![]() Here it is – the end of a year. So, often I find myself at this moment reflecting on the negative and screaming “good riddance” to the year that is ending. This is not one of those years. Now I am not saying it did not have difficult moments but it also had joy. No matter what happens in a time-frame, if you look, there is always a blessing. My greatest blessing EVER and in this year is the deepening of my walk with CHRIST. The transformation of my heart, my mind and my physical being have been transformed. There were tough times of learning and moments of fighting the flesh, however, there were moments of clarity in JESUS and peace in knowing that I am not alone. At the end of our lives, people will remember our hearts. Truly that IS what they will remember. No-one remembers what car you drove, what expensive necklace you had, that wonderful job you possessed or even a company you may have begun; they remember how you made them feel and the love you GAVE. We spend so much time on these other things and less time in truly giving of love. CHRIST walked our earth for a short while, performing miracles and teaching lessons BUT what I remember most in my reading and studying is the love he contained and held out for EVERYONE! HE was ridiculed for loving those considered loveless or unworthy of love… but HE gave them love and changed their lives! We chase things of this world like a puppy chases his tail. And they are only a moment. But love, especially the LOVE of our LORD lasts forever and ever. Success is NOT about money, and not about the prettiest girl, or the best position at work. Success in NOT the type of car your drive, the house you live in, the clothing you are wearing or what you have. Success is living life in peace and joy at all times! Success is loving and not loving to get anything in return, loving because HE loves you. Depression and sadness comes from feeling like you have failed or feeling alone or feeling damaged inside. Start your year off with giving yourself to JESUS. One step of faith will change your life. IT will begin to erase your self-loathing, bring you peace and you will never, ever be alone again! I say thank you JESUS because I have been so blessed in ALL situations. I thank you for the times of sadness; the times of strife; confusion; anger; and anxiety because they all brought me closer to YOU. And I thank YOU for the love YOU have so freely brought unto me in so many different ways and through so many angels and through YOUR spirit. Lastly, I ask that in the year coming, that YOU bring me even closer to YOU and replace more of YOU inside my heart and LESS of me. I also ask that YOU bring my kids, my husband and all of the people that I love and care about the peace, love and joy that YOU have provided me by knocking so hard that they cannot deny YOU. I ask for forgiveness for any jealousy, gossiping, mischievousness intentions, malice, lies and hate I may have had throughout this past year and that I lessen that negativity and replace it with YOUR love. THANK YOU JESUS! THANK YOU JESUS! May YOUR will be done in the coming year and May I accept it with grace and thankfulness. Happy New Year! May you experience the love and peace of our LORD in your coming year. May you bask in the sunshine of HIS blessings. May you curse adversity with HIS strength. And may you walk with the LORD closer and closer each day. TYJ
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![]() Get out of my way!!! When my granddaughter was a little tike (well littler than now), she had a toy that looked like the steering column of a car and it had a horn. When you pushed that horn a woman’s high pitched voice would come on and scream, “Get out of my way”! Enabling – we all have our thorns in life to deal with and change. This seems to be mine, well one of them. For whatever reason, I do not like to see people I love be uncomfortable, sad, angry or experience any negative feeling. So I take it upon myself to step in the way and make it better. Now this is fine and dandy when you are making your children’s boo-boo’s better with a kiss and a band aid. But there comes a time when assisting becomes enabling. In essence an enabler is “playing GOD”. A classic enabler will do and do and do until they are so out of “do’s” that their mind, body and spirit cave. The world is tough. It is not always tough – but we all have to work hard, pay bills, pay taxes, deal with health issues, deal with kids…. This is LIFE. GOD is there to go before us IF we let HIM and assist us in dealing with the tough stuff. Unless…….. There is an enabler in the way. Truthfully an enabler is a wall between healthy living for all parties concerned and being stagnated, enmeshed and growth-prevented in every way. I say… Hello I am Deni, I AM an enabler. I want to get better and I am asking my LORD for forgiveness, and assistance to stop! GOD is giving me a BIG “Get out of me way” because in essence, if people are relying on me, they may be less apt to rely on GOD. THIS IS NOT GOOD!! Like an addict, I have a long road ahead, many changes to make and much amends to make. It has taken me 53 and one half years to get here but by GOD’s grace and mercy, I think I am on the road to recovery. In JOB 5:17, Blessed is the one whom GOD corrects, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. Hebrews 12:7 What you endure disciplines you: God is treating you as sons. Is there a son whom his father does not discipline? I am getting it. Not only am I standing in the way of my growth, I am standing in the way of others. My intentions I thought were good but truthfully, they were of the flesh. My own discomfort was the actual reason. I do not like it when others suffer. But truthfully, as said above, what you endure, disciplines you and you grow. Hard lessons on my walk with JESUS. I am ready to change. I am scared. But with HIM who strengthens me, I know I will do the right thing. TYJ ![]() Jealousy, the big green monster. We all have it in one way, shape or form. Envy and jealousy run together and have the same effect on our spirit. And it is not a good one. If you look in the dictionary, jealousy is defined as envious or resentful of another’s good fortune or achievements; fearful or wary of losing one’s position to someone else; vigilant in guarding something. We have heard that GOD is a jealous GOD and demands our exclusive loyalty. That is finite. There is not argument with that. GOD provides us with unfailing love and even when we slip, HE still loves us. But ultimately, what HE wants is our loyalty. But let’s talk about human jealousy and envy. It causes tears and rips in our spirit very deep. It can be insidious and it is not the work of GOD. It is of the flesh. It causes dissention amongst brothers; divide between sisters, ruins long term friendships and destroys marriages. It is hard to look and see someone whom you may think is prettier than you receive good things or someone whom you may think does not work as hard as you get a promotion and the age old sibling rivalry….. all of this comes or is born of jealousy. If for one moment we were to let it go and understand that GOD provides us each with a unique space in this world, a talent used for HIM and HIS good. We are uniquely created; each hair on our head is counted. Coveting another’s life, or looks is like telling GOD: “you made me wrong”. You have heard the old adage: GOD DOES NOT CREATE JUNK! Simple, perhaps, true ABSOLUTELY!!! What DOES create “junk” is taking our eyes off of HIM and placing it on the wrong things. That is what the flesh wants. That is the deceitful nature of satan. If we give in to the envy and jealousy, satan wins. ( I Corinthians 3:3) GOD’s word tells us in James 3:14-16 all about where jealousy comes from! JAMES 3 14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But what are we to do??? In Philippians 2:3, the WORD tells us, Do nothing from rivalry, or conceit but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. This is a hard one folks. We are called to love others more than ourselves. When you feel the twisty, red, fiery feeling of jealousy or envy consuming you, GO TO GOD, repent and ask him to HELP you remove the black in your heart. GOD WILL do this BECAUSE HE LOVES YOU. Lastly, thanking GOD for your blessings and realizing how much and many they are will keep your eyes on what YOU have instead of what you may not have or what someone else has. JESUS, you know we covet, we are envious and we are jealous creatures. YOU love us anyway and every time we hurt because we feel what we have is not good enough, it hurt YOU! Help me, help us to know in the deepest of our hearts that we are perfectly made by you and what we have comes from you and nowhere else. The job we have, the home, our family, EVERYTHING! Instead of coveting what another may have, help us to see our blessings from you and be thankful. Take the cup of jealousy from my hand or whomever may also be suffering and replace it with your LOVE, the never failing, perfect love that surpasses all evil. In JESUS’ name, AMEN! TYJ ![]() Lately the issues of fear, anxiety and depression are coming up for me and those around me. It is ironic that there is an increase in this negativity around a holiday that symbolizes peace, love and all will be well. I listened to a very good sermon today about anxiety by Charles Stanley. One thought that really stuck with me is that GOD knows we will face these feelings. We are surrounded by things of this world which evoke many emotions. And then I remember a friend who said “I don’t belong here”. Initially when I saw those words, I must admit, I took offense because I thought he meant he did not belong to a Facebook group that was created. (see how the “me” gets in the way of GOD – but that will be for another day’s blog, LOL). We don’t belong here, we are not of this world. This world is temporary. GOD provides us tools to survive this world and live in it with peace and joy. We are tempted every single day by our surroundings. BUT keeping our eyes on JESUS and what HE offers, can keep us grounded and less anxious. SO… all in all “we do not belong here”. Sometimes, anxiety is an unrest in the spirit and is GOD talking to us. That is good anxiety. Generally it is GOD trying to protect us from entering mucky waters. Generally anxiety and depression are a result of things that we cannot control, or of the unforeseen or even a result of something we may have done wrong. GOD still holds us. Faith is allowing GOD to take on what we know we cannot and even what we think we can. Faith is knowing it will all be ok, even when we do not know the outcome. Grace is GOD’s love even when we do something wrong. This is a win-win with JESUS! 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ![]() GOD leads and if you are quiet and obedient; GOD rewards. You may be taken through muck and experience turbulence. GOD never tells us it is an easy road. BUT HE tells us we are not alone. Have you ever felt alone? Whether you are by yourself or surrounded by people, that feeling can be devastating. No matter how alone you feel, JESUS is just a kneel, cry or prayer away. No need to travel, no need to give anything, no need to do anything but surrender to the love of HIM. Sometimes we hold on to things so tightly even when they are not good for us just so we do not have to be alone. WE hold onto a bottle, loving the wrong person, pills, drugs, food, self-destruction and even worse……there are those who seek to end the pain by ending their lives, or trying to do so. ASK JESUS into your heart. Just once… and then again the next day. Talk to HIM, tell him everything. HE will not betray your confidence, your trust. PERFECT LOVE! YOU ARE NOT ALONE!! Feel HIS arms holding you tight. IF you need to talk, I have created a FACEBOOK page where you can share. THANK YOU JESUS FACEBOOK GROUP Currently it is public so if you need privacy, contact me via messenger, any time….. we can talk, we can pray together because YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!!! Have you ever had a time in your life where you just hit a fork in the road and you just do not know what to do? And you play it over and over in your head, if I take Road A, this will happen and if I take Road B, this will happen. Sometimes it can be quite puzzling. And if you are anything like me, the “limbo” or “now knowing” creates anxiety. Sitting in the lull is very hard for me. GOD is definitely teaching me a lesson on being quiet and waiting. I am also being blessed with learning to trust JESUS more.
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