Sticky Notes~~~~~~Go Green

Those who delight in God's commands will be like a tree planted by a river.  Ps 1:3  Go green. Plant a flourishing tree in yourself by delighting in God's commands. 

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In Christ, I Can Find Grace and Mercy in Time of Need

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 

Oh what exciting news that we can come to the throne of grace to receive the mercy and grace needed to survive. 

We are not only told to come but come boldly and confidently before the throne. A move that needs to be made in the right attitude of humbleness and thanksgiving instead of one full of arrogance and pride. 

Why are we instructed to come boldly and confidently?  It's not for anything we can take credit for. It's because God is telling us we can come that way because we can rest assure we will get what God promises. It doesn't matter what we have done, we are promised grace and mercy. 

Too often we think we are too bad of a person to receive such a thing. We feel we are beyond deserving God's gifts of grace and mercy He tells us to come boldly forward to claim. These are lies from Satan that need to be ignored. 

It's our job to toss aside the lies and step forward in our confidence in Christ. Stepping up our boldness as we claim our gifts today and tomorrow for evermore. The gifts needed for our survival. The gifts designed for you and me. 

Copyright 2015 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing. 

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In Christ, I Am Handed the keys to Heaven

Matthew 16:19 "and I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

This was a promise to Peter as Christ just called him the rock He was going to build His church upon. 

We too are given this promise in the fact that we were told about Jesus. His salvation, his entrance into the world to shed His blood for us is our key into the Kingdom of God. 

What a wonderful thing for God to hand over the keys to His kingdom to you and me. Very few people, even our closest relative or friend would hesitate to hand over the keys to us for their home to allow us to enter and stay. However God does it without hesitation. 

Problem is we are reluctant to quickly take those keys and use them properly. We take them alright but we treat the entrance way as something that is ever revolving so we can come and go as we please. 

This is no way to treat this privilege we are given when, in Christ, we are handed the keys to a wondrous place called Heaven. Instead let us go to the door of eternity and open it wide with the key of Jesus and enter to stay. 

Enter it to marvel at, to praise and glorify, to settle into for all eternity, to enjoy endlessly. 

Truly let us go to God and don't forget our Key!

Copyright Jan 2015 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipe Publishing

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Sticky Notes from God~~~Marching orders

Blessed is he who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly. Ps 1:1 You have your marching orders feet so start walking.  

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In Christ I Am~~~~A New Creation

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (‭II Corinthians‬ ‭5‬:‭17‬ NKJV)

Too often when we come to Christ we make the mistake of thinking the minute our scalp hits the water of baptism that we instantly become a new creation. If that was the case the devil would be out of a job. The job of tempting Christians to stay as they are and not allow God to change them. 

It's true we can and should be new creatures in Christ but it takes time and effort on our part. The new doesn't instantly appear and it is not wear proof. It is something we strive for. Something we should want so badly that we would do anything to get it as well as keep it. 

Coming to Christ is a chance to start over. It is making the decision that because of our love for Christ we will go out of our way to no longer live for ourselves. In doing so we become new creatures in Christ. We live for Him and not us. 

Praise The Lord for the chance, opportunity and ability to become a new person. One that is not centered on self but centered in Christ. One with the focus to love and live outside of the box of 'self' but lives for the glorious Christ which in turn spills over to those around them. 

Thank you Lord for giving us this gift. May we take care of it, put it together, and nurture it to its fullest potential. Amen

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This Year's Women's Retreat

First day of women's retreat was great. Speakers were good and the food was too. The scenery as always was beautiful. God is great. It's always good to get away into the mountains, even Jesus did that to reconnect with God. We should as well.

Our first speaker was Bev and she gave a great lesson in "What's in your purse?" More pictures and details to follow as its lights out soon at the lodge here and I'm worn out. Night everyone.

Here are the more pictures I promised you. It was a great women's retreat as the three speakers: Bev Campbell, Cathy Koch and Carol Sheldon talked about being well dressed spiritually as Christian Women as we walk out into the world and witness for Christ.

Bev had us look into our purses to see what we are carrying around in there. Is it full of things like thankfulness, praise, love, forgiveness, kindness, goodness, faith, trust, and all the other qualities of Christ. Or is your purse loaded down like a bag of heavy rocks with things like bitterness, unforgiveness, jealousy, greed, anger, uncontrolled tongue, resentment, and other things that weigh us down rather than lighten our load.

Carol and Cathy gave us a good demonstration about well-dressed feet and a custom creation. They talked about what different things such as flat shoes, pumps, work boots, infinity scarfs and other things can represent to us as we get properly dressed for God's kingdom.

Each year as we attend the retreat it is so wonderful getting in touch with our other sisters in Christ that we only get to see once a year. The fun we have playing games, making crafts together, singing, hiking to Frog Lake and fellowshipping is priceless. 

Speaking of "frog." I just learned something from my friend in Chicago who told me what her grandmother taught her. Frog stands for Fully Rely On God. F.R.O.G. That is what we need to strive to be as Christian women, women who are fully relying on God and that is what the goal of our annual Christian Women Fellowship of Central Oregon retreat is  all about becoming FROG Christians.

Rhonda, Nyla and Aubrey

Nyla and her service dog Grace

The lodge

Smile ladies :)

Brooke and Aubrey trying out the paddle boat

Bev looking into what's in our purses

 

Speaker Carol Sheldon demonstrating various shoes

Speaker Cathy Koch

Karen and her granddaughter's Brooke and Aubrey

View of Round Lake

View of the swing and picnic table area

A look down from the lodge balcony

Coordinator Joan Anderson. Rosie in the chair

Bonnie looking like she is getting all tangled up

 

Craft time of crocheting purses out of grocery bags. Another craft was scented bath crystals, foot massage powder and others. Also there was a table for those who wanted to try and make jewelry.

Thanks to our cook Kristie and her parents Dick and Claire we were well fed

 

Closer look at the homemade swing set with the basketball court in the background

Thank you Lord for Your presence with us at retreat. For the wonderful weather and the chance to fellowship with one another while we learned more of what we can do to enhance our walk with You.

In love W.I.T.H. Jesus,

Karen J. Gillett

Women's Retreat

This year's retreat is soon here. Sorry for the late notice. It is September 12th and 13th at Round Lake Wilderness camp.

In spite of my cancer I get to go this year. I am so blessed. It's been something I have looked forward to attending each year for over thirty years now.

I was blessed to go when I was disabled with my epilepsy and now I am still attending even though my disability is now my cancer. It's just a good time up in the mountains surrounded by God's artwork and fellow sisters in Christ. We fellowship, learn new things, get in touch with God and have fun.

If you can't make it this year come next year at this same time. Get out of the rat race of life and relax surrounded by the presence of God.

Karen Gillett

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In Christ I Am Series~~~~Healed

In 1 Peter 2:24 it talks about because of Christ's wounds we are healed. Being a person with cancer I look down at myself and think, "I don't feel healed! If the Bible says I am then why aren't I healed of this horrible disease?"

The answer is in the remaining part of the verse we tend to skip to read the words "you are healed." The part that says Christ died for us that we may live for righteousness. Our healing is from the disease of sin and the damages it can create.

What we fail to realize is that not everyone gets cancer, praise the Lord but all of us suffer from the disease of sin. It's only by the wounds of Christ that healing is granted. No doctor can prescribe it. No magic wand waving in the air can make it go away. We need Christ.

If we were to be cured today of our cancer or other diseases the joy of such healing would last only until our death from other causes. However, when we are healed spiritually it is a cure that is good for all eternity. In reality which is better. Myself, I would take the one that would last for all eternity.

I can put up with a few years of cancer but I can't live without Christ in my life. Truly it's up to us to go for the cure the correct healing. The healing that matters.

Karen

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In Christ I Am Series~~~~I Am the Light of the World

In the Bible if its written in there then it is so. If the Bible says we are the light of the world then that's what we need to be. Too often in the face of conflict when things go dark we do too.

We need to be that one little light at the end of the tunnel that people see and go towards. The lighthouse on the shore of life the gives people guidance and a place to aim for as well as hope.

We don't generate our own light, use our own energy we are a reflection of Jesus. That's the beauty of it in conflict when things do start to get dark all we have to do is step into the light of Jesus to get or keep our own light.

A light for others to see to find their way to Jesus. Solar Christians empowered by the light of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Each of us doing our part in lighting the path of life that can get pretty dark at times. A light that forever shines, continually glows, and only gets stronger thanks to its power source Jesus Christ.

Don't be afraid to stand out, and don't hide what needs to be seen. Shine for Jesus and be that glimpse of hope in a distance that guides people in towards Jesus. Shine people shine.

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In Christ I Am Series~~~Salt of the Earth

One by one in the next few weeks we will be going thru a list of the things we are in Christ. We start with, in Christ I am the salt of the earth Matthew 5:13. We will be looking at it thru the eyes of dealing with conflict and trying to live in an ungodly world.

First of all when examining salt it has several different purposes or tasks its good for. It adds flavor, it preserves things, and it cleanses things. As Christians we are the salt of the world. We are here to add flavor to the world around us and preserve and cleanse that world.

The flavor we need to be adding is that of one that compliments Jesus, is well balanced, and doesn't leave a bad taste in ones mouth. Too often when caught in conflicts and worldly surroundings its too easy to be like those around us. We lose our cool, we give in to our emotions and before we know it we have lost our saltiness. Our purpose is to leave a taste of Christ behind to preserve and clean the situations we are in.

If you think about it. We are the salt between two dead fish which are people of the world living outside of Christ. It is our job to be the thing that is there to preserve them and save them from rotting spiritually by witnessing Jesus to them. To cleanse instead of get dirty with them by allowing ourselves to get caught up in today's filth.

Whatever we do we can't lose our effectiveness. We have been given a purpose, a task to fulfill in Christ and we must do it. We are the salt, lets do our duty.

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Stress fighter tip

Read my latest tip on how to fight against stress. Believe it or not it begins and ends with the choice of having our attitude in the right place. 

Read it here:

http://anniejenningspr.com/jenningswire/lifestyle/a-wiser-place-to-be/

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Catchy Saying #5 Winners Never Quit

"Winners never quit and quitters never win."

This is one catchy saying that picked me up and carried me thru many situations bogged down with potential stress. Too often when my seizures were at their worse I wanted so badly to quit and let them win.

This saying I found reminded me that quitters never win. If I was to have any chance of a deceit life I was going to have to keep on trying. It didn't necessarily mean I would win over my seizures in the long run but it gave me a fighting chance.

Eventually because I wouldn't allow myself to quit and give up I did have victory over my seizures. It took me five years of hard labor fighting an often weak spirit but it paid off. It paid off when the doctor five years later told me my stress seizures were gone.

It was a victory won thanks to God who supplied my spirit thru His word with enough strength to keep me going. To keep me fighting on and to show me "no I wasn't the quitter I thought I was." I was much more in Him and thru Him to overcome anything. Even stress seizures.

Karen

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Fighting Stress with Scripture~~~Ps 121:1,2,7. Our True Source

I will lift up my eyes to the hills--from whence my comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; he shall preserve your soul.  Ps 121:1,2

Even as a young child this scripture has walked me thru many difficult times. Living in an area surrounded by mountains just a half an hour away I always felt like I could find God in this artwork of his. As we would go for long drives thru the mountainous back roads the closer we got the more I felt in God's presence. 

Blessed or not by living so near the mountains we don't need them to be able to do as this scripture says. We can lift our eyes to anything that reminds us of God to remember where our help comes from. 

Our help comes the Lord the one who made the heaven and earth. Isn't that the most awesome news in the world. What the mountains are made of is not where we get our help. It's who made the mountain that is our true source to be praised and utilized. Now that is so totally wonderful and breathtaking . 

The creator himself of the earth cares that much for us. If he cares that much then we should too. We should care enough to stop and turn to our true source of help, God himself. To take the time to acknowledge where our true source of help comes from. 

As much as we try we won't find it in alcohol, drugs, sex, money, food, or any place else. It is found in God and God alone. To God be the glory. To God be the praise. 

I love you Jesus. Thanks for loving me enough to help. 

Karen

Copyright 2014 Pencil Marks and recipe publishing 

Catchy Saying #4 A Good team

A Good Team~~~

"Only me just doesn't work but God and I as a team does."

Too often in our lives we all need to have this saying around to remind us we need God on our team. Trying to go at life in a solo fashion in the long run doesn't work. It needs to be, God and us, in that very order. 

Trying to stand up against the headwinds of stress was something I couldn't do on my own. Obviously I tried and all I got were more seizures. God and I were a team and it was up to me to act like one. To stop taking matters into my own hands and do my part to trust God. To stand up against the things in life that were doing me more harm than good. 

Only me got me just that, only me, which backed me up into many lonely corners. Dark corners full of frustrations and stress seizures. It wasn't until I learned the hard way that I needed to play by the rules that there was more than just me to think about. 

When I realized I needed to live and act like a good team member progress began to be made. It was no longer all about me but what I could do to contribute to the team not drain from it without ever returning anything. 

God and I we make a good team and so can you and Him as well. We don't have to be the last person chosen because we are no good at what we do. We can and have been the first one chosen in God 's eyes. Done so out of love, done so out of His grace and mercy. 

Good players on a good team. 

Karen
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Stress fighting scriptures. Psalm 25:5,15

Forever Forward

Psalm 25:5,15 show me Your ways O Lord; teach me Your paths. My eyes are ever toward the Lord for He shall pluck my feet out of the net. 

This scripture to me was very helpful when it came to fighting my stress seizures. The fact that my ways were leading me to stress seizures made it obvious I needed something to get me on a better track. It was my ways that was giving me seizures and God's way that would lead down a better path. 

Step two in the process would be to allow myself to be teachable. To not only permit God to show me His ways but I needed to be willing to learn and practice them as well. In order to do that my eyes had to be forever forward toward God. 

When my concentration was toward the stressful things in life I would have a seizure. When it was forever forward toward God the stress seizures ceased to exist. I was trusting God more and leaning on Him instead dwelling on the negative and getting myself stuck in the net that so easily entangles us. The net of stress. 

Forever forward towards God beats going backwards and deeper into a pit any day. 

Karen 

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Catchy Saying #3 Come Accepting Not Demanding

"Come Accepting Not Demanding"

For the longest time when I was fighting my seizures it seemed like all I did was come to God demanding healing, demanding answers, demanding relief from all my stress. For some reason I thought I could come to Him in a demanding sort of way and get my way like some little kid. After all if I came accepting of my circumstances then that meant I was okay with everything therefore God was going to freeze me in the position I was so content with.

Boy did I have it wrong! It was this simple little “catchy saying” that showed me the error of my thinking. I had God all wrong. He doesn’t tell us to be content so He can freeze frame our life so He doesn’t have to deal with us anymore by convincing us to be content where we are. That’s ridiculous. Being accepting and content with our circumstances is a way to endure what we are going through until such a time in which it may change. It’s our strength in a weak situation, our rock to stand upon when the sand of time is giving away under us.

None of us are in the position where we can go to God demanding anything. We can ask for answers, ask for guidance, ask for our needs but to demand them is a totally different thing. It’s a matter of a good attitude verses a bad attitude. To demand anything from God is like behaving as some spoiled child who always expects to get their way.

To accept what God has for us is to be humble and thankful for at least the things we do have. The less we fight our circumstances and allow for acceptance the more likely they may change for us.

I could still be fighting my stress seizures to this day 24 years later by not accepting the fact I had them and I’d still be disabled. Same goes with the elderly man with dementia. He can both accept the fact he has dementia and try to deal with it on a regular basis or fight it and refuse to accept the fact and be miserable for the rest of his life.

God’s not in the business of freeze framing. What He wants is for us to have the right attitude towards life and the circumstances we face and piece by peace our stress becomes less of a battle. Therefore freeing us up to fight the real battles in life and win. Exchange demanding for acceptance today, you’ll love the results. You’ll be surprised at the peace.

© 2014 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing for COCWF

Thy Hands Thy Fingers

Father God , grant me to feel Thee in trials, situations, good times and bad as well as in every providence. And to see that Thy many gifts, acts of mercy and grace are but Thy hands and fingers taking hold of me. Revised from a Puritans prayer.

As I sit by my mothers side as she lays restfully in her hospital bed I couldn't help but think of this Puritans prayer I once read. A prayer spoken from the heart of someone in the 16th or 17th century for my heart centuries later.

Apparently both of us share the same quest to feel Gods presence in our trials and all we experience. Seeking that which we already know that Gods hands and fingers are in our every situation.

Oh that our focus will forever remain the same that we will see Gods many gifts, acts of grace and mercy are His hands and fingers taking hold of us.

What an awesome thought to visual it is God's hands and fingers that stroke moms forehead telling her everything will be ok. Who comforts my heart to know He is there. Who fills the room with a sense of peace and reassurance.

"Father God, what a praise it is to know dear Lord that Thy hands and fingers have never been too small but are large enough to care for us all. Unlike the disobedient child who has been grabbed by the arm by their parent and sent to their room You oh Holy One handle us with a gentleness we often don't deserve.

May we always remember in our hearts that You are taking a hold of us, not letting us go to fall on our own. Your presence is real, Your love is Devine and Your mercy is magnificent.

May we always take hold of You as You have taken hold if us. With Thy gentle hands and fingers keep a firm grip on my parents as I know You are not finished with them yet nor myself."

I Love You, Lord. Thanks for loving me.



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Fighting Stress with Scriptures~~~Flawless Ways, Perfect Choices

2 Samuel 22:33 God is my strength and power, makes my way perfect

This scripture from 2 Samuel was extremely helpful to me when I had epilepsy and was fighting my stress seizures. It reminded me that God was my strength and power. I didn’t need my own to see me through. I had God. I was like a battery operated toy that when the batteries ran low I was no longer able to function. Thanks to God I didn’t need to get to that point as I so often did.

The way God was making my way perfect was the fact that He was there for me. I was still having seizures, I was still disabled. What was so perfect about that? Nothing! Except the fact that through my epilepsy I was learning to lean on God for my day to day ability to function as I made Him my perfect choice.

Sounds wimpy, doesn’t it? That’s our problem today we have it in our heads that if we have to rely on God to be our crutch, backbone, strength, or power then we must be some kind of wimpy weak weirdo. From the beginning of time starting with Adam and Eve in the garden we think we can do it on our own. There is pride in showing the world that we can make it on our own. We don’t need God. I’m not some kind of windup battery operated toy that needs power from a different source!

Can you hear it? More important is the fact you can see it. You can see what that kind of attitude does for us in the behavior of our society today. We have moved away from our true source of strength and power and it hasn’t proven a thing. When I did it I had more stress seizures, when others do it their “stress seizures” are the anger they display, the bad choices they are making, and their destructive attitude they carry with them that hurts rather than heals.

Perfect ways? What’s that! In reality there is no perfect way. Our idea of a perfect way is one that is pain free, loaded with free money to spend, everything we ever asked for or wanted without doing anything to get it. Indeed a life free of stress, worries and other people sticking their nose in our business. Nice try but have you ever seen such a thing? No.

The perfect way God has to offer is one paved with not only His power and strength leading to eternal life with Him but His love, mercy and grace as well. Yes there will be pain and suffering along the way, stressful times and hard lessons to be learned but that’s okay when you’re traveling with Jesus. The flawless way, the perfect choice.

© 2013 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Catchy Saying #2 in the fight against stress

Catchy Saying #2 Self makes a good servant but a horrible master

As much as we would like to believe the lie that we make wonderful masters of ourselves it just isn’t true. We act like a young teenage who just graduated from High School. We think the world is ours. We are our own masters now and suddenly reality hits. We learn there are just as many open and closed doors out in the real world as there were at home and we aren’t the ones who are ultimately in control. There are still bosses to answer to, landlords to please, laws to be obedient to, and God to obey.

It doesn’t matter how good we have it down at being our own boss there is still other outside elements affecting us. Being a good servant or steward of our-selves is a task we all need to master with the awareness that God is our ultimate master. He is the one with the final say, the one in vital control. When I was fighting stress seizures this catchy saying helped to remind me that I wasn’t in ultimate control. I made a lousy master and because of poor choices I wasn’t doing well in being a good steward of myself either and I had the stress seizures to prove it. I needed to remember it’s God who is in ultimate control and it was His lead I was to follow not the other way around.

The task of being a good steward of our selves still falls on our shoulders to do and do well. However, if you think about it we were designed to be good servants to others. Where would we be if we had all masters running around and no servants? Who would donate money to charity, feed the poor, help the crippled get out of their chair, and come to the rescue of someone’s dog or cat and so much more. There is no shame in being a servant or having a servant’s heart. With God as our master, the one in control He doesn’t look down upon us as His servants.

To Him we are not people who are in a low life position to give Him what He wants at the snap of His fingers. He is a loving Master who cares about those who are willing to be a part of His family. A family we enter by choice not by force. As a young child is comforted knowing mom and dad are there to watch over them it’s comforting to know God is in the same position. He is the one in charge and knowing that reduced a lot of the affects stress was having on me. Praise the Lord.

Fight Stress with Scriptures Closing the Cracks

Due 6:5  Love God with ALL your heart, soul, mind, strength

 

How in the world does loving the Lord your God with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength help us to fight stress? It helps because it gets our mind where it needs to be. Any time we hold back a piece for ourselves that leaves a crack for things to come along that we don’t want or need brought in by stress.

 

The important thing to know is that “stress” happens. We can’t do a thing in life where we will never be struck by stress again. The issue is what we do it. How long we linger in it and allow it to run our lives. Do we add to it or take away from its desire to sting us.

 

When I stopped having stress seizures it wasn’t because I was at last living in a stress-free environment and it never came around again. Yeah right! And if you believe that I have oceanfront property in Arizona I want to sell you. Just teasing but that is how crazy of a thought that is to think we can live in a stress-free environment. Some get pretty close and others couldn’t be surrounded more by it. The issue is dealing with it and not allowing it to affect our lives.

 

A good start to that is remembering the fact that we need to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Don’t leave room for stress to have its affects on us. Yeah, I know you “have the right to get mad at someone for doing something to you” but is it really worth it holding back that chunk of your heart, soul, mind and strength to be mad at someone.

 

When I found out about my stress seizures the first thing that had to go was my anger towards the girl who initially caused my head injury that would lead up to my seizures. I chose to hold back that part of me and it showed in the amount of stress seizures I was having. If I truly loved God with all that was in me then it was time to show it by not worrying or getting upset over things, or being pre-occupied with things that were eventually going to lead to a stress seizure.

 

As I told a couple the other day, during the time of battling with my stress seizures I couldn’t even worry about what I was going to fix for dinner. If I did, I wound up having a stress seizure. It’s one thing to “think about” what you are going to fix for dinner and another to “worry” about it to the excess of having a stress seizure.

 

Looking to the “all” in loving God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength was a good focus point to measure the distance between what I was doing and where I needed to be and the stress seizure I just had in between the two points. Sometimes it was clear I loved God with my all and had a seizure anyway but there were times that evidence proved otherwise. It was then up to me to figure out what I wanted to do with the data I just collected from the last seizure. It was because I chose to learn from each seizure that future stress seizure eventually would be eliminated and victory was just around the corner.

 

Stress seizures or not it is a command from God for us to follow. An act not set up for God himself to profit from. However, it’s for the benefit of us for the by-product that comes from it.  It’s how God loves us and it does us well to do the same back to Him as we close the cracks to the things that don’t need to be.