A Thankful Heart

"Hear these praises from a thankful heart.

Each time I think of you the praises start.

Love you so much, Jesus,

Love you so much....." - Hillsong, Love you So Much

I love this song!

I just want to stop this week and take moments to reflect on Jesus!
To allow my lips to praise him everyday with the

thankfulness that flows from my heart!

It is so easy to say thank you for all that you "know".... like

Thank you Jesus for keeping us safe, providing food, clothing and shelter!

Thank you for my babies born with all fingers and toes!
Thank you for a church.

Thank you for ________________.

And not that being thankful for those things isn't important!

But what about the things we can't even see happening????
Like the angel that God sent and kept you from being hit by another car?

Or the healing that occurred before a bad diagnosis?

And the list could go on!

Sometimes, and more times than not, we need to have a thankful heart

for the things SEEN and UNSEEN!

I love in the book of Ezra 3:11, "With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: ' He is good, his love for Israel endures forever!' And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid!"

Girlfriend, we are Israel today! Won't you join God's people and with praise and thanksgiving sing a song from your heart to God; he is good and his love for YOU endures forever!

The Note

by Michelle Georgiana

The power in words.

The power in words.

Again, the power in words.

There are many who fail to let their words come out, so they stuff their voice.

There are many who fail to keep their words in, so they fire arrows.

There are some who open mouth and insert foot.

There are some who know exactly what to say at exactly the right time!

And there are some times......

Sometimes, we just need to take a moment and stop

Stop the drying of dishes, folding of towels, cleaning house, staying late at work

and instead take a moment to pick one person, actually,stop and pray for God to show you

one person that could use a note! And not just any note... but one that is

encouraging.

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." I Thessalonians 5:11

Taking time to tell someone they are special, taking time to say or write a card that only takes 3 minutes of your time - can make a huge difference in their day, their week, their month, their year or life!

Here's a tip: Keep a box of blank cards, postage stamps, and pen in your desk or nightstand so that they are there and ready to go! One note, 3-4 sentences, covered in prayer - a mark in a person's mind and heart... priceless.

Final Instructions, straight from 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28

¹² Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. ¹³ Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. ¹⁴ And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

¹⁹ Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰ Do not treat prophecies with contempt ²¹ but test them all; hold on to what is good, ²² reject every kind of evil.

²³ May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

Be blessed, sister! And may your words lift the soul of one that is downcast, bring a smile to one who just needs a pat on the back, or be soothing lotion that moistens a dry patch in someone's life. Your words have life and death... choose to speak life daily, every step of the way!

Christmas 2010

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You Are It!

I came across a great story, that reads like this:

This is the story about four people named Everybody,

Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to be done and Everybody

was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could

have done it, but Nobody did it.

Somebody got angry about that, because it was
Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody

could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody

wouldn't do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody

when Nobody did what Anybody could have done!

Wow - have you ever been the Somebody, Anybody, Nobody or part of Everybody

that knew something needed to be done! That saw a need of a neighbor, but decided that her grown children will come and take care of it; saw a broken down car and an elderly man walking the side of a busy highway and said, "Well its a dangerous world, and instead prayed that Jesus would send someone to help him!" or knew a family was struggling financially around Christmas and Somebody thought for sure that the pastor would be aware and have it handled?" The list of scenarios can go on and on!

Let me say, don't assume that anybody, somebody, or everybody is aware! Sometimes God lays things on our hearts and minds, gives us insight that maybe nobody has - and its to see if we are willing to give beyond what we have, to reach out and love someone by a simple gesture of going to fill up a gas can for a broken down fellow, or handing a gift card to a struggling family with no strings attached other than, "May God bless you."

If more of us could step out of our assumptions that somebody was handling it - and we would step when God lays it on our heart, think about the love that would be shared, the heartaches that could be soothed, the worries that could be put to bed!

This season, reach out to someone in a way you never have. You never know what blessings will be bestowed to both the receiver and the giver. (I will note that caution and wisdom should be executed in all situations, where there is a will there is a way. I don't recommend picking up a stranger, but going to the next gas station and picking up a container of gas and dropping it back off would be safe and relevant. God's word says, "but if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul." Deuteronomy 4:29 You will know if its a God ordained moment- he will be there.)

The Bible says, "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." 2 Corinthians 9:7 Don't do because someone tells you to do it; do it because God leads you to.

Tag, you are it, girlfriend! Go be a blessing!

I would love to hear your story of how God laid something on your heart and how you took a step to follow him! Email them to me at michelle@shestepsministry.com

Tangled

Oh, the wondrous joy and complexity of womanhood!

I am a woman.
I am a child.

I am a wife.

I am a mother.

I am a teacher.

I am a friend.
I am a family member.

I am a church member.

I am an employee/employer.

I am a homemaker.
I am a chef.

I am a coach.

I am a cheerleader.

I am a nurse.

I am a ______________. (fill in the blank.)

Yes, the many hats of a woman. From the rising to the setting of the sun,

we take on all these different "I ams ..." sometimes wearing two hats at once.

Like, take a moment girlfriend, finish your sip of coffee so you don't choke,

but think about yourself in the mirror putting on 2 or 3 hats at one time - what words come

to your mind? I look ridiculous? I can't even balance them all on my head? How am I going to put on the next hat, when I can't handle these 3???? You may even be bursting out in laughter accompanied by emotional tears, because of the silliness yet TRUTH of the moment.

But isn't that it - we try so hard to do "all these things" to be "all these things" and we get

TANGLED UP in all the hats we are trying to balance on our head.

There was a gal in the Bible who got caught up in the hats. She always had to have a tidy house, be in the kitchen cooking meals, preparing for guests to arrive, feasts... and her name was Martha.

Luke 10:40, "But Martha was distracted by all the preparation that had to be made...."

Busy. Very busy. And she felt her busyness was justified.

She opened her home to the Messiah, Jesus.
Everything had to be in order.

Everything had to be ready.

Did you ever just get TANGLED UP in all that had to get done?

Its kinda like RAPUNZEL let down her hair and kept trying to walk, but the hair was

so much she couldn't handle it. She kept tripping on it and falling down - it KEPT GETTING IN HER WAY!

Sometimes, to be honest I will read, Proverbs 31:10-31, and quite frankly, knock my

aging knees, crinkle my wrinkles in my forehead, and just, well -become STRESSED OUT.

Thinking, I don't think I can live up to all this - and without realizing it, I just picked up another hat to put on my head!

Here's the reality....

Jesus called us to one thing.

It was the one thing that Martha didn't see.

But it was the one thing, her sister Mary did...

Luke 10:39, "She had a sister Mary, who sat the Lord's feet listening to what he had said..."

Girlfriend, put down the hats.

Wipe your stress from your forehead, put the hats to the side

and take time to sit at your Papa's feet.

He desires your attention.

And when you sit and bask in his presence, waiting on his word, guess what...

he will tell you which hat to put on

and you will glow beautifully.

There will be no burst of anguished tears,

but I can see the single one trickle down your face

because He that loved you said, this is the hat you are to

wear, my beautiful daughter, and I love you. Wheat peace
will wash over you from your highlighted hair to your pedicured toes.

May this Word burn in your ever beating heart,

that you take time and sit with Abba, Father -

God's blessings on you girlfriend, in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen.

What's in your wallet?

Yes, I mentioned wallet? But I am not talking money....

I know, whew! You probably thought I was going to mention

the all familiar words of my husband, "BUDGET!"

But relax your pretty ponytail - I am not going there!

Rather, I went to see the movie, Secretariat (which was fabulous by the way).

There comes a point towards the end of the movie where the horse trainer, Lucien Laurin, pulls out his wallet. And when he opens it up, he doesn't take out money, but instead takes out

old newspaper clippings... do you know what the clippings were? They were all the races that he lost? He carried in his wallet, FAILURES!

I immediately had this thought... how many of us, carry in our wallets (no matter how pretty or what name brand they are) failures? We just always keep them tucked in our back pockets or wedged in the mess of a purse... and not so much physically, like Lucien, but spiritually. You know that envelope of failures - that when a new opportunity arises, we just remember the past, the things that didn't work out so well and even maybe "blew up in our face." And instead of embracing the new opportunity, we high tail past it, because we wouldn't dare want to subject ourselves to another failure... our hearts couldn't handle one more.

And what happens in our spiritual wallet, it just becomes fatter with the failures and what ifs, rather than increasing riches! I have found I have learned more from my failures, and that the cumulative of failures have geared me, prepared me, groomed me for success. That had it not been for the failures in my life, God couldn't have turned them around for the success of an open door I walked though. Do you get what I am saying?

That just as Lucien, carried those failures, there came a point, where he burned them up and in his mind decided, that today was a new day! Girlfriend, today is a new day! God created you not to boot scoot and boogie past the opportunity, but to seek him first (Matthew 6:33) and when he opens a door (Rev 3:8), for you to take your favorite pair of knee high boots and walk straight through that door, knowing this - failure or success, God said go, and you said, "Here I am, send me. (Isaiah 6:8).

This week, take a good look at your spiritual wallet? What's in it?

-List of hurts that keep you from trusting?

-List of failures that keep you from trying?

-List of rejection, that keeps you isolated?

-List of ___________, that keep you from ____________?

I challenge you to empty your wallet, seek God, and when he says it is time, my daughter, my beloved one, to go, I dare you to go, with your head held high and your heart content knowing this, that he who sent you will not forsake you (Hebrews 13:5) - rather, he will be your team mate the whole way. Natalie Grant's song, "Daring to Believe" has a great chorus, it says this:

I'm waving goodbye to my pretty little life

taking your hand and crossing the line

Daring to leave the OLD me

Shout it out loud, I'm NOT ASHAMED!

Diving in now so NOT afraid

Hello to all that you see

And everything that you made me

I'm daring to be!

Commit this verse to memory:

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.

Isaiah 41:10