Matthew 4:9 "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me."
This one seems very self-explanatory I know, but so many of us get caught up in the "stuff" of our everyday lives that we forget to do this! It's easy to remember to do this in hard times or when prayers are answered, but we should be doing this ALL the time just as we should be praying without ceasing!
My birthday was last week, so I used the whole week to spend extra time with my family. God showed me that I have A LOT to be thankful for and I realized that I need to start praising God and worshiping him more in my everyday life. If I start now, it will be so much easier to teach Sydney (my 7 month old daughter) that we don't have to wait until church Sunday morning to worship.
Think about all of the things you have to praise and worship God for and just do it! Ricky's blood cell count is in the normal range now, he will be able to see Sydney again this weekend, my nephew is turning a year old, and those are just a few of my praises this week!
So shake it down this week!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Shake it up - Change your life!!
Ezekial 36:26-27 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."
Life-changing...there are so many thing that could fall under this category...having a baby, getting married, life-long illnesses, but the main one that comes to my mind is the decision to follow Christ in your everyday life. This one is probably one of the harder ones to continually follow-through on. Once you get married or have a baby or find out you have a long-term illness, you're basically "stuck" with it. You don't wake up every morning and decide to keep the baby or spouse or illness. It's there, no decision to make other than change your life and continue living! You do have to wake up every morning and decide whether or not to follow Christ. Only you can decide whether or not you want to live for Christ and only you can show everyone around you who you are living for!
Knowing WHO we are living for can help us make many changes in our lives. My mom would always tell my little sister "you can make it a good day or a bad day." This is so true for everyone. We know the ending to our story, and if we are living for Christ then we know it's a happy ending. So why would we choose anything other than a good day? Just because small things go wrong doesn't mean we can't continue to have a good day. If you have a child, then you know things rarely go as planned. Things happen, but with Christ on our side, we can choose to have a good day anyway.
So, tomorrow morning when you wake up, expect to be shaken up...life is always changing. Tell yourself you are going to have a good day because you've made the biggest change already - to live your life for the Lord!
Life-changing...there are so many thing that could fall under this category...having a baby, getting married, life-long illnesses, but the main one that comes to my mind is the decision to follow Christ in your everyday life. This one is probably one of the harder ones to continually follow-through on. Once you get married or have a baby or find out you have a long-term illness, you're basically "stuck" with it. You don't wake up every morning and decide to keep the baby or spouse or illness. It's there, no decision to make other than change your life and continue living! You do have to wake up every morning and decide whether or not to follow Christ. Only you can decide whether or not you want to live for Christ and only you can show everyone around you who you are living for!
Knowing WHO we are living for can help us make many changes in our lives. My mom would always tell my little sister "you can make it a good day or a bad day." This is so true for everyone. We know the ending to our story, and if we are living for Christ then we know it's a happy ending. So why would we choose anything other than a good day? Just because small things go wrong doesn't mean we can't continue to have a good day. If you have a child, then you know things rarely go as planned. Things happen, but with Christ on our side, we can choose to have a good day anyway.
So, tomorrow morning when you wake up, expect to be shaken up...life is always changing. Tell yourself you are going to have a good day because you've made the biggest change already - to live your life for the Lord!
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Shake it off!!
Mathew 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?"
"Don't worry"...If you're like me, then you hear this a lot. This is a big problem for me. I come from a family of worry-ers (my husband will tell you that one), so it’s not easy for me to “just not worry about it” like everyone says. I know that God is in control and I’m not, but sometimes I can’t help but worry about things.
Since my daughter was born 6 months ago, we decided I should stay home with her (which in itself was a big leap of faith). Yes we have enough money, but barely. Which is where the worrying starts. No, we haven’t been so broke we couldn’t afford the necessities. We have had to give up some of the “extra” things like eating out, taking vacations, buying new clothes, and other things like that…but you know what? It hasn’t killed us! Actually, it has been really good for us! We stay home and have more family time or we go visit other family members nearby.
I recently read a book called “Momma’s Guide to Thriving on One Income” by Kimberly Eddy and it discusses the worry issue. I really suggest this book for the mom’s out there, especially if you plan to stay at home! It really helped put into perspective all of the things I have that I take for granted. It was one of the eye-openers that helped me start this blog. It showed me that God doesn’t say anywhere in the Bible that we are going to have an easy life in a big house with a white picket fence (AKA the “American dream”). God doesn’t promise us 2 cars for every family, new clothes, a washing machine, or a dishwasher. He DOES say that he will provide our needs if we just put our faith and trust in him! I’m learning to do that, and so far I’m doing ok! I just tell myself everyday to “shake it off” and leave it to God in prayer.
When I first found out that my step-dad, Ricky, had leukemia I immediately started praying. I knew there was nothing else I could do about it. Oddly enough, when I finished my prayer I wasn’t worried. Well, I was a little worried, but I wasn’t dwelling on it (which is still a HUGE step for me). Every time I start to get worried about it I just say a little prayer and ask God to help me “shake it off”. I’m learning that all I can do is pray and “shake it off” and that’s what I do. I’m not perfect, I still worry about things…but I’m trying and I think that’s all God expects us to do….Just TRY.
I hope you all have a wonderful week and just remember to SHAKE IT OFF!
"Don't worry"...If you're like me, then you hear this a lot. This is a big problem for me. I come from a family of worry-ers (my husband will tell you that one), so it’s not easy for me to “just not worry about it” like everyone says. I know that God is in control and I’m not, but sometimes I can’t help but worry about things.
Since my daughter was born 6 months ago, we decided I should stay home with her (which in itself was a big leap of faith). Yes we have enough money, but barely. Which is where the worrying starts. No, we haven’t been so broke we couldn’t afford the necessities. We have had to give up some of the “extra” things like eating out, taking vacations, buying new clothes, and other things like that…but you know what? It hasn’t killed us! Actually, it has been really good for us! We stay home and have more family time or we go visit other family members nearby.
I recently read a book called “Momma’s Guide to Thriving on One Income” by Kimberly Eddy and it discusses the worry issue. I really suggest this book for the mom’s out there, especially if you plan to stay at home! It really helped put into perspective all of the things I have that I take for granted. It was one of the eye-openers that helped me start this blog. It showed me that God doesn’t say anywhere in the Bible that we are going to have an easy life in a big house with a white picket fence (AKA the “American dream”). God doesn’t promise us 2 cars for every family, new clothes, a washing machine, or a dishwasher. He DOES say that he will provide our needs if we just put our faith and trust in him! I’m learning to do that, and so far I’m doing ok! I just tell myself everyday to “shake it off” and leave it to God in prayer.
When I first found out that my step-dad, Ricky, had leukemia I immediately started praying. I knew there was nothing else I could do about it. Oddly enough, when I finished my prayer I wasn’t worried. Well, I was a little worried, but I wasn’t dwelling on it (which is still a HUGE step for me). Every time I start to get worried about it I just say a little prayer and ask God to help me “shake it off”. I’m learning that all I can do is pray and “shake it off” and that’s what I do. I’m not perfect, I still worry about things…but I’m trying and I think that’s all God expects us to do….Just TRY.
I hope you all have a wonderful week and just remember to SHAKE IT OFF!
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