Pray Yourself Happy!

Today as I was waiting for the sleep from eyes to clear up, I started to say a quick prayer and thank the Lord for the people in my life. My family, Susan, Benjamin, family, co-workers, friends, church members, other pastors and people in different states.
As I prayed; I was reminded that I am Loved, Blessed and Cherished by the people that God has placed in my life. What an amazing feeling of love and peace came flooding into my soul!

That simple prayer of thanks this morning has brought me so much joy and peace to go into my day with. The bible says to “Bless the Lord oh my soul (mind, will & emotions) and to forget not all of His benefits”..

This morning; as I put that principle into practice, I “prayed myself happy”

Take a moment today wherever you are and think about the good things in your life
And feel your soul awaken fresh today to the love that you have.

Pray yourself happy!
Pastor Debbie
Living a Life of Worship from the Inside Out.

Put your order in

There is a certain level of confidence that we have when we order at a restaurant. We give our directions, complete with all of our substitutions or additions and then we sit back and wait for our food, knowing that it will come eventually.

The key is in the ordering..

It may sound too simplistic, but you if you do not make your request known,then how can it be filled?

This morning I found a journal entry from Feb 08 that had listed out my vision for several large projects that I wanted to accomplish within a year. They were lofty goals some of which I have done and others are still a work in progress. What really grabbed my attention was a section where I listed out in detail everything I thought I would need to reach a particular goal. I can see from my journal that I was feeling a tad overwhelmed with the scope of the vision, but it did not stop me from listing out everything I needed and then committing it to the Lord to bring it about. Fast forward to 18 months later and I can see how every single need I listed in that journal was met without me really doing much. The needs I had were beyond my skill or financial level to achieve on my own but God who is intimately concerned with your needs and desires made a way for it to all come together
. Their were many days when I did not think the vision was going to happen, but one thing I kept doing was being specific and intentional with what my request was.

I put my order in with heaven and heaven answered with something bigger and brighter then I had even asked for. Is that not just like God to do it up big in our lives!. I believe God delights in seeing us delighted.

It brings me back full circle to wondering why I spend any time at all be anxious about anything?

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication (asking) with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God: And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and your minds through Christ Jesus" Phil 4:6-7

Make your request known to Him today..
Pastor Debbie
Living a Life of Worship from the Inside Out

Never Alone

I wrote a song that ends with the words “ I am never alone”
How many times have we felt all alone and found ourselves in despair and holding onto pain because we have isolated our pain from our family and friends. We feel all alone in our circumstances and can not see a way out of the situation. I myself have often caught myself sitting in my situation with my mind twirling in a hundred directions and have found myself getting more frustrated with every moment that goes by and then I remember to call out to the Lord.My favorite prayer is a very simple one. HELP LORD. Amazing how quickly the clouds can roll back from my mind and peace can enter my heart when I say these simple words. Help Lord!!

We are truly never alone, God says he will not leave you or turn his back on you.

He wants us to know that He is always close by us. He sees all, He hears all and He knows all our concerns. When we remind ourselves that God is intimately concerned with what concerns us, we can take comfort in knowing the very real presence of God himself.
Right now, where you are, just remind yourself that you are Truly Never Alone!
Let the peace of God fill you today where ever you are, what ever your situation.

God, Your word says you are with me where ever I go. I need your peace today.
Open my heart to know your presence today. I am Never alone!

Pastor Debbie

Living a Life of Worship from the Inside Out

Don’t run past your checkpoints

Hard to believe that it is June already. The year has just gone by and I have accomplished a lot but I still wonder what more I could be accomplishing in spiritual things.

I have done much this year. I have grown and stepped out in faith and vigorously pursued my dreams and visions for ministry. At times; I hear that persistent inner voice that says go faster, work harder, do more, do it better…That is not the voice however that I am going to listen to today.

I must remember that I am in a race and not a sprint. This world is full of sprinters, and perhaps at times, I want to compare myself to them but I must remember that I am on a journey and I want to take time to stop and enjoy every aspect of it along the way.

This is a special race with plenty of check points to view my progress along the way.

You stop, check in, get some water, check your course, rest a little and then move on with a clear determination of where you’re going next. If you have been running for a long time, perhaps you’re due for check point today?

Sit, relax, share with a friend, find the joy in what you’re doing today and when your ready get back up and run

Pastor Debbie

Living a Life of Worship from the Inside Out

What is fear holding you back from?

Joshua 2:23-24

“all the people are melting in fear because of us.”

I find this piece of scripture interesting and a good reminder to keep my hope and focus not on what I can accomplish in my own strength, but in what God can do in and through me.

The original group in the dessert did not enter the promised land because they were scared and did not trust in the promise that the Lord had given them. As the second generation is ready to possess the land, they see that even 40 years later, the people of Jerhico are scared of them, because they know God maker of heaven and earth is on their side.


I find this fascinating and humbling to know that the fight was already won forty years earlier, but because of a fear, God’s people completely missed out on their blessing.
The reality was that the people of Jerhico were melting in fear because they knew that God was the defender of the people of Israel. They knew that God would perform mighty works on behalf of his people. They knew the power of God more then the follows of God did.

We often shake and tremble at what God has called us to do because our perspective is clouded. Our perspective gets skewed with the thinking that we ourselves must posses all knowledge and strength ahead of time to accomplish the task, the dream or the vision that we have in our hearts. If the story of Jericho tells us anything at all, it should be that where God says go, God will make a way for you to go. Your never alone in your journey and it never has been and never will be about doing it in your own strength or intellect.

So what has God called you to do, what promise has He given you that you have not started to posses? What walls need to come down in your own life, to allow you to enter into all that God has for you today?

Believe God today and see yourself walk into your inheritance.

Pastor Debbie
Living a life of Worship from the Inside Out.

We give Him our worship by giving Him our burdens.

What is perfect peace? Can we really attain that?
If we believe the word of God, then yes we can attain that, it is already ours. The problem is not in God’s ability to do what He has said He will do, it is in our understanding that we already have the promise. Keeping our mind stayed on the Lord means to continually keep Him and His promises in front of us. I have gone through many trails and have learned over time that the quicker I am to keep my thoughts on the Lord and not on my circumstances, then that peace of God stays with me.

When I am at peace deep in my spirit, I can sing in the rain. I can play during a lighting storm, I can have everything swirling around me and still stay in faith. This does not mean, that I do not feel, that we pretend that all is well, for indeed all might not be well in your surroundings, but it can be well within yourself. We can not control other people or situations so there will always be opportunity for us to practice this aspect of worship to the Lord.

The showers can be loud and hard but the word says in Isaiah 26:3
You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.

Give Him your burdens today. He is able to carry all that you cannot.

Pastor Debbie.

Living a Life of Worship from the Inside out.

Singing In the Rain

There is great strength in be able to praise through the storms of life.
Life is not without our sorrows and storms but it can be filled with joy, rest and peace even in the middle of the trails. It is not how much we can “sweat it out’ during our trials that develops strength in us. It is about being in the middle of a storm and keeping your peace.
The song singing in the rain, was not about a gloomy person trying to get out of the rain.

In the movie, the actor is dancing, twirling his umbrella and skipping along with the water all over and the clouds grey.Consider the lyrics to this popular song it comes from a secular movie but could easily be a worship song -

A clarion call to our soul to rise up and praise the Lord.

I'm singing in the rain Just singing in the rain
What a glorious feelin'I'm happy again.
I'm laughing at clouds So dark up above
The sun's in my heartAnd I'm ready for love
Let the stormy clouds chase Everyone from the place
Come on with the rain I 've a smile on my face
I walk down the laneWith a happy refrain
Just singin',Singin' in the rain
I'm singin' and dancin' in the rain!
I'm dancin' and singin' in the rain...
Why am I smiling
And why do I sing?
Why does SeptemberSeem sunny as spring?
Why do I get upEach morning and start?
Happy and head upWith joy in my heart
Why is each new taskA trifle to do?
Because I am livingA life full of you.

********I love these additional lyrics I found on the web.Why is my heart full of joy?

Because I am living a life full of you.
And that is the key..Living a life centered on the Lord, will keep you singing in the rain.

"I will sing to You today, Out of the depths of my being, shall my voice raise to You.In You is my strength, my hope and my delight"

Pastor Debbie
Living a Life of Worship from the Inside Out.