"For we are His workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand
so that we would walk in them."
Ephesians 2:10
It has been some time since my last post. The first of the year has a strange rush to it. It seems that everything is in fast forward when the new year rolls around and before you know it an entire month has passed! Where did January go? I have missed writing and was looking forward to this day, day after day :). So here it is, the middle of February and I remember the last time I wrote God had given us a challenge. That challenge was to find a jar/container of any size and begin to focus daily on our blessings rather than our hurts, wrong doings, frustrations, and pain. Well, I hope you found a huge container! With a family of 4, our jar is filled to the top but not quite to the point of overflowing yet. To my amazement though was the fact that this jar was to be our blessing jar for the entire year...Oops! What now? Lol! I was tempted to change the rules a bit and empty the jar out monthly just to make sure it would fit. Then I shared my idea with my hubby and here is the response I received from him...
"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38
What an amazing word! We are so used to seeing the middle of this verse about "good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over," but the beginning is what stuck with me this time. It says "Give, and it will be given to you." I cannot tell you how much this jar of blessings has not only been a blessing to us as a family, but it has blessed others as well. When people enter our home and see our jar of blessings on the counter, they can't help but to ask what it is. I usually let my girls explain to them what it's there for. Throughout the month of January the girls would have their friends over after school from time to time and the question would come up again and again. The true blessing in this is that a child never left our home without putting their blessing in the jar. At the end of the night when I would go to write my blessing, I would stop and pull a couple of blessings out to read and it would be those that the girls friends had put in. They were thanking God for their teachers, saying they were grateful for their friends, some even said their blessing for the day was that they had a chance to play. Oh how simple they were but yet, so profound. Why do we struggle so much in searching the depths of our heart for a daily blessing? Why is it so hard to thank God just for the breath we take each morning? Our blessings each day may be so small and simple but even in its simplicity we are still reminded that yes, we are indeed blessed. If you took the challenge please send me a message and let me know how God has blessed you and your family already even in this first month and a half. God has only begun and I am so looking forward to watching those blessings in our jar spill over. Then I will have the great opportunity to see the scripture come to life when I have to press it down, shake it together, and watch it run over...over and over again!
I started this post with one of my favorite verses.
"Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Luke 6:38
What an amazing word! We are so used to seeing the middle of this verse about "good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over," but the beginning is what stuck with me this time. It says "Give, and it will be given to you." I cannot tell you how much this jar of blessings has not only been a blessing to us as a family, but it has blessed others as well. When people enter our home and see our jar of blessings on the counter, they can't help but to ask what it is. I usually let my girls explain to them what it's there for. Throughout the month of January the girls would have their friends over after school from time to time and the question would come up again and again. The true blessing in this is that a child never left our home without putting their blessing in the jar. At the end of the night when I would go to write my blessing, I would stop and pull a couple of blessings out to read and it would be those that the girls friends had put in. They were thanking God for their teachers, saying they were grateful for their friends, some even said their blessing for the day was that they had a chance to play. Oh how simple they were but yet, so profound. Why do we struggle so much in searching the depths of our heart for a daily blessing? Why is it so hard to thank God just for the breath we take each morning? Our blessings each day may be so small and simple but even in its simplicity we are still reminded that yes, we are indeed blessed. If you took the challenge please send me a message and let me know how God has blessed you and your family already even in this first month and a half. God has only begun and I am so looking forward to watching those blessings in our jar spill over. Then I will have the great opportunity to see the scripture come to life when I have to press it down, shake it together, and watch it run over...over and over again!
I started this post with one of my favorite verses.
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." Ephesians 2:10
I love this verse for many reasons but most recently it has become the word I remind myself of constantly. We are His design, created in the image of Christ for be like Christ and do great things on this earth, because whether we believe it or not, God already had the blueprints of our life drawn up and the plan written down. Our purpose was etched in the fibers of our being never to be altered or removed, but we must choose to walk in that purpose.
Do you know who you are? I do...I didn't always know. At times I thought I knew, but not until recently did I realize who I really was. People may try to tell you who you are, they may even try to change your God-given plan but Gods plan always eliminates the inaccuracies of man. There are 4 things that I would like to share over the next couple of posts that I continually evaluate in my life to know who I am in God:
1) Identity - This is the qualities that make a particular person different from another. What makes you different from everyone else? There are so many scriptures in the bible about our identity in God and I encourage you to study them on your own, but there is one thing that will rob us of our identity and that is our insecurities. When we allow our insecurities to cause us to shrink back, we begin to forget who we are in Christ.
What is your identity? What makes you different? Know who you are and walk in the character of Christ. Knowing who you are will launch you into your purpose He has already written for you.
I would encourage you to make a list of all the things that define who you are and makes you different from anyone else.
Do you know who you are? I am a child of God, living on purpose with a purpose, and so excited about being as different as possible from the rest of the world. We ARE Gods workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do great things, which He prepared for us to do before we were even born.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
1) Identity - This is the qualities that make a particular person different from another. What makes you different from everyone else? There are so many scriptures in the bible about our identity in God and I encourage you to study them on your own, but there is one thing that will rob us of our identity and that is our insecurities. When we allow our insecurities to cause us to shrink back, we begin to forget who we are in Christ.
What is your identity? What makes you different? Know who you are and walk in the character of Christ. Knowing who you are will launch you into your purpose He has already written for you.
I would encourage you to make a list of all the things that define who you are and makes you different from anyone else.
Do you know who you are? I am a child of God, living on purpose with a purpose, and so excited about being as different as possible from the rest of the world. We ARE Gods workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do great things, which He prepared for us to do before we were even born.
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
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