I am seeking peace... where is it?

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things..... And the God of peace will be with you. {Philippians 4:4-9}

I am never alone.

I need the opportunity to free my mind of sorrow, personal concerns; to see my world through the mirrored reflection of holiness. I need a time of prayer to leap beyond what is limiting in me as a person, to rediscover what is important and what is trivial, to take counsel with what my tradition stresses as the living faith. I need prayer.
Albert Silverman

I love the saying above... so true. We all need a lot of prayer. Someone may need it more, and someone needs it less. When I close my eyes and pray the mind is free to concentrate only on reaching God. To experience God, to hear his gentle voice. My mind releases all the stress from the busy and hectic day. I let him carry me away to holy ground, where no one can reach me or touch me. I am alone with him, I can tell him all my pain, my sorrow, my worries, all the complaining that I kept inside me too long. In releasing all of it, I am free from everything except the gentle, healing touch of the holy spirit. Now I can go farther, I am replenished, my batteries are recharged. I can sleep easily, I know that I am not alone. He holds my hand. He holds my children, and I am never alone.

God is in control no matter what!!

My life is hard sometimes. I am sure I am not the only one…The road gets tough. I complain, I cry, I rebel but nothing I do will change my circumstances until God chooses to change them for me. Knowing that He is the one in control gives me a sense of relief, of wonder and hope. For He is a loving father, and knows my hearts desire.

My health is not as it used to be. I work full time and my hearts desire is to be a stay at home mommy to my 3 little girls. My husband and I don’t see eye to eye on this subject. But knowing that it is in Gods hand, makes me feel better. He does have a bigger plan for everything in my life. I read a story somewhere recently about a lady who had cancer, and was told that she may not make it. She had lots of scars from all kinds of treatments, bald head from radiation.... in her story she said that everything that happens in our life is Gods way of teaching us to be better, stronger, and more christian in our walk with him. That every scar and every tear is a way for us to draw closer to God, to lean on him, to pray to him, for he is there for us no matter what. For everything that happens, there is a higher reason. A bigger plan that God unfolds.

I am learning to be content in every day life. With all its ups and downs. My most precious things in my life are my darling little girls, my husband, my health... and everything else are blessings that we are blessed with each minute of our life.

The other day I was dressing my 2 year old into a dress that my 5 year old used to wear, when she saw the dress she said to her sister.
-“you see Odelia, I used to wear that dress, now it got small, so you get to wear it, and then it will get even smaller and the baby will get to wear it as well.” Isn’t that just too cute?
I enjoy my little baby how she lifts her little chubby legs up in the air and lays there like that, tries to sit up …its hilarious. Kids are given to us as little blessings- to teach us more patience, to be more generous, less selfish, lets us be a better person, for we do try to model a better behavior so our kids would follow in our footsteps, as you know they copy everything...;)

Do you really, trully believe in prayer???

What is a prayer? I know that reading the bible is like feeding the soul, the more you read it, the more you will feel alive and fit spiritually. But prayer is like talking to our heavenly father, the less we talk, the less we pray... more distant we feel. More alone... the communication is broken.

Why do people even pray? What is that pull we feel that makes us try to connect to Our heavenly Father? To close our eyes, to whisper in the stillness, or to cry out in despair with tears streaming down our cheeks, or when we fall on the ground and beat the earth with our fists....

Here are some of the reasons.....
1. If we are in trouble, be it illness, unemployment, natural disaster, or marriage problems.
2. If someone we know is sick or in trouble, like a family member, a friend, a coworker. Its much harder to pray for a stranger who looks very sad walking down a sidewalk.... or a new neighbor who just moved into your neighborhood and doesn't talk to anyone...
3. We pray if we are in church, in a sacred building, on holy ground.

What is the prayer made of?
Words, soft whispers, desperate pleas, loud petitions? Mostly if we pray, our prayer consists of
a few words, that develops into a short sentence, and an 'amen' at the end of it... and we have fulfilled our duty as prayer warriors.... or did we?

Is it our duty to pray? It seems so in the bible... It tells us to pray all the time, for others, for ourselves... for we are weak as He is strong... It tells us that Jesus prayed... and if he prayed, I am sure we need it more...

If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. {Matthew 21:21-23}

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. {Romans 12:11-13}

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints. {Ephesians 6:18}

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. {Philippians 4:5-7}

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. {Colossians 4:1-3}

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—{1 Timothy 2:1-3}

I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer, without anger or disputing. {1 Timothy 2:7-9}

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. {James 5:14-16}

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. {James 5:15-17}

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil. {1 Peter 3:11-13}

And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, Jesus went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. {Mark 1:35}

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, sanctified be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil; for Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory to forever. Amen. {Matthew 6:9-13}

He is my builder... and I am blessed.

1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.

Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.
2 In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat—

for he grants sleep to those he loves.
3 Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth.
5 Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate. {Psalm 127}

Going to the dentist could be a chance to pray!

I had a root canal done today by an endoscopic dentist. My regular dentist tried to do the procedure a few weeks before, and after working on my tooth for over an hour, gave up, stating that the root was too deep, and he was unable to finish it properly and referred me to a specialist.

At first they did an x-ray to see my tooth, and after that a young dentist came in, to ask me if I knew that my dentist left a piece of metal string in my root from few weeks ago? At my look of horror he went to explain that he will try to get it out, and hopefully he will not need to do a surgery to remove it.

After getting a few shots to numb the area, he started the procedure.
It took forever… my feet started to tingle from laying in a semi-reclined position, with my head lower then my whole body. My head got really sore from laying on the hard chair… I had to go to the bathroom like really bad, as the dentist kept on working on my tooth. He took about an hour to do the procedure, and then an hour trying to get the piece of equipment out.

I was scared that he would never get it out and I will have to have surgery… I started to pray…. Please lord help him find it, help him pull it out. Please, please…. I just got more anxious, as I prayed in my head…. Then I started to praise Him and that calmed me down.

In the time of trouble when you praise Him, its like you confirm that He can hear you and that He will do what you ask him, and not only that… but He holds the answer in his hands, and which ever way things happen its for the best. But still the dentist is struggling to get it out and my prayer is not effective. Then I remembered that God doesn’t listen to sinners. I started to repent my sins, and five seconds after I finished repenting in my head.. the dentist pulled a piece of metal string out, and my prayer got answered!!

Our God does hear prayers, he does do miracles. Yes! He can hear me. Thank you Lord.

The beauty of autumn...

The morning dew sparkling on the green grass.

The crisp fresh mornings.

The slight chill in the air.

The golden sunshine coloring everything into oranges and yellows.

The beauty of the leaves as they change colors.

A walk in the park through the yellow-red carpet of leaves.

A cup of hot chocolate to warm up the soul.

A down-feather blanket in the coldness of the night.

Wearing my warm robe and furry slippers.

Rain splattering off the roof, singing me to sleep and making everything green again.

This is why I love fall.... my favorite season! Thank you Lord....