Ginny - Romans 5

Good Morning Girlz!!!

S - "and hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." vs. 5

O - No need to get discouraged - hope will produce results! Why can be confident of this? Because God loves us. He wants what is best for us, therefore He is not going to leave us hanging.

A - I'm going to say that to myself over and over again when I get discouraged..."hope does not disappoint, hope does not disappoint, hope does not disappoint." Sometimes perseverance is hard....O.K. so all the time perseverance is hard! But when we serve a risen Savior we can KNOW He is fighting for us!

P - Lord You are teaching me so much about hope and I pray the words and truths You are showing me that I will practice them. Help me not to lose hope, but that I may be strengthened daily to live my life in Your promises. You are so good!

Ginny - Romans 4

Good Morning Girlz!!!! Ugh, I've got my feather's ruffled this morning! Can anyone else not stand nosey people!?!? I wish I had a better mechanism for handling them, but I normally just shut down & avoid them. Probably not the most loving thing to do!

O.K. on to scripture :) ...

S - Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said of him, "So shall your offspring be." vs. 18

O - O.K. did anybody else catch that? "against all hope...in hope believed" Does that sound contradictory to anybody else??? It certainly caught my attention! Against hope, he hoped. So, what does that mean? I think it means when every thing pointed against him and there was no escape or answer in sight Abraham kept hoping and hope set him free! He chose to believe God's promise and persevered till he saw it come to be.

A - O.K. so we all have probably had times in our lives where the odds were stacked against us. What do we do? Do we change our plan? Do we try to finagle the system so that things are more in our favor? Or do we continue to place our hope in the Lord and His promises? There are areas in my life that I get ahead of the Lord. I want what I want regardless if it is what His Word tells me is best for me. I do this with relationships and food primarily. Hope can be hard b/c it does require waiting. We throw those desires out to the Lord, and then we wait for the day we see them come true. That can get discouraging if we aren't very patient. I believe there is a lot to be done in the waiting. An active waiting takes advantage of the adventure and lives in the now while hoping for the future.

P - Lord, I start by asking You to calm my nerves. Give me the grace, poise, and love to interact with people that annoy me (just being honest!). Lord I also pray that I don't give up hoping. I can get discouraged and become synical, but Lord may each day be fresh and full of life. Lord I believe in You, and I believe you want what's best for me. I place my hope in you.

Ginny - Romans 3

Good Morning Girlz!!! We are 1/2 way through the week, which in my world means 2 more days till vacation!!! Get excited!

S - "What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness?" vs. 3

O - Although my brain does not completely understand the concept of God loving us inspite of our unwillingness to yield to His ways, I am so thankful He does! There is no mistake too big that He is not waiting with open arms to welcome us back. He is faithful when we are not.

A - This verse reminded me of a song. The lyrics of the chorus speak for themselves. I pray that whatever we are faced with this day, this week, this month, this year that we claim His strength.

His strength is perfect, when our strength is gone;
He'll carry us when we can't carry on.
Raised in His power, the weak become strong;
His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect.

P - Lord I pray for Karlyn, Cindy, Amber, Jenifer and myself today. I pray that our weakness would be made strong as we wait on You. Whatever is on our hearts and in our minds, we give to You knowing there is no other place we'd rather it be.

Ginny - Romans 2

Good Morning Girlz!!! Happy Birthday Amber!!!

S- "A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, but the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person's praise is not from other people, but from God." vs. 28-29

O - The heart is what matters. The people tried to do all the right things and look the right way in order to get applause from others, but in the end it is pleasing our Father that matters, and He looks on the inside.

A - In what ways do I let the acceptance of others guide my choices and priorities? Is my heart pure in its motives? The only pure motive is to glorify our Lord. I glorify Him by living out His Word. Being Jesus to those around me. Meeting needs. Loving others. Encouraging. Teaching. Turning the other cheek.

P - Lord help me to exam my heart this week to see those areas where Your glory is not my main focus. Help me as I change my heart and mind to be in line with You. I pray I recognize opportunites to be You to others around me.

Karlyn - Romans 2:16

S - And this is the message I proclaim - that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone's secret life.

O - How many times do we say no one knows what I said in my thoughts.  No one knows my heart.  I can put up a front and everyone will think I'm just fine.

A - I have to remind myself often that God sees hears and knows everything about me.  Even more knows it before I do it.  I cannot hide from him.

P - Lord thank you that I can't hide sin from you and you know the worst and best parts of me.  Father help me not to hide under my sin but let your grace and forgiveness cover it. 

Ginny - Romans 1

Good Morning...pretty much afternoon...Girlz!!!

S - "that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith" vs. 12

O - I know this is more of a side note that Paul throws in there, than a major bullet point in the chapter, but it's the one that jumped out to me. We need help along this Christian walk.

A - You gals encourage me so much and I am so glad we are doing this blog. Everyday is a blessing. Y'all have encouraged and challenged me, and I am so glad we have taken this journey together. We certainly do need one another!

P - Lord, I thank you so much for these girls and for their friendship. Thank you for a place we can be real and honest. I pray for each one of us as we begin our weeks.

Let's Go To Romans!Karlyn - Romans 1

Good Monday Morning!

S - Romans 1:19-20  They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them.  For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and the sky.  Through everything God has made they can clearly see his invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature.  So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

O - We had the opportunity to eat lunch with Ryan's uncle yesterday.  This is a man who is in his 50's and over the past 5-6 years has begun to really know Christ and to grow as a Christian.  For the first time in 10 years of me knowing him he began sharing with us yesterday about how much he loves being a Christian and how God has taken the old from him and made him new!  He talked about the verse above and how he lived for so long blinded to all that God is around him and how he wants his brother to really see the evidence of God in our world.  It was very reviving to sit and listen to him talk from his heart.

A - I sit and think that I want people to be able to look at me and see the undeniable evidence of God in my life and then I wonder what am I actually doing for them to see that?  I've spent a lot of time wallowing in my sin and I'm not sure how anyone can see him in me right now.

P - Please pray for me as I fight this battle of jealousy, unforgiveness, bitterness, all this ugly stuff I want to get rid of!  I know that I'm free in Christ I just need to live it!
Have a great Monday!