Do you love your Bible?

I have a heart for Bible study; not just any study, but it seems my heart quickens for Beth Moore studies. I don't consider myself a groupie (if that is even a bad thing), but a found wanderer. I read the Bible for years and it was just that -- a time of reading. I never knew what I was missing! I want everyone I know, but more importantly every woman I know to stop reading and start understanding. There is nothing special about me - in fact I feel rather inadequate when it comes to study. That is what draws me to Beth. Where I read through a passage and don't think to ask the question she stops me and asks and allows my unfocused mind to clue in on miraculous details of God's Word that make me know and love Him even more. For example we are studying Esther and I never noticed that the name of God is not mentioned in the book. The entire book is a lesson in God's providence and His unseen hand. I don't know about you, but I for one have had many times in my life where God seemed from my human perspective to be absent. God is as intentional in what He doesn't reveal as in the things He does. When I am in the throws of a study I am excited to pick up the Bible and delve in...when I'm not my interest wains. It is my heart's desire to impact the people in my world, and to see us being more real with one another. We spend way too much time trying to be impressive to each other... See what a good housekeeper I am, or a good mother, or a good wife, etc. etc., and far too little time praying for one another and asking the true questions.. How is your walk? What is on your heart today? and What can I do to help? I want to know more about the things God is working on in the lives of those around me, and share more of what is going on in mine. So the next few entries will be dedicated to sharing the lessons from Esther since that is where God has me right now. I hope my excitement is contagious -- I hope the awe of things revealed draws you to sign up for the next Bible study you can find because I know there are lots of good ones out there and all that really matters is that you are excited to study God's Word and that you are finding more of Him each time you pick it up. I also pray that you know His will for your life. Seek Him and His will will find you!!!!

Crazy Love

Stop Rushing into God's Presence: An excerpt from Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God
by Francis Chan

Stop Praying--Enter His Presence

What if I said, "Stop praying"? What if I told you to stop talking at God for a while, but instead to take a long, hard look at him before you speak another word? Solomon warned us to not rush into God's presence with words. That's what fools do. And often, that's what we do.

We are a culture that relies on technology over community, a society in which spoken and written words are cheap, easy to come by, and excessive. Our culture says anything goes; fear of God is almost unheard of. We are slow to listen, quick to speak and quick to become angry.

The wise man comes to God without saying a word and stands in awe of him. It may seem a hopeless endeavor, to gaze at the invisible God. But Romans 1:20 tells us that through creation we see his "invisible qualities" and "divine nature".

Let's begin by gazing at God in silence. What I want you to do right now is go online and look at the "Awe Factor" video at crazylovebook.com to get a taste of the awe factor of our God. Seriously--go do it.

Speechless? Amazed? Humbled?

When I first saw those images, I had to worship. I didn't want to speak or share it with anyone. I just wanted to sit quietly and admire the Creator.

It's wild to think that most of these galaxies have only been discovered in the past few years, thanks to the Hubble telescope. They've been in the universe for thousands of years without humans even knowing about them.

Why would God create more than 350,000,000,000 galaxies (and this is a conservative estimate) that generations of people never saw or even knew existed? Do you think maybe it was to make us say, "Wow, God is unfathomably big"? Or perhaps God wanted us to see these pictures so that our response would be "Who do I think I am"?

R.C. Sproul writes "Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance, until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God."

Switch gears with me for a minute and think about the detailed intricacy of the other side of creation.

Did you know that a caterpillar has 228 separate and distinct muscles in its head? That's quite a few for a bug. The elm tree has approximately 6 million leaves on it. And your own heart generates enough pressure as it pumps blood throughout your body that it could squirt blood up to 30 feet. (I've never tried this and I don't recommend it.)

Have you ever thought about how diverse and creative God is? He didn't have to make hundreds of different kinds of bananas, but He did. He didn't have to put 3,000 different species of trees within one square mile in the Amazon jungle, but He did. God didn't have to create so many kinds of laughter. Think about the different sounds of your friends' laughs--wheezes, snorts, silent, loud, obnoxious.

How about the way plants defy gravity by drawing water upward from the ground into their stems and veins? Or did you know that spiders produce three kinds of silk? When they spin their webs, they create sixty feet of silk in one hour, simultaneously producing special oil on their feet that prevents them from sticking to their own web. (Most of us hate spiders, but sixty feet an hour deserves some respect!) Coral plants are so sensitive that they can die if the water temperature varies by even one or two degrees.

Did you know that when you get goose bumps, the hair in your follicles is actually helping you stay warmer by trapping body heat? Or what about the simple fact that plants take in carbon dioxide (which is harmful to us) and produce oxygen (which we need to survive)? I'm sure you knew that, but have you ever marveled at it? And these same poison-swallowing, life-giving plants came from tiny seeds that were placed in dirt? Some were watered, some weren't; but after a few days they poked through the soil and into the warm sunlight.

Whatever God's reasons for such diversity, creativity and sophistication in the universe, on earth and in our own bodies, the point of it all is His glory. God's art speaks of himself, reflecting who He is, and what He is like.

The Heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night, they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where there voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. Psalm 19:1-4

This is why we are all called to worship him. His art, His handiwork, and His creation all echo the truth that He is glorious. There is no other like Him. He is the King of Kings, the Beginning and the End, the one who was and is and is to come. I know you've heard this before, but I don't want you to miss it.

I sometimes struggle with how to properly respond to God's magnitude in a world bent on ignoring or merely tolerating Him. But know this: God will not be tolerated. He instructs us to worship Him.

Go back and read the last two paragraphs, go to the website crazylovebook.com and watch the " "Just stop and think" video...meditate on the Almighty One who dwells in unapproachable light, the Glorious One.

There is an epidemic of spiritual amnesia going around and none of us is immune. No matter how many fascinating details we learn about God's creation, no matter how many pictures we see of his galaxies, and no matter how many sunsets we watch, we still forget.

Most of us know that we are supposed to love and fear God; that we are supposed to read our Bibles, and pray so that we get to know Him better; that we are supposed to worship Him with our lives. But actually living it out is challenging.

It confuses us when loving God is hard. Shouldn't it be easy to love a God so wonderful? When we love God because we feel we should love Him, instead of genuinely loving out of our true selves, we have forgotten who God really is. Our amnesia is flaring up again.

It may sound "unChristian" to say that on some mornings I don't feel like loving God, or I just forget to. But I do. In our world, where hundreds of things distract us from God, we have to intentionally and consistently remind ourselves of Him.

Enslaved by Shame

Many out there are just like me and at times are full of shame. Shame that we aren't as pretty as someone else, as skinny, or as "perfect". For some it involves our past...mistakes we made, lies we told, whatever it is we hold onto that causes us to feel "Less Than". My new ladies Bible study is "What Women Want - The Life You Crave and How God Satisfies" (by Lisa T. Bergren & Rebecca Price). In it they quote Liz Higgs saying "Shame is the result of a search for perfection, and perfection is impossible." I was convicted beyond words. I am an admitted perfectionist..not always in ways other people would think, but there are areas of my personality where I don't want to willingly settle for anything less than the closest appearance of perfection. Alan Wright says in his book "Shame Off You" .... "the cycle of shame can only be broken when repentance replaces bitterness. Shame can only be healed when honor replaces dishonor. To let go of shame, you must let go of your sinful reaction to it. Be angry, but do not sin. Hold no judgment. Harbor no resentment. Nourish no bitter root." I never gave my frustration and shame over my physical imperfections enough thought to think of them as sin they were just me being a typical girl and not thinking I had as good of genes as the next girl. They are sin though...the Bible says that I am fearfully and wonderfully made. It says that GOD knit me together in my mother's womb. If we believe that our God is perfect then He is not capable of making a mistake and who do I think I am to tell Him otherwise?? I was struck by the realization that I need to replace my negative self talk with the truth of who God made me to be. Each time I start to think one of those thoughts...I'm too fat, my skin looks awful today, why can't I have straight hair. I recite those scriptures above and say out loud to myself (and my kids if they are listening) "Christ's love makes up the difference". As creations of a loving, amazing, fantastic God we are covered in the blood of Jesus and all the love it represents and WE ARE ENOUGH!!!! Replace the dishonor you are showing your Creator with those words of shame with the honor He deserves in the form of REPENTANCE AND CHANGE. Looking toward the sky accept the Grace He so willingly pours out to us and with joy begin the new habit of reminding yourself daily or hourly that between me and perfection -- "Christ's love makes up the difference".

Hi again!

Well I know I've been on a little siesta, but as I started my new Bible study I know that God has been teaching me a lot and there are some great things that I want to share so hopefully over the next week or so I will get the chance to put into words all that He is working on in my heart right now. For now... a challenge to be in THE WORD everyday NO EXCUSES!!!! I know for me this is not always easy, but oh so worth it when I make it my #1 priority. LOVE TO ALL - S

I Wish You Enough

An email that circulates around that I love......

Recently I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.
Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the mother said, 'I love you and I wish you enough'.
The daughter replied, 'Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Mom'.

They kissed and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy but she welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'. Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'.
'I am old and she lives so far away. I have challenges ahead and the reality is - the next trip back will be for my funeral,' she said.
'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough'. May I ask what that means?'.
She began to smile. 'That's a wish that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone'. She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail and she smiled even more. 'When we said , 'I wish you enough', we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them'. Then turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.



TO ALL THOSE I LOVE -------- I WISH YOU ENOUGH

The Law of the Garbage Truck

An email I got recently that I thought was good to read more than once....


One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in
the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in
front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other
car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and
started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I
mean, he was really friendly. So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy
almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver
taught me what I now call, 'The Law of the Garbage Truck.' He explained that
many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of
frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles
up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't
take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take
their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.
The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over
their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so.....
'Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't.' Life is ten
percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Don't miss the blessings....

Many of you know that our car broke down on our trip to Sacramento. It was one of those moments in life where I felt the panic and stress begin to well up inside me and fortunately it only took a few minutes of talking to Jason for us both to realize that it wasn't necessary. It was inconvenient... for sure, it was expensive... unarguably, it was character testing...for certain, but not a reason to stress. It didn't take long for us to kick into solution mode and call our parents and other resources and get a plan in motion. Jackson of course had a typical 3 year old's solution.. "Let's just go buy a new car." Aren't problems easy to solve when you are young? During our two plus hour wait in the Shell station parking lot we had enough time to verbally begin to list all that we had to be thankful for... we broke down in an area we were familiar with so I wasn't concerned for our safety, we broke down in a parking lot and not in the middle of the freeway. It happened during the day and not in the last few hours of our trip which would have fallen late at night. It happened close enough that our extended family (who are so generous and caring) were able to rescue us and give us a place to stay and a reputable mechanic to solve the problem. Just over a week before we were on our trip to Wisconsin with Jason's family where the timing would have been a lot more complicated and caused more problems to resolve (hotels already paid for, schedules to meet, etc.). I could go on, but I think you get the picture. Although it was a trial of sorts we could see God's hand in it, and how He helped us through it. We both KNOW without a shadow of a doubt that our own natural character would have sent us spewing expletives and ranting about how put out we were and how unfair it was. We were able to see that God has made some progress on us over the last few years and we were grateful for that as well! Don't worry we know we have plenty of other things to work on! :-) We were so looking forward to our trip that when we found out it would be a week before the car could be fixed (broken intake manifold) I shed a few tears and my husband came up with the idea of renting a car and going on as planned. We did and had a great time visiting family and picked up our car on the way home. The mechanic wanted us to have the car looked at again when we got back by the shop that did the work that he thought caused the problem. We did and now it is all good! We received a lot of blessings and prayers and we felt very cared about through the whole ordeal. It was a deviation from the original plan and yet everything worked out pretty smoothly. So the next time it feels like something is ruining your day or your plans step back & take a second look and don't miss the blessings!!