This morning in church we were asked to look at the person next to us (which is usually your family) and tell them what you are thankful for about them. It was actually really neat to look at the person in the eyes and speak truth to them. I happen to be in the middle of my husband and my daughter. I looked at my daughter and told her I was thankful for her testimony of God's faithfulness, to which I then turned to my husband who looked at me with a few tears in his eyes and told me; "I am thankful that you are walking this life with me, you are so brave." Being the woman that I am, I too shed tears, partly because of his words to me and partly because I don't feel very brave.
I have a dear friend who began going through some tough medical issues about the same time we began this unknown leap of faith we are on. I have found that many times we have called each other, or chatted on facebook, at times when each of us needed it. Maybe she was scared and God had given me the peace I needed that day to help her. On rough days for me she ended up being there to encourage me. I would be blown away that she could lift me up when she was facing upcoming surgery. Encouragement! Isn't it just the best?
1 Thessalonians 5:11 "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing."
Don't you find yourself drawn to people that just care about you or your situation without passing judgment? There is an older couple at the church we have been going to that do just that. We have talked maybe 4 times, they have prayed with us 3 of those times, prayed for open doors, provision and much more. This morning we talked to them for a while and he said, "God has really had you guys on my heart this week, I would like your address so that I could send you some support." I knew the love in his heart when his eyes filled with tears as he looked at us. I feel drawn to people like this. They have been such an encouragement to us and I will always be thankful for them.
Lord, may we all be encouraging to those around us, to our family and friends and those we meet along the way. Help us not to pass judgment on them, but to love them as they are, sons and daughters of the Almighty God.
Do you know Jesus? He knows you by name. He died for you and rose again to give you eternal life. He is the son of God, your Savior!!! He is the only way to heaven. Romans 10:9 says, "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." It's as simple as that.
"There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." Proverbs 14:12
I have learned this in many ways the hard way. I have come to the point in my life when I don't want to plan out what my future should look like. I have learned that it actually is a waste of valuable time. If I took off running with a direction in my life that looks good to me it would fail miserably. God already has a place for us - God already has our next steps prepared - God already knows what is best for me. As soon as I begin to plan things out and try to take control is when anxiety begins to creap in.
There is another Proverb that says "Many are the plans of a man's heart, but it is the Lord's will that will prevail." This brings comfort to me. So I will continue to bring my prayers to him. I will continue to seek his will. Our youngest daughter is registered for her first semester of college classes for the fall. She will live at home. I am excited for her and it leaves me also with "God please keep us living here" feeling. Those are my thoughts, those are my feelings, but that's all that they are - thoughts and feelings.
I can tell that my husband needs to preach. I believe that he has been annointed for this. So I will continue to pray for him. Right now he is working a job at Cherry Street Missions Ministry in Toledo. It has been a hard transition for him as it is an area of ministry that is completely different for him. Working with the homeless, the drug addicts...etc. This is where God has him now and I believe that he will grow in ways that will blow him away. And when God opens up the next door - well I think that will just be fun.
Are you waiting on some life plans? Are you wondering what might be next for you? Wondering about a decision you have to make? Keep praying and rest in his hands. Just rest there. And when you have those moments, those days when you've taken it back on yourself, give yourself some grace - and bring it back to him. He is already holding it.
Please pray for a clear direction for us. Your prayers are greatly appreciated.
Sometimes I pray so long for clarity, for an answer, for a direction and when I don't feel that I am hearing from God I begin to wonder. Not that he heard me, but if he will answer me, or how long will I have to wait. This morning I read Luke 18 "And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart." I needed to read this today. Not lose heart. He told the parable of the persistent widow who kept coming and kept coming with her request to the judge. He finally gave her justice so she would stop bothering him. Jesus said "And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
I am reminded to just keep on coming with my prayers. Have faith that he hears me and will act. I can be persistent with my prayers. I am reminded of the scripture that says "seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you." I can easily be seeking what I need in this life and forget to seek Jesus, my friend and my companion. Just to be with him. I am sitting here this morning and looking around outside at all the beautiful trees around my house. So high, so deep green from the rain. I hear the birds singing together, and once in a while I hear the sound of the Mourning Dove. A choir of birds singing for the Lord. Then I hear the sound of the cricket and once in a while a car drives by. A cool breeze with some humidity is blowing. I can't help but think about how God has all of this under his care. It is all his creation and I matter more than all of it. I am just a speck in this great big world but I matter to our heavenly Father. He loves little ole me. Hard to even get my hands around such a thought sometimes.
So today, remember to keep praying. He hears you, he has not forgotten you. He loves you. Thank you Jesus, thank you Jesus.
Last week my daughter told me about a website to go to where I could get $25 gift cards to some area restaurants for only $2. Wow, so cheap, so I bought a bunch of them. $250 worth for only $30. Awesome right - until I found the details. Dumb me got them so fast I didn't even take time to read the details. With minimum purchase of $35 or $45 - and on top of it The Melting Pot is a minimum of $75 per couple to eat there anyway. What a waste. We felt like eating Italian last night and started looking online for area Italian restaurants only to find that to order simple spaghetti it was $15.99 a plate. I then suggested we have our own romantic italian dinner at home, in our sunroom, with candles and music. So, off Tim went to Kroger for a bottle of wine while I prepared homemade spaghetti sauce. We were home alone, so that topped it off. Found a nice Italian music station on Pandora, and the weather was perfect. Amazing meal, glass of wine and even a little dancing. So much better than eating out and feeling guilty for spending $40 bucks. My spaghetti was way better anyway.
This morning I woke up to children playing in another yard. At first I was bummed it woke me up until I saw that it was 10:00. I NEVER sleep that late. I think I had some serious sleep to catch up on.
Last night we prayed and asked God to open the doors soon so we know where to step next. Plus I let God know that I am tired of thinking about all the "what if we..." and "maybe we should..." or "let's just go to..." After a while we can just tire of all those thoughts and a clear direction would be awesome. Yes, in God's time - we feel ready for some clarity. I wonder what God thinks!!! But in the meantime - God is amazing! The peace I feel is incredible. He does know the plans he has for us and I cannot forget that - ever!! Anything other than that is a lie and I will remember the truth.
So I am not usually up this early in the morning. The house is quiet and will be just my husband and I until this evening. We are hoping to accomplish some serious prayer and job searching today. Praying for clarity today!
As I was reading the scripture this morning I was struck by a few parables, the ones most of us know all too well. The one about the lost sheep and the lost coin. The 1 lost sheep out of 100, and how you go and look for the lost one and then rejoice when you find it. Or the lost coin, when you search and search until you find it, then rejoice when you do!! Both of these end with the same thing. "there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents..." and "there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Do you think that your sins are just too big to forgive? Do you ever feel ashamed by them that you don't even want to talk about them with God? Remember the TRUTH! Heaven rejoices when we repent. God doesn't condemn us or look down on us but celebrates with us when we repent. How cool is that?
When I was reading again the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15) I caught some words that I hadn't before. This son, took his inheritance and spent it all in wild living. He lost everything and was feeding the pigs when verse 17 says "But when he came to himself..." He must have had a moment when all of a sudden he thought "what am I doing?" He must have thought he had been out of his mind. So he went home to his father hoping to be treated as a servant but instead his father celebrated his return with a feast. The father said "for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to celebrate."
No matter what you have done Jesus loves you. He wants to celebrate with you a free life. A life that embraces his forgiveness - a new life.
Do you ever feel defeated? I do - I have. I watched the clip below (don't watch it till your done reading. :) and I was overwhelmed with, well, I'm not sure exactly how to descibe it.
When children are little they work so hard to learn things. As a parent, aunt, babysitter, grandparent or however you interact with children don't you notice how hard they try to learn a new task. When a child is learning to walk they fall so many times, banging their head even, but they still get back up and keep trying. When my girls were learning to ride the bike the same thing happened. And sports - mistakes made, game play improves. The list can go on. Do we teach children to quit? No, we cheer them on to keep trying, to not give up.
Now watch this clip.
I couldn't help but think about this little boy inspiring adults. How often do we, as we get older give up and feel defeated. Situatations in life seem so hard, they get so hard, and we just give up.
I want to re-learn to ride a bike, with this boy cheering me on. :)
Romans 12:11-23 "Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervant in Spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."
Awesome night on the West side of Toledo tonight. Tim and I went to a Community dinner at someones home. People were coming in and out from the area neighborhoods. Homeless and Doctors, the rich and the poor. It was by far the coolest mix of people fellowshipping I have ever seen. We talked with a homeless man in one conversation and then to a young dating couple who are both in med. school. One neighbor came in the house for food and asked if she could go and get her friend to come over. "Well of course" was her answer. Half hour later here she comes back with her friend. You see, everyone is welcome there. Nobody is allowed to donate for the food otherwise some might not come because they would feel bad if they can't give. We didn't know people but met a few and loved just watching the interaction among people.
It was the epitomy of what the body of Christ is suppose to be about. Just loving on people with no barriers between each other and giving, giving and giving to others. I plan on going again.
We gave a homeless man a ride home (not sure how your homeless if you have a home, although we dropped him off at a corner so who knows) and he told us that God will bless us for giving him a ride home. Sounds good to me, although he blessed me. As we listened to him talking to us from the back seat my eyes filled with tears. Seriously, why do I ever think I don't have enough? Why do I ever want more? Why am I not more content? He said "people tell me your shoes are so old and your clothes are so old, how can you talk about Jesus? I just tell them that it's not what's on the outside but what's on the inside that counts. I have Jesus in my heart? Have you ever felt Jesus so much in your heart that you just want to explode?" I could feel the tears in my eyes. He sat in my back seat for maybe 15 minutes but he blessed me and reminded me of what is most important in life.
How many times have you been guilty of worry? How many times have you been in a place of wondering how you will pay your bills and put food on your table? Maybe you haven't had to deal with these types of issues but most people have at some point in their life. Jesus talked about this in Luke 12 when he said "do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on." He goes on to talk about the birds and how he cares for them - how we are more valuable to him. "...how much more will I clothe you, O you of little faith! And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and all these things will be added to you."
I have read this so many times in my life. So many - but do we really take to heart the underlined words? I think in those trying times we can easily forget them. To "seek his kingdom" - well I think that means for him to be Lord of our life. We should seek relationship with him more than anything else in life. Is he in every aspect of your life? I know for me it's daily. The world has so much that can take our eyes off of him and distract us from what is most important. And remember that he knows what we need. Let's not forget that!!
Jesus concludes by saying "for where your treasure is there will your heart be also." I would love to be able to say that I have my heart in the right place all the time. It is a daily walk and a daily coming to him and laying everything in his hands. But the more we do the stronger our faith becomes. Never stop.
Today is a beautiful day outside - sunny - 70's - low humidity! I turned off the air conditioner and opened up all the windows - my favorite. "This is the day that the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it."
