Lord Let Us Bask In The Glory Of Your Presence!

                                    
Lord give me a clear mind and help me to focus on You and what's important to You. My mind is running a hundred miles an hour and there are to many things racing around in my head and to much to get done. The to do list never ends, the worries of the world are on my shoulder. Lord help me remember you are here in the midst of everything.

Lord help others see a glimpse of You through me, help me to be a women seeking after a heart like yours, a women reliant on you completely and one who desires to be like you. Lord help me be a good wife and a loving, attentive mother. Lord help me to stop wasting my precious time on pointless things that do not matter. Instead of being distracted by Facebook, TV, shopping, housework and worldly things help me to take that time and spend it in your word, praying for all those who so desperately need prayer, helping those who are in need and spending quality time with my family and friends and pointing them to you.

 Lord please restore my quiet time with you! Before I had my beautiful twin boys and life began to spin out of control with busyness, I couldn't wait to spend time with you.... I would get up with a cup of coffee, a pen, my journal and your word and begin my day so excited to be able to share some alone time with the one who knows me and my needs. You are the only one who can answer my prayers, the only one who loves me unconditionally despite all I've done, and the only one that has the answers to all my questions! YOU LORD, ONLY YOU!

Without you Lord I am truly a mess! I am suffering spiritually,  physically and emotionally. Without the opportunity to ask for your guidance, wisdom, strength and peace I am left doing it my way and I am weak. I am asking you Lord to help me be consistent about these things! I am so back and forth. I begin strong and pray for those I love who are struggling and then I stop, I begin to pray for myself and all my immediate family needs and then I stop. I watch situations that I prayed for so strongly at first begin to worsen then I start the prayers up again. Why do I do this? Haven't I seen your miracles before my very eyes, haven't I felt the glory of you presence? Haven't you provided comfort and strength when I need it and seek you for it?  The answer is Yes.... I have.... so why can't I just take to heart the verse that comes to my mind over and over again. Why can't I listen Lord?  Why? Lord help me bask in your presence of your glory each morning before I start my day and help me not forget that you are there throughout my day to consult. Lord help me to also start my day with gratitude for all you have done for me and for all that I have. Thank you Lord!  Amen

Matthew 7:7
Ask and it shall be given to you
Seek and you will find
Knock and the door will be opened
(See what it spells coming down ...It spells ASK! I just noticed this today when I was writing this and found it very fascinating.)

Some of the reasons people stop asking and seeking God are:
1.) To busy
2.) Hope is gone
3.) Faith is gone -Don't believe anything can change
4.) You forget to
5.) To involved in worldly things

(Don't give up! We can't afford to give up! Time is short! Let's make each day count!)

May You Bask In The Glory Of The Lord,
Angie Goucher
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 I enjoy spending time with the Lord through worship music, journaling and reading devotionals the most! I feel when I am close to the Lord I am safe, happier and more loving. He calms me down when I am angry or frustrated. I love reading my devotionals with my mom but don't do it as often as I would like to. That is something we need to get back in the habit of doing. When we read and pray before bed it brings me great comfort and helps me sleep better. Lord I want to be in your presence!

God Bless, Mariah Goucher

                                           Check out one of my mom's favorite songs!

Lord Let Us Tame Our Tongues!

 

 Lurking within us are varying degrees of hatred, bitterness, jealously, pride, selfishness and our big fat mouth. I am writing about taming the tongue today because I myself struggle with this and I know God does not like it, nor does the loved ones I hurt with it like it! (Sorry Marty!)

The tongue is our worst enemy...it can be very destructive and hurtful if not tamed. It takes hard work to tame our tongue and a lot of prayer and thought needs to go into this area of our lives. You all have heard the saying "If you don't have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all" well I completely agree! I agree, but often times fail at this miserably!

 We need to think before we say something we will regret, especially when we are hurt, angry or irritated! Sometimes out of anger we will say what we are thinking at the time and don't even mean what we said really. Sometimes we mean what we said but we have no business saying it because it is hurtful and God would not approve of it. We tend to hurt our loved ones the worst with our tongues, especially our spouses. Why is it so easy to just strike out when were mad? This is exactly what the devil wants, he loves watching us hurt the ones we love, and just the opposite is true for God he does not like us to hurt our loved ones with our words and actions... it hurts him as well when we do.

Marriages and families have been broken, friendships have been lost, people are committing suicide from hateful words being said to them, peoples self esteem and self worth are deminishing and the list goes on... So question?  Are we using our tongues to build people up or destroy them? Are we filled with hate or love, bitterness or blessing, complaining or compliments?

Christians should be changed by the power of God and our words and actions should reflect it. Bottom line is we should think before we speak, if we need to walk away from the situation and calm down and say a little prayer about it and ask God to give us the right words to say then do it! It's so much better then being regretful or sorry for words or actions you can't take back.

Now if only I could take this advice from myself my husband and children would be so much happier!!! Please pray for me for this area of my life!

May God Bless You,
Angie Goucher
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                                          This is one of my favorite Bible verses I love it!!!!  

                                                          

 And this one of my favorite songs! Check it out!

King and Country

The proof of your love video  

                                     
 God bless.
Mariah Goucher

Lord Let Us Be Thankful For Our Many Blessings!

 God not only gives us many blessings in our lives but he also expects us to be a blessing to those we encounter. How can we be a blessing to others if we are always consumed with our overwhelming burdens and the burdens of our loved ones? Times are very troubling right now with everyone I know it seems, there are so many things we are dealing with.... the death of loved ones, cancer, sickness and pain, loss of jobs and financial burdens, marriages falling apart and the list goes on and on. The burdens seem to outweigh the blessings... but that is a lie from the enemy, if we begin to count our blessings we may find that they in fact outweigh our burdens. The devil wants us to be distracted, discouraged, and hopeless about the trials and tribulations we face, he wants us to focus our attention on our problems instead of being grateful for all that is going right in our lives.

 If we would spend more time thanking God for our blessings we might find our focus turning from all our burdens. We might spend less time feeling anxious, overwhelmed, depressed, sorry for ourselves, bitter or angry. Although, we should be concerned about all the tragedy, craziness and sadness that we might have to experience or others we love have to face.... we should not let it take control of our thoughts and actions and keep us from what is truly important to God. God wants us to fix our eyes on him and turn to him for our comfort, strength and hope.

We need to remember God is in control and HE will work it all out in HIS timing and HIS way and we may not understand why he allows the pain and suffering to happen but we also need to remember he has given so much to us... maybe we should be thanking him continuously for our many blessings instead of grumbling, complaining and worrying about all of our burdens! He wants us to pray about them, not worry about them and he wants us to deal with situations we face in a manner that would honor him. 

I want to share with you some of my MANY blessings.... I took time to thank God for them today... now I just need to practice doing this everyday! And I want to encourage you to count your blessings daily as well... we have so much to be thankful for!

 I would like to thank my cousin Georgie Brossman for inspiring this blog today! Thank you for reminding me of my blessings and that all my worry about everyone's burdens is not doing them or myself any good!

May God Richly Bless You All,
Angie Goucher

My relationship with My Lord and Savior ( the assurance of getting to go to Heaven someday and all the burdens will be no more!)
My wonderful husband
My beautiful sweet daughter and her love for God
My precious twin boys (surprise blessings) The blessing of the doctors and nurses that took care of them, nursing them to life when they were born premature
My loving Son Mitch
My memories of my Mom and Dad
My Father and Mother Inn law and Marty's wonderful family
My Brothers
My Sister and Brother Inn Laws
My Nieces and Nephews and their beautiful families
My whole Family-I love them all
My AWESOME job
My co-workers and volunteers
My friends I've meet at or through SNR
My friends outside of SNR
My beautiful home
My car I drive
My health
My food I get to eat
My clothes I get to wear
My luxury items I get to enjoy
SO MANY BLESSINGS!!! THANK YOU LORD!

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          I have so many blessings that it is impossible to count them but here are a  few of them!


Well first I have a wonderful God that loves me and my beautiful family, I have wonderful  friends, and a wonderful puppy, a house that has AC and a bed and food,  a four wheeler, a safe neighborhood, good teachers every year. A trampoline, school, clothes, getting baptized, church, the preacher, bible study, bible, Positive Life Radio, for life, devotionals, and so much more.

God bless,
Mariah Goucher

Lord Let Us Seek Self -Control!

Why do you think God says we should work to have self- control in our lives? Without self -control all kinds of evil desires can come over us. Self -control is a wall of protection against these evils that can take over our lives. The Lord says we should not be mastered or under the power of bondage to anything. An out of control area in our lives leaves room for the enemy-Satan to come in. If he knows you have a certain weakness he will attack you with that weakness. We all need to be more aware of areas that are out of control in our lives. We need to seek accountability-Admit the struggle or sin out loud to others and God because if you hide it the Devil will just make you feel horrible about it, he will cause you to be anxious, depressed, ashamed, feel inadequate or that you are worthless because you can't seem to break free from it. We need to pray about self- control in the areas we struggle with. We need to ask others to pray for us in these areas. We need to read about what God says about self- control. We need to have Faith that God will heal us from this lack of control in our lives. We need to avoid situations that may tempt us.
 
Having a lack of self -control can harm not only us but can hold you back from living the abundant life God wants for you. It can destroy friendships, marriages, your children's lives, jobs, your health, your self esteem and self worth, and most importantly hinder and hurt your relationship with God.
 
To be honest I have a lack of self- control in many areas and it is harming and hindering me in many ways...What areas do you struggle with self- control in your life? Spending money, overeating or lack of taking care of yourself, material possessions, lust, tobacco, alcohol, addictions, controlling your tongue, talking or acting inappropriately, cussing, taking the Lord's name vain, disrespecting others and or your spouse, anger, violence, backstabbing or gossip? There are many areas in our lives we should gain control over and we can but we can't do it alone and we certainly need to want to change.
 
Scripture tells us self- control is a gift. We need to accept it! Lord won't you help us have some self-control!
 
May God Bless You,
Angie Goucher
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But the Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Patience Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Galatians 5:22-23

2 Peter 1:5-7
For this very reason make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge and to knowledge, self-control and to self control, perseverance, and to perseverance, godliness and to godliness mutual affection and to mutual affection, love.

God Bless,
Mariah Goucher

Let's Keep the Faith!

Being Faithful to God is often a difficult thing to do. Having Faith in God is also difficult at times.  Hebrews 11:1 says that Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance of what we do not see.

Often times we think and say we have Faith when things are going good, but when our Faith is tested we suddenly begin to doubt. When we are going through trials and tribulations and our prayers aren't answered quick enough does our Faith falter then? Satan tries very hard to weaken our Faith, he tries to get us to doubt and be fearful, and anxious and sometimes even panic and we begin to stop trusting God! We must prepare ourselves and put on our Armor -and take up the Shield of Faith to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Ephesians 6:16 

How can a person be Faithful to God when his own gratification means more to them then pleasing God. The bible says that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to their parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God! WOW! Is that not what we have become? Do we have Faith that God can help us to not be this way? I do...He is Faithful and he is helping me take a good look at myself daily. He is not letting me get away with the things I once did and I am so thankful for that.  

 When we believe that God is believable and respond to him in Faith practically nothing can get to us but when we lose Faith the enemy is waiting there to attack us! God rewards those that earnestly seek him and trust and have faith in him.

I absolutely love what 2 Timothy 4:7-8 says.... I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge will award me on that day -and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

I have so much to say on the topic of Faith as does God....but Mariah always tells me to keep this short...THAT IS SO HARD FOR ME!!!  This week I challenge you to read about all the Faithful people that are mentioned in the bible and read about God's Faithfulness as well! Let's be people of Great Faith!

May God Richly Bless your week,
Angie Goucher


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                                                                  Matthew
                                                                    17:20
                               If you have faith, nothing shall be impossible for you.
     
God is working things out for you, even if you don't feel it. Have Faith and be thankful... where hope grows miracles blossom. Faith tells me that know matter what lies ahead of me, God is already there. Let your Faith be bigger than your fears some people let there fears take over them and that is not good. God is Faithfull, Yesterday, Today, tomorrow, and Always.... Faith in God includes faith in his Timing. God is Faithfull and he will fulfill every promise. Faith is not hoping that God can, but KNOWING that God will. We should walk by Faith and Not by sight. Remember that God is ALWAYS Faithful                               

                                                                 Hebrews
                                                                    12:2
                          Let us Fix our eyes on Jesus the Author and perfector of our Faith. 

God bless,
Mariah Goucher

Let Your Gentleness Be Evident To All!

To have a gentle personality is someone who is tender, humble, soft spoken, soft hearted, careful with their words and actions and has compassion and a deep loving concern for others.

When I think about the people I know that have a gentle spirit, unfortunately very few people come to mind...and I am certainly not one of them. I am overbearing, loud and often times obnoxious. Let's put it this way ...I have a very hard time being gentle and soft spoken, but I do have a deep loving concern for others so I will strive to be more gentle!

God has a very tender heart!  He loves, and cares for us, he takes our fears away, he holds us in his arms and comforts us. He covers us with mercy, grace, kindness and gentleness. Just think about this concept! Doesn't that make you feel great? Don't YOU want to treat others in this manner? Don't you long for others to treat you this way as well?

Let's watch those around us that have this type of mannerism's and learn from them. Let's pray for gentleness in our lives, lets be more aware of how we are treating others! We can speak words that will help and influence others if we choose to.  Our children, grandchildren and all the other children we encounter really need and deserve to be treated in a gentle manner. A lot of what they get to experience in their world is harsh and unkind. If we invest in their lives in a gentle fashion maybe they too will grow up to be more gentle and loving toward all they encounter! How about with our spouses? If we treated our spouses more gentle they would most likely treat us with more gentleness, wouldn't that be wonderful? This world could truly stand to have more gentle people in it! Don't you agree? Let's all strive to live a Gentle Life!

My good friend, Lorilee Addy is one of the sweetest, most gentle ladies I know! Her family is so lucky to have her as a mom, wife and grandma! My sweet husband Marty is also a very gentle, soft spoken daddy to his children... he had a great role model to watch and learn from... his own daddy- Douglas Goucher. These are a few of the people that I know personally that have set a great example in my life to follow! Thanks guys for being so gentle and kind!

May God Bless You All,
Angie Goucher


Titus 3:2
To speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
                                                                   

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                                                                          Proverbs 4:5
                             A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
 
                                                                    -1 Peter 3:15
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give an reason for the hope that you have, but do this with gentleness and respect.

                                                    Happy Fathers Day Daddy's!!!!  
                                                            
God Bless,
Mariah Goucher

May God's Goodness Abound In You!

 

To be filled with Goodness is to live a life of doing good things for others. We should live in such a way that people can see God's Goodness in us. If we can get into a habit of reading God's word and praying for Goodness to abound in our lives we can be completely equipped for God's works the scripture says. We can become people who overflow with Goodness with the help of the Holy Spirit! We may not do good all the time because we are human but as we grow more like Christ we can learn to become more loving and compassionate toward people even those we have a hard time getting along with. Because the reality is that even difficult people are God's children so we should be good to them.

Some people say the Bible is full of too many rules. But really it is our personal guide book to help us live and act in a wonderful Godly manner and to form and maintain good and healthy relationships with others. The amazing Word of God is TRUTH and it is all for our own good and for the good of others. God knows what is best for us and those around us and God wants us to be filled with Goodness. Don't you want to be different than the evil you see in this world today? I certainly do! I want to be a light in this very dark world so I will strive to be good! Won't you join me this week and try to be good to EVERYONE we encounter!

God Bless, 
 Angie Goucher

My baby girl Mariah and my wonderful friends Carol and Mike Peck and Nikki Cotter were baptized on June 3rd at beautiful Twin Lakes! What a wonderful and special occasion! My daughter was baptized by her daddy and my loving and awesome Uncle Dean and another Elder from Real Life Ministries came up and baptized the others. I am so proud that they gave their life to the Lord and I got to be a part of it! Praise God!
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Father in heaven thank you for your goodness and Faithfulness in my life. Thank you for all that You've done for me in the past and for what you will do in my future... Help me keep my eyes on you. Help me stand strong in you and, look for your goodness all the days of my life... In Jesus name... Amen.
                                               

God Bless,
Mariah Goucher