Lamentations 3: 22 &23

Lamentations:-22-23

It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.

Thank You Heavenly Father, King of King and Lord of Lords, My Saviour!
Joan

"Humble"

The bible has much to say about being humble or humility. Just a couple of verses are

II Chronicles 7:14
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. or

I Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.

But what does humble actually mean or how do we be humble. We are suppose to be humble, but how can we truly be humble if we don't really know what it means or understand the meaning of being humble. The dictionary gives the definition as "not proud or arrogant".Thats an okay definition but I have always wanted a better one to make the scriptures come alive more about being humble.

I am reading another book(I finished the last one) by Donna Partow "Let Your Life Count" and she gave the best definition of humble that I have ever heard.

"Humility isn't thinking less of yourself, it's thinking or yourself less." WOW(As Bro. Tim Gilliam says).

I don't know about you but this spoke volumes to me on what being humble meant and now I can better apply the scriptures to my life because I understand this 6 let word better. I trust you will see the scriptures differently that reference humble or humility as I have with our new definition.

It's All About HIM
Joan

Happy Mothers Day

I hope all you mothers had a wonderful Mothers Day today. What a honor that it is to be allowed to be a mother. God does not allow every female to become a mother and He and He alone chooses who He blesses with this honor.

I went to a ladies conference locally Friday night and Saturday and the speaker which is a retired school teacher and a grandmother made a comment that I thought was very fitting to dwell on for mothers day. " I want to watch what I feed the grandchildren and make sure I give them a healthy diet" now she was not talking about food that we eat. Don't get me wrong that is important, what he literally feed our children or grandchildren, too. We should probably aim for a healthy diet. But her point was on what we do and put in front of them. What examples are we setting in front of those little impressionable minds. I had not ever thought about it as "feeding". But it is feeding, what are feeding them with books we read, tv we let them watch, or the tv we watch in front ot them, the places we go, the places we let them go, our actions, their schooling, their and our church attendance...... the list could go on and on.

Now, I have a lot of regrets on what I did or didn't do when my children were in the home, but I can't go back and God worked in spite of my poor decisions. I wish I had been more serious about the Lord, I wishI had studied the bible more, I wish I had taught them more scritpures, I wish....But I can't reraise them, but inspite of me God worked anyway and I give Him all the praise for my children in how He raised them.

Trust me those 18 -20 years will be gone before you know it and your opportunity to train them up for God will be gone. Enjoy every moment and every stage because they really are precious and truely a gift from God above.

Nikki and Jesse, I love you both more than life itself and am honored to be your mother. I enjoyed every moment we had together as our family of four. But I enjoy you both as adults and watching God use you both and grow you into what He wants. Both of you have been a gift from God that He allowed for a little while to live in our home and to try to raise you for HIM. I am proud of you both and I love you. Thank You for putting up with me as your mom.

It's all about HIM
Joan

What Are You Reading?

Besides the bible for all you book lovers out there, what are you reading? I enjoy books, and I enjoy reading. I like going to book stores, used book stores and the library. How about you?

As Alan and I travel, well maybe I should say as he goes to preach revivals, and camp meetings and I tag along. There are a few things that we like to do, checking out old cemeteries, new restaurants- especially good ones or ones we have seen on tv. I like to see new things and go different places, but since he must prepare to preach we do not do a lot of that. But we both like to read and enjoy checking out book stores all over the country. We have found a $5 Christian bookstore in Commerce, Ga that we like to stop at while we are traveling through. Since we only get that way 3-4 times a year we buy way more than we need or could possibly read until we get back there. But chasing books is better than chasing women/men as I heard one preacher say.

So I thought I could share with you what I have just read, and what I am currently reading. I just completed a book by Sheila Walsh " God Has A Dream For Your Life" She uses stories from The Wizard of Oz, World Vision, her family, and the Bible to help women catch a vision for God's love for them and His desire to work through them, freeing them to dream again.

I am currently reading Patsy Clairmonts book "I Grew Up Little". This book is Patsy Clairmont's autobiography, where she talks about her family, how she met her husband, her speaking ministry, friendships, and her struggle with agoraphobia, anxiety, and depression."

Enjoy your time in your lazy chair, or stretched out on the bed reading a good book.

Until We Meet Again
Joan

Rooms of Your Life

Some of the ladies and I from the church went to another church tonight to hear and see the presentation "The Rooms of Your Life by Jean Padgett. Check out her website and learn a little more abut her ministry. It is very unique. www.roomsofyourlife.com

Tonight we learned about the the door/foyer to your house, Jesus knocks and want us to let him in, then we moved onto the attic of our house. That place that we all put our clutter and we want no one to see it. Well I am afraid that we all have things in our heart that we need to get rid of that we don't want anyone to know about. But God knows all about them.

I am looking forward to the conference tomorrow to see what else I can glean from the word of God and the rooms of my life.

Joan

....A Time to keep Silence....

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

The last couple of days I have needed time to myself and I have not been able to open up and blog like I sometimes do. (Before you get concerned, yes I am okay) I have gone about my daily routines, and got some computer work finished, nursed a bum knee, I've done my daily bible studies and enjoyed being able to stay home in the rainy weather. I love the rainy days. I always have. But I needed time to be silent.

It dawned(well the Lord reminded me) on me a few minutes ago that Ecclesiastes says something about different times in our life, that maybe I should not be to hard on myself for needing this time. That it really has been okay for me to be silent for a few days and have time for silence. Ecc 3:7.. a time to keep silence...

All is well, and God is good.
Joan

11 Words To Remember

I wanted to share a verse of scripture with you that has helped me this week. It was in my bible studies for the week, actually it was the main verse for the week. Imagine that, a verse of the Bible to be right where I needed it, right when I needed it.

Proverbs 24:10
If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.

I want the world to see in me A Big God, A Sovereign God, A God I can trust even when I don't understand, A God who is in control, A God I can worship no matter what, I want them to see the True and Living GOD who loves me and them.

After All Life is ALL About HIM
Joan