My Life's Song

(This is the view from my desk last week!)
Good afternoon, dear ones. I know it's been a long time since I wrote, and I do apologize. There's just SO much churning in my head, and in my LIFE!!! I will try to post more often; I want you to KNOW I'm here, and want to walk alongside you. My heart's cry is to let you know you are LOVED by the Most High God, that you are NOT alone, that you have Someone who hears your heart's tears in the middle of the night.

SO. :D With that said, let's talk a bit about praise today!

I'm pretty sure I've talked to you about praising no matter where I am, no matter what I THINK my circumstances are. But have I told you I have PROOF that that's my life's song, my life lesson in this journey with God?

A few weeks ago, I was moving books from one bookcase to another in our den. (OK, it was a few MONTHS ago. :D) One of the books that I needed to move was a Master's Life workbook I did in college at the Baptist Student Union, and I used to keep a journal in there with it.

The journal pages came out of the binder and fluttered all over the floor. Muttering to myself, I picked them up - and happened to glance at one. Can you imagine my surprise when I saw there words I've been saying again and again in the last two years???

"God, teach me to PRAISE you, no matter what I'm going through."

Dear friend, that was TWENTY years ago!!!!!!!!!!!!! These days, I KNOW I have to praise Him, no matter what. And I've also found that, when I praise Him, and worship Him, and put Him in my full focus, all the other worries, conflicts, confusions, and troubles fall into their true perspective - SO small compared to my God!

When we first started Beth Moore's Bible study at church, I quoted a passage to you from it. We're just over half-way through it now, and last night's video was all about praising Him. And the first point she covered? Praise requires that we FOCUS on Him. That we put all other things aside, and allow Him to be the focus of our minds and hearts.

I've felt pretty scattered lately. There's lots going on, as usual. Lots of possibilities to think about, lots of responsibilities and planning. That word, "focus", hit me pretty hard. I need to focus in so many aspects of my life! And I seriously need to consider: am I too scattered in everything I do? I feel like I've already cut out a lot of things, but do I need to become even less busy?

What about you? Does that word strike a chord in you? How are YOU doing? Are you learning to praise the God of the Universe who loves and cares about YOU?

I'm so glad you're here with me. :) Let's walk this walk together. Tomorrow, I'll post some things that are going on in my life, just so you can come alongside me and lift me up, too. That's what we're here for - to be His hands, His arms and legs!

YOU ARE LOVED!

This, that, and the other!

Well, it's been a mixed bag so far; so I guess I don't have any more direction from y'all than I did! :D It is nice to know that you do want to hear a little bit of personal stuff, that you care about Kenn and me! :)

The reason I haven't posted too much about sermons lately is that our pastoral staff has been sharing about how they were called, and what led to their calling in their lives. It's been really wonderful; such an eclectic group of people, all who love the Lord with their whole beings! Besides that, you can always download the sermons HERE. :)

We aren't going to church tonight; Kenn's fighting off a cold - just when he's starting to get a gig every now and again, FINALLY!!! SO. I'll share last Wednesday's notes with you. Again, Pastor Barbie's class is on being under pressure. Please note: All Greek spellings are entirely my fault. :D We don't have overheads or handouts, so I'm doing the best I can!

Text: II Corinthians 1:3-6:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.

In the depths of your inmost being, we first need to re-establish God's sovereignty; God is bigger than everything, and we tend to allow everything else to become bigger than He. He created you to feel what you feel! "God, You created me to be able to stand in this place (under duress or pressure or crisis) to feel what I'm feeling."

The comfort spoken of here is "paraclexis" - to draw you near to Him, to take every single particle of what you're experiencing, and giving you comfort in its place. He's using that experience to shift you from one place to another.

Verse 4 shifts to "paracleo" - comfort not only flowing from Him, but flowing out to others now.

God even heals self-inflicted wounds! We refuse to let Him in close, because we defied God, and know we deserve punishment. It's in our minds!

He wants to protect you from you!

He wants to heal you from you!

He want to RELEASE you from you!

Everything God has FOR us, He imparts into us.

"We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the WORD OF OUR TESTIMONY!" but how OFTEN we refuse to share! We want to forget where we came from! But if I can comfort someone with ANY part of my testimony, how DARE I withhold that?????

Romans 6:21-22: What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

Verse 5: Your suffering will never outweigh His comfort and grace.

Peace comes in your life when you realize you control NOTHING!

We have to participate in order to GROW.

Sometimes, God will allow you to go through something (SUFFER) in order to affect the lives of those around you.

Verse 6b: The only other time this phrase is used is in Revelation 1:9, "patient endurance". It refers to a person who is NOT swerved!

Girls, I'm doing a Bible study with Amy and Cris P. on ESTHER. I HIGHLY recommend it, if you ever get a chance to go through it!!! But a LOT of what Beth's been saying on the video is what God's been showing me at church. :) I'll talk about that more later. In the meantime, don't forget to enter the giveaway! :)