Living a Good Life....

Are you living a good life? When I say good, are you saved? Are you inwardly good as well as outwardly good? When I say outwardly good, I mean you do good deeds, you help others, but how are you on the inside ... in the depths of your soul?? Do you belong to Jesus Christ, do you submit to him ? Is he first in your life? When the going gets tough do you reach out to him or other things? Do you put Him on a shelf along with your Bible and just pull him out when you need him?

“‘The stone the builders rejected

    has become the cornerstone;

¹¹ the Lord has done this,

    and it is marvelous in our eyes" 

(Mark 12:11)

It's a great story, how Jesus uses a parable to explain the hearts of mankind. (Mark 12:1-10)

It's even relatable to his own story..... 

What about your story? Where does he fit in it? Is he just part of your story or is he the lead actor?

During this Easter season and time of reflection on Jesus Christ, are you living for him or rejecting him?

Are you living a life that looks good, but inside you are rejecting God? 

We reject him every day when we make concessions, and do not allow him to saturate our whole being. 

We reject him when we fail to worship him. We reject him when we put him aside and on a shelf until we need him. We reject him when we reject mankind... our neighbor, our family.... 

We reject him when we fail to recognize our one goal in life is to love..... to show love, to care, to help, to serve.....

The stone that the builders rejected is the Chief Cornerstone .. and He wants you to come as you are. It does not matter where you have come from,or where you are ...but He wants you now...

I want to ask you again, where is He in your story? on a shelf? or in your life daily?

Make a choice today to live for him whole heartedly Today !!! 

Were you there?

This morning, as I read the resurrection story, I am excited for the day, I am excited that I get to be a part of such a wonderful day. I am excited for Worship service this morning and being a part of something so great that God ordained. He ordained "Church Service". Paul wasn't going around establishing churches out of his own volition,  He established Churches because God knew we as a people needed something to help us a long the way, we needed a preacher to give us hope,  and a spoken word from HIS Word to keep us on the right path. As I read the story of Christ and his death and resurrection, I am reminded of God's sovereignty, of his promises and of his Love. Thank you God.....

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

Oh were you there when they crucified my Lord?

(Ohh, sometimes it causes me to tremble)

Tremble

Were you there when they crucified my Lord?

They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, they made a crown of thorns for his head, and bowed before him and mocked him......(Matt 28-31)

Were you there when they nailed Him to the cross?

Were you there when they nailed Him to the cross?

(Ohh, sometimes it causes me to tremble)

Tremble

Were you there when they nailed Him to the cross?

They gave him sour wine to drink on the cross, cast lots for his clothes, and put a sign above his head, "King of the Jews" (Matt 34-37)

Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?

Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?

(Ohh, sometimes it causes me to tremble)

Tremble

Were you there when they laid Him in the tomb?

A rich man from Arimathea named Joseph who had become a disciple of Jesus, asked Pilate for the body. He wrapped the body in a clean linen cloth and laid him in his tomb which had been hewn out of a rock and he rolled a large stone over the door. (Matt 27:57-60)

Well, were you there when the stone was rolled away?

Were you there when the stone was rolled away?

(Ohh, sometimes it causes me to tremble)

Tremble

Were you there when the stone was rolled away?

Because of the requests of the chief priests and Pharisees, Pilate put a guard in front of the tomb to make sure the disciples did not come and steal the body. They went and made the tomb secure and the guard stood watch. There was a great Earthquake and an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled the stone away from the tomb, and the guards shook in fear of him. The angel spoke to the women who were at the tomb( the two Marys) and said "do not be afraid, for I know you seek Jesus who was crucified." " He is not here, he is risen, he said come and see the place where the Lord lay."

He was not there..... (Matt 28: 1- 6)

Were you there when he rose up from the grave?

Were you there when he rose up from the grave? 

Oh, sometimes it makes me want to shout and tremble

Were you there when he rose up from the grave? 

This is an old song written by Johnny Cash, but it has been remade by other artists and Christian artists. 

The truth is.... We were not there, but the reminder is that it happened. Does it touch your soul and make you tremble? It should. 

He died for you... He died for me... 

If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal savior, ask him to come into your heart and your life today. He can and will change your life if you will allow him to. 

Today I Wrote a Check to God

Today I wrote a check out to God. I gave him a partial payment. I was fearful I would not have enough money, so I only gave him what I thought I could afford.

I did not use my talents for fear of being made fun of, or being vulnerable to others...

I did not give him my time because that is mine.... I don't have enough of it as it is, so I chose to do some things good things to help me relax and I did not go to church, I did not go to Bible Study, because Lord, I am just too busy... I know I will find some down time and make my own Sabbath Lord, I will find some time this week to meditate on you......


As the day went on, and the weekend drew near, I ran out of money. I ran out of time and I abided in fear and anxiety, loosing sleep over troubles of this world, and I did not renew myself in God's word, with God's people or in prayer.....The nice neat budget that I planned out went bust,  and here I am stuck with a struggle, defeated and stressed.

Each and every day we rob God.... We put the "I" in it and often make our own destiny with our own hands..... a little thing called free will.....
Though free will is amazing, it creates choice where we have to be intentional about worship, service and love.
We must be intentional about what we give to God.

Do you rob God often? Are you living a life where you must have total control and are you selling God short?

You see, people that have money and people that don't both struggle with money, either the fear of not having enough or the fear of loosing what you have. Both situations can be very inhibiting, and binding. Trusting in God to take care of you,  whether you are rich or poor, and trusting him with your first fruits, your time, your thoughts, and your talents will only give you the freedom you so desire in this world.



Are you holding on so tight to control in your life, that you forget to give God control?

Have you ever put God on your payroll? Is your faith based on making sure all the check boxes are checked?

My Story is HIS Story

We are about to begin a new series. It is a very exciting series! This series will ultimately be about Jesus Christ and his story and it will go through Easter and we will see how his story ends but doesn't end.

Our Story is the same, we all have to die one day, but do we?


If you are alive in Christ,  we don't die, we may see the grave but once we take our last breath here on earth we get to be with our Lord, our Father, our Savior !! In 2015, I was reminded several times how very fragile life is, how very short life is and how just as the Bible says, it's like a vapor and then gone.


We as an entity will be sharing our story over the coming weeks. This is a project started by our very own Devin Quesenberry a while back and on our You tube channel we already have a couple of stories from people who have come to know Jesus Christ personally down here, but this next series we will be posting more, and also sharing some of our stories on Sunday mornings.


I am excited to share my story. I spent years in shame, and scared to share, but I am ready and ready for God to use it for His Glory... why, well because my story is HIS story.

It's not about me, it's really about HIM and his divine intervention into my life !!


It's funny how we hold on to regrets, attacks, and pieces of our past. Once we give it all over to him, it's not ours anymore, He uses it. Repeat this after me, "once we give it over to him it's not ours anymore". The pain, the regrets, the hurt doesn't chain us and hold us in bondage anymore because divine intervention releases us and frees us and we can live a free life in Him....

............and that is the Good News.

We have a Savior who cares, a Father who is here for us, we serve a Living God and my story proves it,

I cannot wait to tell my story! In the past I have told my story and I feel like I am giving a history lesson and I leave parts out because it seems too much or I think people might think I am weird or make judgments about me, and many times after telling my story, I feel like yeah, I could write a book, but how do I give credit to my Lord and Savior for all of that pain, well when you think of it like your story is HIS story you cannot help but notice His saving grace and divine intervention in your life. Sometimes, it's all about perspective people.

What is your story?

The End of 2015

As I sit here on this last day of 2015, I think of what an amazing, yet hard, yet amazing year we have had, that has ended with a tragedy to close down the year.

Sometimes, you want to ask God why, but you hear a still small voice return with "I love you", and peace fills your heart, but your heart still hurts and the void of loss is still there. But you go on in this life with the everyday routine.

Eventually .....either through divine revelation or loss or getting to rock bottom, at some point you realize the importance of loving others. You experience community, family and fellowship and helping others as you realize the importance of giving yourself to others and loving as Jesus commanded. His greatest commandment was love others as yourself. (that is hard) Sometimes it's hard to love others when the world is so cold. But so many blessings lie with loving others.

It seems like I ask God for many things, and as I was sitting here, thinking about 2016, and what I would like to accomplish and see,  I felt like thanking God for what he has given and what he is doing in our life.

Thank you for Danny, a great man of God that I get to experience life with.

Thank you for great children.
Thank you for health
Thank you for our home( even though it isn’t ours, you help make provisions for us to have it)

Thank you for our car, our truck, and other things that make life easier.
Thank you Lord,
Thank you for great men of God, that help us with the ministry now, and the women that stand behind them and work in the trenches with us. Thank you Lord.
Thank you Lord for the people of peace that you have sent our way, as well as the laborers and friends . Thank you.

As 2015 ends and 2016 begins search your heart and ask God what is it that he wants you to do, how can you impact his kingdom and make a difference. If you are not living for him, get into fellowship with him, read the Bible, pray, fellowship with other Christians, find a mentor, an accountability partner. God will help you, but being with others is the key to "living it out" That's why God created man and women, that is why God created a need for a relationship with him, we were made for relationships !  As an introvert, I know it is hard, but do the best you can to connect with others, and community and his kingdom, so that you can grow in 2016 !!

When you wake up on the floor

I don't know if you have ever slept on an air mattress, but many times  I have slept all night on an air mattress with some type of leak and usually you wind up on the floor, or severely deflated to the point of it feeling like you are sleeping on one of those exercise balls or a balloon or something un-natural when the moment you open your eyes, your body aches and you know that today is a new day.... a new day of aches and pains induced by a good ole mattress malfunction.

Well during this awesome holiday season, some of us will find ourselves on that wonderful air mattress.

This holiday season, after day two of this torture, I was complaining a little to my husband and secretly wondered if I was stuck in some Dystopian novel a story that has yet to be written.

He, being the Godly man that he is reminded me during this holiday season, that the deflating air mattress is still much better than what our Lord Jesus Christ lay on or his family. Of course I was humbled. We often talk about the birth of Christ and yeah, he was born in a manager (which is basically a feeding trough for animals), but we talk about it and don't relish it. When I say relish it, I mean really think about it. I am sure his family had aches and pains as they lay in the hay or whatever they had to lay their heads on. I am sure he being a baby did not care where he lay, but he was the King, Prince Of Peace, Savior, Lord, Hope, Wonderful Counselor, and he was born in a barn on some hay.

So I cannot complain about a deflating air mattress at Christmas and it muddy up my heart with a complaining spirit. I must think about Jesus Christ during this time, to replace that sludge in my heart with a heart of Thanksgiving, of hope, of appreciation for the one and ONLY Savior and Lord of my Life !!! I cannot possibly list all the ways he blesses me, he gives me hope, he changes my heart, he stills my heart, he warms my heart, but I do know that he is real, he is a living God that lives within me, and reminds me often of who HE is and who I am.

During this holiday season, though we may not have the comforts of home, we have Him, He is our home, and his love, his hope, and his spirit will guide us and comfort us. His light will give us warmth and hope and love that should fill our hearts.

Why? Because many do not understand, or get any of this, and sometimes we are the only light they see, and just like glass, we must let HIS light shine through us.

Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, "I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life." John 8:12

Not Good Enough

So, we had a great message on being good today.

As a Christ follower, I strive to be good, not because I think I must in order
 to go to heaven but because I feel that I should because I love Jesus Christ and want to be like him, not that I will ever meet that mark, but we are to strive.

But I am not good, I am never good enough to live up to God's standards, that is why he sent his son for me, for you and for all. Most religions concentrate on being good and how we are to be good..... but in reality we are not good. We were born in sin and into a sinful world. Children naturally lie without ever being taught to lie. We were born with a sin nature.

But one day God sent his Son so that We would not have to endure hell's flames, so that we could have a hope and redemption .......God sent his son for you and for me.

We live in a fallen world, with sin, hurt, and pain all around, but there is one promise that can be real this Christmas season and that is God sent his son for you.


It is by grace that we are allowed to live, that we are allowed to have free will and choose, it is grace.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Mph 2:8-9

So how do we embrace life through the reality of not being good enough?

We embrace it through grace, through hope, through the knowledge and wisdom that God's promises are real and true and he loves us so much that he sent his Son, fully man, yet fully God to die for our sins.

So this Christmas, when you hear the blessed Christmas story and you open gifts and enjoy family, remember God loves you so much that though a sinner, though we can never be good enough, he made a way for us, a way to him through his Son, through Grace, through redemption.

You can have all of that today if you want it. Embrace life, Accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior today !