Take Rest

Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:28

WOW! We are into the six month of 2016 and I am already exhausted.  =)

I feel like I’ve been going non-stop for the last six months, between family, church, work . . . it is crazy!

From what I can see in the Bible, rest is very important and not only physical rest but mind and spirit too.

God rested – not because He was tired, but to set the standard for mankind; resting on the Sabbath is one of the Ten Commandments.

God desires rest for us because it does not come naturally to us. (this should be a direct hint to me, since I am told I don’t know how to stop . . . )

To rest, we have to trust that God will take care of things for us, we have to trust that if we take a day off, the world will not stop turning on its axis. (this would be good for me to acknowledge in my work environment too)

Through the years humans have become more tense and less able to relax.

Relaxing our grip on our own lives, careers, families, etc., and giving them over to God in faith is the best way to relax. (note to self: hear that? give it all to God!)
Remember that the ultimate rest is found in Christ.

He invites all who are “weary and burdened” to come to Him and cast our cares on Him.

It is only in Him that we find our complete rest—from the cares of the world, from the sorrows that plague us, rest from the labors of our self-effort, because He alone is holy and righteous.

We can now cease from our spiritual labors and rest in Him, not just one day a week, but always.

Have a blessed day! 

Full of Grace

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.

-Colossians 4:5-6

                                   

Having a heart to heart conversation with someone can be difficult, especially if the conversation is on a challenging topic, if someone is in trouble, or if you are trying to provide guidance through a painful time in their lives.

We need to create an atmosphere of trust and a way for people to express their hearts to us, without giving them the impression that we are better than they are, or that our answers are the right answers and there is no other option but the one we provide.

We need to speak respectfully and listen to their concerns while we provide comfort and peace. 

God calls us to support one another, to build each other up, but we can’t do that if we are not willing to listen and be respectful. Every time we speak, we want to show kindness, care, and control – words can hurt, even if we are not speaking directly to a person but instead they hear us talking. Someone’s future may be determined by the words they hear from your lips.  Always be full of grace.

Have a blessed day! 

Peace be with you

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone.
- Psalm 62:5

Saturday mornings have long been my favorite time.  I usually wake before the rest of the house, i make my coffee and sit in the silence, usually with a cat or two on my lap. :) 
It is a peaceful time for me, one where my heart and my mind are at rest. 
i struggle with anxiety, it takes hold of my life in so many ways, often preventing me from enjoying the simple things.  it is a very real disorder, although it remains invisible. 
cultivating my relationship with my God, i have found peace. 
He has given me the love and support of my wonderful husband, who may not fully understand what i go through, he protects me.  That my friends, is love.  

Everyone has moments of fear, anxiety and unrest.  Find your peace in God.  Pray for understanding of people in your life that suffer greatly. 

God is good, all the time. 

You will find that it is well with your soul. 

have a blessed day! 

thoughts for the weekend

This was a short week for work, but my goodness there has been a lot packed in!

So much is going on in the world right now, but I’d like to be a bit selfish for a moment. . .  pretend that we are looking at google earth and zooming down to a specific location, that location is my life.

Now I feel like that tv show from the 50’s “This Is Your Life” – ha ha ha  - if you are too young for that (and I suspect many of you are), Google is your friend =)

My life . . . I have been through a lot in my nearly 47 years.  Some of the things I have been through would have broken others, but somehow, I have managed to stay strong. My strength, it comes from God! (more about that in another daily bread)

I certainly have people here that lift me up and protect me, I am so very blessed that God chose my husband for me – that man, crazy as he drives me sometimes, is truly the 2^nd reason that I have survived this long (obviously I don’t need to . =)

His parents are these incredible pillars of strength that have accepted me and all my insanity and love me for who I am.  I thank God daily for my husband and his parents.

Tell me, what more could a girl ask for?

Maybe it is not just what I can ask for, but maybe it’s what God asks of us.

Ponder that for a moment. . .

We are called to share His word, His love, no matter where we are or who we are with.

I started this email thing around 2011, with a short list of close friends to share my faith and love for God. By August of that year, I was sharing daily with about 24 people. Two years later, I started using the subject “daily bread” for the emails and I was sending them to 36 people.  Today the email goes to 91 recipients.  I discovered an option in Outlook that allows me to delay delivery, so if I know I am going to be out of the office I can set up the daily emails to send at 6am.  This works great as long as my computer stays on the network and doesn’t reboot!

One of my friends suggested a while back that I should start a blog. 

Honestly, I did not even know what that was!!!

As of last week, I have started this blog.

Yeah, me, the girl who hates technology, is now a blogger.  Don’t laugh.

This blogging thing is kind of cool!  I update it on the weekends too, instead of this email that only goes out on workdays. It is public and I post the link on my FaceBook page, therefore reaching many more people. Some of my FaceBook friends have shared the link with their friends.

Together, we are doing God’s will, spreading His word and sharing His glory.

What more could we ask for?

Have a blessed weekend. 

Time is relative

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

– 2 Peter 3:8-9

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard the argument that God could not have possibly created everything in 6 days.

Hello!  It is God!

We have a specific concept of time, God does not.

It is a good thing, too, because we as humans tend to put a time frame on everything, including our spiritual path.

God cares for people so much that He is willing to wait for them to come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

We may become impatient with the process, but God is not like us (which is another good thing!).

This should give us great hope because we are not as far along in our faith as we would like to believe, but God is patient with us.

The nature of God’s patience should humble all of us, for we are all in great need of God’s longsuffering in our journey of faith.

Have a blessed day! 

Good news!

This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we keep His commands and do what pleases Him.

– 1 John 3:19-22

I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is that we constantly make internal rules to justify our acceptance to God.

People take the words that God placed before us, twist, modify and format them to fit our standards.

Then we turn around and fail at keeping our own standards and feel condemned.

Here is the good news: God is greater than all of our rule making and breaking.

His mercy overrides our pitiful efforts.

His gospel, or good news, empowers us to keep His commandments.

Remember that you are loved, no matter what human standards you or anyone else happens to set.

Have a blessed day! 

Spiritual Food

Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on Him God the Father has placed His seal of approval.”

– John 6:27

Jesus pointed out to His disciples that even though they were attracting crowds, most of the crowd was motivated by self-interest.

The “food” that they were after would only last a day, if even that long.

We find through history that once the people were fed that day - both physically and spiritually - they turned away.

Just like our body needs daily nourishment, so does our soul!

Feed your spirit with the right food, the nourishment that Jesus offers that endures to eternal life.

The kingdom does not revolve around us, but Him

Don’t set yourself up for disappointment due to shallow expectations.

Learn to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him today.

Have a blessed day.