A beautiful blessing called healing.

To heal is to cure, that is the dictionary definition.  I believe that everyone needs some sort of healing.  It could be physical, mental, emotional or spiritual.  What would be your desire if it were granted to you? Sometimes we need healing in all the areas mentioned, sometimes only maybe in one or two.  I know for me the main one that I have been seeking the Lord for is spiritual healing and it has been granted, gradual but sure and I surely haven't arrived, it is a daily communion with God and surrendering to Him all the things in my life to do with me what He wills to do.

I memorized Psalms 103: 1-5, if you don't mind I would like to share it with you.  "Bless the Lord O my soul;  And all that is within me, bless His holy name!  Bless the Lord O my soul, and forget not all His benefits:  Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle's."

Now I call that a multitude of blessings, He forgives us, He heals us, He redeems our life from destruction, He crowns us with loving kindness and tender mercies,  satisfies our mouth with good things, and wants to renew our youth like the eagle's.  What else could we ask for?

If you will allow me, I will share an experience that I had just today.  If you are a personal friend, you know that I have severe osteoporosis and have broken all my vertebrae twice, multiple ribs, probably at least twenty, a hip and that is enough, believe me it is enough.  I cannot describe the pain.  Well, this last week end I came down with the flu and coughing always causes something to break and sure enough day before yesterday I broke a rib under my right arm, it was so painful yesterday, I couldn't straighten my back up at all and this morning as I was having worship I asked the Lord to please heal that rib it hurt so bad, and a little later as I was trying to work around the house a little, I noticed the pain was gone completely.  I said out loud, Thank You Lord for healing my  rib.  I keep thanking Him.  So He does hear and answer, I know I am nothing special but believe me that was special to me.

He will heal you, remember the verse in Psalms, first we bless the Lord and next we don't forget the benefits that we receive from Him. Then he forgives all our sins if we repent and forsake them.  Next He heals all our diseases and redeems us and pours out His loving kindness and tender mercies on us and gives us good things to eat and last but not least renews our life like the eagle's.  It may be when Jesus comes that my life is renewed like the eagle's, but that doesn't matter, it will be done and I believe it, how about you?

Until tomorrow I hope you are experiencing some kind of healing in your life, wish we could sit down and chat, I would love to visit with you in person.  Grandma Joan

Do you need a heart transplant?

What a wonderful thing a heart transplant is, it gives new life to a once not long lived worn out heart and body.  I don't know anyone personally who has had a heart transplant, but I have read stories of people who have and it is a miraculous thing, any organ transplant is miraculous.

Well, so is it in our spiritual life.  We need a new heart and indeed we are promised a new heart in Ezekiel 11:19,20  "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God."  This is a wonderful promise for those of us who definitely need a new spiritual heart transplant.  I am praying for a complete new heart transplant as you can tall by my blogs, I am in great need of one.

How do we get a new heart?  We need to show God that we are serious in being His child by repenting of our evil ways and turning away from them.  It seem simple enough, but true repentance is a sorrow for and a turning away from.  A complete surrender to God of all the thorns in our life that we know of and
 are keeping God from answering our prayers is what we need before we can have a complete heart transplant.  We must ask God for the transplant and believe that we receive it because He has promised.

The rest of the journey is called sanctification, as sins are revealed to us we need to go through the process again and again, but the joy of overcoming is a joy that is not possible to explain.  It brings peace and joy that nothing else can impart.  Joy in the Holy Spirit is not explainable, but we experience it.  So until tomorrow, I hope you experience the joy of a new heart transplant and the joy continues as long as you live.
Grandma Joan.

A thorn called selfishness

You may think you know all about selfishness, but I was hit with a jolt about selfishness this morning that I never thought of before.  So guess what?  I am going to share it with you.  That's what this blog is all about so please pay attention, it just might hit you square in the mind as it did me.  By mind, you will see what I mean.

Selfishness we think is an act.  And it is but not always.  I thought I was a pretty unselfish person but, then it hit me that we can think thoughts of selfishness, like, 'does anyone appreciate my work?' or 'does anyone say thank you for the things I do for them', or why don't they do this or that?' or 'why can't I have help with this or that?'  Now these were not my thoughts that I was thinking but in the long run they probably would have turned to that had God not prompted me of what I was thinking.  I want to be so close to God that He can direct my path from day to day and He has been doing that and I don't mind being reprimanded by Him at all.  How about you?

Now if you spoke to me like God does, it might cause a little stir in my mind and it would probably be a selfish stir, don't you think?  Oh, the selfishness of our nature, we need the Holy Spirit in our lives and stop living for self and living for others.  I am so guilty of this and I pray that it will be eradicated from my heart by the Great Physician, how about you?  This wasn't very long but oh, it hit right to the core of things for me.  If you read my blog yesterday, you know that I have the flu and couldn't write yesterday, so sorry but am with it a little more today so hope this has helped you draw a little closer to our Father in heaven and until tomorrow, I am still Grandma Joan.

So sorry that I can't blog tonight, I am very sick and so I am asking the prayers of those who read my blog.  Thank you very much.  Will try better tomorrow.  Grandma Joan

A beautiful spice - Tenderness

Tenderness is an emotional thing that lets you feel the other person's emotions just like compassion.  I believe it is a little different because it is a delicate emotion.  I am not saying that compassion is not delicate but it might not be as delicate as tenderness.

Tenderness shows in the eyes and on the face but especially in the eyes.  You can tell if a person has a tender regard for you by the way they look at you.  We can starve for the tender feelings of a companion or son or daughter or a good friend.  So why am I talking about tenderness?  A good question.  I don't believe that I have had the tenderness that I have needed for those I love.  How about you?  Is it something that is missing in your life?

The Bible says in Ephesians 4:32  "Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you."  Is that hard to do?  Not if we are filled with the love of the Spirit in our hearts. Perhaps we have never thought of it as a characteristic that was important but I can tell you as I look back on my life, it is a great gift of the Holy Spirit that we need to cultivate and use to reach the hearts of our family, friends and neighbors.

If you can use my experience as a stepping stone in life, please ask the Holy Spirit to develop the special, beautiful characteristic of tenderness in your heart towards others.  Now while you have your loved ones with you give them the beautiful gift of tenderness.  Until tomorrow.  Grandma Joan

A beautiful spice for our life - Compassion

Compassion means that we suffer with another and show mercy.  To me compassion is a beautiful way to express Christ to others.  I wish I could live my life over just because I could have saved a lot of grief by showing compassion to my children and my husband.  Do you feel the same way?  Our family needs to feel compassion from us even in their adulthood.  Our friends need compassion, those who are ill and in trouble need compassion.  Those who are deep in sin need our compassion.

God's compassion is described as:  overabundant, in Psalms 86:13,15; new every morning in Lamentations 3: 22,23; His compassion is great in Isaiah 54:7.  To be Christ like we need to have the compassion of Christ.

Have you ever suffered with someone when they were suffering?  That is compassion.  I remember when my neighbors lost their little toddler in the creek near their house and as soon as I heard, it was just a few minutes, I went to them and sat beside her on the couch and didn't say anything but we cried together it actually hurt me to see her hurting so bad.  I wish now that I had showed compassion all the time, to my children and husband and other family members and friends.

It's never too late to show compassion so why not start now at any age, God knows our hearts and will give us the compassion that we need to make someone else's life brighter and better so until tomorrow what do you say that we start a new life with the compassion of Christ for others.  Grandma Joan

A forever spice-the best gift

A spice you do not want to be without.  Please forgive me for slipping back to the  spices, but the thought came to me that maybe, just maybe the thorns were getting a little strong.  There is always hope and I certainly don't want to leave anyone without hope.

So for the forever spice, it will give you hope for today, tomorrow and eternity.  Can you find anything better than that? I don't think so.  The forever spice is the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Grace is defined as the unmerited favor of God.  Something that we cannot earn.  Christ earned it for us at the cross, His horrible suffering brought grace to you and me, without cost.  The best gift He could give was the life of His Son on the cross for you and me and this gift brought exceeding abundant grace to us freely given to over come all the thorns that creep up in our life.  Do you want some Bible texts for it?

Psalms 84:11  "For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
2 Corinthians 12:9 "And He said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.'"
Ephesians 1:7  "In Him we have redemption of sins, according to the riches of His grace.'

There are many more, if you have a concordance look them up, it is so encouraging.  May I elaborate just a little on grace?  His grace is sufficient for all our needs and is made perfect in our weakness.  We are redeemed from our sins, (thorns, as I've been calling them) according to the riches of His grace.

Ephesians 2:8  "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; is the gift of God."  Did you get that, it a gift from God, we don't earn it by any amount of works we do, it is a free gift.

Grace gives us overcoming power to weed out all the thorns in our character, is that not wonderful?  How do we know what a thorn is?  The Bible is full of instruction to put us on the road to eternal life, that is why Bible study is so important, otherwise, how would we know what thorns in our life are?  How would we know what God expects of us?  His Word is full of instruction if we would only study it and believe what it says.  Remember the thorn of Unbelief?  We must believe if we would receive.

I hope this has been more encouraging to you then the last few blogs, sorry, I didn't me to leave you in a ditch of despair.  There is always hope for the one searching for truth.  So until tomorrow, 'May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all."   Amen. 1Corinthians 13:14.    Grandma Joan

Another thorn, impure words.

I am amazed at the words that come out of the mouths of even people that call themselves Christians.  God's name is used as if it were on the level of the filthy talk that some people use.  I can't  imagine how God must feel when He hears it flowing forth abundantly all around us.  It must hurt Him terribly, I know it does, because there is a commandment that says in Exodus 20, 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain because He will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.'

Then besides that being the worst, then there are all the  expletives of four letter words, and words that have no meaning at all.  Just 'by' words that people use to fill in their conversation.  Have you ever thought about all the words that are meaningless.  I heard someone say that only the ignorant use swear words and the sort because their language skills are not very good.  I don't know if that is true or not but something is wrong.

I pray that God will help us clean up our language and speak only words that mean something and not use all the filth that is out there today.  I have never heard so much filth in all my life, even on the internet it is bad.
I've been tempted to get off facebook because of the filth but that is the way I keep in touch with my family and friends so don't really want to relinquish the only social life I have at the moment.

So friends, lets help clean up the atmosphere of words in our surroundings and be good examples of clean speech to our friends and family and neighbors.  It may just be a small start but who knows how far it will go.

Until tomorrow have a good clean atmosphere and get the thorns out of our lives.  Grandma Joan

Another thorn called unbelief.

How is your faith today?  Do you really believe that God does what He has promised? Or are you filled with unbelief in His Word?  This is a good question for me and hope for you.  I know sometimes my faith seems so very weak, especially when I am going through a trial of some sort.

I remember the father that came to Jesus with his son and asking for healing and Jesus said to him, "All things are possible to him who believes, and immediately the father cried out, ' Lord I believe, help my unbelief'."  Mark 9:23,24.  "I believe, please help my unbelief" should be our prayer when our faith is feeble and God will strengthen our belief in Him.

The biggest test of our faith is, 'Do you believe that God can save you?'  Why would He want a sinner like me in heaven with Him for ever and ever?  The answer:  Because He loved you so much He was willing to give up His life for eternity to save you and me.  What kind of love is that? I dare say that we know nothing about that kind of love, generally speaking.  Yes there have been people that have given up there lives for others but are we willing to do that?  He wouldn't have paid such an expensive sacrifice for our souls had He not wanted us with Him forever.

So, what is the problem?  Matthew 13:58 says, "Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief."

How is your faith today?  Do you believe that God will hear and answer your prayers for your families salvation, for your health, for whatever your heart desires that is according to His will?  If not, then I suggest that you pray for your faith to be increased, He will answer that prayer if you are sincere in asking.  We must long for the Spirit to fill us and it is a promised blessing.  I suggest that if you will start anywhere in the Bible to read and take a red pencil and color all the promises you come across, your faith will increase as you read these promises and then read 2 Peter 1:2-4 and you will see that you will become a partaker of Christ's divine nature, by accepting these promises and believing they will be fulfilled in your life.

I want to be a partaker of His divine nature, don't you.  Please accept it as a promised blessing by trusting in His promises that He has given us in His Word.  It's a wonderful way to live.

I don't know what tomorrow will bring but God knows and so until tomorrow keep trusting and believing.
Grandma Joan

Another thorn in our pathway.

This thorn is equally damaging as yesterdays thorn, hostility.  This thorn can ruin families, it can separate friends, it can cause destruction in a marriage.  I have seen it in it's worse hideous form.  I am not talking about being jealous of good things or of being jealous of our relationship with God or anything that is good and noble.  I am talking about the form spoken of in the Bible.

Proverbs 27:4  "Wrath is cruel and anger a torrent but who can stand before jealousy?  And in 1 Corinthians  6:10 says covetous people will not enter the kingdom of heaven.  This is the kind of jealousy that kills love, and destroys marriages and friendships and can cause heartache in families.

I knew a man who wouldn't allow his wife to even have a woman friend and if one came around he would see to it that she never came back.  He was even jealous of her children, it was a divided home, both had children and it was miserable for the children.  I have seen it destroy marriages, because the man or wife cannot have friends of either sex just as a casual friend or be seen talking to them by the mate.  I guess you would call it a form of control, a miserable control.  Being jealous of the other person's parents or siblings 

causes heartache and separation in families.

Here are some thoughts that I gleaned on jealousy:

Jealousy is an attribute of Satan, displeases God, is a fruit of selfishness, gives rise to envy, grieves God, leads to unrest, dissatisfaction and unhappiness, is a poisonous plant sown by Satan, spirit of jealousy is as

cruel as the grave.

I told you it was a hideous thorn and needs surgery fast before it destroys.  It will destroy your own soul and then that of others if not given up.  The remedy?  Give it to God in complete surrender and repent of the past jealousy in your life and believe that you are forgiven when you ask God to forgive you.  It is wonderful to

get rid of these thorns in our life.  Jealousy is a terrible thing and I have seen so much of it in my life time and the results are never pretty, never.  We need the power of the Spirit in our life to live above these things that destroy.  If you are plagued with this thorn, please seek help from God and He will help you eradicate it from your heart.  May you be blessed this day and be happy in the Lord is my prayer for you.  So until tomorrow, Grandma Joan

Thorns in our pathway.

Yes, I mean thorns, there are so many, sometimes so many that we can't see the flowers strewn along the way.  I was thinking these past few days about an ugly thorn, worse than one on a rosebush.  It was a thorn in my life and was pricking me ever so often that I was miserable with the torment and pain it was causing.

I am going to discuss thorns in our life for the next few days in hopes that if any of you have any pricking,
cutting and causing pain that you could remove them from your flesh.  Ouch, they really do hurt, I am not kidding.  Actually, rose thorns poison me, they swell up and stay that way for quite a while.  Do you suppose that we might have something in our life like that?

Think about it, do you feel hostility towards anyone, anger, hatred, or the like?  Hostility is a horrible thorn and it can even become infected to the point of needing surgery from God to get it out.  The difference between God's surgery and man's is that it only takes a moment, (if we let it God do it) and we find that it is all gone and healed over so that you can't tell it was ever there.

He replaces our hostility with love, now I know that sounds like a hard task but let me tell you the easy way.
It is important that we separate the person from the sin in his life, or whatever brought on the hostility.  God loves the sinner, but hates the sin, so what we need to do is pray for the sinner and ask God to put love in our heart for them.  It will heal over and never leave a scar.  Isn't that easy?  Well, you might not think so because it has been there irritating you for a long time until it is infected and inflamed.  The pain that it has caused has been terrible, even to the point of ruining our lives sometimes,  how miserable we can be when we let hostility take over and love diminish.

Isn't it interesting that we let others ruin our lives for us and make us miserable?  Very interesting!!!
I have let God do some surgery on my heart and replace some hostility with love and it is amazing what His surgery can do.  Why not try it?  Until tomorrow for another thorn that might be causing you trouble, I will be right here.  Grandma Joan                   (PS  Sorry I missed yesterday, my son came home after being gone for two weeks and brought my sweet grandson with him.  How blessed I am, seeing the flowers again.)

Another vital remedy to crashes.

A quote from my favorite author: "Prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven's storehouse".  Do you believe that.  I do,  just think about it for a minute, Prayer is talking to God as to a friend. Faith is believing that He hears us, and a Key is something that we turn to unlock a door and of course Storehouse is  a Heaven full of blessings ready to be poured out in our lives.

So let's try that quote again, only in our own language.  I am talking to God as I would to a good friend and knowing that He hears me just as a friend would hear, and talking to God as a friend is the key that unlocks the door to all of Heaven's blessings.  Do you understand how awesome that is?  That helps me so much, and I am learning so much from these devotions that God is gracious enough to give me each day.

If this is the case and I know it is, then why am I so hesitant to talk to God?  Of course I am talking to myself and you are just listening in.  I can't answer that just now, I don't know why I am so hesitant, but I believe the reason is because of lack of faith, or find too much to do to take time, or wasting time on stupid things that have no meaning, and that would be me, I'm sure.

How about you, do you realize the power in all of this, it is beyond comprehension of my mind at least.  All of a sudden, I feel left out of great, great blessings, all because I don't take the time to talk to God like I should, what a disappointment in the years that have gone by and what I have missed out on, not all of the time.   But here and there throughout my life I have had close walks with God and then I crash and it seems to take so long for me to realize what has happened and what I am missing.  "God help me to be more constant in my prayer life and help me to take time to listen as well, my life will be so much better and have  so much more power to keep me from crashing and bringing reproach on Your name'  This is my prayer today and every day that God gives me breath.  How about you?

Can you identify with this, I hope so and also hope that my prayer will be your prayer as we gain ground to keep from crashing.  Until another remedy for crashing tomorrow.  Grandma Joan

One remedy for our crashes.

Today was a special day for me, it was my birthday and my daughter came up and spent the day with me and brought me a  bouquet of lilies all in bud so they are going to come out a little at a time and will be most beautiful and that's the way it is with our sin.  We confess them as the Lord shows them to us and we start budding as the flowers do each time we overcome something in our lives.

Life does become beautiful as we weed them out one by one as God comes in and does His housecleaning.
I am reading the Psalms every morning for my worship time and coloring all the promises I come across with the color red, it's a light color and a special marking pencil not a pen.  I color the prayers that I think pertain to my situation green and so on.  I read the prayers as if they were my prayers and it is so much more meaningful to me when I read the scriptures that way.

This is one thing I do to prevent crashes during the day.  It really does work, it keeps my mind on Jesus and what He has done for me.  I was surprised how many times the Psalms go over the journeys of the Israelites as they journeyed through the wilderness, so I really paid attention to those thoughts and how they applied to me.  Am I in rebellion as they were and if so, how?  This is what the scriptures are for, to help us in our life here to be better people and help others in the same way.  

You can start any place in the Bible and start reading and coloring the promises and prayers and see how they apply to you.  A lot of people start in Matthew and read through the New Testament, but I was impressed to start with the Psalms and I am glad I did because there is so much down to earth experiences of David and others that really helps in my experiences.  His heart was full of praises to God and prayers of confession and deliverance from enemies.  I don't feel that I have enemies but I sure need the praises and confessions and the prayers that he offered.

So try this one remedy and see if it keeps you steadfast and from falling.  It really draws us closer to Christ and gives us a real relationship with Him which is what keeps us from crashing.  It truly does.

I hope you have been helped by this one remedy to keep you from crashing.  It has helped me a lot.
Until tomorrow and I will share another remedy for our crashes.  Grandma Joan

Crashing makes us stronger if we let it.

I am  sure that as you have thought over your past life, you have seen some growth, if not Spiritually, probably in your maturity.  I know I have seen growth in both areas.  I have grown up Spiritually, and I have matured through the years, physically, mentally and emotionally.

So what causes us to grow, is it the experiences that we go through, or maybe the experiences of others that we have been close to and have learned from them.  I am sure all of us have learned from others mistakes, and from our own .  I call them crashes in life.  If we come down with an illness, we try to figure out how to combat it and usually we can change our lifestyle and that will help a lot.  I fell and broke my hip about eight or nine years ago and I have learned to be very careful that I don't break the other one or something else.  So we learn from life experiences how to cope, how to overcome, and how to live a good life free from crashes, at least crashing continually.

So when we crash, we can learn something from it and grow and mature into a well rounded Christian individual who loves to walk the Christian walk and live the Christian life.    So when you come right down to it crashing can make us stronger if we allow it to.  It can also destroy us if we allow it to, so it is really up to us what we do with our lives and how we live them.

What are you going to do with your crashes?  Let them make you stronger, or weaker?  It is up to you and me what we do with them and how we let them affect us.  I hope for the better, don't you?  Let's let them work in our life to make us a better person, one who lives a life of faith, hope and love and may God bless each of you as you let God do the working in you to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Until tomorrow have faith in God and hang on to His arm of faith.  Grandma Joan

What makes us crash and lose our spice of life?

Well, I am thinking that that is an absolute good question, what do you think?  I will speak to this from my own experience.  Hope it helps you a lot.

I understand that we need an enlightened conscience, certainly I do.  I know that all of us have areas in our life that needs cleaning up, right?   First off, I want to be an obedient child of God, don't you?  That is my goal in life and so there are some things that we know for sure are not His desire for us.


For example, where Adam and Eve fell, remember them taking an apple from the tree?  Well, that was the first sin and it was on appetite, and so according to that we need to overcome on appetite and in order to be enlightened on the subject we need God to tell us what part of appetite we need control of, too much food, not enough food, wrong kind of food, wrong drinking habits, not drinking enough water to keep our bodies hydrated, taking anything that we know is harmful to our bodies, or it could be snacking and wearing out our stomachs with keeping it working all the time.  Shame on me, I have been guilty, I told you these devotions were about me and I am sharing them with you.

I have noticed very clearly that as soon as I have violated my conscience, I crash, by that I mean, I am down and can't figure out why and then all of a sudden I realize what I have done.  What is the next thing I do?

I tell God how sorry I am and ask Him to forgive me and strengthen me so that I can become strong in that area.  Then I am back up again with a nice clean spicy life.  This can happen quite often, even on a daily basis if it is an ongoing bad habit and it takes time to gain the victory, UNLESS, we really trust God to take it from us and I have known people who have had instant victory, I have had that kind of victory on some things but I am an avid snacker and I guess you would say that I am hesitant in giving it up but I want to tell you it has been hard to do but I am sincere in my struggle and it has become less and less of a problem.

So friends, how about you?  Do you crash a lot or just once in a while?  Whatever your answer is, there is a solution and I know that you can get back up and go at it again and get rid of it, whatever it is.  So until tomorrow, please don't crash too hard and jump up and get your spicy life back, just like I suggested.  It's a great way to live life and not have stress to tear you down like crashes do.  Be victorious.  Grandma Joan

Spicing up.

I was thinking this morning about spices and was wondering where I got the idea that we could spice up our lives.  Perhaps it is because I was thinking I needed it and thought others my enjoy the idea.

When our food tastes a little bland, we add spice or herbs, I use herbs personally but anyway it causes our food to taste better and the flavor can really be enhanced.  Well, I was thinking that the same thing can apply to our lives, different characteristics can really enhance our lives if we are willing to change things around and add these spices that I have been talking about.  Sometimes it takes a lot of courage to change things and sometimes it is even scary specially if we don't know how or what to do about certain things that have become a habit.  I read somewhere if you do something for twenty days straight, you have formed a new habit, so we really can change our lives if we want to.

I want to.  I am determined to start a new life.  A new life in Christ and a new life in my living situation, as soon as God gives the go ahead.  He knows how much I need to change my living status and where He wants me to be.  He knows I need Christian friends and Christian fellowship and He also knows I love to do these devotions because He gives me all the ideas.

If you are a praying person, add me to your prayer list, I will pray for you even tho' I don't know who you are, I know someone is reading these devotions each day and I am happy that you are.  I know one person that is and I know that she is praying for me.  Thank you Kat.

Let's keep spicing up and I will think up some new spices or a new round of thinking tomorrow.  Until then  let's keep adding Christian spice to our lives each day and form new habits that enhance our Christian living.

Hoping that you are adding lots of Christian spice to your lives.  Grandma Joan

Can God's Promises Spice up our Life.

Promises of God is a subject that has no end, really, there is no end to His promises, at least for me.  I have to live by them to survive, and even then I don't repeat them like I should.  When you think of the Bible characters like Israel when they left Egypt, God did so many miracles for them all the way to the promised land and still they didn't believe Him and many had to die in the wilderness because of their unbelief.

One time quite a few years ago, I was helping my husband put a wood stove up on the hearth that he had just built and something popped in my back and I went down and about that time the pastor who was our friend dropped in and when he saw what happened he prayed for me.  Well, I spent 11 days on my back on the couch or in bed because it had caused my legs to be paralyzed.  On the eleventh day I was impressed to read Psalms 6 and it seemed to fit my situation to a tee.  So I laid there on the couch and contemplated my situation and the thought came to me, you need to be content just as you are and succumb to the idea that you cannot walk again.  So that is just what I did and instantly the pain was gone in my back and I sat up, then stood up and then fell back on the couch in total shock and my husband came in and I asked him to look at the big bulge on my spine and it was gone.  God is sooooo good.  That was 35-40 years ago and I have been walking ever since.  Verses 1-3 was the promise that I claimed and then let Him make the decision as to what He wanted to do.  I would say that that particular incident really spiced up my life a lot.
There have been other incidents similar to that and still my faith falters at times.  Why is that, I wonder.

I am thinking that I should be studying His promises on a daily basis and my faith would be strengthened a lot.  We need to keep our minds and hearts on His Promises.  It is written in 2 Peter 1:4.  Let me share with you what it says.  "By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Wouldn't you like to be a partaker of His divine nature, that sounds so beautiful, I know I am going to strive to study His promises so I may be a partaker of His nature.  How about you?  I can't think of anything better to do and this little devotional has really inspired me to better my life by spicing it up with His promises.  Thanks for letting me share this with you, now I am going to go and read the Promises, I need them and pray that I may be a partaker of His divine nature.  Will you join me?  I hope you do.
Until tomorrow.  Grandma Joan

Prayer a vital ingredient to your spice list

Is prayer a part of your life?  If not, then you aren't living your life to the fullest.  If you want a really full, satisfying life, then you need to include part of your day to prayer and reading His word, just 20 miinutes would be a sufficient start, and then as your relationship with God develops, you will want to spend more time with Him, it is a natural consequence of study and prayer.

I invite you to just give it a try, if 20 minutes is to much then start with just 10 minutes, but at least start somewhere.  For starts, ask God's blessing on your study and then try reading just a few verses in one of the gospels and let your mind absorb what it is saying to you, then ask God to help you understand how He wants you to apply it to your life.  As time goes on, it will get deep and you will be growing in Christ and you will want more and more of Him in your life.

Try memorizing scripture, it really helps when trials strike and you need strength to cope.  I just memorized Psalms 103: 1-5.  It has really encouraged me to read those kind of promises and have them fulfilled in my life.  Another promise I like is Jeremiah 29: 11-13, and then one of my very favorites is Ephesians 3: 14-19.

Prayer is really a very special ingredient to your spice list.  I can't live without it but I know that I need more time devoted to my worship time.  

There is a power that doesn't want us to spend time with Jesus and when we neglect our time with Him, we are letting the other power take over our lives and we are at the mercy of this dark power that is coming over our world today.  I am sure you know what I am talking about, I just don't like to mention his name.

I am asking you today to spend time with God each morning and your day will go so much better and you will be soooooo blessed.  Have a blessed day!  Grandma Joan

Count your many blessings, it can spice up your life.

Blessings are the gift of God's grace.  Everyone receives these blessings, but how many of them do we realize and Praise Him for?  There are so many, I am afraid to start listing them, because actually they could go on forever but to state a few, here are my blessings that you could start listing yours from or get the idea to start a list.  I think it is really important to list our Blessings everyday, it makes us more grateful and being grateful can boost our energy, happiness and all around health.

My Blessings:  A sound and loving relationship with God.
                       A wonderful family, wonderful friends, comfortable home, rain to water my gardens, sunshine to help my gardens grow, my health, eyesight, food, fresh air, water, heat when I need it, a good bed to sleep in, Mother's day flowers, cards and dinner today and I could go on but you've got the idea and so how about counting your blessings and see if it doesn't spice up your life a lot.

I try to write them down and add to them as I think of them, I think it is good for the soul, to count your blessings and name them one by one.  Then you can see what the Lord has done.  So start counting and see how many you can come up with.  Until tomorrow keep counting.  Grandma Joan
                 

How about some more Praise spice?

Yesterday we talked about Praising the Lord in the good times and even in the bad times, which is not easy to do but it does help us through them as we will find out as we practice praising.

Today, I am thinking of something that may be equally as hard but maybe not, it would be according to the way you were brought up.  If someone has a special talent and uses it to glorify God, don't you think that some honest praise might be encouraging to them?  Or if you hear a good sermon or talk that was really inspiring, don't you think a little praise would be appropriate?  I think so, sometimes we just need a little encouragement to keep it up.  I don't mean flattery, flattery is almost an insult, but honest praise is healthy for the person that needs it.

I remember someone in the past that was never praised or encouraged to keep up there good work and it never came to fruition.  They gave up completely.  What a tragedy to have talent but no one ever recognizes it and it goes to waste, or someone is jealous of the attention that you might be getting because of your talent and it causes you to throw in the towel, so to speak.  I am sure that that happens quite a few times.  You can be put down enough that you cannot rise above it, it happens so often, specially to children.  Honest praise is surely a gift that spices up the lives of children and adults as well so lets be more willing to praise honestly and lift the spirits of those who are really struggling to use their talents to glorify God.  I for one am going to try to give honest praise and lift others spirits.  So why don't you try it and see what happens?
Until tomorrow let's praise freely but not flatter. how about it?  Grandma Joan

Praise is a real spicy ingredient with lots of benefits.

I learned this lesson yesterday, that praise truly is a benefit to us in many ways. lets see if I can name some.
I am praising the Lord that He has given me this opportunity to share my faith with you.
I am praising the Lord that He is drawing me closer to Him day by day, through being able to share.
I praise the Lord for my precious family that loves me.
I praise the Lord for my friends at the Nursing Home that took such good care of my husband.
I praise the Lord for the beautiful weather we are having, which I believe is unusual for this time of year.
I am praising the Lord for all of my friends that are reading my devotional blog.  Thank you.

OK you get the idea now for something that startled me.

I learned that we should praise the Lord in trials and thank Him for them because they benefit us in unusual ways.  Like if we make it through them victoriously and are thankful for them, He probably has something better for us in the future.  One thing I know for sure is that we will have an eternal Home with Him forever.
We don't have to praise the Lord for the wrong that has happened but for the opportunity to overcome the trial that we are going through.

For example, I don't have to praise the Lord for the death of my husband but I can praise Him for His comforting hand on me and making me a better person for having to suffer in that way.  Which, by the way, I haven't gotten over it yet but I am well on my way and I am thankful that He has been by my side all the way.

Have you heard of praising the Lord for the pain you are in.  Now that is a tough one and I suffer pain every day, some days worse than others and I am going to start practicing praising Him for my pain, I am sure something good will come out of these praises, what do you think?  I say, let's try and see what happens.
I will let you know of any new progress so until tomorrow, PRAISE THE LORD!  Grandma  Joan

Is silence a spice in our life?

This doesn't sound like much of a spicy idea, does it?  There is the phrase that 'silence is golden'.  I guess you could say that in lots of incidences where it stops an argument, a fight or whatever might become out of control.  But does it spice up our life?

Yes, as a matter of fact it does.  When it comes to gossip, it is really spicy to not open your mouth and get involved in a conversation that is from down under.  I have learned that lesson more than once, one time I was about to say something to warn someone of what was in the future for them, something that someone told me and the thought came to me, 'you have said enough' and so I stopped right there.  I don't know why it was enough, but it was and I am glad I was obedient to the thought. I probably saved myself some heart-ache by listening.

Another time not too long ago, I was talking to a friend and a subject came up that we didn't agree on and so instead of countering with my ideas, I just kept silence and that was the end of it.  It really does spice up your life in many ways if we let silence rule in the right places.  I am thinking that 'silence really is golden in all the right places, what do you think and I also think we can stop maybe some real heartaches by our silence.  I don't think it is being rude to change to a cheerful subject or and get things going in a different direction.

I agree that there is a place for warnings, we don't want someone to get hurt for our lack of speaking up, or if you are listening  for the purpose of being a good listener and letting them get rid of a heavy burden that hurts, but not  passing it on as gossip.  Just listening in silence helps some people a lot, they need to unload.
If you can listen in silence and be trusted, you are a real friend indeed.

So why not spice up your life with listening and keeping silent and just letting someone unload their hurts on you and then take it to the Lord and unload it on Him, He is waiting for you to do that in everything.  I learned something today, how about you?  Let's try the silent method when it's needed.  OK?
Grandma Joan

Spice up your life by letting go and letting God take care of your problems.

Oh, how much I need to learn this lesson, it is a tough one and I was confronted with it today especially.  God seemed to say to me, "why don't you let Me take care of it?"  I was startled at the thought, I guess I thought that I was suppose to take care of it, the problem that is, but that shed a different light on it altogether.

How often do we concern ourselves with problems that are out of our control and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it, I mean I was really concerned to the point where I was feeling pretty low and when that thought came to me, great peace overcame my mind and I have been fine since.

Letting go and letting God, I have heard that phrase a lot of times but I don't think it ever crossed my mind until I realized what a wonderful thing it is to 'let go' and 'let God'.   "Why don't you let Me take care of it?"
Why wasn't I letting Him take care of it?  That is an excellent question and I am not sure I have the answer but I think it could be that I am trying to be an independent person since my husbands death and thinking that I need to take care of things.  I have been depending on my children to do things for me that I could probably do myself if I took the time to figure it out.

I guess you could say that some independence is OK while being dependent upon God for things that are out of our reach for solutions is probably the best thing we could do for ourselves.  I seem to have so much that is looming up that overwhelms me and "why don't you let Me take care of it?" is the greatest thing that has happened to me recently, it lifts the heaviest burdens and it feels so good to "let go and let God".

Tonight, I am asking you the question, 'Why don't you let God take care of it".  It's a great way to face the future.  So my advice to you would be, 'Let go and Let God"  How about it?    See you tomorrow.  Grandma Joan

Spice up your life with joy

Now that is quite a challenge!!  I want you to know that the devotionals that I am doing on my blog are meant for me but as I am sharing them with you I am being blessed. I wish the same for you.  I didn't know that sharing was such a blessing, and I am glad to be able to do it.  I have a friend that made my blog for me and it is blessing her too, so in return may I point you to her blog: katsretirementjourney.blogspot.com.  You might like it, I know I do, I can keep up on her days this way, but don't tell her.

Now to get to the Spice of Joy, I really, really like to be happy, don't you?  Since my husband passed away a year ago, it has been hard for me to feel joy in my heart, it has been a lonely time and many tears after 63 years of marriage.  So now to find the joy and happiness that I need in my life is what I am searching for, and one of things that is bringing me joy is this blog, thank you for reading it.  I love to give but haven't had much to give outside of myself but have been receiving joy by giving of my time and love and making good meals for my son and helping my granddaughter by keeping her little boy some each week.  So there are many ways we can receive joy in our hearts and just talking about it is making me happy.  Also, I find joy in gardening, specially weeding, it always looks so nice when I am done.  I also love to plant too, but not sure how much planting I will do this year, but will try to get some in.

I am sure you can think of things that bring you joy too,  I love to be with my family too, that brings me lots of joy so I hope you find some ideas to build joy in your heart, maybe try some of my ideas.  It's a great way to spice up your life and you will not regret the time you take to do it.

Psalms 16:11  "You will show me the path of life;  In your presence is fullness of joy;  At your right hand are pleasures forever more."  This is the way to find REAL joy.  Grandma Joan

Spice up your life with a forgiving spirit.

I believe that forgiveness is an important part of our life,  because we all become offended at one time or another and sometimes it happens too frequently.  I would like to suggest that a forgiving spirit is a wonderful spirit to have and it truly does make life better and easier and also brings peace of mind.  When we can forgive, we become peacemakers and I would really like to be a peacemaker, I am not sure just how to go about it but I am going to give it some serious thought.

There is one part of forgiving that I think could use some real good attention, you probably can't guess what it is.  It is learning to forgive yourself, I almost think that is the hardest thing to do and takes a lot of prayer and serious discipline.  To forgive ourselves, first we have to control our thoughts and not let them run rampant on our past mistakes.  I know it's hard, I am guilty as anyone.  But I have been dealing with it and with my thoughts over past mistakes and I truly think it has a lot to do with our emotional health and even possibly physical health.  We must forgive ourselves, if God can forgive us, why can't we forgive ourselves, or maybe we are not sure that God forgives us.  In 1John 1:9 we are told that God is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  So why can't we forgive ourselves.

Let's give our past mistakes to Jesus and let Him cast them in the depths of the sea to be remembered no more.  I know it is hard to forget them, but we can form new habits and in time we won't dwell on them.
We can also form new thought patterns too which is where it all starts.  So how about working on forgiving ourselves and just maybe it will be easier to forgive others, it's worth a try.  Until tomorrow, Grandma Joan

Love, a real spicy ingredient to life.

I know, I talked about love a few days ago, but love is really the most important ingredient in any ones life.  I am not talking about the love that's going around today, for many it isn't more than a strong sentimental feeling and passed off as love.  I am talking about love being a power in our life to lift others up and help them on their life's journey.  I am talking about a love that forgives and forgets and goes forward regardless of the offence, love that makes your eyes speak love and your face tells of your love.  Love that never cuts another person down or embarrasses them needlessly.  A love that lets others know that you are their friend and you care about them.

Wouldn't you like to be loved like that?  Me too!  It's hard to come by these days, not much love being passed around that compares to this kind of love.  But there is one thing I know and that is that we can be the starting point of this kind of love and make someone's life the better for it, I would like to be guilty of that wouldn't you?  You know that our words can tell a story about our love for others or they can tell another story which we wouldn't be so proud of, right?

So how about starting right now and let someone know that you love them, by kind words, a kind act or a
beautiful smile or even a loving look?  How about it?  Let's start today and see what we can do to change the world around us, my world is quite small but I can think of something I can do, I'm sure.

See you tomorrow right here.  Grandma Joan

P.S.  You can email me and let me know if you like my blogs or don't.  Please show your love and be kind.

Another spice of life: Perseverance

Perseverance means to persist at something regardless of the obstacles we face.  Now that is a challenge!  Of course if you are having fun doing it, it doesn't seem like a challenge but it can still take work and perseverance.  Oh, the joy of the accomplishment when it is done.

I love to weed my garden, flowers or vegetables, it takes perseverance until it's done but oh how great they look when all the weeds are gone.  I've noticed that some new ones are coming up so will have to get my gloves on and persevere again until they are clean  again.

I was thinking about the weeds in my heart, is it a joy to weed them out or is it hard to face them and get rid of them.  The Bible lists some of the weeds as: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries and such like.  Wow!  That sounds awful, and I am sure that most of you don't have all or maybe  even  half of them but I can be pretty certain that all of us have had at least one or more sometime in our life that we have had to weed out.

Now sometimes you just can't pull out a weed, it has to be dug out and sometimes you can't get all of the root and you have to kill the rest of the root to keep it from coming back  So what do we do with the weeds in our heart that we can't get rid of?  We turn them over to the One who can remove them once and for all.  All it takes is surrendering them to Him and let Him do the work.  Is that easy or not?  Not always, sometimes surrendering is the toughest part of weeding.  In the garden we sometimes have to use weed killers and the weed killer for our heart is Jesus, yes, Jesus, He is very good at it and in fact supremely good at it and so good at it that when the seeds are blown around and want to take root again, He blows them away because it is His garden now and He doesn't want weeds in it of any kind.

How is the garden of your heart, do you think you can spice up your life with a little perseverance?  I hope so, it does take dedication to keep our heart clean and healthy so let's use some perseverance and weed out the old things that do not belong there.  How about it?   Until tomorrow take care of the garden of your heart.   Grandma Joan

Spice up again? How about some Peace?

I love a peaceful heart and mind, how about you?  We need peace personally, in our homes, in our churches, in our communities and in the world as a whole.  Wouldn't you agree?  The dictionary defines peace as 'the absence of war or other hostilities.'  I am thinking that it would be wonderful if we always had peace of mind, wouldn't that be great?  I believe that I am getting there, of course anything takes time and I am sure that time is what everything takes.  

I am concerned that there is not much peace of mind these days or peace in the home, what do you think?  I believe that it is caused by lack of love for Jesus in the home and filling the mind with thoughts of Him.  Then of course that would result in more peace in the church, community and world, it all takes time and I am not sure there is time enough left for the world to find peace except when Jesus comes again.

I hope that my little short blogs each day are helping you in your Christian walk, we need all the help we can get and I would love to help others spice up their lives with some great peace.  I hope you are finding that peace that you need to combat the problems that exist each day.  Spend some time with God in study of His Word and talking to Him each morning and I am sure the peace that passes all understanding will be yours to enjoy.  Here is another spice you can try and again you might like it.  It's worked wonders for me.

See you tomorrow.  Grandma Joan

Encouragement, the spice of life.

How do you feel when you are discouraged?  Down and out, hopeless, worthless. I had better quit right there, it sounds terrible doesn't it?  Then the discouraged person, is listless, tired, bored, and you name it.  Then when you are tired, bored and listless, you might have a headache, tummy ache, or some other ache  or pain.  Then what is the next step, maybe see the doctor and find out what is terribly wrong with you.

I haven't gone that far with my discouragements but close.  So what is the solution?  I believe that if we try to encourage others we will encourage ourselves.  I am not talking about flattery, flattery is meaningless because it is usually not true.  I am talking about a compliment, a word of honest praise, a little gift of remembrance, anything to encourage someone in their journey through life. I think it is a great idea to give a card for no special occasion, but just to tell the person how much they mean to you, it certainly encourages me and then when holidays come and I get more cards of encouragement, it really lifts my spirits.  It's a wonderful way to bless others and encourage them.

Encouragements really do spice up our lives just like discouragements put us down in the dumps, so let's be an encourager (is that a word, if not I just made it one) and spice up someone's life today, tomorrow and keep on being an encourager and you will come up out of the dumps and be encouraged too.  Try it, I think you will like the results.   Until  tomorrow, Grandma Joan

Love - The transforming power in our life.

Do you like to be loved, of course you do and so do I.  It is hard to believe that some never feel the love that they need to become loving and lovable people.  But it is true, all over the world there are children and adults that have never been loved or even understand it, it is a cold, unfeeling world that they live in, but I know that missionaries are making a big difference in so many lives the world around, even here in this United States.

Is there someone whom you can reach out and touch with a loving hand, or give them a kind word to make their day, or how about handing a sack lunch to a street person with a note inside or tell a friend how much you love and appreciate them and then of course, don't forget the family and relatives, they need to know that you love them too, and I know some will be shocked and others will feel all warm and cozy inside and others it will just plain make their day.

When we let the light of God's love penetrate deep into our hearts, it transforms us into a better person, mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, the last being the best of all, because if we become a healthier person spiritually, we will become healthier mentally, emotionally and physically.  I kind of like that idea, it is a simple remedy for all the ills of life, we might even live a little longer, I am hoping for another twenty years but if not I will be satisfied with whatever God grants me.  Do you want to give it a try, why not, it could mean a world of difference in your life, it has in mine and I am not through with it yet, I like passing on my love to those around me, I am not real good at it yet but sure want to get good at it.  Give it a try, it is something else you might like.  See you tomorrow, Grandma Joan