others. It is not our job to change wolves into sheep. We are, however, given a charge to bring forth the wolves and allow the Shepherd to transform them into lambs.

I find it mind boggling how easily people are tricked. Even though God's Word warns them of it, they are still misguided and easily lured into falling for deception and untruths. This happens because who we see as the sheep really are just wolves in disguise. A disguised wolf is a great danger to the flock.

How can we tell the wolves from the sheep?

The wolves will snarl, hiss and bite. The sheep graze peacefully. I don't know about you, but I have come across a few wolves along the way and it is not easy to fend them off at times. But we must remember that God never promised us a rose garden. He never said it would be easy. In fact, He said that trials and tribulation would come our way and that the enemy would come to kill, steal and destroy. And the best way he does that is using trickery. Deceit. Lies. Manipulation. Confusion.

When you face the snarling wolves, and you will, remember what Jesus said in John 15:20:

"If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you!"

Who are they?
The wolves disguised in sheep clothing could possibly be those closest to you:

LUKE 21:16,17 "You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake."

But if you continue reading in Luke 21, you will find God's promise..."But not a hair on your head will perish." Your faithfulness to Him will be rewarded. He will protect us from the pack of wolves and if we will turn around and love our enemies, we just may be able to lead the pack to the Shepherd.

Do not fear, if God could conquer the grave, a few little wolves won't scare Him. He can silence those that set out to hurt His children. But we must be awake and alert to tell the difference between the sheep and the wolves so that we will not be deceived.

Are you ready for the pack?

A PIECE OF MY HEART...His best piece

When I think about masterpieces, I can't help but think about our trip we took to Europe for our 25th anniversary a few years ago. One of the stops we made was Paris, and when we went to visit the Louvre in Paris, we saw plenty of masterpieces!

But what makes a masterpiece anyway?

To me, a masterpiece reveals an artists best piece of art. As we viewed different art pieces at the Louvre, I discovered that artist Leonardo Da Vinci painted over 20 paintings. But yet he is most known for only one painting. That would be his masterpiece. The Mona Lisa.

Inside the art museum, you could easily walk up and view Da Vinci's art. Much of his art was displayed on a wall that you could get up close and view. But viewing his masterpiece was much different. The Mona Lisa was held in a private room. Guards stood in front of the painting and the great masterpiece was roped off and visitors could only get so close to it. If you tried to step past the rope or if you tried to take a picture of the great masterpiece, the guards were right on you. No other piece of art had such attention. I guess that is the difference between a piece of art and an artists best ... a masterpiece.

If we could find God's best piece of art or His masterpiece, we wouldn't have to go far. We wouldn't have to go all the way to Paris or even visit an art museum. All we would have to do is look in the mirror. The mirror is where you can find His greatest masterpiece of all.

EPHESIANS 2:10 "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

So if we are His greatest piece, His workmanship....are we protecting His masterpiece or are we being careless with it?

May we all realize the treasure that God sees in each of us. He has created each of us with such care and no two masterpieces are the same. Like the guards on duty at the Louvre, we must also guard and protect the image that our masterpiece portrays.

And this has been a piece of my heart today;

Let Go!

Have you ever noticed how we like to hang onto things?

All I have to do is look in my closet and see how I like to hang onto old clothes and old shoes. Things that I don't wear or need any longer are the hardest things to let go of.

It's not just things we wear that we hold onto. My husband has newspapers about Superbowl winnings from years ago. I cannot understand why he holds onto those things. It's not like they are worth any thing and what purpose does it serve to hang onto them?

In life, we sometimes hang onto things that cause us harm. Old shoes and newspapers from decades ago probably would not fall into this category. But we as humans tend to hang onto old habits and bad memories that tend to bring harm to us.

This past week, I heard a preacher tell the following story:

As a young child, he went to the driving range with his dad. While he was too young to actually hit the balls, to give him something to do, his father let him go to the ball machine to fill the bucket full of golf balls. The young boy excitedly went to the ball machine, set the pail down and hit the button that dropped down the balls. As the balls filled up the bucket, he noticed one ball got loose and instead of dropping into the bucket it dropped down to the bottom of the machine. As any young boy would do, the preacher shared how he didn't want any balls to get away, so he reached down into the hole of the machine to retrieve that lost ball. Except for alittle problem...when he tried to pull his hand back out of the hole, it was stuck. Panicked, he started to holler. His mom came running to see what was the matter. As others gathered around him, they could see that his hand was stuck in the machine. Until one very smart individual asked,"do you have the ball in your hand?" To which the boy replied, "Yes, I have the ball!" Then he was told to "Let go of the ball!" So he did. And he was able to pull his hand right out of the hole.

Why is it so hard for us to let go of things? We are like the little preacher boy, we can't escape bad things in our life because we are holding onto the things that keep us trapped. We must learn to "let go" and just "let God!"

Psalm 25:2 "O my God , I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me."

WHAT ARE YOU HOLDING ON TO?
Try letting go and see what God can do!

THANKFUL THURSDAY...shhh - can you hear it?

Sometimes I am not a very good listener. I blame it on my age and I say I didn't hear it, but I often wonder if that is true or if I just have a short attention span. Often times, my family has to repeat things more than once to me. I am just not a good listener at times.

At times, we don't hear, because we don't listen. I read a story recently that illustrates this thought perfectly:

A man lost his watch while working in a ice house. He searched diligently for his watch, carefully shifting through the sawdust, but to no prevail did he find his watch. His co-workers also searched for his watch, but they came up with nothing.

While the men took a lunch break, a young boy who had heard about the lost watch slipped into the ice house to search for the lost watch. After just a short time, the boy came out of the ice-house with the watch in his hand.

The men were all astonished that the young boy found what they could not. They asked him, "How did you find it?" The boy replied, " I laid down in the sawdust and kept very still. In the quietness, I heard the watch ticking."

I have found that life can be so hectic and we can become so consumed with things that distract us that it is difficult to find time to slow down and just be still. Have you ever wondered why Jesus went to be alone with His Father? He secluded Himself so He could focus completely on what His Father had to say to Him.

It was never a question of whether or not God was speaking, because He was. Jesus just made a point of listening. The question for us is not whether or not God is speaking but are we willing to listen? We might need to remove some distractions and get quiet before God so we can hear Him.

Psalms 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

When is the last time you laid down in the sawdust prayer closet and just listened? If you get still before Him, you might be able to hear something of importance.

Today, on THANKFUL THURSDAY, I am so grateful for the voice of God. May we quiet down so we can hear His voice among all of the other voices calling out to us. Shh! Can you hear it?

IRIS is our TT host this month. Please join your grateful heart with ours by linking up over there.

Sink or swim!

"And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water." Matthew 14:28

The disciples were in a boat when Jesus came walking towards them on the water. The Bible says that Peter called out to Jesus:

"Lord, if it is You, bid me to come to you on the water."

So, Jesus told him to come and Peter walked on the water. But only for a moment. When he began to look around and see the winds whipping around he began to sink. Once this happened, Peter cried out to Jesus to save him.

I have thought about this story so many times and at times I have associated myself with Peter. Look at what happens to Peters faith:

He had enough faith to call out to Jesus and ask Him to let him come to Him. At the word of Jesus, Peter stepped onto the water. When Peter began to sink, he had enough faith to cry out for Jesus to save him. But the point where his faith weakens is when Peter looks around and sees the "storm".

How many times have I been like Peter?

 I have enough faith in God to step into the water. My faith is even great enough when I feel like I am sinking to cry out to Him to help me, but when I begin to look around and see the crashing waves, this is when my faith weakens. It is not the beginning or the end of the storm, but it is the middle.

It is easy to trust when we take our first steps, but when the storm comes crashing in, our faith soon diminishes when we wonder if we are going to be able to keep afloat. It is much easier to walk TO Him then to walk WITH Him in the water.

It makes me wonder if we forget who is in the water with us?

Did Peter forget Who was with Him? Jesus even asked him why he doubted. It is in the doubting moment that we lose our balance and begin to sink. We need to learn to not only trust Him in the boat, but when we step out in faith and even when the storms come crashing in. He is with us during every step, and He will not fail us, not even when we are in the middle of a storm!

A PIECE OF MY HEART...do I know you?

Have you ever had someone come up and ask you, "Don't I know you?" Something about the person seems familiar but you are not sure if you know them or not. Sometimes something triggers a memory and you share a moment of reflection with each other.

Lately, I have had to ask myself this very question in regard to some relationships I have..."Do I know you?" People who I have known for years have turned out to be something other than what I thought. I thought that I knew them, but in reality, I didn't know them at all.

This reality check has caused me to wonder, "do we really know anyone at all?"

How many of us truly are what we say we are?

Sometimes it is difficult for us to show people the "real" us. But I have always said that it only takes a matter of time before the real person comes to surface. We can only hide our true identity for a season. Eventually what is in our heart and in our mind will come to surface. And when the real "us" comes to life, it can either be something beautiful or it can be the green eyed monster.

"Oh Lord, You have searched me and You know me." PSALMS 139:1

We can fool others about who we really are, but we can never fool God. He sees the dark places of our hearts. He knows every thought. Every thing that is spoken or done in private. He knows the real us. He doesn't need to ask "do I know you?" because He knows every intricate thing about us.

I don't know about you, but knowing God has heard every word I have spoken and seen every deed I have done, makes me peel the mask off. It causes me to be real. Genuine. It propels me to be an authentic Christian.

The world is full of imitations, and when someone stops me and asks, "Do I know you?", I hope my answer can be "yes, you know EXACTLY who I am."

and this has been a piece of my heart today;