obey the gospel

March is here, y’all! With that, Shannon over at Sweet Blessings has another precious scripture writing plan. March’s writing plan is about Grace.

a-grace-scripture-writing-plan-english Just thinking about grace made me think how much the Lord blesses us. A couple of weeks ago, I had some kidney stones or 3. Then, my Daddy had a spell with his heart, that put him in the hospital for a few days. Kidney stone pain & worrying about your Daddy pain can be pretty rough. And I know you are wondering how the Lord is blessing us with all of that. Well, with my Daddy’s heart problems we found out it was a warning. It was the calm before the storm. The doctor said it was just a precursor to a major stroke. However, since he had this set back, it got his attention to pay better mind to what he has going on. Because it is serious! He’s made some changes & is on the road to recovery. We are so grateful & thankful the Lord has given us the chance to get back on the right path health wise. I have to remember when I have trials, there have been so many good things that have happened in my life. We have to take the bad with the good.

Job 2:10 …Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (NKJV)

The Lord has always been in the second chance business. But more so than not, with the gospel. We had a teenager obey the gospel & be baptized Sunday night at church. It just made my heart happy for this young boy. He will never know more peace & contentment than he will know with the Lord. The Lord gives us lots of chances to get our hearts right. He listens to our prayers. He is with us during pain & when we need comfort. Things can sometimes seem hopeless, however, nothing in life is permanent. Just know, no matter what is going on in your life, it’s going to pass. If you have fallen on hard times & want to give up, don’t. Always know, if you are praying, God’s working on it.

James 4:14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. (NKJV)

It’s going to pass. If things are going good & nothing but rainbows & fluffy clouds are hanging around you. Enjoy it. It will pass, too. Just know no matter how bad things may seem, the Lord always comes in offers you a way to deal with it.

I Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. (NKJV)

I leave you with this:

No matter what, this too shall pass. Perhaps like a kidney stone, but it will pass.
Be on guard. You never know what direction the devil is going to come at you next.
Trust God. No excuses. Just do that for me. Pretty please? You will be so glad you did.

So, the weather has had a mind of it’s own, obviously. Here in northeast Mississippi, it’s been 75 degrees, then 40 degrees, then raining & humid, then freezing, then 70 degrees again. All in one week. If we could have some winter weather, that would be appreciated, thank you very much. But oh well, we’ve about run out of time. Because it will be hotter than blue blazes again before you know it. Hope y’all are staying warm. Or cool, or what ever it is during a day’s time. Until next time, I should be going, because I should be washing clothes.

Don’t you just hate it when this happens?

Faces that make me happy.

How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m just not happy.” Have you ever heard someone say “I’m just not happy because of….” (my husband, my wife, my boyfriend, my girlfriend, my job, my dog, my cat, the president, the boy that mashed my bread, when he was sacking my groceries,) It’s always about putting the blame on someone or something else besides themselves. Or the one that gets me every time,

“God wants me to be happy.”

This is normally followed by a decision to do something that person probably doesn’t need to be doing in the first place. Let me just tell you something. Life is not fair. Life is hard. I went to a graduation recently, where some elementary school students wrote advice to the graduating class. One of the comments was-

“College is tougher than high school, yes, but you are advancing into life and life is harder than college.”

Well one of those babies understood reality better than some adults!

The other day I came across something, I knew to be true. It was just a reminder. It was on a Mental Health Month calendar by Mental Health America. It gave tips on things you could do every day to help you keep your mental health, well, healthy. On day 24 it said,

“Call or email a good friend. Studies have found that the difference between happy individuals & unhappy individuals comes in the form of good relationships.”

Jesus taught about how important relationships are.

Mark 12:31 – And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”(NKJV)

By God’s inspiration the apostle Paul penned these instructions to the church at Rome:

Romans 13:9 – For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”(NKJV)

Sometimes what we think happiness is, really isn’t what happiness is all about after all. You see a lot of times I think we try to put our cause for happiness into something tangible. Money & possessions are one of the big things that comes to mind. Many think if they had more money, a bigger house, a nicer car, more land, that their world would be a brighter, happier place. Those people will never find happiness in those things. Do you know why? Because Jesus wanted us to understand how we treat each other is an important factor to how happy we will be.

Jesus did not say,“ Love thy house.” He said, “Love thy neighbor.”

It’s these sins of the heart that get a person every time. Greed, pride, & jealousy- people with those qualities will never see the kingdom of heaven. (Galatians 5:21)

So, what do you do? Remember what our purpose is in this ol’ world. (To seek and save the lost.) First we have to understand & obey the gospel. Next we have to study the Bible & grow ourselves in faith. We are then able to go tell others the Good news about Jesus & what He’s done for us. If you do these things, kind friend, you will learn happiness that you never knew existed. You will be more worried about helping people, than hurting them. The desires of your heart will turn to what Jesus wants you to do. Remember that happiness is an inside job. If you change what’s inside your heart, everything else will fall into place.

Thank you so much for stopping by to visit with me today. I love it when you stop in. We have had some glorious weather, here in northeast Mississippi (sign me up for some more of that!). Just the right weather to sit out on my deck. I hope you have a great week. As for me, I have to be going, because I should be washing clothes.