In the air as I write this...

My plan was to write the post for Power Thought 3 tonight, but instead I want to share a few pictures from earlier today and ask you to join us in praying for our friends, the Niemans.  They left this morning for S. Korea where they plan to live for 2 years.

I will so miss Mira! 

Our families have schooled together for 2 years (1x weekly), 

vacationed together for the past 3 years,

and just plain like to be together.

The whole family will be sorely missed,

but I trust God has lead them to go.

It was a mix of excitement and sadness today.

Here are my kiddos with hers 

(from left to right, we see 

my Rebekah, her Leah, my MJ, my Paul, and her Jesse) 

Mira and Ryan checking their baggage in.  

Our fellow co-op "sisters" were there too...

an international bunch to be sure.  

Melodie and I were born in America, 

but Sonila (on the far left) grew up in Albania 

and Mira was raised in S. Korea. 

We love the multi-cultural interaction 

as we all seek to follow Jesus,

the One who reigns over all the nations!

Enjoying our final moments together, 

at least for a season.

 The girls' group shot ;-)

The boys' group shot ;-)

And the family of four are off...

Will you join me in praying for their safe travel, for God's peace and leading as they transition in so many ways as a family, and for fruitfulness in their time there...that God would be pleased to work in and through them for His glory?

Thank you,

Connie

ps...We decided to start taking two weeks instead of one on the Power Thoughts...one week felt like we were rushing through.  So much is going on here (seeing friends off, deciding whether to add a particular puppy to our family [yeah, crazy right?], starting school back up in full swing, etc), but I will make every effort to get the post on the next power thought written soon for those of you who are following along.

On the basis of His grace

"Every day of our Christian experience should be a day of relating to God on the basis of His grace alone.  Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace.  And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace."  

(from Transforming Grace, by Jerry Bridges)

Isn't that a good quote?  It offers hope when hopeless, and it encourages humility when tempted to pride...and oh how sweet it is to relate to God on the basis of His grace!

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you (Rom 16:20),

Connie

From Psalm 104

Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, You are very great: 

You are clothed with honor and majesty...

Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.  

You who laid the foundations of the earth...

He sends the springs into the valleys; 

They flow among the hills. 

They give drink to every beast of the field;

The wild donkeys...

 birds...

He waters the hills from His upper chambers;

The earth is satisfied with the fruit of Your works.  

He causes the grass to grow for the cattle,

And vegetation for the service of man,

That he may bring forth food from the earth, 

And wine that makes glad the heart of man,

Oil to make his face shine,

And bread which strengthens man's heart.

...birds

...the stork

...the wild goats

...the rock badgers

...the young lions 

seek their food from God.  

...man...

O Lord, how manifold are Your works!

In wisdom You have made them all.

The earth is full of Your possessions —   

This great and wide sea,

....innumerable teeming things,

Living things both small and great...

These all wait for You,

That You may give them their food in due season.  

What You give them they gather in;

You open Your hand, they are filled with good. 

You hide Your face, they are troubled;

You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust. 

You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;

And You renew the face of the earth.  

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

May the Lord rejoice in His works...

I was reading this Psalm tonight and the whole thing reminded me of Acts 17:28 which tells us that it is "in Him we live and move and have our being."

I've had a number of positive comments about the story that I shared in my post Power Thought # 1.  I'm so glad.  As you might recall, the conversation that followed the command to jump up and touch the ceiling went like this:
me: Honey, did you obey?
daughter:  yes, Mama
me:  Could you do it alone?
daughter: no
me:  Honey, we can always obey God, but we always need the strength He gives us.  We can't do it alone.

It is SO true that we can only obey through Christ who strengthens us.  BUT, do we "get" that it is ALWAYS true.  Some of us might be tempted to think that we only need to rely on God for the "big stuff" or when we're called upon to do "hard" for Jesus.  So for people like me who in practical every day living have fallen repeatedly into the temptation of thinking I can do a whole lot "on my own," there is another exercise I'd like to add.

I'll call it "bend down and touch the floor."  If that was the command and you obeyed it, how would you answer the question "Could you do that alone?"

Is there really any strength that we have that isn't given to us by God?  We live and move and have our being in Him.  If He takes away our breath, we die.  Every heartbeat is a gift.  Every functioning nerve and muscle and joint and tendon and the blood flow and everything else that is needed for us to bend over and touch the floor is a gift.  May we grow in thankfulness to Him for the strength He supplies for EVERYTHING we do!

No wonder the Psalmist ends his consideration of God's wonderful works with these words...let's join him.

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.  

May my meditation be sweet to Him;

I will be glad in the Lord. 

May sinners be consumed from the earth, And the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord!

Power Thought #2

God loves me unconditionally!

[Unlabeled quotes are taken from the book Power Thoughts, by Joyce Meyer.]

There is a truth we need to grasp in this chapter.  We need to "get" that there were no conditions we needed to meet before God loved us...HE MET THE CONDITIONS.  He sent His Son to bear the wrath that we deserved and to clothe us in His righteousness.  It is IN CHRIST that we are made new creations (2 Cor. 5:17).  It was before the foundation of the world that God chose us, predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself and made us accepted in the Beloved (Eph 1:3-6).  If we are in Christ, we HAVE His love because He has chosen to GIVE it...we can rest in faith right there, and enjoy the love of our Father.  Let it sink deep into our bones!  

He's given us right standing with Him, but the problem is we know we still sin against Him and feel our "wrongness."  So let's talk about that for a minute. 

I have three children...I love them all very much and they are all secure in that love though they don't always "feel" secure.  Occasionally when they do wrong, instead of coming to me, telling me about it and asking me to forgive them (which I stand ready to do), they may start writing me little love notes and excessively offering to help with the jobs around the house, all the while acting insecurely.  I've been guilty of the same sort of thing in relationship with God: times when I have pridefully attempted to sweep my sins under the proverbial rug (ignore them, just let "enough time pass", or justify myself in some way, as if that solves anything with a holy, omniscient God) and just work harder to earn His favor.  And I bet I'm not alone.  So when I notice that one of my kids is insecure (or I note it in myself), I've learned to turn to a verse like Proverbs 28:13 that reminds us "He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy."  

There is a dangerous way to view "unconditional love" and I want to mention it just briefly...it is to think somehow that since God loves us unconditionally, it doesn't matter what we do.  Paul warned against this presumption in Romans 6.  It is NOT an invitation to licentious living.  But if we are truly in Christ, we can rest assured that God does love us and will continue to complete the good work He has begun in us.  Even when we mess up.  Proverbs 3:12 tells us "For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights."  Hebrews 12 quotes this proverb and uses it to argue that if we are chastened by the Lord, He is dealing with us as sons...it is an evidence of His love. 

My love for my children doesn't vanish every time they do wrong...but they don't always feel secure because sin blinds and deceives. God's love for us doesn't vanish every time we do wrong either...in fact, His love is perfect and He assures us of it.  Listen to 1 John 3:1 which says: "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!"  Do we trust and believe that?  Or are we listening the the enemy?  Our right standing is based in Christ, not our own performance. Let's have our actions flow from that confidence! 

Those who believe, those who are IN CHRIST, those who God foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of His son (Rom 8:29), can and should trust God's love and walk securely in it.  "The more we experience God's love, the more we desire to do what pleases Him."  So go ahead and write Him love notes and offer to help around His house, but do these things and all that you do in response to His love, not in an attempt to earn it.  There is a big difference between those two approaches...with the first, our attention is fixed on the love of the Father and there is great joy and security; with the second we tend to be self-focused and striving for joy but not experiencing it because we're too busy feeling condemned and unworthy. 

If we're feeling insecure, we need to believe 1 John 1:9 that tells us "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Confess and forsake your sins and find mercy BECAUSE HE ALREADY LOVES YOU!

   

This week, renew your mind with thoughts like:

     * "I am chosen in Christ, and in Him I am blameless before God."

     * "I am a new creation in Christ."

     * "God loves me...and I am made right with Him through faith in Jesus."

"When you awake in the morning, lie in bed for a few minutes and thank God because He loves you and will be with you all day, in everything you do."  

Here are some more relevant verses to chew on:

2 Cor. 5:17, 21

Eph. 1:3-15

Ezek. 11:19-21

Eph. 2:10

Deut. 7:6-8

Acts 13:48

Rom. 8:28-30

1 Peter 2:9-10

Rom. 8:1

1 Cor. 1:26-31

 

I'll leave you with this prayer by the Apostle Paul:

"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,  from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height —  to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."  -- Eph 3:14-19

Blessings,

Connie

Bullwinkles

In May of this year, my kids joined up with 5 others to form the Under His Wings team and did a fund-raising walkathon for the Pregnancy Resource Centers.  I wrote about it here.  These eight kids raised $5,256.67 and received an award for being the top fundraisers in their age group.  Their prize?  A trip to Bullwinkles Family Fun Center!  Woo hoo!  And they got to take their parents along too, and let me tell you, we all had a GREAT time together last Tuesday when we enjoyed an all day Extreme Day Pass.  

Today will be a heavy picture day...

The team enjoying a picnic dinner together...

the 8 kids with a little sister who wasn't old enough to be on the team.

Paul starting out on the rock climbing wall

MJ and Mrs. Nieman on the go-carts

Getting ready to play one of our many games of Lazer Tag

 The whole day was received as a gift, but we felt like we got an extra kiss from God when we discovered our passes worked in the video games area. The arcade was not supposed to be included on the Extreme Pass so we asked the manager about it.  He told us that our cards had somehow been loaded with bonus cash and for us to go have fun using it.  With a thanks to the manager, and a "thank you Jesus" offered up, we proceeded to play, play, play. Here's Bekah and Lizzy showing us how to run this race.

My hubby in the batting cages (which was another area not covered by the Extreme Pass, but we all had plenty of bonus cash to cover it if we wanted to take a swing at it.  My arm was SO SORE the next day because I swung about a hundred times too many, but I sure had a good time...I loved the batting cages!)

Bekah and I before we raced...we loved the go carts too!

MJ on the sky walk being true to her drama-queen-self ;-)

Paul on the bumper boats...he was a mighty good shooter!

 We took a gazillion pictures, but I'll end with this one of the kiddos enjoying their double decker ice cream cones.  It was a sweet day of refreshment, laughter, and friendship sharing for our three families.

Power Thought #1

The first "Power Thought" in the book I referenced here is:
"I can do whatever I need to do in life through Christ."
That sounds very much like Phil 4:13, which says: 
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Her main point here is that we can trust that wherever God leads us, He will enable and empower.  "The secret to being able to do what we need to do is realizing that we cannot do it alone; we can only do it in Christ."  

As I was reading from this chapter to my kids, they all said it reminded them of a little exercise I've had them do on occasion.   Years ago, one of my darling children was failing daily to obey in a particular area...daily instruction and discipline was happening, but no change of heart or action could be detected.  I sat frustrated in the living room one night praying for her and pleading with God to show me how to reach her little stubborn heart, and an idea came to mind.  The next day I tried it out...

I told my daughter that I was going to give her a command and that she needed to obey it, and that she could NOT say "I can't" when I told her what it was.  Then I told her to jump up and touch the ceiling.  She knew she couldn't do it, but she also knew she shouldn't say "I can't" so she stood there dumbfounded, not knowing what to do.  I let her skirm for a moment.  Then I gave the command again and this time told her that she was not to say "I can't", but that she could say "help me."  A smile of hopefulness came immediately upon her face and she quickly asked for help.  As she jumped, I gave her the lift she needed and she triumphantly touched the ceiling.  

A conversation like this followed:
me: Honey, did you obey?
daughter:  yes, Mama
me:  Could you do it alone?
daughter: no
me:  Honey, we can always obey God, but we always need the strength He gives us.  We can't do it alone.

Then we talked about the recurring problem and how we need to ask God for help.  We did, and He answered with grace.  That day there was a change of heart and action; joy replaced frustration and painful discipline...and my little girl and I both had a big lesson in our need to do all things through Christ who strengthens us.  Each of my kids have had the opportunity for this lesson, and sometimes they've taken turns jumping up to touch the ceiling with help because they love the truth it displays and they just plain need simple reminders.  Don't we all?

That's what this book has been for me.  Are you drowning in the sea of negative nasties or facing some sort of hard that "feels" too hard?  Believe God that you CAN do all He calls you to do THROUGH CHRIST who strengthens you.  Take the simple lifebuoy His Word offers you to keep your head above the waters that threaten you until He brings you out to a broad place (2 Sam 22:17-20).  Throw away your excuse bag.  "Go get a 'can-do bag' and fill it with biblical, faith-filled reasons you can do what you need to do."

Here are some other passages that relate to this Power Thought...meditate on them and be strengthened in Christ today to do all He calls you to do. 
John 15:1-8   
Heb 12:1-2 
Isa 40:29-31 
Isa 41:10  
2 Cor 12:9-10  
Eph 3:14-21   
Eph 6:10-18  
Col 1:11-14  
Rom 8:31-39 

Blessings,
Connie

God strikes straight blows with crooked sticks

A few months ago, one of my dearest friends gave me a copy of a book she thought might prove helpful to me.  And it did!  Remember all those "negative nasties" I mentioned in my last post?  Well, I was being bombarded and I wasn't winning the war when she handed it to me  -- I didn't think I had time to start a new book, but because of who it was who gave it to me, I jumped right in.  The author's message was timely and God used it to strike a straight blow!

So, what is this book?  Well, before I tell you, I want to say this.  I've gotten some pretty strong reactions from people in my circles when I've mentioned the name of the book and it's author...shock, oh shock.  It's true that I like Puritans and other dear ole dead guys who wrote with a depth and reverence that I cannot get enough of.  Men like John Bunyan, Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Boston, and many others...wow! There are a few living people like John Piper and Ed Welch and Paul David Tripp that draw my attention often as well because their message is always Christ-exalting and centered in the Word of God.   So people who know me, know that I like meaty books.  But for the record, I believe God can use whatever and whoever He wants as His messengers and though it is true that I favor the above mentioned authors, I read widely.  Jesus was the only perfect man...the rest of us are crooked sticks with which He is incredibly able to strike straight blows.  Every one of us has room to grow, but we also all have things to contribute to the body of Christ.  So let's be gracious with one another and put away our snobbery.  Let us be humble contributors and thankful receivers, all by God's grace and for His glory.

Okay, so the book is titled Power Thoughts, and it was written by Joyce Meyer.  Her stated goal is to give "you tools that can make you strong where you have been weak, triumphant where you have been defeated, positive where you have been negative, courageous where you have been afraid, and successful where you have failed in the past."  She makes it clear that our thoughts powerfully influence us and emphasizes our need to be transformed by the renewing of our minds according to God's Word (Eph 4:23; Rom 12:2).  Proverbs 23:7 says "For as he thinks in his heart, so is he."  She has 12 "Power Thoughts", none of which are necessarily new to anyone who has been walking with God for very long, but they are good reminders and come packaged with a vivid description of the battlefield of the mind and how important it is for us to put on the whole armor of God.  The book is not written with the depth of any of my favorite ole dead guys and I disagree outright with some of the peripheral comments she writes, but I personally found her main points very helpful and think many others would benefit too. 

"Your mind can be a junkyard or a treasure chest...you can make it one or the other by deciding whether you will think thoughts that are negative, cheap, common, and low or thoughts that are positive, pure, honorable, and valuable in God's eyes.  You can think 'power-enhancing' thoughts or 'power-draining' thoughts."  Her encouragements to meditate on God's Word, to take seriously the battlefield in our minds, to tear down strongholds and to be intentional in our thinking are worthy of our attention.  She offers some simple tools to put to use in our lives as we attempt to take every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).

Last week I started working my way through the book again, this time with my kids and two girlfriends.  We want to take one week to chew on each power thought, sharing selections from the book and working on memorizing applicable scripture together.  Once a week, I hope to write a little bit of what I've gleaned the previous week for your encouragement as well.  So next time Lord willing, I'll tell you about Power Thought #1 and share a little story that relates.

Sweet dreams are calling my name...good night!
Thanks for stopping by :-)