It’s Easter morning and even though I am not a morning person, I woke up early and have not been able to go back to sleep.  I always wake up on Easter morning and remember that this is the day that the grave clothes fell off and Jesus walked out of the tomb!  He tried to let the disciples know, before he died, that in 3 days, he would rise from the grave, but in their human nature, they simply could not imagine that happening!  Not until he appeared to them.  He reminded them of what he had said about his death and then his resurrection (coming back to life) after being dead for 3 days.  With Thomas, one of his disciples, he still could not be sure that it was Jesus!  He had to be shown the nail scars in Jesus hands and feet, before he believed!  I have taught children for years and one of my favorite stories was when Jesus actually was eating with the disciples after he arose from the dead.  In Luke 24:30-31, and he actually vanished from their sight.  I always imagined that his body may have been like a spirit form and he walked through the wall!  Throughout the beginning books of the New Testament, you will find the story is told by different writers, each tells it in a different way as they remember it.  It is interesting to read all encounters and you get a bigger picture of how it actually happened!  This passage has always given me some insight as to how our new spiritual bodies will be when we transform from this life to another.  The Bible says we will be known as we are.  In other words, we will be recognized with the same face as we have here on earth!  People will know us when we get to heaven!  Our bodies will no longer be flesh and blood!  We will appear to be as we are but we will not be the same!  Back to that day, when Jesus came out of that tomb, the grave clothes were still there!  Can you imagine, seeing the grave clothes lying there in the tomb, looking like a man had been in them, but he was gone!  His mission was complete and he was now on the other side of a journey that was completed!  Praise God for that ultimate sacrifice that he made.  Jesus did it all so we could have a new beginning upon allowing him to be our faithful partner in life.  Submitting all we are to him, and letting him take over the reins of our life.  Just imagine, we get to set back and enjoy the ride because he is in charge.  I would dare say that if you are not enjoying the ride, then you may have taken the reins back into your hands.

In this life, we have many choices that have to be made.  There are many directions that we could go.   Today, as the Easter season has arrived, and I think of new beginnings, I realize that my husband Mike and I too will face a new beginning.  We have been in Nebraska on a temporary job for a little over 2 months.  There were so many signs, that God brought us here.  We have committed our lives to his direction and thought we might stay for a time.  We had heard rumor that that might happen and a few more months here would be offered with his job.  Daily we have waited for news and we were now the last to leave from the workers that were here.  I couldn’t possibly know what would happen, but I did know that God knew what would happen and he had our trust that he would guide us and we would follow his lead!  This is a daily lifestyle that we all need to live by.  In the past, we jumped out ahead of God, and made plans without his guidance, and we found out he had other plans in mind for us.  In Jeremiah 29:11, the Bible says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD.  They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”  I had planned to attend church here this morning, but Mike left for work with our truck, to complete his last day on the job.  I will rest and know that with God in our life and him as the captain of our ship, we have the Power to Achieve!  As he achieved  victory over the grave, we are assured of victory in every aspect of our life as long as we follow his lead!

It was a long awaited night. Jesus was in the garden, about to complete his mission.  He had tried to tell his disciples what was about to take place, but it is obvious to us; they did not listen or believe, what he had told them.  As he knelt in the garden praying and asking them to linger with him, they fell asleep and left him there alone.  In agony he prayed, knowing his time was at hand.  His agony was so great, that he sweat as if it were great drops of blood!   Morning came, and the series of events began to play out.  Jesus said, “Father, not my will, but thine be done!”

It has been a quite week for me.  Wondering what I needed to write about and if I would get inspired with just the right thing to say. I took time out and watched a movie “Abraham.”  It really stuck me as to how God took Abraham down a similar road, which he too would go down with his own son Jesus someday.  Abraham was told he would be the Father of many nations!  His seed would be as the stars and the sands of the sea!  As an old man, he didn’t have a son, so how could this be?  Finally a son was given to him by a maid servant, but not by his beloved wife, Sarah.  Abraham decided that his son given to him by the maid servant would be the one God had in mind for bringing about his promise.  He grew to love his son, but Sarah was deeply anguished that she was not able to give a son to Abraham.  She was an old woman around 90 years old and Abraham was an old man and it seemed it was now not even a possibility!  When God spoke and she overheard that she would become pregnant, she was in the tent and she laughed!  Abraham didn’t see how it could happen, but God told him he would have a son by Sarah.  He was the one God would choose to fulfill his purpose and Sarah would be his mother.  His other son would also have many blessings but his son by Sarah would be named Isaac and he would come to them even though Sarah was beyond child bearing years.  It happened, just as God had told them and the love that Abraham had for Isaac as he taught him and watched his grow was so great!  He taught both of his sons about God and during that time, for the covering of sins, he taught them how to lay the precious lamb on the alter after tying it up, and then how to slice the throat quickly so the lamb would die and then the burnt sacrifice could be offered.  I watched as he got so caught up with Isaac, training him and teaching him everything he could, because he was an old man and he feared he would not have time to prepare him to be a good leader.  He doted over Isaac so much, he neglected other important things.  His love was so entwined with Isaac, he was unbelievably stricken when God spoke to him and asked him to go to the mountain and offer up a sacrifice and that sacrifice would be his son Isaac!  God made it clear and by this time he knew God’s voice.  His heart was wretched!  He was in anguish!  As he gathered Isaac and they went to the place of the sacrifice, Isaac said to him, “Father, where is the sacrifice that we are to offer?”  Abraham could only answer, “God will provide!  It wasn’t until they were at the altar and the bundle of wood was in their hands, that Abraham asked Isaac to stretch forth his hands and he began to tie them with rope.  Isaac must have known at that time, what was about to happen.  With trembling, he was asked to lay down on the alter.  He laid there as his dad drew out the knife.  He closed his eyes tightly and Abraham raised the knife up!  It was then, God spoke and told him not to continue.  God knew he had proved his love for him and he provided an animal in the thicket for him to offer!  (You can read this story in the 1st chapter of the Bible starting at Genesis 17.)

I think as this event took place, God was rehearsing for what would take place, when he sent his Son to die on this earth for the sins of the world. He knew how anguishing it would be, but because he wanted to give us the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, he did it.  Jesus willingly went to the cross and he did die on that cross and to his disciple’s surprise, after 3 days after he died, he came forth out of the tomb and appeared to them.  After some time, he ascended to heaven and he is coming back some day to finalize everything and take his children home.

He cares about every aspect of your life. More than anything, he desires a relationship with his children!  He wants to daily, put his arm around you and tell you he loves you!  You are the reason he died!  He wants to now show you how to live.  I hope you will let him show you that he expects you to be blessed in all you do.  He has given us the Power to Achieve!  Happy Easter to everyone!  God Bless!

To be successful in life, healing must take place, in order for restoration to take place, whether it is in business, friendships, family relationships or misunderstandings. Even the unknown imagination that something is there that we see as truth may be a lie!   In our family we have started a new process that I hope will bring healing and a renewed joy into the lives of a generation who suffered greatly from bad decisions of the past.

Alcohol, drugs, violence, sexual abuse, unfaithfulness, divorce and heartbreak, has sewn it’s threads into the lives of almost every home in America and I’m sure throughout the world.  Lying to ourselves and denial of the ravage that seeps into even the best of homes, has threatened the very essence, of what a family is to be!

We asked God for direction in our lives in regards to Mike’s layoff last September.  We knew we didn’t need to take off in just any direction, without consulting God’s guidance.  We loved being in our comfort zone, but God brought us back up to the cold country! We arrived in the hills of Nebraska for a season in our lives.  We knew, when we came, that Mike had a sister and a brother whom he had never met.  Due to alcoholism in the family roots, the family had left siblings along the way and this brother and sister, share the mother of Mike and his sister, Sherri.  Mike and Sherri also had another half-sister who was the oldest sister and her name was Carole Ann.

Years ago, when Mike and I were first married, we knew Carole Ann and her husband well.   We did not live in the same town, but often they came to visit Mike’s Grandmother and Dad so we kept in touch.  She was a beautiful and caring person.  I had forgotten that she lived close to Mike’s other half-brother, Bobby, and his sister Cheryl.  She had practically raised them.  Sherri, Mike’s sister, had met Bobby and Cheryl as she had moved near Carole Ann and she had told us about them, but for some reason, we never met personally.  It was in 1992 and we were moving from Houston, back to our home town near Amarillo with a new job.  I had stayed in Houston to pack the house and arranged a flight for my brother to fly down and help me pack the truck and drive to our new location.  Mike had just begun his job and couldn’t come back.  We got a horrible call!  Carole Ann had been killed in a car wreck!  The timing for us was bad.  Carole Ann now had remarried and moved out of state and we couldn’t make her funeral.  I keep a beautiful picture of her on my mantel and think of her often.  We knew, through Mike’s sister, that Bobby lived in or near Omaha, Nebraska.  We hoped that when we came here on the job assignment, we could find him and get to know him.  He is now 47 and Mike is 59.  Mike’s only brother and they had never met!  It was this past weekend, which we planned a trip to Omaha, only an hour away.  We called his sister Sherri and requested any contact information she could find for us, so we could give Bobby a call.  Sherri hadn’t talked to him in over 2 years, and all she had was a cell phone.  Mike made the call and Bobby and at first he didn’t answer.  We waited and he did call back.  He was skeptical and a little afraid that someone might be doing a scam or something, but as he and Mike talked, he realized it really was his brother!  He wanted to meet us, so we arranged a late evening meeting to eat out and get acquainted.  He asked if his daughter could join us and we met with her too.  This I believe, from all I’ve learned, is the beginning of a healing, which will now grow into a loving family relationship.  Imagine, hugging a brother or a sister, your own flesh and blood, putting all the bad memories of the past behind and building on a strong hope of future relationship!  We know this is just the beginning and we had to take the first step!  We had to take a chance that maybe Bobby wouldn’t won’t to meet us, after all!   We took that chance and he says it was so timely and something he needed in his life so intensely right now!  We are already to build a future and a life of future memories and try to bring restoration to lots of people who have been affected by bad decisions of the past!  Bobby has 5 children and 6 grandchildren!

We need God to forgive us, but we too, cannot heal, unless we are willing to forgive. We might need to put our self-esteem out on the line, and risk rejection or hurt to find healing in our situation, but it will be worth it because of the peace in knowing that at least we tried!  It’s not about us!  It’s about a loving savior who placed us on this earth for his pleasure in seeing us make good choices and build long lasting relationships.

Every good building has a strong foundation under it.  When our relationships are bad with those we love, there are cracks that seep into that foundation of our lives and it begins to crumble.  God wants us to get the relationships repaired and as we do that, he fixes the foundational cracks!  How awesome is that!  He will “Orchestrate” our lives and put the harmony back into our song if we will ask him to show us what to do and follow his lead, even though we might not get the results we expect.  You do your part and he will do his.  He said to be thankful in “all things!” Turn whatever happens, into a prayer of thanksgiving and just see how it turns out.  Get peace and victory back into your life.  Only look back to learn from the past and take the lessons you learn and build a future full of peace, contentment and successes, knowing you have done your part!  You were meant to have the Power to Achieve through all things!

During a lifetime of living, if we are fortunate to live a long life, there are many breaths that we take to maintain our life!  Daily we live and without the air we breathe into our lungs, we would soon be out of this life and then to where?

My blog is to hopefully teach you to live your life with purpose!  Find out who you are, what you were created to be, and leave this life proud of the choices you make on a daily basis.  If you don’t believe in God, then I hope to get you to at least consider the possibilities.  You see, if I am right and there is a God who created you and also created this universe, then it might be important to seriously give thought to the places you go, the choices you make in the things you do, and also in the people you hang around with and allow them to influence your life.  All I can say to a person who does not believe in life after death is, what if I’m right and you are wrong?  If you think you just die and go back to the earth  and nothing exist of you after that, then it would be a rude awakening to find yourself in eternity before God and having to admit to him that you didn’t have faith in him, because you couldn’t see him.  Even worse, if you kind of sort of admitted he might exist, but you refused to accept him as your Lord and Savior.  Today, I feel I am supposed to write to someone out there, that eternity may just be a breath or so away, and you yet have rebelled against God.  Maybe someone hurt you, or someone said they knew God, but they were the biggest hypocrite you have ever know!  And maybe, no one ever told you about God or that God loves you and he died on the cross for your sins and if you will ask him, he will be faithful and just to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.  It’s not about the people who have hurt you!  It’s not about a church, or a bad church experience you had!  It’s about him, a loving Father, who wanted so much for you to have a life of peace and tranquility, a life full of hope, and a guidance counselor who would live within you!  He will give you the best ideas ever, in making good choices in your life!

Belief in God is something you do by faith.   Faith is evidence of something you hope for and it is substance of something you cannot see!  To you it is a choice to believe and a choice to act on that belief.  God gave us his word, which is the Bible, and through the knowledge and acceptance of that word, the faith you will choose to pick up will start to grow!  As you believe and as you begin to talk to God (that’s Prayer), God will begin to reveal himself to you!  At the age of 6, I wanted to accept and believe in Jesus.  I had been taught about him and about who he was, how he came and gave his life for me and how he wanted me to serve him!  Through that choice to ask him to forgive me and come into my heart, he came, and he has been there for me ever since.  Even when I’ve made bad choices, he has gently guided me back onto the road of peace and happiness.

The Bible says, we will stand before God some day and at that time, we will have to be accountable for how we have lived while the breath was still in us.  We are made of a body, soul, and spirit, and when we die, we will be with God!  To be absent from the body, is to be present with Christ.  You think you will just be present with the dust and that’s it?  Well, if that happens  and you are right and I am wrong, what would I have to lose?  But if I’m right and you are wrong, you would lose everything and as the Bible says you would be cast into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!   I don’t like talking about Hell because it is a horrible place from all I have been told.  I don’t plan on going there anyway!  But if you don’t have your provisions to get to Heaven, then you had better not let that last breath here on earth happen before you have invited God into your life and your heart!

My friend and savior Jesus, knows what I have need of, even before I ask.  I find when I whine about something and he gently speaks to me and reminds me of the important things and I repent and ask him to help me grow, he does things in my life that are unexplainable!  I can’t tell you every detail of this week’s talk  had with him, but just let me tell you he came through and answered everything I put before him!   He does that daily in my life and he will also do it in yours.  Take the first step and don’t gamble with your eternity!  You have The Power to Achieve eternal life that will make your entire life here on earth look like a single breath!  Eternity is forever and we will eternally be with the Lord!  We will not have pain, or sorrow in Heaven.  While on earth, I can think of those I love and of the lives I impact, including those of my love ones that are so close to my heart.  But if they don’t make it to heaven, I don’t think I will remember them when I get there.  Why, because if they are in Hell, the anguish of them being there would not be something I could not bear!  So please consider your ways, choose to turn your heart to God and he will forgive your sins and direct your paths!  God Bless you!  This is not my normal blog, but probably one of the most important ones, I will ever do!  I John 1:9 says that   “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness!”  If you make a decision and do that today, let me know.  I will pray with you for a new beginning in Christ!  beverlystimetotravel@gmail.com

Today, I would like to share with you about making God’s word personal to you and see if it will help you understand how important you are to him! I opened up the word this morning and at first I just read.  Then I thought about how it would sound to put my name in it.  This reading is from Jude, the next to the last chapter in the Bible.  When you read it, instead of my name, put yours in and see if it comes alive for you!

Jude 1:2 Mercy unto you, Beverly, and peace and love be multiplied!  Beverly, when I gave all diligence to write to you about the common salvation, it was needful for me to write to you, Beverly, and exhort you that you should earnesly strive for the faith that was once delivered to the Saints!  Beverly, there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.  Because of this, Beverly, I will put you in rememberance.  Beverly you know how I saved the people out of Egypt, after I destroyed those that did not believe.  You also know, Beverly, there were angels which kept not their first estate, (these angels chose not to follow God and joined Satan) they left their own habitation (dwelling place with Christ) and they are now in chains under darkness, Beverly, until the judgement of the great day!    This passage reminds us of the state our world is now in and continues to talk about sin that is rampant in our world even today.  Moving on down to verse 17 it says:  But Beverly, remember the word that was spoken before by the apostles. The word of the Lord Jesus Christ was what they taught!  Beverly, they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their ungodly lusts.  Beverly, these are the ones who separate themselves, being more sensual, and they do not move by the Spirit of God!  But, Beverly, beloved, build your life up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, and keep yourselves in the love of God, Beverly, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.  And Beverly, with some, have compassion, make a difference in their lives!  And Beverly, there may be some who must be saved with fear and you may have to pull them out of the fire.  Hate even their garments That are spotted by fleshly acts of evil!  This is serious stuff!  Now Beverly, to him (speaking of Jesus) that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, and to the only wise God our Saviour, Beverly, be glory and majesty, and dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen

You are made to make a difference in this world and yet you have the freedom to choose! God personally has a love for you that you cannot measure.  Be blessed today and personalize his word in your life and you will learn that withGod, all things are possible and you have the Power To Achieve!