Seeking Him

    

     What in the world is the matter with me? It seems I've been asking myself that question a lot lately. Do you ever get into these "funks," (as I like to call them) when you just feel like you're not yourself, and you're not adding up to what you're supposed to be? It seems like here lately I have been feeling that way more and more. So what is causing this uneasiness? I would like to blame hormones, busyness, lack of sleep...or just anything. But, I know deep down in my heart of  hearts what the issue is. I haven't been in His Word...alone...with no distractions, for (I'm so ashamed to admit this) a couple of weeks. Of course we have been to church each Sunday, but in order to be completely filled with Him, I need to be seeking my sweet Savior every hour. Am I still relying on His strength and wisdom and asking for it multiple times a day? Absolutely. But I'm talking about that deep one on one time with the Lord that I need daily. I have neglected that, and believe me, I can feel it.


     I have allowed other things to come between my time with the Lord, and I can sense my deep need for Him. I simply need to sit at His feet, allow His goodness and truth to speak to my soul, and be washed in His mercy and grace. How wonderful it is to know that we serve a God who is always waiting for us with open arms. He does not shame us for our mistakes, for He knows we are going to mess up. If God expected us to be perfect, then there would be no purpose for the cross. Jesus took our sin upon Himself on the cross, and paid the debt of our sin in full. We no longer carry the weight and guilt of our sin, for He took it upon His shoulders and defeated it. I don't know about you, but that sure makes me excited! What love He has for us. 


     So, with all being said, I'm choosing to give up, and go to Him. God tells us in Jeremiah 29:13, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." I have found it to be true in my life, that when I'm not earnestly seeking Him, my life has no balance. But, when I'm truly seeking Him with my whole heart, He makes things fall into place, and realigns my priorities.


     I have been parched and am longing to be quenched by His love and mercy. I'm giving Him my heart and trusting that He will hold me in His arms and renew my strength. Will you go to Him, too? I promise there's no better place in the world to be.

Sunday Worship Song

What I'm Loving Wednesday

1.) I have been studying the Proverbs 31 woman a lot lately, and am just soaking in what I've been learning. Courtney from Women Living Well, is doing a current weekly series on this topic with video's to go along. Please check her site out, here. I was just telling a friend the other day about how fortunate I am to have come from such a long line of God fearing, hard working, Proverbs 31 women. (I will be doing a separate post on this soon.) I have always been fascinated by this woman, and Courtney explains so clearly how to accomplish becoming this woman in today's society. I hope you'll follow along with her and learn how to love and serve your family well.


2.) Today I'm also loving teachings by Beth Moore. I have learned so much from this woman over the years, and am still so touched by her lessons. This is one of my favorites...




3.) Lastly, I'm loving my wonderful husband. We celebrated 5 years of marriage on June 9th, and had such a great day. He is more than I could have asked for, and I still am overcome with gratitude to God for the gift he gave me in Jeff. I am just as in love with him as the day I met him, and I am honored to be his wife.

Sunday Worship Song

     I am just loving this new song by Jason Gray. I can totally relate with the line that says, "Is this really the life I'm living? Cause I don't feel like I deserve it." When I look back from where I've been, and think of far God has brought me, I am moved to tears. That's the whole point behind this blog. God has done immeasurably more for me than I could have ever asked or imagined, and I am in awe of Him and His unfailing loving kindness. Let's praise our Heavenly Father today for all the blessings He has given us. Have a beautiful Sunday, friends!


P.S.- Happy Father's Day Dad! I love you so much and thank you for all of your support and love over the years. I can't wait to spend the day with you and enjoy some yummy homemade ice cream!

Come to The Well

     This evening as I was doing housework, I put in my Casting Crowns CD, and went to town cleaning. The song titled, "The Well," came on, and wow, it spoke so loudly to my heart. I was reminded that I am to go to Him daily, and find my worth and joy in Jesus. We chase so many things in this life trying to fill our dry and thirsty souls only to end up parched. The reason why is because only God alone was meant to fill that void. Not our spouse, relationships, money, or material possessions...ONLY HIM.  He longs to fill us with an unending love and overflowing joy. Will you meet Him at the well today, friends, and drink from The Living Water? He's waiting there for you with open arms.


Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." John 4:13-14

Sunday Worship Song

     Being the Kentucky girl that I am, I really enjoy some good ol' bluegrass hymns. I love this mix by Bethany Dillon and Shane & Shane, and hope you all like it as well! Have a blessed and beautiful Sunday!

Praying The Fruit of The Spirit in Our Marriage: Day 7

     I cannot believe that this is the last post in this series. Time goes by so fast. If you have followed this series with me over the last seven days, thank you. All of your kind comments are so encouraging and appreciated. My heart overflows with humility and gratitude to know that you have taken the time to read my writing. I pray that the Lord has spoke to you, and you have learned some valuable lessons for your marriage.

     Okay, so let's look at the last fruit of the Spirit...self control. At times this may feel like the hardest thing to practice in our marriage. We get angry and we lash out. We get upset and we cry. Things don't go our way and we throw the fit of a spoiled two year old. But why do we do these things? It's simply because we are lacking self-control.

     Self control is the glue that holds it all together in marriage. Without it, we will not be able to show Christ's love, live a life of joy and peace, have patience, and so on. I did a search on Bible Gateway for self control and wanted to share a couple of verses that stood out to me.

     First, let's look at Proverbs 25:28, "Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control." Basically, when we lack self control, we are doing nothing but bringing destruction upon ourselves and our marriage. I also came across a few verses in Titus 2 that speak of the older women, teaching the younger women to have self control. It reads, "Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God." (Titus 2:3-5) 

     2 Peter 1:5-7 tells us, "For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;  and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. As we can see, self control leads to perseverance and ultimately, love. 

     No matter what season of marriage we may in, let's vow to make every effort to persevere and show our spouse love. May we always strive to women of self control who have pure minds, peaceful homes, and happy husbands. 

Dear Most Holy and Precious Father, I come before you now and ask that will help me to be a woman of self control. I know that in order to not be lacking in this area I must keep my eyes on you and rely on your strength daily. God I pray that you fill me with the fruit of the Spirit and may I show all of them to Jeff day in and day out. I desire more than anything to be a Godly wife and one whom Jeff can love completely, and trust fully. Please fill our marriage with peace and joy overflowing, and may we always be faithful to you, and one another. May we be kind, gentle, and patient  with each other, and may we bring good, not harm to our marriage all the days of our life. Thank you for the blessing you have given me in Jeff. He is much more than I deserve and I am filled with gratitude. You are so good to us, sweet Jesus, and we love you so much. Amen.

      

Praying The Fruit of The Spirit in Our Marriage: Day 6

    

     Wow! Can you all believe that we are almost to the end of this series? So far, we have discussed love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and gentleness in our marriages. If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking with me! Today, we are going to discuss faithfulness.

     On our wedding day, when we say our vows, one of the things we promise to our husband is to be faithful to them. In this day in time, technology has made it so easy for us to communicate with others. We have facebook, twitter, texting, etc., and while there is nothing wrong with these things, we do need to keep our guard up as this could be possibly the eaisest place for the enemey to creep in. I would encourage you to choose your facebook wisely, and most definitely not accept requests from past boyfriends. You may think to yourself, "But that was years ago, I don't have feelings for them anymore. I can handle it." As I said, this can be one of the sneakiest ways for Satan to deceive us and open the door of temptation.

     Besides being faithful to our spouse in this matter, we can also show them faithfulness in other ways. One of the things that first attracted me to Jeff is that he was (and still is) a man of his word. If he said he was going to be there, he was there. Can your husband trust that if you say you are going to do something, that you actually follow through with it? If your husband cannot trust you, then I would strongly encourage you to show him that you can be trusted. Proverbs 31:11 says, "Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value." I want to be a wife whom Jeff can fully trust at all times, and a woman who lacks nothing valuable.

     The book of Proverbs also tells us in chapter 3, verse 3, "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Will you join me today in determining here and now that you will be a woman of faitfulness? May we all write this promise on the tablet of our heart, and demonstrate our faithfulness to our husband daily.


Dear Precious Father, I come to you now and ask that you continue to transform me into a wife whom Jeff has full confidence in. Please let our marriage be filled with faithfulness and let nothing hinder us. Father, I know that in your perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, and will continue to do so. Thank you for all of your rich blessings. Amen.

Praying The Fruit of the Spirit in Our Marriage: Day 5

    

    So far we have looked at love, joy, peace, and patience in our marriage, and today we are going to look at kindness, goodness, and gentleness. Since these three characteristics are one in the same, I decided to discuss them all at one time. God has commanded us in His Word to be kind, good, and gentle to others. Therefore, we should strive to show our spouse these actions.

     The Bible says in Colossians 3:12, "Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." The way we treat others, especially our husband is a big deal to God. One way we show our husbands kindness, goodness, and gentleness is by not having a harsh spirit. When we speak to our husbands in a rude tone, we are doing nothing but breaking them down emotionally and setting them up to be men of passivity. Proverbs 15:1 says, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." If we have a negative attitude, our husbands are going to realize that no matter what they do or say, it's not going to be good enough. Therefore, they stop trying. This is not what we want for our marriages, nor is this what God intended.

     We are also called to do good to our husbands. In speaking of the Proverbs 31 woman, the Bible says in Proverbs 31:12, "She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life." This is the ultimate goal for us as wives. I know you may be thinking, "All the days of her life? How? What about the days we agrue? What about the days I'm irritated? What about the days I'm just simply in a bad mood?" Yes, girls, we are still required to bring him good on these days as well. Jesus says in Matthew 12:35, "A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him." This means that whatever we are storing up in our hearts, whether it be good or evil, is going to eventually come out in our words or actions.

     So I ask you, what are you storing up? Is it kindness, goodness, and gentleness which is going to not only bless your husband, but those around you as well? Or is it bitterness, anger, and harshness which is going to rob your marriage of any peace, love, and gentleness that exists? I'm choosing to store up those things which will only bring good, not harm, to my marriage. Will you make that choice with me today as well, friends?

Dear Heavenly Father, please fill me with your Spirit daily, as I know I am nothing without you. God, you are a God of kindness, gentleness, and goodness, and I will ever praise you. You say in your word that you have loved us with an everlasting love and drawn us with your unfailing kindness. (Jer. 31:3) Lord, I pray that Jeff would be drawn in by the kindness I show him. I desire to be a wife that brings Jeff good all the days of his life, and I ask for your help, as I know I can't do that in my own strength. I also pray that I will be gentle and not harsh to Jeff. God, I want him to fill loved and valued by me, and I know that I must gentle towards him in order for him to fill this way. Please help me to daily clothe myself in compassion,kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. You are so good to us God. Thank you for all of your blessings. I love you so much. Amen.

Sunday Worship Song

     This is such a beautiful song by Selah, and a good reminder for us to turn to Him at all times. Our worth and value comes only from God, and He is the only One we should look to. Hope you have a blessed Sunday! (Note: We will return for Day 5 of the Praying The Fruit of the Spirit in Our Marriage series, tomorrow.)

Praying The Fruit of the Spirit in Our Marriage: Day 4

     Today we are going to look at practicing patience in our marriage. As Jeff and I were on a date last night, I told him that my next topic was on patience and asked if he had any advice. Here's what he said..."Have it!" Haha. Sounds good enough to me, but it's not always that easy, is it? We're running behind, and we get impatient. We have to wait in line for only 5 minutes to order our coffee, and we get impatient. We're ready to leave the party, our spouse is still talking, and we get impatient. But, really, why are we so anxious? Could it be because we live in a society that is constantly screaming at us to hurry up? Or could it simply be the Father testing us to help develop Godly character?

     He is so patient with us, (more than we could ever deserve) and we should be just as quick to practice patience with others, especially our spouse. They were given to us to help us, and when we lash out at them in impatience, then we are doing nothing but building up communication barriers, and hindering our marriage. One real problem I think we have as women, is thinking our husbands aren't doing what they are supposed to do, or being the leaders that they should. We get impatient, so what do we try and do? We try to, "fix them." May I point out that this is a very dangerous thing to do. We cannot possibly be the Holy Spirit to our husbands, and it is only up to God to make our husbands into the men they were called to be.

     As I was reading through different marriage devotionals from Proverbs31, I came across this article and thought it hit the nail on the head. Please click here to read it. We are not to "play God," in our marriages. We will only end up frustrated and exhausted. Instead, we need to be patient wives and trust the Lord to take care of the rest.

     Will you give up control today and leave it in His hands? I promise He is more than able to meet our needs and He will always come through for us...in His time. We need only to be patient and enjoy the journey along the way.

Dear Gracious Father, I come to you now and ask that you will help me to be a wife of patience. You are so patient with me, Father, and I desire that same unending patience in our marriage. Please help me to know that you are in control, and you are daily transforming Jeff into the man you created him to be. Lord I praise you for your Omnipotent power, and thank you for your great mercy. Amen.