tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69724053040815385302024-03-14T02:59:35.808-07:00The Word vs. the world~ A place for your transforming heart to find refuge, rest, and renewal in the love and truth of God's Word~Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-42035994379085408322013-10-30T21:25:00.000-07:002013-10-31T06:59:44.470-07:00#MovingForward<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="color: black;">I've never considered myself a runner - the confining shoes, the jarring of my body with every stride, the dripping sweat and out of breath gasps - all of it is not in the slightest bit exhilarating to me. And yet I am a runner and I have been my whole life, or at least the parts I remember of it. But my running has not been to get or to stay fit. It has not been for sport. And it has definitely not been to win anything - unless you consider a life of guarded loneliness a prize to be showcased on your mantel, which I ashamedly admit that for many years in my life I did see it as just that. But that's another story for another day.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">In last weeks blog post, I shared a part of my story with you that went all the way back to grade school - to the sixth grade - the year I put on my running shoes. If you missed that post, you can read it </span><a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-heart-surrendered-to-christ.html"><span style="color: black;">here</span></a><span style="color: black;">. But the part of that story which speaks to what I want to share with you today is that I encountered some pretty intense bullying that year in school, with the toughest part being the fact that it came from those whom I believed to be my closest friends. A dramatic tragedy in the life of a young child whose whole world, whose whole identity, had been wrapped up in the pursuit of being "popular."</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">While I could go into the details that were to be my everyday dreaded experience that school year, that is not the story I want to focus on today. That is not where I want to dwell. I excelled at dwelling there for far too many years. Today, I simply want to take a glimpse back...to share with you what I've learned has kept me from #movingforward.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">It was from that point on in my life in which doubt proceeded me into every room and carried into my every relationship. It acted as a smoke screen through which I viewed my life and the world, making it very difficult to see the truth amongst the haze. Instead, I ran...from everything...</span><br />
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Someone hurt me and broke my trust - I ran.</div>
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Someone rejected me - I ran.</div>
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Someone attempted to get too close - I ran.</div>
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God tried to show me His love - I ran.</div>
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I ran, I ran, I ran...same marathon story in which I always lost repeated over and over and over...<br />
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<span style="color: black;">It would take me many years into my adult life, into my married life even, to realize that the smoke screen is artificial - a tool of the enemy to mask his movement in our lives - to conceal the real battle going on here for the confidence of our hearts. A lesson I am just now beginning to fully understand.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black;">It has been many years since I've felt any sort of ill feelings or grudges towards those grade school friends turned rivals all those years ago. In fact, just about every one of them is on my FB friends list and I even chat with a few of them from time to time recalling the good memories we did have. And yet, despite the forgiveness that has taken place, I still have to fight the urge daily to not put up the guard our gracious Lord has been so diligently and patiently working to remove since I made the choice to turn towards Him. But why? Why after all these years do I still leave my running shoes at my side ready to lace up in moments notice? Why has there not been a #moving forward once and for all story?! The answer? - Pg.89, "A Confident Heart," by Renee Swope:</span><br />
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<em>"Sometimes that hurt little girl still has too much say in my heart. If I listen to her, powerful yet immature emotions from my past rise to the surface."</em></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Wow! The story of my doubts summed up in two sentences. Well, three really because she then goes on to write the best part:</span></div>
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<em><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">"But they are not the truth in my life."</span></em></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Amen! They. Are. Not. The. Truth. Repeat that again if you need to...</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">The truth is, The enemies plans and intentions don't fool God and they don't have to fool us either.</span> </div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large;">God can clear the smoke away with just the hush of His voice - the whisper of His promises.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">The weight of His Word is mightier than that of the enemies lies. And so, just like lighter air is lifted and cleared to make way for denser air, so does God's promises clear the rooms of our hearts and minds, causing our haze of doubts to rise up to Him where He can begin His cleansing works and wash us with His healing love.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">This is the knowledge I want to tuck away in my heart - the promises of our mighty God!</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">It is time to say a final good night to the lost and hurting little girl inside. It is time to stop running from the pain that she felt. And it is time to run instead into His healing arms where He can wrap me up in His loving truth and send me running on into His will and purpose - to run the race that God has marked out for me...you see, over the last year, I have felt called. Called to share my story. Called to reach out to others who are where I was - living like a robot going through the motions of life, but wanting to be free, wanting to be loved, wanting to experience life in full measure but too afraid to step out and risk getting hurt. And me knowing that it is simply the lack of knowledge of God's love and truth in their lives -the missing presence of His prevailing promises - how can I not share...how can I not lead others to the freedom I am experiencing in God?</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">I know if I'm to do this, if I'm to be #movingforward towards the call, then I must claim God's promises over my life and give Him back the spot in my mind and heart that should only be reserved for Him. All those doubt thoughts I've had of 'I'm not healed enough, good enough, knowledgeable enough in the Word...all those 'I haven't arrived so I need to wait' thoughts...all the fear and worrying of 'what do I have to offer' and wondering what others will say or do in reaction...all of these doubts that kept me frozen - stuck in the muck of my past - all these measly lies of the enemy must be lifted up to our Lord and replaced with His mightier truth! </span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">The enemy may have had me fooled that "my beautiful" was still a broken down child crushed by the mistrust of her grade school friends, and that "my beautiful" was not in fact beautiful at all because it is not perfect. But the truth of our God tells us different. The truth of our God tells us our brokenness is beautiful. The truth of our God tells us that our brokenness is what makes us usable. The truth of our God blows away the lies and fears that we will forever be broken! The truth is I am broken and beautiful and you are too. Did you hear that? The truth IS. Not the truth was or the truth will be, but the truth is. Period.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black;">Are you running lost in the haze of your doubts? Is there smoke in your life that needs to be cleared? Will you stop running with me and turn instead towards our God today? He is there waiting for you with the hope of His promises offering you the way to begin #movingforward from the pain of your past. I hope and pray that you'll do so.</span> </div>
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<em>Lord, we turn toward you today and ask that you would help us to clear our smoke screen of doubts. Fill our hearts with your promises so that each and every doubt is displaced and lifted to you for your cleansing and healing touch. Lord, give us a confident heart in you and help us to run the true race - the race you have marked out for us and us alone. In Jesus name, Amen.</em></div>
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<em><span style="color: #999999;">"...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..." -Hebrews 12:1b-2a</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="color: #999999;">"Why are you frightened," he asked. "Why is your heart filled with doubt?" -Luke 24:38</span></em></div>
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<em><span style="color: #999999;">"They will build the ancient ruins and restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities that have been devastated for generations." -Isaiah 61:4</span></em></div>
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<br />Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-34769322860270942892013-10-24T08:26:00.002-07:002013-10-25T15:10:05.606-07:00A Heart Surrendered to Christ<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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For those of you who've been reading my blog from the beginning, you may have read this story before in my <a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/05/legacy.html">#Legacy</a> post last May, but I am sharing it here again today for those of you who are newer here and joining me from the P31 OBS blog hop for "A Confident Heart" as it is so much a part of my "heart" story...<br />
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I grew up in a really small town in North Idaho. The kind of town where you don’t want to blink or sneeze while driving through or you just might miss it altogether. The kind of town where everybody knows everyone and everybody thinks they know, or thinks they should know, everything about everyone they know, if you know what I mean? <br />
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We moved to this small town when I was four and a half – the “half” being very important here because this meant that I was going to get to start kindergarten that coming fall, and I was very excited about this fact to say the least! Unfortunately, when that first day of school finally came, my mom ended up with a very disappointed little girl on her hands because apparently Idaho’s deadline for turning five differed from that of California – the state in which we’d moved from. As a result, I had to wait a whole other year to attend. Oh the horror! You’d think the world was coming to an end. I was crushed. Little did I know then that just one year later my excitement would begin to give way to dread.<br />
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When kindergarten finally came that next year, it caught me completely off guard to learn how little school really had to do with the act of learning. Remember how I said we’d moved to a town where everybody knew everyone? Well, my family didn’t really know anyone, and so I quickly discovered that I wasn’t a part of this “everyone” that everybody wanted to know because, not only did I seem to not know the right people, but I also didn’t seem to have the right clothes or the right last name – all of which seemed to add up to me being a nobody, or at least that’s how it felt to me. And so I responded in a way that all too many young kids who don’t know that they’re a uniquely special creation of God, do – I started chasing after what my world was telling me to be and do, in order to be socially accepted. As a result of this decision, my grade school years were filled with poor choices and plagued by hurtful memories. <br />
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By the time I’d reached the sixth grade, I had shoplifted clothes and had already tried smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol. I was also affluent in bad language and in the art of kissing boys. Not to mention all the horrible things I’d participated in doing and saying to other kids, and all this in an effort to be included in the “everyone.” Despite the fact that I was able to work my way into that group that everybody saw as the “everyone,” I didn’t like or feel good about the person I was now seeing in the mirror – the person that I’d become in order to gain that “status.” In fact, I even began to loathe the things I’d done and the things I felt I had to continue to do in order to keep said “status.” Eventually, it got to the point where I was fed up with it all and wanted nothing more than to just be me again – the me who felt free from the pressures of seeking popularity, and no matter what the cost. <br />
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The fed up attitude all ended up coming to a head at my six grade birthday party, where I quickly learned what the true cost would be for standing out against the crowd. That it meant being an outcast of sorts – a target for relentless teasing and bullying. And it meant that a large majority of the people I’d worked so hard to be able to call my friends, were in fact not my friends at all because, not only were they not willing to stand up for me, but they actually even turned against me. In this I was shocked, but in this I did also learn the meaning of a true friend and to treasure those rare gems when found.<br />
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The treasure that I found that day was a girl by the name of Becky Gerow. She was the only one who stood up for me on that birthday, and she was one of only two who remained my friend for the remainder of that difficult year. Though neither of us had any idea of it at the time, in doing so, Becky had planted a seed that would later grow into a lasting legacy of God’s eternal love through a saving relationship with my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ…but that was still a ways off.<br />
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In the summer after sixth grade, I went to visit my grandparents in California, as I did every summer. During those months, Becky had made up with everyone. She chose the road of forgiveness and moved on. I didn’t. When I returned to school the next year, in remembering all the hurt of the previous year, I chose to travel down the road of anger, mistrust, and eventually bitterness, until the distance between Becky and I became so wide that we had become no more than acquaintances in the same class, and this is how it remained until our freshman year in high school when we ended up on the same cheerleading squad. It was through that “coincidence” that our friendship was rekindled.<br />
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During high school, Becky and I hung out enough outside of cheerleading, for me to see that the heart she had shown me in the sixth grade went beyond just the ordinary bonds of a grade school friendship. It was a part of who she was as a person. Time after time I witnessed her showing similar acts of kindness to her other friends, and even other students in which she wasn’t necessarily friends with, but who were being bullied or treated unfairly. By the time we both graduated, and Becky had moved on to Colorado to further her education, I wouldn’t say that we’d retained that best friend status we’d once known as young kids, but I would say I’d still considered her to be one of the truest and most treasured friends I’d had , and so when the news reached me just a few short months later that she’d been in a fatal car accident, I was left reeling in a confused mess of emotions.<br />
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One of the more prominent emotions that Becky’s death set off for me was in questioning my belief in God and in life after death. While I had always considered myself to be a believer in God, I hadn’t actually taken any measures in following Him, nor had I felt His presence in my life since I was a very young girl. That is, unless you count the shame and unworthiness I felt for the decisions I’d made and hadn’t made, and for the direction I’d chosen for my life overall up to that point. For even though I’d decided long before that to not make poor choices for popularity’s sake alone, I was still struggling with trust, friendship, and relationships in general – basically the whole social scene of school altogether, and alcohol, not God, had become my "fulfillment" of choice.<br />
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When I attended Becky’s funeral, it was then that the seed she’d planted in my heart all those years ago was watered with the truth and began to grow into what I now recognize as the everlasting legacy she’s left me. There I learned how she had accepted Christ shortly before her accident while attending church with her new boyfriend in Colorado. This was the first time I’d ever heard of being “born again” through Christ as the way to salvation. Or maybe it was just the first time it’d caught my attention because it was the first time in which I was truly seeking answers. <br />
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I’m not really sure which it was, but either way, all that really matters is that I received the answers I was so desperately needing in my life and in my grief. For the first time in too long, I felt the Spirit of God tugging on my heart that day. God was using Becky’s death, one of the friends in whom I’d trusted and treasured the most, to water the seed that would grow into leading me to a trusting and treasured relationship with Him – the Lord of Lord’s and King of King’s – the God of hope and unfailing love…eventually anyway. It would take a little over four more years for that seed to take root and begin to bloom, but Becky’s part in all of that wasn’t done just yet.<br />
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Shortly after Becky’s death, I started having dreams with her in them. In those dreams I would be trying to get away from a deadly tornado and she would appear amongst the destruction and rubble with an outstretched hand asking me to follow her. Initially I would always grab her hand and let her lead me, but then it’d always seem she was leading me closer to the eye of the storm and I’d inevitably let go and begin to run in the other direction. <br />
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This dream continued regularly right up until the night before I’d finally accepted Christ. That night, in the dream I didn’t let go of her hand and just before I thought the tornado was going to suck us in, an open window appeared before us and she led me through it. On the other side there was no sign of a storm, just a porch with a swing in which we sat silently watching the sun come up as the ocean rolled onto the beach before us. I then looked over at her, after the sun had fully risen, only to discover that she had gone. <br />
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When I woke up that morning I finally answered the alter call and accepted Christ. I finally pressed the God option for fueling my heart. And when I did it was as if the weight of the whole world - all it's pressures, all it's false gratifiers and forever failing love - suddenly drained from my heart and was replaced instead by a surge of unexplainable peace, serenity and a sense of satisfaction streaming in - a filling that only comes from <br />
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<strong><em><span style="color: black; font-size: x-large;">A Heart Surrendered to Christ.</span></em></strong></div>
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For those of you reading this, I don't know what your heart story is or where you're at in that journey. Maybe you've experienced that surge of God's unfailing love stream into you in forgiveness or maybe you haven't yet pressed that button - I don't know. But what I do know is that, either way and no matter where you're at, if you're continually choosing the world button for fueling your heart as I was, the satisfaction gauge is going to repeatedly point to empty. <br />
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If that's you today and you are tired of <span style="color: black; font-size: x-large;">running on the fumes of false fulfillment</span>, will you reach out in faith with me right now and press the God option instead for refueling your heart? Will you join me in praying this prayer?<br />
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<em><span style="color: black; font-size: large;">Heavenly Father, I realize that I have been looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places and that this is leaving me empty. I confess that I have been seeking satisfaction from the world and all the things in it, but today I turn to you. Today I confess Christ as my savior and invite him to come into my heart. Fill me with your unfailing love Lord - today, tomorrow, and always. Help me to remain in you - the God of all hope - our only gratification. In Jesus name I pray, amen.</span></em><br />
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If you've prayed that prayer, will you leave me a comment so that I can celebrate your new heart and your new life in Christ with you today? Or perhaps you prayed a prayer similar to this in your past but you've recently found yourself grasping for gratification from everything but God and are now wanting to recommit and reach out to him for relief and renewal. If so, I'd love to hear from you too so I can pray for you.<br />
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<strong><em><span style="color: black; font-size: large;">"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." -Ezekiel 36:26</span></em></strong></div>
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<strong><em><span style="color: black; font-size: large;">"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect." -1 Peter 1:18</span></em></strong></div>
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<strong><em><span style="color: black; font-size: large;">"Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love; that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." -Psalm 90:14</span></em></strong></div>
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*Original photograph taken by <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amy-Henderson-Photography/154077371290966">Amy Henderson Photography</a></div>
Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-67519275639968145502013-10-19T10:55:00.000-07:002013-10-25T15:11:15.937-07:00Already Chosen<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpw1UYrmFe3f1vvYuY0GVllnQeZJYWCR6U4dSyk4m3mim44O53kGZoB0L3_aVhIbnaQOJlf_aI9XkxtHarvANzRpNZA0WhhDoalTcM2KzBQI-lGzhl3o32vKrhqeteRMuzk1-vT31s4e7e/s1600/blogpost.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpw1UYrmFe3f1vvYuY0GVllnQeZJYWCR6U4dSyk4m3mim44O53kGZoB0L3_aVhIbnaQOJlf_aI9XkxtHarvANzRpNZA0WhhDoalTcM2KzBQI-lGzhl3o32vKrhqeteRMuzk1-vT31s4e7e/s320/blogpost.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<em></em><br />
<em>I stood awkwardly amongst my peers, all in a row, gaze focused downward on the dewy grass of the ball field. 'Why do we have to play these games in school anyway,' I wonder, "and why can't the teacher just split us up into teams? I HATE this!' Feeling as if the whole world was starring at me and jeering, 'You're no good. Why would we choose you? We'll lose if you're on our team!' - my self esteem shrivels as each name is called that isn't mine. And as the group I stood amongst became smaller and smaller, the desperate pleas in my mind became louder and louder. 'Please pick me, please pick me. Please don't let me be the last chosen!"</em><br />
<em></em><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">In the world, this is how it most often works - people waiting, seeking, hoping to be chosen. Whether by classmates for a game as a child, or as an adult for an employer for a job. Whether to be a spouse, on a committee, or part of a ministry group. Whatever it may be, to be included in these "teams" we usually have to be chosen first. But not when it comes to God's Kingdom. Here we have already been chosen.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times;"></span><br />
<strong><em><span style="color: #999999;">"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession." -Deuteronomy 7:6</span></em></strong><br />
<strong><em><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></em></strong><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">In God, we don't have to wait anxiously shuffling our feet wondering, 'Will my name be called next? Will I make the team?' In God, we don't have to be "good" enough to be included.</span> <br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">For IN GOD we are chosen first. IN GOD there is no last. IN GOD we are celebrated, honored, treasured.</span></blockquote>
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<strong><em></em></strong><a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Can you relate to the story on the ball field? Have you been desperately pleading 'pick me, pick me' in some area of your life? Are you struggling with hurt feelings of inadequacy due to being chosen last or maybe not at all by the things and people of the world? If so, I encourage you to shift your gaze up. Lock it on our Lord. Choose to listen to God's Word over the world by remembering this truth that is found there:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-large;"></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The best captain in the world has <em><u>Already Chosen</u> </em>YOU to be on His team!</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Heavenly Father, we thank you that you love us so much that you would not have us go a single day of our lives un-chosen by you. That you predestined us to be your children. Help us to remember your Word when we are feeling the hurt of rejection in this world and help us to share your truth with others who are waiting, seeking, and hoping to be chosen - to belong. In Jesus name, Amen.</em>
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</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em><span style="color: #999999;"><strong>"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." -Ephesians 1:4-6</strong></span></em></span> </span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><u></u></strong></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><u></u></strong></span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><u>Read:</u></strong> Psalm 33:12, John 15:16 & 19, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, & 1 Peter 2:9</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><u>Reflect:</u></strong> How does it make you feel when you are not chosen for/by something/someone in this world? How do you feel when you read God's Word on being chosen? </span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><u>Respond:</u></strong> Thousands of people all over the world, people that you are surrounded with on a daily basis, are struggling with not feeling included, not being chosen by the world. Will you answer the call of your name by God - will you share His truth, His love, His acceptance with the hurting and the lost? What's one thing you can do today to bring them His message?</span></span><br />
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<em> </em>Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-67546959267607925172013-10-17T09:33:00.002-07:002013-10-25T15:13:26.488-07:00#PerfectLove<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<br />
When I was instructed to turn to <em><strong><span style="color: black;">1 Corinthians 13:4-7</span></strong></em> by a devotional I was reading this morning, I was almost tempted to skip right on over it. 'I've read it a million times,' I thought, 'I don't need to read this verse right now.' But God leading, I did turn to it and read: <br />
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<strong><em><span style="color: black; font-size: large;">"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."</span></em></strong><br />
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As I was reading, God was whispering to my heart, "Katrina, stop. Examine your heart. Open it to my Word today. Do YOU love?" I have to be honest here that as my eyes fell over many of those descriptions of love breathed by God, my heart whispered back, 'No Lord. I do not. I don't love like this." Then, tempted to hang my head in shame, He led me to turn to Psalm 136:1...<br />
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<em><strong><span style="color: black; font-size: large;">"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, His love endures forever."</span></strong></em><br />
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"Give thanks to the Lord" because I fail to love according to His Word? No. "Give thanks to the Lord" because <span style="color: black;">HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER</span>!<br />
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Wow, what an awesome God we serve! <a name='more'></a>Despite the fact that we don't love the way He instructs. Despite the fact that we mess this up on a daily basis. Despite the fact that we don't reciprocate to Him the same love He gives us. He still loves us perfectly. And He ALWAYS will. Isn't that amazing and incredibly comforting?! God used my imperfect love today to sink deeper into my heart His truth of unending #perfectlove for us.<br />
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<em><span style="color: black;">Lord, I thank you today for your #perfectlove. I thank you that you hold nothing back from the love you give, even though we continually mess up. Lord, your Word says your love endures forever. What an awesome God you are! May thanks forever by on our lips and in our hearts proclaiming to the world your unending, perfect love! In Jesus name, Amen.</span></em><br />
<em></em><br />
Are you struggling today with knowing in your heart that God loves YOU? Maybe you find yourself like I was - failing to meet the requirements of 1 Cor. 13:4-7 and therefore feeling unworthy of God's love - wondering, 'how could He possibly love me when I mess this up so badly on a daily basis?' If that's you, I invite you to join me in the Proverbs 31 Ministries Online Bible Study of Renee Swope's book, "A Confident Heart," where she shares with us:<br />
<em></em><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.pinterest.com/pin/401664860487422803/">Pin here</a></td></tr>
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You can check it out and sign up<a href="http://proverbs31.org/online-bible-studies/"> here</a>. I pray that you do.</div>
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<strong><em><span style="font-size: large;">"...put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption." -Psalm 130:7</span></em></strong></div>
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<strong><u></u></strong><br />Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-44011513007085419432013-10-01T08:29:00.000-07:002013-10-25T15:00:47.412-07:00Little Tree: A Call to Growth<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Little tree, Little Tree,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Why don't you grow?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
God's Word is the soil -</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Dig deep so you'll know!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Little Tree, Little Tree, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Can't you see?</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The quenching Spirit of the Lord,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Wants to fill you abundantly!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Little Tree, Little Tree, </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Look to the sky.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Where the power of God's Son,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Shines to bring you alive!</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Little Tree, Little Tree,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The time has come -</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
To grow and bear fruit,</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
For the glory of God's Kingdom!</div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><u>Read</u>: </strong>John 15: 1-8</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><u>Reflect</u>:</strong> What is keeping you from bearing more fruit? Do you have branches that need to be pruned or cut off altogether? What element is lacking in your day to day walk with God that needs to be tapped into in order for you to take root and flourish? What consequences will you face if you continue to not tap into that particular element of God?</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong><u>Respond</u></strong>: Decide on one change you will make this week that will begin a desired growth in you, bringing glory to God.</span></span> <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">God is waiting...your <strong><em>heart</em></strong> is waiting! </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Be the change.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
<em><span style="color: black; font-size: large;"><strong>Lord, we want to grow and bear fruit for the glory of Your Kingdom. Help us to recognize the elements of You that are missing in our everyday walks and reveal to us the change you would have us make this week. In Jesus name, Amen.</strong></span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: black; font-size: large;"><strong></strong></span></em><br />
<em><span style="color: black; font-size: large;"><strong>"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." -2 Corinthians 3:18</strong></span></em>Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-7238640731161552222013-08-29T01:54:00.000-07:002013-10-17T17:01:16.764-07:00Life Interrupted<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I took the picture above, I
was aiming to get a shot of the alpacas that stood just on the other side of
the fence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought I had held the
camera in the perfect spot in between the links of the fence to be able to capture
the image that lay beyond, but apparently the focus was all wrong because this
is what I got instead.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My perfect shot
was <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">interrupted</i> by the fence that
stood in my way…or was it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last week, in my post <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/08/yestogod-no-matter-what-perfect-lesson.html">“#YestoGod No Matter What,”</a></i> I shared
about how my computer crashed for the second time since saying Yes to God to
being a FB small group leader for P31 OBS and how it breaking left me feeling
very discouraged initially.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had even
brought me to the point of questioning God – did I hear him right that I was to
say yes to this?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I mean, how was I supposed
to do an online study AND lead a group on FB for that study when the device I
needed to do so was no longer working and I didn’t have the funds to have it
repaired again or replaced?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pretty valid
question wouldn’t you say? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, obviously I’m still doing the study
because here I am posting for the blog hop, but maybe you are wondering why and
how I’m still here.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do we get
through these <span style="color: black;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“life interrupted</i>”</span>
challenges and still answer yes to God?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
first answer to that question came that very day it became evident my computer
was not going to turn back on and which I shared last week when I wrote: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;">“…when I said yes to this study, I said yes, no matter what.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t want to define for God what yes looks
like or what no matter what includes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
want to allow him to fill in those blanks, whatever that may mean.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I chose to persevere.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Despite that my flesh and the enemy were
telling me it was impossible or at the very least, too hard, I still chose to
trust God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I chose to trust that He
would make a way where I could not even see a path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I chose to believe that a solution was
already in the works, even though I could not begin to imagine what that
solution was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I chose to continue down
that #yestoGod road, having no clue that by doing so I would be reading in the
material that very next week this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;">“Satan wants to keep my perspective in a place where my heart is
discouraged and my mind is questioning God.” –Pg.95<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Wow!...<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ultimately I chose to follow blindly in persistence because
I knew God uses all things for our good: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;">“The persistent person understands the meaning of Romans 8:28: ‘We know
that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been
called according to his purpose.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
does not mean that everything that happens to us will be good, but that God will
work in and through every situation to bring good from it.” –Pg.’s 94-95<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">What that good would be, I had no idea at the time, nor did
I understand fully what was driving that persistence in me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I was about to find out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, as it turns out, there has been a lot of
good waiting for me in and through this <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">life
interrupted</span> </i>trial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s also been
continued attacks due to a certain someone not caring for my continued
obedience in saying yes to God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<em><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></em><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieCMv99mB7I0gj5wc_tGbN_m3Ac2bXN9R9KaqSLx33EZMezqmTXLF8ZrblweKmaRoOUcbtYOyA9dSknxP3-8aStyUHMEtlvTi_DYR3DeyR1hSO0JZQ8LPkGr3-H0l3jsflYA78PPunIFZ3/s1600/week4wed2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieCMv99mB7I0gj5wc_tGbN_m3Ac2bXN9R9KaqSLx33EZMezqmTXLF8ZrblweKmaRoOUcbtYOyA9dSknxP3-8aStyUHMEtlvTi_DYR3DeyR1hSO0JZQ8LPkGr3-H0l3jsflYA78PPunIFZ3/s320/week4wed2.png" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/401664860487108193/">(click here to pin on Pinterest)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I
approached the material for this week’s OBS lessons, not only have I had a
different perspective because of the good God had brought last week through my
trial (if you missed that you can read about it <a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/08/yestogod-no-matter-what-perfect-lesson.html">here</a>), but also because I have
a growing hunger in me to overcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now,
when reading the material I’m still looking for that “why should I say yes to
God,” but even more so than that, I’m looking for the - how do I ensure I can
continue to say yes to God<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when these <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">life interrupted</span> </i>scenarios play out and
the enemy has a hay day with them?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What
I have found as a result, is that this shift in focus has led to a different
response to what I’m reading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;">“The focus of our hearts and minds will shape our decisions and actions
that follow.” –Pg.85<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Before
my computer crashed, when I read the material I would highlight the quotes that
popped out at me and think: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Ooh, I like
that one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s a good one I can
share,”</i> or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“That’d be a great one to
create a poster for.” </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But now while
I’m reading the book, I’m constantly asking myself: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“How is this <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">related</span> </b>to our
everyday lives?” </i>or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“What question
can I ask to go along with this quote that prompts <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">examination</span> </b>of our own lives – that prompts us to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">apply</span></b> it to our moment by moment walks
with God?”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This new-found
application has brought whole new life and meaning into reading this book and
to learning what it means to say yes to God – a definite “good” God used my
trial to bring about.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Another
question that I started asking myself while going through the material for this
week was: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“How can I put what I’m reading
into <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black;">action</span></b> in order to effectively
fight the enemy’s attacks that seem to rise with every new yes to God?”</i> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This question has been even more effective
for me than the others and it has prompted a “new” activity that we are doing
in Group #56, and which now I believe a few other groups have started utilizing
as well – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">Word Weapon Cards</span></i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While
I don’t believe this is a completely new/original idea, I do give God all the
credit for this “good” because it’s not something I had ever heard of or
learned somewhere else before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But
rather it is something that I felt led to start while I was digging deeper into
the latest chapters in my quest to effectively battle the enemy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><u><span style="color: black;">What are Word Weapon Cards?</span></u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They are simply this: index cards to carry
with you and read when you’re feeling attacked by the enemy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They act as a weapon against the areas in
your life that Satan attacks you in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><u><span style="color: black;">What is on a Word Weapon Card?</span></u><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The category you are struggling with goes on
the front in bold, along with one favorite verse from the Bible that personally
speaks to you about that issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can
also add additional verse addresses all around the category word – thus creating
a visual reminder of how God’s Word surrounds and conquers the enemy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The back of the card is filled with 1-3 powerful
quotes from the study material that stood out to you regarding that cards
struggle topic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Verses and quotes can be
added over time from other resources as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here is a list of the topics we’ve done cards for during the
last 2 weeks: temptations, empty places, perfection, ungratefulness and
grumbling, unanswered prayer and trials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Here is an example of the first one we made to carry with us to help us
in saying yes to God (please excuse my less than attractive handwriting):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUjdkunn5izqfi7HOI2N-EjoNToYyDEU2CZTeuNWtAswWMBpXUxer5jEs1ZlJUKN_vtuADefmcfDUBGltIBKu9imCjrIYR64TsQA5-AmlZEc4LyEP62Rr5SCObOsUVAAASEgRg-delDWKO/s1600/CAM00117.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUjdkunn5izqfi7HOI2N-EjoNToYyDEU2CZTeuNWtAswWMBpXUxer5jEs1ZlJUKN_vtuADefmcfDUBGltIBKu9imCjrIYR64TsQA5-AmlZEc4LyEP62Rr5SCObOsUVAAASEgRg-delDWKO/s320/CAM00117.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv9quyQ4GaoFfF8t2pQWBNzm7vV037k0j53sMLq1cLc9uyvPR8ifKYd7_utH4bFAlwgqFY3bmhL0rW4TqaYpv-mJab21qV_fp4BVaW2iHs3mtFl1Img7jnYhfeUDRpLB1QpxJADr1Uw2pe/s1600/CAM00118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgv9quyQ4GaoFfF8t2pQWBNzm7vV037k0j53sMLq1cLc9uyvPR8ifKYd7_utH4bFAlwgqFY3bmhL0rW4TqaYpv-mJab21qV_fp4BVaW2iHs3mtFl1Img7jnYhfeUDRpLB1QpxJADr1Uw2pe/s320/CAM00118.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Through
this experience I have grown to rather like the picture I took of the
fence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a hidden quality in it
that God has revealed to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just like
that picture, my picture of how I viewed
this OBS turning out due to my computer crashing suddenly seemed imperfect, but
in reality it wasn’t imperfect at all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In reality there is beauty to behold in imperfection because God uses it
to capture His perfect plan for our lives – our <span style="color: black;">"</span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="color: black;">life</span> interrupted"</span></i> becomes a "<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">life
God’s perfecting"</i> – a good that only God can accomplish.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I don’t
know what your <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">life interrupted</span></i> looks
like, but maybe like I was, you are finding yourself feeling discouraged and
wondering if you heard God right about saying yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If so, I hope that you will take to heart
what Lysa said about that being right where Satan wants you and I pray that you
will take action against Him by making some Word Weapon cards of your own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lysa says on<span style="color: white;"> pg.’s 99-100: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“In times where the road diverges in front
of us, we can either fall away from God or fall toward him.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></span>Choose to fall toward Him today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Choose to have your <span style="color: black;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">life interrupted”</i></span> turned into a “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">life God’s perfecting” as well.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> <o:p></o:p></b></i></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;">“We also rejoice in our
sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance,
character; and character, hope.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-Romans
5:3</span></span></i></b><br />
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b> </div>
Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-82683100397329719152013-08-21T21:41:00.001-07:002013-10-17T17:04:16.249-07:00#YestoGod No Matter What: A Perfect Lesson in an Imperfect Post<div dir="ltr">
My computer crashed today. This is the second time it has done so since saying yes to God to be a FB small group leader for P31 OBS. The first time was before the study actually started so it wasn't as big of a deal. It was inconvenient for sure, as I would've liked to have had it to prepare for both attending She Speaks and the Yes to God study. But not having it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. A blessing in the form of a lesson. A lesson of learning to depend on God rather then myself and a lesson on turning to prayer to prepare rather than tasks. Great lessons, but only the beginning, or computer crashing 101 if you will. Today I advanced to computer crashing 201.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Todays crash brought about entirely new lessons leaving me #Amazed at how God uses our circumstances to grow us and mold us. Or to shape our character to match our calling as Lysa says.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<i>"God is using all of your experiences, both good and bad, to develop your character to match your calling." -Pg.72</i></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Boy is He doing that in me, and I must say, it's a rather humbling process! You see, when I had set out on this yes to God journey, I set out to make my plans, set my goals, get organized, etc. And this week I made a lot of progress in doing just that. I had all my perfectly pretty little poster pins created and saved, and all my perfectly prepared posts typed out and saved, and I even had all 6 wks worth of other related posters and quotes that I'd searched out to use for the study - all saved...in my computer. I felt like I had it all under control...except for this little tiny issue throwing a crutch into my perfect little world at every turn - my malfunctioning computer!</div>
<div dir="ltr">
But you know what? The computer wasn't the issue. There were two very different from that issues. "I" being one of them. Did you notice all the I statements above? Well, there's this little thing about "I" and it's not just the length of the word. Anytime you notice a whole lot of "I" going on, it's because their "eye" isn't focused where it should be - solely on the Lord. I allowed my focus to be continually diverted with every "techy" issue that arose, and believe me when I say arose too numerous to count. But this wasn't the only problem. The second came in the form of perfection.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Rather than focusing on perfect surrender to God in my yes journey, my focus was continually being diverted to striving for perfect performance. While I have known for many years that striving for perfection is a struggle of mine, I started to recognize it's presence in this chapter of my life in chapter 1 of Yes to God when Lysa wrote: </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<i>"Saying yes to God isn't about perfect performance, but rather perfect surrender to the Lord day by day."</i></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Despite the fact that God had given me multiple mini lessons on perfection in the past few weeks, one of which I shared just last week in my <i>"Forever, and never. Amen." post, and two more that I had posts in the works for, it still took this computer crashing 201 today for this particular lesson on perfection to crash into my heart. This was God's perfect timing though, to allow the enemies fiery arrow to pierce its target. God had everything lined up just perfect.</i></div>
<div dir="ltr">
First of all, my daughter woke up before I did, something she rarely does, causing me to forego my usual morning quiet time and leaving me weak and wide open for attack. Secondly, today is worship wed in my group (shout out to group #56, you rock!), and worship is supposed to be all about Him right. Then lastly, ironically enough, all the posts I had planned for my group today came from the section called "No Matter What" in chapter four and had very much to do about resting in the Lord. Apparently the lesson I had planned God had intended for me. Here's some of the quotes:</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<i>"We can't stop or control the things that roll our way any more than we can stop the water's edge. But we can make the minute by minute choice to let our souls rest in God."</i></div>
<div dir="ltr">
I was not in control, but God was. And in circumstances such as this, we have a choice to make. We could let our thoughts and actions race in a panic (which I did initially with many tears shed and words shouted - not a proud moment for sure), or we can rest in God...it's funny because I had read this entire ch. thoroughly several times, highlighter and all, and yet still found myself caught in the enemies snare. And the next quote is even more revealing...</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<i>"Rest knowing all is so safe in My hands. Rest is trust. Ceaseless activity is distrust. Without the knowledge that I am working for you, you do not rest. Inaction then would be the outcome of despair. My hand is not shortened that it cannot save. Know that, repeat it, rely on it, welcome the knowledge, delight in it. Such a truth is as a hope flung to a drowning man. Every repetition of it is one pull nearer shore and safety."</i></div>
<div dir="ltr">
First of all, notice it says safe in God's hands, not ours. Why do we try to so desperately cling to these things? Why don't we give them over to God where they are safe? Secondly - boy did I feel despair. I felt like if my computer wasn't fixed and it wasn't fixed now, the whole world needed to stop. And drowning? I had just used that word to describe how I felt about it all in the conversation with my husband afger it happened. So dramatic I know! But don't we get this way when our focus is off God and on ourselves when we are faced with a problem beyond ourselves? Well, God showed me today that it was not in fact the world that had stopped, but rather it was my focus on Him that had come to an abrubt halt along with my computer, and I needed to turn my "I" back into my "eye" on Him and rest there in this trial.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
When I was finally able to re-shift my focus, God showed me that what had been feeling like an enormous mountain I was climbing, was in actuality only a mole hill in the bigger scheme of things because in truth, OBS kept right on clicking along without even an inkling of a sign of my troubles affecting it. God's message was still reaching the thousands and even my group despite my imperfect performance. You see, the truth I learned today is that getting God's message out doesn't require our perfect performance. It only requires His perfect love through our perfect surrender.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
I wasn't going to share this in the blog hop today because I knew that in order to do so would require me to let go of my usual standard for my posts. It would mean that I would have to type this all out on my smart phone touch screen without spell check or gramar check, and without having had time to re-read and re-write anything...and yes, even without all my pretty perfect poster creations, lol. Not that there's anything wrong with doing any of those things, but when perfection is sought in these things and that perfection distracts and detracts from God, then it is an issue.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
When I felt God nudging me to say yes to this post, my response to Him was: <i>"Why can't I wait until later in the week when perhaps I will have a working computer again." </i>Which really what I was saying was: <i>"Wait Lord, I can't share your message until everything is perfect." </i>Oh how many times we do this - we buy into this lie that we need to wait until everything is perfect for us to share the Lord and do what He asks of us! Well, do you know what God's response was? He said: <i>"Katrina, do you want to limit me to only what you can do through 'perfect performance' or do you want to experience what I can do through my perfect and limitless love?"</i></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Ouch.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Wow!</div>
<div dir="ltr">
I had been putting God in a box. I had taken His gifts He's given me and the call He's put in me and tried to wrap them all up in this pretty little perfect package to hand out. Even now I'm picturing how perfect it would be to have a picture of that perfect little wrapped present right here in this post....</div>
<div dir="ltr">
But God.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
God doesn't need perfectly wrapped presents. He only needs perfectly surrendered hearts. Period.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
This saying yes to God journey has proven to be challenging even in the small yeses, but when I said yes to God for this study, I said yes, no matter what. I don't want to define for God what yes looks like or what no matter what includes. I want to allow Him to fill in those blanks, whatever that may mean. This is why when my computer crashed the first time, I said: <i>"Yes God, no matter what." </i>And when my computer issues persisted into the study I still said: <i>"Yes God, no matter what." </i> And so now, when my computer no longer works and I can't make all my posts perfect, or even know exactly how this is all going to work out, I say: <i>"Yes God, no matter what!"</i></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Not only has computer crashing 201 been a teaching lesson that I'm growing from, but it has also been confirmation for me that I am right where I'm supposed to be. The enemy doesn't like that I've said yes, and he is seeking to deter me to ensure that I don't succeed. But I have the omnipotent God behind me, beside me, before me, and in me. A God that uses everything for our good. A God with plans to prosper and not to harm me. A God that provides me with hope and a future. A God that sees His work in me through to completion. A God thaf puts the enemies simple schemes and measly powers to shame! This is the God I rest in and remain in and surrnder my heart to - the God of perfect love - No. matter. What.<i> </i>What about you?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg90I5zGvMmDsEMHm1LmUkbhTsrLOc2v9O9IbY5bGFpCcm9x_oAW1NWP3JlZuT8-0kDQ6SZKU_icYRpbUXyr5ov1nb1C6CfeIy58G9QabYy1yxShNPpV44JA6n0ki_NGsO5xq4riUflUGoZ/s1600/IMG_893432818508784.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg90I5zGvMmDsEMHm1LmUkbhTsrLOc2v9O9IbY5bGFpCcm9x_oAW1NWP3JlZuT8-0kDQ6SZKU_icYRpbUXyr5ov1nb1C6CfeIy58G9QabYy1yxShNPpV44JA6n0ki_NGsO5xq4riUflUGoZ/s640/IMG_893432818508784.jpeg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
(A creation I had already posted in my group before my computer crashed, which is also imperfect because it doesn't have my blog address on it, lol)</div>
Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-82658090621509777812013-08-15T02:55:00.000-07:002013-10-17T17:02:56.543-07:00Forever and Never, Amen.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSGfEXeNpSetXbocERseYuf3SuRTVlDBTatd3TRFjY0g92beD8fK_sDnNJ-k4-dKJ2wpblonBKGJAUuK46wLAbTxjWomToMNBk1hgCDxEjgkrRsut5VSyN-TvhTXzyyQ_i1J47DN1zL1PR/s1600/blog.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSGfEXeNpSetXbocERseYuf3SuRTVlDBTatd3TRFjY0g92beD8fK_sDnNJ-k4-dKJ2wpblonBKGJAUuK46wLAbTxjWomToMNBk1hgCDxEjgkrRsut5VSyN-TvhTXzyyQ_i1J47DN1zL1PR/s320/blog.png" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/401664860487029899/">(click here to pin on Pinterest)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Have you ever
become something or someone you thought you <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">could
never</i> be?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or how about becoming
something/someone you said you’d just flat out <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">never</i> be?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, there’s this
funny thing I’ve learned about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">never</i> and
it’s this:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>it is one of those times that
even though it can’t be found anywhere on our clocks or in our calendars, it
can still come to pass – and in fact, it usually does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least that’s been my experience in life. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It seems that every thing I’ve ever said never
to, these were the very things that God had planned for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said I’d never marry, and yet God led me to
my husband.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said I could never quit my
job or would never be a stay at home wife, and yet, as I shared last week, God
asked me to quit my job and I became just that. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said I’d never have kids, and yet God gave
me a daughter… I could go on and on, but instead let me just stop there and ask
you this: do you find this all to be odd or find yourself wondering if this is
all just mere coincidence?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know I did,
until I started learning about spiritual warfare and how the enemy operates and
then it all started to became clear.</span><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span><br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">You see, right
where God has planned a “forever” for us, Satan plants a “never” seed in our
lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now, don’t get me wrong.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not saying that every “never” statement
we have ever proclaimed stems from an intended forever from God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example if I say: “I will never do
drugs.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Obviously doing drugs is not
God’s intention for us, so this “never” aligns with God’s will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what about if I say: “I will never believe
in God.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, belief in God is
something He intends for our forever and so it is these “meant to be blossoming”
wills of God that I’m talking about – this is where Satan plants his “never
weeds,” and once a weed takes root, they can often be difficult to remove.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has been the case for me in many of
God’s intended forever’s in my life; particularly with being a mom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I finally
realized (after 8 years of marriage and 29 years into my life) that God had planted
a yearning in my heart to be a mom, it was very much a <span style="color: black;">“#SayWhat?!”</span> moment for
us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much like Him asking me to quit my
job was, but this was another <span style="color: black;">#SayWhat</span> moment we said yes to and we made that
decision quickly to try and get pregnant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>After all, we weren’t getting any younger!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Little did I know or expect that this would
occur for us right away - literally with our first attempt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lord Almighty, what did we just do?!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though we had decided this is what we
wanted, I hadn’t spent the time weeding my garden before we actually did so, so
all those “never weeds” were still there, firmly rooted all around my newly
budding baby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do you get the picture
here?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you see the problem and where
this is leading?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">For the last
five years, the weeds planted by the enemy all throughout my life have been
popping up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Weeds such as: having kids
ruins your marriage, or you can’t have kids and your dreams too, just to name
two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At first I tried to just pluck them
out and toss them away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“If I just try
to remove these thoughts, they will go away,” I convinced myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But just like any hardy weed, these lies from
Satan kept coming back, popping up at unexpected times and places in my role in
our family life, making me feel like an inadequate, unloving mom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see, if Satan can’t stop us from becoming
what God created us to be, He will do the next best thing – make us believe we
are not good at it and doubt that we should’ve become that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has done that very thing with me, and
quite successfully with one weed in particular that I have not been willing to
remove.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Ever since I was
a little girl, I’ve held very high standards for things and liked everything to
be just so – a perfectionist as most like to call it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Growing up, our house was far from perfect so
I often stuck to my room where I could control where everything little thing was
and how it was done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything had its
very clean, organized, and photographically memorized place, and don’t you dare
move it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This often caused friction
between my mom and me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whenever the
topic of a messy house came about between us, she would always say: “I used to
be just like you, but when you have four kids, you learn to let it go. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Come back and talk to me when you have kids because
then you will understand.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My response
to this of course was: “I will never have kids so my house will always be clean
and just how I like it, but even if I did ever have kids, I would be able to
keep up with it all.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, I was that
disrespectful. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not something I’m proud
of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the issue I want to address here
is - can you see the lies already taking root?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The enemy
recognized my weakness of perfection take root at a very young age, and so he
fed it every chance he got, and this was one of the bigger chances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw letting go as a negative thing – as my
mom having to give up something important to her because she had kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I even felt that perhaps she resented us for
that, though now I’m not sure she ever actually felt that way, or if this is
just one of the lies I was fed to put a wedge in our relationship and to make
me believe that if I became a mom I would have to give up “perfection” and then
I too would resent my kids, causing them to feel like a burden rather than a
blessing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I also mistook her saying she
had “let go” as she had “given up,” which made me determined all the more to
never let go because I didn’t want to go through life having given up on it, as
I perceived my mom had done.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Out of these lies
a fear grew – a fear of letting go because of what I’ve thought that means.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It’s
no wonder, really that my response to God when He said you were created to have
kids/be a mom was <span style="color: black;">#SayWhay?!</span> </span>But God has been at work spraying down these
weeds with His weed killer – His Word, and I am now finally seeing the light –
His truth – peak through as the weeds die off and begin to recede.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Letting go is not about giving up completely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Letting go is about giving up the worldly for
the Godly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or giving up perfect
performance for perfect surrender as Lysa TerKeurst puts it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To be a Godly mom means to give of yourself
sacrificially.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Something my mom had come
to understand and do very well, but something I myself have not been very good
at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, this is something that God
has been convicting in me to change for quite some time; particularly this
week.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I am currently
reading/studying “What Happens When Women Say Yes to God” by Lysa
TerKeurst.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this week we were asked
to read Ch.’s 2 & 3.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The topic of 2
is all about listening to God speak, so we were asked to watch and listen for
those #SayWhat moments with God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well,
my week has been full of them, and though He has spoken to me on several
topics, the primary one has been on my role as a mom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s just a select few of sooo many things
He spoke to me through:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;">“A Mother’s love is the heart of the
home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her children’s sense of security
and self-worth are found there.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>~unknown<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;">“I believe that if moms understood how
strategic their roles were in this battle for the hearts and minds of the next
generation, they would grow in excitement about this great job God created them
to fulfill.” ~Sally Clarkson<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;">“As a mother, my job is to take care of what
is possible and trust God with the impossible.” ~Ruth Bell Graham<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I said, these are just a few of
so many <span style="color: black;">#SayWhat</span> moments with God this week and this was all tied in with the
second part of this week’s study assignment – Ch. 3 on radical obedience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This chapter really hit home for me – pun
intended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I cried all the way through.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could literally quote the entire chapter
and tie it into God speaking to me about the state of my motherhood journey,
but there is one in particular that sums it all up best:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;">“I could have a neat and tidy house where
things never got lost, misplaced, or broken if there were no others living
there but me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But my heart never wanted
just a house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My heart longs for a home
full of people who I love.” ~Pg. 50<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">God had plans to call me to be a
mom since before the beginning of time – of this I have no doubt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The enemy attempted to turn God’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">forever</span>
</i></b>for me into a<span style="color: black;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">never</i></b></span>, but he has not prevailed!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While this chapter may end today with a mom
who is struggling to completely rid herself of his lies and to let go of
seeking perfection, the full story is not over yet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A new chapter is just beginning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One that leads to saying yes to God and ends with
a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;">amen</span></i></b>!
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">… Heading out the
door, I tried not to cringe at what my daughter chose to wear – her red, white,
and blue 4<sup><span style="font-size: x-small;">th</span></sup> of July t-shirt, pink baggy pajama pants covered in
pigs, and aqua with bright yellow flower printed rain boots – despite the fact
it was a sunshiny day, no rain in sight!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“What nonsense.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was I
thinking letting her pick out her own outfit and attempt to brush her own hair? Her curls are an out of control, ratted mess!” I thought
to myself as I was being pulled down the steps into our driveway by our over
exuberant puppy - every tug on his leash a painful reminder of the neck injury
that had been plaguing my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I’m walking down
the driveway and into the grass to let the dog do his thing, a “yeehaw” pierces
my ears causing both myself and our other dog to startle.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Watch me race momma, watch me race,” my
daughter gleefully calls out to me, galloping down the driveway at full speed on
her stick horse which she so faithfully rides everywhere she goes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I can’t turn to watch because our puppy
is dragging me in the other direction – my neck injury preventing the turn of
my head.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frustrated I wonder if I will
ever have the time to properly leash train him, or better yet to train him to
be off a leash and still obey, but my thoughts are quickly interrupted with the
sound of a horn and the screeching of breaks. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Frantically I tug on the puppies leash to turn
him around so I can see what’s going on and when I do, the leash breaks free
from his collar.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reacting quickly, my neck searing in pain as a result, I
bend down and grab him by the collar just in time for him to not run off and
join our other dog which is standing right in the middle of the road just staring at
the now stopped truck still honking at her to move out of the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Realizing she’s not going to budge, and while still crouched down trying to keep hold of my extra-energized by all the commotion puppy, I begin
to call out to my other dog, trying to coax her back into the yard. But instead, this only succeeds at drawing the driver’s attention to me and I now find myself
thinking, “Oh perfect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I wonder what he
must be thinking right now taking this all in – my <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>daughter and her mismatched outfit
and mess of a hair, me still in my pj’s and un-brushed hair as well, and my
two misbehaving dogs completely ignoring me...and in the middle of the day!" <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Wow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve
really got it together,” I start to think to myself, but this train wreck of a
moment filled with negative thoughts is suddenly interrupted with a, “Giddy up
horsey!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Watch me race momma, watch me
race!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And as I turn my attention to her
direction, her red curls bouncing freely, a great big smile on her face
stretched from ear to ear, I realize she is completely oblivious to the
imperfection of the moment that I had been so wrapped up in!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She didn’t care at all! And that’s when I
suddenly got it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that moment, seeing
the look on her face – the look of pure unbridled joy - I understood what
letting it go is all about. For there is joy to be found in imperfection – the
true joy of the Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And my life suddenly
felt happy despite the chaos.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
suddenly felt right, imperfections and all.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I may not have had it all together in that moment, but in that moment I
realized that together we had it all, and that is perfect enough for me. </span></i><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></em><br />
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;">“Heavenly Father, Thank you for the
privilege of having children.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allow
every day that I’m blessed to be a mother to be a special experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Help me to savor every moment that comes, and
may my children always be confident in my love and devotion to them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amen.” ~Kim Boyce</span> <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black;"></span></i></b></span><br />Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-69190497282105744082013-08-07T21:52:00.001-07:002013-08-08T13:16:23.431-07:00#YestoGod<div align="center">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri;"><o:p>"Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." ~Proverbs 3:5-6</o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My grip on the steering wheel
tightened instinctively when the reality of what lie ahead of me on the highway
sank in; the word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“perfect”</i> escaping
my lips in aggravation just as I brought the car to a halt behind the long line
of stopped cars ahead of me on the I-5N interchange.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Just
another lovely commute to work in the wonderful life of Katrina,”</i> I thought
to myself letting out a frustrated sigh while putting the car in park.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew I’d be here awhile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d been here before…the day before…and the
day before that…and the day before that…and yes, the day before that too –
pretty much <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">EVERY DAY</b> before that
for the Last. Six. Months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ugh!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Since I knew I wasn’t going anywhere
anytime soon, I went ahead and shifted the car into neutral and engaged the
emergency break so I could at least take advantage of this time to kick back
and relax, but before I even finished pulling back the e-break I knew I was
kidding myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Relax?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ha!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Who could relax in this state of mind?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I reached over to turn the radio on in an attempt to distract my mind
from wandering into all the thoughts and questions I’d been working so hard to
avoid all these long months. The attempt was futile however, as the music quickly
became inaudible – buried under the thick layers of negative chatter now building
in my mind.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“What
was I thinking?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I can’t believe I actually
chose this! Why have I devoted every second of my life for the last six years
to this job when they don’t even care about me and I can’t stand it anymore?!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know it’s not what I’m supposed to be
doing with my life…I don’t even know who I am anymore.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who is that in the mirror?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I despise that person staring blankly back at
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just look at that smug expression on
her face - the pathetic scowl.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is
not a happy person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is an ugly
person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That person makes me sick…<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">HOW DID I GET HERE?!”</b><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The thoughts and questions continued
to mount up, threatening to overtake the towering walls around my heart I’d so
carefully engineered all my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While
they had held up to every attack/storm/encounter before, this time they didn’t
stand a chance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bursting apart under the
unbearable pressure of my thoughts, the shattered walls allowed my enclosed
feelings to spew forth freely out of my heart for the first time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like lava erupting from a volcano, they
barreled down on me, threatening to overtake me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Fighting just to get a breath of air, I knew I had to get out
of the car and now!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But where would I
go?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With every fiber of my being, I began
to fight this very real urge to jump out and run, but not without a cost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Feeling trapped in every sense of the word, my
whole body began to quake and the tears I’d been holding back burst forth,
burning my cheeks as they raced down my face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unable to maintain any sense of control now, I began to hit my fists
violently on the steering wheel while letting out some pathetic cries in between
clenched teeth, not caring by this point that there were people in the cars
stacked up all around me, probably staring at me or worse, taking pics or video
to upload on the internet of the crazy woman losing it in her car, plain as day
for everyone to see.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>After the third pounding on the
steering wheel, I sank down slowly into my seat, weeping and wishing that I
could melt into it and cease to exist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“If I can’t get out,”</i> I think to myself,
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“maybe I could just disappear.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Barely grasping on now to the last thread of
the end of the rope I had been so desperately clinging to all these exhausting years,
I finally gave in and decided to let go – let go and admit I can’t do this
thing called life on my own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I needed
help...I needed rescue!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in that
moment of sheer desperation I finally turned my cries to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Literally, out loud, cried out to Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And just as all the negative chatter had
mounted moments before, now all my thoughts and words spilled out to God. I
laid it all down at his feet – my will, my way – everything, until ultimately,
I came to one momentous question and promise: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Lord,”</i> I whispered, head tilted back looking up at the ceiling of
my car, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“what would you have me do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever you say to do, I’ll do it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then I sat in the quiet stillness of my car, tears still
streaming down my face, waiting for what, I had no idea, but waiting none the
less, when suddenly I became re-aware of the fact that the radio was on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had been programmed to K-love – a station
that had been my one and only refuge from the invading darkness surrounding me
all those intolerable previous months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
voice was coming from it – not singing but talking – telling a story and
reading the verse of the day, and amongst that voice I heard another
voice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not an audible voice, but a clear
one none-the-less – one I heard and felt in the depths of my soul – God’s voice
saying: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“It’s time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Go and quit today.” <o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then the song <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqSs39C3LN8">“Brave”</a> by Nichole Nordeman came blasting
through the speakers, and just like that the traffic suddenly broke, and I
found myself cruising full speed down the freeway, belting out the words: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“So long status quo, I think I just let
go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You make me want to be brave –
brave.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The way it always was, is no
longer good enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You make me want to
be brave – brave.” </i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I never felt so
free in my life!</span></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3uGQoHXtScHmOJgzXXsp2ZV19FWdcg9cpCyLVjAK8kBg1oFFV3Bl-1ZnFY9c3-W-xs-SvHTzgOF-ww3a0LunpM0z7scJaEHAndf5cuz-L_1Ul36lFrczsR81cPb6-CJeYamvEqPUYOVRW/s1600/yestoGodblog2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3uGQoHXtScHmOJgzXXsp2ZV19FWdcg9cpCyLVjAK8kBg1oFFV3Bl-1ZnFY9c3-W-xs-SvHTzgOF-ww3a0LunpM0z7scJaEHAndf5cuz-L_1Ul36lFrczsR81cPb6-CJeYamvEqPUYOVRW/s320/yestoGodblog2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As much as I like the idea of ending with that happy
cliffhanger, I won’t leave you completely in the dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will tell you this little bit – as impossible and utterly crazy as it seemed in comparison to the reality of my world at the time, I did in fact, after 6 compulsive years of pushing for the top of that ladder, go in
and quit my job that very day, and as a result my life has radically changed
for the better...my heart has radically changed for the better! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It didn’t happen
over-night and it hasn’t all been one big easy cake walk for me either, but I
have been radically blessed since then in so many ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> If you
would’ve told me back then that saying yes to God that day would ultimately lead me
to where I am today, I would not have believed you because it was too far off from where I was to even have imagined it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I simply didn’t believe
it was possible to leave my job and live the life I now have as a stay at home mom with a heart in pursuit of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But like Lysa TerKeusrt says on pg. 13 of her book "What Happens When Women Say Yes to God: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">if you are in the thick of living with all
that life throws at you and you simply whisper yes, you are equipped.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was proven to me to be true that fateful
day back in 2005 when I said <strong>#YestoGod</strong>. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Are you feeling trapped in some
aspect of your life?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is your soul
longing for something more?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does your
heart need radical intervention?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If
you’ve answered yes to any of these questions, will you dare to be radically
obedient with me right now by declaring out loud the following prayer by Lysa: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;">“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me.” ~2 Corinthians 16:24<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></b></div>
<span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“…where the Spirit of
the Lord is, there is freedom.” ~2 Corinthians 3:17b<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></b></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“We
will never experience the radical blessings God has in store for us without
radical obedience.” ~Lysa TerKeurst, “What Happens When Women Say Yes to God”
pg. 16</span></i>Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-86609177727192345352013-07-21T21:19:00.001-07:002013-07-31T13:43:12.493-07:00Hearts of Flesh<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">There
have been so many things in this world that I’ve held on tightly to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Things that inevitably held me back from all
of the truly important things in this life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Control, perfection, expectations – all things I would not let go
of.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Joy, beauty, happiness – the things
I could never seem to grasp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My heart
was immovable – heavy with burden…and yet it was also continually wandering...wandering continually further away from God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It yearned for happiness, but only felt the sting of unmet
expectations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It searched for beauty,
but only saw imperfection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It longed for
joy, but only felt a growing need to control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Yes this was my heart - my heart apart from God - my heart that was
stone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Growing
up in the world, I learned through multiple experiences that hurtful things can
happen when you put your love and trust in people.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a small child, I remember these hurtful situations
in my life seeming so enormous…</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">insurmountable…all consuming.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I didn’t learn is that my God is
bigger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My God is trustworthy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My God loved me…all invaluable things for
such a small, fragile, new heart in this fallen world to know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, in not knowing, instead of looking to
God in my pain, I looked inwards to myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead of trusting God in my circumstances and relationships, I trusted
only myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead of giving and
receiving love through and from God, I guarded my heart from all love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, as a result of these things, I spent my
years as a youth wandering further and further into sin while my heart became
more and more like stone, and this heart of stone is what I clung too as I ventured
out on my own into this world as a lost and hurting young adult.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">I
don’t blame my parents for any of this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I love them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were/are good
parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They did the best with what
they knew – the best with what had been passed down to them from their
parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For when a generation grows up
being shaped by the world, rather than being transformed in the Word, hearts of
stone are what become the inherited legacy. But fortunately, it doesn’t have to
stay this way, because fortunately we have a God who never gives up on us and
never stops calling us to him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is
what he did for my family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> As adults, o</span>ur gracious
Lord blessed us abundantly by bringing both of my parents, myself, my husband,
and two out of three of my siblings to a saving relationship in Christ. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He removed our hearts of stone, and gave us
each a heart of flesh– praise God!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">Do I
still struggle with control, perfection, and expectation now that I’ve received
this incredible gift?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I absolutely
do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The transformation of the heart is a
process.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But with a heart of flesh, we
learn that expectations are not only fulfilled but exceeded when put in God
rather than in others and in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With a heart of flesh, we learn that only God is perfect, but he loves
us anyway just as we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a heart of
flesh, we learn to surrender control to Him and that this is o.k. because we
can fully trust Him always.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With a heart
of flesh, we are able to begin letting go of control, perfection, and expectation in this
world, and finally experience the joy, see the beauty, and feel the happiness
that our hearts have been yearning, searching, and longing for all along, and
that is a wonderfully glorious, awe-inspiring thing!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">As I
sit here pondering all that God has changed for me and in me, I am struck with
the realization of the responsibility that I now have as a parent – the responsibility
to keep my daughters heart from becoming hardened by the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The responsibility to ensure that she knows
that her God is bigger, that her God is trustworthy, that her God loves her so
very much…the responsibility to leave her a legacy of a heart of flesh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%; margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">How
about you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What legacy are you leaving
your children’s hearts?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are you allowing
the world to shape their hearts, or are you instilling in them God’s love,
God’s truth, God’s power?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope that
you’re planting their hearts in the Lord, leaving a legacy of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">hearts
of flesh</i></b> for them and for many generations to come.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">A
wandering heart in the world will become hardened, but a heart planted firmly
in the Lord will become heartened.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></i></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">~Katrina
Wylie<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Fix
these words of mine in your hearts…teach them to your children.” ~Deuteronomy
11:18a, 19a<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%;">“Be
careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your
eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Teach them to your children and to their
children after them.” ~Deuteronomy 4:9<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<br />Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-79400575096128557772013-07-16T00:04:00.000-07:002013-07-31T13:26:27.088-07:00Teaching Tuesday<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0UInLD88Ox_Lrd3CrvwY6VH4BeMSV-N0qwMHC8NmMsnZaW7pGGvl-6lxUSb-xqmTvom-Nja2Rx32pFM_dX1_W8gU0nPeSbrMCwHOPNGdVhn0xgrUkJsVw1316XPBGNtk4LK9D-Buhf7X-/s1600/teaching.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0UInLD88Ox_Lrd3CrvwY6VH4BeMSV-N0qwMHC8NmMsnZaW7pGGvl-6lxUSb-xqmTvom-Nja2Rx32pFM_dX1_W8gU0nPeSbrMCwHOPNGdVhn0xgrUkJsVw1316XPBGNtk4LK9D-Buhf7X-/s320/teaching.png" width="229" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="background: olive; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-highlight: olive;"></span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></b></span>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Five Things I learned WE 7-6-13:</span></span></u></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of
knowledge.” </span></span></i></b><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">~Proverbs 23:12</span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">That remaining in God and resting in
God are two different things, and I need to work on the resting part.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">That being open and honest with our
fears and struggles and with what we don’t know and where we’re at encourages
others and promotes growth in all.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">That even in the messy, imperfect
moments of our lives, joy and happiness can be found…blog post on this coming
soon…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">That life’s blessings lay hidden in
the worn out things of our lives…blog post on this to come in the near future…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">That not seeing the beauty God
created in ourselves, limits the beauty we are able to see in the world…post in
the works for this also…</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Can you tell God’s been speaking abundantly to me
lately?!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s not enough time in my
days or ink in my pens to keep up…</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">a good problem to have </span></span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></u></b> </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Links I love and Learned From:</span></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“He who walks with the wise grows wise.” ~Proverbs 13:20a</span></i></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Word Wisdom</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> other “Word”
focused posts…</span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.proverbs31.org/devotions/take-plunge-2013-07/">“Take the Plunge”</a></span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> – A Daily Devotion from Proverbs 31 Ministries, written by author and speaker, <a href="http://www.proverbs31.org/speakers/bios/lynn-cowell/">Lynn Cowell</a>, who shares her experiences with learning to snorkel to exemplify the excitement that can be found when we learn to dive deeper into God’s Word.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Hop Highlights:</span></u></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> favorite posts from Melissa Taylor
Online Bible Study blog hops…</span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://jamywhitaker.org/2013/07/13/strength-training/">“Strength Training”</a></span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> – A blog post written by author <a href="http://jamywhitaker.com/">Jamy Whitaker</a> that teaches a lesson on strength and waiting in the Lord.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Dream Drivers:</span></u></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> posts that motivate you towards your
dreams/God’s will…</span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.proverbs31.org/devotions/saying-yes-god-2013-07/">“Saying Yes to God”</a></span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> – A Daily Devotion from Proverbs 31 Ministries, written by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times</i> best-selling author and speaker and P31 Ministries President <a href="http://lysaterkeurst.com/lysas_story/">Lysa TerKeurst</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Join her as she shares a story about her pastor that exemplifies the power of what “saying yes to God” can have.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Christ Creations:</span></u></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> videos, art, or songs that portray
the truth of Christ…</span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGlx11BxF24">“Falling Plates”</a></span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> – An outstanding short philm (4:08min) about life, death, and love of a savior.</span></span></div>
</li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So there are
the lessons I was taught last week and a few of the links I learned from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hope you’ll join in on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><strong>“Teaching Tuesday’s”</strong> </i>with me this week by sharing in the comment
section below.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’d love to hear and
learn from you!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s a list of ways in
which you can share:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Write your own blog post and then
share your link in the comment section below.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Type out your own list and/or links
directly in the comment section.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Share in the comment section something
you learned from this blog post.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Share in the comment section which
link from this blog post you enjoyed the most.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Provide feedback in the comment
section on the new <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Teaching Tuesday’s”</i>
idea.</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br />
<o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span><br />
</o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><strong><em>“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and
admonish one another with all wisdom.” ~Col 3:16<o:p></o:p></em></strong></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
</span></span></span></div>
<br />Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-30881019788615017282013-07-14T23:15:00.003-07:002013-07-31T13:42:52.808-07:00Deeper<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJbLwNlyrOv5AEQqwOr2jJgf84UQNeffK6bd4h54kiRviycnQPXJY0hBRP8Kj2Z9vSyupppw4UlXuBM3c5dySHcx7p-4WYA6qYCuxoc-Jawtmb4NstSgh7LzATfcNGgsoczkYE2D_FQKP_/s1600/deeper.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJbLwNlyrOv5AEQqwOr2jJgf84UQNeffK6bd4h54kiRviycnQPXJY0hBRP8Kj2Z9vSyupppw4UlXuBM3c5dySHcx7p-4WYA6qYCuxoc-Jawtmb4NstSgh7LzATfcNGgsoczkYE2D_FQKP_/s320/deeper.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/401664860486853510/">(click here to re-pin on Pinterest)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></i></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Slowly
drifting into consciousness, the sound of the birds gathering for their morning
feast at the feeder outside my bedroom window reaches my ears – so serene.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The dawn, seeping through the slits of the
blinds calls to my eyes, encouraging them to flutter open – so beautiful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Morning has arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With this realization reaching my slumbering
brain, an eagerness to get up and meet with God begins to flow through me,
awakening my heart and soul, along with my body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“What time
is it anyway,” I wonder?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Propping myself
up on my elbow, I turn my head to look across the room at the clock to find out,
but instead of finding the time there, I am greeted with the most awful
crunching noise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like fingernails on a
chalk board awful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The kind of noise
that makes you cringe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And this was
followed by another noise – a scream – my scream, as I’m blinded by instant
searing pain driving through my neck, into my right shoulder and arm. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In my mind a
million thoughts begin to race: “No, no, no, no, no!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This can’t be happening…</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">this isn’t
happening…this IS happening…this isn’t good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No, oh God, please no!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not
now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Not again.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Realizing I need help,
I try to wake my deep sleeping husband lying next to me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Finding it difficult to even speak, I begin
to wonder how I’m going to accomplish this, but I know that I must.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Managing a whisper through the pain, the
words “Lord, help me,” escape my lips, then, after what felt like an eternity
later, and after several calls to him through clenched teach, he finally awakes
in confusion as to what is happening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I try to give
him an explanation, but the pain is so intense that I find it difficult to even
form thoughts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tidbits of words making
up fragmented sentences is all that comes out, frustrating me as I’m watching
my still half-asleep husband desperately trying to figure out what’s going on
and how to respond.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the frantic mess
of jumbled communication, the urge to vomit surfaces and takes precedence,
forcing the words “I’m going to puke” out of my mouth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thinking I’m going to make a run for the
bathroom, I stand up, only to be washed over with a wave of dizziness
threatening to consume me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now feeling
like I’m going to vomit and pass out, I sit back down on the bed as my husband
scurries to find something in which to catch the mess in if I do indeed get
sick.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just as he returns with a large
bowl, I begin gagging, with the only result being even more intense and
blinding pain shooting through me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then
the room begins to fade as the waves of dizziness continue to crash over me now
making it difficult to breathe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know
that I must lie back down, and now!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Desperately clinging onto consciousness, I manage to communicate this to
my husband in between shallow breaths and he then helps me to lower back down into
a lying position.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lying there, slowly
breathing in and out with my eyes closed, the dizziness begins to lift, and in
its place forms the thought of “What now?”… <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is how
my morning began just one Saturday ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was warned….when I signed up for She Speaks, they told me it would
happen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Multiple times, by many
different people, and in varying ways, I. Was. Warned.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And yet still, just like when my computer
crashed a couple weeks before, I was stunned…caught completely off guard. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I expected and was prepared for the flaming
arrows of fear, doubt, comparisons, etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Those were a given by an enemy whom I knew must not be all too thrilled
with the prospect of me stepping out in faith to follow my dreams – to follow
God in what I believe is His will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I
was not at all prepared for the vicious attacks that were to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was not at all prepared for an all-out
war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Satan wasn’t just shooting a few
arrows in hopes of slowing me down or scaring me off my path.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was aiming to stop me in my tracks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He was aiming to kill my dreams by killing my
hope, and he knew right where to strike.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When my computer crashing didn’t succeed at throwing me completely off
course, he aimed again at the one thing that has always succeeded in derailing
me in the past – my physical health.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">All weekend
long, as I waited in pain for Monday to come to get answers from my
chiropractor, I struggled with many questions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Would I be better in time for my trip?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If not, what would I do; how would I get through it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if this puts me right back where I was
before, facing months and months of endless pain and treatments?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if this requires more than chiropractic
to correct?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if this leaves more
permanent problems and restrictions in my life?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What if I have to stop exercising again after I finally just started
making progress?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if, what if, what
if…<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I also
struggled with my emotions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I struggled
with not allowing discouragement take over once again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I struggled with frustration and anger – how
could God let this happen again and right now?!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I struggled with feeling sorry for myself, wishing I could turn back the
time and somehow stop it from happening.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I struggled with keeping the peace in my heart that I had finally just
found through months and months of seeking God…but I still clung to hope too –
hope that there was a fast and simple fix for whatever had gone wrong in that
one fateful moment…but then Monday came, and all hope was nearly swept away.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Upon going
to the chiropractor, I learned that the issue with my neck was not just a flare
up of old injuries that would quickly go away with a couple of adjustments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To my surprise and disappointment, it was in
fact a whole new injury.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that one
wrong move – that simple turning of my head to read the time on my clock – I had
slipped a disc in my neck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How this
could be I couldn’t fathom and the news of it threatened to put me into a tail
spin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The drive home was excruciating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not because there was pain in my neck (though
there was, and a lot of it), but because I almost let go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I almost gave in.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I almost let the enemy have his
victory…almost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Upon that drive home, I
realized that I was at a critical juncture in my life. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While at first I had only been able to see one
sign, which I’d thought for sure that due to my neck injury read “Road closed
ahead:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>take detour,” now, as I was drawing
nearer, the truth suddenly became clear – it was Satan who was holding that
sign and I didn’t have to let this unfortunate turn of events detour me from my
dreams and God’s will.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had a second
option that suddenly came into view. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God
was holding another sign that I had completely over looked - one that read “Slow:
construction zone ahead.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">You see, God
knew that by going to She Speaks I was heading into a zone in my life that
would require my reconstruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He also
recognized that, rather than slowing down and looking to him for directional signs
to help navigate me through these changes safely and smoothly, I was becoming
more and more anxious and reckless – my thoughts increasing to a speed that
were quickly becoming un-manageable to navigate on my own. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Had I not been slowed down by my neck injury,
I may not have ever recognized this. What was Satan’s plan to detour me,
ended up completely backfiring on him, for what he intended for harm, God is
using for good. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What he intended for
destruction, God is using for reconstruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What he intended for burying me deep in discouragement and defeat, God
is using to drive me <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">deeper</i></b> – deeper into my faith,
deeper into His peace, love and strength – deeper into His will than I may have
ever wandered on my own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br />
</span> </div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“No weapon forged against you will prevail”…declares the
LORD. ~Isaiah 54:17 <o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And for that
I am eternally thankful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
In church this morning, we sang the song <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUCtfsyI-5I">"Oceans" by Hillsong</a> With it being the perfect depiction of seeking to dive deeper into God, I wanted to share that with you. Click on the title to listen along...
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span> </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Are you in a difficult circumstance
in your life right now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Does it appear
that there’s a “road closed ahead” sign that’s trying to detour you from where God’s
been leading you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If so, I would like to
encourage you to take the time to press deeper into him before you take any
detours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My friends, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“God
is able to make all grace abound to, so that in all things at all times, having
all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” ~Corinthians 9:8</i></b>,
but you have to make the choice to not detour.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>You have to make the choice to continue down that path that is under
construction, having full trust in him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
have to allow God to take you deeper than you've ever wandered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pray that you would
make that decision today.</span></span></div>
</div>
Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-58917090355407480102013-07-09T21:16:00.004-07:002013-07-31T13:27:02.236-07:00Teaching Tuesdays: The Beginning<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-88Z8IuUTGC3SBRZHmPxNQ4oDXxsh7nUREX8YqcXJrbV74b_KCgg4oTk7CvzKvN-NN7p0e7C2u-mI4ObTmpphI-gL5tzFA_YmuUkAT2s2HhnXNgdMnFcWN_XDF16QSkq3kMdCkcbyLJDT/s1600/teaching.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-88Z8IuUTGC3SBRZHmPxNQ4oDXxsh7nUREX8YqcXJrbV74b_KCgg4oTk7CvzKvN-NN7p0e7C2u-mI4ObTmpphI-gL5tzFA_YmuUkAT2s2HhnXNgdMnFcWN_XDF16QSkq3kMdCkcbyLJDT/s320/teaching.png" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/401664860486822368/">(click here to re-pin this on Pinterest)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hello
everyone!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As mentioned in my last post,
today I want to introduce something new to the blog that I am hoping to
incorporate here every Tuesday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
calling it <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Teaching Tuesday’s”</i>
because the plan is to share with you a list of up to five things I was taught,
and up to five links to people, blogs, ministries, web pages etc. from which I
was taught from during the previous week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then you will be given the opportunity join in by sharing too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What is the
point of all of this, you might be wondering?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well, here are a few reasons I felt this might be helpful:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">To </span></span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> promote learning, which should be
a continual life-long process.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s difficult to teach anything, if
you yourself are not continually being taught.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Creating a list helps to recognize,
summarize, and process what’s being learned.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sharing the list creates
accountability to pursuing continual and consistent learning.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sharing the list teaches us to edify
and praise those who are speaking into our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Now that
we’ve established the main what’s and why’s, let’s get started…</span></span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span><br />
</span></span><br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Five Things I learned Last Week:</span></span></u></b><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><strong>“Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of
knowledge.” ~Proverbs 23:12</strong></span></i></span></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The goat has left my house</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> – At church June 30<sup>th</sup> we had the pleasure of
listening to guest speaker <a href="http://www.alfureyministries.com/about.html">Al Furey</a> preach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>His message?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><a href="http://sermon.net/elimporirua/sermonid/1199962691">The goat has left my house</a>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What?!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know, sounds a bit strange, but it was an
excellent lesson on how we’ve been freed from the burden of, not only our sins
and transgressions, but from our iniquities as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a difference.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t know what the difference is?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Want to learn how you too have been freed
from your iniquities, sins, and transgressions?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then check out what all this goat talk is about for yourself by
listening to his sermon online.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">The tearing of the veil in the temple of God into two, upon the
crucifixion of Christ, is what gave us direct access to speak to God ourselves </span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">– Though I had known it was torn I
had never fully grasped the implication of this before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such an awesome truth to behold!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was taught in that same sermon by Al
Furey but was also re-affirmed to me the very next day in the first day of the
online Bible study <em>"<a href="http://wendyblight.com/bible-studies/cultivating-a-heart-of-prayer/">Cultivating a Heart of Prayer</a>,"</em><strong> </strong>by <a href="http://wendyblight.com/about/">Wendy Blight</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><strong> </strong></span>Love how God ties our many lessons
together!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Luke 10:38-42 applies to our prayer lives as well </span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">– In the last week of the study of
the book “Stressed-Less Living,” we took an in-depth look at these verses and I
shared with you a post on how they helped my priorities in my walk with God to
become <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/06/one-thing.html">Shifted</a></i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, the very
next week, we studied the very same verse in the <em>"Cultivating a Heart of Prayer" </em>online Bible
study, only this time I learned that we can be Mary’s and Martha’s in our
prayer lives too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Check out the passage
for yourself and see what God whispers to your heart on the subject.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Sometimes, when we think there are things that have been cut out of our
lives completely, they are actually being <a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/07/woven.html"><em>Woven</em></a><em> </em>by God into a whole new
beautiful and unforeseen blessing in our lives</span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> – Last week’s post was on this very
topic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I invite you to check it out now
if you missed it.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">It can take time…more time than you think, plan, or hope, for God’s plan
to be revealed in certain circumstances </span></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- Many of you know I have
fought many battles in the war for my physical health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought I had finally turned a corner in
this, with victory feeling so close I could taste it, but then yet another
completely unexpected battle erupted with a slipped disc in my neck. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I admit I’m frustrated with this and the peace
that had so newly filled my heart has been threatened…as I truly can’t see or
understand God’s purpose in all of this…but I know that He has plan, and that
it is for my good, so I am choosing trust rather than discouragement and
defeat.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Links I love and Learned From:</span></u></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“He who walks with the wise grows wise.” ~Proverbs 13:20</span></i></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></i></b> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><strong>Word Wisdom</strong></span></u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><strong>:</strong> links
to other “Word” focused posts...</span></span></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://livingfreeinhim.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-battleground-of-freedom.html">“The Battleground of Freedom”</a> – </span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">n Independence Day blog post about freedom and fear</span> written by <a href="http://livingfreeinhim.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html">Sue Molitor</a> blogging @ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://livingfreeinhim.blogspot.com/">Living Free in Him</a>.</i></span></span></span> </li>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.proverbs31.org/devotions/theres-power-his-words-2013-06/">“There’s Power in His Words”</a> – </span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">A Daily Devotion for Proverbs 31 Ministries <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">with a lesson on helping others with the power of God’s Word, </span>written by author and P31 magazine editor <a href="http://glynniswhitwer.com/meet-glynnis/">Glynnis Whitwer<o:p></o:p></a>.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">
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</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><strong>From the
Hop:</strong></span></u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> links to my favorite
blogs from the Melissa Taylor Online Bible Study Blog Hops...</span></span></span></div>
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<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://isthatyoulord.blogspot.com/2013/06/one-thing_28.html">“One Thing”</a> </span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">– A blog post written by <a href="http://isthatyoulord.blogspot.com/p/bio.html">Shelly Faust</a> blogging @ <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://isthatyoulord.blogspot.com/">IS THAT YOU, LORD?</a> </i></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Join in her journey of seeking to get her first book published as she shares how she finds the answer to comforting her fear in Luke 10:38-42.</span></span></span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span> </span> </li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><strong>Budding
Bloggers:</strong></span></u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">posts
from newer bloggers. Check them out and give them some feedback...</span></span>
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<o:p></o:p></span></span> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.cindyobrien78.blogspot.com/2013/07/things-my-mother-taught-me.html">“Things My Mother Taught Me”</a> </span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">– A blog post written by <a href="https://plus.google.com/116042767542739844977/posts">Cindy O’Brien</a>, blogging @ <em><a href="http://cindyobrien78.blogspot.com/">My Little Corner</a>. </em>Here she shares a beautiful list of 15 things her mom taught her before going home to be with the Lord - a topic dear to my heart.</span></span></div>
</li>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong><u>Posts to Ponder: </u></strong><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">posts
with thought provoking points I hadn’t considered before…</span></span></span></div>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://www.proverbs31.org/devotions/gentle-touch-2013-07/">“A Gentle Touch”</a> </span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">– A daily devotion for Proverbs 31 Ministries on our need for physical touch, also written by author and P31 magazine editor <a href="http://glynniswhitwer.com/meet-glynnis/">Glynnis Whitwer</a>.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So there’s
my list of a few of the things I’ve been taught this last week and by
what/whom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now it’s your turn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s five ways you can get involved:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Write your own blog post and then
share your link <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">in
the comment section below.</span></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Type out a list and/or links directly
in the comment section.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">3.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Share <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">in
the comment section </span>something you learned from this
blog post.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Share <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">in
the comment section </span>which link from this blog post
you <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">learned
from the most.</span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5.</span><span style="font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Provide feedback <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">in the comment section </span>on the new <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Teaching Tuesday’s”</i> idea.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">You can share
just one thing you were taught last week or as many as five.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can share one link you learned from or up
to five.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s all up to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Share just things, or share just links, or any
combo you choose… </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Let the word of Christ
dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom.”
~Col 3:16<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-80086989292175807592013-07-04T13:59:00.000-07:002013-07-31T13:29:00.360-07:00Woven<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiYuKzBwllz21n1AN-uOs9SvaztJ_e421lUNMHXxJ_ypJIv7naJTwigbpFSAxj9vmkJ4txBs7uMvOL4iim1eWvGXzPKH5zlyCSd48hmJhvqkIYdnufrh1BSSuyha_LOsGd5M6q9YoQjFMG/s1600/IMG2744.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiYuKzBwllz21n1AN-uOs9SvaztJ_e421lUNMHXxJ_ypJIv7naJTwigbpFSAxj9vmkJ4txBs7uMvOL4iim1eWvGXzPKH5zlyCSd48hmJhvqkIYdnufrh1BSSuyha_LOsGd5M6q9YoQjFMG/s320/IMG2744.png" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/401664860486792484/">(click here to re-pin this on Pinterest)</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
This morning, upon turning to July 4th in <a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/04/blessed.html">"A Mother's Prayer" mini daily calendar</a>, I read:<br />
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<em>"In the midst of the praying, it is comforting to remember that God considers families important. Before he called a nation, he created a family." ~Quin Sherrer</em></div>
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Of course I was first drawn to the word "nation" with today being Independence Day, but then when the quote ended on "family," so did my thoughts rest there. </div>
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My family is currently on hold so to speak...at least temporarily. With my extended family this is true as we've all been scattered about the different states of the nation, each one taking a little needed space to just breathe while we all individually deal with the losses and struggles we've had to face over the past few years. For my immediate family, we feel on hold as we wait in prayer for the Lord to move and open the door to adding more children to our midst. </div>
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With my world seeming on hold for so long, life had begun to feel stagnant, like I was being cut off from the deepest desires of my heart - my dreams of writing, of having more children, and of needing those deeper and more meaningful relationships in my life.<br />
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<strong><em>"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit..." </em></strong><br />
<strong><em>~John 15:1-2a</em></strong></div>
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For several years I sat apart from God hopelessly watching these things wither away.</div>
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<strong><em>"If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers..." </em></strong><br />
<strong><em>~John 15:6a</em></strong></div>
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</div>
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But now, as I sit here on this 4th of July, 2013, much has changed. Or I should say, God has changed much. So much so, I can't stop saying how in awe I am of Him..."AWE" being my word of the month. I have been praying for connections with Christian woman, connections with Christian writers, and connections with Christian moms in general, while over this past year re-learning how to remain in Him.</div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em>"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." ~John 15:5</em></strong></div>
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<strong><em></em></strong> </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The way in which the Lord has answered, is remarkable. He has taken all the smallest details of my life, all those withering branches so to speak, and <strong><em>Woven</em></strong> them together creating for me many "little families" amongst the "nation" of Christian woman and Christian woman writers of whom he has called. It began with<a href="http://www.proverbs31.org/"> Proverbs 31 Ministries</a> and <a href="http://melissataylor.org/">Melissa Taylor's Online Bible Studies</a>. Then that led to the forming of the Facebook small group #37 - you ladies rock! And now a tremendous group of woman writers to chat with on Facebook who I'll be attending <a href="http://shespeaksconference.com/">She Speaks</a> with three weeks from now - wow is all I can say about that right now. Oh, and I can't forget the family of prayer warriors - a group of woman, many of which who've walked beside me from the beginning of my journey in Christ, who are now holding me up in prayer as I venture out in faith towards that God given dream to write - such a blessing you all are. </div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
With all of these woman God has <strong><em>Woven</em></strong> into my life, a beautiful circle of friendships, encouragement, learning and prayer has been formed - a wreath crafted for this caterpillar to rest on. And as I sit here under the wings of these beautiful butterflies, hearing how loudly and strongly their hearts all beat for the Lord - I can't help but smile, thanking God for this great honor and privilege, and looking forward with great expectation to the day I too will be transformed and able to fly with grace towards my dreams. </div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
Wishing you all a very happy Independence Day, and may God bless our great nation through the blessings of our many greater families!<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<strong><em>"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe." ~Hebrews 12:28</em></strong> </div>
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<br />Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-2342322306960820302013-07-03T16:00:00.001-07:002013-07-31T13:29:49.556-07:00Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiztIT8CiSdQNx8FaSPi5vccv0qigHOYD1d9g9dHS0AwIzVTNX8XwV7EDTIlme8Kh1i70hBbxT4MpURM3p3056w7259QtkeSonuXmbvSMA2oK79sxFfVIXmpgj0KNYFGhPL6cBCPji9eXJO/s800/130512_8382_s.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiztIT8CiSdQNx8FaSPi5vccv0qigHOYD1d9g9dHS0AwIzVTNX8XwV7EDTIlme8Kh1i70hBbxT4MpURM3p3056w7259QtkeSonuXmbvSMA2oK79sxFfVIXmpgj0KNYFGhPL6cBCPji9eXJO/s320/130512_8382_s.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">*<a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/401664860486787565/">(Click here to pin this on Pinterest)</a>*</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hello
everyone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m coming to you a bit early
this week because there are some things I’d like to share with you that go
beyond my regular weekly posts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve
been doing a lot of praying, seeking, searching, and reflection in regards to
my blog page, my writing in general, and God’s plan and purpose for it all and
it’s all been quite eye opening but also a bit mind boggling as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has been speaking to me through so many
little things lately that I can’t write fast enough.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My husband is absolutely astounded at the
sheer number of pens I’ve ran out of ink over the past few months, as I’ve
filled numerous notebooks full of the ideas that just keep flowing…I imagine
this is only going to increase that much more when I attend She Speaks three
weeks from now.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wow!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it really only three weeks away
already?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Scary!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I first
got started on this blogging journey, I had absolutely no clue what I was
doing; especially on the technical side of things, but I didn’t want that to
stop me from stepping out in faith, so I went ahead and got started
anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that I’m getting a bit more
comfortable, I figured it’s high time to step out of my box again and start
figuring out some of this techy stuff.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>With that being said, while there are many changes that are continually
being made to enhance the page and your experience when you visit here, there
are a few changes that offer more to you the reader directly, so I want to
share those with you directly.</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ch-Change #1</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">: “Faithful Fans”
membership option <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">(aka becoming a follower of The Word
vs. the world)<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you’re a family member, friend,
sister or brother in Christ, fellow warrior of His Word, or simply someone who
enjoys what’s being shared here @ The Word vs. the world, then I invite you to
show your support by signing up to join this site.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not only is it completely free and really
easy to do, but it will also come with special rewards and opportunities in the
near future – being entered into drawings for prizes, and optional
survey/feedback offers to help with upcoming projects just to name a
couple.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you join?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you finish reading this post, make sure
to scroll all the way to the bottom of the page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There you will find the “join this site” box
to enter your info.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I look forward to
meeting you there!<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ch-Ch-Change #2:</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> The Word vs. the world
original posters and Pinterest board/page<o:p></o:p></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is something I’ve wanted to do
from the beginning, but was clueless how to go about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A dear friend of mine who is a photographer
was kind enough to point me in the direction of some software to get me
started.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My goal is to not only create
my own posters for each post, but also to go back and create ones for all my
old posts as well, as I have time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
addition to that, you will find a link below each poster that will bring you directly
to that pin on my new The Word vs. the world Pinterest board.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’re on Pinterest, this will enable you
to quickly and easily re-pin the ones you love, but whether you’re on Pinterest
or not, please feel free to share and use the posters on your own blogs, FB,
etc.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All that I ask is that you also
include the link.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lastly, in regards to
Pinterest, I’ve also added a Pinterest page to the blog page itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This can be found as a tab at the top of the
page.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There you will find the link to
The Word vs. the world board itself, rather than just a specific pin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I invite all you Pinterest lovers to come
follow me there as well, where you will also find more fun scripture and quote
pins related to the topics of this blog.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Here is a preview of my first three original creations (in addition to the one for this post).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have barely
scratched the surface of possibilities with these, but it’s a start…</span></span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU5NI3e5R4cTpYtSBJoretsthP05AVyeRg4UyfnH44I2loSL8ljZDj2L_GriQsqKT47WmMlV2QJyNwfBV805ndpQBnCQiBI-ZowS3oFDCBfn4TA1g1zXSgFB9vtZKoSq4TiW6mps6U4k5u/s1600/flower+7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU5NI3e5R4cTpYtSBJoretsthP05AVyeRg4UyfnH44I2loSL8ljZDj2L_GriQsqKT47WmMlV2QJyNwfBV805ndpQBnCQiBI-ZowS3oFDCBfn4TA1g1zXSgFB9vtZKoSq4TiW6mps6U4k5u/s320/flower+7.png" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For blog post <a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/06/who-u-r.html">"Who U R"</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYwlVzeJNo4fRGfapJ7aoPukkmuHpfD7qgW0-aggvP-BS05drInSRpMCBYem3JvhDcmozcdAYrtR67CKLB8uvopKYXYhO_DJ5xc6kN5cb_YWosT4QqdPnhbVtvKMPgB2XuQMpU5Y4IdxhU/s1200/130512_8393_s.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYwlVzeJNo4fRGfapJ7aoPukkmuHpfD7qgW0-aggvP-BS05drInSRpMCBYem3JvhDcmozcdAYrtR67CKLB8uvopKYXYhO_DJ5xc6kN5cb_YWosT4QqdPnhbVtvKMPgB2XuQMpU5Y4IdxhU/s320/130512_8393_s.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">*For blog post <a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/04/blessed-continued.html">"# Blessed: Continued"</a>*</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGKp3N3cr9jWJnRiE5ZiZMlcXqtd1U1zS0zRsEO0fHOzTSwILYXS0R5rj9J3dyBd2sf6hEs8MRdJavt0_a6relXF0NyaSB0YIJ03JsDf98vwpJLmcuZykZut_lFUp7vign96fBL29Q6qcN/s1600/IMG2664.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGKp3N3cr9jWJnRiE5ZiZMlcXqtd1U1zS0zRsEO0fHOzTSwILYXS0R5rj9J3dyBd2sf6hEs8MRdJavt0_a6relXF0NyaSB0YIJ03JsDf98vwpJLmcuZykZut_lFUp7vign96fBL29Q6qcN/s320/IMG2664.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">For blog post <a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/06/matter-of-heart.html">"Matter of the Heart"</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Ch-Ch-Ch-Change #3:</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> Coming to you with
more frequent blog posts / “Teaching Tuesdays”<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I first got started blogging
here, the plan was to write multiple times a week; however, I quickly
discovered that in creating new habits, it’s best to start small and then build
on it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that my first goal of
consistency has been established, I’d like to start building on that with
frequency by adding what I’m calling “Teaching Tuesdays” – a post where I can
share with you two things: #1 - a condensed itemized list of the things I
learned from the previous week (which will help in processing and implementation
of the info), and #2 – at least one, but up to five of my favorite links to the
blog posts, devotions, ministries, web pages, etc. that taught me the week before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a blogger/writer/student of the Word, I’ve
come to recognize, not only the importance of continually pursuing wisdom from
Godly sources, but also in the praising, and promoting of fellow followers and
sharers of Christ and God’s Kingdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By
doing so, it is my hope to create a source of accountability when it comes to
ensuring my continued growth while at the same time pointing others in the
direction to some of the great available sources out there to draw from as
well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We’ll get this started next
Tuesday.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am so excited to share with
you some awesome links that God has been speaking to me through!<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So there you have it – three new
changes coming your way here on The Word vs. the World.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I hope you will find them all to be equally helpful
and enjoyable and I invite you to share with me your thoughts on these changes
in the comment section below.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m
looking forward to your feedback…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">*original starred images courtesy of <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Amy-Henderson-Photography/154077371290966">Amy Henderson Photography</a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-49268262265419467602013-06-26T21:47:00.001-07:002013-07-31T13:30:44.268-07:00Shifted<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I’m
sitting here sipping my morning cup of coffee, the rain pouring down outside
and a cool breeze bristling through the branches of the trees, I’m feeling
refreshed and peaceful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just like the
rain is a reprieve from the hot, muggy days we’ve been experiencing, Jesus has
been a reprieve to my soul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just
finished reading the last pages of what has been an amazing book – <a href="http://www.p31bookstore.com/products/stressed-less-living">"Stressed-Less Living," by Tracie Miles</a> and I truly can’t believe that this life changing twelve
week journey, with all the incredible woman of <a href="http://melissataylor.org/">Melissa Taylor's Online Bible Studies</a> and <a href="http://www.proverbs31.org/">Proverbs 31 Ministries</a>, is already coming to a close.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not ready for it to end. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I remember,
when considering going down this path, feeling like perhaps I should skip this
study and rejoin for the next one because I was going to be so busy during
those twelve set weeks…I almost have to laugh at myself now - knowing what I’ve
learned since then; especially in reading the last chapter and when considering
the reflection verse this week:</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><strong><em>"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." ~Luke 10:41-42</em></strong> </div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Boy am I
glad that the Lord kept me from that mistake – from being Martha!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was going to choose the “many things” when what
I needed most was “only one thing” – Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Praise the Lord he did not allow me to travel down that familiar sun
parched road again!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though I am certain
that he would not have abandoned me, I am equally sure that I would not have
experienced the renewal and growth that I have spiritually and emotionally and I
certainly would not have the peace in my heart that he has provided me with
through this journey...</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Before all
of this, I was so obsessed with my circumstances and wanting God to take them
away, that there was no room left for peace in my heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Only anxiousness, bitterness, and anger
resided there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I didn’t understand
is that God had a different plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He had
a better plan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The biggest and most life
changing lesson that I’ve learned through the book and study is that, in
turning our stresses and struggles over to God, he isn’t necessarily caught up
in changing our circumstances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He cares
so much more about us than that.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
doesn’t want to just make our lives easier, he wants to make them better and He
knows that this requires a change from within – that this requires a change of
the heart.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I stop
and truly think about it, I’m astounded at what God can do with just one simple
act of obedience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He can truly change your
whole world!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has mine, and it all
started with simply saying, “Yes Lord, I will sign up for Melissa Taylor’s
Online Bible Studies.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From that one
thing he has led me back into: His Word on a daily basis, praying regularly,
finding a new home church and attending regularly again, having fellowship with
Christ oriented woman who I can relate to, turn to, open up to, and learn
from.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he has even led me back to the
dreams I had buried deep within my heart – the dreams to have more children and
to become a writer…I am just in awe of our God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He is so good that he didn’t stop at just leading me "to" things either. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has led me "away" from things as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">He has led
me away from the destructive path I was on with my health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I haven’t given into stress eating in weeks
and am back on track eating healthy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve also handed over my physical injuries to him, letting go of my
focus to be healed and focusing instead on being strong in Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a result, I’ve been able to work out
regularly and am starting to see some results.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Overall, he has led me away from the destructive path where I saw and
felt little hope for my future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been rescued from the end of my rope and my feet planted firmly back
onto the unshakeable and unbreakable foundation of our God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My priorities, my focus, my heart, have all
been <em><strong>shifted </strong></em>- shifted back to God where they belong. Back to a place where I
can say:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts
for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no
water.” ~Psalm 63:1<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">And that my
friends, is a glorious place to be!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What about
you? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are you thirsting for God, or are
you looking to the world to quench your thirst like I was? Are you Mary or are
you Martha?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you have
been walking through a desert in your life, choosing the “many things” and
feeling parched and losing hope, remember that God’s Word promises:<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> <o:p></o:p></i></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”</span></i></b><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Joshua 1:5</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">He didn’t
abandon Martha.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">He didn’t
abandon me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">He won’t
abandon you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">He loves you
and wants you to be back in that place where you too are thirsting for him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> In order to do so - to make God your "one thing" again - </span>may I encourage you to
begin by choosing just one simple act of obedience to start with?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know exactly what that may be for you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe, like me, it’s reading the <a href="http://www.p31bookstore.com/products/stressed-less-living">"Stressed-Less Living,"</a> book or joining the next online Bible study of the book – <a href="http://melissataylor.org/and-more/">"What Happens When Women Say Yes to God."</a> I would certainly recommend
them both.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But maybe it’s something
entirely different for you than what God led me to get re-started with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is He pressing on your heart right
now?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do that!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And let him begin leading you down your road
to renewal today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Allow your priorities, your focus, your heart to be <em><strong>shifted</strong></em> by and back to the one and only who saves. </span><em>Let</em> Jesus be your
reprieve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let Jesus reign in the rain!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">…and the
Lord answered, (insert your name), <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><strong>“_______
has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken from her.”</strong> </i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-25578210094298144752013-06-22T19:52:00.004-07:002013-07-31T13:32:36.212-07:00Who U R<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTIRn2igyJ3pUDjKuuHnrk5dAuA_t8yFRuw-bhOdjlvA5fHAPMY4KL_QsdnKIzOekI0WHlwtWb0zMMAE-I_shOOa9QzdqqUuy38LjBAa30QSztquu19v_6tJ28KM7rC6VoZhiHsEKZwxY0/s1600/flower+7.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTIRn2igyJ3pUDjKuuHnrk5dAuA_t8yFRuw-bhOdjlvA5fHAPMY4KL_QsdnKIzOekI0WHlwtWb0zMMAE-I_shOOa9QzdqqUuy38LjBAa30QSztquu19v_6tJ28KM7rC6VoZhiHsEKZwxY0/s320/flower+7.png" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/401664860486779117/">(click here to re-pin this on Pinterest)</a></td></tr>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Who am I?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And why am I here?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The answers to those questions I’m beginning to fear.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Am I a rose blossoming in the light?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Or am I only a left over fragrance fading in the night?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What am I?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could you tell me?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or do I want to know?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Am I just another flower that belongs in a row?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Among the gardens of flowers do I want to be found?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">People staring beneath my blossoms<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">At the thorns and roots by which I’ve been bound?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Those roots – they are sucking in the water too fast!<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Drowning my future…overwatering my past!<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Oh how they’ve held me, and those thorns how they’ve torn-<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My thoughts into two, I’m becoming so worn.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But go on without them, do I dare?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Pull away from the comfort that I’ve planted there?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">My thoughts, my feelings…how do I show that I care?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Someone, please, rid me of all my confusions!<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Take the time to show me that happiness <o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Is not just another one of life’s delusions...<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Could you at least attempt to answer me this -<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Or do I want to know?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Am I a rose blossoming in the light?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Or just another flower in the garden<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Whose fragrance is fading in the night?<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">~written by Katrina Wylie ‘98<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the things I’ve been
struggling with the last few years is losing weight and getting back into shape
after first: a car accident that resulted in a neck injury, and second: the
pregnancy and birth of my daughter which also resulted in more physical injury
and limitations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though getting healthy
is definitely on my “need” list, it seems every renewed attempt I’ve made has
ended the same way – giving into temptations due to a perceived lack of
results.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every time I’d get dressed, and
every time I’d look in the mirror, I’d see the me that I didn’t want to be
anymore…the extra me, if you know what I mean!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Then, out of discouragement, whenever a craving would present itself or
when it became time to do a work out and I had a million other things to do, the
attitude I found myself adopting was: “What’s the point?” I think this same
thing can happen to us in our Christian walks...</span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Even as Christians, when we look in
the mirror, it’s often times “the sinner” that is reflected back.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether it is sins from our past or sins from
that very day, when they are what we still see after the many attempts at
ridding ourselves of our sinfulness, we can become discouraged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then when temptation enters into our minds,
or it comes time to pick up our Bibles for the day or go to church that week,
we may find ourselves acting out of a “What’s the point” type of attitude.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I’m realizing in all of this is that, although
my identity questions from my poem/my past were answered when I found and
accepted Christ, I still as a believer struggle with my identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What God has also shown me this week is how
that struggle has fed my struggle of getting fit.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In this world, we have hundreds of
mixed messages being hurled at us from every direction, every day, telling us
who we are and/or who we should be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
starts from the day we are born with our parents, and grows as we grow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From our teachers to our bosses, from books
to movies, from our friends to complete strangers, from the media to our
government…the list goes on and on and on, all eager to put their two cents
into shaping our hearts, minds, and souls – help us to “discover” who we were
born to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And let’s not forget the
enemy too, who is all-too eager to jump in and take advantage of any confused
and doubtful minds and lead them astray.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As Christian’s, however, we look to God’s Word for the truth and the
Bible is very clear about our identities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Even though God’s Word does indeed
confirm that we are sinners in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Romans 3:23 – “for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God,”</i></b> the Bible also says we are children of God
and have been made new in Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“The Spirit himself
testif</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">ies with our spirit that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">we are God’s children.” ~Romans 8:16<o:p></o:p></i></span></b></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“Therefore, if anyone
is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” ~2
Corinthians 5:17</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">While it is important to know and be
aware of the fact that we are all sinners, it is not what we are to put our
focus on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God’s Word tells us, in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Colossians
3:2 </i></b>to: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></b>Have you ever noticed that what you
set your mind on is what you tend to act on?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I believe this is a part of why we’re told to focus on heaven and not
the world in this scripture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When we
focus on the fact that we are sinners, our sinful nature is what is magnified
and then reflected back to us when we look in the mirror, thus perpetuating sin
in our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But when we focus on the
fact that we are a child of the Most High God, it is our identity in Christ
that is magnified and reflected back, eternalizing our growth in
Christ-likeness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The same holds true for
anything we focus on.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When you set a goal to make a change
in your life, whether it’s to be a better spouse, or parent, boss, or employee,
or if it’s like mine – to become a physically healthier you, you can’t continue
to see yourself as that person who needs to change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you do, you will end up remaining that
person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, you have to let go of
that image of yourself - declare that that is the old you – surrender it to
God!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though your eyes and the world may
still be deceived by what they see, don’t allow your mind to be.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Focus on the new you in your mind, and your
actions will begin to follow, until one day in your future, you will be that
person in reality. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is what I began
doing this week with my need to become a physically healthier me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Every time I went to grab or even
think about grabbing something unhealthy, or I considered skipping my workout,
I said to myself: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“I am no longer that
person.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am a child of the Most High
God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He is transforming my mind, heart, and
body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been made new in Christ Jesus.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>I have found this to be especially
effective when said out loud and/or when looking in the mirror. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This, for me, has been a tangible and
effective way to tackle the temptations of my old self, day by day, moment by
moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am applying this to my Christian
walk as well and every area I want to change and grow in and it is having a
huge impact!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Before, when I was
continuing to focus on the over-weight, out-of-shape, and injured person that
I’d become, I couldn’t move beyond that identity, but by surrendering my old
self to God, I have been able to start shedding that identity and start shedding
the pounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I feel now I’m finally on my
way to becoming the new me – the person God created me to be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What about you?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Have you developed a “what’s the point attitude”
in your Christian walk or some other area of your life that you’d like to
change and grow in?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are you struggling
to let go of the old you or some piece of that person - those worldly
identities that need to be shed?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If so, I
challenge you to start surrendering that old self to God and instead begin to
focus on who you are in Christ, either by using the declaration statement I’ve
shared with you, or writing your own personal one that speaks to your heart and
stirs your soul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’re afraid you might
forget to use it once you’ve found yourself in the middle of the hustle and
bustle of your life, write it down and post it in multiple high traffic areas. <o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you accept this challenge, please
leave me a comment below so that I can pray for you, and if you’ve written a
declaration statement of your own, please feel free to share it as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then be sure to check back in next week and
let me know how it’s impacting your transformation so that I can share in your
victory with you!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But most importantly,
when you look in the mirror this week, and every day after, remember that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Who U R</i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>becoming is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Who U</i><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>really <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">R</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>You</u> are a rose
blossoming in the light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><u>You</u> are a
child of the God Most High!<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>“How great is the love the Father has
lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” ~1 John 3:1<o:p></o:p></strong></span></span></i></div>
<strong></strong><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong> </strong></span></o:p></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><strong>“Surely you heard of him and were
taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You were taught, with regard to your former
way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its
deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on
your new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”
~Ephesians 4:21-24<o:p></o:p></strong></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></i></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“The world isn’t our ruler to measure
by and when we allow it to be we let the world be our RULER.” ~<a href="http://melissataylor.org/2013/06/22/sll-week-11-praises-prayer-requests/">Ginny Blankenship</a></span></span></i><br />
<br />
</div>
Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-87142749712312237262013-06-14T07:13:00.000-07:002013-07-31T13:33:07.020-07:00Breaking Point<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIMl9s6sed9s2ZyzxZtEzwgjBN4cDTgIDoTmZ2Q-Oy1A8z7RAujv4G3C1R7r1ZEr0HoBr2AxicNNlYd1ptwzXqO_vm5W9pvkevZk4H5FmMAV3cg67t6TFsnlJjxMvWT4hkGHNg9L5y3VLG/s1600/breakingpoint.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIMl9s6sed9s2ZyzxZtEzwgjBN4cDTgIDoTmZ2Q-Oy1A8z7RAujv4G3C1R7r1ZEr0HoBr2AxicNNlYd1ptwzXqO_vm5W9pvkevZk4H5FmMAV3cg67t6TFsnlJjxMvWT4hkGHNg9L5y3VLG/s320/breakingpoint.jpg" width="234" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/181621797442466452/">http://pinterest.com/pin/181621797442466452/</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">This week in Melissa
Taylor’s Online Bible Studies we studied chapter 10: “Broken for Breakthrough,”
in the book “Stressed-Less Living by Tracie Miles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As one of our blog hop topics, we were asked
to write about a breaking point in our life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For mine, I’m going to share with you all a previous post of mine that I
had written last August, just a few months before discovering Proverbs 31 and
the online Bible studies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think that
through it you will see that it was no coincidence that I “stumbled across”
these studies just as they were getting ready to begin the “Let. It. Go.”
book.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that time, I was definitely at
a breaking point in my life – struggling with physical health problems, fear,
lingering post-partum depression, stress-eating, relational and family stress,
and on top of all of that, I had fallen away from my close, daily relationship
with our Lord.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was also only a couple
months after my Mom had open-heart surgery to repair a birth defect that had
gone undiagnosed and as a result had almost killed her…just one month after I
originally wrote this post, she died…God turned me back to him knowing how much
I was going to need him just a few short weeks later.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God is good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">(from August ’12)<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">I spent much of my life
struggling to hide and stuff down the pain that I felt, so that on the outside,
I'd look strong and unbreakable; but it was all a front. Truth was, inside, my
pain and sorrow continually cut like a knife, destroying me slowly one tiny
piece at a time. I did not always know the Lord, nor have I always understood
that my daily struggles in the world could be healed through His Word. While
sometimes I find myself briefly falling back into my old habits, the Lord is
always there to pick me up and remind me of His truths... </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">This morning He gave me
an image that I’d like to share with you. While I don’t feel that I’ve done it
justice, my prayer is that by barring the hidden parts of myself to you today,
you too will be blessed and can be made new by the power of our Lord Jesus
Christ.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">...and as I'm crouched here
in the corner,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Covering my face with
shame,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">My whole body shaking,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">With tears, and years of
pain...</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">...it slowly flows in all
around me,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">A light that fills the
room,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Over-taking the darkness,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Over-taking every crevice
of my gloom.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">I feel a hand on my
shoulder,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">And then another under my
arm,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">As Jesus quietly whispers,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">"I am here to release
you from your harm."</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">I whimper as He lifts me, </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Gently up to stand,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">He grabs my chin, raises my
head,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">My cheek now resting in His
hand.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">"Will it hurt?" I
ask,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Still unable to look Him in
the eye.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">"Yes, but I am with
you,"</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Is His calm and quick reply.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">He then takes one of His
hands,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">And while placing it on my
heart,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Says, "This will be
your new beginning,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">This will be a whole new
start."</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Then I feel His other hand,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Begin to wrap firmly 'round
the knife,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">A whole new panic rises up,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Again I'm filled with
sickening strife.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">In response I move my hands
to His,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">And weakly I dare say,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">"Wait Lord, I'm not
ready!</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Is there not an easier
way?"</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">"You are," is His
reply,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">His voice calm, His voice
steady.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">"It's time to let go
now,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">This burden is too heavy."</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">No longer able to hold it
in,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Now weeping my hands drop,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">"Will you stay until
it's over,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Will you help the pain to
stop?"</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">"My dear child,"
Jesus says to me,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">His hand still on my heart,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">"Here is where I'll
always be,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">Letting go is the hardest
part."</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">"Just do it
then,"</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">I'm barely able to get out,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">After all the pain and all
the fears,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">I'm ready to let go of all
my doubt.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">He grabs the knife and out
He pulls,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">I gasp as it is done,</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">I cannot believe the relief
I feel, </span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">I'm finally free, I have
won!</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">While the world will tell
you that you are alone, no one understands and no one cares, His Word tells
you:</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span></i></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">“I will never leave you nor forsake
you.”-Jos 1:5 </span></i><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">“Great is our Lord and mighty in
power; his understanding has no limit.”-Psalm 147:5 </span></i><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">“Cast all your anxiety on him
because he cares for you.”-1 Pet 5:7 </span></i><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span></b><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">So the question now is -
which will you choose to believe? Whether you have never gave your heart to the
Lord before, or you’re just struggling to hand over to Him a part of you that
needs healing, I pray that today is the day you will choose His Word for your
life.</span><o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";"><o:p><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div align="center" style="text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif";">“Come to me, all you who are weary
and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from
me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your
souls.”-Mt 11:28-29</span></i><o:p></o:p></b></div>
Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-87820392684409792162013-06-13T02:38:00.000-07:002013-07-31T13:33:55.426-07:00Matter of the Heart<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWRJOvDGyl4jdyLwCyGAtsdjz9m9haTJ8E3GaZYXvHhbFfhClPhgZqm6SCAmUKeF7CglvrF-KuMzdua3g19oCusjhuhIRBG1TwvIP1GMese9ANz_vR8uwgAuuuPV6ozh-zYVZTGCOsowG/s1600/IMG2664.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWRJOvDGyl4jdyLwCyGAtsdjz9m9haTJ8E3GaZYXvHhbFfhClPhgZqm6SCAmUKeF7CglvrF-KuMzdua3g19oCusjhuhIRBG1TwvIP1GMese9ANz_vR8uwgAuuuPV6ozh-zYVZTGCOsowG/s320/IMG2664.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><strong><em>"He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds." ~Psalm 147:3 </em></strong><br />
<strong><em> <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/401664860486673608/">(click here to re-pin this on Pinterest)</a></em></strong></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The matter
of the heart – it matters to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do
we know that? - Because it’s a topic that can be found all throughout the
Bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In just the last three days I’ve
spent digging deeper into Psalm 147:3, I counted the word “heart,” and its many
variations, used 75 times in God’s Word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>That’s a lot and I’m sure there are many more still.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“matter
of the heart”</i> has also been an important subject threaded throughout the
book <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Stressed-Less Living”</i> by Tracie
Miles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like I shared in a previous post
of mine, <em><a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-gift-from-above.html">"A Gift From Above,"</a></em> the
lesson that has impacted me the most so far through this book is that God cares
more about changing our hearts than he does about changing our circumstances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This has been affirmed to me again this week,
through Psalm 147:3.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I
looked up <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“broken hearted”</i> in my
dictionary, which read: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“overcome by
grief or despair,”</i> I couldn’t help but also notice a few of the related
words and their definitions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Hearten” – encourage, energize, enliven, arouse, rally, rouse, stir<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Heartfelt” – sincere, genuine, honest, true, unfeigned, deep, profound<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Heartless” – unfeeling<o:p></o:p></span></span></i><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">What caught my attention in reading
these, and maybe perhaps it drew yours too, is that the descriptions of the
first two sounds like they’re describing God himself and what he does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So much so that we could just erase the words
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“hearten”</i> and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“heartfelt”</i> and replace them with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“God”</i> in the dictionary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
But t</span>hen there’s the third one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is it
just me, or could <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“unbeliever”</i> possibly
be substituted here for <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“heartless?”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know that the word <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“unfeeling”</i> described me before I came to know Christ as my
personal savior and it is also how I can start to become again when I wander
from him...</span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This had all got me wondering
if the correlations here were just a coincidence, but in further exploration of Psalm 147:3,
I’m thinking not.<o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It has been my experience that if we
stay in a state of heartbreak, it can harden our hearts and lead us down the
path to becoming heartless. This is not a quality of Christ and not what God
wants for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In God’s Word we learn
that it is God’s plan for us as believers to grow in the likeness of Christ. When we turn to God in our brokenness, he is
able to begin this transformation in our hearts so that our thoughts and
actions start to reflect that of our heartfelt God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
is his plan for us in our heartbreak. </span></span><br />
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“And we know that in
all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called
according to his purpose.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For those God
foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son,”
~Romans 8:28-29a</span></span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“And we, who with
unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his
likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the
Spirit.” </span></span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">~2 Corinthians 3:18<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">So if we want to live out God’s
purpose for our lives – to be conformed to the likeness of his son – and we
need to be healed of our brokenness in order to do this, how do we go about it?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do we become healed by God?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Part of this answer I had discovered in God’s
Word before – it requires faith.</span></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Jesus turned and saw
her.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Take heart daughter,’ he said,
“your faith has healed you.’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the
woman was healed from that moment.” ~Mathew 9:22<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></o:p></span></i></b><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“He listened to Paul as
he was speaking.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Paul looked directly at
him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, ‘Stand up on your
feet!’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At that, the man jumped up and began
to walk.” ~Acts 14:9<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Many of us are familiar with these
stories in the Bible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We love them
because they are such positive reminders of the miracles that God can perform
through great faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, faith is
not the only avenue the Lord uses to heal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>There are other scriptures in His Word as well that speak of healing,
though I think these tend to come to mind less when we are seeking healing,
perhaps because they bring with them a more somber and even painful approach –
wounds.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The words used to describe <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“wounds”</i> in the dictionary are: “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Injure, hurt, damage, harm, afflict,
torment, torture, batter, cripple, maim, mangle, mutilate, blemish, impair,
spoil, tarnish, weaken, contort, deface, deform, disfigure, distort.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>It also says: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“to deplete the soundness, strength, effectiveness, or perfection of
something.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sorry to spell these all
out here like this, but I wanted you to see the full picture that I saw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Doesn’t this all sound an awful lot like
Satan?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, when we look up a definition
of a word in the dictionary, it also lists the contrasting words, which can
often be helpful in the understanding of the word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the case of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“wounds”</i> they are: <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“assist, help, better, enhance, improve,
benefit, strengthen, aid.”</i> Ahh, there we go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That sounds more like God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You see where the enemy intends to use wounds
for harm, just like we learned earlier with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“brokenhearted,”</i>
God plans for wounds are good.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
demonstrated this first through the wounds of Jesus on the cross. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“But he was pierced for
our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that
brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.” ~Isaiah 53:5</span></span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></i></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“He himself bore our
sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for
righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” ~1 Peter 2:24<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But God did not stop His healing
through wounds there at the cross with Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He also demonstrates His plan of using <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“wounds”</i> for good through our own personal wounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where God used Christ’s wounds for our
salvation, he uses our wounds for our transformation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is through our wounds that He draws us to
Him and it is through our wounds that He is able to transform our pride and
self-reliance into humbleness and dependence on Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without these wounds, we would not grow in
Christ-likeness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without these wounds,
our lives would not shine for the glory of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In realizing this, I’m beginning to see my wounds as blessings.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Tracie says on page 207: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“I have come to understand that God cannot
use people greatly until he has broken them deeply.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was certainly true for Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That I think is evident to us all, but it is
also true of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tracie then goes on to
say: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“And when we embrace our brokenness,
we are ready for breakthrough.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Are you in need of a breakthrough? -
Embrace your brokenness!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Let it drive
you to your knees to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Allow him to
not only bind up your wounds and heal your broken heart, but also to multiply
you in your Christ-likeness. This is what God has shown me, through Psalm
147:3, to do with my brokenness. For our wounds truly are a<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">matter of the heart”</i>
that matter to God, and that matters to me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></o:p></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">With His Word He cleanses,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">With His touch He mends,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">With a whisper He restores,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">With a prayer He sends –<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">All His grace relented,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">All His glory unleashed,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">By my side the Lord cometh,<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Jehovah Rapha heals me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">~Written by Katrina Wylie</span></span></i><br />
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i> </div>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></o:p></span></i><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“The moon will shine
like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of
seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the
wounds he inflicted.” ~Isaiah 30:26<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-8421451138459312792013-06-06T02:01:00.003-07:002013-07-31T13:36:34.684-07:00Spiritual Vitamins<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1inVO1GlNgd7lPX6OLEnX9mL02HJI4nkrAKldBhNEDmYM0FZ2DWP6DioTP5Xg5ZHZzvcZVirLpA8xYmRLEMA73VUIy_n3RAk3d-KndXOwiygMZhM-7y5hEqvPLHFuvwgAKm82HYmGOi4l/s1600/c1c8bcf27354830833ee7ed751644f25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1inVO1GlNgd7lPX6OLEnX9mL02HJI4nkrAKldBhNEDmYM0FZ2DWP6DioTP5Xg5ZHZzvcZVirLpA8xYmRLEMA73VUIy_n3RAk3d-KndXOwiygMZhM-7y5hEqvPLHFuvwgAKm82HYmGOi4l/s320/c1c8bcf27354830833ee7ed751644f25.jpg" width="179" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/157626055680365650/">http://pinterest.com/pin/157626055680365650/</a></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span></i> </div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It seems that lately
I’ve had so many questionable feelings, to the point where I can feel no more;
only numbness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The conflicting emotions
have slowed my brain like a drug, taking over the realization that it is my
turn to lead this dance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, I find
myself waltzing around in a circle of confusion, battling myself every step of
the way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s as though a civil war has
erupted inside of me and I’m frozen right in the crossfire of my own thoughts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I sit here lost in the whirlwind of arrows
buzzing by, not knowing which one is pointing in the right direction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I try to find my way, but the smoke from the
bombardment of mixed feelings has stolen my sense of direction and is slowly
smothering me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I run this way and that,
finding myself advanced to the front line, where there are no more trenches to
shelter me from the battle, only an open field of illusional freedom staring
me in the face.<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I wrote that
sixteen years ago, as a senior in high school who was facing graduation and the
prospect of going out into the world on my own for the first time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I share it with you today because, to me, it
illustrates what life looks like when facing it without God…or at least a life
without leaning on His strength, power, and wisdom for help and guidance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is a painting of a battle met in
confusion and ending in defeat because it is one that we can only recognize and
win in Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is the battle that is
raging all around us for our hearts, our minds, and our souls - the spiritual
warfare that the Bible speaks of and warns us about...</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Put on the full armor of God so that you can
take your stand against the devil’s schemes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers,
against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” ~Ephesians 6:10-12<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I finally
decided to face my fear and begin a blog, I didn’t know a whole lot about
actually creating one, but one thing I did know is that it needed to center around
something in regards to my journey with Christ as a believer.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so I prayed for direction, and the more I
prayed and thought, the more it was confirmed to me that what was central to so
many of my struggles in my walk was the one in distinguishing between what came
from God’s Word vs. what had been engrained in me through the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also became clear to me that what I needed
to focus on to change all of this was <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Romans 12:2a: “Do not conform any longer to
the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”</i></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so my main topic, or “theme” if you will,
was chosen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I didn’t yet realize
even then however, is just how big this battle that I was squaring up to face
in my life – the spiritual warfare - truly was.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This has slowly been becoming clearer and clearer to me as I’ve pressed
into God’s Word and shared some of those personal battles here over the past
year, and in particular, through the reading of Tracie Miles book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Stressed-Less Living,”</i> through <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Melissa Taylors Online Bible Studies</i>
which I’m participating in right now.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">If you’ve
been following my blog at all, then you’re already aware that there has been a
battle waging over my physical health.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>One that I have been consumed with and been crying out to God over,
wanting to know why – why he allowed it to happen to me and why I wasn’t
finding healing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It has been a central
focus of mine for years and one that you’ve learned I had come to see as a
giant in my life that couldn’t be defeated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>But then you’ve also learned with me that the real giant that I’ve been
facing hasn’t in fact been my physical struggles at all, but instead is really
fear – a fear fed by my constant focus on my problems and a fear fed by the
enemy in my lack of focus on Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“It is our choice who
will have dominion over our lives – the evil one or the Holy One…We have to be
ready for the war that is being waged against our hearts each and every day by
staying connected to our Savior.” ~Tracie Miles, “Stressed-Less Living” pg. 130<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I was so
enthralled by my struggles that I had become like an eagle that, while zeroed in
on its prey, had not realized it’d circled down into crow territory and
therefore was caught unexpectedly by the assault waged on it, causing it to have
to pull back up with empty talons.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over
and over, day after day, week after week, month after month I did this, almost
giving it up for good in defeat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Thankfully though, God has reminded me that the strength and victory of
the eagle comes from its ability to soar higher than the crows and that I too
am able to soar high like an eagle out of the enemy’s reach when I keep my
trust in Him.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will soar high on wings like eagles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will run and not grow weary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They will walk and not grow faint.” ~Isaiah
40:31<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Run and not grow weary…walk and not grow
faint.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ve been put to the test in this already as I
again began to face my “battle of the bulge” with my rejuvenated faith.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yesterday morning, I decided to take my
exercise out into the beautiful sunshine of God’s creation and go for a walk on
a trail by the river near our house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This is something that I know sounds simple enough to those without
physical limitations, but to my frustration, has proven to be quite the
challenge for me every time in the past.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This time, though I knew the challenges would not be gone, I was
determined not to allow them to lead me down the path of frustration and
failure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Immediately I was tested in
this.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lucky for me though, I had just
read chapter nine of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Stressed-Less
Living,”</i> that same morning, and Tracie’s words were still fresh in my mind:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Real strength results
from persistent communication and fellowship with him and allowing his words to
guide us through each day…Fully trusting in the Lord is where we draw the kind
of strength we need – that spiritual infusion of power that comes from daily
devotion to biblical principles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is
this constant connection with God that will enable us to be transformed and
empowered by him.” ~pages 178, 179<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Remembering
this came in handy when I realized the number of challenges I was already going
to have to overcome just to get the stroller that I needed to push my daughter
in while I walked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The pre-rejuvenated
Katrina would have possibly allowed these obstacles to be reason enough to quit
before even getting started and would have likely taken out the frustration of
this by texting her husband a sarcastic thank you for the location in which the
stroller was put, but the stressed-less Katrina, in knowing that her husband had no idea she was going to need the stroller, decided to talk to God instead,
admitting she couldn’t retrieve the stroller on her own and was trusting in him
and his strength to help her get to it and get it down, out, and into the car.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
~Philippians 4:13<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Though it
was not a quick and pain free process, this go-to power verse repeated over and over again under my breath worked and I was eventually on my
way down the road to the river.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However,
I knew that the challenges were not yet over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I knew I would need additional arsenal for the battle I was about to
face.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again, my mind went back to
something Tracie had written which I had read that morning:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“If you are hungering
for not only stress relief but also a renewed spirit and a healthier outlook on
life, cry out for the nourishment that God provides.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consider taking some spiritual vitamins in
the coming months and allow God to feed your soul.” ~pg. 190<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I began to
list out in my mind all the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“spiritual
vitamins”</i> that I could think of during the short couple mile drive down the
road: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">reading God’s Word, devotionals,
Christian books/studies – a daily quiet time with the Lord…worship, attending
church, fellowship with other believers…writing, serving others, giving/tithing…praying
ceaselessly</i>…out of all these, I knew the last one would be my first line of
defense while walking, for as Tracie says on pg. 195, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Prayer is a weapon that nobody can ever take away from us, not even
our worst enemy.”</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Almost
immediately upon beginning my walk, I was greeted by the all-too-familiar pain
that pierced through my shoulders and neck into the base of my skull with every
pounding step on the asphalt below my feet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Though the pain itself didn’t catch me off guard, the fact that it came
so quickly did, and in that brief unprotected moment, I allowed a negative
thought to creep through my mind where the enemy was almost allowed a
foot-hold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, I turned to God,
praying my situation, my pain, myself into His loving and gracious hands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“God can effortlessly
still the brutal waves in the raging sea of our lives, but we have to put our
lives in his hands before he can do so.” ~Tracie Miles, “Stressed-Less Living
pg. 195<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">For the
first half of my walk this is how it would go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Though I was not pain free, I was not pain focused, which was a victory
all of its own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A victory that I was
celebrating until shortly after I reached the half-way mark and had turned
around to head back in the direction I had come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was then that I met my first
distraction…and my second…and my third.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All
in row, one after the other, runners zipped by me with ease and in their wake
the thoughts: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Lord, why can’t I run… Why
is even walking so hard?” </i>were left in my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had come to a crossroads at that
point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A crossroads I had come upon so
many times before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The thing is, even
though I may not be able to physically run, I can choose to allow my thoughts
to race towards the devil where I inevitably find myself held captive in
negativity, or I can choose to run to the throne of God and receive his mercy
and grace.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious
God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There we will receive his mercy,
and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” ~Hebrews 4:16<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We are so
blessed to have a God that loves us so much that no matter how many times we
mess up, no matter how many times we choose the wrong path, no matter how many
times we do not choose him, he still always offers us an alternate route – an
escape route - and is there waiting patiently to welcome us back onto the right
track.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He did this for me on my
walk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though I had veered dangerously
towards the embankment of defeat again, this time I saw the blinking caution
light and was able to straighten back out thanks to the morning’s regimen of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">spiritual vitamins </i>I had taken in and as
I ventured down this escape route from God, I was reminded of yet another
important, but often overlooked and/or forgotten <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">spiritual vitamin</i> by my daughter…</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqvzW7uSJpUolNiXh1ML2Mkavz6S_3W6nG_kt3voiAbbMd8_2UdXXUZFyifzKBpLXWE4IAtvmn1tqd1zhgrmKnGhRjzPV9EOitKC3_8eVOLx-ZZOv-IfWcqbQ36L9TjEP7pqEtCr6rdysZ/s1600/IMG2588.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqvzW7uSJpUolNiXh1ML2Mkavz6S_3W6nG_kt3voiAbbMd8_2UdXXUZFyifzKBpLXWE4IAtvmn1tqd1zhgrmKnGhRjzPV9EOitKC3_8eVOLx-ZZOv-IfWcqbQ36L9TjEP7pqEtCr6rdysZ/s320/IMG2588.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sometimes
you have to stop and take the time to smell the flowers, for it is in doing so
that we are reminded of God’s great grandeur – the beauty and wonder of his
creation...so much of His truth and wisdom is reflected in this.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ltvVIzlexy97Mm0lPE5QZYNFE5YCXHqCgogocNGcehkH_nhyCyzk_QkPZgqFoWfNgLJvV07PppanEqRgCtjPGTQfP6ziEDw9i9VteOQkWFKrcx93VXNngT2_0iZGq4-4QUCe9f8y8m5V/s1600/IMG2586.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ltvVIzlexy97Mm0lPE5QZYNFE5YCXHqCgogocNGcehkH_nhyCyzk_QkPZgqFoWfNgLJvV07PppanEqRgCtjPGTQfP6ziEDw9i9VteOQkWFKrcx93VXNngT2_0iZGq4-4QUCe9f8y8m5V/s320/IMG2586.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Just in my
short little walk I noticed how the birds always sing joyfully all while they
are about their business working, just as we should always be joyful when going
about our business in our day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And in
watching the river flow swiftly over the rocks, I was reminded how God uses the
currents of our lives to polish away all our rough edges and make us
shine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there’s the salmon that swim
up this very river every fall against the current, so much like believers constantly
swimming against the currents of this world, fighting for the spreading and survival of
Christianity in future generations…and we can’t forget the hawk – the one
circling overhead hunting for its prey just like Satan was circling my thoughts
and my heart all throughout my walk, searching for the smallest of weakness to
prey upon…yes, taking a break to marvel at God’s creation is vital to our
spiritual walks.</span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQRGIh2e26o33UaLQ82z_fozYLGoklHilmJ8U-blHFXH9B-3CFvzv2o_UiORusy_NsDYz9aR5uwqT8OnGu3xj7qxJR_gcK-audjbfTZUqM1F5XCEYdQPEqqm13ZHtEV4mukdQStS1mNBLb/s1600/IMG2582.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQRGIh2e26o33UaLQ82z_fozYLGoklHilmJ8U-blHFXH9B-3CFvzv2o_UiORusy_NsDYz9aR5uwqT8OnGu3xj7qxJR_gcK-audjbfTZUqM1F5XCEYdQPEqqm13ZHtEV4mukdQStS1mNBLb/s320/IMG2582.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As my walk
came to a close and I was loading everything back up into my car, one more
thought from chapter nine came into my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>On page 179, Tracie wrote: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Let’s
imagine God had a camera and began taking pictures of people who were pillars
of strength in his eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What types of
snapshots do you think he would take?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>As
I drove home I found myself not only pondering what type of people he’d be
photographing, but also whether or not I’d be in any of his daily collages of
pictures.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I knew that I likely had
not been among those photographs shot in a long while, I wondered whether
perhaps, just maybe, I had made the grade that day, and it is in this thought
that I’ve found my new focus – something greater to strive for than just losing
weight or getting in shape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every day in
working out my struggles – physical, emotional, and spiritual alike – I will
strive to be that pillar of strength in the Lord in which He, our God captures with
his lens, for I want to be found pictured among the strong in God, rather than the weak in spirit.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“If you are searching
for a weapon to fight your stress, don’t look to the ways of the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don’t allow the devil to fill your head with
lies that drugs, alcohol, physical pleasures, or random coping mechanisms are
the only choice you have.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Choose God,
his Word, prayer and spiritual vitamins.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As you fight the battle with these tools, you will also be
simultaneously choosing your victory.” ~Tracie Miles, “Stressed-Less Living”
pg. 196<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“God’s desire is that
you surrender all that is weighing you down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>If you choose only one weapon to fight off your stress, let God’s Word
be it.” Pg. 185<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the
course of your life.” ~Proverbs 4:23<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-65582795849699883142013-05-30T14:48:00.005-07:002013-07-31T13:37:36.034-07:00A Gift From Above<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“You know what I long for, Lord; you hear my every sigh…”
(Psalm 38:9)<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I opened
my eyes to the morning light streaming through my bedroom blinds, I quickly
realized it was just a dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the
name “Rebecca Grace” still ringing in my ears, I re-closed my eyes and, in hope
of falling back into that glorious state, began thinking back through the visions
that had just moments before played out in my mind while slumbering so
peacefully – visions that had filled my whole being with a happiness that had
brought forth real tears of joy -tears in which were now trickling slowly down
my cheeks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">While
dabbing at those tears with the sheets, the light from the room in my dream
filled my mind once more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Its soft white
glow, like that which streaks through a wall of clouds in the sky when the
sun’s moved behind them, lit the rooms surroundings, giving all the details and
the edges of it that familiar, fuzzy, dream-like appearance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though I was wide awake this time, all the
contents of the room again sprang into view - from the stark white color that
seemingly poured over everything from floor to ceiling, to the two woman, who
were also clothed in white, that were moving quietly but purposefully about the
room preparing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there was me on a
bed, where I had sat peacefully, comfortably, and silently in the dream,
watching and wondering just who these two women were and what were they
preparing for – two questions for which I now already knew the answers to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were the two Mary’s…the two from the
Bible…the two who were with Jesus through His crucifixion on the cross, and they
were there to deliver a baby…for me…a baby girl who they’d call Rebecca Grace
as they’d handed her into my arms.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Again, tears
welled up in my eyes and spilled over, only this time I let them freely flow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Opening my eyes, I quietly peeled back the
covers and tiptoed over to my desk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
had to know.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why Rebecca Grace?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> ...</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></span></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I grabbed my Bible bag and the two books of
baby names that’d I’d kept after having my daughter, and went out to the living
room so as not to wake my sleeping husband so early on his day off.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Eagerly, I plopped down on the couch and
turned to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Rebecca”</i> in one of the
books and read: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Tied, knotted”</i>…not
at all what I had expected, but I read on…<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Biblical;
Rebekah, noted in the Genesis account as a maiden of beauty, modesty and
kindness, became the wife of Abraham’s son Isaac”</i>…uh huh, I already knew…<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“See also Becky”</i>…hmmm, now that made me
stop and ponder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then I opened the other
book and read: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“(Hebrew) joined together,”</i>
and a deep sigh escaped my lips.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Wow Lord, thank you!”<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the
depths…weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”
~Psalm 30:1a; 5b<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This was me
just four mornings ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was me just
three mornings after sharing here about my Goliath – the giant born from the
fear that engulfed me during the long and complicated birth of my
daughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was me after having just
opened up my heart to the Lord, asking for His strength to help me conquer my
giant…asking for His peace to fill my heart…and asking for His healing touch that
it so desperately needed. (to read that post, click here <a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/05/not-my-goliath.html">http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/05/not-my-goliath.html</a> )</span></span></div>
<br />
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds, and to him who
knocks, the door will be opened.” ~Mathew 7:7-8<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Here I was,
like Tracie writes on page 65 of “Stressed-Less Living,” needing <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“God to heal the broken pieces of my heart,
weaving a soft thread of his scarlet peace through the frayed edges of my
life,” </i>and he delivered just that, through a dream of all things!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not what I, nor likely what anyone would
expect, but then the Lord does declare, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,” (Isaiah 55:8)</i></b>, so I guess I shouldn’t
have been too surprised that he’d answered in a way that I was not
expecting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">For four
years I had been pleading with the Lord to heal my body only to be left in my
frustration wondering why he wasn’t moving in my circumstance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The morning of the dream he answered that “why”
that had been screaming through my heart, mind, and soul all those long years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He brought forth a memory of the time in
which I told about in my last post – the time when my husband and I were broke,
about to have our first child, and not knowing how we were going to pay our
next month’s rent or what we were going to do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For months I had been praying for God to provide my husband with steady
work so that we could stay where we were at, but to no avail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then, as we were packing up the last of our
things, still with no plan or answer, my prayers changed to asking the Lord
what he would have us do and where he’d have us go.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was then, when I stopped telling the Lord
how to answer my prayers, and began instead asking for His will, that he
finally answered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if
we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” ~1 John 5:14<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Just days
before we had to be out of the rental, my husband received a completely
unexpected phone call from an old boss of his, asking if he happened to be
available and interested in helping him out with his next job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He hadn’t worked for this guy nor even lived
in the same state for six years!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again,
not at all an answer that I expected!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
is truly amazing how the Lord will move when you let go of your desired outcome
and open up your heart and mind to His will and His endless possibilities!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A lesson I had apparently forgotten in my new
struggles, but one I’m thankful to have been reminded of with His unconditional
love and unlimited patience for me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">“God’s heart longs for
us to embrace the desire to be rescued by his hope…” ~Tracie Miles,
“Stressed-Less Living,” pg. 165</span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Every time
I’ve opened myself up to God’s possibilities, I’ve been left in awe at how he
pulls together even the smallest of details in our lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This dream has been no different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I can’t say that I completely understand
its purpose that it is to have in my life now and even possibly in my future, I
can see the significance in many of the details that have been woven there.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example, how the short form of Rebecca is
Becky, the name of the friend I wrote my legacy post on, who played a significant
role in leading me to Christ. (To read that post, click here <a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/05/legacy.html">http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/05/legacy.html</a> )<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then there’s the
meaning of the name Rebecca Grace: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“joined
together”</i> with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“grace.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s as if God is confirming to me that he
joined Becky and I together to reveal to me his grace, and also that he is now
joining together the details of my struggles in His grace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Then there
was the fact that the women who were by my side caring for me and comforting me
in the dream, were the very same women who had been there near Jesus during his
most difficult hours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a detail
that didn’t go unnoticed because, as I shared in my last post, I was in labor
from Good Friday through Easter, and had correlated the timing and our sufferings
in my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through the dream, it feels
as if God is showing me that he had sent them to me to be near me during my
most difficult time as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This dream has
not only felt like a message from God, but it has also renewed my hope that perhaps
I will be given another child someday, maybe by birth or perhaps even by
adoption.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Either way, I can now think of
that possibility without the overwhelming presence of fear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead what comes to mind is the dream that
He’s given me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is now also what comes
to mind even when I think back to my real experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s as if the Lord has taken those haunting
images, sounds, and feelings from my labor and replaced them with the holy
presence of His peace, overriding them with the visions from that dream. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">There are
some who might be thinking, or perhaps might even say, “But nothing has
changed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was just a dream.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is true when taking into consideration
my physical struggles – nothing there has been changed through this dream, but
the lesson that God has been teaching me through the book “Stressed-Less
Living” – the one that has had the biggest impact so far, is that God cares
more about changing my heart than he does changing my circumstances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“The LORD does not look at the things man looks at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Man looks at the outward appearance, but the
LORD looks at the heart.” ~1 Samuel 16:7b<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Like Tracie
said on page 65, I didn’t need <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“a cure
for the problem but a cure for my heart as I dealt with the problem in his
strength and under the refuge of his love,”</i> and the Lord has accomplished just
that through this beautiful and simple dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Through it, He has forged out all fear and poured in His peace instead –
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“the
peace of God, which transcends all understanding,” (Philippians 4:7)</i></b>,
and that my friends is truly <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">a gift from
above</i> and progress worth reporting! <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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</div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“I sought the LORD, and he answered me; he delivered me from
all my fears.” ~Psalm 34:4<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds.”
~Psalm 147:3<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“A heart at peace gives life to the body.” ~Proverbs 14:30a<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Hope deferred makes the heart sick but a longing fulfilled
is a tree of life.” ~Proverbs 13:12<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-18855811406311498712013-05-23T10:48:00.000-07:002013-07-31T13:38:00.088-07:00Not My Goliath<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It
was a Friday evening, late in the five o’clock hour, the tenth day of the
month.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I remember it like it was
yesterday – the day and time my labor for my daughter began.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It had been a sunny day, blue skies, little
in the way of clouds - warm for a spring day in April…for North Idaho that is.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My husband had come home and taken me out to
lunch at one of our favorite joints – Red Robin.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I ordered the chicken teriyaki sandwich with
fries and tartar and distinctly remember feeling like every person’s eyes in
that restaurant were on me, casting their disgusted looks my way, and shaking
their heads in horror as the waitress set down my plate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In my head I heard them saying, “How could
she have ordered that when she can barely even fit into the booth?!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Which was true, my stomach was uncomfortably
touching the table in front of me, but it was me, not the other diners that had
been casting the disgusted looks…well, they could’ve been too, I don’t know
because in my shame I hadn’t even looked up beyond my plate, never mind into
their eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Gaining seventy pounds when
the normal weight gain of a pregnancy is twenty to thirty can tend to do that
to a girl, yet here I was eating a giant plate of fattening food four days
after my due date anyway. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It
was a nice gesture on my husband’s part though – him wanting to take me out.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was supposed to be a treat – one last
hoorah for the two of us to do something together before the baby came.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There wasn’t much conversation going on
however.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My husband was self-employed in
an industry that the downturn in the economy was not kind too.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There hadn’t been consistent work since
before the snow had hit that winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our
savings were gone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Little to no work was
lined up for the future.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Taxes were due
in five days.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We had no idea how we were
going to pay them.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We owed thousands.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also had no rent money beyond May…yet here
we were, about to have our first child…and eating out like we didn't have a care in the world , but in truth, we had no idea what we were doing...</span></span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I
had already packed up most of the house knowing we would have to move, and knowing this
was something I wasn’t going to be able to do right after having a baby (thank
God I had enough sense at least to do that), but to what end and where we’d be
going, we had no idea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I said I was
trusting God to lead and provide, and knew He actually was in so many ways, but
I’m realizing now that my faith in Him had been damaged a bit through that
circumstance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t see or
understand what He was doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just a
year before we had left San Diego – the place I’d grown to love more than
anywhere else I’d lived and the place that was home in my heart – to go back to
our home town in response to God’s leading…now I couldn’t help but think, “To
this though?!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Surely I had heard wrong
or gone wrong somewhere somehow.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
couldn’t possibly be God’s plan.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the
LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future.’” ~Jeremiah 29:11<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Hope
and a future?” – it sure didn’t feel like it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>So much had changed in just a year…and so much more was about to
change…change in which I didn’t see coming in the least…change beyond the
normal amount that comes from having a baby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My own personal Goliath was rising up and preparing for a battle that
was lurking just around the corner.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">After
having contractions all week, I recall a twinge of excitement shooting through
me when it became clear that Friday evening that the time had finally
come.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though there was also a natural fear,
the excitement was larger at this point.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>This would soon change however, as my labor went on and on and on, with
little progression, complication after complication, and seemingly no sight in
end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For two full days I labored and
couldn’t understand why so little intervention was taking place, not just from
the doctors, but also from God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I couldn’t
help but notice the irony in the timing in which my labor had begun – Good
Friday – and how I was feeling just like Jesus in my sufferings. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ~Mathew
27:46<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">But
also, just like Jesus who knew His resurrection was coming and understood the joy that would
follow, I knew eventually I’d be delivered from my pain and that joy would
follow in the form of our new baby, and this I clung to desperately in hope,
believing this would surely take place for me on Easter as well…but then Easter
Sunday came and went and I had yet to receive that deliverance and that
joy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, I quickly felt all hope
grow faint for, as it turned out, I would labor for another half a day and during
those twelve hours is when I would come face to face, for the first time, with
the Goliath I had been catching glimpses of over the previous forty-eight
hours… <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It’s
been a little over four years now since those fateful days conspired and my
Goliath has yet to be defeated.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How
could this be, you might ask?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well,
because I responded just like the Israelite army - I ran and hid in my tent in
fear, and this is where I’ve been up until about this last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No, I did not run out and meet my giant as
David did.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was surely not me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did not choose faith in God that day, and
I’ve yet to fully trust and depend on Him even now when it comes to defeating
this giant in my life…but I so desperately want to!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Unfortunately, wanting and doing are two very
different things.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The last four years
have proven that to me!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the question
then remains, if I want to defeat my Goliath, how am I going to depend on God’s
strength to do so?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Upon
exploring this, many things have been brought to my attention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first being to seek God first, which I
discovered through verse mapping Mathew 6:33 and shared in one of my posts last
week.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Click here if you missed it but
would like to read it (<strong> </strong><a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/05/seek-first.html">http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/05/seek-first.html</a> ).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The second and third part
revealed to me was that I needed to dig deeper to discover just why my Goliath
had grown so large, and what my Goliath truly is.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“…uncovering
the root of the problem is like putting a stone in our sling shot and knowing
God will use it in powerful ways.” ~Tracie Miles, “Stressed-Less Living” pg.
146<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In my excavation time, what has been
uncovered is that I myself, with the help of the enemy, am responsible for my
giant’s growth over the past four years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I’ve been like a child with a magnifying glass, holding it over my
struggles, looking down at the enlarged images and analyzing every detail,
rather than looking up at my bigger God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the process, my faith has been targeted like an ant under the lens,
being burned from the intense focus of the hot scorching sun that is my
emotions and my attitude about the situation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
<br />
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Could it be that fear, doubt, insecurity, and not
believing that God really sees you are adding to how big the problem
seems?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could it be that the way you
perceive the problem, deal with the problem, and live the problem are actually
part of the problem?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could it be that
your attitude is one of the biggest giants you face, more so than the situation
you are facing?” ~Tracie Miles, “Stressed-Less Living” pg. 142<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The answer to those questions is yes,
yes, and yes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While my Goliath did
actually exist prior to feeling and responding this way, my reaction to the
struggles I’ve endured has definitely grown the size of my giant in my mind and
this has played a large role in keeping me from facing my Goliath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like what Chuck Swindoll says and Tracie
points out, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Life is 10 percent what
happens to me, and 90 percent how I react to it.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>And I have certainly not reacted
well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of those reactions I’ve
already shared in previous posts, like stress eating shared in “Mirror, Mirror” ( <a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/04/mirror-mirror.html">http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/04/mirror-mirror.html</a> ), and leaning on
my own strength rather than on God when dealing with the health problems that
have come as a result of complications in child birth, as I shared in “Lean on
Him” ( <a href="http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/03/lean-on-him.html">http://theword-vs-theworld.blogspot.com/2013/03/lean-on-him.html</a> ).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But what God is now revealing to me is
that, despite my almost constant focus on these issues, they are not the power
behind the giant.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What God has unearthed
in reading chapter seven of “Stressed-Less Living,” has been far more
surprising to me.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">One of the raging battles in my mind has
been with whether or not to have more kids.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>When finally deciding to have one after eight years of marriage, we knew
that this decision meant having more than one.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We did not want a single child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, after everything I went through the first go around, I quickly
changed my mind, and all the doctors, gynecologists, and specialists I’ve seen
since then (and believe me, there were many), agreed that this would be
best.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then as time went on and I
found myself faced with friends and family having their second child, I realized
that it was still my desire to have more, only I had buried it deep within my
heart out of the fear that this would require facing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In response to this realization, I again did
not turn to God and depend on His strength.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Instead I went to work on burying my fear of having more, in the hole
where I had just dug up my desire for having more…and there, buried in my
heart, that fear has remained…or so I thought.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The thing about burying things
inside, is that they have a funny way of coming to the surface from time to
time when we least expect it and in ways we may not even recognize at the
time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My buried fear has been no
different.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When going through the study
“Let. It. Go,” I came face to face with my control issues, and in analyzing
those control issues further in “Stressed-Less Living,” what I’ve come to
realize is that my need to control is most often manifested in response to fear
– in other words, when I’m faced with fear, my reaction is to strive for
control over the circumstance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was
the ultimate battle in my labor, and this has continued to be the battle that
has kept me from giving God full control over my life and my Goliath.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But it goes deeper than this, even still.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I read Tracie’s explanation of the
story of David and Goliath on pages 142-144, where she wrote things like: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“The giant, whatever it is, is the only
thing standing between you and victory…even though they thought victory was
impossible, they still dreamed about it…they couldn’t</i> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">envision victory because their eyes were focused on the problem…The
fear that Goliath created in them caused them to adopt an attitude of
defeat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They were defeated long before
the battle actually took place.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The real
giant that they needed to overcome was not the physical presence of Goliath but
the mental presence of stress, worry, and fear in their hearts…they hovered
helplessly in the shadows of their fear,” </i>it was then that the Lord
unearthed the Goliath of all Goliath’s to me in the form of a question - a question
that now laid bare before me, no longer covered by the piles and miles of grime
and muck it had been buried in – had I been subconsciously sabotaging my
attempts to heal and get healthy again, in order to not have to face my fear of
having more kids? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As horrible as this question sounded,
and as tough as it was for me to ask, I couldn’t help but notice and admit that
it was in fact a valid question.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You
see, I had decided, after re-discovering my desire to have more kids, that I
was going to prepare for that possibility in the future, and one of the biggest
goals I set in being able to do so, was to lose as much of the excess weight
that I could and to strengthen my body as much as was possible.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, this was a battle I seemingly could not
win, and no matter how hard or how many times I tried.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a battle in which I faced defeat
over and over again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a battle
that led to discouragement, frustration, anger, and bitterness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was a battle in which I slowly watched
my faith fade and my Goliath grow.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Wow!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Has all of this prolonged suffering, really been a result of not wanting
to face my fear of another labor?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
can’t answer that for sure yet, but I do know that it is at least a part of the
puzzle, or else why would God have brought it to mind?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus, it does make an awful lot of sense when
taking into consideration my stress eating and failed attempts at regular
exercise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So while I know that there are
in fact real obstacles to overcome in getting my body where it should be to
even consider another pregnancy, I also know that I need to come face to face
with my true Goliath – my fear – if I’m ever to experience God’s victory in
this and have that desire in my heart to have more children be fulfilled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> But, i</span>n order to do so, I need to go back to step
one – seeking God more fervently.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“God’s desire is that, with every new circumstance we
face, we see not only the giant but also an opportunity to discover what he is
capable of handling and just how big he really is.” ~Tracie Miles,
“Stressed-Less Living” pg. 141<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This is my desire as well, and I’m
coming to realize that while I’ve been saying, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Not my Goliath</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God won’t deliver me from this giant.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>God has been telling me it’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">not
my Goliath</i></b> to fight alone, and that I need to run to face my Goliath
just as David did, with full faith and trust that I can depend on His strength
to overcome and defeat the fear that’s been towering over my heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I look forward to that day with hopeful
expectation - the day in which I can declare with all honesty and confidence that: <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuHNEfgSpOVPVhI29rV_hkgeG-9J5em5gzVJvtstZLm8SeXWrwQ6EmRsexqrr3m0LQarEJ10ALWhANooYnPuurhSIFoXlgtpNXaJCrqV1nET-w-NpyjK8rxzJHgedEywcvTHaVz5Mdwdxe/s1600/ce5b3edee0b0d5180689daee47ca37a5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuHNEfgSpOVPVhI29rV_hkgeG-9J5em5gzVJvtstZLm8SeXWrwQ6EmRsexqrr3m0LQarEJ10ALWhANooYnPuurhSIFoXlgtpNXaJCrqV1nET-w-NpyjK8rxzJHgedEywcvTHaVz5Mdwdxe/s320/ce5b3edee0b0d5180689daee47ca37a5.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/183943966000625068/">http://pinterest.com/pin/183943966000625068/</a></span></span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<em><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">*special note – while I was writing out
my rough draft of this blog, I experienced a really cool thing I wanted to
share with you quickly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I came to
the last paragraph, I found myself at the bottom of the paper, but rather than
flipping the page over, I continued writing on that page by drawing an arrow to
the right margin, turning my notebook, and then continued writing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I still wasn’t done at this point, I
then proceeded to do this on the top margin and left margin as well, until the
entire page was full.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What I ended the
rough draft with, so happened to be the stress busting scriptures at the end of
chapter seven of “Stressed-Less Living,” and what I came to realize upon
stopping and looking at what I had done, was that my rough draft was now
completely surrounded by the Word of God!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What an awesome feeling it was to experience Him wrapped metaphorically
around the struggles I was sharing, as if He was already there providing me
with His strength to face them – which of course He was </span></span><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 12pt; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></span></em><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-92062411593793433372013-05-19T17:16:00.001-07:002013-07-03T21:52:39.431-07:00Seek First<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbKBPjGU-0iK9sOPYA_bfjSK43hqs0cBPnO_jySNtoQfzCkTaMJ5_r4372UDHLV_pfSci46YbrqIjXUpYeSiK3KN4pQJWDJVVa7FHyh8k_yTcRJqupWKEjUG5onkoF1Ok-eHTnUVUfdUQk/s1600/7af73c887e5c11bcba53c9ff0c17a241.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" pua="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbKBPjGU-0iK9sOPYA_bfjSK43hqs0cBPnO_jySNtoQfzCkTaMJ5_r4372UDHLV_pfSci46YbrqIjXUpYeSiK3KN4pQJWDJVVa7FHyh8k_yTcRJqupWKEjUG5onkoF1Ok-eHTnUVUfdUQk/s320/7af73c887e5c11bcba53c9ff0c17a241.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/221520875394492915/">http://pinterest.com/pin/221520875394492915/</a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"But <strong><u>seek</u></strong>": <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>to pursue with all our heart, mind, and soul.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is a response I’ve acquired naturally through my driven personality in many areas of my life, and yet it has not come so easily to me when it comes to God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To seek a career with all my heart, mind, and soul – sure, I did that for eight years with a grueling and intense focus that could not be thwarted by any obstacles that stood in my way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I jumped over them like an Olympic hurdler running for the gold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To seek a home with all my heart, mind, and soul – yes, I did this also with nearly two years of unwavering focus as we looked through house after house after house with no success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Again all the mounting obstacles did not stop me from continuing to pursue that dream.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I pushed through them like a plow moves aside the snow on a highway during a storm. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But then to seek the things of God, His Word, His truth, His will – in this I’ve floundered over and over again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like a fish that’s trying to swim back into open water when it’s been caught by the fisherman’s hook, I have been hung up on the simplest of obstacles that have been cast my way by the world and through the schemes of the devil, struggling and fighting to swim back into those open waters where the freedom of God so patiently and lovingly awaits me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.” ~Deuteronomy 4:29<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” ~2 Chronicles 7:14<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"But seek <strong><u>first</u></strong>": to put above all else...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">In reference to the Macedonian churches, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">2 Corinthians 6:7</b> says: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.”</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Have you done this with the Lord – have you put Him first above all else in your life, or do you fall into the category of “the expected?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There have been times in my life in which I could’ve answered yes, I put Him first - praise God!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But those times haven’t lasted eternally as God does.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amen.” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-1 Timothy 1:17.</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>Yep, eventually and inevitably I fall among “the expected,” where He’s pushed down from that number one spot over and over again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Just like a number one hit falls from the music charts when the next new and exciting song releases, he has fallen to number two, three, and maybe even lower on my priority list at times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"But seek first <strong><u>his</u></strong>": not ours <u>or</u> the world’s, but God’s alone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All too often, “His” has been replaced by “mine” and/or “the world,” as if this swap is somehow better or at least equal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But in truth these alternatives cannot possibly stand up to the job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In truth, these substitutes for the all-knowing and all-powerful God are as ludicrous as swapping out steel with playdoh in the construction of a bridge - one that we’ve placed our trust in as we frequently travel over it in order to safely cross the expanse of the deep waters of this life.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b></span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the LORD.” ~Isaiah 55:8<o:p></o:p></i></b></span></strong></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.” ~Proverbs 28:26<o:p></o:p></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Do not deceive yourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a ‘fool’ so that he may become wise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight.” ~1 Corinthians 3:18-19a</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"But seek first his <strong><u>kingdom</u></strong>": God’s word, His truth, His work; all that makes up His heavenly realm; is eternal – unlike this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Though it can be found in this world, it is not part of this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is above all things of this world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world.” –John 18:36a.</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; his dominion endures from generation to generation.” ~Daniel 4:3b<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Where the world is consumed with sin, His Kingdom is filled with holiness and righteousness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where the world is drowned by darkness, His Kingdom is refreshed with His light and Spirit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and on Earth is yours.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.” ~1 Chronicles 29:11<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Can His kingdom be seen through you, or is it the world that is magnified through your words and actions?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is yet another tough question that the Lord has laid on my heart to be examined in my life and the answer captured there has been equally difficult for me to swallow, for like a picture taken at a crime scene used for evidence to charge the guilty, my sin in this world is what’s been exposed to me upon examination.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"But seek first his kingdom and his <strong><u>righteousness</u></strong>": a quality of Christ that God desires to grow in us; one that is given by God and is to be sought after through faith, not in our own strength; a willingness to obey and serve and do what’s right according to God’s Word, not according to the world’s standards; a quality that is necessary in order to do the work of God’s Kingdom. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” ~2 Cor. 5:21</i></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“…not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>~Philippians 3:9</span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world.” ~1 John 2:16<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these<strong> <u>things</u></strong>"<strong>:</strong> food, drink, clothes, plus all the things of the Lord – His Kingdom, righteousness, etc. - all that I’ll ever need and more.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mathew 6:33 </i></b>is read alone, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well,”</i></b> we’re left to wonder just what are these “things” it’s referring to and why do we need to seek God first in order to have them?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, did you know that this verse is included in a whole section of verses in which their main topic is worry?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you read the surrounding verses, Mathew 6: 25-34 (go ahead and do that now if you need a refresher), it quickly becomes obvious that these things are the everyday things of our lives that we have a tendency to allow our worry to consume us over.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now it’s all becoming clearer, but let’s continue on with breaking down the verse before elaborating further…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things <strong><u>will</u></strong>":<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>promised; guaranteed by God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Notice there is no might or maybe to be found in Mathew 6:33.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s just “will” plain and simple, and God’s Word tells us that what God says He will do, He accomplishes: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” ~Isaiah 55:11.</i></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What a powerful statement!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How awesome is it that we can count on God to do what He says?!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How refreshing is this after all the broken promises and let downs we experience through this world?!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be <strong><u>given</u></strong>": – bestowed graciously and abundantly by God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>God is a giver.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He has given us the earth - Psalm 115:16 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He gave us His Son – Isaiah 9:6; John 3:16<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He gave us His body; His life – Luke 22:19 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He gave us the Holy Spirit - Romans 5:5 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He has given us grace – Ephesians 4:7<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He gives us peace – John 14:27<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He gives us strength – Isaiah 40:29<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He gives us a new heart – Ezekiel 37:26<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">He gives us all this and so much more!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We serve such an awesome and gracious God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What has He given you lately?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What can you add to this list?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to<strong> <u>you</u></strong> as well.": you - Katrina; you - insert your name here!<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>If you notice, Mathew 6:33 doesn’t say anywhere, “to the deserving,” or “to the perfect,” but rather to me and you, just as we are.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thank you Lord!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’ve been buying into the deceit of Satan, believing that you aren’t good enough to accept all that the Lord has given you, take a moment with me to listen to this song and press into the Lord…just as you are. (click the link below, and when you're done listening, hit your "back" arrow to rejoin me in closing)</span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” ~Ephesians 6:12<o:p></o:p></span></i></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujBvIkU0dlQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujBvIkU0dlQ</a></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I’ve pressed into God through Mathew 6:33, the underlying truth that I’ve learned is that when we seek God first in our lives, this opens up the flood gates of His giving, bringing us to a place where all the things that we used to worry about, are now given to us freely and abundantly, thus reducing our stress in this life greatly. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is an awesome thing!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But even more awesome than that is how He’s used this verse mapping activity to grow my eagerness to just be with Him, in His presence, in His unfailing love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m beginning to truly understand what it means to delve deeper into Him and His word<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and through it I’m discovering, not only a deeper relationship with the one who created me, but also an indescribable peace and joy in my heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While in my sinful nature, I may still be inclined from time to time to sing to another tune, I’m so thankful that He is the classic love song of my life in which I will always turn back to – the melody that will be playing in my heart for all eternity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">~Lord, I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands, but let me hold unswervingly to the hope that I profess, for you who promise are faithful.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Psalm 119:10; Hebrews10:23)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-57113751193067090592013-05-16T03:11:00.001-07:002013-07-03T22:18:54.402-07:00Lay Down My Pride<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin: 0in 0in 10pt;">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">This morning, while reading chapter six of “Stressed-Less Living” by Tracie Miles, an image came to light and illuminated an important message for me – one that I was hoping to express here to all of you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to sit down and begin to write out those thoughts until this evening, I became worried that the inspiration and clarity I felt would drift away like a cloud on a windy day, just as so many of the messages like this one had before it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That has proven to be one of my biggest obstacles that I’ve had to face in my writing – being able to retrieve inspired thoughts when the time finally comes in which I’m able to write.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All too often I find myself becoming distracted and frustrated to the point that what was once so clear in my mind, has now become fuzzy and disjointed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Even though I was on guard of this happening today, I still found myself falling victim to it yet again and the reason why is simple – even though I’d prayed for clarity to remain, I had not put on the full armor of God.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” ~Ephesians 6:11-12<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Satan has sure done his homework in knowing just the right time to begin his assault in my life and on my mind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He chooses his flaming arrows wisely and hits his targets with astounding accuracy – yes, Satan is a master when it comes to the art of destruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His attacks have come frequently and swiftly as of late.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With every revelation, motivation, inspiration from God, has been another bombardment from Satan, leaving me overwhelmingly fatigued, foggy-minded, and frustrated - all generally not feelings in which God’s Word can easily be activated in our lives. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Lord, I put on the belt of truth around my waist, and the breastplate of righteousness in place,</span></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> so <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">that I may stand firm with my feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lord, I also take up the shield of faith, with which I can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one, and I put on the helmet of salvation and take up the sward of the spirit – your Word Lord – so that I will be alert and ready for his assault.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lord, I thank you for the protection in which you have provided from the evil one and I give you all the glory that comes from this victory, in Jesus name, Amen.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Last week, I shared with all of you one of the areas in which Satan has been aiming his assault at in my life, starting all the way back in grade school – the flaming arrows of independence and pride – arrows in which struck and stuck when I found myself struggling with trust and hurt caused by broken friendships and bullying.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through that experience I was deceived into believing that it was easier to just go it alone because surely this was easier than the betrayal and hurt that can result from depending on others, and those thoughts and feelings were continually fed by the world and by Satan, until I believed that dependence on anything or anyone is weak and I couldn’t be weak because to become weak meant being vulnerable, and being vulnerable meant getting taken advantage of and ultimately hurt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so, out of this marathon for independence came strength – an unhealthy strength in myself, and from that grew pride – a blinding pride to God in my life...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I became so focused on being independent that it was like I was walking around with a mirror in front of me all the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All I could see when I looked at another person, a situation, or struggle was me – my reflection starring right back at me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My wants, my needs, my feelings, my hurts, my opinions, my, my, my, my, my!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Tracie says on pg. 120 of her book, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“While this mind-set of pride and independence is common in our society, it is not the mind-set of Jesus.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We are reminded of this truth in John 15:4-5, which says, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">‘Remain in me, and I will remain in you.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For apart from me you can do nothing.’”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Nothing?!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Really?!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not what I was learning from the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From the world I was learning <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><u>I</u> can do all things…”</i></b> (emphasis added).<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>I had not yet learned the rest of that all so popular and important Word of God.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I had not learned: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“in Christ who gives me strength,” ~Philipians 4:13</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Yes, the world may tell us that independence and pride are good and lead to prosperity, but God’s Word tells us that they’re evil and lead to destruction.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Don’t be impressed with your own wisdom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, fear the LORD and turn away from evil.” ~Proverbs 3:7</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.” ~Proverbs 16:18<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“Destruction” and “fall” – the very two words I had been trying to avoid by becoming so independent, as if somehow independence meant indestructible and indestructible meant I could not fall…or so I wanted to believe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Having gone far too many years down this road, I can now confirm and declare that my belief was indeed erroneous and God’s Word is in fact true, for I have recently found myself fallen and in that path of destruction the Bible so clearly warns us about. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">As I’ve shared before, I didn’t accept Christ until January of 2003, and while I wish I could say that this event resulted in the shattering of my mirror – that deep, all-consuming, self-focused pride – sadly it did not.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Tracie discussed on page 121: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Upon accepting Jesus as our Savior, we are invited to abide in him.”</i><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Invited” being the key word here and this being an invitation I did not readily accept.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s been ten and a half years since that life-altering, life-saving day and yet I’m just now truly realizing, through chapter six of “Stressed-Less Living,” how little I’ve really grown in my walk with God in this area of pride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not an easy thing to admit but an important one nonetheless if I’m ever going to grow passed this hurdle and overcome my current struggles.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The struggles that I’ve been facing over the last 4 years have left me reeling because for the first time in my life, no matter how much effort I’ve exhausted or how much determination I’ve applied, little has changed in my circumstances, and also for the first time in my life, this hasn’t been something I could just walk away from in response.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, I’ve had to just keep stumbling and falling and picking myself up, sometimes with increased determination to overcome, but other times with an overpowering sense of powerlessness and an increased hopelessness that it’ll never change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">While during these four years I have cried out to God, I’ve done so while still clutching desperately to my mirror of pride, and as a result, I’ve been unable to see beyond the reflection of myself to Christ, unable to see God at work, unable to truly see His love, or feel His power…unable to reach out and receive his healing touch.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead I’ve only felt and seen destruction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For through all of these stumbles, my mirror has slowly become covered with the dust kicked up from my disobedience, distorted by my selfishness, and cracked from the impact and frequency of my falls, resulting in a disfigured image of myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One that I’ve barely recognized and one that has sometimes left me wondering if I’ll ever find again or if that strong person I had once been is gone forever, lost in the dingy, damaged mirror that lies before me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s during those moments I’ve often found myself pleading with God: “Why are you not changing my circumstance?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why have you not intervened?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Not only have I not been able to see the Lord in all of it, but I’ve also <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not been able to understand or see His purpose as I’ve watched my reflection in the mirror continue to crumble and fall into a million little pieces on the floor over and over again.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this, I’ve only seen my pain - not truly grasping the changes that He wanted to make in my soul, nor the hope and refuge that was available to me in Him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Instead, I’ve continued to only focus on the reflection in that mirror – a reflection that’s only grown more and more troubling and more and more confusing with every break.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Every time I’ve fallen, and every time the mirror’s shattered, I’ve scrambled frantically, in my own strength, to pick it all up and piece it all back together, and each time the rebuilding has grown more difficult and more and more effort has been required in order to hang that broken mirror before me, until finally, I’ve laid there peering at the pieces of my broken down pride lying all around me and wondered if I even have the strength to do it all again…but then this time, something different has happened while I’ve been down.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This time I’ve stumbled again, falling right smack dab into Melissa Taylor’s Online Bible Studies through Proverbs 31 Ministries and right smack dab in the perfect timing of starting the Let. It. Go study, which then led me to the Stressed-Less Living study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it has been through these studies that a new image has been has begun to form amongst the broken shards of my pride.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Now, as I’m peering down at those broken pieces, I suddenly find myself peering into eyes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not the lost and growing hopeless green eyes I’ve been gazing into the last four years, but rather one’s that are rich in a love and a peace and a joy that surpasses all understanding – a love and peace and joy that can only be found in one place – in the deep and soul-penetrating eyes of Christ.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is His eyes that now meet mine in every shattered shard that has lied strewn about my tired and broken body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And it is in His eyes that I finally see the truth – the truth that He has always been there, and the truth that this breaking and chipping away at the mirror I’ve so desperately clung to has been a necessary step in order for the image of Him to be able to reflect past the prideful reflection I’ve built of myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Through all of this I’m learning to say, “Here God,” rather than “Why God,” and I’m choosing to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">lay down my pride</i> as He, rather than me, begins to pick up all the fallen pieces of my heart and build them into a new mirror – one in which the image of Christ has been eternally etched into…and now, as I’m gazing into His image, my eyes are being drawn to the holes…holes in His hands and in His feet…holes that I realize were made my me, by my hand, each time I nailed that broken mirror of my pride back up…and it is through this realization that I’m truly humbled.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“A great test of faith is when we begin to look beyond ourselves and beyond our pride and instead into the eyes of Christ.” ~Tracie Miles “Stressed-Less Living” pg. 132<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">“No matter how long we have been away, how much we have sinned, or how long we have tried to do life without God, he is always waiting to shower us with the love and peace that he promised.” ~Tracie Miles “Stressed-Less Living” pg. 122<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world.” ~1 John 2:16</span></i></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972405304081538530.post-42965156654561961152013-05-09T03:49:00.003-07:002013-07-03T22:19:46.409-07:00NEVER ALONEThis time last year my mom had just undergone open-heart surgery in wake of discovering that what she had been passing off as emotional stress and anxiety, was actually congestive heart failure due to a birth defect in her aortic valve that had gone undiagnosed. May last year was a tough month to say the least – having received the completely unexpected bad news, worrying that she wasn’t even going to make it through surgery, the long days at the hospital of watching her go through so much physical and emotional pain and feeling completely helpless about it all. It was all something I was definitely not prepared for…but she did in fact come home, and on Mother’s Day too.<br />
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This May is all very different. There’s been no unexpected bad news, there’s been no major surgeries, and there’s been no long days at the hospital…and yet this May is still tough. This May is still tough because, even though I will be home for yet another Mother’s Day, my mom won’t be there this time. This Mother’s Day, for the first time, I won’t have her to celebrate with and honor- not in person anyway, only in memory because eight months ago and exactly four months after her coming home from surgery, my mom had a major heart attack and went home to be with the Lord. So now, here I find myself one whole year later facing a whole new May and a whole new Mother’s day - one without my mom. Who knew so much could change so quickly?<br />
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Though I’ve heard the phrase, “life can change in an instant,” a million times and seen it play out countless times in other’s lives and in the movies, I never imagined it’d feel quite like this. So much has changed and yet the world just keeps ticking on like nothing ever even happened. Sometimes I find myself wishing that I could just push a pause button and freeze frame my life so that I can take a few deep breaths in complete and utter motionlessness and silence. Doesn’t that sound completely wonderful? A moment in which there is nothing else to do and nothing else to think about except to just breath…in, and then out…in, and then out…ahhh…that would be pure bliss! Can you imagine?<br />
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As I’m sitting here imagining that for myself, I’m reminded that I have actually experienced bliss like this before. While our lives may not have come stock with a magic remote in which we can control our universe (darn it, I know!), we do however have access to something even better than that but which works similarly, and that something is the Lord our God – creator of all things and master of the universal remote, so to speak.<br />
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This is not at all what I planned on writing about today. I planned on sharing about chapter five of the book “Stressed-Less Living” by Tracie Miles, which I’m reading for Melissa Taylor’s Online Bible study. It was an absolutely phenomenal chapter in which God has continued to use to really move in my heart, mind, and soul; however, notice that I typed “I planned.” While I may have had plenty of good things to share on chapter five, God had a different message waiting for me when I came to Him in prayer for guidance before I began writing, and that message is one in which I’ve long awaited for because in it lies great power. Power in which I’ve only come to recognize just this week, and a power that I’m finally coming to realize that the Lord has wanted to unleash into the struggles I’ve been left to face in the death of my mom.<br />
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After the loss of my mom, one of the things that I’ve unexpectedly struggled with the most is in the realization of just how much I needed, relied on, and looked to my mom for guidance and support. Not just as a mother to her daughter, but as a mother to a younger first time mom. I really wasn’t counting on the overwhelming anxiousness that would come on like a swift kick in the gut every time I’d find myself instinctually reaching for the phone to dial her number when yet another child rearing query would pop into my day, only to then be reminded that she isn’t going to be picking up the phone on the other end…ever.<br />
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Apparently it’s just as difficult for this realization to sink in as it is to feel, because even now after eight months, I still find myself coming face to face with these urges regularly. Sometimes I wonder if they’ll ever go away, or if I even really want them to go away…but the truth is, whether they do or don’t isn’t the question that I’ve needed most answered. The real issue is the tougher questions hiding behind those frequent urges to call my mom. Questions like: Who do I turn to too fulfill this role – this new void in my life which over time seemingly grows larger and larger still as I begin to realize more and more of the things in which I still very much need my mom for in my life? Or, how do I stop feeling so alone in this motherhood journey of mine, when the one person I could always count on in this world to be there for me with unquestioning support, unconditional love, and superior wisdom is gone and I now feel like I have no one to turn to? <br />
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With these questions being only two of so many that have been left imprinted on my heart and soul after the death of my mom, it really shouldn’t have come by surprise that, after praying for the Lord’s guidance about what to share here this week, He chose to fix my gaze directly on this week’s reflection verse.<br />
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Through this precious Word of His, He has began to quietly and gently reply to those long felt yearnings and questions in my heart. In them, He has given me the answer. “The Lord replied,” – the Lord of Lord’s and King of King’s replied to me, to my questions, to the desperate calls from my heart. And He said to me: “My presence,” – the stately bearing of the almighty, your compass and true north, “will go with you,” – Katrina, into the depths of your grief and into the darkness of your pain. There I, your God, am with you always, “and I” – the one and only who can give you all that you seek and need, I, not the world nor anyone else in it, “will give you rest” – will graciously and lovingly give you, Katrina, the rest that you have so desperately yearned for, from your unease and your anxiousness, rest in your spirit, heart, and mind. You will not become lost in your grief or overcome with your loneliness because I, your God, your Heavenly Father am with you always.<br />
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What an awesome God we serve! Though the grief of losing my mom will always be with me in this life, so will the Lord, my God, always be with me. He is with me when I’m missing her, He is with me when I’m struggling in my motherhood journey and yearning to reach out to her, and He will be with me when I travel home for my first Mother’s day without her this weekend. Though I have always known in my mind that He is with us and I have even felt that truth many times in my life, in many of my other circumstances, it is through Exodus 33:14 that the Lord has etched His Word onto the tablet of my heart - His Word that makes His claim that I, Katrina, am NEVER ALONE, and it is in that truth that I am finally able to just breath…in, and then out…in, and then out…ahhh, the pure bliss that can only come from truly leaning on the Lord!<br />
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<em>"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." ~Mathew 11:28</em><br />
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<em>"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty." ~Psalm 91:1</em><br />
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<em>"I will never leave you nor forsake you." ~Joshua 1:5b</em><br />
<br />Katrina V. Wyliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18295752716349878471noreply@blogger.com16