Being Joyful Always!

As I began my day last Sunday morning at 5:00, I so got excited to welcome SPRING! This was a beast of a winter here in the coastal part of the state but the warmer temperatures have started making their way in and March 20, 2011, officially began the spring season! Of course, today it feels as though winter wants to make an ugly return, but we will hope and pray that it will be short-lived! What better way to spend that first day of spring than being in the house of the Lord singing his praises and listening intently to his Word! I love this time of the year! Flowers are blooming, grass is turning green, the weather is just about perfect and it seems as though everyone has spring fever! We have so many things to be thankful for and many things to look forward to. It almost seems as though many of us have revisited some goals that we made at the beginning of the year. Summer is just a mere 3 months away and our motivation usually takes a giant leap forward when the weather turns warmer! Spring has a way of bringing in fresh excitement, anticipation, motivation and lots of goals. What struck me though was how to keep that excitement and motivation going when the newness wears off and things start getting harder and not so exciting anymore. We all know that those times do come. We start feeling a little less joyful and less motivated and all those things that were so “wonderful” and “fresh” at the beginning don’t look so promising anymore. Situations arise and stand to steal our joy!

I thought about the passage of scripture in I Thessalonians 5:16-18 that says;

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

My joy should not falter because of my circumstances. My joy comes from the Lord! I should be in a constant attitude of prayer and be thankful for my every breath; even when that breath is hard to breathe. We will all face a lack of motivation and enthusiasm at some point, but we should bathe it in prayer and give thanks to God because we DO have so much to be thankful for.

As we spring forward into this beautiful season, may we “be joyful always, pray continually and give thanks in all circumstances.” God is so good and I pray for growth in each and every one of us like never before!

Have a restful evening and know you are loved!

Blessings~

Allison

~ Gardening ~

As a young child going to Sunday school, I learned all kinds of great songs of Bible truths. One that has stuck with me is a song that I still sing with my own kids and one that I love to hear the preschoolers at SHCA sing. It goes like this:

“Read your Bible, pray everyday, pray everyday, pray everyday, read your Bible, pray everyday and you’ll grow, grow, grow”.

Pretty simple words, big concept! I have never been a person who has a “green thumb”. As a matter of fact, if I walk by a plant in the store I believe I can hear faint cries coming from them. Cries of fear that I might take them home where they will die a slow and painful death! LOL! Plants in my care have such a short life span so; I leave that up to my husband. He has the green thumb in the family and I am grateful for that! He can tend the plants and help them grow and flourish. He knows exactly the water and sunlight they will need to grow. I really admire people with that quality. Matt & the kids have decided to plant a small garden this year and they are already looking to see exactly what goodies they want to grow. This is a big moment in our home! A garden is a big responsibility and my husband has made it clear that I am to stay away from it! HAHA!

I began to think about the care a plant needs. Well, first you have to plant the seeds, and then make sure they get the water, sunlight and care they need. If any of those things are missing, or not given enough of, then the plants cannot maintain their beauty or essence and they will in most cases, die. When you begin to think about our lives as Christians, we need the same things. First we start as little seeds in our Christian lives, but as we begin to infuse ourselves with God’s Word we get nourishment. As we pray to our Father and trust him completely, we get more nourishment and we begin to grow. Growth is necessary to further the Kingdom of God.

Jeremiah 17:7-9 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

I want to continually grow in my walk with the Lord. I want to always have leaves that are green and never fail to bear fruit. That means I need to put all my confidence in my Lord. I can only have confidence in him if I know him. That comes through his Word and through fellowship with him in prayer. When times of drought come, I want to bear fruit because the Master Gardener has tended my garden.

Begin this week by allowing God to tend your garden through his Word and through your intimate time with him in prayer. Just as this sweet preschool Bible song says, “Read your Bible pray everyday and you’ll grow, grow, grow”! We can be beautiful for him and produce that sweet, delicious fruit that brings him glory!

Blessings~

Allison

~ Run ~

I have never been a “runner”, but when I began my weight loss journey 3 ½ years ago, I set a personal goal to run a 5K after reaching my weight goal. Matt and I started training in March of 2009 to run in the Burgaw Blueberry Festival 5K in June of the same year. I can honestly say that was one of the most difficult things, physically, I have ever done. Now keep in mind that I have also given birth twice, and that was still one of the hardest things I had ever done! lol! I had never been much of an athlete. I did cheerleading in school, but as far as running and real endurance sports, I steered pretty clear of those. So, I decided to challenge myself to run that 5K. My wonderful husband so sweetly offered to run with me and I was very grateful he did. So, that March, we laced up our running shoes and off we went. We started out doing a walk/run (more walk than run) and I can tell you that at the beginning, I thought there was no way that I could do it. I would get about ½ a mile and then have to walk. It was very frustrating for me, but we kept going. Everyday we would get out there and challenge ourselves to go a little bit farther. Well, finally got up to about 2 miles running! Was it still difficult? YES! but not as much as in the beginning. We were training our minds, as well as our bodies to keep going. We had our eyes on the goal of 3.1 miles and with perseverance, training, and determination we got there.

As I would run, scripture would go through my mind and it was a great time to recite those passages that God brought forth. One particular night, I had a moment of frustration on the road because I was struggling to keep going and I was about ready to “throw in the towel”. I began to think about Paul and his last letter to Timothy. As he sat in prison writing this last letter he was preparing for his death. Not a death of disease or tragedy, but of execution for following his Master. Now, I am in no way comparing my hardships with running with Paul’s persecution, but God did show me that no matter what hardships come my way, to finish what I’ve started and to finish strong. Paul’s letter was so intimate and passionate about keeping the faith, holding firm to the sound doctrine, and how to endure hardships. He encourages Timothy to find his strength in God’s Word and to tell the world. He was “passing on the torch”. What a treasure this must have been for Timothy from his mentor. The verse that I kept reciting was:

II Timothy 4:7 ”I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Well, we did finish our first 5K and that was our goal! Were we the fastest? NO! But we finished what we set out to do and we finished strong! Praise God! Wherever we are in our lives, we are to finish strong! In our jobs, our marriages, our families, our ministries and our relationships, we are to lean on God to guide our paths. We will endure hardships, face persecution, and at times want to throw our hands up, but will we be able to say that we have fought the fight, finished the race and kept the faith? It seems as though we are all facing challenges right now. Whether they are personal, spiritual, physical or emotional, we all face them. Just as our Pastor preached this past Sunday, we WILL face trials, it is inevitable (James 1:2). But, God will see us through and it is through the journey of those trials where we can grow and strengthen our faith in our wonderful Lord. For many of us, we are going through a trial at this moment. What encouragement to know that we are not alone! Don’t give up! Just as our brother Paul finished strong in the race, we too can finish strong. I am praying this week that we will all run the race God has set before us, and with his strength and power, we WILL finish strong.

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”

Blessings~aa

Allison