I am so grateful today for the door that God opened for our Faithbooking group.  We are getting the opportunity to meet in a new location and open up this opportunity to many other people who may enjoy documenting their faith through Faithbooking.  It is a wonderful gift from God and I can’t wait to see how he uses it to further His kingdom.

There are so many things to be thankful for each and every day that I don’t even have the room to list them.  

*I am thankful that God is so forgiving even though I seem to fall into the same sins over and over again.

*I am thankful that God has a plan for me, my family, my friends.

*I am thankful that God gives me the opportunity each day to be a part of His plan.

*I am thankful that He chose me, that He gave me life, and that He called me to Him and that He opened my eyes to see Him and His works around me.

*I am thankful that He is always teaching me about Himself and about His ways

*I am thankful for all those He has put in my path who have helped me grow in my faith and my relationship with Him

And a thousand million other things……..

Someone once asked, “What would I have if I was left with only the things I thanked God for today?”  Somedays this would mean that I would be left with nothing, some days I would have very little but not one day do I thank God for everything that He has provided me.  I don’t think there is enough time in a single day to express gratitude for all God has given me.  He has been overwhelmingly generous!!!

I am thankful that He had a plan for my salvation and yours and that he carried it out in His perfect timing and that we have the opportunity to celebrate His sacrifice on Easter weekend.  I am also thankful that He shows us that sometimes something that looks as awful as the sacrifice of Christ death on a cross can be a wonderfully beautiful thing that deserves to be celebrated.  

This reminds me of a song we sing in church  

Beautiful Things

Remember to express your gratitude to God each day for all the blessings you have been given, all the grace He has given you and the thousand million other things that you should be grateful for.

Departures

Hey all.  I feel like I don’t have a lot to say this week but I didn’t want to skip because that could lead to me missing several weeks in a row.  It is a slippery slope. J 

The reason I don’t feel like I have much to say this week is because for the last week I have really neglected my relationship with the Lord.  I could tell you because it is Spring Break and there is a lot going on and maybe that is part of it.  But there is never a good reason to neglect my relationship with the God who created me and the Savoir who redeemed me.  I have had time to work out, to walk the dog, to search pinterest for landscaping ideas…..  My actions seem to indicate that I value my fitness, my backyard project, and my dog more that I value the one and only Lord of my life.  That doesn’t even make sense.  Yet I do this all the time.

It is not that I haven’t prayed.  I have had time to ask the Lord to watch over my son who is camping with a bunch of buddies and to ask Him to help my daughter and her boyfriend with their internships for the summer.  I have taken the time to thank Him for the wonderful blessings He has provided.  This seems similar though to what it would be like if my son came and asked me for money to do things, or new cloths, or gas for his car and was appreciative of it but never took the time to actually talk to me or find out what was going on in my life.  That does not a relationship make.

This Sunday our youth pastor gave a sermon on 1 Samuel 15.  He is an amazing speaker and is so passionate about the Lord.  One of the things that struck me the most about his sermon was that we are so bothered, and disturbed by the fact that God required Saul to kill an entire group of people, children included, who hated the Lord but we are not as bothered by the fact that God offered up His own son in death; a son who loved Him and died for us.  Why is that?

My husband and I have recently started watching a series on Netflix or Hulu called Departures. 

This show is great.  It is about two guys + the cameraman who took a year to travel to different places around the world and document it.  Last night we watched the episode where they travel to Cambodia.  In one portion of it they visited a far away village and got the opportunity to experience a tribal ritual that only takes place ever 4 years.  The people were singing and celebrating and there was a large cow tied up in the center of the circle.  At the end of the celebration the cow was hacked to death with a machete and beaten with a large stick over the head and then they cut him up and ate him.  I couldn’t even watch.  I could see it coming and had to close my eyes.  Even the sound of it still bothers me.  But somehow I can hear of Jesus dying for my sins on the cross and not be brought to tears or bothered to spend a few minutes with Him each day.   How can that be?

What's next Lord?

Last week we talked about how God’s plans are often different from the plans we create for ourselves.  The second page in our layout is titled “What’s next Lord”.  I have probably asked this question a million times.  Anyone that knows me knows that I like to be busy.  I like to do things.  I have a very hard time sitting still.  God created me this way so He knows it’s my nature, yet sometimes that is exactly what he wants me to do; be still. 

I want to follow God’s will for my life and sometimes I realize that I am at a crossroads.  I am at a place where I know change is needed and I can see that I need to let go of some things, responsibilities, activities, and relationships….  I often find myself stuck in a place of questioning and searching for the next step God has planned for my life.

Recently, while doing a study of Moses’ life, I realized that sometimes God wants us to draw close to him for a period of time.  There is no specific thing planned for us other than a time of getting to know Him better.  Moses had 40+ years that God used to prepare him for leading the Israelites out of Egypt.  It took 40 years for God to prepare Moses for that responsibility.  Forty years of Moses learning to shepherd, learning to be patient, learning to be obedient, learning to lead, learning to love, learning to trust.  Was Moses sitting out there with the sheep praying to God, “what do you want me to do next?”   I wonder how often we waste this time because we are searching for something to do for Him when all He wants us to do is get to know Him better.

I often get so caught up in trying to discover what God wants me to do that I don’t take advantage of the time that He gives me to draw close to Him, to learn about Him, to develop my relationship with Him.  What if I stopped worrying about what He wanted me to do and took one day at a time.  Committed to serving Him in everything I do.  Committed to spend time with Him each and every day getting to know Him better.  Committed to allowing Him to lead my life without me having to know what the plan is.  Committed to letting go of my need for control and my need to knowing what is going on.  Committed to taking each step mindfully aware that God is in control and all I have to do is be obedient to Him and keep taking it step by step.

I have to admit that this is so hard for me.  I am a planner.  I enjoy planning.  My natural instinct is to plan out each day but I am working on it.  I am trying to not let my to do list rule my day, not to let my need to feel productive rule my life.

So I leave these squares blank and one day I will fill them in but in God’s timing not mine.  I pray that I do not waste a moment that He gives me to draw close to Him, to praise Him and to allow Him to work in me to prepare me for the plans He has for my life.  I pray this for you all as well.

The Lord will work out His plans for my life -- for your faithful love , O Lord, endures forever.   Don’t abandon me for you made me.  Psalm 138:8

His plans are not my plans

I was trying to think about what to write about this week and I realized today that I have an issue that I am looking for a solution for and I remembered that we created a scrapbook page not too long ago that spoke to this very thing.

The page that we created was about the direction God takes us.  We all have a plan for our lives.  God created that plan!  Sometimes we think we are the creator of the plan and we try to make our lives fit the mold that we think it should.  We try to open doors that God closes, we try to take advantage of “opportunities” that do not fit into our God created plan, we try to convince Him our plan is best.  Sometimes we step back and ask God,  “What do you want me to do?”  Sometimes we feel a clear answer and sometimes we sense silence.  Sometimes all He wants us to do is to lean into Him and be obedient.

We do not know what God has in store for us tomorrow.  I never would have imagined that I would be a stay at home mom, write a blog, lead a prayer group, lead a scrapbooking group, move into the city…..  I think I had a much more boring life planned for myself.  God has moved in my life beyond my expectations and I know that He has more planned and I want to follow His plan not my own.

One thing I can always count on is that God’s plan is always the best.  He knows me better than I know myself.  He knows all the details that are involved in my life and the lives of people around me.  He knows EVERYTHING!!!  I on the other hand know very little.  I seem to know less and less every day or maybe I am just more aware of how little I know.  If I trust Him and am obedient to Him then I have nothing to fear.  He will take me to places that are uncomfortable.  I will resist ( I know this because I frequently do).  I will delay obedience.  He is patient with me and He knows the sin I deal with and the temptations that I struggle with and He knows when I will be obedient and He knows that I will eventually be grateful for His leading.  He is always right!   I am not as apt to take the chances that have made my life so amazing I have taken them because He led me to them and through them.

I can’t wait to see what lies ahead.  I look forward to the next steps in God’s path for my life and the lives of my family and friends.

On the red squares I wrote what my plans were and on the brown squares I wrote what God did in showing me His plans.  Proverbs 16:9 was the title for my page.  In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.

Excuses

Hello everyone,

I promised a few weeks ago we would talk about excuses we make for not sharing the Lord with others and then I went AWAL.  Sorry about that. 

Here are the pages we did where we talked about excuses that we make for not sharing Christ with others.  I am sure there are a hundred excuses we make but we don’t have room for all of them on a scrapbook page so I just focused on five of the most frequent.

I had many excuses for not sharing that I held onto for a long time.  The first and most embarrassing one was that I didn’t want people to think I was weird.  Oddly, I have never felt like I was the type of person who needed to fit in and didn’t feel, consciously, that I wanted or needed the approval of others but I guess we all do to some extent.  I felt uncomfortable talking about God and salvation because I had always viewed people who talked openly about God as weird.  I did have some friends that I spoke to about spiritual things and about God but that was different to me.  It seemed that there were people that were close to you who you could talk to about their beliefs and people who were always trying to change you.  The people who shared life with me and didn’t preach at me were the people who I respected and enjoyed hearing about their faith even when I didn't agree.  As I share my faith with others this is still the way I feel most comfortable sharing; with people I have a relationship with.

Another reason that I did not share Christ with others is that I believed that faith was a personal journey.  While this has some value to it, I now know that God does not give us anything so that we can keep it for ourselves.  He gives us everything we have; our gifts, our finances, our jobs, our kids, our spouses, our friends and our faith.  He does not share with us so that we can hoard for our own purposes.  He gives us everything so that we can share with others for the glory of HIS kingdom.  One of my bible study leaders once asked me whom I interacted with that I truly wanted them to go to Hell.  My answer is no one.  I love all of God’s people and desire them all to feel the joy that I feel because of my relationship with the Lord.  It saddens me to know that there are people around me who don’t know the Lord and can’t know the joy that He brings to our lives on this earth and after.  Why would I keep that knowledge from them and not give them the opportunity to accept His salvation and be an active member of His kingdom. 

Ezekiel 3:18-19   If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

Another excuse that I had is that I didn’t know enough theology or have enough knowledge of the bible.  Anyone that knows me knows that I am not an academic person.   My dad used to love to read textbooks and learn about things all his life.  I prefer to learn by living.  I like to be out with people, be out in nature, do things rather than read about things.  I will never be a scholarly person.  Thankfully, the Lord blessed me with some wisdom and blesses me continually as I seek out Him and His will.  Otherwise I would be a mess.  I learn from experience and He knows that because He created me.  He gives me the ability to share Him and His love through experiences.  As many people as there are out there who need to come to a knowledge of Him through academic learning there are just as many people like me who need to hear stories of how God has changed lives, blessed families, taught through struggles and hardships. 

God made each and every one of us different and so He reaches each of us in a different way.  We just need to make sure that we are being obedient to His will each day.  It’s hard to believe that we can be in His will and not share about Him with others.

Sharing your faith

A few months ago we worked on a page about sharing our faith and I thought this would be a great time to share that with you all.  Amid all the New Years resolutions shouldn't the most important be that we resolve to share the Lord with others in our lives.  I like this page because when I am gone (hopefully my faithbook will be passed down) it can be a reminder for all those who come after me that there are many ways to share the Lord besides quoting scripture to people.  Sometimes people are not ready to hear scripture or understand it.

There are so many ways to share our faith.  Sometimes we share our faith and we don't even recognize it.  Have you ever met someone who you think right away, "That person must know the Lord?"  Something about their actions, words, peace about them or the way they carry themselves.  You don't need to have a deep conversation to feel their warmth and suspect that it comes from the Lord.  Don't you want to be that type of person?  God can use you no matter where you are if you make yourself available to Him.

This week in bible study one of the things the leader talked about was that our obedience to the Lord always blesses others.  It is amazing to think about isn't it?  If we are obedient to the Lord we don't have to go out of our way to bless others we can be a conduit for the Lord!  Think about all the people in our lives that we interact with each day.  How amazing would it be if we knew that God was using us to bring someone to him or to help bring someone closer to him just through our obedience?  Our obedience is His pleasure and He will use it for His glory and His kingdom.

When we created the page we limited the ways to share to five just because it made for an easier page.  Of course there are many ways to share so you don't need to limit your page to five.

One thing that you can't see on the picture is that we added a bible verse to the bottom of the page.  My chosen verse was.....
Commit to the Lord whatever you do and He will establish your plans.  Proverbs 16:3  

I challenge you this weekend to think about how you can share your faith with others around you.  Give some thought to why you stuggle sometimes to share your faith also.  We will talk about that page next week.

New year.... New Commitment

Hey everyone,

It has been too long.  I reread my last post on this blog today and it made me feel sad and hopeful at the same time.  Almost two years ago I felt the need to create this blog and have been very neglect in following through.  For those of you who don't know me I enjoy being in the background.  I like to be busy, love to help others, love to share the wisdom that God has given me but I don't want to be known.  I am not a fan of being out in front, in fact, it makes me very uncomfortable.  I don't update my facebook page because I am not even sure what to post.  I have a wonderful life that God has richly blessed but I am much more comfortable talking about it one on one than sharing it online.

This year I am feeling more and more convicted that God wants me to shout it from the rooftops.  I HAVE BEEN RICHLY BLESSED BY GOD!!!!!  I have no part in that blessing.  I did nothing to deserve it and did nothing to earn it.  He has just been sooooo good to me.

I also have been convicted that God desires me to share faithbooking more regularly.  I have a small group of ladies that I faithbook with and God provides the ideas every month.  I am not that creative of a person but every month we have a page to create so remember what God has done for us, shares who God is, enriches our faith and relationship with Him.  I have never been all that creative so it must be His ideas.  I am so grateful for that group of ladies and the pages we create.

This month we did a two page spread for the new year.  The first page was about what we learned in 2014 about God and/or from God.  I have limited memory capacity so I loved the idea of looking through my bible study and having one page that shared some truths I gained from the year of study.  This way I can look back and be reminded quickly about what I learned and what I need to continue to remember.

The second page was things we were commiting to the Lord or committing to do for the Lord and this blog is one of my commitments for 2015.  I look forward to sharing my journey this year and pray that I am able to keep my commitment.



I will be posting once a week and hope to hear from you about your faith journeys.