Jesus Can Open Our Minds

Luke 24:45

"Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures."

Jesus was walking on the road side with Emmaus and Cleopas and asking them what they were talking about. The man asked Jesus, not knowing it was Him, "Haven't you heard about Jesus of Nazareth?" They didn't recognize Him at this point. 

The men went on and told Jesus of the things they had just learned that Jesus was no longer in the tomb. 

Jesus listen and when they got to the village the men asked Jesus to stay and eat with them. He did so and when Jesus blessed the food it was then revealed to the men who Jesus was. 

It was then that Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 

Question

Has Jesus opened our minds so that we too can understand the Scriptures. How do we know for sure?

Spring Is Almost Here

In my area of the country it is still just a bit cold but so much better than 27 below zero. We are almost up to 60 degrees.

It has been a very busy and painful winter. First, I have gotten my book written that I wanted to do and now I have to edit it and get it ready to send to the publisher. It is a seasonal devotional with ten pages for each season. Both women and men can read it and I think they would both like it. Thank you for your prayers.

I am also teaching Sunday School for 3-5 years-old. There is only one that shows up but we are having a great time. This young fellow needs lots of love and attention. He is very smart for his age and he certainly knows what he wants so need to calm him done a bit but love working with him. We are praying that our Sunday School for younger boys and girls will grow. Most of our congregation right now are in the middle age or older group. But we are beginning to see new faces and age groups coming.

I am also church historian and am trying to write a booklet containing material since 1995. Got up to 2009 written up. And now that the weather is warmer I want to get to doing the crafts that I can only do outside because of the flumes that the material creates when I am making the craft.

The pain part is my feet and my back. My feet I have diabetic nerve pain and the pain in my back is due to having three kidney stones. Two one one side and one on the other side. As long as the stones stay in my kidney nothing is going to be done for them. If they start to travel then there is going to be a lot more pain involved. Pray the Lord's will be done in this matter as either way there is pain.

Remember-The Lord is in control of everything!

Starting A New Project

For many years I have wanted to write a book. I know, many people say this, but I took courses in writing and the other day I got a phone call from a publishing company and the nicest representative talked to me and she gave me some ideas on what to write about. We became friends on the first call.

So for the next three months I am going to be writing the first draft of the book and hope to have it done by May 25th. Pray for me that I will write things that will be helpful to the readers. I will be up dating you on my progress.

The Lord is so good because when I wrote to this publishing company I was looking for their catalog and instead the Lord put me right with the person who could help me most. So I am very thankful for that and He is directing me in what He wants me to do and that is sharing with others what I have learned.

Ask the Lord what He wants you to do and see what happens if you are not doing it already. It is very exciting to be in His Family and see how we can use our gift to encourage others.

Gratitude

I just found a new blog site called Calvary. And in the post I am ready right now it is talking about gratitude. I am very thankful for many things. As I thought about the things I am grateful for not all the things were good things in my life. Actually they were all the bad things that happened to me except for one.

That was another point that the blog brought out. Be thankful for all circumstances. After I thought about this and the things that came to my mind I realize that I can be thankful for all of them. For the bad things that took place made me the person I am today. Makes me a stronger, more compassionate, and loving person. I see things that sometimes others don't see and then I can pray for the situation.

Giving thanks is also the will of God in Christ Jesus for me and for you. The word gratitude carries the idea of being bound to the person we are thanking. I have never thought of it that way. It shows the person that I appreciate what they have done for me.

So I am very thankful to God for all He has done in my life so far and what He is going to do for me in the future.

How about you? Are you thankful for all things that have come your way?

A Quiet Week

It has been a quiet week in the House Family. This is very unusual. However, my daughter and granddaughter and grandson did come down with strep throat, earaches, and coughs but that is going around so much. My granddaughter's teacher even had strep throat and was out for a few days. My son-in-law is only able to work half days until Wednesday because of headaches he can't get rid of. He has had them now for almost a month. Been tested but nothing has been found yet. He is going to a specialist in March. See his regular doctor this coming week.

I did have a AHA moment this week. At work they are getting rid of old magazines and I was discarding the page with the bar code on it. As I was going through I was very shocked at some of the pictures there were in some of the magazine that you would not think would have those kind of pictures.

For instance, car machines. They, of course, had the almost naked ladies in the picture looking at the car from off a top of a building which had a swimming pool. The men's magazines for style and advertising strength were very muscular men modeling the product. So I found that it is hard to look at anything, even a simple thing as a magazine, without being bombarded with pictures that is better not to see as they stay with me.

The Bible tells us that we should be careful in what we see. There is also a children's song that speaks of this. So I found it is not just on the computer but it is everywhere.

Be careful what you see is the thought for today.  

Another AHA Moment

New Living Translation
Psalm 20:1-5
"Then God instructed the people as follows: 'I am the LORD your God, who rescued you from slavery in Egypt. Do not worship any other gods besides me. Do not make idols of any kind, whether in the shape of birds or animals or fish. You must never worship or bow down to them, for I, the LORD your god, am a jealous god who will not share your affection with any other god! I do not leave unpunished the sins of those who hate me, but I punish the children for the sins of their parents to third and fourth generations.' "

Jealous
When you think of a jealous person what comes to your mind?

As I was getting ready to go to sleep last night I was thinking about God and how good He is and the thought that also came to my mind was that God is a jealous God. Then I thought about what a jealous person means to me. That person doesn't want to share me with anyone else. They want all the praise, attention, devotion that I can give them. They have rules for me to follow if I are going to be with them. Then I thought, that is how God is.

He chose me before the foundation of the world. He has set His beloved ones aside from this world and He wants us to be different. He wants us to worship only Him and not other people or things. He wants our undivided attention, our praise, our thanksgiving. He has given us rules to follow so that we can be different and be more like His Son. He loves us.

Jealous is not usually used in a positive way but I think in this case I am glad that God is a jealous God. It gives me direction on how to live in a way that will please Him.

What do you think? Do you think it is good that we have a jealous God?

A Man Walks 21 miles to work and back up five days a week

The first thought that came to my mind when I read this story was that would I be willing to walk this many miles daily (that is if I could) and would I have the sincere heart as this man has for his job.

Another thought was would I be willing to walk next door to tell my neighbor about Jesus?

I just took a survey on what my spiritual gift is and I am sad to say I did not do as well on the questions about telling other about Christ. I am good about it if the question comes up or if a conversation leads its way to the subject. To just go up to a person and say, "If you died today do you know where you would be going, heaven or hell?" That is harder for me to do.

Some people have that gift. This is great! That is why God gives us each our own gift so that we can all be part of the body, the church, and use our gifts and that way many more will come into the church family if everyone does their part. Mine is giving, teaching, helping.

If we all could have a heart that loves those around us no matter what and be dedicated to serving Jesus as this man serving his time at his work it would be a great and changed world.

http://nypost.com/2015/02/this-factory-worker-walks-21-miles-a-day-to-get-to-work/