Day 5 - Midnight snack

He [God] himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you with out support.  [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!]  Hebrews 13:5  AMP

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."  Hebrews 13:5 NIV 

Wow lets look at this for a moment,   Today I had a friend message me on facebook, *D* D is sad, she feels abandoned by her family, her spouse and her children, she is overwhelmed and heartbroken.  She feels like God has left her.  But yet I read this today in our study and think He has not left you.. he is just waiting for you to open your ears to hear him.

Money is mentioned in the NIV version,  Money is something that drives our economy but just imagine if tomorrow when you woke up it would not be a Paper or coin that told your value but the service and deeds that you do that determine your value.   Imagine that tomorrow when you awaken from your slumber you log into your bank and replaced is an amount of $1,000,000.00 with a note from God saying Thanks for being a good and faithful servant.  What would you do with those funds?  what would you do with that money?  Imagine that it was yours would you Keep it buy a new car, house, furnish your lifestyle go to a remote island in the south pacific drink it away on 50 dollar glasses of pineapple juice?  Or would you invest it in the lives of others, Fund for example Water research in the Sahara desert to ensure the people of Africa can drink the water and be safe?  Build a school or more than one for Women to get an education in Afghanistan and feel the presence of kindness of strangers?  Find a neighbor who is down on their luck and bless them with a gift of a house to live in to keep them warm in the upcoming winter.  Go shopping for a local food bank so much so that you could feed the entire city of Chicago for weeks?  Imagine the impact that would have.

In our Sunday School class we are reading Max Lucado's book Out Live your Life.   K and I are also taking Dave Ramsey's Class to be Debt Free, a concept we only dream of.  but we are getting there.

IN Daves Class he says to Live like no one else so you can LIVE like no one else.   read it again...   Do you hear it.. We are choosing to live like this so that in a few years we can LIVE like we want..   In the book we are studying in class its about Helping others.. Dreams ...  when asked what you would do with a million dollars the thoughts come to mind of orphans in this country who need a MOM and DAD who care for them as their own.  A life that they could never have.  Its pretty amazing to think that a majority of the Foster kids in our own county live right now ... out of a Black Trash Bag because they don't even have a suit case to move from house to house.  But would it not be cool to take the ones that are up for adoption right now that feel like God has abandoned them and give them teh love that they need.   As I sit here today typing this out.. I do think that I will start praying for a journey that God is going to take me on.  It will be interesting to see where we are in 90 days. I pray that God Takes control and blesses us in ways we have no idea.  And I pray that God takes control of your life and blesses you in ways you don't know.

So todays step from the journal part is to:

Write down a time when you know God was there for you.  And then lift your Hands (really)  and thank God that being there is who HE is.  Thank HIM for always being the GOD who is always present.

And be sure of this:  I am with you always, even to the end of age.  Matthew 28:20

God I know you were with me on August 4th 1999 when my life was crashing around me. My marriage was falling apart and you spoke to me that night.  Said leave it all and go to your spouse.   one month later I arrived in Singapore with 2 kids in tow scared, alone and abandoned as every force around me was screaming your making a mistake,  We trusted you sold everything we owned and moved.  We started over fresh with you in our lives.  Prayer became a part of our marriage as well as being 1 instead of 2 people in the relationship.  I am so very thankful that that night in a church in Pineville La at an all night women's bible study you picked me out and spoke so clearly to me.   I am also thankful that at the same time you were doing that you were also speaking and healing my K's heart.  you allowed us to heal our marriage thru you you listened when no one else did and you allowed me to feel your hand guide me in ways no one can describe so God I thank you that you were there for me and I give it all to you .. in praise that you are the powerful God who can heal and mend all.   For you are the God that I know and trust.   with love..   Christy

Day 3 - Early Morning Prayer

Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful

Prayer,  A simple conversation,  like saying good morning to the person you love,   A simple gesture to acknowledge our Father who art in heaven.  Sometimes prayer is hard to come by other times easy.  Today its pretty simple for me to pray all day all the time. 

 I constantly have been accused of talking to myself , however lately I have been simply responding as its a conversation with my father. A one on one simple sometimes deep conversation with our father. 

Lets ponder this for a moment do you begin your prayers with Our Father who art in heaven, or do you simply say God are you there its me Christy.   Lets think about it,  I remember as a kid reading Are you there God its me Margaret by Judy Blume.  In the book I specifically recall one prayer where she asked God if he was there..

Are you still there God? It's me, Margaret. I know you're there God. I know you wouldn't have missed this for anything! Thank you God. Thanks an awful lot

Silence followed and she pondered is he there. Of course people often ask when you pray do you hear god crystal clear.  Some times I have to say I do.. Crystal clear,  If I am quiet enough to listen to him. 

The key is to remember our God is a God who listens to prayers,  he hears them and then answers them.  Sometimes we are too busy to hear the answers or even worse we want to answer them for God.  Just imagine if we did not take a moment to stop and listen, what would happen?  would we go thru life looking at the world thru goggles?  only seeing what is in front of you or would you go thru life seeing everything around you. 

Prayer is just that its the open vision not blinded vision that allows you to see into God's eyes and hear his voice.  What would you say to him if you could look into his eyes at this very moment and have his undivided attention?   For me it would be Thank you,

 Thank you for the life you have given me.  Thank you for my Seasonal friends, and thank you for my friends who are here with me regardless of where I am in my life today.  Thank you for a Husband who understands that I am not perfect and that I too make mistakes and we are human.  Thank you for two beautiful children who have been honestly the light in my life.  Thank you for making each of them special in your own way and molding them in your hands before I ever got to hear their first breath.  Thank you for wonderful Parents , for raising me with morals and a life that was filled with you in my presence, Thank you for those who helped my journey to you be successful, from the Vacation Bible Schools at Kentwood Baptist Church when I was a preteen to friends that I cherish when I was a teenager who kept me on the right road making wise and good decisions.  Hard to believe how many years ago it was but today it seems like yesterday I was sitting at Trinity Baptist Church in Pineville Lousiana with my parents in the audience and looking over and seeing them see me be baptized in your name God.  You forgave me then for sins I had committed and now forgive me for sins that are still present.  I ask you god during this time to forgive me again for who I am and allow me to be more Christ Like and centered on you and your being.   I ask you to be the one that allows me to mentor and help friends and strangers know the God I know.  The Powerful one, the healer, the father, the comforter, the warrior and the one who cares for me like my own father did in real life. 

The task today was to write 5 things I am thankful for and To thank god for them.  out loud. 

So I sit here and type it out in the early morning hours I figure since I am here I need to tell him what I am thankful for

1.  My Family, K, C and Z,  My Parents T & J and My Inlaws B & S,  My brother J, and Brother in Law KK. 
2.  My Friends,  the ones near and dear to my heart,  The 3rd shift wives club :)  you know who you are, My Mafia,  the ones that cared for me when I was down and the ones who cared for me when i was up the ones who pray for me daily and who know me. 
3.  My Church  I am so thankful for my church the church as a whole who mended me when I was broke,  and who lift me when I am whole.  Who carry me when I am weak and who love me when I am desperate. 
4.  My God I am ever so thankful for the ultimate sacrifice he paid for me to be here today.  The thoughts of him being hung on a cross to die just pains my heart.  but yet every day I see people who believe and can believe openly in other countries treated like he was so many years ago.  I am thankful for the freedom I have where I live to worship the god I have. 
5.  The silent readers I have on here who read the blog to find guidance I pray that the words written reach out to you and can touch you in the way they are touching me. 


With this I close on the 20th of September it's K's 45th birthday and today is a day of celebration.  Another year we are blessed to have him here with us and another year of blessing others during this year.   God is simply amazing when you think about it and I pray that each of you can feel his presence today as I pray for you...

So God Thank YOU for who you are and THANK you for being who you are to me.  My father, warrior, savior, and husband.  The one that I can talk to with confidence and love unconditionally.  God you Reign.