The Abundant Life Center

by Dona Hake

Now that winter has finally arrived we no longer have to concern ourselves with weeds interfering with our pursuit of a beautiful, thriving flower garden. It always amazes me how weeds just grow. They need no help at all. They will thrive, take over and eventually choke the life out of your beautiful flowers. It is interesting how some things just grow all by themselves. I have to laugh when I here someone say to a child, “You are growing like a weed!!!!” Funny expression, yet true. A child growing up is a good and positive thing yet there are certain things that grow with no help that can be destructive to our soul.

The truth of the matter is that there are many negative things in life if left to themselves that will grow and thrive without any help at all. Think about the sin of bitterness and hate and how it can grow and take root and ultimately destroy one’s soul.

2 Peter 3:18

“Be careful that you do not fall from your strong faith. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Glory be to him, now and forever! Amen.”

We must purpose to feed on His Word that we remain strong. How silly it would be if we ate a good dinner this evening and think we could survive off of that meal for the rest of the year. No, we would become weak. Our body would become depleted in it’s much needed nutrition that we need for strength to live. As we ponder that thought let us also grow in grace and in the knowledge of God’s Word that our soul may be nourished and we remain strong. An individual remains strong in their faith because they purpose to stay strong. Let us purpose to stay strong and grow in His grace.God bless you!

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by Dona Hake

Psalm 16:8     (KJV)

“I have set the Lord always before me:

because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.”

I can remember photographing a few weddings and their location was an area that I never traveled before.  I was always ever so thankful for my GPS because as long as I stayed on it’s path I eventually got there.    I have to say that my GPS never let me down.  There were times it seemed to direct me in a round about way  but I had no choice but to follow it.

Many times in life you may need direction.   As we keep the Lord before us He has promised to get us there safely.  He promises to show us His wisdom.  That direction  may come from His Word or a wise person He has placed in your life.     There are so many ways He comes along side of us when we do not know how to get where we need to be.  As we stay aware of His presence in the journey we can trust Him,  He is well able to get us there safely.  Trusting Him in the journey is so vitally important because He may just take you a different direction than what you expected.  I believe those are the times that we get an even greater revelation of “all things work together for the good to Him that loves God.”

I can remember leaving a wedding one cold, rainy and very foggy night.  I was so glad that I had the GPS to get me home.  I have to tell you though that I was tempted to be shaken many times as I heeded to how it was telling me to get home.  You see, it was taking me home a totally different way than I came.  It made no sense and there were some frightening moments for me being alone on roads I never traveled.  Eventually I came to a place where I could leave out a sigh of relief that I knew where I was.  Many times our spiritual journeys can be like this as well.  Jesus will never fail us…He promised that.  Know that He will always get us to our destination in His time by His direction.   God bless you.

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by Dona Hake

Have you ever been forgotten?  Maybe there has been a time that you are walking through some rough circumstances and you just wished someone would inquire how you are doing.  I think we can all honestly say that we have walked through such times.  I have heard people speak at times when they are going through a very rough time and their words are revealing that they even wonder if God sees what they are walking through.

I think it would be wise for us to remind ourselves ALL the time how much God loves us and He is concerned about the smallest of details in our lives.  As we keep this fresh in our minds we will be strong in this truth as we walk through difficult times.

Luke 12:6-8  (NLT)

“What is the price of five sparrows—two copper coins?

Yet God does not forget a single one of them.

And the very hairs on your head are all numbered.

So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.”

I watch sparrows from my window everyday and to be quite honest they can be aggressive little things.  They are pushy with the other birds and they seem to want to take it all.  They almost seem to be perfect little analogies that just maybe they are afraid of where their next meal is coming from. When we get into fear of our future or we feel we are facing things alone, we too can act irrationally, pushy and try to work through things in our own ability.  God has His eye on the sparrow and He does not forget one of them.  Out of all the parts of our body the writer speaks of the hairs on our head.  When is the last time you tried to count the hairs on your head?  I would say that God is really keeping track of me if He has my hairs counted!

Let us be reminded that God knows and sees every detail of our life.  He sees your concerns and worries and as you look to Him, He will take care of you.  I just want you to remember that many times our prayers are answered differently than what we expected.  All is good in the hands of God!

Psalm 138:8 (KJV)

“The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy,

O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.”

by Dona Hake

Once again I am thinking about the hustle and bustle of another holiday approaching us.   I recently heard on the news someone quote a person saying “Just knowing I am going to be with my family over the holidays makes me feel like I am gonna have an anxiety attack.”  Sad isn’t it?  Yet, there are alot of people that feel this way especially over the holidays.  Then there are those that wish they could sit with their loved ones during the holidays but they are no longer here.  Any holiday can really bring pressures and anxiety IF and that is in all caps because it is IF we permit it to!

Recently I was driving down the road and on my radio was playing “♪♫ It’s beginning to look alot like Christmas…♪ ♫ ♪”   People were speeding down the road, honking their horns in impatience.  There was so much rush, rush, rush, and  I thought to myself,  yes it is beginning to look alot like Christmas.   The anxiety and madness is in the air and people allow the true meaning of it all to slip from their minds in the midst of it all.  It saddens me that people are in such a hurry and they are trying to squeeze in one too many things and that  they are driven to  anxiety during this blessed season.  I am probably correct in saying that many times we create our own anxieties simply because we are not purposing to keep our hearts quiet  in the midst of any demand.

I am bound and determined to live one moment at time especially in this holiday season.  I want to embrace peace in my heart and allow nothing or no one to snatch it away from me.

Proverbs 14:30   Amplified Bible

“A calm and undisturbed mind and heart are the life

and health of the body…”

I pray that you too will think about pursuing living one moment at a time and enjoy the stillness of His perfect peace each and every day.

by Dona Hake

Loyalty is characterized by faithfulness to commitments and obligations.  God has promised to be loyal to us with His love, forgiveness, help, …oh my!…there are so many things that He promises to be to us.  Jesus said in His Word that He would NEVER leave us or forsake us.

At the end of many days I may look back on my day and wished that I would have said or done things differently but praise God  He faithfully forgives  and He promises to help me do better as I lean upon Him for all wisdom and strength.  One of the first things I try to do each morning as I greet Him is remind myself and thank Him that His mercies are new every morning.  My day is a fresh canvas and I am hoping I will do His will with His help.

I have a decorative slate in my kitchen.  Every so often I will write a thought or scripture on it and it reminds me of something I am meditating on.  The other evening I was trying to do some different cursive handwriting with the chalk and I kept messing up.  I was glad I could just erase it and start over and work at it till I had it exactly the way I wanted it.  So it is with the Lord’s mercies, they are new and fresh each morning.  Thank God we have fresh starts each day and we can learn from our yesterdays.  He is there to help us to keep working out those things that we are trying to get right in our lives.  Thank God that our mess ups are forgiven and wiped away with the blood of Jesus!

Lamentations 3:22-23 “How enduring is God’s loyal love; the Eternal has inexhaustible compassion.

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by Dona Hake

So much has changed in the world of photography, and it continues to develop and improve in the world of digital shooting.    I can remember being adamant in not wanting anything to do with a digital camera.  I knew nothing but film and working in a film lab for almost ten years made it even harder for me to switch.  The more I saw the beauty of digital, I wonder now how I survived without my DSLR camera!

I think my favorite job that I had in the film lab was printing black and white.  Each negative had to be carefully read.  Light, dark, whites, grays, blacks…it all had to be perfect to create the perfect black and white image.   In the darkroom where your prints were processed you could stand and watch the images you printed.  After printing I would take my huge roll of paper to the darkroom for processing.  The paper passed from one chemical to the next and was being transformed as it reached its destination of completion.  I would stand there anticipating if I made proper judgements or not.  Honestly, I am glad I had that experience because it has benefited me even in the use of digital and making judgements while shooting manually.

You have to know what you want before you take your image.  The blessing of digital though is that you know immediately if all your settings were perfect.  If you are not pleased…instantly you can hit delete and start over.  You did not waste any film…you just start over.

I embrace the opinion that photography is all about understanding light.  How much or how little you need.  It has to be perfect.  So it is when we encounter situations in this life.  First you need to know what kind of outcome you desire and you need to know what to do to make it happen.  Along with our desires we need to desire to understand how to get to where we are going.  God knows what we need.  He knows the light we need to bring us the proper understanding in a situation.  Thank God if we mess up, we can start over with His help and reach for His light.  God is the God of ultimate light that can illuminate anything we need in our world.

Psalm 18:28

“For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.”

I am ever so thankful that God is a God of all light.  There is nothing I face that He cannot go before  me and show me the way and instruct me how to get there safely.  Today I praise Him for being a God of perfect light!

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by Dona Hake

Many times our lives get so jammed packed with things to do, places to go, and “to do” lists a mile long.  The other day I woke up feeling extremely overwhelmed with much to do.  There were things that needed accomplished that I felt were no way possible within my means of time and ability.  I stood in the front yard with my dog and looked up and was praying about my day.  I felt a “whisper” from within that seemed to quiet me and bring fresh perspective to my day.  ”Sometimes it’s not as big as it looks.”

Plain and simple the Lord was bringing new perspective to face all that had to be done.  I held fast to that and honestly I was able to  accomplish more than expected  because I choose a new “dwelling place” for my thoughts and my soul rested there.  Sometimes we just need to be quiet and not allow the noise that goes on in our heads to dictate peace or lack of it.  One very famous quote that I love from Ralph Waldo Emerson that applies beautifully…

“Let us be silent that we may hear the whisper of God.”

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by Dona Hake

Psalm 119:165 (HCSB)

“Abundant peace belongs to those

who love Your instruction;

nothing makes them stumble.”

It is one thing to possess peace that permeates your heart and mind, but abundant peace or great peace is what our awesome God promises as we love His Word.  Did you ever notice how if you are agitated, feeling a bit empty and someone does something offensive it is almost immediately makes you snap back and get offended.  How precious are those times where you feel saturated in His peace because you are saturated in His Word, and you feel unmovable.  It is when we are in that place of His refuge that we will simply be unmovable.  Paul spoke of the peace that passes all understanding.  That peace will keep and guard your mind and that peace will also surpass your understanding.  It is His peace that will make us scratch our heads in wonder how we got through something and did not move off of the Rock that keeps us standing.

Let us strive to live in His abundant peace that we may abide in His place of refuge.  Have a wonderful day and God bless you!

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by Dona Hake

Psalm 147:3-5 (TLB)

“He heals the brokenhearted, binding up their wounds. He counts the stars and calls them all by name. How great he is! His power is absolute! His understanding is unlimited.”

I love these verses and I love thinking about how God knows all the specifics about everything.  He knows everything about everything that He created.  He created you and the stars and there is no limit to what He knows!  This is a powerful thought isn’t it?

Before this verse that causes us to ponder His greatness is the verse that says that He heals the broken in heart.  This time of the year always causes me to think about people that do not look forward to celebrating the holidays.  This can be an extremely painful time for people.   I would dare to say that there is more depression in people this time of year than none other.  For many, the holidays is simply a painful reminder of the past that they can only revisit in the precious, silent memories of their heart.   I lost both of my parents very close to Christmas and also my very special Grandmother.  I embrace the precious hope of seeing them again someday because I know they are in Heaven.

Today I want to encourage those of you that He that has given every single star a name knows and understands the pain of your heart.  Whether it be that you have lost a loved one to death, divorce or there is broken fellowship with someone special to you, He is able to bring you comfort.  He is able to come close to you and touch your heart and bring His touch of healing to it.  Our Lord is great. Nothing is impossible with His overwhelming power. He is loving, compassionate, and wise beyond all measure.  God bless you.

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by Dona Hake

John 15:5

The Voice (VOICE)

“I am the vine, and you are the branches.

If you abide in Me and I in you, you will bear great fruit.

Without Me, you will accomplish nothing.”

This is such a wonderful scripture to keep fresh in our hearts.  Without Him we can do nothing and yet with Him ALL things are possible!  All means all, and that little word with three letters contains big possibilities.  Whether we are trying to do things for Him or the things that involve our daily accomplishments, it would do us good to know that we are pulling ALL of our strength and wisdom from His resources.

Recently I put some fresh batteries into something I wanted to use.  I checked and checked to make sure all the batteries were in the right position and secure.  It made no sense to me that there was no power.  My husband opened it and examined it and sure enough one of the three batteries was in the wrong direction.  Sometimes that is how it is for us.  We can seem to have all that we need, yet one thing is out of place and there will be no power.  When we are connected to God, He assures us that all things are possible as we stay hooked up to His divine ways and purposes!  God bless you.

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