God is with you...

Last night we went to bible study and I had a pretty neat experience that I had to share with you. I read yesterday in my daily bible reading about Enoch and being taken up. Last night the devotional was about this same man and his life. I love it when God does little things like that! I love it when He shows me through such small things that He is there and He is listening! Wow. Some people don't often stop and look for God in the small things but I have found lately more and more that it is a MUST for me! I have to do this to stay strong in my faith. God walks with us and it's time that we not only knew it but acknowledged it as well. He walks with us and He carries us! How wonderful is that?!

Just a little something that I felt like I needed to share with you today. When was the last time that you looked for God in every moment of your life? I had stopped doing that this past week but no more. :)

Have a Blessed Thursday!

Love,
Julie

order of events...

Charlie & I have decided to go with the chronological reading of the Bible (the order in which the books happened in history). If any of you want to join us, we will start tomorrow. You can email me if you would like to join us at mama2clairelily@gmail.com.

Have a great week & a blessed New Year!

Love,
Julie

*We will be using the KJV, the NIV and the NLT as we read. We just like to compare the different translations. We also will be using blueletterbible.com and biblegateway.com, searchGod'sword-Heartlight.org, and some others I will list later for commentary. Hope you join us! :)

Prayers

"They are no more twain, but one flesh.What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder"

(Matthew 19:6).

This verse is weighing heavy on my mind right now. I would ask that you pray for my family at this moment and throughout the next few weeks. I believe that this decision that has been made and the pain and anger that are felt can be reversed and healed. I believe that our God has that extraordinary power. Please pray fervently. I cannot give more details, just please pray for healing and restoration in my family. I don't know what else to do except give it to God in prayer. So, I am asking you to please, please join me there. There is power in numbers and the "fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much"..

Love you all & thank you so much,

Julie

*Just to let you know, this is not about Charlie & I, our marriage is not in trouble. This does however, directly involve us, as it is a close member of our family. Just letting you know so you don't worry about us.

The Picture that you see..

Just wanted to explain the meaning behind the new picture in my blog header! This is the beautiful scenic part of the country where we live, it is also the area that Charlie and I spent MANY dates and the exact location where Charlie proposed to me!! Isn't it gorgeous?

I believe that it truly represents God's amazing Power and the beauty of all His creation. Enjoy the picture!

Love,
Julie

My negative nature

First of all, I have a confession to make. I have a tendency to be negative! Shocking, isn't it?! =)

I struggle with this and believe that I have finally found quite a bit of freedom in this area. However, for most of my life, I have struggled with being negative. I truly believe that it came out of habit and the influence of some people in my life.

Do you know anyone who you really dread being around? Because of the attitude and the atmosphere they create with their negative and critical spirit? I do, it is someone very close to me, and it is very hard to overcome the negative atmosphere this person creates in my life. So much that I have often times seen myself becoming just like this person. And I that makes me really sad.=(

I think, that when we are so automatically negative, it is a result of our lack of FAITH. This person I know rarely if ever truly places their life in God's hands. They may say they do and even advise you to do so with your life but by their actions, attitude and negative spirit, you can tell that they haven't taken that step themselves.

So, the past few days I have really struggled to do away with a negative mindset and focus on positive thoughts. I have tried to be encouraging and loving and considerate. I have worked hard at being there for my husband and my children instead of dwelling in my own pit. And today, I feel like I have experienced a breakthrough at last!!! My sister gave me some insight in an email this morning and that combined with the words I read in Scripture at 4 am helped me to see this:

"Do all things without complaining and disputing" Philippians 2:14

If we complain, it shows that we don't have faith in God. It shows and proves that we don't believe that God is capable of handling our problems. That we don't believe that He is in charge. It also shows that we don't pray oftentimes because we don't trust God to answer or to answer like we want. It shows that we are not praying oftentimes for this very reason. This is so very difficult to admit in my own life and I do not want to be this way or fall back into this way of living any longer! Lord, help me to be different! Help me to be positive! Help me to trust in YOU!!!!!

This is just something I had to journal about today. Hope it helped someone. Just getting it down has helped me so much already. Thanks for reading and I would appreciate your prayers.

Love,
Julie

Some GREAT things to mention

I still can not get my picture to scan so I may have to take another one with my old junky digital and pray that it loads! =)

Check out my new blog design! I got tired of the boring ones that blogger offered so I decided to use this, FREE, site!!! I LOVE IT!!!! =)

Anyway, I have LOTS to do today so, I have to get off of the computer! Happy Wednesday, everyone!!!

*Congratulations to my cousin, James Treat on his baptism last Sunday!! I am so proud of you, Jim-bo!!!!!

*And GREAT job, Mike on your first lesson Sunday, it was hard to do, I am sure but you handled it like a pro!

God is doing so many great things right now I am just truly overwhelmed with gladness!! HE is so good!!!!

Have a great wednesday!