He has set hope before us. (If He hadn’t, He wouldn’t have told us to hold fast to it.)

The last several days the flu has been more present than not in my body. I’ve felt awful. I’ve slept lots. I’m ready for bed now and it’s only  9:30pm… and I and a 3 hour nap!

I start to stress at times like this, I feel the pressure to be doing something to earn an income.

I am choosing to trust. He has a perfect plan. (Jer. 29:11)

He knows my plans, and I constantly pray He guides my daily activities, even when that means “messing” with my plans. I did get the desk and shelf put together and my living room all put together. and I love it! We have living room space again. 🙂 Pictures will be coming, but I started to feel too icky to continue, then I slept thru church, then my 2 came home from their retreat and now? –  it’s not as clean as it was for the hours they were gone & I was sick :-D.

Day 13 of 31 Days

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Choosing joy.

First, in my reading this morning during my coffee time with God each morning, I am reading through You’re Going to Be Okay: Encouraging Truth Your Heart Needs to Hear, Especially on the Hard Days* by Holley Gerth, and what I was reveling as I went to watch my online class today…

• Happiness does not just happen. It’s not something we can sit around and wait to receive. It’s not automatic – we have to work for it.
• Joy requires my openness and being willing to receive. We have to make a choice – everyday.

God wants me to be joyful, I have definitely been one who got stuck thinking life was to be endured. Holley talks about the myths we believe and what hold us back from experiencing joy & happiness. You definitely should get the book and read it.

Second, when reading emails later in the day… Bonnie Gray [Faith Barista, author of Finding Spiritual Whitespace*], posted about not being a brand, but being beloved. She started her post with a  quote from Henri Nouwen – it was almost the same as what I’d read in Holley’s book, except it used the word ‘joy’.

I am thinking about this verse differently now:

• Consider it all joy when facing trials of many kinds. – He expects it to be a deliberate choice. I am not failing Him by having to choose daily.
• His grace is enough, it is all you need. – His grace truly does makes everything look different!
• His power is stronger in your weakness. – I have the privilege of leaning on His power, NOT mine. My weakness shows Him off even more. I fulfill my purpose of bringing Him glory by my weakness and His power being revealed.

Oh, I am so thankful I am forgiven as often as I am. By Jesus’ blood, my joy has already been paid for. It is a gift. Like His gift of grace. From my Father, by the blood of Jesus, to cover me.

*affiliate links

Day 14 of 31 Days

(I can’t believe we’re almost half way through the month!)

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“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10 (the Message)

I am God’s masterpiece.
I was created for good works.
I was created for purpose – a specific purpose prepared before hand.

You are God’s masterpiece.
You were created for good works.
You were created for purpose – a specific purpose prepared before hand.

We are God’s masterpiece.
We were created for good works.
We were created for purpose – a specific purpose prepared before hand.

God created the whole world. He created you. He created me.
God created the whole universe.
God created you – just the way you are.
God created me – just the way I am.

I am so thankful for the assurance of His love fore each of us in the exact way we need.

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Holley Gerth. Encouragement.

and – PolkaDots?! (I love polka dots, they make me smile)

All of these things in one place. I enjoy Holley Gerth’s style of writing and am always encouraged by what she has to say. I have learned lots from all her books and blog posts. I am in the middle of reading You’re Going to Be Okay when the opportunity to review What Your Heart Needs for the Hard Days came up – uh, no need to think it over, YES!

What Your Heart Needs for the Hard Days will not disappoint. It is gift sized with a “padded” hard cover <- not what I expected. What I love most is the table of contents – it’s like a book version of Holley’s blog posts, but in real book form! I like that I can read the table of contents and go straight to heart encouragement for that very concern. At the end is a prayer and journal prompt. I’ve only had the book 4 days and I’ve read way more than 4 devotionals :-D.

Sometimes, I need quiet from the internet. I need a break from all the info. But so often I find encouragement online – but now I can hold it in my hand too. There is a special kind of quiet when reading a “real book” – think of it like printing and pretty packaging of blog posts.

How many times have you told someone they should go read [insert article/post/blog here] and you send them a link? Now, you can hand them encouragement. They don’t have to “do” something before they can be encouraged. You don’t have to run the risk of being distracted, or feeling as if you’re being “selfish” to read something for your self and not attend to all the pressing to-do’s found online.

You won’t be disappointed – get What Your Heart Needs for the Hard Days. While you’re there, why not get a copy of each book if you haven’t already?

**I was given a copy of this book for the purpose of reviewing. All of the thoughts and opinions are mine though.**

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So, today is another Five Minute Friday. I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo. Today’s word is Cherished.

Here are the rules:

1. Write for 5 minutes – no editing, over thinking, or backtracking.
2. Link back to Lisa-Jo’s – invite others to join in.
3. Encourage others by commenting – for sure commenting on the person who linked up before you.

This is your invite – come join the fun!

 Cherished…

and it’s synonyms are: adore. love. worship.

We use the term ‘love’ so loosely. and while our Heavenly Father doesn’t worship us, we are to worship Him. Cherish seems to have  a longer lasting commitment. You can’t nurture something or someone without time spent together.

A husband loves his wife, because they are married and he is faithful; I expect she feels cherished when he goes above and beyond his ‘duty’ and spends extra time planning, be with her, holding her. It is an extra special love.

A daddy shows he cherishes his daughter by spending time with her. He loves her because he is her parent, which can be interpreted ‘because he has to’. Girls need to know they are cherished by their daddy.

A mother loves her children. Some days it is easier to show than others. Children feel cherished when mom spends extra time showing them.

I want my children to know I cherish them. Not just when they were babies, toddlers, young children – but even now. They know I love them – because, after all I am mom and I ‘have to’. When I am really present they know they are cherished in my heart.

No matter what mistakes we’ve made.

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My help comes from the LORD.
My LORD, the God of all creation.

I’m thinking it’s safe to relax in Him.
[He is big enough to take care of ‘it’ all!]
He promises help.
[He wants us to turn to Him for help!]
He promises protection.
[He wants to protect us!]

He has a plan. a perfect plan.
For you. For me.

Your plan doesn’t look like my plan.
My plan doesn’t look like your plan.

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Interestingly enough, I have had quite the issues with posting today. First of all, when I first tried – I was locked out of my WP dashboard, something about brute force attack. I left, I didn’t want to deal with any coding anything to make anything work. Then tonight I came back & logged in effortlessly. I got all done with the post, saved, previewed & clicked somewhere & lost EVERYTHING. The post, preview & all ‘save drafts’. How annoying is that?!

So, with that whining out of the way, :-D, I’m going to try this again, but in all reality – this post has been way more than 5 minutes. I had good intentions, does that count? I’m tired and feel as if I’ve done this so many times now it seems silly…but I’m doing it anyway!

So. today’s post: Imagine

Three and a half months ago I was exhausted, drained, beyond worn out by life. I couldn’t imagine summer coming, I couldn’t look forward to it – there were too many unknowns. Since August I’d been mightly praying about the opportunity to support my brother, his wife, and their 3 children while on the mission field.

This was one of three burning prayers in my heart & mind.

In November I found out we were approved as short term missionaries from our church to be sent as support to the Philppines – we just needed to raise the rest of our support. At that point I was facing my son getting braces, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and I was unemployed.

I couldn’t imagine leaving for a trip of any kind, let alone to a foreign country. I wasn’t sure it was even responsible for me to think about. I put it off until after the holidays, then we had January 2013. The most brutal month of the last 10 years. All in one fell swoop. In February I sent out letters to let others know our desire to support my brother … in God’s goodness we knew by the end of February we had the funds to come. Even though I was still unemployed and we’d taken most of the month of February to recuperate from January, it was evident it was the right time. I got our tickets in early-mid March and we’ve now been here nearly two months.

The last several weeks have been a tangible example to me of Ephesians 3:17-21:

“so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith – that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be fill with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.”

Do you see what I see?

• I am rooted & grounded in love.
• The love of Christ surpasses knowledge.
• I can be filled with the fullness of God.
• He is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think.
• According to His power.
• All of this is for HIS GLORY

That is a lot of promises. The thing is – He doesn’t pick & choose which ones He’ll actually make good on. He meant every one of them! Just take a moment to imagine that.

That prayer mentioned up there at the beginning – He answered it far more abundantly than I could have ever imagined. Yes, He provided the funds. Yes, He made all plans come together without too much hassle. What I didn’t think to ask was for the freedom from so many fears and bondages I’ve lived within. [I so wish the ‘other’ post hadn’t disappeared. I had it worded pretty well, but it’s gone now.]

I have renewed hope. I am excited about the coming summer. I am looking forward to life again. I am hopeful for the answers to the other two HUGE  prayer requests, I feel encouraged to renew my hope and pray those prayers. I will be okay with His plan. I don’t feel desperate to know the answers to the many ‘what-ifs’ in life. I had no idea, I couldn’t imagine I’d go home a different person on so many levels. I’m excited to share these adventures with you, but we still have some to participate in. All in good time, I will share :-D.

It has all been to His glory, in His power, and for His greater purposes.

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I am relishing in this reminder today.  From the Stepping Up Bible Study by Beth Moore, I learned when the word “Lord” is in all caps (like it is in the above verses), in the Hebrew it was YHWH and refers to God the “Covenant maker and keeper”.

So, according to the verses above and the usage of YHWH in Hebrew — I can take these verses to mean:

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I’m feeling the urge to explain my header photo…  Several summers ago (July 2009), my cousins were here for a wedding.  We went hiking in the mountains/valley nearby; we were eighteen bodies and five carloads to get there (I think, if I remember right).  We were not quiet as we walked.  It was a summer that allergies were really reeking havoc on my body.  The dirt trail was killing my feet.  As we walked we came upon this sight.  When I saw how it was a rough path with a smooth spot, then rough again, and how I couldn’t see around the corner; it immediately made me think of how when we’ve chosen Christ to be Lord of our lives, He promises He will always direct our paths, and He will protect us every step of the way.  He will never fail us.  At the time I had no idea what lay ahead.  None.  {It’s a really good thing too!  I could not have handled the knowledge.  He is so faithful.}

Interestingly, just over a year ago I wrote a “post“.  This post was on balance, I was feeling very off-kilter.  In looking back over the last year – it.has.been.AMAZING!  A year like no other, a year I could have never imagined, one probably not soon (or ever?) to be repeated.

That post was written at a time of reflection after having put my kids “into” school.  (In August 2010 I enrolled them into a local charter school.)  It was one of the hardest things I had ever done.  I felt nearly crushed to pieces, hard to breathe type of crushing, every morning I dropped them off. {I did not let them know this – I would hold it together with LOTS of prayer until they got out of the car.  Then I’d bawl my eyes out as I drove home.}  Right after Christmas break, we (the kids & I) decided for them to come back home.  While I do not regret having had them “in school” for those five months, there are at times still issues that come up as a direct result of things learned I would have chosen to protect my children from.

When I wrote the post in February, we were still trying to find our balance; the changes were still relatively recent.  A year later, many adventures later, much family time later, more mistakes later – and when I read that post, it is still as true as if I’d just written it. {sigh} At this point, I’m choosing to turn to the Father and say, “Lord, You’re reasoning is perfect.  I don’t understand why, but it isn’t important for me to understand why.  It is important for me to trust You.  So I am going to.”

I’m in the midst of way too many decisions.  Some big.  Some small.  I’m fighting fear over circumstances – which brings me back to just a couple days ago and “the faith to not have fear“.  All of these circumstances can tempt me to get sidetracked wondering – did I not learn anything over this last year?  As I prepared a recent Captivating post, I was reminded of this truth:

“An intimate relationship with Jesus is not only for other women, for women who seem to have their acts together, who appear godly and whose nails are nicely shaped.  It is for each and every one of us.  God wants intimacy with you.  In order to have it, you, too, must offer it to him. (page 122,Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge)

Oh, how this makes me thankful.  No matter how many mistakes I make, God, my Heavenly Father, wants simple, intimate relationship with me.  It’s isn’t only for those look like they have it all together.

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