Too Blessed to be Stressed! Ha ! Really we are :)

  OK I am going to keep this short and sweet today . Well atleast attempt to :) ! I always feel as though my blogs are serious and sad and when God laid something funny on my heart this morning I just couldn't wait to share it. Ok so my devotion this morning from Proverbs 31 ministries was about the "tight places" in our lives that we are good at hiding but on the inside just wanting to pull our own hair out! I could totally relate to that ! I feel that way about a million times a day as well as many women out there. Especially those with marriages,children, &/or crazy schedules. But anyway the verse they talked about was: "Psalm 4:1 (NIV) "
"Answer me when I call to you,O my righteous God.Give me releif from my distress;be merciful to me and hear my prayer."
Ok now how many times have we said that ? Really "God please send me some relief" . Honestly I lost count a long time ago!! But what I have learned over the past few months is this.When I call out to God I feel as though he releives that stress by giving me something to do that calms me. Especially in the car ! Ha! My stress releiver in the car in singing ! I have this huge case of cds (mostly southern gospel,but I am working on building my collection with some newer stuff). And usually in the car is where all my thoughts consume me at once. I guess I have time to think while I am driving and I just get so consumed . sometimes its so bad that I dont even remember getting from one place to the next because I have so much on my mind. The girls schedules,my schedule, laundry, cleaning , pictures to edit, I mean the list goes on and on much like most women out there. But sometimes out of NOWHERE I get this thought SING!!! Now let me just say my girls hate it when this happens HAHA ! (which is some of the reason my collection is changing ) :) so I throw in a cd and just sing to the tops of my lungs . And its usually something that goes along with how I am feeling,but Always no matter how many times I sing a song I learn something differently from it. Its crazy but I love it . I used to get a little embarrased if I am at a stop light and look over just to realize that someone in the car next to me is staring at me and probably thinking those poor little girls having to ride in that car with that crazy woman. But now I really dont pay it much attention I just keep on singing. In fact sometimes I just roll my window down. who knows if God puts a song in my heart that helps me it may also help the person in the car next to me. I guess what my point to all this is this. you know the old saying "Too Blessed to be Stressed" sure ya do it used to be on every t-shirt and bumper sticker you see . Ha ! well the fact is its true. We are!  I know that knowing that doesn't keep us from feeling overwhelmed,stressed out ,and in a "tight place", but knowing when to call out and say Ok God I really need some relief now before you lose your mind, or your temper, or let yourself develop major road rage when it really isn't the other cars fault. Instead listen to God if he lays something on your heart that may seem extremely silly to you at first ,its probably not ,not only will it releive your stress ,but it may also allow you to bring Glory to Him! You never know what the person in the car next to you is going through or the person in line in front of you at the grocery store.What you do with what He gives you could totally change someone elses life. You never know how your smallest or silliest little action to releive your own stress could be doing to help someone. He has all the tools we need to be less stressed . All we have to do is ask for them ! You may not feel an  instant lift of stress off your shoulders ,but he will fill us full of song or laughter,or something to let you know he is there and everything is OK !!! :)  I hope you all have a Great day !

Relationships come and go

        I remember when I was a little girl and I used to get so upset when something I was really counting on fell through. I remember my mom used to say "Heidi its not the end of the world. God has a plan for everything and his plan is not always the same as ours." I didnt understand it then and although I know its true even now sometimes I still dont always understand it. I mean lets take friendships for example , if you have spent years with a person and knew their innermost secrets and they knew yours how can your relationship just fall apart so easily sometimes over the most silliest reasons and sometimes you dont even kow why.Well part of me wants to say why? God why would you allow someone that I love so much to just leave or turn their back ? and why would you want me to feel so sad and heartbroken ? But my heart knows different,my heart know that in order to truly follow God I have trust Him and let go of a relationship that could possibly allow me to slip back into the trend that got me away from Him in the first place.Believe me  that is not an easy pill to swallow. These days true friends are almost impossible to find. Trusting people that you love is not as easy to do anymore. There are so many obstacles these days that Satan uses to tempt with especially in our relationships. I mean besides friends becoming enemies look at the adultry and divorce rate, the murder and suicide rate . I mean relationships are being attacked every second of every day.Best friends, Marriages, even parents and their children are turning their backs on each other, siblings that haven't spoken in years and most of them cant remember why they stopped talking in the first place.Social sites have become Satans new weapon. Just yesterday a really close friend deleted me off facebook and I couldn't even begin to tell you why. We get so caught up in society and gossip . Hey yall its been around for ever but now its a click away to spread bad word about someone like a raging wild fire. I read a verse this morning that really captured me although it may not seem to reflect what I am talking about , Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22 to "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." broken relationships can bring us down physically and emotionally but there is ONE that is always there. Our relationship with Jesus. You know through my sadness over the past day .I searched my mind and heart for what i could have possibly done wrong and what could I do to change the situation. In desperate attempts for an answer I called my friend only to get her voice mail and must have sent her 3 or 4 texts messages only not to get a response. In my overwhelming sadness I didn't know what else to do short of getting in my car and driving to her house,but before I got into my car I just sat down on my swing in tears and began to pray. And Jesus began to show me that even in my prayer I was being selfish. I was asking what did I do wrong,what did I do to deserve this, what was I going to do. So as my mind began to focus a little and my heart softened a little more. I began to pray for my friend, that whatever she was dealing with in her life that God would just guide her through it and that He would also soften her heart and in that moment Jesus showed me that HE was the ONLY person who really knew my innermost secrets, He was the one who could ease my pain in a bad situation and He would always be there. In all of my pain I learned that I was being very selfish and I can't grow in my relationship with Jesus by thinking about me all the time . This was very eye opening to me. How can I spread the love of Jesus to others who are so blinded by their own pain and struggles when I am thinking about me and how I feel and not truly lifting up their pain and needs . And that brings me to this: Facebook can also be used to share Gods love not just all the evil and gossiping . A friend posted this verse this morning :
‎2 Corinthians 4:8-10 : We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.Wow ! You see Jesus showed me that he is here . His relationship will never fail and if we would all allow him to be a part of our relationships then I TRULY BELIEVE with all my heart that our relationships with each other would not be nearly as difficult . I am not saying that friendships will not come and go . God will always close some doors in order to open others ,but if we are true to Jesus and true to ourselves then being A true friend will come a little easier ! Love you all Have a happy Easter !

Afraid Yes a little,but I am blogging any way ! HA ! in your face Satan

Ok this is totally CRAZY ! I have been working on a blog post since yesterday and I just deleted it. Ok now thats not the crazy part I actually do that alot . The crazy part is that I deleted it for a different reason than normal. I usually spill my entire heart out on the blog site and then before my nerve gets up to hit post I delete it . Only a few times have I actually gone through with the ever so dreaded post button. Why do I do this you ask? one word,    FEAR !!! I am afraid of what people think about me ,about what I write and I am afraid that people will think I am down right CRAZY ! Nothing but FEAR ! You know I think as women we are all our own worst critic about everything we do. Especially the way we dress, what size we are ,how we raise our children, even how we shop and clean . The basics of everything we do we are always questioning ourselves and let me just say I am the worst. I am always so afraid of giving someone the wrong impression of me that I usually end up doing that anyway because I am too afraid of just being who God created me to be.I may have blogged on this before ,me trying to show everyone that I have it together but inside I am falling apart . Well guess what I learned today and I think I knew it all along I was just afraid to face my fears about it. Without completely copying one of my devotions from this morning  let me tell you a little about what I am talking about. This devotion could have easily had my name on it . In fact,as I was reading I kept thinking man this girl really knows me she is talking directly to me ! No, I know she wasn't but God was . You see he knows our deepest issues and fears even when we are not strong enough to face them ourselves. He knows when we need to hear or see something that directly targets our inner most hidden fears. Ok so heres an example I am addicted to buying workout videos off those tv commercials that tell me I am going to be in the best shape of my life in just 30 days . YES!!!!!!  I love to hear that but heres the kicker. When you buy those things you know in order to be in the best shape of your life first of all you actually have to do the entire workout like everyday ! and that doesn't include sitting on the couch and jumping up on the easy parts(GUILTY I AM) and second of all in reality how many of us even if we did do it everyday are actually going to be in the best shape ever in only 30 days. I mean don't get me wrong exercise is awesome I have been doing it 6 days a week for 3 months now , but I am far from being in the best shape of my life. You see Satan uses fear the same way ! "Satan specializes in false advertising" "He's ultimate at making fears look real even when they are not." Its totally ok to have some fears , they protect us, like being afraid of crossing a busy street,being afraid of falling off a cliff if your standing too close. those are justifiable fears . This is my favorite quote from my devotion listen carefully " SATAN"S FALSE ADVERTISEMENT CAN CHOKE OUR FAITH AND FUEL OUR FEARS."  How often have we let that happen. I can't even begin to count.An easy example for me would be every time I hit the delete key on a blog when I am expressing my growth in my relationship with Jesus. I can almost hear Satan's evil laugh every time I touch that delete key. And how often have you wanted to go up to a stranger that you can tell is hurting but you don't because your afraid of what they might say to you or afraid of having your feelings hurt or even just afraid that they might actually need something from you that you don't have time or are not willing to give.These are all ways that Satan uses FEAR to keep us from doing God's work . Now I dont want you to start feeling guilt or anxiety because you start thinking about times he has used fear against you ,believe me I did . My head was flooded with memories and mostly all bad ones, but heres the thing this started in the Garden of Eden. Satan is a master at this because hes been doing it since the beginning . FEAR started with Adam and Eve as soon as Satan twisted God's words around to get Eve to eat the forbidden fruit and then she gave it to Adam they began to experience fear and their lives changed .Satan convinced Adam and Eve that they didn't really need God they would be self-suffcient in every way . Ok here's the question how many times have we believed Satan on that aspect. How many times have we thought we could handle our own situations ? Again I can't even count them all !Here is the really cool reality of it all God never meant for us to be in control! We are his children ! He wants us to look to him for guidance and understanding and when we're afraid what more comforting place to be than in his presence ,in his arms . Relying on his guidance and his comfort. The truth is Satan wants us to fail he wants us to be afraid . The crazy thing is I could never blog on my own anyway ! The ideas and thoughts that I get I can't just think those up ! They must come from Jesus ! So heres my challenge to my self and anyone who may read this blog ! The next time you experience an overwhelming fear about something . Stop what your doing and pray for God just to hold you and protect you . Don't give Satan the satisfaction of watching you fail at something that could ultimitaly bring Glory to God . Don't let him rule your feelings about yourself or others. If you feel like your CRAZY its ok I feel that way alot ! everyday actually! Ha Ha ! Heres one of my new favorite verses:
 ~ "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity,but a spirit of power,of love,and self-disipline." 2 Timothy 1:7 ~
Ok so I am  about to conquer Satan and face one of my greatest fears and hit the post button ! just remember God doesn't expect us to be perfect in everything we do . We're not suppose to be ! He loves us for just who we are ! I hope you all have an AWESOME week :)