Jesus and the Cross - what Easter means to me!

When I woke up on Easter Sunday, the thought of how special that day was came into my thoughts instantly. Then the scene played in my mind of Jesus being crucified. There was sadness but then there was joy because of when He rose from the dead - Praise God.

Yes, we are to rejoice at the fact God loves us that much.  He didn't want us to perish, but to have everlasting life the moment we gave our hearts to Jesus, who took all our sins and punishment to the cross.  I still today cannot comprehend what God must have been going through watching those Roman soldiers hurting and beating His precious son.  Or Mary for that matter, Jesus was her son too. Then when the nails were pounded, the agony that Jesus must have felt.  There are no words to describe the pain our Heavenly Father and Mary must have endured, as well as our Risen Savior, and He did it for me and for YOU!

I was listening to an evangelical Pastor on television the other night, his name is James Merrit.  He said it this way:  "Here's what happened on Good Friday.  God took the biggest debt ever incurred.  He stated, you think America has a debt problem, or Greece or Europe for that matter?  Well let me tell you, the biggest deficit in the history of the world is the "sin deficit".  The sins of every person who has ever lived, every bad word that has ever been spoken, every bad deed was placed on Jesus Christ that day on the cross. Jesus paid the debt. No one will ever owe a greater debt then we owe to God.  No one will ever forgive a greater debt than when God forgave us."  He goes on to say this, "If you are a Christian, a true follower of Jesus Christ you should be a "forgiving person", because you are a "forgiven person" through Christ."

That sure helps to build and strengthen my faith in Christ.  I know that I know that He loves me! That I have been forgiven for what I have done and I am so grateful. The other thing I can be sure of is that He will never bring up those things to me, ever again - truly awesome.  A peace comes over my inner spirit knowing I am loved and forgiven.  Because of what Jesus did am I able to forgive others a whole lot easier.

Easter is a reminder of how much God loves us and that we can experience peace through forgiveness - as long as we receive that free gift, but we must forgive ourselves as well. It's hard sometimes but remember "It is Finished", and when Jesus says it's finished it truly is. 

Well, Easter here on Whidbey Island was the best.  Sunny and warm, we spent time with family and had a nice BBQ. The grand kids and adults had a blast in the backyard throwing the frisbie and football.  It was the best day ever - except for not being able to see some of my family who live in Virginia and Seattle area.  But they were in our hearts and thoughts.

Here is the next "free pattern", it's knitted dishcloths.  They are great for the kitchen or you can use them as wash cloths.  Either way you will whip one up in no time, because they are easy and fun to do.


Blessings:

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.

What are mind-binding spirits.....sounds a little crazy doesn't it.

I wanted to catch your attention to this very important post because it's a very real and present danger. I have been reading the awesome book "Battlefield of the Mind" written by Joyce Meyer and let me tell you it was eye opening to say the least.  It's actually one of my suggested reads on this blog, featured on the left hand side of this page. When she spoke of "mind-binding spirits" so many instances came to mind where that was the case for me.  I highly recommend that book if you were raised in a non-Christian home, if you have issues with thoughts that over power your mind at times and you feel confusion in your life as to what you should or should not do at times.  The enemy is a very clever liar and he knows that the only way to gain access into your life is through your thoughts, sneaky devil.

Anyway, she states in the book that after years of being in ministry and she had read so much of God's word and meditated on it day and night and one day she just began having these aweful thoughts of unbelief.  It happened a few days in a row and she didn't understand where it was coming from.  She was doing God's will but the enemy had other plans for Joyce.  No matter how hard she tried, her mind began sluggish and she started to feel that she no longer believed God's words.  While meditating one day she heard in her spirit "mind-binding spirits".  She was very unfamiliar with this phrase but it made sense to her considering how she was feeling.  So she quickly began to pray and came against those "mind-binding spirits" in Jesus name.  After a couple of minutes of praying she felt a tremendous deliverance come over her.  It was very dramatic she states.  The thought of evil spirits lurking around is rather creepy, but they exist.  Jesus called demons by name and commanded them to leave. We need to as well.

Now on another note, I wanted to begin a new tradition in my blog.  Starting today and in a few more posts in the future I am going to place links on where you can download my "free craft patterns".  They will range from birdhouses to crochet and knitting, so stay tuned and keep reading you never know when you will find a link to a very cool pattern.  Today I want to share my "fun fir scarf and scrunchie" pattern.  Here's a photo and the link.  God Bless and do share this blog with others - if someone is touched and inspired by some of the information in my blog - you and I will both be blessed - Amen.

Verigated orange bright pink and green fun fir scarf & scrunchie!

Announcing my newest cross stitch patterns.......so cool!

Hello everyone and welcome once again to my blog.  I hope that everyone is out there busy doing something they love, or maybe not.  It's funny because I have worked out of the home ever since I was 16 years old....that was 42 years ago.  Now at my age I finally am able to stay home and do what I love.  It's been a long road and a struggle at times, but the Lord has placed me here for such a time as this.  I am constantly creating new cross stitch patterns and sharing them with the world.  I am using some of our beautiful photography and now I am also adding scripture to these awesome scenes, what a blessing they are. 

That brings me to my announcement.  I do have 4 new patterns that I would love to share with you, I hope you like them. The lighthouse is my watercolor painting of Admiralty Head which really turned out nice. They are available on a few websites, but Etsy would have to be my favorite.  I am now also selling on a very cool website called Everything Cross Stitch so be sure to check them out there as well.

Enjoy your day - remember each day is a gift from God so make the best of it even if it is working.....because if you keep on keepin' on you will be rewarded for your efforts a hundred fold.

Blessings!!

Making time for the things we love to do.....and of course family!

It's a tough thing to be able to balance work, family activities on a day to day basis.  It was much harder for me of course when my three kids were younger and my ex-husband was on cruises all the time while he was in the Navy.  I was over worked and always stressed out in my day to day life because the whole load was on my shoulders.  I know this sounds so familiar with some of you out there that have husbands were are in the military and they are deployed from time to time.  I only wished that while I was going through those tough times I would have placed the Lord as front and center instead of just trying to do it all on my own.  I learned a valuable lesson from those days and now I can honestly say that my life is pretty mellow and there is a peace that I cannot explain to you which comes from walking closer with the Lord.  See I place him first in my daily activities, I get up and pray, grab my favorite cup of coffee and then I read his word.  Since I have been doing this, which is now almost 10 years, my time and days are much more pleasant and so am I.

Mind you there are times when I just get up and pray because of early obligations that I must attend, but for the most part I do my best to honor God each morning the best way that I can, and he loves that.

So, my tip of the day if you will is to get right with God each morning, and ask for His guidance through the power of the Holy Spirit, ask him to show you what is most important and to give you the strength and ability to do it.  I always add in my prayer for him to show me someone who I can bless or just make smile that day. 

By honoring God and keeping him first in your life I know you will begin to see a big difference in the way things happen during the day.  You will begin to notice you have more time to do the things that you truly enjoy instead of working and rushing all the time.  Now those of you with small children, it's a bit harder to get enough time with your spouse when the kids are young.  But, remember God wants you to have a good marriage and if you place him in the center of each of your hearts - well God's been known to make miracles happen even when things seemed impossible.  So trust and obey, keep him first and your family next and you will see amazing changes for the better.  God Bless!