Organizing your homelife

I have always struggled with organizing my home life.  My desk, at work (when I had one), was always organized, but somehow, I can't seem to get there at home.  So I have come across a blog that shows how to do this in 31 days.  It is great!  Check out her blog/ website at http://www.organizinghomelife.com/.  She includes printables to help you make your own home management binder.

I think I need to try and do something like this with my spiritual life; find a way to organize it!  I am not sure how you would go about putting that into a binder, but certainly would be interesting to try. It could be something like "Organizing Your Spiritual Life 101"  I would imagine it would include something like 1) Favorite Verses 2) Weekly/ Monthly Bible Study 3) Journal entries 4) Prayer lists 5)Your prayers written out. I am just not sure it would all fit into one binder.  I seem to get long winded at times, but it is just a thought!!

Check your baggage

Our current sermon series at church is called "Baggage" (listen to the podcast at Connection Church) and I have been praying and thinking about it alot.  We all have someone in our life who has hurt us. Some hurts are much bigger than others on the grand scheme of things, but in reality, a hurt is a hurt and we all have to deal with it in our own ways.

I have been hurt, a lot, and badly.  I have thought that all was forgiven, after all, I am a Christian and profess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior; so the proper thing to do is to forgive someone and go on with your life. The problem is, have I (you) really forgiven that person? Do I (you) keep bringing it up and rehashing the wrong? Do I (you) let it eat away at my (your) very soul day after day, or have I (you) truly forgiven the one who did the hurting.  

You know, we have always been told to forgive and forget.  It is easy to give lip service to that and say we have forgiven someone, and take the hurtful thing that was done and put it on the shelf somewhere and close the door. Then an earthquake comes, maybe just a slight tremor, something that just causes things to shift ever so slightly in that cabinet.  To use a recent story a friend of mine posted, it is like putting your phone (a flip phone works best with this analogy) on a shelf, but not turning it off.  Someone is trying to reach you, so they call you.  The phone just vibrates and vibrates, next thing you know, it has vibrated off the shelf and the phone flips open and the person on the other line thinks you have answered, but you really aren't there!

Our hurts are like that; the devil is like that.  They keep coming up and the hurts keep calling you.  You can't just put things up and forget about them. You can't even turn it off b/c something is always there to remind you..It is like some phones that will turn themselves on if you  have an alarm or timer set.  You have to deal with them, take their life away, take out the battery.

In dealing with hurts, you have to take the life out of it by going to the one true source of peace, Jesus. Psalm 71:20 says "though you have made me see my troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again;  from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up.

Through studying and praying over this lesson this week, I realized that there are several things in which true forgiveness has not been given.  I still blame the one who did the hurt; I can't seem to let it go, no matter how hard I try.  No matter that I have been  praying over this situation countless times, the question remains, have I really given my heart over to God to allow me to forgive that person and have I truly given my heart over to allow God to do the healing and restoring that His Word have promised us?

Desert Song/ refined like silver

I know it has been months since I have posted anything, but I have been in a fight, one that felt like it was between life and death. You know when you are in the midst of a storm and you feel like there is no way out, sometimes you feel like death would be a gift. But when you keep seeking God, He eventually shows you that "life is always the answer".

The past few months have left me dry and feeling like God had turned his back on me. After all, hadn't I been following Him, searching and studying His Word? How could He let me feel like He had left me and threw me to the wolves!!

I have pushed through the last few months, making plans to change things in my life, but in the end, God showed me that He has plans for me (Jeremiah 29:11). My plans were not His plans. The funny thing is that this has been my "life verse" for the past 18 years. I have reminded myself of that time and time again, however, this time, I had forgotten it.

I had wonderful people surrounding me that prayed for me, listened to my cry and whine about my problems and continued to love me anyway. In the end, I gave into God and allowed him to guide me in the path He would have me to go.

Sometimes, I think you have to get the breaking point, the point where you are so low, that you can't even look down anymore. You just have to look up!! That's where I was. Oh, I am still down there, but I am beginning my climb to get back up, but I feel like the desert in my life is going away, and the vessel is being filled.

Zechariah 13:9 "I will bring them through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined and will test them as god is tested. They will call on My name and I will hear and answer them."

Silver is refined by fire , the refiner must sit with his eye steadily fixed on the furnace. If the silver is left in the furnace too long and even heated in excess in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured. The only way that he knows when the process of purifying is complete when he sees his own image reflected in the silver....

I know, you are thinking, here she goes again, posting song lyrics, but I say to you; Yes I am. Sometimes the songs say things in ways I could never describe. 

This is my prayer in the desert, And all that's within me feels dry
This is my prayer in my hunger and need, My God is the God who provides

And this is my prayer in the fire, In weakness or trial or pain
There is a faith proved Of more worth than gold, So refine me Lord through the flames

And I will bring praise, I will bring praise, No weapon formed against me shall remain
I will rejoice, I will declare, God is my victory and He is here

And this is my prayer in the battle, When triumph is still on it's way
I am a conqueror and co-heir with Christ, So firm on His promise I'll stand

All of my life, In every season, You are still God, I have a reason to sing, I have a reason to worship

This is my prayer in the harvest, When favor and providence flow, I know I'm filled to be emptied again, The seed I've received I will sow
~~~~Hillsong United / Desert Song.

God know what fires come our way, and he knows how long we can endure them before He steps in. If we are to be refined like silver, then in the end, His image should be reflected in us. Who is the image others see in you? My prayer is I reflect Christ to others and that you will also be like silver and reflect the refiner; the Lord Jesus Christ!

Am I strong enough?

I love posting about songs that touch me.  I really listen to the words and I just know that God is speaking to me through them.  It is almost as if they were written just for me.  This morning as I was getting ready for work and  meditating at the same time about my life and the bible study I am participating in right now called "When I Am Afraid", the song 'Strong Enough' by Matthew West came on.  It hit me and I had to stop in my tracks and use this as my prayer.  It is saying exactly what has been on my mind lately.  I want to share the lyrics with you:

"Strong Enough"

You must
You must think I'm strong
To give me what I'm going through

Well, forgive me
Forgive me if I'm wrong
But this looks like more than I can do
On my own

I know I'm not strong enough to be
everything that I'm supposed to be
I give up
I'm not stong enough
Hands of mercy won't you cover me
Lord right now I'm asking you to be
Strong enough
Strong enough
For the both of us

Well, maybe
Maybe that's the point
To reach the point of giving up

Cause when I'm finally
Finally at rock bottom
Well, that's when I start looking up
And reaching out

I know I'm not strong enough to be
Everything that I'm supposed to be
I give up
I'm not stong enough
Hands of mercy won't you cover me
Lord right now I'm asking you to be
Strong enough
Strong enough

Cause I'm broken
Down to nothing
But I'm still holding on to the one thing
You are God
and you are strong
When I am weak

I can do all things
Through Christ who gives me strength
And I don't have to be
Strong enough
Strong enough

I can do all things
Through Christ who gives me strength
And I don't have to be
Strong enough
Strong enough

Oh, yeah

I know I'm not strong enough to be
Everything that I'm supposed to be
I give up
I'm not stong enough
Hands of mercy won't you cover me
Lord right now I'm asking you to be
Strong enough

Read through and meditate on these words.....they kind of fit all of us, don't they?

Where's the Focus?

I have had so many things on my mind lately I am not sure where to begin.

This morning our sermon was on faith or more more general, where is your focus?  You know we all try to live a good moral life and probably follow the "golden rule"  We all like to "do unto others as we would have them do unto us", or do we.  There is a lot of gossip we participate in but get upset when we are the FOCUS of the gossip.  We all want to win a million dollars but get upset when someone we deem as "undeserving" gets the lucky break and becomes the FOCUS of the millions.

Take a look at Mary and Martha from Luke 10: 38-42.  Martha was busy making things ready for Jesus' visit. Cooking, cleaning, being a good hostess.  She was doing all the work and Mary was doing nothing.  She was just sitting there.  It is no wonder Martha got upset.  It was not fair.  Why should she get stuck doing all the manual labor while Mary gets to enjoy the company?  I bet we all feel that way at times.  I know I do.  I feel  like no one does anything and it is up to me.  As parents, we run ourselves ragged trying to get our children to all the different events and activities the have going on, including church activities and work and your spouses activities.  Sometimes, it can be very taxing on a person to feel like all that pressure is on them.  All this pressure and stress can leave us stressed out, depressed, filled with anxiety, frustrated and overwhelmed and leave energy to take care of ourselves.

In James 2:8, we learn that we need to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.  The problem is, if we are so stressed, anxious, frustrated and overwhelmed and possibly even down right miserable, how can we love or take care of ourselves.  If we can't take care of ourselves and we don't love ourselves, we are not going to truly love others.

In Martha's case, she was so busy taking care of the house, trying to please everyone that she forgot her focus should have been on Jesus who was sitting in her living room.  She didn't stop to spend time with the Lord, sit as His feet and listen to his teachings.  She was upset and even asked Jesus to tell Mary to help her since Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to what He was saying.  She was not concerned about the food that needed cooked or the bathroom that needed cleaned or the clothes that needed washed.  She was only concerned with what was right there in front of her. She was fulfilling her spiritual need because the opportunity was right there, the rest will still be there later. Even Jesus told Martha that she was worried and trouble about many things, but only one thing was needed and Mary has chosen that and he would not take that from here.

I tend to be a Martha in my marriage.  I am so busy trying to fix things, making things right, making sure the bills get paid that sometimes I forget to be the wife God has called me to be.  Because I am so busy trying to fix everything, I don't always allow my husband to be who God has called him to be.  And because I am such a busy body about so many things, I don't take time for myself very much.  I have been trying to loose 50 lbs since January 2011.  I did well, lost about 15 lbs then gained it back.  Last May, I started again with a picture if myself in a bathing suit and this blog and a determination to loose the weight.  Again, I gained it back.  This past January, I started for the third time.  To date,  have see-sawed between loosing 21-28 lbs. I have definitely made progress but the journey continues.

I am learning to love the new me. It is excited to put on smaller clothes.  I still have set backs, but it is easier to re-focus my energy because not only am I changing physically, I am growing spiritually.  I am learning to love me and take care of myself. I spend more time than every before sitting at the feet of my Lord and He is helping me to let go of somethings and allow Him to take care of it.  It is liberating and scary all at the same time.

So ask yourself, where is your focus? Is your focus  on you and how you can fix things or on how will Jesus allow you to work through things? Do you have the faith to allow Jesus to lead you out of the Martha mentality and into a Mary moment?

Sgt Major McLean / CFI

Today, as I watched my oldest daughter go through CFI (Command Formal Inspection) I realized how little time I have left to spend with her.  It seems like just yesterday, she was a freshman entering the JROTC. Now she is finishing  up her Junior year with rank of Sgt. Major and also Commander of the Lady Rifles Drill Team and a promising future for her Senior year. 


Next week is the JROTC awards night and she will find out what awards she will be getting for her work in JROTC and what position she will hold in her LET 4 (Senior) year.  She loves this stuff and wants to join the military and make it her career.  In one year, she will be going off to college or directly into the military.  Probably the US Air Force because she wants to be a Meteorologist and she feels this will be her best avenue to pursue that career.  


I am so proud of her and how JROTC has changed her the past three years.  She has gained so much more confidence and has become a much better leader through this training.

Proverbs 22:6 (NASB) tells us: Train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old, he will not depart from it.  I can only hope that she will continue to grow as a young Christian woman as this new world beckons her.  I still have one more year to train her up but she is becoming her own woman regardless of what I am doing at this time.  I am betting that the next few years will involve more tears and prayers than the last few years, but the way she was raised and the leadership skills she is learning through JROTC, I am sure will allow her to be a woman that her father and I will be proud to call our daughter.  


I Love you Gracie and will ALWAYS pray for your future!!

Easter Sunday

Today is Easter and we spend the day celebrating our Risen Lord and Savior.  He is no longer in the tomb, it is empty because we serve a Risen God.

I grew up eating a traditional northern Easter dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, green beans. corn, gravy, rolls and of course all kinds of Easter candy to go along with it.  This year, my Easter dinner will be grilled Talapia and steamed broccoli.  Later, I will begin week 1 of the Couch to 5K...AGAIN.  I will conquer this, eventually.

I hope every one is enjoying their Easter Sunday.  Just be careful and don't eat too much candy!