Perfect Shell Noodles

The perfect giant shell noodle, there is no such thing. A couple of Sundays ago, I was making a family favorite recipe that is a Mexican twist to the old stuffed pasta shell. After boiling the giant shell noodles, the recipe calls for the noodles to be stuffed with a hamburger and cream cheese mixture. Usually this is not too hard a task, but this particular day, I was hard pressed to find a noodle that was not split so badly that I could use it. As I examined each one and tossed it to the side, the thought came to me, what if God tossed all the broken lives he encounters to the side, waiting for a perfect one to come along? What if he looked at my life and said "No, this one has messed up too many times to be able to be used?" My heart immediately began to rejoice that I know the truth of scripture that he uses even the broken noodles in life. He is in the mending of lives business. It is what He died for. The more broken the life, the more glory he receives from its ultimate usefulness. In the end, the recipe noodles filled with cheese tasted the same whether they had a few splits in them or not. Same for our lives,it will not matter in the end how broken our lives were, but what we filled our lives with on the inside that will count and make us perfectly fit to enjoy heaven. Is your outside split and cracked from the world of sin? Have you made some bad choices? What is your inside filled with? God uses cracked outsides and Jesus filled insides when we surrender both to his all-powerful hand. Thank you Jesus! Isaiah 61: 1-3- "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified." Ephesians 3:8- "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ."

Personal Update

It's been a while since my last post, and I wanted to take a moment to let you know what has been happening in my life that has kept me from writing. I am happy to tell you, we have added a baby girl to the family born September 23, 2012. It was a rough pregnancy and babies turn your world upside down for awhile. Along with that another birth of sorts has taken place, I have completed a devotional book with articles just like you read here, that I hope to be able to publish this year. Since baby girl is now 15-months old and the book is complete except for editing, I hope to begin posting more. Prayers appreciated for both. Thanks to all my readers, you have been missed!

God's Dreams

Dreams....I have so many. As I draw closer to God through daily time in His word He gives me the desire to do things I never would have thought about on my own. While growing up, I did not enjoy English class and the basic thought of writing any kind of report caused me to procrastinate to the last possible moment. I hated speaking to a group of my peers due to being extremely shy with no inner confidence. However, I did know that God had a purpose for me, something bigger than myself. As a young college student my only goal was to get married and stay home with my kids. That is all I wanted to do. Years later, I found myself as a mother with a full time job and miserable, for this was not my dream. I struggled with the thought of being called to do something more, that this daily grind was not what God had called me to. I started to attend Bible study and for the first time in my life began to study God's Word in depth for myself on a regular basis. It was at this time that the dreams and purposes of my life began to get more clearer and started to be more of a calling God wanted me to fulfill. In 2003, I attended a Women of Faith conference with a group of ladies from my church. In the middle of this conference, as I was listening to a speaker, I felt God say to me, "this is what I have called you to. This is your calling." At that moment, I was overwhelmed at the task, overwhelmed that He would choose me. But at the same time convinced that I had heard His tug on my heart. I may or may not ever speak to thousands as in that arena, but God has called me to be faithful and fill my purpose where I am. The details of how that will be used is up to Him. This adventure between me and my Saviour is a plan in progress, sometimes I doubt I heard Him right, but if I stop my busy life and refocus back on Him, the desire and calling come back in full force drawing me to do the next thing. This blog came out of a time when God was showing me so much in His Word that I just had to share with someone or else I would explode. My last two speaking engagements really brought all of this full circle for me. I went to the platform full of confidence that this is what God has called me to do. I still have lots and lots of dreams left on God's shelf. I just want to stay close enough to Him that He can pull them down from time to time to give me a glimpse into what He has planned. Just a little hint to keep me seeking Him for the next step. He knows if He had revealed the whole plan to a shy teenage girl who hated English, I would have ran for the hills! What has God planned for you? His dreams for your life are so much bigger than you can imagine. Draw close to Him and get a glimpse of what He plans to do through you. Let Him make beauty from ashes or in my case, confidence from self-doubt.
I Cor. 2:9- "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."
Psalm 37:4- "Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

Driving Lessons

Youth camp! Even though I am not a teenager anymore I may just enjoy this week of summer more than they do. It is a chance to rest, relax, and re energize. It is a week for this mom to be able to focus on the main thing, Jesus and my relationship with him. There is no laundry to be done, no food to fix, no beds to be made, no lawn to be mowed. Just time....time to spend loving life and enjoying time spent in His precious word by myself and with others. Being on this camp property makes me feel like home, we are family. During this week, my husband had begun to let my five your old son, Trent sit on his lap and "drive" (camp property, no main roads involved!) back from the services each day. Trent loved this and looked forward to the next time he could "be big" and drive. Yesterday, as we were driving back with Trent at the wheel, a song came on the radio that my son had learned motions to a couple of weeks before at Bible school. He immediately let go of the wheel and began to sing the song complete with motions. We had a good laugh on how easily he became distracted while doing something he had been, only moments ago, begging to do. I found this to be a good picture of how I act sometimes in my spiritual walk. I struggle to keep the main thing, the main thing. Distractions, responsibilities get in the way of something I deeply long to do. How easily my focus gets put on something else rather than the task at hand. My task here on earth is to glorify God in everything. To spend time with him and express what he is teaching me, to others with love. I want to stay on course. I want to accomplish the task. What is distracting you today? Ask God to help you make Him the priority and keep your eyes on the road ahead.
Thanks Word of Life Florida for a great week!
Isaiah 26:3- "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee."

The Finish Line

Ten weeks and glory to God I finally made it! I was able to jog thirty minutes straight, completing the program. I feel much stronger physically, but mentally the last two weeks have been tough. I began feeling defeated after not being able to jog what I needed to. There were days I had mentally quit before I even started. I was dreading the morning workout time, frustrated with some Church issues, and struggling to move forward in my ministry purpose. All those things plus some others were ganging up on me leaving an overall feeling of defeat. This frustrates me because I want faith and hope to reign in my life, not defeat. I was praying and praying for these emotions to be lifted. I was pleading for a tangible reminder that I am not in this alone and the daily things that are done for his glory matter. I was longing for a fresh encounter with Him. It was then it happened. First, I received a letter (tangible confirmation)that encouraged me and infused hope. Then this morning before setting out on the dreaded run, I read this scripture. "He(Abraham) staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform." Romans 4: 20-21. Those verses were exactly what I needed to give me the motivation and energy to lace up my shoes and hit the road. I am persuaded that what God has promised he is able to preform. My God has been faithful to me. He has lead me this far on the journey, He is not going to leave me now. I am so glad he gives me evidence I can hold in my hand that proves it. Every time I read the letter and the scripture I feel his presence right there with me. Calming me. Reassuring me. I am overwhelmed by his love, and these experiences never cease to bring tears to my face and joy to my heart.

Arguing With Myself

I woke up this morning in protest. The excuses began to flood my mind. "It is too late to start in this Florida heat...One day won't hurt...I just don't feel like it...." Have you ever had a day where you fight a war in your mind before you even get out of bed? I reluctantly got out of bed, and started out for my 16-minute jog , still not in the best state of mind. I lacked confidence that I would meet my goal for the day. "I am just not strong enough, not today." My mind began to negotiate a smaller amount, like maybe I would just run ten, that is not totally giving up, right? Again, myself arguing with myself, as I put one foot in front of the other. I began to ask God to carry me through. I can't tell you which minute exactly he showed up, but as I finished the 16th minute I felt strong enough to go another minute in order to finish my goal this week. It reminds me of the poem, "Footprints in the sand" as I look back I know he carried me. What makes the difference between starting out trying to convince yourself you can make it and finishing strong? Hebrews 12:1b states "let us lay aside every weight(excuse), and the sin (unbelief) which doth so easily besets us, and let us run with patience (hopeful endurance) the race that is set before us." I just love when I find comfort for my weary soul in scripture, it gives me that hopeful endurance I need to run the race. Is there something in your life that you have been giving excuses for or something you lack the confidence to move forward to do? Meditate and memorize this scripture and cheerfully run ahead to finish the race. After all, there is a great cloud of witnesses waiting for you at the finish line.
Romans 15:4 -"For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scripture might have hope."
Hebrews 12:1 -"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." KJV Also James 1:3-4.

Running the Race

The last five weeks I have changed my morning routine to include exercise. The program is called couch to 5K, which you can look up on line to get more specifics. I began slowly with the first day including a five-minute walk, one-minute run and then finishing with five more minutes of walking. At that time, I thought jogging for five minutes would be out of reach. Praise the Lord, I am ecstatically reporting that at the end of last week I ran for nine minutes straight. Today, I am happy to say I ran six minutes, walked five, ran six and walked five again. I feel my body getting stronger. I am finding that if I get up and run, my food choices become better as well. I want to give total glory to God for what has been accomplished. I am half way through the program and feel victorious. Running has so many spiritual aspects or examples to it, but the one I want to focus on today is the way that one simple obedient step leads to more obedient steps. Just as when I make a commitment to run in the morning, other behaviors change throughout the day. I eat better, which gives me more energy, which enables me to keep going all day, which burns more calories, which makes a day filled with victory and makes me want to repeat it. It is a domino effect. I believe the same goes for victory in our spiritual lives. The more we choose to seek God personally ever day, the more victory we have over sin, the more spiritual fruit we exhibit, the more we look like Christ. Another domino effect! The hardest step is the first step, make a habit of seeking him daily and the rest will follow. Live victoriously. Make the choice.
Matt. 6:33- "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and these things shall be added unto you."
II Tim.4:7- "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:"