A Happy Way to start a New Day....

...was when I opened up my email and saw a note from India! Yes, India....while living in Albany, Georgia in a spacious apartment, our upstairs neighbors were from India. We were privileged to meet their parents and then in the summer meet some more family members. We shared so much of each others culture during our stay in Albany. It was a true blessing! But that summer I got to spend time with their niece who was 15. She is a jewel! We use to sit outside on the porch , sip sweet tea and I would listen as she explained the history of India. To hear a 15 yr old talk about her country's history was amazing. I have never heard an American student talk with so much passion about this country. We both shared our beliefs of God without discourse. I ate her food and she ate mine. I so enjoyed getting to know this beautiful , passionate teenager. They spent 8 wks in the states and when they got back from a trip to Disney World, we went out looking for a scrape book for her to remember her trip to America. The time came for them to leave and go back home. We shared tears of joy and tears of sorrow. I was gonna miss this sweet person. Before they got into the car she told me that I would always be her American Grandma! WOW!~ So today I received a email from my adopted granddaughter from India and as she explained her busyness and school exams and holiday....I couldn't help but notice the very large print at the bottom of the page..Love to my AMERICAN GRANDMA ! She still remembers the last time we spoke...awesome, my day has started out well. (maybe this is how we settle peace around the world....just sincerely adopted one another, love changes all)

Hovering n stones......(sounds heavy to me)

.....I listened in Joyce Meyers this morning and had to write down what I heard. You now how we can read scripture many times and according to what we are dealing with in life, things just pop up? Well today was one of those days for me. She started out reading Genesis 1:1-2, easy right? "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep and the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters." Wait, I had to read it again...the Spirit of God was hovering? WOW, really, how long have I read this chapter to myself and to the children I have taught over the years yet did not notice that the Spirit was hovering? Some translations say "moving," but hovering caught my attention. God hovers over us just waiting for us to join Him. Do angels hover over us just waiting for us to get to work for His glory? Am I lazy, because I am sure many times God hovered way to long over me. I am so thankful that He never tires of me. That His love is so deep, He never gets impatient waiting for me to recognize what He has in store for me.

Ezekiel 37:2-14 talks about dry bones, very dry bones and how the Holy Spirit revealed to Ezekiel the Prophet, to tell Israel to "Come Alive." Am I hearing God right? When I feel that hope is gone- hear God, (He's hovering) COME ALIVE. V-4 says that God will put His Spirit in me, He will settle Himself within me, this is my victory...I am alive in Christ. But do I show it? No amount of sitting in a pew, listening to a pastor or watching an instructional video will take me to the level of victory alone.

I found out that Mark 4:24 says that the measure (of thought & study) I give (to the truth of God's word) will be measured (thru virtue and knowledge) back to me. So how big is my measuring cup? Hint: satan will always try to steal that victory from me. When I fill myself daily with God's word, meditate on it, tell myself that God is hovering over me in love, then satan cannot take it from me.....the measure I use will be given back to me!

Romans 4:17 (God) "who gives life to the dead & causes things into being that do not exist" Like: promising Abram that he will be the "father of the nations"....a boy named David promised to be King.....Mary a young teenage girl promised to carry the Son of God.....my life that was full of blemishes and pain......your life! Life! Stones/boulders that block God from hovering is our choice. Hovering over my life has been stones of sin, hurt, trust issues, esteem, fears. I have to consciencely give God my faith, my love and trust. It can't just be said like repetition, it must be shown, acted out each day that I fight these issues.

I decided to change the particulars of hovering ...I chose to have the Spirit hover over me. Quoting Joyce Meyes: "Jesus had the habit of telling the crippled to get up, of telling the blind to go......Jesus tells us to do the unseemly impossible in order to see if we are willing to trust Him. Putting faith, that we say we have, into action. Stop complaining and roll away those stones. satan is the thief..he is disguised as procrastination! I will not allow satan to hold onto whatever those stones represent in my life. God is hovering over me, waiting to reveal purpose, love, direction for all my days. I do not want to waste any of them . So grateful Lord, thank you.