Yes, I Hit A Stop Sign!

I was in a parking lot, turning to go down another lane and I did it! First time ever!!

I hit a STOP SIGN! Yes, you read that right. I hit it and then I heard…thump! Hey, at least I didn’t hit a fire hydrant this time (I did that when I was in high school).

It definitely got my attention to stop! Needless to say, it gave me and some other people who I didn’t know (thank goodness) a good laugh.

Ok so here is my excuse…it’s my car’s fault! 🙂 I love my car and am so super blessed to have it but I do have one complaint. There is an awful BLIND SPOT between the windshield and the door window.

The panel is HUGE so I have to look around it sometimes to make sure there isn’t something there. By the way, this happened over ten years ago and my driving skills have improved tremendously. 🙂 And my hubby now drives “that” car.

Throughout my life, I have encountered “blind spots”. Some while driving and the other blind spots have been things that have happened in my life. Unfortunately, blind spots can sometimes cause accidents and even challenges in our personal lives.

I have great news! There is a solution to blind spots!

The verse that comes to mind is Psalm 119:105 – “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”

I am thankful that God’s Word (Bible) can help me in my walk with Him TODAY (lamp to my feet – what is right before me) and TOMORROW (light to my path – my future).

Joyfully His!!

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You Do You

Someone recently said to me “You Do You” and it really made me think. That trendy phrase basically means “You be you”. I think you should always be yourself and never try to be like anyone else…except…we should be like Jesus.

What about… “You be Jesus” or “You do Jesus”…

Ephesians 5:1 says we should be imitators of God. I love how the Amplified Bible says it…”Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father];”

I certainly have room to grow in being more like Jesus. 🙋‍♀️ It’s an opportunity for every day, every hour, every minute, and every second.

Jesus carried Himself with such love, grace, and truth.

I will never think of that phrase the same, and it will continue to challenge me.

I keep saying to myself…You be Jesus to those around you. The “U” is still there however, it looks a little different because it’s surrounded by Jesus.

I hope that encouraged you today! 💜

I Believe in You

I heard this true story several months ago and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. It’s about Bob Hoover who was a USAF Fighter Pilot during both WW2 and the Korean War. His service to our country alone is award winning, however, there is way more to him than that.

One day, Mr. Hoover decided to take some of his friends on his Shrike Commander aircraft. Unfortunately, right after the aircraft left the runway, both engines failed. He managed to land the plane on a ravine and thankfully all the passengers walked away without any injuries.

While waiting for the rescue vehicles to arrive, Mr. Hoover walked back to the aircraft and noticed the smell of the fuel. He realized it was the wrong kind of fuel for his plane. That’s why the engines collapsed at 300 feet in the air.

Here’s the part that has marked me for life…

When Mr. Hoover returned to the airfield, he saw the mechanic who was responsible for fueling his plane. He could have totally corrected him for his mistake and rightfully so. Mr. Hoover walked up to the mechanic and said something like this…

There isn’t a man alive who hasn’t made a mistake. I know you will never make this mistake again so that’s why I only want you to refuel my plane tomorrow. I won’t allow anyone else to do it!

Wait…what? He asked the mechanic, who clearly could have caused his death, to be the one to refuel his plane the next day!

Mr. Hoover believed in him! How much more does God believe in us!

I think Jeremiah 29:11 is a perfect verse showing how much God believes in us. It says…

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.“

God has amazing plans for you and He believes in you!! Don’t ever forget that!

Thanks for reading! I hope you were encouraged today!

SPAM Call

I’m pretty sure you have all experienced a spam call in your lifetime. Probably more than you would like to count. Well…I have a confession to make…when I was 19 years old, I was a telemarketer aka spam caller.

I’ll never forget the man who was intently listening to my words with such excitement. I remember thinking…what a nice gentleman. Then it happened, in the middle of my spiel, he shouted “Oh no…my house is on fire” and then he hung up the phone! I’m quite certain his house was not on fire. Such a clever guy, I say.

I was just preparing a lesson about “answering the call” to teach to the kids at church. It talks about answering the call from above or the call from below. I learn by visuals so I’m using a cell phone to help get the point across.

If the call is from above, then answer your phone! If the call is from below…it’s a spam call…don’t answer. No one wants to talk to a spam caller.

Then I started thinking…SPAM…

Don’t answer the call from below because it’s satan’s plan against me

None of his plans are good. Don’t answer the call! 📵 You don’t need to hear his crazy spiel!

The good news is that God’s plans are always good! 💯

James 1:17 says “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.”

I’m going to do my best to not miss any “calls” from above and I hope you do the same! Thanks for reading! 💜

Need Advice?

“There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the LORD’s counsel—that will stand.”  Proverbs 19:21

In this verse, the word “counsel” means “advice” and the word “stand” means “abide, be clearer, confirm, decree”.

We all face decisions from what house to buy, what job to take…the list goes on. I am so thankful to have God to help direct me in my decisions. Sometimes the answers seem clear and other times they seem a little fuzzy. When it seems like the answers aren’t as clear, I know that I need to spend more time reading His Word and listening. There’s never a problem with God. 🙂

I love to chat with my friends! What girl doesn’t! HELLO! A woman speaks SIX TO EIGHT THOUSAND WORDS A DAY! If we could only get a dollar per word! Now that would be amazing! Actually, I’m thinking some men would pay money for us to not say as many words! 😂

Anyway, back to the listening part…I try to be a good listener because I’ve realized that’s how I learn new things. If I’m always talking, I don’t learn anything new.

So with that said, just like I find out things about my friends by listening to what they say, I find out things that God has for me by listening to what HE says (whether it’s by reading the Bible or just by putting aside all my electronics so that I can be still before God).

I absolutely love this verse! My prayer for you today is that God’s plan for you will become clearer to you!

Thanks for reading! 💜

A Thousand Dollars

I’ve had the opportunity to walk by faith countless times. I’ll never forget the time when we were interns raising our own funding as we served in a nationally known ministry. We had a few dollars in our account and our rent was due the next day. We also needed money for utilities and food.

I don’t know about you but I am not one that likes to fly by the seat of my pants…lol. I actually like to pay my bills early! I was slightly freaking out.

We arrived home at midnight after a long day of travel with the intern team. We stopped to check our mailbox and found a letter from someone who we had met only one time. They wrote us a little note stating they had the wrong address so their letter to us had bounced back to them. So this piece of mail was supposed to get to us a month earlier.

There was a check in the card for $1000.00. Yep, you read that right! One thousand dollars! That was definitely a wow moment! At the time, that amount covered what we needed for that month.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the word faith has the letter “I” right smack in the middle.

If you remove the “I”, you no longer have faith.

The letter “I” has to be in the word faith to make the word work. Just like I need to activate my faith for it to work.

II Corinthians 5:7 “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

God has continued to take care of us over and over again! He will do it for you too!

I hope you were encouraged today! 💜

He Still Called Him Friend

I was reading this verse a few months ago and it literally stopped me in my tracks.

Matthew 26:50 “But Jesus said to him, ‘Friend, why have you come? Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him.'”

For the last few months, I have been thinking about this verse a lot. I have read it so many times but to be honest the “friend” part never stuck out to me.

When Judas brought the men to Jesus, Jesus’ first word to Judas was “friend”. He knew fully that Judas had already betrayed Him behind his back and then he knew Judas was about to betray Him to His face.

He still called him friend! Jesus called the guy a friend who was delivering Him over to those who were planning to kill Him.

Wow! That honestly challenges me.

I’m sure, just like me, you have experienced some sort of betrayal in your lifetime. Naturally, we would want to dish it right back to them with a “take that” kind of attitude. Could we look the betrayer in the eye and call them friend? I mean, they obviously wouldn’t be our BFF or anything like that. Could we with all sincerity call them friend.

Just because Judas bore the name betrayer, doesn’t mean that Jesus needed to carry that name too. He could have totally turned his back on Judas and betrayed him.

Jesus chose to not put Himself in that category because He knew He had a greater calling. I am humbled and encouraged by this example.

You and I have a greater calling from God to fulfill on this earth! We don’t have time to be lumped into the category of a betrayer.

I hope you were encouraged today! 💙

Mayday

I’ll never forget the time I was listening to a recording of a fire scene. A fireman was yelling out “MAYDAY”. The sad part was the other firemen kept talking when they should have kept the airways clear for the man who was facing death. Unfortunately, this situation ended tragically. It’s heartbreaking when you hear of stories like this. It hits home when it’s someone your husband was in the fire academy with.

Sometimes we go about our daily lives not noticing there are people around us crying out “mayday” (aka help me). We hear them and see them but we don’t slow down enough to “read the room”. I am guilty of this myself!

I think Matthew 25:35-40 says it the best…

“for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”

I don’t know about you but I need to take more time to “read the room” so I don’t miss someone who is in a “mayday” situation. I know the One who can truly save them!

I hope you were encouraged! I pray that God will show you who you can help or encourage today! EnJOY your day!

The Rejects

I absolutely love to make cookies for people! I am 100% guilty of giving my family the rejected cookies. You know, the ones that have some sort of imperfection. The “perfect” ones are for everyone else. I know, I know…that’s horrible!

Just because it’s a rejected cookie, doesn’t mean it’s not delicious. And it still has a purpose…to get in my belly! 😀

Jesus was rejected.

It wasn’t because of imperfections. He was a sinless man who knowingly gave His life for those who rejected Him.

The verse that comes to mind is Matthew 21:42 “Have you never read in the Scriptures: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone…”.

A chief cornerstone in the architectural world is the rock where the weight of the entire structure rests. The chief cornerstone, aka Jesus, is the One who can hold everything together…and the weight of it too.

As Easter is around the corner… I am reflecting on Jesus, the cross, and His resurrection. I will remember that He has the ability and capacity to hold and carry me and the challenges I face.

All of the above is available for you too. ✅

I Peter 5:7 “ Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.” (NLT)

Thanks for reading! I hope you were encouraged today!! 💜

Duh

Years ago my daughter added a new word to her vocabulary. It was a very significant word I might add…and probably a word she learned from her dad. 😉

She said the word “DUH”! It’s amazing how kids can say a word in a timely way.

My daughter had dirt on her little hand so I asked “Would you like mommy to wipe your hand?”. She looked at me and answered with her sweet little voice… “DUH”.

I guess that was a duh moment for sure!

I was thinking about how God has proven Himself to be faithful over and over again yet sometimes we have moments when we still question if He is going to come through. Ever been there?

The verse that comes to mind is “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” II Timothy 2:13

I’m pretty sure there have been countless times in my life when God has wanted to say DUH to me! I am so thankful that when I have been faithless, He STILL remained faithful!

I hope you were encouraged! Thanks for reading! 💜

Waiting…

At times, it can be challenging to just wait! Everything within me says I WANT THAT NOW! I’m sure you’ve been there!

It reminds me of the time I was looking for window coverings for my sliding glass doors. I can be picky and I won’t just settle for something mediocre. I found the PERFECT bamboo shades online! I was pumped! Unfortunately, they were $100 each.

I felt in my heart that I needed to wait on purchasing them. So I listened to that nudge and I waited. A few days later I checked the website again and the shades were marked down to $50 a piece! Ever heard the phrase – “Good things come to those who WAIT”?

Sometimes people think they are WEIGHTING on the Lord. They walk around as if they are carrying this heavy mass! When we wait on the Lord — we should have an expectation — looking forward to the amazing things that are going to happen in our lives!

There are several things in my life that I am waiting on. I am encouraged to know this from God’s Word…

“But those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength;  They shall mount up with wings like eagles,  They shall run and not be weary,  They shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31

I hope you were encouraged today! I sure was!

Joyfully His as I wait on Him!