I received this in an email so I can’t credit the author. I liked it and wanted to share it with you.

Top 10 Predictions No Matter What Happens in the World

1.  The Bible will still have all the answers.
2.  Prayer will still work.
3.  The Holy Spirit will still move.
4.  God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
5.  There will still be God-anointed preaching.
6.  There will still be singing of praise to God.
7.  God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
8.  There will still be room at the Cross.
9.  Jesus will still love you.
10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him.
and God approves this message!

ISN’T IT GREAT TO KNOW WHO IS REALLY IN CHARGE

Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. Hebrews 10:36

Wool felts with water and agitation which causes the scales on the wool to swell, rub against each other and bind together. This process creates a denser, shrunken fabric. Felting is the name of the process that give us the finished product.

Have you ever noticed in Bible stories that a person is often put in situations that can be described as “agitating”, often “rubbing against” someone or something? In the end they become stronger in Lord.

Think about King David. Before he slew Goliath, became king he was shepherd boy. How did David know he could take down Goliath? By the many years he spent protecting the sheep from wolves, bears and other torments. He had been in danger, in agitating situations, many times and had learned how to handle himself.

What about Shadrach, Meshach and Abendnego? Imagine the agitation they felt standing in a firey furnace.

Ruth went through the loss of her husband, leaving her family and hometown. She cared for her mother in law and moved to a country where she was an unwanted foreigner. She went on to be a part of the lineage of Jesus Christ.

What other Bible persons can you name? How about persons in your life you have witnessed experience this “felting” in their life? How have you been “felted”?

Can these discouraging periods of our times remove us from God? Read Romans 8:35-39 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other crated thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Are you “felted” into Jesus?

If you would like to try your hand at felting check out some of these links:

Make a heart necklace   click here

Make a laptop sleeve    click here

Make a guitar strap      click here

I have hidden your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you.   Psalm 119:11 NIV

I received this in an email recently and the fluff in my head started whirling around thinking about it. Read it, then check out my thoughts:

CELL PHONE vs. BIBLE
I wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cellphone?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we flipped through it several time a day?
What if we turned back to go get it if we forgot it?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn’t live without it?
What if we gave it to Kids as gifts?
What if we used it when we traveled?
What if we used it in case of emergency?
This is something to make you go….hmm..where is my Bible?
Oh, and one more thing. Unlike our cell phone, we don’t have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill.
Makes you stop and think ‘where are my priorities?
And no dropped calls!

With the advances in technology today I keep my cell phone AND my Bible with me all the time. My Bible is on my cell phone. It can also go on a PDA, Pocket PC and/or your computer.  Of course the question then becomes, which do you use more often?  Hmmmm, What if I used half as many minutes in my Bible as I do using the voice portion of the phone? OK, the fluff in my head just got all knotted up. I wasn’t even going that direction when I started this blog entry!! How can I possibly use the excuse “I don’t have time” when I don’t even have to go looking for my Bible? If you are like me you have no trouble locating your cell phone. So, what would prevent me from studying? That would have to lay completely at my own heart. If there is time to talk to friends and family maybe I need to make it a point to take time to talk to my Father, Lord and Savior.  I think I need to stop and think about this.    But in the meantime, if you’d like to add the Bible to your PC, PDA or Cell Phone click on the link below. Laridian offers several translations as well as commentaries, Bible Studies, devotionals and a memorization program. Priced very reasonably and easily downloadable the program keeps God’s Word very close to your heart, your ear, your eyes and your hands.

Click here

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. Mark 16:6NIV

  It was a quiet Sunday morning. Three women are walking to the tomb of Jesus (Mark 16:1).  They are carrying spices to prepare the deceased body of Jesus.They haven’t even considered how they were going to roll the large stone away. They only knew they had a job to do and they set out to do it. That part of the story amazes me.   When they arrived the saw an angle who told them Christ had risen just as He said He would. The angel told them to go “tell the disciples and Peter”.  This passage is so encouraging.  Peter was a disciple so why was he singled out? I believe it is because Peter needed the reassurance after doing as Jesus predicted by denying He was with the Lord.  These two events remind me that God is in the little things. He makes note of all the small details in our lives.  I praise God for His eternity, for His blessings, for the risen savior. The tomb is empty. He Is Risen. He is risen, indeed.

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome brought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’ “      Mark 16:1-7 NIV

Praying you will have a Easter filled with blessing from the risen savior.  Happy Easter.

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.  Ephesians 5:8

I have never been one to like darkness. I don’t like to drive in the dark, I don’t like dark rooms. As a child I always had my teddy bear and a night light.  Today I have teddy bears all around my room and I still have a night light of sorts. There is the light illuminating from the digital clock. There is light flowing in the through the doorway from the kitchen. There is even a small glow of light from coming from the Wii, the cable box, my electric toothbrush in the adjoining bathroom and from my cell phone.

  In the world there is much darkness; the darkness of sin. Jesus said ,”I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” John 8:12.  We have a responsibility to this Light. We are commanded to “Bear witness of the Light that all may believe.” Jon 1:7.

A light cannot be overtaken by darkness, but darkness can be overtaken by light.  Walk into a room of absolute darkness. Light a candle in one corner of the room. That light can be seen throughout the room. As christians it is our duty to be “the light of the world” in Matthew 5:14.  Now with that candle burning, try to make the darkness distinguish it.  You cannot do it.

Your good deeds done in the name of God will make others praise Him according to Matthew 5:16. It is not our job to save people, that is Christ’s responsibility. It is our duty to bear witness of Him that is the way, the truth and the life (Matthew 14:6).

Take your teddy bear and your candle and be reminded that we are not trapped in darkness.

And God will generously provide all you need. 2 Cor 9:8 NLT

A recent post by Victoria Gaines at Windows to My Soul got my mind whirling.  She talks about a friend asking for prayer and making a long list of needs.  Victoria comments we must focus on Him alone.  It reminded me of a simple action of my grandson one day and reminded me of how I forget to focus on Him.

Weston wanted an ice cream treat, and being a good grandma I agreed.  I went to the freezer to get his treat but in the meantime he had started to play a game of spin around. I was holding out the ice cream for him to take but he didn’t see me. He wasn’t looking at me. He was busy spinning and reciting the ABCs.

I wonder how often do we do that to God. You need something and you pray for it, then you turn away from God’s face. You start to worry, you fret. You wring your hands and start looking for ways to solve the problem yourself. (I know this scenario very well, I have experienced it numerous times first hand).

In the meantime God is waiting with His hands out, offering you the resolution. But you can’t see that offered hand because you are busy worrying. 

I am reading the Max Lucado book “ Every Day Deserves a Chance ” and he repeats a phrase I have heard on many occasions. “When you worry you do not pray. When you pray you do not worry.” You cannot do both at the same. Are you spinning around in circles reciting your list of unmet needs?  Or are you standing in His presence ready to receive His gift?

And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory. Phil 4:19 KJV

To get your copy of Max Lucado’s book and help support Bear Witness, click on the link below.

Every Day Deserves a Chance Doesn’t every day deserve a chance to be a good day? An opportunity? A shot? A tryout? An audition? A swing at the plate? After all: “This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.” But what of those days when traffic snarls, airports close, friends forget, and spouses complain? Or divorce days, final exam days, surgery days, tax days, or even days when the cemetery dirt is still fresh? “Yes, every day,” says best-selling author Max Lucado. In Every Day Deserves a Chance he unpacks Jesus’ delightful formula for upgrading each of your days to blue ribbon status: saturate your day in Jesus’ grace; entrust your day to His oversight; accept His direction. Grace. Oversight. Direction. G-O-D. The perfect prescription for filling your day with divine power and giving every day a chance.

 

 

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Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 2Cor 1:3

I suffer chronic back pain that on occasion makes it difficult to move.  As this condition has continued I have learned more and more that no one on earth can truly comfort me. I can cry in my husband’s arms when the pain is extremely high but the comfort he can give me is very limited. Others who see me during these times try to say the right words but those words are often more discouraging.

One day I was in extreme pain. As I lay in bed and cried into my pillow holding tight to my favorite teddy bear, I prayed for comfort. I could the hands of Jesus on my back, offering the comfort that only He can give.

Today I found a wonderful post at "Windows to My Soul", a blogspot entry, that was very encouraging. She reminds us that true comfort can only come from our Lord and Savior. Click here to view her post.

I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my permanent promise to you and to all the earth.  Gen 9:13

Minneapolis is certainly not the first place I would volunteer to go to in February, but I am certainly glad that I did.  After spending two days at the Mall of America sharing in the many demonstrations, activities, and fun shared with the people of Knit-Out 2008, we headed back to Kansas City.

Driving back to Kansas City was slow as snow blew across the road and there were icy patches, but Reed is an excellent driver.  I was intrigued by the rainbow that was off to the right and visible each time the snow cleared. I believe it was a sign from God guiding us safely home. It was a beautiful site emerging from the stark white of snow blowing until we could barely see. The rainbow continued to follow us until we passed through the storm. A reminder God is with us always.

We arrived, tired yet energized. Here are some Iowa sky pictures of the trip home.

There was a disciple named Dorcas who was always doing good    Acts 9:13

Tara Lacher  learned how to knit and her caring heart took over.  She picked up some pink yarn, knitted a scarf and sent it anonymously to a cancer friend. From there she sent pink scarves to people she read of in her local newspaper or heard about through friends and others. Each one was sent without her name mentioned, given completely out of love.

One day a friend learned of her friendly actions and word made it to the local newspaper. An article was run about her and others joined in the scarf making. All scarves are pink and go to cancer patients.  Word spread of her selfless act. One patient at the local hospital was receiving her chemo therapy when she asked the nurse about her scarf." I know I should be getting one, do you have any idea when it will be ", she asked.

Tara later found out she had cancer. A pink scarf was needed by the scarf lady. Following treatment Tara is now cancer free and has has formed a non-profit corporation "Hands to Heart" as she continues making scarves.  She has received many notes of thanks for her pink scarf, including one from Elizabeth Edwards, wife of John Edwards.

I found Tara’s enthusiasm for life to be infectious. She was such a pleasure to be around. It was interesting she only knew the knit stitch, but by the time Georgia took her under wing during a night of knitting following the Knit-Out sessions she could do a stockinette stitch with great ease.

For more information or to donate a scarf, check out the web site at http://www.mypinkscarf.com .