New Year.... Renewed relationship with Christ?

This year I have been studying the book of Revelations. It is a book that I think many of us, including myself, avoid. It's a hard book to study and a hard book to read. Going through the study of Revelations with Bible Study Fellowship (bsfinternational.org). I have been able to see that it is not only about the end of times but it also is about God's grace, patience and mercy.  He desires all of His people to come to Him and enjoy everlasting life, not the judgement and death that we deserve. 

I have been blessed by God in so many ways. He has given me wisdom and guidance in my life. He has helped me recognize my sin and my drifting from him. He has helped me get back on track and come back to Him. He has helped me work on many issues that I struggle with as I fall back into sin.  He has not done this primarily so that I may be a better person, nor has He done this so that I could be comfortable and safe and make good decisions. He desires me to share what He has done in my life so that others may believe and share in the joy of dependance on Him. He does not need me to save others. HE IS OUR SALVATION!! He can, however, use me to shine His light into the lives of others. I am thankful that he can use me. He can use me best if I know Him, if I spend time with Him, if I am obedient to Him.

Bible Study is a means to get to know Him but it should not be the only time I spend with Him.  I need to spend time with Him in prayer and in meditation.  Often I waste my time on so many other stupid things that I push time with my creator out of my life.  Is checking Facebook or email more important than God? NO  Is running errands more important than God? NO  Is watching TV more important than God? NO Is catching up with friends more important than God? NO  How can I let all these things that are so unimportant in comparison with God crowd out my time with Him? I have to ask Him to help me prioritize.

As we look at the year ahead I would encourage you to ask yourself a few questions about your relationship with Christ.   I will be!

1. Are you spending quality time with the Lord?
2. Are you desiring to know Him better or are you just checking Him off your list of things to do?
3. Are you studying His word in order to better understand Him and His Word?
4. Are you available for Him to use or are you working on your own agenda?
5. Are you listening to the wisdom He is offering you or do you depend on your own knowledge or the wisdom of those around you?
6. What do you plan to do differently this year so that you can deepen your relationship with the Lord and benefit from His wisdom and love?

Matthew 6:33  Seek first His kingdom and righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well.

Promises from God

There are thousands of promises in the Bible.  We spend time memorizing scripture which include God's promises.  There are hundreds of books that are written specifically to share God's promises to different groups of people.  It is a popular type of book to buy for graduation or when someone is going through a struggle.  Just because you are familiar with the promises of God doesn't mean that you really believe them.  Sometimes they sound great until you really have to "Trust in the Lord your God and lean not on your own understanding".  It's a hard thing to do.  Sometimes we don't even realize that we are not trusting in the Lord and we sit around wondering why he is not "guiding our steps"

Proverbs 3:5-6 is one of my favorite verses in the bible and one of the few I have fully memorized...

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

and he will make your paths straight.

It comforts me to know that I can trust the Lord and that I do not have all the answers so that when things do not make sense to me I can know that the Lord may be working in ways that I do not understand.  I know that the Lord created all things and has a master plan that I cannot see or understand.  There are many things that will not make sense to me because I cannot see or understand all that He sees and understands.  

This does not mean that I should stand still and wait for Him to throw something in my lap to do.  I have to move forward in the way that I believe I am being directed.  I have to pray and give my life to Him and trust that He will help me to turn where I need to turn and stay straight where I need to stay straight.  If I hear a whisper that I need to stop or not take an opportunity then I need to be obedient but I need to continue to desire to be in His will and not mine.  I need to not waste time on things that I know He does not desire for my life.  I need to spend time with Him one on one so that I know when He is directing me and when I am going rogue.

If I am not spending time in His word and in prayer which includes praise, thanksgiving and repentance how can I expect Him to make my paths straight?  How can I expect to know when He is trying to redirect me?  If my world revolves around me and not Him that it will be most difficult to trust Him and to submit to Him.

We can't take these promises out of context and only focus on the part that we like..  Trust in the Lord... He will make your paths straight...  That version is not truth.  We do not trust in the Lord to give us what we desire.  We have to submit to Him and not lean on our own understanding...

How often do we take a memory verse and leave out important parts, even subconsciously, so that it suits our view of things?   

Do not be anxious about anything but by prayer and petition present your request to God. This is one we use all the time but we leave out "with thanksgiving".  It is critical that we do not leave out thanksgiving. 

Philippians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Look at your favorite bible verse again with new eyes.  See if the Lord doesn't show you something new to be thankful for.

Let me know what your favorite promise is from the Lord.

Lessons from Cuba

I recently had the opportunity to travel to Cuba with the High School youth group of my church.  My son was going and I had been praying about joining them for some time.  I didn't want to go if it would be a hindrance to his experience but I really wanted to go.  About a month before the trip was to take off one of the leaders was unable to go so I was able to join them.

Cuba was great!  The people were amazing!  We enjoyed the experience and there were many things that the Lord taught me through this trip. Below are just some of the things that I took away from my time in Cuba.

View of the city from the seawall

1.  We don't need to know each and every step of our journey all the time.  There were many times when we didn't know details about our day.  The Cubans would let us know the bus was here and we generally knew what was to happen that day but we didn't know the details like...  how long will it take to get to our destination..  are we making any stops...when/where will we eat...why are we stopping here...for how long...  I learned early on that it was way more stressful to try to answer these questions than to sit back and trust that the Cubans who were hosting us knew what they were doing and we could trust them.  It is difficult to trust others and to trust the Lord with the details of our lives but that is exactly what He calls us to do.  Trust Him even when you don't know what is going on.

2.  Reduce, Reuse, recycle-  The Cubans do not have a recycling program.  They use everything they have over and over again until it is impossible to find any more use for it.  They do not recycle plastic forks, cups, etc.  They wash them and use them again and again and again.  The do not buy dog food or chicken feed, etc.  They collect all the leftovers from meals and give it to their animals.  They find uses for everything as they cannot afford to waste.

a beer keg reused as a grill

3.  Everything you do should be to further God's kingdom - The Christian people that we spoke to were very outspoken about their faith and were quick to share their thoughts about Jesus and His word.  We even met people on the street that shared with us their faith.  At one point I was speaking with a leader at the camp helping him practice his english.  I was sharing with him some of the things that my husband and I enjoy doing with our time here in the States.  I mentioned that we were part of a running group. (I am a starter runner and not very good but my husband has run a few half marathons and enjoys running more than me).  The man that I was talking to asked if we joined the running group in order to share the gospel.  He assumed that this would be the primary reason for everything I did.  Of course, the primary reason that we joined the running club was to practice our running.  As I reflected on this conversation I realized that the primary reason for doing anything I do should be to further God's kingdom.  How can I change my mindset to be more like the Cubans to do everything for His glory?

4.  You can focus on the heat or you can focus on the breeze.  It was hot in Cuba.  We had air in our hostel at night but during the day in the bus, in the church, on our walks through the city the sun was bright and the humidity was high and the temp was hot...but... there were many really nice breezes that helped cool us off.  If you focused on how hot you were you could spend the day miserable but if you enjoyed the breezes and the occasional shade it changed your perspective.  I think this applies to much of life.  There will always be a combination of heat and breeze in your life.  You can choose what you want to focus on.  Focus on the hardships and all that you have to go through you will be miserable.  Focus on the blessings that the Lord provides you will find joy.  ALWAYS focus on the Lord and not ourselves!!

Without Christ

What would I be like without Christ?  This is the questions that our Faithbooking group posed as we started our page.

There are so many ways my life would be different if He hadn’t gotten a hold of me.  When I was younger I always felt that I was generally a good person and that was good enough.  I realize now that most of us think that we are generally good people.  It is only through the eyes of the Lord that we can clearly see ourselves.  When we accept Christ we get the Holy Spirit and it is through this union that He is able to help us clearly see ourselves little by little so that we can work towards true righteousness.  I look back on my life and see how much my life has changed since I accepted Christ and let Him work in my life.  I struggle with sinfulness that I used to swear were not a struggle for me like pridefulness, selfishness and judgement.  I could not have seen these sins on my own.  I needed to see myself through the Lord’s eyes. 

First off I would be a horrible parent.  Christ has taught me so much through my parenting years.  When we started a family I was a screamer.  I valued my job above my family as you could tell by my work hours and how frequently I brought the kids to my job.  I had no wisdom about how to properly parent children.  I was afraid to be a stay at home mom as I thought I would surely fail.  I was good at my job and I was unsure how I would be as a full time mom.  God had a lot of work to do in that area of my life and He is still working on me as my kids transition into adulthood.  God provided so much wisdom as I transitioned from full time employee to full time mom.  He is constantly providing wisdom and grace through each stage of parenting.  As our children grow so our parenting also needs to grow and it is impossible to see clearly without Christ. 

I would probably be divorced as it is so difficult to maintain a happy and fulfilling 30 year relationship without Christ.  I am selfish and impatient and always think I am right …….  My husband and I spent time at a therapist at one time in our marriage.  We were at a place in our relationship where neither of us was happy but we didn’t know how to change.  We also wanted different things in life and we needed to become united for our family.  We were provided with a great Christian counselor who noticed that I was struggling with some depression (which I denied of course).  There were several other issues that we had to work on but it was an additional resource that was important to our marriage.  The Lord is always working on helping me be a good wife 

I would be very unhealthy and obese.  I have struggled with my weight for years.  I remember struggling with my weight even when I was thin.  My struggle is with desiring food in an unhealthy way.  Sometimes that shows up in my weight sometimes it is just in my desire to look like someone else.  It is taking a lot of work from the Holy Spirit to work on this one and it is ongoing.  I used to hate to exercise and now I finally enjoy it but it is still a work in progress.  I struggle with food focus and not being content with my body.  God has provided me with a great figure should I choose to take care of it but the balance between contentment and not focusing on food is a difficult one for me.

He is working on me every day with all my flaws and sin nature.  There is so much to work on and He knows that I can only handle a little chipping at a time so he works on me little by little until I begin to resemble what He desires.

Spend some time today asking yourself what your life would be like without Christ or if Christ is not in your life take some time to ask the Lord what it might be like with Him in your life.  When you ask the Lord into your life change happens.  He desires the best for all of us.  He desires a relationship with us and that we would follow Him and allow Hiim to work in our lives.  He loves us more that we can ever imagine and He wants us to fulfill the purpose that He created us for.

Encouragers

I have finally finished my daughters High School Scrapbook!!  Yeah!  It was supposed to be a graduation gift and she is completing her second year in college this month.  Better late than never right?  I was so passionate about doing it when I originally started the project because I wanted her to be able to go off to college with a book of her memories at home.  Memories with her high school friends, memories of her family and the fun we had together.  I also wanted it to be an encouragement to her as we shared with her our prayers for her future, the beautiful young woman we saw her becoming and some insights from her cousins, uncles and aunts about how to stay on track during her college years.  Well hopefully it will be a blessing for her next two years of college and as she moves on to her adult life after college.

 I don’t think we realize the power of encouragement these days.  I was having lunch with my mother in law for Mother’s Day and she commented how she really enjoyed reading my blog.  It was such a great encouragement to hear her say that as this is not something that I do with my strengths but through my weaknesses.  

I am not a technical person.  I was probably the last person to get a smart phone and even now I refuse to put Facebook on it for fear that I will get sucked in to the drama that is Facebook.  I have a Facebook account and I love it but I have to set a time for myself to look at it or I will waste hours stalking my friends and family.  I love them so.:)  I know my husband will be mortified that I admit this online but I still write checks.  Not in the grocery line mind you but I prefer to write checks than to pay online.  Maybe I’m an old soul.  I am the last to accept new technology so it’s almost funny that I am doing a blog.

I have friends who are really gifted at encouraging others.  I am not as good at it but know it is important so I like to do things like making a small scrapbook just saying what I like about the person or make a prayer book.  I especially like to make the prayer book.  I have only done a couple but I am working on one right now.  I take a few months or an entire year and pray for someone.  I keep a journal of the prayers and then when I am done I give it to them so they can be encouraged that they are being lifted up to the Lord on a regular basis.  They can also see how God worked in their lives through the prayers since it was prayer over a long period of time.  The one I am doing one for now has been a blessing for me as well as I can see God working in her life and mine as I pray for her.  

Find a way to encourage someone this week and/or commit to praying for someone over a period of time and let them know you are praying for them.  You can send them an email or a text, call them or send them some snail mail.  You will bless that person more than you can imagine.

And if you need an outline for a High School scrapbook let me know.  Maybe I will get my son's complete before he gets through college. :)

This is my precious daughter when she was young.  The years went by soooo quickly.

ACTS

Acts is a book in the bible that discusses the early church, it is something we do (hopefully like acts of kindness) and it can be a format we use for prayer.

God desires a relationship with us.  If you are a Christian this is one of the first things you learn.  You may know it in theory but it is a hard thing to wrap your mind around.  The God of the universe… The God who created every living thing…. The God who planned out every detail of the world, our lives and the lives of those around us….  The God who is all knowing, and all powerful….  The God who has billions of people to listen to…  wants a personal relationship with us!!!  It is unbelievable, inconceivable!!   Sometimes I don’t even want a personal relationship with me how can God even have time for me much less desire to share wisdom with me, listen to my struggles and desires, forgive my sins daily, help me grow in my faith and my relationships with others, help me be a better mother, wife, sister, daughter, scrapbooker, worker….  How can God care about me when He has the whole world to worry about?  

Well this is where I remind you that our ways are not His ways and there is NO way for us to fully understand such a great and awesome God.  One thing I do know is that He does care, He does listen and He does want to spend time with each of us individually.  He cares about all we are going through.  He cares about our growth, our decisions, our hearts and so much more.

When I was in my 30s I still believed that your relationship with God was a private one that you did not need to share with others.  I didn’t pray out loud or with my kids or with my husband or anyone.  It made me uncomfortable.  The year that Marquis moved in with us I knew that I needed to get out of my comfort zone and find some other people to pray with.  I was unsure what to pray or how to pray and by the grace of God I found a Mom’s in Prayer group.  

If you are unfamiliar with Mom’s in Prayer.  Here is the website  https://www.momsinprayer.org  It is life changing to pray with other women for your children and their schools.   If you have kids or grandkids I encourage you to find a group or start a group.

Mom's in Prayer groups pray with the ACTS format so it is fairly structured and when I first started attending a group I had to pray that God would silence my mind and allow me to pray what He put on my heart or else I worried about how I sounded.  All the women prayed differently and they all had something different put on their heart for my children.  Blessings upon blessings came out of prayer in Mom’s in Touch groups.  I could see a change in my parenting, a change in how I view circumstances, a clearer view of God working in the lives of my children, a change in my priorities.  Of course many prayers for my children have been answered through the years but that is just the icing on the cake.

One of the things that strikes me today about the way we pray is that we spend much of our time in Supplication (praying for the things that concern us) and often leave out the more important prayers of praise, confession, and thanksgiving.  If we spend more time in the ACT of prayer we would more easily align our hearts with Gods and our focus would turn from ourselves to a more godly perspective.  Consider how your life would change if your focus changed from self focused to God focused just because you spent more time in the ACT of prayer and less time in the S.

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.