Opportunities!

I don’t know where this precept came from but think about how many opportunities we already missed. That's the joy of learning from experience, you are never too old to learn something new.

"Think about the people in

YOUR WORLD.

There will be opportunities

every day

for you to open your arms…

To the ones you love…

To the strangers you don’t know.

They just might see a light in you that

will give them a

reason to believe in something bigger

than themselves…

Someone bigger than us all.

That’s something…

Something

worth leaving behind."

Anon.

Look Unto Jesus!

We are challenged to look beyond things and people.  Things and people can distract us from our God-given purpose in life.  The enemy wants us to concentrate on what we are going through not beyond our situation.  We have come through some things that even caused us nightmares but we did. God sometimes put us in a position to confront our fears. God wants us to turn our fears into faith.  We need to look to Him not to things or people because they can not do what He can.  We innocently rely on the wrong sources.  Sometimes we have to disconnect from these sources and connect with Jesus! We may consider our “arrival” in society as being successful with all the accouterments that we acquired along the way.  We forget the people who prayed on their knees every night and stuck by us everyday for asking God to help us.  We do not have a clue what situations they were going through because of their selfless love and faith.  The first sign of struggle that we had to face we cried out our woes and lose hope.  The enemy wants to destroy us and wants us to think we are alone. What happened to our faith?  Many people have gone through worse stuff than we have and they still do not give up.  They are not alone! They know that God is with them. They know the author of their faith is Jesus.  What Jesus starts, He finishes!  If the Lord will not fix the problem, it can not be fixed.  Our problem is when we want God to resolve our problem when we want it done. We forget that we are not in control and want our situation taken care of right now.  If we stay in faith, we will realize that it is not our timing but the Lord’s. The miracle is coming and for all we know it may already be there!  We get too caught in up in stuff that we do not even notice until afterwards.  Keep our eyes on Jesus and look beyond our situation!  And when your breakthrough comes, get on your knees and thank the Lord for His love and mercy. Do not forget this time and all of the times He has brought you through your struggles.  We all are living testimonies! Let us call on the name of Jesus! He did not die in vain for us! His love and mercy endures forever!

Focus!

Look beyond your situation. We focus sometimes on the wrong things.  Philippians 4:8; Think on positive and good things. Focus. Will we waste time focusing on the negative? We are more than conquerors. Deut 28:6; We are blessed coming in and going out. Find the good in the negative. We are children of the living God, and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.  God has blessed us with life. Change your focus. Job 22:28; Believe and decree! What are you focusing on? Look beyond your situation! 2 Kings 6:20; Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” We look at situations in the natural but not in the spiritual. Elisha's servant saw a disaster but Elisha saw a miracle. What do you see? The difference between Elisha and the servant was the anointing. Anointing allows you to look at the situation but not focus on it because you can see the hand of God working on your side. If the Lord is keeping you, why are you worried?  Praise God in the midst of your situation! The anointing destroys the yoke in your life! God has an army all around you! Do not be discouraged! Can you look beyond your situation? Can you see the miracles? Can you say that you trust the Lord?  Do you believe what you say? Focus on what God will do, not what the devil is doing. Lord, thank you for working in my behalf!

Do Not Let Fear Control Our Lives!

The enemy operates even more at your spiritual high. Be prepared for the enemies at what you think are your greatest moments. Jesus fed the thousands and the apostles were elated. Yet, after the miracle Jesus told the apostles to get on the boat and set out for the other side, he will be with them later. That night, a great storm took over their euphoria and they became frightful. They forgot who they were with and the miracle they left. Fear overwhelmed them and seeing Christ walking on the water that night scared them, too. They were afraid that he was a ghost. We all will experience fear sometime during our lives but we can't let it overcome us. When Peter was on the water with Jesus, fear almost caused him to drown. Christ asked why he doubted him.  Like Peter we become fearful because we don't think God will help us. We focus on the fear than focus on what God can do. Do we doubt the goodness of the Lord? Job 3:25. Job was afraid about his circumstances. Here are a few tips.

1) Look out for the unexpected storms that pop up in our lives. Don't give up in the middle of the storm, go through it! Don't let the storm stop you from your destination. Sometimes we go through things to see what God can do. The unexpected things bless us in unusual ways. 2) God sees our struggles and He knows when to show up. Sometimes the blessing is in the struggle. Do not despise your position. We are where God wants us to be. 3) We must look beyond our fears and keep the faith. Remember that His Hands are on us. Keep your eyes on Jesus because the enemy wants us to look elsewhere. In the midst of what terrifies us the most our eyes should be on the Lord, our God. We can not let fear control our lives! We must trust and keep our faith in God!

Rest in Peace, Don Pardo!

Don Pardo, the television and radio announcer whose distinctive voice-over style was widely imitated and recognizable on Saturday Night Live, died Monday in Arizona at the age of 96.

Tuning In To God’s Voice!

I went for my two mile walk around the lake today!  Walking helps calm my thoughts and take time to appreciate the beauty of nature.  I use the time to meditate, reflect and enjoy a peaceful walk.  I noticed that the shadows among the pathway were different than my early morning walks.  If it was not for the recognized landmarks, I thought I was going a different way.  It’s interesting how shadows can deceive you.  They cast doubts and fears like the same kind that cast fears and doubts in our lives.  Once they take over, they mislead us and often cause us to make wrong choices.  Fortunately, some of us manage to get back on track but not with any help of our own.  When we look back on the rough areas in our lives we sometimes thought that we would never make it, but we did.  Do not think that we were responsible for getting back on the path.  God loves us so much that He will not let us fail if we stay faithful to him as He does for us.  It is my choice that I tune in and listen for that quiet voice.  He will keep me on the right path and lead me in the right direction despite my trials.  Like Joyce Meyers said, “pray that we can see the treasures in our trials.”

Chow-Chow, the Emperor’s Guard Dog!

  

On my walk I met a very kind gentleman with a beautiful black Chow.  Her name was bear, even though she looked like a small lion.  The Chinese name for Chow-chow is puffy-lion dog. Bear weighed 89 pounds and very docile.  While Jonathan and I talked, she stretched out and relaxed.  In fact, Bear did not get up until three young ladies approached her directly and wanted to take her picture and pet her.  That was the only time that Bear barked, she did not care for people she did not know to get close to her.  Her fur was black and shiny and very soft according to Jonathan. 

We had a very interesting conversation, Jonathan was cordial and entertaining.  He has an ebook on Adjuster Stories.  You can guess that Jonathan was an insurance adjuster supervisor and wrote about the various experiences he had contact with.  Go to the website www.AdjusterStories.com Joshua, a Navy veteran has the right voice and tone for the talking book.