Beth did it again!

Some of the ladies at church and I are doing a summer Bible Study by Beth Moore based on the Book of Esther. I have been privileged to do several of Beth's video based studies and every single one the Lord used to teach me and this particular Bible study seems to relate so well with what is going on on my life.

Last night was on chapter 5 of Esther when she has Haman and the king come to a banquet and when the King asks her what she wants, she tells them she wants them to come back tomorrow for another banquet and most of the Bible lesson was on timing and waiting on the Lord. Beth ended with a verse that was very familiar to me, Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Honestly, until last night when Beth shed new light on it, I could not think of this verse without thinking of cheesy early 1990's posters of eagles flying over the Colorado mountains that every girl in Bible college seemed to have on their wall and the matching bookmark in their Bible. I think it was the mantra verse of those looking for a husband!

Waiting to me doesn't seem very strengthening..it seems exhausting! I hate to wait on anything...anything! Our adoption journey and anyone else who has went through it will tell you it is all about waiting. Waiting on paperwork, on lawyers, on birth moms to decide, on babies to be born, on rights to be terminated.....lots and lots of waiting. Let me tell ya, it has not been very strengthening to me I feel just the opposite, winded and ready to quit. I have shed many tears cause I am tired of waiting.

My problem is, I have been waiting on the baby not on the Lord. My aha moment last night was when she said, "When we wait upon the event, not on God we lose our strength..... never in our wait is God inactive"

The verse says that they that wait on the Lord will renew their strength. I have been waiting on this precious baby I feel like God is calling us to adopt and I have been so wrapped up in the goal of adoption that I have missed the blessing and lesson of waiting on God. The expectancy of anticipation and the blessing of God's moving has been lost on me with my tunnel vision for the goal.

There have been a few broken roads and many closed doors, but the call has not changed for us to adopt. God has called us to make a difference in the life of a child. To live out the pure religion spoken of in James 1 :27. I am excited to know that He who called us to it will see us through it. I am eagerly waiting on HIM to answer our prayers and bless our home.

closet cleaning

Confession: I am a clothes hawg!!! :)

I love buying clothes and keeping clothes.I am a collector of clothes! I have been going through and trying to weed out things I no longer wear though and I have two large garbage bags in my garage to take to the goodwill now.

Last night before church, I was trying to find a certain black top to go with my pink summer skirt. I looked and looked. Now, mind you, I have 6 (yes, that is right 6!!) black tops in my closet of various styles and shapes,but I wanted a certain one that I think I put in the goodwill bags.
Let me tell you, the urge to pull those bags open and rifle through for my long lost shirt was tempting, but if it was in the bags, at one point I had decided I didn't need it anymore! I didn't really need that shirt, I just wanted it. I ended up choosing a whole different outfit, but it got me thinking...

How many times in our lives do we give something over to the Lord and say,"take it, it is not good for me, I don't need this _______ (sin, habit, thought pattern,image, guilt), it is not good for me" and then we go and try to claim it back again just like I did with my shirt.

"I, even I am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more." (Isaiah 43:25) If the Lord takes theses things and remembers them no more, then we should not either. If you are trying to bring something back into your life that you have given to God, be it for guilt or pleasure, don't. Just leave it in God's hands...that is where it belongs.

How many times do you hear a voice in your head telling you that you are nothing or a failure or worthless? Those thoughts are not from God, put them in the garbage bag! How many time do you feel guilty for sin you have already ask the Lord for forgiveness from? Garbage bag!
Satan wants this garbage in our life. The clutter of it keeps us from seeing the blessings God has given us and the confidence to serve Him. While it is a very good idea to clean out the closet and weed out the junk, it is even a better idea to do the same to our hearts...and leave the garbage where it belongs!

Now, off to reevaluate those garbage bags in the garage, I think I threw my cute pink capri's in there too....just kidding!

A Verse for the Day

Zephaniah 3:17
The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

There was a CD out about a year ago called Glory Revealed that a few contemporary christian artist had gotten together and taken scripture and put it to music. Mac Powell from Third Day was one of the artist, so I had to buy the cd. It was an awesome cd and one of my favorite songs was from the verse above. I have been a christian for almost 30 years ,went to christian school and Bible college and I never remember hearing this verse until that song.

I am reading Max Lucado's book Just like Jesus right now in my quiet time and I read about this verse again this week. Now this book was written about 5 years ago and I am just now reading it. Why have I never heard this verse before? In my opinion, it should be one of the first verses a new believer memorizes!

The God of all creation rejoices over me! He sings over me He quiets me with His love. The image of a mother rocking her newborn to sleep, singing a lullaby, cooing love for the child is what I see when I hear this verse. We don't have to have had a good day and been a good boy or girl to get this love...we only have to be His child.

If there is anyone out there who reads my blog that feels alone or in need of a hug, just climb right up in God's big ol rocking chair and let him sing you to sleep and love on you. It's not a chore...He delights in it....He delights in you!

A thought (or two) for the day

Psalms 107: 7 Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.

Normally I am a NKJV girl. I like the sound, I have memorized many verses in this translation and so it just sounds more like the Bible to me. I have recently began to take my Bible Study a little deeper and explore other translations of verses and the Lord has opened my eyes and spoke to my soul so much through this. I use to think you had to pick a team and stay on it. KJV, NIV, AMP etc etc. I am thinking now it is more like a team of players and the game goes a lot smoother if you can utilize each version at different times or even better cross reference and use them all together.
Today was a good example. In Psalms 107:7 I love that the NIV's translation says FULL redemption. Meaning to the top, complete, all the way around. We are not talking about salvation. Of, course that is full, we are talking redemption from sin.

How may times does something in our life go wrong and we hear a preacher's voice in our head say ,"Your reaping what you sow". That verse in Galatians Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. KJV is true, yes you will reap corruption if you live of your flesh, but those of us who are saved are not of flesh, but of spirit and those verses say the spirit reaps life everlasting! Funny how that part doesn't stick in our head as well does it??

Full redemption! Life Victorious! So why do so many Christians live with their head down waiting for the hammer to drop on them because of all those past sins that are just waiting to catch up with them?
How much more joy would we, as Christians, have in our life if we would grasp the fact that bad things do not happen to Christians just because God is punishing us? He doesn't want us to live under that type of pressure and hopelessness, (cause let's face it, we all sin, so if that is the case, we all are waiting for that hammer to drop). I do know a certain enemy of the body of Christ that would love for us to live that defeated life.

One of my very favorite verses in Jeremiah took on a whole different light this morning as I read it in the Holman Christian Standard Version. Jeremiah 29:11 -14

For I know the plans I have for you this is the LORD's declaration plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you the LORD's declaration and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and places where I banished you the LORD's declaration. I will restore you to the place I deported you from.

Ever feel deported? I have. Remember His promise is to restore us because His redemption is full. Below is a quote from the Beth Moore Bible Study I am doing right now.

"Allowed to do so through our confession, invitation and cooperation, God can restore our identity, our purity and our sanity! He not only diffuses our past of all power to harm and haunt us but HE infuses it with power to help others. Redemption is incomplete if our negative past is only diffused. Satan won't be completely sorry and God won't get all the glory until the bad is used for good."

Live victorious .....your redemption is full.

Grace under fire

I have a friend who is going through a particular trying time right now and as she faces this fire she is teaching me how God bestows His mighty hand of grace upon us. As I ranted and raved at her situation, she ministered to me by graciously showing forgiveness, determination, dignity and strength. His mercies are new every morning and His grace is sufficient because He gives us each just enough to handle what we will face on that day. Not too much as we are likely to get too big for our britches nor too little that we buckle under the weight.We might not know until heaven why some of us must go through particularly trying times, maybe just to draw us close to our Life Source, maybe to minister to others later on, maybe so that His Strength is to be made perfect. No matter what, we know all will work out for good to them that love Him....and to this we cling.

Book recommendation

Greg and I are both reading this book right now. He reads a chapter at night and then I read a chapter in the mornings. It is a really good, down to earth book. Even if you have never done Beth Moore's Bible studies or don't like her type of teaching, this book is different from all her others. She uses a lot of real life examples and keeps it interesting. It would be a great quiet time supplement. And no, I don't work for her or Amazon. =)

A Pumpkin Prayer

Cut off the top:
Lord, open my mind and fill me with Your wisdom and guidance.

Scoop out the yuckies:
Lord, take out all my fussies and frownies and fill me with Your love.

Carve out the eyes:
Lord, open my eyes to see all of the beautiful things You have made.

Carve out the nose:
Lord, help me to be a sweet fragrance for You.

Carve out the mouth:
Lord, help me to always speak Your words of love and kindness.

Place in a candle:
Lord, let me be a light to others for You have filled me with Your light

A sweet savour

In my Tabernacle Bible study we have talked about the incense that the priests were instructed to keep burning continually and how that in Psalms 141:2 David writes" Let my prayers be set before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." Also Paul tells us to "pray without ceasing" which, I have always thought to be a very difficult thing to do.
I love the word picture it gives us though, thinking of my prayers as incense makes me think of this smoke going up from my lips to the throne of God. It is easier to pray when HE seems real, isn't it? The offerings and incense offered in the Tabernacle was a sweet savour unto the Lord. Are my prayers just as sweet? I wonder sometimes when I become a "Control Freak" in my prayers and try to tell God exactly the best way a situation would work out, is this smell not quite so sweet? Hebrews tells us to come boldy before the throne and I know because of our great high priest (Jesus) we are able to, but I want, like David, for my prayer and my life to be sweet unto Him....is it?
I have been struggling with this question until I found this great little verse in 1 Corinthians 2:15 " For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved and in them that are perishing." I love that! We are a sweet savour to God and He gave us the Holy Spirit to let us know if our heart is not pure, but guess what? Even then, because of Christ, we are still sweet to HIM! And that, my friends is called GRACE!

Legos

Our house has become a Lego Land for the past week! Our friends, Doug and Leanna bought Nate a submarine set of Legos when we were in WV last week and he has been playing with it on the dining room table. Abby decide to bring out her big tub of Legos and now there is a small city built in the dining room! I really don't mind them, even though we have a "no toys in the dining room" rule most of the time.

I was looking at the legos this morning and it got me to thinking about how God takes the small seemingly unorganized parts of my life and molds it to fit into HIS plan. HE makes me useful even when I feel very much like a small plastic molded lego. The cool thing is when HE is ready to build me into something else, HE can take all the pieces apart and what looks like a great big mess, HE molds into something else that HE is able to use for HIS glory. I kinda feel like all the parts laying on the table waiting for HIM to create in me a work and its hard to wait and see what that masterpiece will be.

I don't like change very much and yet that is what I feel we have been doing so much of the last few years, kinda like all my lego pieces are just laying out there on the table and I am waiting for God to reveal HIS plan for our lives and as I wait (sometime more patiently than other times), I am filled with the reassurance that God is the master planner/potter/creator and HE will, IN HIS TIME make me exactly what HE wante me to be!

Psalms 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me.

Simple Gifts

'Tis the gift to be simple,'tis the gift to be free,'tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,And when we find ourselves in the place just right,It will be in the valley of love and delight.
Refrain:
When true simplicity is gained,To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed.To turn, turn will be our delight,'Til by turning, turning we come round right

This is an old Shaker hymn that I have been thinking on the past few days. I long for the simplicity that cannot be attained by money or postion. A realtionship with Jesus is my desire and in having that, all of the worldly things that seem to beckon me to spend time and money on seem to fade away.
1 Timonthy 6:6-8 But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us therewith be content.

Lesson from the Manna Part 3

Control
The control of the food and the provision of it was God's and God's alone.

Deut. 8:2-3 All the commandments which I command you this day ye shall observe to do, that ye may live and multiply/ and go in and possess the land which the Lord swareunto your fathers And thou shalt remember all the ways which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whither thou would keep thy commandments, or no.

No matter where they traveled to those forty long years, the manna was always there, all they had to do was pick it up. He humbled them because they had nothing to do with it, it was all God. I think that is why salvation is so hard for people to understand, there is nothing you can do to earn it or to work for it. God's grace alone is the way to heaven, and that leave us (mankind) out of control. And don't we like to be in control!!
The same is true for our problems and concerns. He tells us that His yoke is easy, His burden light. Why shouldn't we give Him our worries, but when we do that, we are again out of control of the situation and that makes most of us feel uneasy. Where, but in God's hands should our concerns be left? He knows best and He also knows the best outcome, so in my way of thinking, leaving them in His capable hands is the best place for them.

I keep thinking on how they had to get out of their tent and gather the manna. If they stayed in the tent they would starve. How many of us want the preacher to hook us up to a spiritual IV and allow us to be fed that way. Well, that will sustain us, and we may live, but what kind of life is that? You can't taste nourishment from an IV, no one ever gets off an IV and craves to go back on. The word of God is so sweet when it is eaten from the Creators hand alone. When we experience that then it will be something to crave more enjoyable than a bowl of ice cream or popcorn ever was!

Oh Taste and See that the Lord is good, blesseth is the man that trusteth in HIM! (Psalms 34:8)

Lesson from the Manna Part 2

A Daily Dependence
It must be taken up daily. (Verse 20)
Why? Why not in one big gathering day for the week and be done with it? God wanted them to come to Him in a daily relationship. His provisions were not there because He needed us to be dependent on HIM, He wants to be in a realtionship with us and we need to be in a relationship with Him, but the only way most fo us will come to HIM is if we are desperate and dependent, not on our own free will. When we think we have it together we tend to forget about God. HE gives us the need as well as the provision for the need!

They tried to store up (verse 20)
And when they did it got worms and stank! How often we try to store up on spiritual bread on Sunday and make it last until Wednesday! Manna was meant to be eaten fresh every day, so we are to come to the Bread of Life every day for our fresh portion. Jesus said " Give us this day or daily bread." The whole reason we were created was to have a relationship with and to glorify the creator of the whole universe. Why do we neglect so great a priviledge?

A lesson from Manna

I am in the 3rd week of a Beth Moore Bible study on the tabernacle. The Lord has really been speaking to my heart over some of the things He taught the children of Israel while they were in the wilderness and how we can apply them to our lives today

Exodus 16:16-21
This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man according to the number of your persons, take ye every man for them which are in his tents. And the children of Israel did so and gathered some more, some less. And when they did mete it with an omer , he that had much had nothing left over, he that gathered little had no lack, they gathered every man according to his eating. And Moses said,Let no man leave of it till the morning." Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses, but some of them left of it until morning and it bred worms and stank, and Moses was wroth with them. And they gathered it every morning , every man according to his eating and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.

1. The grace of God
God provided just enough for each one of them. Every one in each tent had just enough, not too much, not too little. How often I have looked on the life of someone that has lost a child or a spouse, how their world has been torn upside down by tragedy and thought there is NO WAY I could ever get through something like that. I am right. On my own, I could never get through a tragedy, but if I needed that extra amount of grace, I know beyond any doubt God would provide it. Just enough to get through each day..no more, no less. How do I know this?

The disciples asked this too in John 6:30-35. They ask for a sign as their fathers in the wilderness was given bread to eat and Jesus said in verse 35 " I am the Bread of Life, he that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." In 2 Peter 1:3 we are told "His divine power has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue."

Just like the manna, every day our bread is there, just what we need. All we have to do is get up and gather it every morning.