Putting Broken Pieces Back Together

Tonight with Chris and Alex being away, Katy Beth and I decided to have a movie night. We were both excited about our time together, " just us girls". We went to Red Box and looked through all the movies. I wanted a girlie movie for girls night and Katy Beth really wanted to see Hugo because she had read the book and we hadn't seen it in the theater. Hugo is not the typical kind of book or movie genre I enjoy but it is one that Katy Beth truly loves so of course we got the movie. It is mother/daughter night after all. I must say it is quite an odd movie but one that has some interesting parts to it that I rather enjoyed. I know it was mostly the great company but there really was one part of the movie that really caught my attention, so much so that I had to rewind it twice because I wanted to capture the words. Hugo and the young girl were up in the clock tower where he lives and they were discussing the importance of machines and how they work ( if you haven't seen the movie it has a lot to do with machines, engineering, and how things work) so anyway, the two are discussing the importance of machines and Hugo very clearly and deliberately says, " Well, everything has a purpose. Even machines have a purpose, trains take you places, clocks tell you what time it is.They do what they are meant to do. Maybe that is why broken machines make me so sad. They can't do what they are meant to do. Maybe it is the same with people. When you lose your purpose it is like you are broken. " And the little girl says," Like George, he has lost his purpose." These two kids got it. They saw that the girl's godfather had lost his purpose in life. He was broken. I had to pause for quite some time and really think about this. We all have a purpose here on Earth. One that I believe God has intended specifically for each of us. How many times do we let the world and circumstances in the world consume us where we can't focus on our true purpose for being here? How many times are we so caught up in our own worlds that we can't see the hurt and lose of purpose someone else is feeling? You never know what someone is going through. Sometimes we don't know because often the outside looks okay but it is the inside that is really broken. We have to be mindful of our purpose so we can always be ready to share that purpose with someone who needs to know, someone who is broken and needs to be put back together. Just like a broken machine, a broken person just needs one person to help them put the pieces back together so they can become new and do what they were meant to do.

What I'm Learning about Unfailing Love...

I love summer time. As an educator, it is a time that I can truly sit back and rest, learn, listen and grow in my walk with God. The school year can be very hectic and crazy but summer always gives me a time to grow deeper in my walk with God. Many youth and kids have summer camps where they get to deepen their relationship with God but for me it is the extra time I get to spend with Him each and every morning of the summer. This summer God seems to be teaching me more than I ever thought possible. He is showing me some areas of my life that He has wanted full control over for quite some time and I am now able to give Him that control. One of those things was what I wrote about in my last post the difference between Believing In God and Believing God. Through a Beth Moore study on strongholds that I am doing with a very close group of friends on Wednesday mornings, God is showing me some areas of my life that I really didn't think I had "issues" with but WOW can His Word shine a light on the things He wants us to get. Thinking back on this one thing, I can see time and time again in my life where He has wanted me to get it and I think at times maybe I have but have not totally surrendered it. The area is a craving and a desire for unfailing love and that desire to be met by HIM and ONLY HIM, nothing else. As a woman this is especially hard at times, God created us for this desire but in our world it is SO easy to try to fill our cup with so many other things than God. These other things are, as I am learning, sometimes even "good" things. Beth Moore writes," God created us with a cavernous need that we would seek to fill until we found Him." How many times in my life have I tried to fill this cavernous need with other things than HIM ALONE? All to often I am afraid, for many years it was buying things. I loved to fill this void with stuff. Sometimes it may be a hamburger and fries that can fill this craving if I have had a long hard day. Recently I have filled this need by staying busy doing "good" things for God. Other times, I try to have my awesome, amazing, wonderfully loving husband fill this need. But God is showing me that NOTHING can fill this cavernous need for unfailing love but HIM. As awesome as some of our relationships on Earth can be with friends and loved ones, it truly goes back to HIM. Beth Moore goes on to say, " Searching for perfect, unfailing love in anyone ( and I would add anything) else is not only fruitless it is disappointing and destructive." We are not free to love in the true intent of the word until we have found love. I believe I have found this love in Jesus Christ but for quite some time now I haven't been spending enough time with Him in total surrender so my cup could be filled to the brim by HIM alone so I could then love others with all of my heart. I am praying that through this surrender of this stronghold that I will seek HIM first each morning and get my cup filled completely by Him so that I do not go around throughout the day trying to get my cup filled by approval of others ( can I get an amen), affirmation, control, success or immediate gratification ( shopping and food). WE were made to have this constant craving for love, but it can't be filled with anything else but GOD through His son Jesus Christ. I would encourage each of you to dig a little deeper, what things do you try to fill your cup with? We all do it. We all have things we try to fill our cup with, surrender those to God and get filled by Him. Then once we are filled by Him first, other love from others is just a bonus and we are much more pleasurable to be around when our cups are filled by Jesus first. My new life verse: Psalm 143:8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.

Believing In God and Believing God: What I'm Learning Is the Difference

Do you ever have a time in your life when you are sensing a theme that God is trying to get across to you and He is using every avenue to do so? Well, that is what I have experienced over the last several weeks. God has been trying to show me that there is a huge difference in believing "in" Him and believing Him. What does that mean exactly, well as a Christian I believe in God. I know He is The Almighty, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. He created Heaven and Earth, but do I believe Him? The answer I believe comes through my prayer life. When I have a problem, do I go to my best friend on the phone or do I pray to God? When I find out great news, do I always send out a shout of praise and thank God? The answer is sometimes but not always. The other question I have to ask myself is, do I always believe that He hears my prayer and do I believe Him to answer that prayer? Through our 360 series at church and the bible study I do with some of my closest friends on Wednesday mornings, God is most definitely showing me a theme. He wants me to do more than just believe "in" Him. He wants me to believe Him. If it says in the bible, " Ask and you will receive..." believe it! That doesn't mean that everything I ask I will receive, another thing I am learning is that He answers in different ways, immediately, delayed, or differently. He knows what we need before we even ask it so He may have a different or better plan or even a delayed plan. Sometimes He may even say " No" because He knows the plans that He has for us. He declares that for us. But, I do know that I have to ask with a believing heart. Like the man in Mark 9:223-24, Jesus says to him, Everthing is possible for him who believes, and he responds, " I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief." My prayer is that God would continue to grow in me a pure heart that is full of faith. That no matter what that if I pray and ask with a pure heart,earnestly ask it in God's will and asking it in Jesus Name that one way or the other God will answer my prayer. There are two specific strongholds in my life that I am circling with prayer and believing God to give me insight and freedom from at this time in my life. What is it that you need to believe God for? It is one thing to believe "in" God and another to believe God. Ask him and believe that he will answer you. It may be immediately, delayed or differently but I believe He will answer me and He will answer you if we only believe...

A New Year and A New Thought

With a new year started, I have been thinking about the possiblities that a new year can bring. There is so much hope in what is yet to come. Three times this week I have been in my car listening to our local Christian radio station and a certain song has come on. The song is, Everything You Do, by Stephen Curtis Chapman. This song has really made me think about... well... EVERYTHING. It really is our attitude towards the circumstances in life that can be so telling of our walk with God. In everything that I do, whether that be creating a sunday school lesson, folding laundry... finding those socks that never seem to match up, have a heart to heart with a teacher who is struggling in their marriage. If I think about doing EVERYTHING I do to HIS GLORY then I have done what I am called to do. Whatever walk of life we are in, we are called to do whatever He has called us to do to HIS GLORY. I plan on listening to this song each day this year as I meditate on these words and try to bring HIM GLORY each day. I know I may fail at times but I am so thankful for his LOVE and HIS GRACE.  Here is a link to the song. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEqdDdvFXZ0