stepping stones or stumbling blocks?

Isn't it funny how circumstances in lfe are stepping stones to our future....they are either stumbling blocks, or stepping stones, depending on how we respond to trials and change. I choose to make them stepping stones. Satan has been working over time on trying to make me feel as a failure.... Sitting at the feet of Jesus today, I sat and looked upon the past and was thinking about the future.. I don't dwell on the past anymore but I try to look back and see where I was, and look at my life now and see how far God has brought me. My thoughts go back to long ago as a girl of about 10. All I ever wanted to be was a mother, and a person to make my God proud. My thoughts go back to the day each of our children were born into our family. The overwhelming joy that filled our hearts can not be expressed with words. Each of my children are a miracle in their own special way. So much happened in our life between the thoughts that I feel God placed in my heart today. When we go to Him, all our failures and faults seem to dissapear, because He doesn't remember them. He sees us as His "finished child", He sees us as what we "will" be. Our sermons have been on freedom this past month, freedom of guilt, failure, fear.... Father, in all Your glory, I exalt You, I praise You. Thank You for living and dying that I might be set free.

the little things in life

This week I was asked to write a letter of encouragement for a friend. As I started to think back, many memories I had stored in my heart surfaced. Where did the time go? As I thought of what to write, God brought to mind just how much He has worked in my life. How many prayers He answered for my children, how he worked in our marriage. How loved ones in my family came to know Him, How friends turned their lives over to Him. God has been so good to me. He also brought to my mind the little things He has provided for me. It is easy to remember the "bigger" blessings in life, but I think it is the "little" blessings that sometimes we forget about. In some of the things I prayed for that seemed "not important" to anyone else, God still loved me enough to know they were important to me. God, you are a "good God" I praise you for wooing me into your kingdom, even as a little catholic girl. Thank you for all the trials, and blessings you have bestowed upon me and my family, for it was when we were weak, Your power was manifested in our lives.