Three of us walking along the sandy beach…
each in their own thoughts…
finding comfort in the awesome gift of sunshine and surf.
This was a place of peace and quiet… as we enjoyed God’s marvelous creation.
It restored our souls…
Continuing our topic on prayer.
On Sunday the speaker gave us 5 Things to remember when making time for prayer.
1. Guard your time…
Make it important to spend in prayer.
Allow yourself 30 minutes a day if you can if not start small.
2. Get Content...
a. What to pray for
b. Prayer list
c. Need list
d. Names of those who need prayer
3. Find a method… that works for you.
a. If you write… journal your prayers out.
b. Make a prayer book with what you asked
for and what you have received
4. Pray in groups… keeping accountability with each other.
5. Read the Word…
a. Pray and take notes on what you read.
b. Ask God to show you ‘the words’ while you read.
The speaker said to start small and don’t discourage yourself.
In order to accomplish something new- one must do something physical to acknowledge the internal change of reality.
Get up early if you need to …. go to bed later if that is better.
Do something physical… if you walk then pray as you walk.
If you garden…pray as you garden.
It does not have to be on bended knee in a ‘form of worship’.
Pray without ceasing… that is all day… never stopping.
In the grocery store… in the mall…at work…at play.
Pray without ceasing.
For example:
Lord please be with the mail carrier they have so much responsibility help them to do their job in an efficient and timely way.
Lord please be with the man who takes our garbage. Thank you that he has this job and doesn’t mind doing something so ‘difficult’ through the eyes of many.
Lord please be with the policeman who takes care of the bad guys so we can stay safe.
Lord please be with the fireman who risks his life so that others can live.
Do you get the idea?
Pray without ceasing…
for the everyday… mundane things surrounding us.
I encourage us all to set aside time to read the word.
The speaker said he read the entire Bible in 4 1/2 days from front to back.
That is a committment.
We all have time it is what we decide to do with our time that makes the difference.
I pray that we will make a point to nurture our spirits deep within
for this is the way we grow in a deeper relationship with the Lord.
Yesterday in church we were challenged by the days speaker
to think about prayer.
Everyone prays at some point in their lives.
If you are a believer who Loves the Lord then you would pray more often and pray with more intensity.
For relationship is built through this communication with God.
If Jesus thought it was important we should follow His example.
He was the Son of God. He was all power… all love…all mercy…and yet…He prayed.
For more power and more love and more mercy… For Jesus knew that prayer is God’s method for pouring out His Spirit upon us.
The speaker yesterday said:
“You cannot please God without prayer.”
In James 4:8 the word says: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”
That is a promise.
We draw near to Him by praying…and by setting aside time for building relationship with our God.
Just as we would with anyone else who is important to us.
We must realize it is a key element in our walk with the Lord.
The word is our example and all throughout the word of God there are lessons of prayer.
{Philippians 4:6: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God}
{Colossians 4:2-4: Devote yourself to prayer, being watchful and thankful}
{1 Thessalonians 5:17: Be joyful always; pray continually (pray without ceasing); give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus}
{Isaiah 62:6-7: I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.}
There is a theme to pray always, pray with a thankful heart, and pray without resting.
Always… ongoing… building relationship.
I pray we can encourage each other to press forward and into ‘our relationship’ with God.
I watch a little baby three to four days a week.
She is my nieces baby and her name is Liliana Olivia she is almost 10 months old.
I have enjoyed sharing this new time in my life with a little one.
Her cuddles and cuteness, her smiles and giggles are precious.
Although I feel my age most evenings since I am 55 and dealing with an almost toddler is tiring.
God really designed young mom’s to do this kind of work on a daily schedule.
Whenever I am with her I try to make it special and safe.
With babies consistency and repetition is very important to their development.
We have a new tradition every morning before our ‘day’ begins we sing our ‘special song.’ She sits on my lap and I say “ok let’s sing our song.” (I sing she listens)
I have to admit I made it up… and I am not really that creative.
But Lily doesn’t know that she just likes the tune.
I imagine the words could be anything at this stage of her life but I wanted ‘them to be positive’.
So join with me as I share this little song with you…
To the tune of ‘OL My darling Clementine’…
In the morning – In the morning – We will praise you – Father God
WE will thank you – We will praise you – In the morning – Father God.
She giggles and gives me a big smile as she claps her hands.
Sooo… cute… I guess it doesn’t take much to entertain me.
Semi retirement has been good :o)
In the book Waking the Dead The story of a heart fully alive.
John Eldredge has challenged me into a new way of thinking.
I would recommend this book to any one who has a heart for the Lord and a desire to move deeper into a spiritual walk with Him.
He focuses on the heart of a person.
Proverbs 4:33- Guard your heart because it is the wellspring of your life.
Guard your heart…
John talks about the heart of a person all throughout this book. He shares how when Jesus was here he surrounded himself with a group of friends. He was not alone.
Our spiritual journey is never alone.
It can’t be for if we are by ourselves we cannot be challenged or encouraged or uplifted.
Jesus was our example.
He took time to be alone for a short time then he gathered himself back into the group. It was a community of friends who checked in daily to watch over each others heart. John says the fellowship of our hearts is critical to our growth. John says “If you believed your heart was the treasure of the kingdom…How would you live differently?”
He says, “Caring for your hearts isn’t selfishness; it is how we begin to love.”
“If your heart is empty you can’t love others – you can’t love well or fully unless your heart is well.”
“If your heart has been broken it must be mended to go further into the kingdom walk.”
We mend our hearts by allowing God to heal us.
Asking Him to show us where the broken places are taking residence
and creating a stumbling block for us to fully love.
John says, “When it comes to the whole subject of loving others, you must know this; how you handle your own heart is how you will handle the hearts of others. If you dismiss your heart you will end up dismissing theirs.”
He asks the reader, “Who do you know who would be safe to call at 2:00am if you needed to. If you choose a name that wouldn’t be safe, why wouldn’t it? Because you know they would not listen to your hurting heart. The decision comes from how they would handle your heart cry.”
Today my challenge questions for us all are these:
Are you caring for your heart? Are you guarding your heart?
It is a spiritual question.
I pray that we can all say as we move through lifes journey:
My heart matters to God.
My heart always mattered to God.
Lord open the eyes of my heart so I may see you…and allow you to heal the places in my heart that are not open to myself, to others and most of all to YOU. Help me always to know this spiritual walk is all about matters of my heart.
Help me Lord to care for my heart so I can care for the hearts of others.
You will see more changes to come to this blog soon and then the redo will be over. I like the new look.
The question has often come into my mind…
why do I write and why is it so important for me?
As a young person I always had a paper and pen with me.
For note taking or for doodling and even drawing if I felt a ‘picture was forming’.
It is who I am.
If someone were to say something about me after I am gone someday I hope they would say: She had faith in God, She loved her family, and she wrote many things to think about.
Is it a need to be remembered in a specific way?
Is it a way to put feelings not shared into a form for sharing?
These are questions I have no answers for but what I do know;
I need to write.
As a child raised in a ‘home’ who never really talked to each other in a deep and meaningful way. I think I learned to write within the safe net of my journal book as a way of releasing what was stored in my mind.
No one would read it.
I could not get into trouble from my written word or my pictures drawn.
I learned to put them away into locked boxes
where I was the only one who knew
where the key was kept.
It was safety.
It was a way for me to pull out feelings…
especially once I entered into counseling.
I have journals full of memories stored written between lines of blue.
They all tell a story of who I was… who I have been…
who I am becoming.
Revealing within me as the handwork of God healed my heart.
Now instead of paper and pen I type on a keyboard with black and white keys.
I miss sometimes the paper and pen and black and white images of sketches formed.
But I also like the comfort of sitting in this den and creating a ‘written’ message and imagery.
As I have said before it is a type of legacy for those around me.
There are no rules on this blog other than to be truthful, inspiring and encouraging.
When something is on my heart to write I can’t discount it or dismiss it.
For the goal of this blog is not for an audience of many but for the purpose of giving glory to God. For it was HIM who brought me into this place and it will be HIM who will remove me when the time comes.
To be transparent and open and vulnerable has been a very hard lesson for me to learn in this process. It is not a comfortable place for me. It is learning daily how to be
authentic and real.
For if we cannot be real with ourselves and with others
we lose what really matters in relationships.
It is more difficult to be open and transparent and vulnerable when those thoughts go against everything I was taught growing up.
I was taught to hide and not ask ‘real’ questions.
I was always the quiet one in the background humming to the tune only I could hear. It was safety for me. Stay in your own space in your own room and you will be out of any ones way.
In this new process of writing I have learned to bare my soul.
God whispered to me in quiet words one day saying… “If you write others will be blessed. If you write I will bless you and pour into you the words for the right day the right moment and the right season. If you listen with all your heart.”
If this focus is ever lost the blog site will be ended.
This blog is a journal for God.
This blog is about the ONE who saved me and keeps me growing through the process of Faith.
He created me for a purpose. If that purpose is to share a gift HE gave then it is something that must be done.
The words on this blog might not be perfect or grammatically correct but they are from my heart.
As my fingers tap across the key board like a dancer stepping across and onto the stage.
My hope is that the reader can be challenged into a ‘quiet place’ for reflection.
I pray that each reader will experience the love of God all throughout this writing blog.
I also pray that when they move away and close their computer they will find themselves in a deeper and better place and closer to HIM because of this blog.
For that is the reason it is called…
something to think about.
Simplicity
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