The only thing good

The more I allow God to deal with my heart, the more I see a need for a Savior. On my own, I am NOTHING! I am simply one person living for myself, doing whatever I please, for only selfish reasons.

With God, I am someone. I am significant. I have an eternal perspective. I am whole. I am holy and blameless before my Lord. I am royalty. I am accepted. I am precious. I am unconditionally loved. I am cherished. I am adored. I have purpose. I have worth. I am found and sought out. I am chosen. I am forgiven.

On my own, I am a sinner. With Christ, I am a saint who occasionally sins.

On my own, what a wretched woman I am. With Christ, I can stand boldly before the throne of God with confidence.

On my own, my guilt and shame overcome me. With Christ, I am more than a conquerer.

On my own, I lie and wallow in the pit I create for myself. With Christ, I crawl out, and refuse to go back in.

On my own, my pain and regrets are ever before me. With Christ, I press on towards the goal, forgetting what is behind, and choose to go forward by forgiving myself.

I am covered by the blood of Jesus Christ, and therefore, I am a victor and so are you. On our own, we truly are nothing. I love this song and everytime I hear it, it comforts me, and reminds me of who I am and the person that God views me as. Be blessed as you watch it. The lyrics follow.

I heard someone say the other day
They'd seen in me true love displayed
Blessed by something I had done for them
No sooner had they said these words
I found myself somehow disturbed
Uneasy as I took their compliment
Cause I know the heart inside this man
I know the truth of who I am...

The only thing that's good in me is Jesus
The only thing that's good in me is Jesus
I know me well enough to know
No matter what this life may show
The only thing that's good in me is Jesus

If you could walk the hallways of my heart
And see things as they really are
I wonder if you might be surprised
Seeing faded walls of pride and fear
Rooms I've filled with faithless tears
And corners where I've stood in compromise
But you'd see the work His grace has done
You'd know just how far I've come

In a thousand years
When the dust of this world clears
And I look back on my life
And see in perfect light

The only thing that's good in me is Jesus
The only thing that's good in me is Jesus
I know me well enough to know
No matter what this life may show
The only thing that's good in me is Jesus

The only thing that's good in me is Jesus
The only thing that's good in me is Jesus
I know me well enough to know
No matter what this life may show
The only thing that's good in me is Jesus

Obedience and Praise!

I am in awe at how incredible God is!

God gave me a vehicle today! I paid nothing for it...

My church family paid for this vehicle...

and delivered it to my driveway...

plus put gas in it and gave me a gas card on top of it...

It's the nicest vehicle I've ever had.

with more buttons and gadgets inside than I've ever seen before...

My key chain unlocks and locks my door... I guess they call it keyless entry:)

I have never had this before, or anything as nice...

My kids think it's cool (That's huge for a 12 year old boy! He thinks mom is cool now)

When the car was delivered to me, my mouth dropped. When I sat inside of it, my heart was overwhelmed. God knew I needed a vehicle as mine died 2 weeks ago, but He went above and beyond anything I could have EVER imagined.

Isaiah 55:9
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

I have been on quite a journey with trusting God and having faith that He really does know what He's doing. With letting my husband go and filing for a divorce, I questioned over and over and sought the Lord over and over on the way He wanted me to go. When I was overwhelmed with my child and clueless how to help him, I had to choose to give him grace over judgement. When my other son was recently having problems in school, I had to choose to go in a direction I really didn't want to go, but chose to trust God despite my feelings. When a vehicle I was really hoping to get on Friday didn't come through, I said, "o-kay God, I need a vehicle. I put it in your hands."

I chose to trust...

and God came through in EVERY situation!

The vehicle didn't come through on Friday because God had a better one to give me on Sunday. He wanted to spoil me. If you don't believe that God spoils His children and delights to pour out His blessings upon them, then you need to spend a week in my shoes.

Our blessings aren't always material, but He is always pouring out blessings to those who He calls His children. When my kids are obedient and generous with their stuff or even themselves, I love to bless them. If my child whines and complains about things and chooses to be ungrateful for the things they have, the last thing I want to do for them is to bless them with a treat.

I believe God is the same way. If we aren't responsible enough to have something, He is not going to give it to us. If we whine and complain about our life and how unfair it is, why would He want to bless us?

Living in an attitude of praise is hard. Especially when life doesn't go the way you hoped it would. It's hard when you are stressed and hurting. It's hard when you have to parent by yourself (with or without a spouse), It's hard when you are in physical pain and nothing seems to take the edge off. It's hard when your checkbook gets slammed shut by a quickly falling economy. It's hard when you see life through the depression that tries to suffocate you. It's hard when people you love get sick and die. It's hard when a child or a loved one suffers innocently through a cruel and unjust act. It's hard when there is no food in the cupboards and you have to choose between grocery shopping or paying your mortgage. It is hard to praise when life is hard...

But God requires it...

AND He honors it!!!

God inhabits our praises, and He multiplies the praise we give Him, and lavishes it back onto our lives.

Even after all God has done for me to show His faithfulness and provisions, you would think that I would find it easy to praise. But I, too, struggle, during the hard times, to give God praise. At first it's easy too, but after time when relief still doesn't come, it is more difficult. That is when we have to push praise even more because our breakthrough is just around the corner!

I had a chance even on Saturday to buy a vehicle out of desperation. God quietly whispered "no". I went to bed discouraged, but chose to trust and wait upon the Lord. I woke up (late) this morning, still discouraged, and even thought about not going to church. But I chose to be obedient and go anyway...

I could have missed out on God's gift to me if:

1. I stayed home from church to wallow in my self-pity.
2. I had jumped to buy the vehicle on Saturday.
3. I was not disciplined with my finances a week earlier. (God's been speaking to me about being disciplined in this area)
4. I chose to fall into temptation with a reoccurring sin also on Saturday. (I believe God was blessing my obedience).
5. I hadn't been training my mind to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

I truly believe there were many "tests" I passed these last two weeks that God wanted to bless me for. Praising in the midst of the storm was one of those tests. Being obedient despite my feelings was another.

God honors the praise we give Him. Some days, I could only muster up a little praise. Other days, I had a lot. God honors that! He sees your heart, just as He saw mine. He sees how hard you are trying to live for Him, and He wants to bless you. Are your hands open to receive? Is your heart prepared to obey? Is your soul ready to praise in this storm of your life? GOD IS Faithful! ALWAYS...

Do your part, so that God can do His! Don't give up! Your breakthrough is just around the corner! That thing that God is trying to birth in you is almost here! Praise Him with everything in you! Push on and press through your circumstance! Seek His face, turn towards Him! And EXPECT God to come through for you!!! The "waiting upon the Lord" is for His glory, so that His perfect timing and His perfect plan can shine through to you and everyone else around you!

When God asks you to lay down something, it's only because He has something better for you to hold in your heart and in your hands! Let go of that dream that has died, He has a better one for you! Let God blow your socks off and overwhelm your heart with His goodness and faithfulness!!!

Isaiah 55:9
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.


Blessings!!!
Heaven

Open Windows

Last night when I put one of my children to bed, he told me that there was cold wind blowing through his window. He always keeps his curtains closed, yet that was one of the windows that I didn't put plastic on this year. It was cold out, but I decided to check it anyway. Lo and behold, his window was open about an inch. No wonder it's cold in his room! After trying to figure out why it was open, we concluded that he didn't shut it all the way the last time he decided to call me through the window (which was about 2 weeks ago). We shut the window, he slid under an extra blanket of warmth, and dozed off as his room began to warm up.

I had a dream last night about the windows in my home. I've been trying to dismiss it because of our incident last night, yet I feel like I am to explore it more. In the dream, there were 4-5 windows that were open about an inch. However, I didn't realize it because the shades were down. The windows weren't locked and secure, and therefore, someone from the outside had opened them. I went around my house, and locked each window, but I remember being amazed that these windows were open because until I examined them close-up or intentionally checked them out, I had no clue they were open. Then I woke up...

As I said before, I am listening to "Get out of the pit" on CD by Beth Moore. God has been showing me that I need to live life deliberately, meaning I need to be aware of my thoughts, actions, attitudes, etc. I need to make conscious choices throughout my day to go in the direction God wants me to go. I need to immediately take all my thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. I need to be mindful of the schemes of the enemy, so that I will not fall into the traps he tries to lay before me.





1 Peter 5:8
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Ephesians 6:11
Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.

Windows...God showed me that just as I had to look for the "spider webs" in my children's lives, as well as my own, I also needed to check the spiritual windows of our lives.

There are ways we allow the enemy into our lives, which gives Him a right to hang out and create havoc. Most often referred to as "open doors", we can be unaware that that they have even been left open. How does this happen? It can be as simple as the music we listen to, the movies we watch, actions, unconfessed sin, the words we speak, unforgiveness, and bitterness to name a few. Or as complex as generational curses and things in your ancestry. I am not going to dive into this too much, but I would be more than happy to suggest a few resources if desired.

As the spiritual head of my children, it is my job to seek God regarding the spiritual temperature of our home. It is my job to pray, pray, pray for my children. It is my job to speak life into their lives, and also declare their futures and destinies into God's hands. It is my job to pray spiritual protection over them, and to limit what comes into this home.




I need to ask God what spiritual windows are open in our lives, and then in prayer, close them, lock them, and refuse to open them again.

Life is a journey and not meant to be an overwhelming task. Rome wasn't build in a day, and neither were we. For me, it's taken me 33 years to get to where I am today, and changes don't happen overnight.




~Father God, show us the "windows" we've left open in our lives in which we've given the devil a foothold. I thank you that You do not show us these things to overwhelm us and discourage us, but so that we can deal with them, and move on in the things of God. Show us one thing we can do today to be active in shutting these windows. Place your protection around us and around our homes and families in the name of Jesus. We are yours, and greater are You in us than he that is in the world! Teach us to deliberately live life. Teach us to be aware of the thoughts we are thinking, and quicken us to take any thought not glorifying to You captive according to 2 Corinthians 10:5. Expose the lies and schemes of the enemy so that as we put on the full armor of God in Ephesians 6, we would be prepared and ready to stand. Lord, you have given us all the tools to fight the good fight and the spiritual battle in our lives. Open our eyes and our ears to hear from You today...In Jesus' matchless name, Amen

(images taken from www.creativemyk.com)

Pruning...

"Pruning" hurts...

I love where God is taking me, but...

that means I have to leave some things behind.

The extra "luggage" I'm carrying is weighing me down! Do you have some luggage that you could do without? I can think in more literal terms, and say, "Yes, I have some pounds that need to go", (Quite a few actually)...

But I believe God is telling His people that there are some spiritual "pounds" that need to go. Things that weigh us down and that get in the way of fulfilling our God-given destinies.



Most of us are trying to step up higher to the level God is calling us to, yet we are failing because we refuse to let go of some of the baggage we carry with us, and the weight prevents us from climbing...

I have let go TONS of stuff in my life: abuse issues, both physical and sexual; abandonment issues; having an alcoholic dad...you know, all the "big" stuff. But what about the "little" stuff that tends to suffocate us when it builds up...the stuff we don't see until God shows up and shines His light on our reflection.




Ugh! Pride...bad attitudes...being "short" with family members...refusing to forgive...taking up someone else's offense...being impatient...controlling...judgmental ...Justifying our actions and attitudes, "Well, God made me this way, so get over it!"... Favoring one child over the other... not offering grace because you're having a bad day ... victim mentalities, "It's not fair! Why is everyone always pointing out my sins?" - "Why are they getting blessed and I'm not!" - "What about me?" ... Seeking acceptance from anything or anyone other than God for the purpose of building your self-esteem... escaping reality through television or computer or something else... giving the "silent treatment"...

O-kay, this list could go on and on, but I am hoping by now that you get my point. If not, then you are not listening to the voice inside you showing you the areas of your life that needs some "tweaking". God doesn't show us these things to shame us or condemn us. He loves us too much to leave us where He found us.

But He does have an awesome plan and future for our lives, and He's calling us to rise above all the "junk" of this world, and become the men and women of God He's called us to be.

That means we have to leave some things behind...

and sometimes even people...

ADHD and me...

I open my mailbox
and what do I see?




I was surprised at
what was staring back at me...

A mangled green envelope,
I could tell it had been loved.

with a firetruck logo and
her name written above...

It was bloggy friend ADHDme
from Monkeys are Funny

With a homemade present
inside...awwww, she's such a honey!

Wrapped so carefully,
A refrigerator magnet I saw...

And a note found inside
saying Mine was the best blog!
(Just kidding, click on the pic to enlarge)

So thank you to Mary
who is ever so quite contrary...
who added to my fridge
with her great creative edge...

Bloggy friends,
Brighten someone's day today...

And go visit ADHDme...
Make sure to leave her
2-3 comments in a row,
and tell her I sent you:)
I'm sure she won't mind at all...

"We like her, we really, really like her!"

change of plans

O-kay, Change of plans...

No tumbleweed analogies right yet...

God is birthing a really awesome thing in my life and I am too excited and tooooooooo excited and tooooooooooooooo excited about it to blog about tumbleweeds. Did I tell you I am excited????? Woo hoo! The joy of the Lord is in the house today!

First of all, I have to apologize to 4 winners of my homemade give-a-way last week, because I have to post pictures before they actually get to see them. (I am in a hurry so I won't link it, you'll just have to go back a couple posts and read about it if you would like to). Sami, Deb, Paulette, and Tracy, even though you will see your name picture here first, there are still more surprises with it that you will receive in the mail. Those I will not share here because it's words and verses that God gave me for each of you while drawing your picture.

O-kay, coming soon...........

An opportunity for whoever would like to get name pictures. It's in the works right now, and a new blog to go with it. Just laying the foundation right now.

God is doing so many cool things in my life right now. As I give up my "right" to grievances in my life or to the people who I "just have to change", God is shining so brightly! I am seeing "icky" stuff about me, but the more I am willing to acknowledge it's there, and be willing for God to take out the "grime" in me, the more He's been allowed to do in my life.

God has been showing me all these things that have been hidden in my life (or else I refused to see them) that He wants to change: attitudes, gossip, pride, control issues, selfishness, resentment, offense, unforgiveness, cycles of destruction, self-gratification, self-seeking, self-..... you name it, it's probably there.

O-kay, so at first, I went into the whole thing..."what a wretched woman I am...", and got kinda' discouraged and depressed. Then, I went into the stage of..."Yep, those things are there...well God, how do we get rid of these?" (This has been a process, as it usually is, and you have witnessed some of these in my previous posts.) Now, well, not sure where I am now, except in the arms of God, with Him leading the way.

Oh, there are so many things that have come to light this morning, but I am excited! I am excited to get this "junk" out of my life, and move forward. I am listening to "Get out of the pit" by Beth Moore. WOW, good stuff. I want to blog forever and share the goodness of God, but I can't type fast enough and I type 50 wpm. That's how fast my brain is going:) God is sooooooooooooo good, and I am excited to see where this journey is going.

With this new thing God is doing, I really won't have time to visit your blogs or respond to your comments right now, as I am getting ready to "dive" into the ocean before me (well, I'll jump into the river first, gotta' start somewhere.)

Blessings and here are the pics done for my 3 bloggy friends!

A gift from Colorado AND its Life application...

I have the most awesome friends in the whole wide world!!!

I have a childhood memory that I have tried to explain to my children for years, but no matter how hard I've tried, they could not grasp what mommy was talking about,

UNTIL...

This came in the mail on Friday...

ALL THE WAY FROM COLORADO!!!

TUMBLEWEEDS...

I was forewarned this box was coming, so when it arrived, I made a big deal about the surprise inside. Yes, my boys were surprised alrightie, but not quite the way I had hoped.

See, I grew up in Colorado. Not the pretty mountain side, but the flat, dusty, & tumbleweed-filled side, 30 minutes from the border of Nebraska. We constantly had sand storms, and "tumbleweed storms", along with being able to watch tornadoes on the ground in the distance of 30-40 miles away. My kids understand the tornadoes, they also understand the sand storms, but they couldn't grasp the concept of tumbleweeds, let alone the swarms of these caused by the wind.

Ya'll, it was definitely the coolest childhood memory I had...

So, thanks to my wonderful friend, we now have a tumbleweed here in Wisconsin. Now that it has arrived, I cannot get rid of it...It cost $10 to ship this lightweight weed, and I cannot justify throwing it out, SO............

I have a tumbleweed in my living room...

on display for others to check out...

maybe I could charge admission...

...yet the only ones interested in seeing my tumbleweeds would be cousins who grew up in CO with me, who also have tried to explain their tumbleweed stories to relatives, friends, spouses, and children. My cousin, Tonjia, is going to bring her husband to see it. My sister is going to bring her kids to see it. Someone said I should shelac it and decorate it as a tree....don't know about that one:)

But...

...maybe I could charge admission...

On Tuesday, I will be tying this story in with a situation I am currently dealing with, but for today, I just wanted to have fun. If you have never seen a tumbleweed storm, you have to watch these YouTube videos. They are short, plus it will lay the groundwork for my next blog post! Enjoy and see ya Tuesday!!!

Check this out!!!

Tumbleweeds come in all shapes and sizes

They can be fun...or not so fun...

See ya Tuesday!