IS THERE REALLY SUCH A THING AS A BAD DAY

So i was thinking today about what a bad day really was. As i thought about it I realized that for a Christian there is no such thing as a bad day. the Bible says in the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth... Gen 1:1 and as the chapter continues it talks about the seven days that God created. At the end of every day God said that it was good.So i thought well every day is good because God made it so I guess the problems that come our way is what makes us have a bad day, but then I remebered the story of Job in the Bible and how his life was turned around from being a great thing into the worst thing that could ever have happened to a person. Not only was all of his possesions destroyed or stolen but all of his children died on the same day. His trials were there just so God could get the glory by the way that he lived his life. The Bible says in all these things Job sinned not and I thought how hard that would be.So as a Christian I am thankful that my Savior has a plan for my life and that no matter what comes my way in life it is just part of His plan for me.I am thankful that God said that he would be a friend that sticketh closer than a brother and that he would never leave us nor forsake us.And most of all im thankful that no matter what happens or what path i have to walk down that God has been there already so i can follow in His steps, and that God will be with me when i face the trial,and that i know He will be waiting for me before i ever even face the trial. I guess the song writter had the right idea when he pinned the words How Great Thou Art. My Lord and Savior is a awesome God. Now when i face every day I can face it with the attitude that David did when he said," This is the day that the Lord hath made I will rejoice and be glad in it."

Can't put your trust in man.

So I have learned today that you can't put your trust in man. Well I mean I know you can't put trust in man, but yeah. Tonight my Jayhawks failed to stay unbeaten :( That just goes to show you that you really can't put your trust in the world to keep you happy. I am so thankful that I have a Savior that stays true to His word & never fails His children. I am thankful that I will never have the "nervous" feeling in my stomache because I don't know whether or not I will win or lose. I love that song we sing "I've read the last chapter and I know who wins".
I am thankful for a Faithful Lord & Savior!

-Sarah.Estep
Psalms 46

... 2

the following takes place when im in my room here on this computer!

my dad walks in the room and im just sitting here.

Dad: What are you doing?

Me: Nothing. what are you doing?

(He says nothing and just walks over to my lil stand thing.

Me: Dad what are you doing?

Dad: looking for some new smellum...

Me: Why?

Dad: To wear tonight.

Me: Why?

Dad: What do you mean why? I'm goin out.

(so now he is looking at all of them and smelling all of them.)

Dad: What is this stuff...? whats this one? Does this one smell good?

Me: Dad... just use your own.

Dad: I dont have any. all mine is just left over of yours.... whats this stuff? "True" True what? (the name of my american eagle cologne)

Me: Oh my goodness dad...

Dad: What?

Me: where are you going tonight?

Dad: To out to eat with work and Mrs. Sandra.

Me: I want to go!

Dad: you cant!

Me: why not?

Dad: Cuz its work.

Me: well how come Mrs. Sandra can go?

Dad: Cuz its worker and spouse or significant other.

Me: I am your significant other.

Dad: no you are not. you're insignificant.

Me: well that was mean! bring me back something. i want lobster!

Dad: Ill bring you back some left over blubber from off my steak!

Me: :'(


ok i really wasnt crying... but today... im thankful for my dad again!

Justin Beam

...

the following takes place after moving all of the vehicles around...
Me: MAN Dad i love working in 30 degree weather with short sleeves and wind pants. can i got get a shower now!?

Dad: Yeah sure. Where is the truck keys?

Me: I put them inside already.

Dad: WHAT!?

Me: what?

Dad: I just don't believe that at all. When did you do that?

Me: After i moved it i put them inside.

Dad: So you moved the truck then put the keys up? uh huh... (sarcastically as if i can never do anything right.)

Me: You know what dad... you just cant stand the fact that im starting to get to be a pretty awesome guy!

(so now we are walking back from the shop back over to the house and garage thingy and hes on his way to check for the brown truck keys in the house)

Dad: yeah whatever... (as he opens the screen door...) and you forgot to shut the door briliant.

Me: oops... (Im cracking up by now!)

Dad: (as he looks in for the keys) and the keys are in here dope!

Me: OH!? they are here in my pocket!

Dad: You dope!




Today... Im thankful today for my daddy! :D

Justin Beam
Hebrews 12:1-2

Forgiveness to be Thankful For!

tonight... well tonight i came across some things i regret from a while back! made me remenice on things past. things i wish i could go back and do differently and change! i feel soo bad for what ive done and what i let happen! and no matter how many times i apologize to people and to the Lord i still feel like i need to again every time i remember it! and i was talking to one of my friends tonight and he said maybe you just havnt forgiven yourself. and all i could saw was hmmm... i have never thought about that before! and maybe i need to forgive myself but it just seems every time i apologize to God it seems like they are not worth enough for Him and i have to apologize more and more and more. but i know that the Lord forgave me the first time and He still loves me. and im sooooooooo thankful for the mercy and grace He has provided for me! im so thankful for His forgivness tonight! and supposedly i need to work on forgiving myself. its pretty hard! but im soo thankful for the Lord and His greatness to us! and me! Im just praying and seeking His perfect will and wisdom in situations! the Lord is good and He wont lead me wrong! im soooo thankful tonight for the Lords forgiveness!

Justin Beam
Hebrews 12:1-2

Joyful Suffering?

All right well this isnt going to be any list or anything im thankful for. im not having a bad day or anything and at first what i was going to write seemed to not fit on here. but the more i thought about it the more i thought well it will work and i hope you guys get a blessing from it. ive been looking at I Peter a lot latly. it has became one of my new favorite books right there along with James. when i read it about a week ago it was incredible because of what i had gone through with some things and just the honor and glory that God gets from our trials and tribulations. im pretty much just wingin this because i havnt got too deep into it but i have been looking at it every night for about a week now and its incredible! first consider who Peter was and what had went on through his life. what was Peters occupation before the Lord? FISHERMAN!!! hopefully you knew that:) but he was a fisherman. and when you think of sailors and fisherman you just get that picture of a rough lookin foul mouth kind of guy. and thats what peter was before the Lord! he was a fisherman and he was a rough man with fierce and blantent attitude and probably very assurtive. even through the gospels you see how "dumb" peter is. he seemed to have the right motives behind most things he did but he was not wise in any way about what he was doing and did not think. kinda like me! i dont think a lot! im getting better Praise the Lord but especcially a couple years ago i did not think a whole lot. and clearly from what we see about peter in the gospels he just always seemed to stick his foot in his mouth. but... go right into acts after the gospels and see how much that man changed and how wise he was toward the things of God! after Christ had died peter had went back to his old life. he left what he had been taught and went back to being a fisherman. you have to imagine how broken he was when he denied the Lord those 3 times and im sure thats why he left and went back to his life. and then Christ came to peter and and and put the hammer on him. after three times of the Lord asking him to come and do His will peter finally got it and he obeyed. that is all in John 21. read that. and RIGHT after that time you see an imediate change in peter. it is incredible! read from there on into Acts and read about peter. when you think of how foolish he was and how many times he just made himself look stupid, he went from that young man just trailing along with the rest of the deciples to practically being the leader. from out of that young kid God brought forth a great man! you see that in Acts 2 when he preaches at Pentacost. and in verse 41 about 3,000 souls came to know the Lord through the preaching of Peter! 3,000!!!!!!! we could not imagine that now days in our wildest dreams! peter stepped up and became a great man of God. ok... now ill get into I Peter. (man this is long. SORRY) anyways... the thing that has been getting me soo much in I Peter is suffering. Peter in his epistle mentions over and over and over again about Christ suffering and how we as Christians suffer. when i say Christians that means Christ-Like, Followers of Christ. at least once in every chapter in I Peter he talks about suffering. the first time would be in 1:6-7. now 6 and 7 are the end of getting towards the end of what started in verse 3 but in verse 6 and 7 is where trials and temptations comes up. BTW i hope you are looking at all this while im writing. it would be kinda hard to understand if you dont! GET YOUR BIBLE!... but he says now ye "rejoice"... shew... rejoice even thoguh our trials and temptations. because those trials and testing of our faith is much more precious that pure gold and it is found to the honor and glory of God (vs. 7). vs. 10 and 11-there it is again. talking about the suffering of Christ. (im really trying to get though this in little as possible so your not sitting here for 5 hours reading this so study it yourself to get MUCH more out of it) Chapter 2 vs. 21-24! MAN!!! incredible verses! there again it talks about Christs sufferings and how He is an example of the way we should walk. (Hebrews 12:1-2) Chapter 3 vs. 18. to understand vs 18-22 better read the whole cahpter but it really kinda starts in vs 12. then the verses after 18 are linked with 18 as in the example of Noah in his days. now... chapter 4! heres where it gets good and comes more applied to us! (just a side note... 4:1-2,,, read and apply that carefully to your life! there it talks about some more suffering Christ did for us and what we should do! vs 1 and 2 is amazing!!!) (vs 11 is very good too:) now here is where it gets into us! where your have a bad day or your feeling defeated and you are suffering from someone or something... vs 12 and 13!!! when something is happening dont think that its out of the ordinary or weird and out of no where. cuz its not! just as Christ suffered for us we as followers of Him will receive critisism from other people, "But rejoice!" because we are suffering for the name of Christ!!! and what better thing to be critisized for? rejoice that you are suffering for such a worth name as Christ! now i dont want you to think that Peter just said things and didnt live what he said! he wasnt just saying this, he lived it! turn to Acts 5! read all of Acts 5 to get all the story and the picture in your head but when you get to the end after Gamaliel had stood up and and warned the people to let the apostles alone if their work was by their own power then it will eventually end but if the work they are doing is of God then nothing you do will be able to stop them. after Gamaliel said that look at the last 3 verses!!! they beat the apostles, and then commanded them to not speak in the name of the Jesus any more and then let the apostles go. vs. 41 "And they departed from the presence of the council , rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." MAN ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that is incredible! if that dont stir your heart and show something to you then somethings wrong!!! man we need to rejoice in our sufferings because when we receive those sufferings we are worthy enough to suffer for Christ and for His cause! yes suffering is hard and being critisized by people is hard but look at what they are critisizing you for! because you are following the Lord! man we need to take after what Peter is saying in all of I Peter! and as show in Acts 5 he isnt just saying this stuff he did it! in vs 14 it continues with some more awesomeness! vs 16. vs 19. now go on and read the rest of I Peter. man the Lord is incredible to us! and we owe Him everything we have and all our desire! while I Peter talks a lot about the suffering of Christ and applies it as an example to us now, I Peter also talks a lot about because of all of that we ought to live His will and do His will ONLY!!! 4:1-2, 19. if you dont have the desire of pleasing and serving God more than anything else then look at what Christ went thought for you. I Peter has been a great reminder to me of what my Jesus did for stupid me! and there is a lot we can exceed in with the Lords help if we are just willing to do His will and live every bit of our life for His glory! even when we are suffering! even in that suffering, rejoice! i hope you got all that! it was prolly a little jumbled cuz i just sat down and wrote it! and sorry its soo long! but there is a lot in there. and there is WAY MORE in there! study it out yourself! I Peter is amazing! Our God is amazing!!! Be Joyful in Suffering!

Justin Beam
Heb. 12:1-2, Prov. 4:25-27

Another Day

Okay, so today I was stressed because we were moving everything around and it just kinda got to me so I am thankful for a family that is still together. Even though ee have rough times, we still manage to get through them & I am thankful for that!
There.. I feel better now! lol

Keep on Keeping on for him in 2010.

-Sarah Estep
Psalm 46

Thank You

I think that this blog was a very good idea! So I'll be the first to post something on it.
Last night after doing my devotions I decided to write God a "Thank You" note. I just used half of the card because I thought, "I probably won't have a whole lot to write". Haha Was I wrong! I started writing and it was like I couldn't stop! Next thing I know I was using the top of the card & the whole back of the card.
We have so much to thank the Lord for. Even if you are having a bad day, you're breathing aren't you? You have a roof over your head don't you? You have food to eat! (Thank the Lord) haha. When you are having a bad day try to think about some things that you are thankful for & thank the Lord for them. It'll chear ya up. Trust me, I know :)

Keep on keepin on for Christ,

-Sarah Estep
Psalms 46