Sunday, November 30, 2014

House Becomes a Home

I'm almost done with all the unpacking. I have a few more boxes in the closet, but it's all books and old school stuff, so it will prolly stay in the closet. It was around this time 4 years ago that I was sleeping in my car, shivering. The snow was coming and I had no place to live until a friend of mine opened her doors to me. It was the lowest point of my life. Now here I am 4 years later in my own place again. No, I don't own my own home, but this apartment will do until I can afford my home. I've got a new sofa, a new bed ordered and I'm working on new insulated drapes so that I can keep the power bill low.

Now it's time to get back on track with my budget....

Thank God for my new home!!

Saturday, November 22, 2014

GOD HELP ME, PLEASE!!!

PRIDE VERSUS BROKENNESS


Pride grieves God.
                                Brokenness secures grace.                                

Pride sets you up for a fall.
Brokenness prepares the way for God’s favor.

Pride spawns competition.
Brokenness builds community.

Pride keeps you from praying.
Brokenness causes you to pray.

Pride blinds you to your wicked ways.
Brokenness opens your eyes to your wicked ways.

Pride keeps you from seeking God's face.
Brokenness encourages you to seek God's face.

Pride is characterized by a stiff neck.
Brokenness is exemplified by a bowed head.

Pride fragments families.
Brokenness reconciles families.

Pride generates contention.
Brokenness invites unity.

Pride is the mother of rebellion.
Brokenness is the heart of submission.

Pride glories in self will, self effort, and self exaltation.
Brokenness glories in the Cross.

Pride compares Self against others—“I am smarter than you…I am cleaner than you…l am stronger than you.”
Brokenness compares Self with Christ and concludes—“I am the chief of sinners.”

Pride reflects the nature of Satan.
Brokenness mirrors the image of Christ.

Pride takes credit for accomplishments.
Brokenness recognizes all good accomplishments have their source outside of Self.

Pride seeks recognition from men.
Brokenness seeks approval from God.

Pride will make you cover up and hide from others.
Brokenness frees you to be transparent and honest.

Pride leads you to blame circumstances or others for your failure.
Brokenness accepts responsibility for failure.

Pride breeds suspicion of fellow believers.
Brokenness brings more suspicion of Self than anyone else.

Pride makes you think more highly of yourself.
Brokenness enables you to think more highly of others.

Pride is quick to detect pride in others.
Brokenness is quick to identify pride in oneself.

Pride makes you critical.
Brokenness makes you compassionate.

Pride hastily applies preaching to others.
Brokenness is quick to internalize preaching.

Pride easily detects the speck in your brother's eye.
Brokenness readily detects the beam in your own eye.

Pride believes you are a good person who happened to do some bad things.
Brokenness realizes you are a sinner through-and-through.

Pride puffs up and swells your head.
Brokenness brings perspective and breaks your heart.

Pride deals with sin in general.
Brokenness deals with sin in specifics.

Pride deals with the fruit of sin.
Brokenness deals with the root of sin.

Pride will cause you to deal with things that are respectable.
Brokenness causes you to deal with what is real.

Pride brings crustiness and hardness.
Brokenness brings pliability.

Pride is consumed with "I".
Brokenness is concerned with "Not I, but Christ."

Pride seeks prominence for Self.
Brokenness seeks the preeminence of Christ.

Pride makes the faults of others look BIG and my faults look small.
Brokenness makes my sins look BIG and the faults of others seem small.

Pride defends its rights.
Brokenness dies to its rights.

Pride makes me look down on others.
Brokenness makes me look up to heaven.

Pride keeps me from asking forgiveness when I have been wrong.
Brokenness makes me eager to humble myself when I have done wrong.

Pride breeds complacency.
Brokenness births hunger and thirst for new spiritual horizons.

Pride covers sin.
Brokenness discovers sin.

Pride barricades you from God.
Brokenness demolishes the barrier between you and God.

Pride builds a wall between us and others.
Brokenness builds bridges between us and others.

Pride disregards the Chief Cornerstone.
Brokenness falls upon the Chief Cornerstone.

 
Lord, bend this proud and stiff-necked I,

   Help me to bow the head and die.
That it may no longer be I,
   But Christ that lives in me.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

No More....NEVER AGAIN!!

PRIDE is a NASTY spirit. I knew I was prideful, but I didn't have a revelation of my pride until now. God has been showing me....For example,

When I meet with an old friend, I puff myself up. I showboat what is going on in my life and even exagerate it.

That is SO NASTY!!

Then I overestimate myself while underestimating other people, even my friends.

And that is SO NASTY!!

I also look down on people instead of looking up to them--like one young lady I used to mentor. She is young--24 I think and she is struggling, and my mentality is to look down on her because she is not doing everything she can to get out of the situation, but the truth is she is, i'm just being insensitive to her situation.

That is SO WRONG and NASTY!!

God, please forgive me!!!!!!

God has been so good to me and I thank Him for shining the light on this nasty spirit.

God hates this spirit and I do to.

Thank you God for delivering me!!

How Does That Affect Your Values?

 I met this guy..... Oh boy..... We shall call him Dell. Dell and I met online on FB dating about a week before Christmas. During that time ...