Yikes, blog....it has been a long, long time.
“If you don’t like something change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” -Mary Engelbreit

Hopeful Service

Wow, it has been a long time since I've blogged.  I suppose December was filled with cookie decorating and Christmas celebrations.   In January I have been focusing on being more healthy and decluttering.  But today, this really hit me because it is my heart's desire to honor God and encourage others toward Him.

 If your sincere intent is to glorify God & bless people in your efforts,
And you are not motivated by self-focused unloving attitudes,
You will see the hand of God move with you as you do your work.
                                                                      (Dallas Willard, “Who Is Your Teacher?”)

So my job is not to move God’s hand or to make my work effective;  my job is to keep a right heart, one that:
• makes God’s goodness, beauty, strength and power obvious (glorifying God),
• intends to bless people,
• is selfless and loving.

People and circumstances were wearing away my belief that I work with God and God works with me. That despair keeps me from trusting that God’s hand is moving even if I can’t see it. I serve the Lord Jesus Christ, not myself, not publishers, not even my readers, students or directees. Jan Johnson

 "May not a single moment of my life be spent outside the light, love and joy of God's presence and not a moment without the entire surrender of myself as a vessel for Him to fill full of His Spirit and His love."  Andrew Murray

So, my prayer today is to cooperate with God in His kingdom work of spreading the Good News of the Gospel of Grace.  I want to impact others lives but I get discouraged when I don't see anything happening.  Maybe it's because God knows I'd be prone to pride and think it was "my works" that were drawing people to Christ rather than His kindness.  I pray to keep a pure heart before the Lord, ready and willing to be His servant.

 Romans 15:13 (NLT)   I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Thanksgiving Every Day

Edward Sandford Martin (whoever he is) said:

“Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow.”

Speaking of Love....

I sure love this lady...it was so much fun to learn to make rosettes with her.  It was precious time spent together.

Love

“What the heart loves, the will chooses and the mind justifies.”

Don't know who said it but that sure is a true quote.   Lord, help me to love you above all.

Sober assessment

I like this quote by David Brooks, "Humility is having an accurate assessment of your own nature. It’s having an accurate assessment of your own place in the cosmos. It’s an awareness that you’re an underdog in the struggle against your own sins. It’s an awareness that individual talents are inadequate to the tasks that have been assigned to you. It’s understanding yourself in the context of a greater divine order. Knowing you’re not the center of the universe and you need redemptive assistance to complete your tasks."

Is that person really a Christian????

Bottom line, only God knows...but this  article by Ed Underwood is good  for if you are wondering where a person really is at in their journey....
http://us6.campaign-archive1.com/?u=14ef0b5c9a2b19b53f26c3e60&id=72694827db&e=d2c4cc85c9