One of my daily calendar posts for today…
“Be careful how you live; you may be the only Bible some people ever read.”
And this one as well…
“This is the path I have set before you. As you follow it wholeheartedly, you experience abundant Life and Peace.” – 2 Peter 1:2 (NIV)
Blessings today and always.
Peace is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.
Blessings.
Yesterday, a friend felt failure. She cleans condos on Saturdays and she wasn’t able to complete the job. Her body and spirit failed.
“Accept each day exactly as it comes to you. By that, I mean not only the circumstances of your day but also the condition of your body. Your assignment is to trust Me absolutely, restin in My sovereignty and faithfulness.
On some days, your circumstances and your physical condition feel out of balance: The demands on you seem far greater than your strength. Days like that present a choice between two alternatives—giving up or relying on Me. Even if you wrongly choose the first alternative, I will not reject you. You can turn to Me at any point, and I will help you crawl out of the mire of discouragement. I will infuse My strength into you moment by moment, giving you all that you need for this day. Trust Me, by relying on My empowering Presence.” Psalm 42:5; 2 Corinthians 13:4; Jeremiah 31:25 – Jesus is Calling by Sarah Young
This was yesterday’s devotional. We will always feel failure at some point in our day or weeks. These scriptures remind us to rely on God in each failure. To accept each step regardless of the fall. Accepting that we can’t complete something hurts. We don’t want to admit that we fail. We need to remember that we are not perfect, and we can’t do it all.
Encourage those when you can.
Blessings.
I had lunch with a precious new friend on Friday. We always enjoy our time together, and we are able to talk about our frustrations with work, life and in general. We leave feeling lifted and loved.
We were leaving, hugged for our good-byes, she asked for prayers for patience.
NO! Never ask for patience from God. Background: A precious missionary wife (Marianne) was in a prayer group with me about twenty years ago, and I had asked for patience with my first husband and kids. She came up to me afterward – privately- and said “Never ask for patience, God will just you more tribulations. Ask for wisdom and discernment instead.” Now, whenever anyone asks in prayer for patience, I immediately respond with what Marianne said.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” James 1:2-5 (NIV)
Blessings.
We do not know how cheap the seeds of happiness are or we should scatter them more often.
To speak kindly does not hurt the tongue.
These two quotes mean more to me after this past week than you could ever imagine. Life is hard, difficult, fun, and exhausting. A smile, or a kind word can mean so much to someone along the way.
Be kind.
I cannot wait! ❤️
Blessings.
“If you would make a man happy, do not add to his possessions but subtract from the sum of his desires.” – unknown
My desires aren’t of stuff…it is of time. Time spent with family and friends. I want more time, but who doesn’t?
“Energy and time are precious, limited entities. Therefore, you need to use them wisely, focusing on what is truly important. As you walk close to Me, saturating your mind with Scripture, I will show you how to spend your time and energy. My word is a lamp to your feet; My Presence is a Light for your Path.” Psalm 119:105–Jesus is Calling
Blessings.
“We think we’ll be safest tiptoeing carefully around land mines of criticism. Callings beget criticism. The thing about trying to please critics: they’re never pleased. A wise man once told me that there are people you don’t want to like you.” – Beth Moore
I have always wanted everyone to like me. I want people to feel good, not only about the day, what is going on around them, about themselves, and about me.
It’s been a hard lesson, but I have realized that I can’t always make everyone happy. Not everyone will like what you do, say, or how you act. There will be people that just don’t like you. But YOU have to like you. You have to accept the flaws, bumps, and awesomeness that you are. That’s it. It is harder than it seems, eh?
Blessings today…and always.
“Some things don’t need to be handled. They need to be unhandled. Nothing requires more self-control than withdrawing the attempt to control.” – Beth Moore
“Let Him have all your worries and cares, for He is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you.” 1 Peter 5:7
How often do you give everything to God, but in the next moment you are worrying about it again? You take it back because you feel you have to maintain control over it. I do. Life happens. There are things that we HAVE to do: like taking items out of the oven before they burn, putting gas in our car before it runs out, keeping up with our finances so you can go on a trip or buy groceries.
Life happens, right? We have to keep up with it, the day to day stuff. But I get lost in the simple stuff sometimes. I remember that He is control of every single hair on my head, yet I wonder what tomorrow will bring. I a big picture thinker, a worst case scenario person. This pays off in what I do for a paycheck as people count on me for my detail thinking. I like to be mindful about the smallest detail. But at home, it can become overwhelming. There are days I just want to let it all go, and not think about the details of life. I let them go, and let God deal with them, only a hour or two later to take it all back.
Today, and everyday I need to remind myself to withdraw from the worry.
Blessings.
This past week has been wonderful, as we have been in Virginia and DC. David had to work, and I got to go along to play in DC on my own and to visit family. Truly satisfying all my desires of my heart. I have missed my nieces, and being able to spend three days with them was glorious. 
DC on my own was wonderfully exhausting. Over 14,000 steps –such a NSV as when we went with the family a couple of years ago, I was unable to walk up the stairs to see the Lincoln Memorial. So to be able (after a day of already walking everywhere) walk up with NO issues and take this picture–perfect!! I will say…I was really sad at myself after walking up those stairs thinking about the time before—I had thought it was so far up that I couldn’t do it—it really was nothing–this time. WOW. 
Time with family was the best…I got to spend three precious days with my nieces on their farm–aren’t silly faces the best? Then back to DC with David. 
On Friday, David and I got to explore DC.
Not as many steps as I got on Monday, but a wonderful time exploring DC. If you have an opportunity to go to The Dubliner–GO. David actually got a 10 year old whiskey called the Dubliner, I got Chardonnay (I know – not Irish but really a nice wine).
It has great food, Guinness, and Irish whiskey. 
We explored some more of DC…before heading back to the hotel in Reston, VA. It was a wonderful week. The 16 hour drive from Reston, VA back to Fort Walton Beach, FL was exhausting yesterday…which is why my post today is so late…
So…go explore, wherever you might be!
Blessings.
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