Where Do You Start?

The whole thing with getting disciplined about being in God’s Word, praying, meditating, memorization, etc. is there is an experimental time. You have to find when it best fits into your schedule. Having kids in the house makes anything challenging when they are around or awake so fitting prayer in a quiet time without any potential interruptions is going to be the most optimal. I often wake up and pray a bit right there in bed before I even get up for the day but I am wanting to find a time that works better as I often feel the pull of getting up and on with my day. I have often loved going on a walk and that is such a good time spent with God so I am going to see how to go about doing that every day. This may have to be an unscheduled thing but a task to do every day no matter when it is done kind of thing. I think a lot of us are in prayer mode in little spurts like in the car alone and driving to an appointment or sitting on the toilet with nothing to read so you pray (yes, you know you have probably done it too!). I started what is called the Psalm prayers where I read a psalm at a certain time of day, morning, noon or night. Afterward, I write up my own prayer based on what I read in the Psalm. This is challenging as I am already a day behind so it has to be one of those things I have to keep at it and not worry about falling behind but just keep going. It’s not about failing. It is about staying persistent in trying. It will be that way for all disciplines. Don’t give up because you forgot to water the garden yesterday, get out and water the garden today! It will always be about what you are going to do right now. Right now, I am going to pray. 

Father, spending time with you and in your Word are important to me and yet I so easily can let it go by the wayside going on to worldly things that need my attention. With your help, I can become more disciplined in every area of my life especially this area of my inner soul and tending the garden there. I am the gardener of my soul but you are the lead gardener. Help me to learn by the example of your son Jesus and help me to become a stellar gardener of my soul. With you all things are possible. In Jesus’ name. Amen. 

My memory verse: 

 

Psalm 1

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord and on this law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water which yields fruit in it's time and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. (by memory so far)

Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, by the way of the wicked will perish. 

How We Underestimate the Lord

I have been reading a book to my daughter each night before bed called The Roman, The Twelve, and the King by Jenny L. Cote. It is the third book in the series the Epic Order of the Seven. The author bases the story on exactly with what is in the bible and embellishes it with the story of the talking animals who are in service to the Lord to help with whatever task they are given. The fat always hungry orange tabby cat, Al is the one who brings attention to the 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread a little boy has who is among the crowd of 5000 men and untold number of women and children. They are in a remote area and there is not time to send these people home to eat. Jesus takes the bread and fish, blesses it and multiplies it enough to fully feed all the people with 12 baskets full of left overs. The disciples have seen untold number of miracles up to this point but still they underestimate what Jesus can do. I especially like the added quote that the author put in of what Jesus says to Philip regarding the small amount of food they have. Here is that excerpt:  Jesus began to tear the loaf apart, and handed the first small piece to Philip. “Don’t measure the size of the challenge by what you have to offer, but by what God can do with what you give him, no matter how small.” This makes me think of my own calling and the doubts and fears I have had to overcome. Despite what little I can give in terms of my skills and gifts, God will take it and make it into something extraordinary. The Lord never ceases to amaze me.

John 6:1-15

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 178

I am so thankful for the help of the Holy Spirit yesterday at work. My team lead got some kind of email about her not working a full 8 hours and was angry and griping about it. I was naturally curious what it was all about and wanted to hear more details but I stopped myself several times and told myself to stay quiet. I didn’t jump on the complaining band wagon! It has been a challenge not to so this was a huge leap forward for me. I don’t want to sit in judgment of others. It is not my place. God is the only judge. I can imagine Him up in Heaven cheering for me and my accomplishment. I know it was just one day but there is hope knowing I can do it with the help of the Holy Spirit.

James 5:9 Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 318

Our sermon yesterday was the beginning of our Stewardship Season. It is the time of year when the church focuses on giving. It can be a challenging topic considering the state of our economy but it is a part of our church and living as the body of Christ that we do need to be reminded of. Rather than focus on money, the sermon was about all the various ways we can be giving back based on our gifts. I was especially tickled by our pastor’s challenge to give for 365 days. Hmmm….. sounds familiar. The truth is that when we focus on one aspect of giving each day it can be a huge blessing to not only yourself but countless others. So, our challenge in the days ahead before commitment Sunday is to figure out what our challenge will focus on. What will I give each day for the next year? It could be just doing a kindness for someone everyday, an encouraging word shared everyday or forgiving others everyday. Take a look at your gifts and decide how you can be giving using your gifts everyday in the year to come.

Romans 12:6-8 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it s contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy let him do it cheerfully.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 243

Easily one of the best parts of my job is knowing that I have helped an alarm company get off on the right foot when it comes to how they need to proceed to be in compliance with the law. It is especially delightful for me getting emails back from alarm companys with an excited thank you in it. Appreciation is a funny thing. The more you receive it the better you feel and the more you give it the better you feel too. Being thankful is more than a one day thing which is why I started this whole challenge on Thanksgiving last year. It is amazing how some appreciation can make you feel both in giving and receiving it. I am so thankful to God for the gift of appreciation people can give to each other and am thankful for the reminder that it goes both ways. Take the time to say the words, send an email, make a phone call, make a card and send it. In whatever form you choose, challenge yourself to share your appreciation for others everyday. It really does make you shine and will make the one who receives it shine too. Check out this mini study on appreciation that I found at http://www.discipleshiptools.org/apps/articles/default.asp?articleid=37155&columnid=4166

Ephesians 5:20 Sing and make music inyour heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 67

A smile. It's something so simple and yet so profundly effective in helping change someone's day for the better. I learned that lesson a long time ago when I was a server at Applebee's. "Mr Grumpy" came in with his downcast family and got to sit in my section. My first initial face to face with Mr Grumpy wasn't so great. I went back to the kitchen to put in the order and something just clicked in me. Maybe I just need to be as cheerful as possible, maybe smiling and disregarding his grumpy face would make some kind of difference? It did! He actually smiled back! I have always held that memory with me and recall it everytime I hear about what it says in the bible to, in my words, killem' with kindness. I was reminded about this last night as I got into my hot tub to let the days stresses float away. I looked up into the clear night sky and there was the moon. It was a crescent moon with the light shinning from the sun on it from the bottom giving it the look of a smile. There was God smiling down at me and my grumpy mood was gone and I smiled right back. Thank you Lord for this wonderful reminder of something so simple and yet so effective in helping make someone's day better. Challenge yourself this week to smile more and know that every smile is a little bit of God's love shinning outward to others.
Psalm 80:3 Restore us, O God; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 48

How often do we take the people we love for granted? Am I just surviving day to day or am I taking action? My letter pin for the month is "E". After my horrible mood the other day and the lingering discouragement issue, I felt led by God to turn the tables on that by having my daily reminder to be encourgaged and be encouraging. But another "e" word stood out to me and that was 'example'. My husband is a great example of service kind of love. He will get up and do whatever you need. He really is an amazing example of this love language. It's not my dominant love language but we are all capable of doing all the love languages and learn how to do the other love languages more and more. I often have thought maybe I am just 'lazy' but it really isn't a laziness, it's just not my love language but I am going to be working on it. Jesus was the greatest example of this when he knelt down and washed the dirty feet of the disciples. Jesus calls us to put our love into action. I am going to keep a list of the actions I take for others in the next month and see if I can increase those numbers as the month goes on and get better and serving others. Join me and challenge yourself this month to stop and serve whether it be in small ways or big ways.
Colossians 3:23-24 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will received an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 3

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 3
So, although I did get in some shopping yesterday, what I really needed was to get some pictures printed for my layout in memory of my Uncle Garrett who passed away in October of this year. I got the idea to use my Close to My Heart Acrylic alphabet stamps and with a couple of coordinating ink colors and I came up with a word block for my layout.

My Uncle Garrett was a great example of being the salt and the light of the world that Jesus calls us to be in Matthew 5:13-16. My praise for today is for people that I have had in my life like my Uncle Garrett who are wonderful role models for me and all those they come into contact with during their lives. My prayer is that you have a salt and light role model in your life and that you can take what Jesus has already given within you and make it shine.

365 Days of Praise Challenge

As I was laying in bed this morning, contemplating my day of cooking ahead of me and fighting the desire to just lay in bed a few more minutes, I thought about what this day represents. Everyone thinks about what they are grateful for on Thanksgiving but our thankfulness and praises to God should be a consistent reality in our lives. After my month of wearing my 'A' pin which helped me keep my focus on the Abundance of blessings and opportunites that God gives and that Anything is possible with God, I find that I am so much more AWARE of those blessings, opportunites and that really anything is possible with God leading you. So, my challange to myself and to anyone that would like to participate is to give praises consistently everyday for the next 365 days. I think the attitude of gratitude will become one of the greatest blessings. So, my first day of praise starts this Thanksgiving 2011. I praise my Heavenly Father for my desire to inspire others. Being an idealist by nature, I have found battles greatly with the fact that I am not the one in control but God is. But I don't want to be down about my own personality type, because God made me this way and he will use it for his own purposes not mine. So, I praise him today for that desire and pray that he will use it for the good of His kingdom. I would love to hear your praises everyday, too. Become a follower and comment on my praise each day with your own praise. Let's work on keeping each other accountable to our 365 days of praise challenge.