SALT

Hello SALT sisters!  Hope you are having a great day.  By the way, I want to remind us all what SALT stands for: Sisters Abiding in Light and Truth.  When we have Jesus in our hearts, we have the light of the world living in us.   Do we always show and reflect the light of Jesus?   I certainly don't, although my desire is to do so.  There are times that I choose to listen to worries and fears over simply trusting God.  Other times, I dim the light in my heart by refusing to forgive someone or acting out in anger.  Regardless the sin, God longs for us to confess and repent and allow His light to shine in and through us again. This old world gets darker each day.  It is so important that we let the light of Jesus shine in everything we do or say.  Let's draw close to Christ today; ask Him to search our hearts and see if there is anything that might hinder His light from shining brightly to a dark hopeless world. Love in Christ,...

Life is full of change.  The Bible tells us in Ecclesiastes 3 that there is a time for everything and a season for every activity under the heavens; a time to be born and a time to die and so forth.  Change is life. Some change is good, while other change is not so good. How do you handle change? Recently, there has been a big change in our home church.  Our pastor moved to another town to serve and minister.  Things have naturally changed while the church is in transition.  Some people seem to handle this change with a great attitude and excitement of what God may do next.  However, some people have met this change with great sadness and fear; wondering if they belong at our any more.  I have a word of encouragement for you regardless how you have dealt with this change or any change:  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.  (Hebrews 13:8)   Isn't that great news?!! Our God and Savior does not change.  He ...

As I am sitting here pondering this past week and the wonderful revival we had at church, I can’t help but feel overwhelmingly grateful for Jesus and His love for us. I’m rejuvenated, excited, and so incredibly thankful that I have a Savior who loves unconditionally. I want to shout from the mountain tops to the ends of the earth that Jesus is ALIVE and that He LOVES you and me! But what does REVIVAL truly mean? What do you think of when you hear the word “revival?” Do you think of a temporary state of being, a certain way to feel emotionally after a jump start to yourself or others, or do you feel an elated state of happiness? While all these maybe true, the dictionary defines “revive” as returning to consciousness or life: becoming active or flourishing again. Just like a flower after a hard winter buds and blooms again, it shows that it becomes alive again with the newness of the welcoming, warm weather and the fresh Spring season. The flower becomes a beautiful creation of...

 Does your stomach get in knots when someone is upset with you?  Do you feel a little rain cloud over your head when someone you love is unhappy?   For many years I have been a people-pleaser.  When I was younger, I would say and do things to make people happy even if I felt they were wrong.  Also, I would keep quiet when I should of spoken up.  I felt it was my personal duty to make sure everyone was pleased with me and my performance.  Exhausting! Not only is being a people-pleaser exhausting, it is not healthy nor Godly.  I can just hear someone saying, "but are we not suppose to love and care for others?"  Of course we are.  However, being a "people-pleaser" often has nothing to do with love and everything to do with fear.   We fear losing a friendship or love relationship.  We fear of losing status or position.  We fear failure and loss of approval.  We are called to love.  Love is a free gift ...

Do you ever feel like you open you bible and think where in the world do I start? Have you felt so overwhelmed in the task of understanding God's Word that you feel like giving up? What about setting aside time daily to read the Word of God and then at times falling behind and struggling to keep that commitment? I'm sure we have all felt this way a some point, if not, often. We yearn for the knowledge, but feel so inadequate. It's time that we step up and conquer our biblical illiteracy. But how? What do we do? How can we conquer the mountain of biblical illiteracy? I can tell you it's not easy, but with "one spoonful at a time" you can. Studying the Bible doesn't come easy for many and for some it's a grind. But God tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that His Word is for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. His Word is available to us all and we need to ask the Holy Spirit to help in revealing understanding to us. We shoul...

Dear Sister in Christ, Do you ever feel you are in a hole and can't get out?  Do you ever get tired of feeling bad?  Do you ever wonder if things will ever be better?  On this earth we all go through tough times.  Sometimes we face hardships due to sin that we have embraced.  Other times we face hardships that weren't brought on by sin at all.   Why does God let us suffer? I want to say right now that I do not have all the answers.  God is infinitely wiser and more powerful than I can ever imagine.   He understands things that I may never understand.  While we don't have all the answers we can trust God's heart towards us. Sometimes in order to get us back on the right track, God allows us to experience pain.  Through this pain we often turn back to the True Source of our life and contentment. 1 John 1:9 says if you confess your sins the Lord is faithful to forgive you and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.   Othe...

  "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” Psalm 139:16 Did you know that God loves your story? He ordained every moment of your life. God knew what your book of life was going to look like. Each of us has an amazing story and every page is full. How can you be sure? Because God, Yahweh, wrote it before you were even born.  You see, God knew every struggle and every victory you were going to have. He knew every unexpected twist and turn. Every hurt, sorrow, and joy, God knew it was going to happen because He orchestrated your life. He is already ahead of you, wherever you go, and He has already been. The Lord will walk before you, guide you, and lead you. He is our Almighty Father and He wants you to trust Him more.  When you trust your story to Him, He promises the best endings. Maybe not what we had hoped for, but exactly what He intended. The best ending to any story is Jesus Christ. He is now, ...

  As I was working with one of my kindergarten students this past week, one of her assignments was to color all the pictures that start with the letter H, cut them out, then paste them onto the picture of a house; thus, the focus skill being the sound of the letter H. I noticed she was putting a lot of pressure on the crayon as she colored. As she was almost finished coloring her last picture before the next task of cutting began, her crayon broke in half. And before you know it, the tears started to flow. This little person’s world, at that moment, was shattered due to a broken crayon.    As I began to console her and this traumatic event in this young girl’s academic life for the day, I picked up part of the broken crayon and showed her that the crayon still works…it still colors the same and can do the same job as before. The only difference was it was a smaller piece, needed to be held a little differently, but it could still finish the job that was first...

Can we be real?  Can we just take off our masks and be real?  What would it be like if we, as sisters of Christ, felt the freedom to just be ourselves.  There are days when I find it hard to get out of bed.  I am 20 pounds overweight.  I often lose sleep over my grown sons.  I like to dance to Disco music.  I cry watching sad movies, when I'm mad, and when I'm really tired.   I often look at Facebook instead of working out although I want to do better.  I don't always have a quiet time...even though I want to.  I still struggle with trying to people please although I am much better than I use to be.  I sometimes hide from people in Walmart.   I don't have it all together.  I struggle.  I cry.  I get angry and say things I shouldn't. I sometimes wake up at 3 am very anxious.  I am a mess! On the other hand,  I love Jesus and what He's done for me. I long to be more like Him.  I want to dec...

A cistern is a artificial reservoir that is used for storing liquids and rainwater.  A cracked cistern would be useless.   The Lord says in Jeremiah 2:13: For my people have done two evil things:  They have abandoned me---the Fountain of living water.  And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all. Imagine abandoning a fresh fountain of living water only to pursue a cracked pot in hopes of quenching your thirst.  Ridiculous!  However, we often do that very thing when we trade our relationship with Jesus for something this world offers.   Jesus can fill us up continually with hope, love, and peace.  Things of this world can only temporarily help and most often end up hurting us.   For example, as Christians we know Jesus is our answer.  We face a trial and we immediately begin to look for solutions.  Often we don't even check with God about it.  Or maybe we are lured away fro...

Life is full of seasons.  Not only the four seasons we experience each year but the many different seasons we find ourselves in during this journey called life.   What season are you in today?  You may be a young girl in school dreaming of a future prince.  You may be a newlywed that is adjusting to married life.  You may be 30 year old mom with 3 little ones around your ankles.   You may be a 40-something year old feeling the pangs of adult children leaving home.  You may find yourself in an empty nest  looking at your husband thinking, "Who is this guy?".  You may be in your 60 and 70's feeling new pain in your body and praying hard for your grandchildren.  You may be in your 80's or 90's wondering if God has anything left for you to do.   What ever season you find yourself in, be assured, God has a plan for you.  In Jeremiah 29:11 the Bible tells us that the Lord has plans for us.   I don't think gro...

Happy 2019 Ladies! I hope your year is off and rolling well. I know this time of the year, we are all thinking about new goals and resolutions; mostly about our health and losing a few pounds, but also included in those could be financial goals, job goals, family goals, retirement goals and many others. Lots of people make reading the bible in a year a personal goal as well. We look to the new year as a fresh start, a re-do, a clean slate. While all these are great ideas and goals to pursue, let's not forget about the ultimate goal of making Jesus first in our lives.  I think we can all say we've admitted to making Jesus our first priority daily as we begin a new year. We get up, set out to have our daily quiet times, pray, and spend much needed time alone to hear from God. We do well for a little while, then the routine of life, jobs, and kids set in again and we are thrown off, de-railed, and then, ultimately, we drop the ball and we spend less time with Jesus. W...

Hi Salt Sisters!  I am so excited to see what the Lord has planned for us all in 2019.  Today I am copying my post from my personal blog to share with you.   I felt we all needed this encouragement.  I pray it will speak to you! Love, Melaina Everyday we hear of someone experiencing identity theft; someone tries to assume a person's true identity.  In addition to the identity, they steal bank account numbers, credit cards and other benefits of being the owner.  This crime is very common today due to the fact most of our business dealings are done online or through electronic mail.  However, there is another identity theft that is very prevalent today and it happens in our minds.  As a Christian, our identity is found in Christ and who He says we are.  Therefore, Satan tries to "steal" our identity by planting lies in our mind that contradict the truth.   Satan will tell us that our value is in what we do, where we work, w...

Calm or Chaotic? The holiday season is here and with Thanksgiving over and Christmas around the corner, this time of year can be full of excitement as well as chaos and stress. We are faced with deadlines to meet, places to travel, people to visit, and food to prepare. It can be a wonderful time reuniting with loved ones, but it can also be a stressful time if we allow it to be that way. You see, I love this time of year. I love all the changing colors of the leaves, the crisp air with winter awaiting around the corner, the aroma of freshly cooked meals prepared by loved ones, the laughs of family and friends, and the precious memories that are made with relatives far and near. This season brings so much of our busy lives together for a few moments where we can stop and soak up each laugh, hug, new memory, and reminisce about days ago.  But not all holiday seasons are happy. Sometimes, if we allow it, holidays can be very stressful. The joy is stolen when ...

Good morning friends!  This morning I wanted to share a post with you from my personal blog.  I felt strongly that God wanted to encourage someone that might be facing something "scary" today. I hope you find encouragement and comfort in knowing that God is never caught off guard. Love, Melaina ****************************************************************************** Have you ever been caught off guard?  A couple of weeks ago I had a scare.  I have had a health issue that I have put off and put off.  However, the day came where I could not put it off anymore.  As a Mom and wife, sometimes I put my health on the back burner while trying to "fix" everyone else.  (Sound familiar?)  With Chad's urging I decided to go on to the doctor and much to my surprise it was not a minor thing.   In fact, I had a biopsy on the spot.....something I have never had before.  I was told that I either had something "bad" or something "really bad...