Gateways to Joy

'W hat happens when women say yes to God?"  That's the title of one of my favorite books written by Lysa Terkerust. Today, I'm expanding that question to not only include women, but I am asking it to Christians:  "What happens when we say yes to God?" I have a very limited perspective of what I believe is possible when I say yes to God.  That is very hard to admit because I know the endless possibilities with God.  However, my actions show that though I say I believe in endless possibilities, I don't believe enough.  I don't believe to the point of accepting and doing all of what He shows me. Instead I straddle the fence and tell Him to, "Wait."   My actions stand more in agreement with what I don't believe than what I believe .  My mind and heart easily take over in thoughts and daydream when I think about all of the possibilities with God.  There is limitless possibilities in an array of areas for the child of God who accep...

Y ou know I talk a lot about my faith on this blog.  And I work very hard at putting my faith in action.  The one area in my life where I always feel I fall short is when it comes to helping those who I am not close to.  Those who are not in my immediate family or extended church family. Sure.  If someone calls me specifically and shares a need and if I am able to help I do.  But I don't over-extend myself enough.  I'm way too comfortable in my lifestyle and my indulgences.  God continues to press this on my heart, and for whatever reason I keep brushing it off.  But as I've been telling my husband all week.  I feel inspired to action.  Inspired to do something to help the children with Compassion Bloggers. I don't think God has allowed me to become a member of Compassion Bloggers just to blog about "a cause."  Their cause.  No.  He wants me to do more. At first I told myself that the reason I hadn...

'W hen I see the blood I will pass over you." ~ Exodus 12:13 God looked upon the blood and was reconciled.  Israel was safe. God looked upon the blood of Christ and was reconciled.  You and I are safe. Lately I've been thinking a lot about death, blood and salvation.  Just this morning my mother and I talked about two of her brothers who have passed away and them not knowing the Lord. I've only walked with the Lord for 20 years.  I didn't grow up in a Christ-centered home.  Not even a religious home, really.  A good moral home, yes. In fact, my father instilled in me at a very early age that  "Good girls didn't have sex outside of marriage or before they were married." "A good girl,"  that's exactly how I wanted my father to see me.  Even up until he died, a week ago, I wanted him to see me as good.  It was good with a flare though.  I always told him that I wasn't perfect, that I was a sinner. After I accept...

Gratitude is defined most simply as 'the condition of being thankful.  ... gratitude is literally one of the few things that can measurably change peoples' lives.'  But, and here's the self-help angle, 'gratitude (or thankfulness) is an effortful state to create and maintain.  It is not for the intellectually lethargic.' ... preliminary findings suggest that those who regularly practice grateful thinking do reap emotional, physical, and interpersonal benefits. ... Grateful people experience higher levels of positive emotions such as joy, enthusiasm, love, happiness, and optimism ... The practice of gratitude as a discipline protects a person from the destructive impulses of envy, resentment, greed and bitterness.'  That cultivating gratitude can fight depression is no small deal, as antidepressants have become the most prescribed medication in the nation.  Not only all that, but being grateful can, or might, also protect us from heart attacks, lessen p...

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word. ~ Ephesians 5:25 Marriage a "holy union." A precious relationship that needs tender, self-sacrificing care.  SELF-SACRIFICING CARE , men that's what a lot of us, WOMEN, want to see more of.  PROVIDING & WORKING is only part of it ...it's a good part, but not the only part. We want you to show ... compassion understanding honesty integrity loyalty empathy kindness gentleness patience friendliness attentiveness Love:  compassion, devotion.  In the NT, usually the Gr word agape', which focuses on benevolent (marked or disposed to doing good) actions toward another person, rather than on feelings for the person.  Often described as an unconditional, sacrificial love which does what is in the best interest of another, without expecting anything in return....

T oday we will continue looking at how Jesus 'let go' of His ways, and submitted to the will of His Father to bring salvation to mankind.  We're continuing our Walk With Him Wednesday participating with Ann Voskamp and community over at A Holy Experience. " 'Jesus went beyond the ancient tradition, says Chuck Swindoll, after the blessing, He passed to His disciples the broken fragments of bread and told them, 'Take, eat; this is My body.'  The bread was now not just a reminder of 'the swiftness of God's deliverance' from Egyptian bondage; it was linked definitively to Jesus, the Bread of Life, and His impending death. Jesus had given a new significance to the Passover bread, superseding the ancient meaning with the concept that His brokenness, His death, would secure salvation for all time.  Just as the Passover signified, 'the greatest redemptive event' of the Old Testament and looked forward to 'the coming of the Messianic a...

`F ulfillment in its truest sense is to be found in surrender and obedience.  We need only look at two models for proof:  Eve, whose motto was 'My will be done,' who thus brought sorrow and death to the world, and Mary, who said, 'They will be done,' and by willingly simply to be somebodies mother, cooperated with God in bringing salvation to the world.  No woman has ever been so highly exalted." ~ Elisabeth Elliot The other day I went rummaging through our garage and came across a box with all of my old journals and books.  I found a journal where I'd written out this quote and a prayer that I use to pray daily for my children.  I can't remember the name of the book (I'll look it up), but I know the author is Donna Otto.  I remember the book too well as it was a life-saver for me during the beginning years of my ministry as a stay-at-home mom, and the giving of my body for babies.   I was on my third child when I came across this book....

`A Christian is spiritual {mature} when he sees everything from God's viewpoint.  The ability to weigh all things in the divine scale and place the same value upon them as God does is the mark of a Spirit-filled life. God looks at and through at the same time.  His gaze does not rest on the surface but penetrates to the true meaning of things. The carnal {immature} Christian looks at an object or a situation, but because he does not see through it he is elated or cast down by what he sees.  The spiritual man is able to look through things as God looks and think of them as God thinks.  He insists on seeing all things as God sees them even if it humbles him and exposes his ignorance to the point of real pain." ~ A.W. Tozer How do you look? Prepare for Easter: "I AM Passover Collection."  Get yourself & family ready in heart for Easter: some good reading on 'how to.'

D aughters singing.  Brushes are their microphones.  Scarves are their hair. Father and son sit closely, heads hurdled almost together, discussing the basketball game: The Heats defeat.  Losing to the Magic (think that's the name).  I sit at dinner table taking it all in: the scenery.  I'm imploding. Quietness.  Stillness. "Please Lord let them grab hold of the cup.  Your cup." You tell me all the time: "Angie, be still and know that I am God." ~ Ps. 46:10 "Why won't you tell them?" I confess.  I'm worried silly about my family. The culprits?  Facebook.  Texting and Television.   I see what I've stayed home to do...to teach ...  suddenly being snatched away.  Eyes no longer sees the quiet heart of home.  And even sadder, they, my family are not having to stray from home for the experience.   Father tells the daughter,"Be on HIGH alert."  Satan is trying to grasp ...

'M y soul is satisfied as marrow and fatness."  Because of this Lord... because of the satisfaction You bring me, the comfort You give to me, the love You express toward me... You loving me when I walk with You, Your love for me when I talk with you... when You and I sit late night—early morning communing.  When I'm so wrapped up in me, my life and what I'm doing that I don't walk with You or talk with You. In spite of this...my falls and my short-comings.  You , O' Lord and only You wait for me, even still.  You wait for me  with outstretch hands in the fullness of Your Love and the fullness of Your grace.  You wait.   You help.  You love. So shall my mouth, dear Father—as long as it holds the breath You have given...so shall my breath offer praises with the utmost lips of joy to you. Thank You O' God my Father.

H ere are a few things you can do if you are interested in waking up to your blessings...awaken from your daily slumber.  Starting your One thousand gift lists.  Awakening...really waking up to your senses helps you experience beauty...His beauty all around you. Interested in getting started counting gifts? 1.  Ask God to open your eyes and make your heart sensitive to your surroundings, your world so that you begin to see your gifts—your life, through a new perspective. 2.  Thank Him for what He shows you and write it down. Gift Lists # 86-99 Letting God lead my blog and do what He wants with it.  Follow His lead. Rubbing & massaging husbands aching back The writing down of poems audio Bible preparing to juice fruit for family in the mornings.  Peeling oranges. sun shining...glare so bright listening to birds listening to chattering children quaint coffee shops cooking, listening to Bible reading while kids play outside ...

R ight into the heavenly.  Did you know giving thanks could do that?  She told us, made us aware of it: "All is grace."  And now seems like I'm seeing it everywhere: Grace.  Gratitude.  Beauty.  Gifts...more abundantly. Remember, "The difference is Christ in me, not a different set of circumstances." ~ Elisabeth Elliot

Y ou might call it ugly.  Unattractive, but to us it's where the laughter, the talks and the love takes place.   The training of the next generation.   Husband and wife lovingly loving.  It's our home.  Once we called it "beautiful," but then my husband hired someone who really wasn't worthy of the work.  The door-to-door salesman understands how hard it is to provide for family on commissions.  Some day's, he knows, you make zero.  Nothing.  So when he met a guy who said he would transform our home —a guy who was out of work, down on his luck, he hired him wanting to help him out. Well, our tile got pulled up before we had new tile to put down.   The door with the oval glass that I loved so much got taken down and replaced.  The glass screen that I'd wanted for so long is put in incorrectly .  The painting of the walls...fireplace was started on, but was never completed....

W eekend rest, I doubt if you're in an area that is having beautiful weather, this weekend, you'll be one to stay inside (your home anyway).  Rest is what I wish for you this weekend, even if you find that rest by doing... moving, being away from your home.  Maybe this weekend will find you taking: ~ a stroll ... ~ reading a book ... ~ going out to eat ... Whatever your hands find to do this weekend—don't forget to see the beauty in your life.  The beauty around you.  The gifts.  His gifts.  Count them. Thank Him for them.  Thank Him for life, the breathing—inhaling, exhaling.  Pay attention to your surroundings, the smiles, the laughter, the joy, the peace, the sun or the snow, your love one, fellowship, solitude. Let His beauty & grace be a reflection of what you display, and as Ann Voskamp says, "Dare to live fully right where you are." "Come, rest awhile, and let us idly stray In glimmering vall...

I t's dark out. Quite in here.  The only sound I hear is the refrigerator humming and my fingers hitting the keys on the computer.  Early morning...late nights—I adore them.  It is in these moments that I am able to reflect on the day gone by... I thank Him for the gifts. One of my greatest delights: being able to open His Word to meditate.  Think.  Ponder.  Sit still. My reading comes from the book of Mark: "In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place and was praying." ~ Mark 1:35 ~ My List # 38 - 50 Thankful for my alone time.  A time to rekindle, refocus and think. Thankful for life ... health & the ability to reflect Thankful for warm beverages A glowing fire lotion after a good bath! early morning rising & late nights. my husbands kindness prayer The duties which fulfill my days. grace Christian radio The ability "to live fully right wher...