Valentine’s Day found us doing just that. My sweet husband suggested a day spent driving to some of our favorite spots, but I knew the way to his heart would be to go on a hike. I realized that it would be just what we needed. After many busy days, some days apart and also ministering to others, what we needed was time alone.
Hiking a trail to White House Cliffs provided quiet, beauty and time for just the two of us. We passed NO ONE on the trail.
There were times I just stopped and listened to the stillness (while my heart was pounding loudly from the extreme climb!). We would stop and point out areas far from us, orienting ourselves as to our location. Okay, Dale did that, and I nodded!
At our lunch break at the top of our destination, Dale pulled his phone out and read Psalm 34 that he had read earlier in the day and had been meditating on. We stopped for prayer for our lives and our family.
We ended the day with a trip to a mountaintop where we sat in the car and watched the sun slip down below the ridge.
We avoided lines, crowds and stuff. This was just a perfect day together on the Scenic Route.
Want to see Dale’s description of our day? You can find his post here.
Refresh yourself in God’s House this weekend where you can enjoy the preaching of the Word, corporate prayer and fellowship! You need the church and the church needs you!
I recently watched a decorating video entitled, The Biggest Decorating MistakeWe All Make. The title drew me in! I mean, who wants to make a BIG mistake in their home decor? While watching, I found that I, too, am guilty of making this “Huge blunder!” The good news is, it’s fixable! (Read on and I’ll tell you what was shared as the biggest decor faux pas.)
The video didn’t just make me want to go take care of the problem areas in my home, it also got me thinking about BIG MISTAKES we make in other areas of our lives – things that could be avoided.
Let’s start today with the one that is the most detrimental. I’m calling it The Biggest Mistake of a Lifetime.
Before I watched the decorating video, I was trying to anticipate what the decorating mistake was. It was all about perspective – too small a picture over a sofa, or too large a television for the small table, for example. Maybe you’re doing that same kind of guessing right now with my statement. What comes to your mind when you consider The Biggest Mistake of a Lifetime? Some may say…
Marrying the wrong person!
Not following your dreams! One blogger put it this way, “Not doing the inner work to create the outer life you dream of.”
Not saving for retirement!
Not believing in yourself!
Not getting more education!
Not completing a personal goal!
The list could go and on…but these are all incorrect.
For the answer of life’s biggest mistake, we’re not opening up a popular blog. We’re not listening to a dynamic motivational speaker, we’re going to the One Who gave us life – our great God.
In Luke 12, Jesus speaks to a group of people who had gathered around Him. Listen to His warning to them and to us ~
And He spoke a parable unto them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully.
17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, because I have no room to store my fruits?’
18 And he said, ‘This will I do. I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there will I store all my fruits and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease; eat, drink, and be merry.’
20 But God said unto him, ‘Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?’
21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
This man planned out his business,
“I’ll get more!”.
He planned out his life,
“I’ll build barns to store everything!“,
but he had no control over his death.
Jesus called this man a fool, not because he was rich, but because he put all his value in the things of this life with no consideration of where he would spend eternity. His soul was the most valuable possession, but he made no provision for it.
People of this world would look at this rich man and think he was successful, but God says this is foolishness. One author said,
It isn’t only sin to give material things too high a place in your life – it is also stupid.
If that seems too blunt for you, stop and consider the weight of this parable. Eternity banks on it! The mistake of a lifetime is to pour our best efforts into the temporal things of this life and never think about where we will spend eternity. Jesus is giving a warning to not be foolish like this man. In a moment, this life is ended. None of us knows when that moment will be, so we must not delay considering that Christ has made the provision for us to have a relationship with Him now, and then a home with Him forever when this life is ended.
The Biggest Mistake of a Lifetime would be to pour all our time and efforts into this world and miss out on the blessing of knowing Christ, both now and after our death. The Biggest Mistake of a Lifetime is to think that accumulating more stuff and climbing higher and higher on the ladder of success is where real life is. Friend, that’s a lie from the pit of hell. Christ came to give us real life through Himself.
If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior for your sin and you’re wondering why you’re feeling empty and unsatisfied, even though you have lots of worldly possessions, it’s because your heart is craving what God created you for – a personal relationship with Him. To know Him is to truly be rich in this life and in the next.
Don’t make the biggest mistake and miss it. Just like the decorating mistake, this is fixable. Just don’t be like the man in the parable and wait too long.
If you want to read more about how to know Christ as your Savior, I invite you to go here. Feel free to email me at Refreshherblog@gmail.com. with any questions you may have.
I’m making my normal Monday post a day early just in case you’re looking for a great recipe for tomorrow!
If realizing that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day’s is stressing you because you’re wondering what to do for a special meal, I’ve got you covered! All these recipes I’m posting can be made quickly and easily! Let’s start with a scrumptious breakfast and work our way through the day, shall we?
I hope this list will help you make a plan for tomorrow. It doesn’t have to be dinner for a sweetheart! You could invite some friends over, your nieces or nephews, grandchildren or someone who is alone for the first time this year! Get creative with the love you cook up in your kitchen!
With prices on the rise, it’s pretty great to find beauty products that are both effective in use AND in price!
One product I’ve been using for a couple of years that I love is the Elf Eyebrow Pencil. I have purchased it most times at Target where it sells for $3. However, I looked on Amazon this week and found it for $2!! I like it better than many others that i tried that were more expensive. It is creamy, but stays in place. The pencil swivels up, so there’s no sharpening needed. The other end has a brow brush. It comes in a variety of shades. My choice is Blonde. This is just a great brown pencil!
The next two items are new hair products I recently picked up after Whitney told me about them. It’s great when you daughters give good suggestions, isn’t it?! I have thick hair that can lay flat without some kind of volumizing help! Herbal Essence has two products – a mousse and a hairspray that give volume.
Herbal Essence Mousse is nice and foamy – a promise of good things to come. It didn’t make my hair sticky, just more full.
The hair spray isn’t sticky, but holds things in place after I style it.
Each of these products were $2.99 at Target. WARNING – it seems, like lots of good things these days, it can be hard to find, and in some cases its price is upwards to $10! I was blessed to find several cans at my local Target store.
Don’t be fooled – good things don’t always have to cost a fortune!
What products do you love that are cost effective? I’d love to hear!
Refresh your look with these $3 products!
Refresh your heart in your church this Sunday! You need your church, and your church needs you!
I’ll never forget the sinking feeling I had one summer day some years back. I had gone out to get something out of my Jeep, and when I opened the driver’s side door there were my cassette tapes (my model was old!) strewn all over the seats of the car. My first thought was that my husband had made a mad search for something he needed. I came in and asked if he’d been looking for something in my car.
His reply was, “No, why?” After I explained what I’d found when I went out to my vehicle, it was obvious to us both that someone else had been searching through my car in the night. The thief had to be sorely disappointed, because I had nothing of value kept there, and the only tapes they found (and left) were Christian music tapes.
It gave me a truly strange feeling to know that some stranger had been rummaging through my car and my belongings, right outside my bedroom door while I slept! We learned that our neighbors had also been burglarized, some losing valuable possessions. We all began taking precautions against this happening again. I began locking my car and we left on a flood light through the night. These were things that we should have been doing all along, but instead we had left ourselves open to the thief because we thought we were safe.
I think how often I’m robbed of other things – things that I leave unprotected and unguarded, and as a result they are stolen away from me in a moment of distraction.
I’m robbed of joy when I am not walking in the Spirit due to unconfessed sin. Galatians 5:22a – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, genleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance… When we are in fellowship with God, we have ALL of these!
I’m robbed of what the Lord wants to teach me if I don’t discipline myself and make time to be in the Word. Proverbs 8:34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
I’m robbed of sweet time in my home when I choose to tear down instead of build up. Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.Proverbs 14:1
I’m robbed of peace when I don’t hide God’s Word in my heart. Psalm 119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
I have a choice now – to lock up my car and also to leave the light on in hopes of discouraging thieves, or I can leave everything as it was on the day the robbery happened. An even greater choice is the decision to lock up tight, and “leave the light on” in my spiritual life so I’ll be very aware of the thieves that desire to steal precious possessions the Lord wants me to enjoy!
Are you safeguarding against the thieves of your heart?
RefreshHer 