Happy Birthday to me!!

Today is my birthday and I have a millions things to thank my Living and Loving God for...

1. For the most amazing grandparents both mom's side and dad's side I could have ever been blessed with. I say this because we can always choose our friends, but not our family and God blessed me with a fantastic family full of believers who taught me to know the One Who has loved me eternally.


2. For my loving and wonderful and absolutely great parents, who usured me into walking the right way even until now, guiding and directing me through their prayers and love. For being my backbone every time I needed someone to lean on.


3. For my handsome and brilliant brothers who love me so much, though they don't say so, they're actions speak volumes of their love and respect for me.


4. For my hubby dearest, exactly the kind I needed to grow spiritually, actually speaking I wouldn't have started this blog if it hadn't been for him being in my life.


5. For all my believer friends, fellow bloggers who encouraged me right at the moment I needed to continue this blog and knowingly or unknowingly blessing me through their words.

Above all else I am absolutely and humbly grateful to my Living God who has made my life a wonderful adventure from the first day I met Him, until now. There has never been a dull moment and never been a time when He left. Never a time when He judged me when people were ready to point out my faults like that woman whom they wanted to stone, but my Lord stood by me, no judging me but always showing me a way out and accepting me the way I am...something many believers find very difficult to do with other believers new or old, accepting them. He never showed any partiality or favoured someone else more than me, and I am absolutely humbled to say that He gave me chances in my life span even till now to see His wonderful bruised hand work on my behalf through situations when people had left me but my God never left me.

My rock and my salvation and my deliverer is He. My source of victory and sustenance. He chose me even before I was born and wanted to be my Father in Heaven, One whom I could have never been able to live without.

Psalm 22:10 "From birth I was cast upon you; from my mother's womb you have been my God."

Walking Through Red Sea

Today as I was listening to a message by Pastor Lloyd Pulley of Calvary Chapel NJ, he spoke about Faith and a study from Hebrew 11, when the Israelites crossed the Red Sea.

I got to thinking of the situation the Israelites went through. Between the promise and its fulfilment, there was a walk between walls of water. Walls of water !!!
Imagine God telling the Israelites, being chased by the Egyptians behind them and confronted with the Red Sea before them, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 14:13).

Now thats a crazy thought, to be still when the enemy is fast approaching your heel!! Yet the Lord parted the Red Sea and the water stood on both sides like walls. Wow you say. I dwelled at this point for a little longer this time, attempting to cross through this valley made by wind and flanked by water, not a solid fortified wall of any sort we know of, but water. Now we know water, except in its frozen state in a very cold place, it cannot be much of a fence of any kind. Yet the Israelites had to trust God, Moses had to trust God and lead the people through this path on the sea bed trusting that the waterwall wont collapse.

Sometimes in our life, God promises us about our situation and we know we can trust God, yet there is a time when you'll have to trust God through that situation. It is very rare (atleast I haven't read an account so far) that someone had to bypass a tough situation they were facing just because God promised. No matter what the situation be that you are facing, there will rarely be a shortcut bypassing the time of faith, where you have to solely trust in God and nothing else.

The Israelites could not trust in that wall of water to hold, nor on the strong easterly wind that had blown the water away, but ONLY on the One who had parted the sea - on God. It wasn't just over in a blink of an eye, but they had to walk through that valley between walls of water, step by step, until they crossed over to the other side. Can you imagine, how fearful they might have been, yet they had to go through it in order to see a full victory over their oppressors.

So also for us, no matter what sea of problems you are facing, or what the enemy has been chasing you with right at your heel, remember, first of all, when God promised he would take them out of Egypt-He did. God is able to uphold the very waters of the sea of problems that loom over you seeming to drown you, but God is with you, even through your walk in that valley like the pillar of cloud went with the Israelites and on the other side of this valley there is victory.

I am reminded of what David said in Psalm 23. "Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me"

Mercy Said No

I love the power in the song...

I was just a child, when I felt the Savior leading
I was drawn to what I could not understand
And for the cause of Christ, I have spent my days believing
That what He'd have me be, is who I am

As I've come to see the weaker side of me
I realize His grace is what I'll need
When sin demanded justice for my soul

(Chorus)
Mercy said no
I'm not gonna let you go
I'm not gonna let you slip away
You don't have to be afraid
Mercy said no
sin will never take control
Life and death stood face to face
Darkness tried to steal my heart away
Thank You Jesus, Mercy said no
For God so loved the world, that He sent His son to save us
From the cross He built a bridge to set us free
Oh, but deep within our hearts, there is still a war that rages
And makes a sacrifice so hard to see
As midnight fell on the crucifixion day
The light of hope seemed oh so far away
As evil tried to stop redemption's flow
(Repeat Chorus)

(Bridge)
And now when heaven looks at me
It's through the blood of Jesus
Reminding me of one day long ago
(Repeat Chorus)

-CeCe Winans