The year was full of things that happened, some good and some bad. I got closer to some of my acquaintances at church, we got a new head Pastor, and a new campus Pastor. I serve on my women’s group for breakfast and I enjoy cooking for the worship team.

For all of the percussions that I have taken, I still caught covid. What a way to end the year. Wow! I have finally found my place at my current church and I plan on expanding that to grow more in my Lord and Savior. It has certainly been a year for new things. I hope and pray to continue to see new things happening and growing this coming year. Thank you, Jesus my Lord, Savior, and Provider.

I know that I am late with this posting. The last 2 years have been a stressful time of being pressured to get vaccinated and for wearing masks. I have to say that doing what is best for my family is more important to me than anything else. Having seen my daughter and grand-daughters last April, I feel that I need to see more of them. I miss them now as well as my daughter. It has been way too long. I enjoyed our time together in April and I want to do it again.

Last year was rough as travel had become open finally, but with specific requirements that was added to the travel. Places that I wanted to go; I never was able to do them as the travel industry required so many regulations that made travel unbearable. I bared with it and did what I had to do.

I hope and pray that this year will be better than last year was.

I don’t know about you, but I know that this has been a year of uncertainty with shutdowns, and lifestyle changes. Having to wear masks to go shopping for groceries, and to enter other stores just to stay safe, as well as keeping your distance from others. Churches being shut down as well as restaurants and bars. Only way to get take out is to order ahead of time and go pick it up. Some places are doing the same for purchasing items now.

It’s been a rough year for all with the cancelation of events and outdoor attractions. It makes for a very sad and depressing state. Don’t let it get you down though as there is light at the end of the tunnel. As some places have started to reopen and continue to serve the community, we can still look to the only one that will get us through this.

God sees all and has been watching over everything. I continue to seek Him and pray that things work out for His glory.

With the loss of jobs, some having to work from home, as well as having a hard time keeping up with their bills. There is a lesson to be learned here and that is for us to stop and look at what is around us and look to Him for everything that we need. He will get us through.

I’m going to make 2021 a better year for me and my family, what about you?

Another year has come to an end. What happened this past year? Financially things have stayed pretty much the same. Started a business in June, that I am working to take off so that I can become more financially stable. Things are moving slowly, but that is alright for now.

It’s been an alright year, on that I could have changed if I had taken the time to do. The business is what gets you and that I need to find a way to manage as life continues.

I have joined a new small group this past fall and I love the women that I am walking with in the Lord. They are loving and caring women. I still keep in contact with my previous small group as I consider them family and I have walked with them a little longer than this new small group. Things are happening and I hope and pray that God will bless my efforts and make things work out alright.

What was you greatest achievement in 2019? Care to share?
I would love to hear.

As I reflect on the past year (2018), I find myself feeling good that it is over and a new one has started.  I received a car from my church a year ago and have been able to keep it running through out the year.  I’ve had some ups and downs, but I have kept going and pursued every step of the way.  I have been able to stay on budget better than I have had over the years.  I have been able to change my thinking and see things in a new light.  You may think that these are nothing, but for me it is something because it is what I have struggled with for quite a while.  When I thought that I would not be able to pay certain bills, God has shown up and provided what I needed when I least expected Him to do so.  God is Good!!! I have had quite a few struggles and disappointments last year, but now I see them as growing and allowing God to work when I could not.  Which is huge for me as I didn’t see things that way before and have not recognized that He is there when I don’t think that He is, or have not seen Him working at the time.  It amazes me how God works in our lives when we least expect things to happen.

For me I will continue to trust in my Lord, Savior, Father and Friend to provide, and take care of us.  It’s not an easy road and we weren’t promised that it would be.  As long as I look to Him for everything and give Him all of me, He will always come through.

What about you? What has God put on your heart and what changes have you seen in your life? Care to share?  I look forward to what God has for me this New Year.  What about you? Care to join me?

What am I here for?  What am I wanting to get out of this?  What am I willing to put into it, to get what I want?  Have you ever asked yourself these questions or asked at least one of them to yourself?  If so, are your motives in the right place or are you hear to just go through the motions, just to get through the studies?

Well to answer these questions we must first start with looking within ourselves.  Why, you may ask, to answer the last question.  Are you doing it just to go through the motions or do you have an ulterior motive?  What are your reasons for going to any website, is it to learn about the Word and apply it to your own life or is it something else?  I ask these questions, cause I had to ask them of myself, because I felt that there was something missing.

I had just read the following devotion:

 “Will You Truly Believe?” — A Year with Jesus for 01/10/2018

Note from Jesus

Dear Friend,

I know the struggle that goes on inside your heart to truly believe. You want to believe, but really placing your full trust in Me is hard to do… especially when you are desperate for a solution to whatever difficulty you are facing. You may want to see the solution before you will really trust Me. However, true discipleship doesn’t work that way.

You have to trust Me. Even before you receive the results of your faith, you have to act on your faith that what I say is true. Real faith is something more than thinking I can do something for you: It is acting on that belief. My half-brother, James, said it well:

Without actions, faith is useless. By itself, it’s as good as dead.
(James 2:17)

I love the government official you meet today in My story. He was desperate. He wanted to believe that I could heal his son, but he wasn’t sure. He had hoping faith, but not full faith. So I nudged him to truly believe. I challenged him to really trust Me and to act before his faith in Me was proven true — to go home because he believed I had already healed his son before he could validate it. This situation is where his hoping faith became acting trust.

He took Me at My word and headed home. On the way home, he discovered that I had done what I said at the time he trusted Me. Then his trust became experienced faith. He believed — not just with hoping faith and acting faith, but with validated faith. He then shared that faith with others and they believed, too.

I want you to see the progression of faith in this story and know that this is the way faith often works in real life:

• Hoping faith — Desperate for answers, the father whose son was near death came to Me.
• Acting faith — The father started back home, taking Me at My word.
• Validating faith — The father discovered I did what I said.
• Sharing faith — The father told this story so others could believe.

Verses to Live

Are you willing to act in trust before your faith is validated? When you do, it is real faith — believing without immediate validation, trusting while you are waiting, and acting before you have proof! For many of you, the wait between acting faith and validating faith can be much longer than it was for this father. But, no matter how short or how long the wait might be, this is the kind of faith that I’m calling you to have as you follow Me!

After two days of teaching and conversation, Jesus proceeded to Galilee where His countrymen received Him with familiar smiles. After all, they witnessed His miracle at the feast in Jerusalem; but Jesus understood and often quoted the maxim: “No one honors a hometown prophet.”

Jesus (to the official):

 My word is not enough; you only believe when you see miraculous signs.

Official:

 Sir, this is my son; please come with me before he dies.

Jesus (interrupting him):

Go home. Your son will live.

When he heard the voice of Jesus, faith took hold of him and he turned to go home. Before he reached his village, his servants met him on the road celebrating his son’s miraculous recovery.

Official:

What time did this happen?

Servants:

 Yesterday about one o’clock in the afternoon.

At that moment, it dawned on the father the exact time that Jesus spoke the words, “He will live.” After that, he believed; and when he told his family about his amazing encounter with this Jesus, they believed too. This was the second sign Jesus performed when He came back to Galilee from Judea.

(John 4:43-54)

While I was reading this devotion it occurred to me, was I doing what this government official was doing?

Did I have or was I displaying this same kind of faith as this official had:

• Hoping faith — Desperate for answers.
• Acting faith — Taking Christ at His word.
• Validating faith — Discovering that Jesus did what He said He would do.
• Sharing faith — Then sharing that with others, so that they may believe.

I cannot say if I am or not, but these questions and thoughts are ones that we should be asking ourselves daily.  Are we doing this or that for the right reasons?  We must access our lives to see if we are doing God’s will for our lives.  It’s not going to be an easy task, but it is one that we must do if we are to be Walking in the Spirit of our Lord and Savior.  Have you ever stopped to think about these questions?  Pondered on them to see if you are in the will of God?  I know that I have not been.  I have done a self-check on my own life to see where I had gone wrong and to make changes to correct that, so that I can be walking in the will of God.

My pastor has often said “When I take care of what’s on God’s heart, He will take care of what’s on my heart.”  Am I thinking Christ like?  Probably not.  This has given me something to not only think about, but to make sure that I am doing the will of God in my life each day.  We must keep our focus on Him always.  No matter what the circumstances may bring us.  You see I have learned to review my daily life, access it, and make sure that I am applying the teachings that I have learned daily.

What are you doing to Review, Access, and Apply any teachings that you come across your life daily?  What are you doing them?  I have to say for me, I am working on Reviewing, Accessing, and Applying those teachings to my life every day.  How about you?  Care to join me?

Well, another year has come and gone, I have graduated twice this year with 2 Associates Degrees and I’m very proud of myself for that.  One in the Fine Arts and the other in the Arts.  It’s been a trying year, but with all of the ups and downs, I can say that it was not the most terrible year of all.  Some things could have turned out better, but I think that they turned out this way for a reason.  I have started a website for my business, I have started a new hobby and I really enjoy it and I can also say that I can now add that hobby to my business.  Things are coming together slowly, but creativity does not happen at a moments notice.  Upon my reflection of this past year, I know that I am working to be not only  a better person, but a more caring one was well.  I’m not saying that I have not been caring, it is just that I want to be more receptive to others and showing them what Christ has done in my life.  With all that being said, I have to say that I look forward to what God will do in my life this year.  Blessings to all and may God bless each one and give you a prosperous year.

Well, it has finally happened.  I graduated with an Associates Degree in Fine Arts.  It took a long time to get here, but persistence and determination has gotten me to this point.  What’s next, you may be asking?  Well, now I have to work on getting my business off the ground and into play.  To where I can have an income coming in to be self sufficient, it will not be easy, but I know that God is with me and I can do anything if I trust in Him.  So here go into my next phase of my life and journey.  Stay tuned!

I attended an event at my church called “Much More.”  It was an awesome time of teaching, worship, and inspiration.  I had never been to anything like this before, but found myself looking deep within myself to see how I could become ‘much more’ than I am now.  Making myself better than I am now and becoming better for my family as well.  Changing the old types of negativity and replacing them with what God thinks of me and how He sees me.  It was the first time that I really saw myself as who God wants me to be.  A better daughter, sister, friend, maybe a wife if He sees fit, and a better person for Him.  It was encouraging, inspiring, meaningful, and emotional at the same time, but don’t get me wrong, it was a time of reflection.  Digging deep within one’s soul and seeing where we are as women.  Are we becoming the women that God wants us to be or are we living outside of His will for us?  It is something to ponder and reflect on.

For me, it is a time of not only change but a time to work on becoming the woman that Christ sees me to be and for me to allow Him to mold me into the woman He wants me to be and the way that He sees me.  I loved being with my sisters in Christ and look forward to what God has in store for us.

What about you? Have you had any experiences like this?  Have you dug deeper into the Word to see what God has in store for you?  These are some things to ponder.  Care to join me?