Wake up my Heart!

Scripture of the day: Proverbs 4:23-27 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. After last Friday's long winded event, today's read should be a breeze! Proverbs are full of advice and thankfully, most of it is pretty self-explanatory. Don't be careless with your heart. Give it to God for good keeping and then no matter what people may do or say that could hurt you, it will be in good hands. Do not swear, talk about inappropriate things or talk bad about others. Know where you are going. God isn't wishy washy, so when a path in front of you is firm, it is probably where he wants you to go! He will guide you if you let him. And when you are on that firm ...

Scripture of the Day: Matthew 13: 20-23 18  “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means:   19  When anyone hears the message about the kingdom  and does not understand it, the evil one  comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.   20   T he one who received the seed that fell on rocky places is the man who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.   21  But since he has no root, he lasts only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.   22  The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth  choke it, making it unfruitful. 23  But the one who received the seed that fell on good soil is the man who hears the word and understands it. He produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Warni...

Scripture of the day: Proverbs 3:27-28 Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor,"Come back later; I'll give it to you tomorrow" -- when you have it with you. This advice is so practical and well, so nice! The "niceness" comes in two forms. I wish that I provided these "good services" as often as I can, but sadly, I often fall short. Here's my ideal thoughts on how it should go though! 1) When you have the chance to do something for someone - do it! This comes usually in small things. Perhaps you could let the person behind you at the store who has two items compared to your full cart go first. Maybe you could open the door for the mom scrambling with a child in each arm. Say something nice to the next cashier's lane you go through - even if they are not the friendliest person in the world - you don't know the kind of day they are having. Offer to watch a friends child...

Scripture of the Day: Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Oh, rest! How lovely a concept, but how difficult a reality! Do you feel rested on a daily basis? I confess I rarely do. Could be my daily bathroom wake up call at 4:00 am, or my super sensitive hearing, but I seldom feel rested when I get out of bed. But that rest I speak of (and so desire), is not what Jesus is talking about. Jesus is talking about soul rest. Rest at the deepest part of your core. And THAT is the rest I have. I always love to hear the song, "It is well with my soul." I was amazed last year to really listen to the lyrics, contemplate, and realize that it is true in my life. No matter the turmoil that is going on, no matter the daily problems I have, no matter the UNrest I...

Scripture of the Day: Psalm 4:4 In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent. Well, apparently mention of sin is what is catching my eyes on this bible read through! In my One Year Bible Companion, I am reading Genesis, Psalms, Proverbs and Matthew. As I read, I am making notes of things that stick out and am hoping that for quite a while my posts will go along with those daily reads...BUT - thinks seldom work as I plan :). This Psalm has lots of good little thoughts in it, but it was the verse above that made me stop in my tracks. For whatever reason, it is at night when we go to bed that Satan seems strongest. I am often attacked by what I think of as a negative, or a "what-if", monster when I lay down. When your head goes on that pillow, your thoughts race. Sometimes down nice paths, sometimes down horrible ones! This verse to addresses those nasty thoughts and says "STOP." It almost seems to read, "If you can...

Scripture of the Day: Genesis 4:7 "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Those words were spoken to Cain, shortly before he murdered his brother. What powerful words that still apply to our lives today. Reader, sin is crouching at our door - almost at every second. I feel like our culture encourages sin. I think this often comes in the form of the world being only about "you." Our current media feeds the desire to have what you want (mind you - not necessarily what you need), when you want it - and it doesn't discourage you from stepping on others to get it. Morals don't seem to really come into play, because there seems to be a mentality that we "deserve" everything. And THAT is a soap box I will jump on another day! Sin wants to have you. It wants you to put aside what God has taught you and jump in, head over h...

Scripture of the Day: Proverbs 1:2-6 ...2 For attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; 3 for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; 4 for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young -- 5 let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance -- 6 for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. This is how the Book of Proverbs begins. I will confess I have probably read that five times, but NEVER actually focused on the words before! As I'm reading a daily bible for the year, I only get to read a few verses in Proverbs every day, so those were the only verses my brain had to focus on one night last week. I almost did not include verse 6 here today because when I read the verses prior to them, I thought, "This is why I am reading the bible!" (not just the proverbs/parables in it). This is a year I am looking for direc...

Scripture of the Day: Philippians 3:13b-14 "...this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." I could not think of a better Scripture verse to begin the New Year with! Thank you to my friend, Ruth, for posting that on Facebook yesterday – it has been most helpful! It is a new year. Although technically every day is new, there is something more concrete that comes about with the thought of a new YEAR. Completely NOT spiritually speaking, this year I am attempting to “forget” the unorganized Betsy I have been my whole life J . The new me is determined to make a better effort at some of those “Proverbs 31” qualities of an excellent wife...meaning my house is more tidy, the dishes get done more often and my husband doesn’t dread coming home! Please pray that I keep it up – we are one week in to this experiment and ...