Good morning on this first day of May!! Here in Land O Lakes, Florida the sun is shining and a temp of 74° with a high 80 forecast for the day! Enjoying the slight breeze through the door. This past weekend we were under a tornado watch and severe thunderstorms…we had lots of wind. Lost our shade tent! But God is good – no lives lost!!!

Saturday we attended a Welcome Home Celebration for

What a crowd! One of the organizers said that it was the largest crowd at a Welcome Home Celebration service they have ever had!!!! Tunnels2Towers is the lead sponsor of this great outreach. This planned community will be 96 homes along with a community center ~ all the homes will be for first responders, wounded veterans and Gold Star Families. It was wonderful to see the community share such an outpouring of love!

Sunday we attended services at Father & Son Love Worship Center. It was a wonderful time of worship. We continue to look forward to connecting and building relationships with this small church family.

As I have mentioned so many times ~ I love how the Lord connects things in my life. One of the statements that Pastor CJ, Sr made was “one of the differences between God and us is God doesn’t have a clock or time constraints whereas we are a clock watching group of people. Rushing to get to this appointment or that, questioning time limits, watching the clock to see if it’s time to do the next thing.”

As I opened my day timer this morning this was shared for the month of May:

“God waits patiently for us; He does not look at the clock or count the minutes!”

And I turned the page to the first day of May to see what the Word for the Month is:

Wow – God is so good ~ he just keeps bringing little things together for me!

I’m sure y’all have heard the story: “don’t pray for patience as you will face more trials than you could imagine!” or how about “Lord give me patience and give it to me quick!”

When I think about me as a person and ask myself if I am patient I would have to say usually not ~ I want what I want when I want it. Patience – remaining calm in spirit when things aren’t going the way I want them, trusting in God’s timing ~ oh how I have heard that a lot ~ it’s all in God’s timing! and yet I still try to do things in my time frame and expectations and I need to remind myself to TRUST in God’s timing.

So today as I begin a new month and a new week, focusing on my word for the month, PATIENCE, and TIME I pray that I can do things in God’s timing and not be a clock watcher, to TRUST and BELIEVE God knows what he’s doing even when I don’t understand.

Another point that Pastor CJ, Sr shared that really struck me was “what I think and speak is what I believe.” I have heard that in many different ways…speak truth, what we sow we reap, self-talk can be good or bad and for some reason it really resonated with me. He shared when we say “I have XXX or I am XXX” that’s what we become. I went back in thought to one time when someone asked me who I was and I replied “I’m an abusive parent.” Or going to ACOA and in beginning to share saying “I’m a daughter of an alcoholic parent.” And I remember when Tom (my therapist from August 1986 to April 1989) asked me if I one sided, like a flat piece of paper as I described myself. No! I am not one sided, there are many facets to who I am and I need to speak out loud what is truth about me and not my ailments or complaints.

So today as I begin a new day, a new week and a new month I want to shout out

I’m the daughter of the King!!!
I’m a woman who loves to bless others!
I’m Ron’s wife!!
I’m a Mom and Grammy!!!!
I’m a friend!!
I’m Ali, made by God in His image!
I’m loveable just the way I am!

As I’ve been writing this morning, I’ve been listening to the service from Love Springs Baptist Church online from last night (4/30/23). And one of the songs had the words “I know what Jesus did for me.” And I am so thankful that the Lord has walked with me through life and will continue to walk each day with me. He has loved me, cared for me, carried me through some nasty storms and has celebrated some wonderful victories and I am so thankful!

As you go through the day, listen to what you are saying…are you encouraging yourself or others? Are you complaining? Or are you seeing yourself as Jesus sees you? Let’s focus on what God teaches us!!!