Good morning ya’ll ministry messages

“I have set the Lord continually before me.” Psalm 16:3
Good morning ya’ll. I pray that you have a truly blessed day today. “The cross before me the world behind me” These are the words from one of my favorite songs that we sing at church, “Christ is enough for me”. How quickly we all forget. I was thinking yesterday about shows I have seen with people and families, who have taken to “living off grid”. Essentially living where there is little to no common comforts, no electricity, no gas, no cable television, no nearby grocery stores. They have found and mastered the art of living simply and most of all in trusting in God to supply their needs. I am not suggesting that the only right way for us to live is by “living off grid” (even though sometimes I have to admit it seems like a genius idea). When we set God before our eyes continually, when we really take the time to stand in awe of His true greatness-He created the universe and all that is in it and He controls it all-we can remember that All of our lives, every tiny, minute detail, is in His flawless hands. He never fails, never makes a mistake and He is never wrong. Setting God always before our eyes will help us to keep our perspective rooted in His truth, His power and His greatness, thereby taking and keeping our eyes off of the problems we are facing and seeing beyond our problems to a God who is so much bigger than our problems. When we find ourselves becoming mired down and feeling hopeless staring at and dwelling on our problems let us remember to look up. That is where our hope, our healing and our strength will come from. Look up and know that God is always with you and He can work out all of our worries, fears, doubts, and concerns better than we can. Keep the cross in front of you, keep God in front of you, and keep moving forward with renewed spirit and faith trusting that God is working all things out for your good always!
Have a spectacular day today.
Love San 😄

Good morning ya’ll ministry messages

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.” Isaiah 40:31
Good morning ya’ll. I pray that you have an amazing day today. Last night I was watching this absolutely adorable video of a baby panda trying to escape it’s wooden enclosure. Each time this sweet, determined little panda would make it nearly over to the other side of the enclosure looking like freedom was inevitable and each time the panda was so close the care taker would come by and effortlessly put the panda right back into the enclosure. Not the least bit discouraged, however, the panda once again would go back and try to climb over to escape its enclosure. Have you ever felt like that baby panda? Like you have been trying and trying and trying to be successful at something or you have been trying so hard to accomplish something and you get so close only to be pushed effortlessly back to square one by life. 😕
Isaiah 40:31 gives us the renewing confidence to keep on trying, because if it is what God wants us to do He will provide us renewed strength, hope, courage and determination no matter how many setbacks life may hand us. If you are anything like me you know that God has created you with specific special gifts which He is calling you to use, only despite your best efforts (ok so sometimes they aren’t my very best efforts, sometimes they’re more like feeble attempts) you just aren’t finding yourself successful. This can leave you feeling deflated, hopeless, and discouraged, “but take heart” God says, “for I Am the great I Am and no matter how many times life may place you right back into the enclosure that you nearly escaped, I will renew your strength to the point that one day you will soar like the wings of the eagle. That is who I Am and that is who you are in Me and I in you.”
Have faith! You’ve got this!
Have a fantastic day today.
Love San 🤗

Good morning ya’ll ministry messages

(Photo courtesy of Natalie Kroll)

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and prayers.” Acts 2:42
Good morning ya’ll. I pray that you have a wonderful day today. What would the world look like if we all truly devoted ourselves? What would our lives truly convey if our hearts were completely devoted to Jesus and to our Heavenly Father through the brilliant days and through the stormy ones. I love the song sung by Louis Armstrong, “And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.” I love the way that his vision of God’s beautiful world goes beyond what kind of buildings stood on the green, green grass or what kind of clouds were gathering in the distance of the skies of blue. When we choose to devote ourselves truly to God, to Jesus and to sharing His goodness and love with every one, we begin to see the beauty even beyond the imperfections, that’s because we are now seeing the world through the eyes of God’s love. The definition of the word devoted means “to continue to do something with intense effort despite possible difficulty and/or opposition.” Being devoted to following Christ is sometimes going to bring us up against difficulties and oppositions, both from the world and from within ourselves, but it’s our unwaivering Heavenly Father who, when we call out to Him, will help us to remain devoted to living our Christ centered lives even when we feel like the world isn’t presenting us with beauty. Let’s make a promise today, to God and to ourselves, to remain devoted to following His good purpose and calling for us everyday, beautiful days and ugly days alike. For after all if not for Christ’s devotion to God and to us, on the saddest day that we know, where would we be?
Have a spectacular day today.
Love San 😄

Good morning ya’ll ministry messages

“In the last days, God says, I will pour out My spirit on all people.” Acts 2:17
Good morning ya’ll. I pray that you have a magnificent day today. What an awesome and amazing scripture. To tell us that God will “pour out” His Spirit on all of us. All! Of! Us! He’s making no exceptions to this statement. No disclaimers are hidden within this statement to say, “I will pour out my Spirit on only the rich people or on only the straight people or only upon the people who live in this country and in this specific time zone.” God says that He will pour His spirit out among ALL. That includes each and everyone of us. This means that we matter. What we do, how we live and what we say, all of this matters. Not only because as followers of Christ we are charged with helping to lead others to follow Jesus as well, but because God wants to pour out His Holy Spirit upon us to help us to lead others to Him and to Jesus. We are called to be “fishers of men” just as the apostles were, but like the apostles after Jesus was taken up to Heaven, we need to be filled with God’s Holy Spirit. We were not meant to take on this role of leading others to Christ by our own strength alone. We are supposed to ask God for His help. Just like in the children’s Sunday school song “Jesus loves me”- “we are weak, but He is strong.” This world can quickly grasp us and wear us out especially as we are trying to do good. Let’s not try to do this alone. We have one another which God gave us to help support one another as we live our lives to serve God. And we have God’s Holy Spirit which all we need to do is ask God for and He will gladly send His Spirit to fill us without hesitation so that we can be the disciples in this world that God truly calls us to be.
Have a great day.
Love San 😊

Good morning ya’ll ministry messages

“This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.” Psalm 118: 23
Good morning ya’ll. I pray that you have a fantastic day today. Can I tell you that this scripture God sent to me on the back of a dump truck. How awesome is that? To know that God can even speak to us from the back of a dump truck. And when I read this scripture it’s just that idea that comes to mind-being thankful for the smallest of blessings. Many who know me know that I have a Facebook account, but I rarely post a thing. I really have little time to do so, but I do take great delight in seeing the biggest and smallest of simple joys in my friends posts. From sweet fur babies to sweet, happy babies; from graduation and babies on the way announcements to “we finally took a vacation” announcements, it makes my heart smile to see so many of my friends happy, healthy, filled with joy and celebrating the smallest of gifts so mindful that even the tiniest gifts can be our greatest blessings. From my family all healthy, happy, blessed and at peace to my children safe, growing up with God and making good choices; from a comfy, warm place to lay my head every night to a safe place to call home; from a grey misty morning drive into work to the brightest, sunny day, I am grateful and so thankful for all of My blessings big and small. For each and every blessing was sent from God and each and every blessing to me is absolutely “marvelous in my eyes” everyday and always. Let us count our many blessings big and small today and every day. For God has given them all with love.
Have a terrific day today.
Love San 🤗

Good morning ya’ll ministry messages

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…” Matthew 28:19
Good morning ya’ll. I pray that you have a fantastic day today. I’ve heard the pastor of my church say many times, “if you see the word therefore, it’s there for a reason.” This particular therefore is there for us. Jesus was sent here to shed a new light on who God is and on just how great His love for us is. Jesus could have easily have done all of these things He was sent to do all by himself, but He knew the value of support and friendship and He knew that in gathering His disciples He was creating the movement that was to be known as Christianity. For without these men (and women) the lessons Jesus came to teach and share with so many would have died with Jesus on the cross. Instead Jesus gathered His disciples and when it was time for Him to return to Heaven, He knew that it was time to turn His faithful followers into the wise and faithful disciples that they were meant to be. This great commission given to Jesus’ faithful followers does not stop with them. It carries on to us. We are also commissioned to “go and make disciples” of those we meet. God trusts us to go and lead others to Him. That is a pretty awesome and wonderful gift when we really consider this. This scripture was not meant to be read only in the context of thinking, “Oh look what they were called to do. How special must they have been?” It was meant to speak to each of us individually to tell us that God chooses us as well to go and make disciples of all. We can do this by way of our amazing testimony and the ways that we live our lives. How great is our God to entrust us with this wonderful and awesome mission to carry on the mission that Jesus started. Amen!
Have a phenomenal day today.
Love San 😊

Good morning ya’ll ministry messages

“They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:8
Good morning ya’ll. I pray that you have a splendid day today. If you remember yesterday I talked about us staying salty in our commitment to following Christ. This scripture from Jeremiah helps to give us a visual of how we can keep our saltiness (our commitment) always strong and fresh. We are the trees and our roots our seeded and strong by staying in the word of God (God’s word is the water we are planted beside). And our roots stretch out to help others. Yesterday as I drove to work I was saddened to hear of the growing number of people calling into suicide hotlines because they feel as though they have no other good solution rather than taking their own lives. This absolutely breaks my heart and at the same time this reminds me of just how important it is for us to shine our light of Christ for as many to see as we can. For we never can know for sure just whose life we have touched or influenced in a positive way by living a Christ centered life. Lately, my focus has been so totally centered on myself that hearing the news of so many trying to take their own lives left me instantly heartbroken. It’s like I forgot for a little while that there are so many others who are in the world and hurting so deeply. May my heart, and yours, seek God’s good wisdom and word so that our solidly seeded roots may reach out into the world and inspire, encourage, support and influence so many in need.
Have a magnificent day today.
Love San 😁

Good morning ya’ll ministry messages

“You are the salt of the earth…” Matthew 5:13
Good morning ya’ll. I pray that you have a wonderful day today. When I read this many, many times before I thought, “hmmm…ok. So we are salt. That’s weird.” And I envisioned being the pillar of salt like Lot’s wife who had looked back on her past when she was told not to. Once I began to better understand this scripture I saw and understood what a great and wonderful commission this is for all of us as followers of Christ. We are the salt of the earth. Our lives, our testimonies, our actions, our praise and teachings will help to season the next generation of followers to continue on the work of God. This is so important because as I see my own nieces and nephews and my children growing and finding much pleasure, value and joy in worldly things I can see more and more clearly where our “saltiness” for Christ shown to them, taught to them, shared with them and passed on to them can help them to stay rooted in God’s word when the world sneaks in and tries to win them over. Being the salty Christians we are called to be is so important. For as we show those around us our great passion for Jesus our saltiness becomes even more salty and our hearts become even more steeped in truly following and committing ourselves to living a Christ centered life. Do not let the enemy rob you of your salt. For the bible tells us that once that salt loses its flavor it is no longer useful and we have all been given to great a commission to let our salt for Jesus lose its flavor.
Have a great day
Love San 😊

Good morning ya’ll ministry messages

“Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not to your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5
Good morning ya’ll. I pray that you have a great day. Lately, I have had the privilege of hearing the hearts of what really matters to many people who I love. I have also been entrusted to lift several people up in prayer because I do not ever hesitate to speak God’s words of wisdom to anyone no matter where I am. As I headed to bed last night with some very important prayer requests to lift up and with some even more important people to ask God for guidance and wisdom for, I began my prayers with a genuine, whole-hearted, “God Your perfect will be done.” For it will be after all, so why try to bend or manipulate God’s will to go only the way I think it should when God knows best. In my own life I have faced this scripture time and again. When all of the bills could not be paid, when the weight wouldn’t come off, when the boys grew up so fast that I wished I could rewind and start all over, when those who I cherished were taken to Heaven sooner than I was ready for them to go. Leaning on our own understanding will likely always lead us to leaning on a negative, doubtful, and dim-hearted view. Trusting God with our whole hearts will help us to see the purpose, the plan, the guidance, the hope, but often before we can begin to see these things we must first step out in faith and say, “God, Your perfect will be done. I trust You with every part of who I am. I trust You completely with every one and every thing I have been blessed with. I trust You to bring the very best outcome, even in the midst of my longest, darkest nights. Father, I trust You with all of my heart now and forevermore. Amen!”
Where you see only your own understanding look to God and say, “I trust You Father!” And let His good plan take shape always in your life.
Have a magnificent day today
Love San 😊

Good morning ya’ll ministry messages

“No weapon formed against you will prevail.” Isaiah 54:17
Good morning ya’ll. I pray that you have a peaceful and blessed day today.
Confession time. When I read this scripture I immediately think to myself, “but plenty of weapons have prevailed at taking ones life, scarring some for life and leaving others lives forever changed. How can this be true?” Then I heard God answer me just that quickly. Saying, “Child, who really had the victory when it seemed that those weapons prevailed? If one of these weapons took the life of one of my children, those children now run free and healthy and full of greater life in My Kingdom. If one of those weapons scarred someone for life, what has that child overcome by My hands to testify to others the power of My restoring and redeeming love and My powerful healing hands. If one of My children had their lives forever changed by one of those weapons, how are those children finding ways to still praise Me, praise My precious Son and lift My name high for bringing them through their battles victorious on the other side. It’s not about what your eyes only see or what your ears only hear about those weapons and what they have done. It’s about the faith that goes far beyond that, to still see My good plan at work. Child, no weapon formed against anyone of My children will prevail, because I Am the Prince of peace. I Am the perfect healer. And I Am always creating new levels of glory for all of My beloved children who know Me, believe in Me and are wise to know to walk everyday in faith.”
Look at our God always ready to answer our perplexed hearts. Always there to answer when we knock to ask. Always!
Have a spectacular day today.
Love San 😃