Wisdom Chooses

Ever wonder - How did I get to this place? Or better yet - Why God Why? Notice that we as humans have come up with excuses, names or reasons for all the little problems in our life.

• Now let me put a tiny little disclaimer in before I finish this post. I do know bad things happen to good people - and that not everything that happens to us and around us in our fault, or our doing or within our control.

God said things of this world would come against us. 1 Peter 5:8 (NIV) Be self controlled and alert your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

So now that I have the disclaimer out of the way I want to take a look at what is in our control.

Someone once said - "You will pay for it now or you will pay for it later- but you will pay for it". he was talking about some equipment and the much needed repairs and or replacement that would be eminent if not taken care of, but what other things in our lives can we apply that to? Our health, weight, finances, children, relationships, the list goes on. See we indulge ourselves or our children until we're/they're out of control and then we look around for someone or something to blame. We say well our health, it's part of getting old. Relationships, well it's their fault, or Finances it's the economy, and our children, they were born that way, they have an illness, it's their friends, T.V., the school.

Now again disclaimer - some of these reasons may be facts but they don't have to be the truth. John 8:32 says You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Free - Free of Poverty, free of rebellious children, free of being over weight, free of aching bones and joints.

But How? Go back to t 1 Peter 5:8 Be self controlled - Wait - Hmm see we indulge (too much) and then it catches up with us. All those things in our mind we say - "I'll take care of that later" - later does come.

Indulging as a treat is fine, but when it becomes a lifestyle you will pay at some point. If you give a child candy everyday and don't make them eat veggies or discipline them, you will pay, by their bad attitude, smart mouth, physical health and rebellion. Correct them now or fight with them later.

If you "shop til you drop" every weekend - you will pay at some point when those credit card bills come in and you don't have enough check to cover. God whispers - Go with out now or Go with out later.

If you eat everything you want and tell yourself I'll eat better tomorrow - tomorrow will come and probably with a few extra pounds.

See we fool ourselves. Just because we don't see an instantaneous consequence for our actions, we tell ourselves we are okay to continue on the same path. We will and do reap what we have sown in our lives. So if we want the course of our surroundings to change then we need to change what we are sowing. No it's not fun, and yes it will take time to turn this ship around. The wake of the current we have created is swift and strong. But our God is stronger.

Someone else told me "If you really want it you will make it happen, if not you will make excuses!

If I really want any of these things in life, I will need to hold myself accountable to the types of sowing that will produce the reaping I want. Pay now or Pay later - I will pay!

Wisdom chooses to do now - what it will be satisfied with later!

Father God, Please help me - I know you have given me a spirit of self control. Help me to use it in all areas of my life. Show me the paths to take that will reap a better tomorrow. Help me to listen and follow your whispers of wisdom.

In Jesus' precious name - Amen

New Study - Made to Crave

Today is the official start of the new study of "Made to Crave" by Lysa Terkeurst (President of Proverbs 31 Ministries) "Satisfying your deepest desire with God, not food".

Lysa Hosted a study with her new book last year when it first came out, however for whatever reason I looked in on it but did not do the whole study. So now the study is being offered again, this time hosted by another Proverbs 31 Author and Speaker Melissa Taylor . Great timing for me to start the new year and make better choices.

Our Word for the Week is Empowered. Every time we are temped with bad choices we need to remember that God has empowered us to make right choices.

As I read the introduction and 1st Chapter today, one of the lines that stood out to me was "Shallow desires produce shallow efforts." That really explains a lot of our failed attempts in life. So many times in life we just want to treat the outward manifestation of our problems such as being overweight rather than digging into the root of the problem. Have you ever pulled weeds in a flower bed before and had one break off at ground level? It does not take long before the evidence of that weed makes it's presence known again. That's the same result we often get with going on a diet. We lose the weight, but with out making real changes in our approach to food we soon after find ourselves overweight and struggling to get thin again.
Our Pastor told us that if we wanted something to change we needed to change something. So true, you can't do the same thing and expect different results, it won't happen. One day as I was pondering this and talking with God, He gave me this nugget. Lynn if you want permanent results you need to make permanent changes. This is what I want to do with my life, make positive, permanent changes.

One of the scriptures listed in the first chapter is 1 Corinthians 10:23 "I have the right to do anything," you say - but not everything is beneficial. " I have the right to do anything" - but not everything is constructive. NIV God lets us choose (free will) but that doesn't mean all the choices we make are good.

Father God, help me to make right choices help me to crave you and not the things of this world. Help me to see the differences between spiritual hunger and physical hunger. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Blessings,
Lynn

Welcome 2012

I don’t know as I am so into “New Years Resolutions” probably because I am honest enough with myself to know a year is a really long time to commit to something you haven’t been able to get yourself to do over the last year already. :) However this year I do want to try to make some changes in my life – “Life Style Changes” so to speak.

Being a Plan-a-lot-a-mus, as my daughter calls me I can overfill my day and year with all the wonderful things I want to do and accomplish 20 times over, so to limit my ideas and plans to just a few is hard, hence why the resolutions are probably broken. So even though there are several things I want to do this upcoming year they are really just a few overall goals I have. But foremost God and Family first.

For Starters: This year I want more of God in my life. He’s always in the for front of my mind, but I want to dive back into His word more than I did in 2011. I know that putting Him first will allow me to do things I never dreamed I could. It’s like He wonderfully allows you to do more with the little time you have left. One of the ways I want to spend more time with God is I want to blog more. I love the time I would spend researching things and looking up scripture to write my blogs. I also love the idea that it might the words that someone else needed to hear that day. Over the last year I have allowed myself to get a writers block. But it was a different type of writers block. This one had to do with PP – PC. What is PP –PC? People Pleasing – Political Correctness. See every time I would think of something I wanted to write about a thought would come (or the devil would plant a seed) what if so and so reads this it may offend them. Well as our enemy does, he uses part truths to deceive us into believing him. Yes it may offend some people but I have a voice and God will use me as a vessel if I let Him. And His word states they were offended for the words sake. I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I can’t help anyone either by being silent. So with that being said I am signed up to do Renee Swope’s Online Bible study “A confident Heart”. I will be spending time with God and learning to be more confident in stating God’s word. Walking in love does not mean that I have to bow down to everyone else’s opinion. I think a lot of us Christians have been deceived into believing we couldn’t be humble and speak up at the same time. I will be using my Growing in His Love Blog to record some of my learning and growing from that study. Funny this is the Second time that I have had the opportunity to do this study… Coincidence, I don’t think so.

Now one of the next things I want to accomplish this year is make a permanent change to my eating and fitness regiment. I want to get off the yo yo diet ride and learn to eat what my body needs and exercise not to just loose weight but to increase my longevity. God promises us a long life, but don’t I have a responsibility in this. With that being said I have had the opportunity more than once to do the “Made to Crave” (satisfying your deepest desire with God not food) Bible study with Lysa Terkeurst. Both Rene and Lysa are from Proverbs 31 Ministries. Again I don’t think it is a coincidence that this study has come to me more than once. This Study I will blog about on my blog “Living for the Master” .

More of God is my priority of resolutions, along with being healthy. But some of the other goals that I want to work on is finishing some of the many quilt projects that I have started. I have various reasons on each project why it is partial done, however they are still undone. Yesterday I mailed off a quilt yesterday to “American Hero Quilts” It was such a nice feeling to know that something was finished up and that a wounded soldier that put his or her life on the line for me would be comforted by something I made. This has given me a renewed drive to finish these quilts. Before I would finish the baby quilts because I had a shower to go to. But now I have this desire to finish the quilts to give to soldiers, and womens shelters, the homeless. Mom would be proud, she use to feed the homeless every week – maybe I can keep a few of them warm.

Last year we started a new tradition of monthly breakfasts with the kids and grandkids. This year we are continuing however we are going to do Birthday related lunches. I will still host and cook, however who ever has a Birthday that month gets to pick the menu. If we have multiple Birthday’s that month they may each get to pick a menu Item. I will repost this on each of my blogs. One Bible study will be on each of my Christian Blogs, and the quilting will be on my Quilt Blog, so this post is relevant for all three. The family fun will just randomly be posted on one or the other of the blogs. Seeing that I have very few blog posts last year, it will be interesting to see if my resolution to do more this year will continue or fade away.
Guess we won’t know for a year. :)

Blessing to all in the coming year.
Lynn

Shelf-ish or Farmer

Doing a little play on words here to illustrate a point. I'm asking myself and anyone who's reading this - what place does God have in your life? Which box would your walk with God fit in right now? Are you a "Farmer", planting your seeds of God's truth and wisdom every chance you get?Or perhaps you are "Shelf-ish" with God? You have your Bible and your books and CD's neatly set on the special "God Shelf". Do you have Him in His special spot not to get soiled and ruined? Hmm

I heard a story once about a woman who was buying a Bible for her young son and told the clerk she wanted it to be special and last him for a lifetime. The clerk responded with I would wish that he would read it and use it so much that it falls apart.

I used to be like that - afraid to bend the pages - Underline? oh no - Highlight? never! Not any more I'm wanting to be able to underline every scripture as having a special meaning in my life.
I want to wear my Bible out and know that God and I had some times together.

I am not saying to disrespect God or His word. We need to treat Him with the highest respect of anything. But I do feel there is a difference between respecting Him and using that as an excuse to not get close to Him. Worship the Creator not the created!

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.
See we think nothing of filling our bodies up with all sorts of sugar, caffeine, processed foods, but we think Gods going to strike us down if we bend a page in the Bible.

How we act about God and the things of God is a direct reflection of our relationship with Him. If we are spending time with Him and His word, we will be the "Sharing Farmer".

Matthew 12:34b For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
You can't help it. When you are full of His love and mercy, it can't help but come out of you. And if God isn't seeping out of you, then you need to take Him off the shelf and spend some time with Him.

Respect him as a Father, listen to and honor His wisdom and commands.
Love Him as a Daddy - crawl up on His lap and talk to Him. Tell Him your hopes and dreams and let Him comfort and protect you.
Share Him like a Farmer - plant the seeds of His word every chance you get!

Blessings everyone!
Lynn

The Christmas Story

Has the story been told too many times? Do we listen half heartily going yeah, yeah..
*Mary was virgin!
*The angel came to talk to her!
*Joseph married her anyway!
*They had no room at the Inn!
*A Baby was born in a Manger!
*There was a Star!
*Three Wise men came bearing gifts!
Yes - Yes and Amen.
Jesus is the reason for the Season - WOO HOO! Okay time for the presents, and eggnog.

So do we know the story too well? Do we know it so well that we don't listen anymore. Do we listen but not hear. Matthew 11:15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

A couple of weeks ago I was driving home from work, listening to Christian radio, and a child's voice came on and started reading the Christmas story. It caught my attention and I listened more closely. I was amazed that this child pronounced these words with such accuracy. Words I hadn't "heard" in a while. I welled up with emotion and almost started to cry. I held back because I was driving. I heard the Christmas story in my heart. It's not about a baby in a manger or about a savior being born. It's about OUR saviour being born.

The whole purpose of Him being born is and was to hang on a cross for me, for you, for all of mankind. This baby from the manger, was born, lived and hung on a cross so I could lift my head above my sins and look others in the eye. His birth is about a son that lived to show us a Fathers love (John 3:16) like no other love we will ever know.
Because of His birth - I can have life abundantly (John 10:10).
Because of His birth - I can have eternal life in heaven. (Romans 10:9-10).

Please don't just pass over the Christmas Story this year. Slow down, hear it in your heart. Share God's Love this season, it is the greatest gift you can give.
Lynn

Ever Wondered

Have you ever wondered if God had more blessings for you, but withheld because you were being disobedient?

Have you ever noticed how when you want something, you try to be on best behavior? Like God really didn't see how you were acting an hour ago.

Have you ever felt incredibly blessed and wondered how it could get any better?

Have you ever thought, how did Jesus do it? He was part human flesh, but never ever sinned.

Romans 3:20 For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.
Christ Took Our Punishment 21 But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. 22 We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
23 For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24 Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25 For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,

I've wondered - then I fall on my knees and thank God for His mercy and His grace and His Love!

Thank you Abba Father, Thank you Pappa - I love you Soooo Much!
Lynn

GPS or Emergency Kit

I've heard a couple different teachings about God being our GPS, that have really made an impression on me. Sometimes in life there are those revelations that God gives us that are really directional changes for us. (Like a GPS) The first time I heard it, I was at a women's conference and the speaker said, God is like your GPS, He tells you one step at a time where to go and what to do. Then you get to a point where He says "Continue forward until further notice". She pointed out that this is where we can often get ourselves in trouble.

After reflecting on this, God has revealed more to me. See we go for a while, but we get insecure or Prideful and think God's not watching so we second guess what He has told us to do. So we head out on our own, turning right, turning left and so on. But God is so good He (like the GPS) says, "Recalculating your Route". See God is ever present working to get us back to the plan He has for our life.

Now there is the other side to this. Some of us at times in our life, have not used or consulted GPS (God) for our road trip through life. We have chosen to put the pedal to the medal and throw caution, and wisdom to the wind. Then along the road you may have a flat tire, and so you throw out the emergency flares and triangles and change the tire, praying not to get hit by another car, but cursing God for letting you get the flat at the same time.

What is that about blessings and cursing coming from the same mouth?
James 3:9-12
9 Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God.
10 And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right!
11 Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water?
12 Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs? No, and you can’t draw fresh water from a salty spring

And God in his loving way protects you and keeps you from harm. You change the tire and don't give another thought to God, not even thanking Him for his protection, or a thought that it was only a flat tire and head down the road again. Pretty soon, the engine is over heating and you are stranded on the the side of the road again. "But God why have you forsaken me?" "Why did you let this happen?" , as you once again pull out your flares and emergency triangles.

So was it really God that led you here? Did you consult life's ultimate GPS - God, or did you plan and plot your own road trip and then ask God to go along with it?

A young person in my life, that hasn't always followed God's directions to the tee, has often had some great wisdom's from God that have touched my life. In the midst of a trial of having had someone do something bad to them, that person said it's all my fault. I said what, they did this to you, I don't understand. Then like a wrecking ball that knocked me off the chair, they said "But if I had entered into this situation the right way with God's direction and Blessing, this would not have happened to me." Wow - that shut me up.

What did we do or not do to get where we are at. Our life plays out one decision at a time. There are some exceptions to this, however a lot of the time, when life deals us a bad hand, if we are honest, a prior choice of our own, had a play in it. I've had some really rotten things happen to me in life, but if I'm honest, (as my friend stated) If I had consulted God on what to do and where to be, I wouldn't have been at this place to have the bad thing happen.

So as my life continues I want to use GPS (God's Protection System) not my Emergency Kit. I don't want to go on doing things my way and end up in hot water at every turn, then throw up the flares.

Proverbs 1:23 Come and listen to my counsel. I'll share my heart with you and make you wise.
Proverbs 1:33 But all who listen to me (Wisdom) will live in peace, untroubled by fear of harm.
Psalm 37:23 The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.
24 Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.

God is so awesome it is never too late to get back on track. Just like the GPS God recalculates your route from where you are now. God has a plan for each of our lives. He wants to use you in a mighty way, but you need to let him direct you and correct you to get you back on the right route.

So what do you want to take on your trip through this life GPS (Gods Protection System) or an Emergency Kit? I know what I'm taking.

Be Blessed.
Lynn