"Happy Mom's Day!!"

“Mother's Day is an annual holiday that recognizes mothers, motherhood and maternal bonds in general, as well the positive contributions that they make to society. In the United States it is celebrated on the second Sunday in May. In its present form, Mother's Day was established by Anna Marie Jarvis, following the death of her mother Ann Jarvis on May 9, 1905, with the help of Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker. A small service was held on May 12, 1907 in the Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia where Anna's mother had been teaching Sunday school. But the first "official" service was on May 10, 1908 in the same church, accompanied by a larger ceremony in the Wanamaker Auditorium in the Wanamaker's store on Philadelphia. She then campaigned to establish Mother's Day first as a U.S. national holiday and then later as an international holiday.”

This is a very special and beautiful day of celebration and makes us look out that God has ways to recognize the labor that we as mothers and women do in day to day basis.  Jesus gave us a great example of love for the women and for his mother.  When Jesus was in the cross he made sure his mother was taken care of by releasing her to the care of John.  So in honor of those great mothers that are grand warriors and are by our sides and love us no matter what to you our love and celebration! To all you kids that have made our lives more exiting we celebrate you because without kids there are no moms!!

I celebrate my kids for making my life a very interesting, exhilarating, life threatening, non fictional, crazy and awesome one! Thanks to Elizabeth for being so quiet when smaller, for making me read to her every night Luke 2, for nagging and protesting and not letting anyone into her room and staying by me till 25 yrs old! Thanks for getting married you are a beautiful and awesome wife! (Yippie at last!!)  Thanks to Carlos Ivan for making my life like a roller coaster ride, very exhilarating! Ups and downs!! Thanks for always helping out. For constants headaches, sleepless nights, craziness, etc. etc….. and for  living on your own! (Good)

Mothers Day is for celebrating all those moments that they have given us and for all those moments our kids have made us live!

Happy Mother’s Day to all you beautiful warrior princesses!! May the blessing of the Lord cover your lives and may your day be full of greatness and cool surprises!

Remember God always want the best for our lives!!

Many blessings to all!!

Evelyn Gabriel (Cuqui)

"Spring Cleaning"

"Spring cleaning is the period in spring time set aside for cleaning a house, normally applied in climates with a cold winter. The most common usage of spring cleaning refers to the yearly act of cleaning a house from top to bottom which would take place in the first warm days of the year typically in spring, hence the name." Also known as "khooneh tekouni" which literally means "shaking the house".  

When spring arrives specially after a cold and long winter all the sudden we get the urge to clean and put away all that reminds us of winter and bring in color and life to the house.  We take a day almost always a weekend and start our cleanup time. We turn our house upside down reaching every corner and throwing away the things that no longer are useful in the house! We work hard and till everything is in tip top condition and smells clean then we say we finished our Spring Cleaning Day!

We need to do the same with our "spiritual house" our lives; we need to do a clean up and a good scrubbing to freshen up our lives!  We are Gods temple; He lives in our house so we do need to clean up! Most of the time we just do some moping and dusting and tell the Lord sure come on in our house, sit down in our beautiful living room with those beautiful new sofa and pillows and rugs we just installed. We invite Him to our dining room that is in awesome new condition; show Him our kitchen brand new by the way. Well He sees what we let Him see and visit in  our house but meantime the doors to our bedrooms are locked and do not even mention the big closet in middle of the hallway closed with key!

My daughter is a big fan of the TV sitcom “Friends" and I would watch it some times. There is one of the characters known as Monica who is obsessive-compulsive, everything had to be clean! But wait she had a secret! Her closet in the hallway the one no one was allowed to open! Until one day! Chandler opens the closet! And yep all the sudden a lot of junk that was tucked in came out in a big pile! That seen was so unforgettable it never came out of my mind! Got stuck on me!

That is truly much of our lives! We talk about Spring Cleaning in our lives and just think about letting the Lord in some areas of our house and not those intimate places, like our closets, our drawers and our old trunks.  Those places we do not let anyone go into, those areas that hurt the most and we just try to tuck them so hard and try our most to ignore they are there being a part of our lives in our daily basis.  When we come to the Lord the Bible says we become a new creature all things are new in Him (paraphrase by me) but if you do not give these areas of your life to the Lord and let Him come in your areas and clean them up, they will keep on accumulating dust and dirt and growing till it's a big pile of hurt and you will have to be getting more rooms to be able to put all that junk accumulated making your life more miserable and even getting your health more strained and worse.  

We need to let the Lord come in our spiritual closets, clean them and organize them in perfect harmony.  Hidden pain will destroy your lives, your peace.  Confess your pain, tell someone and reach out to the Lord for help! Release Unforgiveness and Bitterness - Get Rid of the trash: long kept unforgiveness and bitterness is like old baggage in the attic you just can't seem to part with. You are so familiar with it; you don't even realize how it is affecting your life.

Psalms 32.3-5 the Message 

When I kept it all inside, my bones turned to powder, my words became day long groans. ⁴ The pressure never left me all the juices of my life dried up. ⁵ Then I let it all out; I said, "I'll make a clean breast of my failures to God.” Suddenly the pressure was gone—my guilt dissolved, my sin disappeared.

Ephesians 4:31-32 NIV
Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 

Ask the Lord to do a special spring cleaning in your life today and you will see how the cleanness and the organization bring you peace and joy and awesome changes to your life and those around you!

Psalm 51:10 
Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Always remember God has plans for good and not for bad in your life and mine!

P.S. I had to let the Lord Shake My House!!

Happy spring!

Many Blessings!!

Plans

"A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with timing and resources, used to achieve an objective."


God always has greater plans for our lives!  We just think that it is not true, that He has to be specific and detailed in everything and God loves to be spontaneous and surprise us once in a while! God is truly organized but I think the best things He has for us come spontaneous.


These few months have been a little different.  I made some little changes that I did not have in mind doing I just went and took my first step and it has been full of enriching experiences and not so good  ones! Can't have them all! 


I did not have in my plans to change church, I am not the kind of person that goes from one church to another trying to find the one but in mist of some changes I found myself changing to another church and still do not believe what happened because it was so fast but I did it! Well I been experiencing some supernatural moments and receiving a different kind of worship and praise I never had seen in my life! The Holy Spirit has taken me to a hole different adventure! But at the same time I have been experiencing some moments of true despair and have not been able to do some things that I had planned to do like taking a class in Counseling it made me sad but had to refocus and make a new budget and start even selling home made carrot cakes. Got sick and had to stay home and not go to the gym, got depressed and felt worthless again.  A good friend of mine who's daughter and mine studied together is fighting breast cancer. None of these were in my plan for this year but it just came to pass.


So I feel like starting again and from scratch, but the good in all is that the Lord always puts people in our path or does something different to get our attention and let us know that His plans always come forth and always  are for the best to come out! 


My plans are to keep loving the Lord with all my soul! Praying and asking Him to use me in a big way! Praying that I will be able to see my friend soon good and well!


I think I have to have my plans open for God to write them down and make them work on me! The moments that have been bad planning the Lord has turned them into some moments of good so I just keep trusting the Lord that His plans are for good and not for bad! His plans are for eternity!


So plans come and go but God and his word are forever! Trust Him and we'll see His greatness in our lives!


Blessings!


With love,


Evelyn

Encouragement!!

Encouragement: Give support, motivate, give courage, confidence, or hope to (someone).

"You encourage me so much!!"was the message I received from a friend through FB this week. I friend that I barely know in person, simply we are friends through my son Carlos Ivan (by the way I have lots of his friends on FB, love them all!) and through FB. But it encouraged me so much more! Just by writing down on FB some words that often the Lord puts in my heart for me to write and for me to motivate others specially women!
Motivate confidence and hope is what this world really needs in these moments of crisis! I truly am a believer that if Jesus could Facebook it would be words of motivation and hope in such times of need.
Lots of days I wake up very depressed and in need of a word of hope and all I do is sit and write some motivational word and send it out to all my friends, why? because I know that our there are people in the same way as I am and need that word, that word that helps them rise and keep moving!
We as Christians are called to lift one another and also give words of hope to those that do not know Him and do not have the experience of salvation! We have to encourage and lift up our voice and motivate those in needs to look at the cross and our Savior as the only hope for the entire crisis that we are living!
Yes there has to be people teaching the word of God and calling the spiritual things by there name but for times like this is a encouragement word of wisdom is mostly needed! Rise up women and men of God! Leave the traditional and let the Lord do His work! Let Him give life and not death through your words, through your genuine interest, through your validation, courtesy, appreciation, offering a lending hand! Simple things that go a long way! Say "Well done" "Jesus loves you""Congrats" "Keep going" one of my favorites: "You can do it" "Awesome!" can make all the difference in the world!
I love you my dear friend! And I encourage you to keep on the good work of God in this world! Be a blessing where the Lord has put you! God has put me in your life to bless you! to encourage you! to love you! and to pray for all of you in every moment!!

Always remember! The Lord has great plans for you!

Be blessed!!
But now, God's Message, the God who made you in the first place, _______, (your name) the One who got you started,_______: Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you. I've called your name. You're mine. When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you. When you're in rough waters, you will not go down. When you're between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end—Because I am God, your personal God, The Holy of Israel, your Savior. I paid a huge price for you: all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Sheba thrown in! That’s how much you mean to me! That's how much I love you! I’d sell off the whole world to get you back, rade the creation just for you. Isaiah 43.1-3 (The Message)

"A day of Adventure!"

"An adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports."

Yesterday morning I woke up and had planed to go visit at the hospital a loved and close friend of mine and it came to me: "why not go in an adventure and walk to the hospital?" I live in a rural area Toa Alta and the Hospital San Pablo is in Downtown Bayamon looked up on Google maps its around 11.2 km around 6.83 miles.  Thought about it and told myself "why not?" do something different and take a risk do something unusual. So didn't keep thinking about it and took action! Put on comfortable clothes, packed water and some fruits and started my adventure! Why call it an adventure well I was about to do something unusual for many and decided I was going to use it for time to pray and worship the Lord!

I started my walk around 9:00 AM and the Lord gave me a beautiful, cloudy day so it was just perfect. Started praying and decided to dedicate it to my two of my friends that are fighting with breast cancer so dressed up in pink. People looked at me like "strange" I would say "good morning!" and keep on walking.  Praying every minute and started singing, (I think I looked a little crazy) "Entra en mi corazón, cambia mi pensar, cambia mi pensar no quiero ser igual" love it (come into my heart and change my thinking I don't want to be the same). I took my camera and posted pictures of my walk! So much fun for me!  Well the part that I loved best is that every-time I passed by a bar or liquor store I stopped a second and prayed "I rebuke all alcoholism and send legions of angels to fight against all the demons in Jesus name!!" o and "I rebuke all prostitution!" "Tonight no alcohol will be sold here!" and I know things are going to change in those places because I declare it in Jesus name!

Did my first stop in my first hour and refueled and kept on walking and singing another of my favorite "Jehova Nissi you reign in victory" until I finally arrived to Downtown Bayamon and decided to call my husband Mario and he thought I went crazy but I was getting close to my destiny!  Did some shopping and took some pics.  A lady that was lost and asked if I knew where to find a chinese guy "I said no don't think so, he sells liquor she said and I responded I don't drink "Señor Reprenda" I rebuke it in Jesus name" and all the sudden she disappeared! (I wonder why?) ha felt good!  Finally after 2 hrs I arrived at the Hospital and got to visit my friend Flora! She could not believe that I had gone to visit and went walking from my house to see her at the hospital! It was so cool! An awesome adventure!

God calls us to follow him and have an adventure of our lifetime! All we have to do is take the first step and do it!  I might sound crazy to some people by what I did but it was the Lord giving me a lesson! I always draw back because of fear, fear of failure, fear that limits my talents and my calling to bigger and bolder things for the Lord! All I did was take my first step and keep on walking till I got to my destination!

What was to be a simple visit to a friend came out to be a 2 hour walk that became life lesson for me.  I felt more blessed than my friend Flora, blessed by her, her mom and daughter and over all blessed by the Lord! I thank God my adventure turned out for my good! All things work for the best just have to let yourself go in the arms of the Lord that will be by your side all throughout your adventure!

My unusual experience came out to a great outcome! At this moment I declare blessings, health and victory in Jesus name to all of you my friends! In Jesus name! 

Love ya'all! Be blessed!!

"Valentine’s Day"

"The legend of the origin of Valentine’s Day surrounds a Roman priest from the third century named Valentine. Emperor Claudius II, ruler of Rome, had decided to declare all engagements and marriages between young men and women illegal.

He believed that eliminating the longing for their wives and family would make for more loyal and effective soldiers. Claudius saw wives and families as a distraction that made his military force appear weak and incompetent. His decision caused a great deal of grief and sadness among the young men and women of this time.
Seeing the sadness this caused many of these smitten lovers, Valentine defied Claudius. He continued to perform the rights of matrimony in secret.

Eventually the emperor learned of Valentine's actions. Claudius reportedly imprisoned him and sentenced him to death.  The date of his official death is reported as Feb. 14, 270 AD. It was his tragic death that led him down the path to sainthood and sparked a movement to honor his memory on a day of celebration. 

In the second half of the 20th century, the practice of exchanging cards was extended to all manner of gifts in the United States. Such gifts typically include roses and chocolates packed in a red satin, heart-shaped box. In the 1980s, the diamond industry began to promote Valentine's Day as an occasion for giving jewelry.The U.S. Greeting Card Association estimates that approximately 190 million valentines are sent each year in the US. Half of those valentines are given to family members other than husband or wife, usually to children. When you include the valentine-exchange cards made in school activities the figure goes up to 1 billion, and teachers become the people receiving the most valentine."

We all have our particular way of celebrating and I just love this day! I taught my kids to give cards and chocolates, lots of chocolates! Still do! My favorite way that I love is to expect my own big box of “Mon Cheri” Chocolates and sit down all by myself and eat it all in one day!! Ohhh I just love it! This is my ritual! Ha even my kids know that I do that and know that they can’t ask for none, anyways I do not share this day!! It is fun for me!! I celebrate love! And I celebrate friendship!

I love to celebrate friendship! To have a friend is so important because we all need someone to be around and just talk or do whatever.  The Bible says that it is better to two than one! It makes a rope more stronger if has three cords and a friend loves more than a brother.  Friends make life more livable and alive! That is the Lord for me. He is my friend and He is my constant companion.  Sometimes I don’t share Him and want Him just for me, like my own chocolate box!  I just have a day for that I guess when you want the Lord’s full attention and I suspect you do too, you want His full attention! The best thing is that He does give us His full attention! He becomes that close friend that meets with you and listens to you although there is a world of people out there waiting for God to listen to them also! Isn’t that awesome from part of the Lord, He gives us His full attention! He stops squats down and puts His ear close and listens to each word and receives our tears and our pain!

Oh Lord you are so marvelous! Lord you are so out of this world! Lord I love you and I am so thankful! I give you my praise! I give you my all! Lord you are the best friend and I give you my chocolate heart! I give you my life! I give you my soul! I give you my everything! There is no friend like Jesus! We can all try to be like Him but Jesus is the greatest any friend can be! He is a true friend!

May all of you friends have a great Valentine’s Day!! And may you eat a lot of chocolate, (and not even gain a pound) receive a nice postcard and whatever you hinted your spouse, friend or family what you wanted this special day! Celebrate love! Celebrate friendship! Celebrate life! Above all Celebrate God!!

Love ya’ll my friends!!!!

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.  John 15:13 NIV

"Doing good"

This week I started jogging early in the morning.  I wake up to jog at 6:30 am to add something different to my workout and because I received a book that I got "Complete Book of Womens Running" and started reading it and doing the Journal at the same time. I was surprised to find in the Journal on Week 2 this verse: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Galatians 6.9 That blew my Mind!

If I do good in keeping up with my jogging routine I will reap a better health and a better body! Ha! Right now all of me hurts but if I keep on I will get to my goal!! All of me feels like eating but if I change my eating habits I will reap goodness for my heart! So definitely trying to keep motivated on my jogging! So what about the rest of me? Well got to do something good for my soul! God promises that if I do not give up I will reap a harvest for my soul!

This week I was planning to give up on blogging and Facebooking (my new term) kind of felt no one was interested and in that moment I opened  FB and the first thing I read was a positive comment on my last post on this blog not only one I received two.  I think God was telling me something there.  So here I am taking my time and my love to tell you all that If we do not give up on what the Lord has promised for you and me, we will reap a harvest!

The Lord has promised me blessings and a ministry that He has put in my heart and although I still do not see anything with my eyes, although the doors have not been opened for me to minister and all has been continual changes and discouragement the Lord has promised that if I keep on doing good, if I keep on writing, encouraging and spreading His love through this media, at the proper moment I will reap a harvest, if, I do not give up! Isn't that a beautiful word!

So I can't give up! And I do not want you to give up neither! Run, jog to your dream, your goal, your vision because in the proper time, in God's time,  you and I  will reap a harvest! We will get there!

Don't give up!!! No te rindas jamas!!

Remember always God has plans for you! Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you the future you hope for!! Jeremiah 29.11

Love ya'all!! Blessings!!