quiet???

Quiet times? Is there any such thing as quiet...at this stage of life...in this home? With a coughing husband, a small echoing thin walled squeaky floored house, a baby wanting to get up from a nap, and a daughter who refuses to understand the rule to stay in her room during this hour, this hour which we recognize every single day??? The four o'clock hour. This is my only hour alone. I am a creative introvert, and I require lots of quiet and free space to think...otherwise, I feel a little crazy and if someone asks me a simple question, I go, "Uh...um...huh?" So, this one tiny hour. I need like 5 of them. And God is, in His sweet love for me, asking me to spend it with Him. He always rewards those who seek Him. (I desire to be more faithful!)

I think one of the hardest parts of having this time with God is staying focused during it. Sometimes having a plan isn't as unspiritual and uncreative as one might think! I learned ACTS a long time ago. It's a good way to get focused in His presence really; adoring Him --confessing sin--thanking Him (specifically)--supplication (laying before Him your needs and others). A plan for Bible study isn't a bad idea either, instead of just jumping in a new book every day. Reading through a book of the Bible, going slow and meditating and memorizing and letting it sink in, is wonderful. If there's something I don't understand or am not getting anything new from it, I just go on. We are taking in truth; we can't go wrong! Sometimes I journal everything about this prayer time, actually writing out my adoration, confession, thanks, and supplication, and sometimes I just write down a couple things He showed me during it. Another thing that usually helps is that if my mind wanders to something totally random, I will actually pray about that thing, even if it's a TV show, I'll pray for the people in it or whatever. One time I sensed the enemy's aggravation when I did this, so I keep doing it!! If what comes to your mind is a to-do list, put an actual to-do list next to your quiet time spot and write down what comes to mind so you won't forget it.

The last thing in regard to mind wandering/weakness of mind and heart during quiet time is that when we spend this time with God, we aren't always going to walk away with our faces shining like Moses. We shouldn't feel bad or empty if we took in His word, prayed for who He brought to our mind, and praised Him but didn't walk away changed and glorious and exuberant. This is faith. And this is a relationship. So, if our mind is a little "off" during our time with Him and there was no real click, I truly believe He will bless us anyway. There have been so many times God didn't show me during my quiet time what sin was in my life, but then a day later when I'm doing the dishes, He reveals it to me. I may hear nothing when I am listening for it, but then out of the blue when I am least expecting it, He speaks. That helps us to know it is Him many times. He is with us beyond the quiet time, but this hour (or whatever amount) dedicated to Him tells Him something special and opens a door for Him into the other hours of our day.

Reese Bars from the Lunch Ladies Recipe

1 box powdered sugar

2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 cup butter

6 oz. package of chocolate chips or chocolate almond bark

1 1/4 cups peanut butter

Combine sugar, butter, and peanut butter.

Add graham cracker crumbs and mix well.

Press out in 9x13 pan. Melt chocolate and spread over top.

Let cool 1 hour, cut in pieces, then cool in refrigerator.

It comes out of the pan much better when cold.

Humbling!!

Ha! So this is a totally humbling experience!

Last week, I blogged about quiet times and I don't think I've had a single one since then! There were a couple times I just made the choice to do something else, because I felt overwhelmed by that thing and had no other time to do it. Sometimes I made the choice to do something else because I wanted to have fun and not think. But most days of this week, I could not even tell you what I was doing! I have no idea whatsoever! I didn't go anywhere until the weekend, but just being busy at home...wow...it chewed me up and spit me out!

I'm hoping for a good week with the Lord. I'm hoping for the ability to concentrate and breathe and be still with Him, in a good hour with Him every day, with good friends who love Him, and just throughout the day whatever I may be doing for my family. That would be an incredible week!

Quiet Times

I wanted to write a little bit today about my quiet times. I have been encouraged lately by friends who have said they remember me always having my prayer/worship/Bible study time, even if it didn't seem like I got anything done that day. That utterly blessed my heart, this encouragement, because ever since I truly gave my heart and soul to the Lord in 1991, communing with Him every day (that I am willing and able) has been a major priority. I forget sometimes where I have been with the Lord and it is encouraging to see this "quiet time" thing be a thread running through my life since I was 13 years old ! There have been seasons where I struggled with it, but through middle school, high school, college, missions, marriage, and raising kids, the Lord has been my Rock and Best Friend. Especially in difficult times, or on the mission field, I felt He was calling me to more time alone with Him than usual, and it was very sweet to sit with Him for those hours. It's a privilege. For me, spending time with Him alone nourishes me and focuses me...then by His grace and strength, I can hopefully be more like Him and stay in an awareness of worship throughout the day. Those quiet times keep me connected to His heartbeat; I want to know what is on the Father's heart and He lets us in if we'll just come. For the next few blogs, I'm going to share what I do in my quiet times, and maybe pass along an idea or two that could spur on your walk with the Lord.

stillness

So, in my life for the past few years, there has been a calling toward stillness. I had been a busy bee before Selah came, in ministry, missions, friends, music...And lately, even though I have this relationship with the Lord that is my absolute source of wisdom and my deepest root of truth, I've let the confusion and opinion of man seep in. Eventually after dealing with it for a few months now, I've been reminded that it doesn't matter what the common or popular teaching is right now...I am under the Lord's authority and cannot let my simple calling in life be replaced by these opinions and these things people are saying we should put first. It's like I keep hearing all about these outward things a Christian is supposed to do, but rarely about the inward things. My word from the Lord is that my inward secret place with Him must be thriving, and if I focus on that, any outward thing He wants for me to do will happen by His power and to His glory. I cannot put my focus on the external outward list of deeds I am doing for Him, the list of ways I am being used; God-forbid that I would ever be so focused on myself again! When I am focused on Him and our connection in the unseen, I can trust He is at work in me and through me, without trying to quantify it. There is freedom in putting first things first, and there is not room for more firsts! There is only One.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am a simple person who can really only hold to one simple truth, and this is it!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Now God has one eternal purpose concerning us, and that is that we should be like His Son and in order that this may be so, we must be passive. We hear so much about activity, may be we need to know what it is to be quiet." (Feb. 5th, Streams in the Desert)

The Joy of the Lord

This will be quick today...

I am tired of struggling! Internally, externally, I am ready to give up AGAIN! My anxiousness, or the busyness of my mind I could say, is fixed on just wanting my life to work. I want to be well, I want to be able to do the things God has put in my life to do, I want to sleep and wake up rested, I want to stop feeling disappointed and disappointing. I am past wanting to do more than just take care of my family, home, and personal life...well, most days anyway...I really just want to get up and have a normal life, which to me means fitting in the most important things and a couple fun extras without all this struggle!

Anyway, so "the joy of the Lord is my strength". I heard somebody mention this and explain it in a new way, and I was thinking about it more...The joy of the Lord (His delight in me, His happiness in me, His NON-disappoint in me) is my strength. When someone important is not frustrated with you, even when you are frustrated with yourself, you gain a little strength. As frustrated as I am with sickness and tiredness and constant struggle to be a decent wife, mom, friend, daughter, granddaughter, minister (we are all ministers!), He isn't frustrated. He will fulfill His purposes in the midst of this, not when it is over. Now. In the middle. Here I am, Lord, in the middle!