Joyfull Living

February has flown in from out of nowhere!  Although this is the month of love, the next quality to work on in my Journey To Excellence is FAITH! I struggle with faith.  Not in the fact that I put my faith in God because of all that He is or that I'm unsure of His salvation, but my struggle lies in exercising and growing my faith. My temperament and personality are mild, easy going and peaceable.  I don't rock the boat, try not to cause trouble, hate conflict and like to glide easily through life.  I like 'comfortable faith'!  Secure faith that I can wrap my mind around. But, faith is like a muscle.  It must be exercised, tested, tried.  Comfortable faith is dull and lifeless while excellent faith is vibrant, exciting, strong and secure. Through the last few months, my faith has grown.  Through some trials, tribulations and battles, my faith was exercised because these things reminded me of my weakness.  When my ...

In my "Journey To Excellence" (my new year plan), this month focuses on Excellence In Worship . One of our favorite worship choruses in our church is "Sanctuary".  The words to this small but powrful chorus are: Lord, prepare me to be a sanctuary Pure and holy, tried and ture With thanksgiving, I'll be a living Sanctuary for You Nothing stirs up a spirit of worship more than singing together in church a beautiful song dedicating our life to the Lord, a life of devotion and a sanctuary for Him to dwell in. But...excellence in worship, takes it a step further.  Farther than the church sanctuary where it 'feels good', and into our daily life where we must be prepared to be a sanctuary.  Let's break it down: Lord, prepare me, to be a sanctuary - There is nothing good in us.  We are all sinners by  birth, born with a sinful nature.  Through God's grace and forgiveness, we are cleansed and made new and given a new nature.  But, that old,...

Worship is giving God the best that He has given you. Be careful what you do with the best you have. Whenever you get a blessing from God, give it back to Him as a love gift. Take time to meditate before God and offer the blessing back to Him in a deliberate act of worship. If you hoard a thing for yourself, it will turn into spiritual dry rot, as the manna did when it was hoarded. God will never let you hold a spiritual thing for yourself; it has to be given back to Him that He may make it a blessing to others.  Oswald Chambers God is worthy of worship - our worship, our best. 

Welcome to the Journey To Excellence!   This is my New Year's plan (versus resolution) to become intentional in striving for excellence. January will find me focusing on worship.   Seems appropriate for the New Year, the first month to focus on the Giver of all and seeking to acknowledge Him and His greatness. When we think of worship, church services usually come to mind.  In churches today "worship"  coverse a broad range.  There are churches with lively, expressive worship down to quiet, heartfelt worship.  Whichever element of worship we find ourselves in, remember that true worship comes from the heart...and... it's all about Him. In John chapter 4, Jesus met with a woman of Samaria.  This woman was living in sin and Jesus had just called her out on it. She quickly changed the subject from her sin to 'worship'.  She acknowledged that He must be a prophet and then began recounting the differences in worship traditions of the ...

Taking the High Road can be defined as  "The most positive, diplomatic, or ethical course." Some other ideas mean doing the right thing even if its not popular or easy.  To "take the high road" is to maintain impeccable integrity, honesty and decorum. To take "the low road" is less than that. On our journey of life we work, we go, we do and can sometimes we can get lost in the shuffle of life around us.  We see those we come in contact with and can fall into the same mode almost automatically.  Take a look at the women you see around. Most conversations consist of how busy we are, what we have going on and where we are going to next.  Christian women are stressed, harried, trying to do the right thing, but often fall short of meeting the expectations of everyone around them.  Decisions are based on what needs to be done right now because time does not wait and all too soon it is time to move on to something else.  "The High Road" lo...