When I am stressed, down, etc. I turn to the following scripture, below, a lot. In context, it is a great passage, offering much hope.
I have been suffering with back problems all week and have felt stressed because I am not exercising. When I don't exercise I also often eat too much. Then I get even more stressed because I don't want to gain weight. It is a terrible cycle.
But, when I stop the worrying, and really let Christ be in control, things begin to get better. It's a daily thing. A daily surrender. A daily letting go. Often how I do this is that I give my worries to the Lord, verbally handing them over to God, especially when I am getting ready for work in the morning and then also throughout the day. I then am able to breathe a deep heavy sigh of relief and refocus onto what the Lord has at hand. The next task, or simply just being at peace and restful.
He says, "Cast ALL your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you."
Amen to that.
(PS I am also praying for relief in my back. Jesus is our Healer, as well as our Savior. Thank you, Lord, for the healing.)
1 Peter 5: 5b-11
"All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
10And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. 11To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen."
Friday, January 30, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Dressed up...
Here is a pic of me and some gals at our Ball last Saturday night...wish however that I also got a pic of my handsome date, Jamie! :o) He was very sweet to dress up for me and make the sacrifice to be there. Jamie in a tux - you had to be there! I'm a blessed gal.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Wake up!
When I wake up in the morning, I wake up to one of the Christian radio stations in our area. If it is 5am, there's this great older gentleman/ radio host Mike Kellogg who shares little tidbits about the Lord and our walks with Him and he also plays music. If it is 6am, I listen to an hour of Christian worship and praise music. If it is 7am, several Christian ministers and speakers have begun and it is always interesting to hear what they have to say. God usually uses thier talks to speak to me about a specific area of my life that I am dealing with. - it always amazes me how relevant and refreshing God's Word is. It is always timely, always important, always moving.
All of the programs I head this morning were great - but two from this morning were very good...in a simple way:
One on relationships: (Jan 16)
http://listen.family.org/daily/A000001495.cfm
One on life pathways - an interview: (Jan 16)
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/inContext/
Enjoy!
All of the programs I head this morning were great - but two from this morning were very good...in a simple way:
One on relationships: (Jan 16)
http://listen.family.org/daily/A000001495.cfm
One on life pathways - an interview: (Jan 16)
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/inContext/
Enjoy!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Let go!
LEARNING TO LET GO - From Mary Whelchel
And high on the five things we need to learn is our need to learn how to let go.
You know, there are times when we simply have to let go and turn situations over to God. By letting go, it does not mean that we don't care, nor that we wouldn't do whatever we could do to help the situation. It simply means that we recognize where our abilities end and where we relinquish situations to God's control.
For instance, most parents face this "let go" decision with their children. You raise your children the best you can, you try to teach them biblical principles, you do everything you know to help them. But at some point, you let them go. Perhaps you let them go make their own mistakes, but you know there's no other way for them to learn. You let them go make their own decisions, even if you could make better ones for them. We parents have to learn to let our children go.
I answered a letter from a listener who is struggling with letting go of his dream to be married. He really wants a partner and is obsessed with that dream and just can't let go of it. You know, often we have to let our dreams go—those cherished things we've been hoping for and longing for and dreaming of. They may be very good things, like getting married. But God often wants to know if we love him more than we love our dream. And so we have to let go. Sometimes those dreams are returned to us fulfilled later on; sometimes they are not. But until we let go, they will possess us and rob us of joy and contentment.
We have to learn to let our burdens go. Jesus has told us to turn our heavy burdens over to him and accept his light one in exchange. I think many of us feel guilty when there's a problem in our life if we aren't feeling the burden all the time. But that's not the way God wants us to respond. He wants us to drop our burdens at his feet and just keep letting them go. I can tell you that many times I verbally tell God, "Lord, I'm dropping this right here. I'm letting it go, because it's too heavy for me."
What is it that God wants you to let go of today? Let me encourage you to do it. You can trust God. He's able to take care of the situation, but first you have to give it over to him. Un-clinch those fists right now, and just keep learning to let go. You'll have to learn and re-learn, but it's an important principle to learn for your daily living.
And high on the five things we need to learn is our need to learn how to let go.
You know, there are times when we simply have to let go and turn situations over to God. By letting go, it does not mean that we don't care, nor that we wouldn't do whatever we could do to help the situation. It simply means that we recognize where our abilities end and where we relinquish situations to God's control.
For instance, most parents face this "let go" decision with their children. You raise your children the best you can, you try to teach them biblical principles, you do everything you know to help them. But at some point, you let them go. Perhaps you let them go make their own mistakes, but you know there's no other way for them to learn. You let them go make their own decisions, even if you could make better ones for them. We parents have to learn to let our children go.
I answered a letter from a listener who is struggling with letting go of his dream to be married. He really wants a partner and is obsessed with that dream and just can't let go of it. You know, often we have to let our dreams go—those cherished things we've been hoping for and longing for and dreaming of. They may be very good things, like getting married. But God often wants to know if we love him more than we love our dream. And so we have to let go. Sometimes those dreams are returned to us fulfilled later on; sometimes they are not. But until we let go, they will possess us and rob us of joy and contentment.
We have to learn to let our burdens go. Jesus has told us to turn our heavy burdens over to him and accept his light one in exchange. I think many of us feel guilty when there's a problem in our life if we aren't feeling the burden all the time. But that's not the way God wants us to respond. He wants us to drop our burdens at his feet and just keep letting them go. I can tell you that many times I verbally tell God, "Lord, I'm dropping this right here. I'm letting it go, because it's too heavy for me."
What is it that God wants you to let go of today? Let me encourage you to do it. You can trust God. He's able to take care of the situation, but first you have to give it over to him. Un-clinch those fists right now, and just keep learning to let go. You'll have to learn and re-learn, but it's an important principle to learn for your daily living.
Speaking of success...
Speaking of success....
From David jeremiah yesterday and today:
Success in God's eyes (Jan 14) and God's Portfolio (Investments) -Jan 15
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Turning_Point/
From David jeremiah yesterday and today:
Success in God's eyes (Jan 14) and God's Portfolio (Investments) -Jan 15
http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/Turning_Point/
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Immersion today
morning bell.
Our baptism is a symbolic immersion into the life of God. Once for always. And lived every day.
A prayer:
'let me live immersed in You again today'
From me,
God thank you that I cn be free and immersed in you everyday.
'Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.'
Psalm 51
Our baptism is a symbolic immersion into the life of God. Once for always. And lived every day.
A prayer:
'let me live immersed in You again today'
From me,
God thank you that I cn be free and immersed in you everyday.
'Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.'
Psalm 51
Monday, January 12, 2009
Baptism by morning bell
greetings morning bell friends
Today the Church worldwide is marking and celebrating the baptism of Jesus. This week’s morning bell will take this pivotal moment in Jesus’s life as a starting point for our journey into prayer.
Here’s the story as told by Matthew:
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.’
Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.
And here’s a quotation we'll work with this week, from Cyril, a 4th Century Bishop of Jerusalem
When you went down into the water it was like the night and you could see nothing,but when you came up again it was like finding yourself in the day.That one moment was your death and your birth,that saving water was both your grave and your mother.
pace bene!Ian
Today the Church worldwide is marking and celebrating the baptism of Jesus. This week’s morning bell will take this pivotal moment in Jesus’s life as a starting point for our journey into prayer.
Here’s the story as told by Matthew:
Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.’
Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.
And here’s a quotation we'll work with this week, from Cyril, a 4th Century Bishop of Jerusalem
When you went down into the water it was like the night and you could see nothing,but when you came up again it was like finding yourself in the day.That one moment was your death and your birth,that saving water was both your grave and your mother.
pace bene!Ian
Great weekend
Had a great weekend with my family in Charlotte. Came back to a wonderful welcome home. I am blessed!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Love
1 Corinthians 13
Love 1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Love 1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Thought life...
I was talking with Signe today and she heard a great speaker about our thought life...
The Brain and You Parts 1 and 2
http://www.joycemeyer.org/JMMweb/xml/TV.xml
https://www.drleaf.net/osc/thoughtlife.php?osCsid=bce4cdab18832664d685e18687b2d838
The Brain and You Parts 1 and 2
http://www.joycemeyer.org/JMMweb/xml/TV.xml
https://www.drleaf.net/osc/thoughtlife.php?osCsid=bce4cdab18832664d685e18687b2d838
Monday, January 5, 2009
The rain went away
I took a beautiful walk yesterday with my beloved. We talked about the Lord. We talked about life. We enjoyed the beauty of His creation. The water was soft and gentle, and yet golden at the edges...like golden lace. We saw a whale's tail and a golden horseshoe. My beloved looked for shark's teeth. I marveled at the clear skies, high clouds and wonderfully warm sunshine. We walked and walked. My beloved pointed out dolphins corralling a school of fish. The seagulls were enjoying their afternoon naps. The sandpipers were busy flirting here and there. What a gift.
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