Who was the first woman to believe Jesus was the Messiah?

  Martha was the first woman to recognize and believe that Jesus was the Messiah.  Her brother Lazareth had died and she and her sister Mary were mourning their loss.  When Jesus heard of his friends all three of whom he loved, he was grieved also and went to the home to see them.  He did this even though the Jews had threatened to stone him there previously.  When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary sat in the house.  Martha said to Jesus that if he had been there, her brother would not have died. And Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

John 11:24-27  "Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."  Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.  Do you believe this:"  She said to him, "Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world."


Rembrandt's Painting of Raising Lazareth

 What great faith Martha had in Jesus!  She totally accepted and believed him to be the Messiah!  Jesus raises Lazareth from the dead, even though he has been in the tomb for 4 days.  Faith can overcome death.
  We as believers may lose our earthly life from illnesses, accidents or just old age, but we gain eternal life in heaven.  God is so good!

♥KERRIE♥
My Christian heart to yours...

WHERE COULD I GO?

  When all else fails in today's sinful world, people turn to the Lord.  Many do not know Him but we as Christians are called to spread the Word, the Good News of God's saving grace!!  What a blessing we are awarded for our faithfulness and when we are filled with God's Love, we cannot help but share him with others!
  We all feel at some time in our lives that we have no place to turn.  Cares of the world, illness, loss, grief, money and/or work problems, family troubles may all weigh us down to the point when we feel we cannot function any longer.  What do we do?  Where can we go for help?

    Where Could I Go?
1
Living below in this old sinful world,
Hardly a comfort can afford
Striving alone to face temptations sore,
Where could I go but to the Lord?

Chorus:
Where Could I go, oh where could I go,
Seeking a refuge for my soul?
Needing a friend to save me in the end,
Where could I go but to the Lord?
2
Neighbors are kind, I love them every one.
We get along in sweet accord;
But when my soul needs manna from above,
Where would I go but to the Lord?
3
Life here is grand with friends I love so dear,
Comfort I get from God's own word;
Yet when I face the chilling hand of death,
Where could I go but to the Lord?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I really like this rendition in the side bar by Elvis Presley.  Although Elvis was a lost soul, he really believed in the Lord and God is the final Judge so it is not for us to say if he is with the Savior.  I do know that his Gospel hymns were heart felt and true and evoked great Love of the Lord in many.  Growing up, he worshiped and sang in black churches as well as white which gave him his own unique style.  Whether you cared for this man or not, you cannot deny his spreading the Gospel as God can use ANYONE as his instrument, his witness.  Enjoy the video and sing along.

Looking for answers to Life's temptations?  Read the Bible.  Start with Matthew for God's instructions are there while his Son is speaking to the world....  The more you read of God and His Son, the more you thirst for living in God's way.  There is a peace you will receive like no other.  Find the standardized versions too stuffy or hard to read?  Start with a child's version of the Bible for example, Precious Moments Bible or "The Book" published by Tyndale House Publishers.  It is a very comprehensive version and you will understand it readily.  My copy is dog-eared and worn.  I like it as a cross reference tool that helps me to understand the NIV and other standard versions and I always go back to the original with a deeper understanding.  God will give you the power of discernment (insight; penetrating; make out; distinguish.)

1 Corinthians 2:14-16  "The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.  The spiritual man judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.  For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?  But we have the mind of Christ."

   Thank you so much for visiting today and may God bless you this beautiful day!  If you have prayer concerns for any reason, please request them and I will add you to our prayer list.  Each person is prayed for by us and by everyone who reads this blog.  Become so excited for the Lord that when you wake each moring, you can't wait to see what He is going to do today!!

♥KERRIE♥
My Christian heart to yours....

The Beatitudes: Matthew 5:3-10

Hello Sweet Christian hearts!  Let me first say that I have been remiss in posting as my hubby has been having a round of tests for seeing just where he is in 6 yrs. of fighting Multiple Myeloma so I have been busy with him.  Of course tests are at several different locations and because he takes medication, I drive him.  He has had much nausea of late and it is not fun to feel sick all the time as you well know.  But I must share with you the power of prayer.  Yesterday before leaving for a PET scan, Hubby had been nauseated to the point that he did not think he could go for the test.  I posted the need for prayer and about 18 people were praying for him.  He decided that he wanted to try going and he was able to tolerate the 2 hours of testing and a blood draw and was not nauseated the rest of the day!  God is so good and the friends who were praying believe in prayer!

Okay, having said that, I still get the news letter from my home church back in Auburn NY after 22 yrs. of living in SC.  In this month's letter, there was a great item on the Beatitudes, I feel it is worth sharing.

The Beatitudes, the Message  by Fred B. Craddock, Christian Century, Jan. 25, 1990
You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope.  With less of you, there is more of God and His rule.
You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you.  Only then can
    you be embraced by the One most dear to you.
You're blessed when you're content with just who you are--no more, no less.  That's
    the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.
You are blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God.  He's food and
    drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.
You're blessed when you care.  At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves
     being cared for.
You're blessed when you get your inside world, your mind and heart, put
     right.  Then you can see God in the outside world.
You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or
     fight.  That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's
     family.
You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution.  The
      persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.

    "Very important, then, is the recognition that the beatitudes appear at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount before a single instruction is given, before there has been time for obedience or disobedience.  If the blessings were only for the deserving, very likely they would be stated at the end of the sermon, probably prefaced with the conditional clause, "if you have done all these things".  But appearing at the beginning, they say that God's favor precedes all our endeavors.  In fact, all our efforts at kingdom living are in response to divine grace, motivated by "because of,"not "in order to."  Some Christians are so anxious to rush to the Sermon on the Mount's moral and ethical instructions that they overlook the initial word that God's blessing is the context for all our behavior and relationships."

   I hope you enjoyed this message as much as I did.  I felt it was pretty straight forward and easy to understand.  I have always loved the Beatitudes and among many, one of my favorite chapters in the Bible.
Please come again soon and invite a friend to come and hear God's word.  If you found a blessing in what you read, please leave a comment for us.  And visit our other sites with wildlife pictures and God's natural wonders...

♥KERRIE♥
My Christian heart to yours....

Teach me Lord, Teach me Lord, to Wait...

Again, my favorite quote is from the book of Isaiah 40:31  This tied right in with this beautiful picture of God's country and quote from the Psalms! Waiting on the Lord is hard some times but is so rewarding.  And when you are not trying to "push" things to happen, you are much calmer like the waters running over these beautiful stones...

This is the quote hand lettered and framed for me by my friend Esther and it hangs in our bedroom.  My husband who is fighting Multiple Myeloma Cancer for 6 yrs. now has not been feeling well at all and spends much time in the bedroom these days.  Last week I went in to see how he was doing and the sun shining in the window was hitting this frame...

"those that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength"

   How appropriate it was and I was so struck that the first part of the quote was shining in God's sunlight, that I had to take a picture!  Shhh! God is speaking to us all the time if we just take the time to be quiet and listen....

   I find God and Jesus everywhere because I am always looking for them in my day.  Are you looking for the Savior and His Father in your days?  It is wonderful to know that we can have a personal relationship with God.  We do not have to ask for intercessory prayers, we can speak directly to the Father and Son in our prayers!! 

"They shall mount up as wings of eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint"

Teach me Lord, Teach me Lord to wait♫♫  We used to sing that in our church back home in NYS.  I love praising the Lord in Song!

To hear the song by the Gather Family Reunion in New Orleans performance click on the video in the side bar.

Please come back soon to visit, we love having your company and please leave a comment.

♥KERRIE♥

My Christian Heart to Yours... 

 

God's Wondrous Works...

WE CANNOT DOUBT that God made everything and that all is divinely designed!  Our very bodies are a miracle work that could never happen by chance!  When I studied to be a Cardiac Care Technician, I was totally amazed that the heart has a fail-safe design in place to pump our blood.  The beat is begun by a single electrical charge.  YES, we have electricity in our bodies.  Our very own spark plug-ha!
   If this initial spark in the sinus node of the heart fails, the junction takes over and if the junction fails, the ventricle takes over.  Do you really think this just was happenstance??  God created man IN HIS LIKENESS, He is truly amazing! 

Genesis 1:26-27 "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."
               
                     Joy Abounding
                             by Kerrie O'Hearn Marquart

Every morn I wake with Joy Abounding
To see all the works of God astounding
The bluest sky, the reddest Rose
The Mockingbird, the squirrel's nose!
The flowers asleep in my flower beds
Waiting for Spring to show their heads.

The Bluebird's call, the Robin's wing
The tree buds are fat, it is almost Spring
The Mallards swimming in the lake
They've come again, as for life they mate.

All the wonders of this earth
Were made by God, our life, our worth
And I thank Him now as well I should
For creating this day with all its good!
                 February 15, 2011

Thank you for visiting, please come back soon!  And if your life was touched today, do leave a comment for me ♥  May you all have a pleasant, blessed day!

♥KERRIE♥

My Christian Heart to yours...

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

"Keep yourselves in the love of God looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."  Jude 1:21 KJV

God is the perfect Valentine, showing his love by sacrificing his only Son, Jesus so that we might have life eternal with Him in heaven.  Take time today to tell the people you care about how much you love them.  And share God's perfect love with them whenever you are given the opportunity.

HAVE A HAPPY VALENTINE DAY!!

Thank you for stopping by and come again soon, I appreciate you all!

LORD I CAN'T EVEN WALK WITHOUT YOU HOLDING MY HAND

I love the praise song, "Lord, I can't Even Walk Without You holding My Hand".  And the lyrics are so meaningful and true.  We all think of ourselves as being self sufficient and able to stand on our own until we are humbled in God's presence and realize we cannot make it on our own.  "Down on my knees, I learned to stand, because I can't even walk, without YOU holding my hand!"  I chose the video at the right to share as the lyrics are included with the beautiful images.  And the arrangement is one that I sang with a back up tape whenever I sang it as special music in church.  It always touches my heart.  The lyrics are a sermon in itself.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I always do.
  And Lord, we pray for all those who are hurting today.  There are so many illnesses and so many that are sad or poor or facing a crisis in their family life.  We pray that you would reach out to them right now with your healing hand, placing it on them all and letting the light of your mercy flow through you to them.  And through your blessing*, may we be a blessing to others in all that we do.  Thank you Lord for all the gifts you give to us.  Amen.

 *Genesis 12:2,3 "And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves."  So powerful are the words that just by receiving God's blessing and passing it on to others, we can change the world!  Blessed to be a Blessing!

♥KERRIE♥
My Christian Heart to yours....

Please come back again soon!  Thank you for visiting and please leave a comment as I am BLESSED by them!

ROBIN IN THE RAIN...



Robin in the rain in the backyard this morning...



Harbinger of Spring, Little Robin Redbreast!  We all love it when we see the Robins return as it is a sign that Spring is not far off and that is "good news".

   The Apostles were the bearers of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Apostle comes from the Greek word, "to send off".  The word appears about 80 times in the NT, limited to certain men of the first generation of the church and missionaries of the gospel.  The first twelve apostles sent out by Jesus are named in Mark 3:14-19 and elsewhere.  Others also are considered apostles, including Paul, James, Barnabas, Matthias, and in some other groups.  Subsequently many claimed the title, which the church desired to limit to those who had seen Jesus and had firsthand knowledge of the Resurrection, who had the attributes called the signs of an apostle, and were fully committed to the church.

   The Great Commission Matthew 11:18-20

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age."

  This is our good news!  Our Harbinger for all the Springs for the rest of our lives and beyond!  We should take great comfort that our Savior is always with us and in the Spring, a time of renewal, the perfect time to reaffirm our faith and spread the word of the Gospel by setting a good example and sharing it with others.  You never know how you are influencing some one's life so make sure you are an example of a good and faithful child of the Lord.  Others will see the good in you and that it is Christ dwelling in your heart that is glowing there...
  Have a most wonderful weekend.  It may be raining outside but the sun is always shining in our hearts.

Here is a lovely vintage graphic for you.  Use as a book mark or for a homemade greeting card.  Just right clip to copy the picture and save to your file for printing.

Have a great day!

♥KERRIE♥
My Christian heart to yours...

Thank you for visiting and come again soon!