Monday, April 22, 2013

Writing right...

It's been exactly 1,300 days since I started blogging. I must confess sometimes it's felt like flogging. There are days when I'm on a roll & others when I'm just stalled. Days when many events feel right for sharing & others feel just tight for bearing. It's about writing right...

Now I'm not sure which category today falls into - however every day I'm thankful to God that I have fingers and that I can type...whether or not I want to.

I remember a few months ago when I was trying to put my thoughts together to write a piece or two and I said to my husband: "Blogging is hard." His response was crisp: "If you're struggling then you're not writing from the Spirit." Needless to say that I agreed with him. In fact, I now appreciate and agree with Lawrence Kasdan who said that "Being a writer is like having homework every night for the rest of your life."

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Listen...

...with your heart.

After realizing the depth of the meaning of what Mary did in Luke 2:19, I have continued to train myself to "listen with my heart" to everyone around me especially to my children.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Healing or...

Heeding?

When I hear that someone is not feeling well, my first reaction and prayer is:
"Lord, please stretch forth Your Healing Hand over him/her."

Recently praying a similar prayer, this thought (& question) crossed my mind:
"Does he/she need healing or heeding?"
Before you burst out thinking (or saying): "How uncompassionate!" hear (rather, read) me out. Someone once said that "Our bodies whisper before they shout..." and I added and/or shut down. Similarly, my husband never tires of saying that our bodies are like elastic/ rubber bands - there is a limit to their elasticity - beyond that they snap. Yes - God forbid!

When you read or listen to health advice you'll notice the focus is our lifestyle especially our diet and rest.

Diet:
Ex 23: 25 says: "“You must serve only the Lord your God. If you do, I will bless you with food and water, and I will protect you from illness.” (NLT) and Ex 15: 26 says: He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.” (NIV)

Ps 107: 20 - He sent out his word and healed them, snatching them from the door of death.*

Studying the Bible, you'll notice that God not only promised to bless their food and water, He was very clear on things His children should or should not eat. For instance, He was clear that they (& we) should not eat meat that still has blood in it.**

The other thing you'll notice from the Bible is that sleep is a blessing from God. Now I'm not judging those who sleep for less than the recommended 8 hours a day like I sometimes do. However, to help me, I've introduced "me-time" for many other reasons including catching up on lost sleep time. Unfortunately some of us sleep for less than 8 hours due to anxiety.

Ps 127: 2 tells us that: It is vain for you to rise up early, to take rest late, to eat the bread of [anxious] toil—for He gives [blessings] to His beloved in sleep. (Amplified)

When it comes to sleeping vs. staying awake worrying, aim to be like Mary C. Crowley who said:
“Every evening I turn my worries over to God. He's going to be up all night anyway.”

So the next time you're not feeling 100%, ask yourself, "Do I need healing or heeding?"

References:
* NLT
**Gen 9:4 - But life is in the blood, and you must not eat any meat that still has blood in it. (Contemporary English Version)

Thursday, April 4, 2013

The Silent Listener

How many of us remember this "prayer"?         Personally, I remember this prayer as a red velvet plaque in my family home - I can just "see it" on the wall near our dining table. 
                                                                                              A lot of people acknowledge that they are not very good listeners - I won't disagree with them knowing that I can be one of the "lot."         I can't speak for you but know that a lot of us want to to be sure that God listens to us. Believe it or not, God also expects us to be good listeners not just to Him but to all others.

The secret of becoming (or being/remaining) a good listener is within the word "Listen." 
To truly and fully LISTEN, you need to be SILENT.
This is one rule that applies both in conversations with others and in communion with God.


Stay put...not out

When this common quote: "Go where you're celebrated not tolerated" crossed my mind, the first 2 words in the title "resp...