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“The Sun That Shines!!”

A day…

There is nothing like a day where the sun shines.  It makes everyone more pleasant.  And it seems that more people smile.  There is something the sun gives that changes the life.

A couple of days ago was just such a day.  I was home alone for a few hours, which is unheard of.  We had just had a downpour just the day before so everything was green.  And now the sun was shining brightly.  It made for a wonderful morning.  I actually went out and laid on our trampoline in the bright sunshine.  It felt so amazing!  As I lay there soaking up the sunshine I was also listening to the nature sounds.  Many birds were singing and I could hear the buzz of many bugs.  It was so peaceful and pleasant.

But then…

The day was so pleasant you would think that nothing could change it.  But then I heard it thunder.  I was looking to see where it was coming from because the sky was so blue.  In the distance, there were some dark clouds coming my way.  I watched in amazement as those clouds came closer and the thunder got louder.  And what was so amazing?  It was the split between the sunshine with blue sky and the dark clouds.  There was a definite contrast.  On one side of the sky were the dark ugly clouds and on the other side the beautiful blue sky.

I was inside the house at this point.  And then it happened.  The burst of rain!  It poured rain!!  The rain was coming down so hard and fast that puddles were forming in seconds.  And yet I could still see some blue sky and the sunshine peeking through.  It is not often you see both together.  But there is the bright side.  The rain watered the earth and made things green.

Fear factor…

There is always the fear factor every time we have with thunder and lightning.  There is a fear of fire.  It seems that even though we are only into June things are drying out so quickly.  It would only take one strike of that lightning to cause a fire that could destroy everything.  I can say I don’t always think about it.  But when I do I pray for rain, because as the clouds burst forth with the rain and waters the earth it helps keeps the fire danger down.  And if a strike did happen the rain puts it out as quickly as it started.  We have been saved more than one time from fire, that we know about, and probably multiple times that we don’t know about because the rain came and put it out.

What about…

Then it made me start to think.  What about our lives?  Are there days that the Son is shining and the “sky” (our lives) is blue (going smoothly)?  Life is going great!!  We feel close to God and go on in life with no thought of anything changing.  Everything is so beautiful.  But there is this unsuspecting cloud coming that we are unaware of because we are basking in the Presence of God.

And then we hear the rumbles of a trial.  Sometimes we can see a trial coming and other times it is a total shock.  But there are those times where you sense or can see a forthcoming trial.  Sometimes we get more prepared other times we ignore it but it still comes.  We start to see the “lightning” and hear the “thunder”.  And it continues to draw closer and closer to us.

Fear factor…

Then comes the fear factor.  We wonder if we are going to be struck with “lightning” (succumb to the trial or temptation).  Is an evil “fire” going to start that will burn up our spiritual lives?  Have we become so dry that nothing can stop it from burning?  Are we going to get discouraged or reach out for more support and help?

We have to realize that there is help and we don’t have to succumb to discouragement or give in to temptations.  All we need to do is to call out for a power higher than ourselves.  We need to cry out to God.  And as we cry out to God “rain” (Holy Spirit) will come with power and will squelch out any spark of a “fire”.  God is our strength and He will fight for us.

Dear Father,

Thank You for always being there for us.  We are a forgetful people.  It is hard for us to give up our control and to allow You to control.  Continue to show us our need of You.  And help us in the process of surrendering to You in the good times as well as in the time of trial and temptation.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Make sure to reach out and stay connected with God at all times.  So that when the trials and temptations come it will be automatic to turn to God.

Love you all.

We have all had trial and temptations.  But is there one that has happened in your life where you called out to God and you have seen His work?  I would love to hear your story.  Share below.

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A “BALANCED” Life!

It seems like with the hustle and bustle of life can keep us from doing the things that we really need to be doing to keep a balanced life.  We get up run through the routine of taking a shower, dressing, getting the kids ready, getting a quick breakfast and out the door to school or to the baby sitters and then we are off to work.  At the end of the day we pick up the kids, get home fix a quick supper, get a little house work done, then sit in front of the TV, read a book, or play with the kids.  A lot of times the kids are left on their own because we don’t have time for them or we are just too tired.  We end up in bed late and then we start the cycle all over again.

We all have a busy life and it isn’t until we finally collapse that we have to take the time to reevaluate things.  I am going to share some ideas with you that have been a blessing to me.  I have an acronym that I will be going through in this blog but will be getting into more detail on each one in future blogs.  There are eight letters in my acronym and it leads to a BALANCED life.

  1. Bedtime.  We tend to think that we can just keep on going everyday without a proper amount of sleep.  We should be getting between 6-10 hours of sleep per night depending on age and health conditions.  There are so many benefits that come from getting plenty of rest.
  2. Aqua.  Aqua is Spanish for water.  Water is so important for the body.  Our body is made up of so much water.  We should be at least drinking half of our body weight in ounces.  Our bodies cannot function properly without water.  And it has to be water.  It is cleansing to our bodies.  Can you imagine washing dishes with soda pop, juice, coffee, or any other beverage?  Our dishes would not get clean.  We need to drink clean, clear water to keep our bodies clean.
  3. Light.  Our bodies need the light of the sun.  It is good for us to get out in the sunlight everyday.  We do have to be careful not to get too much sun.  But on the most part I think that a lot of us do not get as much sun as we should.
  4. Air.  We need to get some fresh air each day.  It can be easy just to go from our house to our car, from our car to our job and back again at the end of the day.  We need to be getting out each day and deep breathing the wonderful fresh air.  It is the way to clean out our lungs.
  5. Nutrition.  Nutrition is important for our bodies.  We need to be eating foods that will give us what our bodies need to function properly.  We need to be very balanced in what we eat.  It is also helpful within the times that we live to take a supplement
  6. Control.  We need to have self-control.  This can be a very hard thing to do.  We may be eating a lot of junk food and it can be hard to get a way from it.  We crave these things.  There can be some reasons for that, which I will get into in future blogs.  We can be struggling with our weight and staying fit because we are struggling with self-control.
  7. Exercise.  We need to keep active.  This not only strengthens our more visible muscles like our legs and arms but it also strengthens the heart.  Strengthening the heart is so important.  Exercise will help with many more things other than just muscles, like sleep and self-control.
  8. Dependence on God.  This is probably one of the most important.  We can do all of the other 7 things on this list but if we don’t have dependence on God our health can be destroyed.  We have to lay all of our burdens at His feet and let Him untangle the web that our lives may be in.

This is just a brief overview of the things that can bring a BALANCED life.  I will be getting into more depth on each of these in the coming blogs.

Dear Father,

You are the One that we can come to in any struggle that we may be going through.  To keep our lives BALANCED we need You.  Thank You that You are always there and all we need to do is reach out to you.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Start one step at a time to get your life BALANCED.

Do you feel like your life is out of balance?  What are some ways that you have done to accomplish a more BALANCED life?