Wake up my Heart!

Scripture of the Day: Deuteronomy 6:5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. If you want to hear how it can get stuck in your head, check out this link: http://slugsandbugsandlullabies.wordpress.com/2014/03/17/deuteronomy-65-track-4-sing-the-bible-with-slugs-bugs/ Yesterday I sang or tapped out the melody to those words/song more times than I can count. It was a rough afternoon of waiting and instead of worrying myself silly I said those words as a kind of mantra. More information will be coming on that later. But today my focus is on the fact that God loves me...and I love him and whatever crazy road this life is taking us down, we are in it together. Thank goodness!

Scripture of the Day: Matthew 24: 37-39a 37  Jesus replied:  “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38  This is the first and greatest commandment.   39  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ First off, I apologize for not writing this yesterday! By the time travels were done, I was exhausted!  Due to a recent, tragic death in town, there has since been a "pay it forward" movement in memory of the man, and to help further the Kingdom by showing Jesus to others. This is largely happening in the form of paying for meals at restaurants and drive-throughs. There has been some concern that instead of this form of movement, the focus should be on the needy.  Focusing on the those in need is always terrific! But Jesus loved on everybody...even those who had more than enough. Paying for the person behind you in the drive through, or paying for a meal for someone at a restauran...

Scripture of the day: Psalm 95:8 “Do not harden your hearts  as you did at Meribah,      as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness," That may seem a strange verse to use this morning! Last night at our prayer service we did an exercise where we used examples from our own lives as to when we hardened our hearts toward God. It was incredible timing because my heart was feeling like it wanted to be hardened!  A sweet woman I went to high school with has a one year old daughter who had a liver transplant in December. She has been sick since she was 4 months old and they have just had a couple of months of reprieve. But this week there has been blood in her stool and she is back in Chicago. Either with an infection from the transplant or cancer, or something else.  My heart couldn't stand any of those options. It was trying to place guidelines on what God should  do in this situation (which was just to heal that little girl for good!...

Scripture of the Day James 5:7-8 7  Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming.  See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting  for the autumn and spring rains.   A friend of mine said something last week that has stuck with me. "We live in a microwave world, but we have a crock pot God." The world isn't big on patience. It encourages getting what you want when you want it. Yesterday. It wants everything fast and gratification to be easy. The world wants to zap us into whatever is new and beautiful. God wants us to wait. He wants us to be patient and try to line up our walk with His. He wants us to sit on a "low" setting for as long as it takes for him to refine us. God likes us to take a slow study of His word and let it soak in. His answers may not be immediate and his timing doesn't always match up with our master plan.  It is hard at time to not buy in to the the microwave plan. But God...

Scripture of the Day: Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Have you ever found God convicting you of something when you know you are in the wrong?  I have been avoiding something for a couple of months, I have been anxious about it because of my avoidance and it has been offensive!  This verse has moved me to action. I have apologized and asked for thoughtful prayer about my continued volunteering at an organization in town. It was hard to write the email, but it feels good to have sent it - regardless of the outcome.  When God searches us and convicts us of actions we need to take, behavior we need to eliminate, or conversations we need to have - it is sometimes hard to listen. Instead of doing the right thing (and feeling relief I might add!), we like to be stubborn and continue doing the wrong  thing, or simply doing...

Scripture of the Day: Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace  you have been saved,  through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works,  so that no one can boast. Earlier in the week I met with my pastor for a little counseling session, if you will. Since my hospitals stays I have not been sleeping and I knew that the main reason had something to do with the fact that there was something I needed to "let go and let God." I just didn't know what I needed to let go of. I figured it out :) There were moments in January where I was completely held up in faith by my family/friends/church. In those times I didn't feel God with me and somehow, I felt guilty about that! As if I was failing a test I didn't know I was taking... My pastor reminded me that God doesn't expect us to be perfect...he expects us to be human. It is by grace we have been saved and grace is all we need. During that conversation I felt like God was letting me k...

Scripture of the day: 2 Corinthians 5:17) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,  the new creation  has come:   The old has gone, the new is here!   Out of the mouths of babes...after a day of errands (and a frustrating dentist attempt), my son asks from the back seat, "Mom, can people change?" After clarifying his question, I tell him that I don't really think people can change on their own, but they can with God's help. His response to this is that when he gets home is he going to sit on the couch and pray that God would help him be "better". He did indeed do this - prayed out loud as I listened out of sight, "God, please help me be better every day, and help me not lie. Because I lie sometimes. Help me please. Help me please. Help me please. The end."  Ahhh! Love him :)  Love that his little heart reacted to the days events by wanting to pray first. Love that it reminded me that Nathan is still teachable and that God is always reaching out t...