We are connected

Eph.  1:5a  (NLT):  " His  unchanging  plan  has  always  been  to  adopt   us  into  his  own  family  by  bringing  us  to  himself  through  Jesus  Christ."

Sisters,  we  were  created  to  be  in  God's  eternal  family.  Just  as  you  were  born  into  a  natural  family,   God  wants  us  to  be  in  a  church  family.  No  matter  how  you  were  brought  up,  or  who  has  hurt  you sweet  ones,  know  that  in  order  for  you  to  grow  in  God  and  live  a  fulfilled  life  on  this  earth  before  entering  into  the  next  you  need  people  to  rely  on.  God  is  a  relational  God,  and  he  created  us  to  be  in  a  family,  which  means  we  need  to  show  love  to  others  and  find  our  circle  of  friends.   We  should never  exclude  others,  but  just  as  Jesus  had  12  disciples  that  he  was  always  around,  and  two  or  three  that  he  confided  in  most,  we  need  to  do  the  same.

Love  your  brother  (or  sister)
The  bible  says,  "And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength. The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. No other commandment is greater than these."  Mark  12: 30-31 NLT  Why  did  God  say  this?  Was  it  because  if  you  don't  love  them  you  can't  get  into  heaven?  No,  but  think  of  it  like  this;  Just  as  a  parent  wants  siblings  to  get  along  and  it  pleases  them  when  they  do,  so  the  Lord  loves  to  see  his  children  getting along  and  fellowshiping  with  one  another.  Another  analogy  is  this;  Have  you  ever  tried  to  loose  weight   or  maybe  just  wanted  to  get  into  shape  and  tone  up  some  areas?  Have  you  tried  going  to  the  gym  by  yourself  and  found  it  difficult  to  get  motivated  into  going?  You  needed  to  find  someone,  or  maybe  get  a  trainer  to  keep  you  accountable  into  staying  in  shape  or  working  out  right?  Well,  the  same  is  true  with  God.  If  you  don't  have  people  you  are  in  communication  with,  and  that  you  are  being  held  accountable  you  will  not  grow  and  your  spiritual  muscles  will  grow  weak.  Guess  what  happens  when  you  don't  workout  your  muscles  or  keep  a  routine?  If  I  was  to  walk  up  an  punch  you  in  the  stomach,  that  would  hurt  right?  Well,  imagine  you  have  been  working  out  and  I  go  to  punch  you  in  the  stomach,  what  do   you  think  is  going  to  happen?  It  would  hurt  a  little  bit,  but  I  would  hurt  my  fist  worse  right?  Why?  Because  you  have  been  working  out,  and  when  you  have  people  around   you  encouraging  you  to   grow,  and  you  are  learning  from  one  another  that  is  when  you  can  defeat  the  enemy.

A  three-stand  cord
In  Ecclesiastes  4:12  it  says, " A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken."    When  you  have  a  small  group  of  friends  that  each  of  you  are  relying  on  one  another  to  look  to  Jesus  it  is  hard  for  Satan  to  defeat  you.  Imagine  you  are  in  a  race,  and  your  goal  is  to  win,  you are  looking - even  mentally  speaking -  at  the  finish  line  ahead  of  you.  As  you  make  it  half-way  around  you  see  your  family  and  close  friends  on  the  side  cheering  you  on,  and  in  that  moment  right  before  seeing  them  you  were  starting  to  really  feel  pain  and  thought  about  giving  up.  But  when  you  saw  them  cheering  you  on  a  spark  lit  inside  you,  and  you  realized   that  you  could  do  it.  You  could  really  win!  That  is  why  God  says  to  get  in  communion  with  a  church  and  a  small  group  of  people,  so  that  in  those  times  when  it  gets  hard  and  you  feel  you  can  not  go  any  further  you  can  hear  those  family  members  of  God  cheering  you  on  saying,  "A  little  bit  farther,  you  can  do  it,  you  got  this!"

My  beautiful  sisters,  no   matter  what  you  are  going  through  today,  know  that  you  have  fellow  sisters  that  are  cheering  you  on.  Don't  give  up!  Even  though  the  doctors  said  you  have  that  disease,  even  if  it  looks  like  you   are  not  able  to  pay  that  bill,  even  though  you  made  the  mistake  of  giving  away  your  virginity,  or  maybe  you  are  feeling  excluded  because  you  have  chosen  to  protect  it.  Don't  give  up!  Keep  moving   forward,  keep  up  the  faith!  You  are  doing  good,  and  you  have  people  that  love  you  and  are  with  you  every  step  of  the  way.

Till  we  meet  again,
Be  blessed  my  beautiful  ones....
Angie

All hail king Elvis???

Ladies, please forgive me as I need to vent about something.  I am slightly upset at the way our nation has taken a turn for the worst.  See, I noticed the other day as I was perusing the newspaper an article that said, "ALL HAIL KING ELVIS" I about fell out of my seat. What has this world come to? I mean, let's be honest, their is only one person you should be saying all hail to, and that is King Jesus...Amen?  It talks about how his birthday was this past Monday, and they had a huge celebration on his behalf.  They even brought in Jose Feliciano to sing Feliz Navidad and Happy Birthday in both Spanish and English. This causes me to ask the question, Am I putting things and people in place of God?


Who are you celebrating?
Many people are quick to talk about and celebrate President's birthday's, little cupid on Valentines, the Easter Bunny, and Old Saint Nick around Christmas, but how much do we celebrate Jesus and what he has done for us? Now I am not saying that we are not supposed to have fun, or become weird with our Christianity. What I am saying is that as much effort we put into celebrating certain Icons of this world on their holidays, and even in sports and entertainment, we should be giving that and more to the creator of this world. We put such value on our jobs, people, and who we want to be when we get older, that we forget our purpose in life. It isn't to look like a certain model, or get that dream job, It is to fulfill the plans God has placed inside of me and you! And the only way to achieve that is to first accept that Jesus died for you over two thousand years ago and realize that you were made to fellowship with him. Just yesterday our pastor's brother came to town to speak to all of us about what God has planned for 2012, and one of the things he said was that the universe literally is made for the Heavens. Now the heavens were made for the earth, and the earth was made for humans to live. He follows up with so why were we made? We were made because God wanted a family and so he made us to have fellowship with us. 


What does this mean for me? 
So why am I saying all this? Well, mostly I just wanted to vent about how much praise we place as a society on things and people instead of giving our attention to the one who made us. But I also wanted to say that I believe we are all created for a reason, this seems to be the anthem of 2012, and God has a purpose for you and for me. In knowing that, don't you want to know WHAT that purpose is? I know I do. So instead of celebrating and "worshiping" cause that is what you do when you say things like "all hail the king" to someone, why not look up? Because Jesus said in the bible, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one can come to the father except through me" (John 14:6) The Contemporary English Version says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life!” Jesus answered. “Without me, no one can go to the Father."
What he is saying here is that the only way to live this life and go into eternity with a true joy surpasses every hard time you go through in this life, then you must accept that Jesus died for you and walk in His grace for you every day until you leave this earth and go to be with him for eternity.   So we should take every effort to be careful how we view people, and how we view the Lord. When we start talking more about a person here on earth than we do our heavenly father, then we need to step back and ask ourselves is this healthy? Should I be putting more value on this person than Jesus, and the answer should always be No.


Ok, I think I am done venting. I hope you found some sort of encouragement and learned something in this. Hope you have a wonderful day.


Angie

Happy 2012

Hello  Ladies!  I  hope  you  had  a  great   New  Years!  I  wanted  to  let  you  know  that  I  am  thinking  of  starting  a  small  group  this  year  on  the  book  "Lady  in  waiting"  I  would  love  to  know  of  those  that  want  to  participate  and  what  date/time  works  best  for  you.  Please  click  on  the  contact  section  and  send  me  an   email.  Have  a  wonderful  week!

Angie