I'm still a winner.

I am grateful, thankful, and blessed. I went to an Adobe Photoshop seminar on yesterday. It makes me almost sad to think that I almost missed out on this opportunity because I was concerned about money. What I learned at this conference was so worth the money spent. Much of the time that I was sitting in my seat I was worshipping God on the inside. He was there with me. I felt like I was going to explode from sheer excitement from being there and seeing how I could use the tips demonstrated to create my greeting cards. Wow...Jesus is amazing! I kept hearing in my spirit Israel Houghton's rendition of To God be the Glory. Goodness and mercy is following me everywhere that I go. Isn't it wonderful when you take steps and you know 'without a shadow of a doubt' that God was leading you in that direction after the fact. I know He orders our footsteps...I've been told that, I've told people that, and it's written in the Bible, but it ALWAYS excites me when I see that I was lead by Him. Its not hard to hear from Him, but I still want to be sure that I'm not just doing something that I really want to do. The fact is, I try to be wise with my money. I don't just spend just because I have it to spend and all the bills are paid for the month.

At the end of the conference they gave out door prizes. I was praying and believing that I was going to win a door prize. Thinking surely God is going to allow me to win a free training DVD. I've felt his presence during the conference...I'm a CHRISTIAN...I HAVE FAVOR...I kept waiting for them to call my name. It baffled me when they never did. What? I didn't win? But I'm a Christian and I have God's favor on my life. WHAT?

I'm still a winner. As my sister said to me referring to the results of my 4 year old nephew's first soccer game, "They are all winners." Now I get it. I'm still a winner!

Music that changes the atmosphere.

I was introduced to a wonderful worship artist last week. I went to our morning prayer service and arrived about ten minutes before the end. I know what you are thinking....I might as well have stayed home. But I'm thinking, "BETTER LATE THAN NEVER." Anyway, I heard two of the most beautiful songs playing. At that point I thought, I am so glad I did come. Grace Williams Fire Fall cd was playing Spirit Come & Don't Ever Let Go. I fell in love with these songs and downloaded them from Itunes as soon as I returned home. These songs bring a beautiful peace to the atmosphere. Listen & enjoy!

Taste Like Chicken!

Here is something funny that I experienced the other day. I was preparing to fry chicken and I seasoned the chicken with garlic powder & pepper. Since I thought that the garlic powder would be salty, I didn't add any salt. Normally I use seasoning salt and pepper on my chicken and then fry it. Well anyway, that was a mistake. The chicken came out nice and crispy, golden brown, just not salty enough for me. So the very next day I tried frying chicken again...this time I included the salt with my garlic powder & pepper combination. It came out fabulous...just writing about the results make my mouth water. So I'm eating the chicken going on and on...'Thank you God for this chicken...it is so good...You don't know what you are missing.' I thought that was pretty funny, telling God that He didn't know what he was missing by not having the privilege to eat some of my fried chicken. Then I thought, does God eat? I don't think so.

So the next morning, I am listening to my bible on CD and I'm listening to Leviticus 2...God has such a great since of humor. I laughed so hard when I heard God's instructions to Moses concerning the meat offering. King James version calls it a meat offering but the New King James version calls it a grain offering. God instructs Moses on how to prepare a meat offering, saying to season it with salt, etc. Here is the link for Leviticus 2. I am mostly referring to vs 7-9, 13. Anyways, I thought it was so funny because when the priest offered the meat offering on the altar, it went up before God as a sweet savour or a sweet smelling sacrifice. That was my equivalent to God eating chicken...lol. The smell of food is related to how it taste. It reminded me of my bragging and saying that God didn't know what He was missing when it came to eating my fried chicken.

After digging a little, I found that the meat referred to was not necessarily real 'meat', but any sustaining food. I still thought it was interesting. Check out this link to read more about it.

Leviticus was all about how to worship God. Our life, our worship, prayers, etc should all go up before the Almighty as a sweet savour. Something He will be pleased with. Something that He will go on and on bragging about how good it is to Him.

Oh taste and see that the Lord is good!

I can truly understand how people can get stressed out and want to eat every sweet thing in sight. I have never felt like doing that until yesterday and today. Usually when I used to get stressed out, I would just go to sleep. Was the problem gone? No, but that's what I did. Well, yesterday, I did what a lot of women do! That Chick-Fil-A milkshake and strawberry cheesecake hit the spot! The sad thing is that I actually felt guilty after I consumed all that stuff. I didn't feel guilty because I was worried about my weight [I can gain a pound or two]. It was because I used food to comfort myself because I was feeling anxious. The Holy Spirit is our Comforter, not a cookies and creme milkshake with a slice of strawberry cheesecake! I ate it all in frustration and instantly knew that the Lord was not pleased. I don't know who I thought I was fooling. I was so irritated and instead of complaining, I chose to eat. Is that any better than complaining? Who was I fooling? Obviously myself. God knows us so well. He knows what we are thinking...He knows our thoughts before we even think them.  

I know that I am so close to fulfilling the dreams that God has put inside of me. God's favor allowed me to win a scholarship. I hit a few stumbling blocks when making arrangements to use the money. The Lord's blessings maketh rich and add no sorrow! "I SAID THE LORD'S BLESSINGS MAKETH RICH AND ADD NO SORROW," that is how my grandma would say it to get her point across. If God has blessed then leave it up to Him to work everything out in your favor. Oh, Taste and see that the Lord is GOOD; Blessed is the man who trusts in HIM! Psalm 34:8.

No matter what the sound is...

My brother called me bright and early at 7:30 this morning. He was telling me that he wanted to put some songs together to give to my mom for mother's day. He was in an accident last year and suffered a head injury. He proceeded to tell me about a song that he says helps him make it through the day. Lo and behold, its "Lord Its In Your Hands," by a quartet group, Ronica & The Mighty Blazing Stars. He said that it keeps his mind on God. The lesson for me was, no matter what the sound is, if it draws you to think on God's goodness, then the Lord is being glorified.

                                            

Messing up your crown & glory!

Since starting this blog, I have made it a point to spend time in worship. It is important to listen to music that takes you into heavenly worship. That might not be the quartet song that you grew up listening to. Especially for us southerners, quartet music like church is apart of our culture. I grew up listening to quartet music because my dad was and still is a gospel musician. I am not downing it but I believe it has its place just like all genres of music do.  

I have been saturating myself listening to Williams Murphy's The SOUND! I know this cd has been out for a while but I finally got it. Walmart had it for $9.88. My favorites are I Will Rejoice & Angel's Cry.  

                                       

Angel's Cry describes how the angels or "live creatures" as Revelation 4 says, cry..."Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come." Then the 24 elders fall down before the Lord and worship Him. They throw down the crowns that they are wearing. I am sure they are looking quite stylish wearing crowns on their heads. There is nothing raggedy about heaven...Its all splendor and glory. So it made me think about how no matter how cute we look with our hair done and wearing our Armani suits.

We still have to worship God! They didn't care about getting down & dirty and throwing down their glorious crowns. How do you feel about messing that hair up on Sunday that you just got done on Saturday? Can you stand to risk getting makeup on the $2000 Armani suit for our God? He is worthy to be praised! No matter what!

Rabboni, My Great Master!

I am so excited about Resurrection Sunday which is also on my birthday! I am not quite sure where all the Easter commercialism comes from.  I will have to check that out later. Today I was reading about when Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus. I am referring to the account in John 20:10-18. She had been crying because she had looked in the tomb and he was not there. The angels asked her what she was crying about. She said "They have taken my Lord away and I don't know where they have put him." Then later Jesus, himself, asked her why she was crying. She thought he was the gardener and began to ask about the body. He called her name and at that point she realized that she was not speaking to the gardener but to Jesus, she said, 'Rabboni', which means master.

Rabboni is a form of the title, rabbi, that has three forms. The term rabbi was a title of respect placed on learned men like teachers, doctors, lawyers, which basically meant master. "Rab" meant 'master', "Rabbi" meant 'my master', and Rabbon or Rabboni meant 'great master or my great master, respectively'! So when she said Rabboni, she was saying LORD of LORDS. There is no one greater! She was not referring to him as a mere man using the title that she would use when speaking to a man. The bible says that even Sarah obeyed Abraham calling him Lord in 1 Peter 3:6. Mary was speaking to Jesus with the greatest honor that the title held, RABBONI!  MY GREAT MASTER!