He really does RAISE ME UP!!!

   

 Good evening, I pray your day has been a good one, I pray that you have had spiritual time today and that this evening has afforded you to take some time for yourself. Time for you is so very important, we tend to get so wrapped up in our day to day "junk" in caring for everyone else, in going, going, going, and doing, doing, doing....just please remember that if we do not maintain our automobiles they will eventually quit running! Take care of you so that you can continue being the kind, loving, example of Christ that you are!
     Today has been a hard day for me, my lupus seems to be trying to take my body over and I am aching from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet! Ugh, I hate days like this, but I know with prayer and rest and less stress it will be better! I have been basically laying around doing not much of anything today and am praying that tomorrow will be a better day for me! Thank goodness for heating pads and a sweet loving Wayde who takes such good care of me when I am "down."
     In prayer tonight I said my usual prayers asking our Father in Heaven to bless and give mercy to each and every person in need this night, to hold each of us and protect us! I asked him to guide us in our doings each day and to keep us filled with hope that things will get better. I know of several people battling with terminal illnesses and who are really struggling with pain and fear, please Father hold them in your arms give them relief in body and in spirit! I prayed for you and yours, for those who are struggling with depression, lack of faith, with internal fires that seem to be raging out of control, with confusion and with lack of self! Father please fill each of us with peace, calm and comfort and please bless my daughter and her unborn baby with strength and health. God we love you, we know that with you in our corner all things are possible and we know that the sacrifice you made allows us to repent and to be forgiven when we make poor choices, I stand in awe of all of the blessings you provide me and I thank you for being my Father in heaven. In Jesus' name ask mercy, grace and blessings for all, amen.
     All afternoon the song "You Raise Me Up" has been on my mind, I am going to print the words to the song as I know our Father in heaven is needing me to share these words with you or perhaps he is just needing me to see the words in print, either way I will never deny a prompting when it is given me!

When I am down and oh my soul, so weary.

When troubles come and my heart burdened be. 

Then I am still and wait here in the silence,

until you come and sit awhile with me.

You raise me up so I can stand on mountains, 

You raise me up to walk on stormy seas. 

I am strong when I am on your shoulders,

you raise me up to more than I can be.

Wow I did not realize there is really on two verses here and the others are all repeats of the second one. I get it though, when we I am down and my soul is weary, when my troubles and my heart is burdened, all I can do is sit in the silence and meditate, all I can do is spend time with him because I know that when I am low, I am humble..when I am humble my heart is more receptive to his presence and I can see and hear more clearly. He does raise me up to stand on mountains, he does help me come through stormy seas, I am strong when I am on his shoulders and he gives me sight that I can be so much more! I pray if you are needing any motivation that you will listen to this song and know that if you do sit in the silence and tell him how you feel, what you are thinking and were your short comings are...he will raise you too! God bless each of you with love and laughter, may the coming week be filled with only good things and may blessings be in abundance for you and yours! 

Did I lose or did I win?

   


Hip, hip, hooray..it is Tuesday night and of course I am excited for Biggest Loser and to see who is voted off of DWTS...thinking I would like to see Chas go, he is just not cutting the mustard for me! Still loving JR:) What a beautiful spirit and winning attitude he possesses!
      Well it is week number 2 on the diet for me and I am pleased to say, I did not gain any and I lost...

Drum roll! I still have a long way to go but this combined with last weeks 6 pounds, I am 13 pounds closer to my goal!
     I come to you this night and ask you to pray with me, this morning I talked about the redundancy of prayer, how it seems that I pray the same exact prayer each night! Well I guess I do, although the words may be much alike day in and day out...the people I pray for are much different, when people come to me with prayer requests I take it dead level serious...I try to feel what that person is going through, I try to allow my heart to suffer as that person is suffering and I fall on my knees and I PRAY, I PRAY, and I PRAY!!! So when you come to pray with me each night, please see the person you are praying for , when I ask God to offer healing hands for those suffering illness, rehabilitation, depression, anxiety, addiction...join with me and see the people in your life that you know are in special, specific need and in asking for these blessings do it with them in your mind! The same with those who are lost, who feel that God has stepped away from them, those who have wronged you, who have made you cry...see them and pray for them. God is good all of the time, and God knows who we are praying for, he reads our hearts and he answers our prayers according to that, we don't have to say names...he knows!
     Father in Heaven, I bow my head humbly  and ask you to bless those in need tonight, to provide us with peace in our minds with knowledge that no matter what we are going through that you are here with us, that you will make a way as long as we reach our hand out to you and believe that you will catch us, that you will be our strength...Father, provide us with calm of heart that we feel your love in all that we do, that we know that you made the ultimate sacrifice so that we can have eternal life, and lastly provide us with comfort in our spirits, the comfort that we need to speak of you from our hearts and to share our relationship that we have with you! So many are in need father, please lead us to where we need to be and give us opportunity to share you..in Jesus name I ask these blessings, mercies and favors, amen.
     I know that my redeemer lives, I know that he is coming back to collect us and I know that I do not want to be left behind, I will walk each day to the best of my ability in his footsteps and if I should waiver off course I will reach out for his perfect hand to gently lead me back on track. I love God with all of my being and vow that as long as I have breath in my body I will honor him!  God bless each and every one of you!
   

Prayers, prayers, and more prayers!!! Please join me in prayer!!!!

 


 Hello and happy (biggest loser) Tuesday! I guess you can tell what shows I really enjoy:) As stated this morning, I lost 6 pounds this last week and am hopeful that I will see at least this much next week! I am allowing this show to inspire me as I have really let myself go and physically am suffering from the extra baggage!
   I pray that your day has been a wonderful one, I am seeing that many of my friends got the joy of cooler weather today, I know it was much welcome having endured the horrible heat you had this summer! May you be treated to this type of weather for the duration of fall! I continue to pray for all of you struggling with health issues, with the struggles of rehabilitation, with infertility, with the loss of loved ones, with the bane of financial shortages, with depression and loss of faith, I ask our loving Father in heaven to address the needs of each of you and to give you peace, calm, and comfort while he implements the plans he has written for your next chapters! I ask you to join me in prayer for my special friend who is caregiving for her mother who is struggling so with health, that you pray with me for the health of all of the unborn babies along with the strength and health of the carrying mothers, I ask you to join me in praying for my friend who continues to battle with the loss of her husband, my friends who continue to battle with the loss of a son, a father, a brother, a nephew..., for my friend who continues to battle with the struggles of her son battling drug addiction and for my friend who feels so alone thinking God has tuned his back on her! We are not alone, not one of us, God gave his son for us, he believed in us so much that he sacrificed so that we might have eternal life, why in the world would he turn away from us, I think it is us who are turning away from him, we are allowing "life" to drag us down and drain us of faith when we should be standing with both feet planted telling "life" how strong our faith is, how wonderful our God is and by battling down the ills that are being hurled at us with God being our shield! If we continue to keep in focus who is at the head of everything we do, if we continue to hold fast to his promises and if we let go of doubt when the heat gets to hot in the kitchen, our lives will begin to get easier...I look at it this way, when the sky is falling in on me, I know I am pleasing God because I know that satan will hit below the belt trying to stop me...so the harder he hits I know I am right with God! As I often say, throw a little more at me satan, hit me a little harder, you might make me stagger but you will never make me fall for I am protected by the mighty shield of God an I know he will never let me fall! He will always straighten my stagger and push me forward! He is mighty my friends and all it cost us to have him in our lives is to keep our hands outstretched to him and our hearts full of love for him! I think this is a pretty fair price for eternal love and protection! Do you agree?
     God bless each of you and know you are loved and so very appreciated!