saltandlight

Matthew 5:13-16

Things I Like on Amazon

recent posts

about

I am a Christian wife and mother of 2. I am the mother of two adult children. My husband is a full time Pastor. I also work full time outside of the home. Ecclesiastes 3:1 “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” And for this season of our lives, I have to work. A couple of years ago I asked God for a job using me to serve others and that is exactly what He did. Not in the way I expected, but I am serving! This blog is a way for me to share devotions, whatever the Lord lays on my heart. It is an avenue for me fulfill something I feel the Lord leading me in, which is writing. I am currently working on a book as well!

  • Dear Mama, God Sees You

    This Sunday is Mother’s Day. (Hopefully this is not news to you LOL – If it is, you still have time to prepare!) Naturally, motherhood has been on my mind this week. Earlier this week I posted in a mom group on Facebook. But, there is more to be said about the subject!

    Motherhood is a role that you can never fully prepare for. The emotional roller coaster ride that is motherhood (for most mothers) is not what you expect going in but once you are on the ride, you hold on for dear life! I’ve often heard it said that the hardest part of motherhood is this: you’re raising the very ones you can’t live without… to live without you.

    Every day, moms make countless small sacrifices. Maybe you’ve been late because you had to turn around and grab something your child forgot for school. Maybe you’ve reworked the budget to afford something extra they needed. Some moms have even donated a kidney to save their child’s life. It’s amazing what we moms will do to make things happen for our children.

    God sees you, Mama! He understands your sacrifices.

    “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”
    Galatians 6:9

    I believe most mothers go into motherhood hoping to be the perfect Mom. We read all the books. We prepare as much as we can. We all think we have it figured out, don’t we? And then we have this little bundle that throws us curveball after curveball! And the struggle for perfection gets harder and harder!

    I have never been a perfectionist myself, but I know a few people that are. And I see how hard it is. And I do understand the desire to be a perfect Mom. When I have made mistakes as a Mom I remember telling myself, “the one thing you always wanted to be good at, and you couldn’t even do that well”…. Friend, that is a lie from the enemy. Don’t listen to it.

    The only perfect human to ever live was Jesus Christ – And He was God in human form. We can’t expect to be perfect. We can try to be like Him, we should strive to be Christ like, but we should not put so much pressure on ourselves that we stress ourselves and everyone else out.

    I believe “mom guilt” is one of the enemy’s biggest tools to keep us down. That’s why it’s so important to stay in God’s Word—it’s life-giving in every way. I say this as someone who has failed in this area many times. But we weren’t made perfect. God knows our imperfections, and He wants to help us.

    “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
    2 Corinthians 12:9

    Please do not compare yourself to other Moms that seem to have it all together or who seem to have perfect children. I promise you – no one is perfect. Social media only shows the highlight reel – the best parts of everyone’s lives. And if you spend alot of time scrolling, it’s easy to feel discouraged! My challenge to you is this: spend less time scrolling and more time in God’s Word. It will change your life.

    Happy Mother’s Day, Mama. God sees you, He loves you, and He’s walking this journey with you.

    ~ Cheryl

  • How is your Faith?

    What’s on my heart this morning is FAITH! That seems like a general term but I’m talking about serious faith. Faith that God is going to take care of you. Faith that God has things under control. Faith that whatever situation you are in, even when all hope seems lost, that God is going to see you through! Faith that says ‘Lord I don’t know why this is happening but I trust you’.

    I’ve been studying Job the last few days. Now I use to think that I didn’t like the book of Job. I actually told a friend that one time and she said, “then that is the book you need to study”. I just didn’t like what Job had to go through. I didn’t appreciate that the Lord was allowing all of this to happen to a good man. And I talked to my Pastor husband about it and came to the realization that God allowed all of that for a reason. And my husband pointed out to me that Jesus went through a lot too, and he was perfect! I don’t like to think about Jesus’ suffering either. But both Job and Jesus’ stories happened for a reason, a bigger purpose. If for nothing else, these stories (as with all of the Bible), are there to teach us.

    I’m learning so much going through the Bible Recap in the book of Job. I can’t imagine the suffering that he felt. The pain that Job experienced seems unbearable. Not only what all he went through, but then his “friends” were no help. Even his wife wasn’t helping. Job suffered, a lot. But he learned a lot through all of his suffering. And he was blessed tremendously afterwards. One thing that I think everyone knows about Job is that his faith in God, never waivered. He questions God, and he questions himself but he doesn’t give in to losing his faith.

    I’ve noticed that some people will say faith is believing God for the blessings and the overflow! But I will say that faith isn’t always believing God for blessings. But it is believing that God will see you through no matter what. Because sometimes God is allowing us to not be “blessed” for a reason. (“Blessed” meaning our version of blessings.) Our version of a blessing and God’s version of a blessing might be different. We have got to decide to be on the same page as Him. Decide that if God’s answer is no, then He has something better for you. He is going to see you through either way. God knows what is best for you.

    Sometimes our suffering is for someone else’s benefit. I believe that most of Job’s suffering was for the benefit of others. Do we love God enough to be willing to be used by Him, even if it means we may have to suffer in some way? Most of us can probably look at our lives and find a lot of blessings there. Even if we have suffered in our own way, we can find the blessings that have come from it if we look hard enough. If we look at our lives through a spiritual lens, we could see a lot more blessings. Just the fact that God has been so patient with me, is a huge blessing! And if someone else can benefit from any of my suffering, then praise God.

    The more we read and study God’s word and spend time with Him, the more we can see things through that spiritual lens. And the more we talk to Him and trust Him, we will hear from Him. You can’t be out here running after the things of this world that are sinful and expect God to bless you. Don’t chase the devil and then expect a blessing from God. I can’t tell you what it is in your life that might be coming between you and God. I can only answer that for myself. And if you ask Him, I promise He will show you what that is! Work on that and then expect God to show up in your life. Not the other way around.

    Those of you that know me, know that I don’t have a lot of money. And when I talk about blessings, money is the last thing I’m thinking about. If God didn’t do anything else for me, he gave me the free gift of salvation through His son Jesus Christ!! But He has done so much more than that! I can think about things that didn’t feel much like blessings, and I could dwell on the negative, but what good does that do? Shift your mindset and realize that God has done more for you than you even realize! And even the things that we don’t think are blessings at the time, are actually God looking out for us then too.

    This might sting a little bit and I’m so sorry if it does – Even losing a loved one can be a blessing. No it doesn’t feel like it and it’s not what we want, but we also don’t know the bigger picture like God does. I know what it is to lose someone close to you. I don’t say that lightly at all. But we only see what we can see. Our perspective is very small compare to God’s. God sees a much bigger picture that includes the future. He knows what is best when he takes someone from this earth. He might be saving them from future suffering. We don’t know. We can only trust Him and his sovereignty.

    So y’all, all of that to say this – have faith so big that Satan can’t even make you doubt God. Be like Job. None of us want to suffer like Job did, of course! But, faith can move mountains! It doesn’t even take that much. Jesus said you only need faith the size of a mustard seed! But if you don’t have any faith right now for whatever reason, you can borrow some of mine. And talk to God about it. Ask Him to help you have more faith. He will do it!!

    ‘For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, ‘ Job 19:25-26

    ‘The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. ‘ Luke 17:5-6

    ~ Cheryl


  • A little leaven

    You want to know what I’ve been doing lately? Well I’m going to tell you! LOL Because I love to talk about it. If you don’t know me, when I get started on something new, I kind of tend to obsess about it a little bit. So my family is probably sick of hearing me talk about it so now I am going to tell you all about it. (It’s sourdough by the way!)

    The new year started out pretty crazy for us. We had a tragic death in the family. And then we got hit with a rare snow storm. Our neck of the woods rarely gets snow at all. We might get snow once every 10 years. And when we do, it doesn’t always last very long. So what did I decide to do right in the middle of all the craziness? And the freezing cold? Sourdough. I decided to make a sourdough starter!

    Now I have learned that this was the absolute worse time to try to make a sourdough starter. However, we did pull through. My sourdough starter, named Earl, took about 3 weeks (probably because of the cold) but he finally started making some bread. It’s really cool because you make the yeast yourself. You put some flour and water in a jar and you grow the yeast yourself for a few weeks by feeding and discarding every day. Once your starter is ready you can start baking with it by using a little bit of your natural (wild) yeast, bread flour, salt and water. There are many different ways to do it. And you can add inclusions and things like that. I haven’t gotten into all that too much yet. But I have made some good tasting bread. 🙂

    I was thinking recently about how sourdough relates to the Bible and Jesus. I found something that I loved. I knew there were verses about leaven in the bible. There is a parable that Jesus tells in Matthew 13:33. “He told them another parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.” And in Galatians 5:9 it says “A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” The word leaven is another word for yeast.

    What is neat about it is how the wild yeast created in your home environment can work itself into a loaf and make it rise. It only takes a little bit of the leaven or yeast but with a little bit of time and care (and patience) it spreads through out the dough and creates beautiful bread. Another thing about sourdough starter is that it takes maintenance. Once the starter is created it cannot just be left alone. It must be fed daily.

    Every day I have to discard some of the starter and feed it to make it grow and maintain it’s health. This reminds me of how we also need to discard and feed our minds and hearts. We have to discard the worldly stuff that we see and hear by praying and asking the Lord to remove those things from us. We have to feed our minds and hearts each day by reading God’s Word.

    A weak and acidic starter will make a bad loaf of bread. It might be edible, but it won’t be as good as it could be. A weak Christian will stumble in their faith and possibly cause others to stumble. You could even ruin your testimony if you don’t get yourself back on track.

    Yeast works slowly and silently, but the end result is undeniable. The same is true of how God works in our lives. The nature of yeast is to grow and change whatever it comes in contact with. When we accept Christ in our lives, He changes us from the inside out!

    I just thought that these comparisons were so neat and now I love sourdough even more!

    ~ Cheryl

  • Don’t Stop Praying!

    Last week we laid to rest my first cousin, Mike. He was the first of our first cousins to pass away. He and I weren’t really close but it is still a loss that you feel. The most heart breaking part is watching my precious Aunt at 84 years old saying goodbye to one of her children.

    I can’t imagine losing a child, no matter how old I am or they are. I hope I never have to know. But if I do, I hope that I can trust the Lord the way she is. Her words that she shared for my husband to read at the funeral were “Though it pains me to wonder, I have to trust that God had a reason for taking you. You will forever live in my heart, my son. Love, Mom“

    Mike lived a little rough. He liked to drink, cuss and pretty much do whatever he wanted. Not that he was a bad person. He just did things his way. His mom, my Aunt Carolyn never gave up though. She continuously talked to him about God and prayed for him.

    A few months before he passed away, Mike had begun to grow closer to God. He started asking his Mom questions about the Bible. I remember her calling me a couple months ago. She was so encouraged that he was talking to her about the Lord! Her prayers were being answered.

    This is encouraging to me. When we have someone that we are praying for. Someone that doesn’t seem to be living for the Lord. We can’t give up on them or stop praying for them. You never know the impact your prayers may have on someone.

    There’s a song by Matthew West called “Don’t Stop Praying” and there is so much truth to that song. Now when I see a hint of an answer to my prayers (especially those prayers for family members) I think of that song. You should listen to it if you haven’t heard it yet!

    I have seen so many prayers answered. A lot of prayers have been answered this year after many, many years of prayer. I want to name a few things, not to brag. But I want to let you know that these are things that I have been praying for, for a very long time. (The only bragging I’m doing is bragging on my Lord and Savior!) My weight loss, I’ve lost 60+ pounds in the past 15 months! My parents are back in church. My oldest brother is involved in his church and has found a good Christian woman that he just proposed to! Our finances are doing better and we are close to being debt free. These are all things that could not have happened without the Lord! God is so good and I could go on and on and on! I just want to share as a testimony. Don’t stop praying!

    Ephesians 6:18 “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,“

    Galatians 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the last of Christ.”

    Blessings,

    Cheryl

  • Who can we trust?

    Now that I have processed the shock from the weekend. I’ve got some things that have been on my heart all week. Not only did we get the shock of an assassination attempt Saturday night, but I also got a shocking call about a death of a family member on Sunday morning.

    The whole world is in turmoil right now. There is the war between Israel and Palestine. The political issues in France and The UK. Not to mention the mess going on right here in America. I am sure that I don’t have to tell you about what a mess we are in!

    There are many stories that come out that are hard to believe. The right says things and then the left completely says the opposite. You never know what to believe these days. The news isn’t even trustworthy anymore. They all contradict each other.

    We all have our own family problems as well. A lot families have people that don’t get along. Some times the only time we see much of family any more is at funerals.

    I don’t say all of this to get you down. All I can think is “we need to back to the Word of God”. The ONLY thing we can trust as the absolute truth is God’s Word. That will never fail us. There may be things that we don’t understand in the Bible, and that is where studying God’s Word is so important. Don’t just take a verse at face value. Read the context.

    When the whole world seems to be falling apart, when it is very easy to allow fear to creep in, we must trust in God. He has everything under control. Things might not turn out the way we want it to, but He allows everything for a reason. And when we trust in Him, and serve Him, and live for Him, we don’t have to worry about the future. He has it all in His hands.

    If you feel that you are not close to God like you should be. Then you are the only one that can fix that. Seek Him, and you will find Him. He is never so far away from us that He can’t be reached. Start just by talking to Him and then go from there.

    Just remember that when things come out and as things in our world continue to get worse, we can trust in Jesus. His word is truth. And He will never leave your nor forsake you, when you put your trust in Him.

    Verses to read:

    Romans 8:28

    Psalm Chapter 46

    John 14:6

    Jeremiah 32:17

    Romans 10:9-10

    Blessings,

    Cheryl

  • Freedom!

    Since tomorrow is July 4th and is the day that we Americans celebrate freedom, I have had that subject on my heart this week. July 4th, 1776 was the birth of American Independence so we call this day Independence Day! We celebrate our freedom.

    Some of us may be free in that way, but may still be in bondage. Sin/Satan can have such a hold on our lives that we feel as if we are a slave to it. It may be just some bad habits that we can’t seem to get away from. It may be that you are living in a very sinful lifestyle and you just don’t see a way out. Sometimes when we accept Christ and become saved, after awhile we may feel that pull and slip back into sin. The thing is it’s a choice. We don’t have to fall for it.

    With Christ we are set free! When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are free from the bondage of sin! We then have a choice. We will be tempted. If Satan tempted Jesus, don’t think he won’t try and tempt you. But where there is temptation, there is always a way out. (1 Corinthians 10:13) We no longer have to be in bondage. Just as the 13 colonies were set free on July 4, 1776, we are set free from Satan’s grasp.

    There is a price to pay for sin, but Christ took our punishment and our penalty on the cross. It doesn’t mean that we are free to do whatever we feel like doing. If we truly accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are choosing to follow Him. We are choosing a better life. A lifetime of freedom in Christ.

    It is not that Christians have the freedom to sin, but that we have the freedom not to sin. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:14.

    Before Christ’s sacrifice we lived in bondage under the law of Moses. Jesus dying on the cross fulfilled the law of Moses and set us free. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36.

    True freedom comes when we fully surrender our lives to Christ. It’s amazing to see what He can do with our lives if we just surrender it all to Him! We can believe and trust that He has it all worked out for our good. (Romans 8:28)

    So tomorrow let’s celebrate our nation’s freedom but let’s also celebrate the freedom we have in Christ Jesus! The freedom we have to worship Him, and our freedom from the bondage of sin.

    Blessing,

    -Cheryl

  • Fallen from Grace

    Recently we have seen several well known preachers/pastors “fall from grace”. Things are coming out about some kind of secret sins that they have had either in the past or recently, causing them to step away from ministry altogether.

    This is heart breaking for a lot of people. My heart really goes out to the ones that are dealing with the backlash, their families and their followers. Imagine how hard it is to hear this about someone you have have followed, respected and held in high regard. You’ve studied their teachings and you have hung onto things they’ve said. Maybe you’ve even taught their bible studies. And now you find out that they have made some big mistakes or that they aren’t who you believed they were at all. It’s a big blow, especially for those that are not strong in their faith.

    What I want us all to realize is that we cannot and should not put our faith in man. We are all human and people will let you down at some point. Do not hold someone in such high regard that, when you realize the truth about them, it shakes your faith. Your ultimate faith must be in the Creator. Our heavenly Father will never let us down. Even though it may feel like we’ve been let down sometimes, He always has what is best for us as part of His plan!

    Pray for those that are in leadership positions in our churches and in other ministries. It is a difficult position and they are not perfect. I can’t imagine the pressure of being a leaders of a huge church or ministry. I can’t imagine the pressure of being in the public eye as a celebrity Pastor. I will not sit here and say who is and who isn’t in God’s will with these ministries. You can study for yourself and decide who to follow and who not to follow.

    We each have the responsibility of studying God’s word for ourselves and making sure that those we are following are keeping in line with the scripture. When we have studied the word, we will have discernment when hearing God’s word preached. When we see or hear something that isn’t right, we need to call them out on it (in a Christian manner). Or when we don’t understand where they are coming from in their messages, we should question them. If they are led by Holy Spirit, they will be glad to further explain. Use discernment when following someone’s teachings. The Holy Spirit will show you when you should not follow someone.

    Please, please do not allow someone to cause you to stumble in your own faith. Even personal relationships can cause this. Don’t put anyone above God, He comes first. He is always working things out for our good and ultimately according to His plan! (Romans 8:28)

    Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15

    When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. John 16:13

    Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep ‘s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Matthew 7:15

  • Gardening and God

    It’s gardening season here in South Georgia! Some things are starting to slow down or stop growing and some things haven’t become ready yet. This is the time of year when all of our friends and neighbors are harvesting corn, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, beans… The list goes on. Those are some of the things that we have grown and are growing. What does gardening have to do with God?

    There are so many good lessons to be learned in the garden! God can use anything to teach us and what better way than something so natural? Something people have been doing from the very beginning of mankind. Growing our own food!

    Preparing the soil. It’s important before you ever plant a seed or transplant that you have prepared your soil. The soil needs nutrients. It doesn’t always have the nutrients that it needs because it gets used and abused over time. The more it is used, the more nutrients it needs. 😉 Before you do anything else, you want to check your soil and prepare it. Much like soil, our hearts need to be prepared. Before a seed can be planted and really grow into what it is supposed to be, the soil has to be prepared. Our hearts also need to be nourished and ready for whatever seed God wants to plant in it. And the more our hearts are used and abused, the MORE nourishment we need. The nourishment being God’s Word, in case you didn’t pick up on that. With gardens, if you plant a seed on a dry, rocky ground with no nutrients, that seed is likely not to bloom. What does grow well in dry and rocky soil? Weeds!!! A weed will grow anywhere won’t it? Well, we don’t want weeds in our hearts. We want that good seed that God sends to us. We want our hearts to be nourished and ready. So when God plants the seeds, we are ready to grow!

    Planting seeds is the fun part! I love the planting and the harvesting. Those are my two favorite parts of gardening. Spreading God’s word is like planting seeds. As a matter of fact, I’ve often heard it referred to as planting seeds. Now, some seeds aren’t any good. They may come from a bad batch. They might be old seed. The seed could even be rotten. We have to be careful that the seed we are planting and the word we are spreading is coming from a good place. Our hearts must be clean before we open our mouth! We must be in prayer and make sure our hearts are clean. Do this by asking God to show us where we are failing Him. Show us what we need to change in our lives. People can tell if you are genuine most of the time. If they feel that your heart isn’t right, they aren’t going to want to listen to anything you have to say.

    Weeding and tending to the garden is not the fun part. I’m going to be honest, I try to avoid this part of gardening. Thankfully I have a husband that can’t stand a garden with weeds. He keeps the cleanest garden! Weeds don’t stand a chance on his watch. LOL I’m exaggerating a little. But this is the hardest part of gardening in my opinion. Because even after we have prepared the soil and planted, them weeds tend to sneak back in and pop up. And multiply! Also bugs and critters like to enjoy the fruits of our labor as well. That is all part of tending to the garden. We have to work every day to get the weeds out, we have to add fertilizer to the plants. We have to water the garden often. Well, you know what I’m going to say right? Our hearts need weeding, fertilizing and watering as well. And sometimes we have bugs and worms that sneak in and take over. And since I like to call hornworms, devil worms, we will refer to the bugs and worms as Satan. LOL Satan works sneakily and slowly sometimes to attack our hearts and minds. He blends in and attacks when we aren’t looking. We must pray and read God’s word daily to keep the weeds and bugs away. We must water our hearts with praise and worship in order to make our heart bloom!

    Harvest is the other fun part! The best part of gardening and the whole point of doing it to begin with us the harvest! To enjoy the fruits of our labor! It’s beautiful thing to have fresh produce to enjoy and especially knowing that you grew this with God’s help! Some things may not grow even when we feel like we’ve done everything right. We may not always get a good harvest. At times like that we have to thank the good Lord for He does give. He blesses us in many different ways. Sometimes our harvest is not what we expect. Some crops pollinate each other and make weird looking produce. I’ve had some weird looking squash over the years. Side note: most vegetables and fruits need multiples to grow. They don’t grow alone. They need other plants to pollinate each other! We also need other Christians to lean on and help each other in our daily walks as well! (I thought that was another interesting point to make.) When we do see a bountiful harvest, we must thank the Lord for His blessings. Because none of it can grow and produce without Him.

    Canning and preserving! You didn’t think that was it did you? Hee, hee. Some of us grow enough food to can and preserve things to last us all year! Preserving is another interesting process that has some biblical similes as well. Preserving our food is much like preserving the things that we have learned and that God has taught us. We all have different processes to do this. I like to write, so I write things down. I write my prayers often as well and I like to look back and see how God answered those prayers. When canning vegetables you use salt to preserve it. It also helps with taste! Jesus said in Matthew 5:13
    Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. One of my first years canning green beans, I forgot to add salt. I realized later that the green beans were ruined and I had to throw them out (just like the word says!). I didn’t realize what had happened to them at the time. A few weeks later a visiting preacher spoke about this verse and it dawned on me in the middle of church! I didn’t add the salt! LOL It’s funny now. And now I MAKE SURE that I add the salt to my jars before putting them into the canner!

    After all is said and done and when we reach our heavenly home, we want to hear the words “Well done my good and faithful servant”. Don’t we? I hope you do. I know that I sure do. Otherwise what are we doing? I hope this has been good “food” for thought for y’all! (Sorry I couldn’t resist!).

    Blessings,

    Cheryl

  • Faith

    Back in 2020 at the beginning of the pandemic, Christians began a campaign of “faith over fear”. Crosses began to show up on people’s lawns. It was a symbol of our faith over our fear. It was a message to remind each other that God is bigger than a virus and He has everything under control.

    I wonder how often we practice having faith over fear in our daily lives? It’s so easy to get caught up in the busyness and the activities each day. Anything that comes along to disrupt our schedule, can throw off our whole day or week. It can make us grouchy and cause us to be short with people when we don’t mean to be. (This is how it is for me sometimes!)

    Faith over fear is an important lesson for us to carry with us. It keeps us from panicking when things happen that seem bad to us. Being strong in our faith is an excellent way to be a walking testimony to others! When people see the peace we have in any kind of situation, they want some of what we have! In a world full of evil, people are looking for peace now more than ever.

    The Canaanite woman had faith and she even challenged Jesus when he tested her faith! (That’s brave!) The story is in Matthew 15:21-28. Her daughter was demon possessed and she was desperate for a miracle! When she asked Jesus for help, at first He denied her. But she persisted. It wasn’t that Jesus didn’t want to help her, He was testing her faith. Her faith is used as an example for all of us. Persist. Keep praying for a miracle!

    If you haven’t heard the song “Don’t Stop Praying” by Matthew West, I recommend you listen to it! It has a good message that reminds us that our miracle could be just one prayer away! I’ve seen miracles that I’ve prayed for years over. I had even given up at times thinking that it just wasn’t going to happen. But God, in His sovereignty and in His timing, rewards us for our faith and our persistence!

    We can’t give up on the the things that we are praying for. It may be a family situation, or a health concern. I’ve seen God work miracles in both of those in just the past couple of years! He can and He will work a miracle if it is His will to do so. We must remember that He is sovereign and He always knows best. We should always ask things if it is His will. Our will might not match up with His. That is where patience and understanding comes in. Submitting to God’s will and timing, is hard but through prayer and faith in Him, we can do that as well!

    God is so good and He is faithful to meet our needs.

    Then Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But he answered her not a word. And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away; for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table. Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour. Matthew 15:21-28

    It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

  • Prayer ADHD

    Have you ever experienced “prayer adhd”? I actually have been diagnosed with ADHD and I knew exactly what that was when I heard the term. It is basically when you start to pray and your mind wanders off to other things! I think that in this world today, even if you don’t have an ADHD diagnosis, we all fall into this trap because of how busy we are.

    A few years ago I felt led to start writing out my prayers. I haven’t always been consistent with it, but it really seems to help me focus on what I’m praying about and the direction of the prayer. I have a notebook full of prayers that is top secret and no one else has access to it. It’s just for me and the Lord. I recently went back through the notebook and read some of the prayers written in it from years ago. It’s neat to see how some of the things I was praying for then have been answered.

    Prayer is so vital to our walk with God. A relationship cannot thrive without communication. So, I wanted to give some tips on how to keep your prayers more focused. Maybe writing isn’t your thing. That’s what helps me and I would recommend you try it before you decide it isn’t. But, there are other ways and suggestions that I have found over the years and some I have used and still use!

    Making a list of what you need to pray about and reading it while you pray is helpful. You can take your church prayer list and maybe add to it, or keep your own personal prayer list. Maybe you could keep a small notebook around the area that you usually pray in and you can mark off when prayers are answered. Another idea is to keep a prayer list in the note section on your phone! Although personally I can’t be holding my phone while praying. It’s too much of a distraction.

    Some people use prayer cloths, prayer shawls or veils to help keep them focused while praying. It kind of blocks you away from the world. I like the idea of veiling for prayer. Susanna Wesley put this into practice while raising her 10 children, she would throw her apron over her head to pray and this was a signal to the children to not interrupt her! She did what she had to do to get her time alone with God.

    Keep it short and simple. Prayers don’t have to be long and complicated. God knows your heart. He doesn’t need fancy words or clichés. Saying shorter simple prayers more often might be easier. However, this can turn into a problem. Saying a quick prayer here and there is fine, the Bible tells us to pray without ceasing. But, we still need some quiet and focused prayer time devoted to God.

    Praying while you are doing another activity. This may work for some people. My mind usually wanders too much! But, praying while doing dishes or driving (keep your eyes open though!) are good ways to fit some prayer time in. I have gotten some answers from the Lord while driving down the road talking to Him!

    Having a devoted time and place dedicated to prayer is a really good idea. This could be in your car before heading in to work. Or in your car when you get home before going inside. It could be a break time at work that you can get off by yourself somewhere. It’s hard for some (me) to get into the habit of a dedicated time and place but once it becomes a habit, you find yourself remembering to do it and looking forward to that time with God.

    Remember that God knows your heart. He knows your intentions. If we get sidetracked while praying, just redirect yourself back and keep moving. Keep talking to Him. Also side note – if you aren’t sure what to pray about it, ask Him. 🙂 He will actually bring people or situations to your mind that need prayer!

    Praying and reading God’s Word so important to our relationship with Christ. We can’t just sit back and say “Oh well I’m just too busy” or “I meant to pray”. That is what the enemy is counting on. We have to find a way to make it happen! Life is so much sweeter and blessed when we are spending time daily with our Lord.

    1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

    Philippians 4:6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.