Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Phil 2:3-4
Judy provided our memory scripture for this week.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Mind Games???
Matthew 6:34 "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
As I was considering what to write about last week, my mind was all over the place, which seems to fit right in with my life right now. For many reasons, and most of them not good reasons, my life/emotions have been on a roller coaster ride recently. I have been worried, anxious, and just letting my mind take over my life.
It was really cool to see how God was working in my life, I started a new bible study a little over a week ago and Day 1 jumped right off the page and into my face. The words I read from the page were, "Listen to me!! Tune out other voices, so that you can hear Me more clearly. I know your anxious thoughts but I designed you to dwell in peace." Wow, I had to take a minute to catch my breath and gather myself. Had it really taken the Lord almost yelling at me to make me stop and listen to Him??? Well sometimes that is just what this stubborn soul needs.
God has not called us to take charge of our lives and figure everything out. Instead He says, come to Me and I will give you rest, cast every care upon Me... He knows our thoughts and just wants us to surrender our lives, and in my case, mind to Him so he can wrap us in His love and peace. This is a continual process for me, this battle of the mind, that I so often struggle with. But in the moment I stop to seek His face, He is always there ready to take hold of the uncertainty in my life.
Well, after this weekend at the simulcast ,which again was exactly what I needed to hear, I realized these time in our lives where we feel so out of control are not really "interruptions" at all, they are divine interventions! God has not forgotten me or not heard my prayers, he knows the desires of my heart. But, He has a perfect plan for my life. So I now have a choice when these "interruptions" come. Do I run like Jonah did and complain that my life is not what I want right now, or do I obey God and see what opportunity He has planned for me??? Pray that I will be obedient to what God is calling me to do and what He has in store for me.
Friday, March 18, 2011
James 1:19- My Dear brothers/sisters, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.
I know we had the conference in the fall about the law of kindness. And last night was my night that I was supposed to add my verse and write a little something about it. Well, I hadn't really thought about this much until this morning when God convicted me of the law of kindness. My verse is James 1:19. My DEAR brothers, take note of this: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to become angry. WOAH- the conviction. Last night, I was with coworkers for our annual dinner. I had a chair between me and the next girl. I looked around and saw that one person who I thought was coming, wasn't there. I was quick to say "Please don't let ______ sit here. I don't like her. She bothers me. She talks too much... " This morning I was convicted that I was unkind, rude, and what a horrible thing to say! I would like to think that normally I am not like this. But Jesus said "whatever you do to the least of men, you do it unto me."
Not to mention,I am a teacher. This past week has really put the pressure on me about the anger thing. I feel like one minute I am Dr. Jekyl and the next minute Mrs. Hyde.
So.... Here's my plan of attack! First.... I am going to bathe these situations in prayer! Then I am going to talk with the ladies that heard me last night and ask for forgiveness. I also need to confront the lady that I spoke so badly about. (THIS WILL BE MORE DIFFICULT.) And before my babies come into my classroom, I need to pray and breathe very deeply. (ESPECIALLY today since my assistant is out and I will be by myself.) OH--- And pray for me.. My dear SISTERS, take note of this: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to become angry! Keep that in mind today and everyday!
Not to mention,I am a teacher. This past week has really put the pressure on me about the anger thing. I feel like one minute I am Dr. Jekyl and the next minute Mrs. Hyde.
So.... Here's my plan of attack! First.... I am going to bathe these situations in prayer! Then I am going to talk with the ladies that heard me last night and ask for forgiveness. I also need to confront the lady that I spoke so badly about. (THIS WILL BE MORE DIFFICULT.) And before my babies come into my classroom, I need to pray and breathe very deeply. (ESPECIALLY today since my assistant is out and I will be by myself.) OH--- And pray for me.. My dear SISTERS, take note of this: everyone should be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to become angry! Keep that in mind today and everyday!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Rest
First of all, I am terribly sorry for the lateness of this post! It completely slipped my mind...better late than never???
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
Oftentimes I feel like the world will stop spinning if I'm not doing something. The hard-cold truth is that it won't.
I have a very difficult time just resting. I worry so much about the next step that I rarely let God take care of it for me. Not long ago I was at my wits end because I didn't have a plan for my life 2 years from now! (If you know me, you know that I am not exaggerating one bit!) So, obviously, the issue of not resting in the Lord shows up in many areas of my life. More often than I'd like to admit, when I feel weary and burdened I look for an equation to fix it, instead of looking to the truth of God's word. The passages that follow this memory scripture speak of God's passion for us to be 100% dependent on Him. So, I guess there's no need to work out the equation, the answer is already there for us. Throw any variable in the equation and it always works out that we are to be 100% dependent on God. He works out the details. When I stop and meditate on how simple that concept is, I am overwhelmed by our Savior....and I realize how silly I am not for not doing it more often!
I hope you find time to rest in Him this week.
Love in Christ,
Tosha
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28
Oftentimes I feel like the world will stop spinning if I'm not doing something. The hard-cold truth is that it won't.
I have a very difficult time just resting. I worry so much about the next step that I rarely let God take care of it for me. Not long ago I was at my wits end because I didn't have a plan for my life 2 years from now! (If you know me, you know that I am not exaggerating one bit!) So, obviously, the issue of not resting in the Lord shows up in many areas of my life. More often than I'd like to admit, when I feel weary and burdened I look for an equation to fix it, instead of looking to the truth of God's word. The passages that follow this memory scripture speak of God's passion for us to be 100% dependent on Him. So, I guess there's no need to work out the equation, the answer is already there for us. Throw any variable in the equation and it always works out that we are to be 100% dependent on God. He works out the details. When I stop and meditate on how simple that concept is, I am overwhelmed by our Savior....and I realize how silly I am not for not doing it more often!
I hope you find time to rest in Him this week.
Love in Christ,
Tosha
Monday, January 31, 2011
Stinkin' Thinkin'
"Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things." Philippians 4:8
I don't know about any of you, but so often I find myself dwelling on the negative. It's not any surprise then that its hard to find good in anything when all I fill my mind with is negative negative negative. There is a book that I've read ("Created to Be His Help Meet") that has a chapter on this very subject. I wish I could just copy the whole chapter here because it is filled with so much truth. A couple of quotes that I underlined..."Your reactions break you loose from your social inhibitions and manifest who you really are inside and what you really believe at your core level....the way you think everyday determines the way you feel, and it will determine how you will react in stressful situations...the heart is filled with thoughts, and it is out of that reservoir of thoughts that the mouth speaks words of praise or bitterness." Talk about a kick in the gut! I remember struggling the day I read this with having pleasant thoughts toward Austin. I was quickly convicted and began to ask the Lord to help me "take captive those thoughts" (2 Cor 10:5) and replace those negative thoughts with positive ones.
Even the last few weeks while we've been on this roller coaster waiting to go and get Ada, the negative has been looming over me and I've had to constantly go back to this passage remembering to "DWELL ON THESE THINGS!" As we were reminded yesterday through Brody, the war that rages around us is very real. I have been quite aware of this truth lately and refuse to let the enemy into this camp to destroy what God has already redeemed and conquered!
Hope this post makes some sense...I'm writing on adrenaline as we just found out we'll be leaving this week for Ethiopia!!! Our embassy date will be one day next week...imagine that we still don't know details for sure. All I know is that THIS Sunday I will be holding our daughter and joy has filled my heart! Thanks so much for your prayers for us. Can't wait to get her home to meet all of you!
Keri
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Finding Acceptance in an Unaccepting World
Romans 15:7, "So accept each other just as Christ has accepted you; then God will be glorified."
This was a verse we memorized in Sunday School in the Romasn study. Romans is such a cool dictionary of the road for a believer to travel. I just love instructions, routines. If you have ever met my middle son, Brent, you know he does as well. Brent is a highly functional autistic child. We are so blessed with Brent. He often says inappropriate things, has absolutely no pride, doesn't get embarrassed (which is a bad thing when trying to potty train,) and just basically tries to emulate whatever he can to fit in. Brent watches others and mimics what they do and holds on tight. If Brent is watching the right people, this goes smoothly, if not, watch out. Brent has a cousin who he has favored above all else since he was born. Sam loves Brent and Brent loves
Sam. Sam is very smart, well versed, mature. Brent is not. Brent has a light that shines from within that seems to infect all he encounters. Brent loves life and openly loves Sam. This relationship works because Brent never judges, just accepts. Sam chooses to love. For Brent, love is easy, he just does it and does it completely. He loves fully about 5 people in the world, knows he likes a few others. Imagine if everyone loved like Brent and chose to love like Sam what the world would be like. If we loved more like Christ and enveloped everyone's faults, idiosyncrascies, character traits. Everyone would have a relationship like Brent and Sams and we would all be able to accept the full love of Christ and the way He loves us. I think of Brent and Sam and how much Glory He receives from those two and it makes me want to be more like them both. God didn't design us all to be a cookie cutter of the perfect person, he gave us differences so we could work to love like He does. I challenge you to find that someone different and radiate God's love to them!
This was a verse we memorized in Sunday School in the Romasn study. Romans is such a cool dictionary of the road for a believer to travel. I just love instructions, routines. If you have ever met my middle son, Brent, you know he does as well. Brent is a highly functional autistic child. We are so blessed with Brent. He often says inappropriate things, has absolutely no pride, doesn't get embarrassed (which is a bad thing when trying to potty train,) and just basically tries to emulate whatever he can to fit in. Brent watches others and mimics what they do and holds on tight. If Brent is watching the right people, this goes smoothly, if not, watch out. Brent has a cousin who he has favored above all else since he was born. Sam loves Brent and Brent loves
Sam. Sam is very smart, well versed, mature. Brent is not. Brent has a light that shines from within that seems to infect all he encounters. Brent loves life and openly loves Sam. This relationship works because Brent never judges, just accepts. Sam chooses to love. For Brent, love is easy, he just does it and does it completely. He loves fully about 5 people in the world, knows he likes a few others. Imagine if everyone loved like Brent and chose to love like Sam what the world would be like. If we loved more like Christ and enveloped everyone's faults, idiosyncrascies, character traits. Everyone would have a relationship like Brent and Sams and we would all be able to accept the full love of Christ and the way He loves us. I think of Brent and Sam and how much Glory He receives from those two and it makes me want to be more like them both. God didn't design us all to be a cookie cutter of the perfect person, he gave us differences so we could work to love like He does. I challenge you to find that someone different and radiate God's love to them!
The Fast Lane
Be still and know that I am God;
I will be exhalted among the nations,
I will be exhaled in the earth. Psalm 46:10
Give me a B
Give me a U
Give me a S
Give me a Y
Whatcha Got
Busy
Whatcha Got
Busy
Beginning August 25, 2010 life began to get busy. Of course, this was due to school starting. This was not too bad. It was something I knew was coming. However, it just did not seem to stop. Out of nowhere, life was no longer life. It has changed it form and I did not even recognize what it was anymore. I kept going, sometimes not even knowing how I made it through the day because the days were just coming so fast and never seeming to start or end. I have always been busy, especially with 3 kids, but it has been managable. This time however, the business controlled me and I lost focus of my priorities. This is not to say that I did not keep trying to do something to fix it myself. Of course I did because I am such a practical person. I just knew I could figure out how to make life slow down. Practicality was not the answer. Who would've known? I kept hearing this voice say,"Be still." "Be still." "Be still!!!" Was God crazy? How could I possibly BE STILL. "I" had too much to do! Then, not surprisingly, came the shear exhaustion. It was then that "BEING STILL" felt like heaven. God, the Father of the universe, had been trying to get me to rest in Him for months and I totally ignored Him. I am praying now that my life will not become USELESS because of business, but USEFUL because of resting in HIM.
I will be exhalted among the nations,
I will be exhaled in the earth. Psalm 46:10
Give me a B
Give me a U
Give me a S
Give me a Y
Whatcha Got
Busy
Whatcha Got
Busy
Beginning August 25, 2010 life began to get busy. Of course, this was due to school starting. This was not too bad. It was something I knew was coming. However, it just did not seem to stop. Out of nowhere, life was no longer life. It has changed it form and I did not even recognize what it was anymore. I kept going, sometimes not even knowing how I made it through the day because the days were just coming so fast and never seeming to start or end. I have always been busy, especially with 3 kids, but it has been managable. This time however, the business controlled me and I lost focus of my priorities. This is not to say that I did not keep trying to do something to fix it myself. Of course I did because I am such a practical person. I just knew I could figure out how to make life slow down. Practicality was not the answer. Who would've known? I kept hearing this voice say,"Be still." "Be still." "Be still!!!" Was God crazy? How could I possibly BE STILL. "I" had too much to do! Then, not surprisingly, came the shear exhaustion. It was then that "BEING STILL" felt like heaven. God, the Father of the universe, had been trying to get me to rest in Him for months and I totally ignored Him. I am praying now that my life will not become USELESS because of business, but USEFUL because of resting in HIM.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)