Yea!!!!! I Won Something!

Thanks to my blogging buddy Terry, for giving me this wonderful award on her blog!! She and her blog Ornaments of Grace has been very instrumental in inspiring some of my thoughts and I have learned so much from her and the other ladies that she links to! Thanks Terry, I would give an acceptance speech, but since speeches and embarassment go hand in hand for me I will just simply say thanks for this blessing!!!!

In my token of good faith, I would like to pass this award on to Lylah, and Persuaded because they are my singlemomma twins seperated before conception. Llyah who once was a single mom; and is now married to her "Music Man" has been an inspirational life coach for women of all walks and stages of life. Diane (Persuaded) always tickles me with her humerous antics and promises of an arranged marriage between her darling son and one of my daughters! I love the fact that she is a Christian, single, stay at home, homeschooling mama who always is full of laughter and brightness! Thanks to all you ladies who continously encourage me and keep me wanting to write more. You will never know how much you help me daily.

Be Blessed and Stay encouraged!-smfg

Thank You God

Today I am just simply thankful. I jotted down a quick list of things that I am thankful for and by doing so, I easily forgot about anything else that seemed problematic, or momentarily needful.
graphic from art.com
40 Things That I am Thankful For

1. The genuine hugs and kisses of a certain 6 year old.
2. The genuine hugs and kisses of a certain 8 year old.
3. That today is Thursday and a certain 8 yr olds turn to cook dinner
4. The unexpected phone call I received Tuesday, January 15 at exactly 8:55 am that was such an amazing blessing to me!
5. The fact that I even though I work, I have my own office, and when I need to I can close my door and pray and read my bible.
6. That I have access to the Almighty Father
7. That sees me as his daughter
8. He talks to me
9. He listens to me
10. The fact that there is a cross for me to leave my burdens at and a Christ that wants them.
11. That I have been delivered!!!
12. That I can love my enemies and those who spitefully misuse me
13. That all of my family is still alive, well, and healthy
14. I am not in Iraq as I could be
15. My brother and sister are not in Iraq as they could be
16. I am no longer in an abusive relationship
17. I lived to tell about it
18. My mom who drove over 90 miles today to fill in for me at my daughters Honors Assembly
19. That my daughter received Honors Awards in school
20. I've never gone hungry
21. I've never had to sacrifice integrity to take care of my family and God has given me the strength to be both mommy and daddy.
22. I've never been homeless
23. I've never had to tell my child we had no food
24. God's protection over my family
25. That my children saved my life
26. That my children make me laugh
27. That my children are here to make me cry, scream, and yell
28. That I have hope
29. I have the light of Christ in my life
30. That no one can blow it out
31. That God is God, and not man
32. That he loved me when I didn't love me
33. That he taught me how to love me
34. That I have no problem waking up and going to sleep alone
35. That God allowed me to find the wonderful sanctuary of blogging!
36. I have victory over the devil
37. That my bible is my instruction book
38. I know the power of a child's unconditional love
39. That I know the power of a mother's love
40. That God has and is going to change my life exceedingly abundantly above above all that I ask or think according to his power that worketh within me!

Be Blessed and Stay Encouraged- smfg

Dust of His Feet

Nahum 1:3The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

I just wanted to Thank the Lord for all that he has done for me this week. I thank him for his protection from the fiery darts of the enemy. I thank him for his keeping power. I thank him for being faithful to his word. I thank him for VICTORY! I took this picture( and a ton of other cloud pics) on a flight this summer after being grounded for 12hrs due to a severe thunderstorm. Once we were able to we had to fly through storm . As much as I love to fly this time it was scary and turbulent but once we flew above the storm the view was breath taking. I sat in awe thinking WOW I am flying through the dust of God's feet! He is walking above me! How humbling, how awesome, how spiritually refreshing! As I thought about storms that I went through this week, I thought of this picture, and how just as I was able to fly through storm clouds naturally, he guided me through them spiritually and both times I was able to be experience the awesome power of flying through dust of his feet.
Be Blessed and Stay Encouraged! smfg

The Lord's Mysterious Ways

I was talking to a friend yesterday about how the Lord works in mysterious ways, and during this conversation we were expressing our specific knowledge of his mysteriousness. Later I decided to look up the word mysterious, or its root word mystery because those who know me know how my thought process works, and once I have a thought, I have to dig deeper until I have my epiphany- So here goes, Webster has plenty of definitions for mystery, but the very first one is what jumped out at me: a religious truth that one can know only by revelation and cannot fully understand.

Wow! Only by revelation!!! That really got my brain juices flowing! See, I am an avid mystery novel reader, I have loved sleuthing since I read my first Nancy Drew book, and normally I would figure out the "who done it" before I finished reading the book. However I have never and will never be able to figure out the Lord and his mysterious ways- why?? Well I am not supposed to, I couldn't even on my most genius day figure out the easiest mystery of the Lord. Isaiah 55:8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. He doesn't want me to know.If I knew then I wouldn't need to have faith in him.

The second definition of mysterious according to Webster is exciting wonder, curiosity, or surprise while baffling efforts to comprehend or identify. Which is exactly how the Lord wants us to be when he blesses us, or when we see the work of his mysterious ways. I mean think about it, how much glory would people give him if we could figure him out every his every angle, every move? It wouldn't be much fun to receive the mystery of his blessings!

When the Lord catches us off guard, he receives our true, most sincerest, most genuine praise. He normally catches us at our neediest, and the funny thing is, sometimes we don't even know we are needy, but he does and he delivers better than the USPS. The only thing we need to know is that he works, and that he is always on time which will forever be a mystery because again Isaiah 55:8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

I know we all know this but I just felt so encouraged to stop trying to figure things out and continue to relish the religious truth that one can know only by revelation and cannot fully understand and the exciting wonder, curiosity, or surprise while baffling efforts to comprehend or identify the Lord and his mysterious ways.

God is So Wonderful

But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.1 Corinthians 15:57

I thank God for being the Wonderful, Almighty, On-Time God that he is. I thank him for never ever needing my help when it comes to taking care of my needs or fighting my battles. I thank him for knowing so much more than I can ever imagine to know. I thank Him for the undeserving benefits and blessings that he bestows on me daily. I thank God for his benefit of hope, faith and love. I thank him for allowing me to love him, I could not love him if he didn't find my love worthy! I thank him for VICTORY over the devil and his powers of darkness! He is everything to me. I thank God for being a Child of the King!!!! Take time out today to give thanks to The Almighty, for he is surely worthy to be praised!

Psalm 68:19Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.
Psalm 103:2Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Psalm 116:12What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?
Psalm 140:13
Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence.

Think on the Little Things

Sorry friends for not posting earlier today. Today has been the typical Monday and for me quite busy day full of hustle and bustle. Both of my little angels are under the weather and my weekend was uneventful due to the main water pipe bursting in my neighborhood so we were without water for the majority of the day on Saturday. (Thank the Lord for my new appreciations of the little things in my life- mainly running water!)

I was reading a devotional today that I thought was fitting to share. It is a quote from Norman Vincent Peale:

"You are a creation of God, unequaled anywhere in the universe.....
Thank Him for yourself and then for all the rest of his glorious handiwork".

Enjoy the little things of God today. Tell your children about the little things that you are thankful for, teach them to start appreciating all those things we take for granted.

Stay encouraged and be blessed

My Inner Child

Today I decided to take the day off from being a grown up and spend the day relaxing and bonding with my children. So often we single mothers neglect to synchronize our inner child and we become so engulfed by adult lives that we can neglect the little joys of life. Do you remember when life was so simple, before the cares and worries of this life?? Even Jesus tells us in Matthew 18:3 "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. What better way to keep this humbleness of mind and spirit than to once in a while surround ourselves with our children and come down to their level. Children live for the moment, not the to-do- list, or the must complete now or the world will end tasks that we as mothers let consume our lives. As a matter of fact, their existence is the very reason why we become so consumed with the stressfulness of parental responsibilities. Sometimes if we try to see things through the eyes of a child, we may receive a spiritual epiphany, a glorious Ah-Ha moment that can bring us closer to God, or give us instant edification. So let us remember to be like the child that Christ so ordered us to be. Take a day off to be silly, be simple, live for the moment and tune up that inner child before our children grow up and leave us struggling with memories.... Have a blessed weekend.