When the Retreat's Over...

       My best friend, Becki and I went to a women retreat last weekend.  We go every year and start planning on going the next year the weekend after we get back.  HAHAHA!  It’s a weekend with no kids, and no husbands, just two old friends spending the weekend together and getting their love cup filled God.

       The theme of the weekend was Jesus Loves Me.  I went into this weekend with a specific issue, a specific sin, I wanted to deal with.  It’s a sin I’ve had since I was 13.  I’ve tried to give it up many before, but haven’t succeeded.  I know it may always be “a thorn in my side”, and this may very well be something that I have to fight for rest of my life

       It was a great weekend, as it always it!  I took me to  the mountain top.  The only bad thing about going to the mountain top is eventually you have to go back down to the valley.  People actually warn you that after a retreat, to be careful, because that’s when Satan is most likely to try and attack you.  It’s easy to sing “Jesus Loves Me” on the mountain top, it’s a little harder to sing it in the valley.

       For me, my “valley test” hit me as soon as I got home!  I got home at the same time as Bryan and the kids got home from church.  We hopped in the van and off we go for a nice family lunch. It wasn’t until I get accused of yelling in the restaurant. (I have two volumes; mumbling or yelling).  I tried not to overreact, but of course those who know me best could tell.  Later, Bobbye Sue and I went to Wal-Mart and she asked me why I was in such a bad mood.  (BTW, why are you always the last to know when you’re in a bad mood). 

       Later, I was on Face Book, I saw Becki wrote a post that was unlike her.  So I texted her and long story short her husband told her to just go on back to the women’s retreat, (to which she sad; gladly!).

       Anyway, it’s been a tough week.  I’ve really tried to live out what I learned at the retreat.  I’m learning that I may not always make everyone happy and I need to worry a little bit less of what others think and be more concerned about what God’s commanding me to do.

       I love retreats. In fact, I’m going on one in a few weeks with the sweet ladies of my church.  I can’t wait.  I know God will continue to work on me and that the Devil will continue to try to persecute me.  But I pray and know without a doubt that God will give me what I need to persevere.     

Be Still

We are a busy people.  Most of us seem to be living our life in the fast lane.  Sometimes we get so caught up with things that we don’t stop and take time for God.  This is not a new problem though.  That’s why Psalms 46:10 tells us to “Be still and know that I am God.”

Talking to your friend, Jesus

What if you could talk with your best friend anytime; anywhere.  Many songs talk about how Jesus is our friend.  Prayer is our direct line to Jesus.  We don’t have to worry about Him being too busy or breaking our confidence.  Be sure to talk to your friend Jesus today.

Forgive and Forget

People often say; “I’ll forgive, but I’ll never forget.”  Can people truly forgive someone if they are constantly remembering how they wrong them?  Jeremiah 31:34 says “He forgets our sins and remembers them no more.”  If Jesus can do it, why can’t we?”

The Gift of Love

Love is truly a gift from; In fact the bible says that God is love.  However, sometimes it is really hard to love people; especially those closest to us.  It may be time to step back and see that person as Jesus sees them.

Texting For Jesus

“Text me.”  How many times a day do we hear or say that do we hear or say that?   We text each other about everything: where we’re going, about what’s happening at work, We can order food by text,  we can even get test results by doctors by text.  But how are we growing as a Christian by texts?  Yes, we can receive   bible verse by text.  Holly Grove even sends prayer request via text.  But how else can we use text messaging to reach the lost?  We can send someone a text of encouragement.  We can invite them to church. We can share our testimony with them.  There are so many ways we can use technology to spread the gospel?  So, how are you text the good news today?

SIN AS DIRTY GLASSES

      I can’t see.  Now, I’m now blind; things just aren’t as big as they as they used to be.  I hear this is very common.  My theory is that world is being over takin by leprechauns and their sole purpose is to trick us and to make us think that we’re getting old.  Yes, this is most definitely be a trick of the leprechauns!

      With that being said,  a couple of times a year I like to go to the Dollar Tree and stock up on reading glasses.  I spread them throughout the house so whenever I need my glasses, there’s always a pair in reach.

      The thing about glasses is they get dirty quickly, though we may not notice it.  My kids will periodically pick up my glasses and the response is always the same: “Mama, these are filthy.  How can you see out of them?” (And then they’ll actually clean them for me!)

      The truth is, my dirty glasses don’t bother me.  I don’t realize they’re dirty.  (However, I did stop as I was writing this and cleaned my glasses!) I allow myself to adapt, and my eyes have to strain more to see through the dirtiness, but I don’t realize this.

      Sin is a lot like a pair of dirty glasses.  It may start out as just a smudge:  I can tell this little white lie or I can dabble in this behavior and it’s no big deal. You do it more and more.  It may seem like no big deal; maybe no one get hurts our even knows, but God knows. 

      The more we sin, the harder it becomes to see that we are sinning.  The longer we allow our sin to go on, the more natural it becomes.  If I go back to my drinking days and hanging out in bars, it probably won’t too long before that becomes the norm in my life.  I’ll start to justify why I’m doing it and I’ll even believe that it’s OK. 

      That’s because my ability to see that I’m sinning had hinder me just as my ability to see becomes hindered when my glasses become dirty.  I probably won’t be able to see my sin until it’s pointed out to me, just like I can’t tell my glasses are dirty until one of    my kids points it out to me. 

      To get the most out of my glasses and to reclaim my vision; I have to clean them (or have them clean by my kids). Likewise, I need to clean my heart of sin.  It’s not always as easy as spraying Windex on a paper towel and wiping down my glasses.  To cleanse my heart of sin, I have to turn back God and allow Him to forgive and change me.  I have to be willing to give up that sin which has become second nature to me.  I cannot live in sin and see clearly what God has in store for me.    I have to be willing to let Christ’s blood cleanse me white as snow.  

You Are Not A Burden

          A dear sweet friend of mine, she’s like a second mother to me, lost her husband in November.  They were weeks away from their 48^th anniversary.  This woman is one of the strongest and godliest woman I’ve ever known.  We were talking the other day and she said that she didn’t want to be a burden on her family.  My first though was, how could anyone think of this dear, sweet women as a burden?  I know all of her children and the thought of her being a burden to them would never even enter their minds.

       
  However, I have the same thought.  I don’t want to be a burden on my husband and children! 

Dictionary.com describes burden as a load which is carried, one which borne out of hardship. 

          
Uhm, not looking good for burdens.

 Jesus tells us in Matthew 11:29-30 New International Version (NIV)

²⁹ Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰ For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

       
We know we are called to hand our burdens over to God, but what do we do when we feel like the burden?

    
I love the verse Hebrews 13:2 

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

         

 Many people believe that this is referring to the person that is being served, but can’t it also refer to the person that is doing the serving.  Yes, we are called by God to serve others.  We teach our children the motto that it’s better to give than it is to receive.  I do believe this to be true, but we all have points in our lives where we need help; where we need to be served.

People have to be allowed to serve God.  If we have the attitude where we say  “I’m supposed to serve others, not to  be served.”;  then we are not only keeping them from doing what God has commanded them to do but we are also keeping them from the blessing that come along with serving someone.  Not to mention that we will miss out on blessing too by not being serve by them.

Now, please note, I am not advocating that you become a burden just to be served.  If you can server others, you are called to so.  The fact is that, it is possible (and probably likely) that while most people are serving others, they are also themselves being served by someone else

My Call to Prayer

Prayer…It’s very passionate on my heart right now and has been for a while.  I’ve always prayed, but lately I’ve feel like I’m being called to be a true prayer warrior.  In 1 Corinthians 12-14, Paul talks about the different spiritual gifts a person can have.  I do believe prayer is a prayer is a direct remint of several of the spiritual gifts.  Yes, everyone; ever Christian is called to pray.  Yet I think some people are equipped with the words, patience and longer to communicate with God.

        I think my prayer life can become a bit routine.  A bit too safe; who can go wrong with “Now I lay me down to sleep…” or “Lord bless this food.” Not that these prayer are bad or invalid, because there not.  I just feel that I need to dig deeper.  I have to expand my horizon and reach to where to where I      have not reach before.  There is a place I can reach in my prayers that I can never reach on my own.  A place that only is accessible by God granting me entrance. 

        This is a place I long to be.  But not only that, I feel like it’s a place God’s calling me to be.  Maybe’s it’s why I have so much alone time on my hands.    My goal in life is that I want to be as close to God as I can get. 

        But I can’t just get close to God by wanting it.  It’s gonna take work.  I have to work at it.  Prayer is like anything else      , the more I do it, the better I’ll be at it, and the closer I’ll get to God.  It may take my entire life to get to where God wants me to be and that’s OK.  I pray each and every that I become closer and closer to God.  I pray that when I leave this world and meet God face to face, He says “Well done good and faithful servant!’

  

The Safety Net of Prayer

Prayer is my connection to God.  This is not a new concept to me.  I’ve been a Christian for the majority of my life.  I must admit that my prayer life goes through phases, or seasons if I may.    I don’t tend to pray as much when I’m on the mountain top than when I’m in the valley.  There’s an invisible safety net around us that we tend to trust when things are going our way.  The longer we go without prayer and trusting in ourselves the more holes starts to form in our safety net.  Then the invertible happens, and we fall through the net.

        Most of us are totally shocked when this happens.  Things were going so good.  Why did I fall?

        I am a natural faller.  I’ve done it all my life and I perfected it.  I’m the person who can say I’ve fallen up the stairs – literality.  I’ve fallen sideways and backward; anyway you can imagine.  I’ve even falling when I’m sitting down – now that’s takes true talent, let me tell you. 

        The thing about falling is that the older you get, the harder you fall.  This may be a cliché, but it’s true!  When I was younger, I would fall several times a day: my scraped knees and elbows ware tokens that I had survived       another day.  However, now my token for falling is groaning and gnashing of teeth for days on in.

        What happened?  Why did the results of my falling change?  Because I’m not as young as I used to be, my body doesn’t bounce back as it once did.

        OK, so how does this relate to prayer?

        Most of us when we became Christian, we were super excited; we had that fire in our bellies?  Where did that fire go?  It’s still there but for many of us it’s been dimmed out by the realities of life – we get complacent in are praying and when we fall through the safety net we wonder why it hurts so much more than it used to.

        Perhaps it’s because as we age and grow in our faith, we are supposed to be praying more, but we get comfortable and we just think we are OK where we are.  The safety net will always be there.  Right?

        I am, for the most part, wheel chair bound.  This really doesn’t bother me.  I am comfortable riding my little red scooter around to do what I need to do.  It’s empowering, actually.   However, my doctor, my husband, my mom, my kids, my brothers and sisters,    my friends; everyone I know wants me to walk more.  Why?  Not because they want me to run a 5k, but because it is what’s best for me.  It’s importain for me to stay active and to maintain what function of my body that I can to ensure that I can stay as healthy as I can for as long as I can.

        But it’s not comfortable.  Walking makes me tired, plus that fear of falling is always front and center…I’m not too keen on getting hurt.  IT HURTS.

But I’ve got to start doing it.

        Prayer works kind of in the same way.

        It can be uncomfortable at times, especially if you haven’t done it in a while.  You may be wanting to dig deeper in your prayer, but you don’t know how.  You may be in a rut; saying the same prayer over and over and, well you get the idea.

        God wants us to go deeper.  He wants us to step out of our comfort zone and to keep expanding our safety net.  He longs for us to have a more intimate relationship with Him.  And there our times life where we need the safety net.  It does serve a purpose; because there will be rough patches in your life.  There may be time where you’re lying face up on the safety net just wondering why is happening God and where do I go from here?

        That safety net will become you haven.  It will allow you the grace to trust God and to know that he will meet your needs right where are.  It will be like a welcoming bed at the end of an exhausting day where you can just lay all your burdens down and rest.

        They safety net will allow you to do just; REST!  It will give you the peace and grace that you will need to get through those valley days.  If the net it preserved correctly; it will have no holes.  Why?  Because you mended it while you were on the mountain top.

        How is your safety net holding up?

On the Edge of Grace

I think grace is a beautiful thing.  Its even a beautiful word to stay; it roles of the tongue. But what is grace?  Grace is an undeserving accepting love giving to us by God.  Its God Righteousness At Christ Expense.   When I think of grace I think of love and acceptance;  of giving people the benefit.  But I also think of someone who has a gentle spirit; a women who has a quiet voice, has the touch of a feather and the peace of a dove.  

I am not, according to the latter idea, a gentle person.  I am more like a bull in a china shop.  I am loud and clumsy.

But I long to be a graceful woman.

Thankfully, grace from God and not from myself.  I am in God's grace because I have been cover by the blood of His only son, Jesus.  I can grow in grace by studding His word and following ways.

You see, my being a graceful women is not based on who I am physically, but is based on who I am in Christ.

When I choose love over hate; I'm graceful.
When I choose peace over chaos; I'm graceful.
When I choose to serve others over demanding that my needs be met;  I'm graceful.

The list could go on and on and on.

I've entitle the blog A woman on the Edge of Grace because that's where I want to live.  I want grace to overtake me.  I want everyone I meet to feel like a there is a peace and a love for that can only come from me.

I long to be A Woman on the Edge of Grace because that's who God's calling me to be.