Pray with me...

All praise and glory be to our Lord God Almighty!

Watch this incredible video of a rare 13 year old girl from the UK!

I pray that the Lord teach us as parents to train up our children as her parents have trained her up...in the love and admonition of the Lord.

So often as parents, we allow strangers to infiltrate our homes (through the TV, internet and music) that we would never invite as guests into our homes. We watch shows like American Idol, Lost, or various other reality TV or worldly shows that provide no eternal impact on our lives or the lives of our children. Then we wonder why they succumb to peer pressure and care more of what their friends think about them, than what God thinks about them.

May the Lord our God be merciful to us, allowing us to repent, turn once again to Him and begin to "clean house" as we stop watching shows or movies that blaspheme our God's holy name, listen to music or radio programs that have no spiritual impact on our lives.

I've often heard people tell me, "Sunny, you know there are other 'good' TV shows, movies and music besides things about God." And this is my constant answer and I'm sticking to it:

"Scripture says that God alone is good. Therefore, if anything I do is absent of God, it is absent of good."

I pray that you are both blessed and exhorted by this video, as I have been, to press on toward the goal God has called us heavenward in Christ Jesus our Lord; and lay aside all that hinders us from running the "good" race.

We all want beautiful feet. As women, we love to show off our newest pedicures with cute little sandals in the summer and bright, pretty colors that adorn our toenails. We might even put on a little ring that dangles around our little pinky toe, or a ankle bracelet that sparkles in the light. We consider these things, the things that make our feet beautiful. And we look forward to the pampering of our feet and sigh with satisfaction as we leave the beauty shop or spa with our beautifully dressed-up feet.

But what does God say about beautiful feet? What does the Maker of heaven and earth consider is the proper adornment of our feet that would make them look beautiful in His sight? God is awesome. Just so we would never have to wonder, He made it perfectly clear to us what He considers -beautiful feet.

Are your feet beautiful to God?

You left Your glory
Your seat upon the throne
And You exchanged it
For a Cross
In a place that was not Your Home.

Master, You took my scorn
My guilt and my shame
You redeemed my wretched soul
With Your blood
In Your name.

What awesome gift is this
I have received
That the King of glory would die
For the wicked
And deceived?

Your matchless love,
Your mercy and Your grace
Causes my heart to anguish
The high cost
My Savior paid.

How can I respond
To Christ saving my soul?
I will share His Good News
In every place
That I go.

Jesus, I call You Lord
My Master and my Friend
And will obey You with
All my heart
With every breath You lend.


And what will you do with the time you have left? Will you end your days living for your pleasures? Or will you live out the rest of your days as a living sacrifice to our Captain, Christ Jesus who calls all that are His to answer His battle cry for the souls of those who are still lost?

Remember, the harvest is plenty - it is the laborers who are few. I pray constantly to the Lord of the harvest to send in more laborers. Perhaps I've been praying for you. Won't you come and join in the battle? No longer a spectator, but an active warrior, purposed for the Lord's Kingdom work.

All my life, I've heard differently. I've heard, "God helps those who help themselves." As with many things, I believed it because, well, for the most part, it sounded right. It sounded like something that could be and should be true. Fortunately for all of us, it's not true and is not found anywhere in Scripture.

Here are some Scriptures that remind us God does not help those who can help themselves, instead the Lord our God helps those who humble themselves; crying out to Him out of their helplessness, and not out of their ability to "help" themselves.

We read over and over again in Scripture that God leaves the proud and arrogant people who think they can do anything good for themselves - to themselves. The Lord God in His wisdom and righteousness allows our arrogance to build as high as we can get it, so that when we fall, we will clearly see the truth; God is awesome, and we are only dust [Psalm 103:13-14].

Many a men (Elvis Presley, Donald Trump, Ghandi, Stalin, Hitler) and women (Elizabeth Taylor, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Billie Jean King, Martha Stewart, Madyln Murray O'Hair) have gone before us with seemingly larger-than-life plans, goals and agendas. And they all wanted to do what they thought would be best for themselves and others in the world. But ultimately, they have, and will, wind up in the same place - as dust. And all of them, regardless of their worldly status, have come to their own demise because of their insatiable lust of pride. I'm sure in the eyes of the world, some of these people are still very highly esteemed. But people who esteem these men and women, are also the same people who esteem Jesus not.

We labor, toil and spend our energies, resources and everything we have, on what? To build what? Our reputations? Our earthly rewards, or awards and accolades? Our self-esteem? What? What do we labor and toil for? What is on this earth and of this world that is worth so much of our effort that we should give everything we have for it? When in the end, it will all be as we will be...dust.

Several years ago when I traveled to Louisiana on a missions trip to help those who had been devastated by hurricane Katrina, a very wise 12 year old who sat next to me on the bus said, "You know Mrs. Sunny, unless someone had told me which neighborhood we were in, you know, the rich ones or poor ones, I would've never known. It all just looks like trash. And when it comes down to it, trash is trash. There's no rich people trash or poor people trash. It all looks the same."

How right he is! To God, it all looks the same. The futile efforts of man to make something of himself, to "help" himself be something, or do something that's of value, is of no value in God's sight. It all just looks the same to God - like trash ["We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." ~ Isaiah 64:6] For God alone can do anything that's worthy of value, or praise, of honor, or glory. And out of His awesome mercy and grace, He allows us, who are only dust, to participate in His good work - and He alone can give value to what we do.

So what are you building today to help your self-esteem and feel as if your life matters or is important? Are you building your marriage with your ideas? Are you building your children to bear the image of what you've always dreamed? Are you building a "ministry" not because God called you to it, but because you've decided since you enjoy speaking, writing or whatever - that you should do it?

I don't ask these questions presuming that I am better and more holy than any of you. I ask these questions of you and beg you to ask them of yourself, because I have done the same. And because of my gratitude to God for His awesome love towards me and also towards you, I beseech you; do not travel where I have gone, but go with me now to the Cross! Let us follow the only Savior given to man - Jesus Christ; carrying our cross to mortify the flesh with all its wicked passions so that the life of Christ may truly be manifested in us [2 Corinthians 4:10]!

Too often in my life, I have done many things, not for God (although at the time, I thought it was), but for myself - so that I could justify my existence. But in the end, I found that I could not justify (that is, make right) my existence. Only God can. And He did, through His Son, Jesus Christ. Nothing I have done or will ever do, will make my existence right with God - only Jesus can make me right with God; and while I was yet sinning, when I couldn't help myself, God helped me, and continues to help me, as I desperately and humbly cry out, "LORD save me!"

"So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!"
~ Romans 7:21-25(a)