God's Will week Twenty-three

If every day started off this perfect...

life would be boring!

Psalm 131:2-3
I am quiet now before the Lord, just as a child who is weaned from the breast. Yes, my begging has been stilled. O Israel, you too should quietly trust in the Lord- Now and always.

A few weeks ago I presented the question, "What are you trusting God for today?"
As humans we are subject to take things in our own hands and control the results in our favor. I can tell you over and over again how I handled situations and to my own demise, I made things worse as a result of my actions. The hardest thing for us to do sometimes is to do NOTHING.

Part of being submissive to God’s will is to let Him handle things. Impatient beings that we are, we don’t see the results soon enough and the urge to do something is much stronger than the illogic of waiting on the Lord.

I am a stubborn soul. I am still learning to be patient in the Lord. Spontaneous prayer is my only recourse sometimes to distract my thoughts from being actions.

I truly believe that when your heart is with God, you have a true heart for the needs of others.

This week I have had a full prayer list.

I have on my prayer list my friends, their children, my niece expecting a baby boy, and their young family.

I am in prayer for the loss of a local young soldier killed in Afghanistan, and peace to be with the family during this time of grief.

I pray for new relationships between my friends, not only romantic, but also friendships; that they may grow.

I pray about healing for those who are ill, and the people I know that are facing fatal illnesses.

I pray about everyday trials we are all facing and I lift all these up to God. It is all out of my control, but I lay these things at the feet of the Lord and know he will handle these situations.

I would like to encourage you to realize that this life is not a time for us to be selfish, but to love others the
best we can, with that love coming from God, and let our actions be Godly.


Letting God be God. Peace, hope, thanksgiving and joy to you.

God's Will Week Twenty- two

Change can effect everyone. We are not struggling alone.

Face changes with God.

I waited to post this until after my Wednesday night bible study group saw the movie “Courageous”
This movie was about how commitments to God can make changes in lives. Our group was touched in one way or another and of the few group members I was able to talk to about the movie, they shared how they saw their lives reflected in one of the story lines. What was remarkable, was even though the plot centered around five men, it was women who saw remarkable things about themselves.

Before I saw the movie, I knew it had a message, and I wanted to really pay attention to how it would relate to me personally. My girlfriends and I seek to have a Godly man in our lives, and we agreed that we would watch with preconceived notions to see characteristics we should look for in a man.

To be honest, I am a single woman, I have a daughter. There is not a man to be the spiritual leader in our home. I take on that role. I do encourage her father to be her father. My mind is fluttering to try to put my thoughts in order, but the impact the movie made on me was a sense of peace that I am a child of God’s and I have the opportunity to not waste a day or time that he has given me on Earth, to make a difference. If that means being different, or making changes, then that’s what it will take and I will have to surrender to it.

The holidays are nearing, and I have thoughts of the approaching time. It is the holidays that are the hardest when you realize that someone important to you is missing. In our Singles Wednesday night group, it is true for each of us. For some, it is divorce, or distance, for others, it is because of a death.

I will miss not having my brother to share the holidays with me, but I can look back at last year and say, Thank you, God. I was given a day, a week. I had a chance to say, “I love you” and my brother said it to me over, and over again. With that peace from God, I will be sad, but I won’t have regret. I will feel love and carry it with me.

For a long time I held on to those words- “IF ONLY…”
‘If only’ I had picked up the phone and called my brother…

I’ve changed my thinking and the order of those two words to “ONLY IF…” and fill in the rest of the sentence. Only if I call him and he hears my voice, will he know I was thinking about him. I want to be more active than passive. Sometimes actions take courage. I wish I knew who said this quote, but “Don’t question what you believe, question what you doubt.”

In my own life I doubt I will remarry. I am seeking answers within God’s will.

I believe in God and marriage, and until I meet the man who has the same belief, we won’t be evenly yoked.

2 Corinthians 6:14
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?

I’m going to keep on track evaluating God’s will vs. my will on my daily journey. I hope I can encourage you to do the same, and each of us finish saying, we were all ‘Courageous,' in God’s will.

God's Will week Twenty-One

Who is in control of turning these dials?

My question for the week was, “What are you trusting God with today?”
A better question is – What do you have faith in God today?
Finances are one area that is evident in everyone’s life. I know we all can relate to financial trust.

The Six Human Needs Link
Tony Robbins has identified six basic human needs and believes everyone is—or can be—motivated by their desire to fulfill these needs.
You may want to consider these needs when thinking about developing and delivering products and services to people. The question to ask is, "What need or needs does my product fulfill for my customer?"

1. Certainty/Comfort. We all want comfort. And much of this comfort comes from certainty. Of course there is no ABSOLUTE certainty, but we want certainty the car will start, the water will flow from the tap when we turn it on and the currency we use will hold its value.

2. Variety. At the same time we want certainty, we also crave variety. Paradoxically, there needs to be enough UNcertainty to provide spice and adventure in our lives.

3. Significance. Deep down, we all want to be important. We want our life to have meaning and significance. I can imagine no worse a death than to think my life didn't matter.

4. Connection/Love. It would be hard to argue against the need for love. We want to feel part of a community. We want to be cared for and cared about.

5. Growth. There could be some people who say they don't want to grow, but I think they're simply fearful of doing so—or perhaps NOT doing so. To become better, to improve our skills, to stretch and excel may be more evident in some than others, but it's there.

6. Contribution. The desire to contribute something of value—to help others, to make the world a better place than we found it is in all of us.

Action Point
Evaluate this list to better understand your personal motivations and examine which ones seem the most significant to you. Then, look at what you do to fulfill the needs of others. It will likely make a difference in what and how you do what you do. It also should make a difference in the way you describe and explain what you and your product can do.

In these six areas where is God in your life?
Hebrews 11:6
Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Do we look to God for the six human needs above?
If we are not looking to God, then we are self-seeking and worldly seeking .
1 John 2:28
And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

I am continually thinking of God's question-  Where is your faith?  Is it with me?

God's Will week Twenty

I know that as a parent I have the HUGE responsibility of shaping a life. Sometimes I question if my daughter looks at me with the same wonder I have when I look at her. To make God a visible part of our lives, each month I create a poster and hang it where it can be seen. On one occasion I had made a poster with quotes from the bible study sermon series. It hung in our home before we hosted a youth night sleep over. I was not present, but the poster made an impact on the group leader. A poster of the very subject they were discussing was on our wall and she and the other girls were aware that in our house, God is relevant.

I saw a saying, “Be different. Act Normal.” On this month’s poster I put those words but with an arrow to the side of “be different”- I wrote CHRISTIAN. And before, “Act normal,” I wrote in God’s Love.
Be different- Christian.
In God’s Love, Act Normal.

In this week’s Crazy Love by Francis Chan chapter 5
1 corr. 13: 4-7
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

I shared with my daughter that we are to know God is love and we can put “God” in the verses and recite it this way:
God is patient, God is kind. God does not envy, God does not boast, God is not proud. God is not rude, God is not self-seeking, God is not easily angered, God keeps no record of wrongs. God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. God always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Then I asked her could she say she has God in her life, and in the blanks where “God” is, can she put her name. L is patient. L is kind. … etc. Immediately she said no, she is not patient, at times she is not kind,… etc.
She said she doesn’t hear the voice of God, like when people say, “God called me to missions.” Or, “God told me to go to build a church.” I told her that there will be times in her life she will know God is leading her. I told her on a daily basis to be aware of the small things God will direct her to do, even if it is something small like saying, “hello,” to someone.

I challenged her to give one day to God. A whole day. A day of silently saying a prayer when she gets up, “I got out of bed today, for God.” And through her day; “I went to school today, for God. I ate today, for God.” And I told her as she acknowledges God in her day, she will begin to feel the presence of God, just by inviting him to be there.

God may never be a loud voice we can hear, but God filled day can be life changing.

 Try it in your own life.

Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.

May your life be Changed by God.