Coming Soon...

I am so sorry I am running behind on writing this week. I enjoy writing but I have had to take care of a sick little one. I hope by tonight or tomorrow to post this week's study. It will be on Decluttering the mind, life and home.

Choose Today

My favorite movie is "Gone With the Wind." What I love a lot about the movie and Miss Scarlet, she has several flaws. And one of her flaws she still has at the end of the movie. As the love of her life leaves her, she says I cannot think about that today, I will think about it tomorrow. She chooses to put things off and deal with it at another time. Why not choose today?

I want to ask you a question. Have you been reading this blog? Have you been changing your choices? Are you listening to God as he speaks and are you obeying? Or are you waiting? Do you choose to wait? Are you waiting for tomorrow or the next day? Are choosing to put it off? Why not choose today?

Today, you will choose:

1. To talk to God.
2. To read God's Word.
3. To smile.
4. To exercise.
5. To play and have fun.
6. To find joy in God.
7. To eat something healthy.
8. To take fifteen to twenty minutes and do a quick pick up of the house.
9. To discuss and pray about my kids week with my kids.
10. To focus on your blessings.

You already may be griping about the long list. You can talk to God in the car, home or office. I will have scripture for you to read. Smiling comes from finding joy in God and thinking of the blessings in your life. You can exercise and play with the kids while picking up the house. Turn the laundry hamper and toy box into a basketball goal and play away while picking up. You have to eat, just make sure to eat some veggies and fruit. Your kids are going to tell you about the drama of the day. Just lead the discussion on how you can pray for them and find teachable moments in the discussion. It is not hard. It does not take that much time or add anything to your list. Choose today. No more waiting until tomorrow like Miss Scarlet.

Here is a scripture you can use to praise God for who He is and what He has done.

Psalm 96
1 Sing to the LORD a new song;sing to the LORD, all the earth.
2 Sing to the LORD, praise his name; proclaim his salvation day after day.
3 Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples.
4 For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;bring an offering and come into his courts.
9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness; tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, "The LORD reigns." The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity.
11 Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it;
12 let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy;
13 they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.

Choose Respect

Was it when you looked in the mirror, put on your clothes, fixed your hair, maybe even before you got out of bed, got mad at another, when did you roll your eyes at yourself? How many times in a day do you dislike something about yourself? How many times did it affect your mood?

Too many people, especially women, do not like themselves. You may not like the way you look, the way you act or where you are spiritually. You get mad and become your biggest critic. And some of you have been mad at yourself for so long, you may even be depressed. It is time to get out of this endless cycle of beating ourselves up and make choices that respect ourselves.

It doesn't matter if you are 100 lbs or 600 lbs. It doesn't matter if you picked up a bible yesterday or a year ago. It doesn't matter if the last vegetable you ate was last night or last week. It doesn't matter if your tongue slipped this morning or everyday. Today we will make a choice to respect ourselves. Today we will choose to treat ourselves like a child of God.

My dear sweet friend, you are a daughter or son of God. You are royalty. Your body, mind, heart and soul belong to God. Now, we have to choose to treat ourselves like we are God's child. It is time we should see ourselves as a child of God when we look in the mirror.

1. Choose to exercise, get rest and eat right.
We have discussed the importance of this in a previous blog. I want to say it again. You have to choice to take care of your physical body and health. It affects you. Not just risking the chance of a heart attack but your attitude. Daily exercise with the right nutrients helps you feel better. You have more energy and will be in a better mood. When you look in the mirror you will see a person who takes care of his/her physical health. You will gain respect for yourself.

2. Choose to fill your yourself carefully.
You have to limit the amount of worldly influence on your mind. Be very careful on what and how much you watch. We constantly hear about how skinny models and actors are providing a negative influence. But have you realized how much you might be comparing yourself or your life to a character on TV, in a book or in a movie. You compare your life to another one. You desire to have that spouse, that home, that affair. Your happiness with your own life is measured by how others seem happy in theirs (whether fiction or reality). It is a very sneaky trap that catches us and makes us unhappy with our own lives.
The only thing that is going to fill that emptiness is Christ, not another person or more stuff. You cannot experience true joy without Christ. You need to fill your mind with God's truth. You need to open your heart to God's love and refill it daily.
The longer you keep trying to fill that emptiness with other things, the longer you will feel miserable. You are God's child and need to be filled with your Father's love. It a precious gift from God. Take it.

3. Choose to see forgiveness.
You are human. You have a free will. You will mess up. But once you do, seek forgiveness from Christ and forgive yourself. Do not let the enemy hold it over your head. When you look in the mirror see God's forgiven child, not your past sins.

4. Choose to remember who you are.
When you look in the mirror today, remind yourself that you are a child of God. You are His princess/prince. Now, go live your life today as a child of God.

5. Choose to do these steps daily.
As you began to take care of yourself physically and spiritually, you will feel much better. You will respect yourself because you have made better choices as a child of God.

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!"

1 John 3:1

"5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;"

Romans 8:5-6

Choose love

You know you are to choose to love God with all your heart, soul and mind. You know you are to choose to love your neighbor and your enemies. But today I want to talk about choosing to let yourself be loved.

We want to be loved. Actually we desire greatly to be loved. Yet we have become really good at convincing ourselves we do not deserve to be loved or that no one really loves us. As crazy as it may sound, the reason we feel so unloved may be because of our own choice. (Now if you are in a mentally or physically abusive relationship, it is not your fault and you do not deserve it. You need to get of it and get help from family, friends and authorities if necessary.)

One choice that hinders us from feeling loved is choosing to only focus on how another does not show love to us. They may climb the highest mountain for us most days, but we only remember the time they left us in the pit. Be careful not to be good at only remembering the negative parts of your relationship. Choose to remember the times you know without a doubt they loved you.
In the movie, "Enchanted," a couple is going through a nasty, bitter divorce. Once someone else points out how sad is it that they have forgotten about their love, they finally remember that they love each other and why. Have you become like that couple in a relationship? Do you start to only see their faults in loving you that you stop letting them love you or let yourself be loved by them?

Another choice that hinders us from being loved is choosing to believe the lie of the enemy that we are unlovable. Your past is so bad and too many mistakes have been made that no one can ever really love you. My friend, that is a lie. Yes, you may have made mistakes. You need to seek forgiveness from those affected by your mistakes. But others will still love you. We are all sinners saved by grace. And part of that grace is love.
I want you to hear this loud and clear. No sin can separate you from God's love. He already showed you how much He loves you. Christ paid the price for your sins. He paid the price because He already knew you would make mistakes. He loved you so much that He was willing to take your punishment. He loved you then and loves you today and will love you tomorrow. Choose to believe God over the enemy. You are His daughter/son and He loves you.

When we do not get what we want, we sometimes choose to believe that God or some person does not love us . It may be infertility, finances, unemployment, losing your house or losing a loved one that keeps us from believing God loves us. All of those things are horrible. I am sorry you are facing those trials. Again, it is not because God does not love you. If God did not love you or me, he would have never died for us. God would let us take the punishment of death for our sins. We will face trails and challenges in this life, but those challenges do not reflect His love for us. A Heavenly Father who will comfort the brokenhearted, provide for those in need is how He reflects His love. You may never get the answer you want, but you have to choose to trust in Your Father's love and will for your life. Instead of denying His love, open yourself to receive His love that will help you through your suffering.

1. Choose to see how others love you even in little ways.
2. Choose to remember how much Christ loved you when He hung on the cross.
3. Choose to find strength in His love when facing trials.
4. Choose to feel your Father's arms around you.

Psalm 139
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

"1 O LORD, you have searched me

and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;

you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;

you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue

you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;

you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,

too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me

and the light become night around me,"

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;

the night will shine like the day,

for darkness is as light to you.
13 For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you

when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

were written in your book

before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!

How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand.

When I awake, I am still with you."

"35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:35-39

Choose Fun

When is the last time you ran around outside, went on a swing, slid down a slide, played dodgeball, had a silly relay race, colored a coloring book? When is the last time you did something you enjoyed as a kid?

We let life and the stress of life suck the joy out of it. We get too busy with too many responsibilities. And half the time we think we cannot do anything fun because we spent all our money on bills and debt. It is time you choose to have fun.

Turn off the TV and computer and grab your kids, friends and/or spouse for some fun. Play one of your favorite kid games outside. Enjoy the weather. Enjoy the laughing. Enjoy the exercise. Enjoy freedom from stress. Enjoy the fellowship of others. Choose to spend 20-30 minutes being a kid again.

Choosing to have some fun outside in the sun has so many benefits.
1. You are getting exercise which is great for your heart and health. (Great for stress and depression)
2. You are getting Vitamin D from the sun. (Great for stress and depression)
3. You are smiling and laughing which brings joy to others.
4. You are smiling and laughing which brings joy to your own life.
5. You are bonding and connecting with your children and/or spouse. (If done on a consistent basis can build a relationship that has more open communication.)
6. The memories of your fun will stick with you and bring a smile to your face on a stressful day.

Those benefits are too great too resist, so why not choose to have some fun? Let's schedule fun at least once a week. If you can, schedule 15-20 minutes of fun after school or dinner while the weather is nice outside. It is a choice so simple, so cheap, why not choose fun?

Your homework is easy, go have fun outside. Choose fun instead of dwelling on your worries and stress. Choose to enjoy the blessings of your family and friends by having fun with them.

Choose to Smile

Yesterday I decided we would focus on a simple choice, choosing to smile. This morning at 6:30 a.m., when my family of six was suppose to be leaving for school, our van was completely dead. It was too early and there was really no time to call for help. The six of us piled in our little Chevy Aveo; wheelchair, backpacks and all. So, before the sun rose this morning, I had a choice to make. And I had to choose to smile and almost laugh. (And had a family prayer because four kids touching for 45 minutes in a backseat could be dangerous.)

So why should I choose to smile? I have a right to be frustrated. Would it matter if I was frowning or smiling? My choosing to smile would have these results:

1. My kids, including my teenager, would stay calm and for the most part in pretty good spirits for sharing a little backseat.

2. As I began my day subbing, no one would know I had a bad morning. My smile may make them have a better day.

3. I cannot stay in a bad mood or let my stress take charge of my day if I am finding a reason to smile.

4. If I am going to get wrinkles, I do not want them to be ones from frowning.

5. Nobody wants to hear about an amazing God from someone who always has a frown or a grimace.

6. I should choose to smile because I am a sinner saved by grace and have a Heavenly Father who loves me.

It is Monday. Something will probably happen to ruin your day or week. But this time you will choose to still smile. Your face can show the world your stress or your face can show others the joy you have in Christ. Let's choose to smile :):):):):):):)


This is the passage I read this morning. The key verse was 34:19. It made me smile.

"1 I will extol the LORD at all times;

his praise will always be on my lips.
2 My soul will boast in the LORD;

let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the LORD with me;

let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me;

he delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to him are radiant;

their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man called, and the LORD heard him;

he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him,

and he delivers them.
8 Taste and see that the LORD is good;

blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear the LORD, you his saints,

for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,

but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
11 Come, my children, listen to me;

I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
12 Whoever of you loves life

and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil

and your lips from speaking lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good;

seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous

and his ears are attentive to their cry;
16 the face of the LORD is against those who do evil,

to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them;

he delivers them from all their troubles.
18 The LORD is close to the brokenhearted

and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 A righteous man may have many troubles,

but the LORD delivers him from them all;
20 he protects all his bones,

not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked;

the foes of the righteous will be condemned.
22 The LORD redeems his servants;

no one will be condemned who takes refuge in him."

Psalm 34

No Condemnation

To end this week, I want to review one thing. It does not matter how many bad choices you have made or how bad the choice was. God loves you and forgives you.

There is no condemnation in Christ. He will convict you of your sin so you will turn from it. But please, please remember there is no condemnation.

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:1

"17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" John 3:17

As we talked the other day, you need to confess and repent. Let the blood of Jesus wash you clean. Accept His grace and forgiveness. Please be sensitive to conviction of the Holy Spirit, but let the enemy have no hold by believing his condemnation.

My sweet friend, you are not worthless. You life is not a waste. Your past does not make it too late to live for Christ. Your mistakes do not make you a bad parent or spouse. Yes, you and I may have lost sight of God and His plan and purpose. We have fallen into a trap of worldly desires. We may have even hurt the ones we loved by our choices. But your Father is standing there with open arms. He loves you. He will forgive you. He will take our messes and use them and us to glorify Him. Even if you do not know how to, begin to pray. Just fall on your knees, fall on your face and humble yourself before God.

"26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will." Romans 8:26-27

"28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

My sweet friend, you were chosen by God. You were created in His image. Nothing you do will separate you from Him.

"29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:29-38

Hopefully, you already made the choice to make Christ the Lord of your life. (If not please contact me so we can talk.) Your biggest choice was to accept Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Now choose to accept that forgiveness. Choose to believe His word. Trust me, I know He can use someone who has made really bad choices. I am a sinner. I made too many bad choices. But I am a daughter of Christ. I have been forgiven. Now what was intended to tear my life apart, God is choosing to use to teach others. He never stopped loving me. He waited for me to return to Him. He is waiting for you. He wants you to choose Him first above everything else. He is not waiting to condemn, but to forgive. Let Him forgive. Let Him love you. Stop running because of the enemy's condemnation. Make the choice to accept forgiveness and live your life for Christ.

7 The law of the LORD is perfect,

reviving the soul.

The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy,

making wise the simple.
8 The precepts of the LORD are right,

giving joy to the heart.

The commands of the LORD are radiant,

giving light to the eyes.
9 The fear of the LORD is pure,

enduring forever.

The ordinances of the LORD are sure

and altogether righteous.
10 They are more precious than gold,

than much pure gold;

they are sweeter than honey,

than honey from the comb.
11 By them is your servant warned;

in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can discern his errors?

Forgive my hidden faults.
13 Keep your servant also from willful sins;

may they not rule over me.

Then will I be blameless,

innocent of great transgression.
14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be pleasing in your sight,

O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19: 7-14