When we think of passionate spirituality, we usually think of expressing our feeling of religious values; what we believe in. I see it all the time when I drive through a part of town where a group of religious people stand on the corner, at a stop light, holding up Bibles and signs. They usually don't say anything - they just stand there, with faces expressing an intense feeling, sometimes anger. The first time I saw this, I was angry. I didn't need them standing where I had to stop. I didn't need to read their signs, or need them to point to The Bible. I wanted to shout, "HEY, I have a Bible, too!!" But instead, I never made eye contact and when the light turned green I left as fast as the car in front of me allowed.
I have passed them may times since then and usually don't think much about them anymore. If they want to look like crazy people with the men and boys in black suits in 80 degree weather and the women and girls in long skirts, that's their issue, not mine.
I passed them one day, though and different thought went through my head. As I drove by, I thought about how passionate they are about their spirituality. They believe so strongly in the Bible and God, that they risk being called crazy and looking like fools. They take Romans 12:2 to heart: Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. (New Living Translation)
They don't care what people think about them. They have "let the Spirit excite them as they serve the Lord" by standing on a busy street corner, showing all the passing people how passionate they are about God.
I looked up the words passionate and spirituality on merriam-webster.com.
Passionate is defined as:
1. easily aroused to anger; filled with anger
2. capable of, affected by, or expressing intense feeling; enthusiastic, ardent
When I first read that the definition had anger in it - I was confused! Why would something defined as being filled with anger be used to describe spirituality?
Spirituality is defined as:
1. something that in ecclesiastical law belongs to the church or the a cleric
2. clergy
3. sensitivity or attachment to religious values
4. the quality or state of being spiritual
When I looked up the definitions, I realized the people standing on that busy street corner brought out my passionate spirituality. I was angry at my state of spirituality. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to stand on the corner with the Bible or a sign; that's fine for them. But I can do other things to show my passionate spirituality. They were doing what the Spirit led them to do - serving the Lord in their way. I can stand on my own "busy street corner" in my day-to-day activities and show my passionate spirituality to others through my actions and words. I can love every person "who drives by me" with brotherly love. I can take delight in honoring God. I can continually pray, listen and trust God and let the Spirit excite me as I do whatever God tells and asks me to do. My "angry" passionate spirituality, that rose to the surface when I first saw the people on the street corner, can be turned into "enthusiastic"passionate spirituality.
Sisters and Brothers, won't you join me on your own "busy street corner" and show your passionate spirituality to everyone who "drives by"?
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
God is Faithful
Friend, I've been there! I have made the commitment to follow whatever God tells me to do. I have made the commitment "Father, today I am going to keep my eyes on you, listen to what you tell me to do, do whatever you tell me to do," and 5 minutes after walking out my door, or as I am trying to get Z up and ready for school, I forget what I just promised God. I get frustrated, angry, do my own thing that I know God would not tell me to do, not take time to pray and listen to what he tells me, take my eyes off Jesus and follow the fallen world.
The best thing about our God is that he is forgiving and faithful. Not because we deserve it, but because he gives us grace! Just like he kept his covenant with the Hebrews thousands of years ago, when he eventually lead them to promised land, he will keep his covenant with us that he made when Jesus died on the cross for ALL our sins. He does not see our sins, Jesus' blood covers them up. God just sees us. He is faithful, even when we are not! Pray to God today, thanking him for being so faithful. Ask him to help you become more faithful, that you stop during the busyness of the day and listen to what he has to tell you, through his Holy Spirit that lives in you, from the moment you have your life over to him. Believe in Him and his Holy Spirit; be live in Jesus Christ and that He died upon the cross, taking all sin with him; be live that Jesus died but then rose to be with God his father. The millisecond you believe this, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside you, and God makes a promise to you to be faithful to you, even when your faith in him fails.
The best thing about our God is that he is forgiving and faithful. Not because we deserve it, but because he gives us grace! Just like he kept his covenant with the Hebrews thousands of years ago, when he eventually lead them to promised land, he will keep his covenant with us that he made when Jesus died on the cross for ALL our sins. He does not see our sins, Jesus' blood covers them up. God just sees us. He is faithful, even when we are not! Pray to God today, thanking him for being so faithful. Ask him to help you become more faithful, that you stop during the busyness of the day and listen to what he has to tell you, through his Holy Spirit that lives in you, from the moment you have your life over to him. Believe in Him and his Holy Spirit; be live in Jesus Christ and that He died upon the cross, taking all sin with him; be live that Jesus died but then rose to be with God his father. The millisecond you believe this, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside you, and God makes a promise to you to be faithful to you, even when your faith in him fails.
Sunday, January 3, 2016
For ME 2016 is the year of JESUS - Love, Light, Live, Learn, Laugh
It is the beginning of a brand new year! In looking over last year, there are a few things I would change - about myself! So this is the year I am going to do just that - change myself! Today, I decided that 2016 is the year of God for me! I am going to LOVE more, share His LIGHT, live as He made me to LIVE, LEARN about Him and from Him, and LAUGH through every day! I am going to find my JOY in JESUS and I am going to share that JOY with EVERYONE I see! I will love the unlovable, light the dark days we live in, live in the present - not the past or future, learn what I can do to help others, and laugh - at myself, and with others - and smile at the unsmiling.
I understand I cannot do any of this on my own. I need Jesus to help me. I accepted my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ into my heart years ago, but I have learned that it is a daily battle to keep my eyes on Him. I will pray, read His word, share His glory, ask for forgiveness, and change my ways to glorify Him!! I will listen to what He speaks to me, do what He asks of me, and share how He changes me!! I will put Him first, let him lead me, and ask him to hold onto me!! I will have pain, sadness, sickness and heartache, but I will have Comfort, Peace, Joy and Love! I will have JESUS!!
I understand I cannot do any of this on my own. I need Jesus to help me. I accepted my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ into my heart years ago, but I have learned that it is a daily battle to keep my eyes on Him. I will pray, read His word, share His glory, ask for forgiveness, and change my ways to glorify Him!! I will listen to what He speaks to me, do what He asks of me, and share how He changes me!! I will put Him first, let him lead me, and ask him to hold onto me!! I will have pain, sadness, sickness and heartache, but I will have Comfort, Peace, Joy and Love! I will have JESUS!!
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Prayers of the Past #2
June 24, 2015
I am having mixed feelings about next week. The weekend is easier; I don't wait, wonder and worry if DCS is going to call me. During the week, I wait, wonder and worry. I want them to call me. I miss not having children or a child in my home. I wish they would call with a baby, but then again I am afraid that it is not God's will for them to call. So Lord, I am having huge issues here. I trust you and love you and pray for your will to be done in my life. At the same time, I want a baby. A baby I can adopt and keep until they get on their own. A baby to raise and shower with love and teach about you. I am going to get past my wants and be happy with your will. The plans you have for me are wonderful and much more than I can imagine. I praise you and worship you and only want to honor you.
I am having mixed feelings about next week. The weekend is easier; I don't wait, wonder and worry if DCS is going to call me. During the week, I wait, wonder and worry. I want them to call me. I miss not having children or a child in my home. I wish they would call with a baby, but then again I am afraid that it is not God's will for them to call. So Lord, I am having huge issues here. I trust you and love you and pray for your will to be done in my life. At the same time, I want a baby. A baby I can adopt and keep until they get on their own. A baby to raise and shower with love and teach about you. I am going to get past my wants and be happy with your will. The plans you have for me are wonderful and much more than I can imagine. I praise you and worship you and only want to honor you.
Friday, December 11, 2015
Children's Moment
I will get back to my prayers of the past, but first I wanted to share this. This Sunday, I am honored to be liturgist at my church again, plus I am doing the Children's Moment. The sermon is on Relying on the Everlasting God. I have written a very short story that I am going to tell the children on Sunday and just want to share it with everyone tonight.
One afternoon after school, Annabeth’s mother notices she is
unusually quiet, as she loves to talk about what happened at school. Annabeth’s mom asks her, “Honey, are you
feeling okay? You’re not talking much.”
Annabeth looks at her mom.
“Mom, you know how Mrs. Andrews’ dad died, so she hasn’t been at school
lately?”
Mrs. Bell’s eyes soften, “Yes, I know. It’s a very sad time for her.”
“Well, Maddie was telling us at lunch that Mrs. Andrew’s
still has a father. That God is
everyone’s father. Jenny kept arguing
with Maddie saying no, God is only Jesus’ father.”
Mrs. Bell can tell Annabeth is trying to process the idea of
God being everyone’s father, so she thinks for a moment, slowly gets up from
the kitchen table, walks to her bedroom and brings out The Bible she keeps by
her bed.
“Annabeth, this is The Bible my grandfather gave me on the
day we buried my dad. I wasn’t much
older than you are now. It was one of
the saddest and most joyful days of my life.
I was so sad that my dad was gone, and I would never get to be held by
him, or loved by him, or talk to him again.
But on that day, after everyone had gone home, and it was just me, my
mom, and my dad’s parents left in our house, Granddad changed my life
forever. He came into my room and sat
down on the bed where I was crying. He
had the most peaceful look in his eyes, almost joyful. I couldn’t believe it. I asked him if he wasn’t sad about his son
dying. His eyes teared up and he said,
of course! But I am trusting my Father
to take care of him and those he left behind, like you and your mom.
I just looked at him.
‘Your father? How can
Great-granddad Howard take care of us?
He’s in heaven with dad.’
Granddad looked at me, with that peaceful look again, and
said, ‘Katie, I am talking about God, our Father in heaven. He will take care
of Jimmy, in heaven and you and the rest of us here on earth.’ Granddad could tell I had no idea what he was
talking about. He opened the Bible and turned
to Genesis 1:27:
“So God created
human beings in his own image.
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.”
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.”
He read from
Ephesians 4:6:
“One
God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
Then Granddad turned to Isaiah 9:6 and read:
“For a
child is born to us,
A son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
and he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
A son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
and he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Granddad laid his Bible on the bed beside me, gave me a hug,
whispered “Katie-Bear, I love you and so does your daddy and so does God your
Father,” and left the room. When I
picked up the Bible and opened up the cover, I saw a note had been written to
me from my dad. It said: Katie-Bear, I
told Granddad to give this to you after my funeral. I know you are going to be sad and hurt, but
please, Katie-Bear, remember the verses, he read to you. I love you so much and will miss you
terribly, as I know you love me and will miss me! But God will be with you ALWAYS! HE will NEVER leave you! When you are sad, frustrated, happy, excited,
or angry, your Everlasting Father will be there to comfort you or to celebrate
with you! Tell him your worries, your
dreams and your prayers. Listen to him,
let him take away those worries, fulfill your dreams, and answer your
prayers! As much as I love you,
Katie-Bear, I could not ever love you as much as God, the Everlasting Father
loves you! He loves all of us beyond
anything we can imagine. Love Daddy
Annabeth looks at her mom and can
almost imagine what her mom saw that day in Granddad’s eyes, because her mother
has that same peaceful, joyful look in her eyes, even with tears of sorrow for
her dad streaming down her face.
Will you pray with me?
Everlasting Father, you love us more
than we can imagine. Before you even
made the sun and moon, You knew each of our names, You had our lives laid
out. Help us to remember, Father, that
your love is everlasting, and no matter what is going on, or how we act, good
or bad, you will love us. Remind us,
Father to lay our worries, dreams and prayers at the foot of the cross, be
still, listen to You, and to trust you in everything we do, say and need. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Prayers of the Past #1
I have found an old journal of mine from 2007. In reading through it, I have found some entries I want to share. Some I want to share, because they are important to me, and others I want to share because maybe they will help someone out there get through something. The first entry is a prayer from May 31, 2007. During this time in my life, I was a foster mom through DCS. I had already fostered 4 children in my home and I was struggling with the fact that I was not married, had no chance of getting married anytime soon, and really wanting to adopt a baby.
"I will be 35 next Friday. I am joyful, happy and content. I have given my life over to Jesus,and he has shown me that all this time, when I was searching for my 'perfect' man, he was there all along. I have been a mother to 4 different children. What do I think about being a mother to the children I had? I enjoyed it, but it was hard. I liked the 3 year old best, because he needed me and he could have eventually been taught to mind and behave. The first little girl will always have a place in my heart. However, whether I ever get kids again or not is up the Lord. he has plans for me and from what I have already seen of these plans, they are way better then what I ever dreamed!
"Precious Lord, my creator, my loving best friend, I pray for your will to be done in my life. I pray that every day I get better at loving well and You use my as You see fit, to help build Your kingdom. I have a gift, Lord, of writing (as I have been told by many people). Help me to use that gift to reach out to others and show them Your love. Not for me...but for Your and for them. Help me cultivate what you have given me. Amen."
June 14, 2007
"I have been going about foster parenting all wrong. I have been doing it for myself - so I can adopt a child. I need to do it for the children, so they can get love and learn about God. Once again, it is not about me - it is about God and the children. Thank you for showing me this, Lord!!! I started fostering because I felt I was being lead by God. I still believe that. The only difference now is I want to do it to help the children and not myself. The more children I get, the more children will learn about the Lord! This, as the minister said on Sunday, is my ministry and to have a ministry, one must have people to minister to. Thank you, Lord, for opening my eyes to this. I am going to to continue to foster for as long as You allow me to. I pray that I can help as many children as God wants me to."
Please join me over these next few weeks as I continue to share my past thoughts and prayers about fostering, and the miraculous way I was able to adopt my wonderful son!!
"I will be 35 next Friday. I am joyful, happy and content. I have given my life over to Jesus,and he has shown me that all this time, when I was searching for my 'perfect' man, he was there all along. I have been a mother to 4 different children. What do I think about being a mother to the children I had? I enjoyed it, but it was hard. I liked the 3 year old best, because he needed me and he could have eventually been taught to mind and behave. The first little girl will always have a place in my heart. However, whether I ever get kids again or not is up the Lord. he has plans for me and from what I have already seen of these plans, they are way better then what I ever dreamed!
"Precious Lord, my creator, my loving best friend, I pray for your will to be done in my life. I pray that every day I get better at loving well and You use my as You see fit, to help build Your kingdom. I have a gift, Lord, of writing (as I have been told by many people). Help me to use that gift to reach out to others and show them Your love. Not for me...but for Your and for them. Help me cultivate what you have given me. Amen."
June 14, 2007
"I have been going about foster parenting all wrong. I have been doing it for myself - so I can adopt a child. I need to do it for the children, so they can get love and learn about God. Once again, it is not about me - it is about God and the children. Thank you for showing me this, Lord!!! I started fostering because I felt I was being lead by God. I still believe that. The only difference now is I want to do it to help the children and not myself. The more children I get, the more children will learn about the Lord! This, as the minister said on Sunday, is my ministry and to have a ministry, one must have people to minister to. Thank you, Lord, for opening my eyes to this. I am going to to continue to foster for as long as You allow me to. I pray that I can help as many children as God wants me to."
Please join me over these next few weeks as I continue to share my past thoughts and prayers about fostering, and the miraculous way I was able to adopt my wonderful son!!
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Pride & Plans
I have been looking through my old journals and came upon an entry I would like to share. As I have reread it, it has touched my heart again. I pray it helps you, too!
June 18, 2007
Lord, I want to be obedient to you, In all I do, I pray that I do your will.
I opened The Bible to read tonight, but before that, I prayed God would help me. I have been unsettled lately, scared, not fulfilled. I opened The Bible to Jeremiah 13:15:
"Listen and pay attention!
Do not be arrogant for the Lord has spoken."
I have been arrogant and beg your forgiveness , Lord. I saw problems and I decided I would fix them. I prayed about things that I should not have prayed about. I am sorry, Lord. I pray for your will to be done in my life and certainly not my will that I think is yours. I give you all the glory of my life, Lord, because you have given me all I have, all I had and all I will have.
Then I turned to Proverbs 15:25:
"The Lord tears down the house of the proud,
but he protects the property of the widows."
Proverbs 16:1, 3, 9:
"We can make our own plans,
but the Lord gives the right answer...
Commit your actions to the Lord,
and your plans will succeed...
We can make our plans,
but the Lord determines our steps."
Ok, so the theme tonight is pride and plans. I can see where all this comes from. I started making my plans about my future, because something happened that I had no control over. So, I decided to control my future. Thank you, Lord, for showing this to me. I am giving up all of my plans. You have plans for me and they are so much better than ANYTHING I could even think of.
All the plans I had are now in the past. I pray for your guidance in what I should do day by day!!! Thank you for getting me back on track, Lord.
Amen.
Though this was written almost 8 years ago, it really hit home today. Over the last 8 years, I fell away from God and his guidance. I took back my plans. Recently, my plans blew up in my face. I was devastated. I had no where to go, no one to turn to, except God. Now, just a short couple of months later, and I am closer to my Father than I have ever been. I am accepting God's guidance, listening to the Holy Spirit, and working on becoming more like Jesus. As the quote from Proverbs says above, I am committing my actions to the Father, and he is helping them succeed. One way my plans are succeeding, is by you, blessed one, reading this blog. For that, I give God ALL the glory!!!
June 18, 2007
Lord, I want to be obedient to you, In all I do, I pray that I do your will.
I opened The Bible to read tonight, but before that, I prayed God would help me. I have been unsettled lately, scared, not fulfilled. I opened The Bible to Jeremiah 13:15:
"Listen and pay attention!
Do not be arrogant for the Lord has spoken."
I have been arrogant and beg your forgiveness , Lord. I saw problems and I decided I would fix them. I prayed about things that I should not have prayed about. I am sorry, Lord. I pray for your will to be done in my life and certainly not my will that I think is yours. I give you all the glory of my life, Lord, because you have given me all I have, all I had and all I will have.
Then I turned to Proverbs 15:25:
"The Lord tears down the house of the proud,
but he protects the property of the widows."
Proverbs 16:1, 3, 9:
"We can make our own plans,
but the Lord gives the right answer...
Commit your actions to the Lord,
and your plans will succeed...
We can make our plans,
but the Lord determines our steps."
Ok, so the theme tonight is pride and plans. I can see where all this comes from. I started making my plans about my future, because something happened that I had no control over. So, I decided to control my future. Thank you, Lord, for showing this to me. I am giving up all of my plans. You have plans for me and they are so much better than ANYTHING I could even think of.
All the plans I had are now in the past. I pray for your guidance in what I should do day by day!!! Thank you for getting me back on track, Lord.
Amen.
Though this was written almost 8 years ago, it really hit home today. Over the last 8 years, I fell away from God and his guidance. I took back my plans. Recently, my plans blew up in my face. I was devastated. I had no where to go, no one to turn to, except God. Now, just a short couple of months later, and I am closer to my Father than I have ever been. I am accepting God's guidance, listening to the Holy Spirit, and working on becoming more like Jesus. As the quote from Proverbs says above, I am committing my actions to the Father, and he is helping them succeed. One way my plans are succeeding, is by you, blessed one, reading this blog. For that, I give God ALL the glory!!!
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