Jesus told his followers to make disciples. That should be a priority for everyone who believes in Jesus. Being one of His own is a privilege, and it comes with responsibilities. It's kind of like having a driver's license. There are certain things you may and may not do.

(Mark 8:34 AMPLIFIED) And Jesus called [to Him] the throng with His disciples and said to them, If anyone intends to come after Me, let him deny himself [forget, ignore, disown, and lose sight of himself and his own interests] and take up his cross, and [joining Me as a disciple and siding with My party] follow with Me [continually, cleaving steadfastly to Me].

Deny himself. Uh, yeah. I confess I find this difficult at times. Our society and culture promote selfishness. "You deserve it. Live the good life! If you want it, just put it on your credit card!" We are encouraged to spend plenty of time and money doing what makes us "happy." The idea of giving up any of our comforts and pleasures make us feel a bit.... squirmy. The idea of denying ourselves.... well, for many, that is just not an option. We have become hardened to the hardships of others. We rarely feel the need to deprive ourselves anything on behalf of another.

We seem to forget that as Christians, we are not our own any longer. We have been bought and paid for by Christ's precious blood, so our goals should be His goals; our desires His desires. That is not extreme. That is simple gospel.

(1Cor. 7:23 NLT) God paid a high price for you, so don't be enslaved by the world.

Jesus says, 1.) deny yourself 2.) pick up your cross 3.) follow Him. We view crosses as heavy. Crosses are not so comfortable to drag around. They are a symbol of sacrifice, death, shame. The cross is a symbol of laying your life down. Most of us think about this stuff, and we are afraid. Admit it. It just sounds horrid.

Yes, that's just what the devil wants us to think. Yes. The cross is hard on the flesh. But, there is so much more to it than that, although most of us never see past the denying part.

(Mark 8:35-36 AMPLIFIED) For whoever wants to save his [higher, spiritual, eternal] life, will lose it [the lower, natural, temporal life which is lived only on earth]; and whoever gives up his life [which is lived only on earth] for My sake and the Gospel's will save it [his higher, spiritual life in the eternal kingdom of God]. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life [in the eternal kingdom of God]?

What it all boils down to is, where is your treasure? Where is your heart? If you are totally committed to the Lord Jesus, you will follow. You will be willing to lay down your desires and take up His cause. You will be joyful in the surrender of yourself to Him and His will. You will find the peace and satisfaction that only come from truly serving Him. You will be able to sing, "It is Well With my Soul" and really mean it.

(1Peter 1:8-9 AMPLIFIED) Without having seen Him, you love Him; though you do not [even] now see Him, you believe in Him and exult and thrill with inexpressible and glorious (triumphant, heavenly) joy. [At the same time] you receive the result (outcome, consummation) of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

You see, Jesus is not trying to hurt you. He wants to perfect you. He is not about ruining your life and taking away everything you enjoy. He wants to give you more than you can imagine! But, somehow we have this warped idea that it will be awful. Silly us. Imagine that all you knew was dirt. See yourself sitting in a big, mud puddle with both hands filled with gooey, smelly dirt. Now see Jesus, with His eyes full of love for you, standing there holding out His hand. He wants to lift you out of that filthy pit and show you a whole new life! An exciting life! A life free from selfishness and small thinking. A life of joyful service. A life of purpose and peace. In order to receive it, you have to be willing to deny yourself that dirty puddle. Is the choice really so hard?

Hello, Folks!

I am back from my visit to N. Ireland. I should warn you that this post is going to be pretty much all about my grandchildren, so if you find that yucky, leave now!

See? I am using words like yucky! That's what happens when you are around little people. What can I say? I loved every minute of it. They wore me out, and gave me many new aches and pains, but they hold my heart like no other humans could. I adore them! I changed diapers, hung mountains of laundry, assembled meals (including MANY peanut butter and jelly sandwiches), read stories, played with play dough, rocked tiny Ariela and cuddled with all three. I was up early, and worked all day. When I fell into bed I was exhausted! And I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

We did have a little time to do some other things. One day we all piled into the church van and went up the coast to Port Rush. We visited Dunlace Castle as well as some other nice places. The castle was incredible! I probably could have spent the day there just wandering around snapping pics! Don't worry! I will not share all 68 of the photos I took there!

Here are two of my N.Irish cuties! I love Sianna's accent. Aliza is not talking too much yet. She talks with her big, blue eyes mostly. She is a cuddler, and that suits me fine. Aliza wants to kiss and hug the baby whenever she is in the same vicinity. She pops her pacifier out, kisses Ariela, and sticks it back in!

We did a photo shoot with the baby. My daughter is very creative and it took us forever to make the letters and get everything set up, but the results were lovely!

While in N. Ireland I caught a doozy of a cold, and lost my voice. I still haven't found all of it! The kids also shared an eye infection with me. I didn't bother about it too much. Thankfully, there was enough of their medicine for me to use.

See what I mean about those eyes? Oh! I love that little face. I think of the three girls, she reminds me most of her mommmy.

Sianna and I did a lot of projects together. She is a very articulate, confident little person, and I loved listening to her chatter away. We made cinnamon rolls, French toast, and Peppi Pig Muddy Puddle Cake. We blew bubbles, played in the sand, read stories, went shopping, played doctors with her dolls, sang songs, and danced. I think I watched Frozen three times. I watched Tangled and Despicable Me multiple times too. Until this visit, I had never heard of these movies! I now know a lot of the lyrics to the songs in Frozen. I love the snowman, Olaf. Sianna can sing a lot of the songs, and she puts in plenty of drama! Can you say ADORABLE?

One afternoon my daughter treated me to afternoon tea in a very posh place called Secret Gardens. We munched our way through little sandwiches, scones with cream and jam, and many other delicious treats -- washing it all down with tea, of course! I tried to remember to keep my pinkie up while sipping! It was nice to have some time just with her. The baby was along on the trip, but she slept most of the time.

I had the opportunity to hear my son in law preach one Sunday morning. It was a challenging, excellent message. He is quite a guy, and I know God has big plans for him. Look out, Russia!

It was a lovely visit, and sad as well. I will not see them again for some time, as in the Fall they are moving to Russia. They will be going to University in Siberia to learn Russian. After the first school term, they will come back for a visit, and we are hoping and praying that things will work out for us to all get together stateside with my other daughter and her family. We have not all been together in many, many years, and it would be like Heaven to have all of us in one place. Please pray, if you would, that we can manage this. Also, if you are inclined to pray, the kids have their house in Dundonald on the market, and need to sell it ASAP. We are asking God for the right person with the right financing to snap it up for the right price!

Family is important! Treasure yours. Tell them you love them often. Let them know they can count on you. They are God's gifts to you. I know He has blessed me with GREAT riches!

OK, just a few more pictures and I will be done here. I will be putting up some albums on Facebook of all the pics I took if you are interested in looking at them. I miss the "old" Xanga where I knew what I was doing and could make the pics bigger and do more stuff. Thanks for reading! Have a blessed weekend!