Forgive

The end is nearer than you think & buffalo

/ kstrick7 / 3 Comments

eyes

I read some disturbing news today, y’all. We have 100 days left in this year. Lord have mercy, where in the world did 2016 go?  If you had anything you wanted to do in 2016, you’d better hurry.  Time is not waiting for anyone.

time-run-out

That got me to thinking. What do I need to accomplish in the rest of my time in 2016?  My thoughts went from DIY projects at home that I need to do, to family get togethers I need to plan, to work goals I need to get together.  But when I think more seriously about this, I think, What does God want me to accomplish in the remaining time of 2016?  Here is a list of things I believe are noteworthy-

  1. Surrender to Jesus. What I mean by this is if we humble ourselves to do more listening & obeying, then so much of our lives will just fall into place. It’s so hard sometimes to take a step back & just give it all to the Lord -all the worries, uncertainties, stress, & problems in life, that we face. I truly believe, we just need to lay it all at the feet of Jesus. Then & only then will we be at peace. (Phil. 4:7)and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.(NKJV)
  2. Forgive. Forgive others. Forgive ourselves. Just forgive. Instant load lightened right there. (Matt. 6:15) But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (NKJV)
  3. Love so much it hurts. If you have never totally put yourself completely out there, to love others, boy you are missing out. From someone who has been divorced, lost a parent, lost close family members, & have had some strained relationships- I can say I am still glad that I love people. (John 15:13) Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (NKJV)
  4. Walk in the Spirit. How’s your prayer life? How’s your daily Bible study time, going? If you can’t answer “Amazing!” or “Remarkable!” to either of these, then before 2016 is out, make a change. How can we expect to walk in the Spirit, if we don’t give the Spirit any of our time? If we are walking in the Spirit, then we have less opportunity to let matters of the flesh in.  I know when I have my mind on Jesus, I have less time to give other things any part of my time. (Acts 9:31) Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied. (NKJV)
  5. Be faithful. You can tell so much about a person by what they are faithful in. Let’s make sure we are faithful in the Word.   God has so much to offer us.   Faithfulness is going all in for the long haul.  Look at everything the Lord has done for us.  We can show our love and appreciation by our obedience & faithfulness to Him. (Rev. 2:10) …Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. (NKJV)

I’m so glad you stopped by to visit with me today.  I heard on the radio, this morning, that today is the 1st day of fall.  I’m ready for the weather to be showing out.  We need some cooler temps, that’s for sure!  Hope you are having a blessed week.  Until next time, I have to be going, because I should be washing clothes.

We went to see Mr. Sweetie Pants in his Grandparent's Day program a couple of weeks ago. Cutest thing ever!

We went to see Mr. Sweetie Pants in his Grandparent’s Day program at his school. Cutest thing ever!

Tacky Tourist Spirit Day at school this week. It was homecoming & we were ready in costume.

Tacky Tourist Spirit Day at school this week. It was homecoming & we were ready in costume.

Mr. Sweetie Pants feeding the goats at the Buffalo Park. From the time he woke up, until the time we arrived at the Buffalo Park, I had heard the word, "Buffalo" 9,873,185 times. Not that I was counting.

Mr. Sweetie Pants feeding the goats at the Buffalo Park. From the time he woke up, until the time we arrived at the Buffalo Park, I had heard the word, “Buffalo” 9,873,185 times. Not that I was counting.

And this is pretty much how the rest of my week was last week.

And this is pretty much how the rest of my week was last week.

Next was an Oreo Sonic Blast with double stuffed flavor funnel. My jeans were not happy with me.

Next was an Oreo Sonic Blast with double stuffed flavor funnel. My jeans were not happy with me.

The struggle is real, y’all.

photo creds: strawberries.ces.ncsu.edu, Britney @ The Princess & Her Cowboys, Jane.com

 

 

 

Lessons from a 6 year old & warm weather where are you?

/ kstrick7 / Leave a comment

 

church pews

There are times you just have to know there is good still in the world.  As much as we hear of the horrible things going on, we must be confident there is good going on, too.

I was lucky enough to have 2 little girls, from my Bible Class, to sit beside me Sunday night at church.  They had notebooks & were drawing different things.  When I say notebooks, I mean we live in a place where these are still in style:notebook

They enlisted me to draw a panda bear & a horse.  It was pretty sad.  Their pictures were MUCH better than mine.  I was hoping the people sitting behind us could not see how truly pathetic my artwork was.  I have taken art classes.  However, my abilities are CLEARLY stunted when it comes to drawing things.  The head of my horse resembled a lizard or dinosaur.  I did add a mane & tail.  One of my sweet little friends did ask what exactly the tail was.  So, we made it a little longer.  That helped out a lot.  (Not.)  They were drawing dogs, cats, & the occasional turtle.  Then, I looked down & saw a picture I could not figure out.  It was a stick figure with some lines drawn through it.  I leaned over & asked the little artist to identify her drawing.  She whispered,

“It’s Jesus on the cross.”

Really?  I’m not even sure someone could have told me anything more precious right there in that moment.  Here I am.  Just a sinner, trying to make it through life, trying to make sense of it all, & I have a 6 year old sitting right beside me nailing it with her “what’s on her mind” drawings.  She taught me some valuable lessons with her Jesus picture.

  1. If I keep my mind on Jesus, well, that’s all I really need to do. I won’t have time to worry about being offended or getting my feelings hurt or much anything else.
  2. I need to make sure I am living a righteous life everywhere. Especially in front of kids. Obviously, they are watching & listening.
  3. I need to always be kind to children. Kids are wonderful blessings from the Lord. If we mistreat children, we are mistreating a work of God. Nobody wants to do that.
  4. Kids are people, too. They think about things, wonder about things, & love like nobody’s business. We need to do the same.

Jesus loved children.  He referenced how we must become as children to go to heaven.

child scripture i

Matthew 18:3 .. “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

This tells me I must be humble, loving, trusting, forgiving & always anxious to learn about what Jesus wants.

I hope you are having a wonderful week.  I promise to you right now, if we ever get warm weather again, I will never ever ever complain about it.  Well, maybe.  I am just ready to go outside and it be warm.  I heard the other day, this has been one of the top 10 coldest winters, in the Mid-South, since 1875.  Now, you know why I’m so opinionated about the coldness.  Southerners are not made for cold weather.  Word. Until the weather is hotter than the backside of a cast iron skillet, I have to be going because I should be washing clothes.

photo credits: http://www.poraora.com, pinterest

Why we don’t have to forgive & forget & what we’ve been doing

/ kstrick7 / Leave a comment

Well, hello my online peeps!  I hope all ya’ll are having a wonderful day.  I have been busy doing lots of summer stuff here lately.  We had our Super Saturday VBS at our church last Saturday.  We have had youth group events, going to the movies, summer devotionals, shaving cream wars, etc.,.

Exhibit A

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit B

 

Miss Neenee went bowling with the Girl Scouts & will be going to a movie with them, next week as well.  My beautiful niece has been at my house, visiting from a faraway land.  My sweet husband has been grilling lots of wonderful stuff.  We have a birthday to celebrate this weekend.  My grandbabies have been coming by for visits.  Of course I have been as accommodating as possible.  My daughter in law was telling Mr. Sweetie Pants just last night to quit writing on the kitchen floor with a magic marker.  Well, Lord have mercy, that’s what Mr. Clean is for.  Mr. Sweetie Pants kinda gets away with a lot at my house.  And when I say a lot, I mean everything.  Except back talk.  We don’t do that at my house.  Everything else we can pretty much handle.  I have been doing my best to keep up with my 100 days of scripture.  With that, my Sunday School lesson & Wednesday night class I have been studying my Bible.

I try to be attentive to what people are saying.  Words mean a lot to me.  I really take them to heart.  I guess that’s why I get so irritated when people use words in a hurtful, disrespectful, or uncaring way.  Words can’t be unsaid.  And forgetting what someone has said to me or my family is something I work on daily.  That’s why when my uncle said this the other day, I took note.

 He said, “The Bible teaches forgiveness.  It does not teach to forgive & forget.  Man said that.  Not God, because God knows we are human.”

I had never considered that.  So, I did what I normally do, when someone makes an expounding statement, like that, about the Bible.  I go look it up.  Here is what I found out.

William Shakespeare in King Lear made the statement, “Pray you now, forget & forgive.”king lear

 

In the Bible, the apostle Paul had a big problem with forgiving & forgetting.  It all had to do with himself, too.  Before Paul became a devout Christian, he persecuted Christians.  He never got over that & what he had done to the church.  You can tell by how he addresses it all.

I Timothy 1: 12-13 12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, 13 although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. (NKJV)

His former life humbled him.  He understood that he was a chosen vessel.  However, he did not take it lightly.  He talked about his past openly.

Acts 22:220 And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death,[b] and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him.’ (NKJV)

He did not let his past cripple him of his service to the Lord.  He did not say, “I’ve done too many bad things, the Lord will never forgive me.”  Or “I’m not good enough to serve the Lord.”  He made mistakes, but then got him some gumption & did what he was supposed to do.  He did not let his past sins hold him back from doing what was right.

The Lord knows we are human.  As humans, we make mistakes & are not perfect.  For our sakes, we should be willing to put things behind us & move on.  Paul finally got to that point,

Philippians 3:13-14 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.(NKJV)

God is the only One capable of selective erasing events from His memory.  When we receive Christ’s forgiveness, He acts as sin hasn’t happened.  We aren’t made up that way.  We are commanded to forgive.

Matthew 6:14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.(NKJV)

Forgetfulness is a much needed discipline of our emotions.  Which is hard, because we are stubborn creatures.  But let’s be stubborn for the things that matter.  Like our faith & family.  It’s a good thing to put things in their place & focus on what is to come, rather than where we have been.  You have got to have some peace somewhere.  Not dwelling on how someone has wronged you is a good way to put things to the side.  Then, peace will come.

I am so glad you took time to visit with me today.  Our weather has been oddly FANTASTIC.  July in Mississippi is normally hot, humid, & unbearable.  A big thank you goes out to whoever ordered the awesome weather we had on the 4th of July.  That was stinkin’ wonderful.  We were at some of our friends Tuesday night.  Just sitting in their backyard enjoying the cool weather.  I had on a long sleeved shirt.  It was crazy.  I’ve so enjoyed you today.  But for now, I have to be going, because I should be washing clothes.

respect the bubblw

photo credits: Pinterest, someecards

 

It’s Not Easy

/ kstrick7 / Leave a comment

my grace

It’s Not Easy

To apologize

To begin over

To admit error

To keep trying

To take advice

To be unselfish

To be charitable

To face a sneer

To avoid mistakes

To be considerate

To endure success

To profit by mistakes

To keep out of a rut

To forgive and forget

To think and then act

To make the best of little

To subdue an unruly temper

To recognize the silver lining

To shoulder a deserved blame

But It Always Pays!

This was taken from Bulletin Digest. It is a short little read, but has a powerful meaning. I hope everyone is having a blessed day today. I just wanted to stop by and say a quick hello. I will be sure to visit longer next time. I have to be going for now, because I should be washing clothes.