Triumphant Victorious Reminders

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell  "Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have.  For God has said, "I will never leave you.  I will never forsake you."  That is why we can say with confidence, The Lord is my helper, so I will not be afraid.  What can mere mortals do to me?"  ~ Hebrews 13:5-6 ~ Whether your day started out good or bad; or you are having a day filled with unanswered questions, rest assured that Almighty God, the One Who created the morning is with you.  Let us intentionally make ourselves aware to His presence that is already with us by triumphantly and victoriously reminding ourselves of Who He is and what He has promised. Remember, although we may leave others, and others may leave us; whether it be due to severed relationships, relocation or even death; we can know beyond every knowing that HE promised HE would never leave us or forsake us...HI

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell Merry Christmas! As you read this poem I wrote this evening, it is from the likely perspective of our 12 year old daughter.  She is excited to awake in the morning as it will be our 6th year of doing a scavenger hunt with her gifts.   ‘ Twas The Morning of Christmas By: Teresa Criswell ‘Twas the morning of Christmas When all through the house The dishwasher was running And the laundry spun about. The hunt was being planned As the scavenger was me; The clues were being written So they could be placed so carefully. Mom turned on the coffee As daddy awoke To the aroma of French vanilla As I heard the spoon clang about. Daddy sipped on his coffee As mom cheerfully said, “Tristin it’s time to go gift hunting” And I shot out of bed. I can’t believe it is Christmas As I waited so long But now that it’s here I don’t want this day to be gon

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me." ~ Psalm 51:10 ~ I love the GROWING opportunities that life throws our way. You know...those moments when people are influenced to think they can pull one over on you; or perhaps those who are talking badly about you behind your back; maybe there are those who are even trying to convince you that things are happening when they're not; even those who complain about how they would do things differently or 'better'; O how the list goes on. Unfortunately I have done everyone of those things as well.  After I have been convicted, God's loving mercy leads me to repentance.  Not just 'saying' I'm sorry...but truly repenting...that action of turning toward God and turning away from the old.  Today, I am truly grateful for His merciful love by His Holy Spirit that must constantly f

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell Today I must share a post written from my beautiful sister which can be found on her blog ...You may need a tissue or two, but just remember how incredibly loving our Awesome God is as He reveals His abundant grace. The following was written by: Joanna Stevens Gaines It was pouring down rain and cold this morning as I was on my way to drop the kids off at school. I am sure we are the family known for always being late, because we are always late. But not today, for some miraculous reason, everyone was dressed and emotionally ready to walk out the door at 7:45. On the way there, I passed by a kid who was standing in the pouring rain at the city bus stop. Not realizing my kids were listening, I said quietly, "Oh, that poor boy is waiting for the bus and he is soaking wet." Their ears perked up and they said "Why are you sad mom?" I knew if I told them they woul

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell Ephesians 6:10-18 & Philippians 4:13 Are the failures, disappointments, discouragements and seemingly continual rejections about to get you to bend and call it quits? Take a look at this and get inspired by this 'triumphant victorious reminder' of what we are able to do when we focus on The Prize and not the fall...  http://www.godvine.com/Christian-Athlete-Takes-a-Fall-But-Still-Wins-the-Race-378.html

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary." ~ Galatians 6:9 ~ I sit here at my desk wondering, pondering and squinting my eyes to see the letters form into words that seem to be swirling violently in my head. What shall I write? In this very moment as my fingers dance upon the keyboard, it is as if I can see both literally and figuratively a person throwing in the towel and giving up. Another one I can see has a countenance of frustration, throwing their arms up in protest as they shout, "I give UP!" Are you about there? Are you fed up with someone or something? Okay...hold on. Do NOT fear. In this very moment make yourself aware to God's presence revealed by Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Stop what you are doing. Cease what you are thinking.  Put a halt to what you are planning of how you ar

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell Courtesy of Google Images  Please click here as I take you over to my blog post from God Is Enthralled By Your Beauty

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell "And no doubt you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power.  Then Jesus went around doing good and  healing all who were oppressed by the Devil, for God was with Him." ~ Luke as recorded in Acts 10:38 ~ "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.  Pray for the happiness of those who curse you.  Pray for those who hurt you..." ~ Jesus as recorded in Luke 6:27-28 ~ Mother Teresa.  A woman truly after the heart of God.  There is no doubt from her life that she craved God's heart and wanted  to 'dance' to His heartbeat as she revealed Him moment by moment. Here's a beautiful reminder of one of my favorite quotes...our pastor read it at the end of the 'Forgiveness' series which sums up the ministry of Jesus and what each of us can reveal throughout our life moment by moment... " I f you are kind,

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell "This is a true saying: If we die with Him, we will also live with Him.  If we endure hardship, we will reign with Him.  If we deny Him, He will deny us.  If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself." ~ 2 Timothy 2:11-13 ~ It's a cold, damp, dark place. Tiny particles of light hardly pierce through the seemingly rotting material. There is a sense that the structure is fragile, barely being held together as fear overwhelms the atmosphere of this place.  The creaking sounds seem to be in 'surround sound' as I slowly look around shaking as my arms are crossed over one another. My back slightly hunched over as my teeth chatter at rapid speeds because of this lonely, scary dark place.  I become overwhelmed as every sound seems to move and shove me until finally I find myself in the corner not knowing which way to go.  As my eyes begin to adjust to th

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell "And this is what the Lord requires: to do what is right, to love mercy and to walk humbly before your God." ~ Micah 6:8 ~ "But you don't understand, they really ticked me off." "How dare they!*&@#" "That hurt my feelings!" "They didn't notice me!" "They didn't choose my child." "Why wasn't I recognized?" "I did more than they did yet I never or seldom am noticed." The 'triumphant victorious reminder' today is to remember what the Lord requires of each of us.. .to do what is right, to love mercy and to walk humbly before our God . When we do this we will begin to pursue the heart of God versus pursuing our desires of accolades.  Incredibly as we honor and esteem others greater than ourselves looking to Jesus as the greatest example of this, we can know that God will for sure

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Written By: Teresa Criswell Inspired by the Holy Spirit "One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so He could touch them and bless them, but the disciples told them not to bother Him.  But when Jesus saw what was happening, He was very displeased with His disciples.  He said to them, "Let the children come to Me.  Don't stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I assure you, anyone who doesn't have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God. Then He took the children into His arms and placed His hands on their heads and blessed them." ~ Mark 10:13-16 Laughter and squeals of children filled the atmosphere.  The merry commotion caused curiosity to lead me into the living room when to my surprise I saw the adorable, adventurous children attempting to 'ride' on my wooden decor elephant.  The little boy in his gentleman-like ways did his best to help his lady friend climb a

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written By: Teresa Criswell "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." ~ Psalm 103:12 NKJV ~ For many who know me, please pray before reading this. I pray that you will not look at me differently, but see the transforming power of Almighty God over a woman's life who went against everything she knew and had been taught. The life I had lived was of great selfishness and vanity, a life with great void, not choosing to walk with God. "I woke up late. I had RSVP'ed for the event that I was suppose to be attending at 10 am. It was now 9:45 am and I wasn't even close to ready. The anxious thoughts of, "How are you going to get there without being beyond late?" "The drive alone is 15 minutes." I thought,"Well, I'm not going then, I can't show up late." Yet, the pull on my heart to go was stronger th

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell "Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  Love does not demand its own way." ~ I Corinthians 13:4-5a ~ She yelled, "You just don't understand how I feel!"  "What about me?  Our kids?!" The tiring schedule of his job, traveling more often than he was home seemed to violently suck every ounce of life as his countenance dropped by her one sided accusations.  He stared at her for a moment with his piercing brown eyes and slowly walked away. Through angered remorse she observed him walk into the closet.  Normally he never walked away from a dispute...but this time was different.  Soon after she saw him enter the closet, he came back out with a pair of his often worn boots in his hands  He slowly walked toward her, knelt down before her as he simultaneously placed the boots at her feet.  He slowly got back up, backed away and looked at her in the

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written By: Teresa Criswell  "You must love the Lord Your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: 'Love your  neighbor as yourself.' All the other commandments and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments." ~ Matthew 22:37-40 ~ Have you ever received a 'word' that was beyond your own comprehension?  You know, one of those words that penetrate your heart?  You might liken it to a 'whisper' in your heart confirmed by God's Word through His Holy Spirit, His Holy Wind, His Holy Breath. I was going through some writings I jotted down over a year ago and I came across this one...I pray that every eye that reads this will be able to catch a glimpse of God's glorious, incredible, indescribably amazing Love... "Do not confuse My jealousy for being an immature bul

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell Colossians 3:16-17 A letter to a great man. This man is truly one who has taught me what Colossians 3:16 & 17 looks like in action! Hi Dad, Just thinking of you...yeah, I know it's late...I just finished working out, cleaning, made Tristin's lunch for tomorrow and have the coffee ready for the morning...the days are slippin' as Tim's been home for 2 days and doesn't have to leave until September 6th...we are very happy for that! Anyways, I wanted to let you know how blessed I am to call you, "Dad"!  It is amazing how in spite of me and my challenges, you always believed in me...even in the midst of my lies...hmmmmm...no wonder I'm a great storyteller...I had a craft to tell stories, but I didn't hone it in correctly until much later in life.  I thank God for His mercy and forgiveness and for Him giving you and mom the grace to love me thro

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell  "And the King will say to them, "I assure you, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!" ~ Jesus ~  As recorded in Matthew 25:40 Do you have that "blah" feeling at times?  You know those moments where you see things in a dingy, gray tone?  Those days of 'slump & slug'.  A dear friend of mine and I were sharing with we felt in the midst of those times.  We were also reminding one another of that mighty weapon from the Lord to praise Him through the 'blah' season.  Even in the 'blah' the Lord is showing us how to 'applaud' Him.  From 'blah' to 'applaud'...now that's some warfare over the mind that allows us to remind ourselves of that peace and Shalom that is already within us.  That supernatural, beyond our understanding to comprehend peac

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell I Thessalonians 5:16-20 What is it that you delight in? What is it that you don't delight in? Who do you love to be around when you're happy? Who don't you like to be around when you're happy? How often do you choose to look around and see all the things that you do have? How often do you look around and see the things that you don't have? Notice the questions...but really take notice of your answers. Wow!  I sure could go on and on with what I don't want or don't have more so than what I do want and do have.   I am reminded of the people of Thessalonica as referenced in I Thessalonians who were told by Paul to, "Always be joyful.  Keep on praying.  No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." So the real question is, "Do I want to be in God's will?"  I'm sur

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell Ephesians 5:1-2, 15-33; I Peter 5:7 Oppression attempts to hold me down, the darkness permeating seemingly every part of my soul.  Yet I awake another day.  There is a longing in my heart, yet an unspoken fear seems to torture me.  Although it may seem insignificant and elementary, it is still a fear that has attempted to overwhelm my soul. So the bantering questions in my mind have been, "What if they think I don't want to see them?"  "What if they assume I don't want to help?"  "What if they believe that I am a bad wife, mom, daughter, sister or friend?" After reading Ephesians 5 this morning, the Lord has awakened me from this feeling of indescribable oppression and this false sense of 'over' responsibility.  Today I finally chose to cast, fling and throw that fear at His feet for  God knows my every heart's desire and in that understan

Triumphant Victorious Reminders                                                                                                   Inspired by the Holy Spirit                                                                                                                 Written by: Teresa Criswell  "Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world." ~ I John 4:4 ~                                                                                                               There are so many people who truly desire to enjoy their life.  With that said, I believe I saw more people enjoying life this week than ever before.   This past week I had the honor of meeting this amazing couple who are incredible celebrators of life within people that they not only appreciate from afar, they also desire to nurture, support, surround and be surrounded by such.  They have this beautiful ability to see the potential of excellence within those they nurture and have this thri

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell Photograph from 'Google Images' Tragedy, deaths, suicide, torture, torment, abandonment, gossip, rumors, lies, adultery, abortion, robbery, abuse, rejection, rape, molestation, kidnappings, human trafficking, drugs, immorality, every man for himself mentality.  We live in a world filled with chaos and instability. We see the cause and effect of human reactors.  Most of us in some way have either been partakers of inflicting pain on others, and/or have been directly or indirectly effected by the horrific pain of the innumerable effects of this fallen world.  In a world filled with the evidence of the one who reeks havoc in our world as he seeks out those he can kill, steal from and destroy, how do we remain stable in and through those innumerable circumstances of life?  How do we get to a place of believing, knowing, seeing and experiencing the ONE who has come to give us life and

Triumphant Victorious Reminders Inspired by the Holy Spirit Written by: Teresa Criswell  "This is the day the Lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it." ~ Psalm 118:24 ~ Another day. The same routine. O so mechanical. Does it seem our life choices are attempting to transform us into treadmills of the mundane; the 'same-o, same-o'? For some, the mundane can be the gloominess of life. Perhaps and surprisingly for others, the mundane may be the beauty surrounding you and now you don't even notice it anymore. How do we violently explode out of the mechanical, mundane way of life? How do we begin to live with adventure and appreciation? You know that appreciation as though it was the first time we saw our children's faces. Or perhaps that first moment you met your spouse. How about the refreshing moment you made yourself aware to this Amazing God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit? Are you ready for the prescription?