Thankful Thursday

“Your tempter tempts you to praise God the least when you need to praise the most. A true psalmist praises his way to victory, knowing it will come because the praise itself renders the first blow to his enemies brow. God’s faithfulness then calls for man’s gratefulness…Grace evokes gratitude like the voice an echo.” Beth Moore (Stepping Up)

Father – Because I need to praise you most this week as I struggle, because you are faithful…I am grateful for…

301. A colorful sunrise as I head to pick up Precious husband from work…302. Rust orange leaves and birds nests…303. Cooking together…making three meals at one time…304. Sitting on mom & dad’s bed doing school on a wet morning…

305. Helpful son coming up with creative ideas…

Consider joining Ann at the Gratitude Community as we lift thanks to God for his multitude of gifts.

Food fight…

A roast simmering with potatoes and carrots…

      Creamy, cheesy potato soup with fresh bread…

              Spicy warm chili and saltine crackers…

These are a few of our favorite meals.  In setting out cans for taco soup, I think how unappetizing they look in their shiny, labeled cans.  How hard and heavy the cans can be.  The frozen hamburger sits like a block on the counter, unbendable.

As I place the items in the pot and the heat is turned on a wonderful thing happens.  The hamburger softens and the flavors begin to blend together.  A pleasant aroma drifts through the house.  When we sit down and enjoy this meal it will taste delicious and nourish our bodies.   It will sustain our needy bodies.

Words, spoken in anger, like hard, heavy cans weigh us down.  They leave our hearts frozen.  Unkind, unloving words leave a bad taste in our mouth and a loss of appetite to the one being injured by them.  Instead of letting the flavor of our words blend in the heated pot of family life, to a pleasing aroma, the meal is burned.

The past week I have helped serve burned words to my family.  The words have been flung like we are in a food fight.  A heaping of criticism, a spoonful of resentment, and  the place is a mess.

Now to throw out the past week’s leftovers.  Time to clean up the debris – time to repent and forgive.  We start this weeks offerings new and fresh.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”  1 John 1:9

Making Monday Fun

I came across a fun clip on the High Calling Blog this morning.  It made me smile and I hope it makes you smile as well. 

 

 

Now to figure out how to make cleaning the kitchen and putting clothes away fun.

Praying you have an amazing Monday!

Scripture Only Sunday

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”  Romans 10:9

“And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the survivors whom the Lord calls.”  Joel 2:32

Thankful Thursday

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!   And that is what we are!   The reason the world does not know us is that is does not know him.  This is how we know what love is:   Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.   And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”        1 John 3:1; 16

Father – because of Your lavish love – a love so great Jesus laid down His life for me – I am grateful!  Grateful my father for:

296.  Birthdays…

I am always stunned at how quickly the time goes by.  Hard to believe that Challenge Son is now 17 – from babe to boy to man in lighting quick time. 

 

297.  Then another boy, amazing young  man, Sensitive Son has turned 10.

298.  It was not a broken arm, only a deep tissue bruise…

299.  Pumpkins and mums and trees wrapped in light…

 

300.  Tender, encouraging words spoken by Your Holy Spirit. “God is obsessive.  His passions far exceeded any we are even capable of in this life.  He is preoccupied with you.  He goes to unthinkable lengths to find those who will allow Him to love them.”  Ted Dekker, Slumber of Christianity 

Father, I fall on my face in gratitude that You always find me. 

Put on the brakes…

Brakes

The pace of life pushes
Faster, move forward to
Achieve success you must
Do and do and do
The daily grind
Rise up, get going

Load into the vehicle
Hustle children to school
Make it to work on time
Go through the motions
Completing your job
In order to get your pay

Within the comforts of home
Day continues to push
Homework and housework
The work never ceases its
Vicious demands drain
Soul and spirit

God’s weeping heart cries
This pay is not worth your life
You were created for more
More peace, more joy, more hope
Fulfillment is found only in Christ
The reward of my kingdom comes

As you put on the brakes
“Grow still, be attentive and listen”1
Know that I AM God

--Nancy Kourmoulis (10/20/09)

1Brennan Manning, Ruthless Trust

“Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him,” Psalm 37:7a

L. L. Barkat's Poetry prompt: Make a "word pool" of at least five slow words. Yeah, I guess molasses counts. But verbs are good too. Create a poem using a minimum of one of your slow words, but feel free to use the whole pool. Post your poem by Thursday, October 22, for links and possible feature at High Calling Blogs. Drop your post link here in the comment box so I don't miss it. Thanks!

Amazingly enough - I just read Jennifer's post @ Getting Down with Jesus and realized this post also touches on Ann's theme this week "Consider sharing in community, "How to Find Rest in a Racing World". How to find rest - Put on the brakes or as Jennifer so well conveys - Just say no.

Waiting

I’ve started this post three times this weekend.  You see I’ve been waiting for the sun to shine.  It seems it has been raining here for months.  I can’t remember the last sunny day around here.  I was hopeful yesterday morning.   As  I’ve waited I’ve been pondering Ann’s post Slow Down: To Seek and many of the wonderful links there.  Then going to L.L.’s post Drift Me and the amazing writers there sharing their slowing, stillness, seeking.

I’ve been working through Beth Moore’s study Stepping Up: a journey through the Psalms of Ascent.  After studying each Psalm she suggests you write the Psalm in your own words.  Thursday’s Psalm was chapter 130.  Here is my translation of Psalm 130…

I call to God from this deep pit
Master, turn your ear, listen to my plea
If you kept a score sheet of my sin
I could never get out this hole
Master, you bring complete pardon
I am in awe, You are Holy
Here I wait, Lord, my soul
Longs to hear your voice of hope
Master, from daybreak to daybreak
My soul waits with longing
Lord, in Your kindness and faithful love
You lavish me with redemption
Redeeming me from all my sins.

Wait, slow down, be still.  So here I sit this evening, Sunday night about 9:30 p.m.  I’m curious, how many times the word wait is used in Scripture.  I pull up biblegateway.com, type in the word wait.  I wait to push the search button because I want to read the verse of the day.  I about jumped off the bed….as my eyes land on…

Verse of the day

“Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.”- Psalm 27:14

Today's passage is from the New International Version.

(By the way, according the biblegateway NIV version the word wait is mentioned 135 times in the Bible.)

In her book, When the Heart Waits, Sue Monk Kidd writes…

“Life is about waiting,
     Waiting for a spouse,
        Waiting for a job,
          Waiting for financial provision,
            Waiting for God to move,  for
                the Holy Spirit to guide, for
                    Jesus to return,
Waiting in the dark…
      The 10 virgins waited through the night
          Waiting precedes celebration
                If we don’t show up prepared
                     to wait, we may miss the
                         transcendent when it happens.”

Then Saturday evening…   

I stood shivering, snapping photos as the sun gave a glorious display.  Sunday has been a cold yet exceedingly beautiful day.  Blue skies all day long.  The rain has passed, for now, it may return tomorrow.  Today I have celebrated God’s redemptive presence.  Words spoken, penetrating into this heart.  It has been worth the wait to bask in the sun.  More appropriately I should say it has been worth the wait to find The Son – shining, full of radiant glory.

Scripture Only Sunday

Psalm 130

A song of ascents.

¹ Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;

² O Lord, hear my voice.
       Let your ears be attentive
       to my cry for mercy.

³ If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins,
       O Lord, who could stand?

⁴ But with you there is forgiveness; 
       therefore you are feared.

⁵ I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,  
       and in his word I put my hope.

⁶ My soul waits for the Lord
       more than watchmen wait for the morning,
       more than watchmen wait for the morning.

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

⁸ He himself will redeem Israel
       from all their sins.

New International Version (NIV)

Speechless

Which is pretty hard to believe since…

1) I’m a woman, I like to talk, and 2) I blog and journal, basically, I love words.

However, I have to thank Angie at Ponder the Path of Thy Feet for her kindness extending me a Kreative Blogger award.

This is my first award and I will try to follow the rules…

So here are the rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award. Done
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog. Done
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award. Done
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people may not know.

This one is tricky…but here goes.

1. I like to snow ski. Since I live in the southeast I don’t get the chance often and I’m not very good at it. But the scenery is worth the work.

2. I am an aspiring artist. I have always loved to draw but been too afraid to try my hand at real painting. In August I joined an art class. So far I have completed about 8 (almost 9) paintings. Three of them are of my children.

3. I like stuffed animals, especially lambs and bears. Not sure why that combo. Lambs because Jesus is the Good Shepherd, bears because they defend their young ferociously.

4. I take an excessive amount of photos when we do anything, even a trip to the library.

5. I am really a homebody. I could sit in a comfy chair and read all day. Homeschooling five children makes that a dream for another time.

6. I love the sound of the ocean, waves breaking against the shore.

5. Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers. 7. I’m also a rule breaker. There are way too many amazing blogs for me to choose!

Well, I guess I’m not as speechless as I thought I was. Again, thank you Angie for your thoughtfulness.

Thankful Thursday

“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord,

continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him,

strengthened in the faith as you were taught,

and overflowing with thankfulness.”  Colossians 2:6-7

Father – This is me again continuing and overflowing with thankfulness!  Gratitude for…

291.  Rust fall leaves and yellow mums…

292.  Rocking chairs and rock walls…

293.  Arched doorways…

 

294.  New recipes that turn out yummy…

295.  Daydreams…

 

“Want to live the abundant life? Just jump in with your own counting!”  Ann Voskamp

Still

For Walk with Him Wednesday, perhaps prayerfully consider sharing with community: How do you slow down? How do you still and know God?

It is quiet at my house, which is saying a lot. With five children at home the quiet does not come often. I drag myself out of bed, a morning person I have never been. I sit in chair at the side of the bed with drowsy, bowed head. The air is still, my heart is expectant.

My soul and lips cry out…Father, “Holy is the Lord God Almighty, You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being…Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise! Praise and honor to the Spirit who resides within. The Spirit of wisdom and revelation. Enlighten the eyes of my heart to know the hope to which I am called. Fill me with all the measure of the fullness of God and the love of Christ.” (Revelation 4:8,11; 5:12 & Ephesians 1:17-18; 3:18-19)

I am still, listening, waiting. I linger in this place of solitude and silence.

“In the stillness I listened, knowing that somewhere within me there really were sighs and whispers I could barely hear – the beautiful breath of God drawing me quietly toward new life.” Sue Monk Kidd When the Heart Waits

As the day arises, God’s new mercies surround me and invite me to walk into the day aware of the Voice inside my soul. I learn that He will never leave me nor forsake me. Even when the house comes to life with growing children and the stillness is difficult to discern. It abides in my soul if I choose to still my heart, listen, linger, and learn.

Ann asks the question, Where else is God? In the midst of the giggles and groans, tenderness and tension of raising five children and a mom – God is there. Whether we thrive or just survive the day, I find God in the daily deliverance of grace.

Here are some other thoughts on stillness:

Seedlings in Stone
Not So Fast

Plow Me Up

I have been working through Beth Moore’s workbook “Stepping Up – A Journey Through the Psalms of Ascent”. The last few days I have been working through Psalm 128 and 129. At the end of each Psalm Mrs. Moore has given a graphic with a set of stairs and suggests you “write in a phrase or brief sentence on the corresponding stair what you’ll most take with you from the psalm.”

I had written on each stair:
Psalm 129 In brokenness & wounding the Lord sets me free
Psalm 128 The Lord makes those who fear Him fruitful

The remembrance came to me: Fruitfulness comes by plowing up the ground. “Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long.” Psalm 129:3


Mrs. Moore writes “the plowed up ground left by their feet (those who wound me or even self-inflicted wounds) can become a fertile place for God to cultivate some seed…Give our backs to Christ.” (words in italics mine) Too often the enemy throws things back in my face. Things that have been dealt with he tries to burden me with them again. Fears Christ has delivered me from rise up. But I am learning…

It is also true that God comes along and plows up our lives.

“Sow for yourselves righteousness,
reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;
for it is time to seek the LORD,
until he comes
and showers righteousness on you.” Hosea 10:12


Either way I need to give my back to Christ in order to reap good fruit. Fruit that will not only bless me but be a blessing to others and bring God glory.

Psalm 128:2 says we “will eat the fruit of our labor.” Apart from Christ I labor in hurt, anger, bitterness. I will reap the wind – barrenness. Yet if I remain in Christ my labor will be in brokenness, forgiveness, mercy. I will reap blessing and prosperity. I will be free from the sin that could so easily entangle me, things like holding a grudge (i.e. I learned this one the hard way).

Father – Let me always remember, because of Christ’s wounds I am healed. Healed, if I will offer those places of brokenness, where the enemy seeks to bury me or where You seek for me to grow. Knowing that in the darkness Your seed has been planted and will grow. I will find You in the midst of the plowing. Father, help me to become an oak of righteousness, a planting for You in order to display Your splendor.

Scripture Only Sunday

I love the house where You live,

O LORD, the place where

Your glory dwells. Psalm 26:8

Thankful Thursday

“It seems that we humans need a practice of gratitude and that the practice requires repetition, as if it were a kind of spiritual breathing. We don’t forget to breathe but we can forget to express our gratitude.”   Lewis Hyde  

Father – here is my spiritual breathing for this week….I am grateful for these blessings and so much more…

 

286.  Field trips to the zoo with school group…

287.  To see the breath of a lion when he roars…

288.  Sibling affection…

289.  “A bird in the hand”…and the giggles from children holding said birds…

 

290.  Water fountains and flowers…

Broken…

It seems I feel broken a lot.  Maybe it comes with the territory of being a mother.  I feel inadequate often as a parent.  Truthfully it is the condition of being human.  We are all broken.  Yet I am learning that brokenness is not necessarily a bad thing.  It all depends on Who you seek in order to be fixed.   Just a few thoughts from my time in God’s presence recently…

From His Word…

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”  Psalm 34:18

From When the Heart Waits by Sue Monk Kidd…

“as theologian Martin Marty writes, “Brokenness and wounding do not occur in order to break human dignity but to open the heart so God can act.” 

From Steve Green…

 

Again from God’s Word…

“Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard,  and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.”  John 12:3

Father – When I feel broken, when I’ve failed again, when I’m confused, when I am wounded and in pain – thank you for being close.  Open the eyes of my heart to see you acting on my behalf, transforming me, filling this temple with the fragrance of your presence.

 

(I have also found that my blog can be broken.  I was updating my online web albums not realizing they were tied to my blog.  Unfortunately I broke the links to my photos.  Oh well, live and learn.) 

Presented

“Let us now with confidence enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh.” Hebrews 10:19-20

In brokenness I have walked through the veil that is His body and entered the dwelling of The King. The Ark of God’s eternal covenant, the symbol of His presence and power, His Son, Jesus, walks beside me, ready to present me to His Father.

“To Him who is able to keep you from falling and present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy; to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore. Amen!” Jude 24-25

His blood has been sacrificed on the alter,

His Word has washed clean,

His Light has been a guide on the path,

His Oil has anointed and filled,

His Bread has sustained,

His Intercession has been a sweet fragrance,

Now His glorious, radiant presence presents me,without fault,

Presents me with great joy

Because His power,

His authority bought this victory…

Victory for all those who wait with breathless anticipation for

His coming…

“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Hebrews 9:27-28

Walk here, dwell here, God’s love desires for us to live here, His temple now.

“Within your temple, O God, we meditate on You unfailing love.” Psalm 48:9

So for now we live as His earthly temple, but the day is coming when the final fulfillment of all that God has uttered will be unveiled…

“Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.” Revelation 21:3

Scripture Only Sunday

“It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Hebrews 9:23-26

A Blog Anniversary

One year ago  I found my own space in the blog world.   The reason I started was to share how God is a light in the darkness and how He gives treasures to His children even in the difficult circumstances.  This is a path God and I have been walking for a while now. 

God has stretched me over this last year – lots of changes.  I have found Him so often I can only say how in awe I am of His loving Presence.   

I have been privileged to read and ponder so many other wonderful blogs.  They are jewels God has placed along my path.  Today I am grateful for this space. 

Father – I pray this secret place is an honor to You.  Let me be real and honest and in all things glorify You. 

“I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I AM the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name.”  Isaiah 45:3

Thankful Thursday

I don’t have to look far to find things for which to thank God. All I have to do is walk around this yard and house to find the beauty and love God has graciously bestowed. Father, this week I am thankful for…

280. Sunshine and roses…

281. Chef Precious Husband… and the delicious spinach quiche he prepared…yum…

282. Silly painted faces…

283. Refreshing autumn breezes…

284. Butterflies and boy who takes amazing pictures…

285. Bloggers who inspire and challenge and share their lives… here are a couple who have moved this soul…

Anything Lyla writes is thoughtful and probing.

Laura’s post are lyrical and honest.

(There are other bloggers on my sidebar who are equally inspiring because of their own unique God-given abilities.)

“Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men.” Psalm 107:21