Recently we started going to a new church. I am so excited about the church we go to. They read straight through the Bible, book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. So whether you are a young believer or an old believer, it doesn't matter. There's no topical messages, just God's Word. I have a few favorite sayings from the pastor.. "Everything is Father-Filtered" and "Come and sit at the feet of Jesus".
"Father Filtered". Just think about that a moment. Everything that happens to us has already gone through the Father. So the trials we are going through or the joys we are going through have all gone through the Father before they even touch us. What an amazing Father we have. A Father who will turn the tragedies into the triumphs. He's able to use both bad and good to bring glory to His name. For so long I looked at trials as burdens. I just couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I had a "Why Me?" attitude. Then I learned about Father Filtered. I don't see the trials as burdensome. I look at the trials in my life and say, "What can I learn from this? How is God going to use me or grow me so that at the end He can use me to be a blessing to others?" Rejoice in the trials as well as the joys because we know that it's already gone through the Father. Which is why it makes sense then to Come and Sit at the Feet of Jesus. We can come to our Papa and sit at His feet in trials and joys alike because He already knows what's going to happen. He already knows what we are going to learn and how he is going to use it to bring us closer to Him. He knows how he is going to use our trials to reach others for Christ. So why not come to the Father, our Papa. When I think of sitting at Jesus' feet, I picture myself literally at His feet like Mary while she listened to His words. When I sit at His feet, I am relaxed, refreshed, and a huge sigh of relief or comfort washes over me. I can't quite find the words to describe it. It's like falling into the arms of my Papa as he whispers gently, "Papa has you. Everything will be ok". When I come to my Father, everything may be spinning around me, but with Him, it's as though nothing else matters except sitting at His feet, bathing in Him. I can imagine how Mary must have sat with an eagerness, a hunger while she listened and hung onto every word that Jesus said. It seems as though she just can't get enough of what Jesus is saying. That is what it's like for me when I come to my Papa, whether through my own time in the word or through listening to my pastor on Sundays, I just can't get enough! There's a peace and a joy that comes that even though the trials that I am going through or the joys I am going through are hard to understand, I know I can come and sit at my Papa's feet. I know that I can find that peace and joy through whatever comes because it's already been Father Filtered. Thank you Papa for providing a way for us to come and sit at your feet whenever we want to without having to go through another person to get to you. Thank you that I am able to be in your presence any time. Thank you for for the trials and joys that I go through because I know that by the end, I will be stretched and will be deepened in my relationship with you!!
9/13/2011
Did you know that I am a Princess?
"All glorious is the princess in her chamber, with robes interwoven with gold. In many-colored robes, she is led to the king.. with joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king." Psalms 45:13-15.
I have to admit, I stole this verse from a friend's facebook page. I loved this vision though. I am God's princess. I am in beautiful clothing, being led to meet my Papa. I know as women, we don't always see ourselves as princesses. We get up, look in the mirror, look at our imperfect bodies from bearing babies, let out a sigh, and continue on our day wishing we could just lose that extra weight. Or we look in the mirror and see puffy, red eyes that have just got done sobbing because we have let our anger get to us one more time. For some reason, we have this view of who we are supposed to be like or what we are supposed to look like. We have the world's view of this woman who has it all together, can do anything, and still has time to have a fashion sense.
Psalms 139: 13-18 says, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of the sand. When I awake, I am still with you."
How precious we are to our Papa. Our Savior. Our Redeemer. Our Master. Our Servant. Our Creator. How precious are we that He knit us together. He didn't just say, Poof! He took the time to gently create us, knowing every single day that we are going to live. He knows our strengths, our weaknesses, our faults, our strengths. He knows that we are going to fail. He knows we are going to succeed. He knows everything about us because He made us. He Made Us! We are so important to God. He loves us beyond what words could ever describe, so his actions said it to us.
So the next time you look in the mirror, stand there with your head held high. Remind yourself that you are God's Princess. Remind yourself that you are clothed in Christ and that it's not the outside image that matters. It's not your capabilities that matter. What matters is that you are fully, completely God's princess, perfect in His eyes. Perfect just the way God made you.
I have to admit, I stole this verse from a friend's facebook page. I loved this vision though. I am God's princess. I am in beautiful clothing, being led to meet my Papa. I know as women, we don't always see ourselves as princesses. We get up, look in the mirror, look at our imperfect bodies from bearing babies, let out a sigh, and continue on our day wishing we could just lose that extra weight. Or we look in the mirror and see puffy, red eyes that have just got done sobbing because we have let our anger get to us one more time. For some reason, we have this view of who we are supposed to be like or what we are supposed to look like. We have the world's view of this woman who has it all together, can do anything, and still has time to have a fashion sense.
Psalms 139: 13-18 says, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of the sand. When I awake, I am still with you."
How precious we are to our Papa. Our Savior. Our Redeemer. Our Master. Our Servant. Our Creator. How precious are we that He knit us together. He didn't just say, Poof! He took the time to gently create us, knowing every single day that we are going to live. He knows our strengths, our weaknesses, our faults, our strengths. He knows that we are going to fail. He knows we are going to succeed. He knows everything about us because He made us. He Made Us! We are so important to God. He loves us beyond what words could ever describe, so his actions said it to us.
So the next time you look in the mirror, stand there with your head held high. Remind yourself that you are God's Princess. Remind yourself that you are clothed in Christ and that it's not the outside image that matters. It's not your capabilities that matter. What matters is that you are fully, completely God's princess, perfect in His eyes. Perfect just the way God made you.
9/08/2011
Mercy
As it was pointed out to me tonight, I have a blog! Oh yeah. lol. Today, while I was at Bible Study, my pastor's wife brought a passage to my attention... just a short blerb in our study on the women of the Bible. Leviticus 3:22-23 "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." This is something we have taught our children and I am so thankful that God brought that verse to my attention. I was able to then take that verse and relate it back to God with my children. I was able to teach them and show them in God's Love Letter that he is the one that gives grace and mercy to us everyday. What an amazing God we serve!
Well, in an amazing twist, I was reminded that I have a blog that I write in and I thought, well I should probably write in it. lol. So i sat down and tried to think of something funny and witty. I tried write about our recent church change. I tried to sum up my summer. Nothing seemed to fit. Then God brought this verse back to my attention. I am so thankful that he did because my day was fantastic until I went to my FRG (Family Readiness Group) meeting. I had children running all over. Children not picking out their food fast enough. Getting drinks. Finding a lost daughter of ours. All the while trying to listen to what the Rear D Commander had to say about when my Hunny would be home and how it all would go down when the soldiers come in. Mind you, trying to listen is the key seeing as I was not only dealing my own children, I was dealing with the loud roar of the adults having their own conversations over the Commander. How frustrating! Then after the meeting I had children not listening. Children throwing fits. And whatever else in between. So, after a long night of loud noises and children getting lost and not listening, I gave into my old comforts and yelled at my children. I was overwhelmed and didn't want to work at being a mom. What I really wanted to do was run away and cry myself to sleep. But God is awesome. And in the quiet of my heart, after the kids were sleeping in bed, He brought that verse into my head. When the enemy knows I am frustrated, weak, and just plain done with this deployment, God swoops in and reminds us that his mercies are new every morning. After apologies to the kids, I am encouraged that tomorrow is a new day. All excuses aside, it comes down to the simple fact of laziness for me. This whole doing what is right and good and what God wants us to is hard work. Giving in to my old nature is so much easier. That's the bottom line. For me any way. I am again, so thankful that God is a merciful God. Thank you Lord for the beautiful and encouraging reminder that tomorrow is a new day, full of your mercies and continues grace beyond what I ever deserve on my own.
Well, in an amazing twist, I was reminded that I have a blog that I write in and I thought, well I should probably write in it. lol. So i sat down and tried to think of something funny and witty. I tried write about our recent church change. I tried to sum up my summer. Nothing seemed to fit. Then God brought this verse back to my attention. I am so thankful that he did because my day was fantastic until I went to my FRG (Family Readiness Group) meeting. I had children running all over. Children not picking out their food fast enough. Getting drinks. Finding a lost daughter of ours. All the while trying to listen to what the Rear D Commander had to say about when my Hunny would be home and how it all would go down when the soldiers come in. Mind you, trying to listen is the key seeing as I was not only dealing my own children, I was dealing with the loud roar of the adults having their own conversations over the Commander. How frustrating! Then after the meeting I had children not listening. Children throwing fits. And whatever else in between. So, after a long night of loud noises and children getting lost and not listening, I gave into my old comforts and yelled at my children. I was overwhelmed and didn't want to work at being a mom. What I really wanted to do was run away and cry myself to sleep. But God is awesome. And in the quiet of my heart, after the kids were sleeping in bed, He brought that verse into my head. When the enemy knows I am frustrated, weak, and just plain done with this deployment, God swoops in and reminds us that his mercies are new every morning. After apologies to the kids, I am encouraged that tomorrow is a new day. All excuses aside, it comes down to the simple fact of laziness for me. This whole doing what is right and good and what God wants us to is hard work. Giving in to my old nature is so much easier. That's the bottom line. For me any way. I am again, so thankful that God is a merciful God. Thank you Lord for the beautiful and encouraging reminder that tomorrow is a new day, full of your mercies and continues grace beyond what I ever deserve on my own.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
