Your Life is the Unfolding Journey of God's Creation

I read this the other night and I loved it.  This is going to be a short post.  The life that you are living is a creation of God.  He is the one who has your journey already mapped out, you are just taking control and living it.  Whether that is going to school, working, having children, following your dreams...whatever it is...it is your life and as it unfolds, you can see the life that God has created for you.  So don't just live life, but live it to the fullest.  Embrace the life God has created for you and never forget how lucky you are to be on this earth. Thanks for reading and I hope this short post was an inspiration to someone today.  Remember that:

Source:

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Put Everything into God's Hands-Bible Study With Vina

Hello everyone and welcome back :)  Today is another "Bible Study With Vina" and we will be talking about Putting everything in God's Hands.  Have you ever been in a situation where you just didn't know what you were going to do?  You were so upset you have so much to think about, and it's all going wrong and you don't know how you are going to pay your next bill, how are you going to fix your marriage, how you are going to get your car fixed, or put food on the table or even catch a break?  I'm sure we have all been in a situation like that once or twice in our lives.  Well I have recently gone through something where if something didn't change...so I was doing my bible study last night, in my living room with my bible and journal and Ipad and I came across this verse and article and I'm going to share it with you.

PUT EVERYTHING INTO GOD'S HANDS

2 Corinthians 1:9New International Version (NIV)

   "9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead."
Story: 
    So I was doing my bible study last night, and I read this article that just inspired me and encouraged me and gave me hope and something to think about, so I wanted to share it. This article talked about a man and his wife.  The husband had lost his job, and his wife had no idea what they were going to do.  But then this man read this verse, and it reminded him of Paul.  Paul was a man of faith and he wrote more than half of the new testament.  Now Paul was in a situation where he had no idea what he was going to do, but he decided that he needed to stop relying on himself, and put his faith and trust in God and he did.  By doing this God got him through the situation.  Now going back to the husband and wife.  The husband would get asked by so many people "what are you going to do?" He would reply...I don't know... but God does."  His wife realized at that moment that it was time they stop relying on themselves and their own wants and desires and worries and start putting their faith in God, because only him can help them through the situation they were in; and eventually, the husband got a really good job.

Source:
http://www.jesusfreakhideout.com/devotionals/puteverythinginGodshands.asp

My Reflection:
    I wanted to share that because it was so inspiring to me; and I encourage everyone to read it because it's really encouraging. Anyway,  this is something I am still learning especially after the week that I've had.  You know a lot of us only think about ourselves, and we want and desire so much, but we never realize that God already has a plan for us. He already knows what is going to happen and what he wants for our lives...we just have to stop thinking about ourselves and about how bad our lives are at the time, and start relying on what God has in store for us.  We have to put our faith in God and just let him take over our lives, our desires, our wants and remember that "he will supply all our needs, according to his riches and glory-Philippians 4:9, and if we ask, we will receive-Matthew 7:7, and when you do not ask, then you do not receive-James 4:2-3"...but we need to put our faith in the Lord above who created us and knows how our lives will turn out.
I hope this blesses, inspires and encourages someone out there today.

Question of the day:
  -Have you ever had a time where you just had to put your trust and faith in God?  You just didn't know where else to turn, and he was the one who was there?  Let me know in the comments below and have a great day.

Conversations with God

Hello everyone and welcome to another blog post.  I've been absent from this blog because I've been focusing on family and God.  Recently I had something happen and since then, I've just needed a break from this blog. So this is the start to a page called Bible Study With Vina...and I have already added posts to that page, so if you would like to read them, you can go to that page and read them easier or you can just scroll down til you find the one you want to read and read it.  I just made it a tad easier for you, and since I could not make it so it won't show up on the home page, it will still be on the home page. So to start this post off today we are going to have a verse to think about and maybe memorize.

Micah 6:8

  "And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

    So before we really begin I want to ask:  How is your prayer life?
I know for me, I didn't really start praying until I was in my teen years, because up until then I didn't really know what prayer was.  I always figured prayer was just saying ok we are going to pray,  like does everyone know we are praying, we are going to pray. I knew that we prayed before we ate because that is what I was used to but other than that, prayer didn't really mean a lot to me.  Now that I'm in my young adult years, I can see how prayer is definitely the key to having that connection or having a conversation with God.   In 1 Thessalonians it says we are to "pray continually."  We are to always pray.  I consider God my best friend.  In my loneliness times, God was my friend.  He listened to me when I needed someone to listen.  When you have that best friend, you talk to them about your life, and things that are happening, and that is the way that God is.  If God is your best friend, you want to talk to him about everything.  The one thing I love about prayer is that there are no rules.  There are no rules in saying you have to pray this way, he just suggest that you pray.  In Philippians 4:6 it says "Do not be anxious about anything but in EVERY SITUATION, by prayer or petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."  I love this verse because it is not saying sometimes, or in one situation...it says in Every Situation we are to talk to God and present what we ask to him.  
    So would you say that your conversation or your relationship with God is that of a friend, or that of someone who you just met?  
I ask that because... God is a personal God and you can't get personal with God or you can't get close to God if you don't pray. If you do not pray than you are not going to grow your relationship with God...just like if you ignore your friend, that friendship is not going to grow, it's going to shatter into a million pieces.  I also love that when you get to know God more, you get to know more of yourself...just like when you get to know someone, you sort of get to know more about yourself. 
  How do you pray to God?  Do you ask him for things that are for him, or are only for yourself? As I was thinking about this blog post, I was taking notes in my journal, because I was having my quiet time with the lord and I had my bible open and was looking up scripture.  Two verses popped into my head when I asked myself this question:
James 4:2-3 which says "You do not receive because you do not ask."  And then Philippians 2:21 says "For everyone looks out for his own interests, not those of Jesus Christ."  Those two verses were like Wow...a light bulb came on. 

    Sometimes we pray to God and ask him for things that are only for ourselves.  We don't think about what does God want from us or for us.  We only think about  what we want.  Maybe we pray to have a nice car, instead of asking... God what is it that you want me to pray for?  Yes it does say if we do not ask we will not receive, but it also states that we have to look for what God wants from us or what he wants for us, instead of just forgetting about him and only looking out for ourselves.  Now this blog post is getting really long so I will leave it at this:
God wants you to be best friends with him, and you can do that by praying and talking with him like you would your best friend. Just get out your bible, a notebook or journal, and have your quiet time with him. Don't be embarrassed, God just wants a relationship with you...it's not a beauty, or personality contest.  We will pick back up with this later.   

Comments Section Discussion Questions:
   -In the comments section... tell me how you have conversations with God?  Do you journal, do you pray, how do you talk to God?  Is God your best friend or is he just someone you just met and don't want to get to know more about?  God bless :)

Recap:
1) How do you have a conversation with God?  By praying, journaling, talking with him like he is your best friend, by reading your bible and going deep into scripture.
2) Make him your best friend and talk to him about your life
3) Don't pray for selfish reasons, but pray and consider God's interests for your life
4) Read the scripture and get to know God...and become best friends with him

Waking up to God in the Morning, Laying your Request Before Him and Waiting for Him to Answer

 
Hey everyone and welcome back to another blog post.  Today's post is one of those post that I have been thinking about lately and trying to use in my daily life, but sometimes I just don't have the time.  However I find that when I do, my day goes a little better.  Waking up with God is just so beautiful and it really just brings peace to your mind, heart and your day.  I love this verse because it just talks about how God hears our voices in the morning as we lay our request before him...the hard part is waiting to hear what he has to say back. I know for me, I've just been wanting an answer about my in laws and if I should try and get them to be a part of their grandson's life, but it seems that God is just taking forever to answer that request for me.  Do you find it hard to wait? If you said yes, you are not alone.  I  know I do. I find it very hard to be completely be reliant on God and trust that he knows what is best for me.  It's a daily struggle.  I just want things to come easily and I want to know everything, but that is not God's MO.  He wants us to come to him, bring our request and then wait til he gives us the answer.  It can be so hard to understand and hard to accept that for God we just have to learn to wait.  However when we wait on him we know in scripture that it says: in Lamentations 3:25-26 (NIV): The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,  to the one who seeks him;it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.  Now that is a good promise, that he is good to those who wait on him and seek him.  So when you wait for him...pray and meditate on your request.  For his word says that when you:

Psalm 19:14New International Version (NIV)May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight,  Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. So if you get nothing else out of this, take this away: By meditating on your requests to God, and by praying, it is pleasing to God, and if you wait for his answer, he will be good to you, because you have chose to trust that he knows what is best for your life.

Questions/Reflections of the Day:

       - Do you wake up to God every morning? Do you have a devotional, prayer or quiet time with him in the morning? When have you had to wait for God to answer one of your request?  Was it hard?  Did he answer it the way you wanted him to, or did you get a complete different answer?  What lesson was God trying to teach you by making you wait for his answer? These are a lot of questions I know, but if you don't want to answer, you can just meditate on them, or pick one that you really want to answer and answer it.  Please share in the comments below

Note: 

   - remember to be respectful to the others that comment.  I want this blog to bring people to Christ and to just bring christian women or men together and talk about God, family, and life.

Are You Being Transformed By The WORD, Or By The WORLD?

Hello everyone and welcome back to another blog post.  Today we will be jumping back into the devotional series.  So I was able to get back into my devotional and it was really neat as to what God was showing me last night and what he wanted me to take away from everything. So let's jump right into it shall we? :)

Scripture:
  Romans 12:2:
    "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is...his good, pleasing and perfect will."

My Reflection/Thought:
  -This devotional and verse I feel is talking about not being in the middle.  I feel like sometimes we do something that we might think is wrong but we do it anyway and  play it off like it's not a big deal.  But it is a big deal.  In our world we might feel that there's a lot of grey areas because of what we are taught, compared to what we know or think is right.  But God doesn't want us to be in the middle.  He wants us to either turn to him or turn to the devil; just don't be in-between.  For example: people feel that they can go to church, read the bible and sound all churchy on Sundays, but as soon as Sunday is over, they go back into being themselves which depending on who you are can be good or bad.  That's not being true to yourself or God; that's being of the world.  Revelations 3:15-17 says:

15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

Which one are you?

Can't Be Lukewarm!

God doesn't like when you are in the middle.  He wants you to run to him and seek out his word and voice before you go to the media or friends.  He wants us to be like him from the inside out, and not what the world thinks or wants us to be.  I think it's a daily struggle and a challenge especially for our young kids these days.  They so want to be like their friends and everyone else, but then they lose their own identity and they lose themselves.  And if you lose yourself, it's a lot harder to get back to who you are for real.  God knows we can handle this challenge....But do you know if you can handle the challenge?

Prayer:

  Lord thank you again for teaching me something great.  Lord I don't want to be on the fence; I want you to be in control of my life.  Please help me see that trusting you and knowing who you are is the best for my life.  Help me to come to you first with anything I am dealing with, before I go to the media or friends for answers. For I know that you want me to be like you from the inside out because you are the one that created me, and I'm the only "me" that there is, and no one can be "me."  Help me to have my own identity and to develop into this amazing woman in Christ.  In your name I pray...Amen

Question/Reflection of the day:

 What is it about you that makes you different from other people? For me, it's my eyes and my personality.  What makes you stand out?  Is it your personality, your gender, your looks, your tattoos, etc...what is it that makes you "You and Unique?"  Comment and share down below.  No judgement please...this is a place where people can share who they are without judgement.  If you are going to judge anyone...keep it to yourself...and please DO NOT share.  Thank you

References:

  Google images

  https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%203:15-17

Note:
As always you do not need to comment if you feel that you can not.  It's ok to me...I'm not here to bring you to god or anything like that...however I will always pray for you...I'm just here to share my devotions and thoughts about whatever I am writing about for that day or week.  Feel free to talk to me at anytime...my info is in a blog post or in my about me page.  God bless

God is a God of Grace and Meets us in the Moment

Hello everyone and welcome back to another blog post.  Today we are going to talk about something that I read yesterday, as I was looking for blog posts to read. By the way, I didn't get a chance to do my devotional last night, so we will pick that up tomorrow, because I don't want to do a blog post on that book, if I haven't read it yet. Anyway...  There was a quote in this person's blog that I read yesterday and it said: "God is a God of Grace and Meets us in the Moment."  This just sounded so poetic to me, and it really goes back to my blog post from yesterday, spending time with the Lord,.

God is an amazing God and he waits for us to come to him.  Even if you have strayed from him, he waits for you to come back to him.  This blog post was so inspiring and I will link her post down below; but I just loved it.  I could feel so much emotion from what she was experiencing and what she wrote in her post was just breathtaking; I just had to share it.  But besides that, I want you to know today that God is a god of grace and no matter where you are in your life, he will meet you in the moment.  Even if you have strayed from him for like 2-3 years, when you pick up that bible, or you just say a simple prayer like: "Lord I need you to day" he will be there.  I mean how amazing is that! He will be there.  He is always there no matter what.  He never leaves you:  James 4:8 says:

8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

He will meet you where you are.  If you just pray a simple prayer asking him to just be with you, he will be there.  There is no rejection in his voice.  He will not forsake his people.  He will not be angry with you and say: "well I'm not going to be there for you because you haven't talked to me in like 3 years."  NO! god is NOT like that.  He does not hold grudges...he just wants YOU to come to him and ask for him to be with you.

To end this post today I just want to say a prayer and if you need the Lord please say this prayer today:

Prayer:

    Dear Lord, I thank you for making me who I am.  I thank you for meeting me where I'm at, no matter where I have been in my life, I thank you for just being there for me.  I know Lord that you never forsake or leave your people, and I ask that you just show me the Love that you have for me.  I ask that you be with me as I go through my daily life and just learn to trust you and who you are and who I am in you.  Lord you are my savior and my king and I will trust you.  In Jesus Name...Amen

Question/Reflection of the day:

       -What can you take away from this post today? What about this post has inspired you or meant something to you?  How can you take what I have written in this post, and apply it to your life?

Link to the post I read:

http://faithfulbloggers.com/time-with-god-over-a-lifetime/comment-page-1/#comment-75638

Note:

I will do another video of me singing, I'm working on it.  Might take a little bit longer...but it will happen.  You guys have asked for it, so I will do another one for you as soon as I can. :)

Are you spending time with the Lord? Is your communication open with the Lord? How do you know if what you are hearing is from him or not?

Hello everyone and welcome back to another blog post.  We are going to continue with the devotional "What happens when women say yes to God."  So for today's devotional we are going to talk about your communication with the Lord.  Do you have an open relationship with him? How do  you know if what you are hearing is from the Lord or is not?  These are questions we will be answering today.  Now as always this is from my personal devotional time with him and I'm sharing with you all, what I have written in my journal, that I do every night.  I have decided that I wanted to dedicate at least 15 mins to an hour with him every night. I do this at night, like around 11pm, because my toddler is usually in bed, and my husband is normally doing something else...so this is my time where I can just be fully into the word and hear what he has to say to me.
Now as always with my devotional, if you are not a Christian and choose not to read this, that is ok...again I am not trying to convert anyone...however as always I will be praying for you.  If you are a Christian I hope that as always these devotionals bless you and encourage you in every way possible.

Scripture:
  -John 10:3-4
     "The gatekeeper{Jesus}, opens the gate for him, and the sheep{you and I}, listen to his voice.  He{God}, calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them and his sheep follow him because they know his voice." {They know his voice because they spend time with him.}

My thoughts:
 We are God's sheep and all he ever wants is for us to trust him with everything we have.  He wants us to have an open relationship with him, and be willing to follow what he has in our lives.  He is not some evil villein who is trying to hurt us, but he's an amazing, lovable God.  When you spend time with him, when you set a time in your day, to just emark on a journey with him and fully try and understand what he is telling  you, you will be filled with this feeling that you can not shake off.  When you hear from the lord, and he wants you to do something, it will be something you can not just forget.  You will hear it in a message at church, at home, at an event...etc...He will not let you forget what he wants you to know, and by searching in his word, praying a lot, and hearing it from other messages, you start to learn that its from the lord and not from you.  If God is telling you to do something, it will not go against anything you believe, it will not go against your parents, and it will line up with scripture.

My Reflection:
  -Lord, I learn that if I spend time with you; if I take time out of  my busy life, to just be with you, then I can learn to hear from you.  By spending time in your word, I will learn more about who you are and I will learn to recognize when you speak to me.  By spending time in your word, I will recognize your voice.

Prayer:
  Lord thank you for giving me a wonderful day.  Thank you for teaching me that if I am going to learn to recognize your voice, I need to spend time with you.  For your word teaches me that when we go to seek you, we will seek you with our whole heart, and once we seek you with our whole heart, then and only then, will we find you. Jeremiah 29:13.  Thank you for your love and willingness to wait for us and me. Amen.

Notes from the book & From me:
  *The way we recognize his voice is by knowing him.  When we know him, we can tell if what we are hearing and feeling is from him or not.

  *5 questions to determine if what you(I) are hearing is from God or not.
         1) Does what I'm(you) hearing line up with scripture?
                  -Read Romans 12:2
         2) Is it consistent with God's character?
                  -Read Galatians
5:22-23-Fruits of the spirit
         3) Is it being confirmed through messages you(I'm) hearing from church/studying in my(your) quiet time with the Lord?
                  -Read John 10:3-4
         4) Is it beyond me?
         5) Would it please God?
My notes:    -King David wanted to follow God’s plan.  He wanted to seek God out and have God show him the path or plan he should go down.  These are the words from David.  He wanted to be guided by God and led by his truth.  It shows that David was humble and he was able and wanted to be taught by God.  David knew that God was his savior and only wanted the best for him, and David knew that he was the one who created the path that David will eventually take.  In Psalm 25: 4-5 he writes:

  “Show me the right path, O LORD; point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you” 

Question/Reflection of the day: Goes back to the tile....

     - Are you spending time with the Lord? Is your communication open with the Lord? How do you know if what you are hearing is from him or not?

That is all for now...God bless

God's Intentions for Your Life are Good...They are Not to Harm You

Hello everyone and welcome back to yet another blog post.  Today is going to be a start to my devotional or quiet time with the Lord. For those of you who do not know, I am a Christian therefore some of my things I share on my blog will be from what I hear from the Lord during my quiet time with him. And  For those of you who are not Christians, and you choose not to read this, that is ok by me, I am not here to get you to believe in God,however I will keep praying for you; but I'm  just here to tell you what is on my heart and to share my life with you.  However none the less, I still hope this brings some encouragement to some one out there, and blesses those around you.

Last night I could not sleep, and I really wanted to just read something, but I wasn't sure what to read.  I then picked up one of my favorite books "what happens when women say yes to god."  This book I actually bought for a devotional I was going to do, but ended up not doing.  I will leave the link to the book at the bottom of this post if you choose to check it out.  It is an amazing book, and I'm just going through it carefully reading a chapter a night.  Last night's chapter was about how Satan gets into your head, and wants to harm you and make you think of awful things, but that God can take those thoughts and turn them into something good.  So I'm just going to share with you what I wrote in my journal, and if you love this, I can keep doing this, that way you each can go through the book with me.  I'm really liking this book, and I will probably keep doing this on here, as long as you all like to read about it. However, I will keep writing these in my journal every night, until I have gone through the whole book.

Scripture:
Genesis 50:20 says:
   "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done; the saving of many lives."
My Reflection:
   In this passage, Lord I see that my thoughts that are bad are from Satan.  He's trying to me away from you, therefore intending to harm me; but I know that you are taking my thoughts and intending or turning them into something amazing and good for me.  I know that you Lord can take something and turn it into something good.
Prayer:
  Lord thank you for always being there for me.  Help me to just open up to you and realize that if there is something going bad in my life, that you can turn it into something good.  Amen

Notes from the book/and from me:
   "A woman who says yes to God, isn't afraid to be honest with him." Chapter 1 pg 14
          -God loves you so much and he wants to know every detail of your life.  He wants you to pour out your heart to him and tell him what has been going on in your life.  He is not here to get angry with you, but he's here to help you understand  that he is here no matter what you are going through in your daily life.  No matter how painful or bad it may be, he is here for you.  God is a loving God and he will always love you no matter what you have done.  So pour out your cares to him, your concerns, your feelings, and be open and honest with him at all times.
   "Being a woman who says yes to God means making the choice to trust  him even when you can't understand why he requires some of the things he does.  It means that once you have said yes to God, you refuse to turn back when things get hard." Chapter 1 Pg 16
       -God does not want you to only go to him when things are rough, he wants you to go to him when things are good as well.  When you say yes to him, you are saying that you fully give  your life to him and trust that his plans are what he feels is best for your life.  He already knows the directions that you will take with  your life.  He already knows what you will be doing with the rest of your life.  But even though he knows that, he wants you to find that and know that for yourself.  Don't turn back from him just because the direction of your life, isn't where you want it to be.  Trust in him and he will show you the way.

Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)  "Trust in the lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge/submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."

Link to the book:

http://www.amazon.com/What-Happens-When-Women-Extraordinary/dp/0736919228

Question/Reflection of the day:

What is God telling you to share today? Are you honest with God, or do you just give him the short answers that you feel he is looking for?

 Last minute notes:

I am always here: my email is: marvinam16@yahoo.com...if you want to speak to me about life or anything dealing with God or you just need to talk, feel free to contact me through the blog or email.  God bless you all and hope this brings some encouragement to someone out there.

You are not alone

Hello everyone and welcome back to another blog post.  I feel like I say that all the time, but it just sounds better than trying to come up with something that makes no sense.  So today I decided to do something different.  I almost never do this...and I don't put myself out there especially with my singing. The song I chose to sing a cover on is called I am not alone by Kari Jobe.  Kari jobe is a christian artist, who to me is amazing.  Her voice is so refreshing and calming and you can tell she just speaks from the heart.  I love watching her videos on youtube, and this song specifically has just been amazing.  You are not alone.  No matter what you are going through, God is here, and he is listening to you.  He hears everything you say, pray, do, whatever.  And I just want to encourage all of you out there to just seek him and find him and ask him to come into your life.  He is an amazing God and he doesn't want you to feel alone.

Note to see the video: click here:  https://youtu.be/foUd7fvX3bw

or just keep reading til the bottom there's the video.  Hope you all like it.

Isaiah 41:10

10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Psalm 73:23

Yet I am always with you; you hold me by your right hand.

These two verses are in the video, but I also want to point them out here in the blog post, because I don't think that anyone should feel like they are never heard, or that they feel like no one cares, about them because God cares about you.  He cares about you even if you think there is no reason why he should, he cares.  Be blessed today, and hopefully this just brings a calming smile and assurance to someone that God is always there for you.