Sweet and Sour 365

Walk in the light today and remain with Him. Live loved.

"Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." ~Jesus

How is your environment?

I love this time of year...the hint of fall is right around the corner. As I sat on the porch having my coffee...I thought a lot about this change, me, and my family. As we begin to move into a new season...I'm going to step back and lean into a quieter time. Life is flying by and the noise level is too loud. I'm stepping back from my social media accounts so that I can lean in. I'm leaving my social media accounts in good hands and will be back. The blog will continue to have a picture a day with a message that points to Him. I want to get quiet. I need to get quiet. I need to get small. I need to hear God over all this noise.  October is coming....and 31 Days of Chasing THE Light is as well!  31 Days will be on the blog starting October 1st! Grab your journal and get ready to Chase. It sounds like a race but we're not racing...we're training. We have to be taught to move towards THE Light. "Listen to your life - so you can make the life you need.....

When you are willing to pause - to hold your tongue - to look for the positive - and to move in and with Him - things shift. We begin to see with His lens and not ours. Pause today. Pause before you leap into saying something you will regret. Pause before naming the negative. Pause before running into a situation ahead of Him. Just pause and be a beauty hunter today.  Hunting with you...

How can we live loved if we feel empty? How can we pour from an empty cup? We have to remain in Him. He is our power source - He is our place to get filled with love. His light is always inviting us in. Look for it. We charge our phones at night so that they are ready for us the next day. We need to charge ourselves daily with The Power Source or the world will consume us. Instead of continuing to run on empty...chasing to achieve something - let's sit with Him and receive something only He can give. A daily choice - partner with Him...be present in His Light...and live loved. "Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." ~John 15:4 (NIV)  

"Relationships don't come in packages of perfection, relationships come in packages of potential." ~Lysa TerKeurst

Grab your Chase THE Light journal here https://www.createspace.com/7407165  OR on Amazon!

  "Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." ~ 1 Timothy 6:12 We have to be taught to move towards the light. Plants and flowers do this automatically. They will bend and stretch to reach the light. But we have to be taught. We can choose to fight for our faith or we can sit back and focus on the dark. Jesus wants to enter that darkness with you - so that His light will shine brighter and you will begin to bend and stretch to reach Him.

"Get down on your knees - it's the only way you'll get on your feet." ~James 5:10 (MSG) Grab your Chase THE Light journal here https://www.createspace.com/7407165  OR on Amazon!

Sing His grace today... Live His grace today... Show His grace today... Give His grace today...  “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice” ~Ephesians 4:31 Grab your Chase THE Light journal here https://www.createspace.com/7407165  OR on Amazon!

Weekends are a time to hit the reset button.  Grab a cup of coffee and your Bible...spend some time with God. Time spent in the Word is never wasted time. xoxo Grab your Chase THE Light journal here https://www.createspace.com/7407165  OR on Amazon!  

How to Change a Heart When we hold onto bitterness and anger - we allow those feelings to take root and pretty soon our hearts become hard. When bitterness starts to choke out the good in me - my mouth starts to speak words that don't make souls stronger.  "Where the heart is changed, the life and actions will be changed." ~Matthew Henry I believe whatever we think of becomes the house our heart lives in. Right? Whatever we water will grow - so if all we think of is the ugly then that's what we grow inside of us.  "When you and I focus on how we've been done wrong in the past, we lose focus on how we've been done right by Jesus." ~Derwin Gray We are not perfect. We will fail. But God loves us and begs for us to come close to Him. He tells us it's never too late to follow Him. Grace surrounds us and Jesus is just asking for us to lean on and trust in Him. "Come off by yourselves; let's take a break and get a little...

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” ~Philippians 4:6-7 Worry . Dictionary.com defines worry as: “to torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret.” Torment oneself. Suffer. Fret. That’s what I can do to myself. What about you? I’ve heard that if you worry you don’t really trust that God can handle it. That God is incompetent. I mean, I worry about my kids and my family, friends, today’s world, the future, etc. It’s kind of hard not to worry…but to not really trust that God can handle it? That’s a little hard for me to swallow. God’s name means Peace! Hello!?! AND I choose to worry?  God cares about us. He cares about all the details of our lives. So, why do I torment myself sometimes?  Maybe because I’m trying to do i...

Fear is a liar - it tells us that we are defined by our mistakes. But God! He says we are defined by Him alone! The enemy wants to shut us down. God wants to set us FREE. Run free with Him.  Today, when you feel like fear is choking you and you can't breathe....go outside and sit. Don't go out with your phone or book - leave all of that. Just you - go and sit. Take a deep breath in and let it out slowly. I mean s l o w l y. Do this a few more times. Listen to His creation. Take it all in. When you get ancy - and you will get ancy - bring your attention back to your breath. Inhale His grace and exhale what can be let go. Practice this...it will become like a healing balm.  “The letters of the name of God in Hebrew… are infrequently pronounced Yahweh. But in truth they are inutterable…. This word {YHWH} is the sound of breathing. The holiest name in the world, the Name of Creator, is the sound of your own breathing. That these letters are unpronounceable is no acci...

Do you ever wonder about Jesus' life? All the interruptions He would get and how He responded to them? I do. I'm usually ok with the first couple of interruptions - but then my mood starts to shift. I get annoyed. Jesus seemed to always pause.  He seemed to always have time to look people in the eyes. He listened and loved.  Today, when the interruptions come.  Pause, look the interrupter in the eyes, and listen to their heart.  Pause and take a heart stop. Allow the interruptions to shift our perspective and maybe see it as a divine invitation. "We love each other because He loved us first." ~ 1 John 4:19 Grab your Chase THE Light Journal here before we start in October!!! https://www.createspace.com/7407165  

So, Moms (and Dads)– as we get ready to send our babies back to school – let’s look at our habits and the shape of our hearts. Are we ready – soul ready – for what’s to come? Appointments, commitments, homework, after school activities…fill in the blank – it’s going to come at us from so many directions.  Will we flip out? Will we say things that we probably shouldn’t say? Will we feel weary? Will we feel fear and anxiety? Probably…we will probably feel all of it! But what if we can look at our current habits and see where they may need some tweaking? What habits do we have – right now – that are weighing us down? Can we hand them over. Surrender them? Understand though - that surrender isn't giving up. It's just giving it over. Hand over what is weighing us down so that maybe we can wear a new habit? A new habit that has us running to Him instead of hiding in fear?   How did Jesus do life?   How did He manage all the things thrown at Him? How can we s...