TIME TO GO: READY OR NOT!

Did you know that men and women tell time differently?
Now, I don’t think this has been proven scientifically, but here is what it is like in our house! What is it like in yours?

Some nights I decide I’m ready for bed and will say to hubby, “I’m off to bed now.” and he will reply with, “Me too.” So I go around and check the doors (all 4 of them) to make sure they are locked; turn off the TV and the lights; put dishes in the dishwasher; don my jammies; do my routine in the bathroom; and head for the bed. He is already there and says, “What took you so long. You said you were coming to bed 15 minutes ago.” This has become a standing joke with us now so we have a little chuckle about it!

On the other hand – when it’s time for us to go out somewhere together I usually say, “I’m ready.” And, I am ready – nothing to do except go get in the car. He on the other hand has 2-3 things to do – such as lock the shop; close up the chickens; put Buster on his chain... I am learning that when I’m ready I will have to wait a few minutes for him.

Recently I read a story along these lines... it was about a guy who had just started dating a girl and he was flustered that her “I’ll be ready at 2:00” meant 15 minutes or so of him having to chit-chat with her parents...because she wasn’t ready at 2:00.

But you know what? When Jesus returns he isn’t going to wait for us to get ready! We need to be ready at that moment in time! He will return in the twinkling of an eye – that is so quick we can’t even imagine it! And Scripture tells us we will not know the day or the hour... there will be no pre-determined time! He will not chit-chat with someone while He waits for us to get ready!

So friends I ask you – “Are you Ready?”
“Have you asked Jesus to be Lord of your life?
Have you turned everything over to Him? Surrendered all to Him?
Have you allowed Him to change you; to lift you out of the pit you’re in; to “clean you up?”
Have you allowed Him to make you a new creation?
Have you accepted His forgiveness for your sin?
Have you humbled yourself before Him – knowing you need Him?
Have you allowed Him to fill that empty hole in your heart?”

Oh friends!
I pray that you can answer yes to all these questions!
I pray that He is All to you....
I pray that you can sing these words from Isaiah 12:2

“Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song;
He has become my salvation.”

Meditate on all of chapter 12 and tell Him of your thankfulness and praise!

Blessings on you, loved ones!
I am - Resting in HIM!
Ruthie

Fruit of the Spirit

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

How will you display the Fruit if the Spirit today?

You must "Walk in the Spirit"...

Ask the Lord to fill you afresh with His Holy Spirit; ask Him to lead you today in His Spirit;

then ask Him to exhibit the fruit of His Spirit in everything you say and do today!

Here are some ways to display the Fruit of the Spirit:

1) Love - Be loving in your actions - with family and others

2) Joy - Choose to be joyful no matter the circumstances you face - invite the Lord to

fill you with His joy.

3) Peace - Walk in peace - don't allow the enemy to fill you with stress and steal your peace.

4) Patience - Resolve to be patient and not give in to your temper.

5) Kindness - Exhibit kindness to your family and everyone you meet today.

6) Goodness - Do good by your family and friends; co-workers and strangers.

7) Faithfulness - Be faithful to your spouse today; be a person of integrity at home,

at work, at play.

8) Gentleness - Exhibit a gentleness of character - don't be harsh.

9) Self-control - Do not allow yourself to get out of control.

Dear Heavenly Father,

I pray for each reader today!

Give them Your Spirit anew this monring.

Fill them to overflowing with Your fruit.

Keep their hearts turned towards You.

May their day be one of joy, love, peace, patience, kindness,

goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-contorl.

Bless them today, Lord.

Amen.

Blessings!

Hugs and smiles!

Ruthie

CLAY BALLS!

I have had 2 wonderful days with FRIENDS!
I thank my God for every one of them!

Philippians 1:3
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you...

Father God,
Please help us to see people around us with YOUR eyes;
help us to not look at the outside – but to see what is inside....
the precious jewel that You have created that is in there somewhere!
Thank you, LORD!

This email was sent to me by a very dear person!
A precious one – who means the world to me!

(Thank you, Sandy)
I’m sending this off to all of you and praying for each one to know how precious YOU are.
May this writing bless you today!

A man was exploring caves by the Seashore.

In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls.

It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake.

They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man,

so he took the bag out of the cave with him.
As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.
He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock.
Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!

Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls.

Each contained a similar treasure.

He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.
Then it struck him.
He had been on the beach a long time.
He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands,
but he had just thrown it away!
It's like that with people.
We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel.

It doesn't look like much from the outside.
It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.
We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy.
But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.
There is a treasure in each and every one of us.
If we take the time to get to know that person,

and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them,

then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away
a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay.
May we see the people in our world as God sees them.

I am so blessed by the gems of friendship I have.
Thank you for looking beyond my clay vessel.

APPRECIATE EVERY SINGLE
THING YOU HAVE, ESPECIALLY YOUR FRIENDS!
LIFE IS TOO SHORT AND FRIENDS ARE TOO FEW!
Do not ask the Lord to Guide your Footsteps if you are not willing
to MOVE your Feet!

Have a wonderful, joyful day - filled with gems galore! Ruthie

An Accident

I had an accident early Wednesday evening. How my life changed in a moment of time! One minute everything was fine; I was driving down Main St.; and the next minute there is a motorcycle stopped in front of me, and BOOM, I hit it. He slammed into the car ahead of him.

Thank You, Jesus that no one was hurt.

Total shock! felt drained of all energy ... the adrenalin rush didn't kick in for me! I felt, and still feel, wasted! When I saw those 2 young people get off that bike, and smile, and say they were OK I could have fallen to my knees right there!!! My heart was saying thank you, thank you, thank you!

Minimal damage to the fellow in front; very little to the motorcycle; most of it to my bumper and hood! No big deal! It can all be fixed!
Praise God!

I knew there were vehicles in front of me - we weren't moving very fast - I guess I glanced away and when I looked up these two had stopped as someone in front of them had his signal light on to make a turn! I am so thankful we were going slow to begin with.

Oh My! Things could have been so much worse!
Thank You, Lord!
This just reinforces for me, once again, how important it is for us to "Be Ready"!

And I am reminded of
James 1: 2-4
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

So - I am trying to consider (I WILL consider) this trial as one more step in my faith-walk... another test that I have to go thru to develop more character than what I already have! I pray for His strength and His enabling as I walk this particular journey!

Blessings on you today, dear ones.
May this day be filled with joy and may you Know His Peace.
And remember - trials are character-builders!

Resting in HIM,
Ruthie
...grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To him be glory both now and forever!
Amen.
2 Peter 3:18

"You Made My Day!"

Has anyone said these words to you lately?
I had someone tell me this yesterday morning... and IT made MY day! Go figure!
Please know that I DO NOT tell you this to boast... I tell you this because I learned a lesson - one I needed to relearn! I hope you will learn something too!

I was in the produce section of a local grocery store - looking for some spinach. An older lady was there, with her grocery cart, looking at the bagged lettuce. She seemed indecisive so I said to her, "There are too many to choose from, aren't there?" She replied with, "Yes, but I'm looking for an expiry date on this and can't find it." I asked to have the bag and looked for the date - showed her where it was located, and passed it back to her. She said, "Oh thank you. I couldn't see it. I'm old you know. And look! Everything is up so high and I'm short, and no one wants to help anyone these days. What I really want is up there." And she pointed to the top shelf. She was too short to reach it on her own, so I got some down. We checked the dates together and she took the one with the longest expiry date because as she said, "There's just me you know. I'm all alone. It'll take me a while to eat all that." She then thanked me profusely for my help and she said, "You've been so kind. You've made my day!"

I stood there with tears in my eyes as she walked away!

I could have not spoken to her and done my own thing.
I could have felt "put upon" because I had "places to go and people to see".

So many thoughts ran thru my head:
I wondered what her "story" was...
What is it like to be "all alone" and be so thankful for a helping hand?
What is life like for a "shorty"? (I'm not tall - about 5' 5" - she probably was only about 5')
What is it like to get old?
Does she know the Lord?
Did I show Him to her today? She may not even know it but I believe I did. Thank you, Jesus!

Such a simple little act of kindness - today this is called a RAK - a Random Act of Kindness!

Makes me recall the times when I haven't been so kind; when I've rushed by someone needing help; when I've sighed b/c someone was not in as much of a hurry as I was; when I grumbled b/c .....; when I turned my head and my heart the other way b/c .....; when I've been critical rather than helpful...

Forgive me, Lord for failing you in those times. Help me to be more aware of the people around me; to have Your compassion for them; and to share Your joy with them! Thank You, Lord!

Friends and Loved Ones,
I hope this is your prayer today as well!
May someone say to you today "Thank you! You made my day."

1 John 4:16, 19-21
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

May His Blessings fall on you today -
and may your day be filled with RAKs -
ones you've given and ones you've received!
Peace and Joy!
Ruthie

Another Thankful Tuesday!

It's another Tuesday morning - a day to rejoice and give thanks!
No matter what our circumstances might be He is with us! He promises to always be there!
Hebrews 13:5
"...never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Sometimes life is "hard" - and there seems to be no end to the frustration and the struggles. God has promised that He will carry our burdens if but give them to Him.
1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

We may sometimes wonder if God is hearing our prayers, if He really cares, if He even knows what is going on with us ... the Word says that He never changes...
Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

We KNOW He is the God of comfort -
2 Corinthians 1: 3-4
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Dear friends,
I pray these words will bless your day!
That HIS WORD will bless your day!
Have a thankful heart today!
And spread His love and His joy wherever you go!

Blessings on you!
Ruthie

Are You Waiting To Be Ready?

Are you waiting to be ready?

OR

Are you ready?

Please read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

I attended church Sunday morning with my daughter and her family ... in the Mall!

StoneRidge Fellowship in Lower Sackville is building a new church building and in the meantime they meet every Sunday morning in the Bedford Place Mall!

Imagine the volunteers to carry this off!

God is so good!

This morning's message was on the Rapture!

"Rapture" is the Latin word used to translate the Greek for "caught up" ...

1 Thessalonians 4:17

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

Imagine!

Some will be gone and some will be left when Christ returns.

The unbelieving spouse will roll over in bed and find an empty space.

The bus driver / pilot / captain of the ship will be gone as will some of the passengers.

The unbelieving parent will not be able to find their saved child.

Some doctors / nurses / patients will be gone ... and others will be wondering what has happened.

The pastor told a story which I don't remember exactly but here is the gist of it...

Mom & 6 year old Bestsy had gone to church - they heard a message on the rapture.

When they got home Betsy asked mom, "Could Jesus come this week sometime?"

Mom said. "He sure could."

Betsy asked, "Today sometime?"

Mom said, "Yes, He could."

Betsy then asked, "What about right now?"

And Mom said, "Yes, Betsy. He could come right now."

Betsy said, "Hurry, mom! Comb my hair! I want to be ready!"

My heart was excited - the Rapture will be a glorious occasion!

It also saddens me because there are people I love who haven't accepted Christ yet!

They are not ready!

What about you?

Are you ready?

Are you waiting to get ready?

Are you thinking that you have lots for time?

Do you think that you have to clean up first?

Dear friends -

He loves you so much that He wants you to come to Him - just as you are!

Christ died for your sins!

I pray you will fall on your knees with thanksgiving and praise for His mercy and grace to you!

I pray you will "get ready" ... for we do not know the day or the hour...

"Comb Your Hair"!

Live each day as if it were your last and yet, keep on working as if you had forever!

Father God,

I pray for Your Holy Spirit to minister to each one reading this today!

Turn their hearts towards You!

Do what You need to do in them to turn them to Your ways!

Thank You, Lord!

In Jesus Name, Amen

Have a blessed day!

Resting in HIM,

Ruthie