In a previous post I wrote about finishing a journal notebook and closing a chapter in my life. Well once again I have filled a notebook completely full of prayers, thoughts, and life experiences. This notebook wasn't as long as the last one, it only took me seven months instead of three years to get through. But that's not the point.
I mentioned earlier that I was so excited to see where the Lord would take me in this new chapter... oh boy... did He take me to some great places. On vacations, new friendships, growth in my job, bigger projects with school, and the most exciting thing... a completely new relationship. This relationship was completely unexpected and totally all God!!
So here I am... starting a new notebook to fill with all new prayers, thoughts, and life experiences, and starting a new chapter in life. A chapter that I've so very excited about, can't wait to see what the Lord does next. Wow... He sure can surprise us! Here I go, jumping in with all I have, letting the Lord have control, trusting Him!
11.03.2011
10.22.2011
His Faithfulness
The other day the Lord laid on my heart a few key passages. First in 1 John 1:5-10, in this passage it speaks about walking in darkness and walking in the light. "... God is light, and in him is no darkness at all." We can't say we have fellowship with Him and live in darkness or sin. Since God is light and there is no darkness then the two can't be present together.
I will admit I've had those times in my life when I've chosen to live in darkness, and lie to myself and others as I try to "be" in fellowship. I began to feed myself with a lie of being invincible to sinning. My mind would believe the lies of the enemy, telling me all that I was doing was okay! Verse 8 says this "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
But then the amazing part comes,
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (vs. 9)
Oh... how He sees me as clean. I am free, despite the sin I had chosen to live in, He found me... yes He found me! He chose to save me, bless me and cleanse me. He is faithful when I choose to be unfaithful.
"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's...He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities." Psalm 103:1-5,10
So amazing that the Lord sees me this way, He chooses to bless me! That He sees me as worthy, gives me a crown. He sees that I am dust, fragile, and in need of care, He shows compassion toward me. I am human, I know not what I do. My mind does what it knows is wrong, the flesh takes over. But if I ask the Lord gives, He gives direction to choose truth, to resist the flesh.
I will admit I've had those times in my life when I've chosen to live in darkness, and lie to myself and others as I try to "be" in fellowship. I began to feed myself with a lie of being invincible to sinning. My mind would believe the lies of the enemy, telling me all that I was doing was okay! Verse 8 says this "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
But then the amazing part comes,
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (vs. 9)
Oh... how He sees me as clean. I am free, despite the sin I had chosen to live in, He found me... yes He found me! He chose to save me, bless me and cleanse me. He is faithful when I choose to be unfaithful.
"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's...He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities." Psalm 103:1-5,10
So amazing that the Lord sees me this way, He chooses to bless me! That He sees me as worthy, gives me a crown. He sees that I am dust, fragile, and in need of care, He shows compassion toward me. I am human, I know not what I do. My mind does what it knows is wrong, the flesh takes over. But if I ask the Lord gives, He gives direction to choose truth, to resist the flesh.
10.14.2011
Our God
I'm having a great day of praising the Lord. He has given me great JOY and I want to share it with you. This song just really speaks to me today! I have victory in Christ, He brings JOY to my heart! His ways are unfathomable, beyond my comprehension but His way is perfect and true!
10.08.2011
Seek His Will, Have Patience and Trust!
Pray continually - 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Meditate on His Word - Joshua 1:8
With all your heart - Jeremiah 29:13
Seek first His Kingdom - Matthew 6:33
Draw near - Hebrews 11:6
His will be done - Matthew 6:10; 26:39
Have Patience. What does that mean?
Be steadfast - 1 Corinthians 15:58
Keep faith - Colossians 1:23
Walk in it - Psalm 26:3
Neverending - Lamentations 3:22-25
Courage - Psalm 27:14
How about Trust?
When you're afraid - Psalm 56:3
In the Lord - Proverbs 3:5
Blessed is he - Jeremiah 17:7
Delights in him - Psalm 22:8
Are not forsaken - Psalm 8:10
9.28.2011
Full Brain & Early Morning
So it's super early in the morning and I have decided to take advantage of this disadvantage created by my body refusing to go back to sleep. I have a seven page paper due on Friday and for the most part I've just been brainstorming. What a more perfect time to start typing it now, in the early hours of the morning (by the way you'll NEVER find me up this early). Let me tell you the real reason why I'm awake so early.
My mind has been full, I mean crammed packed with "stuff". Besides the fact I feel myself getting this sickness that everyone seems to have at work, my brain is keeping me awake. The Lord has placed something in my life that I've been pondering a lot of the past month. One of those moments where I say "Am I really ready for this Lord?" Being a woman, I analyze everything over and over and over. My mind runs in circles thinking of every possible result of this particular situation.
I've been praying a lot about this particular situation. Telling the Lord that I don't want to make the wrong choice. That control factor is killing me, when it's completely out of my hands it drives me crazy. Even when I know that when the control is in the Lord's hands it's ALWAYS what's best. If things were in my control they would be a disaster. I know from scripture that His ways are best, He knows exactly what I need and when I need it.
So now I just wait. I've asked the Lord repeatedly for patience and peace in this time. There is nothing else for me to do but wait on the Lord to reveal His plan to me. That's not an easy thing to do. Thankfully I have other tasks to be completed and keep my mind off of this matter, but obviously sleeping is a bigger issue here. By the end of the day you'll probably find me passed out on my keyboard at about eight o'clock attempting to finish my seven page paper.
My mind has been full, I mean crammed packed with "stuff". Besides the fact I feel myself getting this sickness that everyone seems to have at work, my brain is keeping me awake. The Lord has placed something in my life that I've been pondering a lot of the past month. One of those moments where I say "Am I really ready for this Lord?" Being a woman, I analyze everything over and over and over. My mind runs in circles thinking of every possible result of this particular situation.
I've been praying a lot about this particular situation. Telling the Lord that I don't want to make the wrong choice. That control factor is killing me, when it's completely out of my hands it drives me crazy. Even when I know that when the control is in the Lord's hands it's ALWAYS what's best. If things were in my control they would be a disaster. I know from scripture that His ways are best, He knows exactly what I need and when I need it.
So now I just wait. I've asked the Lord repeatedly for patience and peace in this time. There is nothing else for me to do but wait on the Lord to reveal His plan to me. That's not an easy thing to do. Thankfully I have other tasks to be completed and keep my mind off of this matter, but obviously sleeping is a bigger issue here. By the end of the day you'll probably find me passed out on my keyboard at about eight o'clock attempting to finish my seven page paper.
9.12.2011
Truth in the Word
LOVE
"Having purified your souls by your OBEDIENCE to the TRUTH for a sincere brotherly love, LOVE one another earnestly from a PURE heart..." 1 Peter 1:22
"Little children, let us NOT love in word or talk but in DEED and in TRUTH." 1 John 3:18
"There is NO fear in love, but PERFECT love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment; whoever fears has not been perfected in LOVE. We LOVE because he first LOVED us." 1 John 18-19
VICTORY
"Death is swallowed up in victory."
"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the VICTORY through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:55-57
"No, in all things we are more than CONQUERORS through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39
"Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions... But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching which you were committed, and, having been SET FREE from sin, have become slaves of righteousness." Romans 6:12,17-18
"Having purified your souls by your OBEDIENCE to the TRUTH for a sincere brotherly love, LOVE one another earnestly from a PURE heart..." 1 Peter 1:22
"Little children, let us NOT love in word or talk but in DEED and in TRUTH." 1 John 3:18
"There is NO fear in love, but PERFECT love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment; whoever fears has not been perfected in LOVE. We LOVE because he first LOVED us." 1 John 18-19
VICTORY
"Death is swallowed up in victory."
"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?"
"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the VICTORY through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:55-57
"No, in all things we are more than CONQUERORS through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39
"Let no sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions... But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching which you were committed, and, having been SET FREE from sin, have become slaves of righteousness." Romans 6:12,17-18
8.02.2011
Speaking to the Lord
Well, it's been a while since I just wrote whats been on my heart. I will admit its been a little difficult to put things straight in my head, life has been all over the place it's hard to put the pieces together. My thoughts have been everywhere, good, bad, moody, frustration, laughter, sorrowful, you name it I've experienced it!
One thing the Lord has been placing on my heart lately is prayer. My prayer life isn't the most consistant, it should be. I know there are things I want to pray about and should speak to the Lord about but many times I either forget, don't have the energy, or simply don't have the words to express it.
A few weeks ago I had the great opportunity to house sit with a dear friend. We both decided that we would pray together before we went to bed each night. WOW!!! It was a wonderful, empowering thing. Being able to sit down with someone and open up about our day, share our hearts and the people in our lives that needed prayer, and then to pray for each other. I wanted to do it every night. I got to thinking "why do I have to have another person to pray with?" The Lord is always waiting for me to speak to him, he desires for me to come to him, to engage in conversation and let him speak back to me. Many times I do say little prayers through out my day but many times there is lots of commotion and noise going on. It is distracting and I can't always "hear" what the Lord is trying to say in response. When I prayed with my friend at the closing of our days, it was peaceful and quiet. We were able to open our hearts, clear our minds, and let the Holy Spirit speak.
I'm still working on this, some days I write in a prayer journal, others days I say simple, short prayers as I drift off to sleep. In times of distress I have been on my floor, face down, crying out to the Lord. I like writing because then I'm able to go back, read and see how the Lord has answered a specific prayer or see how it is working on answering one. Many times it's not in the way I expected an answer to come or turn out, but it's always the best way. The Lord is teaching me, he is always molding me into the woman he created me to be. He is my Maker and the one I want to be in charge of my life. In order for him to be in complete control I need to speak to him more often, I need to give my praise and express my heart to him. He wants me to lean on him for everything, in everything!
One thing the Lord has been placing on my heart lately is prayer. My prayer life isn't the most consistant, it should be. I know there are things I want to pray about and should speak to the Lord about but many times I either forget, don't have the energy, or simply don't have the words to express it.
A few weeks ago I had the great opportunity to house sit with a dear friend. We both decided that we would pray together before we went to bed each night. WOW!!! It was a wonderful, empowering thing. Being able to sit down with someone and open up about our day, share our hearts and the people in our lives that needed prayer, and then to pray for each other. I wanted to do it every night. I got to thinking "why do I have to have another person to pray with?" The Lord is always waiting for me to speak to him, he desires for me to come to him, to engage in conversation and let him speak back to me. Many times I do say little prayers through out my day but many times there is lots of commotion and noise going on. It is distracting and I can't always "hear" what the Lord is trying to say in response. When I prayed with my friend at the closing of our days, it was peaceful and quiet. We were able to open our hearts, clear our minds, and let the Holy Spirit speak.
I'm still working on this, some days I write in a prayer journal, others days I say simple, short prayers as I drift off to sleep. In times of distress I have been on my floor, face down, crying out to the Lord. I like writing because then I'm able to go back, read and see how the Lord has answered a specific prayer or see how it is working on answering one. Many times it's not in the way I expected an answer to come or turn out, but it's always the best way. The Lord is teaching me, he is always molding me into the woman he created me to be. He is my Maker and the one I want to be in charge of my life. In order for him to be in complete control I need to speak to him more often, I need to give my praise and express my heart to him. He wants me to lean on him for everything, in everything!
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