Prayer

Please pray for me, as I am having trouble not feeling unloving contempt towards many people these days.

Thanks.

Rocks in River Places

I know this is something I go through waves of. Some days, it's easy to see the river, other days, only the rocks.

This weekend was a mix of both, this morning at work was all rocks, and now I'm back in the upswing to the river! :)

Hands

"God asks for my hands. Lord Jesus, here they are. Cleanse them and keep them clean for Thy use today."

And every day.

One Month

Oh dear... I slacked for a month...

Well, lets see if I can get back on track a little for July!

What types of things should you do, and what do you do, to prepare to meet God? How can you make steps to get closer to what you would like to be doing?

My time in the woods sort of rekindled my dying flame. I feel that being surrounded by ugly man-made things all the time, it's easy to lose the hints of God in nature.

Romans 1:20 says "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

So for me, getting back to what He made, rather than what man made, helped soothe something in me. As we learned about the healing power of plants, and the fun tastes of others, we were reminded of His plan. WEEDS, of all things! Things that grow in abundance, need little knowledge or care to proliferate, are full of things to help our liver, our rashes, and purify our blood! And we are taught to throw dangerous chemicals on them, and glare when they take over the lawn. And anise and wood sorrell - plants that Dave has been calling "God's candy" because of the flavor.

Nature is one of the loudest proclaimers of God for me, and trying to get back to Him would be a good first step for me.

Running the Race

I think if my life were a track and field event, normally, I'd be doing sprints. I get extrememly engrossed in a project or hobby, and run like the wind! ...then a few weeks later, I am quite bored with it!

At this point, though, I'd have to say I feel like I'm running a marathon on the track - round and round I go, same ol' path, day after day... but I feel like maybe the end is looming, and soon I will be on to a new event for a little while!

A Familiar Face

:)

Suffering

I just liked this line and wanted to highlight it here:

"We must be ready, not only to suffer ourselves, bt to allow those we love to have the privilege of suffering too." (Italics mine)

It's so easy to get caught up in that - to overly protect or worry for someone, when maybe they need that suffering. I know it probably applies to loved ones in all our lives now (and today I am thinking of a special coworker, whom I found out is planning to move back in with her less-than-loyal-and-gentle guy.)

Your Turn!

:)

Bar Soap

An intimidating thought! I know it is easy to get stuck in that "I am invincible" mode. When your "soap" runs out, what legecy do you hope to have left? Are you using each moment to make a good impression on those around you, to reach out and show love to everyone?

Every day I walk in to work, past dozens of people - students, teachers, hospital employees, worried parents of hospital patients... and we are such a separated society! It is rare that someone I walk past will make deliberate eye contact with me (and, I must admit, there are days I prefer it that way.) And if they do, you may get an obligitory half smile. But it is so rare to see a genuine smile from someone! I have seen one such girl here at the hospital who smiles a bright, deep smile when I see her. I don't know her name, or what she does. But when she smiles at people, it is so big that I just can't help smiling back!

If nothing else, I think that is a goal for me as I use my "soap" daily - that just maybe I can make one other person smile broadly during the day!

Locks and Key

The lock

Revelation 20:3

He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

wqczp dscnrrtz ev cmow hqk ghe

Home is Where the Dishes Are

Ah home, a word Amy says is tied with love (or, at least, we sure Hope it is!) But, as the previous post touched on, the home can also be filled with mundane tasks.

So, in leu of mom's drudgery from dishes, a poem I read!

Thank God for dirty dishes;
They have a tale to tell.

While others may go hungry,

We’re eating very well.
With home, health, and happiness,

I shouldn’t want to fuss;

By the stack of evidence,

God’s been very good to us!

Perhaps I should frame that and post it on the wall above the kitchen sink... it may be very good for me to keep in mind!

Enjoying the Previously Mundane

Another lecture I listened to also talked about this similar topic - how everything we do is something that can be done with gladness! She spoke also that everything we do is something that is holy. Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit, therefore, everything they do is touched with Holiness!

What mundane things do you do daily, that you can retrain yourself to do with gladness? We had discussed earlier about using coffee as a trigger to pray for those too poor to afford coffee (oops! I have a McD's coffee - I shall say a prayer in a minute here!) But not only should we pray for those poor, but be glad in our riches and our coffee! :)

Oh Dear!

Akk! I have let myself become too preoccupied with other things to keep this site updated!

One of my first goals and prayers when I finally got to OFFICIALLY start wedding plans was that I didn't want to obsess over it. That, even though my relationship with God has always been on-and-off shakey, that I wanted to continue to try and keep Him and my walk the central points. After all, that's what marriage is!

And even though I have still been turning to Him in prayer, trying to do my own Bible reading, and have my women's study, I find that posting on this blog is another great way for me to refocus during the distracting work day!

I am not sure what my current "wants" are - He provides for me so well! Perhaps just even more of His overflowing joy, peace, love! Those good ol' gifts of the Spirit!

Blank Spaces...

...For you to write in!

Neighbors

Proverbs 3 didn't have too much jumping out at me. Well, that's not true. But it was not anything super deep for the general population.

²⁸ Do not say to your neighbor,
"Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow"—
when you now have it with you.

Yeah, so, that made me think of how many times, at the end of the long work day, it's so easy for me to send away a mom who is late, or rudely trying to be seen as a walk-in, or whatever, when TECHNICALLY I do still have time to see her. So, this is a verse I just may have to post in my little office or something :)

And check your email for a big prayer request! Gracias!

Fear of God

Well, I am continuing to digress from Amy...

But today was Proverbs chpt 2!

And I thought it a good tie-in to April 1st's post about fools. Rather than be a fool, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." (Ps 111:10) But what does that mean?

According to some, the fear of God differs for the follower, and the fool. The fool should fear God's judegement. And the follower, more than fear, will stand in awe! http://www.gotquestions.org/ says this:

Hebrews 12:28-29 is a good description of this, "Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire." This reverence and awe is exactly what the fear of God means for Christians. This is the motivating factor for us to surrender to the Creator of the Universe.

Provers 2:1-5 also gives us a few clues to help us understand. To understand the fear of God, you have to SLACK! Well, ok, better spelled SLACC, but I am sure I can find a way to tweak that! Paraphrasing the beginning of Chapter 2, Solomon tells his son to:

S tore up my commands
L isten to wisdom
A pply your heart to understanding
C all out for insight
K neel (in prayer) for understanding

"then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God."

(ha! I DID make that K!)

So, slack and know God!

Happy April Fools Day!

An interesting note when I was reading my Bible this morning. Proverbs 1:7 reads "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools [a] despise wisdom and discipline." And when I looked at the footnote there by "fools," it said "The Hebrew words rendered fool in Proverbs, and often elsewhere in the Old Testament, denote one who is morally deficient."

I just thought that was an interesting definition, different than the modern-day understanding we have of the word fool. And I also thought it appropriately timely that I just happened to pick up Proverbs chpt 1 today to read that.

And, another little verse on this day of fools.

Psalms 53:1a "The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.' "

Happy April, all you wise, wonderful people! :)

Breath of Life

Comments?

Prayer Dings

I remember when I first started my job, I had come to make it a habit to pray over each family as I received their charts. I long ago fell out of this habit, but this devotional reminded me! So, maybe I can make that part of my routine once again.

What sort of reminders do you have for prayer? Pray for the thirsty in Nigeria when you get a drink of water! Pray for the sad when you see the color blue! Pray for scared and lonely when you turn out a light! :)

Of Walruses and Kings

Spot for your thoughts!

Paradigm Shift

I know this was started for Amy's devotionals, but, well, sometimes I am lead elsewhere! (Like yesterday's post!) And last night, I was trying to wrap my mind around some other things I was reading in 1 Corinthians, so I wanted to do some free-flow thinking here!

There are certain things you pick up on in life, without specific foundation. One thing I have seen more and more is that, some people just don't reason with logic. When you ask for why they think something, or what makes it true, they give you no more than the proverbial "because I said so" answer. And you stand there, slack-jawwed, wondering how they can continue to proclaim that information, while you on the other hand can point out logical arguments, show facts and numbers. In my own mind, after so many conversations of such, I begin to wonder "am I the one who's blind to truth?"

This applies to many things, but last night it applied to faith.

1 Cor 1:18 "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God"

1 Cor 1:22-24 "For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. "

I fall into both the Jewish camp and the Greek camp! (Greecian?) ;-) I want signs! I want feelings! I want wisdon and knowing! Perhaps these desires are not wrong, in and of themselves, but they are not the way to God. You may be sitting there shaking your head going "Finally, girl! You're getting it." Zerberts to you! Raised by a family of intellects, in a society that rewards scientific "fact" and knowledge, it is still difficult to shake this paradigm that "if I find God, it will be by my own learning," and to sometimes not feel like the perishing fool when things don't make sense.

Now, I appologize for this potentially unrelated tangent. But free flow thoughts at work here!

Maybe I don't fully understand John 6:44 "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him." Though I don't want to get into the big predetermination debate, it does make me pause. Are there people God will not draw to Him? Or maybe, just not draw them YET? Rather than letting Pharoh fear Moses' God, which could potentially lead to worship, He intentionally hardens Pharoh's heart in order to make a bigger point! No, I am not saying that "well God just isn't drawing me to Him yet." Just some free-flow typing, and for some reason, while typing the first part of this post, that verse jumped to mind.

Request

I have joined this wonderful women's study, and we're going through a series dealing with getting to know the holy spirit better. The leader of the group is hoping that for session 7, we actually go out and attempt some ministering/evangelizing to people. I am uber uncomfortable with this - and she is of course not forcing anything. But I don't WANT to be uncomfortable with it! So, I am requesting some prayer for the next month, until session 7, that I will grow in my walk to the point where I feel at least mildly comfortable; that God will set us in the right place with the right people who need to hear; that the hearts of people we will meet that day will be prepared for the word over the next month, and that it will grow and cultivate like the good seed in Jesus' parable! I like Paul's prayer to the Ephesians: He prayed "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power" (Ephesians 1:17-19, NKJV) So that will be my prayer for the next month!

I have pretty much been in the camp of "ya can't give away what ya ain't got" regarding a relationship with Christ. So, Tuesday night after being told about session 7, I did what any normal person would do - block it from my mind and forget all about it!

...Like God would let me do that! He had other plans...

Last night I went out to dinner with a friend who claims an Orthodox church upbringing, but not much of a relationship with God. More a "well, I'm a pretty good person, so I will wind up in heaven I guess." Conversation spanned many topics, and some how wound up on Dave's old project of an angel with a sword, to which she said "oh! Angels with swords are so cool!" And out of my mouth popped "have you ever read Frank Peretti's Piercing the Darkness?" (She is one of my bookworm buddies, and we like to swap favorite titles, though don't always share common ground.) She had never heard of him. I told her the premise, and did tell her upfront that it was all about spiritual warfare from a Christian point of view (as she had expressed irritation in people too upfront about their beliefs) but she still seemed interested.

It didn't dawn on me until later that night - oh my goodness! What have I done?! She's going to think I'm some crack-pot Bible-thumping brain-washed goon!! She's going to read that book and think I'm INSANE for recommending it!! Akk!!

Well, maybe so. So be it.

Who knows what is going on, but if a love of books that do move something spiritual in me is a way for me to try and draw people to God, then maybe God is planting seeds with her right now! So, more prayers as well for that, that if His hand is in it, it will resonate within my friend and draw her closer to Him! I know, normally that book would not be the one I'd recommend to someone as a way of getting to know God, but just maybe it's the one that'll reach her in some way :)

Brain Storm!

No time! Your thoughts? :)

God Puts Up With You

I loved this line. I am sure there is much more love behind God's statement of this, but the way it is so often used today, the curtness of it just made me laugh - and yet also seems to hit home better than the flowery language of old does much of time.

And yes, I of course, could learn a lot from this about looking for the good in those who frustrate me.

Journaling!

Here's a space to journal until I can read the devotional!

Prepare for Worship!

I know so often when I go to church or a Bible study, it's easy to just think of it as yet another thing to check off of a never-ending "To Do" list. You run around before, "Just one more load of laundry! Just 5 more minutes of dishes! I need to run through McD's and grab some food - I'm running late!" and you don't get into the worship mindest for your study! Believe me, I am the QUEEN of this! Even during the study, I can find my mind wandering "ok, it's 7pm, as soon as I get home, I'll throw the leftovers in the oven, change, and take out the trash!" Bad me!

"Be still, and know that I am God."
Before, during, and after.

Here are the verses Amy mentions in this devotional:

1John 1:7 "But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin."

Do you walk in the Light, or let the hecticness of life cause you to try to outrun it?

John 13:5 "After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded."

Do you make sure you're putting others' needs first, before your own "To Do's", no matter how servile the act may feel?

Later in John 13, Jesus goes on to tell John "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Will you give the time to let God wash over you and be a part of you?

Holding Place

I haven't read my devotional yet, and have charting to finish up here. But I wanted to open up the post area in case you get to it before me!

I'll be here:

Lonely Sparrows

Well, my little birdies, I have returned! After a much needed visit to my women's bible group, I again found motivation to visit Whispers and other writings. So, here is a posting place for today! Thoughts?



I know that life often leaves me feeling alone, even when surrounded by loved ones. I always blame "the lonely hole" at my core being on the lack of God in my life, and a distance from His presence. It is an often present, often aching truth that I have learned to ignore. But perhaps it is a good time to examine it some more, again!

Slackers! ;-)

Ok, My dearest co-worker is out - bun still in the oven, but not feeling well. So! The work schedule is keeping me more than busy!

It's your turn, ya'll! What are your thoughts on today's devotional? Judging by the lack of participation in the past few days, I would say you as well are too busy to remember this poor site :-P

Love you all, happy Friday! See you tomorrow!

Clean Hearts and Right Spirits

This was a good prayer for me today! I know we are to love people, but today, I was finding myself thinking of all the nasty things I wanted to say to a particular person who has been someone I have always been less than fond of. Much frustration.

So, instead, I pray to God that he will renew my spirit, and give me a clean heart of love so that I may instead focus my energies on showing His love to the one being hurt in all of this, rather than wasting negative time and emotions on the offender.

Ah yes, and it is always helpful to try and remember that "picking up staws" all day long, day after day after day, here at work, is still something to be joyful for :)

All, All Is Well

Well, I finally made it home from work at 9pm. My back is in shambles from sitting that long, and snow plows kept me up on and off from 2am. So I am tired and crabby. But I got a good parking spot, which saved on my walk in to work! But Amy reminds us not to question, and to refrain from complaint. All in all, my issues are minimal, and "all, all is well." (Especially now that I have a hot cup of coffee!)
I am greatful that I was not involved in the multitude of wrecks in the last 12 hours; that I have a car with working heat; that I still made it to work on time - and that I have a secure job! I am also greatful that I have heat! I learned yesterday that the ice storms of last week knocked out power for much of Kentucky, and my friend only got his back on yesterday at 1pm. Who knows how many others have been suffering in the cold? And apparently the roads were so bad, when people would have emergencies, the ambulances couldn't make it out there, and over 20 people died because of it. I am blessed to not be counted in those numbers; and I pray for God's comfort on those who did lose loved ones.

Free Posting

Work is crazy busy right now, so I can't get to a good post. If I get a breather, maybe I can put something. But for now, my dear family, it's your turn to post!

Giving Love

This one reminded me of the first night on the Navajo reservation. The team was sitting around that night doing our devotional. Shana came around and annointed everyones hands, and then we prayed something along the lines of "God, we give you our hands for the week. We want to use them to build this church, and to show Your love to these children." At first I was caught up in it, and started my own little prayer of "yes God! And I give my feet, my smile, my words, my everything! However you want to use me this week, I want to follow Your plan for me!" And then I subsequently broke down in bitter tears. All I could think was How many times have I prayed that same prayer? How many times have I tried to offer my life in service to Him? And how lost have I always felt? Since missionaries came to our church when I was little, the thought niggled in my mind: I want to do that! I want to give hope to the hopeless! I want to go where He leads me and let Him speak and work through me! And yet, how hypocritical it would be for me. How can I encourage someone in that relationship with God that I myself cannot figure out how to possess?

Now I know many people would tell me, "well maybe you're on His path, doing His will, and you just don't recognize it!" I hope that is the case, because for now, I feel like I'm floundering around lost with who I am supposed to reach out to. I pray most mornings for God's love to flow through me and out to the hurting families that I see all day, and I hope that there may be little seeds being planted, because I sure have trouble seeing my own fruits growing. And by the fruits can you judge the tree.

Forgive the negative rant, but those were my thoughts for today.

Thoughts for Today?

Skipped Day?

Alas, I had not the brain function to get a post up yesterday - appologies! I guess that will happen from time to time. So! I will be back and see if I can come up with anything for yesterday, as well as something today! Or feel free to put a comment of your own insights and thoughts on these devotionals!

Deliver Me

What a beautiful prayer of a song!

"From faltering in my song of cheer" I think was my highlighted line. It is so easy to forget how fortunate I am in life. I often feel bogged down with no path in my future - or so many that I get overwhelmed and don't know which first step to take. But, as Joyce Meyers said in my other daily devotional - even when you're in a time of roughness or boredom, remember that you're just passing through that phase, and eventually the next blessed, exciting chapter will happen!

Abraham's Faith

I read the devotional this morning, and was trying to think of all the wonderful "deep thoughts" I could try to pull from it. But work has been busy, and I have yet to find the time to type any thoughts up, let alone DEEP thoughts!

So here's a good starter question: Have you ever thought God was asking you to sacrifice something extrememly valuable? Did you do it? If He asked you to do what Abraham did, could you?

It's odd - I always hear this story of Abraham as an example of astounding faith - but I wonder how that really plays out. Did Abraham TRUELY think God was going to ask him to kill Isaac? Didn't God make the Noaic covenant with the rule to not kill?

5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. 6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.

As law was passed, wouldn't Abraham know that killing would be contradictive of God's law and promise? As he and Isaac walk up the mountain side, he even tells Isaac that "God will provide the lamb." Did Abraham know, or was this a lie to keep Isaac around?

So, those are my thoughts. I have a headache, so that's the best I can do today. :)

Eh?

How's this look? And I know how to use this blog format pretty well, so it's easy for me to include pics and links, etc, if there are relevant items!

See? :D