getting burned

Ok, so maybe you all think I got burned tonight. Not that it would surprise me, but no I did not actually ge burned in the typical sense of the word. I do however has a burning sensation on my lips. It is all Adam's fault! hahahaha Ok, not really his fault, it's mine. I can blame him though, right? lol

I bought the kids some fresh picked hot peppers the other day. I thought they could make hot sauce with them. Adam loves (LOVES) spicy foods. He gets very proud of himself when he mixes spies to BBQ sauce to make a hot and spicy BBQ sauce. So, being a nice mom, and being bored tonight, after everyone went to bed, I roasted the peppers to give a nice flavor and remove the skins. This way the kids (mostly Adam) can make the hot sauce in the morning with out help from me. :o)

I was careful not to wipe my eyes or lick my fingers and stuff like that. I know these peppers are spicy hot. I do not like spicy hot anything so I was very careful. Apparently I wasn't careful enough though. lol You see, hot peppers that are having the skins removed let off some juice in the air. OH MY! My face is right above the plate I am using to put the peppers on. My eyes get the heat and I blink quite a bit. It gets better, no problems. My lips though!!! HOLY COMOLY!!! It is as if all the juice that the pepper let off seemed into the skin around my lips. Fifteen minutes later I am sitting here and my lips are still burning!!!

I try to do something nice and I get burned. Ever feel that way? I sure do at times. I try to help someone and they get mad at me. Or I get someone a gift and they hate it. Or, well, you get the idea.

It's at times like that I wonder if I did what God asked me to do, or, did I read more into it then God actually said. I fel like I got burned when things don't go as I expect them because someone changed their ideas of the situation. It is like the hot spicy burning sensation burning my lips. It hurts at first, then the pain lingers, trying to make it go away irritates it more, then I get upset at what ever caused the burning sensation in the first place.

Getting mad at the peppers is pretty senseless and ridiculous, right? Well, so is getting mad at someone else, or even at God Himself, when you get burned. If I had waited for the peppers to cool I might have had thta burning sensation as bad as I did. If I wait for God to show me what to do I won't feel as though I am being burned by God, circumstances and other people.

Wait on the lord to avoid getting burned. He will always direcxt our paths straight if we jsut humble ourselves and ask Him.

a headache kind of day.........

Today has been a day full of lots of things, including a migraine!!! Oh how I dislike migraines. I have not had this bad of one in about a year or so and I was blessed with only minor headaches regularly rather then major ones. God sure has been good to me for the last year. For this alone do I feel honored and blessed beyond measure!

That got me thinking........ God is so good to me. I was severely beaten as a young child, but God protected me and I am still alive today. He had me raised in a foster home that loved the Lord and went to a born again church.  My foster parents were wonderful and they raised me as if I was one of their own. Over the years I was never in need of anything and barely in want of anything for it was all, and them some, provided for me. I felt welcomed and loved......

As an adult, even tough I do not have foster kids of my own, I still try to give back. I am not giving back because I want to justify why I was treated so well, not because I think I can earn anything by doing so, not to look good in front of people. I give back to show my god I love Him and am thankful for protecting me all those years, and still doing so now. 

For I the Lord your God hold your right hand; I am the Lord, Who says to you, Fear not; I will help you! (Isaiah 41:13)

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 

(Titus 3: 5-7)


So, now as an adult I try to live my life for Jesus each and everyday. I admit I am not perfect, actually I am far from it!!! Neither and I sinless but rather I just sin less. So today, I thank Jesus Christ the Son, God the Father and the Holy Spirit in helping me sin less and less each day. I will never be sinless but I can try to always sin less. :o)

As another note of interest I have been receiving a lot of rebuke from one person on facebook. I shared, very briefly and nicely, an invite to my church. I could have just put it on my facebook profile wall page but I felt led to ask people thru a private message instead. Well, as I expected just not to this extent, someone thought I was being "pushy" in my religion. pushy? Me? Obviously he has no idea what I am like. lol!!! Too funny!!!!!! I mean, if you know me well, I am honest and open about my faith and my relationship with Christ, however you would also know I am not pushy.

so my point is if you feel lled to share, by all means LISTEN TO IT!!!
SHARE YOUR FAITH!!
Jesus requires it. After all Scriptures talk about not hiding your light, to go forth and spread the good news, to be bold. They will know you by your fruit. If we are timid and do not share then we will produce no fruit. I'm sorry but I do not want to be hewn down!!! I do not want to be cast into the fire!!!!!!!
So, despite the slack I received, and will expect to continue to receive, I will be vocal about my beliefs. If you do not like it, please ignore me. delete me or do not read this blog.

Matthew 7:15-20 (King James Version)

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

If you do share my thoughts please comment below how you share your faith each day. Are you a quiet secret person who helps in the background or are you front and center helping out where ever needed? Do your friends know you are saved? If not... why? Do strangers you meet get the feeling that you are different because of your beliefs or do you resemble everyone else in your actions? 

They (the world) will know believers (us) by our fruits. Are you known by yours? 

 I pray daily that the people I meet will always see Jesus before they see me. :) 

lesson learned

Today has been a rough day for me with my walk with God. Not that I have not felt close to Him or anything. I have not been disobedient, to my knowledge. I have actually prayed quite a bit today, feeling thankful for all He has done for me. So why has it been rough? Well, not only was I taught one lesson today, I was taught 2!

First might I explain what happened today... Well, I have been in a slump, feeling frustrated and sad because I feel compelled, almost "required" to break contact with someone I once was very, very close with.  Due to once being close to this person breaking off the relationship, in my mind, is inconceivable... It is not something I want to do. This someone has always claimed to be saved, to Love the Lord God with all their heart. This person and I have been through a lot (I mean A LOT!!) together. Not talking to this person, albeit very seldom as of late, brings sadness to my heart. If I feel so close to this person why do I feel compelled to break contact? Well, it is easy. They have offended my God, the one True God. Their behavior is not only atrocious and wrong (according the the Word that they say they follow) but they have lived their life this way for some time, a lot longer then I care to admit. To sit idly by and watch this person disgrace the God that I love so much hurts me deeply. I have tried to talk to this person. I have tried to reason with this person. I have prayed and prayed and prayed.......... but my compelling feelings have not changed, nor has their behavior.

Then a couple of days ago, this person was very rude to me because their views differed from mine, which were based on Scriptures. When I asked this person not to be rude, I was then told off... This was not the first time this type of situation has come up. So, you see I have a choice........ do I sit back quietly while they continue to act opposite the Scriptures while telling everyone they are Saved, and stay friends with them therefore seeming to condone their behavior? OR Do I cut my losses, end the friendship, live for Christ and leave it all up to God?

Gee, let me think.................. It's a no-brainer right? Yes, but, (you knew there would be a but, right?) since I was really, really close to this person it is hard to let things end. I know I haven't had much of a relationship with them lately but to say we are done for good is such finality......... It has been troubling me so much lately. I feel betrayed by this person, hurt deeply. They know the truth yet they will not live by the truth, but they say they are Christians...... To me, that is slapping God in the face by saying you worship him but live opposite to His Word. I can not, nor will I, sit idly by and watch them slap my God in the face. I can't just do that... It's wrong!

So, where did I learn my lesson? At dinner tonight of all places!!! We always read a devotional to the kids while we eat dinner as a family. Tonight we chose to read My Utmost for His Highest. We do not always read that day's reading; we sometimes open it up and read what it opens to, other times we "search" (skim) for something that may pertain to what we are going through. I did the last option today. Since I had been struggling with this situation I thought Jan 11th sounded promising. It is titled "What my obedience to God costs other people". It talks about how if we live our lives according to Scriptures and keep obeying God people around us will ridicul, be upset, or angry at us because sometimes our obedience to God causes them an inconvience......

Like going to the movies. If a friend asks me to go to the movies with her and some friends, and I say yes. then I find out it's a horror movie they are going to see. I then change my mind because I don't agree that watching a horror movie is edifying. They might get mad at me and call me little miss goodie two shoes...

So you see, in that circumstance my living for God inconvenienced and upset my friends... So getting back to my situation I learned that no matter what this person feels about me, whether they get mad at me or think I am stuck up or whatever it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things........ My God is happy with my obedience and that makes me happy. :)

Ok, so one lesson learned now about the second lesson......... That was caused my the disobedience of my son. My oldest son has never really "got things" and understood why in fact something was wrong that he did. As he has gotten older this has happened less often but it happened tonight. Mike and I found out that Adam defaced property belonging to our apartment complex. He did it when his friends were around a while ago, apparently. We just found out about it tonight. Of course we were furious!!! Mike was extremely upset because eviction can be the end result of defacement of complex property... We have lived here 14 years already, with never a problem. We do not want any problems, especially caused by our children. Most kids would have remorse and understand the depth of their sin. Adam, not so much. He was confused. Although he knew it was wrong, he understood he did it willfully, he was lost on the idea that his friends were around when he did it and no one told him he was wrong for doing it. (I know I know! Most people would totally get that without an explanation, but not Adam, not with his Asperger's.) So it took some time to get it through to him it doesn't matter what others thought, or said. He knew the right way to behave. They are not his conscience. God is... then it dawned on me.......

Here is the second lesson. How many times have we acted that same way towards God? How many times have we told God (directly or indirectly) that "everyone's doing it" ~~ I don't understnad why we can't do it? What is so wrong with it? It's not all that bad. ~~  You see where I am going with this.

It doesn't matter who is doing what, or when or how. We have the Scriptures to guide us, we need to take responsibility for our own actions. We need to stop leaning on our friends to help us stay out of trouble. We need to stand up in our faith and live for Christ, even when we don't understand or when everyone else is disobeying... It is up to us to behave and act responsible. God expects us to. I expect me to...

So that is my lessons learned today. You know I feel much better now that I have shared all that. :)

:o)

animated dirt balls

I do the things I ought not to do and do not do the things I ought to do...
This is the story of my life. My pastor, Matt Gerwitz has a saying that I really love becuase it really puts things into focus for me. He calls humans, mankind, animated dirtballs. well, It sure is true...

Tonight for instance, after a busy but wonderful two days I had had enough emotional stress..... Dnaiel, being my lovely, wonderfully caring son, was asking me to take care of something that someone did to him today. I had already taken care of that problem earlier in the day... I didn't understnad why I was being asked again about it.... so, I got upset.... I became a dirt ball.

A living, talking, walking animated dirt ball...

Dear Lord Jesus,
Thank you for loving me despite my faults. Thank you for being willing to be born to this filthy Earth sot ath you might willingly be put to death for crimes you were not guilty of just so I could be with you in Heaven for eternity... I love you because you first loved me.
                                                                                       your beloved, Trisha

Remember that next time you do something you know better then to be doing it, we are all animated dirtballs but are washed clean and accepted in to the fold of the Lord by His flowing blood and resurrection.

sorry it has been so long

As I sit here I think "ok what am I going to write about?" Even though I have been busy getting ready for the new school year and Mike has been on vacation a few times this summer it seems as though there isn't a lot to write home about. this summer we have done many family things around the Rochester area. I love spending time with my family.
At church we have had a number of extremely good teachings, not that Matt's teachings are always good mind you. Lately he has focused on challenging the congregation to improve their walk with Christ and here on Earth. Recently his biggest challenge was to get someone you know to hold you accountable for something you need to improve in your life, a sin issue. so, I took the challenge, in fact Mike and I both did. My accountability person is Ellen. (THANK YOU ELLEN!!!) So how does one hold someone else accountable when they do not see them daily? It is based on trust.... trust is funny thing.

Trust is a two way street, like most things in any relationship. Does Ellen trust me to tell her the truth about my sin issue and how I have progressed with making it better? Do I trust Ellen to hold me accountable for behaving in an inappropriate way against God? I sure hope so. I know I trust her, otherwise I wouldn't have asked her. I pray she trusts me to be honest. I am, you know, really...despite how it hurts how I look.

So how do I look? Not to people, silly lol, but to God? When we sin it is gross, disgusting, dirtier then anything we have ever seen or imagined in God's eyes. Can you imagine bringing something into your house that is so gross it makes you physically sick? that is makes your family want to run out of the house throwing up? that is how it is between us and God. OH WOW! When you put it like that it is really cruel that we sin against God. so why do we do it?
Honestly, because it feels so good... Our human nature desires to do what feels good to us. when we sin it makes us feel like we can do anything. Oh it's just a white lie, nothing big. Or it's just a pen I took from the bank when I wrote my check, no biggie... Even, taking a longer break then you are supposed to (by even 5 minutes) is stealing. So you do not have to be a murdered, commit armed robbery or be a pathological liar to not be looked upon favorable in God's eyes. We all do. All the time.More then we ever know.
So, can we ever be found favorable to God?

YES!!!!! YES AND YES!!!! That is the awesome thing about God. He is not one to hold grudges. He forgives you each and every time as long as confess your sin and repent. God loves us all the time, no matter how disgraceful we behave. He wants to have that close relationship with us and wants us to desire to have one with Him. If we are always bringing dirty gross sin into the relationship He has to turn his nose at it. How can He not? But if we clean the house, (repent our sins) and invite Him to join us in a clean place washed by His blood He rejoices to spend time wiht us. Do you rejoice at that too? I certainly do!
well, this was much longer then I anticipated, but I think it turned out well.
Remember that in order to be close to Christ, you need His blood to clean you.

God Bless, Trisha