GOD'S EYE CANDY

After the storm was done Sunday, the sun burst forth from the dark clouds.  A few drops of rain was still falling so I knew I had the possibility of seeing a rainbow but I was not prepared for the sight I saw before my very eyes.  I stepped outside to see this majestic site.  A rainbow that started (or ended) in the middle of the lake.  The sight of that rainbow was totally amazing to me.  I had seen rainbows before, but to see the rainbow coming out of the lake was breathtaking.  The grandchildren wanted to hop on the boat and search for the pot of gold.  "I'll put on my life vest and snorkel to find it meemaw." Nicholas was excited.  It was a sight to behold and one I do not take lightly.  The colors of the rainbow were brilliant.  God's paintbrush was full of color that day.  I could honestly picture Him up in Heaven with the color palette in one hand and His paintbrush in another.  The reds, greens, yellows, oranges,blues & purples brushed together to illuminate the dark clouds in the distance to let us know that the storm was over and hope is still alive.  This rainbow was special.  The spitting of the rain drops would stop and the rainbow would vanish.  Then the spitting began again and the sunshine caused the rainbow to reappear in the exact place it was a few short moments before.  That day I felt the promises of God leap into my heart yet again.  You see for me a rainbow renews the promises of God in my heart.  The promises are so numerous that it would take me years to discuss them.  If you want to discover the promises of God, blow the dust off that Bible that has been sitting on your bookshelf and read it!  Trust me it will be life changing. 

 Candy is colorful and sweet.  It is that "feel good" thing that can pick up our spirits and put a skip in our steps. I love candy!  Rainbows to me, is candy for my eyes, although it is fat free and sugar free. There is no carbs in this eye candy, no guilt or weight gain with this candy in the sky that God personally airbrushed for me. No amount of exercise is needed to work off the results in divulging in this candy.  As candy brings a simple joy to children everywhere, the promises of God brings a simple joy to my heart,.  It makes my heart skip a beat and brings a tear to my eyes.  After the stress of a storm, sometimes something sweet like candy makes us all feel better, well a rainbow does that for me.  It makes me feel better.  It brings a sense of peace to a heart that was battered by the storms in life.  Rainbows brighten my life and make the memories of the storm remain in my past.  Instead of dwelling on the pain from the storm, I chose to focus in the promises of God contained in His rainbow of hope.  

Every storm has a price to be paid and a lesson to be learned.  The destruction these storms sometimes cause, means there is a time to clean up the mess our life became during the storm.  Like everything in life we can either chose to ignore to consequences of the storm, ignore the clean up and ignore the lesson or we can become like an Eagle and embrace the storms in life and learn from them.  I have chosen to be like the Eagle.  I fly above the storms in life and watch for the lesson I need to learn.  Although it is not always easy and the lessons can be rather tough, the reward, for me, is knowing that through the storm I continued to praise God and I trusted in Him alone, not myself or anyone else.  The reward for being faithful during some of the most difficult moments of my life, is the promise that God will work it all out for my good.  That is why the rainbow means so much to me.

What Satan means for our harm, God will turn around for our good.  Satan wants to steal the promise of God away from us.  He wants to kill the joy and peace that Jesus died to give us.  God wants to give us life, hope and love.  As believers we need to focus on the promises, not the storms.  We need to remember the lessons we learned, not the disaster that was left in the wake of the storm.  Yes it will take hard work and an honest look in the mirror but the reward is so worth it.  The promises of God are evident to me in every rainbow I see.  The promises of God are free to whoever believes in His Son Jesus Christ.  They are available to you today.  There is no complicated method, no tests, no qualifications, no education requirements and no list of "good works" to do before accepting the promises God has for you. All it takes is a belief in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  Please if you have never verbally accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, do it today!  

Jesus I accept you as my Lord and Savior.  Come into my heart today and cleanse me of all my sin.  Give me the promises of God and teach me your ways, in Jesus name I pray, amen.

A STORM IS COMING

We had just gotten done riding on our boat and tubing with the grandkids.  We were on our way up to the house to eat dinner.  It was a perfect day.  Sunshine and blue skies.  Yea there were a few clouds here and there but nothing to be concerned about.  The weather forecast for that day was 40% chance of rain, in my mind that meant 60% chance of no rain.  Well guess what.  Our perfect weather turned bad.  The dark clouds appeared on the horizon.  It seemed to come out of nowhere.  Suddenly the wind picked up and the umbrella on the umbrella table almost went flying with the wind.  It took all my strength to catch it.  The dark clouds rolled in and day turned into night in a flash. Where did this storm come from and why did it have to come to ruin the day?  The rain poured out of the clouds like a faucet that had just been turned on.  The wind pushed the rain sideways and everything outside was instantly soaked.  Towels, bathing suits, chairs, all wet.  Sand quickly turned to mud and the grass became slippery.  Storms, why do we have them?  

As we go through life we also have times when everything is going great.  The sun is shining and we see nothing but blue skies.  Our jobs are secure, our health is on track, our children are all behaving and doing well in school, our bills are all paid, life is great!!  Nothing can derail us now.  It nothing but clear sailing.  We walk around with a smile on our face and a quick step in our feet.  Then Bam!  Out of the blue comes a storm we weren't prepared for.  There were no warning signals, so sirens, so signs of oncoming danger, usually there isn't even a notice of proceed with caution.  Powerful, life changing and destructive, these storm hit us right between the eyes with a power so strong it knocks us off our feet.  Almost like a lightning bolt from above, we are shaken to our very core.  We are left in a state of shock and confusion.  Fear instantly overwhelms us and we are at a loss for words.  Medical, financial, marital, emotional, psychological, and even spiritual damage is caused by these storms we go through.  Dumbfounded and afraid, the first question we ask is, why?  We don't understand where these storms came from and we certainly don't understand why they are happening to us.  Is God punishing us?

No God is not punishing anyone.  I do not understand why I went through all the storms but I will honestly tell you I learned some of the greatest lessons in my life by going through these storms.  I now realize that with every storm, every challenge, every trial I face, I will grow stronger in my faith and belief in Jesus Christ.  You see what I have learned is that through the storms in our life, Satan means to use them to destroy us, to separate us, and to distance us from each other and especially he wants to separate us from Jesus Christ.  He wants to fill our minds with doubts and fears.  He wants us to question God and blame God,  There are many couples who end up divorcing after going through a storm.  They cannot take the pressure so they buckle and surrender to Satan's will, not God's will.  I have seen it time and time again, we just don't want to learn lessons in life the hard way, but unfortunately sometimes that is the only way.  Yes I know it is very difficult time when we are going through these storms.  Yes I know that it seems like God doesn't care for us.  Yes I know that we don't always understand what is happening and why.  Yes I know that we feel lost and afraid and alone.  These storms come on so suddenly that we are unprepared.  

Rom 8:28  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 

The storms in life, God will work them all out for our good.  What Satan means for our harm, God can turn around and make it good, if we let Him!  Satan wants to kill us, not physically but spiritually and he will use whatever means he can.  He also knows that for those true believers, God will turn the storm around.  The thing is we have to be willing to face the God's honest truth about ourselves and learn from these storms.  If we don't learn and just complain and whine, we will keep going through the same storms over and over and over again.  To praise God during a storm is life changing and trust me, if we ever learn to praise God in a storm, Satan will run from us. 

James 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

 "My faith in God will not be moved by the storms in my life.  My belief in Jesus Christ will never diminish because of the storms in my life.  My hope will never fade!  I have confidence that God will work all things out for my good.  Even when it is hard for me to believe that, I will cling to that hope!  I will cling to that love!  I will cling to Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior."

May the storms in your life teach you and strengthen your faith.  May Jesus Christ be the Lord of you Life.  May you learn to submit yourself to God and God alone!  May God work all our storms out for the good.  In Jesus name I pray, amen.

PEACE CAN REIGN IN OUR HEARTS

Amid the chaos and turbulent madness of this world, peace can reign in our hearts.  Amid the diseases and stress of this world, peace can reign in our hearts.  Amid the struggles and heartaches of this world, peace can reign in our hearts.  This morning for the first time in a long time, I turned on the news only to see and hear about the war in Russia with Ukraine, the war between Israel and Humas.  That's not even covering all the other stuff that is happening around the world and right here in the USA.  Tension is high around the world.  Countries are all struggling to become more powerful.  Nations are battling nations and people are battling people.  It seems ridiculous!  All this strife, all this war, all these innocent lives lost to ego and pride.  The sense that "I'm right and you're wrong" is so strong that people feel it is okay to kill others and do whatever they have to to prove their point.  How amidst all this pain and destruction can we ever find peace?  Is it possible for peace to reign in our hearts with all that is going on in this world.  For me the answer is yes.

Many years ago I decided to stop watching the news because it was bringing me down.  Think about it.  I hardly ever hear any good on the news, except maybe the last few minutes of the broadcast will contain a little snippet of goodness.  That is so outrageous.  There is so much good going on in this world, there is so much joy and happiness that is flowing, yet we never hear about it.  Why?  Satan wants us to hear about all the chaos and evil that is happening in this world.  He wants us to sit and worry about a nuclear war head heading our way some where in the distant future.  He wants us to get wrapped up with the evil so much that we lose focus of God.  Satan wants us to be filled with stress and worry, so he fills the news screens with it and the internet.  It's like there is an epidemic of evil.  It's everywhere, even in the churches.  "Wait churches?"  Yes!  Religions fight each other!  They battle over beliefs, they battle over, rituals, they battle over how to pray, they battle over whether they should baptize babies or adults, they battle over  the sizes of the churches and they battle over whether another church is stealing their members.  Really?  

I remember when Jerry and I chose to attend Cedar Creek in Toledo, Ohio.  I actually had a friend who was still Catholic come up to me and tell me he would pray that God would guide me back to His church, after all the Catholic church is the only church that God has ordained, right?  He commented that he was tired of these radical churches stealing members of the catholic church away.  I was totally blown away by his comments and deeply saddened by them also.  To me the church are the people who believe in Jesus Christ, not a building, not a religion.  In fact to prove a point let me state this, when Jesus was crucified and the 2 thieves were on each side of Him.  The one who believed in Him, the one who said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom"  went with Jesus to Heaven.  How do I know this?  Read the very next scripture, Luke 23:43  And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."  This man was of probably not a member of any specific church, he do anything good, he was being crucified for a crime.  But because he believed that Jesus was the Son of God, he was in paradise with Jesus that very day!  

So how can peace reign in our hearts?  Well for me when I verbally accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior, I knew that He was with me.  I now know that no matter what happens in this world, no matter how much evil is rampant, no matter how much natural disasters plague this world, I will be with Jesus in paradise some day.  My eternity was bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ.  I am not in my home here on Earth, my home is in paradise, heaven with Jesus Christ is where is truly belong.  If I can take a few of you with me, that would be amazing.  Why wouldn't I have peace in my heart?  Jesus has already fought the battle and we believers win!  I have read the end of the story!  It is amazing!  I will not allow turmoil, strife, hatred, stress or worry to invade the peace Jesus Christ died to give me.  If you haven't verbally accepted Jesus, I pray you do it today!!!  It's never too late until your dead.  

May the peace of Jesus Christ invade your heart.  May His love invade your soul and may His blood wash over you and cleanse you of all sin.  May His peace reign in your heart forever, in Jesus name I pray, amen! 

"YOU'RE THE INSPIRATION"

"You know our love was meant to be The kind of love that lasts forever And I want you here with me From tonight until the end of time You should know, everywhere I go You're always on my mind, in my heart In my soul

You're the meaning in my life You're the inspiration You bring feeling to my life You're the inspiration Wanna have you near me I wanna have you hear me sayin' No one needs you more than I need you

And I know, yes I know that it's plain to see  We're so in love when we're together

And I know that I need you here with me

From tonight until the end of time

You should know, everywhere I go

Always on my mind, in my heart in my soul"

These are the lyrics from a song by the band Chicago back in the late 70's I believe.  I know that I am dating myself by saying this was one of my favorite songs back then.  This song touched my heart and soul.  Back then this song spoke to me about Jerry and I's love for each other.  I honestly haven't listened to it is probably 30 years so a few weeks ago I thought I would download a few of the "oldies" that I loved so that could listen to them to bring back memories of the "good ole days".  Kids stop laughing!!!  Anyway when I heard this song the other day my mind instantly wandered back to those days of dating.  Then I heard that still small voice speak to me and prod me to listen to it with my faith.  To say I was speechless would be an understatement.  This song speaks to my faith and my love for Jesus Christ more than I dreamed possible.  Okay that may sound corny to some of you or a little far fetched but for me it was an eye opener.  I never thought that secular songs could have anything to do with my love for Jesus Christ, but time and time again I have been proven wrong.  At the church I used to attend, they used secular music to reach the lost and broken because usually the lost and broken could relate better to a song they have heard on the radio.  If the lyrics weren't appropriate they would just play the instruments and leave the words out.  Sometimes they replaced the words bit they always managed to pick out music that spoke to the message, yes even from secular music.  Ever since we attended that church I have began to look at secular music differently.  All church music does not have to be hymns and ballads played on an organ.  All church music does not have to be "Christian" music.  

Take this song for example.  As far as I am concerned the love between Jesus Christ and I was meant to be and it will last an eternity.  I want Jesus Christ with me, wherever I go, whatever I do, from tonight until the end of time as we know it.  Jesus Christ is on my mind all the time or at least He should be.  He dwells in my heart and in my soul.  He is the one true meaning to my life and He is the inspiration that drives me to be a better person.  He has brought me so much love and peace that I want Him to be near me.  I want Him to hear me say that I need Him!  I am in love with Jesus Christ!  When I am together with Him, my life is amazing.  I know that I need Him here with me.  He is a part of my life that I cannot and will not let go.  He is my inspiration!  Jesus Christ is the love of my life.  (Jerry is right after Him and that's fine with Jerry)  

There are many different songs that can touch our hearts, not just hymns and christian music.  There are some people who have a big problem with churches that use secular music to reach the lost, but not me.  As long as they are not singing lyrics about sinning, I don't see a problem with that.  I know for me personally God used a secular song to tell me that I was on the right track going to a new church.  It was sort if funny yet one of those teary eyes moments that touched me and let me know I was going in the right direction.  We decided to try a friends church.  Being a catholic, I was afraid of stepping foot in another "religion", so before I stepped foot in this church, I said a prayer.  "God, please give me a sign if this is heading in the right direction."  That's all I prayed, simple and to the point.  We walked in, sat down and the band started playing music.  No lyrics, just music.  Jerry looked at me with dumbfounded look on my face and said "What did you just pray?"  I told him then he proceeded to tell me what the name of the song was.  It was called "The Breeze"  a song by Led Zeppelin I believe.  Tears began to flow down my cheeks.  My dad had died a few years before that and his nickname was Breeze.  

So God can speak to us through many different avenues in life.  It doesn't have to be all Christian or religious.  God can speak to us through a friend, a TV show, a book or a love song.  You see God speaks to me in many ways that are not considered "religious".  By guiding traffic at a county fair, God shows me who needs prayer.  By seeing a homeless man standing on the street corner, God tells me to give some money to him.  By listening to a song from the past, He brings forth marvelous memories and transforms the music into a love fest with Jesus Christ.  I am constantly amazed at how He has transformed every area of my life, even those I didn't know needed some work.  So in closing I want to ask you a question.  Who is the inspiration of your life?   If it's not Jesus Christ, then my friend you need to change your course immediately!  IF Jesus Christ is not the love of your life, then my friend you need to reevaluate your priorities.  

May Jesus Christ invade your heart and soul today.  May He become the inspiration that changes your life forever and may you fall in love with Him, like I have, in Jesus name I pray, amen. 

SAVED BY GRACE

This is my new blog web page.  I thought I'd change my web address because it's easier to remember than the old one, so here is to new things and a new adventure.  My writing will still be the same because I am still a work in progress. You can still read the blogs on my old page,
www.jcbdlmthoughtsfortheday.com 

I am Debra Barron, a Christian who loves God.  Jesus Christ is my personal Savior and The Lord of my life.  For some of you who don't believe, that may sound a bit ridiculous but let me explain.  You see I chose to believe in Him rather than not believe.  I have seen His handiwork and I have witnessed the miracles He still does!  Yes, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ still performs miracles.  But more than that I have be overtaken by a peace so deep, a confidence so profound and love so overwhelming that I cannot deny Him.  I wish that everyone knew these feelings, these emotions that have surrounded me and embraced my heart.  To say there is no God is foolish.   Even Darwin couldn't explain a simple peacock feather.  It pained him to try to look at it.  The theory of evolution is still just a theory and will never become a law because the theory is just a theory.  No matter how many scientists try to prove its right.  No matter how much money has been spent over the years to prove it, it is simply still just a theory.   I am not here to debate evolution for I know that my God created the world in which I live in.  I am not here to try to prove a point, because I don't have to, God already has.

As I look around and witness the gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, that is all the proof I need.  As I glance at the complexity of our bodies and how they were created and how they work, that is all the proof I need.  As I glance around at the beautiful scenery and the majestic mountains with all the trees and flowers, that is all the proof I need.   I do not need a scientific scholar to convince me because for me the evidence is obvious. I do not need any other proof other that what I see with my own 2 eyes.  I chose to believe!  I chose to accept what to some, seems foolish.  Well I'd rather believe that there is a God who loves me, who created me in His own image, than believe that we evolved from apes.  Sorry, that's just me.  Oh, I have a question, if we evolved from apes than why are there still apes?  How were the apes created?  Someone please explain it to me that makes sense!  Wait don't even waste your time or breath because I already know the correct answer.  God!

For me believing in God, I don't need proof, I don't need evidence, I don't need scientific data, all I need is contained in the Bible.  The facts remain strong and steadfast in my heart where the Spirit of God lives.   Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.  I didn't chose Him, He chose me!  He accepted me sins and all!  He loves me no matter how much I try to push Him away.   He has given me a peace and a love so profound that it is hard for me to describe it. The change in my life and myself has been totally amazing.  The way I was compared to the way I am now, the evidence for me is crystal clear.  I am saved by grace and transformed into a better me. It is no longer I who loves in me, Jesus Christ lives in me.  I chose to live for Him and His glory.  Jesus Christ came down to this earth and died a horrific death for me and for you!  He took all my sins, all my mistakes, all my pain, all my sickness and disease with Him to the cross.  Instead of being imprisoned by the misery of my sins, I have been set free by the blood of Jesus Christ.  Instead of being heavily burdened and weighed down by worries, I have placed my trust in Him and He has taken control of my life and me.  He reigns in my life now and forever more!  

You see, my one prayer is that you all someday realize how wonderfully and uniquely you a have been made. I wish each and every one of you knew the peace and love I now feel every day.   I want each one of you to experience the joy of waking up each day knowing that eternity in heaven is yours.  Jesus Christ has transformed me and continues to transform me day after day after day.  I am saved by grace and that same grace is available to you if you chose to accept it.  

May the grace of Jesus Christ overtake you and chase you down today.  May His love invade your very soul and begin the transformation process.  May His peace embrace you and fill your heart.  May Jesus Christ become your Lord and Savior, today!  In Jesus name I pray, amen!