Seek Answers=Seek HIM

I read somewhere that we make around 2,500 choices every day. This really got me thinking. Granted, most of them are small ones that don't seem to make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but still, that's a lot. Just the mere fact that God made us with the cognitive ability to process information and have discernment to choose what is best. Wow. What a great God. He did make us in his image, with the amazing gift to make choices...and have "Free Will". We don't usually think much about it, but what a gift!

This gift can also seem intimidating. I wonder if I make the best choices sometimes. Along with the gift of "Free Will", comes consequences. Here is where the majority of worry comes in. Am I really seeking God's will or my own? Often I don't even think to ask His will. I just rush through my day, seeing choices as an obstacle to get done as quickly as possible. Yes, making decisions is work for me. I can never make up my mind. I could spend twenty minutes debating over what color of toothbrush to buy at the store and worry later if I made the right choice. I seem to rush through the more critical choices and agonize over the little ones. What is wrong with me?

Lord, help me to remember to seek your help and guidance more often instead of leaning on my own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6). Holy Spirit, give me discernment when I should be more careful about my decisions. Help me most of all to not let anything come between my loyalty to Christ. Don't ever let the good become the enemy of the best. There are lots of good things to spend my time doing, too many good things. It is hard to choose which ones to do and which ones to let go. When do I say yes and when do I say no? I can spend all my time doing things that seem good (and truly are good), but still miss out on what you have planned for me to do. That is the essence of my fear and worry. Don't let me miss out on your plan for me. I want no regrets when this life is up. I want to please you in all I do. Don't let me waste Your time, because all I have is really your's.

Another snare is letting my confidence lie in God's blessings and not in Him alone. This seems easy. Of course I love and trust Him more than His blessings. But when difficulties come, how do I respond? Oh, the pitfalls are many. That is why we must constantly ask the Lord's guidance and help. Keep looking at Him and not the ground. Otherwise you will stumble. Yes, I know it seems like it should be the opposite. It is tempting to want to look at the ground and where we are stepping, but we must trust Him more than our vision and perception. He see's more than we do. He knows His plans for us better than we do. So to sum things up, if you are seeking direction, help, answers....then all you need to seek is HIM.

Sorry, I forgot to give you some verses I like about prayer. See! I do need all the help I can get to stay focused on task. Ha. Here they are:

Philippians 4:6-7 "Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

James 5:16 "The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects."

Ephesians 6:18 "Pray in the Spirit at all times with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, stay alert and always keep praying for all the saints."

Prayer Muscles

Let's talk about prayer. Prayer is powerful. Prayer is helpful. Prayer is important, essential. But prayer is hard. At least for me it is. Despite trying to finding the time, I also get so distracted...so easily. I try to be still and know that He is God. But when I try to listen to hear His voice, I get sleepy or daydream. I can't focus. What is my problem? I don't want my prayer life to be just one sided. No friendship/relationship should be that way. It is a give and take thing. Not that I have much to give to God except for my attention and love. Anyway, I am pitiful at prayer. I admit I am all talk and no listening. I can lay out my needs and ask for forgiveness, but hear His voice? Well, let's just say that is rarer. I get so frustrated sometimes, that I deliberately avoid praying. Does that sound awful? I know, but it's the truth. I can't be helpful to others or receive help myself unless I am honest.

I will share a few books that are helpful to energize your prayer life. At least they were helpful to me. Still, it helps to set a designated time every day to spend time in prayer. Having it at the same time helps with focus and not forgetting to do it. Can you tell I need a lot of help? I struggle just a smidge. Anyway, Stormy Omartian has two books that are great: "The Power of a Praying Wife" and "The Power of a Praying Parent." "Praying the Scriptures for your Children" by Jodie Berndt is also good. They help reveal how powerful our prayers can be for our loved ones. Intercession is more powerful than we realize. I think we barely tap the surface of that gift God has given us. It also sets up an easy list of things to pray for, one per day, for your child or spouse. That keeps it easy, less time consuming and more focused. (More do-able!)

Another thing I have found helpful is to pray through ACTS. ACTS stands for the order in which to pray to give you structure so you don't feel like you are floundering with your thoughts. A is for Adoration. Spend the first few minutes praising God, preparing your heart to be with your Holy Father. Then C is for Confession. Confess and ask forgiveness for sins so that they aren't a barrier, keeping you from hearing God. T is for Thanksgiving. Thank him for all he has done and is going to do, through faith. Last of all, spend time in Supplication, laying your requests before Him. If you were going to a friend, you wouldn't just rudely ask for things constantly, especially without developing the friendship first. Anyway, this structure helps reign in my thoughts during prayer.

The last thing I have to share is that praying the scriptures helps me a lot. I think that is why I love to memorize scripture. If I don't have the words to express my feelings or thoughts, just taking a scripture and praying over it helps. His words are much better than mine anyway!

I talk to my kids about praying and pray some with them (Yes, I still need to do better, be more consistent, etc.). I talk about having "Prayer Muscles". This is how God grows His superheros. Prayer is how we tap into God's power and strength, making us stronger. On our own we are futile and weak. If we want to help and bless others and receive God's blessings ourselves, we need to spend more time in prayer. OK, now that I have written this, I feel really convicted. Let's all flex our Prayer Muscles today. Aaargh!!!

Happy Valentines Day

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! I hope your day is full of love. No one has to go without a valentine. Even when I was single and the dateless wonder, I always had a Valentine...My Lord-the King of love! In fact one year I was inspired to send my parents an anonymous gift of 3 roses (to represent the Trinity/and red for Christ's blood shed for us---the greatest gift of love ever!) and a card that simply read, "Please be my Valentine, Love God". They quickly figured out it was from me. I am the only person cheesy enough to do something like that. Anyway, it was one of my best Valentines ever.

Two of the other best Valentines were my first year dating Jason (now my husband). Yay! I really had a physical person as a valentine...ME...A date! Anyway. The other...and BEST Valentine ever was the year I had my second son, Sam. He was a great Valentine gift from God. I had him just hours before it turned Valentines Day. Today we celebrated his birthday with a small family party. He wanted it to be a Robot party. I never knew it would be such a difficult theme, but it was. My husband spent days trying to figure out a project for the kids to do that was somewhat Robotic. We ended up putting glowing light sticks from the dollar store around the living room and making robot helmets for all the kids out of buckets with a square cut out for colored transparent plastic to be put in as a window, a glow stick taped under it and then colored pipe cleaners as antenaes. It was fun. Not a particularly romantic day, but very special.

I hope everyone had a special day, one filled with little reminders of how much you are cherished by the Lover of our souls. Know that you always are and always will be loved. God went to great lengths to send you that Valentine message. He waits patiently for all to accept it. Will you be His Valentine?

The Color Purple or Purple-ishis

I have been listening to a CD about marriage relationships by Emerson Eggerich's called "Love and Respect". It is really good. I know, I know, I like to recommend books a lot. I admit I am somewhat of a bookworm. My hairdresser loaned it to me. She is amazing. Not only does she give amazing cuts and colors, but she ministers to all of her clients. She shares all of her books and CD's with her customers, prays for you and shares her connections around town. She just loves to serve others. What a woman of God! She has even helped sell my book and in the past has helped my husband get a job. She has all the hookups! Now that is what I call full service. If anyone needs a good hair stylist I highly recommend her. Her name is Barb Giordano and her office is at Kingspoint Village in Tulsa at the Bellisima Salon. Can you tell I like to brag on people? I only tell the truth.

Anyway, back to this Book. At first I was resistant to be totally honest. My flesh cringes at hearing that I need to respect my husband to get his love. But the truth hurts sometimes. It also talks about how the husband needs to show the woman love to get respect. Love is the woman's language and respect is the man's. It is each's deepest need. It does ring true. You can't expect a starving person to listen to the gospel when he is hurting and dying. You need to minister to the person's primary needs first, then they can hear and respond. Only then can the other make changes. It is just hard to be the first to start the process. We all tend to hold out for the other to make the first move and show love and respect first.

In all relationships there are deep wounds that occur, if only for the mere fact that the spouses' opinions matter so much to the other. Anyway, it is hard for me to let go sometimes, as bad as that sounds. Confession time. My heart gets hard and I dig in my heels and then I am disrespectful to the ones I love most. But I found something new and freeing today. Even if my spouse isn't honoring me or hasn't been in the past, I am not just doing it for him. I am doing what God wants me to do, being the wife, person that he wants me to be and honoring him in all that I do regardless of the results.

A big stumbling block for me is that I want to see results...and right away. I am not patient. But the results aren't up to me. They are up to God. I have to leave that work to Him. Now I know it sounds easy and like I am a saint if I can do that. Believe me, I am no saint, unfortunately. I struggle with it still! But it is so freeing to know that I can just do it for God. That takes me out of the cycle of expectations and frustration...expecting certain responses from my spouse only to be dissappointed. Now I can freely honor my husband because I am doing so to honor God. If I don't feel like showing respect, than I can focus on honoring God. That takes the sting out. Sorry, I know that sounds awful, I shouldn't struggle that much, but lets be honest, we all do. It may not seem like a lightening bolt moment of sublime revelation, but it helped me. (And I did not read this material because my husband is particularly difficult to get along with, it is just good information. No diggs meant for you honey).

The author also talked about men seeing things from a blue lense and women from a pink lense. To honor our spouse doesn't mean that a man has to become pink (feminine) and a woman blue (masculine). God did not intend for us to be that. He made us the way we are for a reason. So relax. But when we honor each other in a way that is meaningful to each of us, then we are honoring God and speaking his language, seeing things in his view. The pink and blue come together to blend into a beautiful purple. This is God's color, the color of royalty that we, as his heirs, sons and daughters, made in his image, were meant to be. Anyway, it may seem dorky, but it clicked for me. What was supposed to be a quick summary has become a long one, as usual. Sorry. I tend to be wordy. I love words. Maybe that is why I became a speech pathologist and like to write....Word Girl! Sorry, I have been watching too many kids shows lately with my boys. But to wrap things up, I want to be part of God's royalty and please God. Just the thought of causing a smile on His face....Well I hope we all behave in a purple royal fashion today and everyday. Let's be Purple-ishis!!!

Stayed home today again with a sick child. I know I have said it before, but I love these days! It is stressful to reschedule clients, but I beleive that God provides these days as opportunities to spend more time with my kids. Being a working mom, I always crave more time with my boys. Though I don't like them to be sick, I do see the blessing in being forced to take an extra day off to be with them. And what about those ice days last week! Thank you Lord for always providing what I need, even in unexpected ways. Instead of getting stressed by life's detours, I have decided to see them as Divine Detours that can strengthen me in growth or restore my soul. Despite my obvious failings, you are so good to me Lord. I can never doubt that when I am snuggling with my two beauties! Who says boys aren't beautiful? Mine sure are. They constantly show me God's love. With all of the ice days and sicknesses going around, I hope everyone enjoys the blessings they can bring, I sure am.