The Empty House

In our little village, there are numerous buildings and even houses that sit empty. There is a pretty house located on main street and for years, the owner had intentions of turning it into a Bed & Breakfast but it never happened. Instead, this home sits empty. It is not good for houses to sit empty for years, not being maintained. They become run down, sometimes broken into and vandalized and can even become hangouts for druggies. It saddens me to see this place just sit empty, when it could become a home for a family to fill with good things!

This reminded me of the “Empty House” parable that Jesus shared in Matthew 12:43-45:

“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.”

OUR HEART IS LIKE A HOME. When we come to Christ, our heart is cleansed. If we do not make the effort to fill our home with good things, then evil things are likely to return and with a vengeance and then there is the danger of our heart becoming hardened.

God’s presence should be an ongoing experience in our lives. If his presence is missing from our lives something else will take his place.

When a person empties himself of sin, yet remains empty, not filling himself of Godly things, then the evil spirits return and find it empty, and brings 7 other spirits with it, making the state of that person worse than before.

Using demon possession, Jesus warned that it is not enough to go through an initial period of repentance and removal of sin, unless reformation continues and something positive is put in place. Otherwise, the end might prove worse than the beginning.

If you have found yourself slipping back into your old ways, begin asking yourself:

-- Have I been filling myself with Godly things?

-- Have I started missing Church? Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God (Rom 10:17)
-- Do I feed myself on God's Word? Read Bible Daily. Fill heart with psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. (Eph 5:19)

-- What kind of people am I keeping company with? Choose your friends carefully (1 Cor 15:33) They will either help or hinder (Prov 13:20)

It does no good for us to “clean up our act” while avoiding a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ. All those things of the world that you choose to partake of, attempting to fill that void in your heart, will not bring you fulfillment. It is just temporary, and will bring harm and destruction.

Keep in mind.....

You cannot have communion with darkness and expect the Light of God to dwell in you. (2 Cor 6:14-7:1)

Connie J. Schmoll

How Long O Lord?

As I revisited Psalm 13, I wanted to reshare this. It was freeing to me to see how David speaks honestly to God on how he is feeling, knowing that God is big enough to take care of his doubts and frustrations.

“How long O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?”

We’ve all felt this way one time or another. I mean…think about it. God’s plan for our life is not laid out in a nice little blue print. It gets hard at times to get through those rough roads that we encounter along life’s way.

This got me thinking about how many times we try to hide from God how we really feel. It’s kind of silly of us really because God knows our true thoughts and feelings. He knows our hearts better than we do. He already knows all about our situation but he wants to hear it from us. He desires that relationship with us, no matter what we may end up coming to Him with: praise, grumbling, anger, hurt, problems, etc. He just wants our honesty. Why is it so hard to be honest with God?

Are we afraid He won’t love us? Are we afraid He’ll reject us or strike us down? Do we try to act so super spiritual when we go through some hard times but deep inside we feel angry with God? Be honest with Him. Believe me, He’ll honor your honesty. And just like Missionary Ken Oliver said, “God can do more with honest anger than dishonest praise”. I personally believe that being honest with God about how you are feeling about your situation can actually get the situation taken care of a lot sooner.

Look at this again how Psalm 13 ends: “I have trusted in Your loving kindness and my heart will rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for He has dealt bountifully with me.”

David does not end with his feelings. He began with how he feels but he ended with what he knows! Have you ever done that? Personally, I never really gave much thought on this but after reading this, I can remember many times when I poured out my heart in frustration, anguish and perhaps even saying things I didn’t really mean…to others and to God. But deep inside “WHAT I KNOW” was so much greater than “WHAT I FELT” and I ended up always overcoming those feelings.

When I feel God is not there, well…I KNOW He is. When I feel He doesn’t really care, deep inside, I KNOW HE REALLY DOES. When I feel I’m not loved, of course I KNOW HE LOVES ME!

How do I KNOW all these things? HIS WORD. This is why it is important to Hide the Word of God in our heart. When you have so much of His Word in your heart, you will always come out victorious over your feelings. God’s Word IS my WINDOW OF HOPE!

Remember, when you’re overwhelmed with life’s trials, JUST BE HONEST with God. Our faith cannot be based upon what we see or feel, and the circumstances cannot change what our hearts know to be real. SO KEEP BELIEVING IN WHAT YOU KNOW IS TRUE!!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=23&v=P_0h5CpNkoQ

God Wants To Wreck Your Life!

It's not everyday that you hear such a message as this one that I heard on Sunday, July21st, that ...

"God wants to wreck your life! So that He might give you His life to be your own!" -- Father Christopher at Kearney St. George Orthodox Christian Church.

There's a popular message always being preached today that GOD wants to prosper you. BUT what does that prosperous life look like to you? Is it the same as what GOD sees for you?

I am totally convinced that our lives have to fall apart in order for His purpose to prevail.

Proverbs 19:21 ~ Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.

Just Say Yes!

What great FAITH and TRUST in the LORD, to be willing to always say to Him, as Mary did, no matter the situation, "Let it be done to me according to your word."

From Luke 1:26-56. The angel appears to Mary, whom he calls "full of grace" and tells her that she will be giving birth to an amazing person.

That's A LOT to take in. It requires a great deal of faith and trust on her part to believe this news. But she is up to the task, and her response is one that we can all learn from: "Let it be done to me according to your word."

When we give God the great "yes" that Mary did, it frees Him to do what Luke tells us in a nearby verse: "nothing is impossible with God."

What is GOD asking of YOU? Tell HIM yes today, and see what impossible things He does.

God, thanks for giving us such a great example in Mary.

Connie J Schmoll

Find Peace In Being Still

As I laid in bed Sunday evening, after prayer time, a few thoughts from the Lord entered my heart and I knew it was time to write.

Life can bring such great and wonderful moments, can't it? But as I am sure that many of you are totally aware of, we also will find interwoven in our lives, times of disappointment, as we may see them. I spent a number of years always feeling down from all of life's disappointments until I began asking … But could these times not be God working out His plan? I have learned that just because something may not work out the way we wanted it to, does not mean that it should always be seen as a disappointment, but could very well be God's appointment for the time. This was when I began applying Proverbs 3:5-6 to my life.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths”.


Trust in the Lord
We must learn to fully trust in God in every situation no matter how it looks to us or even if we do not understand. We don't always have to know the “why” of a situation, but only that God sees the beginning and the end, so we must trust that He is working His plan for our life through it all.

Lean not on our own understanding
When we come up against some things in life that are perplexing, we cannot assume that our human understanding of things is always a perfect guide. Human understanding is limited by a person's knowledge and experience. But as I said before, God sees the bigger picture and knows the beginning from the end. Sometimes we need to look past human wisdom and allow the Spirit of God to direct our lives. Our human reasoning wants an explanation, but the Spirit of God says, "Trust Me!"

Acknowledge Him
It is not always easy to accept an outcome of a situation when we wanted so much for it to be different. Acceptance or acknowledging God in a situation is a very important attitude that we must have in order to incorporate our trust in Him. It helps us accept the outcome in a situation no matter how it looks to us, knowing God was in it.

And just to share ... Ephesians 2:10
"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

We never have to fear the road that we have ahead of us, because Christ prepared it specifically for us to walk. Though the road may be treacherous and narrow, especially at the speed life has been going lately, at the end of it is Christ!!

I pray that all of you who are reading this, will keep your eyes fully on Him, trust Him with all your heart and acknowledge Him in everything, and He will direct your path that will always lead to Him and His Will!

Here is a song that God led me to, that has ministered to me and my situation.  No matter how difficult it may be, I WILL find peace in being "still" when a situation is His Will.

"I'll Wait" by The Katinas   https://youtu.be/AC00jhBerYQ

Unconditional Love

In Loving Memory of LilyBud & ChampyBoy

"Dogs teach us many things but none more important than to love unconditionally"

We just recently had to put down our two little dogs. I did not realize just how hard it was going to be. It was such a heart-breaking experience. I must admit also that the after affects have been so difficult to overcome. Guilt has been a really hard one we've been battling. But I have learned throughout my walk with God, that over time, He will not only bring comfort and healing but also teach me something through the healing process.

Once my little fur babies were gone, my husband and I have both been left with this void inside of us. Such emptiness we feel. Why? Because dogs give unconditional love. It made us begin realizing that for 12 years, we have been experiencing unconditional love from them and now that love is gone. Pets are just like family and no matter what, they love us unconditionally and that is why we feel that void in our hearts once they are gone.

The Lord began speaking to me about how He has allowed us to experience that unconditional love through them and He said, “Now that they are gone, Connie, Now Accept Mine.” Do you know what just came to me today as I am writing this? DOG spelled backwards is GOD!

I find it hard sometimes to really comprehend just how much God does love me. And I often ask, why is it so hard? After all, He died for me! That act in itself should be proof enough!! Why do I always doubt His love for me?

I loved my little dogs SO MUCH and I miss them. I miss that love they gave to me and the trust that they had in me. It made me realize just how much that I long to be loved in that way and I know others do too.  Every soul seeks that unconditional love. So it is just as important for me to do the best I can to begin showing that same love to others. Deep down inside I want to believe that GOD loves me that much. I want to truly receive it. Sure, we know that His Word tells us He loves us. We know that! But have we actually truly received it and accepted it that no matter what we go through in life, we will never ever doubt His love again?

Maybe you've already reached that point. Personally for me, that revelation has become very big and deep for me right now and is beginning to fill up every space in my heart that I had allowed other things in to occupy, that was crowding His Love out. I desire to be completely filled up with His Unconditional Love.

If you are going through something today that has totally left a void within you, and you seem to find yourself trying to fill that void with other things but find it isn't working, I can tell you that it is because when each of us were created, we were created with that void in us that was only made to be filled by GOD and His unconditional love for us.

Now...Accept His today!!

Connie J. Schmoll

I found this online today and thought it was really cute!   https://youtu.be/H17edn_RZoY