Friday, July 15, 2011

Happy Friday!

Okay! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is amazing! I got in line at 5:45 for the 7:00 showing. If you are a Harry Potter fan you will love it. It is totally action packed with the battle between good and evil well defined and acted! I will be glad when it comes out in DVD so it will come to live with us. I rarely go to a movie theater to see the same movie twice, but I might make an exception…

Prayer: “Dear Lord, thank You for this new day. Thank You for another day to learn, listen and be alive. Thank you that life in You is better than any life outside of You. I ask You to help me rest in Your peace that will guard my heart and mind and to keep me focused on You—not the troubles, questions, or even good things that this world offers me today. May I find my peace in You. Thank You, Lord. Amen.”

Proverbs 13: 6 “Righteousness guards him whose way is blameless, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.”

If you read yesterday’s entry then you will remember that righteousness is a gift given to each of us when we choose to walk in obedience to God. Righteousness is simply choosing to do things the way God would want us to do them. And in this passage we are given a choice. For us who are believers in Jesus, righteousness with God is only found in Jesus. It is this relationship with Jesus that “guards us, protects us, and keeps our way “blameless.”

However, if any of you are like me I sometimes do not choose righteousness. Sometimes I choose to not act in a godly way when things do not go the way in which I would like them to go. In short, I sometimes get mad when things do not go the way ‘I” planned or a schedule has not been kept that “I” created. I really want to say or do something to let others know that I am not happy about the way things are going. If I do say unkind things then I could end up hurting someone I really care about. If I act in an ungodly way then I have ignored God’s leading and have walked outside the realm of righteousness, upsetting the peace and joy in my heart and in my life, and most of all upsetting my relationship with God.

This is why I need Jesus. This is why I need to lean on Him continually. I need to lean on Him for my relationship with God and not rely on my own thoughts and desires for earthly gratification. If I act in the way the world would have me act then I will not be in right relationship with others or with God. Jesus is the only One who can make me right with God and help restore relationships. God through Jesus keeps me blameless.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. My prayer for myself and each of you is to remember to lean on my relationship with Jesus when things do not go my way. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Happy Thursday!

By the time I write tomorrow night we will have seen the final Harry Potter. Geni and Travis went to the midnight show in Fort Worth tonight. I really love the Harry Potter series and have been watching the movies all week and will finish Deathly Hallows Part 1 tonight.

As to “Prayer and Hair”…we had a great time with girl talk, Bible Study and sharing of prayer requests. We are still working on getting together on a regular basis. The current most possible time is once a month when school starts.

Prayer: “Father, thank You for who You are and who You have always been. I choose to worship You today. Show me areas in which I am trusting in myself instead of You. Help me shift that trust back over to You. Help me fully trust You with something I have never trusted You with before. Thank You for making me right with You. In the mighty name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.”

Proverbs 12: 28 “In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.”

This passage of scripture tells us the choice we need to make in our lives. Walk in righteousness with God and live or walk in unrighteousness and die. We can choose to walk with God and live a life of righteousness - doing the things God would have us do. God does not just want us to act in right behavior in the big things that go on in our lives but also in everyday choices. It is never our own righteousness or good works or trying our very best that ever makes us right with God. When we surrender to Jesus we receive His grace without any effort on our part and things are made right with God. Surrendering throughout each day causes us to walk the path of righteousness and into a life with Jesus. When we surrender daily then we are open to the teachings of Jesus and are more clued in to the journey and where it is leading. So my friends let each of us think before we speak and stop before we act and ask God if this is what He truly wants us to do. God will never lead us down a path that will lead to death, but only a path that leads to life.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. Choose wisely…Love you, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Happy Wednesday!

Prayer: “Father, thank You for this day. Thank You for Your love for me and for the fact that I can love You because You first loved me. Help me to rest in You and in Your love for me. I also thank You for people You have placed in my life. Thank You that You didn’t intend for me to do life alone, and this is not just for my benefit, but for the benefit of those around me and the entire world. Amen.”

John 4: 37 “For in this the saying is true, One sows and another reaps.”

Tomorrow, several members of the prayer and share group I was a part of while at Burton Hill will be gathering. This time we are gathering for “Prayer and Hair.” I have a close friend who is a hair dresser and is going with me to a friend’s home where we will all gather. Is that a fun girl day or what?! It will be a lot like the beauty shop scenes in Steel Magnolias without the gossip!

I hope each of you who read these writings each evening is blessed with a small group or at least one other person with whom you can share. Not just a shopping or eating friend or friends, but someone(s) with whom you can study the Word, lift up prayer requests, and share burdens and joys in total trust - a friend who will hold your heart in a place of safety. This group with whom I am a part has been together for two years. We are each other’s safe place. We are vastly different women with two primary commonalities - being educators and believers in Jesus Christ. We are in different places in our lives, different ages and varied interests and yet we help to complete each other. Within this group each of us is a sower and each of us is allowed to reap and receive the love of Christ from each other.

God desires for His children to work together for the good of each other. In this precious group no one is more important than the other. Each of us speaks as we choose and we listen to each other or we may not choose to speak at all. When there are times that one of us is in deep despair and cannot even pray then the rest of the group prays for them, lifting them to the feet of the Father. The relationship between the sower and reaper is a relationship built on trust. We also never know when God will use us to be a sower or when He will have harvest for us to reap.

God’s plan is to redeem the world back unto relationship with Himself and He has designed us to work together in order to accomplish this. Open yourself to opportunities to be a sower of God’s Word to someone who needs to hear it or see His Word in action through an act of grace.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. Please begin lifting Bruce in your prayers. His surgery will be on next Tuesday the 19th. Thank you, mighty and faithful prayer warriors. Love you, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Happy Tuesday!

Prayer: “Father, thank You for a new day—a fresh start. Yesterday is gone and today is here. Keep me focused on who You are and where You desire to lead me and guide me today. I pray I will see new opportunities to bring You honor in everything I do. Thank You. Amen.”

Luke 8: 16 “No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a lampstand, that those who enter may see the light.”

“Hide it under a bushel? NO!” I’m gonna let it shine.” Most of us were raised on this song. Have you ever thought about what this song has to say to us? Let’s think about this wonderful spirited camp and VBS song that everyone loves and does all of the hand motions I don’t care how old you are! God sent His pure light into the world and called His gift of light and truth Jesus. God did not sneak Jesus in through the back door. God placed Jesus within a family and caused Him to grow into manhood just as any other Jewish young man. When Jesus rose from the waters of baptism God let Him shine with the glow of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove and pronounced Him His very own Son.

When the people of Nazareth and surrounding area had an encounter with Jesus they could not wait to go and tell someone else. They did not hide Jesus under a bushel. They let the light of Jesus shine through them by telling others about what Jesus had done for them. It is our command in God’s Word to help others find their way to Jesus. We are to be the light of Christ for others just as Jesus was the light of God when He walked on the earth.

Our problem seems to be that we are not vocal about what God has done for us as those early believers who had those face to face encounters with Jesus. Maybe we cannot have those face to face encounters with Christ, but we can bear “face to faith” witness to those who are in need of learning about the love of God by simply telling them what God has done for us. Let us surrender to God whatever it is that keeps us from sharing His love and message of hope to those who are in need. “Hide it under a bushel? NO! I’m gonna let it shine!”

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. Let us be open to opportunities to let Jesus shine into the lives of those who need to know the love of Jesus. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.
Happy Monday!

Happy 7-11-11! It was free Slurpee Day at the 7-11 stores. I think Travis had several!!

Prayer: “Father, thank You for this day and for the unique person You made me to be. Open my eyes in a fresh way to celebrate who I am in You. Help me identify and value the differences in others. Give me an open mind to read Your Word and understand what You want to say to me right now. I look forward to experiencing joy and excitement as I see Your purpose for me and for others today. Amen.”

1 Corinthians 12: 8, 14 “To one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit; to another the word of knowledge; through the same Spirit…The body is not one member but many.”

In thirty years of teaching each student in my charge was given the ability to learn in many different ways. All students can learn by listening, by speaking, by being tactile learners or by being readers. But the interesting thing is that even though the children were given all of these abilities each of them had one of these learning styles that would far outshine the others. It was always my job to provide activities throughout my teaching so that each child was able to learn in the way they learned best, but also to experience different learning styles. It would have really been somewhat boring if each child in my classroom learned in the same way. If each child was just a listener then how would they learn to communicate as speakers? If each child was a speaker then how would they ever learn to listen? If each child was a writer then how would they ever be able to use other tools in which to become problem solvers? And if each child learned in isolation how would they ever learn to cooperate with others and learn to depend on each other and thus build a community of learners?

As believers in Christ we are all different. We do not all see things the same way or respond to life situations in the same way. I think sometimes that it bothers us that we are not more alike. But here is the thing… God loves us and celebrates our differences. God’s love and anointed Holy Spirit power is in each of us. The tie that binds each of us together is the love of God given to us through the resurrected Christ. How we express that love is how we are able to meet the needs of others and show Christ’s love. Our family sings, Bruce works in prison ministry, Geni and Travis both sport tattoos saying, “When life is in discord, praise the Lord!” And as for me I am learning to listen. God’s greatest vision for the world cannot be accomplished in just one way. It will take each of us acting in obedience and using our own unique gifts from God to get the message of the love of God to all who need to hear it. We are the body of Christ made up of many different people. Let us pray for God to accomplish his purpose and His will in each of us and through all of us together.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. Let us learn to love one another, being slow to judge and remembering that God uses all of us to help others. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Blessed Sunday to you all!

Prayer: “Jesus, thank You for saving my soul. Oh, how wonderful it is to have a real relationship with You. I also want to thank You for those who cared enough to share the gospel with me. I am so grateful for their obedience to You. I ask You to use me today as Your instrument to win a soul for Your glory. In the power of Your name I pray. Amen”

Proverbs 11:30 “ The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins a soul is wise.”

Today Pastor Joel spoke on seed, sower and sought, with God being the seed. We are the sowers and those who do not know Jesus are the sought. God planted His seed of love in each of us and then began to grow His life in our souls each day. We have grown into a relationship with Him through reading His Word and being in fellowship with other believers. We as Christians are not meant to live in isolation. We are to advance the kingdom of God through sowing the seed of His love in others.

We have experienced the joy of being given new life in Christ through forgiveness and our daily walk with Christ. God desires in each of us to be His instruments of that same peace, joy and new life in others. We are to deliver His message of love and forgiveness out of obedience to Him because someone delivered that message to each of us. Think for a minute…who delivered the message of the gospel to you. Was it a pastor, a Sunday School teacher, a friend, your parents or some other relative? Delivering the message of the gospel is exercising wisdom in its truest sense. We invest our energy and time to advance God’s kingdom. We have our work cut out for us.

My friends, many of you over the past two and a half years have shared the gospel of hope and compassion with me. I will be forever grateful. Now we must continue to deliver that message of God’s love to all we meet. When we do we are using the wisdom God has gifted us with and acted in obedience. If we do this we will be blessed by God and we will be a blessing to someone else.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. Ask God to put someone in your path who needs to hear the message of the gospel and then let Him guide you as to what to say or do. As Bruce signs off each email, “Preach Christ every day…if necessary, use words.” Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.
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