people like us

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

- Romans 5:8 (NKJV)

 

As parents, I feel like we sometimes bribe our kids to do what we want or behave in a certain way.
If you are good at the store, I’ll buy you a toy. 
I’ll give you a dollar for every “A” you get on your report card. 
I’ll buy you a car if you get your driver’s license. 
Be nice to your siblings and I’ll let you do something fun. 
We never rewarded bad behavior though.

I can’t remember a single time in my childhood that I got something good when I broke rules or didn’t meet my parents’ expectations.
And I certainly did not reward my kids when they were heathens! 
But God. 
Wow. 
God loves us no matter where our heart is, His love is full and complete and for people just like us.
That is a lot to take in, and I am glad that Micah Tyler released a song called People Like Us in 2023, here are the lyrics:
If you fell on some hard times

If your long days turn to long nights

If you're drowning on the inside

With every beat of your heart

If there's dust on your bible

If your soul's needing a revival

Well, even if it's been a while

You can come as you are

[Chorus] God loves people like you

'Cause God loves people like me

A lost and hopeless sinner

That mercy has redeemed

And if you feel like He don't

The cross is proof that He does

Praise the Lord, oh, hallelujah that God loves

God loves people like us, oh, yes

God loves people like us

If you've been dealt a hard hand

And there's so much you don't understand

Fighting battles with the questions

Running through your mind

If you're thinking that it ain't true

'Cause how could anybody love you?

Well, here's the good in the good news

He's never left your side

[Chorus]

Every second of our lives

We are precious in His sight

We are children to a Father

Gave His own to give us life

It don't matter where you are (where you are)

It don't matter who you've been (who you've been)

Oh, and if you have forgotten

Let me tell you once again

[Chorus]

He loves people like us
Y’all. 
Isn’t that amazing? 
He loves us enough to send His Son to die for us. 
We didn’t deserve it then and we don’t deserve it now, but we are so blessed and loved that God does this thing for us.
For you. 
For me. 
For us.

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible 

eclipse

The earth quakes before them, The heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars diminish their brightness.

- Joel 2:10 (NKJV)

 

It’s the day that so many people have been waiting for, Solar Eclipse 2024.

There are schools that are dismissing, and tons of people traveling to a space on the map that will have “totality”.
According to NASA, between two to five solar eclipses of some kind - partial, annular, or total – are seen from Earth in a year.
And even a total solar eclipse is visible once roughly every 18 months or once every one to two years from somewhere on Earth.

So why is this one such a big deal?
NASA goes on to say that even though solar eclipses are fairly common, the area on the ground that is covered by totality is only about 50 miles wide, and in any given location on Earth, a total eclipse happens only once every hundred years or so.
Eclipses seem to have a history of inspiring both fear and awe in nearly every religion and civilization.
Today most people recognize that an eclipse is an astronomical event, rather than the life and death significance that it used to have.
There are several references in the Bible to eclipses, including the death of Jesus, when the sun stood still in Joshua (Joshua 10:12-13) and in Revelation (Revelation 6:12-13).
But is this solar eclipse a sign of future events like the rapture? 
No. 
This eclipse is not a divine punishment. 
Food will not get contaminated because of the eclipse. 
Anyone can watch the eclipse with proper eye protection, it will not harm anyone that takes the correct precautions.
The eclipse is not “bad luck” (bring on the black cats!). 
The eclipse is NOT a sign of the apocalypse. 
The solar eclipse is a naturally occurring phenomenon that has nothing to do with religion, luck, or destiny.
It is a beautiful event that God created to show us that He can do amazing things.

Enjoy it.

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible

He can

God is able to do much more than we ask or think through His power working in us.

- Ephesians 3:20 (NLV)

 

This is a great verse in any translation, but I have to say that my favorite is the Message: God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.

God can do anything.

He can part the seas, move mountains, heal the sick, raise the dead.
God can do anything. 
Quite often I feel like I am stuck (one of my current go-to sayings is “I’m a stuckasaurus”) with no way out, but do you know who can get me out?

God can!
Katy Nichole released a song in 2023 called My God Can, check out the lyrics: 
I know someone who knows what I'm up against

I know someone who's here in the midst of it

Fighting for me in a battle I could never win

All on my own

I might not be able to part the waters

Might not be able to calm the storms

Might not be able to make my giants fall

But good thing I'm not alone

'Cause there is a power that is greater

So I'm not afraid of what's ahead

I'm standing in the confidence that even though I can't

My God can

He'll heal those who hurt and comfort every broken heart

Restore the homes of families who've been torn apart

Tell chains to break and do what seems impossible

Like only He can

...

I can do all things, all things

Through Christ who gives me strength

I can do all things, all things

'Cause His spirit lives in me

...

My God can

I know He can

Sometimes when we are stuck, we just need to remember that we are not alone, that God can – and will – lead us.

Because He can.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible

 

in my darkest hour

Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.

- Psalm 118:5 (ESV)

 

I have been in some tough spots in my life.
I have been physically hurt. 

I have been emotionally hurt.
I have had my heart broken and my spirit shattered. 
I have been destroyed. 
I honestly believe that I have seen my darkest hour. 
Until the next one comes. 
Sometimes, I don’t know how I have survived, and I realized that even in my worst times, I never lost my faith in God.
In 2019 the unthinkable happened to the artist TobyMac, the eldest of his five children died at age 21 of an accidental drug overdose. 
TobyMac thought he would never write another song or stand on another stage. 

But he never lost his faith.

Slowly he started writing again and out of his sorrow the song Faithfully was written.
Released in 2022, here are some of the lyrics: 
It's been a long year, it almost took me down, I swear

Life was so good

I'm not so sure we knew what we had

I'll never be the same man

I'll never feel like I felt before (felt before)

It's been a hard year, it almost took me down

But when my world broke into pieces

You were there faithfully

When I cried out to You, Jesus

You made a way for me

I may never be the same man

But I'm a man who still believes

When I cried out to You, Jesus

You were there faithfully

I've had a hard time

Findin' the blue in the skies above me

And if I'm keepin' it real

I've been half-faking the happy they see

I may look like the same man

But I'm half the man I was (half the man I was)

...

In my darkest hour, You met me

So quietly, so gently

You said You'd never leave

And You stood by Your word

So quietly, so gently

In all my pain, You met me

You said You'd never leave

And You stood by Your word

'Cause when my world broke into pieces

You were there faithfully

When I cried out to You, Jesus

You made a way for me

I may never be the same man

But I'm a man who still believes

When I cried out to You, Jesus

You were there faithfully

...
The first time I heard this song, I cried uncontrollably.
In our darkest hour, we are never alone. 
No matter what, we can cry out to Jesus and He will be there, faithfully. 

 

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible

example

Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do.

- Philippians 3:17 (NIV)

 

Examples are great, they show us what something should look like or teach us how to do things the right way.
Are there bad examples out there? 
Absolutely! 
Simply driving down the road you can see all sorts of bad examples, the driver that swerves from lane to lane, the one that slams on the brakes, and the one that never uses a signal light.
Now, think about something that you do, always a certain way, that you’ve done for a long time.
It could be the way you take your coffee, how your towels are hung in the kitchen, or the process you use to cook a favorite meal.
Why do you do it that way? 

Most of the time we do things because we learned them from someone else, those things we learned could be good or bad.

I have been known to end friendships because I notice that I act differently when I am around certain people.
This is something we all do, we hang out with people, and we start to emulate their actions, their behavior and sometimes it is not flattering to us or others.

We should be strong in our friendships (iron sharpens iron and such), we need friends that are determined to live as Christ followers, so that we don’t fall away from the path.

We should work together to never ever lose sight of the path that we want others to follow, or they could possibly start leading us down a wrong path.

Choose your friends wisely, so you may use them as an example on how to live.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible

the Bible before Jesus

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

- 2 Peter 1:20-21

 

A good friend asked me to write on this topic, so here we go!
Was there a Bible before Jesus? 
Yes, there was the Old Testament, some of which was written more than a thousand years before Jesus was born.
In fact, the complete Old Testament was finished long before Jesus lived.
The Old Testament was written by the Jewish people, including the prophets, kings and  some anonymous people, and it tells of the history of God’s people, their trials and joys, living and dying, the turning points in Israel’s history from the Exodus from Egypt, to entering the Promised Land, the monarchy, the fall of Jerusalem, the exile in Babylon, the restoration of the Israelite people.
The Old Testament gives us the law as it was first known to man, and prophecies of the coming King who would save all of God’s people.

So yes, there was a Bible before Jesus.

The New Testament was written after Jesus died and was resurrected.
It is the divine word of God, 27 books written in Greek by nine authors inspired by the Holy Spirit, authors who had direct contact with Jesus or His apostles.

Dr. Michael A. Milton, the President of Faith For Living wrote about the Bible: It is the Holy Bible: a collection of sixty-six books composed and compiled over 2,000 years by forty authors on three continents. Despite the impressive diversity of authors, genre—from history to poetry, from prophecy to personal accounts—and languages, the Bible displays an irrefutable unity of purpose, undivided harmony of thought, an unfolding narrative that is both unified and progressive. The Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, projects universal truth that remains applicable to people around the world. 

It is still applicable.
It is still relevant. 
It is and always was the word of God. 

 

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible

 

the fool

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

- Psalm 14:1 (NIV)

 

April 1st used to be a scary day in my house, you never knew what shenanigans we would be up to, whether it was my husband trying to get me or the kids trying to get each other or us getting the kids, someone was going to get pranked.

My kids used to dislike April first because their dad and I would fabricate something to annoy them like filling their room with balloons, Vaseline on the door handle, colored light bulbs to convince them they were seeing things… once we even told them we were moving to Alaska.

Then when they tried to get revenge on us, they failed.
It was bad enough that one year when my husband and I didn’t do anything, the kids were terrified that we were pulling the all-time biggest prank (in all honesty we had forgotten)!

Look! There is a cat behind you!

April Fool’s! (although in my case very possibly true!)

How many of us have been on the receiving end of a silly harmless April Fool’s prank or joke?

How many of us have instigated the silliness?

The history of April Fool’s day is interesting, if you have time, check out https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/april-fools-day.

But - there are some people that take the April Fool’s pranks a little too far, not realizing that the words they think are funny are actually causing another pain – for example posting on social media that you are pregnant is a horrible joke to someone struggling with infertility or the loss of a child, so I beg you to think before you post a “prank” like that.

Some people believe that God was foolish to send His only Son to die for humankind.

Some people believe that in doing so God was setting Himself up for the greatest disappointment.

There are a lot of people out there that don’t appreciate the sacrifice that God made but you might be surprised at how many people do appreciate Him.

The fool says there is no God.
According to the dictionary, atheist is “a person who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of God or gods”  agnostic is “a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God”.

Every person out there has the right to choose what they believe, but honestly, w hat is it about God that people find so offensive?

The Bible says that being a fool is a question of identity, it begins with what a person believes in his heart (Proverbs 23:7) and a fool believes that he only has himself to rely on, that there is no God.
The enemy will do everything he can to make you not believe.

This quote attributed to Albert Camus rings true for me: “I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live as if there isn't and to die to find out that there is.”

Don’t be a fool.

 

#dailybreadbykitty

Daily Inspiration from the Bible