Select Page

Generosity

by | Mar 1, 2011 | Uncategorized

Our Pastor has been sharing what it means to be generous.
What it means to have an open handed~ open heart attitude and thought.
He shared with us that God wants for us to become generous people.
Dictionary.com says that generosity is to give or share liberally free from meanness or smallness of mind or character; to give abundantly with a ready heart without being stingy.
Pastor began to teach us and say:
“Generosity is not measured by our allowance, it is measured by our allowing.”
Learning to give out of an ‘openness’ with no intention or desire to get anything back.
Generosity is the outflow of an inflow of trust.
Trust in a God who will take care of us in spite of our circumstances.
Then he shared how comparing will always discount what God is doing in our hearts and lives.
He said in Exodus the people began to resent the manna that God was providing. They began to grumble and complain and whine and say;
“We remember when we had it all.” In Exodus 16:1-3 it says: The whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “IF ONLY we died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death” verses 5-10 continue showing us the grumbling of the people.
Pastor said Resentment and regret always starts with IF: “If only we were back in the old days when we had all the food all the drinks we could enjoy. Now we only have this manna.”
Basically saying what God was providing for them was not acceptable to them. It wasn’t enough.
Comparing our present provision to our past gets us no where and helps us miss our blessing in what HE is doing now. God provided for them every day exactly what was needed for that day. The instruction was to gather it daily, every day, they didn’t want it they wanted something more.
Pastor then asked the question: “Can you trust God and be obediant to him?”
Pastor said, “God’s faithfulness to you is not equal to your trust in Him. God is faithful even if you choose not to be.”
It is a choice ~ it becomes a matter of our heart.
Then he said, “Generosity shows the expiration of our heart.”
I had to think about that one for some time to really grasp what it meant.
Then he asked us,”What does it mean to be rich? if you define rich by how much money you have your definition is a moving target. Rich is not defined by money it is defined by heart condition.”
He continued to teach, “Richness and wealth is not measured by what’s in your bank. You must redefine what it means to be wealthy and what it means to be rich.
When we do that we begin to realize how truly rich we are.”
How truly rich we are… we are very wealthy people.
Are you feeling the convictions that I did?
We are truly rich and wealthy people.
It is only our discontented hearts condition that discounts the truth for what it really is.
Lord God I pray for our hearts to be broken and to become more generous in the way that you desire. Help us to be grateful and generous with open hands and open hearts.

Changes

by | Feb 24, 2011 | Uncategorized

Changes in our lives often bring grief and loss.
May we embrace and mourn our changes today.
Let us not refuse them and loose what God has in store for us~
from John Eldredge a popular writer and speaker.

I am not one who likes change.
My house is normally the same and my friendships too.
Habits are generally the same over and over and food tastes too.
When a change happens it is hard.
I don’t generally adapt easy to it.
This last month we have dealt with my husbands surgery and visits to the emergency room and then the visits to the various doctors and the inconvenience of his one arm in a sling. I have had to do more and be more patient. It has been good but also hard to be patient and remember he is frustrated at his ‘change’ of situation.
It has been good for him to rest.
To allow the arm to restore itself. As his body recovers from the trauma that has happened.
I think the best thing we can do when these type of events take place is to EMBRACE them as John says. The energy it takes to deny or discount ‘the new’ situation is far worse than saying ‘ok I am not really liking this but I am resting in it.’
Change… is hard. Change is necessary.
Each season we see change. Leaves fall and go dormant, bulbs rest waiting to bloom.
It snowed last night and that change was pretty and white and also created inconvenience for many. The only real way to deal with change is to embrace it.
Then rest in the knowing that soon the new change will be transformed into something we find comfort in.
How do you adapt to change? do you embrace it or fight it?
It is a good question for us all.

He listens

by | Feb 17, 2011 | Uncategorized

Psalm 116:1-2

I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!
Can you even imagine the God of the Universe bending down to listen to the cries of those who are asking for mercy? (mercy means to have kindness or compassion)
Have you ever talked to a child and really got down to their level.
Perhaps bending a knee to get closer so you can hear them?
That is what this verse is saying.
He bends down to listen.
I would love the Lord even if I thought he didn’t listen
but isn’t it wonderful to know he does?
How powerful that is.
That we are important enough to have him listen.
He bends down to listen
when I whisper
when I cry
when I laugh
when I speak
when I sing
doesn’t it make your heart happy?
Oh that we can know and experience the deep love of God
and understand how important we are to him.
I will pray as long as I have breath~
because I know he hears me.

A candle burning

by | Feb 15, 2011 | Uncategorized

Last night my husband made us a wonderful Irish whiskey flat iron steak dinner, baked potatoes with peas and little pearl onions. It was sweet and very good. He did it all by himself with his arm still in a sling and he even had the table set with a candle burning.
It was a wonderful Valentine treat.
Often times I tell him “I don’t want a card or gifts on Valentines day. It’s a day when Hallmark makes a ton of money and florist shops go crazy.”
I would rather have a simple evening together and a ‘surprise’ on another day when I ‘don’t feel good’ or when my heart is hurting or when I just need a bit of encouraging. Something nurturing for my heart and spirit not just ‘because it is the day to do it’ but because you want to lift my mood up a little. Thank you honey for a wonderful dinner and your surprise in planning it.
I appreciated it.

JJ Heller – What love really means – Lyrics

by | Feb 14, 2011 | Uncategorized


This is really a beautiful song.
When I first heard it… the words just settled into my spirit as
I listened. There is a very moving question
throughout the song… my prayer is that it ministers to you in
in a powerful and wonderful way as it did to me.

Our messes

by | Feb 9, 2011 | Uncategorized

A few weeks ago in one of our Pastor’s teaching he said,
“Our messes are based on false agreements.”
“Our normal way of thinking or working in the spiritual sense
is outside in- instead of inside out.“
Then he continued to teach out of 1st Corinthians 2:9-15 talking about the Spirit.
However, as it is written:
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”
the things God has prepared for those who love him- these things are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them?
In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given to us.
Then Pastor said: “The irony of the spirit… the part of God that we are closest to… we are the most unaware of.”
I pause so you can think about it~
Most unaware of… least thought about… not given time or recognition.

Is that Sad to you? It is to me.
Our messes are the things in our lives we need to work on.
Our messes are the things the Spirit can remove if we allow it.
Did you realize that Messiah begins with Mess?
Our mess can be His opportunity to show power and gentleness and healing and restoration.
John and Staci Eldredge talk about agreements.
As an example: if someone is hurt as a child they will tell themselves
‘no one is going to hurt me again in this way.’
The wall goes up and becomes a solid fortress.
That becomes an internal agreement.
No one will hurt me.
When someone says something hurtful or does something hurtful the wall is built and it is firm.
The defense becomes our way of thinking and our way of living
from that moment on… then into adulthood.
Oh I hope we can grasp this teaching.
How many false agreements are we carrying around in the woundedness of our hearts?
How many of them are holding us down and keeping us without power or healing or health?
Just to give you something to think about today.
I pray that our messes can be handed off to the great Messiah.
It is through the messiness of our hearts where we become healed,
if we open up and allow the agreements to stop.
Lord God help us to become ‘whole and healed’ people as we allow you to search our hearts and fill us with the hope and healing we so long for.
You are the God who heals and takes away our messes…
You are our great Messiah.

Breathe

by | Feb 7, 2011 | Uncategorized

Today I had my husband in the Emergency room for the second time in two days.
The surgery was successful.
The arm is tight to his chest, he cannot move the shoulder for four weeks.
Problem number one began with a small rash.
As the days progressed from Mondays surgery to Thursday evening the rash went from small to very red and all over his left side, when he removed the ‘tape and bandages’ he was very red and rashy and it just didn’t look right. By 11:00 pm Thursday I said ‘I am not comfortable’ with you sleeping tonight and me not knowing what that rash will do as I sleep next to you.
The doctor in ER said it was from what they washed him with in surgery.
Go home and shower and wait till it goes away.
Today on Sunday it is not gone after using benadryl every four hours and it is more red and rashy and even on his face and looks like it is a sun burn that is peeling.
The ER visit today said he is allergic to the sling and its fabric. SO… we have him on more medications, he is still NOT supposed to move his arm and I think I need to just stop and breathe.
What a week.
Nothing spiritual tonight to share just ‘breathe in and breathe’ out and use your voice when you don’t feel like you are being listened to. I was not leaving that ER without something for him.
Will pray it all works now.