Today as I entered the parking lot on my way home from work, the smell swept over my nose and the memories of being a child came all over me again. I love how the dirt and the rain take me back to when I was a child, summer memories. But now this smell is much more than that, it reminds me of the earth...the earth you created and created us from. It got me to thinking about how much I love the way You made the earth, the grass that is full and plush, the smell of flowers, the sky - so big and full of wonder, the miracle of birth, beautiful water, and the list goes on....
Because of the details you created, You made a life for us here...imagine what else You have in store! I can't even begin! How awesome! Thank you Lord.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
On growing...
Just like a baby, there are many stages of growing in LIFE. I am beginning to find this is true to growing in Life with Christ. Yet last October I thought I was as far as I was going to go with God. When I started that desert trip I thought for sure there was nothing more for me. But I kept faith and now know I was wrong to think that. Today I am reflecting on a newfound stage of my growth and finally understand what it means to be on the potter's wheel!
I admit that before I came into the truth and chose to live for God, I thought in doing so life would be easy -that those who go to church doing Godly things have no worries and are without conflict. Some of this is true for me - but only while living in Faith. It is like how my brother Marty put it to me long ago, "As long as you do what you are supposed to do things will be alright." I think what he meant to say was as long as you choose right over wrong, God will be there.
This new life is anything but easy for me. Don't get me wrong, there are peaceful, joyful, fulfilling times - mountaintops if you will - when I am listening, obeying, and walking with Him. But in order to grow there are also times God lets go of my hand during our walk so that I may learn to seek Him even when the Spirit isn't present. Needless to say I have learned greatly about how to trust and keep faith these past few months...and here comes more obedience on my part.
I am battling spiritual warfare, but over time it gets just a tiny bit lesser and lesser. I know that God is constantly molding and shaping who I am in Christ. My Pastor put it to me in such an easy way to understand, he said that Satan works overtime on us Christians once we start following Christ. Satan doesn't want me to win. That when I wasn't following Christ and constantly living in sin without conviction or repentance there was no reason for Satan to focus on me. But now there is - big time.
It isn't a daily battle, but I do tend to get impatient with myself for not being who I wish to be in Christ "now." I am tricked to wishing to be perfect when Satan tells me things like how I will never be perfect or good enough for Christ. Yes I have bad habits that developed over the years from not knowing any better. I find I see them now almost constantly, and while being convicted of them is bothersome, it is the only way to get rid of them. Satan, of course, takes his part in magnifying them to try to bring me down, but I choose disregard the negativity and trust in the Lord. I know I am right where the Lord wants me and that no matter what I am doing I am who I need to be during this time in my life and that He is changing me taking gentle time shaping and forming me on his pottery wheel. (Jeremiah 18)
I am learning this year to know Christ. I have always believed in Him, but I didn't really know Christ the way I do God and the Spirit - I didn't have a relationship with Him. Now that I do, I want to know Him more and more each day. He has asked me to come to Him. Of course I want to ask Him exactly how, when, and what to do. But I know this answer and so I pray that I continue to be patient with my growth, get into His Word every day, obey when I am convicted, and truly repent.
I know that living on this earth in this temporal body is so different than what it will be with the Lord in heaven - so when I live with Him in Spirit here - I admit I become anxious and want it all the time. I want to see what He has in store. Can you imagine all the beauty we find from Him here on earth mulitplied? I am human. I long to hurry and be with Him when and where I can, but have learned this will all take time and that He does have a plan for me - eternity.
I admit that before I came into the truth and chose to live for God, I thought in doing so life would be easy -that those who go to church doing Godly things have no worries and are without conflict. Some of this is true for me - but only while living in Faith. It is like how my brother Marty put it to me long ago, "As long as you do what you are supposed to do things will be alright." I think what he meant to say was as long as you choose right over wrong, God will be there.
This new life is anything but easy for me. Don't get me wrong, there are peaceful, joyful, fulfilling times - mountaintops if you will - when I am listening, obeying, and walking with Him. But in order to grow there are also times God lets go of my hand during our walk so that I may learn to seek Him even when the Spirit isn't present. Needless to say I have learned greatly about how to trust and keep faith these past few months...and here comes more obedience on my part.
I am battling spiritual warfare, but over time it gets just a tiny bit lesser and lesser. I know that God is constantly molding and shaping who I am in Christ. My Pastor put it to me in such an easy way to understand, he said that Satan works overtime on us Christians once we start following Christ. Satan doesn't want me to win. That when I wasn't following Christ and constantly living in sin without conviction or repentance there was no reason for Satan to focus on me. But now there is - big time.
It isn't a daily battle, but I do tend to get impatient with myself for not being who I wish to be in Christ "now." I am tricked to wishing to be perfect when Satan tells me things like how I will never be perfect or good enough for Christ. Yes I have bad habits that developed over the years from not knowing any better. I find I see them now almost constantly, and while being convicted of them is bothersome, it is the only way to get rid of them. Satan, of course, takes his part in magnifying them to try to bring me down, but I choose disregard the negativity and trust in the Lord. I know I am right where the Lord wants me and that no matter what I am doing I am who I need to be during this time in my life and that He is changing me taking gentle time shaping and forming me on his pottery wheel. (Jeremiah 18)
I am learning this year to know Christ. I have always believed in Him, but I didn't really know Christ the way I do God and the Spirit - I didn't have a relationship with Him. Now that I do, I want to know Him more and more each day. He has asked me to come to Him. Of course I want to ask Him exactly how, when, and what to do. But I know this answer and so I pray that I continue to be patient with my growth, get into His Word every day, obey when I am convicted, and truly repent.
I know that living on this earth in this temporal body is so different than what it will be with the Lord in heaven - so when I live with Him in Spirit here - I admit I become anxious and want it all the time. I want to see what He has in store. Can you imagine all the beauty we find from Him here on earth mulitplied? I am human. I long to hurry and be with Him when and where I can, but have learned this will all take time and that He does have a plan for me - eternity.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Shoo Fly!
My 6 year old daughter has a few CD's she likes to listen to in the car on our long journeys to and from town. (We live 20 miles away from real civilization - so entertainment of sorts are a must.) We will take turns - I listening to K-Love and she listening to her CD. I was pondering the other day after hearing the song "Shoo fly, don't bother me" for probably the 100th time, "What is the message this song is trying to convey?" Sure it has a very catchy tune but do children know what they are singing about? After pondering this it came to me and I have found much more meaning to it than a preschool rhyme she and I happily sing along together. The lyrics are simple and easy to follow:
Shoo, fly, don't bother me,
Shoo, fly, don't bother me,
Shoo, fly, don't bother me,
For I belong to somebody.
CHORUS:
I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star,
I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star.
I researched this in Wikipedia and it doesn't say much about it other than it originated in 1860. It says there, "The song remained popular over the decades, and was commonly sung by soldiers during the Spanish-American War of 1898, when flies and the yellow fever mosquito were a serious enemy. In the soldier’s version, after singing the famous Shoo fly, don’t bother me three times, the soldier would then sing For I belong to company G."
I thought for sure to find some other meaning to this song, but apparently no one else has thought of it the way I have? In my own life I struggle with spiritual warfare. The enemy is always "buzzing" around telling me I will never be good enough for Christ or that I am always failing. In hearing this song the other day, I am reminded to shoo the enemy off because I belong to somebody and that somebody reminds me that I am a morning star! So even though this song doesn't advertise that it originated as a spiritual message, it will be one to me and I'd like to teach the same to Savannah.
It is interesting when you look for God in everything, you find Him there. He is undeniably everywhere and every step of the way.
Proverbs 3:6 "In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths."
SHOO FLY!
Shoo, fly, don't bother me,
Shoo, fly, don't bother me,
Shoo, fly, don't bother me,
For I belong to somebody.
CHORUS:
I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star,
I feel, I feel,
I feel like a morning star.
I researched this in Wikipedia and it doesn't say much about it other than it originated in 1860. It says there, "The song remained popular over the decades, and was commonly sung by soldiers during the Spanish-American War of 1898, when flies and the yellow fever mosquito were a serious enemy. In the soldier’s version, after singing the famous Shoo fly, don’t bother me three times, the soldier would then sing For I belong to company G."
I thought for sure to find some other meaning to this song, but apparently no one else has thought of it the way I have? In my own life I struggle with spiritual warfare. The enemy is always "buzzing" around telling me I will never be good enough for Christ or that I am always failing. In hearing this song the other day, I am reminded to shoo the enemy off because I belong to somebody and that somebody reminds me that I am a morning star! So even though this song doesn't advertise that it originated as a spiritual message, it will be one to me and I'd like to teach the same to Savannah.
It is interesting when you look for God in everything, you find Him there. He is undeniably everywhere and every step of the way.
Proverbs 3:6 "In all your ways know, recognize, and acknowledge Him, and He will direct and make straight and plain your paths."
SHOO FLY!
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