What if?

Stacey — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 12:13:33 +0000

What if? What if God only blesses you as much as you bless and praise him?

Wonder what our lives would be like if we blessed him more?

Ps 103:1-5

Psalms 103 Praise for the LORD’s Mercies

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul ;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul ,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
NKJV

Remember, James 1:16-17

16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
NIV

StaceyRising.com Hakuna Matata…means no worries

So life has been very busy since I returned from Africa. I actually chaperoned my sons fourth grade trip to the state capitol just a day after I got home. CRAZY!!!! But I am not blogging about how busy I am. Today I attended a focus group to try and test a workshop that will be used in corporate training seminars. So I show up to the focus group and make a joke about "it's only been summer vacation for two days and my kids are driving me crazy!" So then the lady across from me says, "OH! I always hated it when summer would end because I just LOVED spending time with my kids. In fact, all the kids in the neighborhood spent the whole summer at our house." REALLY?!????? I just looked at her. Now I feel like a terrible mother. Then I receive a letter in the mail from a friend that I have known and been friends with for over ten years and she basically tells me that she is "unfriending" me because she feels like I am always hurting her. I am SO confused!!! These ...
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StaceyRising.com A Determined Mother

Syrophoenician Woman Read Matthew 15:21-28 and Mark 7:24-30 Do you ever crave time to yourself? Do you ever get caught up in life and just need or crave some time to yourself? Or even better, a weekend retreat? “Time away from the everyday stress in order to renew your Spirit” Jesus was the same way! The more miracles he performed, the more people were talking about Jesus and the less time He had to get away and renew His spirits. In Mark the Bible describes a Gentile, of the Syrophoenician race. This indicated that she was from the territory Northwest of Galilee where the cities of Tyre and Sidon were located. Matthew calls her a Cananite woman which the Jewish would have immediately understood the significance of Jesus helping this woman. In verse 22 of Matthew 15 a determined mother begs Jesus “Have mercy on me, my daughter is cruelly demon possessed.” When Jesus heard this, He was really trying to get away to refresh His spirits and at first He said nothing. It was ...
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StaceyRising.com Restoreth my Soul

Read Psalm 23 Let’s be honest, some of you are so worn down and discouraged you can barely get yourself out of bed, let alone think about leading the women in your church through the Red Sea. Well, no matter where you are this morning, God is here and He is ready to restore your soul. In the 23rd Psalm, God is seen as a caring shepherd and a dependable guide. We must follow and obey his commands, just like sheep must follow their shepherd as trust him as a dependable guide. The shepherd is the only hope for life and security. Many of David’s Psalms are full of complaints, but the 23rd Psalm is full of comforts and the expressions of delight in God’s great goodness and dependence on Him. So what exactly is the duty of a Shepherd and how can I relate that to God being my Shepherd? Let’s look at the parallel: Shepherd God the Shepherd Feeding God’s Word Watering The Holy Spirit Grooming Keeping us clean from the contaminants of the world Shearing Tithes and Offerings Delivering ...
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StaceyRising.com Vote! VOTE!!! vote!

Tomorrow is voting day in Florida and I am passionate about getting out and voting. Some may say that, "it doesn't really matter..." but I believe that as a Christian we have an obligation to get out and vote for a candidate that will best mirror our very own beliefs and convictions. I found this email a few weeks ago and posted it to my Facebook... I recently asked my neighbors' little girl what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President some day. Both of her parents, liberal Democrats, were standing there, so I asked her, 'If you were President what would be the first thing you would do? ' She replied, I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people. Her parents beamed with pride. 'Wow...what a worthy goal.' I told her, 'But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that! You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and trim my hedge, and I'll pay you $50. Then I'll take you over to the grocery store where the ...
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StaceyRising.com What Stirs You?

It's January 24th, almost a month into the new year. So what have you been up to? Are you still on that diet you started on the first Monday of the month? Have you cleaned out the clutter you promised yourself? Or do you find yourself asking, "is January REALLY almost over?" What is it that gets you motivated to do something? In I Samuel 25 we find Abigail, the wife of Nabal who was a VERY wealthy man. David and his men were traveling through the desert he sent some of his men to Nabal and asked if he would feed them. You see, it was customary to extend hospitality to travelers back in the day, no matter how many of them there were. Nabal was extremely rich and could have easily afforded David's request to feed his men. It wasn't like David was asking for a handout...David and his men were protecting Nabal's work force, and part of Nabal's prosperity was due to David's protection. In spite of what David had done and the hospitality customs of the day, Nabal refused to ...
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StaceyRising.com Ask yourself the question this year!

I always love a brand new year. It's better than a new month, week or a day. A new year gives you a fresh start to make goals and see them through. The last few years have definitely had their ups and downs, but each year has had some real learning experiences and victories. Each new year for me, is a chance to look back and see what my growth in Christ has been. I have done this every year for probably the last fifteen years. It is a simple question I ask myself... Let me stop before I give you that question and try to put this in perspective. How many of you have a spot in your house, either your childhood home or your current home where you have stood, (or made your kids stand) while you were measured and it was marked with a pencil. Why do we do this? We want to see how much our kids have grown over the past six months or year. We compare it to other siblings, while the kids are at a race to be as tall as their parents or in our house their grandma. Craig's ...
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StaceyRising.com Keeping Perspective at Christmas

Well, it's the day after Christmas and I can't help but want to reflect on yesterday. This year I told one of my boys that it would be a slim Christmas and his response was, "SMALLER THAN LAST YEAR?" I just smiled. I share that with you to let you know that I have NOT arrived when it comes to keeping perspective on Christmas, that's for sure. In fact, yesterday morning I was awake at 5:30am due to my excitement. Not for my gifts, but to watch my kids open theirs. So this year Christmas lands on a Sunday...and all those with children groan. Actually it was my pastor that answered someone who asked if he would be cancelling service on Christmas and he responded, "I can't imagine being anywhere else on Christmas day than in Jesus's house, on His birthday!" I love that! Again, I know that getting kids ready on Christmas day can be a challenge, but in our house it was not an option, to NOT go! By the way, the service was amazing! Our pastor preached on The Greatest Story ...
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StaceyRising.com Let God’s Forgiveness Set You FREE!

It is Sunday morning and I am waiting for the coffee to quit brewing so that I can suck some down. I was exhausted last night after not sleeping well the night before AND a weekend full of "getting on my Jesus" at a Beth Moore Conference. The worship, if you have ever been is second to only what I think Heaven will be like and then Beth always bring a fresh anointed message that no matter who you are, if you listen you will God himself speak through her. This weekend she spoke on the book Philemon which has only 25 verses. It has 355 Greek words (so we did some Greek class this weekend) and it is located between Hebrews and Titus. Beth will be so proud of me, as I am a good student who took notes. The whole book is a personal letter from Paul to Philemon. Paul was in prison writing Philemon about one of his slaves that had escaped from him and "caused him harm" (perhaps stole from him or left him hanging). Paul, who led Philemon to the Lord basically tells him in the ...
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StaceyRising.com When God decides, He provides

About ten days ago I received an email from a group in South Africa asking me to come and speak at their annual retreat. I was thrilled and excited, but there was one catch. NEWIM (Networking Evangelical Women in Ministry) is a non-profit organization designed to encourage women that are in ministry. The annual retreat is designed to bring in women (that typically do all the organizing, planning and programs) and give them the oasis retreat experience to refresh, restore and renew their souls. The catch is, I have to pay for my own airfare... approximately $2,000. Once I get to South Africa, they will take care of everything. In a strange way, I had TOTAL peace about accepting the call and believing God to provide my airfare. I had an idea...I would make Christmas stockings, purses and messenger bags out of burlap. Our local coffee shop. The Drowsy Poet roasts its own beans and they agreed to donate the burlap sacks for me to use. So it was time to start sewing and creating ...
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