Stir Up Your Dreams

I read through a scripture verse today and instantly thought of Jacyln. A blog friend and girl so precious that i have a happier heart whenever i visit her blog (Click here if you want to read it).

J, you’ve come so far and we’ve grown so much, don’t give up and don’t stop at anything. Stir up your dreams! I love you.

“Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you…”

– (2 Timothy 1:6)

Stir

 

10 Ways to L.O.V.E.

10 ways - Do you have it?

When you call, i will follow

❤

If the world from you withhold of its silver and its gold,
And you have to get along with meager fare,
Just remember, in His Word, how He feeds the little bird;
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Leave it there, leave it there,
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.
If you trust and never doubt, He will surely bring you out.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

If your body suffers pain and your health you can’t regain,
And your soul is almost sinking in despair,
Jesus knows the pain you feel, He can save and He can heal;
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

When your enemies assail and your heart begins to fail,
Don’t forget that God in Heaven answers prayer;
He will make a way for you and will lead you safely through.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

When your youthful days are gone and old age is stealing on,
And your body bends beneath the weight of care;
He will never leave you then, He’ll go with you to the end.
Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there.

Run as far and wide as you need to, you’ll never be far from God.

I am happy. I have nothing. I have no one. I have God. I don’t need more.

I’ve had a lot of struggles, but EVERY struggle was a plan God had to get me closer to him. I’m not an extremist but i do have faith. You’re welcome to your own creed, i won’t judge you nor snub you for it. We ALL need to believe in something. I have Jesus. He has me.

God Is Getting You Ready

‘…first sit down and estimate the cost…’ Luke 14:28 NIV

Love. All encompassing.

Before God gives you more, He observes you with what you already have.

Furthermore, when He speaks a word over your life it’s like a seed; it needs time to take root and sprout. If God has planned it for you, don’t be impatient;

 ‘…wait for it; because it will surely come…’ (Habakkuk 2:3 KJV)

 Patience develops in us the ability to stand up to the pressures that accompany blessing.

Your reason for everything

Look back; aren’t some of the things you’ve been through the very things that have equipped you to handle what you have now?

Had God given them to you sooner you couldn’t have handled them, and He loves you too much to let that happen.

 Think:

 if you’re having difficulty handling criticism from a few people, how would you cope if God made you pastor or company president? Are you ready to pay the price? And, more importantly, are you able to pay it?

 The more God gives you, the more He holds you responsible for.

 Jesus said, ‘No man builds without counting the cost.’

❤ haha ❤

 Whatever you’re going through today, there’s great peace in knowing that nothing the enemy does can pre-empt God’s plan.

So, ‘Don’t be impatient for the Lord to act!

Keep travelling steadily along His pathway and in due season He will honour you with every blessing.’ (Psalm 37:34 TLB)

Rejoice; God is getting you ready.

Patience

 

Day 30 – Are 30 days really enough?

So, we’re here. But are 30 days really enough? I doubt it. We need to remember to be thankful everyday. I came into this challenge not expecting anything and today, 30 days later, being thankful is a habit. Even when i am upset and angry or Nemo pees in the house or nothing is working out my way.

It’s like God has a plan for me but has given me the freedom to choose my path and while i make mistakes and have set backs, i know ultimately He is there for me.

I urge each of you to continue with the 30 day challenge and be grateful for everything, i know how grateful i am to have had you guys with me on this journey!

As we enter the Holy Week, i want to take this opportunity to wish ALL of you a Happy Easter in advance! xoxo

Day 30

Galatians 5:16-24

 ¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever^[a] you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹ The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹ and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Day 29 – How contagious are you?

It’s Day 29 already! How far have we come? I have experienced so many changes and I hope you have too. This has been a beautiful journey.

Most people get on diets and weightloss regiments and what not… but i’m going on a Gratitude diet.. as often as I can. Life seems so much better. I still have my weak moments but they NEVER last as long as they used to. Being grateful has never been easier!

Tomorrow is the last day of the challenge. Take the time to evaluate yourselves today!

Deuteronomy 6:1-12

 ¹ These are the commands, decrees and laws the LORD your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ² so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the LORD your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. ³ Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. ⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.^[a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶ These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. ⁷ Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. ⁹ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

¹⁰ When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, ¹¹ houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, ¹² be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

Day 28 – Saying Thank you is easy?

Day 28

Philippians 1:3-11

³ I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴ In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶ being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. ⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. ⁸ God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Day 27 – Are we there yet?

We’re almost at the end of this challenge, when we began, I thought ‘a gratitude challenge?’ Heh. This was going to be easy. Lord, you have the funniest little way of trying to challenge us… and then it began, being grateful or thankful for EVERYTHING isnt easy at all! I struggled so many time with myself and those around me, to be thankful for their insecurities and their lack of intelligence. I grumbled under my breath initially but as the challenge progressed, i realized I was actually being challenged and i needed to start changing my ways. By Day 15, I was so much better, and life, funnily enough so much calmer.

Today, on Day 27 as i sit here and type this, being thankful is not only so much more easier, but it comes naturally and moreover, it makes me meditate on my words and actions more. Not to say that I dont get frustrated or upset anymore, i do. But now i’m calmer, peaceful, thankful.

Day 27

1 Timothy 4:11-16

 ¹¹ Command and teach these things. ¹² Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. ¹³ Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. ¹⁴ Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

¹⁵ Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. ¹⁶ Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

xoxo

M.

Day 26 – Thank you. For EVERYTHING.

Ezra 3:8-13

 ⁸ In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak and the rest of the people (the priests and the Levites and all who had returned from the captivity to Jerusalem) began the work. They appointed Levites twenty years old and older to supervise the building of the house of the LORD. ⁹ Joshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah) and the sons of Henadad and their sons and brothers—all Levites—joined together in supervising those working on the house of God.

 ¹⁰ When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by David king of Israel. ¹¹ With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD:

   “He is good; 
   his love toward Israel endures forever.”

And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. ¹² But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. ¹³ No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.

Day 26

I’m thankful for Valeska & Dennis. They kept me going through this challenge. Ensured, I posted everyday. I’m thankful for my mother who constantly encouraged me to share this. Making me feel fuller, special. I’m thankful for being able to be grateful for anything/everything that has happened to me recently and in the past too. I’m thankful that He has made me excited for the future and for growing in His love. I’m thankful He showed me how to trust Him more and know that He will always be there.

He is.

Happy Sunday,

M.

Day 25 – Give Him time.

Deuteronomy 8:1-10

 ¹ Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors. ² Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. ⁴ Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you. ⁶ Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. ⁷ For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; ⁸ a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

 ¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

I love the line in the verse above that says: ‘He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna,’ – It’s so true isnt it? When we are in trouble and when we turn to the Lord, in our fervor, He humbles us and shows a way out of our troubles. Such a comforting thought.

How many friends do you have that will stick with you through thick, thick, oblong, square, etc? He does. How many people will understand you at your worst and when you’re cynical and grumpy? He does. How many people will tell you that things will be alright and be absolutely sure that they will be? He can.

Day 25

He protects us all the time. Everytime we’re in distress.

He protects me from knowing that my heart can’t handle love again. He protects me from depression and its effects. He protects me from hurting because someone won’t love me enough. He protects me from settling for less than i deserve. He protects my family from the violence surrounding them. He protects my family from famine, poverty and pain.

He protected my mother when she had a few serious surgeries. He protects my dad everyday with his addiction, He will slowly show him the right way. I believe it. He protects my sister from the evils of the world but making her smarter to know the difference, giving her free-will to make mistakes.

He protects you too. Thank Him, don’t let your heart miss a chance to be grateful.

xoxoM.