Has God spanked you lately?

Yesterday morning we had a wonderful sermon centered on Jonah Chapter 2.  In Chapter 1, Jonah had run from God's command to go to Ninevah and preach to them.  When woken on the ship (during his escape journey), he told the them God was his God and he feared him.  Really?  He was running from him and not obeying him.  To get his attention, God spanked Jonah hard.  He threw him into the water and let a whale swallow him.  It was easier for God to get 600,000 people to repent than it was to get Jonah to go and do his part.  As Pastor Owens said, anyone who is in the belly of a whale quickly becomes a praying person. :)  And Jonah quickly came back to his God.  (If this story seems scattered, please read Jonah.  Short book with great meaning.)

Pastor Owens' point was that when you are a child of God, truly a child of God, he will spank you to get your attention.  He wants you back with him.  Are you in the belly of a whale right now?  Have you been listening to God instead of telling Him what you want to do?  We are all there at different times, myself included.  Give God your attention and go fully into His path for you. He's waiting to bless you abundantly.

Lord, thank you for your discipline and love.  I pray for anyone in the belly of the whale right now, that they will turn their eyes back to you and come running with their arms wide open.  We know you will embrace us. 
I lift up those I love to you, knowing you will cradle them.  Amen.

Romans 12 : 14-16
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not.
15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep,
16 Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate wtih the lowly.  Do not be wise in your own estimation.

Wow, so many lessons in these 3 verses. 

14 - it's so easy to lash out at someone who hurts you, misinterprets something you say/do, or outright lies about you.  But God is telling us in all those situations to bless that person.  Easy,  huh?  Maybe when it's unintentional.  Not when it's intentional or someone thinks less of you as a result.  I've dealt with this over the past couple of days so I know God had me read this verse this morning.  When you swallow hard and bless the ones causing you strife, the strife seems to fade away.

15 - Do you celebrate your friends victories?  Do you get close enough to them that you truly know how special their rejoices are?  When you do, and you rejoice with them, the blessings are incredible.  And when a friend is weeping and it makes you uncomfortable, do you step out anyway and weep with them?

16 - I also believe God put this first square in front of me today.  Things have been going really well and I was getting a bit of a big head.  Then bam!  The situation in verse 14 happened and turned my world upside down.  God needed to knock me down a couple of notches and show me He gave me these gifts and He is guiding me.  Just because I get some decisions right and just because I may excel at something doesn't mean it's due to me. 

Lord, thank you for the lessons you continually teach me.  Especially those I have a hard time learning.  I will strive to keep my focus on you and not me.  Please let me see others how you want me to see them and to rejoice and weep with them.  Thank you for pulling me close just as a Father should.  I love you, amen.

Devil got your tongue?

14 Do all things without grumbling or disputing;

15 that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.

Phillipians 2:14-15

This hit me square in the face in my job.  It has been very stressful lately and others have not steadily done their jobs, but regardless, my witness needed to be that of a light, not someone ranting about everything being so bad.  It was very difficult.  God gave me different verses to get my attention so I would watch my tongue.  Search God to see what He's trying to show you.

²⁹ Let no ^[a]unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification ^[b]according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
Ephesians 4:29 (New American Standard Bible)

Have you praised God today?

Thank you, Lord for the Holy Spirit that overflows my cup!

This got stuck in draft mode from October....

Today my cup overflows and God gave me a big mouth to share it. :) 

There are times in our lives when we are in the valleys and every day is difficult, we are just trying to keep our heads above water.  Then there are times when we've gotten our heads just above that water and we see God's glory so amazingly...

Today my head is up and I can only see Him and His mighty works.  Over a year ago, we found this wonderful little place about 45 minutes from our home and I felt God calling us to it.  We needed our long term home where we could get out of the busyness of so many people and just too much 'stuff.'  God told me so strongly this is where we were to go.  We took a trip and my husband agreed this would be our haven.  We wanted a smaller community for both us and our daughter. 

I remember running down the hill through one of the pastures with my arms raised seeing God's beauty overflowing in nature.  He was showing off his handywork! 

Many thought we were crazy for moving so far out, but God was drawing so sweetly.  We've been here six months and the blessings are crazy wonderful!  Every day I look out and see his beautiful creations all around me.  He has surrounded us with a family of christians that live life for Him.  He has also blessed our family.  It feels as though my husband and I are just marrying again as we create our life here. 

This weekend we go to our first local festival.  We are so excited and many from the 'city' might find it boring but I see the fellowship and appreciation of small town living.

Hang in there, kiddo...it won't last long...

Yesterday was so very odd.  The morning was calm and normal, until I starting chatting with a friend.  I was told of some horrific news that broke my heart. 

After dealing with that, I unknowingly unlocked a storm....of emails at my office.  We have forums and this particular forum I needed to post on has an email address in order to post.  Turns out there are thousands of subscribers who didn't know they were subscribed.  So of course they had to reply all and let everyone know they wanted off the list.  My thoughts on their actions is another story.  However, I had many respond to me, telling me what a good laugh they got out of it and to let it roll off my back.

One particular guy told me "hang in there, kiddo... it won't last long...".  Hmmm... sounds a little like "this too shall pass" which is actually not in a bible verse.

Thank you, Lord, for the humor or others that reminds us pain or embarassment does not last forever.  Amen.

"Never doubt in the dark what God said in the light"

Going through a particularly bad week, I emailed a lady on a forum, encouraging her in how she is handling her bad year.  She took the time, over a week or so, to email me back a very thoughtful, touching, and introspective response.  In it, she said a friend told her "never doubt in the dark what God said in the light."

Sometimes we forget the truths we know when times are really tough.  We second guess our path and what we originally heard from God.  She reminded me of God's promises which did not include an easy carefree road.  That one little phrase did so much to pick me up and dust me off. 

Thank you, Lord, for this new friend.  Please watch over her and her household, showing them your light and love.  Thank you for working through her and providing us both comfort.  Amen.

My posts are getting farther between.  Sometimes that is due to not paying attention to what God is showing me, and at others, it's because I'm in awe at how much He is showing me.

This morning, I read an article on CNN.com about a pro football player who is speaking out against Same Sex Marriage.  And he spoke against other 'notables' not speaking out.  He spoke from the heart, but still people commented and picked apart what he said.  The comments were quite disturbing, ranging from how stupid he is to Jesus is to blame for this.  Absolutely unreal. 

But if you step back, you see this guy is doing what he should be doing and of course, Satan is on his back.  That keeps so many of us from speaking out.  We don't want the backlash.  However, he gave me some hope that not everyone in the spotlight is running away from God. 

Be someone's hope and share what God lays on your heart.  Last night, the preacher asked what we were doing with God's call on our life.  Are we doing what He wants us to do?  I took this to mean in the broad spectrum, but also on a day to day basis.  He gives us opportunites, are we taking them?

And as Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man, called Matthew, sitting in the tax office; and He said to him, "Follow Me!"  And he rose, and followed Him. --Matthew 9:9, NASB

Matthew was a tax collector, noone liked him.  Jesus asked him to follow him, even though people still would hate him.  But Matthew left his old life behind and followed. 

Lord, please give us the understanding and the heart to follow you in every part of our lives.  Let us follow the abundant life you have for us.  Amen.