Do Life with God!

On the first morning back to school after Christmas vacation my husband and I had a conversation that I vaguely remember.  He was in the bathroom getting dressed to head out early as usual, bright eyed and bushy tailed. 

I was still in bed wrapped in the warmth of my blankets refusing to get up.  I was not awake and
definitely not fully aware of my surroundings.  After the fact and after several cups of coffee, I had
flashbacks of our little talk and pieced together the facts just like the jigsaw puzzle currently under
construction on our table…piece by piece. 

He told me that we were separating, not in a courthouse, but in the bathroom.  He stated I had until the end of January to move my stuff off of his side of the bathroom counter completely.  (Notice that he gave me plenty of time and I might add that he was smiling the whole time he mentioned the split)  He attempted to describe my items which were currently residing on his side of the counter.
He pointed out a cup or two, a bottle of perfume and my jewelry hanging on a “tree” as he called it.  He saw it all very black and white, no gray.  My stuff needed to go!  The only place I wanted to go was back to sleep! 

Our conversation and his plan for bathroom separation reminded me of a truth that has followed me
around like a blinking sign for the past few weeks.  It too is black and white, no gray!   Christian radio, television, our Sunday school lessons, and my own Bible reading all have ended up the same…Put God first!

Joyce Meyer and Beth Moore boiled it all the way down to “DO LIFE WITH GOD.”   I got to thinking…  If we do life with God, the future, the present, the finances, the jobs, the relationships, the extra five pounds that we need to lose after the holidays, will all work out.  
Now, maybe everything does not work out the way we want it or the way we had planned, but if we “Do life with God” and put Him first, we will be okay!   If HE is not first, whatever IS will destroy us!  I may should repeat that so I can hear it again myself.  If Jesus is not first, whatever IS will destroy us.   There is no gray there!  He is a jealous God and loves us so much to let us go without a fight!

I realized last week while jotting all of this down in my journal like I had discovered a new buried
treasure that more than anything else, I want to “Do life with God.”  That includes the good days, the
bad days, and the mundane days.  It is also the greatest desire I have for my children. I always wish them well, pray for them, encourage them, and all of that good motherly stuff.  Now, I have simplified my motherly desires.  I pray that they will “Do life with God.”  I mean all of it...homework, friends, sports, food choices, music choices, and their many future plans and dreams. 
I believe this is all based on scripture. 

The phrase “Love the Lord” appears 17 times in the Bible.  In Matthew 22:37, the disciples asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was.  He said “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all of your soul, and with all of your might.”  That is doing life with God!  I am in.  Are you?

New Year

Christmas week ended here with hot cocoa and lots of Hallmark movies, and we ushered in the New
Year with a bang!  I actually stayed awake until midnight for the first time in years.  We feasted on
delicious black eyed peas and cornbread the first day of 2015.  Our usual outdoor activities ceased
because the weather was yucky.  By that night, something happened here.  The Happy New Year was not happy anymore!
In plain language, everyone in this house was tired of each other and a bad mood.  We all were salty! 
My daughter has taught me the word “salty.” My husband argues with her and says that “salty” is a
word is used to describe a rough and tough team.  She argues back attempting to convince him that the new “salty” describes a mood or person. 
I side with her; therefore, my crew of six was “salty” and it was not fun!  I laid down Thursday night and thought:   Who am I and who are these people I live with?  Do I even know them or like them?  Do I even like myself right now?  It was just bad blah!  (Anyone else ever think this?)

Friday morning my husband returned to work.  One kid and one dog transported themselves into bed
with me when they heard him leave.  I quietly snuck out of my covers without waking them up about
7:00 to have my coffee and quiet time.  I knew that we did not need another bad day with negativity
hanging over our little homestead like a dark cloud.  The way I saw it, it was up to me to get right before I got anyone up and expected for them to be right!  That may be my new motherhood motto.
When I sat down in my hubby’s chair I did not know where to start.   I prayed for my family and mostly for myself to know how to deal with the moods, personalities, and needs all present and sometimes out of control under this one roof.  I pleaded with the Lord to help us all get along and to encourage each other.   I moaned and groaned in prayer and asked the Lord what I needed to do.
All of a sudden, it dawned on me that for some time, I had totally forgotten to pray God’s Word out loud and to specifically pray for each of us, applying a scripture to each need.  DUH! 
There is something very powerful about speaking God’s Word back to Him in agreement.  You
acknowledge that you do not have a clue, but that you know His promises are true!  (To do this you
need a Bible and a tool to use to find a verse on a specific topic…google works too!)

An amazing thing happened to me that morning last week.  I prayed God’s Word out loud and related it to specific situations in my life and to my loved one’s lives.  I was instantly reminded that God is totally and absolutely involved.  I had my hope and peace back.   I found my Stormie Omartian books.  She has a remarkable way of turning God’s word into prayer.    I marked a prayer for myself and each family member.  When one by one my kids came down the hallway, I was not sick and tired of them anymore. 
Praise God! 
This year I need more organization, time at the gym, time management, and etc. The list could go on
and on.  What I really need more of is prayer and to pray God’s Word.  Isaiah 55:11 says “So will My
word be which goes forth from my mouth; it will not return to me empty.” 
Join me this week and pray! 
God’s Word does not return void!

Pick Me

I vividly remember when I was in third grade and saw George Strait at the Palestine Convention Center.  I think I have written about it before.  I made my way up the front by the stage and wanted for him to pick me and shake my hand.  I am sure I was in Jordache jeans and French braids.  I cannot remember if ropers were out yet or not. 
Oh George, All I could think was PICK me!  He did pick me and he shook my hand.  I hung it out of the tub and refused to wash it for a week I know.  How could I wash it?  I was one of the ones he picked for a handshake.  It was a huge moment in my life, or I sure thought it was.
I did not always get picked as a kid though.  Often on the playground when we lined up for basketball, kickball, or for talent shows, I was one of the last ones picked.  I was okay at everything, but not a star in anything.  Know what I mean?  For basketball, I would stand up tall and think…pick me!  If it was dancing day in the talent show, I would get ready for a plié and try to look graceful with a smile.  I was silent as the team captains made their first picks, but in my heart, I was screaming out…pick me!  When I did get chosen, I played it cool, but inside there was a real wave of relief that came over me.  I was happy, happy, happy to be picked, to be chosen. I did often get picked as a kid and nearly even made basketball All Stars one year.  It was a close one.  I ended up as a non-traveling, non-uniform wearing alternate. 
If we are honest, this desire to be one picked or the chosen one does not really end with childhood,
does it?  The “Pick Me” syndrome continues on past the days of cheerleading tryouts, prom dates, class favorite votes,  and UIL competitions.  It just turns into employee of the month, the one who gets the biggest pat on the back, the one who gets the promotion, and the one who gets asked to help plan the event.  Although maturity often brings security, even in our grown up clothes and grown up cars, we still silently sometimes sit in a crowd and think…pick me! 
I began reading the Christmas story in Luke 2 last week and discovered a truth that relates to everyone, I mean every single person living on this earth!  I personally am not going to let this truth slip away just because I put the tree up and move on past studying the birth of Jesus in my quiet time. I am taking the truth with me into 2015. 
In Luke 2:11, the Angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds and said “Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”  Reread it and focus on the ALL PEOPLE part of it! 
You see, we do not have to desire to be the one picked on the playground or in the conference room,
we have already been picked!  We are already chosen.  I am the reason Jesus was born and died on the cross.  You are the reason Jesus was  born and died on the cross! 
There is no reason to raise your hand and think…pick me in the life anymore.  Dear one, you have
already been picked!  You are loved, chosen, accepted, and redeemed.

Do you have room?

 I had an idea early on this week for my column.  One morning we drove to school in dense fog with low visibility.  (I sound like a weather girl.)  I utilized the defrost several times and my wipers to seemingly wipe away some of the moisture.  After we made the curve by the high school, my daughter asked if I would please hit the wipers again.  She says I make her nervous on that corner. Whatever!   

I tapped the wipers again.  We immediately had a clear view, and I had a lightbulb moment.  My kids were barely awake, but they got a lesson anyway.  I said “SEE, that foggy, unclear, obstructed view was like your life without Jesus.  Our perfectly clear view now is like your life with Jesus Christ.”  I got a yawn or two, not an Amen, but I was okay with that and quite accustomed to it at this point. 

Another possible theme hit me yesterday when we pruned the rose bushes.  You gardening experts please do not judge me if it is not time yet.  I think we skipped it last year and the bushes were becoming trees and threatening to take over the house.  My husband trimmed, manicured, cut them back…really he butchered them. 

He also worked on my lavender bush.  It was massive, probably a world record winner.  He said everything needed to be cut back and to have some room to breathe and grow.  I had my next “AH-HA” moment.

I thought about all of the things that have been “cut” back or cut out of my life.   I mean taken out in a positive way.  Maybe we are more able to breathe too, just like the plants, when allow some pruning and cut some of the junk, worries, attitudes, habits, and useless activities.  John 15:2 says “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”  You see, cutting and pruning is good! 

Today though I had to let these topics move into the background of my mind because something else took center stage.  When I heard the familiar Christmas story presented through an amazing drama at church, it seemed new.  Luke 2:7 says “And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” 

I pondered the fact that there was no room for HIM at the inn.  It is so easy for us to hear the story and think that they must have had a room, a better place than the barn for the young expectant mother?  I mean really…couldn’t they make room for Jesus, couldn’t they make room for any mom about to give birth?  Duh! I silently sat in my pew with a row full of kids and applied that thought to my life as our Pastor seemingly perfectly stressed the fact that there was NO ROOM! 

I have invited Jesus into the “room” so to speak of my heart, but do I really have room for Jesus day in and day out in my own life?  Can I make MORE room for Jesus?  What is in the way, what crowds Him out?  If there anything more important than HIM, I am missing out on so much. 

Before the first gift is unwrapped, take some time and reflect about what you make room for in life.  If there is not room in your life for Jesus and if He is not first, you very well may have a day marked on your calendar as Christmas, but you may be missing out on CHRISTmas.   

 

 

 

 

I Surrender ALL?

I remember the exact day I heard a strong and Godly woman say that she refused to sing the hymn “I Surrender All.”   I looked up to her so much and just could not imagine why she couldn’t proclaim in song that she was giving it all to the LORD.  I asked her why.  She said that she had given her heart to Jesus and surrendered so much in life, but if she was honest, she had not given HIM it ALL.  Therefore, to sing that song would be a lie.  I gave it some thought and since have found myself humming to it, but holding back. 

However, there is a song that I do not hold back on one bit.  I will belt it out!  I did today, and I do often.  It is “I need Thee every hour.”  The chorus says “I need thee, O I need thee; every hour I need thee; O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee.” 

In the past few weeks, I celebrated my 16^th wedding anniversary, my son turned 13, and my daughter I is now one year away from driving and holding strong at 15.  My hubby had a birthday thrown in the middle too, but we are at the point that I will omit the details of his age.  I reflected on each event and especially on my daughter’s birthday because she was my first born.

I was so clueless when I had her, as we all are!  No matter how many nights you have been hired out to babysit or even if your whole entire profession and college degree has been dedicated to children, you are equally awestruck and incompetent at the moment the doctor places in your arms YOUR newborn, your flesh and blood.  No book, no experience, NO nothing prepares you for that moment. 

Wow, it nearly makes me tear up just thinking about it because I was so scared.  Part of the fear came from the fact that God, knowing the mess that I quite often made of my own life, would trust me with another one.  From that moment on, I began changing.  I was in need.     

When my nurse Pat wheeled me down to the parking lot at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, I truly knew that from that moment on, it was not just about me.  I was in need. 

I tried for a few more years on my own to do it on my own and even added a second child into the mix.  I knew something was missing in my life.  It was my salvation.  I believed, had been raised in church, and prayed often, but I had never invited Jesus into my heart. 

At first, I am embarrassed to say that I thought of Christ as my personal Genie in a bottle and that was the depth of our relationship.  I needed Him and asked Him to help.  HE often DID.   Like in the song, “O bless me now, my Savior, I come to thee.”  I had kids running around, a job, and a husband not happy with his own job, bills to pay, and a house to keep clean. 

On my daughter’s birthday though last week, it occurred to me that a lot about my relationship with Jesus has changed.  The change is not due to my hard work or will power.  (I have none.)  The change is because instead of needing a Genie, I have learned that I need a LORD.  My needs have disappeared and my desire to know Jesus more has grown.  It has less and less to do with what He can do for me and more about who He is.  He is peace, love, joy, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, my Rock, my Redeemer, my BFF, my Father, my Savior, my Counselor, my King, He is Christmas.  Do you need Him?

 

Silence

Thanksgiving Break is upon us.  Last night we had a rare evening where all six of us were in the same house and in the same room.  We watched the Dallas Cowboy game, flipped to other uneventful shows during the commercials and took breaks to get up and get a few things done. 

At one point on a break, I got up to do the dishes.  I was talking across the room while I did them, probably about the most amazing catch I had ever seen by Odell Beckman Jr.  There were two other conversations going on at the same time about deer hunting, Christmas lists, and what we were going to do this week.  My husband, who has to work, just sat in his chair with a puzzled look on his face.  I caught his eye when I looked up at my daughter to focus on what she was saying to me back across the room. 

At that point, my husband in a quiet voice, so quiet and calm that it was a miracle we even heard him, said “Everyone in this house is talking at once….I think I am going to bed.”  He did not leave us, but sure did make us laugh as usual because it was true. I am fully accustomed to the noise. It is normal to me; however, it was borderline too much for him. 

Last week I had to administer a benchmark STARR test.  Our campus tries to assimilate the “real” test so it really is a super duper silent environment.  I wonder if the silence is a distraction really.  It is so oddly quiet and so different from anything that we are used to.

I journaled about it later.  I wrote “Silence…it is really an odd thing.  It is even really possible in the year of 2014…with technology?  How often are we really silent? I mean not just from noise, but also from any handheld device that we are reading and scrolling through just for fun?  Maybe silence today needs to be defined and include both the ears not hearing anything and the brain not doing anything.  The Lord is sometimes silent too.  Silence is really odd, but OKAY.”

Silence is contrary to how most of us live today, but I think it matters because of the verse that says “Be still and know that I am God” from Psalms 46:10. That verse tells me that silence is a MUST!  It is an absolute.  How can we hear from the quiet, still voice of the Holy Spirit living in us if we never allow ourselves to be quiet and still? (I bet the devil loves the distracting world we live in)   

Maybe when we make our to-do list for the holiday season, silence and quiet time should be on the list and at the top of everyday!  How else can we navigate through this crazy life without knowing and hearing the voice of the Lord?  He speaks through His Word, prayer, in nature, and sometimes He even speaks to us in silence.

I once heard a statement made by a preacher that I have never forgotten.  He said that a teacher is silent during a test and that the Lord too can sometimes be silent during a test with his students, meaning us!  If you are quiet and ready to hear from the Lord during this season and you feel like He is silent, that is OK.  Hold onto what you know is true! He is there.  He is your teacher.

Christmas season for me does not begin with Black Friday, it begins with a celebration in the quietness of my own heart because I have been given a gift.  The gift is the greatest relationship I will ever have. It began with the birth of Jesus and knowing that daily I can be STILL AND KNOW that He is God.   You have been given the gift too.  Have you accepted it?  

 

SMH

I use a few abbreviations that have been created since the world of texting.  I like the ring of LOL, laugh out loud.   I have also been known to say SMH, which stands for shaking my head, but I have never used it as a text because I am way too old for that! 

Oh Man, I do shake my head often with my family.  I shook it so hard last week that I thought it might fall off when my youngest daughter asked if Angelina Jolie was the one who sang “Jolene.”  For those of you who did not follow country music, in 1973 “Jolene” was a song written and performed that year by Dolly Parton.  Yes, SMH at her question!  I could see her connection, but had to break it to her that Angelina Jolie was not the singer of that song.      

SMH came up too this week when my oldest daughter had me turn around on the way home to go back and see the biggest hog she had ever seen. She had her brothers so excited that they were hanging out of the windows.  We creeped up on it.  I turned on the hazards and bright lights at this point because we were in the ditch.  She even said she did not know for sure if it was alive or dead, just BIG, that that dialed up the anticipation a notch.  When we got right up on it, it was a SMH moment because the massive black hog she had spotted was a massive black trash bag left on the side of FM 488. 

I had one more SMH moment, in a whole different manner, when I started on Life Principle #16 in my Bible Study by Charles Stanley last week.  It began with a verse from Ezekiel 25: 6-7 “Whatever you acquire outside of God’s will eventually turns to ashes.”  I honestly did not want to read on because they title was so convicting, but I did.  

Two pages later, the lesson ended with two of my favorite verses.  Dr. Stanley used Psalms 37:4.  It says “Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.”  The other one that I love and that he closed with was Psalms 16:11 “You have made known to me the path of life, you will fill me with joy in your presence.” 

I was SMH…How can desires of your heart, JOY, the presence of the LORD, and stuff turning into ashes all tie in?  I reread the lesson and was blown away with a depth found in my two favorite verses that I had never discovered before. 

When we delight ourselves in the LORD, we spend time with Him and we know Him.  When we are in His presence, we talk to Him and become more like Him.  As a result of a closer relationship with Him, we change what we pray for and what we ask for.  Our thoughts and desires line up more with His Kingdom work than with this temporary earth and with our own desires of the flesh. 

This earth will all fade one day and turn to ashes.  It all did make sense.  I stopped shaking my head and was thankful that I know when I delight myself in the LORD, He will give me the desires of my heart because my desires will line up with HIS.  This week make time to get in the presence of the LORD.  He will join you in your classroom, in your car, in your living room, in the deer stand, and anywhere else that you invite Him.