"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord,my strength and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14.
This was one of my verses that I was meditating on today from my personal time with the Lord . Little to my knowledge, that this verse I could practically put to use just a few short hours later while I was watching the kids today. I decided to walk with the younger two kids to the school today to pick up the oldest, I also took with me the neighbor kid who lives a few houses down, and the kids were rambunctious and not being very well behaved as we were walking back home- and at the exact moment that I wanted to shout at them, and my blood boiling, (in case you don't know when that bell rings it gets nut so with hundreds and at times to me feels like thousands of kids are running everywhere, parents are trying to get through, kids trying to get on buses and cars whizzing by, it gets a bit stressful when you are trying to keep track of a 3 year old and a 7 year old plus a neighbor kid, and pushing a stroller.) Anyways, as the Lord brought this verse to my mind, the part of the verse that says "The words of my mouth...." and being challenged also in my time with the Lord, my book was talking about being set apart from the world, not conforming to this world., I want these other parents who are picking up their children to see that I am different. I want them to see that Jesus lives in me. So rather than shouting and yelling at them, I was reminded of this verse, and wanted to correct them in a way that was pleasing to the Lord. Then as we got home, things didn't get easier as the the baby decided to shmeer yogurt all over the dog, her shirt, her hair, and herself, as I was trying to deal with the 3 year old. I wanted to scream, BUT I wanted the words of my mouth to be pleasing to Him. So calmly dealt with the situation and was very thankful that the Lord brought this verse to my mind, I feel like normally If I am not in His word on a daily basis, my reaction ( I know) my reaction would have been different. I need to be meditating on His word daily. It is HE who gives me strength.
I thought that I might share this with you all, A friend of mine from Fort that I have worked with during the summer is doing this "Run Across America." He is literally running across America for the organization Living Water. All the details are on his website, and I strongly encourage you to just take a look at it, I think its incredible what He's doing. I thought it was crazy when I first heard that he was doing this, but knowing Abe like I do, I can totally picture him doing this. So please check it out. Its really neat. I didn't have a picture of Abe that I could find, But I did have a picture of Josh (his brother) and I who is also and avid runner.
http://www.runningwater.cc/
Thought I would share with you a fun picture that was taken the other night of Leah and I, Its no secret that I love to eat, and Leah loves the sweets, so we ate together, Both happy and satisfied.
I really like this song, Its by the group Selah. I tried to find the song so you could hear it as you read the lyrics, But I had no such luck there. But the words are great, and I try to make this my prayer daily.
Holy Father, love me still
I have fallen from your will
I am broken, hear my humble cry, my cry
I have wandered for so long
tired and weary on my own, In your arms
I know I home, O God, my God
Take my life and make it yours Lord
Fill me with Your love, You are all
I need, I surrender, I surrender, All of me.
Take my life and make it yours Lord
Fill me with your love, You are all I need
I surrender, I surrender, I surrender all of me.
I have been going through this book above for the last few weeks or so. It has been so humbling, and I am realizing each day that I do the lesson, how sinful of a person that I am, and makes me so grateful for Jesus Christ, and what He has done for me and that He chose me to be His child. I am on the last section of this 3 part book. HOLINESS. I have begun to understand Holiness better in the last year or so since the girl youth leaders took some time last spring to study it in depth and teach it to the girls. I am so thankful that the Lord is Holy, sovereign and Almighty. I was struck by this lesson I did yesterday, It was so good. Holiness is about depending on God's enabling grace and letting Jesus live His Holy life in and through us. I cannot be Holy without God. What does my life reflect to those around me?Do my attitudes, words and behaviors give others an accurate picture of God?
To be Holy as He is Holy-what a responsibility and an astounding privilege-That the Holy One should chose us, earthbound, frail, and flaud as we are, that He should cleanse us from our sins, fill us with His Holy Spirit, and then use us to reflect the splendor of His holiness in a dark world.
It just amazes me. I wanna strive to be Holy. Everyday. For the rest of my life.
A quote from J.C. Ryle.
"Surely that man must be in an unhealthy state of soul who can think that all that Jesus suffered and yet cling to those sins for which the suffering was undergone. It was the sin that wove the crown of thorns; it was sin that brought Him to Gethsemane and Calvary, to the cross and to the grave. Cold must our hearts be if we do not hate sin and labor to get rid of it, though we may have to cut off the right hand and pluck out the right eye in doing it."
Today I had some down time as I usually always do on Sunday's which is always nice, along with my exercise and nap, that I took I was looking at some old pictures. I have been trying to do some cleaning and throwing stuff away that I don't need, and I came across pictures of Danielle and Me. I really miss Danielle. Danielle and I have been pretty close friends for along time. She came to RBC I think in early high school- and at the time I was the only girl in my grade, so it was nice to have another girl my age and in my grade level. We pretty much hit it off right away. Danielle and I have been through a lot together, I am pretty sure we did every missions trip together, our favorite one being one we took in 2003 to Cananda. There she helped me learn how to "live outside" for 2 weeks, it was my first time camping and using an outhouse, cooking outside, keeping "clean" by bathing in the lake, and eating freshly caught walleye . I was nervous and scared, but Danielle was there to encourage and help me every step of the way. I think my favorite memory that we have together is when Danielle and I just graduated High School and we were about to go away to school and Andrew our youth pastor took about 10 of us youths on a camping trip, There among many things Danielle taught me how to fish, I caught my first one there , I am convinced it was a big one, I would really know if Andrew hadn't dropped it off the line. Danielle and I spent many hours together on that little boat fishing and talking. We have many stories together, many memories. I miss our late night drives talking about who was gonna get married first (which I was supposed to be) or if we were gonna grow old and single and live together with 60 cats and be creepy. I miss being able to go to Blockbuster after evening service and watching movies with her, But most of all Danielle has been there to encourage me in the Lord, challenge me, call me out on my sin, and just be there as a sister to me when I need her. We are pretty much complete opposites I am loud, crazy and at times a bit annoying and she is quiet, shy and sweet, but we get along great. I miss her. But I know the Lord is doing incredible things with Danielle and her husband Matt there in PA, I just wish she could be a bit closer. But I know we'll always be friends and have many memories together.
I love summer. I think its my favorite season. I am REALLY looking forward to it. I just love being able to go outside without a coat and not freeze the moment I step out the door. I am looking forward to time at the beach, the conversations that take place on the beach or just on the many walks that are taken during the time of year. I love doing the mission trips with the youth, its always a highlight of my summer. I love drinking cold drinks outside by the Bergman's pool with Heather as we catch some rays, while Pete and Spencer are trying their hardest to get us wet when we have clearly stated we don't want to get wet. I feel as though life slows down in summer, people are more easy going, and less stressed. But the thing I am most looking forward too, more than summer. Is the day I get to go to heaven. That will be the most exciting day of my life.
Lately I have been challenged in my personal devotions that I have been doing about how I spend and am using my money. I finished not to long ago the book The Treasure Principal by Randy Alcorn and that book was very challenging to me . I felt that the Lord has been really tugging at my heart on how I have been spending my money. I always feel like I need more stuff, which is not true, after all the Lord says to be content with what I have. I guess some of this worry is coming back to when I didn't have a stable job and didn't have much money and I worried about what I was gonna do when it all ran out, but looking back I see how incredibly faithful the Lord was (and always will be) for providing all these "little" jobs for me until I was able to go back to the golf course in the summer. Then in the current book that I am doing for my personal devos is one Called Surrender by Nancy Leigh De Moss and that got me. I asked the Lord to clearly reveal to me what area I need to "bow the knee" and say Yes Lord, and give up control, and once again finances came up again. Tonight at my women's Bible Study that which I love so much by the way and am always convicted and yet so encouraged by the women there, we talked about the story of the widow who gave ALL she had(Mark 12) We talked for awhile about money and how our world is just so caught up in it, and lives revolve around it, and how important it is to people. In the passage it says she gave ALL SHE HAD. It struck me. She had COMPLETE trust in the Lord that He will provide for her, and how often do I just think that I need to keep "just a little" in case. She gave her money to the work of the Lord. I have grown up in a family where money has always been tight, and taught to save save save (didn't do that well there, I love my shoes :) But the Lord has so generously blessed me with a great job, and soon for awhile I will be working 2 jobs, and have money, So what I am going to work on is giving more. Not things for MYSELF but for others. I do love to give gifts, I love to see peoples reactions and joy on their faces when they get gifts. It makes me smile. So through this week of the Lord revealing things to me more clearly, I need to give more to others and give back to God what is truly His, after all I can't take it with me when I die.
So I have decided to start a Blog. I have been thinking about this for some time now. I love to journal and I always have tons of thoughts running through my head, so part of me has always just wanted to share stuff with people. A few friends have encouraged me to start one, and thought I wouldn't do to bad at it, and with a little help from a friend I got started. It will take time for me to figure out how to work this thing, so please bare with me, But I am so excited about this blog. To share with you what the Lord is doing and teaching me through His word, and other people, And also just maybe some fun random things as well. So I really hope that you enjoy this blog!
