Cheerleader for life!

Proverbs 12:25

Worry weights a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up.

I found a quote on worry from one of my favorite authors ~

"I am an old man and I have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened" - Mark Twain

I read one time the statistic on worry and all the things that you worry about never happening and it blew my mind. It also made me mad, after all I spent all that time worrying about it and then it wasn't going to happen? WHAT?

Thank goodness those things don't happen to us. I spent much of my life in a state of worry. I worried about health of family members, I worried about money, I worried about who was mad at me, I worried about the weather, I worried about the next Dr. visit, I worried about …well everything. I was quite the QUEEN of WORRY. You didn't know that I was royalty did you? Well, I was at least in the WORRY ROYAL FAMILY! It just didn't get me anywhere. It brought me down. IT brought me way down. I pretty much stayed in the bottom of the pit, because it brought fear along with a short temper along with depression.

One day I finally realized it was hurting me. The worry wasn't getting me any further in life and it was definitely harming me and my relationships. Kenny often told me that I was absolutely living in fear and that he didn't understand. God changes things doesn't HE? Thank Goodness!

God showed me that it was much easier to let Him handle all the stuff of life and to encourage others to do the same. Once I began to take this approach to life things changed! Cheering another person on is so much more uplifting than sharing the worry and woe to me and bringing everybody down…So, encourage someone today! Cheer another person on! I always wanted to be a cheerleader and now I am!!!

Cheering,

Debbie

Need refreshment?

Proverbs 3: 21 – 22

My child, don't lose sight of common sense and discernment. Hang on to them, for they refresh your soul. They are like jewels on a necklace.

When you were growing up, did you often here it's okay honey you have common sense? Well, I really wasn't sure, if that was good or not. The older I get I realize that indeed it is good to have common sense sometimes rather than all the brains in the world. Don't get me wrong we indeed need the folks that are brilliant after all they find cures, invent things, solve difficult engineering needs and the list goes on and on, but I believe this proverb proves we need those of us with common sense too.

Remember really hot summers growing up? What did you want to refresh your body? Did you reach for a cold lemonade? A nap in the hammock? A dip in the pool? Playing in the sprinkler? The ice cream truck with all of those goodies? I tried all of these and more! The proverb tells us that common sense and discernment will refresh your soul. I agree. I think back over my journey and things that have happened in my journey and my soul indeed is refreshed when I am able to discern that God is working in my life or I use common sense to figure out the next step that God desires for my journey. It is just as quenching as the lemonade on a hot summer day and they are indeed just like the diamonds that I treasure that are family treasures. The times that I know God refreshed me and renewed my spirit are moments that I treasure more than all the jewelry in my jewelry box. The God moments in my life are way more valuable in figuring out the next step to take or the things that matter….

Proverbs is indeed full of wise advice for the fools of this world and indeed I've been called one of those too…Proverbs 3 closes with The wise inherit honor, but fools are put to shame! Let's all learn from the wise and let the fools be put to shame. So …

Pick up the Word, Talk to the LORD, and we will be able to use common sense and discern our steps on the path of life!

Sweet blessings,

Debbie

Building

Psalm 127: 1

Unless the LORD builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted.

Isn't this so true? I think of things that I've tried to build on my own and what a failure they end up being. I think back over the years and realize the times that I just proceeded forward with the latest whim that went through my mind and then when I would tire of the project and quit. I always wondered why I couldn't go any further with the idea. Now I realize they were my idea and they were not a part of God's plan.

Many of you know that I lost my home a little over two years ago. At the time it burned it was such a difficult time. The pain of losing things that I treasured pictures, my wedding dress, our wedding portrait, a piece of the Berlin wall, autographed treasures from people I admire, old family memories…the list goes on. I decided they were still just things that day and knew that one day I would have left them behind anyway. I was getting dry run for the day I leave this earth forever. After all we don't take things with us on the next journey.

During the entire building time I saw God at work in our rebuild. It was amazing the different things that I would find that I know God placed for me to find from Him. I would find pages from the old family bibles with words of wisdom for me and they would fit the days ahead exactly. Truly an amazing time in my life was the time I spent rebuilding my home. The Lord did rebuild our home and it is the most beautiful home because I see His work everywhere.

He sent amazing people to work on our home and rebuild it manually. The men are amazing Christian men and they spent many hours sharing their gifts of building making my house a home. I had an amazing woman named Janet that took her God given talent of decorating to add color, textures, and things that just spoke about my walk with the Lord. Butterflies are everywhere! My friends that were continually God's hands throughout the experience ~ definitely God built my home!

Thank you God for building my home!

Sweet blessings,

Debbie

Nothing too hard

1 Kings 10

She came to test him with hard questions…

Solomon had answers for all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her.

Praise the LORD your God who delights in you and has placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the LORD'S eternal love for Israel, he has made you king…

Do you remember when you were in school and you would have had homework from the night before and one other student had all the answers? Did you think perhaps that know it all, she is always showing out for the teacher? Did you exclaim wow God delights in her?

Not me. I was the one thinking about what a know it all she was…Sad, but true! I just imagine this queen and we need to keep in mind that she was a queen, herself. Very in tune with people thinking she had answers and she had come to hear Solomon. She had some pretty tough questions in her royal treasure chest, but he knew all the answers.

Solomon was wise and God provided the answers. He provides the answers to the toughest test we may take and it isn't always one we signed up for, but He goes right along with us. He helps hold us up, He helps to comfort us, He gives us wisdom beyond our own understanding because He delights in us just like He did Solomon!

Wow, nothing is too hard for us because of the LORD! So next time, take the hard questions and remember nothing is too hard for the LORD and He is standing right beside you…

Sweet blessings,

Debbie