Author Archives: Nannette

About Nannette

Wife to The Sweetheart, Mom to the Fantastic Six, Nana to six of the cutest littles on the planet, Author, The Daniel Fast, A Devotional. UPCI ministers.

Sailboats, Safety Nets and Comfort Zones

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Day 21 of the #31dbc!

Staying safe is easy but there are no rewards and there are no challenges.

Just like the quote in the picture, you can buy a big beautiful boat; keep it all shiny and attractive. People can come by the dock and admire it. They will want to touch it, ask if they can come aboard and see all of the knobs and gadgets. Run their fingers across the leather seats and reach up to brush against the sails. They will pummel you with all kinds of questions about boating and you would be proud to share your knowledge of the sea or lake.

Then they ask the inevitable, “How many times have you taken her out on the water? How does she handle during a storm? What is your favorite part of sailing?”

And standing there beaming you reply, “Oh, I have never unleashed her from the dock! She has never left the port!”

As proud as you are of her beauty, you are too afraid to take her from your comfort zone, too terrified to take that first step.

She is safe in the port, she won’t get scuffed up, her sails won’t get wet, her lines won’t get tangled, and the anchor won’t get stuck.

Never will you have to worry about a storm coming up. You are secure…at home…where she belongs.

We are just like that sailor and his precious boat. We live in our sailboats (or houseboats), safety nets and comfort zones, all secure and tucked away, happy as clams as long as no one asks us to do anything that would “rock our boat”.

**But is that any way to LIVE?**

Furthermore, is that the way Jesus would have us to LIVE?

According to His Word, it is just the opposite.

**He told Peter to “…feed my sheep…” John 21:17.**

When He appeared to the eleven disciples, He admonished them to “…Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15.

Paul was walking on the Damascus road when He encountered Jesus and their conversation went something like this: “As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ Saul asked. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ he replied.‘Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.’” Acts 9:3-6 NIV.

Does that mean we have to drop what we are doing, sell everything we have and go walk the streets shouting, “Jesus Saves”?

What it means is; where is your heart? Where is your desire? Are you hiding in your “houseboat”, behind your safety net and fluffy comfort zone? Praying that Jesus doesn’t come and require too much of you?

Friend, we have it so “made in the shade”!

I am preaching to myself when I say we need to step out of our little worlds and take a look around and see what we could be doing different to impact this literal creation that God has given us to care for. Living and breathing human beings that will spend eternity somewhere. We just might be the only Jesus they ever have a chance to come in contact with.

Let’s not leave Him at home in our “houseboat”.

Under our safety net.

Hidden in our comfort zone.

Get that boat out on the water!

Let’s take Him with us and share Him with our world.

As we enter this season of thankfulness, I thought it would be good to hear from you, from your corner of the globe and right here close by too. Some of you I hear from regularly, some read but have never commented. What I would love to know is three things:

Something God has done for you in 2013, what you are most thankful for.
What you want to see accomplished in your spiritual walk in 2014.
How you and your family will be celebrating the Thanksgiving Holiday if at all.

Mention what state or country you are from. You can email me your response to ynannette@gmail.com . I would like to use the information in my Thanksgiving post and show what God has been doing around the world! I will only use first names so you don’t have to worry about confidentiality. But if you do not even want me to use your name at all, please say so in your post and I will respect your wishes.

This will be a great blessing! I hope you will take a couple of minutes and answer the questions for me. I love and appreciate every one of you. These last eight months have been some of the most rewarding of my life and I thank you for being a part of the journey.

Sharing with Modest Mondays, Monday Praises, Playdates with God, Unite!, The Gathering Spot, Counting Our Blessings, Women Helping Women, Teach Me Tuesdays, Titus 2sdays

Expecting Great Things…

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Day 20 of the #31dbc!

Do you expect Great Things from God?

Do you believe He wants the very best for you?

Or have you lived a beaten-down life?

Are you living under the Law and not under Grace? Still tied down to rules and regulations?

Friend, Jesus nailed all of those things to the cross over 2,000 years ago. He wants you to experience His grace! You are to be able to come boldly and freely to Him today and every day. The veil in the temple was torn in two when He said, “It is finished…” and that signified that no longer did we have to go through a mediator to get to Almighty God!

It also did away with the sacrifices of bulls, goats and other animals.

The only sacrifice He wants is YOU.

He wants you to give your life back to Him. Not in a physical sense as He did on the cross, but in a spiritual sense as He wants you to LIVE for Him with all of your heart. To love Him, serve Him and give Him your all.

“So he answered and said, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” Luke 10:27 NKJV.

You mean I can live any old way I want? There is no Law any longer? No, that is not what it means.

Paul said without the Law, we would not know sin! “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ‘You shall not covet.’” Romans 7:7 NKJV.

God didn’t do away with the Law; it reveals our need for Grace.

Grace is unmerited pardon of past sins and forgiveness with real repentance.

Grace will cause you to want to live a life that is pleasing to God.

The New Testament leaders did not do away with the Law, including the Ten Commandments. “Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.” Romans 7:12 NKJV.

And John said,^“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.” 1 John 5:3 NKJV.

Grace is God’s unmerited favor, kindness and mercy. It does what the Law can NOT do… Roman 6:14. “For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under the law, but under grace.”

But it doesn’t give us license to sin or to ignore His commandments. For Paul goes on to say in the 15^th verse, “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.”

Under the Law, if you broke a commandment, the penalty was severe and instantaneous. Sometimes it meant you were cast out of the “camp”, or your family. Totally cut off. Other times, according to the sin that was committed, the sentence was death. There was no mercy!

But under Grace, we no longer live under the penalty of the Law. We haven’t thrown the Law away!

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

“That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1-4.

Under Grace, we come to the Lord Jesus Christ and repent, ask for forgiveness and receive mercy. If there is sin that has consequences, sometimes we have to pay for those mistakes, we are not exempt from the law of man. We do not have a license to sin repeatedly and keep running back to God just because He will forgive us.

But a true relationship will cause us to want to please God. We are no longer under bondage, rules and regulations but are free to live a victorious life in Jesus Christ. Filled with His spirit, full and overflowing with the Love of God and expecting great things in our walk with Him.

We will want to share what He has done for us with others, how can we keep it to ourselves?!

Have you been set free?

Are you living an overcoming life?

Are Grace and Mercy freely spoken in your home?

Or is the Law hanging over your head like a cloud?

We can receive forgiveness for our mistakes under grace, not a license to sin. But even better than that we are offered a relationship with the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ the Righteous.

I’m expecting Great Things today, how about you?!

As we enter this season of thankfulness, I thought it would be good to hear from you, from your corner of the globe and right here close by too. Some of you I hear from regularly, some read but have never commented. What I would love to know is three things:

Something God has done for you in 2013, what you are most thankful for.
What you want to see accomplished in your spiritual walk in 2014.
How you and your family will be celebrating the Thanksgiving Holiday if at all.

Sharing with Let’s Get Social Sunday, The Weekend Brew, Sunday Sync, Sunday Stillness, Proverbs 31 Monday, Motivation Monday, Inspire Me Monday, Amaze me Monday, Expecting Great Things, Modest Mondays, Monday Praises, Teach Me Tuesdays

Falling in Love With Jesus…& A Survey!

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Day 19 of the #31dbc!

“Fall has always been my favorite season. The time when everything bursts with its last beauty, as if nature had been saving up all year for the grand finale.” ~ Lauren DeStanfano

Few people on this earth do not find pleasure in the comfort of fall. I love the changing of the seasons, the cooler temperatures coming on, the bright hues and radiant shades and colors! Such joy comes from listening to the rustling of the leaves across the sidewalk, that has been music to my ears all week long!

We throw open our windows and let the cool breezes blow through our homes, the fresh air bringing welcome change from a hot summer of closed, air conditioned houses. It puts us in a cleaning mood and, unfortunately for our waistlines, a baking mood!

(I took this fun picture of my youngest son, Korey Ross, and our “adopt-him-if-we-could” son, Kyle Christian, when we were living in Latvia in 2011. We were visiting a castle in Segulda, and on the long walk back Korey and Kyle saw this irresistible pile of leaves and before we could tell them they were trespassing on “keep off the grass” signs, it was too late. Kyle was already in Superman form and Korey was falling in. They are not teenagers. Ahem. Good times!)

This time of year also makes me pause and think of the good things of God. Of all the blessings in our lives and the many, many reasons we have to be thankful. In our mid-week service Wednesday evening, our pastor was speaking about how blessed we are as a people. Compared to two-thirds of the entire world, we were considered wealthy!

“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ…” Ephesians 5:20.

If we have a roof over our heads, food on our table and clothes on our back on a daily basis, we are better off than half of the people in the world. But if we have those things and more than one outfit of clothing, can go to the pantry and actually stand there and choose what we are going to have to eat for every meal then we are considered to be rich!

“O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.” Psalm 107:1.

I realize that the majority of my readers are from North America, but I am very grateful for the many friends that I have made in so many other countries in the last eight months! You all have been such a blessing to me and have taught me so much. What a thrill it is to meet people from all around the world who share a love for the things of God and who want to study His Word.

“I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.” Psalm 9:1,2 NLT.

From Dubai to Nigeria, Kenya, the Dominican Republic, Toronto, the Netherlands, Manitoba, and of course we can’t forget the Eastern Europe countries of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. These are just a few of the friends that I actually communicate with on a regular basis and know them by name, out of over 100 countries that visit the blog!

“Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.” Psalm 118:28.

Our lifestyles are so very diverse, but yet when I receive your emails and read your thoughts and comments on things I have written, I am amazed at how alike we really are. We come from different cultures but we love the same God.

As we enter this season of thankfulness, I thought it would be good to hear from you, from your corner of the globe and right here close by too. Some of you I hear from regularly, some read but have never commented. What I would love to know is three things:

Something God has done for you in 2013, what you are most thankful for.
What you want to see accomplished in your spiritual walk in 2014.
How you and your family will be celebrating the Thanksgiving Holiday if at all.

God isn’t finished, let’s keep reaching for souls and telling others the Good News that Jesus saves!

Sharing with Saturday Stillness, Heart Reflected, Amaze Me Monday, Hear it on Sunday, Use it on Monday, Sharing His Beauty, The Better Mom, Making Your Home Sing, Mondays Musings

Author Archives: Nannette

About Nannette