Praise God

Just sending a praise God out to the fact that Ray has gotten a summer job at Home Depot. I am so blessed at this.

We are also having a visit in a couple of days from my in-laws. This is so exciting because we haven't seen them for a couple of years. Yea!!!

God's Thoughts

I am thinking of the scripture in Isaiah 55:8. God tells us that His thought and ways are not the same as ours. I understand this because I have seen the ways that He has worked in my life. First of all, when He comes and says that He want to provide for me, I am thinking physically but He is thinking spiritually. He want to give me spiritual wealth beyond anything I have ever heard. I may receive that financial wealth, but that is a blessing coming from my obedience in seeking after God.

He is wanting me to seek Him for Him not because of His provisions in my life. As a human, this can be hard to grasp. How do I separate my what I feel my needs are from what God want me to be pursuing? I am learning that by just praising God during your prayer time really opens up a new understanding in your mind. Don't ask Him for anything, just praise Him for who He is. Also, spend time daily studying His Word. I find that when I don't do this I start looking on my physical needs and circumstances instead of keeping my focus on God. Doing these two things have really helped my with my spiritual needs. I am also finding that I don't worry about my physical needs when I praise God for who He is and when I daily spend time learning about His Words.

God's grace is becoming a daily need in my life. I am learning that while I tend to think on a more physical level, God is thinking on a more spiritual level. When He states that His grace is sufficient to provide all my needs, He is talking about a whole lot more than the physical, financial, or mental needs of His people.

As I have been seeking God out more He has been showing me so many things about myself. Without out Him I am very selfish and focused on my physical needs. Even now I struggle with focusing on Him instead of my needs and wants. I am learning that when I focus my efforts on God and His glory that I can trust Him so much better than when I start wondering how we are going to buy food or gas with no money and we don't get paid for a week, or how we are going to pay the kids' school so that they can come back next year or how we are going to make it through the summer if we don't find summer jobs.

There are so many worries in today's world but I am understanding more why Jesus asks us to take His yolk and give Him our yolk. His yolk is so much easier to bear. When I focus on Him and what He has for me to do I can handle my problems so much easier because I am not worrying about them. In fact they are not my problems anymore, they are Jesus' problems. I don't have to worry anymore because no matter what happens Jesus is in charge and He has promised that He will never leave or forsake me.

I am excited about my life really; I am learning so much more since I decided that God is working for me and not against me. I am understanding so much more now that I realize that what is here now is not as important than what is eternal. I am learning to store up my treasures in heaven and not here on earth. I am learning to be heaven bound and not earth bound. To do God's will and not my own. Oh, I mess up often, but I thank God that He is forgiving and that I am learning.

Learning The Meaning of Giving All

Last night at church I learned a little more about what God expects of me as a Christian. It means giving him every part of myself. Can you believe that? I have to give him my family, my desires, my time, everything.

I have been struggling with this for some time now actually. God just brought it to the forefront last night. One of the of the girls told a story about an evangelist that she had heard who had given his all to God when he was a young man. God had called him to ministry and he had developed an awesome prayer life. The evangelist had given everything to God but would not give God his girlfriend. Everyday in prayer God would ask this young man to give up his girlfriend and he would refuse. One day the man noticed that his prayer life was becoming less full and he was pulling away from God, he got down on his knees and gave his girlfriend over to God that very day. God blessed him by giving him a full and gifted ministry that blesses people all over the world today.

The young women who shared this asked us all the question, "What is our 'girlfriend'? The one thing we are holding back from God?" God really used this to remind me that He should be my priority. I have been putting my mom before Him. He had asked me to give up my TV time with my mom several weeks ago to spend time with Him and my husband. I had been putting it off because I didn't want to offend my mom. God basically was asking me the question, "Are your mom's feelings more important than me?" I have given this up and am going to be spending the time with my God and my husband; to the best of my ability. I know that there are times I may fail, but it is my goal to make this time important to God and not to myself.

What is it that you are holding back from God? Give it to Him today and focus on Him in that area. You maybe surprised what He does in return.

God's Blessing in May

God brought a blessing of more work for Ray this month. He has two free lance interpreting jobs. One is for two weekends and will end up being around $300 and the other is a wedding and will be about $150 altogether. God is so good. He can bless us out of no where and for no reason except that He is God.