The Last Day of the Year

Today we say goodbye to 2012, and at midnight many will still be awake to welcome in the New Year of 2013!  This past year held many changes for our family, areas that have taken me on a path that I didn't ever imagine we would go, yet I'm thankful God has opened the doors He has. He has brought healing, and closure in unexpected ways. He has uncovered hidden secrets, and enabled me to step forward toward love and relationship.
He continues to bring healing to our family. And, to show me areas of tremendous blessings. Each day He has stretched me beyond my comfort zone, He has whispered to me to speak for Him, to be a lover for Him,  and to allow Him to control the center of my soul. I know, that 2013, will stretch me even more, in areas of trust, faith, and love.
This morning I read in Psalms 139 again, and these verses stood out:

Is there any place I can go to avoid Your Spirit?
To be out of Your Sight?
If I climb to the sky, You are there!
If I flew on morning's wings, 
to the far western horizon
you'd find me in a minute-
You're already there waiting!
Then I said to myself, "Oh! He even sees me in the dark!
at night I'm immersed in the light!"
It's a fact: darkness isn't dark to you;
night and day; darkness and light, they're all the same to you.

2012 offered me some pretty dark days; it was not my favorite year. But, through the dark days, I learned so much about the presence of God. Because His Spirit dwells deep within me, there is no darkness! I may feel like it's pretty dark, but it's not. His light is there, and He will always show me the way. He is The Door and His Voice is always speaking to me, calling me in the direction He wants me to go, through every trial, all obstacles, every corner. And, as I make my way, in His Light, blessings are flowing, territory is growing, love is expanding, I am learning, Light is shining. It may not always feel like it, but God says it is true. He sees me, I am immersed in the light!
Say That Again, Jesus, You are everywhere, I cannot avoid You. Light surrounds You, and You are rooted in me. Take me into 2013.

The Agape Love

Sometimes I do not always grasp the infinite love of God, His promise to me that He will never stop loving me. Of course this is true because God is love and it is His very nature to love; it has  nothing to do with whether or not I am being lovable! As I've been thinking about this, and praying about this, asking Him to continue to root Himself deeper into my being, I see that the same will be true for me as well. My very nature will be to only love, even when those around me are not so lovable. This is Agape love, it is thinking of it as a verb, and being willing to give to others what they need.
Am I willing to step beyond my comfort to serve another?  Does my character have the capacity to do the loving thing?  Have I fallen in love with God's children?
This morning I read in 1 Corinthians 13 and it describes what love looks like:

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut.
 Doesn't have a swelled head.
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel, 
Takes pleasure in the Truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back, 
But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies.

As Gods chosen Child, if I were to apply this to my life everyday, and treat His family this way, how would my life be different? Would anything change? Would the direction of my life be different?  Less selfish? More patient? More trusting in God? I will continue to ask myself these questions and pray for truth about His love in my life.
Say That Again to me Jesus, Your love is always there, because it is not based on the object, but because it is Your nature. Make it my nature too!

The Sledding Crashes

I'm still thinking about our sledding adventure. We had a lot of fun, but we also had a lot of crashes. There were a few trips down the hill that were downright scary!

God tells me to fear not 365 times in His Word! Wow, Say That Again, Dear Father, because even when I'm sledding down a hill I can feel fear. 

The Very Merry Christmas Eve Day

We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve day. We had a great time. Our two younger children could hardly contain themselves as they eagerly waited for their older siblings to arrive.
We went sledding

 We gathered around the tree and opened presents.

 We put Lego together.

 We made gingerbread houses.

 We cut out sugar cookies and decorated them, then we ate them.

 We made button art on canvases.

It was a full, fun, and delightful day. We ended it by blowing up our gingerbread houses in the snow, and waving goodbye to our grown-up sons and their lovely wives and children.  We were again reminded how God has expended the territory of our hearts. 

Say That Again, Lord God, You have expanded our territory, and I thank You.

The Non-Stick Mix

We made a chocolate cake today and put it in a car pan. I used a special non-stick mix suggested by a friend of mine to keep it from sticking to the pan, and, sure enough, it worked! The chocolate cake slipped right out of the pan!
The mix was equal parts of oil, shortening, and flour all whipped up together. So, while I was whipping the oil, shortening and flour together my mind wandered to the Trinity. You know, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Three of them all together, blended up in such a way that it's the perfect mix when they are wrapped around me.
Just like my mix, three separate yet one, God is the same. And as I rubbed the mix in my car pan, it occurred to me that as long as I continue to keep the mix of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in every aspect of my life I will not get stuck. I will continue to journey through life on the path He has carved out for me, His light shining the entire way. His presence deep within me.
Okay, I'm going to be thinking about non stick mix and chocolate cake this Christmas break, and the gift from my Father on Christmas. He sent His Son Jesus to redeem me, and then Jesus gave His Spirit as a deposit within me.
 Say That Again, Dear God, Three in One, all in me. Thank you.

The Crumb Cake

We are celebrating our first  grandchild's birthday today, she is two. I made her a cake, and put it in a fancy pan. The cake is a family favorite, the recipe passed down from my aunt. I was careful to grease the pan, getting all the creases and then flour. I was hopeful that the cake would not stick, but would just slide out of the pan and look beautiful. It baked nicely, smelled wonderful, and when it came out of the oven, I immediately began to wonder if I would be able to successfully transfer the cake from pan to plate. It looked challenging. I let it cool. I gave it some thought. I took a picture. I asked a few opinions. The cake sat, and cooled. Then, I flipped the pan over the plate, and, the cake broke into pieces! Hmm, it looks like we will be having Crumb Cake for our grandchild's birthday, with ice cream!
The whole cake thing reminded me of the journey of life, sometimes I can be working so hard to get myself all put together, nicely baked just right. Everything looks perfect until there's a shake up and God points out  the fact that I'm the one that did all the work. He turns things upside down and starts to rearrange things a bit, adding His grace, offering His strength. My weakness, like crumbs in a cake, become very evident, and I see more and more that the only way to really journey through life is to be weak and to lean on His strength and live by His grace. It's okay to eat Crumb Cake everyday, if it means I'm eating with Jesus!
Say That Again, Jesus, it is through You and Your strength, that all things are possible, and only through You. I am weak, but You are strong.

My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into it's own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen, I quit focusing on the handicap, and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness, 2 Corinthians 12:9

The Loyal

Who am I to be loyal to? This is a question I've had the last couple of weeks. Naturally, I'm going to be loyal to my God, husband,  family, and a loyal friend. I decided to look up the word loyal just to see what Webster had to say about the whole thing:

-faithful to one's sovereign , government or state: a loyal subject.

-faithful to one's oath, commitments, or obligations: to be loyal to a vow.

-faithful to any leader, party, or cause, or any person or thing conceived as deserving fidelity: a loyal friend.
-characterized by or showing faithfulness to commitments, vows, allegiance,obligations, etc loyal conduct.

God is Sovereign, and to Him I will be a loyal subject. I have made a commitment to Him to follow Him all the days of my life.I will be loyal to the cause of furthering His Kingdom, and loyal to the unity of His family. I will continue to move forward and live in the light of His love, showing faithfulness to my God and the commitments I have made. I will continue to ask Him to lead me and show me how to live a loyal life.
Jesus walked everyday with His friends, He loved them, He talked to them. He was deeply involved in their lives. He was a loyal friend to them, and He still is. He shared with them from the very depths of His heart, holding nothing back, because He loved. His loyal love to them was His actions, His time, His words, His healing power, His tenderness. And then He told them to be like Him! He tells me to be like Him.
If I think about being loyal to Him, and I ask Him to enable me to be a loyal person the way that He is, then it means I am in relationship.  I am loyal because I love you, just like Jesus loves me!
Jesus, I think I need You to continue to Say That Again to me, because I don't always believe it for myself! And, I want to be like you, loyal to others as we walk together.