What list are you reading?

Well, it's Thursday.

I've noticed that this month I have posted only on Thursdays.

Probably because it is my short day at work so I have a bit more time to devote to the 'ol blog.

As I was thinking this morning of what this entry should be about, I considered the stack of notes/ideas that I have but most of those are not yet thought out or studied out enough yet for posting so I decided to go a different route.

Today's post is going to be one of just thanking God for who He is, what He has done and things He has given me.

So I sat down and began jotting down a few things and boy, it sure doesn't take long to see that list grow! He is so faithful and so good to me. I realized how important it is to take time out and just thank Him. We don't have to save it all for November and Thanksgiving time...we ought to always be thankful to Him and take the time to tell Him.

One of the things I am most thankful for this week is my niece!!!

Adalyn Elise Whitener was born Sunday, January 22, 2012. She is 7 pounds 4 ounces 19.5 inches of adorable perfection!! I'm so thankful that she is healthy. I know that you can't take a healthy newborn for granted. So, thank you, Lord for blessing our families with this healthy little bundle from Heaven! We know it is a miracle and gift from You! She's amazing!

And speaking of amazing, I'm thankful for my sister and oh so proud of her! She wanted to have a natural birth "to see if she could handle it" and she handled it just fine! I'm so thankful for her. Even though we live apart from each other she knows me better than almost anyone else. She is my cheerleader and the example I follow. Lord, thank you for blessing me with the best sister a person could ask for!

Lord, thank you for my family. I'm so thankful that my immediate family is all saved, trusting You and living to please You. We enjoy each other and enjoy spending time together and I'm very thankful for that.

I'm thankful for...
- Friday night Bible study
- my church family
- the privilege to pray
- the Bible - I can always go to it and get something out of it
- the bear hugs you get from kids, when they wrap their arms around your neck and squeeze and linger a little bit longer before letting go
- how the "old-fashioned" hymns can minister directly to my heart and soul
- God being my protection and calming me when I am afraid
- for my car ( I have to admit, I can take it for granted when it works and when it doesn't....I realize how much I appreciate it!)
- good friends who encourage me
- the privilege to be a Sunday School teacher
- YOU! I'm thankful for you taking time out of your busy day to stop by the blog and give it a read. I never thought anyone would really want to read anything I would have to write but I really appreciate you for reading this. I love signing in and seeing that someone read my post. I appreciate it and am thankful for it!

There is plenty more on my list but I'll end it here and ponder the things listed above and thank God for those things today.

Here's my question to you, dear reader, when was the last time you talked to God and just thanked Him? I encourage you, Christian, take some time today to pray and instead of going to God with your list of needs and wants and requests, try reading to Him your list of "Thanks".

Me?

One of the sweetest parts of any relationship is the moments that you share together when you are still learning things about one another. As you build and allow that relationship to grow, you do so by spending time together, seeing how the other person is, observing their habits, their quirks, seeing how they respond to different things or different situations.

That is one of my favorite aspects of my relationship with Christ. I love studying His Word and spending time, just me and Him and I love learning more about Him, learning more about what He thinks about things, seeing things from His perspective. I love finding new insights into His character and His attributes and once those are discovered, I love pondering them. Meditating on them. I can spend hours, days, even weeks on trying to comprehend some of the things of God.

How can He be so patient with me?

How can He love me so much?

I can be so foolish sometimes. I can get my eyes and mind fixed on my piddly little situations and think they are so important and convince myself that He doesn't care - that nobody cares and that I am just on my own in this whole world. And my stinky selfish pride kicks into full gear and restricts me from thinking I could ask for help from others and leads me into a full blown pitty party for myself.

But then He sends me a reminder. A "Hey, kid. I'm here. I got this."

I love how He does that. That's when I realize how foolish I can be at times and yet, He's always there, always patiently waiting for me to finish my little tantrum so He can just wrap His arms around me to let me know He is my protection...He is my comfort.

I love discovering those things about God. I need those. I love when I can be reading in my Bible and come across verses that describe it so well, like this from Psalm 40:

"I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings."

I just need to interject here with 2 thoughts:
- "and heard my cry" He is always there to hear my cry, no matter how often it may be, He always hears it!
- He brings me out the horrible pit of pride, self pity and everything else I let creep in. When I take the reigns from Him and start going and doing what I want, He pulls me back, takes the reigns back and gets me back on course. He protects me and makes sure I never steer too far off course.

"And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies."

I love that He gives me a new song. :)

"Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are us ward; they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee, if I would declare and speak of them they are more than can be numbered."

I cannot even count nor comprehend the vast amount of wonderful works of God, nor even the amount of thoughts He has of me. Me! That simply baffles me. That God, who created all, encompasses ALL time...He thinks of me? "What is man, that thou art mindful of him?" Sometimes, I just don't understand why God would waste His time thinking about me but the Bible says He does and I love that.

I love getting to know Him more each day. Do you?

Investments

I received sad news the other day.

A little but strong 3 year old boy was taken home to Heaven after a courageous battle.

Now, I didn't have the pleasure of knowing this little hero, or his family. I knew of him through a friend of mine. However, when I heard the news of his passing, it really saddened me. Before I knew it, I had even shed some tears, which honestly surprised me, considering this was someone I had never met. But I realized the reason why this sorrowful news saddened me so much was because I had invested in this little man.

Each time I prayed for him, I was investing in him. In fact, the night before he passed, he was brought up during our church's Ladies' Prayer meeting and the dozen or so of us there all prayed for him and his family. We all invested in him so we are therefore all effected by his death.

There are many ways that we can invest in other people. We can invest our time, our money, our compassion, our wisdom, our history, our future but I realized this week how effective it can be to invest our prayers into someone.

"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." James 5:16

Praying for one another offers us the opportunity to invest in each other in ways that just can't be reached otherwise. We can celebrate in each others' victories and be a comfort in each others' trials.

Monday night, after prayer meeting I got a text from a friend, asking me to pray for them about something that came up in their life. They have a big decision to make in the next month or so and now I have the opportunity to invest in trusting that God will show them what He would have them to do and I get to see how they respond to it. I get to watch and see and partake in the growth of their relationship with God.

How amazing is that?!

I remember a few years ago while a friend of mine was going through college, she asked me to pray for her final exam. I remember we decided to fast and pray over it and I remember being one of the first people she called when she got her passing grade! We went out that night to celebrate. That is a memory I would not have had I not invested that prayer.

Investing prayer into other people also allows you a front-row seat into some of God's great works.

Think of Paul and Silas when they were in prison. The Bible says in Acts 16:25 "And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed."

When you keep reading through the following verses it talks about how Paul and Silas, through this earthquake event, were able to witness to the jailor and that night, that jailor became a believer. I love verse 34 in Acts 16, which after the prison guard asked how to be saved and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, verse 34 comes: "And when he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them, and rejoiced, believing in God with all his house."

That man sat back and rejoiced with Paul & Silas that night and enjoyed the blessed assurance that comes with salvation but Paul & Silas got to be partakers of this man's joy and rejoicing because they had invested in prayer that night...together.

There is something about praying with some one. I'm not sure if I can fully or adequately describe it but when you ask someone to pray for you about something, you can show a bit of vulnerability sometimes, and it is situations like that that allow us to grow not only closer to God by going to Him in prayer about the situation but we can also grow closer to each other. I love listening to other people pray. It often exposes their heart a bit and gives you a little closer glimpse of their relationship with God and that is a needful thing.

So don't be afraid, Christian, to invest yourself and invest your prayers into others. The benefits are wonderful, memorable and well worthwhile!

First

I've been thinking about what my first blog post of 2012 should be, something to help set the tone for the year. I had many ideas, started a few posts but finally came across one that I liked tonight.

Tonight I was at a friend's house and they pulled up a video that is part of a series called, "I am second". The idea of these videos is simple. There's is a room with a chair and person sits down and tells their story of how they came to a saving and trusting relationship with God. The people who have done these videos varies from celebrity authors, athletes, musicians and even common folk.

I love these videos. They are fascinating. Here is a link to one of my favorites:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnG3wdpDhf0

The joy on her face! I love it!

So as I was thinking of these videos, this verse came to mind:

"He must increase, but I must decrease." John 3:30

These videos fit perfectly into my focus for the year. I need to give God more. I need to make and keep Him first and allow myself and others to fill in the spaces below. He needs to be first.

The first sermon my Pastor preached this year was aimed at things we can do in 2012, one point was about giving God more. More time. More attention. More prayer time. More time in His Word. More consideration for His people. More effort in the Great Commission.

"He must increase. but I must decrease."

I know how easy it is to have good intentions when making those January resolutions and how easy it is to not keep them by the time you change the calendar to February but this is my goal and focus for the year: Allow Him to increase, not me.

Here's to a fresh year, full of opportunities to serve Him! Seize the day or as I like to say, Carpe Diem Domino!

Sweet Reminders

Sometimes, I just need a good reminder...

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9

Wherever I go, wherever I am - He is there.

"A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly; and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24

He is always close. Never too far away.

"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Hebrews 13:5

He's not going anywhere. :)

"Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." John 14:1

He doesn't want my heart to be troubled.

"Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28

He offers rest.

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1

He is my refuge. He is my strength.

Christmas for me

"Adherents of Xmas are exhausted and overextended but Christmas worshipers are joyful. Are you rushing or feasting?" - C.S. Lewis

So which one are you? On this Christmas Eve do you find yourself rushing and caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday? Or are you simply concerning yourself with just using this holiday to honor and praise God and the ultimate Gift given to man?

It's easy to get caught up in it all. This time of year brings with it family traditions, family recipes that you only have this one time a year, shopping and all kinds of decorating.

But lest we find ourselves caught up in the hoopla of it all, let's take a moment to make sure we are celebrating the reason for Christmas: Jesus Christ.

I know Luke 2 gets read every year but it still amazes me not only that God would give such a perfect gift as His Son, but also that Christ would humble Himself to leave Heaven, leave His glory and come to earth, for us......for me....for you.

Luke 2:1-20

¹And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

²(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

³And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

⁴And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

⁵To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

⁶And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

⁷And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

⁸And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

⁹And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

¹⁰And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

¹¹For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

¹²And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

¹⁴Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

¹⁵And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

¹⁶And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

¹⁷And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

¹⁸And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

¹⁹But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

²⁰And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Mild he lays his glory by, born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth
Hark! The Herald Angels sing, glory to the newborn King

He laid His glory by, that He may come and for me, die. This Christmas, please take a moment to thank God for the gift of His Son and thank Him for all He has truly done.

Merry Christmas!!

Blessing

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." Philippians 1:3

Last week was a rough week. Work was stressful. Planning events and having somewhere to be or something to do each night was stressful. By Thursday, I was completely drained.

That's when I struggle. I struggle to remain content. I think contentment can be difficult to maintain in our current society but that is no excuse. I was struggling on Thursday, feeling a bit sorry for myself, ready to have a full-blown pity party. I was already resolved to surrender to it when I got off from work, ready to just go home and shut the world out.

But when I got off work and checked my phone, I noticed I had a couple of voicemails. The first one was from my sister. I was bummed that I missed her call but it was just nice to hear her voice. The second one was from a friend I haven't seen in a few months. She called just to say hello and that she was thinking of me, missed me and wants to get together soon.

Those messages made may day. They are exactly what I needed. When I thought no one really cares, God put me on someone's mind and they acted on it. I believe He does that. I believe that because He does it to me all the time. I don't always act on it like I ought to but I know He does it.

"And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works" Hebrews 10:24

Who can you provoke unto love this week? Do you realize that something as simple as a quick phone call or text message from you could make someone's day and lift them up when they feel down and out?

Well, it can and let me encourage you to seek whom you can be a blessing to today. Ask God to guide you and be open to His guiding. And next time someone randomly pops into your thoughts, pray for them and then maybe send them a note or message - they may have popped into your thoughts for a reason.