Something I've learned, that trials are not always about you and making you stronger, though they can make you stronger. Trials may also be about the other party who is being given an opportunity to make better choices to go down the narrow path to the narrow gate. 

Shhh, it's not a secret to listen to your intuition. If you really listen and "hear" what your are being told, it isn't your "intuition" after all, it is really the Holy Spirit. You can't hear him if your own voice is too loud. That feeling you get is the Spirit using your body to clue you in so you can stop and listen.  It's okay to take small moments and really listen, the cost is not nearly as much as it might cost you if you do not listen. Listening is not so much an art as it is a choice, what action will you choose to do - to listen or to ignore?

Only with real love does a person flourish and blossom. Without the warmth of love, the inside of a person dies just like a seed. Without light and the right temperature a seed growing is dwarfed, its possibilities to grow are limited. The best way to start receiving love is to give it first. Seek and ye shall find-Give love and you will find love but you have to give it before you get it. That is what makes it unconditional love because you gave it first. If you "expect" love in return, then the love you thought you gave was never a gift - it was something with strings attached.

As we go through the day we are presented with many choices. Choices we have control over and then those that are dependent upon the choices of others. If we are attempting to change our lives then it will not change if we keep make the same choices (headed down the wide path to the wide gate.) it is hard to do but we should really be... taking the narrow path to the narrow gate where there are more limited choices to make and really, it is not so dependent upon the choices of others because we've already decided upon the hard choices. In order to know which path to take just remember to pray for discernment, wisdom, and clarity. It really takes all three to make the right decision, not just "any" decision. God gave us free will to have the lives we want but happiness is not the same as joy. Happiness is rather fleeting, like our moods. Joy is that peace you feel when no matter what could go wrong in a day, it doesn't matter, your life is in a good place, your faith is strong, you have high hopes for all of your days, and you have God's gift of love in your life. It is your perspective to choose how you live your life. Now, take ownership of your life and use the tools at hand to choose well for your life.

Fear is like a reverse, it pulls you backwards instead of propelling you forward. Even standing in one place is good as long as you don't move backwards. If you start down the reverse path, you better stop and figure out what you are doing wrong. It is not only bad for you but you just never know who is watching you ...and perhaps making the same mistake. Turn fear into excitement about moving forward, instead make it a journey. You never know who you will meet or what you will do that will change your life forever. Or perhaps even realizing what you will miss if you never took that chance. Fear is an escape for opportunity.

We do not become more than we are on our own, God builds us. Think of it like God's basic training, then there is another level training and another, etc. The better you get, the more you are challenged the better you become. One does not become more for themselves alone because we are all part of the body of Christ, each part needing the other to work. If one part aches another steps in and helps out a little. If we hoard those gifts, then we will never see our true rewards.

This one is sort of heavy and quite poignant to my own life right now - the discernment of choices - paths to follow.  Just because someone else chooses a path does not mean that you have to follow suit.  It might be better to take the higher harder road.  It is the one not often taken - this is the path of virtue with God.  The other choice ahead is the one of loneliness, the path of suffering without the support of God - this is the wide path that leads to the wide gate.  I prefer the narrow path to the narrow gate and while I know it is not the easy path - nothing ever worth anything ever came easy. Start the path of choice making with a decision to pray for discernment and wisdom about what to do.  God will lend his hand in telling you what choices to make. Trust and have faith in Him.

We do not always know when challenges come our way but we can prepare for them and anticipate them, recognize the signs that we need to see. This requires a special gift to discern what is really happening at the time and I can tell you that practice in "seeing" helps a lot. Practice makes us stronger and the more we are tested the more we know that we are God's soldiers in training for the bigger fight. All the way through we just keep leaning on Him to get us through the "challenge." 

I heard a new definition for a "lie" and that is what is called "perspective adjustment." It's okay to go down the path as long as it does not involve a perspective adjustment or "lie". What this means is that when you choose a side and inevitably you will have to choose, choose with wisdom and discernment. Wisdom and discernment are gifts, it takes practice and it is perfectly okay to make mistakes and likely that too will be the case. Why? Because we are humans and sometimes we just do not see things quite so clearly. How to address all this and avoid dilemmas you ask? Pray - just pray about everything and you'll never go wrong. Have faith and trust in prayer.

How does one show love - by doing. Doing/Showing is active not a passive feeling or action. Loving means doing because you can't show love by keeping it in your head or keeping it in your heart. If love isn't shared then it isn't love, it's just a thought needing to be acted upon. Bad thing about that thought of love is that if it stays a thought then it means you never gave love which also means that you never receive love either. If we do not "do" love with people then what is it that we are doing with God?

He gives us exactly what we need when we need it. The rest doesn't really matter. What we don't have now we grow into because if we started out soaring right out of the nest we wouldn't have enough energy to make the duration. The goal for the duration is to make it through the pearly gates. Until we get there we just keep learning, accepting and being thankful for the gifts we are given along the way.

I think it is important to remember who is in control, who provides security in our lives. Really, we are in control of nothing of significance and everything significant is a gift or blessing of some sort - it is grace at work. The more we realize that we are not to live of ourselves but for Him the sooner we will figure out that is better to live in the world than to be of the world in a false sense of living (security).

We often say that odd saying "the gift of giving" and it isn't the easiest saying to understand. It is a gift to be able to give is what it is really saying. The ability to give to another is a gift in and of itself. When you realize that the "gift" is a gift from God then it has that much more significance. For we would not have that gift if it were not for God's grace. We must act responsibly and continue giving as he would give. For what we give eventually comes back to us - be it good or bad...

Living the story of David is not easy but I certainly can appreciate his courage and strength. David counted on his Father being bigger than Goliath even though Goliath thought he was bigger than David. No wonder it only took a little pea size rock to knock Goliath off. Goliath misjudged the size of his opponent.

I'm finding my life that I'm having to reach within and find new ground that I've never experienced before.  I'm finding that this ground is unfamiliar territory. Somehow I think that God is raising the bar to help me learn how to experience new challenges in life. The only way to get better is to jump higher and find new boundaries. God knows my limits better than I do which means I just have to trust that He is going to be there to catch me. How about you, is your faith that strong? Does it go that high? If the bar isn't being raised in your life, maybe you need to see why it is stuck.

Hope is the promise of Jesus to walk beside us and carry our burdens all the time. More often than not we wander away and he is the steadfast one in the journey. The farther away we are, the more lost we feel. The closer we get to him, the more confident and assured we feel the promise of his Hope. Again, there were no exceptions given to hope, just like faith and love, there are no exceptions. Remember though that the greatest of these is love. Embrace the love, find security in Him.

Some of the best teaching moments are the ones we wish we hadn't had to go through.  Sometimes though, we go through things so that we can teach someone else something.  All the while, we need loads of discernment, wisdom, and prayer especially in going through all situations, not just the difficult ones. This learning about difficulties and embracing goodness, it's what my life has been about. Probably each of you too.  How about embracing the good and THANKING Him for the grace in each and every moment!

He's been carrying me a lot this past year. Sometimes I feel like I have been really really heavy. In human terms it is easy to think this way. But then I have to remember who it is that is carrying me and then I remember that with Him nothing is impossible because all things are possible!  He carries all my weight (burdens) and will for everyone else in the world if we LET HIM!  That is the key point - if we LET HIM because He can't if we don't ask Him. He makes no "assumptions" about our desires and needs even though He knows them, we have to humble ourselves and ask for help. It really is not that hard of a concept to grasp.  Ask and ye shall receive.

I'm not superwoman or supermom.  Far be it but I do know this, something I learned a while back - the only stupid question is the one you didn't ask.  Sometimes you just have to humble yourself and ask for help.  It isn't easy to do and I realize this but I also found this to be true as well - nothing worth anything can ever come to life if it comes too easy.  Why? Because we are supposed to appreciate what we are given.  The first place to start when asking for help in ANYTHING (notice that there are no exceptions here) - start with God.  He knows what is on your heart but if you don't take the time to share with him what you need then "You" are still in control and He isn't. He can't give you something you don't ask for.  All we have to do is ask Him.  That my friends isn't hard to do. The hard thing is releasing our pride to ask.  Still need to hold onto being shy?  Think again...you just might be surprised by the results.  Give to Him and He gives back - can't beat a better deal!

It's nice to know that you can have a positive effect on someone's life. The best part is when you give it because you want to not because you have to. The beauty is when you find the grace and purpose in having a relationship with them to begin with. The result is happiness and joy aka love.

If you had to think for just a minute about what kind of plant you are in God's garden, what kind of plant would you be?

• Would you be a flower? 
• Would you be a tree?
• Would you be a fruit?
• Would you be a vegetable?
• Would you be a bush or shrub?
• Or a cactus?
• How about a weed?  

All plants have a purpose in the garden.  There are obvious indicators such as the view of a rose, the edibility of the fruit born.  Many trees, shrubs, and cacti have healing properties.  All plants have some purpose.  Even weeds have a purpose in a garden.  If not, then why would there be seeds for these "weeds" which seem to constantly annoy us as we garden and attempt to have beautifully groomed lawns?  

I look forward to your responses and please be specific. If you feel like posting why then I would love to see why you see yourself as a particular kind of plant. I suppose it has not been difficult in figuring out what kind of plant I see myself.  Not sure how to explain the thorns though, I just like the flowers so let's pretend that my rose bush has no thorns.

Wondering what is on God's radar for me today. No matter what it is though, there will be grace and mercy in it whether I see it or not. I am thankful for all that He does for me. Be it trials or joyous celebrations, all have a purpose in His plans for me.  See the Bible version at Jer 29:11. 

You see, we have no clue as to what God sees that each of us need to endure to become better people. He really wishes that none of us have "bad" days but if we have no bad days then how do we appreciate the good days that we have? We have to then have a mix of both to make us well rounded - more complete. Change keeps us prepared for the accidents that happen in life. For without change, we become monotonous in life, incapable of having self motivation to keep moving forward. We just keep spinning our wheels going nowhere - stuck in neutral. Can you imagine being stuck in neutral your entire life?

The sad thing is that the Jews of Egypt with Moses did that very thing for 70 years. For 70 years they wandered in the desert lost. Incapable of turning to God for direction to use Him as their GPS = God Purposing System.  It is time that we all use our GPS and put Him to good use in our lives. We just might be surprised to see where He takes us.

If we got everything we wanted all the time, we wouldn't ever know what we needed.

It could be something as small as a smile, a bigger tip to the waiter, buying someone's groceries at the store, paying a utility bill. All are varying in cost$ but all equally worthy in their true value - a gift is a gift. A smile costs nothing, but what does it cost if you don't smile? Do you want to find out? Whatever it is, give because giving is good, not because you have to. It's easy and you never know when what you've given will come back as that blessing you need.