Peace Beyond a Biscuit

What thoughts deluge your mind in the quiet of night and stillness of morning?

For years, my daily routine brought stress and anxiety. I’d stay up late, hoping exhaustion would override the to-do, didn’t-do, should’ve done lists waiting to flood my thoughts as my head hit the pillow.

Upon waking, another rush. It wasn’t necessarily unpleasant occurrences or circumstances, just everyday challenges of a working wife and mom, with bills and responsibilities too numerous to count.

You know that silly Jimmy Dean sausage commercial with the guy dressed as the sun? The familiar tune plays (dum, dadum, dadumdum) as he scolds listless planets for skipping a good breakfast. The planets eat a sausage biscuit, and suddenly revival takes place; a rotation dance ensues around the sun, and all is as it should be.

I thought, gee, I wish that was my job; rise in the morning, bring warmth and light, feed ’em all sausage and life is good.

Of course, although quite yummy, we know sausage biscuits won’t rid us of pesky, troublesome, and at times overwhelming thoughts.

It seems every negative and glass-half-empty circumstance in our life hits us hardest in the quiet of night, and the first light of morning.

These critical times of day and night can be gravely effected by these thoughts. When they come at night, sleep is robbed. When they come in the morning, joy of the day is robbed.

Would we allow someone to rob our home by intentionally leaving the door unlocked?

Too often, we allow the enemy of our soul free-reign of our thoughts. He can read our thoughts, but he doesn’t have to since we practically tell him. We leave the door unlocked, or worse yet, wide-open and vulnerable to his cunning attacks upon our mind.

As difficult as it is to ward off thoughts of troublesome circumstances in our lives, we can choose to replace them with blessing-thoughts. Surrendering our concerns and circumstances to God frees us from the impossible task of trying to fix everything we were never meant to fix in the first place.

This takes practice and discipline, but most of all, it takes a God-focused life. It takes God.

Before bed, when those thoughts come to rob our much-needed sleep, remember what is true. Remember what is lovely. Remember what is just and good. When we wake, we remember them again.                       

Pray with the power He has given us in the Name of Jesus.

Allow worship songs to wash over thoughts, meditating on words of truth.

Recite favorite verses that renew our minds and remind us of who God is; that He is faithful; that He is good; that He has plans for us; that He knows our name and sees us, always.

Name every blessing, every good thing by name. Seen and unseen. What is good in your life? Resist the lie there is no good, and even if you can only think of one good thing, think of one good thing.

I once asked a group of women what threatened to steal their joy. One woman wrote “LIFE” all in caps. That spoke volumes.

When LIFE threatens to steal our joy and zap our strength, we must seek the Giver of LIFE whose joy is our strength.

Here are a few encouraging verses to write on your heart:

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.   Romans 12:2

and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:7

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.  Philippians 4:8

You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.    Isaiah 26:3

When you lie down, you will not be afraid; Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.  Proverbs 3:24

…Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? … Matthew 6:25-27

Breathe deeper. Love deeper. Seek deeper. Walk deeper.

A sausage biscuit can’t solve our problems, and the sun can’t fix our failures; but I know a Son who can. His warmth and light brings hope and life. Jesus.

What scriptures have you found particularly comforting in this season of your life? What has the Holy Spirit revealed to you through His words today?

Blessings and Peace In Him,

Doris

The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Do They Irk You Too?

Do certain people irk you? I can relate. Let’s call them pet-peeve people.

Here’s their modus operandi (Latin for distinct patterns, in this case, of annoyance and ability to exasperate):

• The “pull right out in front of you” people.
• The “let me keep my grocery cart on one side of the isle, while I browse the shelf on the other side” people.
• The “I’m oblivious to who’s behind me, as I chat with the cashier” people.
• The “I don’t care if children are present, I’ll use whatever language I wish” people.
• The “I’ll tailgate you even if you’re driving the speed limit” people.

Do these behaviors peeve you too?

Besides the word peeve, another word comes to mind. Convicted.

Stay calm, I wasn’t convicted of strangling one of them. I was convicted of being one of them.

I’d say with the exception of the inappropriate language, I have been guilty of almost every other offense, and a few more at that.

I’m trying something new.

Each time a pet-peeve person pulls out in front of me, I say “I’ve done that.”

When a lead-foot tailgater pops up behind me, or an under-the-speed-limit dawdler winds up in front of me (in the fast lane), I say “I’ve done that.”

On the wall right above my desk, a scripture painted on canvas stares back at me:

“…LOVE one another just as I have loved you…” John 13:34

Yeah, not always done a great job of that. Convicted. Holy Spirit, You do Your job well.

I cannot change behaviors of others, but I can choose to change my own behaviors.

I cannot be critical of others, while hypocritically expecting grace for myself. 

I’ve come to learn, people are hurting, lonely, abused, addicted, lost. Who am I to check the time when a sweet, gray-haired lady enjoys a friendly chat with the cashier?

When I stop seeing others through pet-peeve eyes and begin seeing them for who they are, knitted together in a mother’s womb by God, I can live out John 13:34 as God intended.

Perhaps next time an aisle-taker-upper scans for paprika, I’ll drop the impatient act and help them find it.

Share your thoughts.

In His Love, Mercy, and Grace every moment,

Doris

Better than a Band-Aid

What’s the first thing a mom says when her child is hurt?

“Come here, let Mommy see. We’ll put a nice band-aid on it.”

Tears streaming down, they run into our arms; we draw them near. We stop the bleeding, kiss the boo-boo, and bandage the wound.

As women, we want to be the band-aid, don’t we? But we’ve got that all wrong.

The band-aid doesn’t comfort the child, but rather the loving words and open arms inviting them to draw near comforts them.

We are not called to be the band-aid, we are called to be the loving arms of safety.

You see, there are times when our arms of safety protect against the hurt, and other times our arms of safety are there to comfort after the hurt. Sound familiar?

God may prevent our hurt, or He may allow it. He invites us to draw near to Him, and He promises to draw near to us. We can run into His loving arms of safety; not only when we are hurting, but always.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you, and that my friend, is better than a band-aid.

 

 

 

 

 

Encouragement for the Consistently Inconsistent

Have you ever been on-fire-determined to accomplish a goal, then mid-way through the process, you not only dropped the ball, you couldn’t even find it? Me too.                                  ,

This drop-the-ball thing for me is exercise. I have an elliptical machine at home, and actually enjoy using it. So what exactly is the problem? I wondered about that myself; then it occurred to me; my issue with exercising isn’t about exercising, it’s about consistency.

Being consistent is making a commitment, and priority commitments come first.  I can always work on being consistent in exercising my physical body, but cannot afford to be inconsistent in exercising my spiritual faith.

Check out this quote:

“I wonder if the inconsistency in my walk with God has anything to do with the fact that I can lead a “successful” church in America without being in love with Jesus.I’m sure I could blame American church culture, my position, or a busy schedule for my lack of reverent intimacy. The truth, however, is that my sin and hypocrisy are a result of me.                       I forget to love God.” – Francis Chan, author, speaker and former pastor of one of the largest mega-churches in California. 

“I forget to love God.” Wow, a profound statement. It takes courage to be real.

After reading that quote, I deleted a huge chunk of this blog post.

In my original version, I had laid out a fancy bullet-point-fix-it-plan of tips for moving inconsistent behavior to consistent behavior. While it may have been helpful, instead I’ll simply say this:

When we’re consistent in loving God, He will help us overcome all the inconsistencies in our lives. Let us not forget our first love.  Tweet it

^“But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” Revelation 2:4 NASB

I don’t want Jesus to ever have to say that to me. I couldn’t imagine.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary states it this way:

“Those that have lost their first love must remember whence they have fallen; they    must compare their present with their former state, and consider how much better it was with them then than now, how much peace, strength, purity, and pleasure they have lost, by leaving their first love,—how much more comfortably they could lie down and sleep at night,—how much more cheerfully they could awake in the morning,—how much better they could bear afflictions, and how much more becomingly they could enjoy the favours of Providence,—how much easier the thoughts of death were to them, and how much stronger their desires and hopes of heaven.”

Isn’t that the saddest thought? To lose our first love? I could cry. I never want to lose my first love, and I forever want to help others find Him. Jesus. Who’s with me?

By the way, I’ve been back on the elliptical twice this week. Booyah!

Share your thoughts; they matter

 

 

What Mountain Has Your Faith Moved?

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What do you think of when you hear the word “mountains”? A massive elevation, the appearance of which seems to kiss the sky; solid rock; ranges across the horizon?

Who or what could move them?

I love mountains. Brian and I honeymooned in Helen, GA.  We’ve also enjoyed traveling on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Those are the kind of mountains we wouldn’t want to move.

There are mountains we can visibly see, and those we cannot. God moves mountains out of our way all throughout our lives, some of which we may never have known were there.

In Matthew 17:20 Jesus says this:

              “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a    mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

While the mountain is a metaphor, we often view our trials as mountains, don’t we?

When we pray through faith for a mountain to move, what we view as the mountain may only be the tip of the iceberg so to speak.

What I mean is, there’s a battle going on beyond what we can see, and the outcome we pray for may not be what will win the battle.

In Hebrews we learn that faith is the substance of things hoped for but not seen. We have hope no matter what the outcome, as long as we place our total trust in God.

Let’s take our eyes off the mountain blocking our view, and fix our eyes upon Jesus. Through Him all things are possible.

What if eternal life for just one person is the most important reason for the mountain to be there in the first place? Had the mountain moved too soon, the divine appointment may have been missed.

How many lives have we touched while standing in the shadow of the mountain?

Who stands with us as the sun rises over the peak. Yes, it is God; it is always God, and He is always good.

Our mountains are smaller than mustard seeds to a God so big; our mustard seed faith towers over mountains as it grows through what He is teaching us.

He is compassionate; He is faithful; He is LORD.

No matter the mountain, no matter the trial, His purpose is for good for those who love Him.

There will come a day when what we hope for will be seen. When our hope is realized in glory.

So say to the mountain “move” according to His will and His timing. His grace is sufficient.

Why Are We Afraid of Change?

We were out of milk. We were out of bread.

A short window of time and a decision to make, I had two options: hit the closest grocery store where I shop less often, or drive farther down the road where I could shop with my eyes closed. Surely the advantage of knowing the exact location of every item would make up for lost travel time, right?

A few minutes after reasoning myself past store #1, I was entering my favorite store #2.  All was according to plan, or was it?

To my surprise, the milk aisle had vanished. Let me rephrase that, the aisle was still there, but the milk wasn’t.

Suddenly, I felt lost in what used to be familiar territory.

So what I’m trying to say is this:

Change is uncomfortable, so we run to the familiar, only to find our familiar has changed. Nothing in this world stays the same forever.

Look forward to change, be excited, and do not fear what could be the greatest growth spurt of your life.

God uses change to help us seek. When we seek, we will find Him.   tweet it

He changes relationships; environments; jobs; ministries…

Whether our change is huge like moving to a new country, or small like moving our milk, one thing never changes: God. He is our constant.

When we face change in the midst of unfamiliar territory, our Unchangeable God holds our right hand.

Trust Him, He knows where the milk went.

You have heard these things; look at them all.Will you not admit them?

“From now on I will tell you of new things,
    of hidden things unknown to you.”  Isaiah 48:6

What changes are you currently experiencing?  How has God caused you to seek Him?

Feeling Overwhelmed?

Life can be overwhelming.

A difficult situation may hit us head-on suddenly, or perhaps we saw it coming and failed to take precautions.

We may not realize the stress building up in us, until the day that last straw person pops the top, and we explode like a shaken can of coke; usually in the middle of the frozen food aisle.

What causes us to feel overwhelmed?

We can become overwhelmed by every-day life routines such as housework, parenting, careers, and marriage.

Conceivably, we manufacture a considerable amount of our own overwhelming circumstances through, lack of sleep, unwise choices, overcommitment, time management issues. A clue for that last one is steering the car with your knee while applying deodorant.

However, there exists overwhelming circumstances which are more difficult than others to overcome: grief, health-related issues, abuse, sick children, divorce, financial crisis, caring for aging parents…

I Googled the phrase “I feel overwhelmed” and a resounding 33,600,000 hits were available at my fingertips in a matter of seconds. By the time we’re Googling for answers, we may already be beyond the point of melt-down.

Although we cannot prevent difficult seasons in life, we can we minimize the impact and remain steadfast in faith before life gets hard.

Here are a few suggestions:

• At the start of your day, pray
• Read the Word before the Wall Street Journal, local newspaper, or social media
• Get plenty of rest and practice healthy eating habits
• Meet regularly with an accountability partner who knows you well; choose one who will call you out when you’re wrong, and can sense when you’re stressed
• Be courageous in severing ties to toxic relationships
• Evaluate your current commitments; is your schedule too full? Even ministry can become overwhelming if we are running in too many directions at once.
• Manage time wisely by prioritizing tasks. For example, getting dressed is a non-negotiable;dressing before performing negotiable tasks, such as checking Facebook, may afford you extra morning minutes.

God has not overlooked the fact our fleshy hearts can feel overwhelmed. We know this because He has provided an answer. He is the answer.

See you at the Rock ~

Doris

 

What Are We Hiding? It’s Time to Seek

 

What was your favorite childhood game?

Hide and Seek tops my list. Talk about adrenaline rush; hiders frantically  scattering as the seeker shouts   “one, two, three,… ten; ready or not, here I come!”

Stifling nervous giggles with hand over mouth, I’d slip behind a tree, or scurry inside and nestle tight between winter coats in the front closet. The goal of course, was to elude the seeker. The goal was to hide well.

As women, isn’t it true we’ve done more hiding than seeking? I think you’d agree, we’ve learned to hide things well.

We’ve become quite good at hiding what we dare not expose; we stuff it in closets; sweep it under rugs; throw slip-covers over it. We hide it from others, and try to hide it from God.

The baggage isn’t always the kind we can slap a luggage tag on; hurt, shame, addiction, worry, debt, abuse, pride…  As we know in Hide and Seek, either we’re hiding or we’re seeking; but what if we could do both?

God knows we are hiding; when we seek Him, He becomes our hiding place. Instead of hiding from Him, we can hide in Him.    Tweet that

“You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.” Psalm 32:7

In Jeremiah 29:12-13, God guarantees we will find Him when we seek Him with all our heart. He doesn’t say we might find Him; He doesn’t say if we’re good enough we’ll find Him; He says we will find Him.

He’s not the one hiding, He’s right there. He’s right here.

“Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:12-13

Call, Pray, Seek, Search, Find. The difference is “pray,” it’s the step we leave out in the game Hide and Seek.

So here I am, all grown up and back in the closet; only this time I’m not hiding, I’m seeking.  If I giggle it’s not because I’m afraid of being found; it’s because I once was lost, but now I’m found. You can be too.

Go giggle in the closet.

 

 

Could You Be A Certain Woman?

  I am filled with exuberance at the mention of  “a certain woman” in Judges who rocked the world of her people, literally. Who was she? When I get home one day, I hope to meet her, but for now I don’t even know her name.

Here’s the passage:

“Then Abimelech went to Thebez, and he encamped against Thebez and took it. But there was a strong tower in the city, and all the men and women—all the people of the city—fled there and shut themselves in; then they went up to the top of the tower.So Abimelech came as far as the tower and fought against it; and he drew near the door of the tower to burn it with fire. But a certain woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull.”  Judges 9:50-53 (NKJV)

Abimelech, was one evil dude. Son of Jerubaal (who was Gideon) and his concubine, he schemed to reign through deceit and murder, and wound up sporting a mortal wound inflicted by a certain woman. Evidently, he feared humiliation of death by a woman worse than death itself, so he implored his armor-bearer to finish him off with a sword. He had no clue God would insure generations to come would know the truth.

I ponder the events of this certain woman’s day, and imagine emotions she must have experienced. She had no idea when she awoke that morning, God had a plan to use her to save the people of Thebez from death by fire. I’m sure adrenaline pumped fiercely through her veins, mustering up holy strength and courage to drop a millstone on the head of a man on a rampage. She was living out a call; one she knew nothing of, until the moment she took action. God chose this woman, just as He has chosen us.

What if she knew what was in store for her that day, do you think she would have gotten out of bed?  What would have happened if she hadn’t?

The stone may have made an impact on Abimelech, however, it was nothing compared to the impact this woman made in HIStory.  She stared fear in the face and came out victorious through the power of God. Does that not bring you hope? It brings me hope. Just this certain ordinary woman used by an extraordinary God.

So why would God withhold her name? I am in no way a Bible scholar, but I have a theory: the name recognition game doesn’t matter to God. He will use us whether the world knows our name or not. We don’t need to be well-known or achieve a certain level in society in order for God to use us for His glory. Isn’t that refreshing?

Although I hope dropping a millstone on someone’s head is not on my divine agenda today, the sheer excitement of expectancy, the unimaginable possibilities of what God can do through willing vessels, is more than I am able to contain.

Could you be a certain woman? Could I?  The answer is yes, if we are willing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EMERGE~From Invisible to Unstoppable

When I was a little girl, my favorite super-hero power was invisibility. I thought it both adventurous and advantageous to wander around totally undetected, spying on friends, and listening in on conversations. Don’t judge, forgive me I was ten.  Besides the obvious advantages, my favorite benefit of being invisible was protection. I could step out and explore, day or night without fear, because evil couldn’t see me. I’m sure I’m not the only child who dreamed of becoming invisible.

So when did we go from childhood fantasy, to actually believing we’ve acquired the super-hero power of invisibility?

If you are feeling invisible today, I have an important message from God. You’re not.

I have another important message; the only thing that matters, is God sees you.

The God of the Universe sees you. The One true God has many names, and El Roi is one of them.  El Roi, “the strong One who sees me.” Even if we were invisible to everyone else on earth, God sees us, and He is the only One who matters. His plan for us is not to remain unseen and unheard, and here’s why…

I don’t usually do the “word of the year” thing, but God gave me a word this year:

“EMERGE”

What does it mean? Here’s a tidbit from Merriam-Webster:

• move out of or away from something and come into view
• to rise or appear from a hidden or unknown place or condition : to come out into view
• to become manifest :  become known  

Sounds quite the opposite of invisible, doesn’t it? God is calling us to emerge into the light and be the light. It’s time to step out and explore adventurous faith without fear, not because evil can’t see us, but because God can.  We may not be invisible, but we are protected by Him.

Let’s be careful we are not thinking more of ourselves than we ought. We can get locked up in pride when we are focusing on why we aren’t being seen, acknowledged. All we need to know, is God sees us. Did I say that already? No matter, we all need to hear it again. I’m right there in it with you.

Did you know, in the Bible God is referred to as being the invisible God? Satan has devised a plan; a lie he whispers into our ear: we are invisible and invisible means insignificant.  Well, that’s impossible if the word invisible is used to describe God. Can I get an Amen?

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”  Colossians 1:15 (NKJV)

Jesus is the image of the invisible God; and we are made in His image. It’s time to emerge from feeling invisible, to trusting God and becoming unstoppable. Are you ready?