Call to prayer. I don’t know about y’all but there is stuff going around all around me. It has been quite a week! I am both heartbroken and annoyed. God has called us to love like He loves but also called us to be warriors. Ephesians 6 is a well known passage to many of us. It tells us to put on the full armor of God. But it also tell us to never stop praying for the saints.
I have friends that need health miracles, marriage miracles, jobs, wisdom, kids fighting for freedom from the world, so many things just in my circles.
Jesus left us the Helper, the Holt Spirit dwells within us. Jesus sits at the right hand of God interceding on our behalf and the Comforter intercedes for us when we don’t know how to pray. We must stand firm. And pray. Who are you interceding for?
#journeyingtogether
#journeywithme
#titustwojourney
Saturday, August 31, 2019
Emotion Surge
When you do life closely with others, there are many highs and lows. People are amazing. Sometimes amazing in a beautiful way. And sometimes amazing in a 'I wish I didn't need to learn this' way. Either way each encounter we have brings us something.
I love to walk with other believers. I love to teach them how to sink their teeth into Truth. I love to encourage them. I love to help guide them and offer insight or ask a timely, thought-provoking question. I am in a season of life where I am surrounded by people, God has so kindly gifted me with a beautiful community.
However, this week has been full of blows. Friends fighting all kinds of difficulties. One of our tribe is fighting for her every breath. And, yet the seconds keep ticking, time keeps moving, I am still wife, mom, employee, friend, daughter, aunt...the many hats that us women wear, they stand still for nothing.
On my knees, through the tears, I keep battling an unseen opponent attempting to wreak havoc in our lives. Today, my family and I headed to the springs to play and enjoy life and clear our minds. I knew we needed to get out, I knew we needed the exercise and the Vitamin D and the laughter and the time to get away. But as we were driving I wanted to turn around and crawl in my bed and cry my heart out.
There is this heaviness all around. I know to Whom I belong. I thank my God for all the years that I have sought and hidden His Word deep in my heart. I know Who wins this war. I know this world is not our home. I know that I am His beloved and that He quite literally died for me. But, when we watch our loved ones suffering...this is tough. I think it seems to be harder to watch my loved ones suffer than to walk through it myself.
I was just remembering that before I knew the Lord, I had so many walls built up, people were not allowed in, I was a shell and trying as hard as I could to not get hurt. God has crushed my walls and shown me such depths of mercy and friendship and His loving kindness that I can't imagine going back to my self-imposed prison. I can't imagine doing life without the people God has put in my life. Jesus promised that in this world there would be heartache. In Psalms it says that He bottles and counts all our tears, they are not wasted. One day we will walk on streets paved with gold and rejoice and huddle at His feet. Until that day, I will put on my battle gear, the full armor of God, and be boots on the ground, the hands and feet of Jesus.
Let's remember to pray for each other. Life is hard. God is good. And the saints need to be encouraged and covered in prayer.
#journeyingtogether
#journeywithme
#titustwojourney
#emotionsurge
I love to walk with other believers. I love to teach them how to sink their teeth into Truth. I love to encourage them. I love to help guide them and offer insight or ask a timely, thought-provoking question. I am in a season of life where I am surrounded by people, God has so kindly gifted me with a beautiful community.
However, this week has been full of blows. Friends fighting all kinds of difficulties. One of our tribe is fighting for her every breath. And, yet the seconds keep ticking, time keeps moving, I am still wife, mom, employee, friend, daughter, aunt...the many hats that us women wear, they stand still for nothing.
On my knees, through the tears, I keep battling an unseen opponent attempting to wreak havoc in our lives. Today, my family and I headed to the springs to play and enjoy life and clear our minds. I knew we needed to get out, I knew we needed the exercise and the Vitamin D and the laughter and the time to get away. But as we were driving I wanted to turn around and crawl in my bed and cry my heart out.
There is this heaviness all around. I know to Whom I belong. I thank my God for all the years that I have sought and hidden His Word deep in my heart. I know Who wins this war. I know this world is not our home. I know that I am His beloved and that He quite literally died for me. But, when we watch our loved ones suffering...this is tough. I think it seems to be harder to watch my loved ones suffer than to walk through it myself.
I was just remembering that before I knew the Lord, I had so many walls built up, people were not allowed in, I was a shell and trying as hard as I could to not get hurt. God has crushed my walls and shown me such depths of mercy and friendship and His loving kindness that I can't imagine going back to my self-imposed prison. I can't imagine doing life without the people God has put in my life. Jesus promised that in this world there would be heartache. In Psalms it says that He bottles and counts all our tears, they are not wasted. One day we will walk on streets paved with gold and rejoice and huddle at His feet. Until that day, I will put on my battle gear, the full armor of God, and be boots on the ground, the hands and feet of Jesus.
Let's remember to pray for each other. Life is hard. God is good. And the saints need to be encouraged and covered in prayer.
#journeyingtogether
#journeywithme
#titustwojourney
#emotionsurge
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Stay in your lane
Do y’all ever have great monologues in your head? I’m not sure who I’m talking to but sometimes I compose these great speeches in my brain...and it’s not praying. When I catch myself on one of these rants I turn it into a prayer and ask the Lord about these thoughts and sometimes they become blogs and sometimes they become cries of my heart.
Anyway, this morning I was thinking about men. My desire is to lift men up and give them a place to hold their heads high and come back to a place of honor. But, I also know my calling is not for men directly. My calling is to women. To teach the gifts of influence that we hold in our hand. Do you know how very destructive men bashing is? Going out with the girls and bashing all the men in your life, especially your husband, gives the enemy such a foothold, so much ammo to use against you. The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down (Pr 14:1).
I am not talking about having a confidant or a mentor, someone to walk with you and grow with you. It’s always a heart issue. So if you are sharing with a trusted friend and are looking for ways to solve the problems then I think you are headed in the right direction. However, when your goal is just to complain and then have a competition about whose husband is worst and woe is me with what I have to put up with. That is stirring up strife and dissension, that is not soil in which peace, honor, respect and love will grow.
In Peter he talks about our husbands being saved by our gentleness and faithfulness. In Corinthians Paul talks about love not keeping a record of offenses. In Ephesians Paul says a mans most basic need is feeling respect.
So many little pesky problems disappear when we stop complaining. Remember and seek out the things you fell in love with. Be friendly, funny how as women we need the reminder to be friendly to our husbands but we get so caught up in all the work that we forget to smile and enjoy.
#titustwojourney
#journeyingtogether
#journeywithme
#stayinyourlane
Anyway, this morning I was thinking about men. My desire is to lift men up and give them a place to hold their heads high and come back to a place of honor. But, I also know my calling is not for men directly. My calling is to women. To teach the gifts of influence that we hold in our hand. Do you know how very destructive men bashing is? Going out with the girls and bashing all the men in your life, especially your husband, gives the enemy such a foothold, so much ammo to use against you. The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down (Pr 14:1).
I am not talking about having a confidant or a mentor, someone to walk with you and grow with you. It’s always a heart issue. So if you are sharing with a trusted friend and are looking for ways to solve the problems then I think you are headed in the right direction. However, when your goal is just to complain and then have a competition about whose husband is worst and woe is me with what I have to put up with. That is stirring up strife and dissension, that is not soil in which peace, honor, respect and love will grow.
In Peter he talks about our husbands being saved by our gentleness and faithfulness. In Corinthians Paul talks about love not keeping a record of offenses. In Ephesians Paul says a mans most basic need is feeling respect.
So many little pesky problems disappear when we stop complaining. Remember and seek out the things you fell in love with. Be friendly, funny how as women we need the reminder to be friendly to our husbands but we get so caught up in all the work that we forget to smile and enjoy.
#titustwojourney
#journeyingtogether
#journeywithme
#stayinyourlane
Purging the dross
This morning I was reading in Kings and Chronicles. What a mess! We like to sit around and bemoan the state of our nation and how much sin there is. But, you know, sin is not new. Song of Solomon says there is nothing new under the sun. And if you look at parts of the Bible you can see the depths of what was and the lives and sins that were already committed. 1Kings 16:30 says that the king did what was evil in the Lord’s sight more than all who were before him. Sin is always increasing. It is never satisfied. Whatever crumbs you offer it will grow and inflate.
When I worked at the girls’ home we taught it as: what I do in moderation they will do in excess. I have also heard it said: what one generation tolerates the next generation will embrace. This concept is not just in the OT, it is laced throughout scripture…I just happened to be reading here today. But, this is a serious thing to me. As I raise my kids, I am constantly aware of what am I doing or tolerating that they will one day embrace. What am I doing that I know I have freedom in, that they don’t understand and could ensnare them.
I so desperately want to teach my kids to know and love Jesus. I was telling someone in small group the other day that my goal is not to have good kids, I’m not interested in people pleasers or rule followers. I’m interested in their hearts. God is interested in their hearts. David with all his flaws was touted as a man after God’s own heart. In scripture God says that man looks at the outward appearance and God looks at the heart. So, as I discipline my kids and offer consequences I work as hard as my flesh allows to balance grace, consequences and the Truth behind their behavior and it’s connection to the underlying heart issue.
Life is messy. Humans are messy. I am a mess! But! I have this love affair with the Lover of my Soul that flows over into every facet of my life. I so desperately want to pass this love affair onto my kids. I am more keenly aware lately than ever before that my kids (now 10 & 13) will have to stumble and fall to find their spiritual legs on their own. The time is coming where all the stuff that has been poured into them will be tested. The refining process will be hot as the dross is removed from their hearts and they are transformed more and more into the new creation that they are and fulfill all that God has prepared for them.
#titustwojourney
#journeyingtogether
#journeywithme
When I worked at the girls’ home we taught it as: what I do in moderation they will do in excess. I have also heard it said: what one generation tolerates the next generation will embrace. This concept is not just in the OT, it is laced throughout scripture…I just happened to be reading here today. But, this is a serious thing to me. As I raise my kids, I am constantly aware of what am I doing or tolerating that they will one day embrace. What am I doing that I know I have freedom in, that they don’t understand and could ensnare them.
I so desperately want to teach my kids to know and love Jesus. I was telling someone in small group the other day that my goal is not to have good kids, I’m not interested in people pleasers or rule followers. I’m interested in their hearts. God is interested in their hearts. David with all his flaws was touted as a man after God’s own heart. In scripture God says that man looks at the outward appearance and God looks at the heart. So, as I discipline my kids and offer consequences I work as hard as my flesh allows to balance grace, consequences and the Truth behind their behavior and it’s connection to the underlying heart issue.
Life is messy. Humans are messy. I am a mess! But! I have this love affair with the Lover of my Soul that flows over into every facet of my life. I so desperately want to pass this love affair onto my kids. I am more keenly aware lately than ever before that my kids (now 10 & 13) will have to stumble and fall to find their spiritual legs on their own. The time is coming where all the stuff that has been poured into them will be tested. The refining process will be hot as the dross is removed from their hearts and they are transformed more and more into the new creation that they are and fulfill all that God has prepared for them.
#titustwojourney
#journeyingtogether
#journeywithme
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