Thy Kingdom come

I am breaking down the Lords Prayer with the two young ladies in our discipleship/small  group. You know we've al recited the Lords Prayer a million times and until today I never had really thought out the part where Jesus said, "Thy Kingdom come" we say it so fast with thy will be done, that I think we forget that Jesus is say, I'm here, I am the kingdom of God, I am the one that everything rest on. Our verse this week that I will ask the girls to memorize is pretty easy but I have used a different version because sometimes we have memorized or say things and we don't really look at the meaning of it.  Matthew 6:33. Seek the kingdom of God (Jesus) above all else and live righteously (moral and right) and he will give you everything you need.  I started looking up commentary's what is the kingdom in the Lords Prayer. I asked Joey when we say that what are we meaning. It hit us both the Kingdom has come, not thy kingdom come. We today should be praying Our father who art in heaven, holy is your name, you kingdom has come . It was fulfilled after Jesus died on the cross and went to heaven to get his gloried body and came back to earth. His kingdom is now established, its a spiritual kingdom, not a physical one that you can see, but now we should be seeking Jesus and his will, which is written out in the Word.

Pebbles in the shoe do hurt

The struggles we have every day are real, some are big as mountains and small are a small as a pebble, but a rock in a shoe is uncomfortable and hurts too. As we each struggle with our own problems and obstacles whether big or small we as Christians have a responsibility and with that comes some stress and pressure to handle these things with grace, love and not lose our cool. Now for me to be real, do I handle most things from the get go with grace, love and coolness, NO! Usually I complain, blow my top, call them all kinds of names, figure ways to get them back, then I pray and say Lord, I know you love them as much as you do me, help me see this. Help me see the bigger picture, the struggle with the demonic world, the real struggle. Usually after a couple hours, I bet you thought I was going to say minutes...I can calm down, regroup and start to see what is really going on. However this usually doesn't change the situation and with all struggles there are still consequences to all things that happen in our lives. I am doing a small group with two young ladies and they want to talk and learn about pray. So we are starting with the way Jesus told us to pray, the Lords Prayer.Last night was "Holy is your name." I started to look up what the definition of this Holy means, the words that came were sacred, worthy of complete devotion, spiritually excellent. WOW, when you start to pray with this in mind, I should be able to see quicker than a couple hours the bigger picture in my struggles. We are trying to memorize different scriptures and I gave them this last night,
Isaiah 57:15 " For this is what the high and exalted one says, he who lives forever, whose name is HOLY, I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite(remorseful) and lowly of spirit. (he lives with us) in order to revive(bring back to life) the spirit of the lowly and the heart of the contrite(remorseful).
I am thankful that while he is so holy he is willing to revive me when I fail him.

King David

Most people who know me know that David was not one of my favorite people.. Most people today say well if he is a man after Gods on heart then I have a chance. They think that their screw ups can't be half as bad as David, I mean he had a man killed so he could have this wife for his own( not that he didn't already have a wife, probably a few at that time). But as I am in a cycle of major hot flashes again through out the night, when I woke up about 5 this morning it came to mind some things on David. In reading Psalms 51, he wrote this after his adultery with Bathsheba, "have mercy on me, wash me clean, purify me, create in me, restore me, & forgive me. Joey told our small groups class last night, that God wants us to have fellowship with him. That he wants us to keep open dialogue with him even when we have sinned. Lots of times we are not obedient and then we shut down and feel because of our sinful nature that we can't or shouldn't be close to God, but David who so many times picked the wrong sinful way knew immediately that he had done wrong and went to God and kept the relationship open with him. Unfortunately because of his constant selfishness and disobedience the consequences with his children and others were not heathy or Godly.  But I did come to the conclusion this morning that God can show us through his word that while David was a man after God, he like many choose to think of themselves first but God is always there to show mercy, restore and forgive us. But the lines of communication needs to stay open and that is our responsibility.

Crazy World We Live In

I have been thinking about all that is going on in the world and lets just say in the most southern lady like way I know how, its a bunch of crap. I can hardly stand to turn on the TV, between the election mess, the shootings, the riots and the news media, late night TV watching has come down to funny sitcoms or of course the NCIS shows. I have started reading again that way I don't have to see all the commercials about how bad they all are. I will say as I get older I thought that fear is something I had overcome, but I do seem to feel a little more fearful these days. I know deep down in my soul that I am loved and taken care of by my creator. But the human in me comes out sometimes and if I am going to be real, I have fears, fears for my grandchildren coming up in this crazy world, where children are raising their parents, where in the news this week it said that the rise in pot smoking is in the 45-60 age group. When people take there children and make a family outing going to protest, when they don't really know what they are protesting over. When a man is drunk at 7:30 in the morning and kills two kids on their way to school. When a good, honest days work is look down upon because you don't make enough money by the worlds standards. When wrong is right and right is wrong, good is evil and evil is good. I know that I have to take some of the blame for not standing strong and standing up for my beliefs more. I know that as a church we have failed in so many ways and let government and Hollywood teach us about morals and how to treat people (in their own screwed up way). But in saying all of this, I will tell you there are a lot of good, kind, decent human beings in this world and it is about time we as Christians start noticing this and acknowledging this. We get caught up in the cynical  and complaining side of life along with the rest of the world and we are to shine his light. I had a black man come in the office yesterday and I talked to him like I do everyone else and when he let he turned around to leave he  told me thank you for being so kind. I thought how sad that thought he needed to say that. I know all people can  treat others so rudely and unkind, but like I said we as Christians can have bad days but in the big picture we need to keep a check on our self and how we reflect light to others.

It has been a while since I posted, life in the summer is crazy for us at the Nifong house. Added to it this year, we have another building at the storage so I am trying to get it cleaned up to rent out and it takes a while to do this. So instead of saying anything profound, which I doubt I could come up with anything at this moment. I am putting up pictures of my favorite little ones.

He is one happy little boy, and reminds me so much of his Daddy

We were having our last fun day before she starts Kindergarten,
 I found a new book called "How to Baby sit a Grandma"
So we were dressed up and singing a duet.
 

He loves his Pap-paws scruffy face

Pap-paw is so proud that she loves racing...Not sure Mom is...

OUR KINDERGARTEN GIRL