2008. What has it meant for you?
Good, bad, fortunate, unfortunate, blessing….cursing….sickness…health?
Maybe 2008 has been a mix of all the above.

For me 2008 has been another turning point.
I started the year with pneumonia that became a chronic lung condition.
For a few days I awaited tests to see if I too had lung cancer, the same cancer that took my father.

Thankfully, for now, the spot on the lung appears to be just scarring of some kind. ( I have never smoked but my lungs have been affected by 2nd hand smoke exposure, which I had no control over…there are many things in life that we have no control over!)
However, the turning point came in realizing that I worry too much.

Do you worry too much?
How is that going for you? Does it change anything?

The main thing that God has been speaking to me all year is one word… PROVISION.
He continually keeps telling me, in each new situation, that He is my provision. This providence has no boundaries but applies to relationships, finances, health, emotional needs, spiritual desires. He is my Provision!

He is yours too.
Take that word today and hold it in your heart.
Begin the new year with that word…PROVISION.

How can we lead others when we don’t even embrace the most basic of truths. PROVISION.

“Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides with with everything.” 1 Timothy 6:17

Oswald Chambers says:
“He urges us to keep our minds filled with the concept of God’s control over everything. Fill your mind with the through that God is there. And once your mind is truly filled with that thought, when you experience difficulties it will be as easy as breathing for you to remember, ” My heavenly Father knows all about this!” This will be no effort at all, but will be as natural thing for you when difficulties and uncertainties arise. Before you formed this concept of divine control so powerfully in your mind, you used to go from person to person seeking help, but now you go to God about it. Jesus is laying down the rules of conduct for those people who have His Spirit, and it works on the following principle: God is my Father, He loves me, and I will never think of anything that He will forget, so why should I worry?”

Celebrate His Provision, Care and Love for you as you go into 2009.
Your God will supply all your needs in Christ Jesus today, and every day of the New Year!

Today’s Prayer
Father,
I pray a blessing of peace and absence of worry over each woman reading this blog. Make real to her the truth that you are her Provision in every area. Help her to begin the new year with absolute trust in the God who loves her most. Be our everything Jesus, our everything.

No comments yet. Be the first!

As we approach the New Year, the resolutions, the desire for change and the hope for better tomorrows….we must be very conscious of not entering into an agreement with our flesh for change. What does that mean? It means that we must not depend on our own strength or will to bring about change in us or our circumstances. Instead we must get alone with God, and through a prayer conversation we are to give him each detail that needs changing…one by one. As we go through our list, we must come into an agreement with the Spirit that it is not by might nor by our power, but by God’s Spirit that real and lasting change occurs.

What does your inventory list say?
I would love to hear from some of you.
What is it that you are being required to submit to God in 2009?

Together let’s trust our will over to the will of God. Let’s surrender all and see the sanctification of our life blossom before our very eyes!

Looking forward to hearing from you….

Heavenly Father,
I come to you this morning with the areas in my life that I know must be submitted to you. I am pondering how I have tried to change these in my own strength in the past with no lasting success. This year I come submitting my weakness to you and asking for the strength of your Holy Spirit to be at work in me. Change me Lord. Change Me. Less of Me and More of Thee.

2 Comments Submitted

New Year, New Choices, Fresh Starts.

I love this time of year. There is anticipation of a clean slate, a fresh start, and a new beginning. Though that new beginning is available each day of the year, it somehow seems more “real” when the New Year rings in each January.

I encourage you to take some time taking a personal inventory. Think about what it is in your life that needs a fresh start or a new beginning. Determine to live intentionally trusting God in that area. Keep in mind that all of us can change because as believers we are filled with the Holy Spirit of power, guidance and truth.

I started yesterday with a major closet cleanse! Yes, that’s right. I came up with 7 hefty garbage bags filled with clothes and shoes that I don’t wear enough to keep. I will donate them today.

It’s time for a new beginning, time to be Wildly devoted to God in all areas. I am excited about trusting Him, serving Him, listening to His voice, and carrying out His will in my little corner of the world in 2009.

Mark 14:1-9 Let’s once again look at Mary of Bethany.

The passage in Mark is a story about Mary of Bethany, whom we know as the girl who sat at the feet of Jesus, and the sister to “busy bee” Mary, and “up from the grave” Lazarus. In this passage we are told that Mary poured an expensive jar of perfume on the head of Jesus while he was at Simon’s home before the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Those who watched her criticized this action towards Jesus accusing her of being wasteful– they thought the perfume could have been sold to provide money for the poor.
But, Jesus said,
“Leave her alone. ” “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing…She did what she could.” Mark 14:6,8

She Did What She Could!

Mary had taken what she had, the alabaster jar, and she used what she had, to do what she could. In this case, she anointed the head of Jesus, with what she had…and Jesus said, “She has done a beautiful thing” v. 6

Mary is an example of a WILD woman. What she did was frowned upon…from sitting at the feet of Jesus, to breaking the seal on the alabaster jar. Her love for Jesus was not politically or socially correct or understood. Yet, Jesus said that sitting at his feet would not be taken from her, and that the lavish perfume given for him was a beautiful thing. It’s WILD to please God rather than people. It’s WILDER still to do just WHAT we have been called and created to do–no more, no less.

As leaders we are not required to do EVERYTHING, or ALL that we can. We can learn from this and do just WHAT we can, in each moment, in each day, unto Jesus.

Are you doing what you could today?

I want to do what I can, just like Mary who “did what she could”. Jesus said she did ” a beautiful thing” and I want that response from my Lord too. I want to do what only I can do with the hopes of Jesus saying that my actions were to Him a beautiful thing too.

How about you?

Today’s Prayer
Father, I come to you today and ask that you will begin placing on my heart the very area that you want me to trust you for change in this next year. I dedicate myself to believing that your power working in me can be the pathway to something new and different in my life. I thank you that you are my Freedom!

1 Comment Submitted