Thankful and Blessed

Good morning everyone. Days after the Thanksgiving festivities is always a time to gather your thoughts and approach the upcoming celebration of Jesus's birth with a whole new perspective. Christmas is just right around the corner, the ads remind me, the songs already on the radio. I wish they would wait until at least after Thanksgiving before they began, but that is not the case. I started hearing them long before that this year. Maybe it's just me, I do not think so. I believe others may be experiencing this too. It is a feeling of being rushed. Shop more, buy more, you get the drift. To me it's supposed to be a time for preparing for the birth of Jesus, and showing more care and love to others right? My Thanksgiving was a quiet one. I was home alone with the flu, it seems I get sick at the darndest times anymore. I am 70 so perhaps it comes with the territory. I was not able to see my family, or friends but they were in my heart and prayers. I gave thanks to God the Father, Jesus, my Lord and Savior and Holy Spirit. I have been blessed so much this past year. The list of things is long so I will not bore you to tears, but I will say God is Faithful! So many times I prayed, cried out to Him and He came through, not always in my timing but His. So what I would like to express to you to day is to stay faithful in your obedience and trust Him. Stand on His promises that He tells us in scripture, believe that He loves you and only has your best interest at heart. Know that He is always with you no matter what life is throwing at you, He cares for you. I hope this is comfort to your souls during this very busy and exciting season we get to experience. Also remember to not go into debt for gifts you cannot afford, I used to do this, until God showed me how to give from the heart, they will appreciate and love you more for it. So now, let's get busy in our lives showing our neighbors and friends more love and compassion. Giving a little more to those in need if you can. Just calling someone who is home alone to check up on them will be such a blessing. Then on Christmas we can rejoice and celebrate the birth of that little baby Jesus who came to this earth so we could have eternal life through Him. It's the best story in the whole world. God Bless you all and may God's face shine upon you each and every day. Mary

God has your back!

Today I just want to remind everyone just how much the Lord loves you. Even in our imperfections, sinful nature at times and even when we do not place Him first in our lives each day, He is faithful! He has your back! I had a situation recently, I prayed that particular morning God would use me in ways that would encourage and help others. I have a sweet neighbor, she is elderly just a little bit older than myself. Anyway, she called me with a heavy heart. She seemed very troubled about something and had a little fear about it. She was worried and anxious and just needed to talk to me. I told her God loved her and to remember God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of love, peace power and a sound mind in Christ Jesus. I prayed for her and later on in the day I sent her a scripture that would remind her of God's love and faithfulness. That whatever it was she was going through, He would be right beside her. She sent me a text the next day and said she was at peace that evening and loved the verse. She said she would read it every morning to remind her of God's love. See, the enemy will try and make us feel bad, worried and anxious which these feelings only bring on more fear, but in those times we need to turn to God's words and promises from the bible and remember He will be with us and help us through whatever it is we face. I praised God even more that day! He used me to bring Jesus to my sweet neighbor when she needed Him the most. You are so amazing God, your love for your children is beyond words. May this story bring some hope to you in a time of need when you are sad or dissappointed about life in general, turn to God He has your back. Then pray if forward that He will use you in ways to bring Jesus to others around you. Amen! God Bless you! Mary

Jesus Our Only Hope

When I was going through some dark times in my life, it felt like I was in a dark storm that would never end. It was a very painful time for me. I didn't really understand why God would allow such bad things to happen to me or my family, the ones I loved. Yet now, I can see that God ws removing all the garbage in my life so he could begin rebuilding, restoring and renewing everything bad in me. That is His way of cleansing and helping us begin a new. He used those aweful and painful times to refine me, purify me, by bringing the impure things up to the surface, which by the way is a very tough thing to go through. Then He could remove them only by His grace. I had built my foundation on myself, my family and some worldy things instead of Jesus. So when everything fell apart so did I. In my painting that I have posted here, I can see Jesus extending His precious hand to me, saying "Come to me all who are burdened and heavy laden and I will give you rest." Today I wish blessings for each of you. Grace, forgiveness, healing, freedom and wholeness in Christ. That the fingerprints of Jesus would be seen upon your lives and evident to everyone around you. That Jesus would be at the center of your heart and your home. Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well." Jesus is and always will be "Our Only Hope", this is what I have titled my latest oil painting. It is very special to me and hangs next to my door to greet everyone into my humble home. His hand extending to all who will take it. If you are interested in a print of any size, please visit my Pixels website. May God bless you today and always. Until next time - God willing, have a beautiful day.

How do you view God?

Good day to you. I just finished ready a really good book called "Trusting God when bad things happen" by Shelley Hitz and I had to share. It was an interesting read and really helped me get a better view of who God really is, his character his widsom, and on how much He truly loves us. He gave His only begotten son for us, is there a greater love than this. I also want to leave you with some things to ponder, and things to ask yourself on your view of God. First of all how you view God determines how you approach solutions in your life. Let that sink in, it sure did with me. Many of us may have a legalistic or perhaps rules-based view of God, which would make Him harsh and judgemental and who is angered when we do not do as we should. In this instance God would be unapproachable and our relationship with Him would be of fear and to only follow the rules. Do you view God as Harsh or Loving? Condemning or Grace-based? Angry or caring? Demeaning or Affirming? Hurtful or Kind? Far-off or Present? Demanding or Fair? Perfectionist or Forgiving? To better understand the character of God we need to look at scripture to see how He is defined. My personal view of God is that He is loving, approachable, honest, dependable and faithful. I am comfortable in His presence and spend as much time as I can in His word and trying to do His will for my life. There is a healthy fear of God and I realize that He judges fair and justly. Having a healthy view of God is so important especially before a crisis or in any situation where you need to stay peaceful and in control of a situation. Otherwise we will view God through the crisis instead of viewing the crisis through God and His character. In conclusion, read the book, it's on Amazon and for a very reasonable cost. It is so worth it. Now may your day and week and month be blessed in everything that you do. Keep God first and everything else will fall into place. Happy Valentines day to you all!

Introducing my new Inspirational Gifts on Etsy

Good morning! I hope you are all well and staying warm. It's about 35 degrees here in Oak Harbor, very chilly indeed. It's not as cold as some other parts of the country and we do not have any snow, although I would love some about now. Today my post is to just introduce some of my new "inspirational" gifts that I have for sale on Etsy. They make great gifts for anyone in the family. Here are some pictures and links to the listings on Etsy. The "Eagle with scripture" is an 8x8 ceramic tile with a black stand, the "Floral" with a beautiful saying about how "God doesn't give us what we can't handle, God helps us handle what we have", this is a canvas print and can be ordered in various sizes. Have a wonderful blessed day you all, and remember God loves you so much that He sent His son to die for you and me. Isn't that terrific. Spread that good news to everyone you meet. Blessings!

Prayers for California

My heart is very heavy today for everyone who lost their home or someone they loved in the California wildfires. I wanted to just take a few minutes and say a prayer for everyone. There is power in prayer and God does listen to us. Heavenly Father, we come before you humbly and acknowledge that you are the creator of all things. Today, we lift up every individual who has suffered and is a part of the disaster fires in California. Dear Lord, give them comfort and strength to keep going and not give up. Also to all the first responders and firefighters, give them super natural strength and abilities to keep doing what they need to do under exhausting circumstances. Help each of them to do their best and get the proper rest they need as well. I pray for resources to come to them from every direction to help everyone that needs help during this time. In Jesus name we pray. Those individuals will continue to be in our thoughts and prayers and I encourage you to seek out a place to donate, or help in anyway you can. There are so many organizations that you can contribute to, it doesn't have to be large sums, but anything will help them I am sure. Some that come to mind are the Salvation Army, Red Cross, etc. Thank you for reading my post today. May God Bless you in all that you do to help these individuals.

Grateful and Blessed!

As we approach Thanksgiving day on Thursday, I am so saddened by the state of our world. Fortunately the election is over and we will have a new president come January, but in Israel and Ukraine things are looking grim. I want to take this time to just say that no matter what God is still in control. When I focus my thoughts on that, there is hope for tomorrow. I do hope this post finds you all well and getting ready for the big turkey day. I know I am, God willing my family and my friend will be joining me on Thursday to say "thank you" Lord for all your wonderful blessings you have bestowed upon us during the year. A lot has happened this past year that I have not shared on my posts, some good, some bad. But through it all Jesus has been with me, lifting me, encouraging me and giving me strength through the power of the Holy Spirit. So for now, I just want to wish you a very blessed Thanksgiving, may you be surrounded by your loved ones and may Jesus be at your table. God Bless!