"The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand"

Psalm 37:23–24

Father hold me up, that is a honest request from this child to her Lord.
The last few slips, trips or falls have taught me—the walk is too treacherous to make alone.

If I think that I cannot sense the Lord it is because I have moved away, or I have allowed something, someone, some problems, some worries, or some concerns to come between me and the Father.

I have taken my focus off God and put it onto the problem, now my problem seems to big to handle and it is for me, but not for my God.
Like the last part of the Lords prayer “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil” Would God ever lead us into temptation? James 1:13 says, “When people are tempted they should not say, God is tempting me." Evil cannot tempt God, and God himself does not tempt anyone.” So I place my hand in his and say, “Please, Abba, keep me from evil.” “Keep me from the slippery spots. Don’t let me fall again.”
But if I go ahead of God I must back up, ask for His forgiveness, and allow him to lead, guide and direct. The Father is so willing to comply. But to know him more I must spend time with him. I decide how much of my time goes to him.
To say that He has stepped away from me, is so wrong, I know that I am as close to God as I desire to be. I must spend time in His word, meditating on it and pray for him to lead me and then be sensitive to His will. He would never lead me away from him. I decide how much of my life I give to Him, Piece by piece or all of it.

I decide if I am an arms-length away or if I am right in the hands of my Savior.

"SWEETHEART BANQUET"

February 14, 2009

Last night was our “Sweetheart Banquet”, this has been a tradition in our church since I can’t even remember when. For the past 5 or more years, one of my favorite cousins, Angie, has done all the planning, decorating, cooking and special speaker and music arrangements for the entire event. She is by far one of the most awesome Christian women I know.
Last nights menu was magnificent again, starting with a mixed greens salad and balsamic vinaigrette dressing, the entrées were stuffed pork loin with scalloped potatoes and fresh asparagus spears, that was Todd’s choice and I had the Burchett Chicken stuffed with pancetta bacon and cheese, accompanied by wild rice and broccoli, num num as Macarti would say.

The message for the event was brought by Assistant Pastor of the Calvary Chapel Church in Idaho Falls, Gordon Boyle. Gordon spoke on Marriage and how God must be the vertical aspect of each marriage, beginning with the husband and wife being the horizontal aspect that enables us to show unconditional love, from the man, and unconditional respect, from the woman.

Ephesians 5:33

says.......Hubands must love your wives as you love yourself, and wives respect your husbands. This is not possible without each individual abiding in Christ.
This message was pretty special to Todd and I, beacuse about 4 or 5 years ago Todd and I did the study of “Love and Respect” by Emerson Eggrichs. It was a great study for us and we suggest it to anyone wanting to strengthen their marriage and bring Glory to God. The entertainment part of the night was brought by our own Praise and Worship team, which includes: Paige McAfee, keyboard, Ann Lagomarsino Bass guitar, Matt Lagomarsino on the Djembes drum, Uncle Mark on the lead guitar and vocal, Rachel Bailey, Casi Echeverria and Todd all vocals as well. The music was great and the message was ideal.
The whole evening was uplifting and encouraging.

"Give and Receive"

Matthew 22:37

Love the Lord you God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.

The word “Love” is used in the Bible 610 times. Wow, that should show us alone how important it is to God, that we should not only give His Love but also receive His Love. I was thinking about that the other day. We know God Loves us. We read it in His word, we see it daily in how He provided for us. But do or have we actually said I receive your Love Lord? Do we except His Love into each moment of our lives? Are we aware of how much He Loves us? We must say Thank you for your Love, that comes so freely.
A few verses that show us God’s Love are:

Numbers 14:18

The Lord is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love.
Psalm 13:5

But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me.

Psalm 18:1

I love you, Lord; you are my strength.

Psalm 23:6
Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.
John 3:16
For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
Roamans 5:8

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Romans 8:28

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them
1 Corinthians 13:13
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
Think about it, would you give your only child or any of your children as payment for the sins of people who you do not know, or don’t even wish to know you? Or how about the people who act as if God doesn’t even exists, would you give your child as a payment for someone who mocks or denies your Lord? That took some pretty special, powerful Love. The kind of Love that takes me just as I am, not the kind of Love that says, clean your self up, change your ways before you are worthy. No, God’s Love says I’ll take you just as you are. Come to me dirty, nasty, stinky, hungry, thirsty, happy, sad, or mad. Just come to me.
That’s the kind of Love I must to not only give, but receive.

"The Best Part"

Mark 10:15

Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive and accept and welcome the kingdom of God like a little child positively shall not enter.

"Sweet Sweet Bailey Brown"


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"Angel in Disguise - Birch Brown"
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"Miss Macarti Rae"

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"Beautiful Brown Eyes - Paul Melton"

"FIXIN THINGS"

Proverbs 3:5 & 6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

The past 4 years have been hard ones for our family, the past 40 days have been a battle and the past 10 have been like something like no other. Each day I have had to constantly rein myself in from wanting to fix things, and when I say fix, I don’t mean the fix where you explain to someone what they have done wrong and they say sorry and ta-da it is all good, no I get to where I want to tie up a leg, like you do on a colt, and really FIX this person, if you know what I mean.

It is a hard thing for me to surrender daily, maybe not you, but I sometimes want to run ahead. (for those of you who don’t think or won’t admit to having any spiritual struggles at all, you probably wont understand this.) But Proverbs 3:5 & 6 is what I cling to and claim as my own.
I am honest enough to admit that I do struggle, but I know that – that only shows me I cannot exist a minute without my Lord. I have heard, from time to time, people make comments like:
“If you were a good Christian you wouldn’t be depressed”, or “If you were a good Christian you wouldn’t worry.” I pray that I never get to the place where I think I am so close to perfection that I will freely judge others and if I do, Father forgive me.

Yesterday was one of those really hard days, you know when satan outdoes himself? Things were coming at our youngest daughter like bb’s from a shotgun, (you know what I mean Bubuh?,) now mind you I have come a long ways from where I was, but I really wanted to seek and destroy this feller, but then I would be no different than him. I hit my knees, in my mind, and said Lord this really hurts and I am wanting to FIX him, but I am trusting you Lord, calm my heart and give me grace. Even though this guy will never be like son to me again, I am not going to hate him; That would too much energy wasted, instead I prayed that God will do whatever it takes to bring this boy back to him. I decided to press on through this anger and instead lift my daughter and granddaughter up and ask the Lord to give us all His Grace for each day through this storm. And that our daughter will stand strong in her decision to put her God, her daughter and herself as her first priority and press on, seeking God's face.