Thanksgiving Week Checkup

• Posted on November 25, 2019 at 7:18 pm

How is your week going so far? Have you started to thank God for His many blessings, or are you finding yourself stressed with last-minute preparations, getting ready for family to arrive or preparing to take a trip? The enemy would like nothing better than to overshadow our days with busyness and bad attitudes, but what better way to keep that from happening than to turn your stress to praise? My challenge for you (and me) this week is to focus on doing just that. When you find yourself beginning to yell at those around you, or when you are on the verge of tears … stop. Take a break. You may feel like you can’t afford to do that, but you can’t afford not to. Thank God that you have family or friends to get together with. Thank Him for the food He’s provided. Tell Him how much you love Him. Once you are refueled a bit, you can get back to your overwhelming tasks. Hopefully with a lighter heart.

Happy Thanksgiving week, my friends! Don’t let satan rob you of your gratitude.

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Psalm 19

• Posted on November 20, 2019 at 9:21 pm

Recently, I have begun to make myself slow down in my Bible reading. It’s easy to read over familiar passages and not take time to let it speak to me, but I don’t want to do that any longer. I’m currently reading through the book of Psalms, and chapter 19 especially jumped out at me so I’d like to share with you the breakdown that I came up with as I read, with some help from liner notes. These verses may say something different to you, and I expect I will glean more the next time I read but these are my thoughts for now. The numbers will be for the corresponding verses.

1. The heavens tell of the glory of God. The expanse of the heavens shows the work of his hands.
2. The daytime speaks of Him, and the nighttime reveals His knowledge.
3. Everyone can hear them speak if they would but listen.
4. Creation speaks throughout the whole earth.
5. The sun is as a bridegroom who suddenly appears; it rejoices as a strong man who is about to run a race.
6. Nothing is hidden from the heat of the sun.
7. God’s law is perfect and can change souls. His testimony gives wisdom to those who embrace it.
8. God’s commandments are pure and causes those who obey Him to be pure.
9. The fear of Yahweh will endure forever. His judgments are righteous, not vindictive as some may think.
10. These things (God’s law, His testimony, His commandments, and a fear of Him) should be desired more than gold.
11. It is keeping God’s commandments that saves us and promises us eternity with Him.
12. Cleanse me from my sins, even those that no one knows about.
13. Keep me from sinning. Don’t let sin have dominion over me. For then I will be righteous in Your sight.
14. Let everything I say and everything I dwell upon be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, for You are my strength and my redeemer.

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Be Faithful in Your Calling

• Posted on November 7, 2019 at 4:46 pm

For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ~Romans 11:29

I am tempted to leave this verse without any commentary and let you all ponder it. Feel free to do that before reading on.

It boggles my mind why God would gift someone and place a call on their life and not retrieve it when that person misused the things they were blessed with. It is sobering to examine my own life and ask, Am I doing the best I can with the gifts God has given me? Am I glorifying Him with my calling, or am I too busy serving Him that I don’t have time for Him? Before conference season started this year, my prayer was that God would not let me fall into the “too busy” trap, and I feel like He answered my prayer, but it takes a lot of work to stay above that.

I used to look at people and, if they appeared to be “blessed,” I would think God must be at the center of what they are doing. I am learning that this is not always the case. I think there are times when God gives someone a ministry or another work to do for Him, and they start off well. But after a while, they may forget why they are doing what they are doing, and they become puffed up. Or they develop an attitude because they are bored of their work and would rather be doing something else. We need to make sure that we are not found guilty of this.

I believe praise goes a long way toward keeping us focused on God. As you begin each day, thank God for the work He has given you to do. Ask Him to help you to be faithful to show His love and grace to those around you. If you are a manager, don’t forget that he or she who would be great must be a servant (Matthew 20:26). Your gifts and your calling have nothing to do with you but everything to do with God and His mercy toward you. Extend that mercy to others.

Maybe you read the opening verse and think, Yes! I’ll never have to worry about losing my great singing voice! That is the wrong attitude to have. It is humbling to think that God loved me so much to entrust me with a calling that He can use if I will be faithful. He could use it if I’m not too, but I pray that I will be. I don’t ever want Him to wish He had given to someone else the gifts that He entrusted to me.

Just some things to think about on this autumn day.

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What Are Your Gifts?

• Posted on November 3, 2019 at 9:41 pm

For a lot of years, I have declared that I don’t know what my gifts are. When I have said this, it was mostly because I was comparing myself to others. I would like to have every gift known to woman, and yet I feel like the least in my family. My mom and most of my siblings can play instruments. This does not come easy to me so I don’t play. I come from a family of writers. Although I enjoy writing and I’m grateful God has given me a small platform, I don’t know if it’s my gift. Or maybe I just don’t perfect it as much as I should. If I could choose a gift above all others, though, it would be that of encouragement, and I think God may have granted my wish in that department.

I believe that God blesses everyone with at least one gift. Maybe you have a smile that lights up the room when you enter. Perhaps you have the gift of discernment so that you recognize when someone is hurting in spite of them trying to convince you they are fine. You may have the gift of words so that you know what to say at just the right moment. These are not things to take for granted.

On one hand, I don’t think it is wise to spend a lot of time in self-focus in order to figure out what we are good at since we can become prideful. But I do think we need to recognize the gifts that God has given us so that we can make sure that we are using them wisely. Way too many people take the easy road and hide their talents instead of stepping out in faith and letting God use them. I know I’ve been guilty of this. But I pray that I will be faithful to keep coming out of my comfort zone as He shows me gifts that I am not fully utilizing. After all, that is part of surrendering all to Him.

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