Catch a Deal

If you're the avid bargainer, these days might be the best time to catch a deal. Shopping the clearance at your favorites stores is a sure bet bargain catcher. However, I recently found myself in a thrift store where I scored big! I found some italian leather red boots (new) for $2! Yes, that is by far my best deal catcher. But, I was also able to get my daughter some BCBG jeans for only $1! You can't beat deals like that. I know when the budget is tight, we need to be creative. Finding your best deal might be in a place you'd least expect.

Washed Up

Wow, have you ever felt like you've been in the midst of a washer's spin cycle? Maybe you feel that way right now, I know I have lately. Being sloshed around, feeling wrung up and even almost drowning are not what I call comfortable times. But I recently realized that when we are in the midst of purification although it is always uncomfortable, we can rest assured we always come out brighter than when we went in. God's work in our lives is always to get rid of those things that aren't so beautiful, those stains that seem to show for all to see. Sometimes our stains are on the inside of our collars, where only we know about them. What stain are you hiding or holding on to? Regardless of whether your stains are pride, discontentment or jealousy, whatever your stain(s), God wants to remove them from your beautiful fabric. Those stains need to go, they need to be washed away in the cleansing of God's word and in the refining of His ever loving hand. The trials of the washing machine are for our better. As I encourage myself, be encouraged that God is doing a work in your life. He's doing a work in my life. The twisting and wringing you might feel is for a greater good; it is so that you might come out of that washing machine changed, transformed, and even more beautiful than when you went in. Let go of your stains and dirt, and let God do a new work.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.