I asked God, "How can I bless Your Heart today?"

In my spirit I heard Him say - "Praise Me."

Today, I'm reading about "Hardening of a Heart"...

Spiritual hardening begins with self-sufficiency, security in one's self, and self-satisfaction. The real danger is that at some point, repeated resistance to God will yield an actual inability to respond, which the Bible describes as a hardened heart. Insensitivity indicates advanced hardening.


"To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge, But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them." Matthew 13:12


~ Refusing to listen causes hardening of heart. When people reject Jesus, their hardness of heart drives away any understanding they may have.

He is Risen!!

When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a white robe sitting on the right side. The women were shocked, but the angel said, "Don't be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn't here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body. Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee. You will see him there, just as he told you before he died."

The women fled from the tomb, trembling and bewildered, and they said nothing to anyone because they were too frightened.


[Shorter ending of Mark]

Then they briefly reported all this to Peter and his companions. Afterward Jesus himself sent them out from east to west with the sacred and unfailing message of salvation that gives eternal life. Amen.


[Longer ending of Mark]

After Jesus rose from the dead early on Sunday morning, the first person who saw him was Mary Magdalene, the woman from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went to the disciples, who were grieving and weeping, and told them what had happened. But when she told them that Jesus was alive and she had seen him, they didn't believe her.

Afterward he appeared in a different form to two of his followers who were walking from Jerusalem into the country. They rushed back to tell the others, but no one believed them.

Still later he appeared to the eleven disciples as they were eating together. He rebuked them for their stubborn unbelief because they refused to believe those who had seen him after he had been raised from the dead.

And then he told them, "Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned. These miraculous signs will accompany those who believe: they will cast out demons in my name, and they will speak in new languages. They will be able to handle snakes with safety, and if they drink anything poisonous, it won't hurt them. They will be able to place their hands on the sick, and they will be healed."

When the Lord Jesus had finished talking with them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down in the place of honor at God's right hand. And the disciples went everywhere and preached, and the Lord worked through them, confirming what they said by many miraculous signs. Mark 16: 5-20

Last night I turned to this Psalm...

the words David cried are identical to the way I was feeling last night. With nobody to comfort me in my time of need... God came through AGAIN (for the gazillionth time!)

David cried out until he was physically exhausted, with a parched throat and eyes swollen from weeping... boy, does that sound familiar! Yet he still trusted God to save him. When we are absolutely devastated by tragedy, we need not collapse or despair because we can turn to our Father for help. Yeah, the tears most probably will come, but we have to believe we won't be crying in vain.


Save me, O God, for the floodwaters are up to my neck.
Deeper and deeper I sink into the mire;
I can't find a foothold.
I am in deep water,
and the floods overwhelm me.

I am exhausted from crying for help;
my throat is parched.
My eyes are swollen with weeping,
waiting for my God to help me. Psalm 69: 1-3

But I keep praying to you,
Lord, hoping this time you will show me favor.
In your unfailing love,
O God, answer my prayer with your sure salvation.
Rescue me from the mud; don't let me sink any deeper!

Don't let the floods overwhelm me,
or the deep waters swallow me,
or the pit of death devour me.

Answer my prayers, o Lord,
for your unfailing love is wonderful.
Take care of me,
for your mercy is so plentiful.
Don't hide from your servant;
answer me quickly, for I am in deep trouble!
Come and redeem me;
free me from my enemies. Psalm 69: 13-18

I want to remind you...

of God's protection in the midst of danger. He doesn't promise us a world free from dangers, but He does promise His help whenever we face danger. I know someone needs to be reminded of this today ...


Those who live in the secret place of the Most High, will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.
For he will rescue you from every trap
and protect you from deadly disease.
He will cover you with his feathers.
He will shelter you with his wings.
His faithful promises are your armor and protection.

Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night,
nor the arrow that flies in the day.
Do not dread the disease that stalks in darkness,
nor the disaster that strikes at midday.
Though a thousand fall at your side,
though ten thousand are dying around you,
these evils will not touch you.
Just open your eyes, and see how the wicked are punished.

If you make the Lord your refuge,
if you make the Most High your shelter,
no evil will conquer you; (not ever affect you)
no plague will come near your home.
For he will order his angels to protect you wherever you go.
The will hold you up with their hands
so you won't even hurt your foot on a stone.
You will trample upon lions and cobras;
you will crush fierce lions and serpents under your feet!

The Lord says, "I will rescue those who love me. I will protect those who trust in my name.
When they call on me, I will answer;
I will be with them in trouble.
I will rescue and honor them.
I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation." Psalm 91


Look again at that last verse... "I will reward them with a long life and give them my salvation." Hallelujah! He sent us Christ, our Savior! Your faith, in God as your protector, will carry you through the ups and downs of life. But here's the condition... "Those who live in the secret place of the Most High, will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty." In other words, we will be kept safe only when we give our daily devotion to Him! Even as many bad things happen all around us, we can take comfort God watches over us in times of great fear and overwhelming stress.

If This Isn't Comfort...

then I don't know what comfort is!


"If you love me, obey my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn't looking for him and doesn't recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. No, I will not leave you as orphans--I will come to you. Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Since I live, you will also live.

When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them." John 14: 15-21


How awesome! What a miracle! We are NEVER ALONE. When Jesus said, "I will come to you," He meant it. What a gift!

What About You?

"What About You?" is a post of mine that is featured today on Kent Robson's blog, eSentialz jazzed 4 Life. I am one of the Contributing Writers for eSentialz, and the theme for March is "struggle." This piece is a small window into one of my struggles. I hope to see you over there, and I hope you have a great day!

God Forgives the Repentant...

God says, "Rebuild the road!
Clear away the rocks and stones
so my people can return from captivity."
The high and lofty one who lives in eternity,
the Holy One, says this:
"I live in the high and holy place
with those whose spirits are contrite and humble.
I restore the crushed spirit of the humble
and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.

I will comfort those who mourn,
bringing words of praise to their lips.
May they have abundant peace, both near and far,"
says the Lord, who heals them.

"But those who still reject me are like the restless sea,
which is never still
but continually churns up mud and dirt.
There is no peace for the wicked,"
says my God. Isaiah 57: 14-15, 19-21


I was planning on writing something different... something I thought was good. But again my God broke through my agenda, and as I was reading that God said He would comfort those who mourn and bring praise to their lips... I got teary eyed, and I immediately saw this is exactly what happened to me!! God did exactly what He said He would do!! Friends, that was a God encounter... an encounter with the complete truth of His Word!! It's a Living Word! I am in awe. How great is our God?

Have I recently told you (my readers) how much I love and appreciate you? I don't think I have, but I do... love and appreciate you! Have a great weekend!



Also, Michael and I are moving. The move in day is April 9th. A good thing about moving is you get to go through things and get rid of a lot of junk (or things cluttering your life - and we, have a lot of it!). So things may or may not be slower than usual here in Blogland:)

I'm looking at the Verse of the Day...

“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.” (Job 23:10-11)

Amen !Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen !Amen!  

Earlier in Chapter 22 of Job, Eliphaz (one of Jobs so-called buddies) had tried to condemn Job by identifying some secret sin that he may have committed.  But this verse declares Job's confidence in his integrity and in God's justice.

Even today, there are some self-righteous people who really and truly think adversity and suffering is a result of God "picking on people" by punishing them for their sins.  I'll go as far as saying I've even heard people (Christians, actually) quickly dismiss the possibility of any suffering or adversity ever coming from God... claiming "God is a good God, He would never ordain anything as bad as a disease or anything that would make one suffer."  Bad things always seemed to get blamed on the devil!

God is good, no doubt about that, but we live in a fallen world where things are far from perfect.  Every spiritual giant we read about in the Bible has been through some sort of adversity.  Bottom line is... adversity is God's training ground!  Read the Bible!  Most see the blessing, but tend to glaze over the tears and fears.  They see the glory, but don't know the story... and there's always a story!  

I'll get off my soapbox now:)