THE NEW HARDEE'S COMMERCIAL..ARE YOU SERIOUS????

This morning, I had the tv on watching the news and weather, and a commercial came on for Hardee's. I was shocked and somewhat taken back as to what I saw. This was almost like watching Porn. Unfortunatly, Hardee's feels the need to use sex to sell their hamburgers now. Apparently the taste of their hamburgers are not good enough anymore to boost their sales, now they have stooped to using sex.  Anyone who has seen this commercial, will know what I am talking about. It starts out showing a couple at a drive in movie....and then it takes off with some very provocative stuff after that.  Several people have commented to me about this too and we agree we will no longer eat at Hardee's.  I recently sent a letter to Hardee's concerning this.  Now some people may say, "Hey, what's the big deal? It's just a commercial."  .....People, our kids are watching this garbage!  How much more do we, as Christians,  allow to just be acceptable before we stop and say, " Enough is ENOUGH!!"  As Christians, I believe we need to take a stand against this junk!!  Will it stop it completely? No....but I don't believe God wants us to just sit back and say, " oh well, I can do nothing about it"....
At least, if we stop buying their products, we won't be guilty of supporting it! 
Just sayin............

Put the Past....In the Past

How many times do we cheat ourselves of a happy life, simply because we can't forgive ourselves for things we did in the past? Maybe we lose a closeness with our family because we feel like our past is hanging over us. Or we blame ourselves when things don't go quite right because we think that's our punishment for our past....
The thing about it is, if we have asked God to forgive us, then He does, and the wonderful thing about it is....He doesn't remember it anymore!  God chooses not to remember our sins. He chooses never to bring them up again. He doesn't forget because He cannot. But, He doesn't remember them either; that is, He will never bring them up again.  Isaiah 43:25 says, "I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions  for my own sake, And I will not remember your sins."  God doesn't bring our past sins back up to us. The enemy will try to remind you of them, but not God.
We have to learn to forgive ourselves, and do our best to live for God, and the way we grow, is by trying to not repeat the past, but learn from it. God loves us, and we have to love ourselves also. We need to put our past ....in the past... and leave it there.
Don't let your past rob you of your present....and your future.
Love yourself....and most of all...Love God!!! 
.....  Just somethin to think about......
               Keep Smiling :-)

God Is Plan A:::There Is No Plan B

‎"Be still...and know that I am God. I will help you, just stay in My Word." This is the word God gave me this morning when I was praying and seeking him. Wow! What a message! When God gave me this word this morning, my heart was lifted and I knew I had been in his presence! So many of us are going through things in our lives that we don't understand or we maybe don't know how we're going to get ...through it. But God knows what we are going through, and not only does he know what we are going through, he knows how to help us get through it. He sees the big picture...he knows exactly what we need, when we need it, and how it's going to turn out!
Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." So if God's thoughts and ways are higher than ours, and we know that they are, then we have to learn to trust Him.....IN EVERYTHING.... and sometimes that's a hard thing. I'll be the first one to admit it. I know my God is exceedingly able to handle anything I face, but then there are times if I let my mind dwell on it all the time, then I began to try and figure out what I'm going to do...just in case....it doesn't work out the way I'm praying for God to work it out. I was telling David the other day, so many times we make the comment, "Well the only thing left to do is trust God." ....Really?? The ONLY thing left to do is trust God???? Shouldn't that be the first thing we do? We have got to learn to trust God. Instead of saying ....I'm going to give it to God....we have to understand that God already has it. We just have to take our hands off it and turn it loose. When we do, we will be amazed at what God will do!
We need to ...Be Still...and know that He is God. And know that God is always listening to our prayers, looking at our circumstances, watching over us, and He has a plan for us .... if we're willing to trust Him and do what He leads us to do. Just remember, "His thoughts and ways are much higher than ours" We can trust Him in everyway.
                 ~Keep Smiling~   

How Close Do We Want To Be?

How much of God do we want in our lives? For the past few months, I have felt such a hunger for more of God....I crave His presence....desire such a closeness with Him. Tonight, He brought a scripture back to me- Jermiah 29:13 "You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart"
I thought about this and I asked myself...do I seek Him with ALL my heart?....
Do I truely want more of ...Him than I do anything else? How determined am I to really put everything I've got into seeking Him? I believe God is saying in this scripture, " I am here, I haven't gone anywhere, but if you really want this closeness with Me, then you have to desire it above anything else...you have to seek Me with every bit of your heart". Here in my home, every day, after a shower, I wipe down the chrome, get all the water spots off, in my kitchen, I wipe down the sink and the chrome, because I know if I don't, the water spots will build up and over time, it will be harder to get it clean. One day, God used this as an example to me. He reminded me that I take a lot of pains in being faithful to take care of my house, to keep that chrome shiny....but what about my spiritual life? What about my walk with God? Am I that dedicated to Him? Do I read and study His word faithfully? Do I pray, and seek His will for my life, and when He shows me His will, am I faithful to obey Him in doing what He wants me to do? Does my witness shine for Him? Do I live my life in a way that I, keep those spots wiped off that could possibly make my christian walk become dull looking? I came to the conclusion that I sometimes fail to do what I should, to be able to have that awesome closeness with Him....and I want that! I desire that more than I desire anything else in my life! I believe it pleases God when He sees us desiring Him and seeking to be closer to Him! And He wants that with us as well, but we have to want that and be willing to do whatever we need to do to have that closeness with Him.
"When you seek me with ....ALL..... your heart, then you will find me"
Do you desire God more than anything else in your life? I do... God I want more of you...I want to seek you with ALL my heart.....because you are my everything...
                                       ~ Renee ~

2012...The Year of Being a Do-er...Not Just a Talker

Hello everyone! I've haven't been on here for awhile so it's good to be back!  I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas season! I know I did, simply because I was able to spend it with family...and of course the love of my life.  I didn't get to see my daughter, but I held her close in my heart.
Can you believe we have already come through another year and it's almost over? Wow! Seems it's went by so quickly! As I've shared with you before, my Mother told me last Thanksgiving, before she went on to Heaven, that 2011 was the year of Jubilee, and it truely has been! God has taught us some hard lessons, but he's brought us through so much! My husband accepted the call to preach this year, God has kept him in a job, God healed my heart this year when I had a heart attack in Feb, and the list just goes on and on! I lost my mother last Dec, so this year has been a struggle with that, because I miss her so much, but God has helped me with that. Then this year for Christmas, we had Christmas with my husband's family a week before, then this past weekend we went to Myrtle Beach, SC, where my brother and his family live, and my daddy came up from Alabama, and we had a good Christmas there!
So here we are now, at the close of another year..2011...
I have been praying and asking God what I need to do different in 2012. My daddy says that he does not make New Year's resolutions because when you do, you end up not following through on any of them, so he says he just tries to live every day, better than the day before. Pretty good advice. So this year, I'm not making New Year resolutions, but I have prayed and sought God on some things. This morning, as I was praying, God spoke to my heart and said...2012 is to be a year of "Doing". God said..."It's time to stop talking about what we are  "going" to do, and start "doing" it!!  We can have all the good intentions in the world, but unless we put those plans into motion, then that's all it is...just talk. This week, I have been looking back over the year, going over all the things I've done, and said, how I've conducted myself, how much I have prayed, (or have not prayed), how much I've read my Bible, how much I have truely sought God for things, what kind of witness I've been to those around me, how I've treated people, just reviewing my life.... and this year, I want to obey God and actually "DO" the things I need to do, and not just talk about them. Good intentions will usually get you nowhere.
Have you looked back on your life this year, and realized there are some things you need to be doing?  Is there something maybe you've been wanting to do, or needing to do, but you have just put it off and put it off because you either didn't have the time, or just figured you'd get to it later...and later never came? We are not promised tomorrow. I learned that last year. I never had any idea that Thanksgiving would be the last holiday I would have my mother to spend it with...I'm so thankful I was able to be with her on Thanksgiving, and then I was able to be there when she left this life and took Jesus's hand into her new life!  I have been down alot this year because of so much that has went on, and I'm thankful that God has brought me through, but I believe....no... I KNOW, that God has a plan for us! If we will be willing to follow his will for our lives, then we will be right where we are suppose to be. I firmly believe that!
This next year will be like no other year for me and David! We are starting this new ministry, I am going to be working on a book I feel God is leading me to write, I have some other writing to finish, we feel God is leading us in all kinds of new directions...and I want this to be my year of "Getting It Done"!!
Come on guys.... let's go into this new year with a brand new attitude, a new  outlook on life, a new determination, the confidence to know we can accomplish things! I know I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength! I want 2012 to be my year of  being a "Do-er"!
Now will I still miss my mother? Of course, and there will be times that I feel that emptiness in my heart, but I know I'll see her again. But she used to tell me "I have faith in you! You can do anything you set your mind to."  I still remember her telling me that!
If you will take a moment...to reflect back on your life this year....be happy with what you did right....and determine in your heart and mind that you are going to accomplish those things (that you never got around to this year), in 2012...then stop talking about it and start doing it.....then I believe we will have a great year!!!!! 
I'm ready!!!!!!!   Are you???  
Happy New Year everyone!!!  Let's give it all we've got...and most of all, let's give God all we've got....and he will bless us!!! 
                            2012....Stop Talking About It....and Start Doing It

Who Is My Neighbor?

This morning, as I was getting ready for church, I was praying asking God what He wanted me to put on here. I read several scriptures but nothing was laid on my heart. As the day went on, I realized why. Let me share it with you:
I had baked some bread yesterday, and David and I thought about a couple of people that we wanted to share it with. We shared with a neighbor yesterday, and then God laid it on David's heart another family He wanted us to share a loaf with. Which left us with two loaves. This morning the Lord laid two more people on my heart to share the other two loaves with. So I put them in a bag and we headed off to church.
When we got to church, two of the families were there that God had laid on our hearts, but one person was not. So after church, we gave the two loaves to the families, then asked a friend to go eat with us and we sat and enjoyed some good fellowship for about 2 hours. When we left to go home, David was just kind of riding around town, and all of a sudden he said, "Do you want to just turn here and head on home?" I told him that would be fine, whatever he wanted to do. Now when we turned, and headed down this street, on the right hand side of the road, there was a woman walking, she had her head down, and as she started across the road, a car turned and went right in front of her and almost hit her. The woman never looked up....she just kept walking as if she didn't really care if she got hit or not.  I looked at David and as we passed her, I turned around in my seat and looked at her and on her face was the saddest, most lost look in her eyes I have ever seen. My heart just broke for her.... David looked at me and said, "Do you want to give her this loaf of bread?" I looked at him and told him that she probably wouldn't take it because she didn't know us. We drove on a ways and the whole time in my heart, God was asking me "So, that's it? You're not going to give it to her? You're just going to go on by?" I battled in my mind saying " God I don't know her." All of a sudden, David just pulled over and turned around and headed back. I asked him if he was going to go back to her and he said yes. When we pulled up to her, I asked her if she liked banana nut bread? She walked over to the car and said "I don't know....I guess" I told her that God wanted me to give her this bread and He wanted me to tell her He loves her. She kind of smiled and said "Okay" David told her God loved her and wanted to bless her. She looked at us, kind of smiled again, and backed away from the car with the bag of bread. After we drove off, I, in my mind, asked God if that bread was meant for this lady, why did He tell me this morning to take it to the other person at church? God then let me see the clear picture. He knows how we think, and He knows how to work things so we will obey Him. He laid it on my heart to bring that bread this morning, even though He knew this other person would not be at church, He knew this woman would be on the side of the road, probably feeling like no one cared about her. I said, "I see it God! I understand!" God is so amazing! He truely works in mysterious ways...His wonders to perform! As we drove on home, we talked about it and the scripture came to my mind in Hebrews 13: 1-2 and it says "Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so some people have entertained angels without knowing it."
This morning, when I was getting ready for church, and I was praying, God reminded me to love my neighbor, and I said, "Yes God, I know." He then asked me, "And who is your neighbor Renee?" And I answered, "Those around me, and then I answered, God, anyone who is in need, that's who my neighbor is." God was preparing me for what He wanted me and David to do this afternoon. Praise God!!!

We never had any idea what was going to happen this afternoon, but God began this morning preparing our hearts for it. Be careful....let's love our neighbor...Who is our neighbor? Anyone in need because in it, we may entertain angels unaware! I don't know this woman's name, but God does and I pray He helps her. God bless all of you and I pray He uses you this week to help or witness to someone along the way.

The Father's Vineyard

"Jesus is the true Vine, we are the branches and our heavenly Father is the Owner and the Gardener. That means, of course, that God is in charge. He can do what He pleases in the vineyard.  We, who are merely branches, or even we who labor in His vineyard, have no right to question His decisions.  Regrettably, there are times when I spend the bulk of my prayer life, trying to counsel God  to resolve my situation in the way I imagine is best. Foolishly, I forget that this is my Father's vineyard. He knows what He is doing, and He has a right to do what He wants. Lest that sound harsh or frightening, remember that God is more than just the One in charge. He is also the Husbandman  who cares tenderly for His vineyard. He is the God of loving compassion who's mercies never fail."
(Page 14 from the book "In My Father's Vineyard" written by: Wayne Jacobson)
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is one of my favorite books, for in reading this book (and I've read it through several times), there is so much teaching in it! I am a branch in God's vineyard.....I have been grafted in and God tenderly cares for me! Wow!  If you have not read this book, I wish you would get it and read it. It's well worth your  time! I love being in my Father's vineyard, and I love the way God takes care of me, prunes me, and loves me! I will, along the way, post more inserts from this book. My husband and I have a page on Facebook titled "Revival of the Heart Ministry". We would love for you to look us up! God has a plan for all of us I believe! God has called my husband, David, into the ministry to preach, and as we began this new path, God will grow us, and care for us, but we can never lose sight of the fact that we belong to Him and are to do His will.....not ours! God bless all of you....and don't forget....keep smiling!!!!!