Just a couple simple thoughts from Isaiah 46

As I sat in bed last night ending a really, really nice weekend, I opened up my Bible to Isaiah where I've been spending a bit of time recently. Now I'm not an Isaiah scholar and don't even begin to pretend to be, but I've picked up some really encouraging themes present about my God that have been an encouragement to my heart. I'll share one from last night today:

Isaiah 46: 3-11

“Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

all the remnant of the house of Israel,

who have been borne by me from before your birth,

carried from the womb;

even to your old age I am he,

and to gray hairs I will carry you.

I have made, and I will bear;

I will carry and will save.

“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,

and compare me, that we may be alike?

Those who lavish gold from the purse,

and weigh out silver in the scales,

hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;

then they fall down and worship!

They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,

they set it in its place, and it stands there;

it cannot move from its place.

If one cries to it, it does not answer

or save him from his trouble.

“Remember this and stand firm,

recall it to mind, you transgressors,

remember the former things of old;

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me,

declaring the end from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,

and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

calling a bird of prey from the east,

the man of my counsel from a far country.

I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;

I have purposed, and I will do it.

Here's what got me. Verses 3-4 show the breadth of God's hand in our lives. We came from Him, He carried us through the womb of our mothers, and then took us all the way to old age, all the way to our gray hairs. There are some beautiful words written about love in this life between a man and woman in marriage and love so often looks like a man and woman walking through this life together into old age. Perhaps even to the point of one caring for the other through illness or suffering of some kind. Love sticks with a person, even when their youth has long fled, their waistlines have thickened, wrinkles formed from years of smiles and tears, and dementia has taken over the mind. Love stays and cares and that's what God is doing here. Walking with us into old age. Creating us, bearing our loads and often carrying us through life. We don't do it alone. He is there, and ultimately he delivers us. He saves us through His son. He loves us that deeply and purely.

Then God says, compare me. Compare me to the other gods people erect in their life. The wealthy have glitzy gods, and back then they literally had them formed into gods that they'd have made, carry home, and sit in a place where they could talk to it. But that little god couldn't do anything. It never moved from its place where it had been set. You could cry out to it, but it would never answer. I have lots of gods too, and while I wouldn't classify myself as wealthy by American standards, my heart still creates the same kinds of gods, desiring comfort, or security, or a Pinterest worthy living room, or perfectly obedient kids, or a little waistline, or Starbucks, or jewelry, or any one of the thousands of things that my heart vacillates between on any given day. And the true God says, 'Compare me.' Compare me to all those things and what stands? Who is bigger? Who has been at your side all this time? He has. My God has.

Remember this and stand firmly in this truth! God gets serious here. He just throws it out there, who He is.

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me,

declaring the end from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,

and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

calling a bird of prey from the east,

the man of my counsel from a far country.

I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;

I have purposed, and I will do it.

There just isn't anyone who compares to my God. He knows the beginning all the way to the end and He will accomplish everything he has set out to accomplish. From the beginning of time, to the end of this world, and all the details of my little life, He has spoken it all out, and He will bring it to pass. That is my God. He is good. And He will do it.

It's Friday Friends!

I'm still stuck in October.... my brain doesn't want to admit that my favorite month of the year is over. You think I'm kindding. Luckily so far, November is looking a lot like October, with some beautiful color left in the trees and perfect temps!

I didn't get my Friday post up last week, so I'll back track a bit today to fill in.....


1. For the last 10 years our church, Sonrise Baptist Church, has hosted a wonderful Fall Festival for our community. It's a great opportunity to serve and love the people around us with fun and games... and my yummy cookies! This year Pinterest inspired a few spiders, very fall like. 

We had our own little Hulk in the house this year. He has the Rooooaaaarrrr down pat! 

And our little Repunzel loved being all dressed up. 

                    

     

2. This happened. God's creativity on full display. The colors were magnificent! 

3. We dressed up again for Halloween and I managed to rig up a the little crown that came with her new Repunzel baby so she could wear it. She might really think she is a princess now. We don't normally emphasize the whole princess thing (even though we may secretly consider her our princess.... we don't appreciate the haughty spirit that often comes with reinforcing it for little girls, so we try to stay away from it with her so as not to contradict the humility we try to teach her.) 

                    

4.    Chris took the kids to a local park and let the kids run around happily. 

5.    Right after the above photo this happened. His first little bee sting. Poor guy. Fortunately he had little reaction and is fine now. 

That's pretty much been our last couple of weeks. We've had some fun! 

God has been good during this season of life that's different than usual. It's astounding to me how God shapes and molds us through his Word and through circumstances. Disappointments, opportunities, the good, the bad, the patience testing, the joy.... God is at work through it all. And while I'm really, really excited to see what God has for us in the next season of life, I don't want to miss what's happening in the here and now. Because he's just as much at work today as he will be tomorrow. 

What's been going on for you? What is God using in your life?! 

                                                           

In Tenderness

I've been listening to this song for the last month, but Wednesday morning as I rounded the first corner on my morning run the truths it teaches hit me fresh and I almost broke into thankful tears.

Let me share the lyrics first:

In tenderness he sought me
Weary and sick with sin
And on his shoulders brought me
Back to his fold again

While angels in his presence sang
Until the courts of heaven rang

Oh, the love that sought me!
Oh, the blood that bought me!
Oh, the grace that brought me to the fold of God
Grace that brought me to the fold of God

He died for me while I was sinning
Needy and poor and blind
He whispered to assure me,
“I've found thee, thou art mine”

I'd never heard a sweeter voice
It made my aching heart rejoice

Upon his grace I’ll daily ponder
And sing anew his praise
With all adoring wonder
His blessings I retrace

It seems as if eternal days
Are far too short to sing his praise!

credits

from Already / Not Yet, track released May 8, 2012

As I was rounding the corner that morning I was flooded with memories of this summer and the struggle I had internally with God. I struggled to trust Him, to believe that He was good to me, that He had good things for me. I'd never felt like that before and it surprised me and annoyed me. But...

'In tenderness he sought me, weary and sick with sin, and on his shoulders brought me, back to his fold again.' 

It was so sweet to consider that he didn't just seek me out on the day he saved me, but that even in my continuing struggle he'd brought me back. When I was just plain weary and struggling with the sin of doubt, he lifted me back up and brought me home, back to his fold. Back to complete faith and trust in Him. 

In my day of greatest need, when I was destitute in sin, he reached down and found me, claiming me as his own. And now He whispers to me every day, 'I've found you. You are mine.' Have you ever heard more beautiful words? I can't speak for the guys around me, but as a girl it seems that for most of us, this is our greatest longing, to BE somebody's. We try to find it in guys, in friendships, from our parents, etc. etc. And then some of us fight against it, trying so hard to be independent and on our own, completely self sufficient. But God reaches down and claims us. He puts his mark on us through the death defying power of His son and makes us His. No other relationship can ever provide the satisfaction for me that being God's provides. So I no longer have to expect my husband, or my kids, or me parents, or friends to make me feel wanted. I am God's. Nothing else is really all that important. I am His. And my heart rejoices in this over and over again. 

And therein lies my only power for day to day living. It makes me sing with this song: 

Upon his grace I’ll daily ponder , And sing anew his praise , With all adoring wonder , His blessings I retrace 

What a joy to have observed in my own life, not only the power of the gospel for my salvation, but the power of the gospel and the love of God even post salvation to keep me as his own and to restore genuine, full faith in Him. His love will never let me go. I'm His. 

Miley Cyrus, Modesty, and How We Teach our Teenage Girls Wrong

I've been listening to all this chatter over the last couple of days about Miley and there have been some good things said about it all, like Trevin Wax's I Weep for Miley. This development and just the season of the year (Summertime!) has led to a lot of discussion over the last several months about modesty, some of which has been good, but some of which has me weeping.

I've heard LOTS of things about modesty over the years. I grew up in a pretty conservative church culture. The kind where girls only wore skirts or culottes. My sister wouldn't go to youth activities because she always got talked to about her jeans (not that they rode too low or were too tight or anything... just the fact that she was wearing them). I never quite got some of the rules that were put in place for us girls. Because, for instance, the culottes showed more leg than my pants did on the volleyball court (we seemed to play volleyball a lot). But it was what it was, and I know that our church leadership was trying to help us to live out this whole modesty thing, because what we wear is important. It was just done in a way that I didn't understand.

We've moved forward from the whole culotte fiasco I think (although I looked good in a pair of mean teal polk-a-dot culottes with a matching scrunchie), but modesty is still a very hot topic and the sexuality of women is talked about more and more. And here comes Miley, the sweet little Hannah Montana Disney character (which I honestly never saw much of, maybe 2 episodes). I only knew of her from afar. I watched about 10 seconds of her performance Sunday night and was just kind of bewildered. I don't know why anyone would want to move like that in public. And it has erupted all sorts of reactions. One in particular that I watched was especially heartbreaking to me. The conversation in this pastoral response video quickly moved from Miley to just general modesty for women, young women in particular, and while I appreciate the video's desire to teach young women about modesty from a pastor's perspective (a much needed topic of discussion for women), here is my humble opinion of what was lacking within in this video, and often times is lacking in discussions about modesty.


I've heard mentioned over and over again in my life when taught on this subject that how you dress will determine what you attract. And the guys that are attracted to immodesty will eventually throw you to the curb. The guys who are attracted to a modest girl recognize the prize, the princess that they have. The particular conversation within this video that I heard recently compared girls to cars. The immodest girl is like a Ford Ranger, he said. She's normal and common. She has to advertise to attract. Everyone has a truck like that because it's common. Whereas a modest girl is a Rolls Royce. She's valuable and priceless and will withstand the test of time. So if you want to be classy, or one of a kind, a rolls royce if you will, be modest.

This comparison broke my heart for a few reasons:

1. While there is a certain level of truth that the way you present yourself will attract a certain type of guy, there is no absolute to this. Please don't make implied promises to impressionable young girls that tug at their heartstrings. Most girls deeply crave the attention of a man, and most want one who will be faithful to her (despite what many will say). Making the kind of guy you're gonna end up with the motivation of modestly, puts that motivation in the wrong place. I've watched too many girls grow up thinking that if they act a certain way and dress a certain way they're sure to get a certain kind of guy. And some of them end up alone, or some of them end up being cheated on. And they are left with heartbreak, because the driving motivation behind what they had been doing all those years was selfish and their hearts didn't get what they had been (perhaps subtly) promised.

2. Please don't ever compare a girl to a car again. It only adds fuel to the fire of young men viewing women as objects, especially in the case with a car.... something that most guys love, and love to use and abuse! I am not a Ford Ranger (a pickup truck?!). I am not a Rolls Royce either. Neither of these are made in the image of our God, as all women are (and men are for that matter). I realize that this was just an analogy that this pastor used, but it lacked much when it came to viewing God's women as the children of God that they are.

3. Further, and perhaps most important, this comparison and the way it was made (and the way I've heard it made for so much of my life at youth camps and such) doesn't point young women to the gospel, it doesn't point them to Jesus, it simply plays at the idols of their heart, mainly the desire to 'stand out.' As women this desire is played on everywhere and our clothing is one of the main ways in which women attempt to stand out from the crowd. Different methods are used, varying styles of clothing and hair, different personalities, different sins even, but the root issue at stake behind all of it is the desire for glory for self. But God is the one who deserves ALL of the glory. When I get dressed in the morning it should never be to 'stand out.' My clothes shouldn't draw attention to me, they should be a reflection of my walk with my savior. And to encourage women and girls to be modest for the purposes of standing out, is only asking them to dress in more covering clothing for the sin of seeking personal attention.... the very same sin they were committing (more often than not) when they were choosing to dress in less clothing.

It's just exchanging a sin for a sin, not pointing our girls to Jesus.

The answer to the clothing debate isn't exactly simple, and there are not hard and fast rules, but the root of it is simple. Girls, immerse your heart in Jesus and want nothing more than him. If we're dressing to draw attention to ourselves in any way we're dressing selfishly, and sinfully, no matter how modest your outfit might be. But if we're dressing for God's glory, we will be mindful of others and not seek to draw attention to our bodies, but rather our sweet spirits that are a reflection of our Savior will draw attention to God.

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious. (1 Peter 3:3-4, ESV)

High Five for Friday

This week seems to have flown by! I'm hooking up with The Lauren Elizabeth today for High Five for Friday and Darci of the Good life for Five on Friday!

                     

1. Orange Leaf for the little lady

2. Hanging out with this guy is always an adventure! 

1. and 2. My bosses are both out of town so I get to take my kiddos with me to work. It's not as easy as it used to be. They don't just lay on the floor like they did when they were 6 months old, so I don't take them as often and I don't very often take them together. But I try to take them as often as I can. I love the extra time with them! My sister is watching the kids for the summer, so on the days that I took one of the kids, she's spoil the other and take them out for ice cream. We get to do it again next week! Love summer!

3. My amazing chocolate chip cookies are a great evening treat! 

3. I don't like to brag, but my chocolate chip cookies are pretty amazing. Everyone that eats them tells me this. I've been encouraged to open a bakery. But that would be my only item on the menu :) Still, my family thoroughly enjoys it when I make them! I'll have to do a post with the recipe sometime.

4. T-Ball 2013

4. T-Ball for this Spring 2013 season is officially over. This little guy loved every minute of it! He's only 4 so we don't want to over do it, but he loves to play. I see lots and lots of baseball in my future.

5. Crazy Storms last night! 

5. We had a crazy storm last night. I can't remember the last time I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep because I was just scared, but last night I was. I really wondered if our house was going to make it and the background noise of the storm was just odd enough I was pretty concerned about a tornado. Fortunately the damage was minimal, but our neighbors right behind us lost one of their trees. I hate that for them, and for the shade it gives to our yard! We've been waiting 6 years for those trees to grow and give us shade! God is good though and we're thankful for the minimal damage compared to what so many have had in the last few years with horrible storms.

How has your week been? We are growing through some struggles and the physical difficulties my husband is having with his eye. And there are days that it's been hard for me to have faith. I've got some thoughts rummaging around in my brain that I'll share soon. But in the mean time I'm trusting in His mercies and faithfulness. He is a faithful God!

High Five for Friday!

Fridays are quickly becoming my favorite day of the week this summer! Due to summer scheduling at the college where my office is I get to work from home on Fridays, which basically means stay close to the internet and get your stuff done. For me, that means I can hang out pool side with my kiddos at my sister's apartment. I can answer my phone and I'm close enough to the internet that it's all good, and in-between, I'm working on my tan and hanging out with my kiddos, all while (actually!) getting my work done. It's a total win win for everyone! Did I say that I LOVE Fridays?! Here's a few other segments of my week....

1. Blueberry Pancakes on a Friday morning

2. Fridays. Need I say more?

    

3. Visits from friends are the best

    

4. Running through the rain! 

5. The hard part of the week

1. I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast last week. They were utterly delicious with the fresh, farmer's market, pure maple syrup my step-dad sent me home with last month. Weird thing was the little lady took one bite and spit them out. Crazy girl! Everyone else thoroughly enjoyed them.

2. A picture of our typical Friday's this summer. Utter perfection in my book. I plan on being there today too.

3. Last weekend a young lady who was in the youth group my husband was youth pastor of in Tulsa visited us. She just graduated from college (gulp.... time goes too fast!) and had a few weeks before taking off for a fun summer job (teaching Theater at a posh summer camp in Massachusetts!). I was so glad she came to visit. It's such a joy to interact with people God has allowed your life to intersect with. She was just a young Jr. Higher when I first met her and seeing the lovely young lady that God has grown her into is just a joy. I really can't wait to see where God takes her next! (Springfield, MO?! Springfield, MO?!) Love you girl!

4. Saturday morning we headed into town to go grocery shopping and needed to let the kids run off some energy beforehand. It was pouring, so the mall was our best bet. Our kids love the play area. Heading in we were all in our rain jackets running through the rain. Running through the rain with two toddlers is an adventure all it's own, but I adore it.

5. Chris had his 2nd eye surgery on Wednesday. You can find my blog post about it here and my blog post about his first surgery here. Things came out well. The doctor was able to repair the retina and didn't have to do cataracts. He chose to remove the oil he put in last time and put a gas bubble in his eye. Now he's in a one week period where he has 'face down recovery.' Like his face is down all the time, allowing this bubble to rise to the back of his eye, holding the retina in place. This is probably the most annoying part of it all. I've been reminding him all day to put his head down. It should be an interesting week!

Lots of ups and downs this week, but God if faithful through it all and we are thankful for what He has accomplished!

Trials and Tests of Faith... and Our Upcoming Ladies' Conference

And the hits keep coming.... that's what today feels like. Life has been good, just busy as of late, and I've let the blogging thing go a bit, because I just needed to focus on a few other very important things like my family, my work, and our upcoming ladies' conference at Sonrise Baptist Church. The Renew Refresh Ladies' Conference is one of my favorite events every year. I was part of the group of girls that went to our pastors and asked them if we could start it, and I've had the privledge of helping to plan it every year since, and for the last few years being the 'head' person in charge of the planning. I love women. I love the Bible. I love God. I love seeing women love the Bible and God. It just makes sense. This year, our pastors asked me to be the speaker on top of that and I happily agreed for all the reasons listed above. But then God saw fit to have a whole new set of responsibilites thrown on me that occupied much of my time for the last four months. It's really only been in the last two weeks that things have slowed down. Then this week happened.

My foot has been aching for the last few weeks. No big deal. The Tuesday night I got home and it was swollen. Wednesday it hurt a big more. Today it's still slightly swollen and still hurts a bit more. I'm debating on going to the doctor but I really can't forsee a cast or anything resembling a cast being at all convenient for the next few weeks. (We are T-22 days from the confernce.) I might foolishly wait it out and see if it gets worse.

Then last night happened. My computer crashed. With. All. My. Ladies. Conference. Stuff. On. It. Yes, you heard me right... and I didn't have it backed up. Never in a million years did I dream that my less than a year old MacBook would give up the ghost on me. So today, I'm waiting to hear from the computer doctors how my baby is doing and what files I might be able to get off of her. And wondering if I'm gonna have to start from scratch on my lessons. My heart is hurting a bit and I'm wondering what other curve balls God will throw my way over the next few weeks. Please no more :)

But, I'm reminded that my God is faithful. That this is all part of the shaping and molding process. That rain or shine 22 days are gonna go by quickly and I had better get back to work. So...... here I go. Ladies' I hope that if you're in the area that you'll come. It's going to be fun, and I hope encouraging. And apparently I'll have some good stories to tell of the process in getting there!

Hospital Rooms and Such

Today I'm sitting in a hospital room. A small grey and blue and white room with specks all over the walls and floors. We've been sitting in this room for at least 4 hours now waiting. Waiting on the inevitable and the unknown. My husband is having surgery today. Well I say today. It's 5:37 pm as I type this. Hopefully it's still 'today' by the time they take him back. The surgery isn't life threatening. At least it's not supposed to be. But it does have the power to restore his vision in one of his eyes. Sight is something that we can so easily take for granted. I've never worn glasses. My eyes have always just worked. So I think it's something that I very easily overlook. But today, we're not taking anything for granted. Vision, smell, touch, hearing. All of it. We're praying for God's protection over him as they operate. We're praying for wisdom and steady hands for the Doctor. We're praying for a good recovery and that the original problem (pars planitis for those who care to know) doesn't return. Because even if all goes very well in the surgery, there's always the possibility that all of this will happen again. It's kind of scary to think through, my husband losing his vision. It's most certainly not something that I ever expected. And my husband and I have joked... every year we make all these big plans for the year of goals we want to accomplish: physical, spiritual, financial. You know the drill. New Year's Resolutions. And it seems like every year we just get hammered in January and this year it seems to have happened again. If I didn't know that God loved me, I'd think he was laughing at me as he moved the chess pieces of our lives in exactly the opposite direction we'd choose. But I know that's not how my holy, loving God works. No my God works like this:

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
(Ephesians 2:4-10 ESV)

My God is full of love. Love that is rich in mercy and great love that has made me alive with Christ so that we can do the good that God has prepared for us. This is true for me. This is true for my husband. This is true for every person who has been redeemed. Our God is overflowing with love and he lavishes it on us in the person of Jesus Christ. So my husband and I sit in this grey and blue speckled hospital room and we trust that our good, loving God is not slamming us down laughing every January. But that instead in love, he is preparing us for the good works that He has for us whether my husband can see or not.

Change

Change is on my heart today. It has been for awhile now, for months really. I've known that it would come. But when the ball starts rolling one of two things can happen, either feelings of relief, or feelings of fear. Today, I'm feeling fear. These changes haven't effected me too deeply yet, but they will. Oh they will. And it's only a matter of time. My fear is intensified because the ball of change has started rolling and when it hits me, I fear it will be a hard hit. One that might knock me off of my feet a little bit.



I had a situation a few weeks ago that was a big blow to me. It was the first time in a very, very long time (years) where I found myself saying to the Lord, 'God you don't feel like a GOOD God today. I know that you say that you work out all things according to your plan and that that plan is a GOOD plan, but today, I'm just not seeing it. Today, I feel like you're pulling the rug out from under me. Today I feel abandoned." I chose to trust that day in a GOOD God. Because no matter my feelings, no matter my perspective, He doesn't change. He is the same God on my bad days that He is on my good days. I had to do a little self-counsel, as my pastor would call it, and remind myself that God is good and he is working out his perfect plan in my life, moving me towards sanctification with each passing day and that this, really, really bad day, was all a part of His plan.



Although today is not nearly as bad of a day, this change begs me to remind myself of a few things. I have a faithful God. He will supply. He knows where we're at, what we've been working towards, and He's provided me with His Spirit and His Word to help us make wise choices in light of this ball of change that is rolling toward me. And He will provide the means necessary to move forward, I just need to keep taking steps. Steps of faith. Wise steps. And all the glory will go to Him.

Sermon on the Mount/Respectable Sins

At church this fall we are working through Jerry Bridges' Respectable Sins. Simultaneously I've started a new Bible study working through the Sermon on the Mount by Jen Wilkin. Both have been rather encouraging, or perhaps discouraging, depending on your vantage point.  I'm not really very far into either, chapter 7 in Bridge's work and somewhere in Week 3 in Wilkin's. But I've been very convicted through both of them about my lack of a conscious dependence on the Holy Spirit to work in and through my life. Not so much that I don't think he does, because I know He does. But more, my awareness of it, and my daily dependence on Him for strength and acknowledging that fact.

I'll ask you some questions that I've been asking myself lately.

Are you Poor in Spirit? To be poor in spirit is to recognize that just as a person who lives in poverty does not have sufficient resources to care for themselves, you too, do not have sufficient resources. Only in this case, it's spiritual resources. None of us has the resources to function spiritually, to be fed and nourished, to thrive on our own. But understanding and acknowledging that fact as very important. Because Matthew 5:3 says that 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs in the kingdom of heaven.' I'll rephrase that for you. Blessed are those who recognize that they aren't enough, that they can't thrive spiritually on their own, for God's resources are at their disposal. As I pray on my way to work every day that thought has been going through my mind and it is SUCH an encouragement. I'm pretty sure that I've been living in my own strength lately. Trying to change on my own at some level. But just admitting that I'm not enough is so freeing, and Jesus himself here makes it very important because the reward for acknowledging my spiritual poverty is God's Kingdom, all of His resources! It frees us because it makes it about Him. Not that we don't have to try, because we do. We have to put forth the effort, working out our salvation. But I know that my God is working at changing you and me, so our effort will reap an eternal reward, because God will continue our work and finish it!

Do you Mourn your sin? I've been thinking this through as I go through Bridge's book, analyzing my life and looking for those respectable sins that I so often overlook. Am I even sorry for them? Or do they just get brushed off as 'common to man.' We should be mourning our sin, because that sorrow leads to the greatest comfort possible.... in the gospel! Matthew 5:4 says 'Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.' This is specifically referring to mourning our sin and there is no greater comfort than the one who redeemed me. His shed blood for our sins can be our comfort. The fact that he crushed sin and death can be our comfort.

Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness, or are you more eager for something else? This for me really relates back to the whole poor in spirit concept of recognizing my need. Because when we realize how poor we are, that we indeed are in spiritual poverty on our own, we will hunger and thirst after Godly, right things. We will crave them. And this can affect so much of our lives, our priority at spending time in the word and in prayer, our entertainment choices, our friendships, the way we communicate with those around us. Wow.

Pray. Rest. Do.

I've been struggling with some anxiety for the last several days that has melted itself into every imaginable area of my life and it's really, really ugly. I tend to get my heart wrapped tightly around things and when they don't go my way.... well, I get really uptight about it, as if God just slapped me across the face and turned His back on me. Obviously this is not the case, but I let myself feel that way sometimes when I don't see the results I was looking for as quickly as I wanted them to happen. I get things turned so backwards sometimes expecting God to work on my time table, according to my plan... instead of me working on His timetable and according to HIS plan.

So today I have been deeply reminded to PRAY. And pray hard. It's ok to want things and to want them badly. But I need to look at what I'm wanting and see if it's for me or for Him. And am I ok with not getting it.... even it if was for His glory? You see He might want something else for me. Something that might bring Him more glory. The thing I want might be just the thing God will use to shape me more into the image of Christ, or it might take something else. I need to be flexible. For now... I will pray, pour out my heart to God and let Him know my desires. Tell him how I think they will bring Him glory. And then let Him decide if they will.

Secondly, I will REST. I tend to take matters into my own hands and make a mess of things. I pray and take action immediately and end up doing all the wrong things. I frustrate my husband. I frustrate my kids. I frustrate my friends. Grrr.... who else can I frustrate today?! (Or am I just being too self focused THINKING that everyone is frustrated with me?!) Instead I need to take a minute to rest. Rest on a sovereign God who has all things in control. Rest that he has the days of my life planned out for me... and they result in a perfect end. Rest, trusting that He will provide for all the needs of my family. Rest in Him.

Thirdly, I will DO. Because action must take place. Praying does change things. And Resting in God's arms is vital so that I don't mess everything up. But Doing so SO vitally important. Because no matter how I feel, I need to continue to walk, to work, to live. No matter how down I am about whatever situation, I still have kids that need to be dressed and fed and who need to play and learn and grow. I have a husband who needs me to be his best friend and greatest cheerleader. We have to provide for our families. All of these things and so much more need to take place. Every. Single. Day.

So today I am Praying to my great God who is my rock, resting in His arms, and taking action to work toward the goals I've been praying so hard about, trusting Him with the results, whatever they may look like.