WE LOVE YOU LORD

SUNDAY IN THE SON

.

God, it is so amazing that Your grace, mercy, and love reaches us here at the southernmost tip of the New Jersey peninsula. Just as amazing is the fact that it also reaches our families and the other readers of this blog wherever they are worshipping You on this planet this morning. We are honored to be Your children, God. We truly want to love You more.

.

To those who are reading this blog, I plan to share about our retreat this week in my postings. Today, I would like to say that we, at the retreat, have been challenged to consider how we think. We must understand that the little voices that tell us, "You are not worth anything!" OR "How could God love you?" OR "How can you make a difference?" OR any of the other negative voices are NOT from God but from the devil. We must take our thoughts captive... make a decision to listen to God... to love the LORD with all our hearts, soul, mind, and strength. That is our focus as we celebrate this Sunday in the Son.

.

I have kept our theme song the same as last week's. I have also moved songs to the top of the playlist that connect with some of the songs we sang together this weekend.

.

Here are a few of the reflections written by some of the 90 women gathered here as we look out over the Atlantic Ocean.

.

"Thoughts are very powerful. Thoughts turn into behaviors I need to change my thinking patterns so that I can love God with all my heart. Also, the truth that to love God deeply as I should I need to spend time with my LORD."

.

"Satan's language is the language of lies. He uses the backstage of my brain to speak these lies like sneaking in the back door, trying to be unnoticed by me, so I will not hear them as lies but accept them as truths. This hinders God's voice and His will in my life."

.

"It hit me hard when I thought about satan's language being lies. He puts obstacles in my path, I can feel his presence and it scares me. Lately, he has invaded my thoughts and how truly powerful my thoughts are. I need to get these thoughts out of my head. Only God and His word can help me."

.

"Psalm 26:2-3 "Test me, O Lord, and try me. Examine my heart and my mind, for your love is ever before me and I walk continually in Your truth." ....... I appreciate that my mind is a "muscle" that needs to be "worked out". You get out what you put in! It needs to be kept strong, alert, open, collective, fed, and guarded. It needs to be understood, loved, and taught."

.

"I want to stop listening to the lies! I am going to take the challenge of listening to what I'm thinking - to what I'm telling myself. These things have been lies that I've believed. I want to be free! To be free in Christ, my Jesus! I want to be on the alert for lies that he tells me about others, too."

.

"No wonder I feel so exhausted! All of the goodness of a day can be taken out of me unless I replenish it by spending time with God. Instead of dwelling on what's wrong, I need to concentrate on what's right."

.

"Today, I choose to focus on God's love for me and my love for Him.... I love You, LORD!"

.

.