FRIDAY FOCUS WITH TRUST!

Worry is the problem!  (Philippians 4:6)

What's the two-fold answer?
1)    Go to God through His Word!

2)    PRAY!

TRUST---HAVE IT---THRUST IT!*

*ODK had a birthday thrust of joy as all the patrons of Haywood 209 Cafe sang "Happy Birthday" to him and the stage sent him off with a slice of coconut cake "on the house" to honor his 19th!

CHOOSEDAY!

ChooseDay! I love the play on words for Tuesday!*

It has me thinking about Biblical choices to be considered. 

Think---love, joy, peace, patience, kindness. As the picture hanging in my prayer room reminds me, "Choose this day whom you shall serve.....

... as for me and my house, will serve the Lord."(Joshua 24:14)

On this ChooseDay, let us choose what is right. (Job 34:4)

*Thanks to friend Renee for the ChooseDay text this morning!

SIGN FROM THE LORD!

Sometimes when you're so down, disheartened, anxious and trust challenged... 

....one needs to look up.....to refocus.

Who would have thought that looking up from an exam table at the doc's office would give one an encouraging sign.....but it did!

What a sign....like a miracle to confirm one's continuance in faith.

For an avid reader and former librarian, even the wording was familiar. 

Just what I needed. A sign!

CHOOSE: TO WALK FAITHFULLY

Henry Blackaby says, "To walk faithfully with God will always bring a person to experience God's laying His heart over his." (hers)

Not my way, but His way, as my Jehovah-Jirah provides the path way through dashed hopes.
A FAITHWALK!

For we walk by faith not by sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)

Whether in tennis shoes or heels-----thank you, Lord for continung to guide my walk when my eyes are blinded with tears.

Do you Wanna Dance???

Wait ----I always wanna dance! I need to DA.N.C.E.----but I've lost my groove!
I'm not talking here of grooving to MoTown music. At the first strains of The Temptations, my toes start to tapping.
I'm talking "groove" as a noun---an established routine!

When I encounter struggles in health---mental or physical or "hurts" of the emotional sort, I practice turning to the Lord for understanding. That's the norm---the groove.
Lately, I seem to have turned to every "other" remedy including denial, i.e. "putting my head under the pillow" or busyness to take my mind off the problem. I need to D.A.N.C.E.
Discover what God's word says about the situation.
Accept where you are in the midst of it & ASK for His help.
Notice God's Hand in it.
Celebrate moments of victory, no matter how small.
Extend to another what you have learned in the midst of the struggle/life lesson.

Do you Wanna Dance??? I do!
I'm going to choose to D.A.N.C.E.

Fideli-TEA : a Cuppa hope

All honor to God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; for it is his boundless mercy that has given us the privilege of being born again so that we are now members of God’s own family. Now we live in the hope of eternal life because Christ rose again from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3, TLB)

Faith! Faith!! Faith!!! Hope! Hope!! Hope!!!
Faith from the latin fidere – to trust. Confidence or trust---for me it is a necessary facet of hope. 
The "what ifs" of a faithless life, breed worry and negate hope. Worry is the antithesis of hope---without faith there is no hope for a better tomorrow. 

People who have faith, have hope.  People who have hope, have faith.  Seemingly, a person cannot have one without the other. "One has to be faithful to be hopeful." (Cole Huffman, 11/9/14)

FAITH is defined as a belief which expresses confidence in the truth or veracity of someone. Even Wikipedia got it right this time. The One who is Truth is the bedrock of faith. In Him alone one can have confidence. The Lord Jesus Christ is that someone. In Him we have hope.

In Christ Alone my hope is found. He is my light, my strength, my song; this Cornerstone, this solid Ground,....

"Hope is only found in faith. Living hope is only available with belief in a risen God. (1Peter 1:13) Hope is like the "gold standard" of faith. Deep joy which transcends circumstances results from a "living hope reality."(notes from CH sermon, 11/914)

Fideli-TEA served in a cuppa hope is only available through a risen Lord.