Yet, Another Question....

Got a question.....yes, again....

I've been on several blogs and have noticed that several of you have the buttons of other blogs on this little rotating, live action thingy...yes, my Blogger/computer lingo is astounding.....

Anyway, I'd love to show more buttons of the blogs I love to read, but those columns can get mighty long. How do I get the buttons to be live (?) and rotate??

I would love any help on that! :o)

Thankful Thursday

It's that time again! Time to join Sonya over at Truth 4 the Journey for Thankful Thursday. I've said many times before and I'll say it again, I look forward to doing Thankful Thursday because it causes me to pause and look at how blessed I have been this week.

So...here we go!!

1) I am thankful that a good friend of mine went back for a cancer scan and she is still cancer free!!!! It's has been a tough ride for her at times, but God is faithful and we are all blessed!!!

2) I am thankful for humming birds!! Yes, I know, just call me the bird lady...but I really do think these are my favorite birds. I have a feeder in front of my kitchen window and one on my front porch and I just love to watch these tiny creatures. They constantly remind me how awesome God is and how He is so perfect down to the tiniest detail.

3) I am thankful for the peace that comes when we are obedient to God..even when we don't understand the why behind what He's asking us to do.

4) I am thankful for the beautiful fireworks show that we enjoyed as a family with friends this past Saturday night. We got there early and played some frisbee and threw the football around. It was great fun!!!! and with that.........

5) I am thankful for the men and women who have fought to give us the freedom that we have in this country. I have family and friends who were in the military during both war and peace times and it's because of them that we can--most importantly--proclaim the Word of God without fear.

Click here for more Thankful Thursday.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!!
His faithful love endures forever."
Psalm 136:1, NLT

Cleaning House

I have been really busy this week trying to clean my house. I'm not talking about the general stuff, I'm talking about the wipe down the walls, take down the curtains, vacuum under the cushions type of cleaning.

Our lives have been so busy the last 2 or 3 weeks that I've done good just to keep things picked up.

I can only stand that so long and then I go off the deep end. I have got to get things clean.....really clean.

I've already attacked the main bathroom and hallway as well as the living room. Today looks like the day of the dining room and tomorrow---well I'll figure that out once the dining room is done.

This has gotten me to thinking about my spiritual house.

Satan can keep me so busy that I just do enough to get by....reading my Bible a little here, praying a little there...just enough to keep me going. Just enough to keep me from feeling guilty. Before I know it...like my house...I'm under layers of filth and clutter and things just keep piling up and I finally reach a crossroads:

Do I go to the left and just keep doing what I'm doing, or do I go to the right and clean this mess up?

Oh satan's good~~I'll hand him that. A call here, a visit there, crisis in the lives of my teens, friends in and out (mine and the kids)...even VBS--you know....3 or more hours at church every night for a week...just let things keep piling up..you can catch up this weekend...even though this weekend is packed as well.

The fact is though, that I can't keep doing what I'm doing. I can't keep running full force down the path of doing just enough. I have to stop, do an about face and get down to business--God's business.

If I don't keep my spiritual house clean, then before I know it, the clutter of everyday will take over. Before I know it, I will have spent so little time alone with my Father, that I can't even remember what He sounded like. I won't be able to remember what it's like to feel His presence.

Sadly I've been there before.

Even though I've been deep cleaning my earthly house this week, I've made sure to make my spiritual house my first priority. It hasn't always been easy.

DH leaves for work, and my time with my Father is usually the first thing I do, but satan has made sure to remind me that the day will pass quickly and my earthly house is a wreck.

I admit that a couple of times I have allowed myself to get busy on my earthly house only to hear God gently whisper that I haven't chosen the wisest thing~~thankfully I can still hear Him in my busy mind!!

So I've stopped right away and sat down with Jesus and spent some time with Him.
It never ceases to amaze me that when I stop and spend time with my Father, that He'll make sure I get done all I intended to and most of the time, even more!

Let me encourage you to ask yourself how's your spiritual house looking?? If, like mine, it's dusty and cluttered with the worldly things, stop, grab the hand of Jesus and clean that up first. I promise that after that, God will give you the time to get the earthly things in order.

"Don't store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in Heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, the desires of your heart will also be." Matthew 6: 19-21, NLT

Worshipping the king

I want my blog to be uplifting and encouraging. I want my blog to make you smile or make you dig deeper...self-examine. But every now and then, I've just got to use it to get something off my chest.

This is one of those times.

First let me begin by saying that my heart goes out to this particular family. No parent should have to bury a child, no matter how old that child is.

Today a son, a brother, a dad is being laid to rest....and a family is hurting.

BUT......

Michael Jackson was just a man.

A talented man, yes..but just a man, and the media is making a circus out of this man's death.

The public is showing us what idol worship truly looks like.

For a week now, I cannot tell you how many times I have seen clips of the covered body of Michael Jackson being loaded up. I've watched people sobbing, dancing, screaming and laughing.

Then I read in the paper yesterday that over 1.6 million people are waiting with baited breath to see if they are one of the "lucky" winners to get one of the 17,000 (or there about) tickets to the memorial service of Michael Jackson.

Hold up.

Again I say, this was a man. Just a man.

I find myself asking the question: If, when we turned on the news this evening, or read our paper and saw this headline, what would the reaction be?

Meet Jesus!! Only 17,000 lucky winners!! Register for your chance now!!

I have to wonder if the media would be showing people out of their minds trying to acquire one of these tickets. Would people be dancing in the street because they were going to get to be a part of this once in a lifetime opportunity? Would people be crying and screaming and losing control of all their emotions?

Would the media make this a top priority story?

Would Hollywood entertainers be doing tributes on stage to Jesus and the life He lived and gave up for us?

Haven't seen it happen yet.

Here's the problem.

Over 2,000 years ago a Man gave His life for me, you and every single human that ever was or ever will be. He did this willingly, selflessly.

Meeting Him is as easy as confessing our sins, repenting of those sins and committing our lives to Him.

And the thing of it is...there can be far more than "17,000 lucky winners".

And yet....a mere human gets more applause and more recognition. Today every local news station is going to be covering this service and all across the world those that weren't one of the lucky winners will be glued to their tv sets to watch the final goodbyes to the "king of pop".

Yet our churches, who are trying to share the news of a Man who gave up His own life so we could live forever, can't even fill up the pews in their buildings on any given Sunday morning.

Folks, something is wrong here.

I, for one, won't have the tv on today. I won't be stopping my life to watch people idolize a man that wouldn't give most of them the time of day.

A day of celebration?? No...I don't think so.

A day of sadness?? Yes...sadness at the fact that those who are idolizing Michael Jackson may never realize Who the true King is.....

"You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself and idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God Who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods."
Exodus 20: 3-5a, NLT

Visiting at The Well!!

Today's topic over at The Well is, Am I Showing Love?

Since that's my post, I'd love it if you head on over to The Well and visit then take a few minutes to comment or do a post on your own blog about showing love!!

Learning to be Content

I'm trying to get in a pattern of doing tomorrow's post, today. That way I'm not trying to put a post out first thing in the morning when I'm half asleep and not thinking clearly.

For a couple of weeks, I've done pretty good at accomplishing that, but not this week. This week has been crazy busy and I've found myself having to go somewhere everyday. I'm usually just getting home in time to cook (barely) a bite for supper and in the evenings when DH is home, I try to stay off the computer and spend my time with him.

But that's not what this post is about...

I'm reading my devotions this morning and just having some one on One time with God and I'm taken to this scripture..

"Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little." Philippians 4: 11-12, NLT (emphasis mine)

It's easy, or so it seems, for me to find myself not being content. It's not in the "big" things....my marriage is awesome, my teens are awesome. I love our old, always in need of something being fixed house. My car is beautiful and paid for. I'm quite content with those things.

But it's those little things I find myself getting hung up on.....If I could only find curtains to match the bedspread...if I could get the pool water a little clearer...if I could grill chicken without burning the edges...if I could decorate my house as cool as ________ does.....

Don't roll your eyes or laugh..think about it.

Contentment.

It doesn't always come easy to me. But apparently, it didn't come easy to Paul either because in the above verses he said that he learned to be content.

To learn something means you are a student, you have to be taught. It means you don't know how to do something. So, Paul didn't know how to be content, he had to learn it....his words.

So if a great a man as Paul had to learn contentment, maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself, maybe I should just become a better student.

How to learn contentment?

Look out of my box. Get away from the tunnel vision that satan would love to keep me bound in.

The pool water isn't crystal clear?? At least we have a pool to jump in and cool off in these 100º days!

Curtains don't perfectly match the bedspread?? At least I have a house to hang curtains in!

Stop complaining about burnt chicken edges and thank God that I have chicken to eat.....and a ton of other stuff!

Decorating my house?? Again, thank God I have a house to decorate.

Does being discontent go hand in hand with self-pity?

I think so.

Self-pity has us so bound in the poor me mind frame that we can't be content....and that's just how Satan would like it.

So...with this morning's devotion I have decided that with God's help, I'm going to fight satan's little plan of keeping me discontent and dissatisfied.

"But the Lord is faithful; He will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one." 1 Thessalonians 3:3, NLT