What I'm learning

I finished the book that I told you about.

What a great, great, great book!!!


Just one of the things I learned from this amazing book is that I am the one who needs to change.


Shocking, I know.


But it's time to stop looking for fault in everyone else when all I can control is me so that's where my focus should be.


So this has become my favorite new prayer.


Lord, change me.


When I am feeling sorry for myself because life isn't fair.


Change me.


When the kids don't listen and my Wonderful husband gets on my nerves.


Change me.


When I get hurt, or angry, or my feelings get hurt.


Change me.

Forgiveness

Every now and again, someone makes an apology for something that is so humbling it makes us realize we are the ones who should be apologizing.


Has that ever happened to you?


Sunday, someone stood up and apologized for not doing something enough.


Know what that something was?


Praying.


Yep, praying.


They sincerely felt like things were not going well because they weren't praying enough.  And you know what.


I cried.  (That isn't unusual if you know me.)


Then it hit me, I was just as guilty as them.


I hadn't prayed enough about it either.


I had prayed, but not enough.


I had tried to fix it myself, but it wasn't getting better.  That's when I realized that I couldn't fix it by myself.


I needed help, not help from just anyone, but help from the Lord.


So I prayed.  Really prayed, and I have prayed every morning.


See, by myself I can't do anything, but with Jesus, I can do everything.


Sometimes God can use people we don't expect to help us put what is really important in perspective.

Wordless Wednesday, almost

On our way down east we pass a church that has this gorgeous statue, this past weekend I asked Mr. Wonderful to stop so I could get a good picture of it.

It is huge!

And it looks to be hand carved.  Not positive because there was no one around to ask, but just look at the detail.

Love it!

PS  Jesus loves you, this much!

Grace

As a gift I was given this book.

source

Let me just say it was awesome!  And honestly it was exactly what I needed to hear.

If you like to read or just want something that will make you feel truly blessed.

Read it!

This book will explain God's grace in an amazingly simple way that even I could understand.  We all like receiving it but we don't always give it out as freely as we should.  Of course I am speaking of myself.

Favorite quote from the book.

It's not your grace.

It's not my grace.

It's Gods' grace.

And it's for everybody.

Words to live by.

Are we being obedient?

I think I have mentioned before that in our Bible study we are doing Genesis.


Now, I have to admit when I first heard that was what we were doing, I wasn't really impressed.  I imagine that's why I am just a simple layperson.  


But once we started going through it, I have been amazed at how much I have gotten out of it.  I really am impressed with how simple things are sometimes, yet we sometimes over analyze or maybe we just look right over it.  Or maybe it's just me.  


We are currently reading all about Abraham. Now, Abraham's character has some flaws, but one thing he does without wavering is he listens to what God tells him to do and he does it, no questions asked.


WOW!!!


We were discussing how when God told Abraham to take Isaac to the mountain and sacrifice him, he goes.  That simple, he just goes!  While I can't imagine what must have been going through his head while he was going.  He never questioned the reasoning of why God asked him to do what he was doing, he only did as he was told.


What obedience.  I have said that there were times when I wish that God spoke to us in audible voices so that we would know that it was truly him.  But I have to wonder, would I be as obedient as Abraham?  Have you ever felt like God was trying to get your attention but we dismissed it to our imagination, or just tell ourselves that we are reading too much into it.  Maybe we or I should be more aware of when those feelings come over me.  Maybe, just maybe, I don't "hear" because I don't want to.  


What seems like blind obedience to me, is just natural for Abraham.  While he wasn't perfect, he was completely and totally committed to the purpose God gave him.  What is amazing also is that he didn't even know what God had planned for him, he only knew to go where he said and to just trust him.


Sounds simple doesn't it?


But is it?  Do we trust God completely?


With every aspect of our lives?
Our finances?
Our jobs?  Or lack of jobs?
Our health?


What seems so simple can be so hard for us can't it.  


What is harder about asking ourselves if we are being obedient, the question or the answer.

Learning from Andy

When we were growing up, this was the kind of show we watched everyday.


Unfortunately, there's not enough of these on now.


This is my absolute favorite episode, one of those that makes you laugh, and cry, and above all remember what is really important.

Checks and balances

When you work at church sometimes, actually more times than you might think, people can surprise you.


This week we were blessed with some visitors, and on the info line of the check, they wrote
Psalm 121.


It's titled A song for going to worship.

I look up to the hills,

but where does my help come from?

My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121: 1,2

How cool is that?  I didn't write out the whole Psalm just the first few verses.  

Being sifted

"Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to test all of you as a farmer sifts his wheat.  I have prayed that you will not lose your faith?  Help your brothers be stronger when you come back to me."

Luke 22:31 New Century Version

Last night at bible study this was just one of the things that we talked about, but I kept coming back to it over and over.

Probably because in the last month. . . 

My mom's health/memory has deteriorated,

My AC has broken, twice,

2 out of 3 cars have needed repair,

not working as much because of reason #1, so I don't have as much income to help with all the following reasons.

I guess sometimes it's how you look at things that can change your outlook, most of the time I am a glass 1/2 full kind of girl.  But lately, not so much.

But I have learned that I don't have to have a good situation, to have a good situation.

That's a little saying my pastor always says, and it took difficult circumstances to help me really get it.

I have learned that while what may seem like a trying, lonely, life altering situation can change things in my life, it won't change my attitude or my faith, if I don't let it. 

I can look at all of this going on and say Why me?

Or I can say, Why not me?  

God could be allowing these things to happen in my life to "sift" me, to make me stronger, to help me to rely on him more.  It has made my relationship with God stronger in so many ways.

God has been so much more to me, he has been a shoulder to cry on, a lot!!  He gives me strength, shows me that I can't control situations so I must learn ways to adapt and give the stress to him, and I have.  Well, most of the time, sometimes, the human in me wants to think I can take care of things myself but more and more I am giving him complete control.

Maybe we should look at the obstacles in our lives differently.  Maybe these things will be resolved quickly for some, or maybe they are life changes that will not end until God allows them to end.  But we should check our attitudes, and our faith.  Give everything fully to him, and let him take care of it.  He can definitely do it better than we ever could.

Just something to think about.

Staying Grounded

When things start seeming to spiral out of control, what grounds you? 


I have always loved a blue sky, don't you?  It's so peaceful, it fills me with a sense of calm and reassurance that sometimes keeps me from completely losing control when it feels like everything around me is spinning out of control.


I take comfort in knowing that no matter how much control I want to "think" I have, I have none.  One is in control that is more powerful than I will ever conceive to be.


That's what grounds me.

Holding on to Gods Word

The grass dies and the flowers fall,

but the word of God will live forever.

Isiah 40:8

How do we increase our faith?

We are still in Luke in our bible study and the more I learn the more I want to learn.  Last night one person said, for everything I learn, it makes me want to ask more questions.

I bet that's exactly the kind of response the Lord wants us to have.  He wants us to crave learning more about him, wanting to get to know him on the most personal level.

Anyway, last night we were in Luke 17, where the apostles ask Jesus, "How do we get more faith?" 

The hardest times to hold on to faith is when we are hurting the most.  What should we do to make the hard times a little easier?  What do you do? 

In Jesus' response to the apostles, he tells them we have to exercise our faith, kind of like a muscle.  If we use it, it will grow.  If we seek God's word, spend time with him in prayer, he will never leave us. 

What a promise, he will never leave us.  That's right, he won't and knowing that we can face anything. 

Remember, God is good, all the time.

Signs

Sunday, the name of the sermon was Signs.

When people start talking about signs, they can be talking about all different kinds of signs, but the kind we were talking about were Miracles.  The first miracle was actually what we focused on.  

When Jesus turned the water into wine.  

The first actual "sign" that Jesus was more than just a man.  He was with his mother at a wedding feast, when she approached him.  She told him they had run out of wine and he should do something.   Yet, after she went to him, he was not really interested.  He told her his time had not yet come.  She then told the servants to do whatever he tells them to do.

But in the end, he told the servants to fill the jars with water.  After they were filled he told them to dip some out and take it to the Master of Ceremonies (I guess that's kind of like today's Wedding Planner).  It must have been the best wine the man had ever tasted because he called the Bridegroom over and told him how most people serve the good wines first then use the cheap stuff when everyone has already had the good.  But he saved the best for last.  Imagine that, he saved the best for last.  


So in Cana of Galilee Jesus did his first miracle.  There he showed his glory, and his followers believed him.      John 2:11


So he did it so they would believe.  That's what miracles do, or they do for me at least, they make me believe. 



This morning on the news there was a story of a lady burried in the rubble of a building in Haiti, someone heard her voice and they tried to dig her out but they didn't have any equipment, so they tried digging her out by hand.  They talked to her and she was in pain, she said her fingers were broken and she was thirsty.  Could they get her some water.  They did and they were able to get her husband who with the help of a mirror got to see his wife.  She kept telling him that if she didn't live she loved him.  

That's when help showed up and they were able to get her out.  As soon as they pulled her out, the first thing she said was "Thank you God", then she sang a song, praising God, and she told the people she felt like she would get out, but she had been there so long she wondered if anyone would find her.  She got up and rode away with her husband.  It was amazing. 



That was a miracle, that was a sign that even today, even in disasters, he lives!  He lives, and he still works miracles!

Prayer

Our first sermon this year was about Prayer. Our Pastor talked about how being in prayer can sometimes change things or at the least, change our perception of things.

His example was regarding the Constitution. He is a history lover so that's probably how he came across that little example. So, with all of that out, on to the story.

It seems when all the leaders got together to write the constitution, they couldn't all seem to agree on exactly what they should go into the Constitution, and one person made the suggestion that they pray about it. As a group.

They didn't agree on that either so they didn't do it, as a group that is. But the one who asked them to pray, (sorry, I don't remember his name) he did pray. He took his problems to the Lord, and he did see an improvement, although it may have been a small improvement. He saw it, and he knew it was because he prayed.

The whole point was to let us know how important Prayer is in our lives. We should pray for our Nation, our Government, our friends and our enemies. And more important than that is how prayer strengthens us. It's how we communicate with God.

Today our hearts ache for the people in Haiti and what they are going through. I cannot imagine what they must be going through. And while we are so far away, one thing we can do is pray.

Pray for the people of Haiti to know that there is a God who loves them.

I know someone who's father is very ill, and I pray for him and his family.

We all need to be in Prayer, and it won't cost anything except a few minutes of your time. So if there is a situation that you just seems so overwhelming you don't know what you can do, just remember that anyone can pray.

Christmas Images

Just some of my favorite things about the holidays



Christmas trees!!!

Gingerbread houses. (And sweet girls).

Pretty decorations.

Candy!!


All of that is great, as long as we remember what it's really all about!