Over the last couple of weeks I have just been more and more challenged, broken, etc., by my loving Heavenly Father. I hope to at some point be able to break down all that God has been doing in my heart and mind and share it with others in hopes of encouraging them in their walk with the Lord. I grew up in church, and have done a lot of "right" things, but never realized just how inconsistent my walk with Him was until these past few weeks as God has stirred my heart and mind.
As all this has been going on, I came across a snippet that got my attention and caused me to look for a more complete version and I found it on You Tube. I hope as you listen to it, that it will amaze and awe you and remind you of how special you are to our Heavenly Father as it did me. Just click on the arrow to play and be blessed!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Light Overcomes Darkness
I read a statistic a while back that said 80% of Americans are Christian. Really? I would think that if that were true, then our country would be very different, don't you? In Sunday School class this past Sunday, Tom spoke about how we (Christians) are to be the salt of the earth and if the salt loses it flavor, what good is it?
Not only are we to be the salt of the earth, we are also supposed to be the light of the world. I am reading a book called Fresh Encounter by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King and in their book they talk about the darkness we live in and the light we are to be. Here is what they say:
How bright is my light shining? How bright is yours?
I need to do some cleaning of my vessel so my light can be seen. Do you?
I think if the above statistic is even halfway close to being right, most of us have some cleaning to do so our light can be seen.
Not only are we to be the salt of the earth, we are also supposed to be the light of the world. I am reading a book called Fresh Encounter by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude V. King and in their book they talk about the darkness we live in and the light we are to be. Here is what they say:
Christians should not be surprised by the spiritual darkness around us. That is all it can be. Darkness is dark. The greater problem is not with the darkness. The problem is with the light. When light shines, it dispels darkness. We face a growing spiritual darkness in our land because the light is not shining brightly.Did you get that??? The problem is with "the light" - the problem is us, because we are what Jesus called "the light".
Jesus said that His disciples are the light of the world (Matt. 5:14-16). When the light of Christ in us is dimmed by the sins and cares of the world, darkness increases. When God's people are clean vessels, the light displayed causes darkness to flee. Darkness itself cannot overcome light. Light overcomes darkness!
How bright is my light shining? How bright is yours?
I need to do some cleaning of my vessel so my light can be seen. Do you?
I think if the above statistic is even halfway close to being right, most of us have some cleaning to do so our light can be seen.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Repentance - Do I Really Know What That Is?
As I continue on this path to personal revival, I have learned that true revival only comes about after true repentance. Now most of us think we know repentance, but as I have studied on it this past week, I discovered that there is much more to repentance than what I first thought.
I am concerned that too many of us confuse repentance with remorse. Remorse is a worldly grief, a feeling bad about our sin. Repentance is a Godly grief, and there will be outward evidence of it.
Real repentance influences behavior. Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of behavior.
C.H. Spurgeon said: "There must be a divorce between you and your sins. Not a mere separation for a season, but a clear divorce." What a picture that is! Can I truly say that I have so effectively removed sin from my life as compared to a divorce?
I want to bring glory to God and I want to be used by Him - that's what repentance will enable me to do!
I am concerned that too many of us confuse repentance with remorse. Remorse is a worldly grief, a feeling bad about our sin. Repentance is a Godly grief, and there will be outward evidence of it.
Real repentance influences behavior. Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of behavior.
C.H. Spurgeon said: "There must be a divorce between you and your sins. Not a mere separation for a season, but a clear divorce." What a picture that is! Can I truly say that I have so effectively removed sin from my life as compared to a divorce?
I want to bring glory to God and I want to be used by Him - that's what repentance will enable me to do!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Revival - How Bad Do I Want It?
In the past few weeks, God has been stirring my heart to a deeper walk with Him, a personal revival if you will, and then the ladies group at our church decided to do a book study on Seeking Him by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Tim Grissom. It has been an amazing study so far, though painful in many ways as God reveals sin in my life and asks me to get rid of it.
You really wouldn't think sin would be so hard to get rid of would you? I mean, just the word "sin" makes me think of something dirty or nasty, but of course, if we truly saw sin as dirty or nasty, we probably wouldn't be enticed by it, would we? Usually sin comes to us in these great little packages that look great, sound great, taste great, feel great, therefore, we are more easily snared by it.
One morning as I was thinking about all this, God reminded me of a story He told where a rich young man came to Him and asked Him what he had to do to be saved and Jesus told him that he needed to go sell all his stuff and then come back. Scripture records that the young man went away very sorrowful. Why did he go away sorrowful? He wanted a relationship with Christ, but he was sad when he realized he would have to give up his "stuff" in order to enter into that relationship with Christ. Ouch! Could this be me? Could this be many of us sitting in pews every Sunday morning?
Scripture doesn't say whether or not this young man ever returned to Christ, but it sure has got me to thinking. I want a deeper walk with God, I want to experience a personal revival, but to get there, Christ may, and almost certainly will, ask me to give up some of my "stuff". The question is will I be willing to do that or will I walk away sorrowful?
You really wouldn't think sin would be so hard to get rid of would you? I mean, just the word "sin" makes me think of something dirty or nasty, but of course, if we truly saw sin as dirty or nasty, we probably wouldn't be enticed by it, would we? Usually sin comes to us in these great little packages that look great, sound great, taste great, feel great, therefore, we are more easily snared by it.
One morning as I was thinking about all this, God reminded me of a story He told where a rich young man came to Him and asked Him what he had to do to be saved and Jesus told him that he needed to go sell all his stuff and then come back. Scripture records that the young man went away very sorrowful. Why did he go away sorrowful? He wanted a relationship with Christ, but he was sad when he realized he would have to give up his "stuff" in order to enter into that relationship with Christ. Ouch! Could this be me? Could this be many of us sitting in pews every Sunday morning?
Scripture doesn't say whether or not this young man ever returned to Christ, but it sure has got me to thinking. I want a deeper walk with God, I want to experience a personal revival, but to get there, Christ may, and almost certainly will, ask me to give up some of my "stuff". The question is will I be willing to do that or will I walk away sorrowful?
Thursday, May 1, 2008
An Update
Greetings to my blogging friends!
Sorry I have been missing in action for so long. There have been many things I have longed to blog about, but every time I sat down to write, I couldn't seem to get it out. Sigh...
Anyway, here we are at the end of a month and at the dawn of a new one. I have many personal goals for the month of May and blogging a LOT more than what I have been is one of them.
I hope to be able to share with you some things God has been teaching me in hopes that they will encourage you in your walk with the Lord. God is so faithful to take us to that next level if we only let Him.
Until the next post, may God bless and keep you!
Sorry I have been missing in action for so long. There have been many things I have longed to blog about, but every time I sat down to write, I couldn't seem to get it out. Sigh...
Anyway, here we are at the end of a month and at the dawn of a new one. I have many personal goals for the month of May and blogging a LOT more than what I have been is one of them.
I hope to be able to share with you some things God has been teaching me in hopes that they will encourage you in your walk with the Lord. God is so faithful to take us to that next level if we only let Him.
Until the next post, may God bless and keep you!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Menu Monday
A few weeks ago, a friend and I decided to try out "freezer cooking". I have several cookbooks that show how to take a recipe and double it or triple it and freeze it for future use. Well, who wouldn't like having a freezer full of meals that you can pull out in the morning to thaw and then cook that night and eliminate all the prep work? Our trial run went great and we plan to do it again soon. In the meantime, however, I am going to try making double of whatever it is I am fixing for supper and put that in the freezer. Not all meals are amenable to being in the freezer of course, but the ones that are will be what I will double. For instance, when my friend and I had our cooking session, we made a sloppy joe recipe that my family really liked, so when making the menu for this week, that is one my family asked for, so I am going to make a triple batch of it and put 2 of them in the freezer for later.
Here is my menu plan for the week along with what I plan to cook extra for the freezer:
Here is my menu plan for the week along with what I plan to cook extra for the freezer:
- Monday - Taco salad (will cook double the meat, season it and freeze)
- Tuesday - Oven baked pork chops, cream cheese mashed potatoes, fried green beans
- Wednesday - Beef roast, potatoes and carrots in the crockpot
- Thursday - Sloppy joes (making 2 extra batches to freeze) with homemade seasoned potato wedges
- Friday - Baked spaghetti, homemade garlic cheese biscuits, and tossed garden salad.
If any of you do this type of cooking, I would love to hear your tips, so please share!
Friday, March 21, 2008
Making Preparation
It seems no matter where you go today, you hear something about the state of our economy. As we start to see the cost of fuel steadily increase and as we watch the prices of staples such as milk and eggs creep up ever higher week by week, I have started to feel a more increased urgency to "make preparations" for harder times.
Sometimes it is hard to know just where the balance is in that though. I really don't want to become one of those doomsayers who is all negative, like Chicken Little crying out that the sky is falling, but I also don't want to be caught on the opposite side of the spectrum either, with my head stuck in the sand not acknowledging the reality of our economic state.
As a family, we have started to think about ways we could better prepare ourselves for tougher financial times. Since our electric bill has also seen steady increases, we decided that one of the first things we could do is find ways to cut back on our energy consumption. To get us started, we recently bought 2 packages of the new energy-saving CFL bulbs to replace our existing bulbs.
Sometimes it is hard to know just where the balance is in that though. I really don't want to become one of those doomsayers who is all negative, like Chicken Little crying out that the sky is falling, but I also don't want to be caught on the opposite side of the spectrum either, with my head stuck in the sand not acknowledging the reality of our economic state.
As a family, we have started to think about ways we could better prepare ourselves for tougher financial times. Since our electric bill has also seen steady increases, we decided that one of the first things we could do is find ways to cut back on our energy consumption. To get us started, we recently bought 2 packages of the new energy-saving CFL bulbs to replace our existing bulbs.
They don't seem to be as bright as regular bulbs, but I am not ready to go to candles yet, so these will do...:)
This is just one of the many things we have on our list of things that we can do to cut down on our expenses. What are some things you are doing to cut back on your living expenses? I would love to hear about them and I plan to share more of what we come up with as well.
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