Have you ever felt like the desires of your heart are a distant thought throughout your day to day “daily grind?”

It’s so easy to get bogged down in our normal daily routines with our long lists of commitments, care taking, communication, and yes, even conflicts! We care deeply about being faithful to all of our responsibilities. We work diligently at putting forth our best effort in all of these areas, to never leave anyone wanting. Much of the time however, it feels like it’s our desires that get sidelined.  God cares very much about granting our hearts desires.

Psalm 20:4 says,

“May He grant your heart’s desires and make all your plans succeed.”

God’s desire is that our heart’s desires are fulfilled! However, it’s not as simple as a snap of our fingers or a blink of our eyes.

How then can our heart’s desires be fulfilled when we are daily overwhelmed with meeting the needs of others and the demands of this daily life?

God answers this question clearly and without reserve just a few Psalms later!

“Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you your heart’s desires.”

Psalm 37:4

Putting God first, and committing our ways to His ways, is the ONLY way to have our heart’s desires fulfilled.

Thinking of others before we think of ourselves; calling or texting that friend before we check our social media accounts; visiting that neighbor or family member even though it may be difficult; attending that Bible study or Life Group even after a long day or week; turning off the TV and communicating one on one with your spouse after a long, exhausting day; attending church every weekend even at the end of a busy week; serving faithfully on that committee that needs your assistance to meet the needs of others; committing the first minutes of your day to your prayer and devotion with God, even though the demands of the day are looming.

These are all choices each of us are faced with every single day and week of our lives. Taking delight in the Lord and placing Him as the top priority in our life, promises to give us our heart’s desires. Our heart’s desires are all around us when we put God first. Open your eyes, look around see that they are in your grasp.

This last week, brought that realization to my life, in a fresh wind, as He blessed me all week with the desire’s of my heart!

Friday day date  with my one and only!

Overnight visit from my Son and Daughter-in-Law!

Visiting my Daughter and Son-in-Law and blessing them so they could go serve at Jr High Winter Camp together!

Weekend full of fun, joy, and laughter with  my precious grand babies!

Our heart’s desires are gifts from God! When we put Him first He puts them into our lives in abundance! Open your eyes each and every day, they are all around us!

Truth Bomb

God gives us our heart’s desires!

Some days we get to experience them in abundance, like I had the blessing of doing so this week! Remember however, that my previous weeks felt endless at times and very lonely. Not tangibly filled with my heart’s desires. Yet, pressing forward to put God first in my life absolutely fulfills His plan and purposes for it. God’ does promise to us does not necessarily mean that we daily experience our desires, but they do mean that the gift and blessing of our hearts desires are there. In the pursuit of God’s plans and purposes, may our commitment to taking delight in the journey continue to form the desire’s of our hearts!

I’ll see you back here next week for March Madness! No bets will be made, no money will be spent, but we will look into the Madness of His Word!

Speak Truth Love

Have you ever sat beside a fire on a cold, damp night and relied on it’s flame for your warmth? Or, maybe you have found yourself curled up by a toasty fireplace and depended on the flame for comfort. Or, possibly you have even been stranded somewhere for a time, out camping or outdoors somewhere, where you have relied on the flames of a fire to sustain you with light until you were safely back home again.

In any of these cases you were dependent on “stoking the flame” to keep the fire going!

Whether the fire was providing you with warmth, security or light, you were committed to “Stoking” those flames to keep that fire going!

It has been proven by SERVIVALISTS, that the NUMBER ONE focus when alone in the wilderness, is to START A FIRE! The individual becomes completely obsessed with finding something, anything, to LIGHT A FIRE!

Then, once the fire is started, the SOLE FOCUS of the individual is to “FAN THAT FIRE INTO FLAME AND KEEP IT BURNING!

The individual guards it, protects it and stokes it, to ensure it does not go out!

It becomes an obsession! Nothing else takes president!

THE SURVIVAL OF THE INDIVIDUAL IS DEPENDENT ON THE FIRE STAYING LIT!

This is the intention and the imagery the Apostle Paul is speaking about as he instructs us to, “LIGHT A FIRE, AND KEEP IT LIT!”

“This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:6-7

The Fire Paul is referring to, is the spiritual fire inside each one of us, given to us by God’s Holy Spirit when we became followers of Jesus!

The question of each of us having this fire is answered here in verse 7, “For the Spirit God gave us…”

WE HAVE GOD’S FIRE IN US!

The real question is…

Is it burning brightly for others to see? Or is it smoldering, smoking, laying low with only a few dim embers?

IF THAT IS THE CASE, PAUL IS TELLING US TO FAN IT INTO FLAME!

If you had found yourself in any of the scenarios I mentioned in the beginning, you would be dependent on the FIRE BURNING BRIGHTLY! If it flickered at all, and even threatened to go out, you would frantically begin to fan it back into flame!

It is even more important for us to do this with our spiritual FLAME!

While it is obvious how to stoke a physical fire back into flame, it may not be as obvious how to FAN INTO FLAME our spiritual fire.

I propose there are two major ways to ensure our fires get lit and stay burning brightly!

THE FIRST WAY IS:

INDIVIDUALLY WITH ME!

I must keep my main priority in life to daily walk closely with God through reading His Word and through Prayer!

You can open God’s word through the pages of one of your favorite Bibles. Sometimes it helps to go get a new Bible every now and then.

I recently just did this after talking with a friend over a lunch date about her love for “Bible Journaling.” It has been exciting for me to go in each morning and pick up this new Bible and open it’s pages to find pretty illustrations alongside God’s TRUTHFUL and BEAUTIFUL words to me!

You may find it easier in your busy schedule to pick up a daily devotional and open it’s pages each day and read the verse of the day.

You may like to pull up an app on your smart phone or tablet and read God’s Word that way?

NO MATTER how you read God’s Word each day, the point is READ IT EVERY DAY!

You must depend on God’s Word daily, just like you depend on a fire burning when you are out alone in the wilderness!

It begins with ME as I pray to God each day and speak with Him!

There are many ways we speak to God…

We can speak to God silently or out loud!

We can speak to Him as we walk outside in His beautiful and magnificent creation!

We can speak to God quietly as we sit and sip a warm cup of coffee or tea curled up by those inviting flames by the fireplace.

No matter how and no matter where, we can fan our spiritual fires into flame when we pray to Him daily!

If you and I are going to “LIGHT A FIRE” in our spirit and keep it burning…

IT MUST FIRST START WITH ME!

By READING GOD’S WORD EVERY DAY, allowing Him to speak to me with His words of Love and Guidance, and PRAYING TO HIM EACH DAY, so I can speak to God, I am fanning that flame.

THE SECOND WAY IS:

TOGETHER WITH OTHERS!

“LIGHTING A FIRE” OR “FANNING A FIRE INTO FLAME” are both terms talking about being filled with the Holy Spirit of God, or being empowered by the Spirit of God!

There is no better way to do that than by being together with other followers of Jesus!

When you have a group of hot coals burning together brightly, and you take one out and set it aside, it burns our quickly!

Hot coals that burn together however, burn brighter and longer!

Through encouragement, support, love, and even laughter, we help keep each other’s fore burning brightly!

“But encourage one another daily as long as it is called today!” Hebrews 3:13

WE NEED EACH OTHER TO KEEP OUR FIRE LIT AND BURNING BRIGHT!

Truth Bomb

When we fan our spiritual flame it cannot be extinguished!

So let’s make a commitment to light a fire and fan it into flame through the two ways we’ve looked at!

(1) Individually with me, through daily Bible reading and prayer

AND

(2) Together in community with each other, through committing to our Church and Life groups each week!

We will be a fire no one can put out when we do!

BURN BRIGHTLY MY FRIENDS!

Speak Truth Love

Best Day Ever, Truth Bomb Tuesday, and BONUS… it’s Valentine’s Day!!!

LOVE IS IN THE AIR, and as promised last week….’THE LOVE WILL KEEP FLOWING IN TODAY’S BLOG!’ XOXOXOXOXO

Today I’m doing something different…I’m kicking off the Blog with the TRUTH BOMB!

Today’s TRUTH BOMB:

GOD IS LOVE!

It is not a part of who God is or a piece of who He is. It is not an attribute He has or a characteristic of His. IT IS ALL OF WHO HE IS! GOD IS LOVE!
He is the author of LOVE. He is the Creator God who created LOVE! We LOVE because He first LOVED us!

“Beloved, let us LOVE one another, for LOVE is from God; and everyone who LOVES is born of God and knows God. The one who does not LOVE does not know God, for God is LOVE.”
I John 4:7-8

Any LOVE that we have to celebrate today or any day for that matter, is only because of GOD’S LOVE!

So enjoy all of the chocolate shaped candy, cookies and cakes you want to today. Fly those heart shaped balloons, and swap those valentine cards. Share a coffee date with a friend or snuggle up next to your ‘favorite valentine,’ but above all share God’s LOVE with everyone!

On this Valentine’s Day I want to share my LOVE with you! THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for sharing in this journey with me of ‘Speaking God’s Truth in Love.’

I love meeting you here each Tuesday! Can’t wait to be back here with you next week!

HAPPY HEART’S DAY!
IT’S TRULY ALL ABOUT GOD’S LOVE! Go spread some of that LOVE today!

Xoxo,

Speak Truth Love

“What’s LOVE got to do with it, got to do with it! What’s LOVE but a second hand emotion! What’s LOVE got to do with it, got to do with it? Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?”

It’s February, and hearts are EVERYWHERE! They pop up on every store front window we pass.
Hearts of chocolate glare at us from the candy store window. Hearts of paper beckon us to enter in and send a card from the stationary store window. Hearts of fabric tempt us to buy that adorable Valentine sweater from the department store window. Hearts of flowers, bright red, brilliant pink and soft white, catching us with their alluring aroma in the flower shop windows. Even hearts of Helium floating above us as we shop in the grocery store seem to call our name.
I mean after all, those ‘conversation hearts’ embedded in our childhood memories, tell us by their supreme wisdom what love is all about…
“Let’s Kiss”, “Love Me”, “Love You”, “You’re Mine”, Let’s Get together”, “XOXO”, “BE Mine”, and my favorite,”Cutie Pie.”
Seriously, who could go wrong in the LOVE department with such sound, solid advice?

WE COULD! That’s who! And sadly, WE DO, time and time again! Why, because we allow the world to define LOVE for us.

The world puts out Valentine Movies, and even title’s them “VALENTINES DAY”, with LOVE HATERS! Those who have defined LOVE in their lives by the song lyrics above! “WHAT’S LOVE BUT A SECOND HAND EMOTION?” And, “WHO NEEDS A HEART WHEN A HEART CAN BE BROKEN?”
So, they throw a ‘Valentine Party’, a “We Hate Valentine’s Day Party!” They take a baseball bat and take angry, hurt swings at a heart piñata, and curse every person or moment that has “BROKEN THEIR HEARTS!”
There is truth to their feelings. They have been hurt, let down, disappointed….WE ALL HAVE! Their hearts have been broken, just like ours have! Their emotions have been shared vulnerably with another, and then they have been shattered, smacked around and beat up just like the piñata heart swinging from the rope!
Yes, there is painful truth to those Valentine Movies. WE DO have hearts and they DO get broken. We do have emotions and they DO get shattered.

But, back to the song lyrics, “WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?”
LOVE has EVERYTHING to DO WITH IT! TRUE LOVE, REAL LOVE that doesn’t love you because of how you look, how you act or even what you give back!
LOVE that says, “I LOVE you just the way you are…on your good days and bad days, on your sick days and healthy days, when you remember me and when you don’t, I LOVE YOU EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE AND BEYOND!
I LOVE you so much that I gave my life for you so that you could know what TRUE LOVE REALLY IS….

“FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY SON, THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM MAY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.” JOHN 3:16

PLEASE DO NOT MISS THE POWERFUL TRUTH OF THIS VERSE!

Most of us learned this verse when we were very young, we see it printed on poster board at sporting events, and we hear it quoted frequently. My caution to you and me, is that, while this verse may be our most familiar verse, never let it grow “common!”
It holds great TRUTH AND POWER, it holds LOVE, TRUE LOVE!
It exposes the falsehood that the world exploits in all of the ways I shared above, that love is an EMOTION or a FEELING!
It proves the TRUTH that TRUE LOVE is an ACT, an ACTION! TRUE LOVES GIVES! The Father gave HIS SON! The SON gave HIS LIFE!

Truth Bomb

True Love Gives!

My dear, sweet friends, YOU ARE LOVED! This month when we celebrate Valentine’s Day and run into hearts everywhere we turn, remember you are loved every day that you live!
God LOVES you so much that HE GAVE you His most cherished possession HIS ONE AND ONLY SON!
This Act of Giving caused Him great agony and pain. He was forced to turn His face away from His Son as the weight of the sin of the entire world, MY SIN AND YOUR SIN INCLUDED, rested on His SON! He endured the physical, emotional and mental abuse the world put on His Son, unjustifiably! He allowed the world to kill and bury His Son…and then HIS GREAT LOVE FOR YOU, FOR ME, AND FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD proved TRUE when He raised Him from the dead!
JESUS LOVES you so much that He willingly allowed all of the weight of the world to fall upon Him so that YOU and I could know TRUE LOVE!

“GREATER LOVE HAS NO ONE THAT THIS, THST HE LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS.” JOHN 15:13

There is no doubt WE ARE LOVED! The question is, will we accept God and His TRUE LOVE to define LOVE in us? Or, will we allow the world to define LOVE for us?

LOVE HURTS! WE offer our hearts to another when we TRULY LOVE, and undeniably our hearts are often broken! However, don’t forget, God is the God of the Broken-hearted, His TRUE LOVE repairs and restores ALL HEARTS. The beauty of TRUE LOVE, GODS LOVE, is that it NEVER FAILS, DISAPPOINTS or REJECTS!
GOD IS LOVE!

So, Happy February! Let’s embrace this month as an opportunity that the world has already deemed appropriate, to demonstrate TRUE LOVE, and show the world what LOVE REALLY IS!

Feel Loved My Friends, because you TRULY are!

Meet you back here next week when the LOVE keeps flowing!

Speak Truth Love