divinedesign.me

We all have and hold values, beliefs and attitudes.  Are those values, beliefs and attitudes held to protect us or hinder us?  Are they fortresses or prisons?   The thought came to my attention one day as I was reading scripture.  "And they were prepared that they could cast stones from the top thereof, according to their pleasure and their strength, and slay him who should attempt to approach near the walls of the city."  Alma 50:5 "Now is the time to do it, while the Lord is blessing us with peace because of our obedience to him, he told his people, "Let us build and fortify cities now, with walls, towers, gates and bars."  II Chronicles 14, 7-8 Recently I have been thrown into the wilderness.   I am in new territory.   I have values, beliefs and attitudes that are being challenged.   How do I know which values, attitudes and beliefs to hang on to and which ones to let go of?  Are they prisons or fortress...

I was a culinary teacher once.  I wanted to teach my students how to covert recipes.   I found a recipe in a notebook for chocolate chip cookies that already had a column on both sides of the recipe for converting purposes.   The recipe on the paper made 3 dozen cookies so I wanted my students to convert the recipe down to 1 1/2 dozen and then up to 6 dozen as we were going to bake them on Friday for an event on Saturday.   We baked over 150 cookies.   I noticed after the first batch we made that they did not seem to settle flat after cooked.   We rolled them up into balls (like you do for chocolate chip cookies), placed them on the pan, baked for 8 minutes, let them cool.  But for some reason they stayed in the shape of balls.   They also tasted a little bit sweet and a little bit salty.   I couldn't figure out what I did wrong?   I asked a former culinary teacher what the problem could be ...

We are in a time of uncertainty. We are blaming all kinds of things including people, sins, and even God. I was praying this morning.  "If you have placed this pandemic on us why would you do such a thing?  I know you have done things like this before, is it because of sin this time?" I was led to Galatians... We are not under attack because of sin but because we lack faith in him. We do not acknowledge Him and believe in the one he has sent. When we do not believe in Jesus Christ we are under the curse of the law.   I know many people who would blame this pandemic on lots of issues like sexual immortality, greed, impurity, idolatry, etc.  But God showed me this morning that it has nothing to do with those things, but everything to do with not acknowledging that we have a Savior!   His name is Jesus Christ!   Galatians 3:13:  But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. Galatians 3:10:  But those who d...

The Wind.  The Sand.  The Ocean. The Wind.  It was coming from the north.  I set up my chair so I could feel the wind in my face.  I was not facing the ocean.  Several songs remind me that God’s love is like an ocean.  As I was sitting there with the ocean at my back and the wind in my face I realized that I do life like that.  God’s love is right there behind me but I’m facing the wind instead because it feels better.  God’s love is big, overwhelming and deep.  The breeze had ceased to caress my face, my skin was hot to the touch, sweat was dripping down the sides of my face.  I took my glasses off and set them on top of the bag beside me, carefully took off my watch and placed on the table that had my SPF on it. The Sand.  My feet were warm.  I stood up feeling kind of light headed.  I looked out at the ocean in front of me.  I took a step and sand wrapped around my toes, then another step, the sand ...

On a baseball team you have several positions.  The catcher, pitcher, short stop, first baseman, left fielder, center fielder, etc.  Which one of these positions is most important?  Is it where the ball tends most to be hit?  Is it the pitcher?  Is it the catcher?  Or are they all important in their own right and when all players are at their best they make up a great team? My family and I live in the panhandle of Florida.  We were majorly affected by Hurricane Michael last year on October 10th.  I got involved in what they call a second disaster.   Which is basically a disaster that ensues because good people want to help but don’t know what to do so they just send items to the place that has been devastated without going through the right channels.  So, what happens is all of these donations (food, bottled water, canned goods, clothing, etc.) come in with no hands to help sort them and get them to the people that need them....

(I'd like for you to read this story but if you'd rather watch a video instead, click on this link) I’m sitting here watching the waves hit the shore, watching the sunrise clothe the clouds with various color hues of light pinks, blues and purples.  My mind goes to that famous story of Jesus walking on the water and I am amazed that he was able to do this and that his companion Peter was also able to have enough faith when looking into his Master’s eyes to step out of the boat... All of a sudden I see a swarm of seagulls gathering about over the water.  They are so beautiful, flapping their wings.  They almost look like they are swarming in a figure 8 pattern.  I’m enjoying the beauty of it and thanking my Heavenly Father for this beautiful morning when my thought begins to wonder, why they are flying this way?  I look around and realize there is something in the ocean down below that they seemed to be concerned about.  Is it a fish?  A shark?...