Basking In the Sun

I love this photo. Wherever there is a spot of sun on the floor, Tucker wants to be in it. It makes him feel loved, happy, content, and warm. Being in the light is what's it's all about.









What about you? Have you been shrinking back from the light, trying to stay in the shadows? One verse that reminds me to continue walking in the light is this one:

1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Isaiah 2:5
Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Psalm 56:13
For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

Let's make it a point to continue to walk with God, to bask in His presence--in His light.

Restoration and Isolation

This past Sunday was really nice. We missed church, but on days that we do, Stephen gathers us around the table for Bible study and learning.

We were talking about restoring.

This seems to be the hot topic of conversation for me this month. It all started with my blog. It went down...BAD! Then God restored it to even better than it was before.

The book that God is pushing me to write is about redemption and restoration.

Stephen's business is beginning to be restored.

But the one thing that I don't like when restoration is happening is the isolation that God puts us through in order for that restoration to be completed.

For me this is the absolute hardest part because I am a people person. I need that interaction. However, God whispers in my ear, Interact with Me daughter. I am here for you!

Right now, I feel like God has ripped me away from everyone and everything I have loved and cared for (with the exception of my family). Right now, God needs me more than everyone or anything.

Little by little, I know that God will give me back everything He is pulling me away from, and if He doesn't it wasn't really something I needed to begin with.

Is God working on you right now? Don't fight it. Just go with the flow!

Why?

Don't you just love that question? How many times a day do we hear that from our children when we ask them to do something? This week as I have been pondering on things, this one little word is one of the things I have been pondering on.

Why you may ask (see. . . even adults say it too)

It is very simple. I think we do God the same way. He gives us a really small task to complete, such as. . "give something to help that family, bake your neighbor a loaf of bread, help that little girl fix her bike". . something very small, and we begin to feel like God is asking us to fly across the moon in a spaceship or something. So we start questioning Him.

Why God?

Why me?

Can't ___________ do it? She is so much nicer to talk to than me?

Do I have to?

I don't feel like it.

(long sigh and eyes rolling) oooooookkkkkaaaayyyyyyy

I wonder what God thinks about that when we do that? Do you think it bothers Him? I don't. The reason I feel this is way is simply because of a verse in Esther 4 that just really makes me think about this.

¹³ Mordecai told [the messenger] to reply to Esther, "Don't think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king's palace. ¹⁴ If you keep silent at this time, liberation and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father's house will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this." 

See, regardless of whether I do what God has asked of me, it will get done. Maybe not by me, but by someone else who is more willing than I to step up and be God's hands and feet. But I don't like to give those special moments away. Those moments are the biggest blessings in my life.

Imagine what Esther's life would have been like if she would have continued to protest to Mordecai and not stepped up to the task that God was calling her to. She would have faced certain death, or a life of not knowing (you know the feeling I am talking about here--"what if").

So I have decided to do my best not to whine and ask why all the time when God asks me to do something for Him. What about you? Are you ready to stop asking why and start living for God on a much higher spiritual basis?

8 Steps To a Changed Heart

During the last few days, God has been speaking to me about how I speak to my children. He has led me to a book that has been very interesting and very insightful on ways to talk to your children. The name of the book is Raising Your Child, Not Your Voice by Dr. Duane Cuthbertson.
I can tell you so far from reading this book, that I realize now all the times I have belittled my children. I am convicted every time I pick this book up and read. You see, lately I have been raising my voice quite a bit. Starting a new era in our family with the teen years has played heavily on my heart and mind. I want to be able to be approachable for our children. I never want them to feel like I did growing up that if you said or did the wrong thing, you would be disowned.
Anyway, the name of this one chapter is called 8 steps to a changed heart. All the steps were great, but step #7 is the one that really just stood out to me. I thought I would share it with you:
Step Seven: Release Your Rights
Next, we need to give God all rights to our lives. James 4:13-14. "Go to now, you that say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city and continue there a year, and buy and sell and get gain. How can you say that? For you do not know what tomorrow may bring. For what is your life? It is like a vapor that appears for just a little while, and then vanishes away."
God wants you to give up total rights to your material, psychological, or spiritual possessions. God wants you to give Him complete ownership of everything that is yours. That means you do not own anything-not a suit of clothes, not a car. God owns it all. This involves an excercise of your will.
Years ago I was a director for a Youth for Christ chapter. During the first year of involvement with Youth for Christ, my total salary was $250. The following year my total salary jumped to $1000. One Christmastime, my wife and I sat down with our bills and found that our total indebttedness came to $1000. Our little boy was two years old, and we were convinced that the hospital was going to come and get him for back payment! God had asked us to give up our "rights" to financial security and a prosperous lifestyle of living. But He also was faithful to provide for us. The night after we had added up our debts, a friend handed me an envelope. He said, "Duane, my wife and I have prayerfully had you on our minds. We feel that God wold have us give you this gift. This is not to go back into the Youth for Christ. This is not to be part of your salary. It is a gift from my wife and me to you." He told me to take the envelope home and open it with my wife. When we opened the envelope-thinking optimistically that it might be a check for $50 or $100- we were stunned to find a check for $1000.
The Bible says that God owns a cattle on a thousand hills and that He will do exceedingly abundandtly above all that we could ask or think. Because God owns it all, we have nothing that He hasn't loaned to us. Giving up our rights to things we think we own leads to rich blessings, not impoverishment. That was my wife's and I experience that Christmas.
God wants that house, that spouse-everything you claim as your own. When you recognize His ownership, you have a very different outlook on your home and family. Your will is modified further.
Our children see these patterns in our lives. They can become strong-willed if we are, with no concept of what it means to be humble, clean, broken, or submissive. Or, if we give our rights to God, they can see our example and say, in effect, "Dad, Mom, I want to be like you." It's one thing for us to expect our children to "do as they are told." It's entirely another for them to want to do as they are told.
Can we be so presumptuous that we demand our children's wills without giving ours to God?
This section of this chapter spoke so deeply into the pit of my stomach. How many times have I told my children that they are to do as they are told only to turn around and disobey God? What kind of message am I sending to them? How can I ever expect them to respect and obey if I do not first set the example.
This is just a little to chew on today so I will leave you all with that! I hope that you all enjoy these as much as I enjoy writing them!
Until next time,
Jennifer