REDEEMING GIFTS

IT"S FRIDAY!! I'ts also CHRISTMAS TIME!!!  I LOVE this special time of the year! There are so many beautiful ways to celebrate the birth of our Redeemer!  I go all out to make Christmas a cherished and memorable time.  NOT because of black Friday shopping, busyness, or even the presents.  I love to Rejoice  with the whole world that the Creator and God of all came to this fallen world to save lost humanity (i.e. ME)!  Think about it! Every nation and tongue in one way or another whether they acknowledge it or not celebrates at this time of the year and it all began with a star, stable, shepherds, wise men, and a PROMISE of REDEMPTION!
                                                        
Making Christmas special in today's society means $$$$$$$$$$.  That is so not true!  I have such fun each year finding new inexpensive or free ways to make memories that remind us what this is all about.  Remembering the reason for "the most wonderful time of the year" has to be intentional.  I admit to having to remind myself every year to NOT get caught up in all the hubub.  It is no coincidence that the specialness of the season has been taken over by retail, Santa, Frosty, and reindeer.  The enemy of our soul would like us to forget its ALL about Redemption, Love, Hope, Grace, and Peace.  I WILL NOT forget or allow my family to forget that the payment for our sins began in the manger and was completed on the cross.
                                                        !
So how do we keep CHRIST in CHRISTMAS? GIVE.  It's that simple.  That's what He did for us. But, we have to redefine the word GIVE.  The difference in His giving and the worlds giving is He gave Himself.  I've come to realize that giving of myself and giving meaningfully is much more valuable than giving a quantity of things. So, this year I am doing just that! There is freedom in giving to others the way Jesus gave to me.
                                                         

The absolute best gift we can give anytime of the year is Jesus!  He's the gift that gives for a lifetime!


                                                 
If you are like me you need something to give you ideas or get your creativity flowing.  The following links have some beautiful ideas for giving Jesus during this time of the year that is all about Him.  ENJOY!

http://tsjphotography.com/blog/random-acts-of-christmas-kindness-summary/
http://blog.jamesandjuliepaquette.com/2011/12/02/shepherds-pouches/
http://www.squidoo.com/christmas-jars

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

You are Special

I have a story to tell you today.  I must tell you that this is a children's story.  Elaina has had this book on her book shelf since she was 3 or 4 years old.  It is a simple story written by Max Lucado with a powerful message.  As I tell you this story, don't hear just a children's story, hear your story.  The main character is Punchinello, that's you and I.  Eli is the woodworker.  He's God in the story.  Here we go.  Enjoy!
                                                          
The Wemmicks were small wooden people.  All of the Wemmicks were carved by a woodworker named Eli.  His workshop sat on a hill overlooking their village.  Each Wemmick was different.  Some had big noses. Others had large eyes.  Some were tall, others were short.  Some wore hats.  Others wore coats.  But all were made by the same carver and all lived in the same village. All day, every day the Wemmicks gave each other stickers.  Each Wemmick had a box of gold star stickers and a box of gray dot stickers. Up and down the street all over the city people spent their days sticking gray dots or gold stars on one another.  The pretty ones, those with smooth fine wood and paint ALWAYS got stars. But if the wood was rough or the paint chipped, the Wemmick got gray dots.  The talented ones got stars too.  Some could lift big sticks high above their heads or jump over tall boxes.  Still others new big words or could sing pretty songs.  Everyone gave them stars.  Some Wemmicks had stars all over them.  Every time they got a star it made them feel so good!  It made them want to do something else and get more stars!  Others though could do little and they got dots.
                                                       
Punchinello was one of these.  He tried to jump high like the others.  But he always fell.  And when he fell the others would gather around and give him dots. Sometimes when he fell, his wood got scratched so the people would give him MORE dots.  Then when he tried to explain why he fell, he would say something silly and the Wemmicks would give him MORE dots.  After a while, he had so many dots that he didn't want to go outside. He was afraid that he would do something dumb like forget his hat or step in the water and then people would give him another dot.  In fact he had so many gray dots, that some people would come up and give him a dot for no reason at all.  "He sure has lots of dots"  the wooden people would agree with one another.  "He's not a good wooden person."  After a while Punchinello believed them.  " I'm not a good wooden person."  He would say.  The few times that he went outside he would hang around other Wemmicks who had lots of dots.  He felt better around them.
                                                           
One day he met a Wemmick who was unlike any Wemmick he had ever met.  She had no dots or stars.  She was just wooden.  Her name was Lucia.  It wasn't that people didn't try to give her stars or dots.  It was just that their stickers didn't stick.  Some of the Wemmicks admired Lucia for having no stickers.  So they would run up and give her a star, but it would just fall off.  Others looked down on her for having no stars so they would give her a dot, but it wouldn't stay either.  "That's the way I want to be", thought Punchinello.  "I don't want anyones marks" So, he asked the stickerless Wemmick how she did it.
"Easy" Lucia replied.  "Every day I go see Eli"
"Eli?"
"Yes, Eli, the wood carver. I sit in the workshop with him"
"Why?"
"Why don't you find out for yourself.  Go up the hill.  He's there" And with that the Wemmick who had no stickers turned and skipped away.
"But will he want to see me?" Punchinello cried out.
 Lucia didn't hear.  So Punchinello went home.  he sat near the window watching the wooden people as they scurried around giving each other stars and dots.
"its' not right" he muttered to himself and he decided to go see Eli.

He walked up the narrow path to the top of the hill and stepped into the big shop.  His eyes widened at the size of everything.  The stool was as tall as he was.  He had to stretch on his tip toes to see the top of the workbench.  A hammer was as long as his arm.  Punchinello swallowed hard. "I'm not staying here" and he turned to leave.  Then he heard his name.
                                                          
"PUNCHINELLO"  the voice was deep and strong.  Punchinello stopped.
"Punchinello!  How good to see you!  Come let me have a look at you!"
Punchinello turned slowly and looked at the large bearded craftsman.
"You know my name?"  The little Wemmick asked.
"Of course I do!  I made You!"  Eli stooped down and picked him up and sat him on the bench.
"HMMMM." The maker spoke softly as he looked at the gray dots.
"Well, looks like you've been given some bad marks."
"I didn't mean to Eli! I really tried hard"
"OH! Now you don't have to defend yourself to me child.  I don't care what the other Wemmicks think."
"You don't?"
"No, and you shouldn't either. Who are they to give you stars or dots.  They're Wemmicks just like you.  What they think doesn't matter Punchinello.  All that matters is what I think and I think you are pretty special"
Punchinello laughed.
"Me? Special?  I can't walk fast.  I can't jump.  My paint is peeling.  Why do I matter to you?"
Eli looked at Punchinello, put his hands on those small wooden shoulders and spoke very slowly.
                                                       
"Because You are mine.  That's why you matter to me."
Punchinello had never had anyone look at him like this. Much less his maker. He didn't know what to say.
"Every day I've been hoping you would come." Eli explained.
"I came because I met someone who had no marks" said Punchinello
" I know.  She told me about you."
"Why don't those stickers stay on her?"
The maker spoke softly.
"Because she has decided that what I think is MORE important than what THEY think.  The stickers will only stick if you let them."
"What?"
"The stickers will only stick if they matter to you.  The more you trust MY love, the less you care about their stickers."
"I'm not so sure I understand."
Eli smiled.
"You will.  But it will take time.  You've got a lot of marks.  For now just come to see me EVERY DAY and let me remind you how much I care."
Eli lifted Punchinello off the bench and set him on the ground.
"Remember" Eli said as the Wemmick walked out the door.
"You are special because I made you and I don't make mistakes"
Punchinello didn't stop but in his heart he thought
"I think he really means it"
And when he did a dot fell to the ground.
                                                        
I'm not going to expound a whole lot except to say that the key to the dots and stars not sticking was going to the Maker EVERYDAY and letting Him remind Punchinello of how much He cared for him.

A great scripture to memorize and declare when feelings of hopelessness, depression and pressure come on you is ^{Psalm 139:14} I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.

Eli also told Punchinello that he had been waiting on him to come see Him.  Your Maker desires to spend time with you.  

Your significance is found in HIM!

Blessings,

Gwen

IT'S FRIDAY!!!! Oh Glorious day!!   This is going to be a fun weekend for us.  My mother-in-law decided on Tuesday to come see us for the weekend.  It's a special surprise for Elaina and Addyson.  They still don't know!  I can't wait to see Elaina's face when she sees her Nana come out of the airport! So, I have some extra excitement about today being Friday.  Of course, I ALWAYS look forward to sharing with y'all.

So, today is more of an informational post.  I just want to share with you some things, and ideas that make my life a bit sweeter with the hope that they will add some flare and flavor to your life as well.  Everything will not be for everyone, but hopefully something will be of interest to each of you.

First of all I want to talk about something that is very new to me.  That is Clean Eating.  A sweet friend and I did a Daniels fast a few weeks back.  What is that?  Daniel chapter one tells about the King wanting to put Daniel and the three Hebrew children on a very rich diet so that they might be healthier and increase in mental clarity and intelligence.  But Daniel and the three Hebrew children were not going to be a part of the world's system.  So, Daniel issued a challenge in Daniel chapter 1 verse 12 Then said Daniel to Melzar, whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,¹² Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.¹³ Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.  

Anyhow, my friend and I went on a two week fast of no meat, no sugary foods, minimal dairy, water to drink, and only whole grains.  It's a whole lot more difficult than it sounds.  I think I would prefer to just not eat.  At least that's what I thought in the beginning.  After the first week, I noticed how much better I felt.  I woke up in the morning ready to get out of bed.  For some that may not mean much.  For me, well, just ask Robin what kind of a morning person I am. NOT a pretty site!  I kept my energy throughout the day, I slept better, my frame of mind even seemed more on an even keel.  

At the end of the two weeks, I decided to do my best to continue eating this way only adding in lean meats.  I LOVE how I feel.

As I said, this may not be for you.  It's not easy at first by any means. Start small.  You could begin by eating only lean meats, then go to drinking only water, then take out your sugary snacks etc.  You get the point.  But, I encourage each of you to at least look into it.  You WILL be benefited from making some adjustments to your diet.  

Sis. Pam Penney is a wealth of information on this subject.  You also can read more about it here http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/what-is-clean-eating/.  You can get lovely, delicious recipes that follow the clean eating diet here http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/find-recipes-by/categories/.  OK, OK, OK that's all I will say about that!

Recently I have had discussions with different ones of you who are looking for resources to enhance your daily lives and walk with God. The following are some that I enjoy.

For Apostolic anointed radio programming you can go to www.revivalradio.net.  They have a 24/7 preaching channel as well as an all Apostolic music channel.  I LOVE THIS! It is sponsored by The Pentecostals of Katy, in Katy Texas.  They also stream some of their live events.

Also, Focus on the Family is an endless resource for all things dealing with the family and just life in general.  Their website is www.focusonthefamily.com.  You can find so many resources there.  Just recently I went to their site to get information about immunizing my children.  I have also used there site for encouragement in my marriage as well as disciplinary issues with my girls.

In addition to their site, they have a daily radio program that you can listen to from the website or download their app for Android and IPhones.  We LOVE Focus on the Family.  I listened to a program that they had last week about making Christmas special without going into debt.  It was soooooo helpful!  

I can't say enough about Focus on the Family, but one last thing.  If you have kids, (and by kids I mean any age) you and they will enjoy Focus on the Family's kids program called Adventures in Odyssey.  We listen to it every day at lunch.  The shows are done very well and capture the kids attention while at the same time teaching them Bible truths and life lessons from a biblical point of view.  You can find them at www.whitsend.org.  You will be hooked from the first one.

Another thing that I wanted to share with you is a couple of clothing websites. For the active ladies among us you will love www.apostolicsportswear.com.  She makes some awesome workout/sportswear that are modest and practical for exercise. Also, www.apostolicclothing.com sells some beautiful outfits, skirts, tops, jackets, and accessories.  Some of their stuff can be a bit pricey, but if you watch their site, they offer good deals quite often.

Ok, this been looooonnnnnnggggg!! But, I hope it will be helpful to you.  Each of these things are a part of my life and I wanted to share them with you my sweet sisters.

I hope you have a day full of UNEXPLAINABLE blessings!

Gwen Craft

The following is a personal testimony shared with us by a Pastor in Texas.  

                                                      
"Every morning, the routine is the same. At 6 AM, my 15 year old daughter, Andrea, wakes up to drink her coffee and have her morning devotion. At 6:30 AM, she goes for her morning walk. Every morning, my wife or I will sit outside to watch her walk around the block. The entire city block is owned by our church, and is cleared off for parking and outdoor activities; consequently, we can easily see her while she walks. On the days when I'm home from evangelizing, I will sit outside, drink a cup of coffee and read my Bible, while watching Andrea walk.

But last Thursday morning was different. My son's car battery had failed, so I took him to work. On my way back, my wife (who was still in bed) texted me the following message:

"Don't let Andrea walk until you get back so you can watch her"

When i got home, Andrea began her walk. While i was watching her walk and checking out the car battery, I looked up to see a red, older model Chevy truck moving very slowly down the street. Although we love in a very busy neighborhood, I immediately felt something wrong with the scenario. I walked to the end of our driveway, and watched. The truck appeared to be following Andrea. As she made the turn at the corner, the truck sat at the stop sign for a few moments, then turned, and began to follow her again. 

Immediately, I called her phone, and told her, "Watch the truck behind you." Because she had her earphones on, she had not heard the truck. When she turned around and saw the driver, she began to run home. As she ran, the truck appeared to leave, and I got in my Jeep to go pick her up. Out of nowhere, the truck returned and circled around in two of the church parking lots. Before I could get to her, she had made it to me! 

I began to follow the truck, recorded the tag number, and comforted my daughter. He made his way down the block where a 3 kids were standing, waiting on the school bus. He turned around in another parking lot, passed by the bus kids again, and left the area. I'm certain he realized I was following him.

I called the police. While waiting on them to arrive, I googled the tag number....my heart sank! He is a convicted, registered sex offender!

Yes, things could have been different for me and my family...but, "The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."

                                                       
Andrea told me, "Dad, yesterday (Wed) while sitting on the couch before going on my walk, I felt a check in my spirit not to go walking that morning, so I didn't go."

My wife told me a few minutes later, "I was so glad that Andrea didn't go walking Wed morning. I never said anything to her, because she didn't go after all, but i just didn't feel comfortable about Andrea waking Wed morning. "

Neither of them had said anything about it to each other until after the episode Thurs morning.

I have relived this event several times over the last few days with mixed feelings of what could have been, and what God did for my baby and my family. 
Daily, He loads us with benefits!"

WOW! is all I can say.  I know this family.  I Know that they are praying people.  I Know that they stay close to Jesus' side so that they can hear His voice and heartbeat. At first as I pondered this story it really disturbed me for the "What could have been".  Then the Lord spoke to me and said "instead of dwelling on what could have been, understand that it was prevented by a life of prayer".

I talked last week about how much he desires time with us.  How blessed we would be by taking special time each day to spend with Him.  However, there is more to living a life of prayer than your daily time.  If I take an hour a day to pray and then the rest of the day my mind and heart are so full of other distractions and my thoughts never dwell on Him, I may miss something that He wants to speak to me at even an unlikely time.  This is what the writer of the book of Thessalonians meant in chapter 5 verse 17 when he said "pray without ceasing".   He is telling us that we should live our lives in a spirit of prayer. 
                                                          
A life of prayer is a life of peace.  A life of prayer is a life of calm in the middle of the storm.  A life of prayer is a life of faith.  A life of prayer is a life of confidence in His love that never fails.  The benefits of living a life of prayer are endless and the Word of God is full of promises to those who live a life of prayer.

I would be remiss if I didn't give you some suggested resources to help you as you walk a journey of prayer.  Some books that I highly recommend on prayer are:  "Too Busy Not To Pray" by Bill Hybels, "The Power of a Praying wife" by Stormie Omartian, "When Ye Pray" by Joy Haney, "Circle Maker" by Mark Batterson, "Praying Circles around Your Children" by Mark Batterson.  The list goes on and on and on.  As my husband says, "The only way to build a life of prayer is to pray".

So, today is the day to begin your new life, a life of prayer.  Will you?

Praying for you!

Gwen

He's waiting

A while back the Lord spoke a clear instruction to me.  He told me in no uncertain terms that I was to "shut out" everything and "shut in" with Him.  I had heard of people doing this before, but had never actually done it myself.  I argued with Him for a bit.  "Uh, God, do you remember that I have a 10 year old and a 11 month old? Do you remember that I am a wife? Surely you haven't forgotten that I am a Pastors wife? I have so much that has to be done!  I could NEVER find time to make this work."  Well, when your steps are ordered of the Lord He will speak past all your excuses and help you find a way.

After a few days of me going back and forth with this I remembered that in about two weeks Elaina would be going to Alabama for 3 weeks to spend time with her grandparents.  Robin was going to be flying her down on a Thursday and coming back late on a Saturday night.  Ok, well that takes care of two of my "obstacles" LOL!  "Now God you know that there is no way that I can do this with Addyson around."   Well, wouldn't you know that Sis. Delmy Deras chose the next Sunday to ask me when Addyson could come spend the night with them.  He effectively removed all of my excuses.  He loves me so much.

So with all excuses removed, I began to think about and plan my '"shut in".  I inquired of a couple of people that I knew had done this sort of thing before as to how to get the most out of it.  The closer it got to the time, the more excited I became.  Afterall, I had heard stories of people being shut in and seeing angels, hearing the audible voice of God, and seeing the Shekinah Glory of God hover in the room with them.  WOW!  I couldn't wait.  I decided to do a fruit, veggies and water only fast for the three days.

So, with my groceries bought, my Bible and favorite devotional books nearby, and my praise and worship music in my playlist I began my special "shut in" time with Jesus.  I had some incredible time of prayer and praise.  I received divine revelation from Him through a book that I was reading about forgiveness.  I was really enjoying myself.  However, I kept looking for the angels.  Where was the Shekinah Glory?  The morning of the second day I was in prayer and Jesus spoke to my spirit and said "this is a time for me to gently commune with you.  No Angles, no Shekinah Glory Cloud, no thunderous rumblings from the Throne.  Just a time for me to pour refreshing back into your spirit."

You see, I had been through an 18 month long spiritual battle that was destroying some people and relationships that were very dear to me.  In the middle of that we were blessed with our precious Addyson.  The demands of this beautiful blessing  were wearing me down.  However, life goes on.  I just kept going on.  Kept battling.  Kept waking at night to feed.  Kept praying.  Kept schooling Elaina.  Kept loving my husband.  Kept preparing for Sunday and Wednesday.  Kept on, Kept on, Kept on.............

I didn't realize how depleted my spirit was. OH, I can hear some say," but you were praying, you were reading your Bible, you were at church".  YES, even though I had been praying reading my Bible and going to church.  I was weary.  I was so incredibly busy that I had neglected the intimate side of my relationship with my Jesus.  I was praying because I knew I should, but I wasn't communing with my Saviour.  I was reading the Word, but I wasn't eating it as The Bread of Life.
                                                           
From the moment that He spoke to me His intentions for my special time with Him, I can't even put into words the peace that filled me.  No spa, or masseuse could have calmed and relaxed me like Jesus did.  Those three days will forever be a special memory and landmark in my life.

Daniel 7:25 says that in the end time that the enemy will "wear our the saints".  We are seeing that transpire.  I see it on some of your faces on Sunday during worship, at Wednesday night during the Bible study lesson, and at prayer meeting on Monday night.  Your weary.  I urge you to get back to your intimate relationship with your precious Jesus.  Do whatever you have to do to remove distractions. I know, I know you have to go to work, you have to take care of the kids, you have to fix supper for the family, you have laundry to do, you have errands to run, you have to......, you have to..... you have to..... Get purposeful in MAKING  time for Jesus.  Afterall, He is the one who gave you the time that you have.  I began to do take inventory of my time and ask Jesus to show me what was not in His will for my life.  Girls, be careful what you ask for! LOL! It took some self discipline and grit, but I eliminated some things from my schedule.  WOW! What liberty there is in knowing that the enemy has fewer tools to use to wear me out! Ha! Take that devil!

Jesus is calling you to a deeper walk with Him. Don't let the cares of life keep you from that.  Those cares that you can't seem to get away from will drain you of more than you have to give.  Jesus longs to share incredible insights with you and he yearns to hear your heart.  Will you make a way?
                                                             
He's waiting.

Blessings,

Gwen

Health and Happenings!

HAPPY FRIDAY MY DEAR SISTERS!  I hope that today finds you living in the overflow of the presence of your REDEEMER!  I am so excited about today's blog!  Today is a Health and Happenings blog.  I can't wait to share with you an article that Sis. Pam Penny wrote for us as well as a few upcoming events.

We are entering a busy AND fun time of the year.  I am looking forward to making memories with each of you, so please get out your calendar and make a note of these dates so that we can enjoy these events together.

-November 3rd- district Ladies Day,  in Tiverton, RI.  This is going to be a day full of fellowship and inspiration.  The speaker is author and conference speaker, Lori Wagner.  I encourage all of you to make plans to attend.  You will not be disappointed!  I will be sending out more information in a few days.

-November 18th - I am so excited about this next event.  We are going to have a Christmas Craft Day!!! Sis. Stuart from Manchester, CT is going to come and teach us how to make a front door Christmas wreath. such as the one pictured above.  I CAN'T WAIT!!  These are so much fun, simple and inexpensive to make.  

This will be a day FULL of fun, food, fellowship, and festivities!  DON'T MISS IT!

In case you didn't know, Sis. Pam Penny is one incredible lady among us.  She is a prayer warrior, worshiper, homeschooling mom, and Registered Nurse.  Pastor and I call her OUR Nurse! 

LOL!  Anytime we have a health issue I check with her FIRST!  She has been such a blessing to our family. She is going to be giving us a health tip once a month for this blog.  This month's entry is very important, yet a topic that we take for granted.  Until Addyson was born, I never realized just how much sleep deprivation could affect all aspects of my life.  Sis. Pam gives us some insight here.  ENJOY!

How sleep deprivation plays a role in obesity

 If you’re like most Americans, you are probably over tired, over worked, and over committed. Our busy schedules keep up so pre-occupied with what’s next, that many of us are lacking the proper amount of sleep. There are varying opinions about how much sleep we actually need, but the general consensus is that adults need 7-9 hours a day, preschoolers 10-12, and school aged and teens, 9.  Psalm 127:2.

God in his infinite wisdom instituted this wonderful physiological process that allows our bodies time to restore and heal. Some disorders and diseases have been linked to sleep deprivation and among them are Obesity and Diabetes. When we don’t get enough sleep, it leads to, “getting fat, storing fat, and always being hungry”.  Sleep actually controls eating.  If you watch TV, surf the web, or work under bright light at night, your brain thinks it is daytime which causes your cortisol levels to remain high. This high level interrupts your sleep by mobilizing blood sugar-increased levels in the bloodstream. Insulin then gets called out to put sugar in the muscles and the excess into FAT.  (www.health-dir.com).

The shorter your night, the less melatonin you produce. This means you have more estrogen, testosterone, cortisol, and insulin.  Consider this. The first 4 hours of sleep is like taking a melatonin bath. This allows growth hormone to secrete and repair the body at the cellular level. If this essential bath is missed, you become in debt which will need to be paid back sooner or later. The last four hours you dream and have psychic regeneration. At the tail end of this part of sleep cortisol is secreted to eventually wake you up. This process is disrupted with staying up late and bright lights. You become run down and crave carbs (for energy), thus producing insulin which in turn makes you …

As you can see, sleep is vitally important on many levels. And what’s more, God has ordained sleep to repair, restore and rejuvenate us. Getting a good night’s sleep will not only help you to feel better  and have more energy to do the activities you need to do, but it will also add to your life while subtracting from your waist.  Psalm 4:8. Prov. 3:24.

Pamela Penny

Soooooo, I hear a voice from heaven speaking!!!!! What is it saying? GO TAKE A NAP!!!! Yes, Lord yes.  I will obey!!! LOL!

Blessings to each of you!

Gwen Craft

Let's share!

Hey there Ladies!  I hope this Friday morning finds you aware of the blessings of the Lord that are all around us.

I have found myself lately feeling a bit disconnected from you sweet sisters of mine.  I wish that our schedules weren’t so harried and hurried and we could sit together each week and share our hearts with one another.  In my moments of “missing” you, I have asked God how we can be more connected.  He spoke so clearly to me that communicating with you via e-mail each week is the best way.  So, I've created this blog and here I am in your inbox! Hello! 

You can expect to find me here in your inbox each Friday morning.  I hope to be able to share with you special whisperings that I have heard from our Redeemer as well as some fun and light hearted moments.  I also will be including from week to week different little nuggets of information.  One week it may be home related, the next week it may be a recipe that I have found and just have to share with you.  Sis. Pam Penny is going to chime in once a month with a helpful health tip for us.   I hope it will all be a blessing and inspiration for each of you.

The Lord has been speaking to me lately about desiring more of Him.  I was challenged at a conference recently when one of the speakers was sharing the recent journey that the Lord had taken him on to deeper, richer relationship with Him.  He talked about the changes that began to take place in his heart, mind and life when he began praying that the he would have the Lord’s hearts’ desire.

Desire defined: A strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen

Just at the mention of the word DESIRE I immediately have thoughts of things, developments, successes that I WANT to see occur.  How about you?  What are some desires that you have?  Do you want day to day life to be easier because money is not as tight?  Do you want to be able to lose 10, 15,or 20 pounds?  Would you like to have a better vehicle? Do you want a full night’s sleep ( I have my hand raised high, no wait, I am that kid that has both hands raised saying “ me, me , pick me”) Do you want that pesky, irritating coworker to just go away? What is it?  What do you want? 

Now let me ask you this; when I list the following synonyms, does your list of desires change? Synonyms: ache (for), covet, crave, desiderate, die (for),hanker (for or after), hunger (for), itch (for), jones (for)[slang], long (for), lust (for or after), pant (after), pine (for), repine (for), salivate (for), sigh (for), thirst (for),want, wish (for), yearn (for), yen (for), set one's heart on

 Maybe, maybe not.  I’m not throwing stones.  We are humans with natural (fleshly) desires.  We live in a world that is always pushing us to have something bigger, newer, better.  A quick example is my wonderful IPad that you all so lovingly gave us for Christmas last year.  I love it, but since 2010 Apple has introduced two more IPads that are bigger, better, newer.  People who already own an IPad have rushed to the stores to buy the most recent one and left the one that is only a year or so old lying on the table like last year’s stale bread.  I for one cannot figure out what the hype is about.  My 15 month old IPad is working just fine and does everything I need and more.  Thank you CLC!

What if we were to step away from what this world says we should desire and begin to ask God to give us His heart’s desire?  Look at the synonyms again.  What does God ache for? Psa 51:6 “ Yet, you desire truth and sincerity. Deep down inside me you teach me wisdom.” What does He yearn for? 1Ti 2:3-4  “This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior,  who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”  What will He die for? Rom 5:6-8 “ For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Wow!  Quite different from what comes to my mind when I think of my desires and wants.  I want more than ever before to desire HIM!  I want to know HIM!  I want to ache for HIM!  I want to crave HIM!  I want to yearn for HIM! 

What I have come to understand is that if I don’t DESIRE Him, it is usually because something else is temporarily filling that desire in my life.  So I ask you today what might be filling your spiritual appetite so that you aren’t hungry, or desiring more of your Saviour?

See, what He has shown me is that the more I want or desire HIM, the more I want and desire what He wants and desires.  Then I am able to be used by Him in a greater way in my world.  That’s really the point of our salvation experience, not just a ticket into heaven.

So, I leave you with this scripture, but I hope you read it with a different meaning than before.

 Ps 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

 Ps 37:5 Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.

Ps 145:19 He will fulfill the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.

Blessings,

Gwen Craft