Tulips~N~Lace

Have you read the story of Moses, where he told Joshua to go out to battle and he would stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in his hand?   When moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, but when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.  As Moses's hands got tired, Aaron and Hur got a stone for Moses to sit on and held up his hands until the end of the battle.   (Exodus 17:8-13) When I was thinking about this passage, it kept coming to me that we need to be more like Aaron and Hur and when we know someone is struggling, we can be the ones to step in and hold their hands up for them. Just like Aaron and Hur did with Moses.   Do you know someone today that is struggling that could use some help?  Maybe that help is just praying for them.  There may not be anything that you can do in a particular situation, but we can always hold them up in prayer.   It could be sending them a cheerful message or going out for coffee with th...

Exodus 14:14  says "The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace." When you are in the middle of a trial, it feels like it is never-ending.  Will we be able to conquer?  Will the battle plan actually work?  The devil just keeps attacking and the battle feels like it just won't stop.  Even when we know the battle plan is solid and we know what to do, it is hard.  At times, God tells us to hold our peace and He will fight the battle for us.  Do you know how hard it is to just surrender control to God?   God has been dealing with my heart lately that we need to start proclaiming the victory over all situations.  Over the sickness that we are fighting, over the stressful situations that you may be facing, just proclaim victory over your life.  We need to proclaim God's victory.  He wrote the battle plan.  He knows what your future holds.  God even understands the stress from the middle of the battlefield. Vic...

Today while watching Superbook with my children the theme of the episode was to trust in God.  "Trust in God and He will show the way."  Do we really understand what it means to trust God?  Can we truly comprehend this statement?   It's easy when things are going our way.  It can be easy when things aren't going our way, but life is still going well.  However, do you still trust God when life is hard?  When everything seems to be going wrong in life?  Do you trust God through the hard stuff?   There is an old time song that says "The God on the mountain is still God in the valley.  When things go wrong, you know that He will make them right.  The God of the good times is still God in the bad times and the God of the day, is still God in the night."   Think about the words to that song.  No matter what, God is still God.  He still has control over the outcome.  Recently, my mom and I were talking an...

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...

Do you ever feel like life is just falling apart around you?  Some days are just plain tough.  Have you ever been told, you only have a short time left to live?   It really makes you stop and evaluate your life.   Now, before you get too concerned, I have not been given a time frame, however my father was given 1 year, possibly 2 to live.   He was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia and Parkinson disease in January of this year (2024) and it has been such a challenge for him and my mom. Recently, I was speaking to my mom and she was saying how it is so easy to have faith for other people.  If you ask me to pray for a miracle for you, no problem.  I know God can handle it, but when it is something that you are going through personally it is so much more difficult to hold on to that faith that God can do anything.  I KNOW God can perform miracles.  I have seen miracles in my lifetime, but it is still tough in our human minds someti...

Break down the Walls of Jericho:  My 5 year old son likes to watch Bible Stories on YouTube and the other day we were watching about the Israelites marching around Jericho.  God told them to march around the city once a day for 6 days and they had to be very quiet each time.  On day 4 or 5 they started to grumble that they needed a leader that would lead them in to war to take the city, but Joshua reminded them that God said they needed to just march and on the 7th day they were to march around the city 7 times.   How many times does God tell us to do something and we grumble and complain because we don't think we are getting answers fast enough?   There is a cute song that plays on the video that says: Break down the walls of Jericho, break down the walls, lift your voice and shout until the wall comes down.     On the 7th time around the city, Joshua tells the people to shout, praise, and sing for the victory is theirs.  Claim the...

1 Peter 1: 7-9 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see  him  not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 Receiving the end of your faith,  even  the salvation of  your  souls. What is your impossible situation?  What is your I need a miracle situation?  I heard these lines in a song recently and it got me to thinking about how sometimes situations in our lives seem so impossible and out of control.  We just don't know what to do about it or what to think about that situation. I read the above scripture in 1 Peter last week and it got me to thinking about how gold is refined by going through fire, diamonds are mined from deep within the earth.  We wouldn't have the beautiful jewelry and precious me...

Do you ever feel like you have been put on a shelf and no one ever truly sees you anymore?  Do you feel like your life has been shattered and you aren't sure how to put the pieces back together or even if you want to try and put them back together again?  Life can be messy and stressful and difficult, but it can also be beautiful amidst all of the struggles. One of my hobbies is making broken glass jewelry.  Do you know the process is very interesting to make this jewelry.  First, you have to find some cool china or maybe it's not that cool yet, but you see the potential of what it could be.  Have you ever thought that might be what God is looking at when he looks at you?  Do you know that God sees so much potential in you that you can't even see at this particular point in time in your life.  When we are broken or facing difficulties in life it is hard to feel like we have any value in us, but God sees so much potential when He looks at you. In making...

With Easter coming up soon I have been thinking about the Cross of Jesus.  Most people know what the cross stands for, no matter what religion or non-religion that people have, but I have been thinking about the fact that we can lay our burdens down at the foot of the cross.  Now, I have heard that phrase throughout my life, but lately I have really been pondering it.  Do we ever truly lay our burdens down at the feet of Jesus and leave them there? My family has had a lot of health issues lately and sometimes it can be a struggle to have the faith to get through situations that you have no control over.  My mom and I recently were talking about how we are the type of people who always want to control a situation or at least to be able to problem solve when something goes wrong.  It is so difficult to sit back and know that there are no solutions to some problems.  However, I know that with the faith of a mustard seed, God can still change the outcome. ...

Have you seen miracles in your lifetime?  I have and without a doubt I’ve known it was only God’s grace and Him performing that miracle that the situation changed.  I have been raised in the church and have seen many different miracles throughout my lifetime, but one of the more recent ones was when my youngest son was born.  He was born at 30 weeks but had quit growing at 28 weeks gestation.  He was only 2 pounds and 5 ounces when he was born.  Now, I know that science and the medical field did everything they could, but I also know that it is a true miracle that he is alive today because there is only so much that humans can do on their own.  It is a miracle that I survived that pregnancy also.  I remember being at Heaven’s gates the night before my son was born.  I was on bed rest in the hospital for 12 days before my son was born.  That is one of the hardest things to go through when you have another child at home that you can’t be there ...

Do you look forward to back-to-school time or do you dread it?  Back to new schedules, early mornings, lots of homework.  Or are you excited to have free time now that your kids are back on a routine and schedules. For homeschooling families, a lot of us have back to school routines, but they may not look the same as anyone else.  For my family, we don't have a set time in the mornings for starting our school lessons because I like to enjoy my coffee and my boys like to wake up and have a little time before we start learning. This year as long as the weather is nice, I think we will continue to start our day with a bike ride like we have been trying to do through the summer months. Although schedules are important, sometimes it's nice to just take time to go to the library for an hour or to the park for a bit before starting your school day. I love the flexibility that we have with homeschooling.  When we have appointments that we need to be at, we can just take our ...

Do you ever get overwhelmed?  Some days, the kids ar e going crazy, the house is a mess and husband will be home from work in just a few minutes wanting to relax after a hard day.  Some days, I look around my house and think "This place is a disaster.  I should have cleaned the living room and kitchen by now and have dinner at least started."  You know what?  It's okay.  we need to give ourselves grace sometimes.  It is okay to have a rough day.  It is okay to spend an hour playing with the kids instead of making sure the house is clean.   Yesterday, my house was a mess.  I sat down with my 4 year old, who just wanted to be held and looked around and thought I haven't gotten anything done today.  However, it was important to my child that I just sit with him.  He didn't necessarily need anything from me other than my attention and to know that Mom was right there with him as he played a game. I'm a stay at home/work at hom...

By Your Stripes We Are Healed   March 25, 2023     Isaiah 53 :5 , “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes, we are healed.” (NKJV)    Do we really believe when we pray “By your stripes we are healed, and we are standing on that promise”? Do we take the time to really understand that God will or can heal all diseases? When we pray and ask God for a healing, are you only believing that God will heal you or the person you are praying for from something simple like the flu? Or do we actually pray believing that God can heal any disease, whether that be cancer, heart problems, mental health, anxiety, dementia, autoimmune disorders or any other thing out there?   I have seen miracles that God has performed throughout my lifetime and I know, I KNOW that God can perform healings, y et at times it seems impossible when we look at a situation.   Are you...