God is good, ALL the time!

Tuesday!  This is the day that The Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!!

I missed you yesterday!  But I didn't forget to pray for all of you! 

Today is a busy day, but I wanted to leave you with a thought....
Do you trust God for everything?  Do you think He can do everything?   Right now, I am talking about our needs.  The things we need to go about our lives, each day.  That could be a job, our health, food on our table, money for gas, clothes, etc.  

We sometimes, more than not if we really were to be honest, we don't thank God for these "little" things, that are truly BIG things...God has put me in a place, that I HAVE to rely on Him for everything...and I am grateful for it all!  

I have to rely on Him just to walk everyday!  My knees are not as young as my age, ;), so to be able to move around, I have to rely on God to help me.  And I give HIM all the praise and Glory for that.  I have to rely on HIM for ALL my needs.  I am grateful that He has put  me in the place that HE has, because it makes me HAVE to rely on Him for everything.  Yes!  That means I am grateful for the knee problems, I am grateful for the financial part of my life, I am most grateful for His love, the love that only a Heavenly Father can give to His children, eternal life, blessings abundant, and joy unspeakable!

God continues to prove Himself to me.  He is faithful, I need to be faithful to Him.  I am giving Him all the GLORY today for what He is doing in my life!  He is showing me just what I "need" in life, not what I think I need....and probably shaking His head saying, "ok my child, I am going to show you yet again!!"

Have a wonderfully blessed day, and please please, remember to thank God for all the things in our lives that we take for granted each and every day!

I will be praying for you!  Until the next time, God Bless us ALL!

Happy Saturday!!

Greetings!!  Its a beautiful day to have an anniversary!  Happy Anniversary Mr. Hunt!  :)

Today is our 12th anniversary, and tomorrow is The Lords Day!!  So...I will be back Monday and look forward to hearing how things are changing in your lives, because of prayer!!  
I will be continuing to pray for each of you!
Until Monday, God Bless us all!  :)

TGIF!!

It's Friday!!  70 degrees and overcast in Lilburn!

Forgiveness, that is what I am talking about today.  Again, one of the hardest things to do, at first.  After you truly do it, you find that it gets easier and easier!  This is because you realize what it does for you, how it releases your feelings of resentment, anger and pain.  I didn't say you would forget what someone did to you, I just said you can forgive...

Several years go by, and God is continuously dealing with me...  About obedience, and forgiveness.  It seems like everywhere I turn, I hear both of those words...its like a big banner in front of me..."Obedience...Forgiveness".....everywhere!  

At this point in my life, I am not being obedient.  I am only going to church, "when I feel like it".  I am still living my life in the secular world....

One Sunday morning, we decided to go to a church near us...just to go...(my daughter and her husband had visited here a couple of times)  We go in, sit down, and I see this man standing on the platform...he looks familiar, but I don't know anyone in Atlanta, so I shrugged it off.  As the minutes went by, I am still going over and over in my mind...I know this man...but who is he????  
I finally look at the bulletin..and here is this familiar name...Danny Odum!  I DO know this man!  He is the son in law of my long time next door neighbor from Florida!  Coincidence???  I might have thought that at the time, until I learned, there is no such thing...we will talk about that later....

As it turns out, we continued to go to this church...not regularly as we should, but when we did go, this is where we went.  It was a place that God used to show me some things also...although at the time, I didn't see that...hidden blessings are everywhere!

At this time, I was in the "pit"...I couldn't seem to climb out of...There was a guest preacher at church this one Sunday morning...and he preached right at me!  How did he know what I was feeling, what I was going thru?  He preached about Joseph and how he was in that pit.....it was ME!  I knew this was God speaking to ME!  After the service, I went up to speak to the preacher, and told him how this was for me that he spoke...he said, the one thing he forgot to say but intended to, was that Joseph was in prison for 13 years.  He didn't get out overnight.  That statement has stayed with me, all these years....and it was for a reason, it was not a "happenstance"....

Several years are going by, and I still am not where I need to be...why Lord?  Why am I not getting out of this place I am in???

Tyler Perrys movies/plays, clients coming into the salon speaking things that stand out in a huge way to me....books I read...its all right there, Gods word, every time I opened it, it was right there!  Why was I not getting it???

One summer, about 3 years ago, I got it!  By this time, I am going to a little church in Lilburn, White Oak Baptist Church, and the Pastor is none other than ...are you ready for this???  Danny Odum!  Coincidence?  I think not!  I am starting to get it, but something is still missing....

I am at the salon, its busy at that moment, and I get a phone call, asking me to spend the day with them the next day.  (I know, I didn't say who it was, but let me just say, it was someone I needed to forgive, and to also ask forgiveness)  My first thought was, why?  I haven't even seen these people in years, and the salon is busy, I can't leave.  God DOES have a sense of humor, I look down at the appointment book, and there is NOTHING on the book for the next day.  That NEVER happens!  Well, I figured God was telling me to go...so I said yes.

They came by to pick me up the next morning...I had already prayed and asked God to help me, help me to forgive, and help me know what to say.  So, they came into my home, and we all stood in my foyer, I told them that I needed to forgive them, and that I wanted to ask forgiveness from them also.  It was a good thing.  I could immediately feel all the resentment, bitterness, anger leave my heart!!!  I knew that it was real for me!!
We all stood there, holding hands, and we had prayer.  :)  I spent the day with them, and it was a good day.

My life started to change in a HUGE way!  Oh I still had problems, as long as you live in this world, we will have problems..but thank you Lord, we have someone to help us thru them!    My whole life started changing...I was reading God's word more, my heart was more in tune with Him, I saw hidden blessings showing up that I never saw before!  Hallelujah!  

Jesus died on the cross to FORGIVE our sins, MY sins...how could I not forgive the wrongs done to me?  They are so tiny compared to what God did for me!  

This is only the beginning....but for me, it is SO important to think about the Cross, where Jesus died to pay for ALL our sins.  He could have stopped it at any moment, but he loved us enough to continue, to go thru the pain and agony he must have endured, so that WE could have life eternal, and be with HIM in Heaven!  

Tomorrow, we continue....but today, I challenge you to pray!  To ask God to give you a forgiving heart, to help you to forgive those things, those people that have hurt you....I will be praying for you.  No, I don't know who you are, but God does, and He will know who I am praying for when I pray.  
Until next time, God Bless us all!  :)

Happy Thursday!

If this weather gets any more beautiful, I don't know if we can stand it!  68 degrees in beautiful Lilburn! 

I trust that everyone is having a beautiful start to your Thursday!  Mine has been awesome!  God is good, all the time!  And all the time, God is good! 

Funny how things happen sometimes....you keep hearing the word," forgiveness", and you hear "in His will"....This is how I first started realizing that God was trying to show me something, trying to make me understand how my life was going to change...but not until I could forgive the ones that had done me wrong, ask forgiveness from them, and continue to ask God each and everyday what His will for my life is!  

Movies, hair clients, books, memories of the past...all these things were instruments being used by God to show me what I had to do!

First, it was forgiveness!  I was watching Good Day Atlanta one morning before work.  There was a young new actor, writer, CHRISTIAN gentleman on the show.  He was releasing his first movie.  It was called, "Diary of a mad black woman"!!  Yes, Tyler Perry!  I listened to his story, and it touched my heart!  I had never heard his name before that morning...but little did I know how much his plays/movies would touch my life, and help me on my walk with my Jesus!

I decided I wanted to see everything he has ever written!  So, Scott goes to the movie rental store, and rents everything they had by Tyler Perry.  The first one I watched was, "I can do bad all by myself"...wow...it was huge for me.  I laughed, cried, shouted praise to God, through out the entire play.  God spoke about forgiveness thru this play.  This is when I realized for certain, that I HAD to forgive...its one of the hardest things you have to do, but a necessary one...and the one thing that can set you free....but...it wasn't that easy...

I was searching still, for peace, I knew that God was working in my life, but I just couldn't get to where I needed to be, and I couldn't understand why.

One day, while the salon was quiet, there was just me and one hair stylist, and her very good friend/client in that building..he started to tell us how God had touched his life, and healed him of his cancer, and how he had to forgive in order to be in Gods perfect will.  Ok!  That was the next thing God was trying to tell me, I can't be in His perfect will, if I am not totally surrendered to Him, if I am not obedient...Forgiveness, in HIS will...wow...

I KNEW I had to forgive...but how?  When you feel that you have been treated so badly, and you have this resentment built up inside of you, HOW?  How do you forgive???????

I hope that there are people actually reading this, because with each word I type, I feel that God has someone that needs to hear something I have to say.  I am praying for that person right now....

Until tomorrow, God Bless us all!  :)

What a Beautiful day!

What a beautiful day!  Its 78 degrees in my beautiful hometown of Lilburn GA!  Have I said that I LOVE fall?  :)

Have you ever sat back, and started thinking about past events in your life?  Good or bad, either one...I can remember when I was going thru some hard times, I was always sad, asking God why me??  I thought I was a good person, I was a Christian, maybe I wasn't in the center of God's will, but I went to church, I was involved in activities there, I did all the "right" things.  I managed to "get past" these things, not giving any credit to where it was due.  I just "got past them".  

It was years, many years later that I realized this, instead of asking "why me", I said, "why NOT me"?  What made me so special that it couldn't happen to me?  

Things started happening in my life after I had been living in GA for a few years.  Financial, relationship, my sense of worth, my independence was gone, I had no self esteem.  Let me back up, just a tad.....

I had been totally dependent my entire life.  Growing up, marrying so young, I was always dependent on someone.  Until one day, I woke up, and I was Judy, the real Judy.  I realized I had been who everyone else wanted me to be all my life.  I wanted to please everyone I loved, so I did as I thought they wanted me to do.  All this time, never really giving any thought to what GOD wanted me to be, or do.  So, I changed my life!  I got a job, started being independent.  It was liberating.  Still, I wasn't seeking whom God wanted me to be...that comes tho, just hang in with me......

Now, as I was saying.....Things started changing after I moved to GA.  I was not following God, in any way shape or form.  I knew what was right and wrong, I just did what Judy wanted to do.  It was fun, for awhile, then I became miserable, and didn't really even know why.  Things started going south with my relationship, with my finances...I was sad inside, I was putting a fake smile on my face for everyone else.  I could hide it pretty well, after all, that's what I had been doing my whole life!

After about a year of the sadness deep inside, the feeling of not knowing what was wrong, not knowing which way to turn, my world fell apart!  I had left work, gone home, I cried all the way home, not knowing why.  I let my dogs outside, and I sat with them, as I was crying uncontrollably.  I had NO idea why, or how to stop....after what seemed like forever, I lifted my head to the sky, and I said, "God you have to help me, you have to show me what to do!  I don't know where to go from here, I don't know how to fix whatever is wrong inside!"
Instantly I stopped crying, and my heart felt much lighter than it had in a very long time.  God had been waiting for me to ask.  He is always right there with us, but He gives us free will, and will never force us.  He just waits, patiently.  Thank God I reached out, because from that moment on, all sorts of things started happening in my life!  More bad things, but things that would make my faith grow and make me stronger for what was yet to come.  

And with this, I will leave you until tomorrow.  
My prayer is that if something I say, or share, can help someone else, then its worth bearing it to the world.  
Until tomorrow, God Bless us all!

Quote for the day...

"Love is an action, not a feeling.  Love is a choice.  In fact, love is a commandment."
  Mack Timberlake

Recipe!!

I ran across this recipe my Grannie used to make when I would spend time with her in the summer...my Granddaddy LOVED it...well, so did I!  LOL  Hope you enjoy!

Old Fashioned (that was my addition, its not the name of the recipe..lol)
Egg Custard Pie

1 unbaked pie shell
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. nutmeg
1-2/3 cups milk
1 t. pure vanilla extract

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.  Whip up your eggs, (Grannie said "don't over beat them!") 
add sugar, salt, nutmeg, and milk.  Mix well and pour into your unbaked pie shell.  Bake about 35-40 minutes.  Take from oven and let cool!  Yum!

September 23, 2014

Happy Fall Y'all!!!  :)

What a beautiful morning!  The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and its a crisp 66 degrees in beautiful Lilburn!!

Today, I am going to tell you a little about myself.  :)

My mother and I lived with my grandparents until I was about 4 years old.  I have many many wonderful memories of my Granddaddy, Grannie, and all my aunts and uncles!  (There were 8 children in that family!)  I remember living in a 2 story house, that housed a little store in the bottom that my grandfather ran.  I remember me and my aunt going in and him giving us ice cream!  Double scoops!  The store later changed to a pool hall.  Yes, I said a pool hall.  :)
This is where I heard all the newest and best songs that were coming out on the radio!  My uncle was in charge of getting the music for the juke box!!  What memories!!

I later moved with my Mother and her new husband to Youngstown, FL.  I lived next to my new cousins, Mark and Ricky.  I LOVED being with them and  their family.  It too was a large family.  Lots of wonderful memories of being on their farm.  Cows, chickens, sheep, pecan trees..it was so much fun roaming the huge fields with my cousins...we three became very very close!!

I attended Youngstown Elementary School....guess who my first grade teacher was?  My Aunt!!  I didn't get special treatment tho.  LOL..she was an awesome teacher.  She also taught me in 3rd grade. 

I will skip all the years up until I was 17 years old.  I married my first husband when I was 17.  Yes, very young, and I would not recommend it to anyone, but, I was blessed in many ways because of it.  There are hidden blessings in our lives, that we don't see until maybe years later, and sometimes we may not see them at all.  

I started having children right away, I have 3 lovely, intelligent, successful children.  I am so proud of all of them.  They are blessings, for sure!!

My first marriage ended after many years, and I moved to Atlanta, Ga.  I became involved with my now husband, Scott.  We got married after I had lived here for 4 years.  My life began to take a whole new path.  Some good, some not so good.  But, God can take bad things and make them into good.   And into good He did!  My husband accepted the Lord on the last day of 2013!  Thank you Jesus!  

As time goes on, I will be adding a little snippet from time to time, to show how there are so many hidden blessings in our lives...we have to have our eyes open, and our hearts in tune with God, and we can see so many!!!

I want to wish all of you a wonderful, hope filled day!  Until we meet again, God bless us all!

A new blog! Yippee!!

September 22, 2014

It was a dark and rainy night....OH WAIT!!  That is a different blog!  :)

Welcome to Hidden Blessings!  This will be a place to laugh, cry, pray and join together to help us get thru bad times, enjoy good times, and just be together to lock out the pressures of our daily lives!  

Please come back and see what Hidden Blessings is all about.  I hope that you will in time, understand why the name Hidden Blessings....it was given to me by God, and I will only praise, and honor Him thru this which He has lead me to.

See you tomorrow!  God Bless us all!