Monday, July 30, 2018

Memory Verse: Week 31


I believe that Satan doesn’t want us in God’s word and will use any and every means possible to keep us from the truth and therefore we must be prepared and have a PLAN!

To work on hiding God's word in our hearts, 
this year I'm going to be posting a memory verse for each week
 along with a printable to print out and hang up. 


Here's the verse for week 31:


     


You can print out the verses in English and Spanish and the complete list in a folder  HERE

Saturday, July 28, 2018

August Scripture Writing Plan: God's Promises

Happy almost August friends!

The scripture writing plan this month is over some of the amazing promises of God.
 God's Word contains literally THOUSANDS of promises to us. 
And unlike the promises of people in the world 
God's promises are rock solid and can be counted on 100% of the time.

I love reading about God's promises in His word. 
I like to think of the Bible as a giant treasure chest full of all the promises of God. 
God wants us to open His word and see His promises. 
He wants us to trust His promises, 
rest in His promises and be transformed by His promises.

We must remember though that God’s promises for us don’t come about
 by us simply sitting around and waiting for them to drop into our lap. 
They require us to be obedient, to act in faith, 
to live out the principles taught in His Word, 
and to align our lives under God’s truth.

Let's spend this month digging into His word to learn more about His promises to us.


FYI: I made the plan 31 days and plan to do that with
all topical plans in the future so that they can be done any month-
not just the month I write them for.

TO PRINT: You can find a copy of the plan in English and Spanish in the folder HERE.
{Just a reminder, don't try to print the images below or they will be blurry. Be sure to click the link to download a PDF copy!}

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Memory Verse: Week 30


I believe that Satan doesn’t want us in God’s word and will use any and every means possible to keep us from the truth and therefore we must be prepared and have a PLAN!

To work on hiding God's word in our hearts, 
this year I'm going to be posting a memory verse for each week
 along with a printable to print out and hang up. 


Here's the verse for week 30:






     



You can print out the verses in English and Spanish and the complete list in a folder  HERE

Friday, July 20, 2018

He is My Strength

I recently started taking yoga (which I love!) and because I only have half of my balance nerves (my right side balance nerves were severed during my brain surgery so I’m kind of like a weeble- I wobble but don’t usually fall down) there are some poses, like tree pose, that are extremely difficult and challenging for me. The first time I did tree pose I literally almost fell over. What I have had to learn over the past few weeks is that I must lean on my supports while doing poses like the tree pose- at least initially. It’s not an option, it’s something I must do or I will fall down. I must lean in and steady myself with something that is unchangeable and that I know I can count on- like the wall or bar. Doing so turns my super wobbly pose into a solid, secure one and eventually I can let go.

As I stood in tree pose in class last night I thought about what a perfect analogy my tree pose in yoga is for how I am in life. I go along and try to do all sorts of things in my own strength- only to get super weary and wobbly and ultimately fall down. But, when I stop and am reminded that God is my strength and that He is steady and secure, and I can lean on Him, then I am rock solid strong.

Isaiah 40: 28-31 reminds us of this where it says….
“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” NIV

These verses are full of reminders that:
1. God is in control. He is. Not us. He is all seeing, all knowing, all powerful and has NO limits. Isaiah doesn’t start in these verses immediately talking about what needs to be done. He stops and says….Hey, don’t you remember who God is? He is God who loves us with an always and forever love. We can count on it and rest in it- even in (and especially when) life is crazy around us.
2. God is everlasting.
3. God is the creator of the ends of the earth.
4. God is infinite in His energy. He is ALWAYS working and NEVER tires or gets weary.
5. God is unchangeable. Even when life makes no sense to us, God’s not ever confused or perplexed or overwhelmed.
6. God is strong. Always.
7. God is generous. He isn’t just powerful, He wants US to walk in power with Him. He meets our weakness with His strength.

When we seek it, God gives us an ample supply of HIS strength. I don’t know about you but for that I am so crazy thankful.  He has his eyes on me and holds me in the palm of His mighty hand. When I start to fall (and I WILL fall) in my own strength, He will catch me.

 My prayer today is that we are reminded to lean into Him and His strength and to draw from His power when we feel weak. To steady ourselves on the only true thing we can count on in this world-Jesus.

Monday, July 16, 2018

Memory Verse: Week 29


I believe that Satan doesn’t want us in God’s word and will use any and every means possible to keep us from the truth and therefore we must be prepared and have a PLAN!

To work on hiding God's word in our hearts, 
this year I'm going to be posting a memory verse for each week
 along with a printable to print out and hang up. 


Here's the verse for week 29:


     

You can print out the verses in English and Spanish and the complete list in a folder  HERE

Thursday, July 12, 2018

Wait for the Lord


Waiting stinks. It goes against just about everything in our world today. Everyone wants everything RIGHT THIS MINUTE. Instant. Immediate gratification. On demand. We have become a culture that thinks waiting is beneath us and all things should come to us super quickly- and when they don’t? Goodness, do we tend to get irritated and angry! Waiting at a light, food delivery taking longer than expected, Amazon packages not arriving in 2 days, downloading something on your computer- all are things that can turn most of us into crankypants super fast!

I think part of the reason why we struggle with waiting is because we often equate waiting with inactivity and inactivity with being unproductive. But honestly waiting, which can also be translated as hoping, means to wait with expectation, to look for. Waiting is something that puts us in a position to experience more of God’s love and grace in our lives- WHILE we wait. So often waiting gives us an opportunity to see God work in ways we COULD NOT and WOULD NOT see otherwise. During these periods of waiting God is often refueling and refining us for what He has in store. God knows that we would never choose to wait, so He provides opportunities to wait in order to see that His way is actually the best way. He uses the wait to grow our faith as we acknowledge our need for Him and learn to trust Him. God never wastes our waiting. He uses it to do a work in our lives so that He can do a work through our lives.

Psalm 27: 14 is a reminder of to us to WAIT for Him.
"Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."
My prayer today is that we are reminded of this command to wait and instead of being irritated by it, that we are comforted by it. That we are reminded that our waiting is so needed and restores strength. That our waiting invites us to see that God is far greater than any strength we could ever muster on our own. That our waiting helps us to see that God is ALWAYS at work revealing His love and grace and that He never wastes our waiting.

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

Memory Verse: Week 28


I believe that Satan doesn’t want us in God’s word and will use any and every means possible to keep us from the truth and therefore we must be prepared and have a PLAN!

To work on hiding God's word in our hearts, 
this year I'm going to be posting a memory verse for each week
 along with a printable to print out and hang up. 


Here's the verse for week 28:


     

You can print out the verses in English and Spanish and the complete list in a folder  HERE


Monday, July 9, 2018

Hearers AND Doers


It's easy to know WHAT to do. I mean we all KNOW we should...eat more veggies & less processed foods, exercise daily, love others, get enough sleep, drive the speed limit, put others before ourselves....but actually DOING IT? Gosh that's sometimes so stinkin' hard. (Why? Because pizza & chocolate covered raisins are yummy, being lazy is our nature, Netflix exists and we are sinful and selfish humans who like getting our own way!).

I read James 1:19-22 this morning and I so love the Message version of these instructions to us:

"Post this at all the intersections, dear friends: Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle along in the rear. God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger. So throw all spoiled virtue and cancerous evil in the garbage. In simple humility, let our gardener, God, landscape you with the Word, making a salvation-garden of your life. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!"

My prayer for us today is that we are able to not be merely listeners of the word but DOERS. That no matter what He calls us to, no matter how unqualified or unprepared we feel- that we DO IT, without hesitation - knowing HE will equip us. That we are obedient regardless of how we feel about it. #beahearer&adoer

Monday, July 2, 2018

Memory Verse: Week 27


I believe that Satan doesn’t want us in God’s word and will use any and every means possible to keep us from the truth and therefore we must be prepared and have a PLAN!

To work on hiding God's word in our hearts, 
this year I'm going to be posting a memory verse for each week
 along with a printable to print out and hang up. 


Here's the verse for week 27:




     





You can print out the verses in English and Spanish and the complete list in a folder  HERE