The Voice! The Voice is back on! & matters of the heart

September 23, 2015September 23, 2015 / kstrick7 / Leave a comment

I want to thank everyone who told me to get well soon last week. I think it must have really helped. Because I am feeling so much better this week! You all are the best!

I have been very delighted, to say the least, that The Voice has started up a new season. I have already made some picks on the ones to watch. I must say I get a tad emotionally attached to these singers every season. Last season’s winner Sawyer Frederick was so cute. I just wanted to put him in my pocket & carry him around. I put him on one of my Pandora stations. REALLY liked him. He reminded me of my own rockstar son. Also, a few seasons back there was Cole Vosbury & Nicolas David. We really rooted for them. When the season was over, I was sad & I missed seeing them every week. I added them to my Pandora station, too. So, it’s kinda like they aren’t really gone. BUT I LOVE that Gwen is back this season. I just really like that girl. She seems like a genuinely nice person.

So, I have had something on my mind this week, that I want to talk to you about. I know there are a lot of people that are doing their best to live a life for the Lord. I know we may not do some of what the world classifies the “BIG” sins. We don’t kill, steal, or commit adultery. We give of our means on Sunday & don’t miss church services, so we are good, right? Let me ask you this, when’s the last time you have taken inventory of your heart?

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. (NKJV)

We can’t really talk about what is in a person’s heart without talking about what comes out of their mouth. Do we look down on others, that they aren’t as “good” as we are? Do we love to “tote the tale” as my Mamaw used to say? Does it seem to please you to hear something maybe not so flattering about someone else, because it makes you not feel so bad about what you have going on?

Matthew 15:18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. (NKJV)

Do we think, “I would never do that.”? Or I may do this, but she does that & that’s worse. Do we put others down instead of lifting them up? I really believe the devil comes at us in a different direction. He knows we try to keep a certain standard of living, so he comes subtly, in the form of jealousy or envy. He enters in our hearts with hatred for each other. Or the feeling of pride & I’m better than others. If you go to church every time the doors are open, but are quick to judge & make a biting comment, that’s a heart problem.

Instead of pointing your finger at someone & beating them over their head with their sin, why not show you care? Let’s have a gentle & caring spirit, like the Lord commanded.

Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. (NKJV)

You never know what kind of situation someone else is in & why they are doing what they are doing. Shame on us, as Christians, if we can’t stretch out our hand to help, instead of pointing our finger to criticize. How many times have YOU changed because someone was trying to shame you into seeing the error in your way? I’ve never seen those tactics work that well on adults. That’s why it is so important to do our best not to be judgmental. Because you never know when you will be on the receiving end of a bad situation.

Things happen to all of us in life. I have a son, that was raised in church, however, is not faithful at this time. I have had people make comments to me about his appearance & how they cannot believe that’s my son. Well, you know what, y’all? That’s rude & hurtful. I pray for him every day the Lord gives me breath. This has been a real game changer for me & I don’t specifically need others pointing his bad choices out to me. I know what they are. I pray for these people making these comments to me because, whether you want to acknowledge it or not, we are all in this together. Let’s act like it & help one another. Even when it pushes us out of our comfort zone. You never know how much an encouraging word means to someone who is going through a difficult time. We are to have a spirit of kindness & meekness. Not a spirit of judgment & critical opinions. Because y’all, that’s just what a person who is looking down their nose is doing. Giving their opinion. AND everybody has one. A person, who is truly caring & concerned for others, will react in love & humbleness to a troubled soul. That’s what Jesus commanded. This other stuff does not come from the Lord. Let’s make sure our words are seasoned with goodness & kindness for others.

Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. (NKJV)

Let’s not take things so seriously that we mouth off & hurt other people’s feelings in the process. Let’s not let the devil get in our hearts & give us a critical spirit. Let me also add, I am looking at myself, as I write all of this. I am guilty of these things myself. I do pray to be a better person & a faithful servant to the Lord. If I am busy doing the Lord’s work, I won’t have time to be on point to criticize others. I don’t want to lose sight of my purpose of serving the Lord, by letting the devil convince me it’s ok to be hateful when something doesn’t go my way.

Ephesians 3:17-18 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; (NKJV)

I know I am kinda all over the place with this. I just know how important it is to do our best to live a life without a critical spirit. You can have so many more blessings if you will keep an understanding & loving heart. We should pray for the Lord to direct our hearts. (Because Lord KNOWS I can’t do all this by myself.)

II Thessalonians 3:5 Now may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ. (NKJV)

I hope everyone is having a blessed week. The weather has just showed out this week. It has been so pleasant outside. I want y’all to know since I felt bad last week, I have the ultimate Mount St. Laundry that has made an appearance in my bedroom floor. Yes, we are dressing out of the pile. So, until next time I have to be going because I should be washing clothes.

photo credits: pinterest,duoparadigms

The time I thought I was wrong & how ’bout them single digit temperatures???

February 19, 2015February 19, 2015 / kstrick7 / 1 Comment

The other day Miss Neenee posed this question:

“Mama, how long have you been out of school?”

I did my best mental math guess & said quickly,

“25 years.”

“Wow,” she said. And then our morning carried on with other scurrying around, trying to get ready, so that I could get her to school on time so that she wouldn’t thus again, be the only 5^th grader to ever have detention in the history of 5^th grade detention for being late. (Which is at the top of my list in my book of

“Things In Life That Are CLEARLY Ridiculous.”

Giving elementary school students detention for something they OBVIOUSLY have no control over is down right awful. What kind of people do that stuff to little kids? At no time has an elementary student, who does not live within walking distance to a school, EVER been able to get themselves to school. In my neck of the woods, someone either gets them ready & puts them on a bus or drives them in a vehicle.

SPOILER ALERT to ALL PRINCIPALS, ASSISTANT PRINCIPALS & ANYONE WHO HAS AUTHORITY TO MAKE RULES & HAS HATE FOR LATE PEOPLE:

Kids cannot drive themselves to school.

Thus having to be at the mercy of people who can drive & will drive them to school. Who may perhaps have a time management issue or a morning disability. Believe me people when I say mornings are hard. They just are & I declare that there is a real disease or virus or something that hits some people every morning. The symptoms of this non-fatal sickness is irritability, being disoriented, the ability to not be able to control how many times you hit snooze, & lateness. If you haven’t ever heard of it, well, now you have. You are welcome. It’s not really catching. However, for those of us that suffer from it, getting out of bed may be the worst thing that has happened to us all day. For me, this is not something new. I have been this way my entire life. Even though I know & hope I will be able to wake up daily. Still. Hard. Stuff. Don’t judge me. Just know this is the world I live in.)

Ahem! You can’t see me, but I am now stepping down off of my soap box.

To the story at hand: After I got to work, I got to thinking about it. Wait a minute. There’s no way I could be out of school for 25 years. I thought about it again. I’ve only been out of school 15 years.

Oh my WORD. (Which is evidently something I say too much because my grandson has started saying it, to my daughter’s dismay.)

I have given incorrect information to my sweet daughter, who unbeknownst will work this into every conversation she has, because 25 years is like 100 years to an 11 year old. How could I have been THAT wrong?

So, for the best part of my day, I could not get it off my mind how my wrong date of high school graduation was being put out there for everybody to know. I mean seriously. I would have to correct this as soon as I could. I thought about having a fake emergency so that I could ask the school secretary to get Miss Neenee out of class, to call me before too much damage was done. But I didn’t.

Then, it happened. Later on in the day, it occurred to me they make these where I come from.

I could just recap my accurateness of my tenure out of high school. So, 2015 minus 1990 equals…

Well, you know the rest. It was a pretty big shock to me, too. Not that I haven’t attended my 20^th year class reunion, well a few years ago. That never crossed my mind AT ALL. So, it ends up, I was not wrong at all. I am old & most days can pretty much vouch for feeling it, as well.

Is forgetfulness a bad thing? Not really. As I get older, I tend to forget how much I am wronged. I forget how to be angry all the time. I forget to let things weigh on my mind. I forget to be judgmental. (Thank you Lord, for letting me get past that one.)

The Hebrew writer said Jesus is good at forgetting, too.

Hebrews 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (NKJV)

The psalmist said in

Psalms 103: 12 As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. (NKJV)

Thank goodness the Lord is a good forgetter. That works out real well for me.

I hope you are having a wonderful week. It has been COLD here in northeast Mississippi. Pretty sure somebody left the freezer door open outside last night. It was a blustery 12 degrees at my house this morning. No Southerner is really prepared for that. Bring on spring is all I can say. Until then, I have to be going because I should be washing clothes.

Lipstick woes & Jesus has a fix for your vices

June 7, 2014June 6, 2014 / kstrick7 / Leave a comment

I love putting on lipstick. I also like lip gloss. I have one of them on, most all the time. There’s just something about applying lipstick, that is kinda like a sedative. I can be having a bad day at work. But then, take a minute out to re-apply my lipstick & I just get a better perspective. Weird, I know.

I told Miss Neenee the other day,

“Look at this new lipstick I got”

I proudly held up my tube of dollar store lipstick. Then, I started painting my lips.

I said,“ Ya know, I don’t know about the color, though. It kinda makes me think of the lipstick funeral homes put on dead people.”

Without missing a beat, my Miss Neenee says, “Yet you still put it on.”

How many things do we do in life that we know might be wrong or not flattering or not advantageous for us, however, we just keep on keeping on? Like the fat free, sugar free candy I eat. That always makes me lose weight. What?? That candy’s not sugar free?? That explains a lot. Or it really could be anything. Ask an alcoholic. Do they know what they are drinking is not good for them? Sure they do. What about a drug addict? Don’t you figure they know what they are taking is not what they should be doing? I would say a big probably. However, it’s something inside of them that makes them continue on. Even though knowing, nothing good is going to come out of it. Can I add complaining to this list? Lord have mercy, some people complain & have a negative attitude toward any & everything. Gossipers & people who are judgmental know better. They just do it.

When you get tired of doing things, that’s not helping you none, Jesus has a fix for it.

Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

²⁹Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (KJV)

We can go to Jesus anytime, anywhere. He is the true One who will give us rest from our vices. Only in Him will we have peace & contentment. What are you waiting for?

I am so glad you stopped by to visit with me today. It has been a beautiful day, here in northeast Mississippi. My flowers are growing in the yard. Good times. Come back when you can stay longer. As for me, I have to be going, because I should be washing clothes.