July 28, 2012
Learning Self-Control
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law…” (Galatians 5:22-23)
I freely admit that I like sweets, especially chocolate and peanut butter. My favorite treat is the Reese’s Fast Break cany bar. I once made the mistake of buying a box of them from Sam’s – and eating the entire box by myself. Yes, that’s right. The entire box. And no, I didn’t share with anyone. Let’s just say I gained weight and learned my lesson from this incident, so now I buy mini Reese’s Fast Break candy bars, but I limit the number I eat because it’s just too tempting to eat more than one a day! Read the rest of this entry »
July 22, 2012
Defeating Negativity
“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen…” (Ephesians 4:29)
Several years ago, I became aware of how negative my thoughts and speech patterns had become. Instead of focusing on positive things, I chose to focus on the negative. When visiting with friends, conversations seemed to turn toward the negative issues in our lives: time spent away from kids, struggles at school and at daycare, problems at work. I focused on what I didn’t have instead of what I did have, which was a strong family support system and a job that I enjoyed. Read the rest of this entry »
July 10, 2012
Listen
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me…” (John 10:27)
Sometimes, we become so busy that it is difficult to hear God’s voice speaking to our spirit. When we become overwhelmed by our lives, we push him aside for other pursuits. We fail to read his Word, we don’t pray, and we don’t spend time in fellowship with other believers. We’re unable to hear him because we don’t spend time with him. Sometimes we send off hurried prayers, but we don’t stop and listen for a response because we’re already rushing off to the next task on our list.
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July 4, 2012
Celebrating Freedom
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance…” (Psalm 33:12)
As we celebrate Independence Day with fireworks and cookouts, we should also remember the reason for the celebration: on July 4, 1776, the colonies announced their separation from the British with the Declaration of Independence, and the United States of America was born. Over the years, many men and women have fought to preserve the freedoms presented in the Declaration of Independence, and we should be forever thankful to God that we have the opportunity to live in this nation, at this time in history. Read the rest of this entry »
Echoes of Joy 