Confident Peace

Psalm 21:1 

In You, O LORD, I put my trust.

Learn to hide in the secret of His presence. Sarah Young in Jesus Calling brought this phrase to my heart today. Think about it, meditate on it for a minute, let it sink in.....

Learn to hide in the secret of His presence.

 As Christians we have the pleasure ----make that the privilege-- to hide in the arms of our Father. 

Wow! 

I can remember times when my kids would run up to me and hide their face in my lap. They felt safety knowing my arms were around them. Their faces hid in my lap, covering them from what ever was bringing them fear. 

You have that privilege as a Christian. To run to the Father anytime, 

anywhere, 

bury your head in His Holy lap and know He will protect you. You are safe, feel His arms around you and know that:

He is both with you, and
      Within you.

In Him you may have confident peace. That is what I wish for you today, dear reader. That you may have CONFIDENT Peace in Him who loves you more than you know.

Come to His lap, lay down your head, and rest in that Confident Peace.

Homemade Jam

Today was a day to make more homemade jam. We ran out early this year and boy is it good!

Homemade Jam

Yield: 8 jars

Assorted berries (1 ½ quarts strawberries, mashed up, 1 bag frozen raspberries,

 and 1 bag frozen Wyman’s blueberries) which will equal 5-6 cups when mashed

1 box Sure-gel

½ tsp butter

7 cups sugar, measured and ready

1. Mash fresh berries to 5-6 cups; do not mash frozen berries. Put these in a stockpot; mix in the box of Sure-gel, and butter. Heat on high to a rolling boil (this means you stir it and it keeps boiling). Be sure to stir it as the frozen fruit melts so it won’t burn. When it reaches a rolling boil, add the sugar all at once and stir to mix thoroughly. Keep mixing and bring up to a rolling boil again. Cook at a rolling boil for 2 minutes (1 minute if all the berries are fresh). Remove from heat.
2. In the meantime, bring a small pan of water to a boil. Turn off burner and add your lids. Be sure to separate each lid in the water; don’t leave them in a stack. Let these sit while you’re making the jam.
3. Also, wash glass jars and metal rings. Put in a very clean sink submerged in the hottest water you can get.
4. When the jam is done use a glass measuring cup to scoop out the jam. Be careful this is VERY hot! Pour jam into HOT glass jar to within ½ inch of edge, wipe clean the edges, place a hot, dry lid on top with a magnet rod, and then screw on metal ring. Place upside down on towel. After about 5 minutes turn jar right side up you should hear the jars popping (sealing) within a few minutes to an hour.
5. Let the jars rest for 24 hours before storing. Tighten lid more, if necessary and store in a cool, dry place.

What's Ur focus?

Your focus determines your reality.

What are you focused on?

You or God?

Positive or Negative??

Blessings or Problems??

--Mark Batterson

You are responsible for your focus.
There is only one true Focus, one Truth...
Focus on Jesus and you will find life!

You will keep him in perfect peace,
whose mind is set on You,
for he trusts in You.--Isaiah 26:3

Mountains into molehills

Deut. 2:6

You have circled the mountain long enough, now turn North.

I can't tell you how much this verse has meant to me lately. I found it unexpectedly one day- though the Spirit knew right where to direct me....

Found in the depths of Deuteronomy, this verse addresses the Israelites during their journey through the wilderness.

Fearful, self-absorbed, and lost they traveled looking only at there external environment rather than their Internal environment.

The same is true all too often for us.....

We travel around and around the same mountain. Day after day....sometimes it seems like an endless wilderness....



So we need to do one thing...STOP! Look at the mountain - it's much too big for you....

turn North....and give it to the only One who can handle it... the One who loves you more than anything. Give it to God and the mountain will shrink.

How easy it seems yet we take such pride in trying to do it ourselves.... complete the Journey by giving it up. Give up your free will to 'do it yourself' and make your life a whole lot easier....


Make the mountain INTO a mole-hill.

You've circled long enough, look North and the mountain will disappear!


Blessings my sweet sisters....

When less is more

1 John 3:16

Hereby perceive we the love of God,
because he laid down his life for us:
and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

It's so important to help each other out. I can't stop thinking about how much my Christian sisters have helped me in the past. A hug, a card, a sweet prayer...

When we give to others, we give them a piece of Jesus. And that piece grows for Him. It also grows in us. His ways are not our ways.... we lose a piece of Him yet with that loss He grows in us!

God is so good! Only our omnipotent God could make more of Himself out of less of us. In fact, that's the only way it works. It has to be less and less of us each day so we can receive more and more of Him.

If you are living with guilt or depression, try to remember that's of you. The more you are focused on you and your limits the more you are limited. Do not be a slave to your moods or "feelings" but move over and let Him fill you.

Less is always more with God.

Blessings my sweet sisters,
T

Take Up Your Cross

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must
deny themselves and
take up their cross and

follow me.

Mark 8:34

My small group met last night for the first time on the study Made to Crave. It was such a wonderful time....the fellowship, the sharing. I love it when new people show up, they bring a whole new dimension to the group.

Great are God's girls!

Lysa was speaking on denial on feeling empowered rather than deprived with our healthy food choices and included the verse above.

When breaking it down, we see the "deny self" - this commands us to deny our selfish, fleshly desires, pretty straight forward though not always done.

The second part is often misinterpreted. Upon exploration in our Life Application Bible, we learned that the prisoners in Roman times were made to carry their own cross before they were crucified (the death penalty of choice in that period), this time of carrying was to signify their submission to the Roman government as the highest authority.

The final command is to "follow me." One small sentence, buried deep in Mark, gives us the whole plan of salvation:

Deny yourself and fleshly wants
Submit yourself to the highest authority,
and Follow Him.

God makes it sooo simple, don't make it harder than it is!

If you're ready, feel free to hit the big red button....
don't make it hard...
why GIVE UP something for Lent when
you could RECEIVE something so much better!

Many blessings,
E

Just a little more....

I was reading Lysa TerKeurst's post today and was so caught up in her thoughts... She presented a very simple concept of "and then some..."

What if rather than doing "just enough" or getting all caught up in our pride about something.... we decide to do "just a little more"-- or -- "and then some"

-- such a simple concept - but then again that's what Jesus did. He took everything we "work" so hard at and made it simple.

Just like salvation - we make it complicated, not God. What could be easier than accepting a free gift. I'll take it -- thank you. It's that easy!


My small group is starting her study tonight "Made to Crave." It was not my intention to start on Lent but I guess it was God's... I will keep posting on the progress

Many blessings & prayers,
E