Lord, give me patience with extra love please........

Happy Friday to you all.  I want to discuss something today that I know affects us all - patience. We would love more of it in our every day lives.  But, did you know that the true meaning of patience is not the ability to wait, it's the ability to keep a "good attitude" while you wait.  Been there done that.  Waiting unfortunately is part of life.  We as humans do not wait very well and we actually spend more time waiting than we do receiving what we want or ask for from God.

Say you ask God for something in prayer, you are believing His word and then you go through the waiting period, which sometimes can seem like eternity.  When it finally arrives you are so happy and rejoice because we finally received what we were asking for.  So the point in this is that if we made a conscious effort to enjoy the "waiting period", not just be happy when your prayer was answered, then we we can enjoy where we are, on our way to where God wants us to be.

It is difficult to wait patiently when we still have pride in our lives.  See pride prevents us from waiting patiently because it says to us you are being inconvenienced and you are better than that, it shouldn't be happening to you.  Satan uses our mind to lead us into impatient behavior and thinking that is idealistic rather than realistic.  Satan is setting us up for a fall, through wrong thinking.  So don't be negative about it, but be realistic enough to realize ahead of time that there are very few things in life that will ever be perfect.

Don't plan for failure, but remember in Jesus own words:  "in this world there will be trials and tribulations and distress and frustrration.  These things are part of life on earth, for the believer and the unbeliever.  But all the mishaps in the world cannot harm us if we will remain in the love of God, displaying the fruits of the spirit at all times".  Patience is a fruit of the spirit (Gal. 5:22), and is deposited into us as born again people.  It's important to the Lord because He wants others to see His character through us, His children. So next time you are waiting in a long line at the grocery store, remember those words and show others the patience of Christ in you.....start a conversation with the person next to you, maybe you can also share the love of Jesus, you never know!!  Blessings

Ok, it's craft pattern time.  Today I want to share an easy to do crochet pattern that is available at my Etsy shop for only $3.50 as a downloadable pdf file. So when you pay for the pattern via paypal you will instantly gain access to download it.  So you can begin the project right away - very cool.  I made this for my grandsons a few years ago for Christmas.  It's a patriotic throw, easy using only double crochet and those awesome red, white and blue colors with fringe at the ends.  I didn't care for the red color in the red heart yarns, so I used a darker more rustic red color, as you can see in the photo. You will be able to crochet this one in no time at all.  I hope you enjoy it and until next time keep sharing God's love with all those around you.  There are so many people out there that really need a hug, a smile or to hear that God loves them! 

TGIF.....thank God I'm Forgiven...and that it's Friday!

Greetings everyone and Happy Friday. I do not mean to boast, but I am very excited that I am saved and that it is Friday.  There is such a bounce in my step knowing that one day when this world passes and this tired old body dies, my spirit will be with the Lord in Heaven.  I will get to see my family and friends who have passed on and it will be an awesome reunion.  I did not always believe this was going to be the case and I am sure there are numerous individuals out there still that do not have a hope for anything else past what is in this world.

So, I am here to say to those folks, examine your heart and the word of God.  Pick up a bible and see what God says about us, this world and the life to come.  It's very interesting and gives us so much to look forward to.  This world is filled with so much misery and heartache and so today I want to pray for those who are afflicted with cancer or other diseases, those feeling down and depressed,  or fearful for their jobs and what tomorrow will bring.  For those who are lonely and do not believe anyone cares or loves them.  Let me tell you - God does love you so much he gave his only Son to die for you on the cross so that you could experience all the goodness and love that he wants to give you.  

God did not give us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love, peace and a sound mind.  My prayer today is that the Holy spirit will be real and present in your life, if you do not believe that, begin to search out and research the word of God and may it speak directly to you and guide you to Jesus.  Jesus is waiting and knocking at your door, let Him in because he is the only one that can go bat for you, to plead your case before God.  But you have to do your part and that is believe by faith that He is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. Then repent of your sins and ask for forgiveness and watch Him to go work.  When you do this you will start to see a difference in your life like never before.  Remember there is not a hole so deep that God's hands cannot reach into and get you out of.  So no matter what you have done, his Grace is sufficient.  May you experience all that is good and pleasing and may God receive all the Glory - Amen.

Now on a different note, which is the crafty side of this blog. The "free pattern" for this week is "Grandma's Knitted Slippers".  My late mother in law taught me to knit these adorable slippers years ago.  I have made so many pairs of these for family and friends. They are truly easy to do and take only a couple of nights of knitting while watching my favorite television shows.  So here is a photo and link of the slippers which were also featured on "Favecrafts" website this week......have fun and may God bless you and all your days!!!!!!!
Click on the website link above, that is where you will find the instructions to print to make your own.

Let's be positive living in a negative world - shall we!

Top of the morning to you and Happy Friday.  I learned a new definition for TGIF and I shared it with my sisters via my phone this morning.  Thank God I'm Forgiven!!!! Love it.

Today I want to discuss being positive in a negative world.  We have people all around us it seems that are so negative and at times I have to catch myself because it can be contagious.  In her book "Battlefield of the Mind" Joyce reminds us that positive minds produce positive lives.  Then on the other hand negative minds produce negative lives.  The negative thoughts are full of fear and doubt, but positive ones bring forth faith and hope. I choose faith and hope thank you very much.  But there are individuals who choose all through their lives have had bad things happen to them so they refuse to even once believe there is hope and think positively.  It's a kind of protection against being hurt again, because it's disappointing and it hurts so much.  So they would rather refuse to hope and stay negative than believe that something good will ever happen to them.

I am speaking to those individuals right now.  Start asking the Holy Spirit to convict you when you begin to think negatively, and replace those thoughts with positive ones.  I know it can be hard sometimes but it can be done.  Just remember God's word and what he says about you and your situations. In Proverbs 23:7 it states that "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he".  When you begin a life of thinking more positively about the situations you are in you will begin to see that it works.  It doesn't mean that we will always get what we want in life just by thinking about it.  God has a perfect plan for each of us, and we can't control Him with our thoughts and words.  But what we should do is speak and agree with him on his will and plan for our lives.  God wants us to to live a peaceful and fruitful life and receive his blessings which will be so many we will not be able to contain them. Therefore we can bless others with what he gives us and brings into our lives in return.  The toughest time to be positive is when something bad is happening or you can't figure out what to do in a tight spot.  Remember, practice being positive in those times, and expect God to bring good out of it, as He has promised in His word. 

Now, on a crafty note.  I wanted to share my "free pattern" with you of a really cute spring wooden birdhouse.  It's  a double pirch wooden birdhouse that I decoupaged a few years ago.  It's easy to do and looks great in any area of your home.  Hope you have fun making this cute craft.  Thanks and until next time - may God's grace and mercy follow you for all the days of your life.  Here's a pic of the birdhouse - you are going to love it.  Then I added some other birdhouses you can choose to purchase and decorate, either way they are fun to do especially with your grandkids.