Saturday, January 4, 2014
Thursday, January 2, 2014
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
2014
Where do I go from here? What do I do? Which road do I take? Which way do I sway in this dance? I don’t know! I would like to say I don’t care, but I do.
Do you make lists? Lists of what you
accomplished in 2013? Lists of
failures? What you want to do, goals you
want to reach in 2014? I want to! I have formulated them in my head. They just haven’t made them to paper yet,
which is odd because everything in my head eventually makes it to paper. As I was discussing my weirdness last night
with a friend, I realized I have some little tiny goals I have to complete. We tend to always look at the big picture and
set our goals. Like I want to lose 100#
Well Hello! Don’t start with that! How about you start with I want to get
healthy in 2014. Cut back on my sugar,
go with low fat! Limit the doughnuts and
chips! Eat fruit and veggies. Walk a mile instead of watching that
television show. Then before you know
it, the pounds will be falling off, but more importantly you will be feeling
better. You will have more energy and
you will be able to move without your knees complaining. And as you feel better you will want more of
that! Those pounds will come easy with
health as your motivator! My thing or
one of my things is this; I have watched TV for a long time, Danny and I watched
a lot of TV! So for the last year I have
just quit watching TV. I don’t know
why! I don’t enjoy it! But I still feel the need to DVR all my
favorite shows. But then every time I
think I will watch one of them, I don’t.
So I have all these series taking up space on my DVR and I have no desire
to watch them, but yet I can’t bring myself to delete them. That’s what I want to do this New Year! Either watch them or delete them! That’s easy enough! Right?
Philippians 1:6
He who began a good work in you will carry it on to
completion.
My desire to quit watching TV started
after I prayed for God to make me healthy, to clean me up, and to give me a
heart like His. I didn’t even finish
last season’s finales! And they are
still on my DVR. But what I do now
instead of watch TV is read my Bible; write words that God gives me, pray! But no TV!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:
old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new.
When I prayed for health, I
had no idea He was going to clean up my spiritual health. But He did.
Yet I cling to the old way by not deleting that! I have no doubt I am not going to watch
it! It’s as if I can hear Him say every
time I look at TV, wouldn’t it be better to sit with me for a while? Let’s
talk! Get your coffee, I’ll get the
word. And how can I argue with
that? So I am sure, as sure as I am
writing this on paper that I am going to hit the delete button. There is like only 10% space left on my DVR
because of all the junk that I have recorded!
How much space do you have left in your life for Christ? Is it 10%?
50%? With a new day, a new year,
we have a new slate! There is nothing
stopping us from hitting that delete button on all the garbage in our life so
that we can free up space for Jesus! I
am going to start by deleting all that “stuff” taking up space. Then I am going to start looking at other
areas of my life. I know I have lots of
trash laying or lurking around in my body, my heart, my mind! It takes up space that I could turn over to
Christ! If I will let it go! I am beginning to think I am a hoarder not
just in my physical realm but in my heart and mind. I get all these things, thoughts, emotions
and I think I need to hang on to them.
But I don’t and that’s one of the things on my list for the New
Year! Letting Go! I need to let go of the things I have no
control of, and let God have them. He
knows the plans He has for me! I just
have to trust Him. He is working
everything out for my good! We are just
along for the ride!
Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
11
For I know the plans I have for you,”
declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to
give you hope and a future.
That verse has become my
light when it’s dark. My hope when I am
hopeless. My strength when I am
weak. I know He wants what’s best for me
just as He does for each of you! I am
holding on to that promise. I know it
will happen in Gods time. Not mine. I just have to be patient and wait upon the
Lord! Not an easy thing to do, but while
I am waiting I am talking with Him! I am
praising Him for all He’s done for me! I
am serving Him! I am hopeful! I am obedient, while I am
waiting!
Psalm 40:1 (NIV).
1
I waited patiently for the
Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
he turned to me and heard my cry.
I am running a race! But not just a race, THE RACE! And during this race, we wait. We learn at the feet of Jesus! For this race is not one of speed, but of
endurance!
Galatians 6:5
The Message (MSG)
4-5 Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work
you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with
yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take
responsibility for doing the creative best you can with your own
life.
As we run our race, on our
road of life, we run into temptations along the way. The devil has to try and trip us up. He has snared me plenty times. And does every day! And trust me, I get discouraged. But I am grabbing an accountability partner
this year! More than one actually, and I
am going to defeat the devil instead of being defeated! Because as a wise friend once told me, “The
devil has no power over us except when we allow him to influence our thoughts
and words.” So I don’t know about you,
but “I ain’t got time for that!” The
devil has no place in my life! And if
that means surrounding myself with people to remind me of that, then so be
it!
Psalms
136:3
O give thanks to the Lord
of Lords!
That’s my number one goal
for this year! Because without Him and
all He has done, I would be doomed! But
thanks for Jesus Christ dying on the cross for me, for you, we have eternal
salvation. All we have to do is
ask!
Romans 10:13 (KJV)
13 For
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved
Isaiah 12:2 (KJV)
2
Behold, God is my salvation; I will
trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord
Jehovah is my
strength and my song; he also is become my
salvation
As I move into the New
Year, my prayer is to listen to God, not man! Go where He wants me to go! Follow
His goals not mine! He has already set
down what we need to do! How we need to
live! You don’t need to say; yeah I need
to lose weight. Just say, Lord, create
in me a new thing! Do away with the
old! Give me your heart. Make me like you! That was my prayer on April 6, 2013. I will never forget that day! I was broken! Physically, spiritually,
emotionally…broken. But God picked up
the broken shattered pieces and put them together better than I could have
imagined. And He is still working on
me! I always see areas in my life that
need cleansed up! But little by little
bit by bit I run that race, I avoid that temptation, sometimes I get snared by
the devil but I can always come back to the One who loves
me!
Praise God, there is
nothing we can do that would make Him say, you can’t come back! We are human, we mess up, and we ask for
forgiveness and because of the cross and the blood that Jesus shed for us He
always forgives!
Matthew 21:22 (KJV)
22 And all
things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall
receive
As you embrace 2014, my
prayer for you is to begin everything with prayer. Ask what you should do in every situation
before you do it! If you are a list
maker, let Him help you! Let your goals
be for God this year! I can guarantee
you will grow! Your path may not be easy
but it will be rewarding. You will never
be alone and He will always answer your prayers! Just believe and
receive!
Doors
So here I am once again uncomfortable; with my surroundings,
my capabilities, life in general. I know
this means growth but dang if it doesn’t hurt.
I feel like I have nothing to offer in the big scheme of things. There are more qualified people that can do
this!
Then on the other side there are people I know trying to
check out on life, some actually succeeding.
And I wonder where did I go wrong?
I know some days I literally feel like the fire hydrant that the dog is
peeing on! But then God sends a little
angel by just to say Hi! How are you doing or can I help you, or come by for
coffee or I have a hug waiting for you!
That pulls me back to the real meaning of life! What we are really here for. We aren’t here on earth to make sure the exam
rooms stay clean. That the instruments
are cleaned at the end of the day, that the paper work is all in order. We are here to make people feel loved and
needed. If we can’t do that while we do
all these other things then something is wrong somewhere.
Philippians 4:13
I can do all things
through Christ who strengthens me
That’s what I hold on to.
That’s what I pray every morning.
Lord help me do this job so I don’t come across as a complete
idiot! I did go to school, I do have
some knowledge. But sometimes it just
takes me a while. I am what you call a
slow learner. But once I learn it…I got
it for life!
I think I am where God wants me to be, no let me rephrase, I
know I am where He wants me to be. He opened
up all the doors to get me right here at this moment. The same as He opens doors for you in whatever
situation you are in. I read somewhere
yesterday that no man can shut the door God opens. But I also think no man can open the door God
shuts! So if He closes that door it’s
for a reason! Be done with it, don’t
look back. We were talking in our Sunday
school class how God is the one who closed the door on Noah’s Ark, simply
because it was too big for anyone else. Well in our lives, some of our doors
are the same way. We go in and out of
the same door; Back and forth, wishy washy! God is patient but sometimes it’s
like OK, I have had enough! Shut the
door already! Kind of like when you are
at home and the kids fan the door.
Letting in the bugs and letting out the heat! Shut the door already!
That’s how I feel. I
need to just close some doors. He is
giving me the chance to close those doors all by myself. He knows what I am going to do before I even
do it, so sometimes I am like really? Go
ahead and shut it! Save me all this
humiliation, pain, separation, heart ache!
But He doesn’t. Once again, My
God is a patient God. Long
suffering! Steadfast! Faithful!
Proverbs 3:3
Let not steadfast
love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck write them on the
tablet of your heart.
Psalm 119:114
You are my refuge and
my shield; I have put my hope in your word.
That’s where my hope lies!
In His word. When I have a
question or don’t know what to do, that’s where I go!
Psalm 33:22
May your unfailing
love rest upon us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you.
In life we get discouraged.
Sometimes we throw up our hands and say that’s it! I’ve had it!
I’m done! But don’t let
discouragement make you lose faith. Because
faith is the victory, just like that age old song we sing on Sunday
morning. We will get our victory. We just have to have that steadfast
faith. When the devil tells me I don’t
know what you think you have to offer? I
am ready to tell him I can offer My Jesus! That’s it!
But that’s enough because if I can offer that, He can complete the rest
of me! If He wants me to do a job He
will equip me! I have to quit thinking
this is me doing this! Because it isn’t. He gives me the knowledge and wisdom. I just have to move over and let Him do it.
1 Corinthians
16:13-14
Be on your guard;
stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong, do everything in love!
If you mess up- apologize- make a mental note to do better
and move on. Don’t let all that garbage
drag you down. No one is perfect. We all mess up! And above all else, no matter what you do,
and everything you do- do it in LOVE! A
beautiful 4 letter word that isn’t practiced or heard enough!
And as God opens those new doors for you to go through, have
faith! Don’t be afraid! He is holding your hand as you go through the
door and He has already been there! He
isn’t leading you into a trap, He wants you to prosper and have a great life!
Jeremiah
29:11 (NIV)
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to
harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
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