The Whole Truth… January 8, 2011

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you says the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” This particular scripture verse has been so meaningful to me and to so many other people. During one of my personal studies I began to read a little further on…vs12. “In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 14 I will be found by you, says the LORD. I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”

I love God’s promises! My eyes were enlightened to a beautiful connection. Isaiah 44 & 45 speaks of a king named Cyrus. He is a non-Jew who God chose for His purposes (uncommon in the Old Testament). Isaiah 44:28 says, “When I say of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd’ he will certainly do as I say. He will command, ‘Rebuild Jerusalem’; he will say, ‘Restore the Temple.’”

God was using Cyrus to get his people out of the seventy years of captivity in Babylonian. Not only that, but He would have Cyrus command the temple be rebuilt. And just so Cyrus knew who he was dealing with….vs3 tells us that “I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness-secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.” God not only used Cyrus, but was gracious enough to open his blinded eyes to know the true God of Israel. He called Cyrus (vs4) and equipped him (vs5) just so His purpose could be fulfilled. God had plans for His people….He had a hope and a future for them.

This is the fun part to me. The story of Cyrus is in direct connection with our favorite verse of Jeremiah 29:11. Go back just one verse (10) “This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.” It was all working out through Gods moving the heart of this non-Jewish king Cyrus (2 Chron 36:22).

God’s got a plan! And He does want go give you a hope and a future (vs13) IF you look for Him wholeheartedly. Now there are people that want to distort that plan. Jer 29:8-9 says “This is what the Lord of heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says:”Do no let your prophets and fortune tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you. Do not listen to their dreams, because they are telling you lies in my name. I have not sent them, says the LORD.” There are people who want to distort God’s Word and plan for your life. Without realizing it, you may be the very one distorting it in your own life. Verse 20 goes on to say what God will do to those who are telling you lies in His name…vs22 “…their terrible fate will become proverbial.”

I write this to encourage you to know that God has thought so far in advance about your life and the plans He has for you. He can use anyone to work those plans out. Proverbs 21:1 “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.” Don’t listen to the outside voices that don’t align with His Word. And don’t manipulate his Word to work the way you want it to. He wants to take us out of captivity and restore our fortunes and bring us home again. Isaiah 45:19 says, “I publicly proclaim bold promises. I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner. I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found. I, the LORD, speak only what is true and declare only what is right.”

Put Your Blinkers On! May 20, 2010

Ever experience a time in your life when God takes you out of a situation, place or lifestyle?  He removes you from something or somewhere.  A place you should no longer reside.  Sometimes it’s an easy move and other times it takes awhile to get adjusted to the change.  Either way, it’s hard not to look back.  It’s almost like the people of Israel who were removed from Egypt and then whined about thinking that it would be better to return.  It’s easy for us to read that story and see how they were disillusioned, but we may have those same thoughts in our lives at times.

I was thinking about horses and how they wear blinders  during a race.   Sometimes they’re called blinkers.  They are used to restrict rear, and in some cases side, vision.  They keep the horses from distractions and being spooked.  I think we would do well to have some spiritual blinkers on at times.  Proverbs 4:25 tells us to “Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you.”  We don’t want to return to where God took us from.  We should look straight ahead to where he is leading us.

Can’t Wait For Summer! April 26, 2010

I can’t wait for summer!   Relaxing, going outside, swimming in a pool, and JUMPING FOR JOY!   Summer is exciting to all kids.   All the learning is going to a “click on pause” for a big break.   Now that is an awesome thing to think about.   The parents will be excited as well.   At least most parents will.

Parents get to see their children everyday.

Trips GALORE!

Trips are always fun.

Kids asking for friends over.   Now that’s when parents want to send their kids back to school!

So now it’s a countdown until those happy days of summer arrive!

-Alyssa

She who laughs, Lasts! March 1, 2010

It’s March 1st today and my home was filled with laughter as my daughter had a giggling attack.  This isn’t too unusual for her lately.  She catches onto something silly and the laughter can’t be contained.  I broke open a new dollar store Mary Engelbreit journal that was all too fitting for the day, since it is entitled She Who Laughs, LASTS!  I like to give my journals a theme verse.  Something I started in my last one.  My first thoughts went to Sarah, and from that came my thoughts for the day.

Genesis 18:12 says, “So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, ‘After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure.’”   Of course we know that this pleasure was giving birth to hers and Abraham’s son, Isaac.  It was something she couldn’t have imagined at her old age.  God’ response was in verse 14, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?”  I love that.  At the start of this year, during our New Year’s service, we were all given a verse for the year.  My verse was Mark 9:23, ” If you can? said Jesus.  Everything is possible for him who believes.”  How perfect!  It goes right along with Sarah.  I wonder how many things in my life I tend to laugh at and think them impossible, but with God…all things are possible!  I have one particular thought in mind.  We are now living in New Jersey and renting a home.   We would like to purchase our own home this year, but the thought of affording something almost makes me laugh.  I’m praying and waiting to see just how God is going to work that out.  I’ll let you know what happens!

Oh, I never told you what I chose for my journal’s theme verse.  Genesis 21:6 “And Sarah declared, God has brought me laughter.  All who hear about this will laugh with me.”

I was just thinking… February 7, 2010

“I was just thinking”…such a common phrase in our household.  Almost a loaded statement.  The historic snow storm of 2010 had just hit the east coast this weekend and I was searching for the verse about our sins being whiter than snow.  It led me to Psalm 51 where another verse struck me.  Verse 6 says Surely you desire truth in the inner parts.  The chapter deals with our sins being blotted away and this verse came alive to me as I pondered the difficultly in keeping our thoughts pure.  Let’s face it…we know how hard it is to tame the tongue but we actually have to tame our thoughts so our tongue won’t spew what’s really going on inside!  I guess it all starts with your heart.  As you continue to read you come across verse 10; Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. It’s about going a little deeper to the root of things.  If you allow Him to, God will show you these things.  Then you, like Paul, will be able  to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Cor 10:5).

Glory to God February 2, 2010

I’ve been reading the book of John and my last chapter was 14 when Jesus is talking to his disciples and leaving them all the last-minute tips for lasting in the world when he leaves them.  Verse 13 stood out to me as something to ponder….”You can ask anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father.”  I know that Jesus was always pointing to the Father to receive all the glory.  I thought I would step back and look at my life in this past year and think about answered prayer from the Lord that brought glory to the Father.  I came up with quite a list.  Some parts having to do with my marriage and others dealing with the details of selling our house and moving out-of-state.  There were many things along the way that brought glory to the Father.

Truly….to God be the glory!

Some like the old and some like the new… January 17, 2010

     I was telling my mom some things about my school and she suggested that I write about what I like and dislike about my VA school versus my NJ school.  So here are my thoughts about them both.  My old school I will never forget. I went to my old school in Virginia the first year it opened. At my old school I have memories that I will not forget like my friends. There was Tessa, Jorie, Victoria A., Maria, Ozner,and Makalya (who also lived on my street). Second is that I LOVED my teachers. I guess that is pretty important since you see them everyday!  Third has to do with the SOL tests.  We took them every year and if you finished on time you could eat lunch in the class and then get extra recess.  The only annoying thing about SOL’s was that if you didn’t finish on time you would have to eat lunch in the room.  When you finished eating you would have to get back to work and not go outside until after the test. Fifth (and probably my favorite thing) is that I did CHEERLEADING!  I started in fourth grade and really had fun with my girlfriends.  I wished I could have joined again in fifth grade, but we moved.  Oh, here’s a little information about my VA school that makes a big difference from my NJ school.  If grades get too full they start adding trailers in the back field.  We had seven of them just before I moved.  All of fourth grade were in the trailers but that was last year so I missed being in one.

   Now let me tell you five things about my new school in New Jersey.  First I’d like to tell you something very different.  I got transformed to a different school than the one the kids in my neighborhood attend because all the classes of fifth grade were full.  See, that is a big difference!  No trailers here!  I don’t go to school with any neighborhood kids but the good thing is that my bus picks me up in front of my house!  Now the first thing out of the five is that we switch room for subjects like Health and Social Studies.  I like switching classes because it feels like middle school.  Second is that I have made a lot of friends like Dulce, Heather, Gabby, Ciarra, Amanda, Jessica,Dana,Diana,and Alyssa S.  Don’t you think I’ve made a lot of new friends?   Third is that I like my Home Room teacher or main teacher. It’s a female and s he is very funny and awesome everyday!.  I have another female teacher and then a male teacher.  Fourth is that we have so much homework but I think it is really helping me because I got a really good report card. Fifth is that the building is old but I like it now and my classroom is upstairs.  The one thing that I’m sad about is that they don’t have Cheerleading. 

  Now that I told you a lot about my old school and new school I will tell you which one I like better. It’s a kind of hard question because I loved the old school and I like the new school. I think I will say that I really like both, but since I moved to New Jersey I am happy where I am.  I think it’s been fun to see that I can fit in and make friends in different places.  I was a little worried in the beginning and didn’t even want to go, but now I like it and think it is good!

January 17, 2010

It’s been many months since any new  posts and this is for a very good reason….we moved!  It was a big deal for the entire family and we are adjusting daily to our new surroundings.  During this time my daughter has given an even greater interest in writing.  I thought it would be fun to include her in my blogs as a regular writer!  Even though my title was not originally given for this purpose, I think it is appropriate for “Two things” to include both our thoughts.  She already has another thought to share!  Imagine that….

From a Child’s Heart… August 15, 2009

I have had this blog for several weeks now, but didn’t have the time to sit and actually write anything due to our current moving status.  We just got back from a Fine Arts Festival where the theme was Extraordinary and thousands of teens used their talents for the Lord.  One category was short sermon.  One morning while packing, my nine year old daughter (a week from turning 10) stopped me to show me the short sermon she wrote.  I couldn’t resist to have this become my first blog.  Other than correcting some spelling and adding some commas…this was truly from her heart!

Every Christmas I get a special gift and that special gift is a baby doll but do you want to know something more extraordinary it is Jesus. You all should know that Jesus died for us and that He is way more extraordinary then a pretend doll! That’s how he loved. You know that my parents gave me that doll but God gave us more when he sent his son. Now that is giving. You know that my parents paid for the doll but Jesus died on the cross, which is way more extraordinary than paying for a doll! Jesus paid an extraordinary price so we could be forgiven!

My favorite doll is Eve. I play with her so much more than my other dolls but I praise way more than I play with my doll! You know what? You should do the same! What is your favorite thing? If you do that more then praise, you should take a break from that and praise. You will get a lot more in you than play with the same thing, but you can still play with that toy…but play with it less.

Thank you for letting me give you an extraordinary story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!