Thankfulness

Today is Thanksgiving and I tasked our tuesday night fellowship group to write what they were thankful for in 100 words or less. I wanted to share mine!

I am thankful to be the daughter of the most high king, yet lacking the qualities of a true princess. Thankful to be a wife to an amazing man, knowing I don't fit the tall order of being the Proverbs 31 women.
Thankful to be a mom to boys who think that I walk on water, but have no idea that some  days I feel like I am sinking. Thankful to be a daughter, sister, auntie, friend and neighbor to those who love me. Thankful for my health, wealth that doesnt come in currency and Gods grace to do another day!

I know in the storms of life it is easy to see the pain, trials and tribulations. For today may the Lord bring you peace, love and comfort meeting every one of your needs. There is so much to be thankful for despite our circumstances!

Thankful!
Moni

Asher, 5 through pictures!

We pulled into the garage and just watched them as they slept. "Can you believe he is five"my husband whispered. Only I think that every year we will find ourselves asking the same question.. Can you believe he is 6, 7, 8.... until the day that we ask ourselves can you believe he is leaving for college.

But until then we celebrate each year that we have him. The other day in our homemade studio we flicked some pictures, only I know he is getting older because he is becoming less willing to my bright ideas and getting some of his own! Here is his five year session and who he is!

A Son- The smile you produce always radiates the joy in your heart. The smile in your eyes can be a comfort in the most difficult days. Its no wonder your name means "comforter" because you do!

A joy to raise you up and see the work that is being done in your life! But please slow down just a bit, because I am just not ready for the day you no longer want to hold my hand on the way to class.

A Helper- Captain America may pack muscles, but the gift of helps that you have in your heart surely can conquer a world that needs servants. I love your heart that you always want to help, whether it is making your dinner, lunch or serving at church picking up trash! 

Never cease to lose that passion to help people. I love seeing you take care of little grandma and brother! 

A Learner- I love that you love to read. I have seen you grow so much in the short time that you have been in school. Your imagination blows my mind. You are creative, not afraid to think outside the box and your willingness to teach is far beyond your age. I know the word of God does not go void, because I see the application you display in different moments of your young life. 

"Daddy, I cant wait to get big so that I can teach the high school kids" I pray that you never lose that heart to teach the word of God to others. 

A Silly Cat-  When you laugh you are all teeth! When you laugh I see it come from the most inter most part of your being. You are not afraid to laugh, to crack jokes and be silly. 

I can sit on the couch for hours, listening to you laugh watching funniest home videos. The joy and laughter in your heart makes me smile! 

A Thinker- Then there are the times, when I would love to know what you are thinking. The times when your emotions don't make a little sense. These are the times I see me in you. 

I see a boy who can care a little to much about something. A boy who is passionate about a cause that it hurts your little feelings. I understand you are a growing boy, changing in attitudes and emotions. Learning how to adapt to a world that can produce hurt, anger and disappointment.

This is all part of growing up. Be patient with me as I adapt and grow with you. You should know that I am always praying over your mind and ability to make good choices in life! 

A Brother- Fan boy and chum chum! You don't know this, but there are times I sit outside of your door and listen to you both while you drift out to sleep. Listening to the sound of worship that you sing to bed, and Caleb asking you to sing one more song. Then after his continued convincing of one more song there is silence. Then I know you have both drifted to sleep.

Sometimes it only takes that few moments, to help me forget about the things of the day. The moments of disobedience, struggles of trying to share and attitude of the day. I know it is a great responsibility to be the older brother. As we have told you the choices you make play a role in your brothers life as he is looking up to you. As we have seen he is always watching you. Take care of him!





Happy 5th my boy. I love you with all my heart and look forward to watching you grow, Lord willing! The day you were born changed our lives forever! You have helped daddy and I be better people, increased our faith and learn to love beyond ourselves! Thank you Asher!

We love you!
Mommy! 

God doesn't make mistakes in who he appoints as leaders!

The question resonate in my mind, and as I took a second to gather my thoughts I answered with every ounce of my being standing behind what I believed. " I believe that if you choose me, I can and will make a difference because I care. I truly believe that what I know and my willingness to try is can be an asset to this department."

As I went to bed that night Id imagine that I felt the same way President Obama and Governor Romney went to bed. Both feeling capable and believing they were the man for the job, yet leaving the decision in someone elses hands! The anticipation of potentially being  leader they believed they can be or failing to convince the other party!

Only I was up for a position as a manager in a department of about 50, these men campaigned long to be the President of the United States a task of carrying the burden of our country. In the end the reality is this. We have two men who woke up this morning different! One celebrating that many felt confident in him to lead our country. The other feeling defeated after a long campaign of money spent, time away from family and not being good enough to be our leader.

I know that NO one is good enough to lead our country. Our world is in turmoil on so many levels, there is war, financial crisis, disasters of great proportion, violence that we have never seen before! But the only person that is able and capable is the Lord. As a leader I have made many mistakes, there will be no president that will be exempt from that because we all know that man is not perfect.

Because God is ruler of my life, I know that he promotes and demotes, there is nothing that happens to us that He does not allow. For such a time, He has allowed and appointed Mr. Obama to be a leader in our country and so now we pray. I know God well enough to know He never makes a mistake, never has in my life and so I trust in Him. We pray President Obama, his wife and his children who have a great task ahead of them. Mrs Obama is still a wife that needs strength to lift her husbands hands, which she can by the way with those guns she has! The obama girls who looks at their daddy without fault, who don't live normal childhoods. I would imagine there are great sacrafices to be made in any family that accepts to be the first family. So for all the reasons and for the state of our country we pray!

As I was in my car this morning, I heard the song "God in the city" By Chris Tomlin, and it was such a perfect song for a perfect morning. The chorus states that " Greater things are yet to come, great things are still to be done in the city". Friends there is so much to do in this city, state and nation. People need help and people need the love of Jesus. Lets move forward and do the work. Lets go out and truly make change happen. Right now the east coast can use some extra love. Will you donate? Will you help be the change that you voted for. Don't wait for the change, be the change!  It takes an army not one man!

Today is my birthday and I thank the Lord for another day of service to Him! May I not waste it on things that don't matter! Thank you all for being my friends, readers and support! You truly bless my heart!

"This is the day the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!" Psalm 118:24

I am Monica Pereyra and I support this message!

Facebook, Elections and Being Better!

This morning I heard on the radio that this elections has caused so many arguments, strife and broken friendships than ever before. So what makes this different from years past? Facebook! Many people find FB as an outlet to campaign, complain and vent! These are conversations that might not take place in a casual conversation outside of facebook.

The other day, I was asked by a friend why I have not posted anything in regards to who I was voting for or my political views etc. Well for me I don't feel that is a place for me. If you are interested in a friendly conversation then, lets chat it up. It doesn't make me ashamed of who I am or less radical for Jesus! Its just who I is!

FB is fun, sometimes to fun to play with. That is just it, I don't use it as a place for a statement to make, I dont use it to mend a friendship or to break up a friendship. I don't use it for drama and I surely don't use it as my therapist. My post are about life and the things I enjoy. So does that me everything in my life is perfect! Heck no just read this blog. I don't throw stuff out there and hide behind it.

The same person said,  but you are not scared to throw scripture out there and that could offend people. Scripture has become who I am. It is the instruction in my life. If it ministers to me, I share. It is my hope that those who wish to be my friends on FB love me for who I am, and all of me. I have many friends who do not believe in everything I believe. I am in no way offended by that. I have built strong relationships and love some who don't even believe in the same God I do. I am not offended by their comments or status as long as it is not direct attack on me or my family.


Although I have made some great friendships through social media, I have also seen some dangerous habits come out of it. Some that I am in guilty of. Bottom line is that we are a people who need to be touched physically. I don't say that in a sexual way, but only trying to make the point that we need to hear each others voice, we need to embrace in a hug, we need to hold a hand of a friend we are praying with, not just leaving a comment. We need to know that we are here for each other and not only by words that appear on our screen.

Like most I cannot wait for this election to be over. No matter who is president I still have hope in the same God, and I will continue to pray for ever is in charge of country. I also know that even when the elections end there is still that part of social media that will always be a never ending dumping ground of ugly.

But I do ask one thing... Take this challenge, instead of facebooking or texting a friend, call them. Perhaps visit them.. Pick up the phone and let them hear your voice. What if we took a day when everyone decided to use there status update to praise a friend, or encourage someone they would mostly not!

By the way the conversation I had with a friend was not a debating conversation. It was just a time of honesty and getting to know more about me. I love that, I love when I can have real deep conversations with friends that run deeper than my day plans. I have alot to think about and alot to do.... May God help us to be better people!

In His service,
Moni

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, In all way acknowledge HIm and He will direct your path! "
Prov 3:5-6

Teetering on self discipline & self indulgence of wisdom!

In the playground of choices, I have been teetering between self discipline and self indulgence. Making good choices, as we tell Noah and making some not so good choices in some areas in my life. Its been awhile since I broke down some scripture and perhaps that is where the problems begins.

Like many times before,  I don't think it was a coincidence that the Lord had something to say to me in the proverb of the day. Proverbs 4 the "Security of wisdom"  was so relevant for this time, this day in the fear of my thoughts of not been strong enough to teeter over to the side of self discipline.

The whole proverb is great, but let me take you to verse 20 where I felt the shocks to the heart like someone was using an AED to bring me back to life. Over the next seven verses, I will talk about a few "H's"- Hearing, Heart, Health, aHead, Hoover and Headway. Are you ready? Lets get the paddles and shock the heart to wisdom.


Vs. 20 " My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my saying"
How it spoke to me:

Concentrate on my words, give me your ear to Hear what I have been trying to tell you. Just listen!


Vs. 21 "Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart;"
How it spoke to me:

When you see it, hold onto it, and only let it go if it is going to your heart!


Vs. 22 "For they are life to those who find them, And Health to all their flesh."
How it spoke to me:

Wisdom is the life to those who look for it. Find is a word of action. You must obtain wisdom and when you do it is health to the your body. It is impossible to be physically fit if you are spiritually unhealthy. The other day, I was talking to a friend and totally complaining. I was complaining about a situation, and then I jumped to another situation and complained about that. I hung up the phone and I felt physically nauseous and had a headache. In that moment I knew it was the nasty in my heart that caused my body to feel physically ill.

I know when I am not in tuned with the word or in prayer that it is impossible to be utilize wisdom in my interactions, speech and discipline in all areas of my life. I have to be diligent in the seeking for Gods wisdom if I want to be healthy.

Vs. 23 " Keep your Heart with all diligence, for out of it springs the issues of life."

How it spoke to me:
The issues that you are having-  impatient, laziness, not motivated, short tempered, are coming from your heart and not circumstances. I looked up diligence in Webster and it read " Careful and persistent work or effort." Meaning it is going to take work or effort to keep our heart clean and retain the wisdom. The other day it was hot, I walked into my house that was a mess. Immediately I found myself ten degrees hotter. I told my husband if I cleaned the house it would be much cooler. He thought I was crazy. Perhaps it was a mental thing, but the fact that it was clean dictated how my body felt. When wisdom is hanging out in your heart, there is not much room for a mess.

Vs. 24 " Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you."

How it spoke to me:
Shut yo mouth. Plain and simple! Boom! stop complaining, stop gossiping. The other day I was watching a you tube video of a motivational speaker who was sharing with the youth. He had been speaking and had a mic that he thought was turned off. A man who was a skeptic that thought he was "too good" of a person and fake, was listening to him have a conversation with his driver for that day. When he got off the car this man approached him and told him that he had listen to his whole conversation and he was wrong. His exact words to the motivational speaker was "your legit." He brought up the story, because he told the kids that we should live our lives like we were mic'd up. I humbly admit that I would not like the world to hear some of my conversations. Would you?

Vs. 25 "Let your eyes look straight aHead, and your eyelids look right before you."

Always look ahead, forget about what was, work on what is and what can be! Stay focused and on course. For those of you that arnt into horse racing, horses run with blinders. I found it interesting what they had to say about the reason behind it:
           
Horses have their eyes at the sides of their heads, which indicates that they are hunted in nature — similar to rabbits, for example — as opposed to the hunters such as cats. So, horses have peripheral vision, which means they can end up running off course unless they are made to remain focused.

Blinders are small squares of firm leather that attach to the bridle at the side of the horse’s head. Some say that blinders were invented when a preacher had a wager with one of his friends. The preacher bet that his horse could walk up the stairs in his home, which the horse did with no problem at all. But, when he tried to coax the horse down again, it wouldn’t budge! So, the preacher covered the horses head and lead him down. He realized that covering all or part of the horse’s vision could encourage the horse to take chances it would not normally take.

Horses sometimes need to be made to focus and blinders keep the horse’s eye focused on what is ahead, rather than what is at the side or behind. That is why race horses are often given blinders – for the purpose of keeping them focused when racing round a racecourse.

Strap on your blinders homies!

Vs. 26 " Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established"

Ponder or Hoover means to think about something carefully before deciding or concluding. Think about your actions before you make a move. Is this good for me? Is this glorifying God? Is this healthy? 

Vs. 27 " Do not turn to the right or left; remove your foot from evil"

Make Headway use those blinders to keep you from looking left and right to stray you away from the course and what is right. The only way you can move ahead is by moving forward not running to the left or right. Don't dabble in evil or tempt yourself in the things which are not good. 

I know this is a long post and not the norm, but these verses really just spoke to the core of my heart. I have been running on the treadmill the last month, I am ready to put on the shoes and run the course outside. I am speaking spiritually now friends! If you are also in that slump, let come along together! lets obtain wisdom, harbor it in the heart and make good choices in every area in our lives! 

Love you,

Moni