Monday, September 28, 2009

More on Woman Genesis 3:16

The things I do.... BTW, these steaks were the shiz. So yummy. I love everything about this house but the kitchen.

As I have written, I am getting ready our next Bible study on women. I am relying on the Concordance on woman and God's direction on this. For years I have been perplexed by the role of women and the practice of slavery throughout the Bible. I know lots of standard answers to these questions but still, I find no acceptable answers. There is really no good excuse for the treatment of women and the practice of slavery. Why didn't God say not to do it? So I figured I'd study it. I am tackling women first since the ladies want to study women.

I was reading Wendy Blight's posts about women and they were wonderful, presenting women in such a wonderful place in creation. We completed God's creation, he made us last. Creation was not complete until woman was made. What a special place in history we have! We were made because of a need, to fill a lack. God saw it was not good for Adam to be alone and he needed also someone to work along side him. She was a gift, a wife made special for Adam. She would be his help meet, his spouse, a person to work along side him, she would bear his children and they were created in God's image. She would love him and he would love her, they were created to exist in perfect harmony. That was the intention.

But something went horribly wrong! The devil was able to tempt Eve first. The thing is that the bible says that Adam was right there with her. The KJV and the NIV both say Adam was with her. What was he doing, just watching the exchange and then waiting to see if Eve would die if she ate it and when she didn't he took a bite too when she gave it to him? I was always told Eve went and took the "apple" to Adam. The bible says he was with her.

After God has come down and talked with them about this first sin, Eve admits the serpent deceived her, Adam blames Eve and neither ask for forgiveness. God gives his judgement of woman at Genesis 3:16. This is where things get poopy for women.

Genesis 3:16 (KJV) Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thy shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

Well, there you go. Her desire will be for her husband and he will rule over her. I have looked up some theories on this. Some translations for the word desire in Hebrew wording can carry two meanings. Desire as in a sexual longing, meaning unusual and striking or desire as in the desire to overcome and defeat another.

So, does God if you take the two translations that the Hebrew word for desire can mean imply that woman will long for her husband in a loving way and he will rule over her or does it mean that woman will try to overcome man (the battle of the sexes, woman's need to be equal to or better than man) and she will fail, man will always be the ruler of earth and the home.

Certainly worth studying. I have always wondered why God had allowed the treatment of women to be so harsh and demeaning. In the beginning he clearly had a desire for women to hold a special place of love, companionship and to work alongside of Adam. Travel a little further along in the bible and we see how little women mean to men. Two men are in a home with a wife and a daughter and the men of the village want the man who is visiting (with his wife) to be given over to them so they can all have gang sex with the visiting man. They villagers are banging on the door and are violently trying to get at the man. What do the men do? They throw out the wife and the daughter to be gang raped, violently slaughtered. How disgusting is that? What really infuriated me more than anything was where it says that when they got up in the morning and opened the door to see the dead woman lying at the front door. Um, they actually could sleep while they knew the wife and daughter were being violently gang raped and tortured? They should have been up all night tearing their hair out at their cowardliness!! They actually went to sleep. That was not God's intention when he created woman. So is this the place that he now wanted them? I can't imagine how, since God is love.

Our original sin placed this curse upon us. I have to believe that this was punishment for a time because journeying into the New Testament we see Ephesians 5 telling us to submit one to another and care for each other, to love each other. As time has moved further along we see men becoming less harsh and women coming closer to the original role God had intended. What a shame, as women are so special. Man and woman are both so special and we lose so much of what God intended for us by each trying to dominate or not be dominated. If we could get to that place of putting each other's needs more important or even just as important as our own we could find that special place where ruling or dominance are not words we even use. Leadership and respect should be key words.

But alas, that was the curse that changed it all. I want to spend some time looking hard into God's original purpose for woman, the curse and then the Proverbs 31 woman. What does all of this mean for the woman of 2009? What does this mean for the man of 2009? How should he view woman? How should he view his role in his home?

More to come....


Saturday, September 26, 2009

Woman

Did you ever look at yourself and just want to barf? Okay, yes I didn't do my hair and make up that day but good glory, 12 years ago I was a size 6 and 115 lbs. Barf barf barf!!! Well, Braxton is almost 3 and for goodness sake I am going to take a stand and make/force/demand that my oldest and my husband watch our youngest so I can go workout again. Nobody will watch him and if I take him to a place with daycare he just screams and they always make me take him and leave the gym. :( I have certainly tried..... But after looking at this picture, argh, I'll be turning 40 in December and frankly, God has been dealing with me about my health and weight. Not good. Do you like my boot? It is heavy!! Hate that dumb thing and those annoying crutches. I do however love that bottle of Caswell Massey Gardenia lotion next to me, yummy yummy it smells fabulous. LOVE Caswell Massey almond products, I am all out, need more. Highly recommend Caswell Massey. It is the oldest company in the United States and the soap provider at the White House too. I used to sell it :). Great company, awesome products.

I am going to do my next Bible study after we finish 2 more sessions on Discovering God's Will For Your Life on the topic of "Woman". Wendy Blight has been doing some great studies on women on her blog. Love Wendy's book, don't be deceived by the title, even if you happy as a clam this book is a life changer, please buy it if you haven't. I don't endorse books lightly. You can get a good read for a buck at Goodwill, Wendy's book is totally worth buying. Anyhoo, I spent time in Proverbs 31: 10-31 which is noted as being in the Life App. Bible as the "Epilogue: The Wife of Noble Character". I made notes off to the side as to what the character traits of the noble wife are:

1. Valuable- do you consider yourself valuable & does your family?

2. Trustworthy- her husband has full confidence in her- how do we care for what we are trusted with?

3. Lacks nothing of value- I took this as a spiritual value, of a full supply of the important things in life. Love, joy, happiness, good character traits, honest. etc. But it says nothing, not just spiritual..... do you have value in your own personal life? Women often de value themselves and leave themselves for last and do not take care of their needs.

4. Walks in love- doing and caring for others, bringing good and not harm. Does that describe me?

5. Eagerly does her work. - oh boy. Yes, that includes household chores.

6. Takes care of her family- she is like the merchant ships that bring food. She gathers and supplies for her family. She provides meals for her family and cares for them.

7. Makes wise financial decisions- hmmmmm. In the verse she has considered a field, bought it and out of her earnings she has planted a vineyard.- She has not been recklessly spending, she is thinking about how to benefit her family in finances also. She is also earning income here. How can we save money or bring in income? What can we do to benefit our family with our money?

8. Vigorously works- so she is not laying around all day and then cleaning up an hour before the hubby gets home? She is vigorously working and taking care of her responsibilities. No All My Children or General Hospital for her! Can she listen to them while she vigorously works I wondered?

9. She can make money with her skills- in the verse she sees that her trading is profitable and her lamp does not go out at night- she has used her funds to take care of her home's needs also, not just the hubster. She can use her skills to bring in income. How often in the past have I been taught women should not work and the hubby should bring in the money? Clearly the woman here is using her skills to make money.

10. Helps those in need & the poor.- what are any of us doing to help the poor and needy? It's not hard, do you know a family in need? It can be as simple as looking up their address and anon. mailing gift cards to the grocery store, hair cut place, Wal Mart. Do you know of a run down home you drive by often? Look at the address on the mailbox, you already know the street, mail them gift cards and you can pray for them every time you drive by. I dare you to do that and I would challenge you to see how God blesses that family. In time, you would need to move on to another run down house. Helping can be that simple. Do you like to bake? Bake and take it someplace like a teen shelter, a homeless shelter. Everyone can help, do we?

11. Clothes her family well to their needs.- She makes sure they are warm in the cold, they have what they need.

12. She takes care of her home- She makes coverings for her bed- she is aware of the needs of her home and I have to believe she has made her home a comforting place to be in. She has decorated her home, she has cleaned it and gathered in what the family needs to be happy and comfortable. - What do our homes say about how we care for our family?

13. She is clothed as she deserves- (CONVICTION ALERT!!) What do most women do..... they spend and do for everyone but leave themselves for last or do not take care of themselves much at all. The hubby and kids have new clothes and she has the old worn clothes, she gets irregular hair cuts, she has old "holy" underwear, she does not do her hair or clothe herself to show she is a valuable person. Clothe yourself as you deserve, but also clothe your family as well. We are not to be selfish but we are not to be self deprecating either. Does our appearance say I am worthy?

14. Has a respectable husband- she not only has noble qualities but her husband conducts himself in a noble manner also. Men have responsibilities also and they need to take care of them.
If you are married to a selfish husband, or a man of not so trustworthy character how much harder is it for this woman to be noble herself? She has harmony in her home, both spouses are of good character and respectable, they are treating each other well and both fulfilling their duties. The wife can do her wifely duties so much better as well as the husband doing his when both partners are behaving as they should. If one partner is dropping the ball then there are consequences and both will suffer.

15. She is clothed with strength and dignity- she is not a whimpering door mat, she is not weak and unable to weather the storms of life, no she is strong. She knows where her strength comes from, she is strong in the Lord, in her faith and she is able to carry on. She has dignity, she values herself and does not sink to lowly things of the world. She does not think lowly of herself and she does not conduct herself in a lowly manner.

16. She laughs- she is able to laugh, she is fun and not a sourpuss. Lots of women are always saying to their children "Not now, I am busy." They are busy cleaning or doing chores. The noble wife knows she needs to take time to laugh and enjoy life and not just work. Play, laugh, enjoy the life you have been given.

17. She speaks wise words- she is not calling up Mary to fill her in on the latest gossip in Bethlehem. She is not full of idle chatter.

18. She has faithful instruction on her tongue- she means good things with her words and seeks to help others and build them up. She has praises on her lips, compliments her husband and children, she gives kind words when needed and helps to guide those around her.

19. She is busy supervising her household affairs- She is supervising and involved in anything that will effect her household. Her home is her priority and everything in it. Her home is her reflection and a priority. She runs it, it does not run her.

20. She is busy and not idle- she is not a couch potato or surfing the net most of the day. She takes care of business and then she plays and enjoys her life.

21. She is respected by her children and her husband- "Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also,"- They call her this because they can see God in her life, she has done as she should and God has blessed her. She has walked in love and helped the needy and she has good upstanding character and she is strong in the Lord, God will bless this woman and her family will see it.

22. She is praised by her husband- (CONVICTION ALERT FOR THE MEN!!) If she is fulfilling her areas of responsibility and loving and caring for her man, he should also be doing these things for her and he should be praising her for her good works in her duties. Often in these times women work full time jobs and still are taking care of the majority of the things done to run a home and care for the children. If she is doing this a man of noble character will praise her for it. (Feel free to show verse 28 to your hubby if he does not acknowledge all you do.) You know, people need to feel appreciated, they need praise. We should be giving and receiving praise.

23. She is rewarded for her works and praised- Did you see that in verse 31? Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. Not keep denying yourself and being dowdy and wearing the same old things in the same old pony tail. Not being oppressed by an abusive or neglectful mate, not treating herself and feeling guilty for it. No, she is to be rewarded for her works. She is a beautiful woman inside and she is to enjoy her life. She works hard, plays hard and she prays hard. She should enjoy her family, her home and her life. She is not to be denied or told well that's what you are supposed to do, no she is to be praised and rewarded. She works in her home and sometimes she works outside and inside the home and she deserves to be respected, praised and rewarded for these things. She has cared for her family and so also should they care for her.

WOW. After really looking at those scriptures and writing down what I just did I would really love to be that woman and have that marriage. I see things I do and things I could do better and things I don't much do as often as I should. Do you see any things here that moved you? Being a woman is hard and we are supposed to stay looking young and beautiful while we do all the enormous tasks we take on. We are over exposed, it's hard to sit down to watch a show even with your husband without him getting a good look a few ladies in their bra and panties and this is not supposed to bother us? Life is tough for women and quite often unfair. Why is it unfair? Because people are just too dern busy taking care of themselves and their own needs and not their families and spouses. There are plenty of women who take care of their own needs first and neglect on hands parenting so they can pursue their pleasures for certain. Our children suffer most in this society as they are being left to parent themselves and watch video games and the TV. We just want to do what we want to do as a society and this is not what we were meant for. We are meant to care for each other. I care for my husband and respect him and care for my children and in return they should do the same for me. I wonder how many households can truly say this about how they treat each other. When was the last time someone got up for something and asked the other people in the room if they could get them anything while they were up or from a room they were going into? Sigh. I think I am going to be parking myself in these verses for awhile.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Honest Conversations With My Teen


My beautiful girl.
I have been given a wonderful opportunity with my sweet girl the last few weeks. I have always thought it was the right thing to do to be extremely honest with my kids. I always knew it would pay off in the end even though it meant having conversations that I would sometimes rather not or admitting to things I would rather not. But, I always knew it would pay off and that some day in a time of need and confusion my children would come to me and not their worldly friends for help. Well, it paid off.
My poor sweet baby, what can I say, boys are dummies these days. She has been through the wringer this month, betrayed, hurt, and at a crossroads. She must begin making tough decisions that involve her faith and her life in the world where we live. Tough decisions, decisions that make boyfriends dump you. She is learning that you can't believe what people tell you, even when they are telling you that they love you. She is learning to judge by actions and not words. She is learning that people will say anything to get what they want and believing those lies can be so devastating when you learn they were all lies.
She is experiencing for the first time the sting of betrayal and that horrible sense of self doubt and shame that a bad relationship can dump on us girls. At at pivotal time in her life when she could be consumed with doubt and negative feels that could affect future relationships she came to me. I was so happy and so scared to hear what she needed to say. Thankfully she has stayed true to her faith but she has to keep on paying a price for it. Goodness, it wasn't this hard when I was a teen. I would have never come to my mom with this situation, way too embarrassing, but how awesome that she did. The lies and dumb things people do and say to us when we are young can stay with us and emotionally damage us but I am so happy to have been a guide for her and a mentor to help her deal with this tough life. We have cried, gotten angry at a dirty dog, we laughed, we hugged, cried some more, smiled and wiped tears. But after a couple of weeks she is good, and she feels healthy. She could have been scarred and had some really negative feelings about herself. I am so happy that honesty births trust. I am so happy she stays faithful to her values and does not let herself be manipulated. God bless her.
Sometimes life is so hard and there is such pressure to not be a teen that lives for God. Her life would be so much easier if she did not. But thankfully God restores all things for those who love him. He keeps her, He loves her and He must bring the man who will love her into her life. I have encouraged her to pray for boyfriends who love God and stay true to those moral values also, she did not realize she could do that. My bad, sometimes we pray these things for our kids but forget to tell them that they can do it too. I encouraged her to begin praying for the husband she will one day have and God will keep her.
Why had I never taught her that before? Once again a reminder that we have little ones that need ministering to, it's not just the world that needs us. It is our children who we should also daily minister to and teach them the things we have already learned and know. Our children need to know we will love them just as much when they make bad decisions and so will God. They need to know they will make mistakes and that although it's not okay to do wrong things that they are not godly outcasts at that point and that they should never feel like God doesn't like them anymore or not want to go to church 'cause they feel bad about something. Godly repentance, I haven't taught my kids about that yet. I see now that I should have. So I will begin to do so. How scary to think that doubt or fear could keep someone from sticking around with God. Hmmm, what else haven't I shared with my kids? Honesty is the best policy I was always told. Maybe I'm too honest but I sure do know what is going on with my kids and that is not something the majority of parents of teenagers can honestly say.
Oh, and if you have middle school age kids and up, please check up on their Facebooks and My Space sites!!! I see Lexie's all the time and her friends have almost nude pics up all the time and shots of them drunk as skunks with the beer still in their hands, pics of them simulating sex acts and such. Um, don't their parents even check these things? ACK!!!!!

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Fear of Stepping Out

I do not know why but I feel like God has heavily impressed upon me to talk about fear today.

Fear of stepping out.

Why be afraid? You already know your heavenly Father so well, you love him & you already place so much trust in him. Why be afraid? You know he is sovereign, he is all powerful, you know all of his names. You could teach a class on his names! Yet fear is still there. He wants you to step out, but you are afraid. Step out. Just do it!

What is the worst that could happen? I mean really? But hasn't God spoke it? God does not give us assignments & leave us to fail at them.

TRUST. Beth Moore once said wherever your mind is spewing worry, that is where you do not trust God. That was convicting for me when she said that. Where is your mind spewing worry? What are you afraid of that God wants you to do? You already know He will be working in you and with you to help you accomplish what He asks. His word says so. I feel like I am supposed to say to someone that you are supposed to stop taking "baby steps". STEP OUT fully in the trust we should have in him. Self doubt is your enemy. Fine, empty you of yourself then & fill yourself up with the power of the Holy Spirit!! Can you deny it's power? Can you deny your destiny? Can you deny your calling?

The time is now. This is your time. You have been called & God has counted you worthy to do it. Are we going to argue with God? Are we going to miss our blessing of being obedient to him? Just do it. Maybe you feel completely inadequate because God made you to be full of humble qualities because He planned to use you for so many great things and He didn't want you to become full of yourself! Maybe your self doubt is really a blessing that God did not give you a personality that tends to think much of yourself so that when He worked in you there would be room for Him to work and not your own ego and self worth. Have you ever thought of that? Stop self doubting and realize that you are not inadequate, you are just humble. Being humble is a blessing but it can only be so if you recognize that your lack of being full of confidence if your own abilities makes room for all of God's abilities to work in YOU!! Please re read that last sentence.

If you think you may be so uncomfortable putting yourself out there, how would you like to be a young person who is counted the least in the family and have the task of tending the animals on your farm and have a prophet show up and anoint you King of Israel? Now, is what God has asked of you bigger than that? That is what happened to David and it turned out pretty good for him in the end.

Wouldn't you rather do it on your own before God gives you a push so to speak? Hmmmm........?
Somebody already doesn't like you. Somebody already right now does not want to listen to what you have to say. So fearing that is quite useless, people already don't care and think you are a dork so why are you not doing whatever because people may not like you or your whatever you have to do. Somewhere, someplace somebody already does think those things and it does not affect you one bit. People love Joyce Meyer and google her name, tons of posts saying she is a false teacher. She teaches anyway. People love Christian greats like Michael W. Smith, Steven Curtis Chapman, but tons hate their music too, yes they do. People love Billy Graham, and lots of people think is a false teacher too. Someone will always love you and someone will always not like you. DUH. What we need to be concerned is what does God think about me and what I am doing with what God is moving me to do.

Now, just go do it! Easy peasy.

That was for someone and that's all I can say about that. It may have been for me even.

Have a great day,

Jenn

Monday, September 21, 2009

What do you smell like?

I've been pondering a lot lately what makes a person not "get it" concerning what our Christian walk should be. I include myself in this.

What makes us not want to fully live for God?

What makes us think when we are mostly living in the world and gratifying sinful desires that we are still in a good place with God? I can remember not going to church almost at all in my twenties but I prayed lots and I definitely belonged to the "good girls club". I lived a life according to the rules that would have been God pleasing but I was unchurched, danced like nobody's business at dance clubs (Sunday nights at the American Pie were my favorite), and although I never showed cleavage, I did wear tight pants & showed my belly when I went out and if you had asked me I would have not have had a single conviction about my life. I absolutely would have told you that I was a good Christian girl.

In my case, I knew all about God but I did not know God. I knew how I should live and that's what I did. I did not understand. Why I wonder? I mean, God has been around a really long time and by now shouldn't we know what we are supposed to do and be taught it as little kids? Why 2009 years after Jesus's death is each generation struggling with their Christian walk? Why don't we already just know? I look at the things I teach my kids and oh what I wouldn't give to have been taught this stuff!

But, back to the question. Why don't people want Jesus or want Him fully in their lives?

As Christians, we know we have the goal of making ourselves more like Jesus. We know we are being refined to reflect His image. I've heard that my whole life but I was 30 with a baby dying at Scottish Rite before it hit me. And even then, it took me another 8 years before I stopped living my life and making room for God before I decided to live for God and trust that he would make room for my life. Why?

Why don't we want to fully seek His will? Why do we call ourselves Christians and then curse like sailors, dress not so modestly, watch things unpleasing to the Lord on TV that are trash and feel like we are just fine. I know I spent time in that place. Why don't we want to surrender to Him? Why don't we know that we are supposed to? I really wonder why. I know sin pulls on people. But let's say in my case, I didn't really live a "sinful" life in the fact that I didn't do any big obvious shameful sins. I always was a goody goody and wanted God to be pleased with me. I just truly didn't know there was more than belonging to the "good girls club".

Of course I should have been studying the Bible and maybe I would have come to know him. But I was always told you had to have the KJV or you were commiting some great horror. Well, I have never been able to understand the KJV!!!! So, I missed the boat. At the age of 30 I said poo on that Bible and got one I could understand and it was amazing. But still, I hardly ever opened my Bible in my twenties. I just went to Church sometimes and listened. I followed most of the rules. But I never knew the importance of fully living for God. Why?

I try to talk to people about surrendering to God and mostly I get blank stares. It does not sink in. They mostly don't want the life they think they will have to have if they let God in. Why do most people think an honest Christian walk stinks? We should have the aroma of Christ, not something stinky that reeks. Why don't they want what we have? Why do some people run the minute you bring up God? Well, it's something I feel heavy on my heart. I want to know what is so unpleasing about worshiping God to those who don't. I want to know why those that do worship, don't just do it fully. I know why I didn't, I just didn't know better. So many of us here in blog land seem to "get it" but are we sharing that? Oh please, share that knowledge! If only someone had shared it with me.... I spent the last year and a half making my life a pleasing aroma or should I say trying to make sure my life was a pleasing aroma to God and those around me. How selfish if I don't share with others, even other Christians as I was a lost one myself, what a Christian walk should look like. I'm not being judgey, I just mean that we should spend time talking with Him, studying his word, and seeking His will for us on a daily basis. We should live by Galations 5:22, the fruits of the spirit and if we have an issue, stop praying for God to zap it away, the last fruit of the spirit is self control. I wish someobody would have told me when I had to get rid of an "issue" to stop spending forever asking God to take it away from me and zap it away or asking him to help me not to do it anymore and then me not make the effort to do anything 'cause I was expecting God to do something first. Yeah, um self control, we need to be pro active with our bad selves.

An interesting question and I for one plan to tell everyone I know just how wonderful living for God is. I want my life and the lives of everyone around me to be an aroma pleasing to God. I truly think there is a huge ministry out there for Christians who just don't know how to hear from God, who just don't know what a personal relationship is or that they should even have one. I wish I had been told that I should live what I know and had that mean something to me as a young person. Every example of a Christian in my young life was no different than the unsaved except the Christians went to church and the unsaved didn't. In all other areas, they all pretty much behaved the same. Hmmmm...... I hope I don't resemble that remark.

Just something heavy on my heart.

Friday, September 18, 2009

How To Discover God's Will For Your Life Part 1 of 3

Welcome to our first online Bible study together. This blessed me so, it changed my life and I pray it does a work in you too. Here we go, every other Friday starting today. (Don't forget about our before the study questions)This was my outline for the study or it can be used by you to do your own study at your church.

Part 1 of 3.

Is it important to know the will of God? Do I even have a special purpose?

-Let’s look at what the scriptures say-

1. Matthew 7:21-23 Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers!

What is Jesus saying? “….but only he who does the will of my Father” will enter the kingdom of heaven. It sounds to me like Jesus thought it was pretty important that we not only know the will of God, but that we also do it.

In verse 24 Jesus says that a wise man will hear his words and put them into practice. Let’s read what the Life Application Bible says in its study about this scripture. “Some self-professed athletes can “talk” a great game, but that tells you nothing about their athletic skills. And not everyone who talks about heaven belongs to God’s kingdom. Jesus is more concerned about our walk than our talk. He wants us to do right, not just say the right words. What you do cannot be separated from what you believe.”

There is a great importance for not only knowing what the will of God is but also that we do it.
Challenge yourself to ask "Do I know the will of my Father?" Jesus placed great importance on doing it.


2. Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

- God has planned in advance good works for us to do.
- We all have a call and a purpose.
- You are the workmanship of God!
God has already gone ahead and prepared (made ready) all the provisions to do whatever he asks of you. Trust that God is capable & if he has asked it then it can be done, just believe and trust in Him. You are never junk, God made you and He made you that way for a reason.

3. Philippians 2:13 For it is God who works in you to will and act according to his good purpose.

- God is not going to give you a task & then leave you to go do it alone & by your own
power and strength.

- If you want to do His will-but you are afraid- simply submit. Submit first to doing it
and God will be working in you & with you to help you accomplish His plan.

- God will help you to want to fulfill His purposes for your life. He will stir your heart
and give you new desires. Ask God to help you overcome your fears concerning His
plans for you.

Will: definition as a verb: to desire, to like, to want.

4. Colossians 1: 9-12 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

- Some things are very clear to us as being God’s will and they are written for us to see
and obey. If that was all there was to God’s will then Paul would not have to be praying for God to fill them with the knowledge of His will. He would just teach it to them. Here we can see that God also has unique personal plans for us that we need to seek out, pray about and be obedient to.

- How does Paul ask God to show them his will? Through all spiritual wisdom & understanding.

- What does it mean to be filled with spiritual wisdom?
a. God’s Holy Spirit lives inside each of us and gives us spiritual wisdom. The Holy Spirit will guide you. It can only speak to you the things of God.

b. Let the Holy Spirit guide you. Listen to it. Do you know the difference between your own thoughts and that of the Holy Spirit? Do you know the difference between your own thoughts and that of the enemy?

c. We need to understand who God is. We need to know His voice. If we feel we are receiving something from the Lord then pay attention to whether it lines up with the word of God. Does it line up with God’s characteristics? The enemy will try to trick you and deceive you. We need to know if something is from God. We need to know the voice of our Shepherd.

- We should know God’s will so that we can live a life worthy of the Lord & live a life
That is pleasing to God.

- What pleases God? Bearing fruit in every good work. Growing in the knowledge of
God. Being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that we may have great endurance. Patience. Joyfully giving thanks to the Father. Being filled with spiritual wisdom and understanding concerning God’s plan for us and being obedient to it is pleasing to the Lord.

By these four scriptures we now know:
1. Only he who does the will of the Father will enter the kingdom of heaven.
2. What you do is just as important as what you believe. We must walk the talk.
3. God has planned in advance good works for you to do.
4. Each one of us has a call and a purpose.
5. God will be working in you to help you accomplish whatever He leads you to do. We are the vessel & He has the power & strength to get the job done.
6. Doing the will of God is pleasing to the Lord. It allows us to live a life worthy of the Lord.
7. We must pray and ask God to fill us with His will for our lives.
8. We receive His will through spiritual wisdom and understanding. Get to know the Holy Spirit in you and do not grieve it.
9. It is indeed important to know the will of God and we do in fact have a special purpose planned out in advance for us to do.

Okay, so know we understand that it is important to know His will for our individual lives. We understand that God has wonderfully made each one of us and has in advance known where we would be at each moment of our lives and has pre planned good works for us to do.
Maybe this was something you understood already but still you have no clear understanding of His plans for your life. Let’s take a look at what keeps us from knowing God’s plans for us.


Saying Yes to God

-At ”A Woman Inspired” online conference I asked Lysa Ter Keurst from Proverbs 31 Ministries a question concerning why I still had no idea what God’s calling was on my life. Her answer changed my life!

She said to me that more often than not, God will not speak to someone and reveal a grand plan. It is very rare that God just speaks from the beginning what the final end plan is of their calling. She said people who did great things with God had to first be willing to do the small things with him too. She said that if I was truly seeking God’s will for my life then I needed to be able to show God that I could be faithful & obedient with the little things first. She said to seek the Lord’s will for me on a daily basis, “What is your will for me to do today Lord”? She said that if I am faithful with what God entrusts to me then He will build on that faithfulness and obedience and will begin to entrust me with more and will reveal more of His will for my life.

All this time I had been waiting on some big task to do, some wonderful calling to be spoken into my spirit. I had assumed many times that the lack of this grand task being given to me meant that God just didn’t have a plan for me. I thought, “Well, maybe my calling is just to be a wife and mother. Yes, that must be it “. I was so wrong!

I was like a 1st grader who wanted to be promoted to the 12th grade immediately. After Lysa spoke and answered my question I just sat at my computer dumbstruck. I couldn’t believe how simple it all was, instead of looking for a big task, I should have just been focused daily on what his was will was for me on that day and then with my obedience with what He does give me He will then give me more. WOW. After taking it all in I began to laugh, I laughed so hard I couldn’t stop. I was so grateful to finally find the answer I had been looking for and it was so simple that I just thought it was hysterical! The one thing I hear the most from Christians (especially women) is that they do not know what their calling is and I suspect this is largely the reason why.

When we are seeking His will for us, just what exactly are we seeking? His will for the day? His will for the week, month, and year? Or His will for our life? If we get too focused on God’s will for our life, we can miss out on a lifetime of today’s. We live for today, each moment we are in is a today, doesn’t it make sense to just ask God daily “Lord, please guide me and show me your will for me today.” Whatever he guides you to, go do it. If He can’t trust you to be obedient with the little things then He certainly isn’t going to ask you to do big things.

When you are looking to God on a daily basis for His will you will find that you are listening more to the Holy Spirit inside you. When you are waiting to hear from God you will find yourself listening for Him. You will be more in tune with the Holy Spirit and as you go about your day you will find that when you feel a tug on your heart or in your mind to go do something, to call someone, to do an act of kindness for a complete stranger even, you will begin to notice that it is God who is moving you to do these things through His Spirit inside you. In that moment, that is His will for you! How many times in the past have we felt moved to do something and didn’t do it? How many times has the thought to just call a person we haven’t spoken to for months or years popped into our heads and we didn’t do it because we didn’t recognize that it was the Holy Spirit asking us to do it?

Look to Him daily for His will for you for that day and prepare yourself. Store up the word of God inside you so that God has something to pull up out of you and it will not return void to Him. God wants to go on a great journey with you, but first you must be willing to pack your bags and prepare for this journey. If you desire to do more with God then each act of obedience will take you closer to that desired place in your heart where you can let him work in you to do wonderful things.

Here is a quick prayer from “What Happens When Women Say Yes to God” by Lysa Ter Keurst.

“Dear Lord, I want to see you today. I want to hear you today. I want to know you more today. Whatever your will is for me today Lord, I say yes. Before I even know what it is, what it will require of me or cost me, I say yes to you. Pleas guide me in all that I do.”

This is a prayer Lysa recommends saying each morning before your feet even hit the floor. I highly recommend it also.

Please purchase Lysa Ter Keurst's book, it will bless your socks off if you have ever desired to do and know God's will for your life but could never find it. This is one book you will never regret purchasing!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

First Bible Study Class

Here we are, our first ladies bible study at Hillside Community Church in Canton. Or are we in Waleska? Well, it's on the line either way... The picture quality is stinky please forgive me.... but the beauty within is priceless! This is all of us minus 1, she had to leave. We had 12 in all and I loved every minute of it. There I am on the far left, he he.


I am just bursting with some Jesus joy!

What a beautiful night, I sure hope all the ladies had as good a time talking together as I did. I was scared but then after I asked all of you to help me with suggestions on how to not be nervous as I spoke I really took them to heart. My prayer almost the whole way to church was that the study would always bring him glory & honor, that it would be him speaking, his will coming through and that I would speak it fearlessly, speak it clearly and speak it as though I was speaking the very words of God. As you great friends help me out with.

Now, I am no Beth Moore but I am just so stinkin excited that I didn't shake and quiver like a little girl the whole meeting! Truly, that whole speaking thing is so beyond me, God truly does work in us to help us do as he asks us to do. It's him, we just have to let him in.

And I love love love that the ladies spoke up and we discussed things. JOY!!! I love this church, I love the people in it and right now, ha ha, I just love every stinkin body!

I just had to get that out since y'all have had to put up with me yammering about my nerves so I thought you should know God showed up and words came out and I am thinking they all made some sense, lol. Oh, how I pray that the word was received as sweet living water to their souls. I can't wait to hear the next time we meet about the great things going on in their lives with what we talked about tonight.

Okay, it's our turn now. This Friday begins our online study part of "How to Discover God's Will For Your Life". I hope it blesses you as much as it did me.

Love y'all

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Comfort, I'm Sharing It

I love this:

2 Corinthians 1:4 (Speaking about God giving us comfort in troubles) who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves received from God.

I remember all through Fall & Winter having a strong desire to be a comforter and a teacher to those who are suffering in trials. Not those just going through a trial, we all do that. No, I had a deep desire to help those who were helpless in their struggle as I was. To help those who so desperately needed comfort and an answer, something to cling to. I can remember saying many times & blogging about how if I ever got out of "this thing" I would preach it from the rooftops! I would not be silent with the knowledge of my experience.

I am so happy that God has given me this opportunity. I am so happy for confirmations too.

Don't you just love confirmations? I totally love when that happens.

I came across the above scripture about a two weeks ago. I remember thinking yes, that is what I am going to be able to do now. YES, God gave me that desire, because I do not like to be the center of attention, like ever. A person teaching is the um, center of attention. This is not something I would ever normally desire. I like to be the armor bearer, you know the person behind the scenes making life easier for the dude at the podium. So I laughed when I read it and I knew that speaking was something I just had to do. I have always had a heart to help people, now I truly want to comfort them and teach.

So the confirmation thing... ever since then this verse keeps coming up. At church, TV, I keep coming across it during my daily studies. I just read it again this morning as I went backwards to check on something I was reading in Colossians. There she was again, 2 Corinthians 1:4. We should comfort because we have been comforted.

I can't even begin to convey how strongly I desire to do this and it scares me to death. But a good kind of scared. I know it is good for something to be beyond you because then you know that it is God doing it through you. Keeps ya humble, always a good thing. I want to jump in but I know I must be patient. I'm still praying madly that my voice won't shake like crazy when I speak this Thursday evening.

I would just like to encourage you to be a comfort to those around you. Even at church, many times if I shared a trouble the person would listen, pat my back, give me a hug and quote a scripture. That was great most of the time but when a real need arose, there was no one to comfort me. Even a lingering hug & giving your word to someone that you will pray for them wholeheartedly can be a great source of comfort.

Where have you received your comfort? Has God shown you the way to overcome fear? So many Christians are plagued with fear. Comfort them. Has God shown you how to have unwavering faith? Comfort those who need it desperately, show them the way.

What we receive we are not to keep for ourselves. We are meant to share our knowledge, share our comfort, share the gospel. What can you do today to be a comfort to someone in a place that you yourselves have received comfort?

Monday, September 14, 2009

Blogging is So Cool!

I was hanging out with Brandon a lot this weekend when I realized that I don't have any pictures of just the two of us. So we took some photos.
This one is just before we left for church. I had put make up on but I can't see a stitch of it in this picture. I think perhaps this is before I put on my makeup and I just thought I had already done it, lol. My camera is dying and I need a new one, maybe it's the camera. Can I blame my cellulite on the camera too?
I just wanted to say thank you to my friends today. Blogging is not an easy thing to do sometimes. It can be very difficult to do in a format like mine that is so very personal. Sometimes I write a post and the next day I want to kick myself for it. Lots of times I want to delete something but I feel a conviction not to do it, so I don't. This is supposed to be an honest look at daily Christian life for me, so no delete button.
All of you are so wonderful to me! You are my friends and you encourage me. You write me wonderful things that make me laugh sometimes. I love that. I like when I get to have "conversations" with you. I have sent some of you gifts and some of you have sent me gifts. I wonder what it would be like someday if we could all meet in person. I'd bet we'd laugh and laugh.
Blogging is just so dang cool. How else can a girl have a "conversation" with two authors that wrote books that truly changed her daily walk with God? By blogging of course and commenting their blogs and sweet mercy, they actually comment you back!!! I know you aren't supposed to elevate people, yeah, but dang Lysa Ter Keurst and Wendy Blight rawked my Christian walk and when those ladies leave me a comment I just giggle and giggle. How many times have you read a book that was so awesome and you had a question or just wanted the author to know how what they wrote impacted you and you couldn't? Thank goodness for blogging authors!
If I lived in North Carolina anywhere near those Proverbs 31 ladies I would be in hog heaven! What a sweet & loving group of ladies. But back to you..... I love all of you. I love when you talk to me, I love when you encourage me and I love when you tell me that I encourage you. I love that you even come here, most people like to just read blogs and not comment. I like to leave a comment but that's just me. I am just honored that we can do life together. I love to be inspired by you and your blogs if you have one. I just wanted to say thank you for being my bloggy friend and let you know that all of you mean a lot to me. I'm not just saying that, truly all of you hold a special place in my heart.
This Thursday I begin my first Bible study class that I will be teaching. I have never taught a Bible study class. I am scared to death! I'm not scared of the study, which I wrote, but I am scared that I will not communicate it well. But I remember Wendy Blight talking about her first study and she was scared to death and wanted to call everyone up and cancel it the day of the first study, lol. Well, she did it anyway and her blog says she just celebrated her sixth year of Bible study and she had 80 women in attendance!! So I take my inspiration from her and from the scriptures. I can do it as long as I am doing it with Him.
This Friday is our first online study, hurray!! I will be emailing out the before the study questions later today if you emailed me and told me you wanted hard copies of everything in the study. Every other week on Friday I will email you the hard copies of everything in the Bible study. Our study is "How to Discover God's Will For Your Life". I can't wait! It is going to be awesome for all of us. Please join us this Friday and every other Friday for the study. If you want hard copies of everything please email me and I will send them to you every other Friday as we do the study together.
Love you,
Jenn

Saturday, September 12, 2009

He Speaks

I wanted to journal this so I am getting this down before I forget to do it. This is more of a journal entry than a "blog post". So please forgive the personalness of it.

Right now my husband is at Ryans with a pretty good sized group of men for the Saturday morning men's breakfast. My husband was told a week ago that it was his turn to give the 15 minute devotion this time.

My husband has never given a devotion. My husband does not like to talk. Picture John Wayne, that is my husband. His words are short and to the point, and as with all men, many things are not said, they are just known and understood. (What is that all about anyway?) Great guy, just doesn't like to chatter. Well, talk about stretching a new Christian, those men at our church don't play huh? So Mike had to write a devotion. He struggled with what to say and he did not want my help.

I couldn't understand why but he didn't. I was like, but Mike, I totally know the Bible, if you get stuck just ask me for help. He stayed stuck for a week and never asked for help. Yes, my feelings were hurt. Finally last night he settled on his testimony & felt like that was the right thing to do. He has a great testimony, I encouraged him to do that.

I was more than shocked when he came to me late last night with some papers and asked me to type them out for him (I type very fast.). He was actually going to let me see it? I was excited to see what he wrote as I typed. I made like it was not a big deal, I didn't want to scare him off and take the papers away.

This is his first time really opening up. We don't discuss deep & personal feelings very often for him. For me, yes, I cant talk about how I feel. But us together, well we don't or can't or haven't been able to discuss what goes on inside of concerning our walk with God. Mostly because I had one and he didn't and he didn't want to hear about it for many reasons so it became something I never shared with him. You know, the deep goings on inside of me and the same goes for him. Now for the last few months he has truly been born again and has a walk with God. He has begun to share some and it is like finding a treasured nugget when Mike reveals something personal deep inside him. Well, I couldn't wait to read the testimony.

First, I discovered that the last year when I went through my personal hell and depression and took a year long ride on the "what if" faith roller coaster during our layoff and the aftermath that Mike and I were feeling a lot of the same things. We both hated our life for instance. I remember all those months I used to say "I hate my life!". He hated his too. He didn't show it much. He was having an internal struggle all that time with God and I never knew it. Well, I knew somewhat but he downplayed it and I didn't catch it. I also saw what he thought a person's role was with God and I thought that was how he felt but he never fully came out and said it all. He had it all wrong, he just didn't understand. Now he understands that it's not enough to just say a prayer to tell God you believe Jesus was his Son and died for your sins and invite Him into your life and then go be a good person and that's all you have to do. Oh, and if you get into trouble or need anything just ask because God is your Heavenly Father and He wants to help you. That was how he was taught to live. I used to tell him there was more, he never wanted to hear it and would get just so angry when I tried to tell him that fellowship with other believers was important and that it was important to go to church. I talked about relationship, he said his was just fine! Well, he never wanted to hear what I had to say. It really hurt, and I believe I blogged about it a few times. Does anyone remember this post? I was referring to my husband when I talked about the caterpillar who wanted so badly to be a butterfly but could not.

Does anyone remember (yeah like my life is so important you remember every detail, right?) when I blogged about how I came to that depression and turmoil. It was because through every trial, including rape and almost losing a baby, that I was completely fine because I always knew God was going to make it all right again. I just knew He was with me and that it was going to be okay and I never wavered in my faith. Not once. I just knew He would make things right again. I knew it. But during the layoff hell God didn't speak it, but there was an impression He left with me that said that He was not going to make it okay this time. That He would be with me, but He wasn't going to fix it. This time what happened, happened so to speak. God was not going to come to our rescue this time. That just about killed me. So instead I got really depressed, hateful and angry, and oh yeah, and I got me a new best friend called bitter. So, I just about fell out of the chair last night as I was typing and I saw this and I quote :

"....That He is already working a plan for me but that He had to show me that He was always there, even when I wasn't paying attention, that He had always carried me. Even though I thought I was the one doing it and that He wasn't going to do it anymore!"

God gave us both the same word and we never shared it with each other!! Somebody slap us both please! Then Mike says "He showed me that the material things aren't important, that it is the spiritual things that matter." Yes, and Amen.

It really floored me that we were both having the same struggles but kept it to ourselves. I just kept it to myself because he never seemed interested in my deep spiritual workings. Humph, who knew? Well, I was really proud of him for having the guts to put himself up there and talk about it in front of so many people.

I have to admit though, that I did get really upset too. At the end when he finally figures out what a relationship with God is and what the Christian life truly looks like he credits God working it all out in his heart, his cousin who is an elder in a church 1200 miles away and has called Mike here and there and stayed with us a couple of months ago, and he credits a friend who invited us to the church we are in now. And that was it. Do I really need to say it? Okay I will. He didn't mention me once.

All these flippin years of trying to show him, all these years of giving tidbits of information and scripture, all these years of some preaching to him, all these years of trying to help him and for him at least, in his mind, none of that had any impact on him. NONE.

Okay, I know my prayers helped yada yada. I know all the Christian spiritual stuff, I know all that. I am speaking that for him, in his perspective I was not a single influencing factor in Mike coming to finally know God and Jesus for who they truly are and learning to love them and desire a personal relationship with God and find true love and fulfillment in them. Nothing I ever said, did, or anything at all was ever impactful? After my flesh called him a jerk (not out loud of course) I just accepted that he thinks his wife is just dumb and doesn't know anything or that he thinks I am a hypocrite and why should he listen to me, or maybe he just doesn't want anything that I have with God & it wasn't that appealing, or that maybe husbands just don't want to listen or do anything their wives tell them they should or need to do. So I mentally called him a jerk again and I admit, there were some tears which I hide well.

Well, it hurt. Ooohhh, I was a real big help. I didn't do anything and I lived with the man the past 11.5 years? The man Mike credits as the local friend I think has some really good revelation into people's thoughts that the Holy Spirit gives him. He told me a couple of months ago that I should not be upset that his coming into Mike's life at the moment he did and Mike finally finding God should not upset me. He said it was all God's timing and that men just need other men. Men need other godly men to listen to. He told me not to take it personally. I didn't understand it at the time but I can see the wisdom in his words last night. He said that was just the way it was, men need other men. He said it's hard for a woman to minister to a man. He said it in total love and he worded it better. He said that was why God was bringing the cousin into the picture and himself and why all the men in the church were drawn to Mike. God was using them, men just need other men. I accepted it at the time because I could see the truth in it physically in front of me. But I have to say, it really got at me last night. Not one mention of his wife as ANY influencing factor? Well, what if us women only wanted other women to minister to us?

Women are so flexible. Why are men so apt to be immovable? Do men think we are dumb? I'm really curious about this. Or is it just a genetic thing that men only like to share stuff with other men? I really wonder. I've listened to the things Mike is saying and things his friend says and I am thinking to myself "Yeah, I've told you those things a thousand times but since someone else says them now, namely a man, you can believe it?" What's up with that?

So anyhoo, I'm just wanting to journal that and my feelings about it. I'll come back in a year and look this up and see where we are at in how we share things with each other then. I'll be curious to see in a year how much credibility I have with my husband because he has 100% credibility with me. Always has. I shall pray for God to help me to not carry this around. What is important is that he got it. I know, I know.

Look what I found~ me one year ago almost to the day at my store which is now closed.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Trust

I am happy today is Friday. Yea, the whole family will be together for the weekend and I am glad. I miss my teenager! If you don't have a teenager yet, let me tell you that their junior year is the last year you get to spend with them if they are active in school and or have a job. Since Lexi began her Senior year, I have hardly seen her and we steal moments late in the evening and try to convince her dad to sleep on the couch so we can snuggle together and talk ourselves to sleep.
Lexi is on the left. She is short and super skinny, she's got some nerve.
Today it is cool and rainy. I like it. My dad just did something really nice for me and I just finished sending out a mass email asking for prayer for a lady I know who just found out she has ovarian cancer. She didn't tell anyone because she didn't want to be a bother to anyone. My hubby and two other gentlemen felt led to go visit her home and so they did and she told them the diagnosis she just received. Surgery is on Tuesday to do a hysterectomy. Would you please pray for her too? She has a hubby and a 12 year old son. Mom and son are coming to church on Sunday. We need to pray for the dad, let's hope Jesus storms in on his heart and he won't know what hit him!
All that to say, today is a day of reflection and gratitude. Our country mourns loss on this day and we will never forget where we were when we found out we were under attack. But we also have so much to be grateful for, we live in the most wonderful country in the world. We can worship, we can pray, we can make a stand for God and spread the good news! I want to do that. I am doing that now instead of just wishing I could somehow make a difference. Thank you Lord for that.
My friends and I can rally around a woman and her family in the community and plan meal deliveries, keep the son preoccupied, comfort the husband, etc. We can pray, one of the best things you can do for someone is pray!
I am also thankful that I have learned to trust and continue to be more firm in that trust. The last two days were not easy. We have had to continue to work through a problem that just does not want to go away and before it would have sent me into complete turmoil and chaos, hand wringing and all. But although I did waiver a bit, I did worry some, and I did let myself get stressed about it, I stopped myself each time and I just said "I will trust in you Lord, with all my heart", I let Him calm me and put my day in His hands. I put my family in His hands and not my own. He was faithful to that and I don't know how God did it but He pulled another saving grace out of nowhere and saved the week. Praise the Lord!! What a relief to have learned to trust fully in Him.
I guess that might be an easy thing to do if you aren't in a situation that requires a move of God and you can just learn it and become faithful to do it before you are dying in this world. I did not do that apparently so I am learning it as I daily need to live by faith and not by sight. Goodness, that is a hard thing to do! But I do it, not always gracefully, but I do it. What a journey......

Thursday, September 10, 2009

That Whole Submitting to Our Husbands Thing....

I saw something on CNN this morning that got me thinkin...

Ephesians 5:22-33 talks about the roles of husbands and wives.

We ladies for the most part like to avoid this part of the Bible at various times in our lives, myself included. But I have a question for Paul. What does a woman do if she is married to a man who does not do his part of Ephesians 5?

To be fair to my husband, he is doing his part so this isn't really about him but it is about all of us at one time or another or for some of us all of the time. So the question remains, if you are a nice Christian lady who wants to submit to your husband as unto the Lord and submit to the fact that your husband is the spiritual leader in the home and respect him like Ephesians 5 tells you to do but your husband just isn't interested in that whole part about his role, what is a godly woman to do?

What if you work full time also but your husband: never cleans, hardly or never cooks, isn't aware that the children have to be "bathed" by actually putting them in a tub and "washing" them, he only comes to the laundry room to find clothes and has been known to complain that you haven't washed what he is looking for, comes home & sits down and asks what's for dinner, never grocery shops or complains when he has to..... you get the point. 'Cause that's where most ladies live, in that house. He makes little to no decisions involving what actually goes on with the children's lives or your own for that matter but if he is a Christian will claim that "I am the leader of this household" role when it suits his purposes leaving the wife angry and frustrated.

I've been in that house, for certain. It is difficult but the anger and frustration we tuck away or let out in little verbal snipes comes across as bitter nagging to them further keeping them from doing what we desire because they see it as a lack of respect. And isn't respect what men want? Women want love, men want respect. Paul says we should respect our husbands and they should love us.

The first time my husband brought this up to me I was shocked! He said men, including him, wanted respect more than love. I thought that was outrageous! I also thought if he wanted me to respect him more then maybe he should show me some respect around our home by not living like he was at an all inclusive resort with maid and meal staff on hand. I thought, yeah, good luck with that buddy. And so nothing changed much for years. I yearned for that Ephesians 5 marriage and I don't know what he was yearning for but it was not for what he was getting I am sure. A tired, over worked and angry wife.

This past Valentines Day I was a very disappointed wife once again. Sigh. So I began for the first time to actually pray hard about it. I began actively involving God in my marriage. I began looking for ways to first change myself to what I believed was my biblical role but also doing things I knew would please him. Sometimes I wanted to give up, I started it wrong of course too, I wanted to be cherished so I cherished him. He did not respond to that in any way, probably because oh yeah, I forget, he wanted respect first. I was the one wanting to be cherished. But I began telling him things a wife needs to say to her husband to let him know he is appreciated, respected and also loved. I told him I was proud of him for all he does for us. It took awhile, but eventually my prayers were answered.

When I fully gave myself and my marriage over to God he actually showed up in it. He also got a hold of my husband, lol. We are not perfect, we never will be but it is so much more wonderful when your hubby begins to love you and love you as his own self like Ephesians 5 says to. He appreciates me too, he can acknowledge the food got to his plate not by wait staff or that it was just there, but that I planned the meal, shopped for it, saved money while I planned & shopped for it, and then cooked it (even though I hate hate hate to cook). That is a huge difference when someone actually appreciates what you do.

Selfishness is a real killer. It is deadly in a marriage. I heard that California state rep. (R) on CNN this morning reveling in his affairs with a colleague not realizing his mic was on and he was being recorded. What a toad! Is flogging still legal? Oh, his poor wife.

Are you submitting to your husband as unto the Lord? If you are not, please try it. I did and I am so glad I did it. But, I have to say, never be a doormat. You need to be praying hard for your marriage, for both of you. Ask God to work in both of you but also show you what you need to do before he does a thing. Begin with yourself. The end is worth it. I didn't tell my husband what I was doing, mostly because he would have just said "okay" and laughed at me. Who is laughing now? Me. I got the man I wanted.

Could he clean more? Yes . But does he do other things he never used to do? Yes. Does he show his love for me and appreciate me now? Yes. Does he do laundry? No, and he stinks at it so stay away from my dryer pal. Does he kiss me every day and tells me he loves me now? Yes.

Pray hard for your marriages. Submit to the Lord. Submit your marriage to the Lord. Submit to your husband as unto the Lord. Respect him, do nice things for him. Smile, men like that.

For years I worked with all men, do you know what those men did all day at work? They would fart, burp, snack, lust after women, have farting & burping contests and then some more lusting and in between all that they are constantly "adjusting themselves." I would just shake my head & then say "Lord, you want me to submit to that?" Good grief. But they also talked about their wives, I learned a lot. Men hate to go home after work to do more work. I told them so do women. They said yeah but the difference is that the women will still do it. I learned they don't have deep sleep issues and can actually hear that baby crying in the night. They just don't want to get up, they are waiting us out ladies, lol. They hate when wives criticize their bodies. They said they don't notice half of what we complain about until we point it out. They don't like moodiness. They like some down time when they walk in the door. They want respect. They don't like to be told what to do. They don't like to be treated or talked to like we do the kids. Some women say they shouldn't act like kids, maybe, but are we trying to fix what we do or justify it?

We ladies aren't always fun either. We are moody. We always want something. yada yada.

I was reminded this morning after listening to that California State Rep (R) (it's always the Republicans cheating these days! Isn't that the family values party?) laughing over his plentiful sex with another woman or two that I still need to be praying hard for my marriage. I need to keep God in my marriage. I need to let my hubby know I respect him. I need to pray for him because this can't be an easy world to live in for a good Christian husband. Pray pray pray ladies.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Bible Study Anyone?

I was so excited last night at Church to learn that our women's Bible study would begin this September 17. YEA!!! We are going to meet every other Thursday at 6:30pm.

We are a small Church so no one wants to miss out on the Wed. night Bible study we all do. Monday night is corporate prayer. Friday nights are family night, date night and I don't know about the other 49 states but Varsity Football games are where it's at on Fridays here in Georgia. As a matter of fact, our first home game is this Friday so we will be there of course not to mention our oldest is a Varsity cheerleader. GO GRIZZLIES!!!! Then um, there's the whole tailgating thing. So Friday is out. The men meet every other Thursday and pray and go visit families and do some great things and then come back and chat and pray some more. So us ladies figure that we would meet on the Thursdays when the men don't and the men folk can watch our youngins & we can linger with Jesus if we like as well as the sweet tea and tasties without anyone pulling at our clothes saying "Let's go mommy!".

So God impressed upon my heart for me to do a Bible Study on "How To Discover God's Will For Your Life". I have written this study and it has just blessed me mightily.

I got to thinking today that maybe some of you would like to join me every other Friday starting September 18 to do this study as an online Bible study. I want to delay the online study by a day lest some of the Church ladies hop over on Thursday and get ahead of the study before we meet. I'd like to have their full attention and if they already know what I am going to discuss ahead of time that could get complicated.

What do you think? Would you like to join me for an online study on how to discover God's will for your life? If you would like to join in and receive hard copies of everything I write and some before the study begins questions that you really should answer and write down please send me your email address and I will email everything to you in hard copy also. I will email the study questions that should be answered before the study and all the hard copies of everything I have written for the study every other Friday. Of course your answers do not have to answered here, they are for you to look at where you are right now before the study and then reflect back on after the study. Then if you like, and I think you should, answer the questions again but with the new perspective of the study and I think you will see very different answers.

Would you like to see the before questions? The hard copies have lined spaces to answer the questions but that is really hard to do in blog form so I am just going to list the questions here, okay?

Discovering God’s Will for Our Lives

To begin our journey please answer questions 1 or 2 as they pertain to your life before we begin our first class.

1. You are a Christian who does not know your calling/God’s will for your life.

a. Why do you think you do not know His will for you?

b. Have you asked God to show you what His will is?

c. Have you asked & prayed for His will to be revealed to you but still you have no idea?

d. Do you really want to know His plans for you? Are you prepared to be willing & obedient to His plans? Are you afraid to know?

e. Do you love God? How do you show your love for Him?

f. Is it important to know the will of God? Do I really have a special purpose?

Or

2. God has given you a word/vision about His plans for you but nothing much has happened to bring it into being.

a. Why do you think doors aren’t opening for you?

b. Did you try to make things happen on your own? Ex: Did you come up with plans and ideas to bring God’s plan into being & try to implement them?

c. Have you spent time in preparation for this particular thing?

d. Have you spent regular time in prayer concerning His plans for you?

e. Are you afraid of what God has shown you? Do you feel inadequate to do what He has asked or shown you?

f. Do you love God? How do you show your love for Him?

These are some extremely important questions that need a good hard & honest look at so we can begin our study knowing where our hearts and minds are in relation to where we think we stand with God & why we think we may not be living out His good and perfect plan for us.

Before this study is over all of these questions will be answered and you will have the knowledge of how to receive God’s will for your life! You will have the knowledge of how to live and receive what God has shown you!

Now, let’s begin!


September 18, Friday if anyone wants to join in. Let me know please!!

Jenn

Where Can I Find My Security?

Wednesday morning I sat down for Bible Study feeling slightly guilty that I had not done my morning study lately. I'm still a little off in this new house. So I prayed first and at the end of my prayer I prayed mostly about hearing & seeing God today and I asked for a word from Him if He had one for me.

It gives me goosebumps as I think about just how personal God is.

Some of the best revelations/messages from God I've ever been given is to just close my eyes and strum my thumb across the outside of my Bible knowing that if He has a word usually he will catch my thumb at a certain page. Talk about anticipation! Where will he take me today if He has a word for me. (Sometimes my finger does not get caught up at a page and after a few minutes I will do my own study.) Today there was a huge gap, not just a catch in a page at Romans 8 whose theme is Life thru the Spirit.

I admit, I was a little confused by this as I did a study on Romans 7 & 8 earlier in the year and did a big post on it. I was struggling with why I could not shake off something and put on a new behavior that I wanted and sure nuf God brought me here with my thumb catching in the page when I had prayed about how to conquer that. Of course when I couldn't understand still how to defeat it completely I prayed, strummed again and I promise, no lie, my thumb was caught up at Galations 5. You know, Galations 5:22 the fruits of the spirit. No coinkidinky I think. Well, anyhoo all my questions were answered and I had the road map to conquer that stinky thing I wanted to get rid of. I thought I had learned all I had to learn from Romans 7 & 8.

So I was a wee bit confused but I read it anyway. God's word is so alive. It truly does penetrate us. And isn't it funny that when we read passages, we sometimes see nothing and just blow right past the passage and then another time it is just pure water for our soul?

During my month long blog break I had been asking God some questions. One of them was about the whole money thing. Most of y'all have heard me wonder why so many blessings have come into our lives and how wonderful everything is and has been transformed and the horror of the after effects of the lay off have ended. What a storm that was!!! Sheesh. Everything had been healed and my husband, who would have believed it, has a heart for God like I swear I almost would have never believed could have happened. Except the money. Why I wondered has everything been made better but that? It wasn't that I wanted money, well, you know what I mean. I wasn't looking for more income, I was trying to understand why. If He hadn't healed that I was trying to gain understanding if we had greed issues which I was fairly confident we did not as we are active givers which I won't get into here. I just figure if you are in something it is for a reason so it's best to just learn from it before you have to keep going through it over and over before you finally "get it". Well, God revealed to me during this blog break that it wasn't money I had an issue with. It was security. Security was my idol. I was just little Miss. Secure. And my security was not in God, it was in very good and steady income.

Hello Mr. Conviction, how are you today? Nice of you to drop by.

After that bomb was dropped on me I tell ya, I honestly could not process it. I didn't know what to do with it. I can say that God did impress on me though that through all that valley walkin that I had learned from where my help comes. I learned trust. I learned peace ( whew God, did you think I would ever get that down, lol.) I learned worry is a best friend to anxiety and is fruitless. I learned to be secure in the Lord. I was relieved but I still felt like I still had some work to do in this area lest I forget it all. But as I was pondering it all last night I still wasn't sure and I asked God for a word. He gave me several words.

Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

What does the Life Application Bible say about this scripture? I felt compelled to read that study portion.

" God works in "all things" - not just isolated incidents - for our good. This does not mean that all that happens to us is good. Evil is prevalent in our fallen world, but God is able to turn every circumstance around for our long-range good. Note that God is not working to make us happy, but to fulfill his purpose. Note also that this promise is not for everybody. It can be claimed only by those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Those who are "called" are those the Holy Spirit convinces and enables to receive Christ. Such people have a new perspective, a new mind-set on life. They trust in God, not life's treasures; they look for their security in heaven, not on earth; they learn to accept, not resent, pain and persecution because God is with them."

I can't even begin to describe how this sang to me! You know this whole description here just basically described the reasoning for the last 2.5 years of my life, that's all. Nothing major, she says with much sarcasm.

And had I read it before, yes. Did I get it then, no. Do I get it now, YES and Amen.

All that yuck, all was for my long-range good. My trust, my faithfulness and my obedience and ability to fulfill my purpose has a lot of roots in the last 2.5 years of yuck. I needed that yuck. Do you have yuck? Ask God to show you what you need to learn from this. Even a yucky marriage can help you learn to walk in love. Whatever your yuck is, if you have any, can be made into the good things that God has you purposed for. I could not be doing now what I am doing if I did not have the privilege of being stripped of everything.

Does that mean that God orchestrated job losses? I don't know but I do know that God could take something meant for harm and say okay, now let's take this horrible thing and I can do something wonderful for my daughter in this. There is no money coming in, I will teach her to trust in me. She doesn't know what to do, I will teach her how to hear me in this & show her how to know my plans for her. She feels like she has lost everything, I will show her everything she needs is in Me.

Security. I loved my security. I'm not even gonna try and argue that one with God 'cause I fully believe He was spot on with that one. But now I know, where my security lies. And for that I am one grateful lady and I am so happy today that He took me to Romans 8.

Never underestimate the power of asking God for a word.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The Gift of Boldness

From my experience at least bold people, like myself, quite often wish to be more like their more quiet & spirit filled friends & church goers. You know those gentle & quiet souls who always have a kind word to say. Yes, we long to be like them sometimes. They are just so dang quiet.

I have questioned God so many times in the past 12 months why he has made me so bold and quite apt to rally to the defense and aid of the hurt and needy. Why do I have such a big mouth? To make things clear, when I say a big mouth I don't use it in a harsh way, I just um, like to speak up. Well, thankfully I have learned to shut my yapper in these last 12 months most of the time. I try to discern when I should speak and when I should just be silent. Do you have any idea how hard that is?

Even last week I was having an innocent conversation with a friend who has a possible connection to help another friend's husband. I was about to speak and ask if maybe she could ask her hubby about helping the other friend's hubby but boy howdy did the conviction come and I knew to just be quiet. I had the feeling it would be taken more as gossip than seeking help so I did not speak. I am so thankful that God has helped me to control the tongue but still, the inclination is in me to be a bold person. Why I have wondered?

A few days ago I learned the importance and most special uses of bold people who speak up. I was in a group of ladies and we were discussing things and we were all quite happy and encouraging to each other in the things we were discussing. All of the sudden Mrs. Killjoy spoke up and after she was done silence filled our space. I could sense we were all feeling the same emotion, doubt. Mrs. Killjoy placed doubt into our hearts and we were re thinking what we had all just spoken. The joy was gone and replaced with doubt and confusion. We knew we were doing the right things & yet she placed within us the thoughts that it would fail and we were doing it wrong. Quickly the ladies scattered away and only a few remained.

I had wanted to speak up while Mrs. Killjoy was speaking and I was thinking to myself, "Hey, be quiet." But I remained silent, afraid to speak up. Quite unusual for me! After my friends scattered, all but a few and we were silently feeling quite defeated a friend began to speak. A bold friend, a sweet lady began to just speak out against that doubt and began to replace it with positive influences once again. She was speaking quickly & was breathless as she spoke, further pointing toward her passion on the subject we were on. She replaced should we with yes we can do it. She replaced will they with those who want to can & those who don't can stay home. She began boldy and breathlessly speaking YES into the situation and I could see in that moment why God makes some of us so bold. Smiles of those of us left began to fill our faces and we were once again filled with possibilities and prayerful hearts that it would be God who annoints something to be right, and not our efforts.

You know, I learned it's not so bad to be bold. I could see and heard a few confessions of a couple ladies who are very quiet people that they wanted so badly to speak up. I thought, boy, I don't normally have a problem doing that! I'm so glad I have a bold friend who doesn't mind speaking up. I'm so glad God showed me that my boldness is not a weakness as long as I am looking for discernment as to when to be bold and don't fight it when I know I should speak. There were some really great things that could have died right there in that room we shared if not for a bold person. I'm not gonna lie though, I think I shall always be slightly envious of those gentle quiet souls but if they should ever need someone to speak up, I guess they know who to call (snort snort).

I just thought it was really cool of God to point that out to me that it was a gift that I was fighting and not a curse. He has made us who we are for a reason. Is there something about yourself that you just can't understand? God has a purpose for it, truly He does. Why not embrace it and ask Him just what He wants you to be doing with it?