365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 82

Last night we attended our Ash Wednesday church service. Admittedly, it has been the first Ash Wednesday service that I have attended since I was a Catholic kid. We sat up close which is not our norm and found it to be a different experience. In the closeness, we were able to truly see the tears in the eyes of the pastor speaking and the emotions on her face. It made the words that she was saying so much more. God makes us into more than just the dust, dirt and clay that we are. At the end of the sermon, the pastor went to a potter’s wheel and began to make a clay bowl as the rest of us came up to have the ashes marked on our foreheads as a sign of humility to Christ and to remind us that we are made new. God’s love for us is beyond our understanding it is so great but I know that his love is within me and I am to become that pitcher, vase, bowl or whatever he is making me into that will do something with that love that will glorify him and build his Kingdom.

1 John 4:9-12 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 81

The drama continues at my workplace… Monday tasks were switched around and Tuesday they were switched back to where they were before. The head honcho was not happy with our visiting worker from India who made this switch before evaluating everything. She came up to my desk later in the day and wanted to train me how to record something in another program but I was in the middle of trying to get the mail finished and she just expected me to drop it all and listen so I did. I thank God for giving me patience with her because she wants to make sure of things but doesn’t want to hear my answer. She wants a yes or no but there are things I have to point out to her so she fully gets the whole process. Than, just as abruptly as she came she will walk away and go to another person’s desk and interrupt them without a care. I don’t know how long she is here for but I am sure the frustrations she brings will keep coming only because she is trying to do her job and has the stress of reporting to the head honcho who likes to be in control of everything. So, I am trying to remember that there is another part to her, the part that God loves no matter what.

Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle, be patient, bearing with one another in love.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 80

I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night thanks to the cup of tea I had but that cup of tea brought not only my sleepless night but joy and peace. The joy part came when all of a sudden my daughter took off running for the bathroom. She got in there and I hear this big “ahhhhhhhhh” and just smiled really big and looked up towards God and thought you gave me a mini-me, I don’t know if I should be scared or joyful about this but I will take the joy. The peace came in the middle of the night as I tossed and turned and got up to go to the bathroom 3-4 times. I got back in bed and just laid there wanting my mind to relax and shut off and I heard the train whistle blowing. At that moment I thought of how you come to get use to the sounds like a train whistle during the night to the point you don’t even notice them anymore. God is speaking to us all of the time but have the sounds and sights of our life drowned out the voice of God? Quiet time with God is an essential aspect to the Christian life. Without this time and being still to hear his voice, we will be led by the things of this world into darker territory. You often hear of the excuses a mother will say like there is just too much stuff to do, I can’t get a moment alone and I am sure I used that excuse myself thinking this is just a season I am in and I will get back to having my time with God. It’s time to let go of any of those excuses you have had that are keeping you from having some quiet time with God. I am a morning person so naturally it is the best part of the day for me. My mind is fresh and ready for the day but it may be best for you in the evening or afternoon time with a cup of tea. I have enjoyed my quiet time although it is often interrupted with my daughter waking up and coming downstairs but the point is to do it.  Lord, thank you for the peace you gave me last night when I heard that train whistle and thought of you. Help me to take the time to just stop everything and be with you with my mind, body and soul. Amen.

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God.

I began reading through the last 78 days entries and realized that I dropped the ball on a few things. I say do this but don’t do it. Follow-up through is one of my strengths but even strong body builders get tired and puts down the weights. So, I am going to go back and look through and find the ones that I haven’t followed through on and create a to-do list of these things I have said I would do. Here are just a few from the first couple of weeks that you might want to review as well.

From Day 3 on loving others:  Try using this scripture as your prayer each day and instead of the second “I” put in a person’s name.

Psalm 139:14 I praise you because I (person’s name) am fearfully and wonderfully made.

From Day 5 loving your church community: Try these action items:

          1. Learn 5 new names—and use them.
          2. Ask how others in your church family are doing—and listen to their    response.
          3. Pray for church family needs we become aware of.
          4. Combat the toll our busyness takes on church family life by building more     time into our Sunday routine for conversations or to help someone along our    path.

From Day 6 on loving God completely: This is an area I will be praying about in the days to come.

Almighty God, I know I love you in my head but help me to love you with all my heart and soul so much so that I am not holding back; that I am shinning your love out of me to all those around me. In your precious name, Amen.

From Day 11 on loving strangers, neighbors, etc: So look at your day and take the time to smile and start a conversation with the grocery clerk, smile and say some kind words to the telemarketer who is calling you right in the middle of dinner, smile and do something your husband normally does like take out the trash.

From Day 15 on changing our thinking: Become God-thinking and other-thinking.

Proverbs 1:5 Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 78

My mind has been on our aunt who had a stroke this week. We went to visit her in the hospital up in Denver yesterday and I was delighted to see that she was doing much better than I had anticipated. She suffered a stroke pretty much centrally located at the base of the brain. She couldn’t move her left side but that has come back and now is just a numbness. The main issue now is her eyes are not working together and what the doctor called ‘boucing eyes’. So, I am praising God that she is in good hands and seems to be the same aunt we all know and love. We also pray that she will continue to improve especially with her eyes and that she may find the time in the hospital a time of reflection and prayer that will draw her closer to our God. Despite the stroke, God has already brought good from it by her quitting smoking. So, we are singing praises to God.

Psalm 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 77

Our work environment is a festering pot of frustration and yesterday the pot let out a little steam but not in an honorable way. A co-worker of mine, in her frustration, said loudly “Jesus F@*$#ing Christ”. I was taken aback by it and paused in my own work in the shock of it but also felt like I should something but was at a loss for words. I went on about my work but this incident stayed with me all day long. So, before bed I asked my husband if he had experienced anything like this at his work. He hadn’t but kindly suggested I speak my feelings to the person about it when it happens. So, I went on thinking about what I might have said and what I could say when this kind of situation may rise again and than I stopped myself and prayed to God and asked him to give me the words, to guide me in finding the truth in his holy word. So, I gave it to God and went to sleep. This morning I have been looking at commentaries about taking the Lord’s name in vain and have learned it really is meant to be more than just like the incident I experienced yesterday but also living in reverence to our Lord. In any case, I looked at the scriptures that were given in these commentaries and found this one in Phillipians to be the one that I will memorize and will say if and when the name of my Lord is said in such a way.

Phillipians 2:9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 76

At the end of the book of Job, God speaks to Job and basically God says I am God and I command everything over the universe. He ends up blessing Job in the later years of his life with more children, etc and tells Job that his friends need to sacrifice a burnt offering for their foolish words. In the end, we can be angry with God, we can ask the why’s and we have to remember that God is God and we may not get the answers to our why’s. The main purpose is to keep in relationship with God. Don’t let bitterness or well-meaning friends and their words turn you away from the God who is infinite, who can do all things. Always look to Him and pray.

Job 42:10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.