In the past few weeks I keep coming across scripture (unintentionally) that has to do with "eating" the Word of God, that it is like honey. Here are a few to read and think on; I will add to the list and comment tomorrow. <3
Psalm 81:10 “I am the Lord, your God, the one who brought you
out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide and I will fill it!”
Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has
given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the
true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes
down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said,
“always give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of
life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in
me will never be thirsty. John 6:32-35
"Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things". - Psalm 107:9
"When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty." -Jeremiah 15:16
"And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.
3 Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth".-- Ezekiel 3:1-3
Friday, June 8, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Strength
Today I had the opportunity to get some home school planning done! It was so nice to have the time to do it! What I need to get done is not even close to complete, but the curriculum for next year has been chosen, the breaks have been scheduled, & summer school goals have been set. I think I've decided that year round school is a good idea in theory so we're going to give it a go. It'll make traveling here and there more doable anyway; we'll see how it goes.
As I planned today, I noticed that I was partly excited and partly dreadful about this next round of home schooling. I recognized that I don't really feel like pushing ahead, I don't feel like staying organized, I don't feel like being perfectly consistent; it hit me I don't really feel like being disciplined. Maybe this is a way God is implementing the fruit of the spirit, self-control? I recognize that the way I and maybe most people view self control is restraint from doing something wrong that I'm tempted to do, but is that really the only way to have self-control? Control of one's self may just be doing something that I don't feel like doing, but I suppose that is restraint from laziness isn't it? hm. sorry, I'm just thinking "out loud" here. Each summer I consider sending the children to traditional school and the main reason I want to choose it is for my own laziness. I am not saying that those who send their children to traditional school are lazy mind you, but that the reason I would is for sake of my own laziness. I think we each try to make the best decision for our children/ family that we can and for some of us the best thing is traditional school!! There are so many other things I'd rather do in my day, not to mention I love living a spontaneous day, but I think God is teaching me discipline and self control by using my decision to home school. It becomes very taxing to stay so perfectly on top of it while there are so many things besides school to be on top of. Last year I learned that having a set plan works wonders and not having a set plan makes the wonder turn to confusion and things dont really work out quite as smoothly. The push of all of it is fun in many ways and strenuous in others, I'm confident that the strain produces strength. One of the ways God is making me strong using this season of home schooling for something in my future, because according to Deuteronomy 31:8 He is not only here with me in my present but already ahead of me in my future!
I'm so so thankful that He truly carries me daily and that He has all my days completely in His hands! Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
What is He doing in your life that is producing present strain, but will eventually produce strength for something in your future?
As I planned today, I noticed that I was partly excited and partly dreadful about this next round of home schooling. I recognized that I don't really feel like pushing ahead, I don't feel like staying organized, I don't feel like being perfectly consistent; it hit me I don't really feel like being disciplined. Maybe this is a way God is implementing the fruit of the spirit, self-control? I recognize that the way I and maybe most people view self control is restraint from doing something wrong that I'm tempted to do, but is that really the only way to have self-control? Control of one's self may just be doing something that I don't feel like doing, but I suppose that is restraint from laziness isn't it? hm. sorry, I'm just thinking "out loud" here. Each summer I consider sending the children to traditional school and the main reason I want to choose it is for my own laziness. I am not saying that those who send their children to traditional school are lazy mind you, but that the reason I would is for sake of my own laziness. I think we each try to make the best decision for our children/ family that we can and for some of us the best thing is traditional school!! There are so many other things I'd rather do in my day, not to mention I love living a spontaneous day, but I think God is teaching me discipline and self control by using my decision to home school. It becomes very taxing to stay so perfectly on top of it while there are so many things besides school to be on top of. Last year I learned that having a set plan works wonders and not having a set plan makes the wonder turn to confusion and things dont really work out quite as smoothly. The push of all of it is fun in many ways and strenuous in others, I'm confident that the strain produces strength. One of the ways God is making me strong using this season of home schooling for something in my future, because according to Deuteronomy 31:8 He is not only here with me in my present but already ahead of me in my future!
I'm so so thankful that He truly carries me daily and that He has all my days completely in His hands! Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
What is He doing in your life that is producing present strain, but will eventually produce strength for something in your future?
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Love
Proverbs 3:3-8
3Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man.
5Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.a
7Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.
8This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.
This little passage of scripture has stuck with me for a long time now. This is how I read and interpret it:
3&4: God is Love to us and He is faithful to us so that we can also love him and be faithful to Him. This is such an important truth to remember that the psalmist said to bind it around our necks!! I have the image of a neck tattoo in my mind; its so bold and unforgettable! (don't worry friends I'm not going to go out and get this tattooed on my neck ;). ) But you see the point of how important this is right? 1 John 4:19 says, "We love because he first loved us" (NIV). This truth is applicable to both loving God as the KJV translates and to loving others as the NLT translates. I like the NIV's translation because we can love PERIOD, because He first freely gave His Love to us. This verse is a 2 way street where we meet God. Winning favor has everything to do with how much we love. Don't you enjoy being with people who genuinely love you?
5: sometimes trusting God can been down right scary because what He wants us to trust Him with might seem impossible (like Joshua and the battle of Jericho- He trusted God that the walls of the city would come down with a shout. I wonder how many practical people thought He was nuts. Trusting God may not always seem practical or easy or realistic; but we are not to lean on our own understanding.... God sees the Big Picture and only hindsight is 20/20 for us humans.
6&7: ask Him what to do and do it, and your path in life will be straight! I'm picturing the alternative of rocky, hilly, windy roads; this is where disobedience lies and it is why so many of us feel like our entire lives are uphill. My own wisdom will always take me down a painful path appart from God. If I'd just stop trying to figure out everything on my own and acknowledge God he will take me exactly where I need to go.
8: Another translations says that these things will bring us satisfaction in Him. Complete peace is in God which is where we'll be when we follow along with Him in these ways. When I read health I think of emotional and spiritual health, it probably has a lot to do with physical health too.
Anyway, this is something I'm working on.
*Receiving His Love
*Loving Him back
*Trusting Him
*Acknowledging Him
*becoming Healed & Nourished--resting in Satisfaction in Him
**Doesn't all this spell out Fully Relying on God? He wants all of each of us! My whole self, this is how to get there, but we have to open His Gift of Love FIRST. That is step 1. John 3:16, For God so Loved the world that He gave His only Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. The rest of the list looks crazy and we can't really understand it if we haven't first received His Love personally.
Monday, June 4, 2012
prayer request & randomness.
Praying for a dear friend today, that God would soften her heart toward Him, that she would see His miracles in her life, that she would receive His Love in her life, & mostly that His will would be accomplished in her life; while she is away this week. Please pray for her with me! Thank you.
Today I started reading The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson. Its a very good book that everyone would benefit from reading; the premise is that everyone has a dream and he shows the reader the obstacles & help along the way to achieving those dreams. Its very encouraging & a short read.
God bless.
Today I started reading The Dream Giver by Bruce Wilkinson. Its a very good book that everyone would benefit from reading; the premise is that everyone has a dream and he shows the reader the obstacles & help along the way to achieving those dreams. Its very encouraging & a short read.
God bless.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Remember
I'm in Psalms now and part of what I read tonight was Psalm 102-106. I encourage you to read it too: http://niv.scripturetext.com/psalms/103.htm (the link is just 103, but you simply tap the arrow next to 103 and it'll take you to the next chapter).
In Psalm 103 the psalmist says, "don't forget" all God's benefits & then he lists them:
He forgives all your sins.
He heals all your diseases.
He redeems your life from the pit.
He crowns you with love and compassion.
He satisfies your desires with good things.
He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
He loves us as high as the heavens are above the earth.
He forgives as far as the east is from the west.
He is compassionate.
He remembers that we are formed from dust.
His love is with us from everlasting to everlasting.
I read 'don't forget' and I thought, 'wow! I need to make a thankfulness board for how God keeps His promises & reveals Himself to me & to my family. I then continued to read.
Psalm 105:5, "Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,"(NIV). In this chapter the psamist lists the miracles of God in their lives on a consistent basis over year and years time. I read 'remember' and immediately thought, 'wow! I should add how He has worked in our lives individually so that we recognize and remember his daily miracles in our lives to that board.' I continued to read.
Psalm 106:15, "But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel" (NIV). If you read through the rest of this chapter you would see all the sin they fell into, all because they forgot.
The psalmist is talking about what God did to free the people from Egypt and how He guided them in the wilderness for 40 years. The miracles were pretty thick on their lives, I mean when was the last time a pillar of fire lit your way through darkness? Have you had food fall from the clouds lately? No, we have flashlights and grocery stores these days. Today God's miracles come to us in different ways but He is still in the miracle making business!! For a person to be completely self centered to becoming a giving sacrificial person is indeed a miracle of God and He does that in those who are willing. He does all kinds of miracles in the hearts of those who are willing... He also still heals sickness, whether instantaneously or through the hands of a doctor. He is still all of the things listed from Psalm 103, His benefits are rich- He has not changed and does not change. Psalm 102:27, "But You remain the same, and Your years will never end" (NIV). I'm so thankful that God, the Creator of the Universe, is so pure in person. I'm thankful to be swimming in His all consuming Love and not dried up in some spiritual desert only living and breathing because of Him despite whether or not I recognize that is why. Don't forget, Carrie, don't forget... He has worked miracles in my life over and over. I have forgotten before, but I want to be in the business of remembering and praising Him for who He is and for all He does to keep me. I'm so so thankful that He carries me daily!
In Psalm 103 the psalmist says, "don't forget" all God's benefits & then he lists them:
He forgives all your sins.
He heals all your diseases.
He redeems your life from the pit.
He crowns you with love and compassion.
He satisfies your desires with good things.
He is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
He loves us as high as the heavens are above the earth.
He forgives as far as the east is from the west.
He is compassionate.
He remembers that we are formed from dust.
His love is with us from everlasting to everlasting.
I read 'don't forget' and I thought, 'wow! I need to make a thankfulness board for how God keeps His promises & reveals Himself to me & to my family. I then continued to read.
Psalm 105:5, "Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,"(NIV). In this chapter the psamist lists the miracles of God in their lives on a consistent basis over year and years time. I read 'remember' and immediately thought, 'wow! I should add how He has worked in our lives individually so that we recognize and remember his daily miracles in our lives to that board.' I continued to read.
Psalm 106:15, "But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel" (NIV). If you read through the rest of this chapter you would see all the sin they fell into, all because they forgot.
The psalmist is talking about what God did to free the people from Egypt and how He guided them in the wilderness for 40 years. The miracles were pretty thick on their lives, I mean when was the last time a pillar of fire lit your way through darkness? Have you had food fall from the clouds lately? No, we have flashlights and grocery stores these days. Today God's miracles come to us in different ways but He is still in the miracle making business!! For a person to be completely self centered to becoming a giving sacrificial person is indeed a miracle of God and He does that in those who are willing. He does all kinds of miracles in the hearts of those who are willing... He also still heals sickness, whether instantaneously or through the hands of a doctor. He is still all of the things listed from Psalm 103, His benefits are rich- He has not changed and does not change. Psalm 102:27, "But You remain the same, and Your years will never end" (NIV). I'm so thankful that God, the Creator of the Universe, is so pure in person. I'm thankful to be swimming in His all consuming Love and not dried up in some spiritual desert only living and breathing because of Him despite whether or not I recognize that is why. Don't forget, Carrie, don't forget... He has worked miracles in my life over and over. I have forgotten before, but I want to be in the business of remembering and praising Him for who He is and for all He does to keep me. I'm so so thankful that He carries me daily!
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Go First.
There is such a wonderful thing about getting totally alone with God. I think a lot of Christians feel stagnant, because we are so overly involved in life that time with Him gets neglected. It seems odd that He would ever come last, but it easily happens as the demands of the day pile up & press down on us robbing us of time. Shouldn't we be scheduling God in first? He is most important after all? Its easy to make excuses, but if we're honest with ourselves and "face to face" with God there is no excuse. In the past few weeks God has been dealing with me bit by bit about how I spend my time. I've responded by taking out several things that ate up my time and tonight through a friend He pointed out how there are still little things that eat up bits of time through out the day. Its strange how that happens. Pinterest reels me in far longer than I ever intend to stay :/. The more I purposely sift out of my life the more I wonder how in the world I was doing it all, & I think the better parent I'm becoming. I think my relationship with God was getting better with each passing day until there were a couple days 2 weeks ago when I was disobedient and I moved and I haven't' spent the same time with Him I had since. I totally just realized it tonight. Its so easy to let things slip away, which is why we need to get totally alone with God each day to hear from Him through His Word & to pray. There is nothing more important; all the other important things can wait for God to go first.
Friday, June 1, 2012
Amelia is ONE!
Today was Amelia's FIRST Birthday. I cried. I'm always excited to celebrate the milestone of each new age, but I grieve the past as I say good-bye to the baby years. I do this at every birthday for all of my children, I was so so sad when Madelyn turned 3 and then Isabelle, I doubt this year will be any different when Nathan turns 3. I LOVE 2 year olds; I know I must be nuts, but I do love every bit of 2. I Love 3 too and am sad when they turn 4... it continues. I always love the new age they come into as well, I just know that squeezing 2 year old Madelyn will never happen again (and she is turning 7 this summer). I'll probably be pushing for grandchildren early too. This explains why I have 4 children doesn't it? We may still adopt too! I love being with my children, of course I need to go away and do things without them, but I genuinely enjoy their company. I look forward to taking new moms food now, to pay it forward and to get the opportunity to hold a new born again! :) win/ win.
As it is our family's tradition to go out for ice cream on our birthdays, we went out today. First we went to Chic-fil-la for lunch & I planned to take them to Coldstone for icecream. The children begged and begged for icecream while we were at Chic-fil-la and I told them no because I had something better planned. They begged and begged. I remember a time when I did that with God and now that a few years has passed I clearly see that He had something better in mind. If He is saying 'no' it is because there is something better He has planned. Coldstone's icecream is way better than Chicfila's and our entire family agreed!
Happy Birthday sweet baby Amelia Violet, I hope one day you'll know and truly understand how much I love you and am so incredibly happy you were born and that you are mine! I'm so sad your first year has passed, but so so excited about all of your early years ahead of us!! I love you precious girl & am thrilled that I have the opportunity to walk along with you as you grow up into a lady!
As it is our family's tradition to go out for ice cream on our birthdays, we went out today. First we went to Chic-fil-la for lunch & I planned to take them to Coldstone for icecream. The children begged and begged for icecream while we were at Chic-fil-la and I told them no because I had something better planned. They begged and begged. I remember a time when I did that with God and now that a few years has passed I clearly see that He had something better in mind. If He is saying 'no' it is because there is something better He has planned. Coldstone's icecream is way better than Chicfila's and our entire family agreed!
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