SAFETY - IN WHO?

Ever been afraid of man? Afraid of a situation? I am sure we all have. I certainly have. I remember a time when my fear of man and what man could do filled my stomach with knots and tied me all up inside. Proverbs 29:25 "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe." Isn't that just the coolest!!!? Think of how you as a human fail others. Others will and do fail you too. We have times when we know that others have a huge impact on our life, our earthly life and because of their impact we can become fearful of them, looking to them for solutions thus taking our trust off of Christ and onto man. Pretty soon we have totally forgotten about God and are only looking to man to come through. Even though man will always fail but God will not. I know I have been guilty of this. Isn't that a beautiful promise though - whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. Safe in God's way, not mine - safe by God's direction, not mine - safe in my heart and in my mind, which to me are the places that I need safety, the places I want his protection.

By the way, be assured that trusting in the Lord and being safe is a promise direct from him - spoken direct to you. That is how much he loves you.

Take a moment and worship the Lord as you listen to this song. Think about Jesus as the song plays, not just a song. Raise your hands if you are so lead. 1 Timothy 2:8 says "I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands in prayer..." and Psalm 134:2 "Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord." He is worthy of all our praise!

Here I am!

Revelations has so much in it. So much that we don't fully understand and so much for us to learn from. So much... I was having a hard time deciding what to write about but will narrow it down to Chapter 3:19-20. "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me." As a parent I had to discipline my children, for them to learn and to grow. Their life would not have any direction without my discipline. So ours would not without God's discipline. I love hearing these words for me personally. Jesus - standing at the door of my heart - knocking. Will I hear his voice, will I listen to his voice, will I open the door? I imagine the earnestnest of his plea to come into my heart. I imagine him saying "come on, open up, I'm right here." When I stop with the business of my life, open up my heart and let him in, he will come in and eat with me and I with him. He will feed me and the food he gives to me - well - I will never go hungry! I will want more of him - I want more of him.

I've put this song on my blog a while back but it's what I thought of for today.

More of him and less of me!

I've got you!

I really am blessed. Last night I asked my husband why he was so happy (he had been just doing things all light and happy.) His response was "I've got you!" - Seriously, I am so blessed. Yet the reality is that this love is a love that comes from Christ. He is a man who seeks the face of Jesus and it makes me feel so secure. When he fails, which he does, he seeks the face of Jesus. It brings a love that is so much deeper than he could ever bring to me on his own. This is the kind of husband that I am blessed to have - this is the kind of pastor that I am blessed to have. One who seeks Jesus - wants more of Jesus - and desires to bring people into a closer and deeper relationship with the Shepherd.

RELATIONSHIP! That's the key. A relationship with Jesus. All the other stuff doesn't matter. Your car, your house, posessions (not that we don't need these) but are you willing to give them up? That was the trouble with the rich man - when Jesus told him to sell all he had and give to the poor he went away sad. Don't we often feel the same way as the rich man? I know there have been times in my life when God has called me to give up things and it was sooooo hard. I even got mad at God.

Questioning why. What does God tell Job? "Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall anwer me." Now imagine God saying this to you. I do and I love being challenged to work this through. The times when I am reminded of this are not usually fun because I have obviously questioned God but it is such a powerful reminder of the mighty God we serve.

How small is God to you? Ponder this question. Take a journey through your life and see how God's hand has guided you/taught you/shaped you. Give him thanks and praise - worship him - your life is not about you but about him. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit - 3 in one. Don't understand that? - me either! But it is truth and that is what I believe.

Thank you Jesus - "I've Got you! :)

Return to Me

So I was remembering the idea of my starting this blog. It actually started out to support other pastor's wives and help people to understand what it's like to be in the ministry. As I blogged I found it amazing to get so vulnerable. It felt real good to be so real about my feelings - cause, well you know, we all have them and sometimes we just need someone who will actually express them to help us to open up too. Can you relate to this? So tonight I was looking around online at other pastor's wives blogs. It was pretty amazing all the different things that I ran across. Some love being in ministry, they have loving congregations who really take care of them, others are just plain hurting and have people in their church that have torn them to shreds. Some write for fun and just share life. I think all are great, just being vulnerable. Since writing in a journal was not my thing, blogging is a great way for me to journal my life, sometimes tough feelings and emotions too. My daughter Emily promised me that if I died she will put my blog into a book. I promised her the same.

Oh and last week was the last time I will ever go school supply shopping. That has to go on my blog for future reading. I held back tears as I was walking out of Target to the car. I am a pitiful, loving, emotional mother I know. Someone told me that we could adopt. haha! I'm not THAT sad.

I love Pandora Frank Sinatra radio.

I am going to deliver with Meals on Wheels starting in September.

Our amazing friends came to visit us last weekend from NY. We just love you!

A few days break.............................

"Even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love." Joel 2

Have you fallen away from Christ? This is what God wants from you - simply your heart! He doesn't ask for perfection but simply your heart. I can just hear the plea from God for his people to come back to him. Read those words again. Don't you hear his longing for you? When I think of Jesus dying on the cross for me, shedding his blood so that I can be washed of my sins, I can only imagine what Jesus feels when he sees me doubting him, or trying to lead my life my way.

Bed & Breakfast

So I would really love to open a Bed & Breakfast - for anyone - but with a Christian theme. Please pray for me that if God wants me to do this he will open doors. I love making guests feel comfortable, relaxed and away. Guess it's the gift of hospitality. This is a dream that I have had since I was in my early 20's. I've been looking everywhere for a job but God just hasn't opened one up for me yet. I don't really understand it, seems that you have to have a degree now to answer phones. We have some amazing friends coming to visit this weekend and as I prepare our home for guests I realize that this is what I love to do - and I want to do it all the time - for a job.

There would need to be some big miracles to make it possible to do this but I have a God who moves mountains and I believe the bible when it says "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4 So I hold onto this promise!

I am going to go and make some fresh raspberry scones soon. I pray that they turn out just delicious. If so, I'll set aside the recipe for my future guests. :)

A bunch of stuff

So where to begin. God is good! All the time, God is good!

Tonight Tim and I watched the movie "The Book of Eli". Lots of symbolism and a great movie, despite some graphic scenes. I cried but it was powerful. After the movie we sat down to play gin (cards) with a glass of wine. The card game is always a mistake with my husband because he always wins and I feel so tempted to throw the cards at him. Not good! So we just stopped playing - good move.

I feel so blessed to have my friend Sherry. She was even at our wedding and even though we have moved alot we have remained in contact over the past 27 years. She blesses me, encourages me, challenges me and is not afraid to ask me how I am doing in certain areas of my life - you know, the tough questions. I love that because I want to continue to grow in Christ and we all need someone who can talk straight up in our lives.

Talked with someone else today who just had their ultrasound of their first baby. It brought a few tears to my eyes as I heard the joy in her heart and the words explaining the baby moving it's arms alot. God's work is so amazing and beautiful. God loves life - God made life - he wants us to live our life for him. Not for this world - but for Him. He is our creator. Psalm 139 "For you created my inmost being, you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them." Life is so beautiful, from the baby in the womb to our life today. We are precious to our Father. Think about it - he created us, as the Psalm says, so uniquely, that's how precious we are to him.

May my life Lord, reflect who you are, may it shine with the love that only can come from you.

The other day I called my big brother. It's been a long time since I was in touch with him since he's from the old days and doesn't have internet. haha! I love him. What a blessing that phone call was. I could tell in his voice that he was so happy to hear my voice. He was so happy that I called him. I need to be more intentional about that from now on.

The idea of blessing someone has become more tangible to me lately. In our small group we are going through an 8 week guide to Incarnational Community - The Tangible Kingdom primer. Well it has really taught me what it means to be a tangible Christian. Not in name only but in my life. Blessing others - wow - it's awesome when you see others touched when you just love them. When you step across the fence or step into the lives of those around you - to bless them.

So I was just feeling like my blog was getting scattered. That's ok. There have been a bunch of things. Paul didn't exactly stay on one topic either. :)

So some animal ate all my sweet corn. I worked so hard to prepare the soil for this. I mean really hard. It came up awesome, looked beautiful, and I was super excited to eat some sweet corn - until we saw this. I was sooooo mad. I just stood outside and kept saying "dumb animal, I am so mad."

I'm sure there is more but I think I will close for the night. Bask in the love that Jesus has for you. Wow, he hung on a cross THINKING OF YOU. You are fearfully and wonderfully made.

It's been defeated

This morning I read some pretty hard truths in the bible. Wow! Hear this!

"No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother." 1 John 3

Yikes - some hard truths to take in huh? It makes me think of the scripture that says "should we go on sinnning that grace may abound, by no means, we have died to sin." Sin is such an annoying thing isn't it? Sure would be great to wake up one day and have a perfect day. No bad thoughts, no words spoken in the wrong way, no inner and outer attitudes. The words above are a challenge for us to walk daily with Jesus. He knows that we will mess up, that's why he died on a cross for you and for me. Yet to walk with Jesus means that our life will be different - there are no excuses for continuing in our sin. Jesus told the woman caught in adultery; "...neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more."

Stop and think for a moment what Jesus really went through for you. The torture, the beatings, the rejection. As he went through all of this he was thinking about YOU. Seriously - HE WAS THINKING ABOUT YOU! As I think about Jesus hanging on a cross for me it is incredible, but when I think of him on the cross thinking about me - personally - Wow - what love. Best of all three days later he rose from the dead. Death could not even hold him down. This is the God that we have. This is the God that loves us. This is the God that tells us to love our brother. To walk as his children - in the light! This is the God that forgives.

And that sin in your life that your struggling with - kill it - put it to death - Jesus did - he defeated even death for you. His power is now within you in the Holy Spirit.

Walk in the light! You are loved like crazy!

21 days

I love waking up in the morning and having some quiet time to myself. It's refreshing to spend time in the word and in prayer alone. Tim works out of our home so I see him alot. He was gone this morning to meet with area pastors as they talk and pray together. I love this for him! (of course my teenager is still sleeping. :)) My alone time with God is precious to me. As I close my eyes all I can hear are my fingers typing and the little clock ticking. Time moves along in life, sometimes it feels like time is moving fast and sometimes it feels like it's just dragging on. We all know those days, whether your at work or your a stay at home mom.

Ask yourself what kind of time you are giving to spend with Jesus. What in your life is getting in the way of your alone time? Do you make excuses? (too busy, kids practice, work, don't know how to have alone time with God...etc.) Been there done this myself. We've all heard it said that 21 days makes a habbit. I would encourage you to begin today with this. For the next 21 days commit to being in the word - just make the time - every day - pray before you read and pray when you finish. Ask the Lord to speak to you and teach you. Say whatever you want to him, whatever is on your heart. Underline in your bible anything that strikes you. New to reading your bible? Maybe begin with the book of John. When you begin this habbit you will find that your day is different and when you miss it something is missing.

Verse 5 & 7 of Psalm 37: "Commit your way to the Lord, trust in him and he will act. - Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him."

And waiting patiently - life is not about our time but God's and his time looks a whole lot different than ours.

A dear bride to be posted this song today. Take a moment to worship Jesus. He longs to spend time with you.