Don't Eat the Guacamole!

Avocado’s and I have a love/hate relationship. I love them, but they hate me. Anytime I eat anything that has avocados in it I get sick! My friend Patrick makes the absolute best guacamole you've ever tasted! It's creamy, spicy and oh...so good. This past Saturday night we had a going away party for my friends Ty & Kelly and Kelly made the request for Patrick to make his famous guacamole. He did and it was one of best batches he has ever made! I couldn't resist, I took a little bite and man it was so good! So I thought to myself....a little bit more won't hurt me, after all it's been a couple years since the last time I ate any, maybe it won't make me sick anymore. So I took a few more bites, telling everyone that it was so good it would be worth a little stomach ache. Boy was I wrong! Within an hour I was in pain with stomach cramps and just a few minutes later I was in the bathroom throwing up everything I had eaten. For the rest of the night...while everyone else was playing games and having fun, I was on the couch nursing an avocado hangover!! I ended up going home before the party was over.

This got me to thinking....don't we sometimes treat sin the same way? Maybe a little one won't hurt us; after all for the most part we are a good person. So, we tell a little lie and we get away with it. We tell another one because we didn't see any repercussions from the first one and before long we are caught up in a web of deceit. What about good Christian people that get caught up in having an affair? We start off just in innocent flirtation, then it's on to a lunch for two...knowing it's wrong but saying it feels so good to be with this person...he/she really understands me! Before long things get out of control and it's now a long way off from innocent flirtation. Or how about holding back giving our tithes because we are having a financial crunch (yes, I believe this is a sin.) Just this one time we tell ourselves. But this time turns into next time and next time turns into just never giving them…ever. If I'm honest all these "sins" feel good at one point, just like with me eating the guacamole tasted good at the time. We brush away the feelings because we want the good feelings to last. But......it always catches up with us! Lies hurt people and breaks trusts. Affairs destroy families and lives. And before long we hit a rough patch financially or lose a job and wonder where God is. We end up with consequences far above what we could have imagined and while the party of life is going on around us we are on the couch......better yet on our knees begging God for forgiveness while trying to pick up the pieces of our lives.

At one point while lying on the couch feeling miserable, Kelly turned to me and asked me....Was it worth it? My answer....NO! I had learned my lesson...I can not eat guacamole! It doesn't matter that I only ate about a tablespoon; it was enough to bring me down. The memory is fresh and I will run from it if I ever see it again, won't even stand in the same room as it!

I want to see sin the same way...it's not worth it. The repercussions, the consequences, the distance from God...all of it not worth it! No matter how small the sin is...it leads to bigger ones. No matter how good it feels...it leads to pain and heartache. I want to always keep alive the memories of pain caused by sin and run from it!

Justification

jus·ti·fi·ca·tion
1.
a. The act of justifying.
b. The condition or fact of being justified.
2. Something, such as a fact or circumstance, that justifies

You know it always mystifies me how some people can justify their behavior. Justification to me is just another word for excuse when it is done out of anger or hurt. They have been wronged so it's okay to wrong someone else. It's okay to hurt someone’s feelings, because their feelings have been hurt. Oh...and what about saying angry words or writing angry emails because they THINK or PERCEIVE that someone has done them wrong. I'm just going to tell them how I feel! They hurt me and I need to let them know....this is just a couple of the lines they use to justify their behavior. The Bible clearly states "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear". Ephesians 4:29 Or how about telling a lie because it's just a little one and it's for the better that way (in their mind) But my favorite the one that gets me every time is some do these things knowing they are wrong, because they know God will forgive them! What kind of justification is that?!

I do not justify hurting someone else because I have been hurt. I do not justify lying to someone because I am angry and I want to lash out. Please believe me I am not perfect! Do I hurt people sometimes...yes. Do I stretch the truth to make myself look better or feel better...yes, probably...although I HATE lying. Maybe, people justify lying because they think it is the best way to handle a situation. Let me tell you there is NO justification for lying!

Please believe me I am not writing this to judge anyone. I woke up at 3:00am this morning with these thoughts in my mind and I felt like I needed to write it down. I think we all try and justify our thoughts, our bad behaviors and our attitudes from time to time. But we must look past the emotions, look past the feelings and look at the cold hard facts......Am I justified by God's standards?

Just Call me Barnabas

"Now Joseph, a Levite of Cyprian birth, who was also called Barnabas by the apostles (which translated means Son of Encouragement)," Acts 4:36

I am doing a study on relationships and last week was on encouraging one another and I have been meaning to write about it. Everybody needs a little encouragement from time to time. Every relationship in our lives needs encouragement in order for it to grow. "Encouragement is like water that when poured on the lives of people enable them to blossom, flourish and put forth their best effort rather than giving up when the circumstances of life threaten to press them down." We as God's children are instructed to encourage and build up one another. 1Thess. 5:11 states..."Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing."

While doing this study I learned about a man named Barnabas and...WOW...what a man of encouragement, his name even means Son of Encouragement! "Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord." Acts 11:23-24

This is the person I want to model myself after. I want to be someone who encourages others....builds others up. I want to be someone who brightens the lives of others, with words of love and encouragement. It would take me hours to name all the people in my life that have encouraged me in some way. So many of those people are in my life now and I just have to pick up the phone and I know words of wisdom and encouragement will be spoken. I want to be known as the same, that someone can pick up the phone and call me and I will speak those same words of encouragement to them. I don't want to become so busy that I lose track of what's really important...that I miss out on opportunities to serve others, encourage others, to help carry someone’s burdens.

In the book.. 25 Ways To Win With People by John C. Maxwell it gives us a valuable lesson.....within the first thirty seconds of a conversation, say something encouraging to a person. I think that's a good lesson to learn and I plan to put it into practice!

Lord thank you for drawing my attention to how important it is to you that I lend words of encouragement and love to build others up around me. Help me to always have a heart to encourage others that they and I may be strengthen in you. Help me to be more like Barnabas and to encourage others to remain true to you. Thank you God for those you have put into my life that have held me up, that have offered me words of encouragement and have strengthen my walk with you. May your blessings be poured on their lives. Send me someone today Lord that I can lend an encouraging word to.

InTune

I just finished some quiet time with God. I sat down to read my Bible and then pray, but for some reason I just felt the need to pray. I started praying random things. I would pray about something or someone and then just get lost in my thoughts. While praying at one point I told God that I felt so in-tune with him. Whoa...did that give me pause! So I sat there and I pondered that statement. Over the last few months life has brought me difficulties and changes and I have felt miles away from God. Way too much static that it was drowning out his voice.

But, today I realized even though some of the difficulties are still there and I am still facing those hated changes, God is still with me and there has been a turn around...his voice has drowned out the static. Peace has replaced fear, uncertainty and confusion.

So.....for today me and God are listening to the same station. I have laid down all my burdens, given them to him and he has picked them up to carry for me. Me and God...well, we have an understanding...I do what he tells me to do...and he promises me he'll take care of me.

It's a wonderful feeling to be this close to him, to be able to sing to the same music, to be able to rock to the melody of his love.

God.....sweet, sweet music.

Yesterday

Yesterday was one of those days that was filled with memories that will last me for a lifetime. It was one of those days you could label a "little heaven on earth". The memories will sustain me...and make me cry at the same time through a rough time just under three weeks away.

In less than three weeks, two of my best friends will move from being just 5 miles away to 400+ miles away. I've known this was coming for a long time. I haven't cried over it in awhile...I've tried to be strong. There was work to be done. A home needed to be sold...time needed to be spent together and memories needed to be made. Well...the home was sold last week, so now we are on too making as many wonderful memories together as possible. Yesterday was one of those time spent together, memory making days. It was random and not really planned, starting in the early afternoon and that was what made it all the more special. So here are my lifetime lasting memories to share with you from yesterday. It will be random...just like yesterday.

Cookies in the oven....Cajun food on the stove and way too much eaten!

A three year old little boy asleep on my bed and a 26 year old "little boy"...missing a front tooth...asleep on the living room floor.

A five year old coloring and drawing at the kitchen table...an eleven year old enjoying spring break playing on the computer.

Three girlfriends in various state of dress ranging from pj's to sweatpants coloring with the five year old or snuggled under blankets on the sofa watching a movie, one of them almost hacking up a lung!

Pride and high fives going around because the three year old went "shuwee" in the potty!

Cups of coffee.

Two hours of American Idol. (Go Taylor!)

Feelings of love, comfort, togetherness, friendship, sadness of the impending doom and a level of contentment I haven't felt in a long time.

Mental brain pictures taken to pull out in just under three weeks when a level of sadness will enclose my heart.

Time together with my friends...no...My family. God's family. The family that God has so blessed me with.

Thank you, Kelly, Ty, Carrie, Jordan, Titus and Nick for giving me a day of blessings, a day of lasting memories.........a yesterday.

I have to go cry now!

Psalm 139

O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all.
5 You have enclosed me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
And the light around me will be night,"
12 Even the darkness is not dark to You,
And the night is as bright as the day
Darkness and light are alike to You.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You wove me in my mother's womb.
14 I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.
17 How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand
When I awake, I am still with You.
19 O that You would slay the wicked, O God;
Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed.
20 For they speak against You wickedly,
And Your enemies take Your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against You?
22 I hate them with the utmost hatred;
They have become my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
24 And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.

Yesterday morning while doing my quiet time the devotion I was doing said for me to read a chapter in Psalm. After reading it, for some reason I turned a couple of pages and begin to read Psalm 139. And For some reason I started reading it out loud and from the very first verse the tears started flowing and didn't stop for awhile. There was a point that I was so choked up I could barely get the words out. I don't know why...it just struck me somewhere deep inside and it touched me beyond what I can explain!

"You have enclosed me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me (verse 5) isn't that amazing to know that God has me covered...from the back...from the front...and his hands are on me"! What protection......! God has my back...!

"Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them" (verse 16) As I struggle over some issues in my life, it is comforting to know that my God has it all worked out already. He knows what the next few days will bring, he knows already that there is a rainbow at the end of the struggle and he already knows that I will get there! He has faith in me.

"How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!..If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand, When I awake, I am still with you". (verse 17-18) Well...all I can say is...Wow; God must really love me to think of me that much.

Note: Sorry to everyone that I haven't written much...I've just been kinda empty. I am doing okay it's just weird that I have had a hard time wanting to sit down and write. The passion hasn't been there. Thanks to all who check up on me via email, it's wonderful to know my writing has been missed. I promise to do better!

A Special Thank You

To my special friends Patrick & Raquel....thank you for caring for me.

Thank you Raquel for coming to my "rescue" Monday night by just coming an sit with me even though you were tired. And thank you Patrick for coming to my house after only getting 3 hoursof sleep the night before and flying in form California, just to give me hug.

I am so blessed to have you both in life.

BLESSINGS.....!

Is it Christmas Yet?

It's been explained to me that on the other side of valley there is always a mountain top, also that going through trials and trouble there is always a blessing at the end. People have told me this, and God's word confirms it; "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose" Romans 8:27..... "I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessings." Ezekiel34:26 Well...right now I am in that valley and I am experiencing those trials and troubles and I am desperately looking for the mountain top and the promised blessings.

I kind of equate it to waiting for Christmas. All of us experience that anticipation of getting to open our presents on Christmas morning. For weeks before we wonder what is wrapped in the boxes. We pick them up and shake them just a little and we speculate on what's inside. It makes us crazy...we want to know what we are getting...the anticipation almost kills us! Over the last few days while feeling like that everything is falling apart, I have desperately kept my eyes on Jesus. Oh...I have had my bad day or two, but for whatever reason I keep moving forward. I'm learning to take it one day at a time. I am learning to look at the troubles as blessings waiting to be opened on God's appointed "Christmas" day. God has a purpose for what I am experiencing and I have to ask him what that is and have an open heart to receive it. Psalm 119:71 says "It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes." When a storm rages in our lives, God already knows how he will turn that storm into good.

So...I am waiting for "Christmas", waiting to open my blessing. I wonder, I dream, I speculate on what it could be. Could it be a financial burden lifted...could it be the husband I've been praying for...could it be my son accepting Christ into his life...could it be that I will find my true purpose? I know one thing I'm getting, a closer relationship with my Savior along with a dose of stronger faith.