Saturday 21 May 2011

running and and quiet time, or running FROM quiet time??

So in the last month God has prompted me to really start making an effort to spend quality quiet time with him...  I will be honest and say that in the last month I have averaged about 3 days per week that this quiet time actually happens...  I think I put too much pressure on myself like "am I doing this right?"  When I do my quiet time I read my daily devotional called "hearing from God each morning" by Joyce Meyer.  its so practical!  anyhow, I read this and then I go to my bible and look up whatever the message was about today..  then I read and pray for about an hour...   then often If I am done before my little ladies wake up I shimmy right back into bed...  BAD IDEA!!  

Ok so on mornings that I dont get up and do my quiet time, the girls are basically my alarm clock.  but when I do not wake up before them I am such a crab!  I am NOT a morning person you can ask my mother and my husband...  they WILL NOT lie for me!   anyways I know that having my quiet time in the morning just makes my day go smoothly and YET I still resist!  

now onto the running...  right now my husband and I are both training for a half marathon.  it will be my 4th and his 5th one so we have done this training thing a few times now...  but for me, I now have a nursing baby..  who by the way is 6 months old and is still NOT sleeping through the night...  YIKES!  well when I get ready for my long run I always have to take into account my little bug, so typically I wake up at about 4 am and fee d her and let my body wake up and then start running by 5:00 AM.  well this morning,  she happened to wake up at about 3:30 to feed so I just laid back down when I was done nursing and set my alarm for 4:30.  THEN I snoozed it 2 times!  so now I am up and out of by dressed and off running all in 10 minutes....  all of this = NO BUENO!! 

my run this week was only 9 miles so I thought it would be fine...  not so much...  when I began running I realized that Eddies Garmin (GPS watch) was set with alarms for me to alert me when I was going too slow and too fast...  I told Eddie the night before what paces to set it at and lets just say I was a LITTLE ok A LOT off the mark!  after mile 3 I was getting beeped at every 15 seconds for running too slow!  it was just fantastic to be so annoyed on my run...  then I began to get very tired because A) I didn't let my body fully wake up and B) I started out a little too fast straight out of the gate...  so at about mile 7 I was VERY VERY Annoyed!   I began to pray "God what am I missing here?"   he gave me a vision of my morning and how quickly I rushed through it and just started running...  and then all at once it was all so crystal clear!  when I don't wake up before my girls do on a regular basis, I am miserable just as I was running this morning.  so thus the connection was made and I now have been taken down a notch and am going to really try to get up each and every morning EARLY and STAY up and spend time with God...  I don't ever want to feel like this again! 

Tuesday 17 May 2011

changes

This morning during my quiet time God really got me!  Ha made something so obvious to me that I struggle with daily...  ok, so when I became a christian there were many things that God began to change in me, my attitude, my MOUTH, my patience, he began to grow me.  the thing is though, it was gradual.  it DOD NOT happen over night.  I amazes me how much I have changed HOWEVER, when I see someone struggling in an area I was once in and they are so close to "changing"  and yet they fight it (just as I did) I get SO FRUSTRATED!!  but WHY??  God was not frustrated with me at all...  he was very loving and patient with me as I let the Holy Spirit into my life to change me for the better!  I am going to make a conscious effort to LOVE EVERYONE WHERE THEY ARE AT!   God is good and often we learn the most from those times of pushing God...  or rather fighting change once we embrace change, everything is easier.  I am so thankful that God has not treated me in the way that I sometimes treat other when frustrated...  I am never mean, I just know how I feel and its not nice!  anyways, just sharing some self reflection...  

Tuesday 10 May 2011

Faith


So this morning my devotional was about Faith so I went to my bible and opened the concordance and found a section on faith it pointed me to Hebrews 11 so I read that chapter...  WOW!!  I will attach it at the end of my blog for your reading pleasure!  anyways in my devotional it specifically said That sometimes God asks you to do things that you have NO experience doing so that you may grow in your faith...  Well right now He has asked me to step out and apply for a position on the PWOC board in Italy.  its not for sure that I have the position but as I have watched the hand of God move through the last about 8 months (since we got our assignment to Italy) its been amazing.  He has made the impossible possible and he has really shown ME that listening to him and obeying him is really for the best.  so as for this board position I am stepping out in BLIND faith...  I know NO ONE there (except the people he has placed in my life already) Its a new country, new base, Hubby will likely be deployed, a whole new group of women, (who lets face it, are probably wondering why this random person from Guam is applying for the position) all of these reasons make me not want to go through with this, yet God is asking me to do it so I have let them know I am interested and am awaiting the application...  God is good, maybe this is just a test of obedience to see if I will obey his call, and maybe I am not the right fit for the position, OR on the other hand maybe God knows exactly what he is doing and I will be asked to join the board and if I am I will fill this position to the best of my ability while relying on God to get me through...  God is good and thus far he has not asked me to do ANYTHING that he hasn't pulled me all the way through...  I am so thankful to serve a God who help me along the way!

Hebrews 11

Great Examples of Faith
 1 Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. 2 Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation.
 3 By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.
 4 It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man, and God showed his approval of his gifts. Although Abel is long dead, he still speaks to us by his example of faith.
 5 It was by faith that Enoch was taken up to heaven without dying—“he disappeared, because God took him.”[a] For before he was taken up, he was known as a person who pleased God. 6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.
 7 It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. By his faith Noah condemned the rest of the world, and he received the righteousness that comes by faith.
 8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. 9 And even when he reached the land God promised him, he lived there by faith—for he was like a foreigner, living in tents. And so did Isaac and Jacob, who inherited the same promise. 10 Abraham was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.
 11 It was by faith that even Sarah was able to have a child, though she was barren and was too old. She believed[b] that God would keep his promise. 12 And so a whole nation came from this one man who was as good as dead—a nation with so many people that, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, there is no way to count them.
 13 All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth. 14 Obviously people who say such things are looking forward to a country they can call their own. 15 If they had longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back. 16 But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
 17 It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, 18 even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.
 20 It was by faith that Isaac promised blessings for the future to his sons, Jacob and Esau.
 21 It was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff.
 22 It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left.
 23 It was by faith that Moses’ parents hid him for three months when he was born. They saw that God had given them an unusual child, and they were not afraid to disobey the king’s command.
 24 It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward. 27 It was by faith that Moses left the land of Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger. He kept right on going because he kept his eyes on the one who is invisible. 28 It was by faith that Moses commanded the people of Israel to keep the Passover and to sprinkle blood on the doorposts so that the angel of death would not kill their firstborn sons.
 29 It was by faith that the people of Israel went right through the Red Sea as though they were on dry ground. But when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were all drowned.
 30 It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days, and the walls came crashing down.
 31 It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute was not destroyed with the people in her city who refused to obey God. For she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
 32 How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. 33 By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. 35 Women received their loved ones back again from death.
   But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. 36 Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. 37 Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half,[d] and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated. 38 They were too good for this world, wandering over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.
 39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us.

Monday 2 May 2011

surrender

Its funny, God always gets my attention in the late evening hours or the wee early morning hours...  maybe that's just when I am most open to his prompting, or maybe its just when I am most likely to actuallt LISTEN to what he has to say.  This evening God wrapped me in LOVE and Peace and CRAZY ABUNDANT JOY!!  I am so thankful that My God cares enough about me to prompt me daily to surrender all I have to him.  I can do all things through Jesus Christ.  I cast my burdens on him and he gladly takes them and just showers me with immeasurable peace in ALL things!  I serve an amazing God and I am just so thankful that he Loves ME as much as he does!  I keep feeling Satan attempting his attacks on me "the movers are coming" "you aren't going to have ANYTHING for a month" "your child is going to go stir crazy"  he is trying to find an in anywhere he can and each time I surrender EVERYTHING I have to God, I get this Vision of Satan cowering.  its quite powerful!  Thank you God for Loving me so much that you sent your son to die for me and all my sins,  Thank you for loving me and accepting just like I am, BROKEN, and the foot of your throne.  Thank you for the free gift of salvation you have given to me.  Amen!

God has blessed me so much!  I am so very thankful for all he has done, I think my transformation through Christ is most evident to me right now in the midst of this move, when before I was a christian I would have flipped my lid numerous times already.  but now, I am so mellow, not that I don't instinctively begin to react because I do but then I bow and surrender it all to him...  my new phrase....  Gods got this!  He knew I would be right here so there is no need to worry, Gods got this!  He is in control my job is just to keep walking, he will tell me when to turn!