Sometimes we just need to rest!!

 

A quick thought for you today..... sometimes we just need to rest!!

In the book of Nehemiah we saw that the Israelites had grown weary from working hard to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.  They were fatigued and worn out. My devotional book by Robert Jeffress said: "The Israelites were discouraged, first of all, because they were weary.  They had spent twenty-six days working on the wall, and Nehemiah said they were 'failing'. In Hebrews that word means stumbling.  They were staggering.  They were worn out.  ...Fatigue brings fear and a distorted perspective of reality."

Once in a while, we need to rest.  If you can realize this before your meltdown you will be better off.  Occasionally I tell my daughters you are just tired and need to rest.  Take a nap and everything will be ok. We all get tired and then we don't perform our tasks as well as we should. We don't handle stress well. For example, as a mom, if get you too tired you tend to get grouchy and don't handle life as well as you should.  You know the saying: If momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!! Realize this and take a quick rest before you say or do something you shouldn't to your kids or husband. 

My mom used to put her feet on the couch and lay on the floor.  Worked great for a quick nap.  I have done the same many times.  You won't sleep too long in this position but will get a quick rest and be ready to go again!

Also moms - make sure your kids are rested.  Our little two-year-old granddaughter was being a real jewel one morning when I kept her.  About 11:00 she fell apart and started misbehaving.  She was just tired and needed to rest.  So when things start to fall apart with your kids, let them rest or nap and they will be much easier to deal with.

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Little Lucile went to rest and decided she needed her jammies on over her clothes!! Those grandbabies are so much fun!!

Don't throw a fit....God cares for you!

Fun for today!!!!  Sometimes we are going through life just having a great time!! All is well!!

We are looking around - enjoying everything!

Then God says, "No" and we throw a fit!

Just know He cares and loves us and shows us His compassion!!

 Deut. 8:5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

God is our rock....

In 2004 our family made a big change.  We sold all our farmland, pasture, and equipment and moved to the ranch we now have.  We hadn't been on our ranch and in our new home long when fear and worry came upon me that maybe we would lose everything we had. We had gone forward with this move knowing the Lord was with us.  He had done some pretty miraculous things to get it all done.  Now I was experiencing fear and worry.

That is when I bought this rock.  I kept it in a visible place to remind me that whatever happened everything would be ok.   It reminded me that I could trust Him and always rely on Him! 

Dr. Rober Jeffress wrote in his devotional, "Nothing will paralyze you as you pursue your dream any more than fear or worry.  Somebody has said that worry is a thin stream of fear that trickles through your mind that, if left unchecked, will cut a deep channel into which all other thoughts and emotions are drained. That is what worry does to us - it drains us; it strangles our emotions."

After reading this I can see that the rock I bought gave me a visual reminder to trust God. It helped to stop those thoughts and emotions that weren't from God. If you are struggling with something yourself, get the Word in front of you in one way or another - read the Bible often; get aa plaque, a picture, .... or a rock! Don't let worry and fear ruin and strangle you.

God is in control of everything! 

 We need not fear. TRUST the LORD!

The LORD is my ROCK and SALVATION. Psalm 18:2

The potter's hand....shaping our lives!

 Last week my sister sent an email with a devotional about the potter and his hands.  It used the scripture of Jeremiah 18.

So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do.   

I have been thinking about that scripture this week....

I have had a very good life.  Much of it has been easy and some of it has not.  There have been some very hard days we have walked through over the years.  They have not been easy.  But now that we are through those trials and struggles I can say, "Thank you God for walking with us through the struggles and making us who we are now."

Those struggles have shored up our foundation and brought us to a more solid footing.  They have strengthened our relationship with God.  We know Him better now.  We have a better understanding of who God is and how He works.  

We have come through the Potter's hands with new beauty and strength. 

Have you hated your past? hated yourself? wished you were someone else? wished certain things had never happened in your life? Are you sorrowful that you had to go through an illness, an accident, a divorce, a death?  

God cares about us and wants the best for us.  As a potter, He reshapes our lives as it seems good for the potter to do. 

I will leave you with this quote from Shana Schutte. "You can't be who you are without being who you were."

GOD IS WORKING IN YOUR LIFE....

Thoughts for those who are going through trials and suffering

Just recently I heard a message on Family Talk by a pastor who had suddenly and strangely lost his voice after he had a virus and the loss of his voice lasted for three years!  The doctors couldn't figure out what to do or why the pastor had lost his voice.  It was definitely a time of struggles and searching about God for this pastor before a miracle happened and his speech was restored.  

Here were a few of the thoughts I gleaned from the broadcast in terms of suffering and trusting in God in times like this:

There is always purpose through suffering.  God will bring it to pass in His time. "But God" can change our despair. Trust God, grip tightly to God, and trust His wisdom. 

There will be moments when we will hit a wall - cry out to God.  Jesus had a time like this also when He said, "Why have you forsaken me?" Remember to: TRUST God.

There is no promise in the Bible that God will solve every problem when we ask or that He will give us all the answers when we want them BUT God does promise to never leave us or forsake us.

 Are you surrendered to God? Have you told Him that your life is His? Don't be angry or in despair. There will be good that will come from the pain and suffering.

Sometimes our 'friends' can in their good intentions bring despair to us.  We all need to examine our lives for sin and make necessary corrections.  Once you have done this and know that your path is 'straight' DO NOT let your friends tell you that there is no healing or closure to your problems because there is sin in your life or that you do not have enough faith. DO NOT listen to those allegations. Listen to God who loves you and is there walking you through your journey.

God does not always heal immediately or in the way we ask BUT HE DOES HEAL in His time and in His way. GOD IS GOOD and HIS WAYS ARE RIGHT.  Trust Him in times of trouble.  He IS holding your right hand!

Isais 41:13 For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.

Here for the longggggg haul - for the future generations

 I read a devotional this morning that said "our greatest impact on this world will occur not while you are alive but after you die." What it was saying was that our greatest impact may not be immediate as we raise our children, but rather the greatest impact may be on the future generations as a result of how we raise our children. 

The article went on to talk about the great preacher, Jonathan Edwards.  It told that he had many descendants that became preachers, teachers, authors, congressmen, and even one that became vice-president of the United States.  

I was extremely blessed to grow up in the same town that my grandparents lived in.  I often walked to their homes for lunch while I was in school.  One of my granddads would often ask me where I was reading in my Bible.  He held me accountable.  The other grandad would read a devotional every morning after breakfast.  When I was at his house to eat lunch, he would also ask me what I was learning at school.  I had to have a specific answer.  On Sundays, I would get to sit with my grandmother at church while my granddad ushered.  I was so blessed to have parents who took me to church and Sunday school and encouraged me to go to a youth Bible Study. My mom, in her later years after retirement, would get up early to listen to Focus on the Family.  It was always great when she would call to tell me what she had learned and how it might help me as we raised our family.

We have five daughters now and twenty-three grandchildren.  We are trying to do as my grandparents did to encourage, challenge, and help our children and grandchildren's faith to grow and mature. God has been faithful!

My challenge to you is to not grow weary as you parent your children but to raise them up in the knowledge of the Lord.  As grandparents use every opportunity you can to help your grandchildren grow spiritually. The payday is great now but GREATER down the road as the year's progress. 

These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. Deut. 6:6,7

How are you or I viewing God?

 I read a book this week that talked about God and how important it is about the way think about Him.  Some people view God with disdain and judgment.  They have allegations about how God could do this or that.  They say, "How could God allow the bad things He does? What about the horrific storms, floods, hurricanes, and famines that happen? How could a 'good God' allow these terrible things to happen?"

We need to realize that those things do happen but they are the exception.  

Every day the world keeps going.  The sun rises and sets, the rivers and oceans flow, the rain comes for the crops to grow, we have day and night, sweet families to love us, homes to live in, and vehicles to take us to the grocery store and churches to go to.  

These are good gifts from God for which we should be thankful.  

This is a quick challenge to get you and me to keep our eyes on the goodness of God. Remember all He has given you and the ways He has shown you his love daily.  

If God gives us what we deserve we should be struck dead.  Rather let us be thankful for His kindness and mercy.  Let us not blame God or question Him but let us give Him thanks for (as the author put it) "the beautiful bouquet of gifts God gives every day." 

Remember the many BLESSINGS we have EACH DAY!!

Who am I?

Gail and I are very blessed to be able to go to Arizona in the winter.  The weather is so nice and gentle compared to the Colorado winters.  

When we are in Arizona we stay in our little living quarters in our horse trailer.  I was packing it last week and the thought struck me, "Who are you? Shall I put in my cowboy boots and hat?  Am I a cowgirl anymore (if I ever was!) What shall I pack? Who am I?"

I didn't have to think long and the Holy Spirit reminded me that I AM A CHILD OF THE KING!!!

Praise the Lord! I need to know no more!!!  

Are you struggling?  Are you identifying yourself according to where your role in life is now? Single adult - mother - grandmother - husband - grandad - employee - retiree - teacher - student 

Remember each of those roles will pass and change.  The thing that won't is your status as a CHILD OF THE KING!  

(Above are the words to a hymn with this title.  Sorry they didn't come through good.  Trying to work on my laptop!)

Enjoy each moment as a CHILD OF THE KING!