Fear and Anxiety

Fear and anxiety have become a large monster for a lot of people.

"Each week is a week of progress.
Steady progress upward.
You may not see it,
But I do.
Courage.
When climbing a steep hill,
a man is often more conscious of the weakness of his stumbling feet
then of the view,
the grandeur,
or even the upward progress.
Persevere,
Persevere.
Love and laugh.
Rejoice." -God Calling

Ever feel like you are at a standstill?  Feet of clay.   Mired down?
Can't seem to move forward?
Fall on His mercy and presence.
Follow His pointing the way.
Don't give up.
He walks with you.
Even while feeling like your feet are stuck in clay.
Don't know which direction to go?
It doesn't have to be something crazy!
It is often something on your path already!!
Show me Lord.
Give me courage to do what You want me to do.
Sometimes I feel like such a ball of anxiety.
Please help me.

Love and Laughter!
Lord, my heart is not so pure that I run to You because it is Your will.
Sometimes I run to You because I know You have my heart in your hands.
I know that You are the only one who can calm me.
You can talk to me where no one else can reach.
You have the power to reach others where no one else can.

Love and Laughter.
Have you found a way to spread it?
Have you found a way that you enjoy?

Perhaps that is where your ministry lies?

Where does my significance come from?

"Be calm,

be true,

be quiet.

I watch over you.

Rest in My love.

You are mine."

 

Jake the Pirate Cake with Treasure Chest and Cannon

To start this cake,

First I figure out what I am making,
then I figure out how to make it!

I used the stadium pan - Nordic Ware Heavy Cast Aluminum 9 Cup Stadium Pan Nordic Ware.  I figured the lines of the stadium looked alot like a ship!

 I made the stadium pan according to instructions.

Then I made colored layers for a 9x12 pan using 2 cakes mixes.


I wrapped the cooked cakes well and froze them.

I made a double batch of buttercream frosting.

I took the cake out of the freezer and measured it and cut it for the treasure chest.  

I frosted the layers, then stacked them and frosted again.

I wrapped the frosted cake and froze it again.

It may not look like much now,
but this is going to be your treasure chest!

I made another double batch of buttercream frosting.

Next you will shape the boat cake.

Frost it with some chocolate frosting.  
The lines in the nordic
pan will make it look more 'woodlike'.


Carve your treasure box cake.
Make the lid for your treasure box by using the top layer of your
treasure box cake.
You will need to support the lid with some type of structure.
I used this plastic lid to put the treasure box top on.

This is your lid, frosted.

Frost the rest of the treasure box and put two skewers to prop the lid on.

Next is your cannon.
Make a batch of rice krispies treats and shape into balls
and a cannon.

Melt the chocolate bark, dip cannon and balls into the chocolate and
let it dry.

Make the sails with the computer.
Print off the sails.

Cut them to the size you want and tape onto skewers.
put a main skewer through the sails to stand on the cake.

Use an empty Keurig coffee container as the mast.

I used the invitation to the party for the flag,

and the picture on the sails of the birthday boy.



Use yellow licorice and secure it with toothpicks to the boat.

I used a plastic lid, lined with aluminum foil to make the chocolate
backing of the top ship cabin.  I poured melted chocolate bark into it.

Let it cool.

Used ritz cracker
 and chocolate for the steering wheel.

Made the boat cabin by using a small cake pan.

Covered the cannon with black fondant.

Made the wheels of the cannon with ritz crackers and chocolate bark.

Made the railings on the top cabin with chocolate bark and toothpicks.

Coming soon!  More pictures and complete Instructions on how to make this cake!

Freed from being a downcast Slave.

My neighbors were out last night.
Drunk.
One fellow, who is a registered sex offender, was talking loudly and
standing in my driveway.  
I think they realize my husband is not home.

Thank You Lord, that You tell me over and over not to be afraid.
Thank You for our dogs.

"My soul waits for the Lord,
He is my help and my shield."   ps.  33:20


"Seek Me.  Seek Me First.
No perils can terrify you.
Persevere.
Hold on in My strength.  
Life apart with Me.  
In the world, but apart with Me.
Go forth from your secret times of communion." 
-God Calling

Lord, please help me not to have the spirit of a downcast slave.
Help me to have Your spirit that is full of life and joy.
Knowing who you are and knowing who I am.

"No matter the circumstances,
I have learned to give thanks in all things."
Phil.

"God created us for so much more than self preservation or self promotion.
When we follow our natural inclination to preserve and promote ouselves or perform for others, we eventually end up in a place of darkness and doubt.  I have to take my focus off of myself .   Turn my focus to Him.   Think of His strengths instead of my weaknesses." -Renee Swope

Judges 6:12-15

 

¹² When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon, he said, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.”
¹³ “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
¹⁴ The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”
¹⁵ “Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family

"Gideon had to stop thinking of himself as the runt of his family and start seeing himself as a child of God.   A mighty warrior in his Father's eyes.
Whether we had a great family or not, our hearts will only find lasting confidence when we find our identity as children of God."
-Renee Swope

I need to ask God to show me what triggers my doubts,
help me to turn away from focusing on myself,
Turn to Him.
I need to listen to what HE says about what He thinks of me,
and who HE IS.
Hopefully I will turn to Him and my doubts will draw me into a
deeper place of dependence on Him
and a deeper knowledge, understanding of Him.

" “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”   
Is. 30:15

March 28, 2014

Didn't get my prayer time today.

How did that happen?

Wasn't feeling good.

Thankful for the blessings of my family.
For the blessings of my neighbor getting a good job.
My husband having a safe trip.

For my three beautiful children
And their beloved spouses whom they love dearly.

For the grandchildren.

Thank you, Lord.

Just thank YOU!


 

Poor me.

Please teach me your way, Lord.
Please help me to walk in Your truth.
Give me an undivided heart so that I will revere Your name.
ps. 86:11

A time to embrace.... Ecclesiates.

A caring embrace isn't just a polite sign of welcome.
It is an affirmation of that person's worth.
Sometimes it might be the only thing keeping a person from
falling deep into their own attitude of self pity.
The poor me attitude, the stench of self pity, repels other people.  Sometimes we might need to get out of our own self,
and offer a caring embrace to someone who is isolated and alone.

It is easier just to go about our own business,
it is less tiring,
nose to the grindstone,
self survival.

But,
As I become more aware of God in my life,
I find that I am becoming more free to care about others.
Actually, I find that I am getting the compulsion to get out of myself
and think about others needs!

I will walk about in freedom because I have sought out your laws.  ps. 119

 

Be Careful How you Think, Your life is Shaped by your Thoughts

Refuse to think about the problems of tomorrow.

My message to You is trust and wait.

I am your Guide.

Do not fear the way ahead.

I have taken care of everything.

-God Calling

 

However you feed your mind,

that is what you become.

Your mind feeds on whatever you immerse it in..

 

Spend much time in prayer.

It is the linking of the soul, mind, and heart to God.

 

Don't assume that a person with alot of knowledge has alot of wisdom.

Wisdom can be found in the most unusual and unexpected places.

 

SPEND TIME IN PRAYER!

 

The way of transformation is the way of Divine Companionship.

 

 I have learned how to be satisfied, content, not disturbed in whatever state I am in. 

I have learned the secret of facing every situation.

God infuses inner strength into me.

I am sufficient in Him.

My God will fill to the full your every need according to His riches.

Phil. 4:11

 

Lord, I look forward to being this trusting of You.

 

Guide my path.

Help me to love You and trust You.

"I am with you, Do not fear. 

Your heights of success will be won

by the daily persistent doing of what I said.  

Daily

Steady

Persistent

Say 'all is well' to everything.  

All IS well."

-God Calling

 

He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.

I am finding myself at a place where I am seeing more and more needs of others that beg to be met.

When resources are limited - who wants to give them away?

When You are not involved,

I am by my very nature greedy, self seeking,

focused on survival, and self protective.

You alone give me the desire and strength and confidence to give away my time and resources. 

 

He who observes the wind and waits for all conditions to be favorable will not sow,

and he who regards the clouds will not reap.  

 Ecc. 11:4

 

Go Ahead and Sow!

We are human after all...

Prayer time is a time to gain a more intimate knowledge of God.

Yet, when I try to pray,
the darts of distraction beg me to get up and walk away.

"You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul,

all your mind, and all your strength.  

 Mark 12:30

 

One thing I am learning is not to try to 'fix' people.

Rather than focus on what I want to offer,

I need to focus on what the other person actually needs.

I need to focus on meeting other pople's needs rather then

forcing my agenda on them...

to meet my own needs of approval.

 

Often time I see church people as having an agenda.

Their goal as I see it,

is to be a notch on their post of people 'they got to church',

rather than to meet a need.

 

I realize that sometimes, when I give,

I want the other person to know just how much this is costing ME.  

I don't want to be taken for granted,

treated like a doormat. 

I want the other person to appreciate my sacrifice and not just expect me to fill their need becaue they have a need!

 

"Yet while we were still sinners He died for us." 

 

He died for us,

even though we don't 'get it'

and we don't appreciate it. 

 

I realize how not Godlike I am.  

I LIKE people to know what I have done for them.

I LIKE to be appreciated. 

I don't always give without the hopes of being thanked. 

 

 

My success is the measure of God's will and mind that I have revealed to those around me.

 

"I regret to say that many of the religious people I have known in my life did not show me love.   They did however show me rejection, criticism, and judgement.   Religious people love conditionally.   They love those who are just like them.   Anyone different from them frightens them.  Religious people want everyone to clean up.   The problem is their definition of clean up differs widely. Religious attitude often times is full of

pride, criticism, and judgement.

Many people have tried religion and found it to be an empty experience."

Reduce Me to Love by Joyce Meyer

 

Lord, I am sorry for the times I have not offered You to others,

but instead,

I offered them pride, criticism, and judgement.

 

What Joyce is saying, is we need relationship, not religion.

 

As we get into these religious groups, we want to be 'in' we want to 'clean up' and belong and we adopt the same misconceptions. 

I realize that I have done this without even realizing it.

 

How is it that I am still looking for my reward from people .  

Lord, help me to trust You. 

Help me to long to hear from You. 

 

"Well done good and faithful servant."

 

   Help me not to need

elevation and praise from people.  

Help me to long for and be satisfied with the praise and approval of you.  

 

"This is the path, walk in it."

 

Iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend.

As I was growing up,

John Wayne was the archetypal American male. 

Self sufficient, independent.

Weakness was when a person needed another persons help.

 

 

However, as I read scripture,

I realize how skewed that view is.

 

Iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend.

Proverbs 27:17

 

Where no counsel is, the people fall:

but in the multitude of counselors there is safety

Proverbs 11:14

 

"I can do all things through Christ

who strengthens me."

Philipians 4:13

 

Men of scripture, like, St. Paul concluded that

we might not rely on ourselves, but on God.

 

We face an unkown future,

We don't know what lies ahead.

We went to visit a friend who was diagnosed with lung cancer.

They give her a year to live.

What would I do if I was told I had a year to live?

Then, I realized, in reality, I only have this moment.

I may have less than a day to live!

Only God knows.

 

Life is a learning opportunity.

I have to ask God what He wants me to learn from the situations I face.

Daily prayer prepares me to receive direction and intruction from Him.

He often encourages me with His presence, promises,

and interprets circumstances of life.

Time after time,

as I experience God's faithfulness, grace, and power,

I hope I can gain the confidence to say

"I can do all things through God,

who gives me strength.

 

Trusting in God may mean regrouping with Him until the fog clears so we know how to take the next step.

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,

to not depend on your own understanding.

Seek His will in all you do

and He will show you what path to take.

Proverbs 3:5-6 

Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good.

I came home from work late at night,
only to be greeted by my intoxicated neighbor.
He told me that the neighbor who lives on the other side of me
put a gun to him, and threatened to kill him.
He said he shot the gun in the air several times.
I came inside and my husband told me that indeed several shots had been fired.  Nobody bothered to call the police!
I was furious!   I thought of the danger to us, the stupidity,
the fact that now that they had gotten away with it, maybe they would do it again.   I was livid, but did not know what to do.   I went to bed.   Angry.

I woke up still angry.  Thinking about the danger.   Also thinking about the fact that the next door neighbor is a parolee.  Furious that my husband didn't call the police.

I had my prayer time. 

Do not let yourself be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:21   

"God's word says people need a relationship with Him, not a religion.   If a young man is in prison because he never knew the love of a father, never had a relationship with his father, how is religion going to help him.   Religious people love conditionally, they love those who are just like them.   Anyone who is different from them, frightens them.   Religious people want everyone to 'clean up'.   The problem is, their definition of clean up differs widely.   Unconditional love does not allow people to remain the same, instead it loves them while they are changing". 
reduce me to love by joyce meyer

Before I had my prayer time I was furious with my husband, my neighbors, myself.    I was afraid because of what had happened the night before.
God gave me peace again. 

God knows that we are capable of loving,
even when we don't feel it.
He loves us enough to cover us.
He knows that we have the capacity to be astoundingly extradordinary,
not in spite of where we have been, but because of it.

He gave me freedom to love again.  And not be afraid.
But don't get me wrong,
if I am home, and that happens when I am home,
I WILL call the police.

Dirty Feet

                   Thank You for this beautiful day!

Jesus did the menial dirty task of washing his disciples feet.

I am sure He was tired and would have loved for someone else to do it.

But instead of waiting for some tired other person to do it,

He set about doing it Himself.

He knew exactly what He was doing.

It was not a glorified position,

It was not comfortable.

It was not even desireable.

Yet He was showing us what He wants us to do.

 

 

I am watching and waiting for You.

"Your foolish little activities are valueless in themself.

Seemingly trivial or seemingly great moments,

all deeds are alike if directed by Me.

Just cease to function except through Me."
-God Calling

"I look up to You, I am Watching and Waiting."   -Psalm 23

 

"Some people are sent into our lives for the soul purpose of being sandpaper to us.   Not only do others have rough edges, but so do we.   Learning to walk in love with unlovely people and learning to be patient in trials are probably the two most important tools God uses to develop our spiritual maturity.   Believe it or not, all those obnoxious people in our lives help us.   They sharpen and refine us (in our obnoxiousness) for God's use."
-Joyce Meyer 

Courage.

I am Here.

Fear not.

Can you really trust Me?

I am a God of Power.

Just trust.

I cannot,

and I will not fail you.

-God Calling

 

 "Turn around on the path you are on,

to whom can you lend a helping hand?"

What's my purpose?

WHAT's MY PURPOSE?

 

 

 

 

I am not primarily called to

DO something.

(motherhood, teaching, selling, preaching)

I am called PRIMARILY to be in relationship

TO Someone.

The job is not more important than the relationship to God.

God is more important than

what He called me to do.
 

My life,

in all it's importance or lack of importance

 finds its meaning in Him.

He wants time with us!

Start small, five minutes.
Use devotionals to help you if you like.
Just read one devotional a day for five minutes.
Commit yourself to these five minutes a day.
See what happens!

Good devotional, books:

God Calling
My Imitation of Christ
So Long Insecurity
A Gentle Spirit
Intimate Moments
the Bible
Abandonment to Divine Providence
Reduce Me to Love


 

To give or not to give........ is that the question?

What is the balance between giving
                                                  -and being responsible for our own affairs?
I know I am having a hard time understanding this.
Resources of time, energy, resources, relationships.

 

BAM!   

None of it is mine!

"Earths aims are not for you.  

To follow out My guidance means

to carry out instructions given with full knowledge of you and the results

Withdraw into the calm communion with Me.

Rest, rest in that calm and peace.

Life knows no great joy

than you will find in converse and companionship with Me.  

When your soul finds its home of rest in Me,

then it is then that real life begins.

 

And this is life eternal, to know God.

So immature, so childish, so empty is that so called living before that.

I shower love on you.

Pass love on.

Do not fear.

To fear is as foolish as if a small child with a small coin, but a rich father, fretted about how rent and bills should be paid.

You need to trust Me for everything." -God calling

Politics of the work place.

March 16

Thoughts of work, my boss, the politics of the work place,
how I am to be someone that impacts others for good.
How do I stay out of the mud and the mire?

"Do not SAY what you think about Me.

My words need none of man's explanation.

REFLECT Me.

I can explain to each heart.

Make Me real, and leave Me to do My work."

-God Calling

 

As I recall the truth about God and review his strengths,
I am forced to think thoughts beyond my own.
Than, new,better, and even creative thoughts and options begin to appear.
And peace comes.
With it, the ability to think more clearly. -devotions for women on the go pg 80

One kind word is more important to God than a statesman's speech.

 

Servants, be obedient to your physical masters, having respect for them, and eager to please them, in singleness of motive and with all your heart, AS SERVICE TO GOD.    Not in the way of eye service -as if they were watching you,  and only to please men, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God heartily and with your whole soul.  You masters act on the same principle thoward them and give up threatening and using violent and abusive words.   Knowing that He who is both their master and yours is no respecter of persons.   There is no partiality with Him.   In conclusion, be strong in the Lord, be empowered through your union with Him, draw your strength from Him.  Ephesians 6  

The silent witness.

I turned to the person who witnessed an event

and asked them if they had just heard the same thing I did.  

The witness wouldn't say anything.

They wouldn't validate what I had heard and seen.

Did it really happen?

And the doubt set in.....

I don't want

 to be

the silent witness.

I have to be careful because the things I say,

people may take to heart. 

So I have to SPEAK LIFE.

People don't know who they can trust.
 

"Your cross is you.   You are only an instrument,

not yours to decide how or when or where you are to act.

I plan all that.

Make yourself very fit to do My work.

All that hinders your activity must be cured.

Take up your cross each day.

The cross given to each of you is only

a cross provided on which you can crucify the self of yours that

hinders progress and joy and prevents the flow through your being

of My invigorating Life and Spirit.

Listen to Me,

Love Me,

Joy in Me,

Rejoice."  -God Calling

Do not be afraid, and do not inspire fear.

People don't know who they can trust.

Do not dismiss what others tell you,

Validation.

Of their feelings, their fears, their dignity.

Just because what they are saying didn't happen to you....

Does not mean it didn't happen to them..

I want to be a person who is trustworthy.

Please Lord, Guard my heart and my mouth.

What is my motivation?

Let my motivation be YOU.

I am not looking to be a hero,

I am not looking to be trusted.

But

 

In the event that You may lead others to me,

 

Please let me be 

TRUST    WORTHY.

 

The trickle down theory.

March 12

"It is more blessed to give than to receive."  Acts 20:35

Sometime it is actually a blessing for another person
that I receive what they are offering!  

Pride gets in the way.
I have a hard time accepting things, thoughtfulness from others.  

But in receiving, often, I am letting another person have the gift!

Often time that gift is dignity.

That person may be offering me something that they know I would like.
They have thought it through, and honestly,
it would be a slap in their face to refuse it!

There is a time for graceful receiving!
There is a time for
accepting,
and appreciating others ability to show their love for me!
 

March 13 - The trickle down theory.

Your spouse, your friend, preacher, teacher, counselor,
is NOT your rescuer.

Hopefully they are a blessing to you.

But if you have been looking for a rescuer, look up,
God has a plan for your life.   
What is your struggle?   
Cling to God and He will bring you through to the other side.

I had the pleasure of listening to one of my children praise their spouse.
What a blessing to my ears it was!   They said this person was amazing.
This person cooked, cleaned, and helped with the tasks around.  
It lightened my whole being
 and gave me a sense of hope and joy-
To hear such positive thoughts on the one who was walking through life with them!  

I do understand how no one is  perfect.
We all know this all too well! 
Most often we are very quick to point out others imperfections! 
I do understand that our spouse is not our rescuer.

But when I heard of the blessings that their spouse was to them,
I had a revelation!

How I speak about others, my spouse, has a direct impact on others!

I can uplift my spouse and others,
or I can point the finger at their imperfections.
WHAT!??  They are not perfect??!!  They are not God!!!??

Thank you, child of mine, for sharing the blessings of your spouse with me.
Thank you for helping me realize what type of impact it has on others.
Thank you for choosing to see the positive charactaristics and blessings this spouse of yours has. 

Lord, please continue to bless the children you have given me,
bless their spouses and children.

Seek God alone.

"Seek God alone.
All else is irrevelant.
We should stop preaching to souls about the state of pure faith
or pure love, about the cross, or the sweetness of religion.
For everyone is different.
And these matters maybe unsuitable to them.
Instead, let us tell everyone who loves God
about self abandonment to the divine action in general
.....Let us not dishearten, nor rebuff, nor drive away
a single soul from seeking that high perfection to which He calls everyone.
He wishes only that He can guide,
direct,
befriend them
in proportion to the closeness of their union." 
Abandonment to Divine Providence, pg 63

Furious

I was furious about something my spouse was doing.
And I could not get him to stop.

"A woman does not find her her life in her husband.
She cannot find in him, look to him,
for only what God can supply.
As long as her desire is to (control, contain,possess) him,
is set on him, the needs she so desparately longs for cannot be met.
If she somehow molded him into what she wanted,
her lust would not be satisfied.
It is a lust to control.
Lust can not be satisfied.

When a woman's heart is turned,
when she sets her desire back on God,
a new freedom will come.

The grasping will be gone from her voice and her attitude.  
She will be able to move into relationship with her husband
based on wholeness rather than
inappropriate neediness, hurt, and woundedness.

She will be able to speak into her husband's life
with more effectiveness because
her worth and identity no longer depend on his response.
.
Free now, she is able to be the help to him
When the woman stops looking to her husband for needs
he cannot meet,
she frees him to meet the ones he can,
the need for intimacy
and the shared responsibilty for the marriage and the family."   
-Jane Hansen A Gentle Spirit

"See the good in others.  
Love, Laugh, make the world, your little world happy.
As ripples caused by a flung stone stir the surface of a whole pond,

so your joy making spreads in ever widening circles,
beyond all your knowledge,
all anticipation.
Joy in Me.
Such joy is eternal.
Centuries after,
it is still bearing Joy's precious fruit."  
 -God Calling

GLoomy on a Sunny Day.

                                                         March 9

Beautiful sunny day.  
My husband and I are outside enjoying the great weather,
working in the yard and on the vehicles.

But,
feeling a bit oppressed by the
depravity (sorry, but that is the best word to describe it)
around me.

My neighbors on both sides of me are smoking, cursing, drinking,
Yelling, and blasting profane music on both sides of me.

The most offensive and oppressive thing to me was
the music.  It was F#@! and F$#@ and sexually explicit.
They even had their children running around listening to it.
They yelled loudly also using F this and F that in their conversations.

It was oppressive and depressive.

"My heart is grieveously pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.   Fear and trembling have come upon me, horror and fright have overwelmed me.  

Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will sustain you."  Psalm 55

"Revere and worship God. 

Know that HE IS. 

Keep His commandments.  
For this is the whole of man, the full original purpose of His creation,
the root of character, the foundation of all happiness,
the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions.."  Ecclecsiates 12

I started thinking about, what is my purpose, why am I here,
wasn't I supposed to do something bigger than this?

"Let us be satisfied to love God ceaselessly and walk in docility along the path He has marked out for us, where everything seems so trivial to us and the world.  Let us peacefully perform all our little duties and not look for great ones.   God does not give Himself to us because of our own efforts.   He knows to what emminence He wishes to raise us.  Let us leave it to Him. "  Beth Moore pg 92


"Be like a green olive tree, trust in, rely on the loving kindness and the
mercy of God forever.  I will thank You and confide in You forever, because you have delivered me and kept me safe.  

 I will wait on, hope in, and expect in Your name, for it is good."

Fear of Dying

March 7

 

 

You teach me that when I am weak, I am strong.
Fear of perishing - what exactly am I afraid of?

Never return evil or insult for insult, scolding, tongue lashing,
but on the contrary blessing, pray for their happiness and protection, truly pitying an loving them.   1 Peter 3

Turn away from wickedness, shun it, and do what is right.
Search for peace.
Pursue peace.

When this was being written these people were getting persecuted! 
And yet, Peter says, no matter what, treat them courteously and respectfully!

My first response when someone treats me wrong is anger.

March 8

Why am I afraid of  death, of perishing?  
Because I am not prepared. 

Well, then get prepared!

Get rid of past writings that may hurt someone that is left behind,
Make a will.
Do what needs to be done.

And then, stop being afraid!

"The implication of the human is
that we have the abililty to accept or reject God.
God wants relationships, not robots.
The only definitive and enduring motivation for a true transformation in our security will be God Himself." -Beth Moore

I realize now that the coming to prayer in the midst of boredom,
 and no message is part of the path.  
It is part of the struggle.  
It is part of the choice.
Come anyway.

"Merely walking through daily life
 is enough to till the soil and sow insecurity in our souls. 
We can say NO THANKS.
We can spiral upwards instead of down.
The human spirit alone is not strong enough to keep its security
afloat long enough in this shark infested waters of our current society."
-Beth Moore 

ENGAGE .... NOT!!!!

Sometimes have you ever had something pull on you that you knew was not supposed to be getting your attention?

Something, or someone begging you to be involved with them and you know it is NOT the path He has appointed for your day.

When a distraction comes,
and there is nothing positive or life giving about it,
then it is just a distraction and a sucker of your life breath and energy.

 

Turn away from it.

Some things BEG your involvement. 

Your ego, pride, some part of you wants to be vindicated, validated....

When the distraction is fueled by anger, vindication, or self seeking,
then it is not the right path for you.

Don't bother attacking.

Follow the path that will bring you and those around you life.

"Your servants are ready to do whatever you appoint." 2 Sam

FEAR IS EVIL

March 4

Lord, things happen in every day,
that I can allow myself to be thrown into turmoil,
or I can choose You!
Give me wisdom to know what to do when these choices arise.

"Draw near to me,
contact with Me is your only cure for all ills.
Truth is many sided.
Have much tender love and patience for all who do not see as you do.

The elimination of self is the key to holiness and happiness and can only be accomplished with My help.
Study my life more,
live in my presence.
Worship me.

Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing.

I  did not say they did not do it.

-God Calling

God sees the good in people, but also knows and recognizes the wrong.
"Therefore, put on tender mercies."  Col 3:12.

Love is a choice.


March 5

There is no room for fear in the heart in which I dwell.

I have let myself become unsettled by someone else.
Over something trivial.
I come to you with that.
Show me what to do.

"What ever is good, what ever is true, think on these things."

Please guide me
how You want me to spend my time and energy in this matter.

God promises to supply all my needs.
When I go to Him admitting my lack.
He fills me up.
He alone restores my soul.
Take away the pointing of the finger.

Ever since the fall, the flesh wants to justify, rationalize, blame.
I need to remove myself from the situation,
take away finger pointing,
turn my energies and attentions to the positive path He guides me on.

Love People, Use Things. NOT Use people. Love things.

Love people and use things.
 
Don't use people and love things.

It is easy to get those two mixed up,
isn't it!

FEAR NOT THE TERROR OF THE NIGHT!

February 28

                     FEAR NOT THE TERROR OF THE NIGHT!

Had an unexpected encounter with coyotes the other night.  
I remembered the bible admonition "Do not fear the terror of the night."
I realized that this was very real.  
When this admonition was written,
it could very well be addressing the terror I felt this night!
How hard it is to feel at peace when directly confronted with terrifying events and obstacles in our lives!

Yet that is exactly what God is calling us to experience.
Real peace in the midst of real terrifying or challenging experiences.

March 1

We are comfortable when what we expect happens.
We enjoy being understood and supported by those around us.
We prefer to have a constant source of financial provision.
But when we get all this comfort and support,
we are easily lulled into a sense of false security.
God is more concerned with our condition than our comfort.
At times He stirs our nest to make our comforting things uncomfortable.

Help us to follow you, and recognize you. 
Please help us to be a blessing to others.

Keep to the rules I have laid down for you!

THESE are those rules:

Pray,
obey,
be thankful,
be at peace,
fear not,
don't inspire fear,
hope,
don't point the finger at others,
give,
guard your thoughts.

March 3

We never say of a gift,
see what I have attained!
But we say, see what has been given!
God is the giver and we are the receivers.
It is not to those who do great things,
but to those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift.
My strength is made perfect in weakness. 
In the time I spend with You, I become more aware of my imperfections.