An unexpected alternate

Good day to one and all...I'm afraid that although I had plans for a wonderful one year anniversary "Weekly Thoughts" I have gone and sprained my wrist which has made it very difficult to even type this little bit.  For next week I will write it ahead of time and ask my husband to type if I am still unable.  In the meantime, I hope the prayer below will touch your hearts in the same way it did mine, even if (as was the case for me) it is not the first time you've read it.  It was received as an email and I do not know its origins.

Love through Christ,

Niki

 

this is a nice way to start or end the day...

 

PRAY THIS EVEN IF YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE IT!! IT WILL ONLY TAKE A MINUTE. I started not to do this, but as I read it.... I understood God to say, "You need a miracle tomorrow.... so here goes.. Prove. 29:25...

You never know when God is going to bless you!! Good things happen when you least expect them to !!!!!!!!
Change the number in the subject box when you forward it by adding one!!!

Dear Lord, I thank You for this day I thank You for my being able to see and to hear this morning. I'm blessed because You are a forgiving God and an understanding God. You have done so much for me and You keep on blessing me. Forgive me this day for everything I have done, said or thought that was not pleasing to you.

I ask now for Your forgiveness. Please keep me safe from all danger and harm. Help me to start this day with a new attitude and plenty of gratitude Let me make the best of each and every day to clear my mind so that I can hear from You. Please broaden my mind that I can accept all things. Let me not whine and whimper over things I have no control over. And It's the best response when I'm pushed beyond my limits.

I know that when I can't pray, You listen to my heart. Continue to use me to do Your will. Continue to bless me that I may be a blessing to others. Keep me strong that I may help the weak... Keep me uplifted that I may have words of encouragement for others. I pray for those that are lost and can't find their way. I pray for those that are misjudged and misunderstood. I pray for those who don't know You intimately. I pray for those that will delete this without sharing it with others I pray for those that don't believe.

But I thank you that I believe that God changes people and God changes things. I pray for all my sisters and brothers. For each and every family member in their households. I pray for peace , love and joy in their homes that they are out of debt and all their needs are met. I pray that every eye that reads this knows there is no problem, circumstance, or situation greater than God Every battle is in Your hands for You to fight.
I pray that these words be received into the hearts of every eye that sees it.
If you prayed this prayer, change the number in the subject box before forwarding the message so people can See how many people have done so. God Bless!!!!!!!!!!! Just repeat this phrase and see how God moves!!

God, I love you and I need you, come into m y heart, please. Pass this message to 10 people except you and me. You will receive a miracle tomorrow.
Know that you are already blessed by the person who sent this to you...

God, Keep your arm around my shoulder, and your hand over my mouth 

 

 

Have a great day

Praise God, Really

Psalm 8:1 "O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  You have set your glory above the heavens."

 

So many times we use our Bibles to find comfort to heal our wounded pride, solace to shield our broken hearts and forgiveness for our sins.  Yes, these blessings are all given and displayed to us in His holy Word...He does want us to find and use them, but we must not forget to also seek out the verses which are solely to praise His name.  He has given us comfort, solace, forgiveness and all without our deserving it therefore we should fall on our knees and daily lift up our voices to shout Hosanna, Glory to the King of Kings!  I have been recently waking up to the fact that I have not been praising Him nearly enough for all of the blessings in my life.  He has done so much for me, for my family, for all of us...I have an air freshener in my car, it hangs from my passenger side sun shade {so it can be tucked up in there while driving to not cause a distraction} and it no longer smells like anything but I LOVE the saying so much I can't let go of it, "Dying was the most He could do for me...Living for Him is the least I can do."  Powerful and true words, don't you think?  Praising Him, true praise that glorifies Him and does nothing for ourselves, is that not also part of living for Him?  There are so many more reminder phrases, catchy ones that jump to mind and they are all true and we know it but how much time do we truly devote each day to praising and glorifying our heavenly Father's holy name?  Personally, not nearly enough...but I am working on that and this week I pray you will take time to praise Him daily.  Please also continue prayers for Summer and her family...we join them in their praises which they never stopped giving to God even when things were touch and go in the beginning, we also ask our wonderful Lord and Savior to continue His healing of Summer to a full recovery if it be His will.  Please pray for all those in need of His healing, physically, emotionally or spiritually.  I ask that we additionally continue our daily prayers for our military service men and women and their families.  Thank you each for your continued interest in reading my weekly thoughts, you inspire me to want a closer relationship with God and to want to share my faith with as many people as possible.  Prayers and wishes for you each to have a blessed weekend and week ahead.

Love through Christ,

Niki 

My Maui Travel Journey

Aloha again to one and all!  Mahalo for your patience with me through everything the past few weeks.  I have to say I am still feeling a bit of the Aloha spirit and I hope it always stays with me.  Being so late in the week already and a regularly scheduled weekly thoughts coming in a few short days I hope you do mot mind but I have decided that in lieu of a normal message this week I am going to send you this link to my Travel Journal, walking you through my experiences in Maui earlier this month.  I pray that each of you are doing wonderfully well and look forward to any and all feedback.

Aloha and love through Christ,

Niki

 

Care2 Connect - Niki's Thoughts: Maui Travel Jounal

(July 8) De-cluttering Our Faith

It is with warm Aloha that I bid you all hello as a bittersweet goodbye we say to Hawaii.  I {again} apologize for not forewarning you that I would be unable to email on time for a couple weeks.  (Let me say now that the next message may also be delayed as we will be packing up tomorrow for our move to NC and will have no Internet access until next Tuesday.)  I think that at times we try and take on too many things by ourselves and our minds get cluttered.  In order to de-clutter our minds and our lives we need to reexamine our focus.  Is our focus keyed in to our Holy Father?  Do we daily visit with HIM in prayer and Biblical meditations?  Have we allowed not only our lives but maybe also our faith to become cluttered?  I know that when I start feeling the clutter build up in my life then I find I have not been keeping my focus on God entirely as I should.  Conversely, I have also noticed that when everything in my life is falling into place and going smoothly then I can see that I have been keeping my focus on God...my prayers are asking HIS will be done in my life.  And I have my mind more in line with a desire to first and foremost serve HIM in all that I do.  More often than I would like to admit I find myself in the first category but I am praying and trying my best to keep my life and my faith de-cluttered of distractions and in focus on God.  My prayers for you this week are that you are able to quickly refocus on HIM when the clutter sneaks in.  I am pleased to report that while our prayers are needed for a continued recovery journey Summer has made amazing progress and we should join her family in praising God with all the glory, honor and praise we have in us!  Please also remember that our troops need our daily prayers for protection and for their families.  Mahalo {Hawaiian for Thank you} for your weekly support via continuing to accept and read my thoughts emails.  For those who are interested in reading vacation memories I will be working on posting a special journal entry or two on my site along with some pictures on the Care2 site but it may take a few weeks to get it all organized.  Have a blessed week and weekend ahead!  Aloha!

Love through Christ,

Niki

(June 30) Surviving Trying Times

Aloha! I want to begin this week by apologizing for not preparing better for my absence.  Some of you may already know this but many of my family were in Hawaii to celebrate my Grandma's 75th Birthday for a little over a week.  I thought I would be able to access a computer and update my thoughts from Maui but I had to settle for writing them in a notebook and sending them now.  Thank you for your understanding and your continued interest in reading my weekly messages!!! Aloha!  Greetings from {on my way to} Maui!  I am writing this in my notebook from 30,000+ feet in the air somewhere between Chicago and Hawaii.  As I reflect on my recent airline travels, both now and back in April, I am thoroughly convinced that Bibles should be handed out with the boarding passes.  I wish I had made room for mine in my carry on bag but alas it is stowed away below the plan in our checked baggage so I have relied on what I can recall by memory for my survival.  Shouldn't we think of our Bibles as our survival manuals in times such as these?  Times when it is a mental and emotional battle within us to make the choice to focus on the silver lining.  I find it much easier to choose the positive outlook when I quote verses from my beloved Bible and also consult our Master through prayer.  It is what has gotten me to a smiling point in many different situations.  Today I am telling myself to remember 1 Samuel, "Thus far the LORD has helped me," and I know HE will continue to do so as long as I keep HIM at the center of my life.  I pray that in any and all of your trying times that you are able to FROG - Fully Rely On God!!  I ask we continue to remember those in need of healing, especially our sister in Christ Summer, in our daily prayers.  Please join me in also continually remember to pray for our troops and their families.  Warm wishes for a blessed week!! Love throughChrist, Niki