So for anyone who is not Amy or Hannah, this blog really is specifically for the three of us. I wanted a place we could post things specifically to each other and so you can really disregard this. It is really only for the three of us so that we may use it to spur each other on and encourage each other to see Christ before other things.
Ames, I know what your thinking and I am right their with you sis. Let's us draw our encouragement and eyes and allow them not to focus on the dust arround Him but on HIM.
Hannley, (I have not called you this in awhile : ) Let us look to others for how we may encourage them in the faith. Let us set ourselves and those around us in a passionatly burning flame.
So here are some things I have looked up the last few days...You know why and let us not think to the why but to the who and what the truth of the word will do. Let us look to God for our foundation and our cornerstone!
II Cor 4:16-18
So we do not loose heart. Though our outer nature is waisting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
~How much I love this vs. I think of all the ways I try and continue to fail and for some reason stumbled upon this durring my quiet time at Starbucks. It was SO encouraging to me. Talk about the fight and reminder we are growing and changing.
II Peter 3:8
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promises as some count slowness, but is patient toward you not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
~No explaination needed just that all is in God's timing
Psalm 84:11
For the Lord God is a sun and sheild; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.
I am also going to post the ones from my last blog so you can actually read them Amy : ). ( " I read your blog but skipped the vs." - your silly and thanks for reading the blog!)
James 1:13-15
Let no one say when he is tempted, " I am being tempted by God,"for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and when it is full grown brings forth death.
~Funny but really it is our own sin that draws us away. Let us encourage each other in word and deed and thought and speech.
Jeremiah 29:11-14
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord , and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
~When will we learn to trust. Hannah you are getting wiser everyday and Amy your starting to sound more like me every day. Too much girl in us ; ) or sin :( Oh, well God made us all unique and I am so thankful for the both of you. Can't wait to see what God will use to encourage you two.
I love you sisters so very much and want to be a good example. So let it begin with helping you and myself to focus on that which is eternal. (You two always encourage me and live such an example) Thank you so much for it all.
9 comments:
Apparently though early it is bedtime as I just fell going up the stairs. Ummm. Ouch. My family asked what fell down and I said it was me but up....hmmm.
Heather, what a supreme idea! I was just thinking that we needed to do something like this about the time that you left last night. It just seems like there's something missing, and seeing as how the lot of us seem to be a bit troubled and well, to use an old word, a bit downtrodden... I think that you've hit the nail on the head. So, yes, let's be God focused. Oh, how we need Him.
I was encouraged by a... friend to read the Psalms on a more consistent basis... one part of God's Word that I had sorely neglected in the past. I don't know... I guess I just thought that the Psalms were pretty much a good deal of repetition of Hallelujahs and praises... and little of anything else. I have been proved quite wrong, girls. Here's a few verses that I've found the last couple of days...
Psalms 37:4
Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Wow! Did you catch that? In our moments of desire or seeming emptiness, where do we turn? To the things of this world or to the Lord? David sought his God, and became a man after God's own heart. We should follow in his footsteps.
Ps. 37:23 If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm; though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
In the NASB the verse reads... 'for it is the Lord who holds his hand'. What an incredible picture! The God of the universe - the Creator and Maker and Sustainer of it ALL - would hold the hand of even the most inconsequential of his disciples, that we might never fall. Now, if that's not encouragement, I don't know what is.
And here is my exhortation to you lovely ladies today (or tonight, rather...)
Isaiah 64:4-5 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him. You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways.
A few things here. God acts on behalf of - in other words, blesses - those who wait on Him. His timing. His wil. He comes to the help of those who GLADLY do right. It's not that we merely obey, but we do it gladly, seeking His guidance and seeking to be joyful in all things. We ought to remember His ways and not turn aside and let our emotions and feelings get the best of us... even when they are so very strong; even when nothing else feels real. Let us hold on to what we know.
We serve a very great God.
Expect more very soon. ;) I can't over God's Word... it is such a gold mine. Really it is.
And Heather, my love... I hope you're alright... falling up can be so disastrous... ;)
I love you both very much.
Hannah, I love those and will read them this morning. I am very into the Psalms, I read them most often. Why do you think I love David so much? His heart and passion, the way he deals with sin and how he expresses things to the Lord. And let us not forget my favorite...dancing before the Lord in our underwear. You know you have done this and if you have not you probably will now! Thanks Hannah. I may add more vs. later but let us see where the day shall take me.
Well, ladies, forgive me for it has taken me so long to even read everything on this blog, let alone post a comment in response. As you both have said, I think that this is a wonderful idea to keep us constantly focused on the Lord. Even this week has been a struggle with that! There are so many "situations" that the three of us have that all need to be dealt with in a way that honors the Lord. One verse that constantly helps me in this area is in Philippians 4 which says:
"Finally brothers (or sisters), whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."
Philippians 4:8
Although we all know this verse well, a lot of times our actions and OUR THOUGHTS do not match up with this verse. Do we always think about what is excellent or praiseworthy? I know I don't! That's the sin in us! We must kill it or it will kill us! Fight! Don't give in! But so often we do give in and let those thoughts, that aren't pleasing to God, reign in our lives over our emotions and our actions...but let me just tell you something that Tom has said many a time that I always try to remember..."what we know trumps what we feel".
Yes, however he is a he and not a she : ) I really love that and it is something to remember. Another thing I was thinking about recently...stick with what you know and not what you feel.
Something I was thinking about as we were praying Sunday night in church...I want to live a life full of God's desires not one for my own.
And I am trying to encourage certain friends but they are all fighting me off currently. Frustrating a bit but I have not been relying on God through prayer to move in their hearts yet.
However, I have been able to encourage a girl at work and my boss. That is always cool.
I have been reading Luke and found something in Psalms today I wanted to add here.
Psalm 40:
I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. he put a new song in my mouth, a song of prauis to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!
Yes, I wonder what it would be like to have complete trust. Seriously though I do not believe in Karma or chance it is so easy to worry about the outcome of situations....at least ones involving other humans. And by this I mean the good and the bad ones. I have had some rather awkward experiences lately with certain guys I am not inclined to be interested in and so I can at moments worry a bit. And then there are always other forms of worry.
Can we pick one attribute each week to focus on keeping each other accountable on? And then actually use scripture and follow through. That would be so great. Let me know what you think.
Heather... that sounds awesome. What attributes in particular are you thinking of?
Alright. It has been THE most insane week... but the time has come for me to share with my sisters. ;) First of all, how ARE you lovely ladies? I pray that this note finds you both rejoicing in the Lord and seeking Him today.
Here's what I read. I think I'll just write out the whole psalm; it doesn't need my interpretation. God's Word is far better. ;)
Psalm 84
How lovely is your dwelling place,
O Lord Almighty!
My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and flesh cry out for the living God.
Even the sparrow has found a home,
and the swallow a nest for herself,
where she may have her young -
a place near your altar,
O Lord Almighty, my King and my God.
Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
they are ever praising you.
Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with [blessings].
They go from strength to strength,
till each appears before God in Zion.
Hear my prayer, O Lord God ALmighty;
listen to me, O God of Jacob.
Look upon our shield, O God;
look with favor on your anointed one.
Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
the Lord bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
O Lord Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.
Those are some rich promises there!!! God bless you girls... I will see you both soon. Oh, Heather, are you going evangelizing tonight???? Let me know. ;)
Well, we could start with something simple like prayer, or something as easy (yeah right) as not talking about certain things for like two weeks ; ) Tried that already and failed everyday : ) oooops. Or we could always go through the proverbs 31 thing for ideas or pick a fruit of the spirit and pray for one and keep each other accountable for every week. Let me know sista'
Oh, I might come out tonight. I have missed sharing like that and was explaining it to my boss today. Either way I have plenty to do (SPANISH FINAL)
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