OOOH Pink Elephants!

Too many Elephants! Pink ones, Purple ones, Big ones Small ones. A wonderful lady I adore once said "Don't be afraid to address the elephant in the room." In other words talk about what everyone is avoiding talking about. Well I have a herd of Elephants crowding my life's path now.  It reminds me of the other saying everyone has heard. " How do you eat an elephant? One bit at a time!" Ok So now you have a picture of my day. Now you know why I need to stop typing and go find some quiet place to fall on my knees and ask for some help to go about this day. I have a lot of bites to take and not to mention, chew and swallow as well today. This too is a day the Lord has made. I choose to rejoice and be glad in It!  God is good, oh so good. He who started this good works in me is faithful to bring it to completion. He whom gives does not leave one hanging. It is I who wait, pause, while he stands at the door always thinking are you ready yet? Here I am, I am all you need, lets go already. Yet with the patience of a gentlemen he smiles and waits while I scramble to fill my mo is better purse with all the back breaking weight of supplies I could need to start my day.


May God give you what you need to address your elephants in your life one bite at a time.  As he has promised he will give me what I need to deal with mine. Praise HIM! Good Day to you!

Ephesians 4:14-16

 ¹⁴ Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. ¹⁵ Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. ¹⁶ He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

Day 6 Boot Camp

Short but sweet. A quick run down on the hows and how comes. Well I thought I would do this "boot camp" on the week days and relax on the weekend. I mean really, who gets up at five am everyday? The problem... Starting a habit takes more than five days. If you break the pattern every five days that you are trying to start, it is like starting all over again. Well I had a three day weekend of sleeping in. Needless to say I slept in yesterday. God did not tip my butt out of bed. Nor did I have my own personal rain cloud suddenly appear and soak me till I either drown or got out of bed. No, I started schooling behind schedule and slept till 8am. Missing all time with my Jesus and any time to sanely figure out how to walk out the day. I drug my feet, schooled , napped, schooled, napped some more, schooled then had a meeting to get to, so off to McDonalds for coffee. May I just say this: adrenaline brought on by a double shot frappe does not disguise me into looking like I have it all together... all prayed up an all. Uhg. please do not try this, caffeine does not replace or come any where near making up for the lack of holy spirit to guide one through a meeting with people you are suppose to be helping to train.... Church meeting?.... You guessed it. I do believe I cracked a few ill noted jokes...trying to make up for my lack of readiness. Praise God I was not in charge of the meeting or we all would have been up a crick. As it turned out I was the side kick, bad comic relief. I do hope my dear friend leading the meeting was not too put off by me. AWE but on to better days. Today is day six. I am up and ready for the day. After spending time on my knees being filled and emptied and filled some more I only have one regret. I wish I would have gotten up at four. I want more time with God. I am so hungry for more wisdom, more knowledge, more of Him.

Signing off for now, God bless all you who are reaching for the coffee right about now:) I know that is where I am headed. Hey the holy spirit is amazing and absolutely heart pounding, worth getting up and being filled with. But lets face it, breaking two habits in one whack...sleeping too much and coffee... are you crazy? Perhaps some day I will switch to tea but that is not in the near future. Praise God for his love and mercy, his newness he has for us every morning!
AMEN!

Getting Personal

It has occurred to me, for some reason unknown, I write little about who I am really.  Not that my blog has been lying in anyway to you all this time. What I mean is I have real struggles and life has a way of messing with me just like it messes with everyone else. The last thing I want is for someone reading my blog to think wow this person has it all together..(you probably think the opposite) but just to be completely transparent, I do not have it all together. God does not give words such as " get up, and stop falling down on purpose" to those who have no problems walking the straight and narrow. Backing up a  bit, recently I learned a bit about defining God's voice; making sure what I hear, and say is from him, is truly from him.

Hear the list: what is said brings peace, is backed by scripture, is backed by the wisdom of wise counsel (thanks all you awesome people,) It is usually repetitive, It is short and to the point, Last and most important if it is God's word you hear in your head speaking to you the words will either help you love others more, your self more, help you love God more, or help you see and know his love for you more completely.

Going forward now, you might be asking how can my word from God be any of those things? It is backed by scripture. " I can do all things through Christ Jesus whom gives me strength." Phil. 4:13 "Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you whereever you go." Josh1:9 And the reason he wants me to get up is to be with him my loving father. He wants to fill me with what I need to live life fully, full of joy, peace, and purpose.

I doubted it first, because it was only one word "Rise" and I happen to be on my knees and thinking "ouch" right before pleading with God to speak to me. So he spoke more clearly in my mind erasing my doubt.  Still quite short and very to the point.

Life has been getting me down lately, quite literally in fact. For months/years now my bed has been my quick sand sinking me deeper. The lie I keep believing is sleep is my only peace from the pain.  I am 32 years old and feel like I must be celebrating my 80th b-day soon. I know that God has quite the plan for me and my life is no where near over. But the ache in my every part of my body tells me other wise. I have fibromyalgia. I hate the feel sorry for me, boohoo poor me, so don't even go there. My point is, this being something I struggle with, it tries to define who I am. It is not who I am. It is not what I have either. I have Jesus. Who I am is HIS!  I know my Daddy God desires the time he needs with me to keep me moving forward in the direction he has planned and purposed my life. I know he has been waking me up in the morning, not because he wants to pester me and cause me to have lack of sleep. The last straw, you might have thought, would have been the day I heard an audible voice. A man calling my name out loud. Beckoning me. Like Samuel, the little guy that heard God calling him in the bible, I looked around to see who could have woken me up. My son had not made a peep, my husband was snoring by my side...no it was GOD! I knew he wanted me to wake up and have time with him in his word and in prayer. I prayed a bit while laying back down in my comfy bed, ... rolled over and went back to sleep. You would have thought He'd have given up. But he did not. I, that day, on my knees praying for a word... He spoke to me. It was just what I needed to hear. Get up! Stop falling down on purpose. When I get too much sleep and not enough God to start my day I might as well stay in bed all day. The day... the beautiful day the lord made for me... goes all wrong, manned by my own strength, my temper fails, my tears fall now because their is mental, and spiritual pain as well as the physical. Many times I find myself back in bed at noon to take a nap...more sleep. Now I homeschool my kids. I know many of you think I am crazy. But now you know my napping can't last long. obviously I got language arts to teach and science to let explode my kitchen.  But again doing what I know I am suppose to brings no joy because of my state of mind. I feel helpless, dragging my feet on empty.

Those words shook me and I saw myself like a child throwing a fit on the floor ( bed) every day saying " God no I don't want to get up. No I want to sleep. Sleep is what I need don't you know that! No what I need is God every step of the way. I know God gives me times to rest. But right now I need to learn to trust in him. I need to learn that this plight/sickness I live with is not some punishment he has planned for me to torture me. It is something he wants to help me get through if only I will let him.

All this said now you know the why behind my "BOOT CAMP" This is day 5 of boot camp. My spiritual regime, to get me back on track, on schedule, and filled with the proper nutrients to fuel my day... Which is more and more and more of my Jesus.

Yesterday was hard.... I fell again. I did wake up and 5:30am. I had time with God and continued to pray all day. But yesterday the pain was worse, and on top of it, I got a cold. My day got more rest then my boot camp drill Sargent in my mind would agree with. To help my fibromyalgia, I am in need of an hour of cardio everyday. I have to exercise. Yesterday, that part of the day got thrown aside ...yes, on purpose. I know it would have made me feel better. But resting got the better of me. Yes, I took a nap. Did God frown?.. Part of me thinks he should have. But then I remember Psalm 23 "The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows, he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength."

I am walking through this with God at my side. He is giving me peace, joy, and drying my tears from the pain.God is so very good.. He truly is. Thanks be to God for all he has done and is doing in me.

I Pray that what ever you are going through, whether it is pain, sickness, financial hardship, depression, stress... Whatever it is I pray you can learn to walk through it with God at your side. Please don't wait and side step your Lord who is waiting to help you through what ever it is. We need our Jesus. We need our hope we find in the Lord in all we are, do, and say , to be all we are meant to be!

Day 2 Boot Camp

I am up, awake, and ready for this day! What a huge accomplishment! You laugh...I hear my keyboard letters clickity clacking at me as well. But truly what a wonderful feeling to be ready for the day and what ever God has in store.

I have hope! I read yesterday about the story of the prodigal son. It should have been called story of a Father's love. The Father who loved his son enough to let him go, give him what he wanted, even though it was not what he needed. He loved him enough to wait longingly for his return not grudgingly or spitefully. He loved him enough to not only welcome him home, but run to him, meeting him on the road of return, and throw his arms of love around him. How very precious is this final scene when the son who once was lost is found. When the son began to learn how to live loved and love his father in return. One son once lost in his selfishness stands partying with his Dad, now found. The other lost in his duty trying to earn his way to gain ...what? He does not know. He feels cheated, confused, hurt. He does not understand how to live loved by His father even though he has worked for him all his life. Will he be found as well? We are left hanging.

Today I read in Psalms 106 and 107 of people whom sinned and sinned. They cried out to God and time and time again he saved them from their wretchedness.  They swore, they bickered, they cursed, they lied, stole, sacrificed children to grotesque statues, they murdered. They fell into complete darkness by their complete lack of trust in God, complete lack of gratitude towards the loving things God had done for them. They let circumstances get in between reality...the TRUTH, that God loves them and wants what is best for them. They kept trying to find their own way to get things done. They thought they could handle things on their own and time and time again the world almost swallowed them whole, and chewed them alive for a thousand years of agony. Sounds like us today. Yet there is hope. It says That the people were scattered, Those that went into the dessert were broken and cried out to God and he saved them from their distress, Those that turned to the sea, their ships were tossed and turned and they cried out to God and he saved them from their distress. It reads on and on and after each time he saves them the passage reads... So let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love.  The last passage of psalm 107 reads "Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord."


So what about that good son left standing? He too needs God. He too needs to cry out and recognize his need. We are all lost everyone of us. Some of us lost in our work, others in our selfishness, or sin or circumstances. We are all loved so much! The father waits standing by the road for our trek back. He waits for our cry. "Lord we need you. Only you will do. You are my all in all!" Living Loved everyday, what does that look like? If only we truly believed how very wonderfully and beautifully we each are made as his children. How remarkable it would be to live so very loved every day!  Living life for God is lonely, like lifting a mountain never meant to be moved in the first place. Living life with God is the answer. Everyday His way, on his path, guided by His hand in yours and mine, helping us every step of the way.

Psalm 106:1 "Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory to his Holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always."

I have hope! Our  Hope is in the Lord for he does rescue his people. He does have a plan, a future, a love that conquers and has given us the Victory in Him!

I pray you also are ready to face this day and every day after with God at your side. We are on the road where he has met us, hand in hand , we go the rest of the distance together. He is taking us back to his house where the fatted calf will be killed and the party will be endless.

Self Discipline

Some things of this world that seem pointless and dull remain the foundation we need long forgotten. Self Discipline is an ancient art form practiced less and less and marveled...I think not!

Here I sit, early morning, on my first day of boot camp. My journey to succeed in having true self discipline. I am no longer going to sit back in my easy chair.  I am no longer satisfied being a spoiled rotten kings kid. Though I am grateful, oh so grateful to always be HIS. I am done throwing myself on the ground, pouting that I don't have the strength to get up. The Truth is I can do all things through Christ Jesus whom give me strength. I have heard Him speak the words like a slap on my back side, " Nora, Get up and stop falling down on purpose."  Can I take back the days I have tossed into the worlds lazy, self indulgent, sleep my life a way pit? Sadly the answer is no. But from this day forward I can choose to acknowledge my place in the race called life. Since I now choose to run instead of walk, I have decided to prepare by stretching, filling with the right nutrient, and proper hydration each morning before I begin my sprint.

5:30 am, my day begins. I begin by dragging my aching back out of bed and showering the sleep away. By 6am I am ready to pray not falling back to sleep talking to myself and my agenda. But rather praying to the Daddy I need advice from, a morning hug from. I read my bible or a devotional to help hear his voice and learn from Him. I pray some more.  I have friends, family, loved ones...myself who all need powerful and effective prayer.  Prayer from a righteous man, the bible says, is powerful and effective. Am I righteous? God only knows! But I will pray any how, with faith, knowing he delights in hearing my voice.

I read once that we need to feed our heart, soul and mind. Now my mind is full of his word and new knowledge and my spirit is brimming with the bread and water that truly sustains me. My heart is beating out these words onto this page. It is fed by sharing His love and what he is doing in me. My heart is filled with joy as I use what makes me happy: writing, to share with you the life I live with my adoring Father, and best friend Jesus.

Here is an exert, I thought life changing, I read in a book called He Loves Me by Wayne Jacobsen: "God is not interested in your sacrifice or your services. He only wants you to know how much you are loved, hoping that you will choose to love him in return. Understand that, and everything else about your life will fall into place; miss that, and nothing else will make a difference."

We are Kings Kids. We are adored with lavished love we choose to ignore. Why?  We suffer from stress and anxiety as we let circumstances crush us, living less loved than we are. We indulge in pleasures that last only a moment knowing it will cause suffering, living less loved. We need to search the heart of our Lord. We need to look up and see him standing there arms open wide. We are dearly loved and cared for. Trust in the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind and lean not on your own understanding and he will make your path straight.

Praise My God for he has been so good to me!

Four Questions: Hope verses Faith

How is hope different than faith?
 
What does it mean to have put our hope in Jesus? 


What are we hoping for if we already have salvation?

Doesn't the bible say that hope does not disappoint us? 


I was going to go all theological in order to answer these questions precise, to the point and absolute.  I got out my bible dictionary, my Where To Find It In The Bible book, different versions of the bible, and of course the lap top with unlimited resources at my finger tips. I studied for a few hours and well, mostly I got a bunch of facts and statements that were void of emotion. How can I even begin to answer these questions in such a way that leaves my hearts cry and personal experiences out of it. Then again there are some very specific facts that are important. So here goes my shot at it. 


Think of your self as a car, the shell of the car, Faith is your engine, Hope is your gas and hopefully Jesus is who is driving you. 


Bad analogy of who you are personally, but as far as what the difference between faith and hope is, it works. Faith and hope work together like inhaling and exhaling. Hebrews 11 says it this way "Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about the things we cannot see. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God's command, that what we see did not come from anything that can be seen."


Hope is often a verb. Faith, according to the dictionary, is commonly a noun.
Hope drives us forward, keeps us going.
Faith holds us stead fast and keeps us securely on the right path.


Faith:  Belief in God,  belief or trust: belief in, devotion to, or trust in somebody or something, especially without logical proof.


Hope: Trust, to desire especially with expectation of getting what you want.

The difference between hope and faith is that our Belief in God never disappoints us. Our hope in specific out comes, we desire God to work out, often can leave us disappointed. We are after all his children and often do not know what is best for us. But there are other factors to weigh in to the out-come of events and circumstances. The will of God is perfect and wonderful. But everyone living in this world has free choice. The ability to live in and out of the will of God. For example a drunk driver runs over a small child. That was not God's will for someone to get drunk and murder an innocent child. "NO!"  But God does promise us that ALL things are made for the good of those who love him. So when we place our hope in God, even after catastrophic events, He is faithful and will stand by us, loving us through hard times, give us strength, and use that child's death for the good. I do believe this is why we have Mothers Against Drunk Driving Associations.

^{Proverbs 13:12} Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life. 

Psalm 119:116
Lord, sustain me as you promised, that I may live! Do not let my hope be crushed. 

The Lord fearfully and wonderfully made each one of us with hopes, dreams. He does not wish to crush those things he created in us to reach for.  Our hope is like our dreams large and small. We hope that tomorrow will come, that it will be even better than today. We hope for the desires of our heart to be fulfilled, whether that be to find a husband, or to run a mile, or to sing the national anthem at a baseball game. Our faith tells us we are adored by God. Our faith assures us he is with us and wants to be involved with our lives. Our faith reminds us to listen to that still small voice that guides us and directs us. Our faith believes the words of the bible are true. Our hope takes the steps necessary for our faith to be active. In James it reads that faith with out works is dead. It could have very well said that faith with out hope is dead. We need our hope in the Lord!  We need to know His ways are better than ours. That he will bring to pass our dreams come true. YES we have Salvation. But oh, we have so much more than that. We have a best friend to lead us and guide us and walk with us through adventures of a life time... our life time!

I have hope that one day my arthritis will no longer hinder me. I have hope my children will come to love the Lord as much as I do or even more!  I hope to ride a motor bike on a country road and feel the wind whip my hair as I speed...yes past the speed limit. I hope to be an author of a book that changes peoples lives. Some of my hopes have already come true. I had faith and hope that God would hear my prayers for my dad  during open heart surgery.... he lives. I hoped one day to be a teacher of children. I taught at a public school. I am blessed to be able to homeschool my kids. I continue to teach kids at church as well. I hoped to one day have close friends I could call dear to me. I have several. I dreamed one day to run a race and beat the asthma that tries to stop me. I have run several now. 

 Romans 11:33-35  Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back?

So this is what we do: 

Lamentations 3:24-26  I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. 

Psalm 33:20   We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. 

Psalm 33:22  May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you.

Psalm 130:5   I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.
Micah 7:7
But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
1 Thessalonians 1:3
We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

 This is what we are promised by putting our hope in the Lord:

Psalm 147:10-12      His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse,  nor his delight in the legs of a man; the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. 

Isaiah 40:31
but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. 

Jeremiah 29:11
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.

 

"Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for." - Joseph Addison

What can I DO? Nothing it has already been done!

 

Mark 10:17-22

The Rich Young Man

 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"  "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.""Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."  At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. 

This young man did not see his need for Jesus. He thought he had what it took to earn his way to heaven. When Christ set the bar too high for him to reach he went away realizing he did not have what it took to earn his way to heaven. He still did not realize his need for a savior. 

Mark 10:46-52

Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight

Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (that is, the Son of Timaeus), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Jesus stopped and said, "Call him." So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus." What do you want me to do for you?" Jesus asked him.  The blind man said, "Rabbi, I want to see." "Go," said Jesus, "your faith has healed you." Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.

The blind man knew of his need of a Savior! The blind man knew there was nothing he could do to earn his sight. He knew he had to rely on his savior's mercy.  

Lord God bring me away from the businessman mentality, and back to the beggar's. May I remember, when seeking you, I have nothing valuable to barter with. There is nothing I can do for you or give to you as payment for you hearing my cries for help.  Lord when I come to you empty handed I can acknowledge how profound your mercy, how mighty your love, how complete your joy is for me; How free you have died for me to be!

Zephaniah 3:17 He will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing!

Quote from the book HE LOVES ME by Wayne Jacobsen  

"When you are tempted to stake your relationship with God on your own goodness or your sacrifice, don't even try. Picture the bar so high that you'll never find a way to clear it. Approach God on the basis of your own efforts, and you will always go away disappointed and disillusioned. But that is not bad news. What it means is that God has fulfilled in himself everything he would ever require of us. Abandoning our own attempts to establish our own worthiness is central to the power of the gospel. Learn that, and a door stands before you to the very heart of a loving Father. 

Matthew 9:13 "I desire mercy, not sacrifice.  For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners!"