True Love

As you know, Valentine's Day is coming up. I was reading the other night and came across this quote. It was one of those quotes, where after you read it, you do a fist pump into the air. It is so true of our God and so good that I had to share it with you. Here goes:

"The ultimate love you will ever experience will be between yourself and the One who created you and loves you most."

Michelle McKinney Hammond

I forget how much I am loved at times. Then, I am reminded that I have been bought with a price. If you are single and spending another Valentine's Day alone, remember that you are not alone. Jesus is with you and loves you. Those who aren't single and are currently dating someone or married, don't ever put your man above God. Like my girl Michelle said, the ultimate love you will EVER experience will be between you and your maker. No man will ever fill that spot that God intends for Jesus to fill. When you expect your man to meet the kind of love only Jesus can give you, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Humans always fail. God's love always prevails. 

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."

Psalms 4:23

Stay Salty,

Annie

God's Word

"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever!"

Isaiah 40:8

Stay Salty,

Annie

Doors

For some odd reason, doors have really been on my mind. I am a sucker for antique furniture and these doors are gorgeous. Thanks, Google! ;) 

I have had many doors open and close in my life. The doors I am speaking of are the ones that God has allowed to open and close. I don't know about you, but I struggle with figuring out which door he is closing and which door he is opening.  I think of the story in Genesis 19. When God spared Abraham's nephew life from His wrath on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. God opened the door for Lot and his family to leave the city before he destroyed it, but it was very hard for Lot to leave the door in which God was closing, closed. Before he was literally dragged out by the angels (Genesis 19:16), Lot hesitated because he didn't want to leave behind the life he and his family established there. How many times have I hesitated before I finally let the door close? When Lot and his family finally leave, the angels instructed them not to look back. Well, Lot's wife just couldn't obey God's command to not look back at the city and she turned into a pillar of salt. She didn't obey. God is a fair and just God, but he does punish sin. Obviously, if you look back at your past, you will not turn into a pillar of salt, but this is a good reminder for us to trust that when God closes a door in our lives, he opens another one. We just have to be ready to walk through it when he reveals to us which doors are opening and which ones are closing.  

I really struggle with letting doors shut lately. My "type A" personality likes to take over and think that I have control on which ones should be opened and which ones should be closed. I pray daily and ask God to help me leave the doors he shuts closed, and to give me the courage and strength to walk through the ones he opens. Thankful that God knows exactly what he is doing when he does open and close doors in my life. :)

"When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."

Alexander Graham Bell

Stay Salty,

Annie

Seasons

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens."

Ecclesiastes 3:1

I love how creative God is. While I love all of the seasons, my absolute favorite season is fall. I love the changing color of the leaves on the trees. Especially the really, really, bright red and green ones. It is just another sign of how in control God is. It's his world and creation. 

I have really been thinking about seasons lately. Not the typical 4 seasons though. The seasons I am talking about are the ones we experience in our daily life. Singleness, births, deaths, hurt, anger, sadness, bitterness, peace, marriage, family, and many others that we face during time here on earth. The other night at Bible study a good friend mentioned seasons and how God uses those seasons to mature us in our walk. Although we can't see it at the time, God's timing is perfect. When you face those dark seasons, try to face them without complaining. Philippians 2:13 says, …"for it is God who works in you to will and act in order to fulfill his good purpose." That season you are facing, whether good or bad, has a purpose. There have been seasons I have been through that I wish I would have handled differently. Now, looking back, I can see the lesson that God was trying to teach me in and through those seasons. 

One of my favorite verses is, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances (seasons); for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." When you face any season, the good, the bad, or the ugly, try to remember this verse and give thanks in the season. We aren't instructed to give thanks of our circumstances, but we are instructed to give thanks in our circumstances. 

"Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again."
Sarah Ban Breathnach

Stay Salty,

Annie

Land of Milk and Honey

So you know how in the last blog I talked about how intimate and powerful our God is? Today our preacher at First Baptist Church Tupelo hit a little on that subject. He just said that two people could read the same verse and it mean something completely different to them and how our God is a personal God.

            This morning, Chad, referenced the book of Numbers chapters 13 and 14 during his sermon. His particular sermon was how The Lord told Moses to send some men to explore the land of Canaan that he was going to give to the Israelites. When majority of the men returned back to Moses to give him a report on what they found, they gave Moses these account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak (vicious giants of that particular time) there.”-Numbers 13:27 The Israelites of this particular group referred to themselves as grasshoppers (Numbers 13:33). Chad’s sermon was about facing giants. Chad said that the Israelites minimized God and maximized the giants. How guilty am I of that? That hit home hard.

            As the story goes on, the Israelites eventually begin to panic and say, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”-Numbers 14: 2-3. Eventually, because the Israelites didn’t obey God, they never got to see the promised Canaan. Read Numbers 14: 33-35.     You see, by Chad reading this, his particular focus was on “giants” or problems. After I read Numbers 14:2-3, I related it to my personal life. Even though God had just delivered the Israelites from bondage under Pharaoh, they still wanted to go back to that dreadful place. They didn’t trust God to keep his word and because of that, they didn’t get to experience the blessing he had prepared for them. How many times have I been guilty of “going back to the past” and wishing that I could go back???? After God had delivered me from my bondage. I don’t know about you but I want to experience milk and honey and the blessings God has prepared for me in the future. Not looking back but looking forward because I know what he has waiting for me is far more beautiful than I could ever imagine or dream of.

            What are you looking back at? What is keeping you from forgetting the bondage God delivered you from and blinding your vision so that you can’t see the blessings he has prepared for you?

Stay Salty,

Annie

Store Up Treasures In Heaven

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin's do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6: 19-21

In this particular verse, Jesus is warning us about the love of money.
I think it is amazing how every verse in the Bible is so powerful, yet so intimate at the same time. Let me explain. Depending on who is reading the verse and what circumstances or "life situations" they are dealing with, is how they perceive the verse and how they use it to cope with the circumstance or the situation. Meaning, that another person and I can read this exact verse but it speak to us in a completely different way depending on the circumstance or situation. That is awesome. That is how intimate and amazing our God is.
The reason for this post is because I learned a very valuable lesson yesterday. I have really been asking the Lord to reveal himself to me in everyday life because sometimes life gets in the way and fogs what our true purpose is on this earth. To reflect the image of God and to make disciples. That can be a future post. Back to what I was saying…Thursday night as I lay in bed reflecting on the day, I started thinking about all things God has blessed me with. A family, home, friends, clothes, and the list goes on. I started thinking in particularly about the materialistic things I own. Which in reality, I do not own at all. All that I have is his. I am just a borrower of it all. I asked The Lord not to let me get attached to the material things that I had in my possession.
 Those of you that know me, know that I recently had the privilege of buying my first car!!  To say it was an upgrade would be a complete understatement---no offense, PEARL. I purchased a 2014 Nissan Altima in September and she has been my baby ever since. To give you an idea of how much I love my new car, I would ask people to wipe off the bottoms of their shoes before getting in, I wouldn't let anyone hold a drink unless it was in the cup holder, I would go and have it washed once every two weeks---you get the idea. Ridiculous. But I couldn't help it. When you spend the money on something super nice, you want to take care of it. So the next day, Friday, I have a few errands to run. About 1:30 p.m., the unthinkable happened. I had a wreck. In my brand-new car. Amazingly, I know it was from God, a calmness and peace came over me. Myself and the other driver involved are both okay and were pretty shaken up. The wreck was not my fault and was a complete freak accident. In that moment, I realized 1.) how fast a wreck can happen 2.) how precious life is 3.) how it was just a car(material) that can be fixed.
Don't get me wrong, I am completely bummed about my car being messed up but at the same time, it is a material. It is not important when it comes to the bigger picture. The bigger picture being that nothing..car, phone, fame, wealth, house, position, etc. can satisfy my soul or anyones soul the way that Jesus Christ can. He is the only one that can make you truly satisfied.
I am not saying not to enjoy the materials you have been blessed with. What I am saying is, do not place them above God and do not strive to have material things because you think that it will make you happier. The richest person on the planet can probably tell you that. Whether he or she wants to admit it or not. If they do not know Christ, they are not fully satisfied.

Until next time.

Stay Salty,

Annie

Add Some Flavor to Your Life

Well, this is my third attempt to be a "blogger" so maybe the saying, "third times a charm" will come of some use. Here's hoping.  At first, I would try to blog about myself and what I was doing, until I realized that my life is really not that interesting to blog about. Normally, people who blog are newly weds, designers, people with babies, etc..etc. People with things to actually blog about. Then I started thinking and maybe I am not interesting enough but the One who created me is. I wanted a way to express my love for God and his son, Jesus Christ. I wanted to let other people know how good and faithful the Jesus I serve is. I wanted to glorify Him. 
You are probably asking yourself what the title of my blog signifies. So I will tell you how the title came to be. A few weeks ago, I came across the verse that now represents what this blog about, being salty. Luke 14: 34-35 Jesus is talking about salt. Webster describes salt as a substance used for seasoning food and preserving meat . In my Bible the commentary says this of being "salty". Salt can lose its flavor. When it gets wet and then dries, nothing is left but a tasteless residue. Many Christians tend to blend in the rest of the world and avoid the cost of standing up for Christ. But Jesus says if Christians lose their distinctive saltiness, they become worthless. Just as salt flavors and preserves food, we are to preserve the good in the world, help keep it from spoiling, and bring new flavor to life. It goes on to say, Being "salty" is not easy, but if a Christian fails in this function, he or she fails represent Christ in the world- Tyndall Live Application Study Bible. 
The word salt really stuck with me for some reason. The Lord just laid that word on my heart and I began to think about what I could possibly do with the word….salt. I began racking my brain of things that it could be and finally just kind of pushed it to the back of my brain. Then, one day out of the blue, I thought if I could use the word salt as an acronym I could do something with it. Again, my brain started spinning buttttt nothing. It wasn't until one random day when I wasn't thinking about it, I began thinking of words that could make up the acronym "salt". I quickly got my iPhone and went to the notes section and began typing away at the words that The Lord was laying on my mind and heart. Finally, I chose:

 Surrendering to 
 A
 Life
 Transformed

That is where the "salt" part came. The words also have significance also. In Romans 12:2, Paul states, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is---his good, pleasing and perfect will."
You see, when you allow Jesus to be the Savior of your life, you surrender to your old self. We sacrifice our old self and let the new (only made new by Jesus) take over. My Bible commentary says this: " Only when the Holy Spirit renews, reeducates, and redirects our minds are we truly transformed." It says it clearly in Romans 8:5. " Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life."

I am living evidence of being transformed and continuing to be transformed daily . Trust me, it's a work in progress. Am I perfect? No. Not at all. I mess up all of the time, but God shows and continues to show me Grace each day. I hope that by reading this blog that you feel encouraged, loved by the one who created and formed you (Psalm 139:13), and determined to add flavor to the world! ;)

As they say, "The rest is history." I decided that I would start a blog about the Lord and just talk about and share things He does and continues to do in my life. 

Stay Salty,

Annie