The first thing I thought when I saw this picture was, "Wow, although all the jars are beautiful and uniquely made, the jars that have the light within them really stand out!"

Then I thought about us, God's children. Are we like these jars...the one's that have the light within them that make them stand out? Do we live such abandoned lives to Christ that truly His light shines through that it causes the world to think, "Hmmm...they look just like me. But there's just something about them. Something I can't put my finger on. They just kind of...well, glow!"

This is how I want to be. I want to live with such devotion to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, that while on the outside I may have similar features as another person, wonderfully and uniquely made - that the light of Christ so shines through me, others can see Him....just as easily as we can see the light through these jars!

Please head on over to the 160 Acre Woods for more encouragement from:

decreasing, so He may increase,

Today at "Live Well Wednesdays" our precious sister Darlene continues to bless us with fabulous, fun and creative ways to lose weight by honoring God first in our lives! I just LOVE that about her! Please be sure to visit her today to read her post as well as others who are participating in "Live Well Wednesdays".

Like Darlene, I LOVE to garden! And it is definitely a wonderful way to have some sweet, sweet quiet time with the Lord, as it seems I can hear Him better when I'm in the midst of His beautiful plants and flowers! But as she stated, winters-a-comin' so we gardeners have gotta get goin' out of our gardens and IN some where else to stay fit.

Darlene has a fun and creative way to do that....but you'll have to go visit her post to find out what it is! *wink* *wink*

For me, well, it may not sound too exciting, but necessary....can I get a drum roll please?

It's, it's.......HOUSEWORK!!!! Yes, what you've all been waiting to hear and I'm sure long to do each day! I know you dream about housework because you love it so much! I sure do! NOT!!!

Okay, the truth is, I don't mind housework and I do very much enjoy when it's done (I LOVE a clean house, it's so satisfying!), but I certainly do not dream about it. :-)

Just in case you're wondering, refer to the table below to review the stats on how many calories you can burn doing housework :

**The numbers listed are determined for a person who weighs 160 lbs. and involve themselves in each "chore" for 30 minutes. People who weigh more than 160 lbs. or work longer than 30 minutes will burn more calories than noted.**

cleaning house and heart today,

Don’t you love it when you read something God inspired another brother or sister in Christ to write hundreds or thousands of years ago in which they share the current state of your heart? I sure do!

This morning, I was reading Charles Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening and couldn’t help but rejoice in God my Savior as my brother Charles did nearly 200 years ago! Here’s an excerpt of my reading this morning based on Psalm 37:4:

“The life of the believer is here described as a delight in God, and we are thus certified of the great fact that true religion overflows with happiness and joy. Ungodly persons and mere professors never look upon religion as a joyful thing; to them it is service, duty, or necessity, but never pleasure or delight. If they attend to religion at all, it is either that they may gain thereby, or else because they dare not do otherwise. The thought of delight in religion is so strange to most men, that no two words in their language stand further apart than ‘holiness’ and ‘delight’. But believers who know Christ, understand that delight and faith are so blessedly united, that the gates of hell cannot prevail to separate them. They who love God with all their hearts, find that His ways are ways of pleasantness, and all His paths are peace. Such joys, such brimful delights, such overflowing blessednesses, do the saints discover in their Lord, that so far from serving Him from custom, His name as evil. We fear not God because of any compulsion; our faith is no fetter, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight.”

I cannot contain my gratitude for God’s gracious and merciful gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, our gracious Redeemer, who’s pure and holy blood alone can purify us from all unrighteousness!

The unfathomable fact that I, a despicable sinner can (through Jesus Christ) approach the Maker of all creation, the righteous Judge, the Great I Am, overwhelms me. I don’t increase God and I don’t make Heaven better. But...

To begin, I should probably explain that I have the logic (and sometimes behavior) of a five year old. So, with that said, I'll answer our chat topic today and explain what the catch phrase "It's not about me" means to me:


I once read this story about a five year old little girl (since that's my level, this story caught my attention), who, while sitting in her car on the way home from church had a question for her mom. The little girl simply asked her mom, with her sweet, innocent and inquisitive little voice: "Mama, today the Pastor said that God is bigger than us." To this, her mother, smiling kindly, responded, "That's right, dear." The little girl continued, "Then the Pastor said that God lives in His children." The mother was thankful her daughter remembered these precious truths from the sermon that day and thanked God as she was grateful for just that. While her mother was silently giving thanks to God in her heart, her daughter interrupted by asking, "Mama, I have a question. If God is bigger than us and He lives in His children...well, then...wouldn't He show through?" The mother's smile of "Aw, isn't she so cute" turned to, "I'm in awe by this deep truth You revealed to me today Father, from the mouth of such a little babe."

May we live as if we wise and really smart adults, actually perceive what this little girl understood so well: