great news!

been wanting to share to you all about the upcoming baptism at my home church on june 22nd. my husband's been waiting for this. he will be baptized by immersion which symbolizes the “dying to sin and arising to Christ and new life", a celebration of a life changed through Christ Jesus. i'm so excited for him! to find out more about this, click this link willow's baptism.
Lord willing, i'll be able to tell you more details later.

well, on another note... i got a hold of some old friends yesterday. it was a joy to talk to them again. hoping there will be more to come. i shared a certain topic on our conversation for today's odb and i'd like to share it with you all since most of you are not on my dist list.

but before i do, there's one more thing i'm grateful for (for today at least) - i found some more old friends on facebook... looking forward to kit with most of them (if not all) and of course i'm so humbled to hear from all of you who takes time to drop me a line... for that, i know i'm so blessed to have awesome friends like you!

ok, here's today's odb:

I was delighted to get in touch with an old friend yesterday. We were able to catch up with a few things that’s been keeping us occupied lately.

Later in our conversation she asked me… “Why do you often say, “Lord willing we’ll see each other”, “Lord willing I’ll be able to do this, etc… Are you sick or something that’s why you’re sounding like you’re unsure whether you’ll still be around or not?”

I chuckled a little bit, but quickly composed myself and kind of explained to her that Jesus is my Lord and Savior. He is my time keeper; who holds my tomorrows. I simply put everything in God’s hands so if it’s God’s will that we see each other, then great!

These following scriptures helped changed my perspective in life.

In James 4:13-15 it says, “You who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit – yet you don’t know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

In Acts 18:21, Paul reason with the Jews and said, “I will return to you if God wills”.

And in Proverbs 27:1 it says, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”

Because of these verses, I learned to lean on God and hand my burdens to Him. The Lord has the blue print of my life and so He has my best interest. He’s so ready to fill my heart with streams of life living water and so worrying myself to death is not something He would want me to do. See, I’m a person who used to worry a lot, but as I grow in the Lord I have come to realize that my plans are nothing if I don’t put it in God’s hands… for I will never know what lies ahead no matter how much I pound myself in the head or no matter how confident I am with my plans, but if I put my trust in Him, He will guide me and direct me to the right path.

Friends, yesterday has gone and today is a gift from God… none of us will ever know what will happen later. And it’s good to understand that God never wills ill for us. Bad things happen in our lives, but we can be sure God has not willed them. The judgments and decisions we make… sometimes even life's natural course of events… affect our lives for good or for ill. But God does not cause or want bad things to happen to us. And the good news is that in whatever circumstance we find ourselves in, God is with us. When bad things do happen, God is there to reassure us and help us through those rough times.

And so today, I willingly give my best to Him. Tomorrow is another story and again if it’s God’s will… I look forward to what He has in store for me then. Friends, you can rest assure that you can find peace in trusting God.

Till my next email, Lord willing.

Have a JOYFUL day!