Monday, September 27, 2010

"And the award goes to..."

"And the award for Worst Blogger Ever goes to.... Jamie Fox!"  I know I've been the worst blogger during the month of September and I want everyone to know I'm aware of this fact.  School has been crazy!  Once I get through Wednesday I promise to blog about the events of the last month... it's been out of control (or maybe it just feels that way)!  See you all back here at the end of the week! :)

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Love Comes Softly Saga

While I was home in Louisiana my mom told me about a series of movies that was going to be playing on the Hallmark channel.  She gave me a brief synopsis and told me the series was called The Love Comes Softly Saga.  I'm not really one for movies set in the olden days, but since my mom recommended the movies I decided I would watch the first one and take it from there.  The series consisted of eight movies set in the 1800s.  The first movie in the series is called "Love Comes Softly" and stars Katherine Heigl and Dale Midkiff.  The plot of the movie involves Marty (Heigl) and her husband who have just moved out West.  The woman's husband dies and she has no where to live, meaning no shelter from the cold winter that is coming.  She accepts an offer from a widower named Clark Davis (Midkiff).  The arrangement is simple, he will give her a place to stay for the winter and provide her with the money to travel back East in the spring in exchange for her hand in marriage and providing a maternal influence for his daughter during the winter. 


Through the process the bitter Marty learns about "Clark's God."  Clark lives his life in such a way that Marty begins to see and understand God's unconditional love for us and how He is always faithful to meet our needs.  The eight movies move through 3 generations of the family, always showing the love and grace God shows us daily.  The movies were truly a blessing.  It was a wonderful surprise to watch something on television that didn't involve any crazy new age, secular ideas.  I found myself looking forward to my evening movie time! 


Through a series of Christian based, "made for TV" movies I was reminded of the simple truth that God always takes care of us, meeting our every need. "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19  Trusting and understanding that God will meet all of our needs seems to be the "easy" part.  The "hard" part is what we do after those needs are met... Do we give Him praise?  Thanks?  Do we share His grace and mercy with those around us?  Man, how often do I fail at this?  This reminds me of good ole Psalm 23... "...He restores my soul."  Along with our physical and emotional needs, our Savior is the only one who can supply our spiritual needs.  But don't stop reading in verse 3 because the really cool part comes in verses 5 and 6... "...my cup overflows... and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."  God meets all our needs and in meeting our needs, He changes our lives!  The "need" leads us to Him!  Our needs are known to God. They are important to God. And they are given to us by God to lead us to Him... do we then allow Him to work through us to show others His goodness, His faithfulness?  My prayer is that I allow God to use me in ALL circumstances... I challenge you to do the same! And see the movies... they're great! :)