Hammer on Anvil '

I have been working my way slowly through the book of Ephesians.  To say the least it has been really good.  


The signature verses of the book come in chapter 2:  " For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."  
These are beautiful words, and really a beautiful description of the gospel and grace.


But I want to dwell on the next verse for a minute.  "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
We are his workmanship, his handiwork, I love this!  You are His poema, His poem... God is writing this poem and it is you - You are his poem!  
We are created for good works.  The cool part is that God prepared them in advance.  The challenge for me is to not miss one of those opportunities to be part of God's poem in someone else's life.


Be encouraged today!  Hold your head high because He chose you and has a plan for you! 

Hello everybody!!!
Forgot all about blogging today, so I first have to apologize that this is late!!! Sorry!
Today I want to talk about giving thanks. When we talk with God, if we don't do anything else in that conversation, we should give Him thanks! We must thank Him for everything He has done for us, is doing for us and for what He will do for us. Think about it, if we do something for somone and they don't say thank you, we are not likely to do anything for them again. We all want to be appreciated for the things that we do. Well guess what, so does God!!! He does things for us all the time and if we don't give Him thanks, He just may stop doing those things. I don't want to find out what would happen if God stopped doing for me, so I give Him thanks all the time. It is the first thing I say when I pray, Thank You Lord!!!
Have a very blessed night!!!
Cheryl

Last Friday I was driving down the road with a heavy burden on my heart. Many things happening all at once in my life had begun to take a toll on me. I had the radio on, as usual, and a song came on that I'd heard a hundred times. Suddenly, though, the Lord focused me in on the lyrics. Check it out:



I began thinking about the thing that has burdened me the most: a mistake I made a couple years ago. What I did caused a lot of hurt to my family, and the ripple-effect of that one choice is still hanging over my head as a possible consequence. At the time, I prayed to God, asking for His forgiveness, but  I still couldn't let it go. I couldn't forgive myself, and so I couldn't believe that my family or God had forgiven me either. As months have passed, this burden has become heavier. It invades my thoughts daily, and it affects my relationships with my loved ones--and with God.

As the singer tells about building up walls, mine become tangible to me. As he pleads with us to let them fall down, I hear the Lord say to me, "I have seen every mistake you will ever make, and I still love you." That is the most comforting thing I can think of: God knows the mistakes I haven't even made yet, and His forgiveness is available for those too!

Life is tough. There's a lot of pain out there. Some of it will come from our own choices, some from circumstances outside of our control. When we can't bring ourselves to accept forgiveness for sins, we torture ourselves with unnecessary hurt. I read something on Facebook the other day: "Sometimes, when we evict Satan, we let him leave his bags behind." Guilt is Satan's bag. I think it's high time we throw it out.

Every single day we make many choices.
Some of them are good ones, some are bad ones, and some seemingly fall in the middle.  

I want to contend that there are no small choices.  The choices that we make today determine who we will be tomorrow.
I was playing yesterday at the park with my 5 year old daughter.  We were on the swings and she wanted an underdog... but she didn't want to swing too high.  I instructed her that the concept of the underdog is to swing her so high that I could run under her.  She declined... moments later, she jumped off the swing and headed away.  I stopped her and asked why she didn't want to swing anymore.  She says, "I just want to go slide, and I can do whatever I want."  Every day we make choices.  I grabbed her and corrected her.  We talked as best as you can with a preschooler about how the proper terminology is that she can do whatever God wants.  Every single day we make choices, do those choices reflect what God wants you to do?

In 1 Timothy 6:11, Paul urges his young disciple to flee the junk in life that can bog him down... and to pursue godliness, righteousness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.  We can make choices that glorify God.  We can pursue Him.

Are you making choices today that fit into the list above?
Are you making choices that lead to life or death?

Oswald Chambers, in his classic My Utmost for His Highest, says that God's honor is at stake in our bodily lives. Not just our spiritual lives, but our bodily lives.

My husband, John, and I have become more health conscious over the years, and have taken time to educate ourselves about what we put into our bodies. Our son and his wife realize this, and do what they can to accommodate us when we are there for dinner.

For example, a summer favorite at many barbecues is hot dogs. Because John and I prefer to avoid "mechanically separated meat," Josh and Bethany graciously serve turkey hot dogs as an alternative.

According to naturalnews.com, mechanically separated meat "is collected from animal carcasses after all the prime cuts of muscle have been removed. In order to not waste the meat scraps still clinging to the bone, slaughterhouses remove the meat either by scraping, pressing or shaving the scraps off the bone, or by simply blasting it with pressurized air or water. The meat comes off in a reddish slurry, which is then mixed into low-grade meat products such as hot dogs and lunchmeat in order to bulk them up."

Hungry yet? Hot dogs are also loaded with sodium nitrite, and some now include what used to be called MSG. Now it is disguised with the labeling "autolyzed yeast." I just don't see the point in eating stuff like that when I can get organic turkey hot dogs with ingredients I can actually pronounce.

In our decades of gathering with other Christians for various occasions, my husband and I have noticed a disturbing dynamic. Not everyone at these gatherings seems to appreciate that we make healthier choices. It seems as long as the food you eat is "blessed," the calories and the content don't matter.

The Bible is very clear that we are not to test God. To me it seems monumentally presumptuous to assume you can make unhealthy, unwise choices (about your diet or anything else), and expect God to bail you out. His grace is amazing and far-reaching, yes -- but He expects us to use the brains He has given us.

It is a wondrous truth (as well as a serious responsibility) that our bodies are the very temple of the Holy Spirit of God (1 Corinthians 6:19). God expects us to care for His temple and be judicious in our treatment of it. Paul says, "I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should" (1 Corinthians 9:27). In the food arena, that means not only being careful about what we eat, but how much we eat. In Christian circles, I hear a lot about how you shouldn't smoke or drink alcohol, but I rarely hear about the sin of gluttony. It is one of the seven deadly sins, serious enough that Proverbs 23:2 says, "Put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony." God has convicted me about this sin in my own life, and I am taking positive steps to take off the extra pounds and be healthier.

I must confess that I am weary of getting lambasted -- often by Christian brothers and sisters -- for doing what I feel like God has called me to do. I don't judge them for eating junk food, so why should I be judged for preferring to eat healthy? It's as if when you start getting serious about honoring God in every aspect of your life, people feel compelled to remind you to exercise "moderation in all things." Such irony -- to eschew moderation with regard to one's habits, but to embrace moderation when it comes to how seriously we follow our Savior.

Good day everyone!
It is a beautiful Saturday afternoon. The story of Jonah has been on my mind this week. Not so much Jonah himself, but the people of Ninavah. Jonah was sent there by God to warn them that if they didn't change their ways that He would destroy them.
Many times in life God sends us warning signs, CAUTION; STOP; YIELD; and many others, but more times than not, we ignore them and proceed ahead like we didn't even see the signs. Then after we have hit a dead end or rough road, we often wonder how we got there and where was God to warn us. But we have no one to blame but ourselves. God sent us warnings, but unlike Ninavah, we ignored them.
Start paying attention to your warning signs, the gut feeling, the still small voice, the friendly advice. That is God trying to tell you, if you don't change the way you are going, you will meet destruction.
Have a very blessed day everybody!
Cheryl

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.-Matthew 12:30


The greatest commandment: Jesus said so. God has given us everything, including His only Son's life. In return, this is what He asks from us: love, defined in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. In a nutshell, it's patience, kindness, gentleness, peace-loving, not selfish, always bearing everything. True love is everything we are not, which is precisely why God instructs us to do it with all everything within us. It takes everything within us to overcome our sinful selves to even come close to the mark.


No matter the truth of God's love for us, showing this kind of love to Him is not easy. God does not come down from Heaven to chat with us. He does not buy us presents or send us cards. In this world of analytical thinking, God's blessings can be claimed as luck, fate, good karma, or the reward for our own hard work. He is not visible to us in our daily lives unless we are seeking Him.


We cannot love someone we do not know. We also can't follow someone if we don't know where they went. Scripture gives us beautiful insight into God's character and Jesus' mission. It tells us the kind of things we would seek to know about a person if we were looking for a relationship. The Bible retells epic love stories of God and His people. It tells of the kind of love story God wishes to have with us. It tells us what Jesus would do. Unfortunately, we can't experience this relationship with a Sunday commitment.


Each day we live without God is a day lived without love, without direction. Hebrews 4:12 says, 'For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.' Scripture has something important to say to us every day. When we fail to give God some of our undivided attention, we lose focus quickly, and we fall off the Lord's path for us. Then we find ourselves in trouble.

It's the goal of our lives to learn who God is. When we learn who He is, we can begin to understand His love for us. Living in relationship with the Lord is this kind of process. Understanding God's love in the face of our sinful nature helps us to learn to show His love to others. When we give up our selfish nature and learn to love like God, we find ourselves in the center of His will.

Don't fail to recognize where the journey begins. It's in the Lord's Holy Word.

We have a new place to eat in town.

It is kind of a place... but kind of a food cart on Main St.  Every single day, people line up to get a dog of some sorts cooked right there on the side of the road.

I joined that line last weekend.  I took my youngest daughter with me... well the truth is that she took me to the hot dog stand.  We place our order - 2 brats, chips and a root beer!  The hot dog chef made hers and she added mustard and then some cheese that had been sitting in the sun for a while.  Then he made mine and asked if i wanted sour kraut.  I love toppings on my brat, so I said "Yes, lavish some kraut on that dog!"   I proceeded to lavish some jalapenos and onions as well as other toppings.  In fact, a friend who had slipped in line behind us said... "Do you like a little dog with your toppings?"

We do not use the word "lavish" much anymore.  Maybe because I am studying through Ephesians, or maybe because I am just such a wordsmith, but I like that word.

Ephesians tells of how God lavished us with the riches His grace.  What a great picture of God's grace!  I like to lose my dog, lavished in a pile of toppings!  I also like the look that my sins have been lost, lavished in a pile of grace.  God, who came at just the right time, when I was helpless and could do nothing... He came and died for the ungodly.  He became our sin - we got His righteousness.

Lavish yourself in His grace today.

Good morning everyone!
Ok, I admit, I'm a worrier. When difficult situations arise in my life, I tend to worry about how everything is going to turn out.I pray about it and I try to forget it, but it never seems to completely leave mine mind. But then God moves and things start to happen. What I thought was impossible, is all of a sudden possible.
What I have learned from my worrying lately is that when it comes, I stop and remember how God brought me through the last storm. Surprisingly, I worry less!!! God has blessed me to not worry about situations in my life. I am learning to give them to Him and not think about them so much. I am so thankful for this. My faith is growing and I'm getting closer to God everyday.
So, don't worry, just remember what God has brought you through and know that He will bring you through again!
Have a very blessed day everybody!
Cheryl

 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23


Today's Christian leaders are beginning to realize where modern churches are going wrong in their philosophies. Books abound telling us that there is a huge difference between "belief" and "following". "Life at its very best is a passionate experience, not a doctoral dissertation. The problem is not that Christianity can't be believed, but that it can't be practiced because of its lack of lived experience." The Gospel According to Starbucks, Leonard Sweet. "In teaching people what it means to be a Christian, we spend much of our time and effort bringing them to a point of belief without clearly calling them to follow. We have taken "believe" and we have written that in capital letters with bold print: BELIEVE. But everything that has to do with following has been put in small print: follow." not a fan., Kyle Idleman. I have found myself reading several other books lately that essentially address the same issue. The question that still plagues me after reading all this is, "What's missing?" We can feel the convicting power in the question "has following Jesus cost you anything?", but Christians are still struggling with getting from conviction to action.


The truth is that Jesus wants all of us, and He doesn't plan to leave us as we are. That truth scares us to death. What if He calls you to sell everything you own and go into the mission field? What if He uses your life to glorify Him by sending you a tragedy? What if your friends or family abandon you because you're "taking this Christian thing too far"? We want to follow, but we're afraid. 


Kyle Idleman tells us about many people who had what he calls the "DTR (define the relationship) talk" with Jesus. Nicodemus would have to risk losing his position and his friends to follow Christ. Matthew would forfeit his lucrative (albeit dishonorable) career as a tax collector and commit to being poor. A prostitute would risk physical punishment just to be in Jesus' presence and to show Him her love for Him. And the rich young ruler would go away devastated because Jesus could see into his heart that his money and possessions were what he was worshiping.


Many Americans embody the rich young ruler. We value our comfort, our money, our status. In reality, there's nothing wrong with wanting to provide sufficiently for our families. Jesus tells us that shouldn't be the focus of our lives. He says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:26. We should love God so much that by comparison our other relationships could be described as hate. That requires total commitment to God's will, not ours.


So what is missing here? It's the acceptance of God's overwhelming love for us and the acknowledgement of His power and strength that is sufficient to care for us in any situation. Yes, following Christ will change our lives, and that is scary. But it's part of the point. Living in and with His love is worth the risk.

It is a skill that we must acquire.

Good morning everyone!
It has been such a great week! God blessed me to see my family over the holiday weekend and we really enjoyed each others company. I'm currently spending time with one of my sisters and having a good time. But looking at my family and seeing how blessed we are, I realize more than ever that God must take the lead in ALL our lives. We cannot control anything, God must control it. We must let Him drive and we sit back and enjoy the ride. A friend of mine told me once, it's not about the destination, but the journey.
God knows our journey, He has already traveled our journey, He knows the way.
So, let God take the lead in your life and you can rest assured that you will always be going in the right direction!
Have a very blessed day everybody!!!
Cheryl