Clutter Away

Don’t live in the midst of clutter or it will make you feel overwhelmed and confused. –Joyce


Cleaning Your Clutter Can Make so Much Difference in Your Life. Shed your physical and emotional clutter and find your true self and unlimited potential. Happiness starts with being the real, authentic you. 'Things' are not just things. They usually have emotions and values attached to them. That old dog-eared teddy is not just another toy - it's part of your memories of childhood, your old friend, your comfort. There are many reasons why we have clutter and as you start to clear your clutter you will uncover many emotions which are wrapped up in the energy of the items. Be prepared to face these feelings and be patient with yourself if you become emotional. Often when we de-clutter we learn a lot about ourselves.  
Clutter robs us of our energy and our vitality",  says Dr. Sabrina Schleicher. "A cluttered home symbolizes a cluttered, blocked mind. Mental clutter is that unfinished business in your life that gnaws at you in the background of your consciousness". Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/163838

Just like we have to sweep the cobwebs out of the corners of our home, same is true with those in our life. Learning to release those things that keep us suppressed allows us to move forward. Letting go of all the clutter in my life allows me to focus on the important things. The trivial things are just that---trivial. But when I put the focus on those things that have meaning in my life, it helps me move in the direction that was meant to be.http://www.dailyspark.com/blog.asp?post=spring_cleaning_your_life

Why do we live with so much stuff we don't need? It's not just a house question but a life question too.

Why do we fill our life with so many things that weigh us down? Things we never use. Thoughts that hold us back. Habits that limit us. Distractions that derail us. Negative people that drain us. Fear that paralyzes us. And countless time zappers that sabotage our performance and productivity.
We spend so much time and energy on things that don’t matter that we don’t focus on what does matter. We fill up with so many things that generate negative energy that there’s no room for positive energy to flow into our lives. by Jon Gordon

Are frazzled thoughts cluttering your inner life, or are you making time regularly for quiet reflection, and asking the Holy Spirit to renew your mind?  Eliminate clutter in your schedule and your mind to create space to focus on what’s truly important. crosswalk.com

1 John 1:9

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

God, I don’t want anything to hold me back from doing what You have asked of me. Help me to search my heart and help me to de-clutter my life.

In Jesus Name I pray, Amen

This song Cleanse Me Oh God will be an encouragement to you as you ask God for his help.
http://www.bing.com/videos/search?

Nothing is Impossible

John 20: 16-18

Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.' " Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her

                                                            I've Just Seen Jesus

The army of Israel looked at Goliath through the eyes of man and said he's too big to beat.  David looked at him through the eyes of God and said he's too big to miss. by Wally Carter

Reverend Robert Schuller graduated from Calvin College and Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan and went to California to start a church. It was during the 1950s when so many people from the Midwest went to California. Schuller loaded his books in his station wagon with his wife and small children and drove around until he found a place to start a congregation. It was an unconventional spot – in a drive-in movie theater. He started preaching on Sunday mornings from a portable pulpit erected in the parking lot and his congregation came in casual clothes and sat in their cars picking up the sermon over the portable speakers provided by the theater. Robert Schuller built his parking lot church and later erected a church building to go with it. church leaders continued to say he built in the worst possible place for a church since it was surrounded by freeways and almost in the shadow of Disneyland. What seemed impossible, God made possible for Dr. Schuller. 

A greater impossibility: that a virgin would conceive and bear a child. This contradicts all the laws of nature, but God set up those laws and is able to use them as God wills. Once in all human history, the law of God was broken by God so that God's Son might come into the world.

We need faith. What seems impossible is not so with God – with God there are unlimited possibilities and all we need is the faith to accept and receive what God has to offer. Faith in Jesus Christ is the greatest impossibility, yet it comes if we open our hearts and minds to receive it. 

God has many blessings in store for us as individual people and for this congregation. If we look to Jesus, each one of us, and believe in Jesus, miracles can happen. We can change. We can become the people God wants us to be. We can reach out to others with the wonderful message of God's love in Christ. God can turn what seems impossible into wonderful possibilities for this congregation, for me, for you. Blessings galore can be ours with faith in Jesus. FOR WITH GOD NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE. Amen.

Excepts from James Kegel serman.

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Do Not Run...Push Through

Billy Graham said, "Mountaintops are for views and inspiration, but fruit is grown in the valleys."

It seems that an old dog fell into a farmers well. After considering the situation, the farmer decided that neither the dog nor the well were worth saving. So, he decided to bury the old dog and put him out of his misery. When the farmer began shoveling, the dog was hysterical. But as the farmer kept on shoveling, and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck the old dog. Each time a shovel full of dirt hit his back, the dog would shake off the dirt and step up. So, blow after blow, the dog would shake it off and step up. No matter how painful those shovels of dirt were, the old dog fought panic, he just kept shaking it off and stepping up. Finally, the dog, battered and exhausted stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well. What he thought would bury him actually benefited him because of the way he handled his adversity. 

Perseverance is the ability to shake it off and step up when a load of trials are dumped on you. Perseverance is producing maturity

The mature Christian life is the sweet fruit of bitter times.

excerpts from This Day's Thought by Kelly Randolph

Running from the trials produces worse, long term results than the pain of pushing through.  Do not run…push through! When we push through is when God uses His power and showers on us His grace.

When we do things we don't like, commit to exhausting and time consuming training schedules or  suffer through chemo and other treatments to fight a deadly illness we look ahead. We look ahead to the outcome or finish line and it gives us the perseverance to push forward. Keep your eye on the prize and the JOY of pushing through will outweigh the trials you came through to reach it.

Philippians 3:14

I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us

Beauty From Ashes

taken from
When Life Breaks You
Samantha Reed

Dear Lord, I can't see how good will come from my pain. But You are my creative Creator and I know You can work masterpieces out of muck. Today, I recommit my hope and faith in You, and I'm looking up to You. Thanks for kneeling beside me so faithfully. In Jesus' Name, Amen

My heart was burned and the ashes seemed a proper place to fall......Yet I knew, wallowing in the embers would be the death of me as well.....: God knew this too. He unwaveringly knelt next to me, extending a helping-hand up. He promised:
Give Me the ashes; I'll do something with them. Something beautiful.

Something Beautiful

Something beautiful
Something good, All my confusion
He understood
All I had to offer Him, was brokenness and strife
But he made
Something Beautiful, of my life. 

If there ever were dreams that were lofty and noble
they were my dreams from the start
And the hopes for life's best
Were the hopes that I harbored down deep in my heart
My dreams turned to ashes
My castles all crumbed
My fortune turned to loss, So 
I wrapped in all in the rags of my life
And laid it at the cross 

You may feel like your life is ugly and insignificant right now. But sometimes things that appear ugly just need the right climate to grow.  Isaiah said he will give you beauty for ashes. God knew you would be burnt by life’s experiences. But he also knew he could replace that burnt out mess with something beautiful.
Isaiah 61
 

Something for Nothing

Steven Curtis Chapman said, "Because of God's grace, there is nothing we can do that will make Him love us more than He already does.  And there is nothing we can do or have done that will cause Him to love us any less".

You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours is a pattern we are more familiar with, I'll do this for you if you do that for me.  So getting something for nothing seems like, "Yah right, you betcha.  How much will it cost me in the end".  

By God's grace, we can freely receive His something—for nothing
... G.R.A.C.E is really God's Riches At Christ's Expense."For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9