I Have To Share My God!

I have to share about my God. He is loving, compassionate, and forgiving. He is My Precious Holy Spirit who guides me, My Abba Father, My Good Shepherd (Psalm 23:1) and My Healer. He knows everything about me, sees in my heart my pain, my joy, my struggles and my triumph. He loves me unconditionally and gives me His mercy and His grace.

To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness and His peace (Daniel 9:9). When I make mistakes and make a big mess out of things, I can come to him in repentance. He is quick to forgive me. He always loves me and He never reminds me of my past.

He gives me confidence. I can look forward to my future that is bright with Him and I can smile again.Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassion fails not.They are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23).

God is your refuge! The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. He gives me the desires of my Heart (Psalm 37:4)!  He is a keeper forever! He has removed the veils off my heart!!! His love never fails! Jonah 4:2 says, "For I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness, One who relents from doing harm."

We thank God he gave us another chance and all our sins are washed away by the blood -- the ultimate sacrifice. John 3-16 says: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

I Had to share about my God with you. Many think of God as a mad God who punishes us. God is a loving God who wants the best and is looking for you to give him time today and spend time in His presence.

I had a situation with one of my kids. He felt bad about doing a couple things that he knew I would not be very happy about it. My son released his heart, opened it and confessed what he been carrying. It been holding him back from experiencing and receiving all that God has for him. Our reaction as parents is to love them and embrace them with open arms. My son felt secure in my arms and in His Father's arms. That is how it is with God you can go to him and He embraces you with open arms.

Don't fall into deception that you are alone in this world. There is a God who wants to be everything to you, just like  he is to me. Don't give up! Keep moving forward! Be Blessed! Trust God! His Love Never Fails!

This is my God!!!❤

Be Encouraged,
Estela

Love you forever!

I am behind in writing my blog. I have been busy...

We moved into our new home. Praise God!

My son got married with-in a week of the move, so I moved into a new home, then packed up my bags and flew out to sunny Florida for my son’s wedding. It has been a busy month of transitions in my life.

I am thankful. I don’t lose my joy! I keep moving forward and trusting in God!

Let me share about my trip to Florida with ya! Grab a cup of tea…

I was flying out to Florida. It happened that this particular Thursday, there was a morning fog and really bad outside. You couldn’t see a thing. There was bumper to bumper traffic on the express-way. My husband rushed to get me to the airport and he did get me there 1/2 hour before the departure time. 

Thank God, the night before I had checked in and printed my boarding pass, which made my travel adventure easier. I arrived at the airport get thru security and, wow, I was amazed at all the security and x-rays we go thru to fly now. I am thankful for our Country and President who have raised the bar on security to keep us safe. Kudos for TSA! 

I got past the security and finally walked towards my waiting gate, and to my surprise, my plane has been delayed to depart in 3 hours. Okay, so I texted my husband to give him the update in my travel change.

I arrived in Florida and I loved it. I could really enjoy living in Florida. It was beautiful everywhere. I would look up and see beautiful palm trees. And the heat was 85 degrees – perfect weather and natural vitamin D.

I met the in-laws – a very nice Cuban family. I enjoyed the best Cuban food in Florida. The day of wedding arrived. “My son is getting married,” I said to myself. “I am not going to cry.”

I saw my son in his white Guevara shirt and Lisa in her beautiful wedding dress. She looked like a princess. The ceremony began and the kids exchanged their vows. We all headed to the banquet hall, and the orchestra band greeted us with a song welcoming us to come celebrate the marriage of Lisa and Jr.

Okay, so I was so happy the kids got married. They did a great job of planning the wedding. I saw all my son’s childhood friends that flew in or drove in to celebrate with Jr.& Lisa. It really touched my heart to see that. These were childhood friends who came from far away to be with my son in Florida.

My son Alex, who is my second son, got up and gave a speech dedicated to my son, Jr., and he couldn’t finish the speech because he was crying. He said, “Jr. and Lisa, you are my inspiration.”

 All right, I said I was not going to cry, but all of sudden, it hit me that I was crying – of happiness.

There are different seasons in life that I have been experiencing in regards to my motherhood. Seeing my oldest son get married to his best friend – this was a Beautiful Moment.

What I can say of my motherhood experience is that nothing is more precious than spending time and sharing the special moments in your kid’s lives. We sometimes don’t make the best decisions or best choices, but what I can testify is that love overcomes all.  As a mom of 5 boys, I can say just love them; keep teaching them to love God and have a relationship with God, and to respect their elders. Be your best at motherhood by loving your children and hugging them even if they get too old to sit on your lap anymore.

Love your kids thru all the stages of childhood, even at the times that they resist you and only think about themselves.  At times, the communication we have with them is only between you and God, with our knees bent for hours praying for these kids. God is faithful!

I love this book that I read to my boys! “I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I am living, my baby you'll be.”

  For my 5 boys – I love you forever!

Love you forever!

Stay Encouraged!

Estela

Make it a Hug a Kid Day!

I received an e-mail from my 3^rd grade son’s teacher: “We are having a fun day at school. Can you volunteer your time and read to the class room?” 

My thought: that sounds like fun!

I told my son, Nathan, “Mommy is going to go to school and read to your class-room.”

He said, chuckling, “Mommy, please make sure to wear make-up. The other mommy who read books did not wear her make-up.”

LOL, my son is hilarious!

I picked up a couple of the Dr. Suess books. I arrived at the class room and saw all these beautiful children sitting around me -- all eyes looking at me. I gave them the choice of which books they wanted me to read. I read them Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss and Corduroy by Don Freeman. The children loved the books.

As I watched these children, my heart opened up. It was so nice to read to these precious children. I looked at these children, and thought of each of them. Many of them may not have two parents to read to them.  I don’t know what their world is like after they go home. Do they even have a mom and dad to go to? 

I looked at them, our future of tomorrow. How precious they are! So quickly my heart just fell so in love with these 20 kids. They all had smiles and seemed free of any worries in the world.

Make time today to volunteer to your church or school and sow seeds into a child’s life. It can be as simple as reading them a book. Lets place our focus in our schools,churches and communities. Invest time in your child’s life. It’s about doing the simple things.

Spending quality time with your children is not about buying them the next I-pod, E-box game; it is about investing time reading to them. They grow up so fast! In a blink of an eye, we parents will be sending them away to college. 

This reminds me of when Jesus said in Matthew 19-14, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

“Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.”
-- Charles R. Swindoll

Be Encouraged!

Make it “hug a kid day”!

Blessings,

Estela

THE GIFT OF FORGIVENESS

Many of us have lost our fathers. They have gone to be with the Lord, as my father did. I want to share that I did not come from a perfect family. My family would be considered in today society dysfunctional. I am the third child out of a family of 4 and was raised by my grandma, a woman of God. I am now a grown woman with kids and have made my own mistakes in my life journey. Thank God, for His Salvation, His Love, Mercy, and Grace.

The other day I was thinking of my dad and missing him. My dad passed away years ago, so I asked myself why I am missing my dad. I got this feeling; if my dad was still alive I could just hug him again and say I love him. The thought of his loss is in my heart.

My father was not a perfect man. I have a few memories of him. I was raised by my grandma because my parents were divorcing when I was a baby. My father was an alcoholic. Although he had this problem he would always visit me on week-ends - at times being very drunk. I was so happy to see my Daddy, it didn’t matter that he was drunk. This was the pattern for years as I grew up. My dad was absent from my childhood life due to his life style of drinking.

I remember writing him letters asking him to stop drinking. As years went by I grew up and my father got older. I got married had kids. My father would come out and stay with me on week-ends. He still continued to drink ­ - not as much - but he would still drink his six packs.  I was happy that in the last months of my dad’s life my husband and I asked him if he would like to receive Jesus in His heart. He said yes and accepted Jesus. Praise God.

One night, I got a call from the hospital. My father was in the hospital. He had slipped on ice and was in the hospital dying from erupted liver.  My heart dropped and realized that my dad would be gone forever. For many years I felt robbed of a father due to his addiction to alcohol. Now he was on his death bed fighting for his life. In the last hours of His life, my mom and dad forgave each other.  After a few short hours later, he passed away.

I was meditating on God and asking God to examine my heart. I kept asking the Lord to show me what is deep in my heart and to what have I thrown away the key.

The Lord said to me, “Estela, you have to forgive your dad.”

And I said, “But God, I forgave him already for drinking and not being  with me when I needed him.”

And the Holy Spirit nudged me again and said to my heart, “You have forgiven him with your mouth with words, but you have not truly forgiven him with your heart.”

I started to cry, and asked God to forgive me.  I repented and felt a huge burden removed from my heart.

Because my father was absent from my life since I was a little girl, I have had to depend on God to be my father. My grandmother was a woman of prayer. She taught me to pray and look for God in prayer. Since the time I was a young girl, I have always called upon God. I would always imagine God in the sky, high up in the sky and watching over me. He hears my prayers and will take care of me. I thank God for His love and protection throughout my life. Who would I have been if he had not saved me and restored me? Praise God, Praise God! I am His daughter.

If you allow God to come into your heart and place the healing balm over it, He will mend the wounds and heal your heart. Make a choice today to walk and show forgiveness to others. Don’t hold prisoners in your life by only forgiving with words, God wants everything removed from our hearts; so we need to forgive with our heart. Keep a pure heart for God.

We have our Heavenly Father who knows everything about us from the moment we are conceived in our mother’s womb. Reach out to Daddy’s arm and let him embrace you with His Love, seek a love encounter. Go to God and let go of everything in your heart let Him show you His love. Allow him to give you kisses of love surround your life with His favor and grace. Remember you are loved a daughter or son of the Most High who is sitting in His Throne.

We have this promise as children of God.

 Ephesians 1-5

His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.

God Bless you!

Be Encouraged!

Estela

An Encounter With Jesus

As a mom with all boys, I can get pretty busy. I thank God for the multi-tasking abilities that he has given us to handle several things at a time. Thank you Jesus!

Weekly seeing tons of laundry piling up, I often ask, “who is wearing all these clothes?” My list of challenges continues: keeping my home clean and organized, working from home, staying fit, and cooking healthy meals for my hungry little men.

When my 12 year old son arrives at home from school, I say, “Hello son, how was school today?” His response is “What's for dinner?” My little 2 year old rubs his tummy and says, “Eat, soup, please.” A few hours later my third son walks in the door. “Hi, mom. Can you serve me my food? I am starving.” Then the phone rings and my husband is checking in. “What's for dinner today, Honey? I can't wait to come home and eat dinner.”

This is probably every mom’s daily routine of cooking and running a household. However, I learned a little secret that I am going to share. I started cooking lots of food and freezing some left overs for other meals. Now I don’t have to cook every day. Great advice passed on to me by another mom.

I can get very busy with my everyday responsibilities as a mom and with my everyday job responsibilities. I stop and ask myself, “Am I a Martha today? Am I getting too busy with my homemaking responsibilities? And I am reminded of the story of Jesus entering a certain village and Martha welcomed Him into her house. She was cooking up a great meal for him. (Read Luke 11:38-42 for details of the story.)

I remind myself daily that I choose to be a Mary who sits at the feet of Jesus and hears His Word. When I quickly look at the list of things I must get done before the day is over, the spirit of God presses on my heart again. “Stop, Estela. You need to spend time with me.”

God prompts me to take time throughout the day to feed my spirit through reading his word, prayer and worship. I try to look for the best times – early in the morning or during the day – when I can sit at the feet of Jesus and receive what he has for me. I have learned that when I speak in the heavenly language throughout the day while I do my chores and work, I receive more clarity, which helps me throughout the day. I play worship music – my best worship songs.

If you are a finding yourself real busy throughout the day, set a time when you can get away and spend time with God. Get a small rock and use it as a reminder. Place it in a special place where it will remind you about your time to spend with God. 1 Samuel 2:2 “There is no one Holy like the LORD; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.”

If you are a working mom who works out of the home, place your small rock on your desk as a reminder to stop and take a break. Write “I need to take my break and spend time with God today” on a yellow sticky note and stick it on the rock. On your lunch break or coffee break find a quiet place where you can meditate on God. Spend some time with him throughout the day.

The beautiful part of spending time with the Lord is that He washes us through His word, he renews our mind, every time you open the Bible. He is ready to speak to you a word of encouragement, and He always has an answer for your problem and a solution. He renews our strength. And we can rely on His Strength and His Spirit to help us accomplish the everyday demands on us as moms and wives.

Choose today to be Mary who sits at the feet of Jesus. Look for times throughout the day to pray. Have faith in God and talk to him. He is waiting for us to talk to him – not to just to ask Him for what we need. He is asking for us to worship him, to love Him and to tell Him we adore him.

Provoke an encounter throughout the day. Approach God everyday!
Jesus is with us all day and night, just waiting for us to reach out. Embrace His love. He brings us peace, healing, security, love, wisdom. Do not allow business to steal your time from sitting at the feet of Jesus!

Make it a priority to set a time to sit at the feet of Jesus! When you find yourself too busy, ask yourself “Am I a Martha or a Mary, today?” Choose to have a heart of Mary in this busyness of Life.

Stay Encouraged!

Read this promise:
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”
Revelations 3:20

Love Ya!

Estela