thoughts from last week...
After a crazy busy week last week... & with everything going on in this nation & the world right now. I have been reminded what is most important... & that is prayer.
Is it not obvious that there is much shaking going on in this world right now?
...I do hope and pray that we would wake up and smell reality. Is not God allowing all of this that we might turn again, America? What happened to the nation that was blessed and prosperous and free? We have turned to anger, division, violence, blatant selfishness and blaming. ...Has anyone ever wondered if it was because we've forgotten why were blessed in the first place? Because GOD BLESSED America & we believed it was God's hand. ...but now we "bless" ourselves, and leave God out of it... and corruption runs rampant.
Oh America, turn again! Our God is loving and kind and always takes us back! Seek Him in times of trouble! Rest in His bosom, trust in His strength! & pray, yes pray with all your heart! He is listening, and longs to hear from you!
May God draw us near to Himself once again and restore His testimony and His promise in this nation once again. He is our protector, if only we would regard Him & listen and obey Him. Oh how we need Him!
remember this verse..
"O, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!" -Matthew 23:37
...could we not change this out to say "O America, America..."
May we turn again, to the God who has given us all that is good and remember His promises and His faithfulness. May we turn away from wickedness, self-righteousness, and humble ourselves and pray that this land may be healed.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Ever have one of those days where you get to a point where you can no longer keep your eyes open, and it feels like you have nothing left in you to pull through for the next however many hours you have to go? ....and then be miraculously given strength and peace, and joy in going above and beyond giving what was needed?
Today was one of those days, and it was so evident by the end of shift that it had been God's grace all along. He is good & his steadfast love endures forever.
...in the last month... it's like God has been bringing all these puzzle piece together. little experiences that make His life so much more real. I've tried for so long... questioned for so long why God has had to bring so many things into my life... questioning why so many times i've felt "misled" by signs or experiences I had felt were from the Lord. Questioning why God had let things happen that were seemingly "unfair"...always fighting with God... telling him that His will just didn't make sense... it just didn't seem to fit right... and work out right. God if you lead me down this path with all this... why are you not following through? I thought your will was always good?! why do I feel so confused... so conflicted... where is the peace from walking in your will? Where is the light that was supposed to open up the way by now?
...little did I know, that all the seemingly "dead ends" and "unfair" circumstances had much more meaning to the Lord than I could have imagined. Oh how he knows what we need. I've had to have my expectations squashed many a time throughout my life... and my plans fall through time after time... but I believe I'm finally learning to say "Have Your Way" and actually mean it. If His way is to build me up and then tear me down... so be it... I know that no matter what He has in store for me, it is a blessing because it is HE who is the one who is leading, and He loves me more than I could ever know & I have Him through it all, as my dearest friend.
Submission, Victory, Surrender, Conceding, Joy, Peace ...
...words that have become so much more real to me lately. How I praise my Lord! :)
the song playing in my car on the way home from work was called "When God Ran" sung by Phillips, Craig, & Dean. Shows the love of our great & wonderful Father.
Today was one of those days, and it was so evident by the end of shift that it had been God's grace all along. He is good & his steadfast love endures forever.
...in the last month... it's like God has been bringing all these puzzle piece together. little experiences that make His life so much more real. I've tried for so long... questioned for so long why God has had to bring so many things into my life... questioning why so many times i've felt "misled" by signs or experiences I had felt were from the Lord. Questioning why God had let things happen that were seemingly "unfair"...always fighting with God... telling him that His will just didn't make sense... it just didn't seem to fit right... and work out right. God if you lead me down this path with all this... why are you not following through? I thought your will was always good?! why do I feel so confused... so conflicted... where is the peace from walking in your will? Where is the light that was supposed to open up the way by now?
...little did I know, that all the seemingly "dead ends" and "unfair" circumstances had much more meaning to the Lord than I could have imagined. Oh how he knows what we need. I've had to have my expectations squashed many a time throughout my life... and my plans fall through time after time... but I believe I'm finally learning to say "Have Your Way" and actually mean it. If His way is to build me up and then tear me down... so be it... I know that no matter what He has in store for me, it is a blessing because it is HE who is the one who is leading, and He loves me more than I could ever know & I have Him through it all, as my dearest friend.
Submission, Victory, Surrender, Conceding, Joy, Peace ...
...words that have become so much more real to me lately. How I praise my Lord! :)
the song playing in my car on the way home from work was called "When God Ran" sung by Phillips, Craig, & Dean. Shows the love of our great & wonderful Father.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
His will
...As I was sitting down today with my knee wrapped in an ice cold towel, waiting for my eve "routine" of my knee therapy to be over, I pondered before the Lord... no matter if i use ice or heat, or do PT or take meds or what have you... this meniscus tear will only heal if the Lord is willing. There's a chance I may need surgery, but at this point... it's all up to the Lord, I can only follow his commands.
The freedom that comes with knowing the the Lord's Will will happen... is so precious.
When I first got injured, I was so frustrated that all of the things I had worked towards to have a great year of snowboarding, and all the purchases I made, and the free season's passes I received and the different types of contacts i tried for better vision on the slopes... all got washed down the drain. So many little frustrations...and like I mentioned before in a previous post... the Lord knew how to push my buttons. He knew what little comforts...and what things still held me in chains.
"The heart of a man plans his ways, but the LORD establishes his steps" -Proverbs 16:9
it's as if the Lord were asking me... will you let Me accomplish My Will in your life? or are you going to keep fighting for your own way?
But the Lord always knows how to pull the rug from under us, and wake us up. ...usually by knocking us down.
...i knew that all these little mishaps had the Lord's Name written all over it & so I sought Him out. I waited before Him for real. ...And I cam to realize that I hadn't really been listening to the Lord in a while. I hadn't really been searching out His will. And when I sought Him out...as He has always promised...
I found Him. & I again experienced what it meant to have sweet fellowship with Him, to speak to Him as friend, even though He is my King.
....and I tell ya. It is better than snowboarding down crystal on a sunniest day with the fluffiest snow. WAY better :). It is living! It is real! And He is my Lord. Where have I been?
...I saw a glimpse in the last couple days of a possible opportunity that the Lord may be giving me. I don't know for certain yet...but it gave me a glimpse and a reminder that God is always good, and His will is ALWAYS for good. Why do we feel like we need to figure out our own way?
He knows us. He LOVES us. & He wants us to be near to Him. & Why shouldn't He, when all is said & done...that is the best place for us.
To know that His Will will work out in the end.... may we understand this in reality, and be willing to trust Him, ...by faith without doubting.
now it is our job to pursue after this will of His with our whole heart ... to pursue after the Lord & His Kingdom & His Righteousness with our very lives.
AND, to be in His will is to know peace, not even peace that the world would give, but HIS peace....Something I frequently forget as I try to find my own way.
May the Lord be our Help, our Ebenezer.... He is our Rock. & His will is a stone that is eternal. It does not waver nor disintegrate with the tides. It is from everlasting to everlasting.
May we walk in it without ever doubting.
Praise be to our Lord! He is seated on the throne! & He will bring all to completion according to His perfect will.
my lips sing Hallelujah :).
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
I am not offended with You.
Lately... there have been a lot of little discomforts that haven't taken me out per say, but have definitely been "annoyances", if you will. Things that made me ask the Lord, why these bothersome things have been allowed, and what lesson He's trying to teach me through them.
The thing is... these things don't seem serious enough to me to be considered a real "trial" or "hardship"... but they're enough to just bring a little discomfort enough to make me somewhat frustrated.
I would have to say... that the Lord knows how to push my buttons. He certainly does. He knows how to put the slightest discomfort in my life and the littlest frustration to shine light in to who I am without Him.
It also shines light on how much I depend on the small comforts of life to keep me going.
I recently read the story of Mimosa, a young Indian girl who heard very minimally of God's love when she was a child and then was brought back into a horrible life in Indian caste culture, and then taunted time after time again... because She continued to put her hope in this God she knew barely anything about. But through trial after trial after trial, she worshiped this God, and the Holy Spirit taught her of Him. And when she lost a child, or when her and her children were going without food, and her husband was ill... or when she had no income or when those around her insulted her in the worst ways, She would say to God... "I am not offended with You".
There are times when i've been through real trials that tested my faith but I knew they drew me closer to the Lord... but it's the little things that sometimes can get me the most and make me most frustrated, asking God, why Lord have you allowed this? It was really unnecessary...
...funny though, that the Lord knows the truth: It is necessary, to shine light on the fact that I'm still dependent on these things for my pleasure, my contentment. I have not yet learned to be content in all things. But Oh, how great a teacher is our Lord. whether or not the sun shines tomorrow, can I praise my Lord? Even if my efforts in the matters of this world turn out to be in vain... can I say praise the Lord!
And it all these things, I have found... it makes me seek Him wisdom more... because I know it is far above my own.
I was reading in Proverbs 2 today...
"My son, if you accept my words, and store of my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, --indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." -verses 1-6
No matter what comes my way, big trials or small annoyances to my flesh and my mind... can I truly say "Lord, I am not offended with You"?
Can I say, even in frustration and confusion... "Lord, teach me your wisdom" ?
May this be the reflection of my heart before the Lord.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Sacrifice.
"Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I tell you." Genesis 22:2
As I read through this chapter tonight, it seemed to be a call from the Lord to take that which I love to the alter on the mountain. It seems almost cruel of the Lord to ask this of Abraham... especially since in his command he even addresses Isaac as the one whom he loves. But the Lord had to test Abraham to see who had first place in his heart. Isaac was Abraham's whole world... it's where the promise of God lay, Isaac was who determined Abraham's future. Isaac was the beginning of a promise yet to be fulfilled... and yet the Lord asked Abraham to give up the promise, give up the future, give up the one whom God said would fulfill all these things... in order to show God that his heart was on the Lord, not on the blessings of the Lord. This test of the Lord was a true test to show where Abraham's true love lied.
As I think about my own life. I think about my love for my family, and my friends ... & all the people I care about. I think about my love for little pleasures and my hope in a future. I reflect once again on what things I let come before the Lord... & also what promises I feel the Lord has given me... clinging to those, instead of the Lord.
...today did I choose to watch TV or read the Word first? Did my need to make it through the starbucks drive-thru cut down my morning devo time? Do I spend more time thinking about the future... or being obedient to the Lord today?? ...knowing that the Lord may return when I am not expecting.
I feel there are a lot of things that need to be brought up to the alter on the mountain to be sacrificed. I could guess at a lot of things that should go. ...But the Lord asks for what we love the most. Maybe not all of the things we bring up to the Alter get burned up... see Isaac was spared. But that is up to the Lord... we must be willing to sacrifice that which is most precious to us.
"If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." - Luke 14:26
...we often see this verse as such a hard one to swallow. But if my love for my family got in the way of my love for the Lord, would I be willing to sacrifice them? If my love for the city of Seattle got in the way of the Lord's will for me... could I say "Lead me Lord, I will go". If I love to travel, and I desire to see the world... and dream about what the future might hold and what big calling the Lord might have for me.... and then the Lord says, sit, wait, be obedient to me now, in the little things. Am I willing to sacrifice the longings and the loves of the soul/body, to satisfy the heart of my Lord?
....Oh, but if we only knew that when we satisfy our Lord's heart, and give up the things to which our flesh clings, oh how free we are to be satisfied in a full way in the Lord!!
How free we are to walk in the will of the Lord, and not be burdened with our own weights, our future expectations, our love of the world, our guilt.
So may we come before the Lord and ask of Him what He would have us bring to that alter on the mountain in Moriah. *note Moriah means "God is my teacher". May we have teachable hearts... and submit to the school of Christ, letting Him deal with the many other loves/idols in our lives. And be free to be Christ's.
Goodnight friends. :)
As I read through this chapter tonight, it seemed to be a call from the Lord to take that which I love to the alter on the mountain. It seems almost cruel of the Lord to ask this of Abraham... especially since in his command he even addresses Isaac as the one whom he loves. But the Lord had to test Abraham to see who had first place in his heart. Isaac was Abraham's whole world... it's where the promise of God lay, Isaac was who determined Abraham's future. Isaac was the beginning of a promise yet to be fulfilled... and yet the Lord asked Abraham to give up the promise, give up the future, give up the one whom God said would fulfill all these things... in order to show God that his heart was on the Lord, not on the blessings of the Lord. This test of the Lord was a true test to show where Abraham's true love lied.
As I think about my own life. I think about my love for my family, and my friends ... & all the people I care about. I think about my love for little pleasures and my hope in a future. I reflect once again on what things I let come before the Lord... & also what promises I feel the Lord has given me... clinging to those, instead of the Lord.
...today did I choose to watch TV or read the Word first? Did my need to make it through the starbucks drive-thru cut down my morning devo time? Do I spend more time thinking about the future... or being obedient to the Lord today?? ...knowing that the Lord may return when I am not expecting.
I feel there are a lot of things that need to be brought up to the alter on the mountain to be sacrificed. I could guess at a lot of things that should go. ...But the Lord asks for what we love the most. Maybe not all of the things we bring up to the Alter get burned up... see Isaac was spared. But that is up to the Lord... we must be willing to sacrifice that which is most precious to us.
"If anyone comes to me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." - Luke 14:26
...we often see this verse as such a hard one to swallow. But if my love for my family got in the way of my love for the Lord, would I be willing to sacrifice them? If my love for the city of Seattle got in the way of the Lord's will for me... could I say "Lead me Lord, I will go". If I love to travel, and I desire to see the world... and dream about what the future might hold and what big calling the Lord might have for me.... and then the Lord says, sit, wait, be obedient to me now, in the little things. Am I willing to sacrifice the longings and the loves of the soul/body, to satisfy the heart of my Lord?
....Oh, but if we only knew that when we satisfy our Lord's heart, and give up the things to which our flesh clings, oh how free we are to be satisfied in a full way in the Lord!!
How free we are to walk in the will of the Lord, and not be burdened with our own weights, our future expectations, our love of the world, our guilt.
So may we come before the Lord and ask of Him what He would have us bring to that alter on the mountain in Moriah. *note Moriah means "God is my teacher". May we have teachable hearts... and submit to the school of Christ, letting Him deal with the many other loves/idols in our lives. And be free to be Christ's.
Goodnight friends. :)
Sunday, January 6, 2013
Clear the Stage
so much truth in this song...
lets clear the stage of our idols, return to our first Love, and let God have 1st place.
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