Do You Have a Big BUT??

As Christians, how often do we use the phrase: “I would do that,  BUT _____________”(fill in the blank).  Today I want you to take a look at your BUT!!    What is it that is holding you back from what God is calling you to do?  Some excuses I have heard in the past are: I would help people, BUT I don’t have any extra money.  I would witness, BUT I’m not good at talking to people. I would work at Bible School, BUT I just don’t have time.  I would sing at church, BUT I can’t get up in front of people. I would go to church on Wednesday night, BUT I’m just too tired…and the list goes on and on.  

  

Even great people in the Bible had some big BUTS.  Look at Moses in Exodus 4, when God first told him what He wanted him to do to free the Israelites.  Moses basically said, “I would go, BUT I really can’t talk very good.  Please send someone else to do it!”  And Jonah, when God told him what He wanted him to do the scripture says, “BUT Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish” Jonah 1:3.   And Sarah, when the angel told Abraham that she would have a son, laughed and said, “BUT I’m too old!”

The angel’s reply was, “Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son" Genesis 18:14.

Guess what?  Satan LOVES those big BUTS!  He probably sings that song, “I like big BUTS and I cannot lie.”  He knows he has us right where he wants us when we are not being obedient and doing what God is calling us to do. 

How do we get rid of our big BUTS?  The same way we get rid of our big BUTTS!  When we want to lose weight or re-shape our back sides, we 1) get up off the couch, 2) start eating right, and 3) begin to exercise.  We need to do the same things to get rid of our BUTS!  Over the next few days we are going to look at these three remedies for getting rid of our big BUTS!   Hope you join me!!

I Want to be Just Like Her

I saw this posted on Facebook a while back and it is

 so very true!

As we get older, we learn to appreciate our mothers more and more.

  I am blessed to have the most wonderful mother ever created!! 

 I wrote a song for her last Mother's Day that I wanted to share with you today.

  It says it all...

I Want to be Just Like Her

She is beautiful beyond what any words can express,

She's my rock, she's my hero, and she's my biggest fan.

She's unselfish, strong and kind,

No one more patient will you find,

She can surely be called her Father's daughter,

And I want to be just like my mother.

I've been told I look like her ever since I was a kid,

I just pray that some day I'll be half the mom she is,

She's a bright and shining light,

In a world that's dark as night,

I long to be called my Mother's daughter,

I want to be just like my mother. 

I want to be just like her, 'cause she's like Him.

She's a living example of who Jesus really is.

There's no greater tribute in this world,

That I can give my mother,

Then to tell her just how much,

She is like her Father.

She's a living example

Of who Jesus really is.

I want to be just like her,

'Cause she's like Him.

Happy Birthday Mama!!!

  I love you more than words can express!!!

  

Shhhh…..Can You Hear Him?

“The LORD said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.  After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.  When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave…"

  1 Kings 19:11-13 NIV

Are you are listening for the voice of God today?

  He is always speaking…

we just forget to stop and listen.

Look around you…

He is waving to you from that blade of green grass

 blowing in the wind outside your window. 

Listen…

He is singing to you through that bird up in the tree.

Feel His presence…

He is wrapping His arms around you

 through your child’s sweet hug.

His whispers of love can be seen and heard all around us if we will just be quiet, be still and listen.      

He says, "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.  The LORD Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.”

Psalm 46:10-11 NIV

Amazing Friday

More important than your birthday, more important than Thanksgiving, more important than Christmas…even more important than Easter….Good Friday is the single most important day of a Christian’s life.  Why do we not celebrate the day that Jesus chose to DIE FOR US? 

It should be called Great Friday or Amazing Friday or something that reflects what happened on that day!!

He was born at Christmas…but He could have changed his mind and chose not to die.  He conquered death at Easter….BUT 3 days before that… He was beaten beyond recognition, mocked, cursed, spit on, kicked, punched, and hung upon a cross…

all for you and me.   

The more I learn about Jesus, the more I appreciate the gift He gave us.  He didn’t just give us the gift of eternal life. He gave us the gift of an intercessor, a confidant, a healer, a protector and a friend.  I can’t even imagine living in the time of the Old Testament without Jesus there to stand in the gap for me.  His love and forgiveness are beyond our comprehension.  

   

So today, on Good Friday, don’t forget to honor the ONE that gave his life to save yours.

He deserves the highest honor and

 praise that can be given. 

Phl 2:8-11 NIV - "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of

 Jesus

 every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

 to the glory of God the Father."

March 21: The Day That Changed My Life (2013 Version)

I was only 19 years old on March 21, 1990, the day that God gave me the most amazing gift…

a beautiful baby boy. 

The entire course of my life was changed in the moment that I first held him in my arms.  My life was no longer just about me…I had this little, tiny person depending on me for everything. 

I had always thought that I would go to college and do big things…but raising our son took the place of everything.  I like to say that I went to the college of life!  I had to work, learn how to cook and clean, pay bills, take care of a baby and 10 million other things…and I wasn’t really even old enough to be considered an adult! Praise the Lord we had parents that were always willing to help us, yet still encourage us stand on our own.

More important to me than any college degree or high paying career is the accomplishment that I feel when I look at my son.  He is a good man and a good husband.  He is loved by everyone that meets him.  He is a hard-working, God-fearing, compassionate man.  And I know that some day, he will be an amazing Dad.

Do I ever have regrets about what could have been?  No, I never do.  I had never planned to have a child so young, but God worked it all out for good. (Romans 8:28) One day, when Cody figured out how young we were when he was born, he asked me if he was a “mistake.”  I told him NO WAY; he was a “surprise”…an unexpected gift that I didn’t even know I wanted until I got it!  

No child is ever a mistake.

The bible says, “Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him.” Psalm 127:3 NLT

Happy Birthday, Cody.  I love you more than words can express. Thank you, Lord, for that special gift you gave to us. We have always cherished him, and we always will!  When I look at Cody and our daughter, Maddie, I know that there is nothing in this world that could have made me happier and more fulfilled than being their mother. 

 That is what God put me on this earth to do…

it is my first calling.      

Put Him On

Last week, during our Wednesday night Youth Devotion, my husband read 1 Thessalonians 5:8.

“But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.”

  I know I have seen that scripture many times before, but this time two little words JUMPED OUT at me.

“putting on”

I began to ponder the meaning of that phrase “put on”.  If you have to “put something on” that means you were not born with it or it wasn’t originally a part of you. For example:  We have to put on clothes, because we are born naked.  Look at Mr. Potato Head (silly example, but effective).  When you open the package…he is just a potato.  You have to “put on” everything else. 

So I began the journey of figuring out the “putting on”.

 

Why would we need to “put on” FAITH?  Aren’t we born with it?  Not according to Paul in Romans 10:17 – “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  How can we have faith in something we have never even HEARD about?  We must read the word of God and we must hear it preached in order to have faith.  We have to PUT IT ON. 

What about LOVE?  Surely we are born with that.  But Paul speaks of our true nature in Galatians 5:19-21 – “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” Our sin nature that we are born with does not include love.     We have to PUT IT ON.

 

And SALVATION…We are definitely not born with that.  Act 4:12 tells us – “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Of course this is referring to Jesus.  John 3:17-18 – “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” We have to PUT IT ON.

Why do people struggle so much with their faith?  Why is it so hard for them to love others?  Why do people question their salvation…or deny that they even need salvation?  Because these things are not natural within ourselves: We were not born with the capability to understand them.  We were not born with peace, joy, hope, or self-control either. 

We have to PUT THESE THINGS ON.

Galatians 5:16-17  – “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

 They are not in us.  They are only found in Christ.

Galatians 5:22-24  – “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  There is no law against these things!  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there.”

Are you struggling?  PUT HIM ON  Are you weary?  PUT HIM ON

  Are you worried?  PUT HIM ON  Are you distressed?  PUT HIM ON

 Are you weak?  PUT HIM ON  Are you lost?  PUT HIM ON

“You say… ‘I have everything I want. I don't need a thing!’  And you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”  Revelation 3:17

“Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”  Romans 13:14

We have to put HIM on.

Our Love Story

Once upon a time, there was a little brown-haired girl from Texas and a little sandy-haired boy from Louisiana. 

When they were teenagers, the young boy moved to Texas, and began attending school at James Bowie in Simms. 

The young girl attended school at New Boston. 

Every morning the boy would go to the Korner Store (a little store right at the crossroads between Simms and New Boston) before school. 

The young girl's mother worked at the Korner Store, and over time, she just fell in love with the sweet young man from Louisiana.

She would go home and tell her daughter how handsome,

 sweet and polite the young man was. 

 And she would tell the young man how beautiful her daughter was.

So, it came to pass, that the young girl was bored one summer day.  Her mother suggested,

 "Why don't you give that young man that comes

 into the store a call?"   

She called him.  He just happened to be bored, too.

That was in August 1988...and by September they were "IN LOVE"

It was their Senior year of High School.  There were no cell phones or text messages....no computers, no Facebook....but there were lots of love notes...

There were two Senior Proms...he couldn't go to hers, she couldn't go to his...but he could stop by to pose for a picture...

They graduated, with big dreams for the future that included

baseball and college...

But quickly decided that one could not live without the other...

so the two became one September 16, 1989.

And 24 years later...the love story continues!