HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

As most of us will be ringing in the New Year tonight I can't help but share what has been heavy on my heart.

If you want to have news years resolutions, that's awesome, but maybe we should all stop and think about what is really important.




    Hubby and I have a lot of people in our lives who don't know Jesus, who know Him and don't care, or the ones that really kills us, those that think they know Him and claim to be a Christian. This is not coming  from a judgmental or self righteous place, this is coming from a pain in my body that has been placed there by the Holy Spirit. This post is written in nothing but love.

It's good to have goals, get out of debt, lose weight, or whatever you are thinking about, but those will not bring you life, bring you hope, those will not pull you from death. (if your not in Jesus you are dead)

If Jesus is not your foundation, if Jesus is not your everything, if you are just sprinkling Him in your life then you don't know Him. I honestly don't know how much clearer I can be. Going to church regularly, praying before a meal or at bedtime is all good, BUT if you are not actively seeking Him, reading His word, bearing fruit! Then how can you love someone you don't know, How can you call yourself a Christian or His child if you don't even know what's required of you?  It's not the pastors job or anyone else to show you, it's yours.
You don't have to take my word for it listen to what Jesus will say:


"Not everyone who says to me "Lord, Lord" will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father who is in Heaven. On that day many will say to me .Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." Matthew7:21-23

It's also not enough to just use Jesus when things are bad. His word says:

"You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as front lets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise." Deuteronomy11:18-19
All the time! Do you see that?? when you are awake, when you are lying down.. ALL THE TIME.


We have such an amazing gift. We get to repent! Jesus says that  "As far as the East is to the West, I will remember your sins no more."  What a gift, why aren't you taking it?

My prayer for all of you (and me as well) is that you will examine your walk or lack there of with the Lord. That you will ask Him to show you the truth and that you will be willing to hear it and obey. That the Lord will rip the scales off your eyes and you will be able to see His Holiness, your depravity, and that He is worthy to be feared and worshiped.That you will live your life on your knees in repentance to the King of Kings and  that you will truly be a light in this dark world. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Am I?

     

 "Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become so callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ, to PUT OFF YOUR OLD SELF which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and TO BE RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MINDS, and TO PUT ON THE NEW SELF, CREATED AFTER THE LIKENESS OF GOD IN TRUE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS." Ephesians4:17-24

Am I being renewed daily? or am I still "putting on my old self?" 


As I have been praying  that I would be more aware of how my walk is and how I am spending my time (Ephesians5:15-16) I have realized that so quickly I am ready to put on my "old self."

The other day I was at a store with all my kiddos, they were being horrible (that's actually being nice) Normally I would have left with their behavior, but I had to get food. I had more then enough by the time we were checking out. I was doing all that I could to not explode so in turn I was being very cold. To add more fun to my night, I accidentally got into the 10 items or less lane with about 50 items. The cashier was nice and said she would take me anyway, but then the line behind me got long and the kids were all over the place, I told her I would put everything back in my cart and go to another line. The customers behind me were all making fun of me ( not in a mean way, trying to be funny) and I about lost it. The cashier could see that I was about to boil over and she read my shirt which said (hope) she said "No big deal, there is always hope, right!?!" You would have thought that I would have put a smile on my face and said "thank you". Nope, I gave her a nasty look and threw all my items off the belt and into my cart and went into another line.

 At the time, I thought I handled everything correct, because I never yelled, but when I stopped and let the Lord show me my behavior. I was horribly embarrassed and convicted. Needless to say I apologized and asked my kiddos to forgive me and the Lord as well.

I could share so many more.

I am pretty sure that if the people in the store would have known all that I went though leading up to my nastiness then they would have completely understood, BUT is that really an excuse (or any excuses for that matter) okay for those who say they are in Christ!?! That would be NO!

I don't want to live on this earth with my old self pretending to be new. I want the Lord to rip off my old self. And to live in Jesus, clothed in His love. (Colossians3)


 *Because God is pleased with me, I now want to live a life pleasing to Him (2Corn5:9, 1Thes4:1)

I am righteous through Jesus, now go and be righteous, I am loved now go and be loving (Col3:1)


I am forgiven, now go and be forgiving (1John4:11)

* I have had this written in my bible for a long time, It is not from me, but don't remember where I got it. If you know, please let me know so I can give credit*


                                        "You called me out of death and called me into life!"

It's. Almost. Gone.....

        Just wanted to remind everyone that our JEWELRY SALE is still going on. 

I can still ship it to you in time for CHRISTmas.

You better hurry though we only have 8 of our beautiful coin necklaces left!!! And once they are gone, they are gone.

So hurry and get yours today!!!!!!!


You can see all about the necklaces and our fabulous sale by going here!

If you would rather send me a check, that is fine, just email me masermel@yahoo.com

All I want for Christmas

Our beautiful tree

 On the Adoption front:

I wish I had some amazing products to sell you. (Though we do have some beautiful jewelry). I wish that I was more savvy in that area, so that our adoption would be fully funded, but I am not.  As I look back on all that God has brought us through all of you I stand in awe. We are near the end of this incredible journey, well at least money wise.

All we have left to raise is $8300 for our referral fee. When we get our referral (which could be any day) it will have who our son is and whatever information they have on him. We will then have 7 days to pay the $8300 fee so that we can say YES. If we do not make the payment then we will lose that referral. I know that God will provide it, I have no worries. I know that when the time comes, we will have that fee.  After our referral fee we will need to come up with about $12000 for travel and other fees. Then we are done! Seems like a lot left to raise, but you all have helped us raise over $9,000!!!

 All I want for Christmas is our referral and the fee to pay it.

I am dying to know who our little one is. I am dying to hold him and kiss his precious face.

Here is how you can help if you feel led.

Taxes are fun, well they can be if you get a nice refund. :D     We now have a way for you to not only help us reach our fees, but you will get something in return. You will be sent a  reciept for your donation that can be used towards your taxes. If you send in a check no later then December 31st then you will get a letter by the end of January for your taxes. How awesome is that? God is good!

It gets even better!

Also for those that send in a donation of $10 or more I will add your name to our puzzle. I would really love to have that completed for our little man for when he comes home.

So if you are feeling led (no amount is to small) Please send your donations to
                                          LifeBirdge Church 
                                             PO Box 520
                                         Largo, Fl 33779-0520

Please make the check out to LifeBirdge Church
And make sure you put that it is for the Maser Adoption. If you don't, we won't get it. If you would like to remain anonymous, just write a note with it stating that. If you chose to not go through the church then we still have our paypal to the right.

Thank you all so much!!! We have also been applying for grants to help with our fees, so please be in prayer that it would be Gods will that we receive them.

Blessings!