Changes

I have not written a post in a while.

Our family has some changes taking place.  Moving to a new location, the holidays.  These changes although exciting can be scary as well.

We are leaving behind a lot of things that are familiar to us and going to a new place.  We are leaving behind family and friends and comfort.  Makes me think of God stretching us and moving us out of our comfort zone and places of familiarity so that we will learn to depend more on His love, guidance, grace and provision for our lives.

As we are preparing for this move we are going through all of our things  and deciding what we really need to take with us and what to give away and what to just throw out.  Our spiritual lives are much the same way as we transition.  We must go through what we have received and deceide what is really relevant to our lives and we need to keep and what we need to give away and share with others and what we just need to let go off.

Giving Up Negativity

     This month of November our pastor has challenged us as a church to fast negativity.  In our words, thoughts, actions and not being involved in drama.  I have found this very challenging.  

     My husband and I have started to hold weekly prayer night at our home.  We had a few people come but for several weeks it has been just the two of us.  I found that this week it was rather difficult to stay positive and I really had to fight the urge to be negative and down about it.  I reminded myself that God Rewards faithfulness.  He has placed it on our hearts and if its just the two of us and God he will reward us.  I had posted several posts in previous blogs about consistency.  As my husband and I fight through all the circumstances and challenges in the natural to establish what God has placed in our hearts He will reward our faithfulness.  Will we keep going when it is just us and God or will we give in to the pressure to do something else?  In every thing we do that seems challenging those are the questions to ask.  We may not see any fruit in the beginning but with consistency and faith in God He will show us what He has for us and it will be more than we could ever think to ask for.  I encourage you to ask those questions and look to God in all your challenging circumstances.

Uncertainty is not always bad.

As our family prepares to move to Kenya there is a lot of uncertainty.  We tend to think about uncertainty as unsettling.  I have been asking myself why uncertainty bothers me.  I myself don't like to not know what is going to happen.  Trusting God and walking by faith so many times requires us to trust God and step out with out knowing how things will come together or work out.  It requires a leaning of our thoughts and actions on to God.  I myself find it hard to let go sometimes and fully lean on God.  I am learning to confront the fears that are surfacing in my about fearing what could happen.  Learning to take thoughts captive and cast down imaginations and learn to keep focused on God and reminding myself who He is.

Seeing Better!!

Yesterday I took my children to the eye doctor to get a check.  They will all be getting glasses to help improve there vision.  This makes me think about my walk with God in much the same way.  As we go through trials and difficulties sometimes our vision gets out of focus.  God will bring us to places where we must examine ourselves, our thoughts, actions and sometimes He will bring others to speak a word of correction.  As we humble ourselves and allow Him to show us where our vision is impaired and apply the correction and make changes to our thought life or by spending more time in worship and confession and reading of the word and talking to others.  As we bring our focus back on to Jesus our vision will begin to improve.

The Importance of Interaction

This week we have begun our new homeschool school year.  In teaching my kids I get to interact with them on a instructor teacher level.  I really enjoy this.  I think about why I enjoy it.  I get a opportunity to teach them about new things, we get a chance to explore ideas and put them into practice.  I think about my daily interactions and how I love doing this in group bible studies getting to share our ideas and learn about how others view them.  I think about my personal time with the Holy Spirit and with the Father getting to be a student and my bible devotion time where I am getting instruction to put into practice.  I have areas where I understand really fast and see results and other areas where I struggle more to understand the concepts and how to properly apply them to my life and situations.  We never stop learning in this life.  I enjoy the learning and I enjoy getting to be the teacher and share from my knowledge and experience.

A New Season

Summer is coming to a end and we are entering the season of Fall.  The temperatures will begin to get cooler, the days shorter and less daylight.  Trees will begin to turn beautiful colors and the leaves will begin to fall.  Nature is preparing for a rest.  The fall reminds us that even though things look like they are not appealing and it looks like nothing is taking place that we can't see the rest and regeneration that is taking place inside the trees and below the surface of the ground.  Our spiritual lives sometimes seem this way at times.  We are doing all that we know to do yet it looks like the opposite is happening we have to trust God that even though we can not see what is taking place behind the scenes that He is working in us and as we grow deeper into our relationship with Him He will expose in the open what has been taking place in us.

Unexcpected

 As we go through our day it is is easy to get settled into a routine.  Every day can seem to blend into the next.  When we are following God sometimes out of nowhere He can bring provision, His presence, place a desire to call someone in our heart.  Following God and letting Him direct our steps means to me that I am open to my routine getting interrupted and things not going as I had planned them out this is hard to do sometimes.  Letting go of our ideas of being in control of the things that we deceide to do and let some one else lead us sometimes without knowing very many details can be rather scary.  We must learn to trust God with our lives and the learn how to follow Him.

Getting Back to Basics

This week I have been focusing on making new healthy habits.  I am choosing to eat healthier foods, exercise regularly and get more rest.  As I look at my spiritual life I see the same choices being made.  Spending more time in the Word renewing my mind, taking my thoughts captive and casting down imaginations.  Confronting the lies in my own thought life that have kept me from moving forward.  As we begin to exercise both in the natural and spiritually there will be some pain and discomfort but as we stay focused and diligent and keep going even when we don't want to or feel like it or can't see any results we are building our selfs up.  It may take a while to see some results and others may begin to see them before we do but as we keeping going we will be rewarded.

Getting Back Into Routine.

I have made a deceison to start making some positive changes to help myself feel better.  I am changing some bad eating habits for some good ones.  I am getting into exercise and moving more and becoming more active.  As we go about our day maybe there are some habits that help our spiritual life that we have let go and become lax in doing or not seen the importance of maintaining them but as we make a effort to deceide to pick them back up and move forward we will see changes begin to take place.

Moving one step closer.

     I have not been keeping up with my blog as I should.
     
     In May we moved from a small town to a big city.  From  a house in to a apartment.  We have sold our house and this brings our family one step closer to being ready to move to Kenya to do mission work.
   
      I have found myself feeling isolated and alone and lonely a lot more.  Even though I have my family around and I attend church regularly and I go to monthly ladies meetings for fellowship yet even being around others I still feel I am alone.  I have found through searching my own heart and looking at my situation that I long for Africa.  I long for what I saw and I experienced over there.  The people we meet and encountered for the most part were warm open and inviting.  I have enjoyed talking to them and getting to know them.

    I have been finding myself to combat this getting back into more times of praise and fellowship with the Lord, bible reading and application.  I am finding that what I experienced over there I can have here in the presence of the Lord.  Yes I need friends and connections with people but I think a lot we try to make things happen instead of allowing God to bring them to us.

Unforseen challenges

I usually post on Tuesday.  This week I was busy and I forgot.  I have encountered some challenging situation this week.  One thing I have found out is sometimes unless a item that is lost has some distiguishing marks or items attached to it you can not recover it.  I thought of our walk as Christians can others tell us apart from the world around us.  Do we have distinguishing marks or charactariztics that set us apart and allow us to be identified.  I can replace the item that was lost it will cost me some time and money.  Sometimes our walk with God is the same.  We may experience a trial that causes us to doubt or worry and we may seem to lose our way but with some time and effort we can recover what seems to be lost.

Taking Time Off.

This is my first blog in a few weeks.  My family and I have been busy settling into  our new apartment, and my husband and I went to Texas for a week for some missions training.  We had a wonderful time in Texas we went excited about what God had to show us and we learned so much.  After the move and just daily life taking care of the family it was good to have a change of scenery.  As I reflect in our walk with God sometimes we need to get away and have new perspective, put aside our ideas and just be still and quiet and let God speak to us.  I feel refreshed, renewed and energetic not just physically but spiritually as well.

Unpacking!!!

  We just recently moved.  To prepare for the move we started months and months ago packing, sorting, giving away and throwing away items.  We have now moved into the unpacking phase.  It is a adventure rediscovering all that we had packed away and forgotten about.  I have noticed that in the hectic pace of the last week trying to get all the items moved from one location to the next, I was not spending as much time in the word for myself I was so focused on getting it all done.  I did a lot of it by myself and I became discouraged and unmotivated the longer that the process of packing and sorting became.  Our spiritual lives are much the same way.  We are in the process of going from one kingdom to the next and we have to take inventory and throw out and let go of things that are no longer useful to our spiritual lives.  During my packing it become lonely.  I because of past hurts have a difficult time asking for help.  I learned on this journey that no matter how much progress I have made I still have a ways to go in learning how to interact with people and how to ask for help.  I  thought the things I was doing was asking for help and I have been humbled by hearing that they were incorrect.  Changes are on the horizon in so many areas.

Preparing to move

Our family is preparing to move to a new home in another town.  There is so much involved in moving from going through and finding items we had forgot about, to realizing certain items are no longer of value to us and would be better to bless someone else with or to trash and discard.  Our spiritual walk is much this same way.  Ever so often we need to sit down and take a inventory and go through what we have learned and maybe let some things go or revisit some truths that we had learned but are no longer focusing our attention on.  Our victory can slip easily away by getting caught up in our every day living.

Staying focused.

With my son getting ready to graduate from high school, a move to a apartment, and getting started in missions.  We have a lot going on that competes for our time and attention.  I find it hard sometimes to devote the amount of time I would like to each task.  Our walk with God is the same way.  So many things pull on us and compete and draw our attention away and we find our selves drifitng from God and losing our intimacy and even sometimes our focus.

Getting back on track.

I have had some challenges and unexpected circumstances come up the last few weeks.  I have not posted or stayed on my routine.  I struggle with consistency and flexibility.  As I have been blogging and making a schedule I have been learning to be more flexible with my routine.  I am learning a routine is a guideline to guide us through  our day.  I am finding a new found freedom by learning to be more flexible with my routine and not get upset when I need to make changes to my routine.  Our routines help us know what to excpect and that sometimes the unexcpected can bring us revelation, freedom, joy and peace.

Enjoying quiet time

     I forgot to post a blog entry last week.

     I have been getting up early and enjoying watching the sun come up.  Spending time thinking about my day and I am amazed at how much you can hear when it's quiet.  In my walk with God I am learning how to get quiet on the inside so that I can hear what the Lord is saying much better.  

Taking time to reflect and rest.

Today we took some time to just have a fun day with our family.  In our walk with the Lord it is the same we need to take time to stop, reflect and rest.  Rest is important to help us process are progress and also to help us readjust our focus.

You are Cared For

One of the hardest things I have had believing is that people and God care about me.  In my life sharing my fears, needs, concerns has not always been easy for me.  For me sharing and not having anyone do anything positive or see any change in a situation made it difficult for me to stay positive and I developed a very negative outlook.  God has been arranging my circumstances and the people surrounding me to show me that He sees and knows and is moving in unexcpected ways to meet these needs.  We all have a basic need to know that we are accecpted  so many times we look to people rather than God to meet this void, which only last for a time and still leaves us empty and wanting and needing more.  God alone can fill this void.  I am beginning to see how He uses people, and situations around us to show us He is with us.

More on consistency.

     This last week, I have had to be out of my house for a few days for appointments.  As I have been over the previous weeks working on developing consistency in doing little household chores everyday whether I felt like doing them or not because I knew they needed to be done.  I have learned that there is freedom in my thoughts and I am much more relaxed knowing that I don't have to rush around to make everything look nice because it is already done.  We may not always see in the natural with our eyes all the changes that are taking place some of the changes take place in the mind in the area of how we think  about these tasks.  Our negative thoughts will produce negative actions and cause us to put off what we need to do because we think it can wait till later and a lot of the time later never comes and it builds up and becomes a even bigger problem.  Thinking of all that I will be able to do with the extra time i have when i take the time to just do the little things consistently brings such freedom and relief and releves a lot of pressure I needlessly put on myself.  I am amazed at how one little thought can affect our whole day and our outlook.

Ready for spring

Where I live it is the season of Winter.  The temperatures  are cold and sometimes it snows or ice and makes travel difficult.  I look forward to spring when the temperatures warm up and the grass and tress turn green again.  Flowers bloom and there is a lot of color and beauty as we begin life again.  Sometimes our lives are like this to.  We feel we are in a dark cold season and we look forward to a new season where we are blossoming and blooming and coming to life again just like the flowers.

more on consistency

These past few weeks as I have been doing little things around my house consistently I am learning how to apply them to my spiritual life.  In order to really have a strong foundation and walk with God we need to learn how to be consistent in our pursuit of God.  Learning that it is not in the amount of scriptures I read or how many hours I pray in the spirit or confess the word over my self but in the quality of the time spent doing these things.  I am seeing changes in so many areas that I have stuggled for a  long time because I am learning to let go of the idea of having to be perfect and always get it right.

Learning to Adapt

I am one who does not like change.  I like things to go smoothly and as planned in a orderly fashion.  This week I had several days where I had to rearrange my plans and adapt.  I was able to do this and stay calm and think clearly and still get done the commitments that I already had for the day.  I am learning through natural things the Lord is having me do everyday how to plan and manage my time and responsibilities better.  In doing this I am become adaptable.  I can see how to move things around adjust the amount of time I am spending on task and how to prioritize what needs to be done.

Learning To Not Over React

This week I have had some challenges.  I faced a situation that normally I would want to try to figure out.  I found myself instead thinking differently about it.  We want to think sometimes when we face challenges unexpectedly that its opposition but I found myself asking if this was a not a attack but maybe God closing a door that He did not want me to walk through.  A lot of times our first reaction is to think that the enemies is causing problems to get us off track and upset.  I took the time to not over react but to stop and pray and ask God if it was a attack or if He was closing a door.  This week I want to apply this way of thinking to other situations and begin to walk in more peace.

More on Consistency part 2

Last week I talked a little more about consistency.  I am learning so much about this during this season. Here where I live the weather has been teaching me a lot.  One day it is 60 degrees and sunny and the next it is 20 and freezing cold.  It is hard in the natural to know from one day to the next how to prepare  for what is ahead.  I am learning to be consistent in my daily prayer and bible study time.  This is how just like watching a weather forecast can help us in the natural reading and prayer and study will help us prepare for what God has for us by being consistent to study and spend time with Him we are building consistency.

More on Consistency

I talked a little about consistency.  I gave a dictionary definition of what it was.  I have had a opportunity to get outside for several days this last week and go walk at a park with a friend.  During the time talking with my friend we have talked about the reasons why we want to get out and move.  I am finding that part of learning to stay consistent is to find motivation to keep moving forward when things get hard or seem to become routine.  I know for myself I dislike change but I do find that if things lose their excitement and start to become boring and non challenging in some way I start to lose my motivation.  As I am getting out with a friend and walking I am getting motivated in other areas of my life where I have struggled for a long time.  I hope to learn how to get excited inside about even the simplest of chores and activities.

The power of imagination

I have been thinking about imagination a lot this week.  The bible talks about casting down imaginations, and when we are children we use our imagination to pretend when we are playing.  One thing this week I come to realize is just how powerful our imaginations can be.  Our thoughts seem to become real and we make deceisons on a system of thought processes we have thought out that are not always the truth of who we are or what is really happening with our situation.  On the other hand imagination such as when we are kids can be power to help us to imagine our future and to think about how we would like certain events to come about.  No matter which stage of imagination we are currently in we must allow God to show us which ones are us and are hindering and need to be taken out of our thought process and which ones are a help to us by helping us to dream about the good things that are ahead for our lives.

Learning consistency.

This year I am working on learning how to be consistent.  One definition of consistency  is to always act and behave in the same way.  This is a year where I want my actions and the things that I say to become consistent with the word and will of God.  Learning more about how to hear and speak what God says about me to myself and my circumstances.  Also learning that the nature and character of God does not change and learning more about Him this year.  I am excited about this journey and scared as well because I will be leaving the boundaries of what I have known and venturing out to trust with out knowing in advance what is going to happen for sure.