365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 336

I have been pondering the word rely since Monday when I got through my day without calling on God for help. I resorted to doing it my way and I was frustrated, angry and even said something that offended someone. To make matters worse, I knew I was not being a very good example of Christian love and the fruits of the Spirit had turned sour. I was a mess and instead of taking my stress to God and dealing with it in godly ways I went home had a glass and a half of wine (that is a lot for me these days) and then proceeded to let go of self-control and ate too many chocolate almonds. I woke up the next morning feeling very sorry for my pathetic display and asked God for forgiveness and help on being better prepared to handle my day at work that is extremely challenging right now. That word “rely” popped in my head so I tried looking it up in the concordance of my bible but it wasn’t there so I did a search on line for scripture about relying on God and was led to what I needed. I gave me a good visual and for me a visual works so well. God led me to another visual too of a father walking with his daughter holding her hand and as they go down the path they encounter a big pile of sticks in the way so the daughter looks up to her father and asks what they should do. My pile of sticks is my current workplace and the challenge of dealing with another culture and a communication barrier in the middle of 5 butt-loads of work that keeps piling up. Prayerful preparation with my Daddy and the visual tools helped me get through my day with patience and gentleness and my self-control was focused on what would glorify God.  The visual brought me instant peace and a smile to my face every time. If you have encountered a pile of sticks in your path, look to our Daddy and let him help you decide the course you should take.

Jeremiah 17:5-9 Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 318

It is very common at this time of year to struggle to maintain control of what and how much you eat. It starts with Halloween and the plethora of candy. It is everywhere! If you are a candy lover, like I am, you understand how dangerous this time of year is. They only way to get a handle on this is to prepare for this danger. Write a prayer and pray it every day. This becomes an affirmation and a positive for your mind to focus on. My prayer this week and the coming holiday weeks will be straight from scripture.

1Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 255

**sorry this is long but I hope this will help you**

Keeping your mind clear and maintaining self-control are much harder than it seems. A clear mind and self-control are easy enough when things are good but when faced with not so good things that flood us with emotions, our thinking becomes cloudy and focusing on the Lord is like trying to find a black sock in a dark room. This cloudy thinking problem happened to me on Thursday. I read an email from one of the co-managers and saw red. I tried to temper my reaction and stopped myself from sending a reply email that would not have been friendly and got up and went to get some tea. I got my tea and went and talked about the situation with the other co-manager who I know listens. I felt better having talked to her but that anger was still inside. I went back to my desk intending to try to let it all go but the co-manager that triggered this anger ended up at my desk asking me how I was doing. I started off by calmly telling her that I was angry and began to tell her why but in her typical way she interrupted me. I ended up raising my voice asking her to listen to me and that helped for about 2 seconds and she was back again not listening. Well, that just fueled the anger that I had at this point been able to control. She pretty much said I shouldn’t expect someone to do their job when something is passed over to them. So, my response was anger-filled and I told her than I would no longer trust sending anything to the Texas office and I would send anything that I could not get done myself to the managers here so that I could…It’s a long story but basically the new program that some jurisdictions now run in I don’t have the ability or training to do some of the things I could do in our other program. In any case, the heart of the matter lies with this cloudy anger-frustration-filled thinking and not stopping and praying right then and there for God’s peace. My praying ended up coming afterwards and all night long as I tried to sleep. I kept thinking how I tried so hard to control my reactions and realized that “I” was the problem. Before talking with anyone about this “I” should have been talking to God. With his help, “We” would have overcome this challenge together. Well, with God’s help the next morning the Lord and I apologized to the co-manager for raising my voice. So, my homework on this is going to be finding a scripture that I can memorize that will help me when this cloudy thinking comes into play so it will be in my heart and soul and God’s living word will help me gain perspective and put my focus on Him who will guide me in making godly choices that will bring Him glory.

1Peter 4:7 Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.

(I read this at lunch time that same day this all happened. God is so working on me)

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 144

Forgive me for I have gone into the hormonal funk. My mind doesn’t want to even put two thoughts together. This scripture is my prayer for today and all days. Let it be yours too.

Acts 17:28 For in him we live and move and have our being.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 142

I am in search of songs with scripture. So many times, the songs I hear on the radio come to my head and a lot of times, it is what I need to hear. I thought there has to be songs with scripture that I can get since memorizing words to a song seems to be so much easier. So far in my search, I have found this group that does songs in parody, ApologetiX. Check this music video. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKbCzba31TE&list=PL3895C5D1A5CDAFD6

Psalm 100:2 Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.

365 Days of Spirit-Filled Fruits Challenge-Day 16

Do you know someone that you have never or very rarely seen angry? It is possible but it seems we live with anger all around us. Anger at the government for not doing their job and taking more of our hard-earned money from us. Anger at schools for not educating our children in the best way possible. Anger at our employers for wanting more from us but not giving us anything in return. Anger at America for voting off the wrong singer on The Voice. Yes, it is everywhere and for everything. So how do we overcome all the anger around us and keep us from being angry too? Only the Holy Spirit can do the job but we have to ask for help everyday to be able to live a life of joy, peace and forgiveness; a life of praise, worship and prayer. The antidote for anger is thanksgiving. I think it is said best in one of my favorite scriptures:  Phillipians 4: 4-7 Always be joyful because you belong to the Lord. I will say it again. Be joyful. Let everyone know how gentle you are. The Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything. Instead, tell God about everything. Ask and pray. Give thanks to him. Then God’s peace will wash over your hearts and your minds because you belong to Christ Jesus. God’s peace can never be completely understood.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 147

The Lord has been giving me scripture after scripture to help me let go of my idealistic thoughts on how my workshops should be and what faithbooking should be for everyone. He has been working on me and letting me know that what I am doing is for His good purposes. So, again I am praising the Lord for bringing me these scriptures in my inbox that are so speaking to me about my own discouragement and expectations. This scripture he brought to me tells me that just bringing believers togehter to do something in His name is a wonderful thing so I will perserve and look to the Lord to be my guide. Has discouragement about something got you down? Look to the Lord for encouragement and truth and be set free from your own discouragement.
Matthew 18:20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 120

My acupunture appointment last week did help. The swelling in my foot had gone away but I was still feeling the numbness so I knew that it was not all better. It was great to be without the swelling for 5 days but yesterday I think I set my foot down in such a way coming down the stairs at work that it set off the swelling again. By the time I was sitting in my class at church that night, my foot was throbbing and my shoe was feeling very snug. I held back the tears as I came home and got right to the IB profin and ice pack which helped releive it but it came right back in the middle of the night. With the pain returning, discouragement was starting to seep in but this morning I just looked down at a sheet of encouraging scriptures that I had come up with and read Romans 8:18. It was exactly what I needed so I am praising God for his help and presense even in the midst of the pains of life.
Romans 8:18 "...consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 95

My first thought to praise for today was on laughter. I have been so angry and frustrated because of work that it's been seeping into every aspect of my life but I am choosing to not let that happen. Surround yourself with positive things was the advise in a book I read recently that I have taken to heart. I have been in devotionals, in the bible and praying and do feel a sense of peace for a time. But what I really needed was a good laugh. So, here I was sitting on the toliet and I pulled down a Reader's Digest with the title "Oh, Cheer Up!" Okay, top 10 jokes in America is what they had for me. I can't say I would have voted for all of them but this one tickled my funny bone and helped at least again for a time let go of the anger and frustrations I have been dealing with. Here's my #1 from the top ten:
A priest, a minister and a rabbi want to see who's best at his job. So they each go into the woods, find a bear, and attempt to convert it. Later they get together. The priest begins:"When I found the bear, I read to him from the Catechism and sprinkled him with h oldy water. Next week is his First Communion." "I found a bear by the stream," sasy the minister,"and preached God's holy word. The bear was so mespermized that he let me baptize him." They both look down at the rabbi, who is lying on a gurney in a body cast. "Looking back," he says,"maybe I shouldn't have started with the circumcision." So, I was thinking of this joke when I got on my email this morning and heard that a friend from my MOPS days who attended my church unexpectedly passed away. Wow, I am still reeling from that piece of news. Her husband is an anathesiologist who did a surgery of mine way back before Faith was born and they have 3 kids the youngest at 11. That's always been one of my greatest fears; dying when my children are still young. Thankfully I know my friend is with Jesus right now and that God will bring good out of this tragedy but it's still a tough thing to even contemplate. I thought this scripture was appropriate because things can happen on a dime at any time. So today I am thankful to God for being alive so I can lavish love on my family and share another day with them. Who can you love and laugh with today?
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

365 Days of Praise Challenge-Day 94

After putting my daughter to bed every night, I leave her room and there is my son waiting for me. Sometimes, we play around and he blocks the doorway so I can't leave so I have to wrestle with him to get out which is not easy these days as he's bigger than me now. Other times, I will run around and try to fake him out that I am going to try going out through the bathroom. In the end, I get out of the room and we always have a wonderful long rocking side to side hug. It's not a moment that I have ever captured on film although the creative side to me will probably figure that one out but it's something I have to document in my scrapbooks. It's one of those everyday moments with my son that is so precious and I will always cherish those moments even after he leaves home someday to be on his own. We may not be able to have those precious moments with our sons, daughters, husbands and family every day but we can have those precious moments with God. Have you ever been reading scripture and you get this warm fuzzy feeling or get the good chills feeling? I am going to think of those moments as times when God is giving me a long wonderful rocking side-to-side hug. The more often you are in the Word the more hugs you get! So, what are you waiting for? Go, get a hug from God.