Make it a Great Day!

Good Morning!
  Last night I was calling people about jobs for this summer, and as usual I got several voice mails.  But one in particular caught my interest.  At the end of his "leave a message" message, he ended it with "Make it a great day!" Normally you hear, "Have a great day!" If you are like me, when you hear someone say, "Have a great day," you just smile and say it back to them.  Does that really mean anything?  "Have a great day" sounds so passive, there is nothing you can do about it, you get it or you don't.  But "Make it a great day,"...that is active.  You have control over your day.  You make it good or bad.  Sure, things are going to happen to you, and you have no controll over some of them.  Psalm 118:24 says, "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."  There is a choice in that.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it! Paul says in Philippians 4:4  "Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, Rejoice!"  Even when bad things happen, we can rejoice in the fact that God is on our side. We have salvation in Him; among several other blessings.  "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31) "I can do all things through Christ who strngthens me." (Philippians 4:13) God has blessed us all.  Keep this in mind, and make it a great day!

Word of the Year

Ok, so this isn't my idea. I was listening to K-Love radio today and they were talking about this.  It similar to a new year reselution, but a lot more life encompassing.  Pick one word that you want to shape your life this year. The word I picked is "opportunity".  I have a tendancy sometimes to just let opportunities pass me by.  I want to sieze them! If I see an opportunity for evangelism, I want to take it. If I see a chance for a relatioship or new friendship, I do not want to let it pass by without me giving it a chance. I want to seize, not just the day, but the moment. I firmly believe God puts things in our lives for a reason.  But the problem is, He can put as much as he wants in our lives, but it does us no good if we don't meet Him part way, take some initiative, and take hold of the chance He has given us. Even if...no. Especially if that opportunity takes me outside my comfort zone. That is how we learn and grow.  It is an old economic principle that the high risk can result in high reward. It can also lead to high loss, and this is where many of us get scared...or at least I do.  Apply this principle to your life. If you step out on a limb, you may accomplish the greatest thing you have ever done, or you could fall, possibly make a fool of yourself, and hurt your pride. But when its all said and done, that is really all that is hurt. Our PRIDE! We will live to see another day. We still have God on our side.  If He is with us who can stand against us and who shall we fear? Right? If we humble ourselves, not beat ourselves up for maing a mistake then we grow from our past failures. And we shine brighter for them.
      That is the reason for my word.  "Opportunity."  But you pick a word that works for you! What are you trying to change in your life? Do you want to be CLOSER to God, family, and friends?   How about showing AMAZEMENT; both in how you see God and how others see God in you? Just some food for thought.

Getting Started

Well, it is official, I have joined the blogging universe.  I feel like God has taught me so much over the past few years, and I want to be able to share my growth with all of my friends. I have things happen to me on an almost daily basis where I see God is showing me something new about His glory.  I also tend to have encouraging thoughts run through my head from time to time.  This is where I want to put all of those things. And I hope that you can be encouraged and use these little messages to focus more on the Lord. Here is praying that this goes well.