I feel I need to address an elephant on my blog...typos. I am a terrible speller and proofreader. I have been all my life. ( My BFF is laughing right now and nodding her head. We laugh at God's sense of humor in calling me to write.) When spell check came along I was shouting amen and hallelujah. Though I was excited beyond belief spell check did not correct my other issue, proofreading. It is very difficult to proof your own work. When I read it back it sounds good because I know what it is supposed to say, so the words that are left out get said. You know what I mean.
Having said that, I wanted to apologize for some posts of the last couple weeks that were full of errors spelling and left out words. Thank you for your grace.
This weekend Bella Maxine starts obedience school. For 8 Saturdays in a row we go to school for one hour. Believe me, she needs it! Some of you have asked about her sleeping schedule. She is sleeping now and happily in her crate. She wakes up about 4:45 each morning to go out. She goes back into the crate until about 6:30 after she takes her health and beauty break. (I can't have her interfering with "Momma" and Jesus time.) The rest of the weekend is spent in the laundry room. My son is actually pulling underwear out of the dirty clothes hamper. I know, that is horrible, isn't it?
I hope you all have a tremendously wonderful weekend. Pray for Diane. She is speaking Saturday.
Have I told you lately how crazy I am about you and this amazing journey we are on? I am learning so much from you!
Have I told you lately how crazy I am about you and this amazing journey we are on? I am learning so much from you!
17 Comments:
Wendy, we all make spelling and proofreading errors, so we totally understand. With all the wealth of wisdom you provide here, it would be like 'straining at gnats' to do anything but offer grace.
Laundry is part of my lot today too...laundry and hospital visitation. We begin 10 weeks with my Dad on Tuesday. Thanking the Lord for the daily strength He is providing.
Diane, praying for the Lord's annointing on you today. May you experience His presence and may He give you freedom to share. May the hearts of the ladies be open and willing to receive His message today. Can't wait to hear how the Lord answers and blesses.
I have enjoyed such a precious time in His Word today. At first I was caught up in the conflicting reports of 2 Samuel 24:1 and 1 Chronicles 21:1. God's anger or Satan?
At a young age my Mom taught me the following verse from God's Word, "But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain" Titus 3:9. I like the way The Message puts it, "...concentrate on the essentials that are good for everyone. Stay away from mindless, pointless quarreling over genealogies and fine print in the law code. That gets you nowhere."
We could spend hours debating over the source of David's prompting, but we need to hold onto truth. What do we KNOW from God's Word?
James 1:13 tells us that God does not tempt anyone. God cannot, nor can He, be tempted. According to 1 Corinthians 10:13, our own nature makes us vulnerable to temptation. We can be tempted, but God will always provide an alternate way.
So, God does not tempt us, but He may allow us to be tempted in order to test, prove or help us grow. We certainly saw this earlier as we studied the life of Job. God must have seen something in David's heart that needed to be exposed.
God also did provide a "way out". Joab pleaded with David not to take a census. He knew that a military census was contrary to faith in God. The size of the army meant nothing. Victory would only come through God. David desired to know the strength of his army. His motive was pride.
God gives us freedom. We can't be free to choose unless we have a choice. David chose to disregard Joab's warning and Israel met God's judgement.
I don't want to end there though.
"Now David's heart troubled him after he had numbered the people" 2 Samuel 24:10.
David's conscience bothered him after he had taken the census. Again we see why David is a man after God's own heart. He was far from perfect, but his heart was sensitive to God. Deep inside David's inner man he felt God's displeasure at what he had done.
David's compromise with pride caused many lives to be taken. We may question, how can God do such things? A more honest question may be, how can God stop when He does, fully knowing what we deserve? He owes us nothing. We don't deserve any of His benefits. It is only and always because of His grace that we don't receive what we deserve.
If a godly man like David can make mistakes, so can we. We need to be accountable; we need to heed sins consequences and we need to take His Word seriously. This will protect us from flirting with danger, rejecting His Word and denying His Lordship.
We will not always understand or be able to explain certain acts of God. His ways are higher than ours and we may not have all the facts or the ability to comprehend His actions. At times like this, we need to hold tightly to what we do know and keep walking by faith.
"Help me to understand. And where I can't understand, help me to trust. And where I can't trust, help me to overcome my unbelief." Ken Gire.
"Circumstances may appear to wreck our lives and God's plans, but God is not helpless among the ruins." Eric Liddell.
Good Morning Girls,
Dear, dear Wendy there are no apologies needed. Many times I wonder how you are doing this (only by God's Grace) everyday! For me, if "knew" I had to have a post up I'd be stressed! Please, don't give it a thought! We love you sister!
Diane, I'm praying my heart out for you this morning! I know God is with you and is ready to flow right out of your mouth. It's the enemy I'm worried about; so we're putting him right behind you! I'm praying that you wake up so refreshed without any pain today...with God's power you can scale any wall, sister! Those girls today are going to be blessed beyond belief! I'm thanking Jesus right now, because I know He's got good things in store for you today!
Joy, I just absolutely love what you wrote today. I love the verses your Mom gave you. I'll have to say, I had to read these chapters several times for it to sink in -to try to grasp it.
When we seek God he hears us and knows what we need to know at the time. He showed me something that I hope I can explain, because it has just left me loving Him beyond words; he really does care for us. Ok, here I go and I hope it can make the sense to you that it did to me...
David "knew" he sinned by wanting to count his fighting men me because it would make him feel proud. But, he confessed this sin to God. He knew he must offer a Sin Offering. Araunah offered to pay for it, but David said "No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the LORD my God that have cost me nothing." I saw this applying in my own life...I applied this to my own situation with my mother. Outwardly, we get along just fine. I honor her in every way possible by going through the motions...talking w/ her daily, seeing her often, helping her with her needs, etc. However; my heart is not in it at times. God knows my heart and He's been there to help me through this as I keep asking Him about it. What He showed me through these verses: We surrender to His will for us. We thank Him for the situation He has put us in, because He knows the whole picture. It's not what we "get" but what we "give" with no ulterior motives for personal gain...The true spirit of Christ is to be motivated by love. That is what I need to let sink in! If Christ really dwells in me and I know He does, I can be filled up with His Spirit, to the point where the love just flows out...not only in my actions, but my thoughts as well! To sacrifice to my mother to wholly honor Him. My daily contacts with my mother are opportunities to offer myself to meet her needs, [by listening to her worries and having empathy towards her] and then thanking the Lord for this privilege. Wow~ sisters this really hit home to me! To come to a point to thank God for the privilege of serving my mother! Christ puts us in situations that are not necessarily easy, but they allow us to grow closer to Him. To have to lean on Him to get through it! My situation calls for me to totally seek God, to lean to Him daily because I can't do it on my own. Christ offered Himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God (Eph 5:2)... Thinking about ALL HE did for me...brings me face down in prayer & thanksgiving!
I don't know if this has made any sense or not, but it was another light-bulb morning to me! God is good all of the time!!!! :) All of the time!!!!!!
My son plays this weekend so last night he was rehearsing...My socks were blessed right off! God gives us everything we need if we'll just keep our little feet on His path! His Word...how blessed we are to have His Word.
ENJOY the weekend dear friends...it's been another amazing week in God's Word together! I think, how can it get any better than this...and IT DOES! Loving Him with all of my heart! Loving you all too!
Lori - AZ
PS
I read this morning in My Daily Word,
"In God's eyes, true greatness is serving others."
Good Morning Sweet Blog Friends. I am waking to a bright, shiny morning and God's sunlight feels so good. Wendy, your words each day are this way to me too. Please know that you will find grace here for all you do.
Diane, May you find peace in knowing that God will speak through you and the circumstances He has faithfully brought you through. Praying for you as you open your heart to the hearts of every person that God places in your presence today.
Joy and Lori, I just have to say that I love sharing in your wisdom and enthusiasm for what God is sharing with you in your lives. You are truly a blessing to me on this blog, as are all the women who selflessly are sharing in this journey.
I have to admit that I was somewhat confused by today's reading. I didn't understand why David's taking a census was wrong or sinful, until I looked in my NIV Study Bible. This is what is says regarding 2 Samuel 24.
"The specific reason for the Lord's displeasure is not stated. Because the anger is said to be directed against Israel rather than David, some have concluded that it was occasioned by the widespread support among the people for the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba against David...1Chronicles 21:1 says that Satan inspired David to take the census. Although Scripture is clear that God does not cause anyone to sin, it is also clear that man's-and Satan's-evil acts are under God's sovereign control...David's military census does not appear to have been prompted by any immediate external threat...it is evident that his action was motivated either by pride in the size of the empire he had acquired or by reliance for his security on the size of the reserve of manpower he could muster...The mere taking of a census was hardly sinful, but in this instance it represented an unwarranted glorying in and dependence on human power rather than the Lord. The act was uncharacteristic of David."
This explanation struck me. Aren't we all so guilty of the same sin - relying on the strength and power of ourselves, rather than God? Ouch! May we also repent wholeheartedly as David did.
Hope this helps someone like it did me!
Have a beautiful weekend everyone!
First off - grace to you Wendy! We've all had spelling, grammar, punctuation errors on here. We look past them to the heart message.
Go Diane...courage, and wisdom to you. We bind up satan for you.
Ladies, thanks so much for answering my question as to why the census was sinful. Your explanations were great.
Lori thank you for sharing what God shared with you. I too have family members who grate on me; and I KNOW that I need to let Jesus pour out His love thru me when I'm around them. It is so hard not to let my judgement and pride take over. To be thankful for the situation He has allowed me to serve Him in. Wow...I'm gonna start praying for help in this area. In shame I admit that I have found myself avoiding these people as much as I can. That is so wrong, but it selfishly keeps me peaceful. Pray for me to step out in love to honor my difficult family members.
Lots of Saturday chores to do....
loving and praying for you all
Morgen - MN
Wendy,
Typos or no the Holy Spirit is speaking through and using you and I'm thankful for your obedience to what He has called you to. What a daily blessing this has been!
Thank goodness for His grace and mercy anew!
Kristi-TX
Dearest Wendy, An editor I am not! Before the delete key I could have owned stock in white out! Sometimes we think faster than we type. I look at print globally and it looks good to me. I am not a word detail person. You are forgiven...let the first perfect typist cast the first stone! LOL
Morgen...sometimes out of sight out of mind is healthier with those difficult family members. I've been there too.
Once again love does not have to be a feeling word. Making a decision to love is more of an action word. to love in spite of... God's love is agape love and if we can remember to love as he loves us it truly helps. At times boundaries do need to be set with family members...and lots of prayers!
Thanks gals for offering up your insights into whether is was God or Satan or David's pride that suggested his actions on taking the cencus. I was pretty confused. How could God and Satan plant the same thought?
Diane, I pray that the words of your mouth and the mediation of all the hearts gathered in His name are pleasing to God, our rock, our strength and redeemer!
You have an amazing witness to share. May God bless you for the work you do in His name. Amen
It is a perfect 62 degrees here in Illinois today. I just got back from helping to box and bag potatoes that were dumped in our church parking lot. There is a ministry called "Gleaners for the Lord" They glean left over potatoes from 4 farms that produce potaoes for Frito Lay. The company only wants certain size potatoes for their processing plants. So this ministry actually goes into the field to dig the rest out of the ground. There were thousands of potatoes. People from various food pantries and churches came to pick them up to distribute them to those who are less fortunate.
It's an amazing ministry. They also glean sweet corn in the summer and apples in the fall. I guess they even pick up surplus ice cream etc. from warehouses and distribute them out of trucks to whoever is in need.
I was so blessed this morning to participate in this ministry. It brought me back to the story of Ruth!
Thinking of all of you...Debbie in Illinois
Dear Sisters, You guys will just not believe this one! I've been taking my father in for testing at Mayo's the past couple of weeks. He's 74 and has been quite healthy and still works full time in the family business...my parents are divorced, but both come over to our home for bday's, holidays, etc.
My father is not saved. My mother became saved early on during their marriage. This year I began discussing his salvation with my mom on different occasions. She'd give me the "hopeless looks," but I'd say everything is possible!
Well, I have been the one to take him to the doctor appointments, etc. We found out this past week that he will be having open heart surgery. We have 3 more appointments coming up and if all goes well, it will be scheduled within two weeks.
On a whim, I asked him if he'd like to go to church with me tomorrow. He told me how busy they were at work and how on Sun. it's just nice to not dress up! I said Dad, you do NOT have to wear a tie to our church. Many times the minister even wears jeans! Well, I just got an email back from him and guess what....he said he'd go!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ah, I am in shock...and all I can say is PRAISE GOD!!!!!
Pray that God will open up his heart so that he will be ready to hear the message. God is so good; He just keeps our life exciting, doesn't he?
:)
Happy, happy, Saturday dear girlfriends. Lori - AZ
Lori
I will be praying for your Dad's ears. Smile
Lori, I too will be praying for your dad as he hears God's word. I will also be praying for your pastor that the Holy Spirit will give him the words your dad needs to hear.
Please pray for us in the next couple of days. We have a Christian campground, and "serve the Christian family Community". We also have a canoe rental. We had a flood last night and this morning. We yesterday for some reason (GOD!) started getting these automated phone messages that told us we were in the area for strong T-storms, then one there was a tornado in our area, then this morning at 5 that we had flooding in our area. As soon as it was light enough even before we had breakfast we went to the campground. We couldn't believe what we saw. The parking lot was covered, all the campground was covered in water. We have an old Dodge van that we store life jackets and paddles in. The water was already in the motor of the van so Jim couldn't drive it out. He waded out and started carrying the life jackets to me, and I took them and put them in our little snack store that is enclosed. When he started the water came only to his knees...his last load of paddles that he tied in bundles and floated them to me, the water was up to his chest....we are just talking 45 minutes. He finally had put on one of the life jackets.
We just came from the campground and the bathhouse had about 3' of water in it, the water is still up to the top step, and they are calling for a LOT more rain tonight and tomorrow.
Please pray that the river will not get any higher and there will be no more damage. The clean up after a flood is so strenuous and Jim and I neither one need that now.
Everyone have a wonderful Sunday.
Jan TN
Yea Lori. I will indeed be praying for you, your family, and your dad. Remember sweet friend that God is control and has never quit wooing your father. Praying that God's mighty will is done in your dad's heart.
Also praying for you Jan, as well as for your business and husband. I am so sorry you are having to go through this flood. May you find a flood of God's faithfulness and compassion throughout this weekend and upcoming week.
Blessings to all of you!
dear jan,
your story brings to mind psalm 66:12-
we went through the fire and through the FLOOD, but YOU brought us out into the fruitful place of abundance....
praying for you, your family, your business, your safety, and peace...
also praising God that my Paige recieved her First Holy Communion yesterday...it was a gorgeous, emotionally moving day of families and children and grandparents and feasts and photo-ops and joy...so many parents praising God for their sweet children, and the children all being so reverent and dolled up in their finery...the little boys in suits and ties and freshly scrubbed faces and hair that their moms were trying to keep slicked back, and the little princesses of Christ with their white dresses and veils and finery, so taken with their pretty little selves!... it was beautiful and moving to see the children do the readings and the intentions and bring up the Gifts...they also did the music with their sweet cherubic voices, and the bell choir was so regal, and they performed 'one bread, one body' in sign language, and the rain stopped briefly for the time of the mass...and all was right with the world.... Praise God for sweet moments in life like these!!
and then, Paige-fest continued with her first performance in competition for "lord of the dance'...i hooted and cheered more for her 4 minutes on the stage, in the 5th line back!! you'd think no one ever wore a tap shoe before!!
and in reviewing her day she said to me..."mom, what a great day! 'LORD', and lord...!' how fun! and how thankful i am to have the sweet days, in the midst of the trying days...Praise You my God!
have a blessed sunday, my girl friends,
amy jane
Jan,
I'm praying for your situation. Seems like the devil is trying to throw some darts right before your trip to visit your mother! God controls the weather tho!
As I've been praying about this morning with my father i was thinking about the series that our pastor is doing at church - on relationships. I thought how interesting, in that God has been teaching me about this topic,just this very week! Last week, the title was Humility and I remember sitting in the service, thinking, "how good this was," but, not even applying it to me!!! I went back and reread my notes and thought, just how prideful I've been! One of the things I had written down was, "Humility comes from looking at God and then seeing ourselves...pride comes from looking at ourselves rather than looking at God."
I also realized just how sweet God is...I've been praying for my relationship with my mother. He's been doing little things this year to show me it is possible...but, then it's like the enemy comes back with those darts! anyway, what I guess I'm trying to say is that when we request from our Father...and we read his Scripture...he teaches us what we need to know! It's all about having an open heart, ready to hear! The verses that came alive to me a couple of days ago...then, seeing how this whole series is geared towards what I need to hear! We are given situations that we can not deal with on our own...we need to seek God's presence in order to live peacefully. We need to rely on Him.
My son went to the service last evening after playing in the HS Sat. service...I told him, "Papa was coming tomorrow!" He said the title was "trust" and that it was really good!
Thanks for listening to me talk about this, girls! I just love how the scripture teaches us how to live. We have the answers, girls! We pray and seek and our precious Father answers in His time! Loving Him and looking so forward to going to church with my earthly father for the very first time-ever!
Loved your comments Amy Jane! If we had, had a daughter, we were going to name her "Paige!" Love that name, and I bet you had tears watching her! I did and I wasn't even there! :)
Today's reading:
Organizing shop before Saul takes over...David puts into play a method for the 24,000 Levites. Love the way he avoids any favoritism. "assigned to the various groups by means of sacred lots so that no preference would be shown...took turns casting lots."
"assigned to their duties by means of sacred lots, without regard to age or rank."
"without regard to whether they were young or old, teacher or student." No one person did any more or less service to the Lord than the other. I'm going to miss David!
Blessings & Hugs dear friends on this glorious Sunday! Lori - AZ
Hi All,
Promise...this will be my last entry today! :) Just got back from church. My dad came over this morning and said, "let's hope I don't sleep thru the service!" And, of course I chuckled to myself, thinking...fat chance in OUR church! That would be difficult!
Well, low and behold, the first word to come out of the pastor's mouth-I look to my side and his head is down and his eyes are closed! Slept thru the entire thing!! Oh well, I'm not disappointed. The final song, I heard God whispering to me as we sang...
"My God is Mighty to Save! Author of Salvation...He Can Move the Mountains! ...shine your light...
I smiled knowing my father is in God's hands...I will continue praying and the day will come that my mighty Father will save my earthly father.
Brandee...I'm hoping John had a wonderful time with you and Will, at church this morning...
Waiting also to hear from you Diane! :)
Loving today...loving Jesus...and thanking our LORD for you special gals in my life right now!
Lori - AZ
Dear Jan...Praying the "sun will come out tomorrow" to dry up all the flood waters around the campsight. Sounded so overwhelming. May you all be able to keep your eyes upon the Lord and not get caught up in the flood waters and the possible damage. Someone posted a quote about David and Goliath a while ago on this site that I love and have written on my chalkboard in the kitchen right now... "David succeeds when he looks to God in those moment of desparate need, not when he looks at the Giant." Praying these are words of encouragement as you fight the battle before you. Romans 8:28 God makes good of all things for those who love Him and are called to His purpoae. Surely this Chrisian Family Campground is in the palm of His hand. Goodnes shall come! Amen
Love, from Debbie in Illinois
Thanks everyone for praying for us. All the paddles had to be hosed down. We were able to pick up all the life jackets...a couple hundred...put them on the rails around the porch of the bath house...Jim was going to hose them down, and later this week they will all get a Lysol bath. That will take a while to do. He had to go buy a pressure washer to clean the floors, there is so much mud. The sun isn't supposed to come out until Wed. But the Lord knows best.
Please pray for me this week...I am supposed to fly to AZ on Tues. to take care of my mom for a week, and I am a little apprehensive with all the swine flu around. Please pray that my body will be strong enough to stave off the flu.
I hope that I will be able to get some computer time on my brother's computer so that I can read every day what Wendy and all of you have to say. I will have my Bible with me.
Hope all of you have a great Sunday evening.
Jan TN
My Sweet, Sweet Sisters,
What a mighty God we serve! So much to say and yet my body and mine need to rest. Words cannot express how much it meant to return to “the blog room” and find the encouragement, beautiful thoughts and sweet prayers. It was just were overwhelming. Thank you from the depths of my weary feet.
God heard every one of them and the ladies of Bon Air Baptist Church in Richmond, VA., felt them as well. I will be posting pictures and some happenings from the event this week on my blog. It was amazing!
I do want to share this with you because God’s grace is so wonderful and it just needs to be glorified every chance we get. Satan is alive and well and every chance he gets to sneak in, he will. In Thursday’s mail I received my final divorce papers. By looking at the envelope I knew what it was. I couldn’t open them. I didn’t want anything to interfere with what God wanted to do this weekend. It didn’t change my situation, it was still official, and I am divorced. But here is the grace part, my perception changed. Being able to put aside my selfish need to go into a full blown pity party got laid aside. That was not possible in my own strength! I am still so emotionally and physically spent from the weekend, that I haven’t allowed myself to open the envelope. Seeing the words in black and white is a bit scary. But I know that tears won’t compromise my strength. (I think I am about to get really, really strong)
There are so many that have posted here with praises and prayers. I am lifting you before the Father. I want to comment but I just can’t type any more.
Standing in Awe of Our Savior,
Diane
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