From My Heart...

I know the plans that I have for you, declares  Yahweh . They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope. Jeremiah 29:11 (Names of God Bible) Yahweh (YHWH):  Comes from a verb which means “to exist, be.” This, plus its usage, shows that this name stresses God as the independent and self-existent God of revelation and redemption (from Bible.org) As I sit in the still and quiet of this house my eyes drift to the  chaos of life around me, my mind wants to drift to the days past of 2015 but my heart only wants to focus on the days to come. In years past I would anticipate the new year with great expectations but I have since learned that life happens and life is hard. Life can be fabulous but it can also be dreary. Life events do not respect the newness of a new year, they happen none the less, good or bad, regardless of what the calendar reads.  One of my new year traditions, as many of you know but some do not, is to ask God for a word and ve

Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the  Lord  is your strength!” Nehemiah 8:10b NLT The Lord is my joy. Not my husband. Not my children. Not myself. Not my job. Not my paycheck or my husband's. Not anything or anyone on this earth. My joy comes from my God. This was a hard realization that I had to come to within the past few weeks. I unknowingly put my joy into everything except the Lord. I would get so upset when my husband or kids made a mistake. I would get angry when life did not go my way. I was headed in a downward spiral fast  because of the fact that I was counting on people and things to provide my joy. That is impossible! Only God can provide my joy (If I choose to let him)! I remember the moment I can to this realization. My husband had done something (again). He was not filling my joy cup the way I thought he should, he was draining it and at this point it was bone dry. I was mad. He was mad. The kids were not happy. Even the dog kept her distance.  

My word for this year is FAITH. Unless your FAITH is firm, I cannot make you stand firm. Isaiah 7:9b NLT My word for 2014 was TRUST. The definition of FAITH is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. So FAITH is the same as trust... I admit, I was offended! I always pray and ask God to give me a word that I can cling to for the entire coming year, a word that is going to define me and grow my relationship with my King. Why would God give me practically the same word two years in a row!? Did I not trust you enough last year God?! As 2015 started Satan wasted no time in carrying over his non-sense attacks from last year on our family. As I began to meditate on Isaiah 7:9, I began to look at my FAITH. What exactly does God mean when He says he cannot make me stand firm unless my FAITH is firm? I read my Bible everyday, I pray every day. How is my FAITH not firm?! Recently our family was hit hard, possibly the hardest we have ever been hit so far. My FAITH was