Good morning!
I am going to blog about an issue and many will understand the frustration. I had to choose to stop letting the negativity take up space in my heart and have compassion instead. I feel like the resentment has caused many believers to hold back generosity to those who need it. Don’t let it stop you. Out of the 5000 people who were fed by the fishes and loaves I’m sure there were several who didn’t ‘need’ it but ‘need’ had nothing to do with the task Jesus gave them. So maybe we should put our feelings to the side until we have figured out what God is telling us and go from there.
I will be the first to admit that it makes me mad when I see people living on every type of government assistance (food stamps, welfare, fuel assistance , cooling assistance , housing assistance, etc) they can get their hands on to avoid working. Wow man what a lazy bum. It infuriates me when I see them spending that money (OUR TAX DOLLARS) paying for their cable, iphones, laptops, and many other luxuries they always seem to have money to spend on. It disgusts me that they sit on their butts with their cable, internet, and cell phones while we work to put a roof over our families heads. How do they sleep at night? (Probably on a sleep number bed right? lol) Years ago when I first became a single mom I myself was on asst. until I got several jobs that paid enough to make ends meet, so I’m not coming down on anyone who is not abusing the system. The point is it was temporary and not a way of life. And certainly not a legacy I’d pass down to my children. What I’m referring to is waiting in line at sheetz on my lunch break to pay for a sub, when the person in front of me who just paid for a 5 dollar frappuccino with food stamps is now holding up the line getting lottery tickets, beer, and cigarettes. I know I’m not the only one who is seriously annoyed by this because I read your fb status and your links and you’re complaining about it too.
So here is a new leaf that I must turn over before my heart harbors even more stress and resentment. This isn’t how Jesus wants me to be. He wants us to love them. He died for them too. He is waiting for them to turn their lives over to him and if we criticize and complain, we aren’t doing our job as a christian, in fact maybe we’re being a little more pharisee-ish than we care to admit.
Here is my prayer for such people;
~That God would give them a new work ethic, that lazy would be a thing of the past and hard work, financial stability, and providing for their families would become a priority. That honesty would be their new policy. Lord convict their hearts and show them the right way to live. And that we wouldn’t stop giving just because we can’t ‘decide’ if they really need the help. Help us to stop ‘auditing’ them and instead be obedient and generous and let you deal with the outcome and the dishonest ones.
Amen.
Ok I feel better, I can’t stress about it anymore cause it isn’t worth the wrinkles. Have a great day 🙂
Hello there! It has been a super long time since my last blog. I have been packing my house, gradually moving things to the new apt, maintaining both places and a full-time job, being a mom to 2 incredible girls, trying to be a good fiance, and on top of all that PLANNING MY WEDDING!!!!
I haven’t had a meltdown (yet) like an overstressed bride who loses sight of the big picture becoming a total drama queen. I refuse to. I want this time to be enjoyable and I want to be pleasant to all of those around me, esp. My fiance and my girls! I have to say that I can see how a bride to be could lose it lol. There is alot of pressure all around. People and even media want to tell you the way that it’s ‘supposed’ to be done based on tradition. Truth be told, for far too long I have made choices under pressure (I may have put on myself at times) based on what others wanted. So, I believe God is using this whole wedding planning experience to show me that I have a voice and it counts. I like that. I like to know that it matters to someone. I feel like I have new confidence and more faith in my abilities to decide what is best for us. As stressful and nerve shattering as this has been, I am learning from it, making this all worth the blood sweat and tears. That being said keep me in your prayers because I don’t want to be a bald bride from ripping out my hair. I still have 2 and a half weeks to go and even though us Italian chicks have massively thick hair we don’t want to lose it all. lol
I’m so excited! I can’t wait for the big day! My bridesmaids are my bff’s. I just realized the other day, that every one of by bridesmaids, my maid of honor and my matron of honor, have been a single mom at some point (with the exception of Rose who is my daughter and jr. bridesmaid). How cool is that? I feel like I have a star-studded crew 🙂 Christiana Maman, Jill Kessler (my sisters), Dorothy Langenstein-Long, Caroline Law, and Terina Fix are all my true confidants. We’ve been through thick and thin together! We’re proud of our children and of our faith. We know what it’s like to be broke, fighting the system to get child support from baby daddies who are reluctant to face responsibility. We know the emotional battle you face being the head of the home, we know loneliness at its lowest form, we’ve been the underdog looking for jobs with no money to pay a sitter to even go apply for one. We know rejection, tears, pain and all the negativity associated with being single. But we’re still standing. These are women and sisters I have leaned on, relied on, confided in, cried to, and laughed with. I thank God for each of them being in my life. God knew exactly what I needed and sent them. You ladies are so special to me. I thank you for your friendship to me over the years. I Love you so much 🙂
More to come….
Wow! It’s been several weeks since my last blog and I feel like I’m busting at the seams. In case you haven’t heard on fb, I’M ENGAGED!!! Whoop whoop:) I’m totally doin’ the cabbage patch happy dance in my chair at work. Good stuff. I Will be Mrs. Richard Stuber! I’m so excited I could scream and do a million somersaults in a row ❤
We met a VERY short time ago but it was pretty apparent that we were meant to be together. The more we talked, the more we discovered that we were looking for exactly what the other had to offer and that he was the perfect match for my girls and I. (They are insanely happy for us) We both have learned that we will only have a successful relationship if it is centered on Christ. Any chance of a fulfilling romantic marriage is doomed without that foundation. Selfishness is not an option, both parties must be willing, actually they must have the desire to serve and love freely, never withholding it. Not out of fear but out of choice. It’s good to have the same goals and be like-minded, similar temperaments, and both have big confidence in Jesus and yourself.
I am so grateful to God for bringing him to me. Ya know it was worth putting my social life on hold (for the most part) last year to really seek God’s will for my life. I prayed like never before and I spent more time than ever at the altar at church during various prayer/worship meetings. Because of that I feel like I underwent an ‘extreme makeover’ character edition lol. There is sooooo much to say about the times even leading up to that but that is for another time. Right now it’s time to tell you how amazing I feel knowing that I have met the man of my dreams, the man who has all of the qualities that I didn’t even know I needed or wanted. I’m going to brag on my fiance’ little bit because you’ll never understand just how miraculous it is that I found a man like him. He’s not typical, he’s exceptional. He’s so caring and gentle, I feel like the girls and I are his priority. Insecurities don’t exist when you spend quality time and are a priority. People who love each other are more than happy and even programmed to do what it takes to put the others mind at ease. It doesn’t mean you’re needy because reassurance is a necessity this day and age. I’m sooooo incredibly blessed to have him. He is truly everything I wanted and even more than I could have dreamed. The more time we spend together the further down the road I can clearly see just how happy and fulfilled we’ll be as a couple. If we’re this happy now after only weeks of knowing each other I imagine we’ll be on cloud 9 million by the time we’re 50.
Mel
James 1:2-4 (KJV)
Romans 5:3-4 (NLT)
Greetings awesome people!:) Earlier this morning I did not feel awesome. Boy, I shudder to think about a repeat of that situation. Sad as it sounds lol. It all started when I stumbled to the coffee maker and realized I WAS OUT OF COFFEE! I knew I used the last of it yesterday morning, I was so mad at myself for forgetting to pick some up yesterday. Talk about a drama queen! I was a bit of one this morning. I like to refer to times such as these as ‘BC’ moments (Before Coffee). To think there are so many other problems in the world and I freak out about not having a particular beverage. My poor god-daughter came around 5 am just like most school days, having to witness my meltdown, informed me that her mother went through the same ordeal this am but stopped at 7-11 on the way over.
I could do what alot of people do and beat myself up about it, but guilt isn’t going to help anyone anywhere. Unnecessary feelings of regret over silly things isn’t what motivates me. But there are bigger issues in life than no coffee. We all tend to get bent out of shape and I bet God thinks it’s silly, I’m sure other times he wants so bad for us to stop stressing because he has it all under control. He sees the entire picture. We tend to focus on our circumstances and our feelings when we should look past them and make up our minds to keep pushing and climbing up that hill even though we’re sweaty and tired. He gives us grace when we cry out to him. He gives it to us even when we don’t and that’s called mercy 🙂
Take a moment to read these verses, they will comfort you.
Hebrews 4:16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Matthew 11:28 Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.
Psalm 55:22 Give your burdens to the Lord,
and he will take care of you.
He will not permit the godly to slip and fall.
Seriously guys, let’s do less worrying and more living. I want to enjoy my life and I can’t do that very well if I’m stressing over various situations that God didn’t put us in charge of anyway. Trust him to work it out, he always does as long as we’re following him.
To be continued….(I have more to say, however I’m trying to keep it under 500 words so it isn’t too lengthy)
Btw, I got some coffee in my system and I’m good to go. Have a fantastic day.
Mel
Hello there! Hope everyone is alive and well, after that terrible storm. I confess I had no idea it was so severe because my ac was so loud last night.
Well, I’m writing my very first blog! I’m excited because I always have something on my mind so I’m just gonna put it out there. Today I’m going to talk about ‘Love’. There is no other topic that comes to mind as strongly as Love. See? I even give the word a capital letter. Been doing that for a long time, not sure when or how it started.
What comes to mind when you hear ‘Love’? Some people think of pink hearts and fuzzy warm feelings, some think of the relationship they’re in and the memories they’ve made romantically or as a family, and some have unrealistic expectations and ideas of what it is, they’ve seen too many movies lol. Everyone has their own idea of Love. I hope and pray that all who read this have experienced it for themselves.
Unfortunitely, people misuse the word Love ALL the time in relationships! It’s quite an insult to be told someone Loves you and walk out on you when things don’t go their way. Love isn’t a feeling you get when everything is going right. When it’s Friday afternoon, you just got paid, you’re headed to the beach for an extended weekend of fun with your honey, it’s easy to say ‘I Love you’. But when the bills aren’t paid, the house is a mess, he left the toilet seat up and forgot to put the windows up before it rained, do you still Love him? When you don’t get your way can you still say ‘I Love you’? Or is it conditional? Think about it, Love takes time to grow.
God’s Love is the best, it’s NOTHING like the needy, codependent, generic worldly love that says ‘I need someone to make me happy’. In a movie ‘You complete me’ sounds really lovely and romantic, but the truth is that Christ completes us. I am whole, just me and Jesus. Took me a long time to realize that I don’t need someone to make me happy. Contentment is a choice, Love is a choice too. God’s Love is real and complete by itself. There is nothing better or more compassionate or graceful.
There will be hard times and many struggles in life, no human is going to make us strong enough to withstand it, but God can. The sooner we acknowledge and admit that we can’t do it on our own, but that we need him, the quicker the trial will seem. We are saved by grace. Since Love is so amazing, I think the word should be capitalized. After all, God is Love.
Peace, Love, n smiles, Mel
Hello, it’s Friday again and this blog is going to be light-hearted. You may not even need tissues. Unless you cry at things like hidden valley ranch dressing commercials like I did once. (But in my defense I was pregnant and extra emotional) lol.
My mom’s name is Mary, she has the most tender heart out of anyone I’ve ever met. Over the years she has demonstrated empathy, compassion, and generosity to those around her including those that didn’t deserve it. That was even before she’d ever been on a mission trip. She is the first-born of 4 daughters and was a wonderful big sister growing up, to all of them. She lives in FL with my father, my sister, and my 2 cute lil nephews. I’m praying one day we can all live close by because doggone it, I miss my mommy!
God blessed me with two Godly parents who taught me alot and that all things are possible with Christ. I couldn’t ask for a better mom, there is no such thing. Over the years my mother has become a best friend. We had our moments during my teen years, (She always warned me that my daughters would be payback, somehow she managed to multiply the ‘teen attitude through my lovely children who aren’t even teens…Rose will be in December…aghhh)
But when I set out on my on at 18 and my own life in the real word, with bills, and then a baby of my own, she quickly became ‘the wisest woman I know’. I can call her any time of the day or night and she always knows what to say. She has been a great cheerleader and an amazing coach too when I need to know what strategy to use in the game of life. Somehow I have inherited her intuition/gut feeling (aka the holy spirit talking to you). I haven’t settled when it comes to men because of my her. She has a knack of seeing things that I don’t in a relationship …. all the way from FL lol. I have her gift of ‘tellin it like it is too’, boy the truth is ugly sometimes but honesty is ALWAYS the best policy. Her mother took an interest in teaching me quotes that I still remember and use to this day.
All my life my mom has stood by me. When I was a little girl I remember she rubbed my face as I’d fall asleep, she’d say ‘off she goes to dreamland and on the way she gets ice cream’. She was up in the middle of the night every time I was sick, she always got up at the butt crack of dawn and made breakfast every morning, when I cried over math homework she always had the patience to show me a special trick such as the ‘sum of the sides’. She rocked my newborn baby girl to sleep while falling love with her first grandchild. When I went through my divorce and had my heart ripped out of my chest with the drama of other terrible circumstances she wiped my tears and would weep with me. She was there for me.
She has always said to cry out to Jesus with every problem that I ever have. There are many trials and milestones as a single mom but I have my mother by my side. I Love you mommers, forever and ever, with all my thousand hearts.
Mel ❤
Good afternoon:) I hope today is a great day for all. I hope you take the time to read this. I’ve noticed several of you quoting Proverbs 24:17, it says; ‘Don’t rejoice when your enemies fall; don’t be happy when they stumble.’ I guess people are questioning the biblical right to celebrate a victory?
I’m very blessed with a smart dad. Between himself, God, and my pastor (Chuck Balsamo) I get to hear so much wisdom and I am learning to apply it lol.
So here goes;
First of all, we can’t just take one verse out of the Bible to make a doctrine out of it. We have to look at the content surrounding the verse in question in addition to researching scriptures from other parts of the Bible to find consistency. Scriptures do not contradict scriptures even though it seems that way sometimes particularly when we don’t do the research.
To get to the bottom of this, it is a sad thing when a murderer dies and goes into eternity without Christ. I do believe that if we as believers truly love the Lord, we cannot help but mourn over his eternal damnation and we should have no inclination to rejoice over this part. No doubt the Lord mourns as well seeing the eternal consequences bin Ladin is now in all because of the choices that he had made while alive.
However, we are allowed to rejoice that the potential dangers that bin Ladin intended yet to bring upon the many thousands of innocent lives throughout the world has ended. Yes, our soldiers killed him but we must keep in mind that it was necessary in order to prevent many more innocent lives from being murdered. Bin Ladin was a mastermind behind many of the murders that took place including at the World Trade Center in the early 90’s and on Sept. 11, 2001 and he was determined to never stop his atrocious acts.
Even though there are many other terrorists out there that will still seek to destroy innocent lives and properties, this terrorist was a mastermind behind major terrorist acts and no one could stop him. We have to understand that what just happened to bin Ladin was not a murder as some claim but a direct result of an act of war against terrorism that has been going on for many years. We have to remember that when a war has to happen to stop injustice after all efforts of true diplomacy has failed, both the innocent and the evil will invariably be killed in action. Old Testament scriptures reveal a number of examples of when God commanded Israel to kill a leader of an enemy nation in battle.
America had to put up with trying to stop a very dangerous man who hated America for being friends with Israel. Bin Ladin was a very powerful mastermind behind terrorism just as Hitler was behind the holocaust. Both of them were committed to bringing harm to innocent lives and no one could stop them unless they were killed. When Hitler was removed, the mastermind behind the holocaust was removed!
I Love Jesus with all my heart and soul, please don’t be offended by this, my intention is not to prove anyone wrong. In fact I’m hoping some of you get a little relief by what I’m writing about today. OBL is so much more than an enemy. Yes, he could have repented and gone to heaven but that doesn’t mean there aren’t earthly consequences. Even in the bible we see those that made themselves right with God but still had to reap what they had sown.
I’m not going to argue or debate. I do want people to stop beating themselves up, it’s ok to be glad that the enemy was defeated. If you don’t remember all the stats from 9/11 there are many resources that are available. It was a devastating and sad day, it’s important to remember why there was a ‘hit’ ordered on his life.
When a war is declared, we’ve established that there is an enemy to pursue. People can be enemies for different reasons. OBL was not just an enemy, he has killed his own people. If he does that to people he is supposed to stand for how much more will he do to those that don’t believe like him? I don’t think this is the kind of situation God was referring to when he said to ‘turn the other cheek’
You were MADE to see light triumph over darkness. David killed Goliath, and was permitted declare the victory. Same for when Haman was hung from the gallows he had planned for Mordecai God was not some hippie pacifist wimp who ran away from problems. He ordered the Israelites to go to war with other nations. If you can understand that than you should understand that our enemy didn’t ‘fall’ (except for into sin of his sick religion), he was taken down by the military which was ordered by our government. We aren’t just ‘gloating’ in an unfair revenge plot. False humility says that it’s twisted and un-christ like to rejoice that the mission was accomplished. Read the book of revelation, that will have you rejoicing, we’ll be doing alot of it 🙂
I have to say it; I Love Fridays! I’m fortunate enough in this season of my life to be off most weekends. Trust me, I’ve put in enough weekend time at jobs before this one. It’s rare that you’ll ever catch me in a bad mood on a Friday. This weekend a bff is gettin’ hitched and I’m the maid of honor.
The title says it all, I’m free to be me! Putting on a show ain’t my bag baby. Have you ever felt like you can’t get a particular person to crack a smile and you never do right by them? Boy I have! Acquaintances, coworkers, or CHURCH people lol? (C’mon that was funny) It feels like nothing you do is ever going to satisfy them.
Don’t feel pressured, it’s not your job to make people happy. If they don’t like the real you then hang around those who do. You know, the friends you can take your shoes off and sit around in your sweats and burp. You can be goofy, hyper, emotional and it doesn’t scare them lol. They Love you for it because it’s the real you. The level of comfort should be obvious by how you act around them. When its effortless and carefree, you’re in the right company. I Love that quote that says ‘If you can’t accept me at my worst then you don’t deserve me at my best’
There’s this little personal disclaimer I say sometimes when appropriate ‘what you see is what you get, if you don’t like it, pop a clutch and burn the road up’. lol I’m not trying to be mean at all. Just saying that if you’re unable to accept me then don’t hang with me. Who brings out the confident fun side of you? That’s the kind of person you’ll want to spend time with. You don’t see emo kids hanging out with cheerleaders for a reason.
We are created in his image. (Gen. 1:27). Start believing if you don’t already, that you are fearfully and wonderfully made! (Psalm 139:14) I’m soooo incredibly grateful to God for my friends, each and every one of you. He’s so good!
Have a great weekend everyone. Stay safe, healthy and happy:)
Mel
meltells2011 