It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!

Good Morning!  I is a lovely day here in the ATL!  I awoke bright and early and nudged my husband to get his lazy bones up and go power walking with me!  He gave me a look as if to say, "it is too early", but he gave in to his "angel" and accompanied me to the park and we did our thing.  We got our workout in and it was a great day to begin our day together.  I was able to finish my 5 mile walk so I felt accomplished.  So, what's  on the agenda for today? Taking the cowardly route, I text messaged my good friend Melissa and told her that I would not be able to work for her at the store she manages. This in fact is the second time I quit on her:(  She knows my schedule is sooooo hectic with home schooling, Bible Study with the seniors, Book Club, cooking and all sorts of other things that jump into my schedule each month. Hesitantly, she took it like a trouper and yelled at me but understood.  After sending my dear old hubby off to get that much needed check-up, I sat myself down and had some quiet time with the Lord. You know what I discovered today? I'll tell you. I wanted to understand how people show their faith in God.  I learned by reading Hebrews chapter 11 that the first thing that needs to happen is that we need to believe that God exists. Whew! That's a big one in light of a society that wants to remove the truth of an eternal Creator from the hearts of humanity! I never got how you could look up into the sky, look at all of the amazingly beautiful animals and even look at the faces of men and women and think to yourself, there is no God! Hogwash! The heavens declare the glory of the Lord. Creation shouts His name in all of it's majesty!  I considered the life of Abel. Simply put, he gave his very best to God and God accepted his gifts.  How simple is that. We want to give our best to things and people with the hope of a return but Abel just gave because he honored God and God in return honored him..Awesome! How about Enoch? He was known as a person who pleased God. How are you known? What type of impression or reputation have you established here on earth? Think about that for a minute. I want to be a person known for pleasing God!  Noah! Just saying the name Noah brings a shutter to most god-fearing folks. I mean come on, he built an Ark for crying out loud. Who builds an Ark. That's like me deciding to build the Oasis of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) in my backyard. How nuts is that?  Noah was faithful because he believed that God would do something that had never been done before. Do you have the faith to believe God for the impossible? God help me.  And let us not forget father Abraham.  He is our father in the faith.  Abraham had a heart inclined towards God and said in word and deed, "lead me Lord and I'll follow wherever, whenever, and however! He placed his hand in the Lords and obediently followed even though he had no idea where that was! How often I get frustrated with my husband when we are travelling and I feel my husband has lost his way and is leading us in the wrong direction. FRUSTRATED! I get frazzled because I do not trust his guidance. Abraham closed his eyes and said, "take me Lord." That frightens me. I have to be honest. There are some places I don't want to go. Some people I don't care to be around. Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land the Lord  took him too and still submitted his way to God. That is amazing faith.  More than that, this is the same person who believed God would provide a substitutionary sacrifice for his own son. He faith was so immovable, he knew that if he had to strike down his son God would raise him back to life. That's like saying God told me to kill my only daughter and I'll do it because I believe He will raise her up to life again. I must admit my faith does not stretch that far or does it? I don't ever want to find out.  I won't leave out lovely Sarah who laughed at God when told she would have her child in her old age.    Just think about that for a moment. You are an old lady, barren all your life and someone comes along and says you will have a child. She laughed but I think I would have cussed! When faced with her doubt and fears she was asked, "is nothing to difficult for God?" She declared, NO! She decided to believe that God was a promise-keeper! She convinced her own soul that God would fulfil His promise to remove her barrenness and He most certainly did! Help up Lord to have faith to believe that you will do what you have promised!  Blessings to you..Verdegirl