Uncategorized

Challenge Anyone?

/ Kelly Savage / Leave a comment

Some people love to have a physical challenge to know they have conquered that goal.  Some love a mental challenge like spelling bees to feel the thrill of conquests.  I don’t know about you – but I really do like to challenge myself  personally to live each day as a better version of myself than the day before.  I like when I can lay my head down at night and know that I have done the best I could with what I was handed in this world called life.  Easy?  hmmmmm….NO!  Some days I want to bury my head in a pillow and either scream or cry……….the better question would be…….Challenging?  and the answer would be a resounding YES!!!!….but I like to be challenged in the emotional sense as well as physically and mentally.  I like to learn, grow, be stretched as a human and know that I am evolving into a better me. Not a better someone else but a better ME 🙂  –  You see, if we stop growing emotionally, we stop.  Game over.  Stagnant water.  Complacency.  Motionless.  Personally and emotionally we can become all of those things and our mind can just become dormant.  That’s personally how we become single minded or close minded.  I pray that I always have the heart to be challenged – to always have the hope in a world that doesn’t look hopeful at times, to keep the faith when things seem like they are falling apart and to spread love when I might be the only one spreading love at that moment.  Even more so, to show love in a hateful world.  Ouch.  Now that’s challenging.  And there are times I fail at that. Then I pick myself up – knowing I too, need help in that area and need to grow.  But I am willing to take the challenge and grow my personal and emotional muscles.  Are you with me?  Let’s spread kindness to people who might not be kind.  Let’s smile and make a difference.  Let’s do it randomly even when others are not.

 

Let’s enjoy life – Have hope – Keep Faith – Spread Love

Have a wonderful Friday!

 

Kelly

 

Yes – There is a Plan

/ Kelly Savage / Leave a comment

img_9286

This was a Facebook post that I liked recently – why?  Because I agree with it 100% 🙂  — Believe me, there have been PLENTY of times I felt lost, alone and let me add – frustrated, confused and lots of other emotions as well wondering if God even knows what I am going through – kind of questioning- is He looking?  Does He know?  If we are going to be honest and straight forward – I believe everyone has felt that way one time in their life or another – and possibly more than once 🙂  —

I don’t push religion – what I will speak on is God and a personal relationship with Him.  I am not even attending the 4 walls of a church right at the moment but not knocking those who do.  I will step in at anytime and be just as comfortable as outside.  I believe we are the church.  Or should be.  Our actions – should show love and non judgment  and truth, if need to be spoken – be in love and non-judgment – as we work at this journey we are on called life. There is not anyone that is perfect.  I just try to get through the day being a better version than the day before and trying to spread the love I do receive from God who does love all.

The truth that hit me about this post was that He does know exactly where we are – what we are doing – how we are feeling – and He has a plan for us – a good plan – and He WANTS good things for us – for everyone.  Boy there is some Bible scriptures in just those statements and I will reference them at the end for you to look up if you want.  But in the end, it does hold true.

Sometimes we go off the beaten path because of what we think we want or what we think we know.  (I know I did 🙂  )  BUT He even gets you back on track if you want and He has done that for me too.

The Best News?  Even when I felt like Charlie Brown – and if you ever do too – God knows exactly where you are – and He does have a good plan for your life.  Keep praying and do not stop.  God meets you wherever you are 🙂

I hope you enjoy your day!

Have Hope/Keep Faith/Spread Love

Kelly

 

References: Jeremiah 29:11, Hebrews 4:15, Psalms 5:22, Psalms 9:9, Psalms 46:1, Nahum 1:7 and Romans 2:11

Wait? Are you worthy?

/ Kelly Savage / Leave a comment

 

img_9244

I know we do not go up to people we know or don’t know and ask the question……”are you worthy of my presence”, or me talking to you or my time, attention, etc?  But do we give off that attitude?  Ever?  Listen, I believe the key to self growth is evaluation of ourselves – the old looking in the mirror and that – my friend – is not always the easiest, fun or top priority on our list.  But, do we want to be approachable ?  Loving?  Kind?  A person that is thought of that has love, patience, and acceptance?  Or  a heart that has hate, judgment, an unforgiving heart or just a know it all attitude.  Our job really is just to love.  We truly do not know what other people are going through in their life, at the moment we meet them – even if we know them – what they are going through if they are keeping it inside.  True love breaks down barriers and lets healing begin.  It covers, protects and makes people feel safe and worthy.  And we all know those are wonderful feelings.  We have the power to make that happen for others – and yes, the real power is when they don’t really deserve because they are going through something and are acting out and our tenderness speaks to them.  Think about it.  Hope you are having a wonderful Monday!

Until next time – remember – Enjoy Life — Have Hope/Keep Faith/Spread Love

Kelly

 

Nature Pics – First Gallery Released

/ Kelly Savage / 2 Comments

Hi All!  I am excited to announce the release of my first gallery of pictures.  They concentrate on nature pics.  I have always loved nature and being in the midst of nature, whether the woods, near water or taking a hike.  It is something that calms our soul.  They are from different areas and it has been something I have been wanting to do for years.  My wonderful boyfriend, Steve, has encouraged me to go for it 🙂 – to share some pics and have people see what I see – I hope you all enjoy.  Hope it reminds you to stop and enjoy life – you know – smell the roses.  It is so easy to get caught up in things and certainly this thing called “life”.  Steve and I took a long weekend trip up to Connecticut a few months ago and we just enjoyed life, each other and moments like I tried to capture.  The beautiful world we live in – I know we can look at it another way for our world is full of sad things as well but – I guess it’s that never ending battle of half full/half empty – so I will continue to keep looking at the things I do have –

Check it out http://www.pictorem.com/profile/Kelly.Reinheimer

Love to all – smile – it really is contagious 🙂

Enjoy Life— Have Hope, Keep Faith, Spread Love

Kelly

 

It Starts In the Heart…….

/ Kelly Savage / Leave a comment

I love the saying that just because you sit in a garage, that doesn’t make you a car……..so sitting in a church…doesn’t make you a Christian. That saying also made me chuckle….however, it is the truth.

I have been going to church again. I wasn’t going for quite a long time. What? I haven’t been going? I know. There are some that would gasp at that and might even judge. I had my reasons. Yet, all along, I knew I was still loving the Lord and my relationship was still intact. At times, I was barely hanging on to tell the truth and I was spiritually treading water at times too. Ever been there in your walk with the Lord? However, deep down, I knew He was still loving me. And as the Bible states, He is the same yesterday, today and forever……never changing. That IS the great thing about Him and one of the things I love the most because HIS love is secure…..that you can count on…….you can count on HIM……..HE is your security and His never changing ways and love.

I was asked yesterday about this blog and why I am not writing because they miss it. I didn’t know, honestly if people enjoyed it or not, however, I got a reminder yesterday and then I stayed home today because the other reminder I got was going to church doesn’t make you a Christian. The same person who asked me about the blog reminded me that she is mostly homebound and most times, for her, this is the only “Jesus” she sees and is refreshed and loves the honesty and transparency she gets from me. I want to be transparent. I have been in a desert with the Lord for awhile now. And I believe we all go through those times with our walk with the Lord. And they are not fun. We have our mountaintops, valleys, deserts, etc. and boy do we have some questions at times. Sometimes we don’t even know how to ask our questions because we are dumbfounded…..and all we can do is say, really God? But, what I have been reminded of is that HE is the one that can handle all the questions and He already knows what is on our mind and in our heart so we might as well get it off our chest 🙂 and give it to Him because He is the one who can help.

The key is this…..we can go to church all we want….. but if our hearts aren’t changed or renewed or touched or whatever word you want to put in their, it becomes religion. And religion will eventually leave us spiritually dead. God has allot to say about hearts. HIS WORD has allot to say. It begins with our hearts……..every morning, I try to remember to give him my heart in prayer and ask Him to change my heart first to be more like His so that it can affect others throughout the day. If we have His heart more, how would our world be different…….or our relationships? Hate would disappear…..unforgiveness would cease……grace would cover…..mercy would rule……patience would be greater…because His love would be ruler of our hearts…we would see people as He sees people….and we would hate sin and love righteousness more and more…….. And we can pray for that 7 days a week and not just on Sunday…..yes, it is transformation and boy, am I am work in progress and I am SO thankful for His grace, mercy and patience on me.

Will  I continue to go to church?  Sure!  That is where His people gather to worship His name in Praise!!!  and Hear  and be transformed by His Word and to help with our transformation!  But we continue our relationship with Him from the depth of our heart the other 6 days of the week!!!

Matt 6:21, Psalm 51:10, Proverbs 4:23, Jer 17:9, Matt 23:27, Matt 15:19, Rom 10:9, Psalm 24:4

“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