• He declared there would be no rain on the land for several years until he spoke again. (1 Kings 17:1)
• He saved a widow and her son through a few drops of oil and a handful of flour. (1 Kings 17:12-16)
• He  had proven that His God was more powerful than Baal when he called down fire on a drenched altar. Then all the prophets of Baal had died at his hands. (1 Kings 18:20-40)

But despite all God had done through him Elijah spent. He was exhausted and afraid. He didn’t want to go on.

“I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep. (1Kings 19:4b-5)

Have you ever been there? You believe you’ve followed God and seen some wonderful successes. But suddenly you’re so tired. You have had enough and don’t feel like you can make it through one more day.

God met Elijah there in the wilderness where he had run. God allowed Elijah to rest, fed him and gave him water to refresh him.

Then God spoke to Elijah.

He took him up to a mountain and told Elijah the presence of the Lord would pass by. There was a mighty wind. Then there was an earthquake and a fire. But God wasn’t in any of those. Next came a gentle whisper…the voice of God. Tender and loving, meeting Elijah in his distress.

God listened to Elijah, then spoke to him a promise of help…and sent him on his way.

God listens to you too.

He hears every time you cry to Him. In the times you don’t understand and you don’t think you can go on you can expect to hear from Him. If you listen, God will feed you from His word, refresh you through others, and promise you help.

Then God will send you on your way. When you are refreshed and empowered by His Spirit you will go forward and see wonderful things happen once again.

Things more wonderful than you can imagine.

blessings and peace…
Paula

I was thinking today about a different kind of shape…

S piritually

H ealthy

A ttitudes and

P ersonal

E xpectations

Oftentimes we have very high expectations of ourselves as Christians. We expect perfection and forget about grace.

We steadfastly remember Matthew 5:48 ~ “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” 

We know we are to be like Christ and beat ourselves up when we are not. While this attitude may be noble it’s really not healthy.

I tend to be an all-or-nothing kind of person. When I am working at getting back in shape and miss a couple of workouts I tend to get down on myself, throw in the towel so to speak and give up. I care less about how healthy I eat and become more sloth-like. Instead of correcting myself and starting fresh I give up.

Do you do this too?

How ’bout in your spiritual life?

If you miss your quiet time a couple of days, or don’t pray as diligently as you think you should do you get frustrated with yourself and let the time grow longer and longer between your time with Him? Do you spend more time beating yourself up than asking for God’s forgiveness and grace?

This has never been God’s intention for those He loves. Instead He asks us to look to Him for grace and forgiveness and start new again.

“Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:23

So, just as I head out this morning to work on the shape of my physical body I look forward to returning home to work on my spiritual shape as well.

I hope you’ll remember God’s grace and compassion this morning and look to Him to keep your attitudes and expectations healthy today.

blessings and peace to you as you work on your shapes!

Paula

The Lord delights in those who fear Him,
 who put their hope in His unfailing love.
Psalm 147:11

DELIGHT

2: something that gives great pleasure

What do you delight in?

Does it take something grand to bring you great pleasure

. . . or do you find joy in the simple things of life?

I have a little dog who loves to wander around the yard. She will sniff and sniff, then suddenly she stops – and down she goes!

 

She rolls and rolls, doing a dance of sorts and delighting in that sweet spot she has found.

And I delight in watching her.

This week’s verse says that God delights in those who fear Him…

But this fear He speaks of is a sense of awe, not to be afraid of Him.

Do you look at a sunrise or a sunset in awe of its beauty? God did that!

Do you find awe in the creation all around you? God’s responsible for that too!

God desires only good for those who love Him and longs to delight in us.

When we put our hope in Him, trusting in His love for us that will never fail that is just what He will do!

And maybe…just maybe He dances in Heaven with delight over each one of us.

Praying you will find delight in unexpected places today,

and that you bring delight to our Lord in the process!

blessings and peace to you!
Paula

Lately I have been studying prayer and learning to grow closer to God as I spend more time with Him in prayer. The Lord still has much to teach me but I thought today I would share some of what I’ve learned about how prayer changes things.

When I started seeking to deepen my prayer life I hoped to see God change things around me as I learned the ‘right’ way to pray. He has certainly changed things…just not exactly the way I thought!

Here are some changes I’ve seen so far:

A change in PERSPECTIVE
As I draw closer to God in prayer and allow Him to purify my heart and open my eyes I see things differently. Through prayer the Holy Spirit shows me things my human-self can’t see. Hidden hurts that are masked with anger or intimidation, growth in others I don’t allow myself to see without His perspective, and many other things I never expected.  I see God’s grace for me and want to extend that grace to others around me.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  ~ Matthew 5:8

A change in POWER
When I devote myself to prayer and seeking God’s will I gain power that is greater than my own. The power of the Holy Spirit flowing through me allows me to love others who aren’t always likable and face fears and failures I am not strong enough to conquer on my own.

The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.  ~ James 5:16b

A change in POSTURE
In order to see any changes through prayer I must first change my posture. Bowing down and looking up are vital to seeing changes in any area of my life. Recognizing (sometimes several times a day) that I must become less and God must become more within me if He is going to do anything through me.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.  ~ 2 Chronicles 7:14

I pray for each of you today, that you will allow God to make changes in you through prayer and drawing closer to Him each and every day.

blessings & peace to you!

Paula

That means along with the warmer temperatures comes pleasant outside work (translated no snow involved!!) and digging in the dirt to beautify our yard and flower beds. It’s not always easy work, but I love the challenge of helping our surroundings wake up from the winter slumber and break into color.

Sometimes it’s also not easy psychologically or emotionally. (stay with me…I’m not losing it) For example, we have a clematis bush that we enjoy so much every year. Every year it boasts beautiful purple and blue flowers that climb up the back of our garage. But before it can bloom it needs to be pruned.

Today was the day. You’ll see in the photo that new growth has already begun but the old, dead vine was still there. If the new growth continued to grow in the midst of the dead some of it would get choked out and the vine would not mature to all it could be. The dead parts would prevent the plant from being the best it could be.

For me it’s not easy because sometimes there’s some new growth that has to be pruned along with the old. I feel badly that we have to get rid of some branches so that the whole plant can benefit.

The same is true for newly planted flowers. When they come home from the greenhouse they have beautiful blossoms and buds covering them. I want to get them in the ground and create a colorful bed. But, if the blooms are left on these newly planted gems they will grow to be tall and straggly and will not spread out, filling in for a lush flower bed. The plant will have to spend so much energy feeding the blooms they will not feed the roots.

When the blooms and some buds are nipped after planting the plant will give its attention to feeding the roots, spreading out and providing lush ground cover and gorgeous, colorful flowers.

Jesus tells us:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you.No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.   John 15: 1-4

The truths that apply to the flowers also apply to our lives. We must allow God to prune away deadness from our lives before we can produce what He desires from us.

I know in my life there have been areas where I have burst forth quickly with a grand plan or ambition only to fizzle out because I didn’t continuously allow God to get rid of what wasn’t His plan in order to produce something even better. I feared losing my dream completely, not having enough faith follow His vision.

It can be painful to watch some of our old hopes and dreams be clipped away, believing that God will produce in us even greater things than we can imagine. It is the ultimate test of our faith in Him.

In a few weeks the vine of our clematis will cover a good portion of our garage wall and produce beautiful blooms once again.

The blooms wouldn’t be the same without tonight’s pruning.

I pray for you tonight as I do for myself, that you would examine areas of your life where you have not trusted God’s pruning and have depended on your own abilities. Then step out in faith and allow Him to prune, pull away and nip in the bud things that aren’t in His plan.

Then watch in wonder as He produces something more grand than you ever thought could be inside of you.

blessings and peace to you!
Paula

For God has not given us a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of a sound mind.  
                                                                      2 Timothy 5:17 NKJ

Evil showed its face again in our country this week. A wonderful celebration turned tragic when the bombs exploded in Boston. The injuries sustained went beyond the physical pain and loss of life. Grief overwhelmed not only families and friends but the entire city of Boston and reached around the world.

The explosions brought something else with them; a spirit of fear.

As the bombing suspects escaped the scene and melted into their environment fear spread through the city of Boston, the surrounding communities and caused people around the world to question our safety. We began to wonder if something like this could happen in our own communities and whether our families can ever be truly safe.

One of satan’s goals is to cause us to fear things that are out of our control. If he can make us question our safety and fear those around us he can make us think less about things we can control. We allow our minds to get confused about goodness and love and overwhelmed by sadness and fear.

The truth is, evil existed before those bombs went off. Evil still exists now that the bombing suspects are no longer at large. It isn’t always at the same magnitude but it’s always around us.

So what are we to do? We need to concentrate on the power God places in us through His Holy Spirit and allow that power to override the fear that evil tries to put in our way.

God’s power is one of LOVE and a sound mind…not a mind confused by the uncertain and unknown.

Faith plays a huge part in all of this as we trust in God. I’m not saying it’s easy.

But I guarantee it works.

blessings and peace to all of you today…
Paula

I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.
Philippians 4:13 NIV

I love to bake.

…and I love to eat what I bake (or what anyone bakes for that matter!)

Eating too much of what’s not healthy for my body has become a bad habit for me.

I don’t mind exercise, but it has not become a good habit of mine.

Combining these two have resulted in too many pounds and preventable health issues for my body.

The older I get the more intently I look at my lifestyle and realize that if I don’t change poor habits soon my physical challenges will only increase and I may miss out on adventures and experiences because of limited capabilities.

While this should be enough to instigate change, because I have struggled with these poor habits for so long it seems like I will never conquer them. I try again, mess up and then give up.

I start believing that I can never beat these bad habits.

Can you relate?

The thing is that I cannot beat these habits on my own. Not in my own strength. I’ve proved that over and over.

But the truth of today’s verse is that if I rely on strength greater than my own I can do anything.

yes, ANYTHING.

So can you!

God doesn’t promise isn’t that it will be easy. And He won’t do it for us. But  the strength of the Holy Spirit in and through us can beat any poor habit, bad mood, or self-defeating attitude.

The Lord also gives us others to walk along with us and help hold us up when our strength fails. We are called to encourage each other and build each other up. In a community of struggling believers we can find strength to overcome and then help others to find strength they didn’t know they had either.

Do you have a habit you need to change?

Need someone to help you find God’s strength to change it?

Share with us in a comment here, or send me a note at pauladavispeace@gmail.com.
I would be honored to pray for you and encourage you.

Let’s hide this truth in our hearts and find the strength to overcome anything that comes our way!!

blessings and peace to you!
Paula

A trip to post-terrorized Washington, D.C. in 2025 and a buggy
accident in Bird-in-Hand, PA set in motion events that expose a
diabolical plan to destroy the Christian community. Ellie and John
Zimmerman find themselves embroiled in a life-threatening
investigation, fighting a shadowy enemy.

While I have not yet read Susan’s novel, I look forward to enjoying it in the near future and encourage each of you to check it out on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com or Kobobooks. I’ve attached links below:

Amazon

B&N:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-moses-conspiracy-a-novel-susan-j-reinhardt/1114847096?ean=2940016213866

Kobobooks.com Link

 http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/The-Moses-Conspiracy-A-Novel/book-IegUFEoIzUy8BnQ8gZqGGg/page1.html?s=0mghuw11SUS93idSXbaZsg&r=1

You can also get to know Susan better by following her blog:

http://susanjreinhardt.com

or on Facebook or Twitter. 

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/susan.j.reinhardt

Twitter:

Follow@susanjreinhardt

Thanks for taking the time to encourage a new author and enjoying her debut novel! Congratulations Susan!

blessings & peace to all of you,

Paula

In peace I will lie down and sleep,
    for you alone, Lord,
    make me dwell in safety.
Psalm 4:8

Lord, thank You that You are a God who keeps His promises. You are always with us, providing peace and comfort if we only turn to you and don’t try to be strong in our flesh. No matter how dark the night or how long it seems until daylight, You are with us. Thank You that Your promises are all we will ever need.

“Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. (v. 25a)

Then Jesus calmed the sea.

When Jesus was killed on the cross His disciples again feared for their lives. They hid from the Jewish leaders behind locked doors. When Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to them in that room they believed He was alive. But Thomas wasn’t with them. When the disciples told him about Jesus being alive his faith was weak. He said he needed to see Jesus’ hands and touch His wounds in order to believe. Jesus granted this to Thomas who then replied, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Jesus reply:

“Because you have seen me, you have believed;
blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  (John 20:29)

In my own life I find it easy to have faith when I can clearly see the road before me and know with certainty my destination. It’s not as easy when the road is crooked and windy or when I’m not certain how to reach my destination. Sometimes I’ve been down a similar road in the past and have lost my way. It can be hard to have faith that this time will be different.

I can be quick to judge Thomas. It’s easy to read this story in the Bible and wonder how he couldn’t just believe his friends. But there are times when I am just like him. I beg Jesus to tell me His plans for me.  He tells me, but I don’t believe.

I realize that I am also a doubter. Instead of ‘Doubting Thomas’ the phrase could be ‘Doubting Paula’. What about you? Does your name ever fit in the blank of this blog’s title?

I am so thankful God doesn’t give up on us! All the times Jesus’ disciples didn’t believe and yet He was still faithful to stay with them and continue teaching them and building their faith. And He is still here with us, no matter how many times our faith fails.

Doubting friends, stay strong. Continue to build your faith and trust the promises God gives us in His word.

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
Mark 11:22-24

blessings and peace to you!

Paula