Never shaken

Oh I’ve been shaken before, turned upside down and tossed around. 

I found a remedy to ground me when I’m feeling a shake up coming on….Psalm 15

Lord, who may dwell in your sanctuary?  Who may live on your holy hill?  He who walks blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong and casts no slur on his fellowman, who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the Lord, who keeps his oath even when it hurts, who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent.  HE WHO DOES THESE THINGS WILL NEVER BE SHAKEN.

I’m not sure about you but clearly the walking blameless and doing righteous seems a little out of my league most of the time and a hard thing to attain.  Truth.  We all fall short of the Glory of God.  Jesus is the sacrifice that makes us righteous before God.  However, you do have a part and as you do your part….you will never be shaken.  It’s what God’s word says….I’m thinking I’ll believe it and put a little Psalm 15 in my life.

All of this Psalm 15 rolls right along with Oswald Chambers devotion for January 23rd.  If ya get a chance go read it go to www.myutmost.org.  I’m gonna pour over this word for while this week.  Its just THAT GOOD!  Its about beholding and he says “Never let a hurried lifestyle disturb the relationship of abiding in Him.”

Isn’t that the key of Psalm 15?  If we are concentrating on keeping our lives God then Psalm 15 is a no brainer and the shaking of life is stabilized by our BEHOLDING of Christ!

Mondays are a good day to test this out.  Behold. Do Psalm 15.  Let me know how it goes!

Secure Rest

My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.  Isaiah 32:18

I spent many years in a state of unrest, in an unsecure home and in a place where rest was hard to find. 

This weekend I haven’t done a thing.  I was wondering this morning if I was being overcome by the spirit of sloth or laziness but God confirmed in me that was not the case.  My weekend wasn’t supposed to look like this.  I actually had some big plans with my beloved but those weren’t God’s plans.  God took him to Washington, set my daughter in her fathers care and put my teenage boy in bed with a cold.  I took this opportunity to rest.  I watched a bunch of movies, stayed in pj’s, did a wee bit of shopping (not in my pj’s), slept in, watched the snow flakes fall gently from the sky…..its been divine.

But as I said, I wondered if this was too self indulgent.  I’m usually a go, go, go kinda woman.  I have lots of plates spinning most of the time and I thrive in that kind of environment.  I don’t like having loose ends and let me tell you there are plenty of things to do around this place.

My thought today was to look into God’s word to be sure I wasn’t sinning in my laziness and what I found were gems of real truth.  Rest doesn’t come from the things I did this weekend.  True rest comes from God alone.

Exodus 33:14 The Lord replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest”

Psalm 62:1 MY soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him

Psalm 91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty

God’s presence, as I dwell in the shelter of the Most High, in God alone, is my rest.  You see, my weekend of doing nothing would not be rest without God.  He was here, I was in His shadow.  This is how I know that the first verse of this blog will be the anchor in my home for 2012.  God is here and God has made all things new and God worked it together for good. He will have us live in a peaceful dwelling place, He has provided a secure home and there ARE undisturbed places of rest.  I found one this weekend.

Creating the Home

With our upcoming nuptuals in March, there is lots of change happening in our lives and our home.

We are creating and reinventing our little home for our new family unit.  Its been fun to slowly move Mr. Paul’s things in and replace some of our wall hangings with his.  I love sitting in his chair in our living room early in the morning, sipping coffee and contemplating the things of God.  We’ve painted walls and repurposed spaces.  The kids have inherited new things as well from their soon to be ‘bonus dad’.  There is more to come and whereas Mr. Paul is temporarily homeless and has a storage unit full of his stuff and lives out of a suitcase moving from place to place, we are thankfull for God’s provisions and enjoying the transition.  Soon he’ll be settled and will indeed be able to call our house his home.

I love getting organized and cleaning spaces and drawers and such.  Once I start its hard to stop because the benefit and reward of a well organized space is priceless!  Its so good that it has spread over to my office and we’ve made some changes there.  We’ve been living in disorganized caous at our offices since August.  There were some changes and we have just been taking care of the important things, just getting the work done.  Yesterday we had some time to move some stuff and get all my work space into one room, instead of split between 2 desk:)  I just love it!  Every thing is where it should be and I feel more productive already!

As I was moving around my office and putting things away I came accross a list that grounded me to a place of sanity for years.  It is a list of our human rights in relationships.  It reminded me today of where I’ve come and gave me great hope for what is ahead.  I thought I’d share it with you.  These are basic rights that you are entitled to in your relationships with others.  If they aren’t part of your life you should move to higher ground.  Love yourself enough to take care of you.  Love yourself enough to insist upon these things.  God does!

The right to goodwill from the other

The right to emotional support

The right to be heard by the other and to be responded to with courtesy

The right to have your own view, even if your mate has a different view

The right to have your feelings and expericnec acknowledged as real

The right to receive a sincere apology for any jokes you find offensive

The right to clar and informative answers to questions that concern what is legitimately your business

The right to live free form accusation and blame

The right to live free from criticism and judgement

The right to have your work and your interests spoken of with respect

The right to encouragement

The right to live free from emotional and physical threat

The right to live free from angry outbursts and rage

The right to be called by no name that devalues you

The right to be respectully asked rather than ordered

 

The things on that list go a long way in creating a home.  A safe place for all to flourish.  Its like organization for respect.  I love it and I’m glad I found it to share with you.  Why don’t you go clean a corner of your space and share with me a little something you find there!

 

 

Red Room

Have you ever tried to paint a red room white?

Yesterday I spent my day with almost 2 gallons of Riviera Beach color paint, trying to make a small red room…tan.  With each stroke of the brush, with each push of the roller I still saw red.  I thought it would take a miracle to turn this red room into a nice sandy beachy color.

“Come now, let us reason together”, says the Lord, “though your sins are like scarlet they shall be as white as snow.  Though they are red crimson, they shall be like wool.”  Isaiah 1:18

Talk about the word coming to life.  I was just trying to make the red room, tan.  I can’t even imagine how much work and sacrifice it would take to make it WHITE. 

By the precious blood(red) of Jesus our sin(red) is made white as snow.

Red + Red = White

What kind of math problem is that?

Jesus gave his ALL so that we could be made white as snow, without blemish to be the righteousness of Christ, presented to God blameless.  Our red room is made white by that sacrifice.  I can tell you from experience that it is no small task to make the room white, it takes a miracle.  Jesus was that miracle. 

Thus I sang and continue to sing:

Oh! precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Some of my favorite things….

Happy Snowy Sunday:)

I have to tell you, I’m thrilled that the snow has finally arrived and that it may just stick around for the next couple of days.  I truly love waking up to white rooftops and a chill throughout the house.  Jumping up to get the first cup of coffee and start the fire…wonderful.

Thought I would share with you some of my favorite things:

~Lately I’m really enjoying frozen grapes.  Turns out frozen fruit is my man’s favorite snack.  Who knew how devine a frozen grape would be.  Please try them.  Go get yourself a container full of seedless red grapes from Costco, take them off the vine and store them in a ziploc in your freezer.  You’ll be glad you did.

~Painting.  I painted my bathroom last weekend, I did some touch up wall and trim paint around the house yesterday and today the den/soon to be man cave will be painted.  Its theraputic.  Its cleansing.  Its a new beginning.  Its an easy fun way to change up a space.  Every so often I get on a painting kick and I just love the freshness of a newly painted room!  My daughter wants to join the painting bandwagon and has requested lime green paint.  She already has a raspberry colored wall and feels like she needs a splash of color on another wall….yeah….no!

~Hot Tamales and Good n Plenty’s…..I know frozen grapes are good but these two boxes of candies make me jump for joy. They are my go-to candy for movies and other such events.  Turns out my man loves these as his favorite too, so thats just a fun little perk!

~New pajamas.  MMMM…so good.  I have 2 drawers in my dresser dedicated to pj’s.  I’m sure this probably catagorizes me into some kind of disorder…but regardless there is nothing  better then a new pair of pj’s and a cuddle on the couch!  There is a 15% off Kohls coupon in the paper today that just might help me with my guilty pleasure.

~Meals cooking while you are at work.  I love the crock pot.  I think its brilliant and I need to use it more.  Today, I think I’ll put a roast in there while I paint.  My kids hate the crock pot but they need to learn how to be a little less rigid in their life and throwing them curve balls every so often is a good parenting technique.  They think they are having ribs tonight, so this will be a fun little twist once they hear me get the crockpot out:)

~Lastly, I love Jesus and God’s word.  How could I have gotten away without bringing that up in my post?  Turns out memorizing lots of scripture makes you love Jesus and the Word more.  Who knew?  Try it!

OK, getting out the crock pot….can you hear the moaning and groaning and complaining?  I hope so, cause is another way to get the little monsters to have to do some chores for me.  Ya know, complaining drains the energy I had reserved to do the dishes and laundry and vaccum….so now I’ll need their help to get that done, since they took all my energy *wink, wink*

…yep the crockpot is wonderful!

How do you read it?

You may not read it. I read it, and have read it and will continue to read it but now my reading has changed. Do you read the bible? Take a moment and ask yourself HOW do you read it and WHY do you read it.

As I shared with you, I’m taking on the challenge to memorize the book of James. I believe I also told you it would cause problems of many kinds and sure enough it has.

First of all, James 1:4 says Let perseverance finish its work…. How long does that take? Thats a blog all in its own but seriously…perseverance falls into the category of patience and I believe the finishing of that ‘work’ is gonna take some time. Now apparently according to this verse, perseverance brings maturity and completeness. I’m all for that, I’m all for the not lacking anything, but seriously how long will it take for perseverance to finish its work! Get to work perseverance!

But I digress…here is what really happened that caused the problem in my life. I was going about my business memorizing James. I’ve got James 1:1-5 down:) As I’m doing my memory work, I realize I’m actually reading the bible. Does that make sense?

I’ve read the bible for sometime now, usually on a daily basis. I’ve studied it and I’ve wrote about it and I’ve read it, over and over and over again. Its a good little book and the words are indeed alive and active. They blow my mind. But if you haven’t ever read the scripture to put it to MEMORY then I challenge you to say you haven’t really READ the bible and you are missing out. I’m not saying you have to memorize the scripture to prove you’ve read it but read it as though you must put it to memory and see if it tips your world a little bit.

Turns out,  in order to memorize the Word, you need to KNOW the word and I mean really know it. You can’t just put it to memory like a phone number, you really have to know what your saying and almost adopt the mind of the author. It changes the whole dynamic of the verse and sucks you into the words. This is a good thing right?!

Sure it is but it will change the way you read every other verse. I have been content to just read my allotted verses and go about my business. I usually respond with ‘that’s a good verse’ or ‘I’ll hold onto that one’. But now that I’ve decided to put the Letter James wrote to memory, I actually read the words to understand them and to know them and to love them like my own. I wonder how this will play out in my future. I’m pretty sure this is all part of perseverance’s plan to finish its work.

So, I challenge you pick a verse, start with James…and really READ it. See if it becomes more then just a good verse for you, see if it becomes even more alive and then see if it changes your desire to really read it. Maybe together we’ll allow perseverance to finish its work and then maturity will come and completeness. Completeness…what does that look like? See…its a slippery slope….

MEMORIZE

Memorize the book of JAMES!

WHAT?! Beth Moore has taken this BS thing to a whole new level.

Last night we met for our first bible study session. I have this wonderful workbook, watched a great video teaching and found out that not only is Beth challenging us to work a pretty intense bible study of James out in the next 7 weeks but she’d like us to also handwrite the book on another piece of paper AND if we are feeling like a challenge….MEMORIZE the entire book!

Ok, so I’ve done some memory work in the past….For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whoever believes in him will have eternal life. or For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans for a hope and a future. and I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength and of course all things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to His purposes.

But a WHOLE stinking book of the bible….1742 words. hmmm….

You know me I love a challenge but could I memorize this? It seems like a daunting task and it really will be more then just memorizing the words for me. The problem will come, and already has, as I begin to memorize I’ll have to analyze and understand the words that are being written on my heart. This will cause speed bumps and road blocks to the memorization process but in the end I’ll know it. I’m not putting a timeline on this ridiculous challenge dear Beth has given but I’ll say this, you’ll be enjoying the writings that come out of this, I’m sure of it!

Here is where it starts:James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered across the nations. Greetings.

and so I say to you…

Tracy, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve blog followers scattered across Oregon. Greetings.

BS

This is BS day!
I woke up this morning and said to myself “BS DAY” then starting chuckling at that because its just not right….but now I’m hooked!

Bible Study day! I’ll be registering for the study tonight at 6:30pm. Hope you all can join me. I am excited to get my hands on the workbook and check it out. We’ll be studying “JAMES: MERCY TRIUMPHS” by Beth Moore.

James as the brother of Jesus and this book was written in the year 49 AD. Thats almost 2000 years ago and yet it is still VERY relevant today. The Word is indeed alive and active, I am so excited to dig this little book of the bible up and cultivate it in my heart.

I took some time this morning to read through James and ask the Lord to open my eyes anew to His word. One of the main themes of James comes from James 2:17 “In the same way, faith by itself if not accompanied by action is dead”. Interesting how this concept is basically what I’ve been writing about and mulling over lately. Ya know, the church going vs. church doing. Just a ‘today’ way of saying exactly what James said. Faith without action isn’t real faith at all.

Beth Moore is a brilliant teacher, she says these are some of the themes we’ll be covering: joy, hardship, faith, reversal of fortunes for rich & poor, wisdom, gifts from above, single-mindedness, the dangers of the tongue, humility and prayer.

That is some BS!

How redemption came…

Redemption : restoring something or someone to a better condition, an improved state of being. Rescued.

You may recall this post on June 5th…A Story of Redemeption.

Ahh..the beauty of a good love story.   Ruth and Boaz, mmm  mmm good.  Obviously, my rendition of the story wasn’t straight from the bible.  It was the romantic in me equating my little story of redemption to the great story in the bible about Ruth and her kinsman redeemer, Boaz. 

My Boaz did indeed come over the mountain as our kinsman redeemer.  He’ll be signing papers and officially redeeming this family as his own on March 25th.  It really is a great story that I didn’t foresee playing out in my own life.  God does some interesting things when we least expect it and that’s how my redemptions story is written.  But how did it play out for the leading man?

Here’s what I know…He love me.

He and I share the same date of birth, although I was born in the morning and he 11 hours later, I’m very much robbing the cradle He’s never been married and for good reason.  He met Jesus about 10 years ago and knew that he wanted to know Him well, so he chose to spend much of his 30’s learning, eating, serving and sleeping at the feet of Jesus.  He doesn’t have children but he loves mine.  We’re to old to have children but that’s what Abraham and Sarah said…hmmm.

“He obeyed the word of the Lord and went”  Jonah 3:3

Yep, now I’ll compare my man to Jonah.  He knew he loved me, he knew God had brought us together.  He knew he wanted to be with me but in order to do that he had to literally choose to go to Ninevah.  A land he didn’t know to a NEW people. Giving up his home, moving from his family to a new city, going from being a fancy free single man to the head of a household with 2 almost teenagers.  It would be culture shock for this man of faith. 

He had a moment where he knew that he knew, not only did he love me but he was CALLED to my family.  It wasn’t just about what HE could get but when God quickened in his spirit that it was also about what he could give, he knew.  God whispered ‘you are called to this family, go’.  He went.

He’s glad he obeyed, it is well.

DOING Church

We can be church goers and not be church doers. If you are a church doer, then you have found the key to your calling in Christ Jesus our Lord. Being a christian is loads more then just going to church on the weekend. It’s about being the hands and feet of Jesus to all people, making disciples of nations or family members or co-workers or strangers. Now, in order to DO church you have to have your act together and be a perfect little flawless christian soldier, right? Nope, you just have to be the YOU God created you to be. Thats it, just YOU, plus a little willingness to be available to hear the gentle nudges of God to Love others.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Here’s how it played out:

I went to a lovely church service Wednesday night. We had wonderful worship and the message was spot on about our lack of contentment in this world and God echoed in our hearts the need to find our contentment in HIM alone. All else shatters or fades away and basically, we will leave everything behind when we leave this life.  True contentment comes by putting all your eggs in God’s basket!

I was a church goer that night, content just going to church. Intent on just receiving some encouragement and peace.

Then at the last minute, on my way out of the building, I bump into a woman I haven’t seen or heard from in about 2 years. She had disappeared off my radar and when I saw her, my first response was…HEY its you, you’re still alive, wow, I had forgotten about you!  She saw me and said ‘Hey its you, oh my gosh, now I know the reason we are here tonight’.

She had not been to our church in well over a year and just happened to be there last night with her friend from out of state. She introduced me to this lady and said ‘When I saw you I knew that you were the one we were supposed to see, this is my friend(she made introductions and then she said) will you just do what you do and help her. She is going through a divorce and I know you had a rough time with it and well, I’m going to get my kids so just do whatever it is you do….”

HA! So, I did church. I shared my compassion for this woman, I briefly shared with her my empathy for her situation, I gave her a picture of the brokenness I endured and then I shared with her comfort. We prayed together, I declared healing over her heart in Jesus name and we asked for restoration and redemption.

She, like myself, believed she had lost so much and regretted so much and was now a mess at almost 40 and her hope was gone. Out of my pain, out of my brokenness, out of the suffering, I could share the comfort that was given me by Jesus and out of my courage to persevere and my learning that our hope is found in Christ alone, she was encouraged.

Imagine her face when I shared with her the restoration God was doing in my family now. How HE indeed DOES work all things tougher for good! Imagine her and my long lost friends surprise when they saw the sparkling stones on my finger and heard my lovely story and realized God does bring beauty from ashes. Hope is not lost. Sorrow is real, but joy comes in the morning:)

Let’s DO church!