Fabulous Friday :)

Don't you just love Friday's? I do :-) It's our "family fun night" !!! We take turns picking a place to go eat along with something fun to do. Sometimes we go to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza and games ( I am skee ball queen :-) Other times we go to Lake Bowen Fish Camp for my 'Seafood Platter loving husband'. Across the street from the restaurant is an excellent playground by the lake. Olivia plays while Chris and I sit in a swing and catch up on the weeks happenings. Sometimes we go to Capri's because Italian is my favorite. No matter what we do it's fun and quality family time. Our school day is usually not as "heavy" on Friday so we finish early and have more free time. Olivia and I have adopted a cat and we both enjoy sitting on the porch loving on Pepper. We know for a fact that Pepper is going to have kittens so we are taking extra good care of her as we wait for the big day. Olivia has never had the joy of seeing kittens be born, so we are both excited. Lots of education on our front porch :) Home school can be taught in many ways.

So this is Fabulous Friday, not super glam to most, but just perfect for us. Get out there and enjoy time with your family.

Great scripture reading today from 1Peter 1:3-9 check it out. Go be a blessing ...

Called out ...

I just finished typing what I thought would be today's post, but with the hit of a wrong key and the blink of an eye my post was gone (no auto-draft, no save, no nothing). So I had to sit up and take notice of what the Lord wanted to say to me. First of all I was so excited about something I wanted to share with you that I decided to type it first then get my Bible to see what scripture would go with it. UH, that's not the way it works!!! It's God first, then me :) How many times do I try to do things on my own, only to go to God to fix it? Well, this morning He has called me out on that. So I stopped blogging and read my devotion and prayed. The Lord has lead me to the following verses from Galatians 5:16-26 'Walking in the Spirit'. So this is straight from the Lord.

"I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another."

Hello, did you see the part about "selfish ambitions"?? yes, that would be me this morning. I know most people probably don't enjoy reading scripture that calls you out on your sin, but that's to bad. We are all sinners and thanks be to God we can be saved by Jesus grace. He stands at the door of your heart knocking and waiting for you to invite Him in. Only He can cleanse you from all the above sins and give you forgiveness and peace. Do you know Him today? He won't turn you away, no matter what you've done.

God bless you and the reading of His word.

As I walked around my yard and took these pictures I was amazed at how such a delicate flower could break through the cold, hard ground. Realistically it doesn't seem possible. I mean if I were to go back outside right now and try to push a stick in the ground I would have a difficult time. Tell me then, how it is that a flower stem that is not as sturdy as a stick,can push through that ground and not even damage the delicate frame of the flower? It's simple really; that's what the Lord created it to do. It's a God thing. He brings those daffodil's through the dirt and then makes a way for them to pop up perfectly. Each yellow flower proceeds to bloom in all it's glory in spite of the hard ground or surrounding thorns. The Lord has a purpose for daffodils and in their fragile and seemingly weak state they are able to overcome the odds around them and burst through the ground. It reminds me of a saying that I hear often these days; If God brings you to it, he'll bring you through it. Why do we worry or concern ourselves with anything? If our great Lord is making a way for the daffodil, don't we know he'll make a way for us?

Luke 12:26-28 says

"If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?
"Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these.
"But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith!

Oh to be of little faith... I pray that the Lord will be with you today in all that you are going through. Have faith ... if He has a plan and a purpose for the daffodil, oh what a plan and purpose He must have for you.

Go be a blessing ...

It's a new day

I have noticed over the past few weeks that my quiet time has changed. Instead of just reading scripture then reading from my devotion book; I am now singing to the Lord. Yes, right there at my kitchen table with no music, no words, no pre-planning ... a song will come to mind and I will sing praise to the Lord. It is really a cool and awesome spontaneous happening. This morning after reading from my Charles Stanley "In Touch" www.intouch.org devotion booklet I flipped back a page and was reading an article they had written about Paul Baloche (he is a influential worship music writer). He said that he tells those that he teaches song writing, "think of it as singing your prayers and you'll end up with songs that are more honest, more inspired." One of his songs "Open the eyes of my heart Lord" started out as a prayer that he used to sing. I know that song and after reading his story I just started singing it to the Lord. The words go like this: "Open the eyes of my heart Lord, open the eyes of my heart. I want to see you, I want to see you." I thought how true!! I do want to "see" the Lord. I do want to know Him more. I do want to praise Him. I do want to serve Him. So I just closed my eyes at the table and sang praise to the Lord. Then He tugged at my heart to come share it with you. My Bible reading today came from Romans 3:23 -24 you can go to the link above and read it if you'd like. The main idea of it is this, we ALL have sinned, but Jesus came to save us (the sinners that we are). If you have not ever prayed to ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and to be your Lord, what are you waiting on? He loves you, just as you are. Do you forget that He created you? He wants a relationship with you. He stands at the door and knocks and is ready to come in ... YOU have to invite Him. He didn't suffer a terrible, painful death on the cross for nothing; He did it for YOU and Me. Praise God for his free gift of Salvation. If you'd like to pray to ask Jesus into your heart it is very easy. You could pray this simple prayer:

Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner. I believe that you died on the cross in my place, paying the sin-debt I owed, and then you rose from the dead. I receive you Jesus as my personal Savior and surrender control of my life to you. Please show me how to live for you and walk with you. Thank you Lord for your loving grace and salvation. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer I'd like to know, welcome to the family :-) what an awesome day!! Email me at susanbneal@gmail.com so I can celebrate with you and share in knowing that you are a child of the king and we'll live forever.