Breath of Life

Spring is finally here. My girls went from wearing winter coats on Sunday, to no coats today. . .crazy South Dakota weather. Today we also celebrate Earth Day. It is still a little early to plant anything so we may have to just go for a nature walk to celebrate the day. It is supposed to be 80 degrees here today so it will be a great day to be outside.

It amazes me every time I think about creation and God speaking it all into existence. I love the verse in Genesis 2:7, "the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being."

All the world and everything in it was created by God. Every living thing is alive because we have been given the breath of life. When I take in the beauty that surrounds me I have no doubt that it could only be from God.

One of my favorite places outside is right on my front porch. Fortunately, we have a very quiet neighborhood. No one lives across the street from my house so I can sit out there and just enjoy the fresh air. It is one of the places that I feel the closest to God. I don't have any beautiful scenery, (I am staring at an empty swimming pool right now), but it is quiet and I can hear the birds and not a lot of traffic.

I have never been a huge nature lover. My wonderful cousin did give me a little appreciation of it in college when she would run off to pick wildflowers or hug a tree. But as I continue on my faith journey God continues to amaze me with His creation. In just a week the grass is starting to turn green and soon the trees will start to bloom.

This morning in my quiet time I was reading about Noah. After the flood, God made a covenant to him. Genesis 9:16 says, "Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

Have you ever pointed out a rainbow to a child. They get so excited to see it. If only we could have that same excitement. God gives us the rainbow as a gift and as a remembrance of His promise. When Noah saw rain clouds in the sky after the flood, he did not get nervous because he knew that God had promised to never destroy the earth by flood again.

I challenge you to spend some time outside today. Celebrating Earth Day. Celebrating God's beautiful creation. Be alive and remember that God breathed you and I into existence with the breath of life.

Legacy

My family attended a funeral visitation last night for the father of some dear friends. We did not personally know the father. Although when I was an infant this man was the pastor in my mom and dad's church and he baptized me.

As we left the funeral home I opened his funeral service bulletin and read about his life. One statement that I read was this, "His most important thing in life was passing on his faith in Christ and the importance of each person's relationship to Him."

Wow, what a legacy to leave. Although I did not know him, the legacy he left to his family had a huge impact on my life. His son and daughter-in-law played a huge role in both my husband and I seeking and accepting Christ. They were two people that also know the importance of passing on their faith in Christ and helping others to seek that relationship for themselves.

We only knew this couple for three years before we moved. In the big picture of life, that is not a long period of time. However, in those three years our lives were changed forever and they will always hold a special place in our hearts. They were an example to us in so many ways. Most importantly, God was the center of their lives, their marriage and their family.

As my husband and I talked about the impact this couple had on our lives, we talked about the opportunities we have now. So many times we have an opportunity to pass on our faith in Christ, yet we remain silent.

Acts 4:29b says, "enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness." I know that Christ's intention was for us to spread the gospel to all the nations. We need to learn to spread the gospel with boldness without turning others away.

I come back to this couple. They showed us Christ's love through the examples of their lives. They shared their faith with us in a gentle, nonthreatening way that led us to dig deeper into ourselves. The passion they had for the Lord is lived out in their lives. We have been very blessed with a core group of friends in the last six years that have shown us great examples of this through the lives that they live.

As I begin another day in my journey, my prayer is this: "Lord, help me to speak your word with boldness to others in a way that draws them closer to a relationship with you. Lord, help me to live my life for you in a way that no one doubts my faith."

I also pray for the family that will lay a wonderful Godly man to rest today. We all have an opportunity to leave a legacy when we leave our earthly home. I pray that someday my family will be able to say without a doubt that I lived my life for Christ everyday, and that I shared my faith with everyone along the way.

Have You Seen Jesus?

He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:15-16

Last week I read something in My Utmost for His Highest that said, "Jesus must appear to you and to your friend individually; no one can see Jesus with your eyes."

As I spend time in prayer and reading my Bible, Jesus continues to open my eyes to so many things. I feel He places many things on my heart and in my mind that I want to share with others. When I do share in conversation or in my writing, I want everyone to see Jesus.

In this same entry in Utmost I was taken to Mark 16. Jesus had risen from the dead and was appearing before different believers. He encouraged them to tell others what they had seen. Jesus had appeared before Mary Magdalene. Scripture states, "She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it." Oswald Chambers finished his entry with this statement, "When you see Him, you must tell, even if they don't believe."

I grew up believing in God and believing that Jesus died for my sins. However, I was not saved until I was in my 20's. I know that as some read this, they do not understand. I believe that it is not enough for us to believe in God and believe in Jesus. We have to see Him.

Have you seen Jesus? If you have, you will know. Just as Chambers says, "But once you have seen Him, you can never be the same." My life changed the day I saw Jesus. I wanted everyone to see Jesus. As I sit here and write, I want everyone to feel what I feel. The unconditional love that I cannot receive from anyone but God.

Jesus knew that so many that heard the gospel still would not believe, but He told them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation."

Through the words that I write and through the life that I live, I want everyone to see Jesus. But you will never really see Him until you see Him through your own eyes. You have to seek Him. I think that others can see Jesus working in my life, but they cannot experience a life with Him through me.

You are kinda weak

The other day I was talking to my middle daughter about T-Ball. She informed me that she wanted her dad to coach her team, not me. I asked her why, (sometimes I think I maybe shouldn't ask for explanations), she said, "because you are kinda weak."

Interesting observation for a six year old. She is probably remembering our little family of five softball game last summer. My hubby was pitching to me and my oldest daughter was playing catcher. It had been a long time since I had swung a bat. I missed a few times (or a lot of times). Without hesitation my little catcher hollers at her dad, "get the tee". (That is what they say when one of their little buddies keeps missing the ball in t-ball.)

I have spent my entire day today thinking about God's strength. I am focusing on one characteristic of God each day and today I am focusing on His strength. As my middle child pointed out, "I am kinda weak". In fact, "I am really weak." There are many days that without the strength I get from God, I would fall apart. There are many days that I don't rely on the strength I could get from God and I do fall apart.

We are not meant to get through life with our own strength. There are so many scriptures that reaffirm this to us. This morning I meditated on Psalm 28:7-9. "The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song. The LORD is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one. Save your people and bless your inheritance; be their shepherd and carry them forever."

He is not just my strength. He is strength for all "of his people". It is okay to recognize we are weak because it brings us much closer to realizing that we need God to give us strength. Whatever you are struggling with today, whatever your weakness is today, turn to God and He will give you the strength that you need.

I had a hymn rolling around in my head tonight and I had to call me mom to figure out which one it was. I just kept singing the following line, "I am weak, but though art strong". She had just been playing, Just a Closer Walk With Thee on her piano before I called. God is so good.

I am weak but Thou art strong
Jesus keep me from all wrong
I'll be satisfied as long
As I walk let me walk close to Thee

Just a closer walk with Thee
Grant it Jesus is my plea
Daily walking close to Thee
Let it be dear Lord let it be

Sticks and Stones

Whoever coined the phrase, "Sticks and Stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me", was very wrong. Words are very powerful and words can be very hurtful. However, some words can also bring healing and hope.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1

All you have to do is open the Bible up to the first verse in Genesis to see the importance and power of words. As John 1:1 states, "In the beginning was the Word. . ." Genesis 1:3 starts to show the Word's power. God spoke and with His Words, he created the World and everything in it. He created everything we see by speaking it into existence.

Words have power. I was reading different scriptures this morning that talk about the words that we speak. What I read was very convicting to me. One of the scriptures I read that really jumped out at me is found Matthew.

"But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken." Matthew 12:36

Careless Words
There is a reason that we are to think before we speak. How many careless words came out of my mouth this week? I think that my biggest problem is that a lot of times my definition of careless is very different from God's definition of careless. I reflect on my week so far and it hurts. There were many times that I wish I could take some of the words back that I said, but life doesn't work that way.

"Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord." Psalm 139:4

If I really believed that God knew every word on my tongue, maybe I would stop and think before I opened my mouth. In the Love Dare book written by Stephen and Alex Kendrick, the first dare is to say nothing negative to your spouse, at all. This dare is to be followed through every day for 40 days. I love my husband with all of my heart and I respect him more than words can express, but I will be honest with you, this dare is not easy.

Why does negativity and anger come so much easier at times than kindness and forgiveness? Why is it so easy for us, [women] to speak harsh words about someone else, instead of good? Why do we find it necessary to knock someone else down to build ourselves up? It is something that I have always struggled with. There is a line in a song that my daughters listen to by Pure NRG that says, "everybody's talking about someone else, trying to feel better about themselves." Does it really make us feel better to cause someone else to hurt?

As someone that has a desire to write, I think about words a lot. I feel that the ability to write is a gift that God has given me. I know that with this gift He intends for me to bring honor and glory to Him through the words that I write and speak. The farther I walk on this journey that I am on, the more I realize how my view of the world differs from God's view of the world. My view of the world leads to sin, God's view of the world leads to righteousness.

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." Psalm 119:11

God's words give us hope and healing. God's words give us wisdom and guidance. I don't want to cause other people pain through the words that I speak. It is not my place or my job to judge others, especially when I have plenty to work on myself. Like I said before, this is an area that I struggle with. I think that it is an area that most women struggle with. I know that I do not have the ability to change on my own. Thankfully, God is a big God and He has the ability to change my heart.

"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14

The Junk Drawer

I love a clean house. (Mine is not clean as I am writing this). It makes me so happy to look around the house and see that everything is in its place. I am gearing up to have a big cleaning day tomorrow. Today I promised my daughter I would play with her all day, and she is holding me to that promise.

I will clean the bathroom, the kitchen & dining room, the bedrooms and the living room, all of the rooms that will be seen by any possible visitors. However, I have a drawer that very seldom gets cleaned. In fact, most of the time, I only open it far enough to shove things into it because I have no idea where else to put them. I think everyone has one of these drawers, or maybe it is a closet, or a room. Somewhere in our house that we can close and no one can see. Unfortunately right now, my entire basement is kind of like a junk room. . .but that is a blog for another day.

Even though we would like to forget that we have a drawer like this somewhere in our houses, they are there. And I don't think we really forget about them. I think we just keep shoving stuff in them to deal with later, but later never seems to come.

I think along with junk drawers in our houses, we have junk drawers in our lives. We have things that happen to us and we try to shove them in our junk drawers. We are never sure how to deal with these things so we try to shove them out of our memories, forget they happen. But, guess what they are still there, and the junk doesn't just disappear. In fact, I think junk has the opposite effect. I think that junk grows.

We like to try to hide it from everyone. We make it look like everything is all cleaned up, but we would be horrified if somebody got a glimpse of our junk. We look at other people's lives and we like to tell ourselves that they don't have any junk. Guess what, I don't believe that. Everyone has it. Somebody else might only have a little drawer, but somebody else might have an entire basement.

A couple of years ago my family was out of town when a big rain storm hit. We had never had rain like this so we were really worried about getting water in our basement. To my absolute horror I had to call one of my girlfriends and ask her to check on our house. I wasn't worried about asking her because I knew that she would do it, but I knew that the state of my basement was horrible. She gladly came over and checked everything out for us. She didn't care that my basement was a mess. (It probably killed her to leave and not clean it, I love that about her). She helped me out, she didn't judge me for the mess I had and she knows, I do not have it all together. And I am pretty sure she still loves me just the same as before she saw my mess.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could start to deal with some of the junk in our lives. Wouldn't it feel good to start to take stuff out of that drawer, one thing at a time and deal with it once and for all. I don't think we are supposed to just dump out all of the junk and try to sort through it in one sitting. I think that would just leave us frustrated and we would shove it all back into that drawer and save it for another day.

Lucky for me, when I asked Jesus into my heart, he didn't care about my junk drawer. He opened His arms and welcomed me in with all my junk. I can't hide it from Him. He knows it is there and He loves me just the same.

I do know that He wants me to get rid of my junk and He is going to help me if I let Him. He doesn't want me to try to just shove it to the back of my mind and try to forget that it is there. He doesn't want our junk drawers to cause pain that never goes away. He wants to free us from it, all of it. Wouldn't it feel good to wake up in the morning and know that every drawer is clean.

For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:9

Winter Storms

This should be a great day to blog. I am stranded inside with another snow storm raging outside. Yet, I am sitting here with a gloomy attitude thinking "I need some sun God! Where is the beauty of Spring?"

Sometimes in the long winters of South Dakota, it can be hard to see the beauty of the earth that God created. I can compare these dreary days to how I tend to feel spiritually at times. Throughout my spiritual journey there have been many seasons.

I think that I experience my seasons of springtime when I discover something new in my faith. When God peels another layer off of my hardened heart and helps me to see something through His eyes and not my own.

When I think of summer faith, I think of joy filled days. My summer season is the balanced days when I don't let the busyness of life overtake me. I enjoy every aspect of my day. In my faith journey it is the days that I wake up and focus on my faith first. I am not hurried by what else needs to be done.

Fall is the season of preparation. The plants are preparing themselves for the cold winter that is right around the corner. In my faith it is sometimes frantic days that I am preparing myself for a storm. I am not sure when it is coming and how bad it will be, but I need to be prepared for whatever happens.

Unfortunately my spiritual life has spent too much time in winter. Days when there is little sunshine. The days are shorter and colder. The days when I focus only on myself. Days that I would like to just shut myself out to the rest of the world and stay in my warm house where I am comfortable.

God doesn't intend for us to live our lives focusing on the cold, gray days of winter. I think he intends for us to combine all of the other seasons into our lives depending on the day and the circumstances that surround them.

Lately in South Dakota, fall, spring and summer run into each other. In fall we can have really warm summer days. In summer we can experience the cooler spring days. In spring we can feel the heat of summer.

Some days we are meant to be in the preparation mode of fall. God places warnings on our hearts of when and how we are supposed to prepare ourselves for the upcoming storms of life. But he doesn't want us to be frantic and stay in that place. He wants us to grow everyday like the plants do in spring. He wants us to become mature, strong plants that cannot be knocked over when an early spring rainstorm hits. I think he wants us to be filled with the joy of summer everyday, filled with the light that He places into our lives. However, he doesn't want us to become exhausted in the heat of the day and not replenish ourselves through Him.

So even though the storm rages outside, I know that I am not supposed to stay comfortable in my warm and cozy home. I am supposed to clothe myself with His protection and weather the storm. I am supposed to spend time in prayer and Bible study preparing myself for when the next storm hits. I need to concentrate on where I need to grow and change. I should never feel that I have gained all the wisdom that I need and stop growing. I do not want to become the plant that goes dormant after all of its fruit has been produced for the year.

I think that the seasons in nature are a great reminder to me about the seasons of life. They are unpredictable and constantly changing. We can have a snowstorm in April or 50 degree weather in December. If we rely on God, He has given us the protection we need to weather any storm, to get through every season. And even though there is no sun to be seen outside. He is shining a bright light in my life that can overcome any darkness that I may feel.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." John 8:12