Designer's Original

Welcome to another episode of Trust In Him Tuesday.  We are going to focus on Psalm 42:5-8 Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance. O my God, my soul is cast down within me; Therefore I will remember You from the land of the Jordan, And from the heights of Hermon, From the Hill Mizar. Deep calls unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; All Your waves and billows have gone over me. The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me — A prayer to the God of my life. (Psalm 42:5-8) Although it may be easier said than done, you must have faith in spite of your heavy burden down circumstances.  Unforeseen, joy-stealing situations have a way of taking their toll on emotionally, spiritually, and physically.  Oftentimes, you may feel lost, overwhelm, defeated, and even hopeless.  Nonetheless, we must remember that God is o...

Welcome to another episode of Masterpiece Monday.  Masterpiece Monday is about  Growing in Godliness How to become the best version of yourself How to become the you that God designed you to be God created us after His image.  We are purpose by design.  We were not created to be average.  We are a custom build, original creation.  We are God's special treasures.  We are royalty.  So, how can we not be made for more?  We are made for more than we can ever imagine. God Made Me More (Promises That Are True) I am God's Masterpiece, created for a purpose and destiny. I am made for more than surviving life.  I will thrive in life. God is at work in my life and He will perfect everything that concerns me.  I have a good and bright future. God is turning my scars into stars.  I am strong, overcoming, and soaring over every obstacle. God can and will bring me to a flourishing finish.  God is bringing my dreams  to pass in His ...

Welcome to another episode of Selah Sunday.  It's hard to relax, release, and refresh when you are feeling stress, sad, distress, or just plain troublesome with a side order of blah because of everything that may be going on in and around your world. As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?  My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?” (Psalm 42:1-3) Psalm 42 is about yearning and thirsting for God in the midst of your troubles.  This Psalm encourages its readers to meditate on God's kindness and His love, when they are feeling lonely, defeated, or distressed. Special Note: Like the life of a deer depends upon water, so should our lives depend on God.  Those who seek Him earnestly and long to understand Him to find peace, joy, hope, and established their faith.  Feeling separated by God i...

So far, I have been a few of my A-Ha moments from "The ME I Want To BE" reading. I think I have read the epitome of all of my A-HA moments. Well, at least for now, :) I never knew what FTT meant until I started reading this book by John Ortberg. FTT means Failure To Thrive.   To Thrive means to grow vigorously, FLOURISH; to progress toward or realize a goal despite or because of circumstances If you fail to thrive, then you fail to grow. It, also, means that you are not willing to fight, to take a stand. You will give up at a moment's notice when things seem hard or if there's a bump in the road. J ohn Ortberg said it best. Languishing is Failure To Thrive. "Languishing is the condition of someone who may be able to function but has lost a sense of hope and meaning. Languishing is not the presence of mental illness; it is the absence of mental and emotional vitality." This is good time to pause and ponder. From there John...

Hello Everyone! I finished reading chapter 1.  I have read some of chapter 2 up to page 26.  I read about a few MEs that are God's version at all..... The Me I Don't Want To Be The Me I Pretend To Be The Me I Think I Should Be From what I read so far, I concluded that some or even most of us strive very hard to be everything and anything we want to be instead of what God wants us to be.   I think the reasoning behind that is because we want to please people, fit in, or be a part of something so that we can have a sense of belonging.  Peer pressure can, also, hinder the God's best version of us. "We do not drift into becoming the best version of ourselves." We are not going to be THE ME WE WANT TO BE overnight.  It's a process.  You're not going to stumble upon the best version of yourself.  It takes direction from God.  He directs our paths and shows us the way. "When I am growing toward the ME I wan...

    In my previous post, I talked about beginning the journey of becoming God's best version of ME by reading "The ME I Want To Be," by John Ortberg.  I started reading it last night.  So far, I've read chapter 1, pages 11 - 17.  I want to make sure I take my time to read and comprehend every word.  Sometimes, when you rush through your reading, there's a possible chance that you may miss a key point. There were a few quotes that caught my attention.  I like to call these quotes my A-Ha moments. "You are not your handiwork; your life is not your project.  Your life is God's project.  God thought you up, and He knows what you were intended to be." I thought you else knows their creation better besides the Creator. No one.  Only God knows the master plan for our lives.  He knows our purpose.  "Flourishing is not measured by outward signs such as income, possessions, or attractiveness.  It means beco...

It's been about 2 years since my last post. I'm not sure why. It's not like I need to explain or anything. But if I had to give a reason, it would be TIME . You can either have too much or too little time. Sometimes time is not an issue, it's just where you simply don't feel like doing it. But how can I not feel like doing what I love doing. In my case, it's not necessarily my feelings that got in my way, but various distractions and not enough focus. Then the more time passed on the more I tucked my blog in a box along with other stuff that I used to do that I love doing. After being tucked away for so long, certain things can easily become a figment of your imagination. That is, if you allow it to be. But, I must say God has a funny way of reminding you of your first loves in a subtle or not-so-subtle way. For example, these business cards below. I forgot I even had them. They pretty much came out of the blue sort of speak. Seeing these cards r...

Originally Posted April 7, 2007 but updated for today's post. :) Picture by: Shine Design via Toia on Pinterest The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall be afraid? (Psalm 27:1) "There is nothing to fear, but fear itself" is a familiar and famous quote. Fear corrupts your faith in God. Having God as your light, your salvation, and your strength, allow you to stand up, be strong and conquer all fears. *Remember that the word of God says in 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and a sound mind." Fear does not have control over you; instead you have control over fear. Having the power of God dwelling in our hearts, allow us to be victims no more to fear. "Fear is exaggerated. It can be overwhelming. It always takes you to the worst-case scenario. Fear is like a fog. It will always cloud the truth. It tries to make you ...

"....An encouraging word CHEERS a person up." (Proverbs 12:25) nlt I love encouraging and inspiring people through my words. It's a wonderful feeling to lift someone's spirit. I just pray more people would take the time to build up people with their words, rather than tear them down. Having people tear you down, ridicule, or "joking" around with offensive, degrading, or disrespectful words, is anything but a great feeling. It hurts, agitates, and can have a very negative impact on one's spirit. For example, when we have family function, my granddad loves to always and do mean always point out and I quote "How big my butt is" or "If I eat another bite of food (granted it's my first bite from my meal) I will be as big as my momma." or my favorite (sarcasm here)..."Hey everyone this one here (pointing to me) looks like she's pregnant!" (By the way I'm not that big.) Can you say WO...

Sometimes we have the tendency to fear the unknown. When you are in a midst of distress or despair, it's naturally to fear the worst at first. However, you must be careful not to wallow in it. This is where you should not feed into your fear, but into your faith. One of the many reasons why I love the book of Psalms is that you can get a clear sense of his heartfelt relationship with God. David was in trouble so many times. Nonetheless, he knew His God, our God, will bring him out. Psalm 138 is a psalm written by David about "The Lord's Goodness to the Faithful." Verses seven and eight are my favorite. It says, "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand Against the wrath of my enemies, And Your right hand will save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever; Do not forsake the works of Your hands." David knew that God will stretch out H...

This is the last full week in October. I really don't know what to say. This might be the first. But, I do know that it is Sunday's Scripture Reading. So, let's get right to it and start this week off on the right foot. This week's theme and today's Sunday Scripture Reading will be Luke 16:10.     He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. God has blessed and is still blessing His children with dreams beyond what we can ever imagine for ourselves. However, when it comes to dreams, we must work the necessary steps that leads to them coming true. Most likely, that involves doing things step by step. Of course, that means starting off small, but ending with a big bang. In the midst of it all, we must show God our faithfulness in carrying our dreams to full term. If we are faithful over little things, we will be faithful over plenty. My prayer is to be fa...

Happy Friday!!! I think everybody is ready for the weekend!! Let's get right to it. For this Feel Free Friday, I want you to feel free to count your blessings. Regardless of what's going on or how hectic your schedule may be, take time to smell the roses. Focus on all the great things that God has done for you. It's a great way to put your joy in to action. When all else seem to fail, don't be discouraged. COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS so that you can see and remember what God has done!! Picture by: Koinonia Network via Toia on Pinterest

Quench Your Thirst Thursday is here!! Happy Friday Eve!! To get you through the rest of the week, I thought MercyMe's song The Hurt and The Healer will give you that extra boost you may need in the name of Jesus. It'a an awesome song that truly hit home to how most of us may feel or have felt at some point in our lives. Please take time to listen to this song in its entirety. I guarantee that it will bless your spirit, especially if you allow each word minister to your heart. The lyrics are included in the video. MercyMe - The Hurt and The Healer (Official Lyric Video) from mercymemusic on GodTube .

Happy Wednesday!!! And I love that it is Wisdom Word Wednesday because we are half way there. Hal-le-lu-yer!!! Today's edition of Wisdom Word Wednesday is about the Lord's Strength. This week's Manic Monday is about putting your JOY into action, which goes hand in hand with today's post. With that being said, we should be wise to call on God to be our strength. In distress times, it can be hard to put your joy into action. It may because we are so burden down, discouraged, or just plain weak in our spirit. Believe it or not, this is the best time to call on the Lord to be our strength. Even Jeremiah recognized God as the source of His strength, when he said, "O LORD, my strength and my fortress, My refuge in the day of affliction," in Jeremiah 16:19. In addition to that, when you put your joy into action, you, also, tap into the power of the Holy Spirit for the Lord's strength to filter through into you. Nehemiah 8:10 says, "...Do ...

My Dearest Heavenly Father, I thank you for being my Father. You are always by my side no matter what. Even through my toughest times, you carry me through and planted my feet on solid ground. There are times, even though I hate to admit it, when I didn't put my whole trust and hope in you. Yet, You still made a way out of no way for me.  And for that, I am truly sorry. I love you and I would be lost and no one without you. I take Your word spoken in Habakkuk 3:17-19 to heart. It encourages and empowers my spirit. It reminds me that no matter what is going on in my life You are the source of everything. You are the source of my joy. You are the source of my peace of mind. You are the source, not my circumstances and everything else for that matter. So, Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd i...