Stillness

I ran across a great quote to think upon by Hannah Whitall Smith and wanted to share it:

"A quiet spirit is of priceless value when performing outward activities. Nothing so greatly hinders the work of God's unseen spiritual forces, upon which our success in everything truly depends, as the spirit of unrest and anxiety.

There is tremendous power in stillness. A great believer once said, "All things come to him who knows how to trust and to be silent." This fact is rich with meaning, and a true understanding of it would greatly change our ways of working. Instead of continuing our restless striving, we would "sit down" inwardly before the Lord, allowing the divine forces of His Spirit to silently work out the means to accomplish our goals and aspirations.

You may not see or feel the inner workings of His silent power, but rest assured it is always mightily at work. And it will work for you, if you will only quiet your spirit enought to be carried along by the current of its power."

Okay, so that was more like a dissertation than a quote...but nevertheless, good stuff!

Solitude

'He went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.'
Matthew 14:23

I was reminded in my bible study time this morning of the importance of withdrawing and spending time with the Lord alone. I was reminded of how tiring and draining it can be if we are constantly interacting and spending time with others. We cannot hear the Lord if we do not spend time quietly seeking out what he is saying. This does not happen naturally. We have to be ever intentional about spending uninterrupted time before Him. While community with others is extremely important, it should not be of utmost importance. We must be careful to put our time with our Father first and then all other things will flow out of this relationship. I constantly have to be on guard against 'good' things in my life that can rob me of the time I need to spend with my Father. 'Good' things such as sleeping longer, serving others, spending time with friends, or homeschooling can replace my time in God's Word, if I am not careful. Even things I feel I need to do to be a good mom have to be monitored. I have to be ever mindful that I am to 'seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be given to me as well' (Matthew 6:33).

Not only do I need to guard my alone time with God, I also need to prioritize that that the Lord has entrusted me with--my husband and my children. This, too, is difficult in a world that is constantly pulling and pushing me in so many different directions. Too often, I put my own needs or the needs of others before these priorities. I am learning that I must pray and ask God about outside commitments and look to His will in how to spend my days. I'll admit, I have a hard time with this because I am a people pleaser. I don't like to say no to others. But I need to remember to fear God and not men and look to Him to schedule my days. He only gives me tasks to do that my days have room to fulfill. If I am trying to do more than He has called me to than I am full of pride and unbelief--prideful that I think it has to be 'me' to accomplish such and such, 'unbelief' because I am failing to trust that God's way is better.

Today I will focus on today, praying that He will give me His wisdom to do that which He has called me to. I will walk in the promise that His grace is sufficient when I fall down or get off the path I am to be on. I will stand on the the promise to 'not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself . Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:34).

I Love....

• I love the smell of Fall, the cool breeze on my face when i am outside, the smell of leaves burning
• I love pumpkin muffins, especially chocolate chip ones
• I love that my five year old plays football outside with his brothers, sporting bright yellow rain boots with gym shorts that are too big for him. i also love that he can get tackled 125 times and not care.
• I love the fact that i have 55 brand new coats collected from our sweet Fellowship sitting in my Dining Room to be delivered to Wayside Christian Mission.
• I love that my kids love running! I love the encouragement of yelling and cheering each other on from the sidelines during the races.
• I love my Romans bible study -- absolutely has been life changing. Maybe I love it so much because I love Romans; maybe I love Romans so much because I love God's Word; maybe I love His Word so much because I love my Jesus and my life is radically different with Him in my life...
• I love when my two year old comes downstairs in the morning half asleep and all squinty-eyed
• I love that my two year old follows my five year old around all day long and does everything that he does
• I love that my 11 year old sat in the front seat of the van last night on the way home from our Community Group, trying to get pictures for his Photography class. I love that he was jerking the camera at the last minute, trying to blur the lights in the picture, saying it was a special technique.
• I love my running time with my friend, Amy Jo. I cherish this time on Wednesdays.
• I love our Fun Fridays of classes -- especially love that my 11, 9 and 7 year old are doing Public Speaking together. Practicing their speeches for one another has been hilariuosly fun and memorable
• I love the Sunday night prayer time with our church
• I love Mac Powell's voice --loved experiencing it up close and personal Saturday night with friends. I hope that in heaven we can experience a continous Third Day concert from front row seats.
• I love that my daughter looks exactly like Laura Ingalls when she wears her prairie dress. I love the fact that she wants to dress up and play like she is from this period in history...
• I love studying American History. I can't wait to travel with Eric to NY City and Boston in three weeks and study our heritage upclose and personal.
• I love listening to Janet Parschall
• I love the books I have just read The Hole in the Gospel, and Same Kind of Different as Me
• I am loving the book 'Crazy Love' -- got a feeling it, too, is going to be one of those life changing books...
• I love our church that God is growing and building up and adding to...love the sweet fellowship...love the expository preaching...love the worship...Love that it's big on Truth and Grace
• I love that my 7 yo lives and breathes baseball.
• I love how much my 2 yo loves his daddy
• I love mornings, the dawn of a new day

I needed to hear this this morning!

'We do not need the grace of God to withstand crises--human nature and pride are sufficient for us to face the stress and strain magnificently. But it does require the supernatural grace of God to live twenty-four hours of every day as a saint, going through drudgery, and living an ordinary, unnoticed, and ignored existence as a disciple of Jesus. It is ingrained in us that we have to do exceptional things for God--but we do not. We have to be exceptional in the ordinary things of life, and holy on the ordinary streets among ordinary people--and this is not learned in five minutes.' ~Oswald Chambers

Those who have been gripped by the power of the Holy Spirit and are used for God's glory are those who have been broken in their finances, broken in their self-will, broken in their ambitions, broken int heir lofty ideals, broken in their worldly reputation, broken in their desires, and often broken in their health. Yes, He uses those who are despised by the world and who seem totally hopeless and helpless, just as Isaiah said: "The lame will carry off plunder" Isa. 33:23

~Streams in the Desert

Just Stop and Think

Hope you enjoy this video! I did!

Addison Road - What Do I Know Of Holy w/Lyrics

My friend Christy shared this--wanted to share it with you.

In light of Romans 2....

These are the questions God is prompting me to ask myself this morning, in light of my study of Romans 2:

• whom have you been judging? are you, in fact, guilty of those same things?
• 'the kindness of God leads you to repentance' (verse 4) -- what does that mean exactly?
• where is my heart being stubborn and unrepentant? what things am i being prideful over? where am i rationalizing my behavior?
• 'selfish ambition' -- ugh, this term has come up over and over in my bible study lately! Is God trying to show me something, or what! where am I putting my own ambition over God's? where am I trying to succeed and get the credit?
• in what areas of my life am I disobeying God?
• where in my life am i being a hearer of the Word, but not a doer?
• whatever i might be teaching those in my life, am i learning it myself? for example, if i am trying to teach my children to be unselfish am i in fact displaying unselfishness to them? if i am trying to teach my children to not react in anger, am i demonstrating this myself?
• am i striving for praise from men or from God?

Ouch. Ouch. Ouch.

Lord, Please fill me up with more of you and less of me! Strip me of me! strip me of selfish ambition! strip me of all that is not 100% of you! Fill me with your Spirit!

But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not be the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God. Romans 2:29