Just a prayer for today...

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for this day and the beauty that surrounds me. You have helped me in so many ways and yet I still fill unworthy. I am grateful you love me in the capacity that you do and that you will always be there lifting me up when I am in need of help. I have a specific request today for one of my children. You know the need in his life and how he is struggling to handle this great grief in his life. Loosing one grand parent is hard but loosing two with in three months is extremely hard. I pray you help him through his grief and allow him a healthy way to heal. Guide him in the choices he needs to make in life and strengthen me with the ability I need to speak wisdom to heal his broken heart. Thank you for your love and grace upon my life. In Jesus name I pray Amen.

I must say the past month has flown by and I haven't accomplished much of anything. Several months ago I read a quote in a book by Angela Thomas. It said that if the Devil cant make you bad then he will make you busy. How true that is. I have neglected many things to do what I "thought" was important.
I wont go into all of the details but I have taken in a young mother and her two children. Their ages are 3 years and the the girl is 4 weeks. This has added much stress to my home that consisted of my husband, three of my boys and one daughter in law plus myself. I have been working three jobs as well as cooking and making sure the house operates as normal as possible. The Devil sure did make me busy!
So I set here and whonder what is next...I must sow down ! For it is when we get still that we can hear the small still voice of the Lord that directs us and guides us. I have failed to be still and listen.
What has been placed in you ;ife that has kept you too busy to hear the still snall voice of the Lord? When you wake up it will be a new day...A new day for a new start. Today is the day to say Lord forgive me for becoming to busy please allow me to see what needs to be oliminated from my daily life so that I can hear you voice clearer.
A New Day! A New Way of Living For The Lord.

Woo Hoo! Being productive in the midst of affliction.

Woo Hoo!!!! The Lord is so good!
We started revival last night, I must say I have fallen in a rut and had the mind set I didn't need revival. WHOOOO...Don't ever think you don't need revival cause sister that is the moment you need it. The Lord set a fire under my back side and put me right on my knees where I needed to be.
I have been numb to say the least most of this year with all of my loses. I had lost my direction and drive to serve the Lord. I still depended on him every day to help me through but I wasn't serving him. I was an existing... no action for the Lord in my life.
While on my knees I ask the Lord to be merciful to me and forgive me for sinning by omission... I omitted my service as a child of God's and just existed! Blah!!!! Not what the children of the King is to do we are to be his hands and feet... I was neither. So I ask the Lord to just show me how to take the first step again and in what direction did he want my life to go in; How did he want me to use my talent s to serve him.
At this point of my life this year I had lost sight of what talents I had been blessed with and how god intended me to be a vital part of his body.
Woo Hoo! This morning he has allowed me to see not one, not two, but three steps I need to take for him right now and I have embraced them with great excitement. How great is our God that he is mindful of our needs and when we ask he blesses us.
Genesis 41:52 Joseph named his second son Ephraim. What does that have to do with me and you? Read on my friend...The meaning...For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my afflictions. WOW.
Where I am right at this point in my life, in all the pain and heart ache I bear, God will cause me to be fruitful. Not just multiply but to be productive for his kingdom. Yes my Sisters in Christ right where you are in the mist of you afflictions God can cause you to become fruitful (productive) for his glory. How awesome is that?
Fall on you knees and ask for direction to take that first step and see what he allows you to achieve.
Dear Heavenly Father bless my Sisters who read this and show them the next step that they must take for you. Give them the peace in knowing that you will cause them to be productive for you, in this world of confusion, to bring honor and glory to your Kingdom.
Thank you for being merciful to us. In Jesus Name I Pray, Amen

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When God Speaks We Don't Always Listen.

My children were never real good at listening to me when I used a soft voice. It always seemed I had to raise my voice above theirs and have a strong stern tone to it. I did have five children spaced two years apart and it did get loud at my house. I had four boys and a girl. Poor girl? no poor boys! My daughter was the oldest and she made the boys lives miserable.
Through all of the different personalities and moods I had to take a strong firm tone when I requested my children to do things. It is that way in my relationship with the Lord...I think he has to take a stern strong voice to get my attention above the chaos in my life.
But that is not the kind of relationship I want with the Lord. Besides he is not always stern with us. In I Kings 19:12 Elijah was overwrought and had been going through alot of storms or trials and God saw all of this chaos in his life. The children of Israel was not being obedient and Elijah was put out. So he called upon the Lord and the Lord sent him unto Horeb the Mount of God. While he was there he experienced earthquakes and fire and more chaos. It was in the middle of all of that chaos that Elijah hear a still small voice which was the Lords. It was that small voice that Elijah obeyed and continued on in the will of the Lord. God wasn't in the earthquake and he wasn't in the fire but he was waiting on Elijah to get still enough to hear the small whisper of his voice.
When we have chaos in our lives we look for God but there are times he isn't in the storms of life he just allows them to put us in the place where we can hear the small voice of the Lord. In Psalms 46 God tells us to be still and know that he is God. I wonder why we are always looking for the big things to be from God and we over look the small?
As you go about your day to day activities take the time to be still and know who God is. Listen for the whispers on your heard and don't dismiss them because they aren't the loud ground shaking sounds we expect to hear. Be still...and listen.
Prayers and Hugs,
Angela

Pray without ceasing...I Thessalonians 5:17
There is power in the name Jesus...
Isaiah 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.

I praise the Lord in the high places and I praise the Lord in the low places. His praise will not cease to come from my mouth. My Mother passed away in Jan. of this year and I praised the Lord for caring me through. I lost my Father in May of the year and I praised the Lord for seeing me through. Now I face a troubling time with my son who is 25. I am praising the Lord still and depending on him to deliver my son from a living hell and keeping him from a eternal hell.
Yes I have fear in my heart and I know fear is of the Devil. I am praying for myself that God will fill me with his Spirit so that I can over come this fear. I pray for my son's salvation and know God has heard my plea.
Psalms 55:22 Cast thy burden upon the Lords and he shall sustain the: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
I know he stands for me but the Devil tells me he wont stand for my son. The Devil is a deceiver and will sow seeds of worry and fear if we allow him. I have allowed him but now it is time to do some gardening...Let the Spirit of the Lord do the gardening in my heart.
Psalms 55:1,2 Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not thyself from my supplication.
Attend unto me, and hear me; I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise.
I know God has heard my mourning and pleas to save my son, I trust in him that he will do so. My strength is in the truth of God's word. I will believe!

Ok...Over look my drama queen grand daughter for just a minute and look close to the things behind her. I have been trying to keep busy this year. After loosing both Mom and Dad with in three months of each other I have been lost. So I drug my husband out to an over grown weed bed in our yard, on the 4th of July, to clear it out. In the process he cuts my leg with the chainsaw...No, I am ok nothing bad. It was while I was setting under the tree resting that God spoke to me. The tree in the right of the picture was the one we were cutting the dead limbs out of so that they would not block the sun from my magnolia tree I was going to plan there.
while trying to decide which limbs needed to be removed God brought to my attention a passage of scripture. John 15:1-2 I am the true vine, and my Father the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. I was cutting off that which was dead and bore no fruit, they were useless. What he spoke to me more profoundly was some of the branches had a few green leaves on the end but when you got to the heart of that limb it was dried up and black....Oh how true that is with some who profess to be a child of God: They have the appearance of a bearing fruit but in the heart where it counts the are black and useless.
Oh how my heart sank at the thought of those that God will cut off because they will contaminate those that are trying to flourish and seek nourishment from the Lord.

How many are walking around dead with little or no fruit? Do you know how close you are to being cut off? What does your life say about what shape your hear is in?

Dear Heavenly Father, For those that read this may you move upon their hearts. If they are going through life with a cold black heart I pray your Spirit moves upon them today to bring them to a right relationship with you before you cut them off. For my readers that are productive vines may you nourish them and help all to realize that with out you we can do nothing, we are nothing. I pray if they have never accepted you as their Savior this will be the time they call upon your name for Salvation before they to are cut off. Thank you Lord for your sacrifice to save us from our sins. May you blessings be upon each and every reader. In Jesus name I pray, Amen
Prayers,
Angela


My heart breaks every time I look at this picture…This is my Dad holding onto my hand on Easter Sunday not wanting me to leave him. I sat with him for hours but it wasn’t long enough… Oh how I wish I could hold his hand again. My heart breaks…
Dad had been in a nursing home for a few years. He had dementia and had started wondering while I was at work and the doctors said he would be safer if I placed him in a secure facility. I wish I had never had to put him in the Nursing Home. The neglect of proper care from the nursing home was the biggest factor that contributed to my Father being placed in the hospital then eventually the Hospice House.
Dad left the family when I was about 4 or 5 and lived his life in sin. So by his fruits it was evident he was not saved. Not long after I was married he came to live with me and my family. When he went into the hospital in March I ask God for one more chance with him. I didn’t want him to die and go to hell. The Lord granted me that prayer request. So for the next three weeks I would pray with him before I left the Nursing Home. Three weeks later I received the call he was in the ER at 3 a.m. on the Monday after Easter and my heart just about leaped out of my chest. I wasn’t sure and I hadn’t ask my Dad if he had ask the Lord to forgive him. I rushed out to the ER to find Dad in worse condition than the first time. I let him know I was there and held his hand. The only way he could communicate was squeeze my hand or raise his eyebrows. So holding his hand I ask the question I had put off… “Dad if anything happened to you would you go to Heaven? He squeezed my hand for a yes but I wasn’t at peace. So I ask him if he had ask the Lord to forgive him of his sins and be his Savior…NOTHING! No hand squeeze and my heart sunk. So I told him it was never to late and told him I was going to pray with him. I don’t have a clue as to what words came from my mouth but somewhere during that prayer he took both his hands and held onto mine and a sweet peace came over the room. I looked at my Dad and tears were rolling down the side of his face. I knew he was in the Lords hands and I told the Lord “I can let him go now”.
He spent over a week at the hospital and then I had to make the decision to go to hospice house.
As I sat with Dad in the Hospice House I would read to him every day from the Bible and sing the praises of the Lord. It was a long two weeks and I watched Dad’s body literally fall apart. The flesh hung from the inside of his mouth. You could smell the flesh as it rotted. No one knew why he had such a strong desire to live, they seem to think it was because of me. Every time Dad would hear me his vitals would improve. I talked almost nonstop and I only left him three times, so he had to listen to me talk a lot. It is nice to have someone listen and not interrupt you. J
As hard as my earthly Father fought to stay with me how had do you think our Heavenly Father fought to keep us from hell? He sent his Son to die for us so that we may spend eternity with him. As much as my earthly Father loved me my Heavenly Father loves me far greater…He created me, I am his!
Growing up I never had an earthly Father to tell me how special I was and that I was loved. All my life I searched for that love and never found it until my Heavenly Father showed me.
I John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
God created us out of love and we are his. Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
29:12 Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
29:14 And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: The Lord has nothing but love for us and thoughts of peace. He has comforted me in my darkest times and has brought me out of the darkest pits of sin. He holds me up in his right hand; he is my strength and one day I will walk in the land of the living with my earthly father and my Heavenly Father for eternity.
This scripture was what I read to my Father several times throught out the day and at his funeral.
Psalms 116:1 I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.
116:2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
116:3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
116:4 Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
116:5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.
116:6 The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.
116:7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.
116:8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
116:9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

A Picture for Comfort

The picture that is posted on my blog page has very special meaning to my life. This picture was taken without a flash and in the dark. The rays of light you see is from the Lord. The picture is a little fuzzy but the profound meaning of it is pure clarity.
I had lost my Mother very sudden of a massive heart attack on January 22, of 2009. Yes the grief is still great. My Father was in a nursing home doing very good. He became sick in March and was placed in the hospital. He was malnourished and dehydrated and I was angry! He was only getting what he needed when I was out there.
He recovered from this and I made sure to do at least two meals a day and one nightly visit. He was placed on a thickened liquid diet and I was making sure they did what his doctor ordered. On Easter of this year I went in to have Easter dinner with him and a nurse was trying to pour regular liquids down him...she had his head tilted back and his medicine as well as the liquid was going into his lungs.
He went to the hospital and had to be placed on a ventilate and his lungs were suctioned out. Particles of his meds were suctioned out. He spent a week in MICU then sent to Hospice house.
It was there I took this picture just hours before my Father passed away. The blue that is in the bottom of the photo we thought was a glare. As the night progresses the blue moved up to the eyes of the Angel. My Fathers eyes were blue, but in the latter days before his death they had clouded over and sunk back into his head. As the hour drew near that he would take his last breath his eyes became a sparkling brilliant blue and I knew the Lord would be taking him home soon. At 6:10 a.m. on May the 3, 2009 my Father went to be with the Lord.
Now I find myself grieving for the loss of both parents but I am not alone!
II Corinthians 12:9,10
Chris said, My grace is sufficient for the: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. (Paul said) Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10) ...for when I am week I am strong!
It is only through our weakness that others may see the grace of God lift us up and strengthen us. Alone I would have been crushed by the pain and grief but by the mercy and grace of God I am made strong to rise each morning and do the work that is required of me by the Lord.
Dear Heavenly Father if there is one reading this that is suffering great pain show your mercy and grace upon them and strengthen them. Let your perfect will shine in their lives and bring peace into their broken hearts. In Christ Jesus name Amen.
Prayers,
Angela