Messes and Me

Psalms 51:1-10 HCSB

Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithful love; according to Your abundant compassion, blot out my rebellion. Wash away my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. For I am conscious of my rebellion, and my sin is always before me. Against You — You alone — I have sinned and done this evil in Your sight. So You are right when You pass sentence; You are blameless when You judge. Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me. Surely You desire integrity in the inner self, and You teach me wisdom deep within. Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones You have crushed rejoice. Turn Your face away  from my sins and blot out all my guilt. God, create a clean heart for me and renew a steadfast  spirit within me.

Today was one of those days......when I put the children down for their afternoon naps, the house looked like a tornado had hit and all that was left in its path was toys and crumbs and shreds of paper. I told Carsten "You boys made a big mess! ... That makes mommy sad!" He replied, "It doesn't make me sad!"... "I just don't want to clean it up." I had to laugh a little then. And it made me think.

About messes....

How often does God look at my life and say "You made a big mess!"? What is my attitude when He reveals something that needs to change in my life? Am I sad about my messes? Am I willing to go through the hard work of cleaning up?

Later at the dinner table, we were taking about who cleans up the mess and Carsten says "Mommy had to clean it up all by herself." (I did because the boys had gone down for naps) This makes me think about how this is similar to how God deals with us.  He is willing to take our mess and clean it up ... one little piece at a time. He never gives up and is insistent on total purity.

Prayer for today:
LORD, thank you for having an interest in the messes in my life. I give you my heart and ask you to clean it up and remove all the messes I have made. Forgive my wretched sins and make me clean and new so that I can serve you in your kingdom! In and through Jesus name,  Amen

Life Stories

Psalms 78:22, 35, 38-39, 65, 68, 72 KJV

Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation: .... And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer. .... But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath.  For he remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again....  Then the Lord awaked as one out of sleep, and like a mighty man that shouteth by reason of wine.....  But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.....  So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.


Life stories....

Some are long.
Some are short.

Some are full of drama.
Some are just ordinary.

Some are well known
Some are not known at all.

All are interesting.

All would show the mercy of God,  the grace of God,  the immense love of God.

Whether the person lived for Christ or not, God could still be seen working in his/her life.

This passage is a beautiful story but not because the Israelites loved and obeyed God with all their hearts and lives but because God is faithful.

God chose them and had many reasons to give up on them. But He didn't. Because of His character. Because of His commitment. Because of His love.

If you read the full chapter of Psalm 78, you will find that the Israelites were not faithful and yet God was and still IS!

How will your life story read? What will be said about you at the end of your life?

My desire is that my life story world be so wrapped up in God and my Savior that not much of "me" would shine through.

May "the world see Jesus when they look at my life".

Dear God,
You are so great, we cannot comprehend You! Thank You for the interest and love You show in our lives. I pray that each of us would allow You to write our life story today. Help us to follow Your perfect will for our lives so that when people 'read' our life story, what they see is the Glory of God! We love You and want to live for You! In Jesus name, Amen.

Glorify God

John 21:14-25

This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me. John 21:19

We, as ladies, (or humans for that matter) who are followers of Jesus, have our ideas of what it means to glorify God. We may think that we can best glorify God by having a pure heart, worshipping Him alone or collectively, doing a good deed, praising Him, telling our neighbor about Him, etc. (And please don't think that I am minimizing the importance of glorifying God in these ways).

Sometimes though God may have a different plan or path for us to take to glorify Him better. In this passage, Jesus told Peter that he was going to glorify God in his death. How many of us want to talk about THAT? I mean "God, I can do so much more for You, bring You more glory, if I am a living body and not a dead one, right?" Our human reasoning tries to kick in.

But wait, Daughter of the King, who are you living for anyway? Do you remember how big the God you serve is? And that one of the paradoxes of life through Christ is that in complete surrender is complete freedom?

So my challenge to you today is this,  allow God to glorify Himself in you today in whatever way HE sees best, in whatever way HE will receive the MOST Glory.

Dear Father, 
Glorify Yourself in and through me today. If that takes me out of my comfort zone or means me doing something I don't really want to do, give me the grace(power) to do it anyway. I want to live for your Glory today. Because of and through and in, Jesus' name, I pray.  Amen. 

Praying with Your Heart

Sometimes I do not pray in words—

I take my heart in my two hands

And hold it up before the Lord—

I am so glad He understands. —Nicholson

I found this poem in yesterday's Our Daily Bread reading and really liked it, so I thought I would share it with you.

Take time today to lift up your heart to God and have communion with Him! He is waiting for you!

Healthy No Bake Granola Bars

Healthy No Bake Granola Bars

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 1/4 cup oatmeal
1 cup combination of any of the following
      ( Raisins, coconut, chocolate or peanut butter chips, nuts, etc.)

Mix wet ingredients together in a sauce pan over medium heat just until well blended. Remove from heat and mix in remaining ingredients. Note: if you want your chocolate chips to be whole and not melted, wait to add them until the mixture has cooled. Press into pan and refrigerate. Store in the refrigerator.

God WILL Do It!

Ezekiel 12:25-28 KJV

For I am the Lord : I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God .  Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying,  Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.  Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God ; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God .

I am reading through Ezekiel right now and was blessed by this passage this morning.

Sometimes we can get discouraged by the failure of others or even ourselves to do the things we said we would do. Maybe it's the politician who didn't carry out his promises, or a salesman that didn't deliver the quality of goods you expected. Maybe it's your parents that couldn't quite hold up their end of the deal or your husband who didn't make it home by the time he said he would. Whatever it is, we all know and can relate to the feeling of disappointment that comes with these situations.

One thing about God that we can be sure about is that He will keep His Word! He has promised that and He cannot lie. (Numbers 23:19) He will always DO what He has said he will do. We can trust Him without fear of disappointment.

God is so much greater than our finite minds can comprehend and we may not understand all the 'whys' of life. He alone can see the big picture.  He also doesn't operate in the constraints of time, like we do. So we shouldn't be surprised if He doesn't always work in our lives or the lives of those around us in the ways we expect. This should not make us trust Him less, but rather more, knowing that "He makes all things beautiful, in His time" (Ecclesiasties 3:11).

Choose to trust Him today. Look for things that He has promised in His Word and cling to them. You will not be disappointed or have your hopes dashed!

"The word which I have spoken shall be done"

Amen! 

Healthy Sweet and Sour Chicken and Garden Vege's

Yay for fresh vegetables from the garden! Here is what I did with some of them:

I made this recipe for supper this week and my husband really liked it. I used this recipe and tweaked it a little bit. I take the freedom to change most recipes that I make. :-) Here is the recipe with the changes I made...

Healthy Sweet and Sour Chicken and Garden Vege's

1.5 lb of chicken breast diced into 3/4" pieces

2 cups carrots

2 cups zucchini

2 cups peppers

2 cups broccoli/cauliflower

1 can of pineapple

1 small can mushrooms, drained

Sauce:

Juice from Pineapple

3/4 cup Sucanat

1/2 cup Honey

1/2 cup Ketchup

1 cup Vinegar

1/4 cup Soy Sauce

1 tsp Chili Powder

1/2 tsp Ginger

1 tsp Garlic Powder/or 1 Clove Fresh Garlic minced

3-4 Tsp of Cornstarch

Cut up all of your veggies and chicken. Fry chicken in a little bit of oil. Add the carrots and fry until starting to get tender. Then add the rest of the veggies and stir fry until soft. Add the pineapple and mushrooms and heat through. Pour the sauce over the veggies and chicken. Serve over the rice of your choice. I use brown rice.

Sauce:

Mix everything except for the cornstarch and water. Bring to a boil. Put the cornstarch in a small bowl and add enough water to make it a pour-able consistency. Add to boiling mixture and stir until thickened. 

I hope you enjoy it!