LORD I'M NOT STRONG ENOUGH!

             

I have learned I am not strong enough to do this thing we call life on my own. My struggles and failures are many and I face many demons each and every day. I do things I shouldn't, and some of the choices I make are not good for me, my mind, body and often times soul.

I long for and hold onto the hope that one day the struggle of this world will fade! I try to keep my head up, my arms open, my mind focused on the big picture and encourage others to turn to the Father with their struggles and often times I am dealing with the same issues but not taking my own advice.

 I so desperately want to seek and serve the Lord in all areas of my life but yet day after day I find myself in the same position, just making it through another day. I know that God has so much more for me in my short life on this Earth. When will I stop playing games with him and start genuinely seeking his will for my life?

He has begun to reveal many areas I need improvement on and I have been ignoring him even though I know he knows best...I've realized I need accountability in my life, I need to seek it wholeheartedly and pray for the right people whom I trust to come along side me and encourage me, pray for me about my struggles and help me to focus on God to get through these struggles. I am always trying to fix everyone else, but do not try and fix my own issues. I can hand out all kinds of advice, good or bad all day long but do I take advice from others? NO! Do I seek wise counsel? NO! Do I practice what I preach? Often times the answer is NO!

First and foremost I am not healthy and this weighs on my mind heavily.... yet I continue to make unhealthy choices. I tend to pray for others that are struggling in this area but do I pray about this for myself? NO! I watch others that are making small steps to better their health and long for it but do nothing about it. I want those of you that are making better choices for yourselves to know you are an encouragement for me and for many others but I also know that if I do not cover this area in my life with prayer I will fail as I have been for so many years. If I do not strive to get my health under control I cannot achieve the other areas in my life that need my attention. Lord help me to get my health under control, I am not strong enough to do this task on my own!

Second, I am struggling being a good wife, I am not! I have been with my husband for 26 years, and when you have been with someone so long you tend to take them for granted and if you do not make a conscience effort to make your marriage a priority you can start being complacent and unappreciative. Having twin boys at the age of 40 really threw us both for a loop.. let me tell you! My life consists of working a very demanding full time job, raising twins which has been very difficult with all kinds of medical and trying times, trying to raise my beautiful daughter to know the Lord and helping her to find her place in life, caring for a young man who lives with us in our home part time and  it just seems the wife thing and myself always seem to come last. God is revealing to me that if I don't take care of myself I won't be around to take care of the ones I love.  I am watching many people lose their spouses and when I watch the grief this brings  to them I always say I am going to appreciate my husband more for what he does for my family, I am going to kiss and hug him more and tell him I love him more. I am going to strive to be a better wife to him and give him the love he deserves and that I promised to give him when we took our vows before God. I say I am going to be friends with him instead of enemies and show our children what a happy, healthy marriage is suppose to look like through God's eyes. But do I? NO! I have family and friends whose marriages mirror what God had in mind when He created this union between husband and wife, and although they to struggle and have gone through hard times they have chosen not to give up, they have strived to make each day count with their spouse, and they have worked hard to make sure their spouse feels love and appreciated!   I look to you and your healthy and loving relationships and long to have one but do I do anything about it? NO! Do I cover my marriage in prayer daily? NO! My husband deserves to have a wife who is emotionally and physically healthy, one who is attentive and attractive and not to busy or tierd for him, one who loves him in a way he knows that he is loved and appreciated without a doubt! Lord please help me to be the wife you called me to be, I am not strong enough to do this task on my own!


Third, my children deserve my undivided attention and I am usually so busy with all that needs to get done to fully give them the attention they need and deserve. My desire is to be the best mom to my children, to leave a lasting legacy and to be patient, kind and attentive to them. I want to smile more, play with them more, snuggle them more, dance with them more, talk with them and truly listen to them but most importantly I want to teach them about God and the things that truly matter in this world. I want to equip them with God's tools to make good decisions, wisdom and discernment and to always stay grounded in the Truth.  I want to spend less time being overwhelmed with what I have to get done on my long to do list and ask God to help me to see that they are only little for just awhile and that I MUST cherish every moment and make it count. I know so many mothers that strive for these things with their children and are indeed doing very well with this area of their lives and I look to you for advice and watch how you interact and it helps but what I am lacking is that I am not seeking God daily on this area of my life and when I do I must say I do pretty good but when I don't and I try and do this in my own strength I fail miserably. Lord, please help me to be the kind of mother you called me to be, I am not strong enough to face this task on my own!

I could truly write a book on the struggles I face on a daily basis, we all have struggles, we may struggle in different ways, but we all have them... these are the three most challenging struggles I face at the moment, they are the ones I desire to change and I realize I can only do this when I turn away from my old ways of doing things and begin to allow God to change me. I need to seek accountability and have a deep desire to change and most importantly I need to begin to seek God in prayer daily about these issues! I am not happy with the results I am getting now so I can chose to change maybe even little bits at a time or I can stay where I'm at and wonder how it would feel to finally be free of these struggles I face on a daily basis once and for all.

I would like to thank my dear friends who have been beside me as I face these issues in my life, thank you for encouraging me, laughing with me, crying with me and praying for me when I have asked you too. You know who you are and I love you!

My health, My husband, My children...my deepest desire is to give my all to these 3 areas of my life! What are you struggling with today? Begin this journey with me of praying about it, seeking an accountability partner, asking others to pray for you and beginning to make small changes so it isn't so overwhelming. I'm not strong enough to do this on my own...Are you?

God Bless You All,
Angie Goucher

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                                                                    Mathew 11:28
                   "Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
                                                                
                                                                 Philippians 4:13 
                                I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.

God bless,
Mariah Goucher

   

A GLIMPSE OF HIS GLORY!

Do you REALLY know who God is? His desire is for us to know him and be in deep relationship with him. We can't just go off what people have said about him... we need to seek the TRUTH about him ourselves, we need to be able to explain to others who he is as well.

I have been struggling for three weeks trying to write this blog and although explaining who God is should be an easy task I am finding it is mind boggling to say the least. I have been trying to come up with a way to show him in all his Glory and give him the justice he so deserves. How do I explain who God is? Well, I'm going to try my best, but no matter how much I try I will never be able to cover the complete splendor of His majesty.

First of all, God is the creator of all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible!  Now let's just ponder that for a moment. He is the creator of  EVERYTHING... Let's start with man, he created man in his own image... He created you and I and every other human being. God also created us to have our own children and that in and of itself is a true miracle and blessing.  He created each and everyone of us different, not one of us is the same, each and everyone of us has a different set of fingerprints even, we are all so complex and so very unique. We have a complex body, mind and soul. He created us to be intelligent, relational, creative, spiritual, articulate, emotional, and able to make decisions, we  have also been given a conscience to be able to determine right from wrong.to name just a few of our characteristics and attributes. There is so much to the Human body and brain that I could never write it all!

God created EVERY living creature of the land, air and sea, ALL the different animals, bugs, birds, and fish. They too are all different, unique and mysterious and we cannot even begin to count them all.

God created ALL the beautiful bodies of water from the powerful and majestic oceans to the beautiful creeks, lakes, rivers  and streams not to mention the most amazing waterfalls.

God created the most breathtaking scenery as well, he created all the different trees, shrubs, grass, sand, rocks, mountains, meadows, volcanoes, hot springs, glaciers and all the beautiful flowers, again all of them are different shapes, sizes and colors. He also created the vegetation, plants bearing seed  according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit according to their kinds.

God created the billions of stars and galaxies, the beautiful moon and the brilliant sun. He also created the light and darkness.

God created the seasons... winter, spring, summer and fall and the weather... snow, rain, sunshine, rainbows, the powerful and unexplainable thunder, lightning, wind and natural disasters.

 I cannot capture ALL his glory here and give ALL his creation justice in this writing but I want you to just think upon ALL the beauty he has created from man to our majestic surroundings. When you stop to think about the amazing beauty that surrounds us each day just remember WHO created that beauty.

Second, I will begin to try and give you a glimpse of some of his glorious, magnificent and unbelievable attributes He possess.

God never changes, He is the same yesterday, today and forever. In a world of constant change... one thing we can always count on is for God to be consistent. What He said in the beginning is the same today and it will be tomorrow! We don't have to guess or wonder, we can know without a doubt what He says will remain.

God is sovereign, infinite, all powerful and all knowing. You can't fool him, hide from him or keep things from Him, He knows what we are going to do before we even do it.
 
God is faithful and TRUE! What He says is the complete and absolute truth, no matter what anyone says or thinks... His TRUTH will prevail. 

God is trustworthy! In a world where there seems to be very little we can count on and trust in you can be assured that you can always count on Him and what He says you can completely trust!

God is always good, He is patient with us, (thank goodness) and is compassionate, kind and gentle. He is humble, wise, and is the Prince of Peace. He is filled with righteousness and holiness and delights in justice. He is our provider and He presides over every event in our lives, great or small. He is in control always. He will fulfill His promises, and He WILL win in the end! God is the Alpha and the Omega...The beginning and the end!

God gives us strength when we are weak, He gives us mercy and grace we do not deserve, He cares deeply about each one of us. God comforts us when we need it. He hears every cry and He catches each and every tear that falls. He can heal our hearts, body, mind and soul if we call upon him and allow him too. He doesn't condemn us and He forgives us for all we have done, even when we don't deserve it.
 
God is ETERNAL. He is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.....and he truly loves us...YES, the God of the universe, the one who created EVERYTHING truly loves each and everyone of us more than we can ever know, understand or imagine. He paid the ultimate price...He died for us so that we could be forgiven and free and so that we can spend eternity in heaven with Him. WOW! He is truly majestic and amazing isn't He! Don't you want to strive to be more like Him! I know I want to! It is so hard... but He can and will change us if we allow Him too.
 
Like I said in the beginning of this blog, it has been very difficult trying to explain who God is in all his splendor and majesty so I truly hope that I helped you see a glimpse of our King! Now lets praise Him for all he has done, all that He is, all He has given and all He has created and lets begin to tell everyone we know about our Glorious God!
 
God bless you,
Angie Goucher

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Did everyone see the moon the other night? It was very pretty.... God made that blood moon and super moon mixed together for us!
God Bless, Mariah Goucher
I love this song it is one of my favorites.  

Former American Idol Star, Danny Gokey sings this beautiful song: