Coffee with my Father

Are you a coffee drinker? I am. I jokingly call myself a "serious coffee drinker" because my travel cup can hold almost half the amount of my coffee pot. It's usually the only cup I drink coffee out of, whether I'm on the go or not. It's awesome! It holds a LOT. It has a good tight fitting,closable (is that a word?) lid so that it is hard to spill. I love my cup. I love my coffee even more. I HATE starting my day without it. It seems that they never go right unless they are started with a hot cup of coffee. Can anybody our there identify with that?
Wouldn't it be great if we felt the same way about God's Word and His presence and His communion with us? Wouldn't it be awesome if the first thing we did each day was to run to God the way we run to our coffee makers. Some of us (me) set our alarms to go off early just so we can make sure to get the coffee in us. I wonder how my life would change if I made the same effort to get His word in me. I wonder how your life would change?
Today I encourage you to run to God. Don't panic... I'm not asking you to give up your coffee time. But why not sit down and share it with your Father. I think I will.

Trusting in HIM,
Shilrey

Caller ID

One of the MANY times my phone rang yesterday, I was busy. Okay, many of the times that it rang I was busy. But this one time, as I checked my caller ID and hit "ignore" again, I had a thought. We work our lives a lot like we work our phones. So many times when we don't want to hear something, we just hit 'ignore'. I wonder how many blessings I have missed by hitting the ignore button. I wonder how many you have missed. I wonder how many times that our Father has tried to get through to us, only to have us ignore Him. Too many to count, I am sure. We are all so busy running our own lives the way we think is best. If we were to just ask for and receive His guidance, life would be much simpler for us all.
It isn't always easy to listen to the LORD and to be obedient. In fact, it is almost NEVER easy. But it is always worth it. And when we do it we are always blessed and He is always glorified!
Promise yourself that today when He calls, no matter how busy you are, you will take the time to answer Him and hear Him and follow Him. If you don't, you may miss a blessing and a chance to glorify your LORD! But be encouraged, He is merciful and will always continue to call us, right up until our last breath.
Trusting in HIM,
Shirley

Growing Pains

When you were a child in your bed in the dark, when everything was still and quiet, did you ever have those leg pains that made you want too cry and scream? To the best of my remembrance, I had none of those but my children have nights like that. My husband says that, he too suffered from this ailment. My best friend's daughter has had these pains for years. They are called growing pains. Apparently you get these pains during the times in your life when your body is growing quickly. The pain isn't necessarily caused by the growth itself but rather, it is muscle pain caused from the normal activities of the day. Things that kids do...like running, jumping, climbing and the like. They say not to limit the normal daily activities but to give a OTC pain reliever before bed.
Nope, this is no medical blog. I was just thinking about the whole concept of growing pains and how our lives as children of God are a lot like that. In those times when we are the most active in our Christian lives, the enemy tries his very best to slow us down. He throws out every stumbling block you can imagine to try and make us fall. But our LORD promises us that when we trust in Him, He will not let us fall! (For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt thou not deliver my soul from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living? Psalms 56:13/ For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. Psalms 116:8)I realize that sometimes that is easier said than done. Sometimes, in our toughest of trials, we cry out to God and hear nothing in return. It isn't that He isn't listening. He's always watching over us. He hears every word we think and every word we speak. He hears every cry we utter and every desperate plea we make. And He ALWAYS answers. But His time is not our time. You may cry out for deliverance right now and His response may not be to just reach down and pull you from the fire. He may just stand by your side in the furnace and protect you from the flames! (Daniel 3:17-27) But, child of God, one thing is for certain, He is always with us and when we trust in Him, He will always bring us through the fire. When we trust Him to be with us in our trials and to get us safely through them, we always come out on the other side having grown closer with our LORD and our faith in Him will have grown stronger.
The growing may require us to go through some pain; But, child of God, be encouraged! Our Father is ALWAYS there going through it with us! So, just like a child shouldn't stop running and jumping and playing because of growing pains, neither should a child of God stop running the race. Just keep on going and trust the victory to Him!

Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His Glory with exceeding joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever, Amen.
Jude 1:25

Trusting in HIM,
Shirley

Out of it

Have you ever listened to these Christian songs about how God can fix it and get you through it (no matter what the IT is) and bring you out a brand spanking new person on the other side of any trial? If you are a Christian, I am sure that you have heard and enjoyed many such songs...as have I. But lately every time I hear these songs I think to myself, "This guy (or girl) can not possibly have gone through any such trial. They obviously have never felt the way I feel right now. They have no clue what they are singing about!" Have any of you ever felt that way? Okay, maybe you have never said it aloud, but have you ever thought it?
Well, not so long after I had this angry thought, The Lord spoke to me. He said, "Had they not gone through a trial, there would have been no song."
I guess they do know what they are singing about after all. The guy (or girl) behind that microphone has been through their share of tough times. And out of the raging storm came a song; A song about how God is always faithful to His word and to His children. He is not a man that he should lie. He will NEVER leave us or forsake us... even in the midst of the toughest trial. Even when we can't hear Him or see Him or feel Him in anything, He is ALWAYS there. Sometimes He is our silent strength, but He is always our strength.

Just so you know....I am expectantly awaiting my very own song. I pray it comes soon.
Trusting in Him,
Shirley

Starting Over

I have had a home school blog for a few years now. Today I deleted it. I am no longer home schooling my kids. It turned out to be more than I could handle. Tomorrow is their first day at a local Christian School. This was NOT easy for me.
It just didn't seem right to be a home school blogger and not be a home school mom. So I'm starting all over again.
My life revolves around my LORD, My husband and my four children. I love being a wife and mother and I love being a child of God. None of these is always easy and they all require constant work but I wouldn't have it any other way.
I look forward to meeting new blogging buddies and learning new things as I start all over again.
I'll be browsing your blogs and leaving a trail of my thoughts along the way. I hope you will come back and visit my little corner of the big wide web often.
God bless you...happy blogging!
Trusting in HIM,
Shirley