I am serving on the Chrysalis retreat team this weekend and could use your help. Will you please pray for our team and the 16-24 year old young ladies that will be experiencing this weekend? The retreat starts at 7 AM tomorrow morning and runs through 7 PM Sunday night. If you are willing to pray for us, let me know the day and hour you would like and we’ll add you to the prayer vigil board that will be display. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers this weekend.

😎🐫🎤 I was thinking last night about the point in my life when I quit thinking about my faith as being a religion and made it a relationship. There are so many things that we do or say that allows others to label us, including our faith background and church we attend. With all this labeling in the world, it’s good to pause and reflect on our relationship with the Lord. What does it look like for you? Think back over the past year. How has it grown and changed or maybe slid backwards?  It’s okay to admit a backward slide. The question is, what will you do to move forward? It doesn’t matter what point you’re at, there is always room to go deeper with the Lord. He has so much to show us and tell us, if we will just spend some time with Him. Listen. Talk. Experience His presence in everyday life. It’s incredibly amazing. He is incredibly amazing. Your faith, religion, relationship with the Lord is for no one but you and Him. Your relationship is one on One, which means there’s four, right?!  This relationship isn’t like keeping up with the Jones. You can’t try to outdo someone else’s relationship with the Lord, so make yours personal. Make it intimate. Make it so you don’t ever want to be without it. Not even for a second.  Bless others and be blessed. 

#Love & The Outcome – The God I Know

😎🐫🎤 A few weeks ago I heard someone say “I wish I knew what the meaning of life is.”  That lead me to think about our purpose…our great commission. Matthew 28: 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” God didn’t send us out on our own. We’re traveling with the trifecta, the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit. And with Them we have all the authority in heaven and on earth on our side. There is no better relationship than that. So how do we go about being disciples for our Lord? Grudgingly or with joy?  Crowds of people or one relationship at a time? My mind then took me to a high school youth ministry lesson I did many years ago.  I still carry the card I handed out to everyone that reads. “In all I do, I will give glory, honor and praise to the Lord.”  Being a disciple for Christ is a gift and we can’t afford to forget that. Bless others and be blessed.

#Britt Nicole – Be the Change

😎🐫🎤 So, I have another interview prayer request, but it’s not for me this time, it’s for my daughter Lori who lives in MI. She will be graduating college soon with an art education degree and she is searching for her first Big Girl job. She has an interview at 10 AM this morning and another interview with a different school on June 22nd.  As I was praying before my interview last week, God told me “It’s just you and Me in this interview. Talk to Me.”  Lori, it’s just you and God in your interview. Just talk with Him. Also, pray on the Armor of God and dance around to this song.  Bless others and be blessed.

#Citizen Way – Bulletproof

😎🐫 Good morning. I have a prayer request this morning. From 1-2 PM tomorrow I have an interview for an accounting technician position at the Dayton VA. I’ve been praying for God’s wisdom and words as I prepare and during my interview and also that I step out of the way so that His Will be done.  Thank you in advance for your prayers and feel free to share a song with me today. Bless others and be blessed. :O)

😎🐫🎤 Sunday morning I decided to go for a walk. It was 72, sunny, a slight breeze and the gravel road was shaded from the trees in the forest. I headed out of the cabin and was only about 30 seconds away when I heard the sound of rain drops hitting the leaves. It didn’t take long for the rain to also fall on me. I immediately turned to head back to the cabin. That’s our instinct right, head for safety so we don’t get caught in the rain. It took me a second, but I stopped, looked up and realized the sky was blue. So why was it raining?  I remembered it had rained pretty hard in the early morning.  The rain I was experiencing was simply the fallout from a previous storm. I turned around and continued on my walk.  How true is this in our lives? When we find ourselves being caught up in the fallout of ours or someone else’s past storms, we don’t want to get wet, so our instinct is to run.  What would happen if we chose to stay this time and allow ourselves to get a little wet.  How can we find God in the fallout and allow His words and actions be our guide?  I’m sure God will bless you in some way as He blessed me last Sunday.  Once again God used nature to teach me a life lesson. As long as we are here on this earth, I know that God has more for us to learn and do for the glory of His kingdom. Keep listening for His words. He speaks to us in many ways.  But don’t keep them to yourself. More times than not, He’s counting on you to pass those words/lessons/experiences along. Bless others and be blessed. 

#Mandisa – Unfinished

😎🐫🎤 At 17 years old I started my life of consumer debt with a college loan. Very quickly after that I was introduced to my first credit card. Then a car loan. You all know how this goes…right?  23 years later, a failed marriage, a couple businesses that were living on credit and another marriage that was on very rocky ground.  Is that what life is really about?  An angel that God placed in my life suggested and paid to send Brian and I to Financial Peace University. We have learned many lessons along the way and God placed even more angels in our life to help us along this journey. 6 years 1 month and 10 days after graduating FPU, we mailed in our final house payment. One of the greatest lessons I learned in this journey is that I was very good at getting myself into debt, but I couldn’t have gotten out of it without the help of others. Every one of us is or have been affected by the chains of debt and the struggles it brings to relationships and family life. Don’t allow yourself to stay trapped in a financial hell. It’s okay to talk about it and find a mentor that can help guide your journey back to the love, grace and promises that God wants you to have. Don’t just survive. You were made to thrive. Bless others and be blessed. 

#Alabama – Angels Among Us

#FinancialPeaceUniversity

#DaveRamsey

😎🐫🎤 So many wrong turns. Did I even choose You once?  I’ll get to You right after I finish this. I mean this. Okay, maybe after this. The day has passed. The darkness of night.  I want to rest, but the day is on repeat as it plays in my head.  Peaceful rest, will it come?  A new day at last. How will I live this day, this hour, this moment for my Lord?  This is my comeback!

Close your eyes and think about your life with the Father, Son, and Spirit as you listen to this song. They all move and encourage you in different ways and aspects of your life. Bless others and be blessed.

#Danny Gokey – The Comeback

😎🐫🎤 I read this prayer a few days ago and thought I would share it with you.

“Thank You Lord, that when I look into Your Word I find You. Help me to know You better through it.  Give me ears to recognize Your voice speaking to me every time I read it. I don’t ever want to miss the way you are leading me.”

How is the Lord trying to talk with you?  What is He speaking into your life?  How will you grow today because of His words?

#MercyMe – Word of God Speak

😎🐫🎤 In the Catholic faith we celebrate Easter for 50 days (8 Sundays), from Easter Day to Pentecost Sunday. Last Sunday, which was the third Sunday of Easter, the Gospel reading was Luke 24:13-35. It was about the seven-mile journey two disciples took from Jerusalem to Emmaus. The disciples encounter a stranger on the way, who unbeknownst to them was the risen Lord. It was nearly evening when the approached Emmaus so they invited this stranger to share a meal and stay with them. It was in the blessing and breaking of the bread that their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. Oh, how blind we can be to God’s presence in our lives, but here’s what really struck me in hearing the Gospel on Sunday. It was evening, they hadn’t even eaten their meal yet and they were seven miles away from Jerusalem. But they couldn’t contain their joy. They left at once. Not after they finished eating. Not after a good night’s rest. No, they left at once to share the joyous news that Christ lives. Can you get excited about that?  Will you skip a meal and take a seven-mile walk (I think they probably ran) to share that Christ is alive and with us?  Or will you finish your meal, go to bed and maybe consider making the journey to share the Good News after you’ve had your morning java. I know what I have been doing and I know where/what the Holy Spirit is calling me to do. Do you hear Him calling you too?  Bless others and be blessed.  

#TobyMac – Catchafire