Well, the new year is quickly approaching.

What do you want this year?

 That is a question I've been pondering.

The answer...

I want to be more like Jesus!

I want Him to mold me and shape me into what He wants.

I want Him to continue to grow my faith.

I want Him to use my life to bring Him glory.

I want to be a better servant of all.

I want to be a better wife to the wonderful husband God has so graciously given me.

I want to be a better mother to the children that God has entrusted me to care for.

I want to love more.

I want to forgive more.

I want to see everyone as Jesus sees them, not through my physical eyes, but spiritual.

I want to fade into the background.

I want people to see Jesus when they look at me and glorify Him.

I want to give Him all the worship and adoration that only HE deserves.

I want to love the Lord my God with ALL my HEART, ALL my SOUL, ALL my MIND, and ALL my STRENGTH.

I want to laugh more.

I want to play more.

I want to make EVERY day count!

The great thing about all these things is that I know each one of them can be fulfilled in my life.

As I seek Him in His Word and obey His calling on my life it will happen!

Thank You Lord for the life that YOU alone have given to me.

My hearts desire is to be set apart for You.

 Help me to make the most of this life for Your glory.

Please give me Your strength to endure the hardships, trials, tribulations, and persecution that come my way,  with rejoicing, for I know they will come, but it will be worth it in the end.

My hearts desire is to hear You say, when I meet You in heaven,

"Well done my good and faithful servant."

I've been reading in Jonah this morning, and it occurred to me that people try to run from the Lord all the time. They try to escape what He has for their lives. Does this make any sense to any of you? It doesn't to me, considering, how can one hide from the God who made the universe?

We all must be a bit prideful to think that we can hide from the One who sees all.

What arrogance on our part!

The Lord also has shown me that when we are told to do something for Him and we don't, we willfully rebel against the Lord as Jonah did, we put others in jeopardy.

Jonah tried to flee from the presence of the Lord (Jonah 1:3; 1:10). He paid to board a ship to get as far from the Lord as possible...While he was on the ship, a great storm came and threatened everyone on board. You know what? While everyone else was calling out to their (false)gods, Jonah was sleeping below deck as if he had not a care in the world.

 How does that work? His disobedience caused the problem for the rest of the passengers, yet he slept like a baby. He wouldn't even call out to God, and He believed in the One True Living God, or so he said. Why? Because  He knew why this storm was raging and threatening all of their lives. He knew it was his fault, but he didn't care. He pretended as if the storm didn't exist.  He didn't care that his disobedience was putting others through great turmoil and stress.

That is so like the person who is living in willful rebellion against the Lord. They could be living in lala land, pretending that everything is alright. They act as if nothing is wrong when everything around them is crumbling away, and the people that they say they love are getting hurt. They take no responsibility for their actions which caused the catastrophe they're in.

Jonah had finally taken responsibility, after the storm had gotten so bad that it looked like they  would all die, and after the others on the ship confronted him.(better late than never) He told the men that the only way to calm the sea was to throw him overboard, because he was the cause of their troubles. (Jonah 1:12-15)

Interesting...

Jonah disobeys God. Others suffer. He ignores the problem.Then, when he can't take it any more, he finds a quick fix to it. Did his quick fix end the suffering of the people? Yes. They saw that when they through him overboard. God  calmed the sea....they had to give Jonah to the Lord and then they had peace!

 Did the quick fix help Jonah? Well, it wasn't exactly instant. It took him a few days in the belly of the fish to come to the place where God could speak to him.

There are a couple of lessons in this for us....

When there is someone in our lives that is rebelling against the Lord, we must give them into His hands in order to have true peace. If we don't we will suffer, unnecessarily I might add, right along with that person. God wants us to give them to Him so He can work in their lives.

AND

Change isn't always instant. We need to give our loved one/s to the Lord and continually lift them up in prayer that the Lord can do a work in them His way and in HIS time. We need to stay out of the way and let God do what ONLY HE CAN DO!

 

After Jonah was thrown  overboard, the Lord sent a great fish to swallow him up. You see, being in the great fish gave Jonah lots of time to reflect on his actions and attitude toward the Lord, the One in whom he said he feared (Jonah 1:9).He had a chance to be alone and be quiet so that the Lord could speak to him once again.

We need to look at our lives and take account of what is going on in it, evaluate why these things are happening, take responsibility for any part we may have played in getting to this point,  seriously look at the pain and suffering we are causing others by living our lives in this manner, and repent to the Lord.

When we rebel against the Lord, we aren't the only ones being hurt. We hurt those we say we love.

While in the great fish, Jonah became broken. He realized what he was doing, rebelling against the Lord, and he repented to the Lord. He realized that God could've let him die in his rebellion, but He didn't. He saved him from an everlasting separation from Himself. He praised the Lord and acknowledged that his salvation came from the Lord only. Only after he acknowledged his sin and repented of it did the Lord save his life (physically and spiritually).

In conclusion....

Our God...

 is a MIGHTY God!!

is JUST!!

is LONGSUFFERING!!

is FORGIVING!!

is LOVING!!

HE IS A GOD OF SECOND CHANCES!!!!

If you are in the place where Jonah was, in rebellion against the Lord and hurting yourself and those you love, know that the Lord Jesus is calling to you and wants to restore you back to Himself. He loves you and will forgive you of ALL your sins(EVERYTHING you've done wrong) and rebellion. All you need to do is  cry out to Him. Confess that you are a sinner and the things you have done, repent (running away from those things that you have called sin) from those things, and ask Jesus to come into your heart. He is ready, willing, and able to save you! That is why He willingly died a brutal death, on the cross. He did it because He loves you and He wants you to be with Him for eternity in heaven. Jesus is the only way to heaven! Only through Him will you find salvation and true peace.

If you are someone who is feeling the effects of someone you love who is running from the Lord, rest in the Lord. Give your loved one to Him continually and watch what He does. He is faithful! He will reveal Himself in His time.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians4:6-7

My weight loss in a nut shell...

At the beginning of the year I posted about my weight problem. I didn't follow through the way I intended to, but here are some details.

I tried, I failed, I tried some more, I failed, I tried even more, I failed, I gave it to God, I succeeded!!!

Basically, what that means is that I tried to lose weight the way I've always learned, by the wisdom of the world. I know soooooooo much about nutrition, exercise, calorie intake, etc, etc, etc...yet putting that wisdom into action gave me little to no positive results at all. Then my aunt let me know about this Bible study that is about dealing with Feasting on Jesus instead of food...The main idea of the study was to view food and the sin issues of your heart that lead one to overeat, starve themselves, binge and purge, etc in the light of the Word of God. To focus on Jesus and His wisdom instead of the world's wisdom. What a wonderful ride that was!!

Not only was I confronted, encouraged, and strengthened, but I was transformed from the inside out. What an amazing experience! In less than 3 months I lost 27lbs. That was all focusing on Jesus. I did exercise, but it was only really walking  or doing a 30-45 minute dvd once  a day, sometimes not even that. God showed me that it wasn't what I was eating, or how I was eating, or the kind of exercise I did or didn't do,  that was the problem, it was my heart that was the problem. I was looking to fill my soul with physical food instead of spiritual food from the Word. When I stopped trying to fill my soul that way I noticed changes, spiritually and physically...it was amazing. I have since gained about 7 lbs back, b/c the last part of the study was a 20 day fast, and that was expected, but I feel fabulous and am continuing on my journey. My goal is to get to 130 by summer of 2011...I believe that whether I succeed at that or not doesn't really matter, but that, as I continue this journey, the more important thing will be accomplished..that is I will be blessed with a more intimate, deeper, relationship with Jesus than ever before..I will have an abundance of His peace throughout this sometimes very chaotic life of mine, and  I will be blessed with joy unexplainable. All praise and glory to my LORD!!

If you're interested in the study that I did, go to;

http://www.settingcaptivesfree.com/ and click on The Lord's Table. It is a free online study (you can also purchase the study and have the books sent to your home...i chose the online study...they are both the same..) I encourage everyone to check it out...you will be so blessed that you did :)

If you do the study, I would encourage you to keep a journal of your journey. I kept one in a notebook...it's great to go back and review what you've learned. <3

A Question

I was asked a very reasonable, normal question about a week ago, and I've been pondering it ever since. "What's the question?" you may be asking
. "What do you need for your birthday?"
Quite simple, isn't it? Most people would love to be asked this question. It's the chance to get something you really want, but maybe wouldn't buy for yourself, right? I have been probing my mind to find something I need so I can answer this question. You know what I came up with?

I don't NEED anything!

In fact, I don't even want anything.

I have everything I need already.

I came upon this Scripture this morning that confirmed this to me...

"For the Mighty One has done great thigns for me; And holy is His name. And His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him. "Luke 1:49-50

You see, I don't need anything because He has given me everything I need. He has blessed me beyond measure. I'm not talking about financial or material blessing, but something even more blessed. He has given me life, eternal life with Him! What more could one need?
Beyond that, He has given me a wonderful family, immediate, extended, church, friends, etc. He has blessed me with a husband who loves me and is always looking out for me. I'm not worthy of that. He has blessed me with four awesome children who have changed my life forever. He has blessed my husband with a job that pays the bills. I have a place to live, food on the table, clothes on my back, my health...it's not perfect, but I know it could be sooooooo much worse. He has blessed me with so much more than I can ever express, and for this I am truly thankful.

I'm not concerned with material or financial gain...it profits me nothing in the end. The only thing I really need noone but God can give to me; That is a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. A greater understanding of His will for my family and my life. Godly wisdom and discernment would be a great gift too. So what would help me on my quest for these things?
I know what I need...a new Bible!!! Mine is falling apart from being so loved...Praise the LORD!! I NEED a new Bible :)
And now I have an answer to that question. Thank You Jesus <3

2 Peter 1:2-3
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;
 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us [fn] by His own glory and [fn] excellence.