* 5 Sides *

There are 5 sides to this starfish-- This white starfish is actually one of my favorite kinds! We have more than a few in the house... :) 

I was thinking of different ideas to write about tonight when I looked up at the wall and saw my starfish hanging out. I thought of some things that might help me through my days and I think that it will help you too... 5 sides, 5 different meaning...

Side 1:: ASK-- It's a funny thing... running around from day to day scrambling everywhere to get things done-- kids to school, work on time, tiny lunch breaks, grocery shopping, car maintenance... etc. Well, how many times in your chaos of a day do you "ASK"for God's help? A simple "God help me" can make all the difference. 

Side 2:: SEEK-- I chose "SEEK" because I am guilty of it too-- I don't really seek God's face as much as I should. I ask... What does it really mean to "seek" something? I personally define seeking as looking hard-- like concentrating on something that I want to find.. you know, like the game Hide and Seek? God wants us to find (seek) Him-- not just when we are having a bad day- but in the good ones too- Find Him/ Seek Him and say thank you. Say thank you for the bad times and good times-- everything God brings you too-- there is joy in it somewhere.

Side 3:: PRAY-- Prayer is commonly misunderstood in my opinion. A lot of people seem to think that you are SUPPOSE TO pray at certain times- See, the key word I used was "suppose to"-- Pray is something that should come out of your heart- pure and offered before God... not a "work". It's like saying as a Christian you must do this.... you have to do that... Whatever your "must do" and "have to" is... (ex: you must work in children's church.... or you have to be an usher today) these are all works-- see you don't have to DO anything-- these should be done with a pure heart-- not a heart that is burdened and bogged down. You shouldn't have to let out a deep burdened sigh before doing these things. Same with prayer... prayer is a communication between you and God-- your relationship builds as you speak to Him- Prayer is a fancy word for having a conversation with your Beloved. So what am I saying? Pray/ talk to God all day... at night... in the morning... before a meal... right now... Doesn't have to be all formal-- He just wants your pure heart.

Side 4:: LOVE-- Jesus loves you so much that He died for you!! There are a lot of different scriptures that point to salvation-- but I really love Romans 5. It starts to summarize what Jesus did for us. Here, let me share...

 ¹ Since we have been made right with God by our faith, we have^[a] peace with God. This happened through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² who through our faith^[b] has brought us into that blessing of God's grace that we now enjoy. And we are happy because of the hope we have of sharing God's glory. ³ We also have joy with our troubles, because we know that these troubles produce patience.⁴ And patience produces character, and character produces hope.⁵ And this hope will never disappoint us, because God has poured out his love to fill our hearts. He gave us his love through the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to us.

 ⁶ When we were unable to help ourselves, at the right time, Christ died for us, although we were living against God. ⁷ Very few people will die to save the life of someone else. Although perhaps for a good person someone might possibly die.⁸ But God shows his great love for us in this way: Christ died for us while we were still sinners.

 ⁹ So through Christ we will surely be saved from God's anger, because we have been made right with God by the blood of Christ's death. ¹⁰ While we were God's enemies, he made us his friends through the death of his Son. Surely, now that we are his friends, he will save us through his Son's life. ¹¹ And not only that, but now we are also very happy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we are now God's friends again.

Lots of good nuggets in there hua?! See how it says Jesus died for you and me even when we were still sinners? I mean who does that?!! HE DID!!! 

Side 5:: WALK-- Your walk is YOUR walk-- and is like no one else's. Please please do not let others tell you how your personal walk with Jesus should be. Don't let them influence you. Let Jesus influence you. If you are having a problem- its difficult (i know because im guilty) try going to God first. Let Him take over the situation. The more you seek Him, the more you love Him, the more you pray/talk with Him... the closer you will become with Him. He longs to have a long long relationship with you because Jesus --- well, He loves you so stinkin much!!!!! lol 

You can totally come up with what your 5 sides mean-- I just chose some that meant something to me. 

Take care of you :)

Hard Times... OH POOP

These are the times that you wish that would just GO AWAY and STAY AWAY-- It's really hard to go through and experience these nasty days. Only one moment can set it off-- and BOOM!! There it goes..... kaplunk.

It's really difficult to know that you bust your butt working day in and day out- and all you ask at the end of the week that the bills are paid and the family is taken care of. Well, it's really hard when that hard, long, long work week comes to an end and you find out the bills are paid-- but how much is leftover? Yes, the bills are paid PRAISE GOD- and then it comes to getting the things you need for the week... ummmm food? With me at home-- it's easy... $10 bucks and I'm okay (enough to get salad and veggies & then I can eat on stuff at the house) Andy on the other end... he's out on that long hot road daily eating what he can-- but when you go to the store and get a pack of water, canned items, tuna, crackers, snacks... the $$ adds up. It's so hard-- we gotta get those bills paid and get my meds and my acupuncture... things that are super important... but they are swallowing us!!! OH MAN I AM READY FOR A BREATHE please GOD save us!!!

I lay all that ground work to say something that bothers me from time to time-- I know Im not the only one... When I think about not feeling good, or being sick, or whatever--- it makes me think about my past. Having Leukemia & a Bone Marrow Transplant {okay that is a blog in itself for later :)} and being sick all those years... makes me so upset sometimes. I feel like something is ALWAYS wrong-- it's so annoying- I guess if I took more care and payed more attention to health and myself I could prevent all this CRAP-- GRRRRR!!!!

But then- just then... I have a bright light turned on-- all of my suffering- all of my pain-- God is with me. ALWAYS wit me-- always plowing the way-- always providing for us-- no matter what the circumstances look like-- He WILL COME THROUGH.

It's so difficult sometimes to see the silver lining isn't it? So HARD-- and it doesn't always work out as we want it to either-- and THAT itself is hard.

So---

• Thank God in all circumstances
• Ask Him for help and guidance 
• EXPECT Him to help you, uphold you, and give you HIS SUPERNATURAL strength
• Remember that not everyday is a good day-- but you can choose to have a good day
• Think positive and keep moving forward

Hope this helped someone!! lol

Take care of you :)