"Me Day" ... Um, No ... HIS DAY!

I enjoyed “Me Day” on Thursday just gone. I feel rather guilty referring to my day off as “Me Day” as it was more about Him than me, hence the title of this post. It was a chance to rest from the daily grind, renew my spirit and refresh my outlook. From the get-go, outside of a niggling day long headache, the day was wonderful!

Isaiah 32:17 spoke to me first – “The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.”

After a somewhat interesting month where I’ve had to deal with some turmoil, this verse spoke of the three things that I have been seeking – peace, quietness and confidence.

The second verse to speak to me was Psalm 19:1 – “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” This verse was accompanied by this quote from Gloria Gaither –

“This day let our actions and attitudes be in sync with all creation. May be articulate praise with the moments we are given today.”

I think I got the purpose of “Me Day” at that point.

God’s love needs to be displayed through me ... first and foremost in everything I think, say and do.

Onto the shopping centre I then ventured to a cafe to enjoy a coffee and read. My sights and thoughts along the way included the following, as written in my notebook once at the cafe:

“Old men sitting outside the supermarket chatting while their wives shopped ... a mum saying “see you later” to her tantrum throwing toddler at the main door.

A visit to the new stationery shop with young girls and boys looking at all the goodies, wanting to make the right purchase. Memories of my early teenage years flood back of me doing the same thing. Walking through to the cafe and seeing two young teenage girls sitting on some steps looking pretty, not returning my smile, looking at me with trepidation, me knowing full well that “image” is taking over their lives.

My thoughts move to being thankful for where I am at in life, despite the difficult times. I have God's love to share with others and I have to start doing that from today. THE MOMENT IS NOW.

Thoughts then go straight to my girlie. Love and smiles abound. I can do this. Even though we have bad times and she frustrates me no end (and vice versa!), I can do what God needs me to do; steward this child, this gift from God, into a life filled with richness.

I am not God’s purpose. He is using ME to show Himself to others.”

My cafe reading included continuing Liz Curtis Higgs’ book titled “Embrace Grace” and the chapters on embracing faith and truth. I then moved onto reading through the first chapter titled “Doing What’s Right” from Charles Swindoll’s book, “A Life Well Lived.” I then did some study questions from Micca Campbell’s “An Untroubled Heart” to finish off her amazing book.

All food for my soul and spirit on this day that I feel God used to strengthen me. He used the day to take me back to the basics of my walk with Him and to reassure me that through Him I can be all that He needs me to be, despite the fact that on the most part I feel I do a terrible job!

There are many, many verses that I read that spoke to me, but the following two stood out the most:

“We must obey God rather than man.” – Acts 5:29

“The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” – Psalm 118:6

A timely reminder about where my focus needs to be. Even when manking conspires against me, when life here on earth gets a bit tiresome and unfair, I have the assurance of God's protection and love over me.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the opportunity to draw closer to you; to gain strength and reassurance from only you. May my walk here on earth among mankind be fruitful and grace-filled. May I live simply under the shelter of your wings and may Your purpose for me be fulfilled. In Jesus’ Wonderful Name, Amen.

Praying Psalm 25:7...

"Remember me for who I am now. Release me from my past and my sins. Bless me with your lovingkindness." - PCW

Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD. - Psalm 25:7 (KJV)

The Great I Am...

From the book, "An Untroubled Heart" by Micca Campbell -

"God is worthy of our honour because He is the creator of heaven and earth. He is Lord over all. He is the King of Kings. He is the beginning and the end. He is everlasting. His glory fills the whole earth. He is grace, truth, love, light, and life. He doesn't change, and He needs no help. His greatness is unsearchable. He is the judge of righteousness, the one and only Lawgiver. He knows our secrets and examines our hearts. He sees everything and knows all about us. He is full of loving-kindness. He was moved to save us from sin. He is merciful. He has incomparable power and strength. Nothing is too difficult for Him. He is everywhere. The highest heaven cannot contain Him, He names the stars. He has unlimited understanding. He doesn't want anyone to perish. He's slow to anger and abounds in love. He lives with the humble and does no wrong. No one can stop Him, nor can they flee His presence. He is ruler of all things. He alone is God.

"You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; beside him there is no other." - Deuteronomy 4:35"

If anyone ever wants to know who God is...this is He...the great I AM.

Yes to God Tuesday: Chapter 2 - The Fear Factor...

A different type of Yes to God Tuesday post here (as well as being 5 days late!), as my brain is sapped of creativity tonight to write a ‘normal’ post. Instead of sharing my thoughts (they’re scribbled in the margins of the book), I’m going to share the Word; verses that Micca Campbell used in her book "An UnTroubled Heart", and written here under the headings in which she uses them. All verses are from the New International Version.

“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” – 2 Timothy 1:7

By God’s Grace –

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.: - 1 Corinthians 15:10

The Introduction of Fear –

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" – Genesis 3:1

Be Careful Where You Step –

“Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” – James 4:7

"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." – Hebrews 13:5b

“Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.” – Ephesians 6:11

It is by God’s grace we are free to not feel fear. It is by the enemy’s will that we are made to feel fear. It is through submitting to the Word of God that we learn how to be cautious of that fear. It is through remembering God’s Word to us that we feel comfort in the face of fear. It is through putting on God’s armour that we overcome fear.

He Shall Cover Thee...

I'm most disappointed this evening as I have left my Yes to God Tuesdays study book at work and I was looking forward to preparing my post on chapter two tonight but now I can't. Yes, I am feeling like a whinging child, but this is also developing my patience, teaching me to not worry about where the book actually is (work is the only obvious explanation but you never know with me being blonde and all!), allowing me time to delve into some Bible reading (finish Romans perhaps and move onto the next book!?!?!) and also giving me the opportunity for an early night. But, before I do that, I just want to share some verses that Micca Campbell quotes in chapter two that moved me this week, and brought me great comfort.

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

- Psalm 91:4-11 (KJV)

The mere thought of being covered with wings of protection moved me beyond measure. Just to know that God has sent angels to take charge over me, and to keep me in His ways is such a comforting thought. I have felt renewed since reading these verses and have actually gone on a little mini quest to find out more about His heavenly charges. As for the photo I added above...swan feathers don't quite do heavenly feathers justice, I imagine, but this image kept jumping out at me as I searched Google Images for some feathers.

Verse 4 has been chosen as my Siesta Scripture Memory Team Verse for the 1st of April also, and in the KJV too! As I'm struggling a bit with memorising my verses, I visited The LPM Blog page tonight and listened to Beth Moore's Scripture Memory Mini Tutorial. It's well worth a look, even if you're not doing the team challenge this year.

Dear Lord, thank you so much for your presence in many forms. Thank you for the reassurance it brings. Thank you for taking the fear away and for bringing comfort during my most fearful moments. In Jesus' Wonderful Name, Amen.

Yes to God Tuesday: Chapter 1 - When The Unthinkable Happens...

Welcome to Chapter One of the latest Yes to God Tuesday study hosted by Lelia at Write From The Heart. The book we are studying is “An Untroubled Heart” by Micca Campbell. Please check out Micca’s blog page Reflections. I am blessed to be doing this study thanks to Lelia and Micca and this book has come along at the right time for me (like all the books I’ve studied with the Yes to God Tuesday study group actually). This book is extra special and that is just from the tagline – “finding a faith that is stronger than all my fears”.

In Chapter One Micca recounts her “unthinkable” - the tragedy that left her a widow at the age of 21 with a baby. What began as a lifetime of hope and promise ended with Micca losing her husband and questioning why God would do that to her. It’s a powerful yet heart warming story and reflects the true nature of a very brave yet humble woman.

The lesson that Micca learnt was that she was, and is, not alone, even though she felt totally and utterly alone at the time. She also learnt that her present fears at that time, about losing someone else close to her, were fuelled by her past experiences. Yes, Micca had, and has, every right to feel fearful that she would lose someone close to her again. She suffered such tragedy. I can relate to Micca on that, but not with losing a loved one through death, but losing someone through separation and divorce. My marriage broke down when I was 27. I had been married since I was 20 and I was floored. I lived away from my family, had only recently moved to where we were living and now was being left by the man who stood in a church and promised to love me until death do us part. Even 12 years later I am still fearful that the same will happen to me again now.

But I need not be fearful, and this is a lesson that God has been slowly teaching me of late, hence why the timing of this book study is spot on. I have God in my life, and am so very blessed by that. I left Him a long time ago, but I now know that He never left me. Since then I’ve battled with making sense of my past; my divorce and subsequently my now broken relationship with my daughter’s father. I ask myself why on many, many occasions. I asked the question earlier this week when I was sitting in the counsellor’s office pouring my heart out to try and make sense of why I feel like I do.

Micca gives the answer – “…our past will never make sense until we invite God into our present. Then we will see He has been there all along.” I know that He has been but I was just blinded to the fact of how magnificent He is and how He works everything for His good. It’s a tough ask to understand and accept that everything that happens to us is already pre-written in God’s book. But it’s something that I understand to be true.

“Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.” – Psalm 139:16

Like with Micca’s husband, God didn’t take my ex-husband from me through divorce. He simply let us be together for the number of years that He had pre-ordained so that we would both be where we are today. God didn’t leave me alone for me to make the wrong choice and end up having a child out of wedlock with my daughter’s father. He simply gave me enough rope so that He could facilitate the gift of my daughter being born. He has a purpose for everything.

Psalm 46:1 tells how, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” These are the words I’ve needed to read, and was so very thankful that Micca’s book arrived in the mail when it did on Monday. I have been feeling totally and utterly trapped and alone for quite a few months, and although I can feel God’s presence with me I haven’t let His presence get to my core due to the fact that I have been beating myself up over the bad choices I’ve made. These bad choices led me to be given the gift of my daughter, so I now realise that they weren’t as bad as I once thought but more so exactly where God wanted, and wants, me to be.

In saying that, I have to admit that I haven’t let God’s ever-present help filter in. “God’s help is available the moment we humble ourselves and cry out to Him.” My mistake is I cry out to others; people who I know care and I can get support from, with God always as a second option. Mis – take! A BIG mistake!

James writes how we must “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds…” (James 1:2) What?! How can that be so? It IS so, and like Micca I have questioned James’ reasoning, but he is exactly right. Trials bring on a testing of our character, a growth and expansion, a level of maturity that we would never gain from just living worldly lives. Trials bring us so much. They bring us closer to God as we rely on Him more, and He brings joy into our lives through these trials. This makes no sense whatsoever from a worldly perspective, but thank the Lord that it makes sense from the perspective from where I’m looking from.

Although hard to deal with when it’s happening, trials, with all the associated emotions that come along for the ride, do bring us joy. Trials develop endurance and perseverance, which then results in us becoming more mature, developing more patience and leading to a feeling of completeness or wholeness. Micca writes how nice it would be to reach this stage without the trial but “However, these are the ways of God”. When we “can look at the end result of what our testing is accomplishing, then we can find joy in the midst of it.” It’s just like when I discipline my daughter; she does not see joy in it at the time, but unbeknown to her there is such a great reward in what I am doing. I am developing her character. I am strengthening her. And this is what God does with us. Not that He brings trials upon us, or makes us suffer; He uses the trials we go through to make us stronger for Him.

In the study questions at the end of the chapter Micca prompted us to “Write a prayer thanking God for the good work He is doing in your and for helping you to conquer your fears in the process. Thank Him for being an ever-present help.” Here is my prayer –

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank you for never leaving my side, and for always being the ever-present help that you are, even though I don’t always turn to you first. Thank you for guiding me and strengthening me so that I can overcome my fear of man and look only to you for completeness. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

PS: This quote happened along the day after I read the chapter, so I thought I’d include it in my post as it is most appropriate –

“Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved.” – Helen Keller

PPS: I almost forgot! This is my 100th post and I'm honoured to have a Y2GT study as the content, as Lelia has blessed me over and over since our paths crossed on Blogger. Amazing lady, amazing life, and an amazing faith.