Sometimes trying to do the right thing can be exhausting. What do you do when you get angry responses to well-intentioned actions or words? Words that you meant to be encouraging. Or when you smile and say hello, only to be met with silence and a deadly stare. The other day at Wal-Mart, I realized the cashier had not scanned an item and just put it in my bag. I knew this because I always check my receipt, especially when they are moving really fast. I’m not trying to pay for something twice! Anyway, I got back in line and let her know the mistake. She looked at me as if I was crazy. She probably was thinking why did I stand in line again to give it back like a fool, at least that’s what her look said. Sure, it would have been easier to keep it. But easy does not make it right. I’m no saint; I fall short daily, but that day I passed that test. It doesn’t matter that the cashier did not respond the way I thought she should have, what matters is that I did the right thing. When people act that way, it makes you wonder sometimes do your well-intentioned words and actions make any difference at all.

The answer to that question is yes, it makes a difference to Jesus Christ. He desires us to do the right thing at all times, in every circumstance. God’s standard is perfection, make no mistake about that. The reality is that we are sinful. Thank God that our relationship to Him is not based on our perfection, but on Christ’s. His perfect obedience is credited to us so when God looks at us, He sees us as perfect. If we could be perfect on our own strength, Christ’s death would have been unnecessary. (1 John 2:1) We are sinners, who because of our salvation, are saved by grace. Our goal should be to pursue and strive through  the power of God’s Spirit to live up to His standards. And that is what God expect of us.

 So let’s think about that before we react with hurt or anger when people do not respond in the way we expect them too. We must remember that we won’t always see the results we desire when we say or do things in love. We may not get a thank you or any type of appreciation when we do good things. We may not get recognized or any type of award. In Galatians 6:1-10, Paul encourages us to consider our motives and test our actions for what we say and do. If we do things from the heart, then we do not expect anything in return, not even a thank you (though it would be nice), our reward comes from above. As Paul says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. We must persevere. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people.” Think about that whenever you get weary or feel unappreciated. We will get nowhere when we trust in our own abilities. But when God leads us, we only want to please Him. It is through the power of God’s Spirit that we can truly love and help our brothers and sisters, even those who seem unappreciative. Love and Blessings…

As I dig deeper into the Word and seek to know the character of God, my faith in His faithfulness has increased. I believe this peace I have now is connected to my increase in faith. I have always known who God is and believed His Word. I know that He is a God who redeems. I know that He is a God who provides. I know that He is a God who heals. I know that He is a God who restores. I know because He has been my redeemer, provider, healer and restorer. The difference now is, even if He does not do what I or this world expects Him to do in the way we expect Him to; I know He is still God. I still trust Him. And that is where my peace comes from.

 This makes me think of the story of the three Hebrew boys; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They faced death and remained committed to their God. We know that God showed up and we see His undeniable power. They stood up to King Nebuchadnezzar. These boys chose never to serve any other god except the one true God, now get this, even if God did not save them. (Daniel 3:17-18) They knew God could and they believed He would, but even if…They really had a firm foundation in their faith and their commitment to God.

 I’d like to believe I have that even if he doesn’t kind of faith. I do know for sure it’s not like it used to be, my faith was strong when God answered all my prayers. What about you? Can you say, even if He doesn’t save my marriage, even if He doesn’t give me this job, even if He doesn’t heal my child, even if I lose my loved one, whatever your even if He doesn’t might be, can you say you will still trust him and stand strong in faith? I was worried that if it came down to the fire, would I have that even if He doesn’t kind of faith. But in my studies, I have learned that if you don’t have even if He doesn’t kind of faith where you are right now, it’s ok. Daniel and his friends made a decision when they were taken captive in Babylon not to defile themselves with the rich foods of the Babylonians. (Daniel 1:8) They were committed to God, to following His ways, to living the way they had been taught from childhood. They didn’t start building an even if He doesn’t faith when they arrived in Babylon; they had been growing an even if He doesn’t faith from their childhood.

 The more we walk through the fire, the more we see His faithfulness. The more we experience His faithfulness, the more confident we become in His ability to rescue us. The more confident we become in His goodness, the more likely we are to have an even if He doesn’t faith. To have even if He doesn’t kind of faith, we must know God’s character, that He is a good Father who loves His children and does what is best. It’s a process of walking through the painful circumstances and seeing Him bring beauty from the ashes. It’s about allowing God to be God instead of expecting Him to act as we think He should. When we give our life to God; we must learn to leave the results of our lives in God’s capable hands. When we believe God is who He says He is, then we trust Him to accomplish His purposes even when they don’t make sense to us. Someone said common sense does not always work when trying to understand God; we have to use spiritual sense. I believe it means trusting in our Father’s ultimate plan. I believe the more we stay in God’s Word and the closer we get to Him; we will find ourselves learning to say, “even if He doesn’t” more often. Read today’s Scriptures in FOOD FOR THE SOUL. Love and Blessings…

 

Our love has limits but God’s love is limitless. God offers His love and forgiveness to everyone, the good, the bad, and the ugly. He offers forgiveness and love to murderers, dope addicts, child molester, rapist, etc. In our minds, we think how can God love people who do evil the same as He loves those who try to do good? After watching the movie, “The Shack”, and discussing it with my son, I prayed for more understanding of how God’s love works. How can God love and expect us to love and forgive someone who has hurt us, when they have hurt someone we love, especially our child as was the case in the movie? God is our Father. That is the answer. It’s like telling a mother whose son has committed murder not to love her child anymore. As parents we love our kids unconditionally. We may hate what they did and punish them for it, but do we love them any less? No, we forgive them and we love them just as much as before. That’s how God feels about us. We all will be held accountable for our actions, but God shows us mercy and grace every day. I for one shudder to think what would happen if He punished us for every wrong thought or action we did. Why is it that we expect God to forgive us and have compassion, but will not extend the same to our brothers and sisters? We tend to look at what others “deserve”, forgetting we need God’s love and compassion just as much as the next person. Sometimes we even go as far to ask God to punish our offenders the way we want them to be punished. What’s’ up with that? We want God to punish them but not us? God doesn’t work that way.

 I was told once that if a person stepped on my toe, I would kick them to the curb. (that’s how we said it back in the day). You know what I mean, “Boy Bye” or “By Felicia”. However you want to say it. The bottom line is you are done! It was a true statement at the time. And to think I was proud of it! I felt if you made a mistake, you didn’t deserve a second chance or my forgiveness. I had no compassion at all. That was the old me, thank God I am a new creature in Him. Earlier this year I was convicted by the Holy Spirit. I felt hurt, and I blamed the other person entirely. (although I was partly to blame). The old me kicked in and I dismissed the person, never wanting to see or hear from this person again. Even though I had accepted the apology, there was no forgiving. Wow. I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit now lives in me. Trust me when I say, He will convict you when you are wrong! He had me asking myself some hard questions. I had to look at things from the other person’s perspective. I’m telling y’all, thank God I done changed! I had to look at the person’s heart and not the actions. Isn’t that what God does for us? We all make mistakes. We should not be so quick to dismiss someone from our lives because they make one. With that being said, let me say that forgiveness does not mean letting someone keep stepping on all your toes before you say ouch. Sometimes enough is enough! Forgiveness does not mean forgetting when someone continues to hurt you. Pray about it. Listen to God. He will let you know when to forgive and go on and when to forgive and let go. There really are times when we do have to say “bye boy” or “bye Felicia”. I’m just saying.

Anyway, I passed my forgiveness test and I am so grateful that God loves us where we are, but I am more grateful that He does not leave us there. Scripture says He does not want anyone to perish. That is why He is patient with us. Unfortunately not everyone will be saved, because not everyone wants to be saved. There will be murderers and criminals in Heaven, only because they repented and asked God to forgive them for their crimes. And they accepted Christ into their hearts. There will be those who here on earth went to church every Sunday and did good works, but may not be in Heaven. Why, because it was all a show for this world and they did not in their hearts accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Sadly some feel they do not have to repent for what they call “small sins.” In God’s eyes there are no big and little sins. Big or small, He hates the sin but loves the sinner. In God’s eyes, disobedience is disobedience. What the sin was is irrelevant to God. We as humans get hung up on that. He can love and forgive the serial killer as well as someone who stole a piece of candy, if they truly repent. So Yes, God does love everyone, even murderers. It is the sins and the actions of the person that God does not love. Before Paul became a Christian he was persecuting Christians and doing horrible things to them but God loved him still and forgave him. (Galatians 1:13). God turned this man from a killer of Christians into a lover of Christ and His people. Don’t take my word for it, read the Bible for yourself. Moses was a murderer, Mary Magdalene was a prostitute, Peter betrayed Christ, and David committed adultery. But I believe they’ll all be in Heaven. We may not have done any of those sins, but we sin. Thank God we are not judged according to our own actions (or we ALL would be in trouble). Please read today’s Scriptures. If we try to live by His Word daily, it will help us to love one another, not to be quick to judge, and to forgive as God forgives us. Love and Blessings…

 

 We all play the “what if” game at times. We wonder how things could have been. We sometimes can’t help but imagine what might have been. Only If I had not been there, done that. What if I had not said that or reacted that way? The fact is we can’t rewrite history (although some people try). I try not to dwell on the what if’s but the other day I was thinking, what if my spiritual foundation had been where it is now two years ago. Would I still have ended up in the wilderness? Only God knows for sure. I believe that the storms in life can make us stronger. My mom use to say if it doesn’t kill you, if you survive, you will come out stronger. I also would like to believe if I had the faith I have now, the spiritual foundation, things may have been different. At least as far as how I handled being in the wilderness. I know now God wanted me there so He could work on me. Nothing I could have done about that. However, my “what if” was more about how I handled being in the wilderness. For instance, If I had not fought so hard to keep what God wanted to take away or if I had not been so prideful that I refused to ask for help, even from God. I told you I thought I was superwoman. What if I had not fell apart when the doctors diagnosed me and said I could not go back to work? When my life as I knew it fell apart, so did I. But now I believe my life belongs to God, so nothing or no one on this earth can destroy me. I can honestly say this because I have had trails and storms since the wilderness experience. They come with life. But because I now live for eternity and not for what is temporary, I can look at the enemy and say, is that all you got? You better get behind me satan and I mean it! It’s all because my spiritual roots have deepened, they are not just surface only. If our spiritual roots are surface only, then the storms of life will easily defeat us, but if we grow an extensive root system, complete with a deeply placed foundation, then we will be able to withstand the storms of life without losing our footing. We might bend but we won’t break! In order to have that strong root system, we must continually nourish our lives with prayer, Bible study and meditation. We must give our life to Christ and have faith that He is our Savior. He is greater than any situation or circumstance. Everything good comes from God. Anything else, whether He allows it or places us there for His reasons, we must know God’s plan is going to be fulfilled regardless and it’s for our good. Our job is to take constant steps towards deeper root growth, a solid foundation and a relationship with Christ. Then when we encounter storms we will neither fear nor worry. What if the world lived by this concept? Love and Blessings….

 

There have been times in my life I could really stink, wait, let me clarify that, my attitude did not give off the aroma of Christ! I probably could come up with quite a few examples but I’ll give you just one. I am ashamed to say I was egotistical. Back in the day as they say, I was self-centered, proud and arrogant. In other words I had the “it’s all about me” syndrome. Even though I felt like I was a nice person, that mind-set showed up sometimes in my attitude. Your attitude will determine how you relate to those around you. Some people may have seen it and others may not have. But God did! And during my time in the wilderness, God taught me nothing is about me, it’s all about Him! When the attitude we possess places others first and we see people as important, our perspective will reflect their viewpoint as well as ours.

Your attitude determines how you smell to God. Are you self-centered, proud, or arrogant as I was? Are those around you drawn to Him as a result of the love and peace you display? Do your conversations constantly honor God, represent the fruit of the Spirit, and eject the fragrance of life…or are they sometimes laced with bitterness, resentment, anger, complaining, and gossip?  Imagine what message it sends to our families, children, friends, neighbors, and co-workers, when we intentionally misrepresent Christ. And that’s exactly what we are doing when we have nasty smelly attitudes and claim to represent God, our attitude deform the face of Christianity. Anytime negative thoughts or behavior creep into our thoughts, conversations or behavior, we must reject them and pray to God for a clean heart. Does your attitude give off an aroma of Christ? Everyone needs an attitude adjustment now and then. I made a list of attitude adjustments I need to work on. I am a work in progress, as we all are. Right now I am working on taking captive of my thoughts before they come out of my mouth. In doing this I find I am inclined to speak the best, not the worst, to speak of beauty and not the ugly and to praise and not curse. I’m working on my attitude because I want to smell good to God all the time, not just sometimes. I realize I can’t do it alone. We must spend time in prayer asking God to reveal areas in our life that does not smell as they should. Please read today’s scriptures. Love and Blessings…

 

This past Sunday I visited an amazing church in Charlotte, NC. The visitors are given a choice of gifts to choose from. I selected this little book called “Confession BRINGS Possession” by Dr. Norvel Hayes. This book of about 44 pages blessed me tremendously. I read it several times and each time the Lord spoke to me and led me to a Scripture. I believe it was not an accident that I selected this book. It clarified a lot of things for me. It also prompted me to dig deeper into the Word about some things I had been struggling with. Is Isaiah 53:5 a promise that God will heal everyone? Why is it that some people are healed and some are not? Why did God not heal me completely? These are some of the questions I struggled with. I believe in miracles. I look at myself in the mirror everyday and say hey Ms. Miracle. I claim healing everyday no matter how I am feeling or what it looks like. But I still had these questions. This book is about how we as Christians should talk. The author talks about the promises that belong to us. It is our choice to receive them or not. For instance, one of the promises is that we are healed in Jesus name. According to Dr. Hayes the key is learning how to talk. God’s Word says “whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed.”(Mark 11:23). So this is where my questions come in. We know the adage, name it, claim it, believe it, and then it is yours. I love saying it because it sounds good. It’s positive and I honestly believe it. But how about the times when we name it and claim it and we don’t receive?  I understand why some things we name and claim, God does not give us. We have a tendency to want things that are not good for us and God loves us to much to give those things to us. I get that.  But what about healing? The Word says Jesus suffered and died so that we would live and be healed. Dr. Hayes says, “It is because we want to talk to God about our mountains instead of talking to the mountain as the Scripture states. He states that, “God doesn’t have anything to do with our diseases, anything that comes to bring harm, does not come from God. The devil will always tell you that God just did not want to heal you. You can’t leave any loopholes for the devil to add “if’s” and “but’s” and “maybe’s”. You have to either believe it or don’t, there is no in between.” I believe all of that. Mark 11:23 does state “you say to the mountain, not tell him about the mountain”. However, if God says the promises are ours, why don’t we have all of them? According to Dr. Hayes the key is to continually say these things with your mouth. Continue to speak into existence what you need and have conversations with your afflictions and diseases. I believe this because God has already healed us. Jesus has the stripes on His back to prove He paid the price. Dr Hayes points out it is up to us to accept Jesus as the Healer. Anything that is wrong with us is our mountain. Talk to it! Let it know that it is not welcome! I’m getting excited just typing what was in this little book! But when I told you this book blessed me, it was not because it spoke these things that I already knew and believed. It is because it prompted me to dig deeper into God’s Word. Although I am in agreement with Dr. Hayes, I still had questions. There is nothing like studying the Word of God for yourself! I have learned from my son and the Holy Spirit that unless you understand the context of a Scripture, we risk taking it out of context. Context is sovereign and no single verse should stand alone for a doctrinal belief. The spirit took me back to Isaiah 53:5. If we don’t understand Isaiah 53:5 in its proper context, we can become very disappointed and disillusioned about God. I doubt Isaiah would be pleased if all we use was Isaiah 53:5 and claim this as a promise that God will heal us, but then leave out the entire implications of this chapter! When we do this, we become confused when we are not healed. We feel it was either our lack of faith or that God didn’t hear or has abandoned us. Paul prayed three times for healing, but God told him it was in order to keep him humble and dependent upon God. Timothy had stomach problems and frequent ailments so why didn’t Paul just lay hands on him and pray for him to be healed? When Epaphroditus was ill, near to death, why didn’t Paul just claim “by His stripes, you are healed?  Probably because Paul knew the context of that particular verse. We must take the whole Word to get the whole counsel of God, and that means the entire chapter, and sometimes, the entire book must be read to understand the context of a single verse. We can be healed, but it must be the will of God. We’re told to pray for God’s will on earth as it is done in heaven, and so we must trust God’s will, even if it means we’re not healed in this life or the way we expected the healing. The most important healing is our spiritual healing where we finally have peace with God and because of Jesus, there is no more condemnation. We can be healed, but we will only die again, but whoever believes in Jesus Christ, even if they die, they will live again. Thank you Jesus! So yes, I am going to keep naming and claiming it. I am going to speak to the mountains and curse the roots. I am going to thank God for my healing and I am going to worship Him. I am going to study His Word and learn how I can please Him. Because live or die, healed or not in this life, I will have victory and will live the abundant life that God has promised me! I know this is a long one, but led by the Holy Spirit. Please take time to read today’s scriptures. They will bless you. Love and Blessings…

 

 

 

I love hot sauce. I have food with my hot sauce instead of hot sauce with my food. Don’t judge me. When I Googled “is hot sauce good for you”, I came up with a variety of results, some good, some bad. You can do the same with about any food product. And it’s not just Google; we can ask our friends and family for advice and get a different answer from each of them.  Each person has his own point of view and his own different perceptions about things. Even the “experts” tend to disagree or change their position based on their facts. And after my experience with doctors, I am a firm believer in getting second, sometimes third opinions. As a matter of fact, what is good for you depends on who you ask. Google is helpful but sometimes it can be confusing with so many conflicting answers. Google is informative but God knows everything. And God’s Word is one-hundred percent good for us all the time. God knows exactly what and who is good for us. Sometimes we get impatient waiting for an answer from God. But if we wait, He will give us exactly what we need, and who we need, at the time we need it. God knows what we need before we ask, and He has seen fit to make provisions for us before we could even think to ask. If you are seeking to build a relationship with God, His Word can keep you pure. His Word will bless you. God’s Word will protect you and give you wisdom. The Word will give you peace and comfort you. It helps you grow spiritually. God is so good to us. He left us with a guide that helps us see how to develop our relationship with Him. The Word clearly answers our questions on how to live in a world full of choices. God tells us in Scripture what’s good for us. Unlike Google, we don’t have to be confused when we read it, we can pray and ask our Father to help us interpret it correctly, and apply it sincerely in our lives. Please read today’ Scriptures in Food for the Soul and see how good the Word is for you. Love and Blessings…

 

 

We hurt when fake friends disappoint us, talk behind our backs, mistreat us, and are not there for us when we really need them. The way the world is today we kind of expect this behavior. Nevertheless, it still hurts and the hurt is more so when this behavior comes from our brothers and sisters in Christ. When someone in your family does something to hurt you, it is more profound than if it was done by a neighbor or a friend. The same is true with our spiritual brothers and sisters. We are family. We are supposed to love each other as our Father loves us. Are our expectations even realistic? Yes they are because this is what our Father ask of us. However our sinful nature, the human in us  sometimes causes us to  hurt one another, be it intentionally or unintentionally, the hurt is real.  So what do we do? We have to realize that not all who profess to be Christians really belong to Christ. Jesus warned in his parable of the wheat and the tares that there would be false believers in the world, sown by the enemy satan, whose aim is to cripple the testimony of Christians so that our witness would be compromised. I know this to be true especially since I chose to follow Christ. The enemy is always using someone to try to snatch me out of my character. I’m not going to lie, the struggle is real! But I try to remember  that as hurt and mistreated as Jesus was, he never let them snatch Him out of His character. I honestly believe as Joyce Myers likes to say that God sometimes put “sandpaper people” (difficult people) in our lives for a reason. These are the people who are hard to love, they are also people who the enemy uses to hurt others. How we react to these people is what builds our Christlike character. Jesus Christ is a great example of how to respond when we are hurt. The Bible also gives us specific instructions on how to behave when we are hurt. The first response should be prayer. Psalm 50:15 says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble.” That is true for hurt as well as it does any other trouble. If you talk to God, He can give you the very words to say to your offender and He can bring conviction to that person’s heart when you approach them with a spirit of humility. Sometimes the Lord will deal with the offender directly and anything we say or do would just make matters worse. I know “Let go and let God” may seem like a cliché but He can always fix things better than we can. He can also comfort us and heal our hurt. Most important is that we have to forgive. When I think about the suffering and misery I put on myself just because I had been hurt and I did not know how to forgive. I cried many sleepless nights. I was angry and resentful. I wanted the people I loved to hurt as I was hurting. Hurt people hurt people. And then one night the Lord spoke to me during my pity party. He let me know that He had given me an assignment, and when He does that He uses all parties involved so that His purpose will be done. Sometimes, as He did with Pharaoh, He will harden hearts. (Exodus 9:12). It really doesn’t matter how wrong you think your offender is, you have to forgive. The healing process only began when I realized that. Forgiveness is for you, not the other person. Forgiveness and healing is a process and sometimes a slow one. But to be free from hurt, you have to start the process. This is God’s way. We hurt Him when we are disobedient. We hurt Him when we hurt each other. But He forgives us every day, all day. Love and Blessings…

 

When we have challenges, sometime it requires more than a personal desire or goal, we have to be driven by the desire to be obedient to God, knowing that He appointed us the assignment and there is no way we can fail. And God blesses us for our obedience. We are thankful for our blessings and everybody is happy for us, right? Wrong. Some people are upset at what God does for you. There are times when God blesses you, relationships are lost. Some people have the spirit of Cain; they hate the fact that you have favor with God. You have to be aware because sometimes the very ones that you think have your back are waiting to stab you in it. It is not your enemies you have to worry about, your enemies cannot harm you because you keep them at a distance. Everybody will not celebrate your successes with you. They can’t be glad for you because somehow they feel your success came at their expense. That should have been their job, their house, their husband. They irrationally believe that you have their blessing. A jealous heart, which is not of God, can be the beginning of betrayal. They don’t get that success is success only because it relates to struggle. How can you have victory without conflict? Success is the reward that God gives to the diligent, who through perseverance and patience obtained the promise.  There is no way to receive what God has for your life without fighting the obstacles and challenges that block your way to victory. One thing I have learned is that there is no way to reach the goal without going through the struggle. I use to look at people and wonder how it felt to be where they were, now I look at people and I wonder what they had to go through to get where they are. What did they have to give up? How many relationships did they lose? Everyone can’t go where God is taking you. Your struggle helps you to appreciate the blessings when they come. But some people don’t want to know your story or what price you have paid to get where you are. They just want what you have. When I speak of successes, I’m not just talking monetarily; sometimes people can’t understand why you have the blessings of peace and joy. These are gifts from God. Unfortunately sometimes those who are closest to you will try to steal them from you. I think about Jesus sitting at the table with Judas. He had no problem discerning who would betray him with a kiss. Don’t beat yourself up if you didn’t see the betrayal coming. Sometimes a good heart does not see the bad. We have to pray for discernment. When God blesses us, we must keep our eyes on the Giver, not the gift. Because the Giver will protect us from those who mean us harm and will sometimes remove them from our lives. And if He does remove them, we must not try to keep them or let them back in! Even people who betray us is a part of God’s plan. Jesus would not have made it to the cross without Judas. God will place people in our life and He will remove them, and there is always a reason for both. We serve an intentional God. What God has for us is for us and no one can take it away unless we let them. Guard your heart. It is easy for us to fall into jealousy in our society and become a Judas. But, it is important for us to realize what is most important in our lives and what matters most. We should encourage one another and rejoice at others blessing. We must pray that the Lord will help us to keep our eyes on Him; people change, things change, but God will forever stay the same. Love and Blessings…

 

 

I remember my mother would say always start something the way you want to finish it. She would say you can’t start on shaky ground and expect to end on solid ground and even if it does get shaky, it won’t collapse when you start on solid ground. She was talking about relationships. At the time I didn’t get it, but now it makes sense. And not just relationships, it applies to all areas in our lives. The foundation matters! Especially when it comes to our faith. You don’t build a house and hope when the storm comes it will not fall, you build the house to withstand the storms. The same applies to our faith. Jesus Christ frequently illustrated His teachings with parables. Jesus described two men who each built a house (Matthew 7:24-27). Jesus said one man was wise and the other was foolish. The man who made the better decision about where to build was a wise builder because he chose the rock as his foundation. I’m sure it was a challenge to build on rocky ground. It probably took some time, patience and hard work. But the wise man believed it would be worth the effort. On the other hand, the foolish builder didn’t consider the foundation to be important. He may have thought it would take too long and building on the sandy soil would be easier. When a storm came, the house built into the rock survived the downpour, but the house on the sand was destroyed. Jesus stated, “And great was its fall.” Jesus was illustrating that we can live wisely or foolishly. It all depends on where we lay our foundation. It is important to build our spiritual foundation as well as our physical. Jesus said that if we obey His word and follow Him, we will be like the wise builder. His teachings are sound principles about how to live successfully. We will be unshakable! If our foundation is weak we can’t survive. Our only hope is in our Lord and Savior. We know that the Lord is not only our redeemer, but in Him we have a rock-solid foundation. He is our rock! Our foundation is strong when we know Jesus and stand on His Word. No weapon formed against us will prosper. The world may be sinking, but we won’t sink when we stand on the solid rock, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Following Jesus provides a solid foundation for our lives, our families, our friendships, our associations and our future. When we build a relationship with Jesus; we will come through the storms of life, the trials and difficulties that are part of life. Love and Blessings…