As you can see, I have renamed and changed up my blog. I know some people don't deal well with change, but I love it. In fact, it may be time to move some furniture around in the house too! Anyway, I just felt like the original title was bogging down. I think it's because of all I have been through this year. I want to live life to the fullest. Actively. Adventurously.
The change in title represents a refocus for me, a look out to the future and what lies ahead. I hope you will continue to read and allow me to encourage you. I have included a gadget so you can subscribe and receive new posts by email if you want. God has done wonderful things for me. Most importantly, loving me and saving my soul. I want to share with you the adventures I take with Him and hope to be an encouragement to you as we live out fully who God has created us to be.
So, come on! Let's go exploring....
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Friday, November 14, 2014
Trying to Mix Oil and Water
It's impossible. You can't mix oil and water. They separate and the oil forms a blob on top of the water. It's gross. It's like pouring hate into love. They are opposites, repelling one another. And such is life.
God calls himself Living Water. I want to constantly drink from that fountain. Living water. The biblical description of that would be "fresh, flowing water, as of a spring or mountain stream, that revives and refreshes life." Spring water and mountain streams are cool and refreshing, indeed. Along their banks are lush green pastures and beautiful, thick foliage. Trees grow strong there. I want to drink and I want what surrounds me to be touched by it.
Have you ever jumped into a mountain stream? I remember being at church camp as a kid. The pool was filled with the water from a nearby stream. IT WAS C-O-L-D!! But we LOVED it! We jumped in and shivered and played and swam. (Well, I held onto the side because I have never been a swimmer, but I played and had fun!) Later in life we found a beautiful, secluded campsite in the Ocoee wilderness. The most peaceful stream runs through it, and the water is cold and refreshing. I remember being there one day with friends and the other husband was sitting in the edge of the water. My daughter was playing in the water and put her cold hands on his back. He screamed. It took his breath away. The point is, the coolness of the water is refreshing. It gets your attention. It cannot be denied. Just like drinking in Jesus.
Hatred, on the other hand, is like passing up that pure, clear water for polluted, nasty, stagnant water. Hate. Drinking up that filth, taking it into our minds and our bodies and allowing it to ooze out through the pores causing a stench that burns the nostrils of everyone around. It comes out like fire on the tongue in the words that take aim and cause sorrow and pain when they land. It infects the lives of all who are around and experience the horror of it. Nothing thrives there.
This is warm water, not something that soothes your thirst, it makes you more thirsty, but since it is all you have, you keep drinking. Have you ever grabbed that warm water bottle in your car on a hot day because it was all you had? The water wasn't cool and refreshing, was it? It continued to fill you, but it never soothed and quenched your thirst.
Have you ever been hated? Really hated? I have. More than once in my life I have experienced the wrath and bitterness that erupts like molten lava from the life of the one who is filled with this stagnant filth. In Mark 7 Jesus says, "What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come." To list just a few things from the list there: greed, malice, deceit, envy, slander, arrogance. I believe these things combine and thus breed hatred.
So the question comes down to, what are you putting in? Cool, refreshing, reviving, Living Water? Or filthy, stagnant, warm, slimy water? What is coming out? Do you touch the lives of those around you with encouragement, so that their lives reflect your beauty and thrive? Or do you destroy with your words? Do you smell so that no one wants to be around you?
Today the phrase, "where there is hatred, let me sow love," has reverberated in my head. My flesh rebels. My heart breaks. I need a drink of clean, reviving, refreshing Living Water!
God calls himself Living Water. I want to constantly drink from that fountain. Living water. The biblical description of that would be "fresh, flowing water, as of a spring or mountain stream, that revives and refreshes life." Spring water and mountain streams are cool and refreshing, indeed. Along their banks are lush green pastures and beautiful, thick foliage. Trees grow strong there. I want to drink and I want what surrounds me to be touched by it.
Have you ever jumped into a mountain stream? I remember being at church camp as a kid. The pool was filled with the water from a nearby stream. IT WAS C-O-L-D!! But we LOVED it! We jumped in and shivered and played and swam. (Well, I held onto the side because I have never been a swimmer, but I played and had fun!) Later in life we found a beautiful, secluded campsite in the Ocoee wilderness. The most peaceful stream runs through it, and the water is cold and refreshing. I remember being there one day with friends and the other husband was sitting in the edge of the water. My daughter was playing in the water and put her cold hands on his back. He screamed. It took his breath away. The point is, the coolness of the water is refreshing. It gets your attention. It cannot be denied. Just like drinking in Jesus.
Hatred, on the other hand, is like passing up that pure, clear water for polluted, nasty, stagnant water. Hate. Drinking up that filth, taking it into our minds and our bodies and allowing it to ooze out through the pores causing a stench that burns the nostrils of everyone around. It comes out like fire on the tongue in the words that take aim and cause sorrow and pain when they land. It infects the lives of all who are around and experience the horror of it. Nothing thrives there.
This is warm water, not something that soothes your thirst, it makes you more thirsty, but since it is all you have, you keep drinking. Have you ever grabbed that warm water bottle in your car on a hot day because it was all you had? The water wasn't cool and refreshing, was it? It continued to fill you, but it never soothed and quenched your thirst.
Have you ever been hated? Really hated? I have. More than once in my life I have experienced the wrath and bitterness that erupts like molten lava from the life of the one who is filled with this stagnant filth. In Mark 7 Jesus says, "What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person's heart, that evil thoughts come." To list just a few things from the list there: greed, malice, deceit, envy, slander, arrogance. I believe these things combine and thus breed hatred.
So the question comes down to, what are you putting in? Cool, refreshing, reviving, Living Water? Or filthy, stagnant, warm, slimy water? What is coming out? Do you touch the lives of those around you with encouragement, so that their lives reflect your beauty and thrive? Or do you destroy with your words? Do you smell so that no one wants to be around you?
Today the phrase, "where there is hatred, let me sow love," has reverberated in my head. My flesh rebels. My heart breaks. I need a drink of clean, reviving, refreshing Living Water!
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
When You See the Hand of God
Have you seen the hand of God lately? It might be the beautiful sunset painted across the evening sky or the colors of the autumn trees. It might be the mighty power of his healing hand at a time when modern medicine just isn't enough. It might be making contact with an old friend and having a fun conversation. It might be simple or complex, but you have to look -- open your eyes and look for it.
I have seen his hand so much recently. Seems like when you start looking you start noticing more and more. Today I had such a beautiful time in the scripture as he revealed some truth to me. It wasn't necessarily pretty truth. It wasn't something that was easy to accept. It was something rather difficult, but it was truth. In the revealing came understanding. And in the understanding came peace.
I don't know about you, but I like to see the hand of God in the easy things. Snuggling a baby and enjoying the sweet sounds of her laughter. An evening and dinner with two sweet friends with no one else around. Sitting quietly listening to the birds sing the last songs of the day as the sun sets in the western sky. Dinner around the kitchen table.
When life gets tough, though, it's not always so easy to see his hand. I'm not talking today about my cancer journey. I am talking about the other tough things of life. When things aren't easy. A family member is unhappy and is suffering emotionally, thus causing grief and distress for everyone around. Work situations are unstable and having a job tomorrow is in doubt. The car broke down and there is no money for repairs because the kids are sick and need to go to the doctor, but you can't get there because the car won't run. Those kind of things. Sometimes they seem beyond impossible. They seem to have rocked the world off it's orbit and you feel like you are spinning out of control. You wonder if God knows. And if he knows, will he do anything?
My friend, I am here to tell you today that he knows. Indeed, he knows. He knows when we have fallen into a pit of despair and hopelessness, feeling that our feet are stuck in the wet, slimy mire and gunk. I imagine an old well, you know, rock lined, picturesque in another situation. But in this case, we've fallen in and can't get out. Trapped. Hopeless. There is just enough water to make a thick, sticky mud. The moss that has grown on the rocks is lose and tears away when we grab a handful to try to pull ourselves up. The rocks are slippery from the water seeping out of the dirt which make them slimy and impossible to hold onto. Our feet are so stuck that we can't even start to climb out. How in the world will we ever get out of this mess? Psalm 40 says this:
I have seen his hand so much recently. Seems like when you start looking you start noticing more and more. Today I had such a beautiful time in the scripture as he revealed some truth to me. It wasn't necessarily pretty truth. It wasn't something that was easy to accept. It was something rather difficult, but it was truth. In the revealing came understanding. And in the understanding came peace.
I don't know about you, but I like to see the hand of God in the easy things. Snuggling a baby and enjoying the sweet sounds of her laughter. An evening and dinner with two sweet friends with no one else around. Sitting quietly listening to the birds sing the last songs of the day as the sun sets in the western sky. Dinner around the kitchen table.
When life gets tough, though, it's not always so easy to see his hand. I'm not talking today about my cancer journey. I am talking about the other tough things of life. When things aren't easy. A family member is unhappy and is suffering emotionally, thus causing grief and distress for everyone around. Work situations are unstable and having a job tomorrow is in doubt. The car broke down and there is no money for repairs because the kids are sick and need to go to the doctor, but you can't get there because the car won't run. Those kind of things. Sometimes they seem beyond impossible. They seem to have rocked the world off it's orbit and you feel like you are spinning out of control. You wonder if God knows. And if he knows, will he do anything?
My friend, I am here to tell you today that he knows. Indeed, he knows. He knows when we have fallen into a pit of despair and hopelessness, feeling that our feet are stuck in the wet, slimy mire and gunk. I imagine an old well, you know, rock lined, picturesque in another situation. But in this case, we've fallen in and can't get out. Trapped. Hopeless. There is just enough water to make a thick, sticky mud. The moss that has grown on the rocks is lose and tears away when we grab a handful to try to pull ourselves up. The rocks are slippery from the water seeping out of the dirt which make them slimy and impossible to hold onto. Our feet are so stuck that we can't even start to climb out. How in the world will we ever get out of this mess? Psalm 40 says this:
I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him.
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him.
We must always remember that people are watching us in all that we do. In the hardest of life's circumstances, people expect us to fall into the pit. What they don't expect is that moment when they see our wonderful God lifting us out of the pit. It is then, in the waiting, in the trusting, that we impact the lives of our unbelieving and questioning friends because we have believed God in an impossible situation. So, my friend, where have you seen the hand of God lately? Are you singing a new song of praise to your God? How is that impacting the people who are watching you live?
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Full Speed Ahead!
"Full speed ahead!" That's the way we live life these days, isn't it? Barreling through the minutes of the day without much forethought or planning. Pushing the snooze button for nine more precious minutes of sleep. Rushing here and there, hurrying to get from one task or appointment to the next. Taking care of what HAS to be done and leaving until tomorrow what really NEEDS to be done. It's become cliché, but it is so true at the same time: In this day of modern convenience, with appliances and gadgets that are designed to save us time and make life easier (we carry computers in our pockets!), we have less and less time for what is important...that thing God has called us to do.
Once upon a time there was a group of people who were allowed to return from captivity to their homeland. They came home to find destruction all around. They had been given the opportunity to go home for a purpose, but their focus was redirected. Their activities centered on themselves. After all, they needed a place to live and food to eat before they could get started on the real work, didn't they? How could they be expected to do all that heavy labor until they were able to provide food on the table for their families or have a place to sleep at night? They didn't refuse to fulfill their mission, they just delayed it to take care of personal needs.
Their mission? To rebuild the temple of God. The place where God's glory would reside among them. Their immediate and personal task? To build homes and provide food for themselves. God noticed. He told the prophet Haggai, "These people say, 'The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord's house.'" He asked the people, "Is it time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" God went on to say, "Give careful thought to your ways."
Give careful thought to your ways. I started this post describing a basic day in the life of an average American. Wake up, dress, leave the house, do the job, run the errands, take the kids to all their practices, stop at the store, get the homework, make something for dinner, make sure everyone has clean underwear to wear tomorrow, get the backpacks and briefcases ready for another day...collapse and do it all again.
God describes the drought and lack of progress his people experienced. They neglected God and he brought punishment. One commentator said, "Basically, they assumed his blessing upon their own plan while neglecting to consider his plan." These people neglected God. They didn't consider that he had no place to dwell amongst them. They built a bare altar, just enough, and went about what they considered the important business of everyday life. Their priorities were askew.
Aren't we so much like these ancient people? You can find their story in the book of Haggai in the Bible. Although it is found in the Old Testament and occurred so long ago, it is very relevant today. God calls us to do his mission. We have so many things that distract us and get in the way. In a devotion book I use at home the reader is asked to list the things that get in the way and draw her attention when she sits down to read her Bible and prayer. For me, it was a quick and easy list. If I run put that load of clothes in the washer then I can put them in the dryer when I am finished. I probably should go ahead and bathe the dog now since it takes him so long to dry. (Our dog has thick fur.) Did I lay the chicken out to thaw? I was supposed to call and make an appointment, better do that now. Oh, I could go on and on, but you get the idea. What would be on your list? Seriously, take a few minutes and jot the things down that pop into your mind the next time you pick up your Bible and sit down expecting a few quiet minutes with the Lord. I think you will be surprised.
Friend, I want to encourage you today to allow God into your world. Put aside all those things that distract you from his presence and his glory. Stop neglecting time with him. Quit putting off doing that thing that is in your heart and you know he has prompted in your thoughts. Isolate yourself and protect the time you are using to read his Word and talk with him in prayer. Won't you give careful thought to your ways starting today?
Once upon a time there was a group of people who were allowed to return from captivity to their homeland. They came home to find destruction all around. They had been given the opportunity to go home for a purpose, but their focus was redirected. Their activities centered on themselves. After all, they needed a place to live and food to eat before they could get started on the real work, didn't they? How could they be expected to do all that heavy labor until they were able to provide food on the table for their families or have a place to sleep at night? They didn't refuse to fulfill their mission, they just delayed it to take care of personal needs.
Their mission? To rebuild the temple of God. The place where God's glory would reside among them. Their immediate and personal task? To build homes and provide food for themselves. God noticed. He told the prophet Haggai, "These people say, 'The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord's house.'" He asked the people, "Is it time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" God went on to say, "Give careful thought to your ways."
Give careful thought to your ways. I started this post describing a basic day in the life of an average American. Wake up, dress, leave the house, do the job, run the errands, take the kids to all their practices, stop at the store, get the homework, make something for dinner, make sure everyone has clean underwear to wear tomorrow, get the backpacks and briefcases ready for another day...collapse and do it all again.
God describes the drought and lack of progress his people experienced. They neglected God and he brought punishment. One commentator said, "Basically, they assumed his blessing upon their own plan while neglecting to consider his plan." These people neglected God. They didn't consider that he had no place to dwell amongst them. They built a bare altar, just enough, and went about what they considered the important business of everyday life. Their priorities were askew.
Aren't we so much like these ancient people? You can find their story in the book of Haggai in the Bible. Although it is found in the Old Testament and occurred so long ago, it is very relevant today. God calls us to do his mission. We have so many things that distract us and get in the way. In a devotion book I use at home the reader is asked to list the things that get in the way and draw her attention when she sits down to read her Bible and prayer. For me, it was a quick and easy list. If I run put that load of clothes in the washer then I can put them in the dryer when I am finished. I probably should go ahead and bathe the dog now since it takes him so long to dry. (Our dog has thick fur.) Did I lay the chicken out to thaw? I was supposed to call and make an appointment, better do that now. Oh, I could go on and on, but you get the idea. What would be on your list? Seriously, take a few minutes and jot the things down that pop into your mind the next time you pick up your Bible and sit down expecting a few quiet minutes with the Lord. I think you will be surprised.
Friend, I want to encourage you today to allow God into your world. Put aside all those things that distract you from his presence and his glory. Stop neglecting time with him. Quit putting off doing that thing that is in your heart and you know he has prompted in your thoughts. Isolate yourself and protect the time you are using to read his Word and talk with him in prayer. Won't you give careful thought to your ways starting today?
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