Giving Thanks

The reason today's topic is about giving thanks is simply because all of us as Christians should be taking time to acknowledge the amazing work God has done in our lives. We as a society get so caught up on focusing on what we don't have, instead of what we do have. Now, I know from personal experience when things seem to be going terribly wrong in our lives it can be a struggle to find anything to be "thankful" for. Remember, Jesus died for you and I. He took all the sin of this world, the hurt and disfunction with him on the cross. It has been dealt with. I know it doesn't "feel" like it in the midst of the storm but we cannot rely on our feelings. They are indecisive and will run havoc in our lives if we let them. We need to stand firm in knowing that we are "God's chosen children". God loves you.... I mean it, GOD LOVES YOU! Never allow Satan to put it in your head to question God's love. You see that's Satan's plan. To plant the seed of doubt. REBUKE HIM! Put your focus on Jesus and leave it there. 

Today, I have a lot to be thankful for:

• I'm thankful for God's love and dedication to my life.
• I'm thankful that I'm saved through the blood of Jesus Christ. 
• I'm thankful for God's gracious forgiveness for all my mistakes past, present and future. 
• I'm thankful for God blessing me with an amazing husband who is such an amazing leader through Christ. 
• I'm thankful for my husband's honesty and willingness to restore what was once broken. 
• I'm thankful that I grew up with both of my parents and never had to guess what it'd be like to not have a father figure. 
• I'm thankful for the life lessons they taught me along the way. 
• I'm thankful for my older brothers who always did their best at protecting me. 
• I'm thankful for the love that a family provides. 
• I'm thankful for the Church family that are ever so welcoming.
• I'm thankful for the many friends that have had an impact in my life in one way or another. Some for a short time and others for the long road. 
• I'm thankful for the house God provided us that keeps us warm at night. 
• I'm thankful for the clothes on my back and the food in my stomach. 
• I'm thankful for the job he has provided my husband with to help pay for life's necessities. 
• I'm thankful for our dog as she brings so much joy to our lives. (Even the small things count.) 
• I'm thankful for the trials and tribulations that built up an exceeding amount of faith within me for my Heavenly Father. 
• I'm also thankful that the trials and tribulations have shown me what I don't want in life as well. 
• I'm thankful for the stronger, wiser and more christlike woman I'm becoming.
• I'm thankful for God's future promises for my life. 
• I'm thankful for restoration and healing of self in Jesus.
• I'm thankful to know that my identity belongs in Christ and not of anything or anyone of this world. 
• I'm thankful for the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control that I've inherited by accepting Jesus into my life. 
• I'm thankful that none of my problems are too big or too small for God and if I just TRUST in him, he will turn all things around for good. 

Philippians 4:6: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Psalm 7:17: "I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High."

James 1:17: Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

You see, even in the midst of a storm you can be thankful. I'm heading out of that deep dark valley that life sometimes likes to put you in. Had I of tried to do this list some months back I may of struggled. I know I could probably get around 3 things to be grateful for but now the list goes on. God is GREAT!

Word of advice, NEVER question God's love, NEVER give into Satan's sneaky ways and always TRUST in God. YOU ARE LOVED!!

God Bless You!

A Thankful Child of God!

Taking Communion

Before I explain the reason we as Christians take communion I will give you a bit of background information about "The Lord's Supper". Many of you may know that Jesus held the feast on the Eve of his death where he was surrounded by his many disciples. Well, during the last supper (a celebration of passover), as the disciples were eating Jesus took a loaf of bread and gave thanks to our Heavenly Father. 


Matthew 26:26-28: 26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

Luke 22:14-20: 14 When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table. 15 And he said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you, I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of God.” 17 After taking the cup, he gave thanks and said, “Take this and divide it among you. 18 For I tell you I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” 19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you."

As you may know during "The Last Supper" Jesus pointed out that one of his disciples was going to betray him. That disciple was Judas. Also, after the supper Peter was told that he would deny Jesus 3 times even to Peter's surprise as he truly loved Jesus. Skip ahead, so Jesus was marched to his death/crucifixion that was one of the most horrifying things any human/son of God/God in human form, could have endured. As you know he was beaten and battered and forced to take up his own HEAVY cross and carry it for such a long distance all whilst still being whipped and beaten. Once the nails were put through Jesus's hands, feet and Jesus passed and rose (resurrected) again 3 days later. Jesus was on earth for another 40 days before ascending into heaven.

Now, I've given you the short version of the above details just to provide you with a bit of background knowledge. Bringing it back to the reason we as Christians take communion, it's a way of truly acknowledging the sacrifice Jesus endured for all our SINS so that we can be free from condemnation if we firstly accept him into our lives as our Lord and Saviour. Taking communion is a symbol of giving thanks to God for loving us enough to send his one and only son to die on the cross for us so that we can have an eternal life in abundance. To those of you who have accepted Jesus into your lives, your sins have been washed away and you are as white as snow. You are SAINTS! Yes, we do sin but we aren't sinners through Jesus Christ. 

The main reason for communion is to firstly, acknowledge Jesus for providing us with a way out of our sinful nature and a way to our Heavenly Father and secondly, we can also take communion as a way of gaining healings. You see, when you are unwell physically, emotionally or mentally as a Christian, instead of ALWAYS running to the doctor for help we should be running to our Lord and Saviour and taking communion is another way of doing so. Communion isn't and shouldn't be limited to once a week or once a month through your local church, you can take communion at home! 

My husband and I are currently taking communion at home to give thanks to Jesus but also for healings as well. "Joseph Prince" has an amazing sermon on this particular topic, you should check it out. Miracles do happen through the power of the Almighty, we just have to come to him with an open heart and genuine motives.

For a more detailed understanding from start to finish of "The last supper" please visit: http://bible.org/seriespage/last-supper-luke-227-23


God Bless you all,



Communion Partakers!

God First

The importance of putting God first: In todays society with the busyness of life we sometimes can forget God's order for our lives. When we allow our spouse, children, job or others fill our God spot over time things start to breakdown. How do I know this? Well, I've been there. You see when I was new to my faith, without even knowing it I had my spouse in my God spot. Like myself, I've heard many others neglecting God by filling that space with their children or their jobs and I'm not saying that these things aren't important but when you have the right order in your house the rest will and does fall into place. 

By me having my spouse in my God spot, I was putting so much extra pressure on him to perform or be that of perfection. I wasn't truly aware of it at the time and Satan is very tricky at how he maneuvers because as we all know, he knows our weaknesses. He also knows what we are destined for so if he can keep you preoccupied, caught up in your own little bubble, you are truly making him happy. Now I can tell you from experience that because I was idolising my husband, my time with God was slipping. I wasn't praying daily, I wasn't reading my bible and I wasn't going to church. Do you see the domino effect that happens when we put anything and/or anyone in our God spot? Not only do things start to fall apart but the major construction that goes back into repairing what we broke is a painful transition. I can tell you, had I known of the pain that I was going to experience by not putting God first was going to be so deep and destructive, I would have made a conscious effort to begin with. 

Now what I'm about to say, I say with all sincerity. God is a jealous God. He is not happy when we are filling his place with other things. This is not to be taken lightly. When doing so we are actually in sin. The bible says:

Exodus 34:14: for you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Exodus 34:17: “Do not make any idols."

When it's written "no other god" this also means idolatry etc.

Matthew 6:33: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

You see when we have our life set out in God's order, he will recognise our efforts and bless us for it. Although that shouldn't be the focal point of why we stick to God's design for our lives but boy will it keep us out of some strife. Let's not make life harder for ourselves than it already is. 

God Bless,

God's my #1 and I'm his #1 fan!

Love Is...

"1 Corinthians 13:4-8"

The truest form of "Love" is Agape love which is a Greek word that can be best described as selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love which is the kind of love Jesus Christ has for his Father and his followers.

Let's try to break down the above scripture to truly understand the depths of what is being said:

Love is patient... Well, without patience how can we be loving to one another. Being short tempered shows a lack of love and respect for your partner, friend or family member. It shows selfishness and selfishness is not love.

Love is kind... Kind is another word for considerate. At times it's human nature to be less than considerate of one another's thoughts, feelings, needs and desires because we have very selfish tendencies. 

It does not envy... Envy is another word for jealousy. Now you can pretend that you aren't a jealous person but we all know its human nature to want what others have, which is called coveting. Coveting by googles dictionary interpretation says "Yearn to possess or to have (something)". Does that sound like you? Have you ever seen a nice car drive by and think to yourself "Oh, I want that car!" Well, that's coveting which is also a form of envy. You see where I'm going with this? We all have been envious at times and its a sin. 

It does not boast... Have you ever won a game or been given a promotion at work? Have you ever had that sense of pride over something? Maybe you lost some weight and now you are holding your head higher than you once were. Maybe your child was given an award at school for being the so called "best listener or best student in the class". Did you happen to show people those awards but not just because you were proud of their efforts but because deep down there was a part of you that felt that you needed to keep up a certain image to others... Have you walked around telling your friends of your new promotion at work and not just because it was a great achievement but because secretly you wanted to "out do" them. There's an extremely fine line between achieving something and being happy with the efforts put in and going around bragging about how good you are.. Truly test your own motives because Satan loves us to be boastful. You see the more we boast about "us" and "our" achievements the less we are acknowledging God for blessing us with our many talents. Without God we wouldn't of received those good things. That's why the saying "count your blessings" is so very literal. 

It is not proud... Pride and being Boastful are very similar. Pride is very sneaky because we want to acknowledge the good things that happen in our lives but its a matter of how we are acknowledging them. As a Christian the best way to take the focus off of "me" or "us" is to give all the glory to God. When our life seems to be going in order or good things are coming our way we seem to think that it was because something "we" did. Yes, we do have to put in the effort and the bible even tells us that but God does the rest. Thanking God for the many blessings takes away the prideful, boastful ways and allows us to be humble in our circumstances. 

It's funny, when our life seems to be going our way we are quick to accept it as our doing but yet when things aren't going well we are quick to blame God or for those non believers, quick to say where is your God now? Something to ponder over... 

It is not rude... Rude is another word for being impolite. Have you ever thought someones idea was rubbish and turned your nose up at the suggestion? Have you ever called people names or cut someone off in traffic? Have you ever cut someone off mid conversation because you thought what they had to say was quite boring or you felt you just had something better to say? Have you acted a certain way around people you are less fond of? The bible tells us to "love thy neighbour". That doesn't mean literally just your neighbour, it's the broader community. We are meant to love people in the Agape sense. We are meant to see others as our extended family. Yes, even those who have hurt us in some way.

It is not self-seeking... Self-seeking by google dictionary standards means "taking advantage of opportunities without regard for the consequences for others" Sounds like selfishness to me. Can be as small as pushing in a line at the grocery store to doing everything in your "power" to get that promotion even at the expense of others. 

It is not easily angered... This has been covered in love is patient. Being easily angered shows a disregard for others. 

It keeps no record of wrongs... You mean that people can make wrong choices time and time again but I'm just meant to keep no record? Wow!! Isn't this one so very hard? I know I find it extremely difficult. I can say personally that this is the one that I struggle with the most. God is working very diligently with me in this specific area. Forgiveness is the key. I think we need to remember that forgiveness is not a way of giving those who hurt us a free pass, it's giving ourselves a free pass from being tied down by it. We need to remember that when we forgive others, God then can forgive us for our wrongdoings. Also, God can serve his form of justice on our behalf however he sees fit when we choose to forgive. Some people have had the unspeakable happen to them and can't imagine ever forgiving the perpetrator but the thing to remember is that when we choose to be unforgiving we are allowing anger and bitterness to grow into something ugly inside us that will eventually make it's way out. Forgiveness doesn't mean putting yourself back in a dangerous position either. You are just setting yourself free from the burdens in our lives allowing God to step in and start the healing process. Keeping a record of wrongs is dangerous.

Matthew 18:21-22: Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

"Matthew 6:14: For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

Love does not delight in evil but always rejoices with the truth, it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails...

No matter what life puts you through, always remember its the trials and tribulations we go through that bring us closer to our Heavenly Father. Our level of faith increases through our struggles if we just keep our eyes set on God. He always has a plan to bring us out of our valley. It may not be today, tomorrow or even a year from now but if you hang in there he is sure to reward us for our efforts. Perseverance is the key.

God Bless,

One of God's many children.

Double the Trouble and Double the Fun!

Today I've spent the day thinking of love's losses and gains, the highs and lows of the past almost 6 years of marriage and I came to a sudden halt. What can I say, I hit a sore spot but a spot that my amazing Heavenly Father is working through with me. The word that comes to mind is, INFERTILITY! Yep, you read correctly it has been well known for 3 years now that we are currently infertile as the doctors would like to put it. I've spent years mourning, accepting, trying to just rely on God for a season, thinking over IVF and whether it aligns with our beliefs or not. I came to terms with our situation some time ago but something catastrophic, one of lifes HUGE tests has brought this out of the closet once again. You may know what I'm talking about. You know how when you think you've gone through a life struggle and eventually saw the sun shining once again on the other side and figured hey, you're okay now and then a monstrous storm comes along that wasn't even related but it scrapes it back up to the surface!?! I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. Well that has occurred for me. 

It's interesting, through the recent storm God has been speaking to me much more clearly and vividly filling my head with images that it's so profound. One of those images he provided through my storm was my husband rolling around on the grass at the park with what looked like TWIN BOYS jumping all over him and our dog running circles around them. Twins?? Could it be? Am I just wanting children so bad that I imagine this to be true? Or is it really God showing me something so profound and giving me something to hold onto? I like to believe that it was one of Gods many special promises for me. What I can tell you is that this vision was given to me 7 months ago along with a few others and that my husband and I are in a season of Healing and Restoration. 

You ever heard of the saying: "All in Gods timing?" Well, it's biblical. So I do believe that he has a greater purpose for my life, our infertility and our marital struggles. I know this because God is Good and he will turn all things bad around for the good. You don't believe me? Well, I'll prove it... Stay tuned to see this miracle unfold. 

Signing off,

Future Mother To Be!

God Bless