"Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."

"Anyone who parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you many ask any request you like, and it will be granted! My true disciples produce much fruit. This brings great glory to my Father."

John 15:5-8

Just to update you...Our little talk went wonderful today!

Maggie wants to be a produce stand worker and Nate wants to be a baseball player and a dad:)

Love ya'll! Strive to be Different!!

God has layed a special message on my heart for our childrens' Bible lesson tomorrow before we begin a "new year" of school.

You know I've said many times before that at night when I pray over our children, that I pray for God to protect them from drugs, alcohol, boys, girls, anything or any temptation that could lead them astray from what the Lord has called them to do. I pray that they will come to know Him at an early age and that whatever He calls them to do, will be for All for His glory! That they will live their lives boldly and courageously for Him!

Which leads me to the lesson tomorrow:)

God has asked me to talk to them about "what" they want to be when they grow up:)

Seems a little premature, but I'm not arguing with the Big Guy!

Which we all know what they're going to say....

A baseball player, a singer, a mommy, or Maggie's latest, "Justin Bieber...." (Yes, I know, she's a girl and all that, we've tried....)

But, in all seriousness, I believe God wants me to talk to my children (well, I like to call them "our" children because they belong to Him first, right?:) about their future in a more depth approach.

While it's true that school and academics, colleges, and careers are all wonderful and important things in our life....

I believe the most important message God wants me to instill in them is to Love the Lord our God with all their heart, their soul and their mind!

And, His message on my heart for them is clear...

that "whatever" they choose to do or "be" when they grow up...

it should be All for the Glory of God!

Nothing more, Nothing Less....

Pray that their little minds will soak up this "simple"

but, oh so powerful message and not only hear it, but live it!

I am so Blessed......

Above all Else... LOVE

It's very rare that I get to visit with my mom these days without one of my children hoarding all of her attention!

Which in one sense, I find it truly amazing that they love her more than life itself, but in another... I get a little envious of their time together; and I long for some of her undivided attention myself!:)

Well, today, I left the kids at home with their daddy and I got to spend some quality time with my mom... not an all day ordeal mind you, but just a couple of hours.... just she and I talking and sharing the ups and downs of our lives. I was in udder bliss:)

As we began talking and sharing some things, I began to quickly realize what we were both struggling with in our lives... LOVE

And I'm not talking about the love shown between eachother (mom and I) or in our family and so forth... although I am quick to realize that there are times in our lives that all families struggle with showing love for eachother and fail to treat eachother with the love that God expects of us, but it saddens me to say that I'm speaking of the love that we are to be showing one another as, Christians. (notice I set that word apart... because as Christians we are supposed to be set apart from the world and not be "of" the world..we are supposed to be different.)

I think as Christians, living for Christ, we forget sometimes, I know I do, that above all else, we are to LOVE one another.

God says in 1 John 3:18, "Dear Children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions." He goes onto to say in chap 4 verse 7, "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God-for God is love."

God also says, "the greatest commandment is to LOVE."

I think the human side of us wants to skip over that part. As I was sharing with my mom, I was wrestling with the fact that people can be sooo mean (and I'm not excluding myself from that statement!) We forget that as Christians, our obligation to one another is to build eachother up in Christ! So why do we spend so much time hurting one another and tearing eachother down?

I, for one, am going to work on this commandment that God has given us...

1 Thess 5:11 "Therefore encourage one another and build up one another just as you are also doing."

So, as you go to work, school, church, or wherever this week.... I want to encourage you to LOVE one another and build each other up!

Despite anyone's faults, wrong doings, or whatever it may be that you don't like about someone; they're still your brother and sister in Christ and God tells us to Love. Besides; we have WORK to do! There's no time for all that!:)

Love ya'll! Strive to be Different!

The Lord just will not let me go to sleep tonight... He's been working a little overtime in my life these days, I believe... isn't He amazing like that?! He cares that much about "me and you" that He won't let us rest until He gets our attention!?

I came to the conclusion tonight that I am not satisfied with my life.

Which also leads me to another major conclusion, God isn't satisfied with my life either!

I've grown complacent. I've settled for nothing but less than what God expects out of me and for me. It's not enough.

I've grown weary. I've let weeds grow and take over my enthusiasm for the Lord and His call on my life.

Today that ends Lord. I promised you, "That as for me and my house, WE will serve You!" I can't do that with all these weeds in my life Lord. I pray you will remove them. I pray that today, you will let your rain fall on our family and grow us, quench our thirst Lord, renew our strength, give us fresh soil, and use us for your Kingdom Lord. That's my prayer Lord. Let your rain Fall on us....

My walk has grown weary over the past couple of years. I'll be honest, I feel like I've grown stagnant and let my circumstances dictate what I should be for the Lord. That's when we grow cold and useless for His kingdom.

No matter where we are in life, we must never become satisfied with our walk with Lord, that's when we fail. We have to keep working, serving, growing.... listening to Him and then obeying.

Resting in His Peace now...

Love ya'll! Strive to be Different!

Christmas 2011

Back to His Purpose... Again:)

It never fails... ever so often I lose focus on what my purpose is in life and I go into this major depression, pity party, and lose all sort of Godly balance which, then, takes me on this downward spiral that I have to "crawl" back out of! Familiar??

For me, I've noticed that everytime I put down God's Word and quit spending time with Him regularly, this is when the draining saga begins!

So, today, I'm prayerfully and humbly striving to pick up the pieces again!

Tonight as I immersed myself in His Word for guidance and direction, He took me to alot of scripture, first of all, which I find kinda humorous, for the fact that He must have felt He had alot of issues to cover with me! But, these verses stand out most clear to me tonight so thought I'd share.

"I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compare with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord! I have discarded everything else; counting it all as garbage, so that I have Christ and become one with Him." Philippians 3:7-9

Now, I know I have quoted these verses several times before; but how true it is, for all of our lives, when we put what really matters into perspective!

No job, no person, no hobby, no facebook, no pintrest, (had to add that one in now:), no anything, is more important or should ever take the place of living our lives for Christ. You cannot fully develop a real, authentic relationship and do the will of God when you're putting all those things ahead of Him! It simply just will not work....

I'm guilty. I haven't been laying it all down for Christ. I'll admit it. Good thing He picks us up and brushes us off everytime we fall so that we can get back in the race where He needs us to be! Amen!

Pray for me. Pray that I can be strong and put aside all the selfish ambitions that try so desperately to lure me away from His purpose for my life. I'll pray for you too:)

Love ya'll! Strive to be Different!!