From the Heart... Walk in Love!

This is the 1^st day of February… a short month (28 days) with so much packed into it! Ground Hogs Day… Super Bowl… Fat Tuesday… Presidents Day… Valentines Day!  I personally like to think of February as the month of love!  I have many sweet memories from my childhood from the month of February and Valentines Day in particular.

So this is what God has laid on my heart… I am going to share a few things over the next month regarding, “From the Heart.”  I am using it as a challenge to myself and maybe in the process it will challenge some of you as well.

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.”  Matthew 12:30

To love like that it takes your “ALL”… there are very few things in my life I give my all to. What kind of passion does that take to give your all?  I tend to be a “middle of the road” kind of gal in so many ways, but the things that really mean the most to me… the things I have great passion for… you better watch out because I can be like a run-away train!

God has put passion in each of our hearts for different things, but one thing that He has given all of us the same passion for is to love Him.  What is your heart attitude?  We can never repay God for what He did by sending His Son as a sacrifice for our sin… and He doesn’t want repayment… it is a free gift (Romans 6:23).  But how can we show our love for Him?

 

Obedience… doing the will of God from the heart (Ephesians 6:6). Serving Him by serving others!?  Where are you serving... is there a place in your church that needs you? Is there a place that you need to be serving? You say you don't know where to start or what you might like to do??? You will never figure it out by doing nothing?!!! Walk it out... start now! 

 

"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance." Ephesians 5:2

That’s it... from my heart to yours!

Rejoicing in Truth!

A Mystery I Don't Have to Solve...

Prayer is such a mystery! Sometimes you pray and get an answer right away. Other times you pray and get nothing… no, “yes”… no, “no”… or in the silence, “just wait.” I had an experience recently of a promise God had given me a couple years ago, what I thought was being fulfilled, in just the way I wanted it to be.  I just knew it… I had it all worked out in my mind how I felt God was doing this thing He had promised!  I built myself up believing that this was it… God is going to give me just what I want, how I thought I wanted it!  I was acting like God needed my help to figure this out!  Wrong! Don’t throw stones… you know we’ve all done that!

Whose promise was this anyway?  I was not the one who asked God for His promise… He gave it to me and along with that I had to remember that He will fulfill it in His time, how He knows is best, in a way I could NEVER imagine!  Knowing that is all good and dandy being on this side of it looking back, but it was a very hard, I mean very hard (who’s stubborn?), few days getting over my feelings of disappointment!

I can admit it now, I acted like a spoiled brat, don’t get me wrong my heart was hurting and I know God knew that, but my reaction to my devastation was not pretty!  It went something like this… “I don’t feel like You are hearing me”… “I don’t feel like You care that this is what I want”… “I don’t feel You see what an opportunity this is to bring You glory?”… “I just feel like taking my “marbles” and going home! What does any of it matter anyway?”  Like I said, not a bit of beauty in my attitude.

So I spent a few days wallowing in my mud… then God sent someone to reach out to me… just that act of caring helped some of the clouds to be pushed away.  I knew my time of “mourning” had to be finished.  I started asking God to show me what was causing me to react in such a way.  I asked Him to reveal to me what that black blob was in my heart.  Holy Spirit shined His light on it so I could see it was a blob of my tangled up feelings!  I let my feelings and emotions, something God created me with for good, to be used as a weapon against myself.  He also showed me that it is not about my feelings, but it is about God’s Truth! What an ugly mess we can easily get ourselves in when we live by our feelings and not God’s Truth.

So why am I sharing all of my spiritual ugliness?  I don’t really know… I would just as soon forget it and move on, but God showed me in James 5:16 – “Confess your faults to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”  I know that it is only in my helplessness God will be glorified!

Maybe someone reading this is going through a similar struggle.  Maybe God wants to use my experience to bring Him glory… without a test you will never have a testimony. Maybe we need to start praying more for each other.  All I know is it is really not about me, but about what Christ is doing through me and through each one of you.  Someone said to me recently, that this is the year for boldness… boldness for Christ.  Are we ready to be bold?

“He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:16-21

“Prayer works because God is in control. The basis of all miracles is God's sovereignty. Why does He do one and not another? Because God is in control. We have to trust His wisdom and His goodness.” – Rick Warren

So yes, prayer is a mystery, but God’s Truth is not… He is our Provider (Genesis 22:14), our Healer (Exodus 15:26), our Protector (Exodus 17:15), our Peace (Judges 6:24), our Shepherd (Psalms 23:1), He is good (Psalms 86:5), He is just (Isaiah 30:18), He is faithful (1 Corinthians 1:9)… just a few.

Rejoicing in Truth!

Reflecting...

At the verge of a “new year”… what will I make of it??? December 31, seems to always bring out some sort of self-reflection… how about in you?  The path I could see my life heading down a year ago is definitely not where I am now… love how God has His own idea, i.e. better plan, just around the corner, if we are willing to hear Him and follow!

 

The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.  Psalms 18:2

There were many ups and downs in the past year, but I believe what I choose to reflect on will also set the stage for the next year.  Are you looking to “escape” from 2012?  Do you only see the bad things that you never want to see again?  Let me share a couple things that happened in my life this year… my mom has not been well for a couple years.  She spent multiple times in the hospital this year… 2 of which were in the “behavioral ward.”  I just kept praying for her and over her, along with many prayer warriors… at times it really felt like God had abandoned her, but deep down I knew that wasn’t true.  It really seemed like a nightmare at times, but I kept clinging to God’s faithfulness… His Promises.  My family went through this together… we knew no matter what happened God would be our strength to get through it!  This I would say would be a low point of my year… but without this low point I would never recognize the high point.  The high point and what I am going to reflect on… Within the last few weeks my mom has made a miraculous turnaround… my sisters and I had gone through the last year not really having our mom, but now God has given her back to us! Lessons can be so hard to learn but when you come out on the other side… it is so sweet! 

Another thing that occurred in the past year… my dad was diagnosed with stomach cancer.  Even through this diagnosis God had His hand print all over it!  First of all, they diagnosed the cancer before Dad really had any symptoms! Secondly, God had brought an incredible doctor into the picture because of my mom’s illness… this doctor was the one who caught the cancer before symptoms started! With all that my dad had been dealing with regarding my mom… God gave him such peace… if Daddy was worried about it, I never saw it.  Dad went through a month of radiation treatments without any real complications.  Through all this there have been lives touched… all the glory goes to God!  But without the low point of cancer there would never be the high point of a cancer-free biopsy report a week before Christmas!

I don’t share any of this to show you that my life is anymore special than anyone else’s, but to encourage you that even though none of us want to have the down moments of life… it is through those low times we can experience the up moments!  If life was always the same… would we even recognize the miracles God is doing in us and through us?  I ask you to take a few moments and ask God to shine His light on those special moments of 2012 in your life… then give Him all the praise He so deserves!  Maybe you are not on the other side of your down time… praise Him and thank Him in advance for Who He is and what you know He is doing!

Praying a blessedly prosperous New Year for you!

Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea and a path through the mighty waters,
“Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:16, 18-19

Rejoicing in Truth!

Gift of His Presence...

In preparation of Christmas I was getting out the boxes and boxes of decorations.  Some bring back precious memories, while others are just a passing fad.  I love adding just a little something new every year to keep things fresh though.  Did you ever notice that after the ornaments have been hanging on the tree for a few weeks they are kind of dusty?  Or is that just at my house?  I have an ongoing battle with dust… I hate to dust and I think dust purposely antagonizes me!!!

I was checking my gift list and what we still need to get before the big day… then my mind was drawn to Christ, Father’s Gift to all of us.  The most precious gift ever! It has been a rough year for so many that I care about in so many ways.  But my eyes keep turning back to that original Gift… no matter the circumstances of life the only thing that matters is our relationship with God that started on that first Christmas morning.  Jesus Christ was born in a dusty stable, but from that very moment He started to change the world… He takes all the “dust” and grime of our lives and sweeps it all away never to be seen again, if we just turn to Him.

There have been many questions of why God lets things happen… some feeling like the bad circumstances are a punishment from God.  If you look in the Bible there are so many instances when bad things were happening to people and it was not as a punishment!  Look at Job for instance… what would we do if all our possessions were taken… we lost our job… our kids were killed???  I know for myself, I probably would ask God why He would allow such things… if He loves me so much how could He let me go through all this pain???

We like to understand things… we like to try and fix things… we think we know more of what we need than God does… admit it, we have all been there.  I will admit it… I am impatient… I like to figure things out on my own… I want to live in comfort not pain!  But if everything was “peachy keen” all the time how would I ever grow?  And truthfully, what would I need God for?  God may not bring on any of the distress in our lives but He will allow it… ultimately to be used for His glory!

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

In Job 38 and 39, God and Job are having a “conversation.”  If you take the time to read it you will see that God was letting Job know that no matter what his circumstances were God was still in control!  God created all things… He should know how to keep things going and in order! Hmm… not so easy to remember sometimes.

Getting back to the gift part… if our Heavenly Father was willing to give up His only Son to restore His relationship with us… why would He ever do anything to cause us harm?  He sent Jesus to earth as a precious little baby but He wants us to let Him be so much bigger than we can ever imagine in our lives!  So I guess the question is… If Father was willing to give me and you such a precious Gift are we willing to trust Him no matter our circumstances?

“Blessed are the people who know how to praise you. They walk in the light of your presence, O Lord. They find joy in your name all day long. They are joyful in your righteousness because you are the glory of their strength. By your favor you give us victory.  Our shield belongs to the Lord.  Our king belongs to the Holy One of Israel.” Psalms 89:15-18 (God's Word trans.)

Father, I thank You for Your goodness and the precious Gift of Your Son! I praise You for Your presence… that You will never leave us alone!  Lord, You are so faithful! All praise to You!

Rejoicing in Truth!

Unending Promises...

Going through many changes personally and also with sickness that has touched my family… I just needed to share a few Promises I am holding onto tighter than ever today!

 

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23

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"The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation. He is my stronghold, my refuge and my savior— from violent men You save me. I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies." 2 Samuel 22:2-4
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“I love you, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.”  Psalm 18:1-3

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“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”  Psalm 46:1

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“The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The LORD protects the simple-hearted; when I was in great need, He saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.”  Psalm 116:5-7

*But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.” 2 Thessalonians 3:3

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“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”  2 Corinthians 12:9

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“I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

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“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” Hebrews 13:5

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“Casting all your care upon Him; for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7

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“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

The dictionary defines the word “PEACE” as freedom from war or conflict; tranquility, a calm and quiet state, free from disturbances or noise; a state of mental calm and serenity, with no anxiety; harmony.  And my definition is: complete surrender to God’s will; letting His breath breathe life into my soul; trusting completely that God has it all under control, regardless of what it looks like… I know there is no PEACE without faith.

This is just what I need today… how about you? Share some of your Promise verses too.

Rejoicing in Truth!

Healing Thru Compassion...

I want to share a little story about compassion that turned out to be a big turning point in my life.  It is not pretty… my actions were not pretty… others actions were not pretty, but as always God can take something so ugly and make it beautiful.

For years my hubby and I have struggled with infertility… it is so hard, almost impossible to understand from the outside looking in, but can you imagine what it is like to be on the inside of that pain looking out.  After years of no answers and no baby, I will admit it left me quite bitter.  I don’t know if the bitterness turned into envy, jealousy, dread, cynicism, and judgment, or if these things turned into bitterness… either way it was not pretty!  Although most people that didn’t know me well would have never seen this part of me… I got so good at posing! I am not bragging about the posing… it is just the truth. It is sad when we can’t let others know who we really are… hiding our dirty, little secrets.

A couple years ago I had the opportunity to go spend a few days away, trying to get to know more of who I am in Christ… drawing closer to my Heavenly Father… receiving healing for those things is my life that were not so great.  It was something that I knew would be good, but really deep down I couldn’t see where this could heal what needed healing the most… my broken heart.  A broken heart??? Yep, even though I had a personal relationship with Christ… I felt that God had broken my heart by not giving me what I wanted the most… to have a baby.  If He knew the pain this caused me, how could He be trusted?  How could He fix what I felt He had broken?

There were many times I would be out shopping and I would see mothers treating their kids just awful… screaming at them, pulling on them, neglecting them, as I saw it.  I would let that bitterness come rising up and once again question God why He would let someone like that have a child, but not me?  I spent a lot of time comparing myself to others, which is never a good idea!  I would watch the news and see massive neglect of children.  Kids just being thrown away… and of course the millions of babies being aborted every day!  I saw these people as monsters! I had no compassion or understanding anywhere in my heart for women that would throw “something” in the trash that was so precious to me.

Now, back to these days I spent away on a “spiritual retreat” of sorts.  There were probably 20 women or so, all of who I believe God orchestrated to be there for whatever reason.  But there was only one woman who had flown all the way across the country to attend this event… this was the woman God would use to change my life. 

She was a beautiful woman… she had long, dark wavy hair… a little exotic looking might be a good way to describe her.  She seemed to be nice, soft spoken, maybe a little reserved, but that could have been from the wear and tear from travel too.  There came a point in our stay that we were asked to share things about ourselves.  There were women that shared about a loss of a husband or a child, trauma as a child, miscarriages, not very easy things to share, but so necessary to bring into the light… although at the time I certainly could not see where this would help anybody! Just being honest!  I did share about some things in my life including the devastation of never having a baby.  Well, this woman I wrote about earlier was the last person to share.  She said she had put it off as long as she could, because what she had to share was so bad.  She shared that she had had an abortion.  Maybe I have lived a sheltered life, but I had never come face to face with anyone that would ever admit that.  She didn’t look like a monster… she seemed very loving and caring… this was not what I expected at all.  I can honestly say that at that very moment something clicked in my heart.  I could see the victims of the act of abortion were not just those precious babies, but in so many cases it was like the face I was looking at right at that moment.  I could feel God prodding at my heart… reach out to her… comfort her… show her My compassion and love.  I kept saying inside, “NO, I don’t want to do that… I can’t do that!”  But two seconds later I reached over to her and told her I was sorry she had to carry that pain around with her.  I told her that there is nothing that God can’t make right. At the time all this took place, I really had no idea what God had done for me through this woman’s confession.

Days later, after I was able to process things a little more… I went to this lovely lady and told her how God used her in my healing.  I can say now that even though abortion is still so wrong and I cannot even comprehend that despicable act… I do look with compassion on those that desperately struggle and choose that.  

This was my story and it happened to be about abortion in a sense, but the reason for this is to share how God can change our hearts in those darkest times to show compassion towards others.  In Matthew 9:36 it says, “But when He (Jesus) saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.”  Look at your own life… who is one person or group of people you have a problem showing compassion to?  There are times in all our lives that we need compassion… stupid things we say or do… thoughtless moments that we hurt someone.  We all want to receive compassion, but how willing are we to show it?  For me, trying to put myself in someone else’s shoes sometimes helps me do that.  It is always easier to judge someone for something we have never gone through.

For me showing compassion has nothing to do with sin… sin is sin!  If sin can keep me from showing compassion then what would be my fate if God thought the same?

“Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.” 1 Peter 3:8-9

I pray that opening up my heart to share this will make a difference in your life… it has for me again… it was a good reminder.

Rejoicing in Truth

A Dot in His Picture...

A few months ago my hubby and I were asked by God to change the way we were living our life.  We were already serving Him and doing His will as we knew it to be, but He threw a challenge out there to me.  He asked, “How much was I willing to trust Him? Was I ready to give everything up as I knew it, to follow Him to something bigger He had for my life?”  I am not sharing any of this to pat myself or my hubby on the back… all I can say is God woke me up at 2:30 in the morning knowing that this is what He had me to be doing at this moment rather than sleeping!  I guess… I can sleep anytime!

As a kid I can remember playing with a sliding tile puzzle… maybe some of you don’t even know what I am talking about. It is a hand-held plastic game board, about 3”x 3”, that had 15 interlocking tiles that you would slide around trying to put all the tiles in order to make a picture or to get the numbers in order.  Each tile was important to the puzzle, and each move you made could make it or break it.  There would be many times I would slide the same piece around in a “circle” trying to get it to go where it belonged. I must confess there were times I tried to cheat by popping a tile out so I could solve it easily… that never worked though because even if I could get it popped out I could not get it pushed back in!

That is how my life feels sometimes lately… like a sliding tile puzzle!  God has every piece of my life in His hands and He has to be the one to make the picture.  There are many days I try to slide a tile into a different position and that usually just scrambles things all the more.  I can only see one piece at a time… and some days maybe not even the whole piece… but God can see the whole picture. 

Okay, so here is my fleshly truth… there are moments or even days that I want to turn back from this path.  It seems too hard when I feel like I don’t know where I belong.  I feel lonely and isolated, and let’s face it… just plain impatient!  I know God knows what He is doing, but does He have to take so long to do it??? Really?!

And God’s truth… He knows the plans He has for me, plans for peace and not harm, and a future filled with hope (Jeremiah 29:11).  He also has promised never to leave me (Hebrews 13:5) He said, if I love Him I will be obedient to His Word ( John 14:23, 2 John 1:6).  And just like Jesus said to Peter when Peter wanted to walk on water to come to Jesus, but failed… “You of little faith, why do you doubt?” Matthew 14:31

That is it… there really can be no arguing with God’s truth! I cannot live by how I feel which changes from moment to moment! I have God’s solid truth to stand on.  I may be only a dot in His big picture, but it is okay… that is where faith and trust have to come into play.  I must trust Him enough to go where He says to go, move where He says to move, and speak what He says to speak.

When God asked us to make this change and we decided to follow… the first step He gave us was to leave the church where we were happy and content.  He was asking us to go to a smaller church that needed more people with hearts to serve… a church a distance from where we live and we didn’t really know too many people there.  We could have said no… but it was not about us.  If church was only suppose to be a “social club” than it would have been easy to say no.  What does church mean to you?  Why do you attend the church you do?  Are you investing your time and talents there? Is it for the people that are there… is it for the pastor… is it for the music… or are you where God has called you to be?  There have been so many people leaving their churches lately because they don’t like how things are changing or they have taken an offense of how someone was treated.  Are those good reasons to leave a church?  What would happen if we all chose to go where God told us to go… or stay where God told us to stay?  Are you unhappy in your church… make sure you check your heart before you do anything… the grass is not always greener, especially if God is not directing it.  We all are a dot in His picture, but if your dot is not in the place where He wants you… will His picture be distorted? Hmmm, I wonder.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

I don’t know what you are going through, but God does… He cares.  Cry out to Him and lay yourself at His feet.  When feelings start to overtake remember His Truth!  Lord, I pray for each person that reads this… help us to keep our eyes focused on You… the One that holds life in His hands. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Rejoicing in Truth!