Purity Petals

I stumbled across an excellent blog post just now & wanted to share it with you.

Danica writes~ 

 I burst through the front door out onto the cement porch of our old 1925 brick house. The sun was shining, and the sky was BRIGHT blue with fluffy white clouds, a perfect spring day! I was probably the happiest 8 year old there was. (Or at least I liked to think so)

My mother had bought new flowers to plant throughout the yard, like she always did. Mum was out in the side yard on her hands and knees digging up dirt and planting the little buds of flowers in the ground. I was excited to help her.
This year was different, this year I was a ‘big girl’ and Mum was giving me my own flower to take care of by myself! She had given me a small peony plant to grow in my little garden.
Mum looked up at me, patted the ground next to her and asked “Come help me, Sis?”.

She showed me how to get the little roots into the ground, gently cover them with dirt, and pat the dirt down firmly around it. My little peony was now getting used to it’s new ‘home’.
I was thrilled!  (You can’t blame me! “Your own little flower” is a big deal to an 8 year old! *laughs* )
I went into the big old white wood garage to fetch my watering can. I filled it up from the nearest garden hose, and took it over to give ‘my little flower’ a drink.

For weeks I babied my little flower. I named it “Lucy” after my favorite character from the Snoopy comic.
I loved to watch it grow day by day, bugger and bigger. First from a small baby bud, then ever so slowly into a mostly full bloomed flower!
I would proudly show Grandma and all my friends my flower, and they would “ooh” and “ahh” accordingly. I was a proud parent. 

Read the rest of the story at Java Dawn about the importance of protecting our purity.

Being Understood is a Luxury

My friend Robin over at Heart of Wisdom had an excellant post today & I wanted to share it with you. 

 Here is the first few paragraphs, you need to go to her site for the rest.  While you are there you will be blessed by her other writings.

Robin wrote…

Christians who are passionate for God can be unaware of the critical need for people to be understood. Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ have deep emotional roots that go ignored.

Jesus took the time to listen and understand. He looked below the surface to the heart.

People pay counselors thousands of dollars just to be heard in hopes of being understood. I believe the new explosion in blogging is a portrait of people needing to be heard, to be understood.

We all have a need to come to grips with the scars from our past, to be honest about our brokenness and become vulnerable and learn to grow through pain. We do this by being heard and being understood.

 

Read the rest at Robins Blog…

 

I Blew It Again!

 

I didn’t realize that I was capable of truly losing my temper until I had kids.  I had never become so angry at anyone that I yelled until I had kids.  Yeah, I know, that say’s alot about me.  It also says a lot about where I was in my walk with Christ when I had my first babies. 

I will never forget one afternoon, I was changing my baby daughter’s diaper and I asked my oldest child to go get me a diaper.  She just stood there looking at me and not getting the diaper.  I then yelled at her, “I said, go get me a diaper! NOW!”  Her eyes welled up and the tears began to flow.  I felt horrible.  The worst part is that my daughter ,that I yelled at, was only 18 months old.  I was 20 years old with 2 babies and had totally blown it.  I learned that I needed to really work on my lack of self control.

Now I am 30 something and my oldest is 17.  She survived and has forgiven me.  I wish I could say that I learned my lesson that day and I never lost my temper again, but I did…over & over & over.

Finally after the Lord had to jerk me around a little and get my attention I began to immerse myself into his Word.  I read and studied it as if I had never read it before. 

1 Thessalonians 5:8 

… let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.

Titus 2:5 says that we are to be “self controlled and pure“. 

Titus 2:11,12 tells us that the grace of God “teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age“

 Obviously this self control thing is not a new problem. It began in the Garden actually. And yes,it was the woman who could not control her curiosity to just take that one bite…what would it hurt?  I can’t help but wonder if Eve ever thought back to the days int he Garden and said, “If only I wouldn’t have listened to the serpent.  If only I would have just said no! ”

 I have spent wasted too much time regretting my actions.  I have learned to lay my lack of self control with my tongue at the feet of Jesus everyday.  If I don’t think before I speak I usually end up blowing it with my kids.  And because of this a I have a few kids who have learned very well from me how to lose their temper also.  Now now we have anger issues to deal with.

So what has helped me?  Starting my day at the feet of Jesus.  Praying and asking ahead of time for wisdom and self control with my words.  I have a prayer that I pray fairly often to remind me of the power my words have on my family.  I titled it Sweeter than Honey.  When I begin my day without coming to my Lord first I can almost guarantee that I will lose my temper with someone.  I just can’t do this alone. The good news is that my Jesus is always there waiting for me ready to cleanse my heart and strengthen me so that my words will build up my family not tear them down.

 

EVERYDAY, I must put on my faith, love & my hope for salvation so that I can be self controlled because I belong to Christ and his grace will carry me all the way.  It is like the manna the Israelites ate in the wilderness.  They couldn’t save any for tomorrow, they could only use it for today.  We must go to him everyday for our manna.  If we are to produce the fruit of His Spirit we can’t try to use yesterday’s manna.

Father, give me today what I need to minister to my family.  Help me to have self control and to not blow it, but to be a blessing to you and my family.  A~Men

Short story about my miscarriage

 

In 2005, I experienced a miscarriage.  I was upset & angry with God.  In a moment of desperate prayer I asked God why He had done this to me?  Why did he take my baby?  My answer came in a vision and this is what He showed me.

            I saw a ship.  It was no different than any other ship I had ever seen.  This ship like most others occasionally carried cargo for the Lord Captain.  He was a mighty captain in stature.  He stood tall in authority, yet very gentle in his ways.   He loved his ships & took great care and concern for them.  In his choosing, he would place very special cargo on a ship & then prepare the ship for a voyage.  He prepared the outside so to withstand any storms that may come.  He then strengthened the inside so that the cargo would have the safest travel.  This ship loved the special attention she always received. She always knew that she was in store for a special trip.

            One day the ship found herself being prepared for another special voyage.  She knew the voyage well, it would last for several months. She so enjoyed these months and the time she spent with the Lord Captain, especially the cargo that he placed in her ship.  Before she knew it she was on yet another voyage and excitement filled everyone. But for some reason she felt that this voyage would be different.  She wasn’t sure why. She had been on this voyage so many times before and she knew what to expect.  Yet, the feeling of difference was still there.

            She was so grateful to the Lord Captain that he had chosen her again for the long voyage and she told him so.  She talked with him often telling him how blessed she was to have such a loving and caring Captain.  He reminded her that he was the captain and that he would always take care of her and that she needed to trust him to guide her on this voyage.

            The days turned into weeks and the voyage seemed to be going like it always did.  Occasionally the ship would feel that pain of difference again, but thought nothing about it since it she knew that the Lord Captain was in charge.  She tried to sail very carefully since she knew that the cargo she had was very delicate.  Then one day the ship could not deny the pain of difference anymore.  She knew that this voyage was different.  The Lord Captain came to her and spoke carefully and lovingly to her.  He told her that the cargo she was carrying had reached its final destination and it was time for her to let the cargo off of her ship.  She didn’t understand.  Never before had the voyage been so short.  “What have I done wrong?  Why can’t I complete this voyage?” she asked him.  “You have completed this voyage and you did it well.  This voyage is not about you and how well you sail, it is about the cargo and me taking it to the place I have planned. You are only my vessel of which I use to transport my cargo to where I want it to be.  That is your purpose.  But this time my cargo was destined for a different destination than the rest.  My plan was different this time but my plans are always perfect.  This cargo could not have made the long voyage like the rest so I gave it a new destination. You have done everything I asked you to do; now I need you to trust me and let the cargo go.”  The ship did as her Lord Captain asked and as painful as it was she let the precious and delicate cargo go.  She wept as she watched the Lord Captain hold the cargo in his mighty strong arms and carry it off until she could see it no longer.  “Will you take care of it?” she asked, knowing how delicate the cargo is.  In the distance she heard her captain answer, “Forever, will I love and cherish it because I created it.”  The ship knew that one of these days she would see the cargo again, but only in the timing of the Lord Captain. She realized that the Lord Captain was right in that the cargo was not hers.  It was the creation of the Lord Captain and she was the vessel he used.  Her tears turned to joy as she realized how blessed that tiny cargo now was to be in the arms of the Lord Captain.

5 R’s to Remember when going through Tough Times

1. Release the need to know why.

• Job 13:15, ” God might kill me, but I have no other hope. I am going to argue my case with him.” (NLT)
• 2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

Just know that he is God and that he loves you and knows you deeper than anyone and wants you to love and believe that he is in control.

2. Remember the source of our strength is Christ.

• Hebrews 4:15,16, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

3.  Realize that we do not suffer alone.

• Isaiah 43:2,”When you pass through the waters,I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire,  you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.”

4. Rejoice in our future hope. 

• Romans 8:18, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
• 2 Corinthians 4:16-17, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”

5.  Restore hope to others and bring comfort.

• 2 Corinthians 1:3,4, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.”

God’s Grace Enables Me

Perseverance…who needs it! I do!

I recieved the most heartbreaking emails a few days ago.  A friend of mine had asked me to pray for her husbands’ brother & sister-law.  They had found out that they were pregnant.  It was very much unexpected, they were not planning on having a baby.  When they went in for a sonogram they were told that the baby most likely had downs syndrome & would have many other complications.  This was devestating news to them.  As with many doctors of today they were given the option of terminating the pregnancy.  That is when my friend asked us to please pray for them that they would not choose to terminate because they were considering it. 

My friend & her husband had experienced the same thing with their baby many years ago.  The baby had multiple problems and they were told that she would never make it to full term & the baby would not survive.  They were also given the option to terminate, but they refused, believing that God is the only giver & taker of life.  It would be up to God if he decided to take their baby girl and he did.  She delivered a very small baby girl and held the baby as she took her last breath.

My friend & her husband totally understand the turmoil that their brother & wife were going through and prayed fervently that they would not terminate the pregancy.

 The email I recieved the other day totally broke my heart & caused an anger to well up inside me as well as a sadness that consumed me.  The couple had decided to follow the doctors advice & the mother recieved an injection of the drug that would end her baby girl’s life.  They were now waiting for her body to respond & go into labor. 

“HOW COULD THEY DO THAT?”, I kept saying to myself.  I have never been in that situation myself, but I watched my friend go through it & still choose to not abort her baby.  I know the questions that went through their minds.  I know the anxiousness that they endured as they simply waited for their baby girl to die.  It was pure agony for them.

The life of the believer is not promised to be easy.  So many times people believe that if they say that prayer to accept Christ it is a ticket to an easy life with no more trials.  Then when trials do come, they feel cheated by God.

Scripture tells us over & over that we will endure trials.  Isaiah 43 is a great place to start.  But we never go through them alone.

James 1:2 tells us a strange thing.  He tells us to , “Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of many kinds.”  This verse baffled me when I was young in my salvation.  How are we to consider it a good thing when our life is falling apart?  How is losing your baby a joyful thing?  IT’S NOT!  That is not what James is saying.  He isn’t telling you to be glad that this is happening.  We are not expected to get all happy and gleeful when hard times happen to us.  There is more to the verse that helps to understand what he means.

Verse 3 says, “because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

Perseverance is being determined to see something through.  It is not wanting to take the easy way out.  My friend had perseverance when she did not abort her baby girl.  She saw it through to God’s end as painful as it was.

We hate it when something happens that is not how we planned.  We hate it when life gets very uncomfortable and we start looking for a way out.

I have had friends whose husbands have either lost their job, or have been threatened with job loss.  Immediately they begin making plans to sell their house or sell a carin preparations to make it through.  I encourage them to just wait.  Pray & wait.  If the Lord leads you to sell your house or car or take action like that then do it!  But if not, then wait & let him work.  He may have an absolutley amazing solution to what looks like an impossible situation, but you would miss out on it if you act based on your own panic to “do something”.

Developing perseverance will bring us to a new level in our relationship with God.  When we learn to embrace our trials rather than trying to get out of them we develop into mature christians.  Believe it or not our life as a christian is not based on how many trials we can experience.  It is based living in God’s grace. 

Living in God’s grace means that when a trial does come, you know that God is there and has a plan.  You can say to yourself that “God knows all about this and he is in control.”  You know that no matter how difficult or impossible the circumstance you will be stronger in the end.  It means that you know that you are not strong enough to endure that you have to rely on your God for strength and you are able to do that because of the perseverance you have developed.

 If you are in the midst of difficult times try just sitting still and asking God what to do.  Ask him to help you to respond in a way that will develop perseverance and maturity in you.  Just sit still and say,”help!”  If it is a true and pure request he will answer.  And be ready to be amazed at what he will do.

Take Me Away With You

 

 

We live such hurried lives.  Everywhere we are going we are on a time limit or trying to meet a deadline.  We eat on the go, read on the go(books on CD),parent on the go.  Our schedules often have mastered us. 

Sadly, I don’t remember much of the early days when me first children were babies.  I had my first five children in less than five years. I was in complete survival mode.  I had been a mother for only 5 years and a wife for six years.  It was all very new to me.  My memories are mostly of me hurrying around trying to get house work done while they napped.  And if anyone woke up before I was ready my mood turned ugly.  I wasted so many of my days worrying & racing towards things that just didn’t matter.

 

Psalms 119:60, “I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands.”

What are we always hurrying to?  Life is fleeting away and we are chasing it down.  David hastened, he hurried, he wasted no time in obeying God’s commands.  He understood the vital importance of obeying God rather than following man.  He had many opportunities to follow man’s advice, yet he chose to follow God instead.  Scripture calls him, “a man after God’s own heart.”

I truly believe that when we stand face to face with our God we will in that moment realize the reality of how short our life was and how much time we wasted on unimportant things.  You have heard it said to live today as if it were your last.  I don’t think that is bad advice at all.  We are not promised tomorrow, only today.

 

“Take me away with you – let us hurry!  Let the King bring me into his chambers.”

Song of Solomon 1:4

Christ is our groom.  He loves us with a love that we could never comprehend.  It is deeper than any depth on earth.  Yet, do we hurry to spend time alone with him?  Do we long to be with him in a close and intimate way?  We should.

Try praying this scripture to your God.  “Take me away with you.”  Just meditate on those words.  Clear your mind of all that clutters and distracts you from focusing on the Lord.  This prayer can help us to overcome our sense of urgency to accomplish tasks that do not bring uscloser to him.  Time with your Lord will bring you to a place in your life where God alone is your true desire.

God doesn’t want to be on the top of your list.  HE WANTS TO BE YOUR ENTIRE LIST!

He doesn’t want to be one of your loves.  HE WANTS TO BE YOUR ONLY TRUE LOVE.  He is a jealous God.  He wants all of your attention and devotion.

A person  hastens to obey God only when there are no hindrances in her relationship with Him.  Every hindrance to obediance reveals the existance of other loves in our life.

Do you have other loves?  Husband…Children…Church…Friends…Work?

My personal experience is that when Christ is my only love.  When my heart is all his & is not divded by other loves, everything else falls into place.  My husband gets my time, my children get my time & all of my other responsibilites are accomplished with out fret or frustration.  It is a totally illogical circustance…but it happens. 

 

Try praying this five simple words and see if it changes your prayer life.  If you can tell a difference, please let me know!

 

 

Real Beauty

 

I have been teaching Jr High girls the past few weeks at our church since September.  This has been a very big eye opening experience for me.  While I have really enjoyed getting to know these sweet young girls my heart grieves for some of them at the same time.  Lately our focus in our Bible study has been on becoming a Godly woman.  For some of these girls they are hearing some of this the first time.  They aren’t thinking about how to become godly women, they are just trying to survive their teen years. 

 One night we discussed our self worth.  I asked them how they define what they are worth.  They had no idea.  So, we delved into how the world defines our worth.  According to society our worth is based upon what we do, what we look like and what others think of you.  I broke this down for them and gave them examples that I found in today’s magazines such as Jessica Simpson, Donald Trump, and others.  Then we talked about how God defines our worth.  I showed them in the scriptures where God talks about what is valuable to him….us!

“The LORD has declared today that you are his people,

 his own special treasure.”

Deut. 26:18

     “You should be known for the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.”

1 Peter 3:4

 I realized that as I was preparing this lesson for them how many women I come across who also have fallen for the worlds way of defining their own beauty & worth.  As a teenager I remember thumbing through the pages of magazines wishing I could like just like those girls.  As I got older I realized the truth of the magazines that those girls don’t walk around looking like that, it takes a lot of make-up, hair spray & very often digital touch ups.I found this link to a video that was done of what actually happens to a model as they prepare her for a photo shoot & then what they do to her after the photo shoot. It is very good, I recommend that you take a look at it.  Click here to see it.  

As a mom, I have to understand where my real beauty is.  It isn’t in my face or hair or what I where.  All of that fades with age.  My real beauty is found deep in my soul.  This is where God looks, in my heart, not my face.  He doesn’t even define my worth by what I do.  I can work my socks off doing the greatest things ever, but if my heart is full of sin then my works are like filthy rags and worth nothing.

Moms, I totally believe that if we have a true and honest belief in who we are and what we are worth in the eyes of our Savior, then our daughters have a much better chance at gaining that same belief.  But, we can’t just know what we are worth in God’s eyes, we must talk about it & teach it to our daughters.

 I began talking with my girls when they were very little about what God thinks about them.  It is fun to get dressed up and put make up on and look really nice, but that isn’t who we really are inside.  It only makes it easier for others to look at us if we are pleasant to look at.  How many gorgeous women have you seen and then they opened their mouth and a string of foul words came flying out.  How pretty was she then?  Her outward appearance was only masking the true self.  It doesn’t matter how much make up we use, others will still see our real beauty.  Our hearts shine brighter than our appearance.  We can only cover up so much.

We must talk with our daughters.  Ask them about what is going on in their life?  What are they passionate about?  What really upsets them?  What really excites them?  I once asked my daughters while we were driving somewhere(I love the captive audience) what do they think their friends mothers should know about them?  WOW! I got some great answers.  I would have wrote them down, but I was driving. )  One answer was, “Just ask them what they like to do.” Another one was, “Ask them about their friends, who are they, who are their parents?” My very straight-to-the-point daughter said, “The moms need to be in their girls life.  They need to go with them, not drop them off places.”

 Then, I asked them what should moms say to their girls.  More great answers! 

“Just tell them they are pretty, no matter what they are wearing or if they like what they are wearing.” (I took this as a hint)

“Sometimes they don’t need to say anything, just listen.  Don’t critizie or preach, just listen.  Usually we can figure it out by ourself just by telling you about it.  If I can’t figure outwhat to do, then I ask you.” (another BIG hint to me)

Teaching our girls what they are worth has to begin with our relationship with our girls.

  In your eyes what are your daughters worth?  Do they know this? 

What do they think they are worth to you?

If God sees us as invaluable, precious & a treasure, shouldn’t we see our children in the same way.  If God can look beyond all of our faults, we need to do the same for our children.  Time is short.  Reach their hearts now.

Love is…God

I learned this verse as a young girl.  It was one of those feel good verses.  But as I got older and I continued to read this verse, I realized that this verse was simply describing God.

Look at the words.  Do they describe anything that he is not?  No, in fact he is even more than what is described in that verse.

How can I not love and live for one who is described like that?  One that I can always trust, though I can not be trusted.  One who happy with the truth, though I am not always truthful. One who keeps no record of wrongs, though I have a long memory of all who have hurt me.  One who never gives up on me though I have given up on myself many times.

God is eternal, he is unchanging, he is God, the beginning & the end.

Thank you my father for your love and the sweet fragrance it brings into my soul.