Dec 31st Daily Reflection

As I celebrate the peace of the Lord, I am reminded of the level of weakness I have and the need to stay really close to the Lord because my bucket of peace has only a few drops in it and the only way to full it up is by staying close to the Lord! I look forward to discover new ways I am weak and allow myself the opportunity to be close to the Lord so he can continue full my bucket of peace!

How is your weakness allowing yout to achieve peace?

Dec 30th Daily Reflection

I have found that focusing my energies being the conduit of the Lord's love, staying close to him and doing the Godly thing when others are encouraging you to do something that is only beneficially in the material world makes me appear a bit abnormal. However, the funny thing about appearing abnormal is that truly well grounded people engage you in a more menaingful manner and life is so much more peaceful! That is because when I am fully focus on the Lord, I am at my most authentic and when I am being authentic people can appreciate me even if they don't like me. Being close to the Lord allows me to be authentic and because I am authentic, the world responds positively to me which encourages me to stay close to the Lord and be even more authentic....the endless loop of positiveness!

How is your endless loop of positiveness making you appear abnormal?

Dec 29th Daily Reflection

"Trust me with every fiber of your being!" this is what today's devotion implores. Something that I have worked very hard to do. And I will say that this past year I have trust the Lord with every fiber of my being and because of it, the blessings of the Lord are too numerous to count! Because of trusting the Lord with every fiber of my being, I am at peace even when things are not going my way! The peace, joy and tranquility that comes from trusting the Lord is beyond words!

How is trusting the Lord with every fiber of your being helping you find peace?

Dec 28th Daily Reflection

I reflect back to last year this time when I was still so focused on the material world that I made one of the worse decision of my life, knowing it was a bad decision but still following thru with it! I smile when I think of it because, instead of leaving me, the Lord stood by me and allowed me to fall, caught me and allowed me to draw nearer to him. And because of this, I am closer to the Lord, enjoying his peace, love and joy at a time of the year that normally is very emotionally troubling! Today, I can see the Lord's blessings in everything around me, in things that others say is bad. I can rejoice with respect when things don't go my way, because it always means that something incredibly wonderful is around the corner! I am excited, rejoicing in the magnificent of the Lord because I know there is no such thing as a bad life when the Lord is in your life!

How areyou rejoicing because the Lord is in your life?

Dec 27th Daily Reflection

Today's daily reflection talks about taking time to be quiet with the Lord. I like to think that I do that, however, I have been ill this week and it has caused me to stay close to home and during that time I realize that I am not spending enough time being quiet with the Lord. Fortunately, because of my illness, I have had the time to be quiet with the Lord and that quiet time has centered me and help me better prepare for the 2013. The quiet time has also been helpful for me to appreciatethe beauty of what the Lord did by giving us his only son for our sins. So as I wait for my body to recover and heal itself of what alies it, I am giving thanks for this aliment that has caused me to spend quiet time with the Lord.

How are you using setbacks as an opportunity to be close to the Lord?

Dec 22nd Daily Reflection

As Christmas day draws nearer, my joy and excitement grows because this year, instead of focusing on worldly things, I am focusing on praising the Lord, giving thanks for all the blessings he bestowed upon us daily and hourly! Spending time being a conduit of his love, appreciating the beauty in everyone I meet even if they upset me. This Christmas season, for the first time, I am experiencing the incredible impact of the birth of Jesus!

How are you spending this Christmas season fully appreciating the blessings of the Lord?

Dec 18th Daily Reflection

Persistent problems. Do we really have persistent problems or is do they simply appear as persistent because we refuse to turn to the Lord for assistance? Do we get so caught up in thinking we can solve the problems that we we neglect to seek out guidance from the Lord and as such turn easily solved problems into persistent problems? This is something I ponder whenever I have a problem and I get hyper focused on it and normally when I stop focusing on the problem, it somehow goes away, when I look to the Lord for guidance, the problem is quickly resolved!

How is looking to the Lord eliminating presistent problems in your life?

Dec 17th Daily Reflection

As my trust on the Lord grows, I stop to wonder why did I ever have any fear and resistence to trust him. As I go thru life now simply trusting him at every turn, with every issue, and negativity, I can barely remember a time when I didn't trust him. And for those brief memories, I ask myself what was I thinking then. I know I wasn't thinking! I rejoice in the small blessings of the Lord, the knowledge that as long as I serve him, nothing else matters! This knowledge has created a peace that seems unbreakable and for that I continue rejoicing! An endless loop, I rejoice and the Lord sends me blessings which cause me to rejoice which causes the Lord to send blessings which.....

How is fully trusting in the Lord helping you be at peace?

Dec 16th Daily Reflection

This holiday season, I am doing something different. Instead of providing material gifts, I am giving the gift of the Lord's love. Of course, the first response by everyone is that I am being cheap, however, that response is an indication of the pushback I receive when I try to live a Godly life. People think I am weird or that I am making them wrong because I refuse to get caught up in the blantant consumption that helps us avoid the most important thing of the season, loving the Lord, rejoicing in his birth and allowing myself to be a conduit of his love. Because I have decided not to get caught up in the shopping and running around, I actual have more time, less stress and I am able to share the Lord's love with a number of friends who I would otherwise not be able to share his love.

How is loving the Lord helping you get thru the holiday season?

Dec 14th Daily Reflection

The recent devotions have talked about focusing on the Lord and not letting daily life events distract you. As I process these directives, one thing came to me. In order to fully accomplish them,is to fully die! When I say die, I mean having such a life changing event/decision that all that was true is no longer true, all your ways of being no longer makes sense, an event/decision that causes you to have no choice but to go to the Lord, an event/decision that forces you to only trust the Lord, knowing that whatever others say/do is meaningless because only the Lord's guidance matter! I had a few of those events this year and then I made the decision to trust the Lord, not worrying about what others think/say and I have found that the world is only full of blessings, joy and happiness! As I prepare to celebrate the birth of the Lord, I can't help but be happy to celebrate my birth, my birth of fully receiving the Lord!

Are you ready to fully receive the Lord?

Dec 12th Daily Reflection

Live by faith not by sight! Yes, this is an incredible way to live! The glory of the Lord is always with you, unexplainable things happen, blessings are found everywhere you look, life is wonderful and love is flowing from everyone who you interact with, the love that is flowing from you is so intense, you have no choice but to share it! Taking the leap and forgetting about seeing anything simply believing that the Lord will take care of you and guide you! I can write these things because I experience then on the days I am truly living by faith!

How is living by faith allowing you to experience heaven on earth?

Dec 11th Daily Reflection

I am smiling as I read today's devotion because I have two long term goals that recently I have become a bit impatient with and was starting to think of ways to fast track achieving them! However, something (the Lord) told me to hold tight and today's devotion gave me the confirmation needed to hold tight! It reminds me that impatience is a sign of lossing faith, of believing you ar somehow better and more knowing than the Lord! A very timely reminder for me as I reassess my long term goals and confirm that they are indeed appropriate for me!

How does your impacience cause you to stray away from God's plan for you?

Dec 10th Daily Reflection

Once a friend of mine commented that it appears that I get energized whenever there is a crisis or problem to solve. At first, I was a little taken aback then I realized that I really get excited when there is a crisis or problem to solve. And after reading today's devotion, I can say it is because when I have a problem or crisis, it means I must lean on the Lord, so fully lean on the Lord that my faith gets stronger and ability to be the conduit of his love easier! Rejoicing when there are problems because it is yet another opportunity to be close to the Lord!

Do you rejoice in problems because it brings you closer to the Lord?

Dec 7th Daily Reflection

Focusing on the larger things in life, allows you to stay closer to the Lord and ensure that you don't let small trival issues distract you from being close to the Lord and continuing to be a conduit of his love. Daily it's a challenge to stay focus on the larger things however, those days we are able to stay focus on the larger things, being in step with the Lord becomes easier which makes it easier to experience heaven on earth.

How is focus on the larger things in life bring you closer to the Lord?

Dec 6th Daily Reflection

Sometimes I get upset because my routine gets changed and maybe I don't get to do something I believe I must absolutely do that day. However, recently I have been stopping to wonder why am I getting upset and realizing that it is always because my routine was changed not really because of some loss of not following my routine. As I was reading today's devotion, I started to smile because it reminds me that instead of focusing on a routine for the Lord, I should allow myself to be with him whenever it works for me, being concisious that if I go too long without him life becomes more difficult. Today's devotion reminds me that as long as I keep the Lord as the focus of my life if I missed a day of morning reflections, I can still recover with an evening of reflections.

Being with the Lord spontaneously!

Dec 5th Daily Reflection

Transcending the earthy turmoil to see the beauty of the Lord is a very difficult thing to do and it is especially difficult if you are the only one rejoicing about the Lord. However, once you get thru the backlash of doing that, you find that staying close to the Lord when under assault and not worrying about what others think results in experiencing heaven on earth! You get to see beauty in everything and you are not bothered when there is a backlash for your rejoicing!

How is seeing the beauty of the Lord in everything making you experience heaven on earth?

Dec 3rd Daily Reflection

It is amazing how as you go thru life with the peace of the Lord you see things others don't see! I just got back from Haiti and before my trip, I was told about how stressful it would be, however, once I was there, I saw so much beauty, so much potential, so much hope! The Haitian people are a resilient set of people and some always question how they can be that way, they can be that way because the Lord blessed them with such a beautiful country that even if you want to be distressed, the beauty gets to you and your spirits lifts! When one is at peace with the Lord, physical trials are nothing! I spent a week experiencing that in Haiti! The Lord is at work there.

How is being at peace with the Lord causing you to see things others can't see?