Give to God what is God's

As I posted yesterday, my busy season life is finally becoming just life again.  Yay!!!  It will be official next Friday, October 15th, but the craziness is finally fading away.  Woo hoo! 

I posted Colossians 3:23-24 and Phillipians 4:13 yesterday, but I just want to reiterate and THANK GOD for being with me this past busy season.  I know that everything I am, have, and do is from and because of God.  Thank You, Father!  Thank You for the opportunity, when so many are without a job, to do a job I really enjoy at a place that is pretty much the perfect place for me.  Thank You for the ability...to do it, understand it, prepare it, get to go to college to learn it, and to finalize and file all that we do.  Thank You for Your strength, Your guidance, Your determination, and Your protection throughout it all.  Thank You, Lord!!!  I know You don't care about tax returns, per se, but You care about me and helping me.  Thank You, Father!!!  :0)

I read a very interesting article about taxes and Jesus recently.  I was thinking about this post and my "Tax Returns & Jesus" blog title yesterday, and Jesus' words "give to Caesar what is Caesar's" (Luke 20:20-25) popped into my mind:

 Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be honest. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor.  So the spies questioned him: "Teacher, we know that you speak and teach what is right, and that you do not show partiality but teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.  Is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?" 

He saw through their duplicity and said to them, "Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?"

"Caesar's," they replied. 

He said to them, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's."

I googled the verses and found a lesson by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson on JesusTalk.com.  I've never been to that website or heard of Dr. Wilson, but I thought his comments were so honest and true:

You and I pay our taxes because we are afraid of being penalized for cheating. But are our motives to serve God any more exalted. Do we serve him because we fear displeasing him or because we love him?

My dear friend, whose coinage are you? Whose stamp and image do you bear in your soul? God's. Then you own Him your full allegiance -- to love him with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5; Luke 10:27).

The lesson the Pharisees and chief priests learned from this encounter was not to ask Jesus trick questions. But disciples learn two lessons infinitely more important: to submit willingly to the requirements of the civil government, but even more important, to give our all in tribute to God, for it is his image we bear in this world.  (emphasis mine)

What a great explanation!  Submit your taxes to the IRS...but sumbit your LIFE to CHRIST!!!  Serve Him not out of requirement or fear...but because WE LOVE HIM and HE LOVES US!  Hallelujah!!! 

It is CHRIST'S IMAGE that we bear upon our hearts!  Give them to God.  (And not at your marginal tax rate!  100%!!!)

I'll close with a busy-season-is-almost-finished praise / chant!  (Rah!)

Praise You, Father!  You have gotten me through!

All this work I give to You!!!

Gooooooooo Jesus!

(Okay, that last part was really cheesy.  But what do you expect?  I'm exhausted and hopped up on coffee.  :0)  Sorry!!!)

Tax Returns for Jesus

Just printed my last busy season tax return for this year.  Woo hoo!!!  I still have quite a bit of work to get them processed and in the mail, but all the busy season "brain work" is (hopefully!) over for 2010.  Yay!  :0)  I'm so excited...and exhausted!!!

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart,

AS WORKING FOR THE LORD, not for men,

since you know that you will receive

an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.

It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

--Colossians 3:23-24

"I can do ALL THINGS

through Christ who strengthens me."

--Philippians 4:13

Goings On

We have had such a busy month this past month…PLUS, it’s my busy season at work! I call that DOUBLE busy! I have been jumping on to post other things and haven’t had a chance to share these. Sorry! Here’s what has been going on…

First, Matt had to travel to Annapolis, Maryland on business. He was in meetings most of the time, but he did get a chance to take a boat tour of the harbor and eat the most delicious crab cakes he’s ever tasted. Mmm! I wish he could have stuck one in his luggage for me! (Though I don’t think the people on his plane would appreciate crab cake smell all the way back from Baltimore!)

Next, I raced home to see sweet baby J and the rest of my family. I know I am utterly and completely biased, but she is SO PRECIOUS!!! Auntie Jilly loves you, J!

Next, over Labor Day weekend we travelled to Austin to celebrate Matt’s Grandpa’s 90th birthday! Hurray!!! I so adore Matt’s grandfather, and it was wonderful being together with all his family. We don’t see them much, so it was an absolute joy!

This past Friday was a dear friend’s birthday, and for her birthday (man, doesn’t it seem like all the birthdays recently have been activity birthdays…first, karaoke, now this. So fun!) she wanted to play bingo. Yes…I said bingo. And yes…she is our age. Believe me, we had ALL these conversations. So Matt & I hurried home from work last Friday and met our friends at the newly-opened bingo hall in our area. (I posted before that I am my Grannie’s granddaughter. Now I REALLY am!!!) Matt & I loaded up on multiple shades of daubers, got our cards, and went to the table to hang out with our friends. We just laughed and joked together, but let me tell you…bingo is SERIOUS business. People were there with 10+ cards each (Matt & I each had one) plus multiple computers playing 60 cards each; plus, many came with custom bags holding every color bingo dauber under the sun. If it wasn’t so hilarious, I’d want one. I still kinda do. So we played and played…but no bingo at our table. I suggested to my table that we should all get up and sing “B-I-N-G-O and Bingo was his name-o” during the “7th inning stretch”, but everyone...sans our table...was entirely too serious in their bingo-playing to even consider that. But we had a great time!!!  Here’s me & Matt from my camera phone. (Sorry in the one picture it looks like I am daubing him in the face!)

And finally, the last time I went home, I brought back a HUGE bag of pears from one of my Daddy’s pear trees. He picked some for me a little early so that they would last longer in the frig. I only had a few left, and this weekend, I made a pear tart for Matt’s grandfather who is in town. I had made one a few weeks back too, and Matt & I loved it, so I was so excited to make one for Grandpa Tom. And, per the sweet / hilarious picture Matt’s parents sent me earlier this week, he loved it too! :0)

Hope your end of summer has been great too!  :0)

God is Faithful & Loves You!!!

"He will send down help from heaven...

because of His love and His faithfulness."

--Psalm 57:3 TLB

God loves you, and He is faithful.  He will send down His help from heaven because He loves and cares for you.  What beautiful words to fill my soul.  :0)

I was reading the walk-down-faithful-lane the other day in Hebrews 11, and for the first time (don't you love how God makes things jump off the page at you at just the right time) I noticed that "Abraham...was enabled to become a father because he considered Him faithful who had made the promise."  Abraham became a father at 100 and the father of innumerable generations not because of His good deeds or righteous acts or loving heart, but because he believed God and believed He was faithful in the promise He had made.  Isn't that amazing? 

And just think...God says you are His.  Believe Him. 

God says you are loved.  Believe Him. 

God says He works for the good of those who love Him.  Believe Him. 

God says He is with you always.  Believe Him. 

He loves you and cares for you more than anyone in this world.  Believe Him.  He will send down His help, His love, His forgiveness, His strength, His protection, His peace, His joy, His comfort, His happiness from heaven, because of His love and faithfulness.  All you must do is trust Him and believe.

Love One Another

It's Friday.  TGIF!  I hope everyone has a FABULOUS Friday and a WONDERFUL weekend! 

Today's encouraging Bible verse is an oldie but a goodie.  Well, technically it's New Testament, so it's a newie but a goodie.  :0)

The message is simple...since God loves us, so should we love each other.

"Love one another"

--John 13:34

Love up on somebody today!

Praying for You!!!

"I remember you in my prayers."

--Philemon 1:4 NIV

Life is busy...and crazy...and hectic...and stressful...and sometimes downright scary.  I know.  But you know what's even more comforting?  God knows too.  I've heard Max Lucado say that Jesus could have just come down for a day, taught a lesson, died for us on the cross, and we still would have been saved.  But He didn't.  He was born a babe in the manger.  He grew up as a toddler and teenager.  He lived life on this earth for 33 years.  He knew stumped-toes and bad hair days; he knew bad colds and bad days at work; he knew stressful times and even downright scary moments.  He felt it all so that when we are having one of those busy, crazy, hectic, stressful, or scary days, we can completely turn to Him. 
 
Go to Him today.  He is ALWAYS there for you. 
 
I am praying for you today!!!

I Always Thank My God For You

"I always thank my God for you

and for the gracious gifts

He has given you."

--1 Cor 1:4 NLT

Each of you is unique and special, with many talents and gifts only YOU can do!  You are special to me.  You are special to God.  And I thank Him for you in my prayers.