A new year begins

I use to join the club every new year and make new year's resolutions. Then I began to see the famous trend in me of not being able to keep them.
I pondered the reason why I usually end up not keeping them: they were just promises I made to myself to be better at something.
I was challenged by the Holy Spirit to do differently.  I now ask God  to make me into the person He wanted me to be. That He would fulfill all that He has for me in the coming new year. I have to say that I was more at peace after I started to be do that. I didn't have to make things happen. I didn't have to fight myself to be better. I just allowed God to teach me and mold me and guide me. The changes came as I focused on Him.
I challenge you to do the same this coming new year. God is awesome and getting to know Him is abundant life indeed.
Have a blessed and prosperous new year. I pray you allow God to mold you into the person He wants you to be.

2016 ends

As the end of the year comes so quickly, I think back on why I started this blog. I love to write. Always did.
I don't have much followers, but I will write because it is what I love to do.
I also love talking about God's faithfulness in my life in hopes that someone is ministered to by it. He is the reason for my living and the reason for the Christmas season. He came to bring everlasting and abundant life.
We can still receive this gift.  He has been waiting. Join me in living the abundant life He died to give us.

His Invitation

Jesus showed and explained in many ways His great invitation to us. He invites us to accept the great life that he died on the cross for us to have. In Matthew he gently tells us to 'come to Him.'
The only way we will know personally what Christ is offering us is to accept His invitation and go to Him.
Going to Him is more than just going to church. That is a good start. Going to Him involves our whole mind and our whole heart. We cannot go half heartedly, because we will not fully experience life with Him.
Let us go to Him. Initially for the forgiveness of sin, and then every moment and everyday after that. He is waiting to take us on an amazing journey, and show us and teach us abundant life.
#LifewithChrist

My Source of Strength

'The Name of the Lord
Is a strong and mighty tower
The name of the Lord
Is a refuge for my soul
The name of the Lord
Is a pillar I can lean on
The righteous runs into the
Name of the Lord'
My thoughts have been drifting to the words of this song for some days now. It gently reminds me of my source of strength.
When I face anything that threatens to overwhelm me or consume me, being reminded of my source of strength is comforting and encouraging.
The Lord God is my source of strength. What/Who is yours?
I challenge you to run into His arms and let Him be your source of strength,  in everything and every area of your life.

Remember

Recently I am pleasantly reminded of the amazing abundant life God offers us. Christ death on the cross makes it possible to have unhindered access to God.
I am reminded of each detailed part of what He has for us as His children. The very fact that I am His child is a great status to be. All that comes with that is overwhelmingly amazing.
I love being reminded because it keeps me focus and my love for God grows deeper still.
Are you a child of God?
John 1:12 says 'But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God’s children, to those who believe in his name,'
Give your heart to Him today.
Are you already His child? Actively become His disciple, and learn all that He has to offer you. Learn all of what it means to be a child of God.
Be blessed.

Excited!

It always amazed me how well God work things out. How much He is interested in every area of my life. Learning to be His child first and foremost is challenging and exciting.
It challenges me because I have to keep letting go of my way, and grabbing ahold of His. It challenges me because His call to follow Him is not just about me and my development , but about Him and His kingdom.
It is exciting because I just need to follow Him and walk in obedience to Him, and all falls into place.
It is exciting because I get to see His promises come to pass daily in my life.
He calls each of us to follow Him. I challenge you to accept His invitation and follow Him. Only then will you know who He is and what He is about.  Have a great week.

Looking Back

From I was born again, my journey with God began. In fact, I think from I was born as my mother taught me about Him. It wasn't until the last four years or so that I started rediscovering Him. He allowed events and lost in my life that shook me to the core. By His grace I remained in Him, although I wanted to run from Him. I quickly realized "who will I run to?" My life events did not change Him. My first prayer was then "teach me to live Your way".
I have been enjoying the rewards of that. I challenge you to ask Him the same and really open your heart to Him.
Have a blessed week.

I Have It!

As children of God (who have given our hearts and lives to Him, accepted His forgiveness, and are walking in obedience to Him), we have all that God promises to us through Christ.
As we daily walk with God, abide in Him, focus on Him, He will show us all the riches we have in Him, and teach us how to access it.
We already have His peace, joy, strength. Allow Him to change our mindset and renew our minds so we see clearly what we have in Christ.
Ephesians 1: 17-19

Always Applicable

The truths that God teaches us is always applicable. It is never just for that time.
I was reminded of His truth in a verse yesterday that I had learned years ago. My temptation is to overlook scripture like that because I already know it. The Holy Spirit had to remind me that I must always be ready to embrace what God is saying now, even if it is scripture or truth I already knew.
Always walk in obedience to God's leading, even if you feel it is beneath you.
Have an awesome week.

Acknowledge God

Lord I trust in You with all my heart and refuse to lean on my own understanding. In all my ways I will acknowledge You and You have been, and will continue to direct my paths.
I have become confident of this as I see God keeps His word over and over again. Once I acknowledge Him, and cry out to Him, He directs my path without any hesitation.
I can never stop acknowledging Him. I trust Him completely.
Open up your heart to Him. He wants to direct you too. Have a great week and safe 21st September.

Keeping On

This week proved to be a busy one also. I continued to see God just take me step by step to get done each thing that I had to do. Even with the surprises that always force you to rearrange your schedule.
At the end of the day, with God in control and me just simply obeying Him, I accomplish a perfect balance between relationship and what I have to do.
Proverbs 3:5&6 proves true again. I encourage you to read it and make it your life MO.
Have a blessed, safe and awesome weekend.

Every Little Area

I know I promised to be short, but I just had to share God's faithfulness.  Be blessed.
Last week has been an incredibly busy week.  I had the privilege to attend an OCC nConnect conference in Belize. Awesome speakers from around the Caribbean and the US taught on topics like conflict resolution, personal life of a leader, and coaching. These are things that every leader needs to hear from time to time.  I wasn't unfamiliar with the topics, just that God will always have an area He wants to mold me and teach me with truths that I hear.  He was faithful to minister to me and shape me even more into who He wants me to be.
The part that was amazing for me was viewing God's faithfulness in helping me to get ready for the few days away from my family and responsibilities.  That started to unfold from last weekend, when I realized that I had a lot of stuff to accomplished before I left.  I was starting to get overwhelmed.  I didn't see it happening at all, and I couldn't even begin to try and figure out a way forward.  Then I started to feel a bit stress out which came with temptations of who to blame.  All that happened in a few minutes, and through that whole dark thought process, I was able to hear God's voice inviting me to trust Him with forming a schedule that will work for me.  My first thoughts were, "really! You, God will show me a schedule?"  His response caught me off guard; "You won't see the schedule, Just trust Me as to what to do first, second and so on, and you will see it all get done."  Thinking back to times when He has kept His word, it was not hard to let go and trust Him.
So....I did.....I let go.  He showed me what to do first and I did that and completed it. Then the second, ....  He also navigated me with the things that I had to get done alongside these major projects.  The peace I felt was and still is indescribable. God really did it.  I always knew He was able, but to see Him navigate me through my schedule that I see myself as responsible for was humbling and amazing.  He cares about every detail of my life.  His invitation to abide in Him extends to every area of my life, every day of my life.  I was able to leave to the conference knowing that I accomplished what I needed to so my family functioned without me.
God cares about all of your life also.  Let Him lead you and teach you.

God Provides!

When I was a child and going to Sunday School, I learned this song from my mom:
Consider the lilies
They don't toil nor spin
They bask in God's sunshine
They drink in God's rain
If God cares for them in such marvelous ways
How much more, how much more, how much more
Will He care for you/me and provide every need every day
Nowadays, remembering and singing that song only brings back memories of her always encouraging me to trust God.
Matthew 6: 25-34 explains why we, as children of God, have no need to worry and fret over what we need.  I have been learning the delicate balance between being a responsible adult and trusting God completely.  I thought for years that the two opposed each other.  I am learning to do both by God's grace.
When I first realized that I didn't fully trust God in some areas of my life, I was shocked and appalled at myself.  Why?  Well, I considered myself an exemplary Christian.  Self-righteousness right!  One of my main weakness.  I thank God for His grace.
I believed in Christ when I repented and gave my heart and life to Him. I trusted Him to save me.  I also believed in Christ to keep me focused spiritually.  But, He showed me that I was lacking in belief when it comes to my daily life, like financial provision, and relationships.  This was already a big blow for me to find that out about myself, and now I must change my thinking to stay obedient to God; to stay yoked with Him; to keep abiding in Him.
Verse 33 sums it up well, "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well"  Since I don't want to be long in each post, I will explore this verse more in my next post.
I invite you to open up your heart to God and ask Him to teach you how to obey what He told us in these verses, especially verse 33.
Have a great weekend.  Be safe.  Be quick to forgive.

Catching Up

It has been about a while since I posted anything.  It is incredible how busy a week can get.  I thank God that it was filled with good events and things.
There were also moments and situations where I had to keep adjusting, and making changes and choosing to keep focusing on God and His truth. This is something that myself and all out there need to realize: this being a Christian and disciple of Christ, is a journey, not a destination or goal.  Changes, challenges and all else will be on going.  This is one of the biggest truth I have been learning as I rediscover God.
Seeing Christianity as a goal to be accomplished, or a lifestyle to master and maintain is swallowing one of Satan's biggest lie.  When we became His children, it was sealed as far as He is concerned.  We began this journey in our decision to walk in obedience to Him.  Everyday and every life situation we learn more of who God is if we keep our hearts open to Him, and as He keeps molding us into who He wants us to be.  He will keep His word and promise.  Will we stay true to walking with Him even when it doesn't make sense, or is beyond painful?
Matthew 11:29 says, Jesus speaking: "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls."  This right there sums up what Christ had and has in mind when He made us children of God (we became His children when we confess our sins, repented of our sins, receive God's forgiveness by faith, believing in Christ).  Let us always remember this and live our lives according to this scripture truth.

Life

So the past couple days I was not feeling well.  I had made a commitment to post anew around the beginning and ending of the week. The heat here in Dangriga, and I am sure all across the country, got to me.  Plus I have to admit that I made a few unwise choices.  Not drinking enough water was one of them.  So here I am recovering from mild dehydration.  I feel a bit sheepish about this and had to keep things in perspective so I don't beat up myself.  Stuff happens sometimes and this is not my first mistake.
I thank God that it did not get worse and I also reluctantly thankful for the caring my daughters have been giving me.  It feels more like their opportunity to tell me what to do for a change, but "A wah lef it suh"
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13
Have a blessed week and stay hydrated.

God's Hope

Romans 15:13 "My the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
I will never forget when I read this scripture a few months ago.  With tears running down my face I made it my personal prayer.  I realized I needed God to fill me with His hope, because I had none of my own.  Yes, I trusted in Him, and yes, I know He will do what He said He would, but...and I made my list.
Are you at a place in your life where you feel like there is no hope to see changes?  Or in a situation where you are being backed into a hopeless corner? God is a God of hope.  He fills us with His joy and His peace.  He does this as we trust in Him.  And, when He does this, as we trust in Him, His hope overflows in us by the power of His Holy Spirit.
I made this my prayer because I needed God's hope to overflow in me.  In the moments when I saw no hope, and wondered if me choosing to trust in Him will do anything.
I made this my prayer because I needed to keep focus on what God says He will do and to hope in that and not hope in those around me or myself.
I made this my prayer because I needed God's hope to keep me sane as I trust in Him even though nothing seems to be happening.
I needed God's hope.  You need God's hope.  We all need God's hope always.
Make this scripture your prayer.  Praying scripture verses is even more powerful.
My prayer went like this: "My God of hope, please fill me with Your joy and peace as I trust in You.  May Your hope overflow inside me by the power of Your Holy Spirit"
Have a awesome weekend.  Pray for Belize!

Realizations

This past week has been an interesting one.  It started out usual only to be interrupted by the tunneling of hurricane Earl right through the middle of our country Belize.  It was my first hurricane without all of my family with me.  Where I live was where the southern part of the storm cross over.  The winds sounded terrifying and I din't sleep at all that night.  It was pitch dark with no electricity and water.  I was cut off from the world.  That was one night I wanted the morning to come quick.  To make matters worse, hurricane Earl slowed down even more when it made landfall. The heavy winds blew for three to four hours.  I didn't even hear the rain much because it was blown away.  But, morning did come, and my house and family was intact, and I finally fell asleep.
Sadly, as I write this, there are people in our country that are still in hurricane shelters because of flooding rivers.  Our National Emergency arm of the government seems to be doing a good job of providing for these people and helping them to get back to normalcy.
To date there has been no reported deaths due to the hurricane.  I don't know why we were speared.  I don't know why or little town was speared again.  I heard reports of deaths in Mexico.  I thank God for His faithfulness while realizing that there are many others who feel differently.  They have lost their home, or work shop, or are stuck in a hurricane shelter....and the list goes on.  I pray for God's wisdom on our NEMO personnel as they help these people recover from the damage done to their property and lives.  I also pray for wisdom as the church raise up and help in the communities where we are.
In fact, I am not only realizing that, but that other people's journey with God might play out differently than my journey, especially in the specifics.  Like for instance; I respond differently to God's truth revealed to me than another person.  Even response times can be vastly different. I have to admit that I used to get so annoyed that someone that I work with or live with takes so long to embrace God's truth.  I mean the difference between me and them is days, sometimes even weeks and years.  The self righteousness that would rise up in me was quickly cut down as I allowed the Holy Spirit to open my heart and eyes to how God viewed things.  I also realized that those same people felt I was constantly judgmental and not understanding.  Plus the Holy Spirit straight up told me that that is between them and God.  I must ficus on God's truth for me and how He is leading me.  I objected greatly to this initially as it seems to be counterproductive at times, but as I let go, God was able to fully take control without my interference and everything fell into place.  Ok! Ok! It DID NOT always go as smoothly as I wrote it.  But each situation I am equally amazed at how God can so awesomely orchestrate things in my life and those around me, all to His glory and agenda.  He is not God for nothing.  The less I try to take control, the better things play out.
This is how our journey with God should be.  It is called varying words, but it really is a relationship, a journey, a lifestyle all in one.  That's what the disciples in the Bible experienced with Christ.  I look forward to the days to come, because God is in control.
Have a blessed week.

New Beginning

Good morning to you.  I pray this day finds you doing well.
It has been some years since I have made a post.  Reason? Mostly life events; but more specifically, the past two years have been one f walking in the valley of shadows, and being in the furnace, and being submerged in repeated tsunami type waves.  God has been and continues to be my rock and only stable in my life.
The redesigning and renaming of this blog marks my new beginning.  I am walking in obedience here, and trust God for the way forward.
As I continue to learn how to navigate online technology, I hope to be able to reach more readers and be a blessing as God has blessed me.
My topics will be mostly on what I have learned and continue to learn as I choose daily to walk in obedience to God.  It is a journey that I invite you to.  To really experience the fullness of this journey, you must be willing to let go of any idea, belief, or teaching that does not line up with God's word and who He is.  It has been a challenge for me and is still hard to do, but that is why Jesus says we should abide/remain in Him.  It is only through Christ that we can journey with Him and be who He called us to be.
I am excited and nervous to the future of this blog.  I hope to bring God all the glory.
The scripture on my site says
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and don't lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him (God), and He will direct your paths"  Proverbs 3: 5&6  It is one of my life's verse.  I encourage you to make it your own.
You are still alive and God is still and forever will be in control, so it is not too late to walk with Him
Have a blessed week.