Author: Kelly Savage

“Death” of a Loss One –

/ Kelly Savage / 2 Comments

I am embarking on a new journey starting on Monday – a new journey without “my buddy”. I didn’t lose her by a physical death. She is still here in this world. My new journey starts with a lesson that I have leanred that death isn’t always about a physical death. You can lose someone in your life that is truly significant, that has made one of the greatest impacts on your life and feel one of the deepest pains in your life and it feels like a death. That would be the case of “my buddy”, my co-worker. In a very unfortunate turn of events and deeply painful, she will no longer be working side by side with me.  The one that I went to work with for 25 years. I met her when I was merely 19, when we think we know everything and now I sit at the age of 44 and I am saying to myself, “holy crap, I am just now learning some things now!”   Her and I side by side – 25 years. We laughed – we cried – only raised our voice probably handful of times – but we did it all together. We took a stressful job and we made it fun – we made everything a game – we made fun of it and each other – but we did it together and together we were each other’s confidants. How do you replace that? You don’t.

 

Lord, take the pain away, I have been crying. The deed was done on Tuesday. I went away on vacation on Wednesday. Let me tell ya……..drinks don’t take it away, taking picture on vacation and smiling doesn’t take it away, seeing beautiful sites and laying by the pool and even relaxing, as nice as that sounds and it was, doesn’t take it away. My lesson continues. Pain is pain. Loss is loss. We will experience some things in our life that are devastating. This is one of mine. I know it is one of hers.

Hows? Whats? Whens? Whos? Questions fly in my head, heart, everywhere……………….Time, prayer, giving Him the pain, – it is one of the holes that only He can fill – not one person, not one thing, only Him…….

I am once again reminded that The God of Comfort and Peace needs to be my all in all……

1 Corinthians 1:4-5 “God of all healing counsel! He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us. We have plenty of hard times that come from following the Messiah, but no more so than the good times of his healing comfort—we get a full measure of that, too”

1 Peter 5:7 “Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. ”

Psalms 30:5 “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning”

Psalm 56:8 “You number and record my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle”

 

so as I wrapped up my time with God , knowing this is another one of those times where I need Him to get through it, I thanked Him for being there and guiding me through, giving me strength, grace and His love.  Then I said “ok God, I got this” ………then He gently whispered and said” no, WE got this”………I love God!!!!!

Something to think about……….

/ Kelly Savage / 1 Comment

Image

So I came across this post on Facebook today………and it was one of them that I least it made me take that second look, then after the second look, I went, “wow, what if!”  Think about it………What if we woke up tomorrow and looked around and only had the things that we were truly thankful for and thanked God for yesterday?  Took that moment the day before and thanked Him?  What if our children were no longer there?  Our spouse?  Would it be our car that was still remaining?  our house?  our materialistic things?  So, what would be missing and what would be remaining?  Would anything be there because have we taken the time to thank God?  Do we have that thankfulness in our heart?

The Bible says a lot about thankfulness and prayer.    In fact, I believe if we have even this attitude of this post, we might even live our life differently……….something to think about…..ponder on…….if we knew that we knew that what was important to us was about to be taken from us and we needed to thank God for it for it to stay, I am sure we would, BUT, would we be just saying it or meaning it?

An attitude of gratitude, so to speak, I believe is one that is truly cultivated over time as we mature.  In life, we learn, as we grow and as we become older and appreciate life for what it is.  God has truly changed my heart over the years to appreciate all in my life, good and bad.  It is easy to appreciate the good but when it comes to the bad, we can still appreciate it.  The bad times refine us, mature us, grow us and even make us more in the attributes of Him.  They certainly are growing times, stretching times and not so much “fun” times, but it is in the valley times that we grow allot and I wouldn’t change them at all.  It has made me who I am today and I thank Him for that 🙂

So, let’s try it.  Each morning, each day, let’s look around and ask Him for help to see because naturally we don’t always see the smallest of blessings.  With Him, He will definitely help us.  He opens up our eyes to things we will never see ourselves.  The world becomes something so beautiful, serene, peaceful in a world that is not.  Just because we are looking through His eyes.  Yes, it is possible…..try it…….and thank Him, for the small and big things……it really can change your whole perspective even through not so good times……

Be blessed!  🙂

Been a While…..

/ Kelly Savage / 1 Comment

Sooooo, it’s been a while………I went on a reprieve…..a little retreat…….not really…..I have actually been very busy……life busy…..which is not always a very good busy…..just busy busy……

I had some really good God conversations lately with several different people and then in my quiet conversations with God that, quite honestly, have lacked lately, I have sensed to get back to writing blogs that I have not been busy with.

A few of these conversations really stuck out at me as those that got me to go back into the Word, and dig.  Dig at His truth and dig deep.  We come across people in our lives and vice versa for many different reasons and sometimes they are merely God reasons – to learn from, to grow with, to mature with , to be refined and sometimes to learn love from…………..

The conversations that I seemed to be having in the last month or so were, should I say, “flipped flop” conversations, meaning I found myself on the other side.  Put me back 13 years ago, I would have been on the other side.  As I listen to the flip flop side, the other view, or the questions that people have about Christianity, I realized that was me……………13 years ago, when I was “seeking”  or on my spiritual quest.  I believed in God.  I believed in prayer.  I believed in that all my life.  I was a “church-going” girl………..

But, if I am going to be honest, I didn’t know the “Jesus” piece and where He fit nor the salvation piece, the “born-again spiritual” piece until I was around 31 years old and was on my spiritual quest which involved many different types of things I sought after.  You have a few hours? Probably if you asked me, I could answer been there, done that, tried that, sinned there, sinned here, been everywhere! ”  You wanted honesty, right?

It wasn’t until, I had several hard knocks in my life, several knock outs that took me down and my temporary spiritual quests that put me on temporary highs that try to compete with the real thing (Jesus)  that totally led me to new lows………that I found myself lower than I ever been that I finally knew that I couldn’t get any lower……HOWEVER, the good news, there is a God, that sent His Son, that will meet you WHEREVER you ARE, and the BIBLE says that He did this while we are STILL yet sinning………..now THAT is unconditional, self sacrificing, selfless, LOVE that I had never received and needed…….PLUS PLUS PLUS this gift is free, we just need to receive it by faith.  It wasn’t free for Him, by a long stretch, but it is for us because He loves us that much.

Do I like everything that is written in His Word? hmmmmm, not quite…….again……..you want honesty, right?  Sometimes, my word when I read the Bible is “ouch!”  or my phrase that happens to come out is “really God?”.  Look, God honors an honest heart and He already knows what’s in our hearts.  That’s the best thing about having a really honest, raw relationship with Him and a best friend relationship with Him.  We can be real with Him!  You really can’t argue with me what’s in His Word.  He wrote it.  Not me.  He’s God.  Not me.

This I do know, every question that I had…..,when I came to accept Christ and His free gift to me, I looked it up in His Word and it was there.  Not once did the Bible ever fail to give me an answer.  Not once.

Does that mean I have had a rosy Christian life?  NO!!!!!!!  However, I have had peace throughout circumstances that weren’t peaceful.  That was always there for the asking.  I just have to ask.  My God is always there, never leaves, never forsakes…..and if you could give me hours, I could give you stories of His faithfulness as well as His love.

Billy Graham said it best…………. It is Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge and my job to love……… 🙂

Have a great day!!

 

 

 

Attitude adjustment

/ Kelly Savage / 1 Comment

Did you ever need an attitude adjustment?  I did!  God told me I needed one yesterday……I went by a church yesterday and they had a sign outside that read “Kindness beautifies like snow” and I laughed!  Then I laughed that I laughed and I felt the Lord clear his throat at me as if to say “would you please read that sign with a different attitude?”.  I have to admit……I needed an attitude adjustment.  That is the beautiful conviction of the Holy Spirit.  It isn’t condemnation….if our hearts allow it…..it is conviction and when we take it one step further……we will allow growth in our hearts…and I love personal growth……..This snow has really been getting to me so I was not in the right frame of mind….or as I have been talking about ….the right frame of heart…..

You see, where I was coming from at that moment, was the snow was weeks old…..dirty…..hard……icy…….and from what I gather…..we are all pretty tired of it this season……so beautiful wasn’t on the top of the list of the words for snow at least for this season anymore….so it just made me laugh…..so, at that moment…when I read “Kindness beautifies like snow” it wasn’t registering in my bad attitude with snow.  I am just being honest, real and raw if anyone can relate.  But stick with me…….

Now, here is where my conviction came in……when God asked me to read it again, with a different attitude……He even helped me.  He put me in a different scenario one day when I was driving on a back road when the snow was first falling and the roads were so empty……no one was on the road but me at that moment.  It was so peaceful, so calming to be honest……..trees were immensely covered with this beautiful white covering, actually nothing was NOT white.  Everything was so still.  And I remembered telling the Lord that day, at that moment, how awesome and beautiful the snow really is…..how calming, peaceful……and how it can take an ordinary surrounding that we pass everyday and turn it into something extraordinary and cover it totally……

hmmmmm, that is what kindness can do……one simple act of kindness can bring calmness, can bring peace, can take an ordinary day  and turn it into an extraordinary day!!!  How awesome is that!!

Colossians 3:14  And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

1 Peter 4:8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Guess what!  Conviction from the Holy Spirit, if we allow Him, really does work!  Actually, that is pretty awesome too!  I learn great and mighty things each and everyday when I allow Him to teach me and give me many needed attitude adjustments!  I might not look at snow the same ever again!  lol 🙂  – if up to Him – I won’t!

 

Have a great day!

 

Kelly

Next Thing You Know…..by Matthew West

/ Kelly Savage / Leave a comment

I was sitting eating my breakfast this morning and as I do every morning, I was thanking the Lord through out the morning, here and there for various blessings that were popping up that I was thankful for. The Holy Spirit reminded me that I had prayed about something and the Lord answered that prayer pretty quickly and sometimes we just don’t seem to recognize the “smaller blessings”. We seem to focus on the things we don’t have or are still waiting on……but He does listen! He does answer! He does care! It may not always be the way we want it to be or He may require us to adjust, there is no doubt about that. I am definitely here to testify to that one! I have had to have many attitude adjustments along the way and still do. Sometimes, spiritually, I am sure he looks at me like a teenager who is just wanting her own way 🙂 🙂 🙂

What I found interesting in my little talk with the Holy Spirit this morning was the fact of the what would be consider small, insignificant prayers as some people would call them. I beg to differ!! This is exactly what this one was! It was a small request, nothing big and it was all about little ole Kelly. However, the Holy Spirit did indicate to me that my heart was right in this one, and that is BIG to our Holy God. The Bible has allot to say about our heart. One verse that came to my spirit with this was……

Jeremiah 17:10:
“God searches the heart and examines the mind to reward each person according to their conduct , according to what their deeds deserve.”

and Acts 1:24 where it states that the Lord knows everyones heart and Proverbs 21:2 states that the Lord weighs the Lord in the matter

Gods word is full of heart scriptures and is clear that the condition of your heart is critical in our walk with the Lord.

Bottom line……God cares about even the smallest of things in our life and what our heart cares about. His precious Words even speaks about giving us our hearts desires! He wants to give us our hearts desires. He really does care that much. Does he want our heart to be right in the matter? Yes. We are to be walking each and everyday closer and closer to Him, be more and more refined into the image of Christ. And that means attitude adjustments. And that starts in the heart. And that is where God judges from.

The song I shared with you, Matthew West’s Next Thing I Know, catchy tune, isn’t it? I thought it tied in to today’s post for 2 reasons. First, at the age of 13 he was touched by Billy Graham. Where? In his heart but as you will listen he fell away a bit……we all do at times……where….in our hearts? But when he cried out in college again……a simple prayer….from his heart….God shows up……when we truly mean it from our heart….and I do mean from the heart ……and God will know when it is and when it isn’t….it will be a BEAUTIFUL thing……..soak this scripture in…..

Matthew 5:8 “Blessed are those who are pure in heart…..for they will see God”

Father God, thank You for the beautiful precious gift that you have given us in Jesus and that He died on the cross for us and that there is nothing that we have to do to receive that gift except to receive that gift in faith. Lord, thank you for receiving our prayers in faith and please search our hearts and minds and line them up according to Your will. That is our desire….is to live according to Your will. As we do that, we know that we will be blessed as Your Word says and we will see You. Thank you for answering our prayers, big and small and let us see how You are at work when we don’t see the prayers being answered right away. Open up our spiritual eyes to see. Thank You in the precious name of Jesus. Amen

Good Morning ! Let’s Be Blessed!

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Anyone ready for spring?  I am!  Ready for the spring “feel”, ready for the smell of spring, ready for spring flowers and the buds on the trees!!!!  Well, not quite yet! We are in for another winter storm, at least that is what they are saying for us to watch out for……oh, well….it will give us an opportunity to appreciate the springtime and His blessings all the more 🙂 🙂 🙂

I am going to real honest here and tell you I even like to hear the word “blessings”.  It is a beautiful word…..here is what I find when I look up the definition…

bless·ing

 noun

: approval that allows or helps you to do something

: help and approval from God

: something that helps you or brings happiness

and

Full Definition of BLESSING

1
a :  the act or words of one that blesses

 

b :  approval, encouragement

2
:  a thing conducive to happiness or welfare
3
:  grace said at a meal
 
See?  Nothing negative…..in a world full of negative, the word “blessing” has all positive wrapped up into it……I love it!  Then today when reading the word, I came across Psalm 89: 15 ” Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O Lord. “
 
And it hit me again…..the Word says allot “Blessed are those who……” but this hit me today because God has been talking to me about 2014 being the year to practice praising Him and walking in His presence and what joy that would bring to His people!  That was confirmation and what a beautiful confirmation it was!  🙂
 
When we learn to walk in His presence…..meaning as a way of life, not just 5 minutes or 15 minutes a day as devotion but as we “do our day”….throughout our day……….it was interesting that the Word doesn’t say sit in His presence, but it says walk in His presence………..
 
It also say those who have learned to acclaim Him…….I looked up synonyms of acclaim…….praise, applaud, cheer, commend, approve, welcome, celebrate………
 
So, let’s be blessed!!!!  Let’s learn to celebrate Him……to Praise Him……continuously…..turn worship music on….fill our houses with it….our cars with it……our hearts with it………. and really exalt Him for who He is in our lives and let’s learn even more to WALK continuously everyday with Him IN His presence, and the BLESSINGS will continuously be overflowing our cup!!!! 🙂  
 
Be blessed today in His presence!  
 
Kelly 
 

 

Need a little lift today? Need some freedom?

/ Kelly Savage / 1 Comment

I don’t know about you but there are those days at least for me…….those days where we need a little lift…..a little extra from the Lord. The enemy don’t play fair. The Bible does say he comes to steal, kill and destroy. Those are pretty hefty words to me! I am posting this song to share with you today as one of my all-time favorites. Ask my best friend, Denise! This is my dancing song! This is my “I don’t care who is around me, I will still dance” song” 🙂 ……

What the Lord is reminding me of these days is where the spirit of the Lord is…..there is FREEDOM!

2nd Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. and we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

The transformation process is not always easy in our Christian walk and the enemy, along the way, is like a roaring lion (1st Peter 5:8). Again, not another pretty analogy. But wait…..another reminder He gave me………which we MUST hold onto…….HE HAS ALREADY won the WAR at the cross……It is finished…

We already know what happens at the end of the book! Let’s hold true to it….and stay close to Him and the Spirit of the Lord because THAT is where the freedom truly is…….and that is for our whole walk…..everyday…..WHENEVER we need it.

So, whenever we feel weak, tired, upset, angry, sad, hopeless, tired of being tired, bogged down, chained down….you get the picture……snuggle up to His Spirit…..because He is always waiting…..enter His presence…..and there is freedom…..I can feel it now. Talk to Him…..ask Him for it……Tell Him you need it from Him……He never leaves you or forsakes you.

Enjoy the song. Play it over and over and over……put your dancing shoes on or not……but dance like no one is watching! 🙂

Have a great day of freedom!

Hold Me Jesus

/ Kelly Savage / 1 Comment

Do you Like Hugs? Do you Ever FEEL like you need a hug? Do you ever FEEL you need peace from the everyday stresses of this world? I know I do!! Sort of like that old commercial…….Calgon…..take me away!!!!!!!………Am I showing my age now????!! 🙂 I posted a video of one of my favorite songs and the lyrics are just as good! But the meaning goes deep as well. The Bible speaks of peace that passes all understanding and that kind of peace……only comes from the Lord…….not from ourselves, anyone else or of things…….

My sister in law, Shelli and I have embarked on a journey together for the last several months now. We pray every Monday morning (or more whenever needed) and we have prayer focuses and have even went as far as the prayer of “do whatever you need to do Lord” in certain situations! Boy, be careful of that prayer! 🙂 That prayer will take you places that you might have never been…..deep deep places…..and Praise the Lord, we have seen answers as we walk through WITH him…….

However, our journey reminded us of one thing consistently…….we CANNOT do our journey in our own strength….or we will fail…..hands down. We will burn out. It really is that simple.

We have a tendency to trust in things, sometimes other men, and especially our own strength……and that will leave us empty every single time. Our strength is only so strong and lasts only so long. In fact, listen to some the wisdom of the Word of God……

Jeremiah 17:5-8

“This is what the Lord says:

Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on the flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”

Here are my thoughts for today: I want to to be like that tree by the stream. I want to trust in the Lord and not in my own strength and I have come to know in my life (and what a beautiful knowing it is) that the only true PEACE I really need is that of Jesus. Enjoy the song. Over and over again if you need. Sometimes I do many times a day, depending on the day! 🙂

Blessings!

Kelly

Come on…….Get dressed and fed…….in HIM!

/ Kelly Savage / Leave a comment

I was sitting and talking with Jesus yesterday and it hit me of how easily we get up each morning and get dressed, eat and then especially yesterday with sub zero temperatures put on our coats and gloves for protection and head out the door for the day.  We “prepare” for the day.  We do this each and everyday because that’s what we do.  We do it naturally and really without thinking because we have to “prepare” for our day” physically.  What about our spiritual needs?  Do we tend to them?  Are they not just as important?  I was talking to a friend who was asking me why they are not feeling full spiritually?  Why they are not hearing from God?  In fact, they didn’t feel protected?  That hit me big time with this particular conversation with God?  I ask them –  did they prepare?

God is our protector and by going to Him everyday, we go under his umbrella of protection….ahhhhhhhh, I feel it now.  The Bible and His ultimate, beautiful, wonderful, truth-giving Word is our food.  We get fed and then we can feel full spiritually each and every time we CHOOSE to be fed.  And His Word, in Ephesians 6, everyday, we can put on the full armor of God and we can take our sand against the strategies of the enemy!  Wow, who wouldn’t be ready for the day now!

So I ask you – Did you get dressed this morning?  Did you eat?

Be blessed!  And have a wonderful Day!!!!

Many beautiful ways to worship……..way past the instruments

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Worship is……….

putting other’s needs before our own selfish gains……..

listening for God’s voice and putting our own agenda aside…….

walking in forgiveness when other’s actions fall short of our expectations…..

going to work and giving God our best day and doing the work onto God……

not always music………

living in obedience to what the Holy Spirit is speaking……

living in the fruit of the spirit……gentleness, faithfulness, self control, meekness, peace, joy, love, kindness, patience, goodness, temperance and faith………

not always within 4 walls……….

acknowledging Him and His greatness in everything …….

maintaining a Godly attitude when we don’t want to…….

holding true to our convictions…..at all times

can be done everyday……at work, home, in the store, alone, with or without instruments and with or without a perfect voice…….

so much more I didn’t mention but can be found in the smallest of things we do everyday that is not in the norm of the instruments on stage or voice……that is only one beautiful part……there are also many beautiful parts out there as worship onto our beautiful amazing God………….

My desire………to continuously have the Lord check my heart, remove the impurities that are not of Him, take that as the first step of worship and then belt away to Him praises of just how good of a God He is even if I am off tune and I don’t have an instrument…….and I know He would be pleased and show up for me…….that IS just how much our God loves US!