Seeing God

Oct15

Everyday I can see the work of God in my life. I have a large list of answered prayers and praises. I however, have never seen God. I can recall on many occasions when I’ve had people tell me that there is no God and that my belief in a God is just a crutch for me to hold onto. There are people in the world who attempt to remove God from everything, simply because they cannot see him.

God requires us to have faith in him. One meaning of faith is being sure of what you hope for and certain of what you cannot see. Doubt can lead us astray and damage our relationship with God. James 1:6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.

Yes, daily faith is a must in our relationship with God. Hebrews 11:6But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
A few more scriptures on faith…

1 Corinthians 2:5So that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men (human philosophy), but in the power of God.

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

I hope you all have a wonderful day,

I love ya,

Mary Anne

Contrition

Oct13

This morning I want to tell you about Maelee. She is a little dachshund who was a bribe to our daughter Sadi to get her to move home to Indiana. Maelee is the sweetest little dog, but she doesn’t always mind. Sometimes she sort of just runs around and does what she wants. If there is just a slight wif of a food in the air she will immediately rise up on her hind legs and beg.

One of her more notorious tricks is when everyone it gone from the house, she will run around and empty all the small trash cans, and if there is anything the least bit eatable in those cans, it will be gone or chewed beyond recognition. When we come home and call Maelee to discipline her, she comes to us with her tail between her legs and her head down low. She will look at us with those big, brown, oh so apologetic eyes as if she is saying, “I’m so sorry, I promise I’ll never do it again.” She is extremely contrite.

When we realize that we’ve sinned we need to be contrite before God. Contrition is defined as:a sincere sorrow for having offended God, and hatred for the sins we have committed, with a firm purpose of sinning no more. We all have sinned…Romans 3:23For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.The blood has already been shed for our sins, the price has already been paid in full. We only need to do is repent and ask forgiveness with true sorrow in out hearts, and make a determined effort to not continue in sin..

Isaiah 55:7Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unjust man his thoughts, and let him return to the Lord; and he will have mercy on him.

1 Corinthians 15:57But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

I hope you all have a fantastic day,

Love ya,

Mary Anne

Praise

Oct12

I love music, but I don’t sing. I’ve noticed in the past when I’ve tried to belt out a few chords in public, the horrible looks I get from people. I was not blessed with a voice nor the ability to carry a tune. I think someday when I make it to heaven I will be singing and singing, and it will sound good when I am there.

Even though I can’t sing, I can still praise. Part of my prayer time every morning has praise. I also like to read praises from the Bible… Psalms 30:3-4 O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit. Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness…

Psalms 40:8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law [is] within my heart.

Jeremiah17:14Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved, for you are my praise.

Psalms 95: 1-3 “O Come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods”

Psalms 63:4 ” I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

I hope you all have a wonderful, praise full day,

I love ya,

Mary Anne

Armor of God

Oct11

We love animals and in our old house we put little holes at the bottom of our doors so our cats and dog could get outside when they wanted. It really worked out well for us and our animals. Except for one night while we were sitting in the living room watching some TV. My husband saw out of the corner of his eye, something headed towards the laundry room where we kept the cat’s food bowls. It wasn’t a cat or dog, it was a Possum! Zeke, our dog soon livened up and chased the ugly little varmint out of our house. It was a funny, but kind of scary episode.

The devil keeps his eyes on the open doors of our hearts. He attempts to send all types of sinful varmints in and steal our salvation. But we have protection from Satan and it is mentioned in Ephesians 6:10-18Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.

I try to remember the armor from head to foot…

  1. the Helmet of Salvation
  2. the Breastplate of Righteousness
  3. the Shield of Faith
  4. the Sword of the Spirit
  5. the Belt of Truth
  6. the Shoes of Peace\

    I hope you all have a great day!!!

    Mary Anne

God is in Control

Oct10

  I am very good at fretting. I fret over things that I have no control of. I guess I think by worrying over things, it will change them or they will work out for the better. But, this fretting is brought by Satan. For for all this fretting, not one minute is added to my life, as a matter of fact I’ve actually wasted some of my life. I need to give all this worry to God, after all, he is the one in control.

Hebrews 13:6 So that with good courage we say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?”

Matthew 6:27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

I John 4:4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

Psalm 55:22Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved

Colossians 3:15And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

I hope you all have a wonderful, worryless day,

Love ya,

Mary Anne

Let God help with Burdens

Oct9

 I got a purse from Ebay and it came in the mail. I am so happy with it, but when I took it and loaded it with my stuff, I realized that it was a little more of a burden. Because it is a bigger purse I’m filling it with more stuff. I’ve done this waltz with the purses since I was a little girl, and started carrying purses. For a while I’ll carry a big purse loaded with everything but the kitchen sink, and then I start to feel bogged down and I go back to carrying a smaller purse with just the necessities.

Sometimes our lives become bogged down with worries and burdens that we need to give to the Lord. Corrie ten Boom once said… Any concern too small to be turned into a prayer is too small to be made into a burden. Sometimes we try to handle little things ourselves and not bother the Lord with them, but Psalms 55: 22 says“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” and Psalm 68:19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. We should trust God for all and give him all our burdens to carry, he does not wish that we live our lives overwhelmed Isaiah 43:2 “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers they shall never overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned: neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”

I hope you all have a wonderful day,

Love ya all,

Mary Anne

Joy from God

Oct8

The past few years I’ve had intermittent periods of wellness and illness. My body requires me to take medicine to do what other people’s bodies do automatically. At times it’s like being on a vicious teeter totter up, down and then up, down again over and over. When I’m walking down the road of life, if I step off to the side, it’s like stepping into an immense gully.
Satan has tried very hard to pull me down with all this stuff, but with the help of Jesus, I find myself back on the road again and being able to tolerate the teeter totter. I am so thankful for the joy that God has brought into my life. I just love reading Psalms. Many of the verses in Psalms provide so much happiness and positivity. Below are a few of my favorite…
Psalm 30:11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy
Psalm 33:1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him

Psalm 20:5 We will shout for joy when you are victorious and will lift up our banners in the name of our God. May the LORD grant all your requests.
Psalm 28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.
Psalm 5:11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

Psalm 19:8 The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.

Psalm 16:11 “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

Psalm 34:5 “Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.”
I hope these verses brighten your day, and I hope you all have a Wonderful Day!!
Love you all,
Mary Anne

Have Faith

Oct7

It was a pretty warm summer. My daughter and I, on occasion this summer, have taken trips to the Salamonie Marina. It’s been my daughter’s desire for awhile to learn to wake board. We would go out on the lake in the speedboat and my daughter would try her darnedest, but just couldn’t get up on the board.

One day my daughter went to the Marina for another try at wake boarding. Suddenly she could get up on the board and boom she was wake boarding. Sorry to say, I wasn’t there when she accomplished this feat, but I was able to see the pictures that evening.

While out on the water having fun like that we do not even concern ourselves over how much faith we place on certain issues. When a person jumps into the water they have to have faith that that they will be able to to come back up and be able to keep their head above the water line. Once a person straps their feet on the board and takes the rope they have to have faith that the boat will pull them up and allow them to glide across the water. When the person falls and must let go of the rope, and is left in the middle of the lake, they must have faith that the boat will return and they will once again be able to take hold of the rope and glide.

Our faith in Jesus should be similar the the faith mentioned above. When we jump in the lake of life, with it’s worries and frustrations, we should depend on Jesus to bring us up and allow us to keep our heads above the mire. When we put our hands into the hands of Jesus we can expect at times to glide across the issues of life, but if we fall we can depend on Jesus to be there to lift us up and help us to glide again.

Speaking of faith, I’m amazed by the story of the woman in Matthew 9:20-21with so much faith,Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.” Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said,“your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.  4

disapointMINTS

Oct6

Earlier this week I was reading the morning news, and I saw a story regarding the selling of some “disappoint MINTS.” A gentleman objected to these “disappoint MINTS,” with President Obama’s picture on them, being sold at the University of Tennessee book store. So, the University pulled the “disappoint MINTS.” Because this story was picked up nationally the company that actually makes these little tins of “disappoint MINTS” completely sold out of them that day. I’m pretty sure this was not the gentleman who objected to them being sold’s intent, but the story of these little MINTS caused a great deal of “exciteMINT.”

To me the mint story is laughable, but there is a lesson in it. What kind of message are we sending out to the world? Psalm 19:8 readsThe precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. When we’re standing in line at the grocery store can people see the, “light in our eyes?” We have such a GREAT and WONDERFUL story to share… John 3:16-17 For God SO loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that who so ever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. This is a story to be excited about!! And, there is enough salvation for everyone, it will not sell out!!

I hope you all have a wonderful day : )

Love ya all,

Mary Anne