Tulips~N~Lace

In my current Bible study, we are reading in Genesis.  At the beginning it is talking about how God comes down in the cool of the evening and talks with Adam and Eve.  Can you imagine that?  God literally comes and walks and talks with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.   Then in Genesis chapter 6 verse 8 states "Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord." and then in verse 9, it ends by saying "Noah walked with God."  Think about that for a minute.   In a world where everything is going crazy and God is questioning why he made the world because there is so much evil in it that He is going to send a flood and destroy the earth.  Can you imagine the world is as evil as it gets but the Bible states "And Noah walked with God."  That is such a profound statement.  Can you say that about your life?  No matter the chaos in the world or what is happening around you, people look at your life and all they can say is "And Valerie walked ...

Growing up, were you ever told, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all?"  I remember being taught this when I was pretty young.  Our words matter and if we can't say something nice, it's better not to say anything.  In today's world, especially with social media, it seems that a lot of people have forgotten this message or maybe were never taught it to begin with.  Another childhood saying was "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me."  Unfortunately, this saying is not true either.  Words can cause lasting damage that is very difficult to overcome. We need to be mindful when we are speaking that our words are used to encourage and uplift one another and not used to destroy each other.  There is a scripture verse that I have been meditating on this week and it is listed below.  It states that our conversation needs to be seasoned with salt, but also full of grace so that we know how to answer ...

My kids love to watch Superbook, it's a cartoon about Bible stories.  Today the episode was about Lazarus and about God's timing.  This past weekend I heard a song on the radio and I can't remember the song, but one of the lines talks about how faith can move mountains and God can still perform miracles today.  I have been thinking about those two lines this week, how God can move mountains and still perform miracles today.  Do we have the faith to stand and believe this statement?  Then watching Superbook with my kiddos this morning, it was all about God's timing and that sometimes God has a better plan for us than what we can think or ask for. Have you ever felt when you were praying that you just didn't know how or when your prayers would be answered?  Sometimes, it doesn't feel like your answers are coming or that your prayers are going anywhere.  Did you know that God still hears each and every one of those prayers?  It just might not be His ...

Have you ever noticed how many times in the Bible the disciples tell people to rise up? I was reading in the book of Acts and I was surprised by how many times people were told to rise up.  "You've been sick and in bed for 8 years, "Rise up and make your bed."  It was like it should be the most common thing.  In Jesus Name, rise up and be made whole.  "You haven't been able to walk since birth? Well, rise up and walk."  Reading through these portions of scripture lately, it really struck me how it just seemed like something so simple to them.  You have an issue?  Rise up, God will overcome it.  God will take care of the rest.  Sometimes, when we are faced with issues, we want to lay down and curl up and just bury our heads, but God says, "Rise up" and let me overcome this issue.   You need a healing?  Rise up!!!! You need a miracle?  Rise up, God will be there for you.  God will make the way for you.   We of...

Do you ever feel like life is just against you?  Sometimes life is just plain and simply hard.  Have you ever felt like you were wrestling with God over answers, over problems, over issues??  Sometimes, I think we wrestle things out in our heads, like going over what we could have done differently or done better or could do better.  But did you realize that in the Bible, Jacob physically wrestled with the Lord?  I've been pondering on this lately and when things are hard, it is difficult to see what our next steps are or should be.  Sometimes we wrestle out our feelings or our attitudes and sometimes it is hard to listen to what God wants for us.   24  So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.   25  When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man.   26  Then the man said, “Let me go, for ...

I was praying for healing for some people the other day and the thought kept coming to me, if God can raise Jarius' daughter from the dead and heal the leper from leprosy, there is nothing that He can't do.  I decided to look up the story of Jarius' daughter because it has been a while since I have read that.  There were a few things that really struck me when I was reading this passage this time.  This passage is found in Luke 8:40-56 and Mark 5:22-43 Now, I have been raised in the church and heard this story several times through my life and I am raising my kids to read the Bible now.  Sometimes, I feel like when I read the Bible, "How could you not have faith and not believe when you could see what was happening right in front of you?"  Did you realize that at this time in history, it had been 400 years since a prophet of God had been seen?   Now that is something amazing to me.  400 years since any miracles had been performed, yet these people...