Squeeze Play

Have you heard this saying before?

When you squeeze an orange – you don’t get lemon juice.

Have you been squeezed lately?  Sometimes when I get squeezed I realize that I’m pretending to be a sweet orange yet I’m spitting out bitter lemon juice.

When life gets tough and I’m faced with trials my initial response is often sour.  But, like the orange tree, if I remain in the light, my insides can be sweetened.

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.  John 15:4

Jesus, on the other hand, needed no reminders to remain in the light.  When His life was squeezed here on earth, He turned to the source.

He [Jesus] looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.”  John 17:1-5

Shortly after Jesus prayed this prayer He willingly died a brutal death for you and me.

What would it look like today if you remained in The Father’s light?  It doesn’t mean that you give up hours upon on hours of studying God’s Word.  It can mean spending quiet time in your heart even in the busyness of your typical day.  Don’t get me wrong, there is so much value in being alone with Christ.  If you have 5 minutes or 50 minutes, God will use that time to breath His eternity into your life in order to sweeten your soul.

Great resource for moms… last month Karen Hossink wrote a series of posts on quiet times.  Check out her writing, I know you’ll be blessed.

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The name of God a noun or a verb?

Exodus 3:11-15: But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ”

God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers-the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob-has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.”

I came across a very interesting thought in my bible study yesterday.

The author, Catherine Martin, quotes from her own book “Trusting in the Names of God 30-day Journey”  explaining God’s name Yahweh:

When God revealed His name, I AM…He spoke His using Hebrew verbs, not nouns. The verb forms [used] are imperfect tense, implying continuing, unfinished action.

www.allwords.com define imperfect tense as:

A tense used to describe a past action that is ongoing, incomplete or continuous…

God could have used any word he wanted to describe Himself.  Words like awesome, powerful, forever, sovereign.  Yet he uses a verb, telling His people I am everything you will ever need, today and always.

I was studying this awesome thought yesterday as the tick, tick, tick… clanged on above my head.  I am so happy to tell you that the TMS is working!  I am starting to feel more like myself.  And I am so thankful to have a God who is constantly at work around me.  Even if I don’t feel Him.

It feels so good to be “back.”  I despise living as a shell of a human being void of life.  Walking, surviving, just getting by.  For whatever reason I find it extremely hard to study God’s Word when I’m feeling off.  Yet, it’s the very thing that I need.  Even more reason for me to be incredibly grateful that God defines Himself as a verb, not a noun or a thing of the past.

What verb defines what you need from God today?

• giving
• leading
• forgiving
• comforting
• filling
• ________

he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  Philippians 1:6

Thank you for your prayers,

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Chase What Matters

Have you ever seen anything like this before?

I saw this double-nutted scene at least 2 times in my backyard last month.  It’s hilarious!  Each nut is about 4x the size of the squirrel’s mouth.  But he doesn’t care.  He just knows he needs it!  And he’s going after it!

You’ve probably seen the Chase commercials that say “I Want it All.  And I Want it Now.”  With the tag line “Chase What Matters.”  Here’s one example.

So what does matter?  What are you chasing today?

Make sure to submit your comments by Thursday on Darlene’s interview for your chance at a free book!

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I didn’t sign up for this.

Have you ever uttered that dreadful phrase?

I didn’t sign up for this!

I didn’t sign up to be a part of the depression club.  I didn’t sign up to be the entertainment committee for two demanding girls.  I didn’t sign up to be giving the clueless hubby advise on how to help me cope.  I didn’t sign up to live 300 miles away from my loving family who need me, and I them.

The lights are out.

Tonight, the electricity went out after a brief rain shower.  The lights were out for about an hour or so.  Right around bed time.  So my girls were treated to books in bed with daddy and flashlights.  What could be better?

Unfortunately, for those who suffer with depression, there are no flashlights to illuminate our heavenly Daddy sitting along side your bed stroking your hair, singing you to sleep.

Abandoned, beaten and jailed; but he still had love

Reading last night I found a little treasure.  It was something that I had read before, but I saw it in a new light. 

A young boy was rejected by his brothers, beaten up and left to die.  He was sold into the slave traffic and sent to a foreign country.  Later, he was accused of assaulting a woman (however, she was the one who assaulted him) and landed in jail.

Detox your body and soul; part 3 Who is God

It’s Day 10 of my new job and I tried something new.  Something that I haven’t done in a long, long time.  Something that I know helps achieve results, but something that demands everything you’ve got!

I ran.

UGH!

I Admire You

The day had begun with a wonderful family breakfast.  My hubby and I were spending our last few moments with the kids before heading off to our retreat.  Our family had enjoyed a lot of together time, and it was time for hubby and I to leave on our spiritual journey.

The drive wasn’t too far – just about 30 miles through country roads.  We had borrowed my brother-in-law’s TransAm and were enjoying the cruise.

You’ve got mail!

I love mail!  All kinds of mail… email, voice mail, snail mail.  I love it all!  When we first started an email account we had AOL.  I loved logging on to hear those three blessed words, “You’ve got mail.”  Today, after being away from home for 2 weeks, I’m in heaven going through all the mail!  I just turned on my computer to find Outlook downloading 404 messages!  Clicking my “play” button on our answering machine, I was told that I had 17 personal conversations waiting for me!  Tomorrow will be the mother-load…

Push the reset button!

Don’t you love a good reset button?  You might find one on a video game that you love to play, but just somehow can’t get past level 1.  Or maybe you push that small round reset button after watching your bowling ball struggle to topple all the pins over.  Regardless of where you use it, you’ll always experience a fresh start.   I pushed the reset button with God this week!  Did you know He has one?