Philippians 4:4-7 NIV – Final Exhortations – Rejoice in the – Bible Gateway https://share.google/H6RfuWJ0XBgSwdi5a

Today, I am having a hard time processing everything that is happening to me.  All I know is that God deserves our praise and thankfulness.  Our hearts should be open to the grace He is giving all of us. He has been faithful in the past, so we should trust Him with the future.

My husband, Alan, was able to celebrate Thanksgiving with us; but, he continued to have drainage from his last spinal surgery and ended up at St Francis ER last night.  When the staff collaborated with the neurosurgeons at Harborview Hospital, they decided it would be wisest to have him brought to their hospital and treated. Subsequently, he has had the incision cleaned out and cultured.  From the culture results, they will be able to treat him better.  The Dr told me they were keeping in touch with infectious diseases and physical therapy departments.

In dealing with situations like these, Phillipians 4 shares an excellent point about our focus remaing on Christ. When He is the center, the turmoil and unrest in us will be replaced with the Spirit’s peace. This peace is beautiful and can only be explained by dwelling in Christ.

My prayer is that I will continue to dwell on God, and for everyone reading this.  May we have a week of supernatural victories! Take care my friends!

Psalm 17:15 NKJV – As for me, I will see Your face in – Bible Gateway https://share.google/bnHSDfDLAhByMcP7p

This week, I was moved to write on the subject of having faith in Christ alone.  The Spirit was sharing with me how I have missed out on everything He has for me, by hanging onto myself or other people for the inspiration.

I have spent too much time expecting to accomplish everything that needs to be done all in my strength.  There is never going to be the perfect time emotionally or physically to accomplish things here on Earth.  His Spirit is here to bring completeness to His children. He is there to show us the how and what in life. 

This weekend, the Lord was emphasizing to me how important relationship is with Him and others.  If we are waiting for the “perfect time” to approach God and others, we will lose out on the opportunities Christ has for us right now.  It is all in what we do right now; the power comes when we come to Him just as we are (Isaiah 40:31).

This week, and always, may we come to God with grateful hearts for who He is and what He has done and will do in our lives!  He is worthy of praise and is longing to have fellowship with us, knowing He has so much planned for His sheep ( Philippians 1:6, Hebrews 12:1). We can have the assurance that He will complete the work started in His children, until the time we awaken to be in the image of Christ.  Happy Thanksgiving!

John 1:14 NIV – The Word became flesh and made his – Bible Gateway https://share.google/XntVlkEsgE1C6Wrrw

When I set out to write this devotional,  I felt inspired to focus on the subject of feeling complete.  I have heard many individuals, these days, feeling like they will never measure up.  The Lord lovingly highlighted the fact that our completeness and satisfaction is only obtained through Him (Psalm 37:4).

Yes, friends, once again it goes back to a relationship with Jesus. We are to come to a place where we only want to please God, where we look at how He views us. We are not concerned about pleasing ourselves or others. He is the truth, and He gave of Himself to reveal how special we are. Jesus gave His life knowing that the world would put Him to death; if we were bought by Jesus before acknowledging the Father, we can be certain of our acceptance now that we take the truth as fact.

Our society has unfortunately put too much emphasis on the external.  People are not treasuring being genuine; they feel like they have to hide their imperfections.  Instead, Jesus is giving us a way out of that trap. He is making all things new (Revelation 21:5). This is such an encouragement!

We can now live our lives with the confidence that we are accepted, because of the Son. I pray that this week the Comforter will fill us with completeness and hope.  In Him we move, we breathe, and we have our being (Acts 17:28).

John 16:33 NIV – “I have told you these things, so – Bible Gateway https://share.google/kBonDYxGT6miLbj3P

Jesus does care about us, and has all power to provide for our every need.  He took the time to share what would happen in the end times, and how wonderfully taken care of the birds of the air and lilies of the valley were taken care of ( John 16:33, Matthew 6:25-34). He has everything under control, and it is not right for us to take on all the cares of the world by ourselves. Today has enough issues to get through; so, why add tomorrow’s stresses on top of them!? It just hinders and slows us down.

Matthew 11:28 shares with us that Jesus is there to give us rest; He is calling us to come to Him. It hurts God to see His children burdened and struggling. The Spirit was sharing with me how He wants us to be testifying of His power. How can we be witnesses if we are acting as lost and upset as those of the world?

The Lord knows that these last days are pretty scary and unpredictable.  What we are to be focusing on is the character of God.  He is so awesome and amazing!  I got to thinking about the fact of how He is so unmeasurable. I pray we come to the point where we are growing in Him, experiencing something new each day (Ephesiams 3:18).