Invest for FREE!

What a great weekend! We had an extra long celebration for A, who turned ten last Saturday. Yes, ten! Where did all those years go?

After a long Friday at the office, A and I finally got to catch Hunger Games. I haven't read the book (I started reading Saturday) so I didn't quite know what to expect. Turns out the story line was too disturbing for A (Yes, I've been hiding under a rock and didn't bother reading reviews) and I wasn't quite prepared with her death questions. But God makes all things beautiful! He meant that movie for good. On the way home, I took her Qs as an opportunity to discuss eternity and salvation, and how a relationship with Jesus was necessary for her to overcome death. A has been attending Kids Church and her foundation, although fairly new (a few years), is pretty solid. But our talk about the movie (and a clearer view of how it is to die, yes, thanks to Hunger Games O_o) made her realize what all those Sunday service messages meant. I thank God for the chance to discuss this further with A! What an answered prayer!

Do you pray for your kids? Your loved ones? Do you pray for their salvation? God promises He will save your household from eternal death. All you need to do is believe in Him - that He is Lord and Savior - the only way to Heaven. I have been praying for my kids, for R, and I know this is the best investment I could ever give them. What's more, it is FREE. 

Beautiful Sunday Service yesterday!

Yesterday, as we capped A's birthday weekend with Church, Pastor D confirmed this with his talk! The message this Sunday was about investing in the future of your kids - and how investing in their faith can spell life or death for them. His call to action was for everyone to get on their knees and pray for future generations. To protect them from the sins of their fathers (and mothers!) and introducing them to God. A sound investment that comes FREE, after all, prayer entails nothing but a willing heart open to God.

"My people are being destroyed because they don't know me. Since you priests refuse to know me, I refuse to recognize you as my priests. Since you have forgotten the laws of your God, I will forget to bless your children." - Hosea 4:6 (NLT)

If you've been reading my blog for years, you will remember this post on Generational Curses.

"...I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected--even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me." - Exodus 20:5 (NLT)

This applies to my little family today, and I have been praying (hard!) for curses to be broken. For my kids to live according to God's will, for God to spare them from punishment. It takes more than just praying for that curse to break though.

You have to walk with God. You can't continue sinning and expect God to save your family from the consequences of your sin. Repent and turn away from evil.

Your children have to know the One, True God that saved them from sin. How do you keep them from the curse of their father's sin, if you don't teach them to love God and shun sin themselves? 

If your family means anything to you, link them to the Church, introduce them to God, invest in their faith!

I've often wondered how my life would have turned out if I didn't know the Lord - if I didn't have parents who took time out to pray for me and my salvation. I've been in the pits, and who knows how I would have dealt with life's circumstances if I didn't have God? I recently got to talk to an old friend, and he had asked how it was with the R situation. After a lengthy update as I haven't seen him in years (we were officemates - R, him and me), he exclaimed how great it was that I had God to hold on to. That my parents took time to pray for me. He wondered aloud about possibilities, had I not been a child of God. I am most grateful for that fact - I am thankful that God has His Eyes on me. And that His mercy allows me to live the way He has planned. I am where I am today, because my parents took time to kneel down and pray for me.

"But the love of the LORD remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children’s children of those who are faithful to his covenant, of those who obey his commandments!" - Psalm 103:17-18

ARE YOU STORING MERCY FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS? PRAY FOR YOUR CHILDREN. PRAY FOR YOUR FAMILY. MAKE THAT SOUND (and FREE!) INVESTMENT! IT'S THE BEST GIFT YOU CAN EVER GIVE.

~~~

Happy Birthday, A! Momma loves you! God has His Eyes on you. He will never leave you! He has you in the Palm of His Hand. If you stumble and fall, remember this: His mercies are new every morning.

A Little Bit of Heaven on Earth

This is my cousin (her dad and my mom are cousins), S, and her husband D! Our pastor!

This is the kind of marriage one gets when one waits for God's best! What an inspiration!

Seasons of a Woman's Life

February is love month, but I'd like to think we should celebrate love everyday :).

To celebrate the season of love, the series in church is all about, yep, you guessed it, LOVE. Yesterday, Pastor Dennis and his wife Thammie talked about marriage.

I got to church early (right after the 230pm service) and got RL to sleep while waiting for the next service. I was really, really tired and sleepy. I was trying so hard not to doze off. After praise and worship, Pastor Jason and his wife Kat led the congregation in prayer (and I asked God to keep me awake!). The feeling after was quite a surprise. I felt so hyper after the prayer, it was like drinking 3 cups of coffee! Thank you for that quick answer, Lord.

I guess the Lord wanted me to hear the message yesterday. And I know it was indeed for me. Pastor Dennis started the message and half an hour later, he had Thammie talk to the women in the theatre. It was Thammie's first time to give the message (not the first time on stage as she regularly leads Worship), and she's quite a good speaker.

SEASONS

Anyone goes through different seasons in life. A woman's would be single-hood, courtship, engagement, married life, motherhood with little kids, etc. Different seasons. Some stay in a certain season for years. Others breeze through seasons! I remember attending a talk by Kay Warren (wife of Rick Warren of Purpose Driven Life) many years ago at CCF and she talked specifically on this. She shares that regardless of the season of life you are in, God is in control. The way to get through each season is to find joy regardless of the season you are in.

I AM IN A SEASON OF SEPARATION. HOW DO I FIND JOY IN THAT?

Thammie, in her message yesterday, shares the same thing as Warren does, but goes further by quoting John 10:10. Regardless of the season you are in, God wants you to experience life to the full. "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." Jesus came for that very reason - that we may live our life to the fullest! The bible does not say "when you finally find the man of your dreams, you will live life to the full," nor does it say "once your husband finally changes and comes back, you find fulfillment." Find Jesus, and eventually joy, in your mess of a marriage!

Two things struck me the most in Thammie's message.

1) WE MUST BE READY AT ANY GIVEN TIME. The Lord spreads out opportunities for us in a given lifetime. We must always be ready, regardless of the season we're in. Sometimes, the opportunity is there, but we miss it, because we are not ready to receive it. Case in point: R's brush with death circa August 2009. It was a chance for him to change. A chance for us to get back together. However, now that I think about it, I WASN'T READY. Look at how we still bicker at the trivial stuff. I haven't changed. The change has to come from me first. Why so? Because I am the Christian and I should know better. Sadly, I missed the boat. I praise God for making me realize this during Thammie's message!

2) BEAUTY COMES FROM A HEART OVERFLOWING WITH LOVE. This was a footnote Thammie mentioned. She talked about how people in love "bloomed". How brides seem to glow, and how this all boils down to the high feeling one gets when "in love". I take it as the best beauty advice I've ever heard. I remember when R and I first got together, and how our officemates would comment on how I glowed. I suppose the best glow would come from the One who gives beauty at its best. I vow to find that glow in falling in love with my God.

I may be in a season of melancholy (well, that's the popular emotion that goes along with separation), but I choose joy over sadness! Follow me on my journey as I find beauty and purpose in the season God has blessed me with.

HE IS IN CONTROL.