Spin With Joy

Good Evening to All!

A quick announcement before we get started. As of Monday, I have signed up along with Families Again.com to read the complete New Testament in 3o days. I have Never read this much at one time in my life. I have read the Bible through in a year several times, but I'm the type of person who will start something, quit for a few weeks and then work like crazy to get caught up. This CANNOT BE DONE with this particular endeavor. I will actually have to stick with it no matter what. Please keep popping in with your encouragement. I will definitely need it.

The picture in the upper left is a new fun thing that I've joined into . It's also been introduced by Tim. Actually, I started from Redheadriter, but I think she started it from Tim. Anyway, it's also through Families Again.com This one is husband's being interviewed by their wives asking certain questions. Check it out ! It's pretty neat!

Tim, I want to thank you for inviting us to join you to sign up. This will not only increase my knowledge, (as every time I read the Bible I get a deeper meaning of everything), but it will also teach me discipline. So again I thank you.

If there is anyone else who would like to sign up, just go to Families Again.com and it will lead you to where to sign up and print out your reading schedule.

Also, I wanted to apologize if I have written this specific devotion before. While learning the ropes of blogging, I forgot that I should keep a record of the devotions I use so I wouldn't be redundant. Hopefully, there are some readers out there like me with short memories and won't remember reading this before. LOL! I will keep better records this year, I promise.

With that said, let's move on to :

Devotional: Spin With Joy

***I have a special announcement as of this a.m. (Friday) . I have been worrying and aggravated over my blogfrog widgets Recent Visitors and Community. For some reason, for about the last 2 or 3 weeks they wouldn't show up on my screen. Every one else could see them, but not I. All of a sudden, this morning I checked my blog and there they are! I had written to blog frog over a week ago and had gotten no reply. I checked after seeing the widgets on there this morning and there was still no e-mail. I don't know what happened in the natural world, but I think God saw how upset I was getting and fixed it. I didn't want to lose any of y'all who might have been trying to participate in my blog frog discussiions, I couldn't even participate because I couldn't see them. Anyway, ALL IS WELL with my BlogFrog! Yea! Redheadriter, I'm back in the "game"! Thank you Lord!

OK, I'm calm, I was dancing around, but I'm calm now. On with my message! Thank you.



Today's Seed: "This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalm 118:24

What a glorious day! What? It's raining? The forecast is for the rain to turn to sleet? Then to freezing rain? with a possible tow feet of snow by morning? So, what's the problem? What a glorious day! God mad this day. Let's embrace it and be joyful.

There are days, however, when we just don't feel like rejoicing. Our lives are out of sync, and we just want to crawl into our cave and hibernate. But that's the perfect day to reread today's seed, and know that God is always here for us.

Psalm 118 is a hymn of thanksgiving, rejoicing, over all God has done. It begins and ends with a call to praise, repeating this verse---"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever" (Psalm 118:1, 29). Repetition is always a clue that the repeated phrase is important.

The psalmist used this chapter to praise God for his many blessings. He thanked God for past blessings, for God's help with past struggles, for God's might, for God's love,m for everlasting life, for his salvation, and for God's light that shines on us all. The Psalms show us a great way to approach life.

With a little effort we can always find something fort which to be thankful. And thankfulness has a way of developing into joyful celebration. We'll be enveloped in God's love, and then we'll rejoice in that love like the psalmists. sun, rain, sleet, or snow, we can rejoice.

Dig Deeper: The Hebrew word for "rejoice" is guwl, which means to spin around under the influence of an emotion such as exceeding gladness, to be joyful. Allow your joyfulness to show.

Weed & Water: Each day is a gift from God. It's like a beautifully wrapped present, tied with a bow, just waiting for us to open and see what's inside. Children opening presents Christmas morning spin around in glee. It's so easy as adults to become self-conscious and to stop ourselves from expressing enthusiasm and joy. When no one is looking, try spinning around as you praise the Lord. You 'll probably end up laughing-- and that's the whole idea.

Sprout & Scatter: Perpetually pleasant people can be annoyingly fake. But the psalmist wasn't fake. He acknowledged his troubles, and then chose to focus on God's blessings. Next time things aren't going well or the weather isn't what you had hoped for, acknowledge your difficulties. Then try humming or singing this seed. Your joyful spirit can bring joy to others.

Think about it:

How can you show that you are rejoicing in the day God has created?

What can you do on those days when you just don't feel like rejoicing?


Prayer Pot:

Lord, I praise and thank you for.... ( insert your own praise and thanks)



Take Away Idea: Spin Around with Joy!



Good night and May God Bless!

Love & Prayers

Things To Remember

Daily Inspiration from the NIV

[An expert in the law] asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. The Samaritan went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him.... "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Luke 10:29-34, 36-37

My Thoughts about It All

I do love to read the Bible. The problem is, if you do not have a servant's heart (which we are not born with) we tend to wrestle with just about everything God tells us to do, especially if it takes us out of our comfort zone. Believe me, I know this first hand about myself. I'm good about praying for people, but when it comes to "going out of my way the majority of the time I fight myself over it. I'm truly getting better, but believe it or not, it is hard, but you know what? I think it's hard for me to overcome because I don't allow God to do His job which is to help me or to put what I need in my spirit to do what He wants me to do. I'm trying to do it by myself, and that never turns out right. I'm so busy praying for other people and asking God to intervene in this situation or that one, I forget to ask Him to work on me, so that when I help others I will be in His perfect will and result will come. I won't see change until I change. I won't change unless I ask God to help me change, It is then, I will receive the "Servant's spirit and attitude, which in turn will change my whole world.

My Pastor prays a scripture that I wish I would get into the habit of praying Every Morning before I rise out of bed; Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. I sincerely believe if I would start praying this scripture each day, I would see a change in me, my attitude and the world around me.

I know in today's world it is so scary to put ourselves out there, to be vulnerable to others. There are so many scam artists, thieves, and worse just waiting to get the chance do hurt unsuspecting people. I used to be a very trusting person, but now I can't say that. Years ago, I would have offered rides to anyone I saw walking down the road whether my husband was with me or not. Now, I stop for women and that's all . If a man is broke down, I'll ask him if I can call someone for him, but won't let him in my car. The person who did that is long gone. I loan money, but I don't expect it to be repaid, therefore I don't loan large amounts. I have turned into the person I said I never wanted to be. I saw people like this when I was growing up and remember thinking how selfish, that's cold not to pick them up, and so on. Now I understand, but I don't think God wants us to be skeptics. I keep thinking maybe if I pray about it first The problem with that is by the time I pray, I'm either past them or haven't gotten my answer, so I keep going. I did that the other day. I saw a man stranded on the side of the road, while I was headed to town. I live about 5 miles out. I kept on going. Then I started feeling guilty so I turned around and went back. He said he was waiting on a friend to pick him up so I left. What if I had kept going, and that was actually my chance to do what God wanted me to do? That would be disobeying God, especially if that little voice inside was telling me to stop. (which it was) and I kept going until the guilt hit. If I had not turned around, and something would have happened to that man, it would have been on my conscience for the rest of my life.

I chose these pictures for a reason. To me, the Lion stands for Jesus helping me to overcome obstacles which hinder me in doing His work. The Lamb is meek, which means having a "servant's attitude, and the cross of course is the price "the Lion or Lamb paid for me, thereby making me realize that if He can die for me I should be able to do His will for Him.

Now, remember, this is not a lecture. I guess you could call this a reflection of me looking back at me and mulling over what I need to do for my life to be better and make a difference in this world.

Good Night to All and May God Bless!

PJ

AFFIRMATION!

Image by SarahWynne via Flickr

Good Evening All!

The title of this picture is "The Lord is My Strength". Actually the verse showing is Psalm 46 which states: (1)God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. I love to read this verse when I am worried about things and don't know how things are going to turn out.

I would like to start off by saying, I love affirmations! I am just now starting my post because I have been on the Facebook Page called "The Bible". I tend to get carried away sometimes when I on there and don't look at the time. This page I think I told you about the other night. It's where people can go and discuss the Bible, or ask prayer requests or just Praise the Lord. Anyway, last night I was on there and there happened to be a lady who is an ordained preacher. Now, I know what your probably thinking and you'd be correct. The Bible does say for women to stay silent in church, but I thought to myself , who are we to judge, and personally, I enjoy listening to Joyce Meyers. Anyway, this other person comes on there blasting this poor woman for saying that she's ordained, when she doesn't even preach in a church. I chimed in trying to defend the preacher and another guy interjected, but he directed his comments to me, using foul language, accusing me of saying something about Satan writing the Bible, (where he got that from I have No idea) and all kinds of weird stuff. When the main thought I was talking about was Salvation, and how I had been told by a learned Bible studier that they understood that back in the old churches women sat on one side and men on the other. Sometimes women would holler across the room asking their husband's what the preacher meant when he said so and so, thus usurping the authority over a man, so the "command" came into being that women should be silent in the church. Now none of what I said just now came out of the Bible, it was what she had been told. Anyway, he got all bent out of shape about what I said. Tonight, the Verse affirms what happened last night. As it talks about being persecuted, and reviled and spoke falsely about, and spoke evil of for His Name, which is essentially what happened. Not all of that happend, but the filthy language,falsely accused, did occur. I was kind of proud of myself ( if I can say that). I didn't lose my cool, or get snooty back. I addressed my comment to the lady pastor, because she came to my defense, and just said that people who don't understand tend to "lash out in fear". LOL. The guy never did respond so I guess it made him stop and think.

Anyway, that page is really fun. I hope to see some of y'all join me there sometime. I think last night was a fluke. Tonight, everyone was either asking for prayer, advice, trying to help someone else, or just praising God and quoting scripture.

Have y'all noticed? I'm learning to add things to my Blog slowly, but surely. I need to sit down and start reading my "Blogging for Dummies" book that I got yesterday (I think). I need to start studying about keywords and that sort of stuff if I'm ever gonna get to start advertising in a couple of months. I want to be "on top of my game" when that time comes. Right now my posts are so "all over the place" it's hard to pick out key words, so I just choose them all. Can't go wrong that way I suppose. Not right now anyway.

I keep thinking I'm getting better, but then I look at my keywords and don't see much change. I'll get there I suppose. I see so many nice blogs that have a purpose, a mission, and then there's me. UH OH! Did that sound like a pity party starting? Nope! Not gonna happen! I'm gonna get this thing rolling one way or the other! I do have some passions I just don't know what I could do for them on here. As I said before, I used to teach Literacy and ESL to adults. I really enjoyed it, but I couldn't do that now because my husband likes to go on trips with very little notice. He's a "spur of the moment" kind of guy. Needless to say, I couldn't hold classes with any kind of dependability and I don't know what I could do for this cause on my blog. Any suggestions? Let me know . Hey if I were past the "ranking" stage, that would be a neat contest! Too Bad! Unfortunately, I still have until December 9, which will be 3 months.

It's close to midnight so I guess I'd better go before I turn into a pumpkin. Speaking of Pumpkins, a friend sent me the cutest e-mail about the beginning of Fall. It was comparing how to make a jack-o-lantern to how God takes care of His children. Talking about getting the pumpkin out of the pumpkin patch (the world) taking it in and washing it (baptism) cutting the top off and scooping out the Yucky stuff ( learning the Bible and how to live for God). It's really neat. If anyone would like a copy, let me know. I always keep my good e-mails for a long time.

Good night All and May God Bless!

PJ