We often repeat things in our lives.  For most of us, our life revolves around themes. Some are healthy and promote growth and peace, but some are not healthy and promote what we know as “drama” and chaos. Themes are so ingrained in us that we don’t realize that we are habitually repeating something over and over, developing patterns that do not lead us to our best life or best self.

When called on the carpet for these things we often defend ourselves and deny the presence of any wrong. We most likely get defensive because we don’t like to be told we are wrong, because after all…we KNOW our hearts. We justify that our hearts are good and well meaning. In our hearts, we never intended the repeated offense to cause any trouble at all.

What if we don’t have a “heart” issue as much as a “habit” problem. Yes, our hearts might very well be in the right place, but still fall back into old  habits of response to situations and life. For instance, my heart really is set on eating healthy and combating the heart disease I have been diagnosed with, but my habit of running to sugary foods when tired or stressed often seems to win over. Why? Is it because my heart is not right? Or, could it be that it’s been a habit to use food in this way when I am stressed? Perhaps it is the habit that needs to be addressed.

What about you? What are you struggling with that is repeating itself like a theme in your life? Did you know that The Bible tells us clearly that our hearts are deceitful and that we have trouble discerning our own hearts?

Jeremiah 17:9 ” The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” The word deceitful here is from the original, aqob, which can be translated to be: slippery and polluted. Whoa!

If that is the case, then what do we do?

We must get into the habit of going to God with our hearts.

Psalm 139 “Search me and know my heart, see if there is any thing offensive in me and lead me in your ways.”

God can untangle our hearts and give us self-control and discipline to deal with unhealthy habits and patterns. But, we must be aware, get aligned with Him, and be open to the changes He desires to make in us.

For today…ask yourself what theme might be running through your life and take that to the Lord. He desires to change us and it is His plan to use us according to His design. Sometimes, our habits, get in our way. Jesus is the deliverer, even of our unwelcome habits…from smallest to largest.

I pray today that you will align yourself with the God who loves you most, giving him your heart and habits.

with joy,

Debbie

Add in adult kids growing fully and leaving the nest, transition and change in ministry, the hurt of feeling misunderstood…and the sum is a  hard year indeed.

But, the question that is rolling around in my little head today is….Is hard  really bad?

The immediate answer is probably, YES!

We don’t like hard. We are conditioned in life and culture to go for easy. We like easy routes, easy assignments and quick fixes. How can we help it? It is part of the fabric of the culture that we were raised in. So hard seems intolerable and we do whatever we can to get out of hard and find our emotional easy chair…soft, comfortable, non-confrontive. We long to be happy. We long to feel fulfilled. We long to have our every need met. We long….yes we long….for unrealistic levels of personal fulfillment and physical blessing.

The truth is, life is sometimes hard…and, hard can be very good. It is in the hard places of life that God gets our attention and we give Him ours. It might not happen at the first pass of a hardship, because it’s in the first pass that we try with all our might to make hard go away. We try to fix things and when we can’t fix things we distract ourselves with other pleasures….food, drugs, alcohol, relationships, activities, material things. Some of us even hide ourselves  by distracting ourselves with “ministry work”. It , as the other things, can medicate the pain for a time.

But truth be told, God uses HARD. God has hard places within the journey of human life. He could of left us in paradise, but he didn’t. He placed us in a world that is imperfect, with people who are imperfect, and uses the whole environment of life…to draw us back to Him and His power, His majesty and His ability to be the overcoming power  in  our hearts.

I will leave it with the words of Jesus. Ponder them, allow them to speak to you. Memorize them. Let reality sink in and then live your life, today, as if God’s reality is the truest most trust worthy reality that exists.

“I’ve told you all this so that trusting me, you will be unshakable and assured, deeply at peace. In this godless world you will continue to experience difficulties. But take heart! I’ve conquered the world.” John 16:33 The Message

Now from James: 1:2-4 The Message

“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. you know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don’t try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.”

So…I’m thinking. Looks like from a spiritual perspective, hard is good and even a gift. I should not try to wiggle out of hard too soon, but instead learn from it.

Praying God’s blessing on your day and new perspective on your “hard” places.

with you In Christ,

Debbie

We live on autopilot and determine how to live and respond to life based on our own natural way of thinking  and reasoning.

It’s easier this way because we are simply moving to the rhythm of what comes natural to us.

But, just because something is natural does not necessarily mean it is God’s intended best for us. In fact, usually what comes natural to us is formed from human tradition, family of origin, or life habits and patterns that we have picked up along the way.

God has a better way for us, then our way. It takes thought and concentration…something that we would rather not bother with. Most of us are busy and like auto pilot. But are you becoming all that Christ has planned for you while living in autopilot? Is your familiar space causing spiritual growth or stagnant living?

Do you want God’s best for you?

Yeah…me too…

Today’s Truth: Ephesians 4:17-32

Read the passage above and note the instruction to live differently.

Here are the first four foundational points to get us going…

• You must no longer live in the futility of your thinking
• You are taught to put off your former life, “old self”
• You are to be made new in the attitude of your mind
• You are to put on the new self, created to be like God

Let’s stop with these four points. Think about them, pray about them, be honest with yourself about them. Are you living new or are you settling for the old?

• Define futility of your own thinking.
• Describe living in your former life
• Imagine what a new attitude looks like
• Believe for the new self that was actually created to be like God.

Father, make us more like You, created in You, to bring You glory!

This year God gave me two words, ” YES, LORD.” They may only be two, but they pack a powerful punch. When saying “YES” my focus gets turned from me to the God who created me for His purposes. In addition to that, it trains me because I am not that skilled at saying “YES”. I often want to say ” What? You have got to be kidding me, Lord!” But, this year, the instructions are clear, “YES” is the theme.

Many of you know that I have been off the blog due to illness. It has taken any strength that I do have to just keep going day to day with all my regular responsibilities.  Think being pregnant and VERY sick, but NOT!

This week I am scheduled for gallbladder surgery and I am hoping that I will be much better after that. But, in the meantime, I continue to learn to Look Up to Jesus and am being trained by those two words, YES LORD!

I would like to share a passage that popped for me  during my reading this morning. I think I will SIT with this for the week and let God speak to me. Perhaps you would like to do the same.

Today’s Truth: 1 Peter 1: 1-2, 6-7 ( highlight for emphasis)

” Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

In This you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to sufffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perhishes even though refined by fire- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

I see two distinct themes here:

First: My identity in Christ is affirmed, and so is yours.

• God’s elect
• Strangers in the world
• Chosen by God
• For obedience to Jesus Christ

Secondly: My trials and sufferings have a purpose, and so do yours.

• To increase my faith in God
• To prove that my faith in God is genuine
• To bring Him praise and glory

We can not say YES LORD when we are not standing in our identity as His. But note that as His, I am to live as a STRANGER to this world. Funny how we learn our entire life how to FIT into this world, but God’s word says we are strangers and need to live as such. As strangers our main calling is to live as those CHOSEN for OBEDIENCE to Christ!

“Yes Lord”, goes so well with this, doesn’t it? We have been chosen for obedience. Let that sit with you for awhile each day this week. And…in this place our trials are producing genuine faith in us.

What is your theme this year? If you don’t have one, you might want to join me in learning to say ” YES, LORD”

Today’s Prayer

Father, I know how to live according to the plan of those who raised me and the culture that has shaped me. I know how to fit into the church culture that has been part of my life for years, but I am not that skilled at living as a stranger to all of that, for the sake of hearing you and following you. Teach me how to say, YES, and how to follow your ways. Thank you for choosing me to live in obedience, now just teach me what that means and how to live it out.

Affirmations

I have been chosen for obedience to Jesus Christ!

My trials are producing genuine authentic faith!

I would love to hear from you! Leave a messasge and I will make sure it gets posted!

I know it seems I have been missing in action. So, I just wanted to send a brief update, and send Christmas Blessings to each of you who log in to follow this blog.

I haven’t blogged because I have been pretty sick, and just keeping my regular schedule has been challenging. I am meeting with a surgeon this morning to have my gallbladder removed. Basically, it quit working, so it’s gotta go. In the meantime, I have been forced by illness to a fast of sorts….anything makes me sick! I am feeling sad that I can not even have ONE Christmas cookie!!! Have I ever told you that I love Christmas Cookies??

Speaking of the “the meantime”…Today is the Monday before Christmas. We have a few days to not only get ready to celebrate and spend time enjoying the holiday, but also we have a few days to ponder, reflect and meditate on the birth of the Savior.

Prepare room for Him in your heart this week, in your head this week, and in your interactions with others.

I look forward to 2010, and will join you again…then.

In the meantime, I will trust the God who holds all things together, and works to conform everything to His will ( Eph 1:11)

Merry Christmas

Debbie

Silently and without fanfare the disease went into a back closet, I began to feel well, and tests reflected the remission. What once was a Dr. telling me that he suspected my liver would burn out in 3-5 years, has become many more years of life…27 more years to be exact! In the end, for each of us, God is the author of our days, isn’t He?

So, while some are distressed about getting older, I am humbled by it as the years go by. Thankful for the time, my family, friends, and love. Thankful for the opportunity to look for God in all things and learn about him more and more. Thankful for the gift of being his instrument, as the Bible says we are. Thankful for purpose in the mundane, purpose in loving others, and purpose in spiritual growth. And, yes thankful for even lessons learned in all my dumb mistakes!

But, I have not always been thankful on my birthdays. I used to get wierd, dysfunctional, and disappointed. Many women tell me they can relate to that. But about 5 years ago, that turned around. God led me to think of others on “my day”. I planned a luncheon with my friends and carefully selected gifts for “them”. What a joy it was to celebrate them as a reflection of celebrating my own life. That turned everything around for me. What a lesson.

Today, I celebrate.

I celebrate you, dear friends…

• Some of you are my family, past and present…Oh, I want you to know I love you deeply and always.
• Some of you are personal friends…I want you to know I could not imagine life without you.
• Some of publishing friends…I am grateful for you and the opportunities you have opened for me to glorify God and bring women closer to Him.
• Some are friend from my church Cornerstone Fellowship in Livermore, CA… what a joy to share in church community together!
• Some are new friends from retreats and speaking engagements, some are old friends from Orange County, L.A. or Bakersfield.
• Some of you are even friends who have met me through reading my books.

But, one thing for sure…your lives have touched mine, and I love you.

These days I start my “new year” with a theme, a verse to process and hold on to. I would like to share this year’s with you:

From the Message

Psalm 33

“From where he sits he overlooks all us earth-dwellers. He has shaped each person in turn, now he watches everything we do. Watch this. God’s eye is on those who respect him, the ones who are looking for his love. He’s ready to come to their rescue in bad times, in lean times he keeps body and soul together. We’re depending on GOD; he’s everything we need. What’s more, our hearts brim with joy since we’ve taken for our own his holy name. Love us, GOD, with all  you’ve got, that’s what we’re depending on.”

It starts in those first moments. How were those spent this morning? Did you get up and dash? Get up and stress? Get up and make your way to the coffee?

I would like to challenge you to make a small shift in lifestyle that will make a big difference in living productively and peacefully in Christ. This shift involves the first 15. Begin each day by turning your focus immediately on things above and on the God who loves you and is with you. When we wake to start another day, it is by His providence that our body wakes. It makes sense to begin the day thanking Him for life, committing to Him the day, and focusing heavenward first thing.

Acts 17: 28 “For in him we live and move and have our being.”

Psalm 5:3 ” In the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.”

Isa 50:4 ” He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being  taught.”

How do I apply this in practical ways?

Prepare the night before for the first 15.

Set your alarm to go off to praise music ( CD or ipod or Christian radio)

Have a verse for the week, on a card, near your bed. Immediately read the verse out loud, and begin thanking God for the truth of the verse, praying it, talking to the Lord about your day. Lay your immediate, upon waking, requests before him. This sets your heart towards “waiting on him” in attitude the entire day.

Read from a daily devotional, or through a set place in Scripture, and then think about what you read. Journal or pray.

Now, go out and live practicing the presence of God all day, remembering His Word.

This first 15 does NOT take place of a bible study, or relationship with God. It is NOT a legalistic approach, but an honest, spiritually responsible approach to setting your focus heavenward first thing in the morning. The first 15 sets you in a place of NO MORE EXCUSES.

If you are attending a bible study class, you may want to have a different time alloted for doing that study. This 15 minutes is a devotional stance before God, first thing, each day.

It does not even require sitting, if you are truly on the run. It does require, looking UP, Praying Up, and surrender to Living Up! This surrender happens first thing…in the first 15 minutes.

You may have to remind yourself of that early morning committment many times during the day…that is OK. Keep pulling your heart and mind back to God. He is with you.

This life is a sacred journey, lived one ordinary moment at a time.

Maybe it’s that I am getting older, or maybe it’s  God stirring me, but I can not quit thinking about how quickly life goes by, and how much of it I waste on trivial stuff…like worry, living in disappointment, hanging tightly to insecurity or suffocating in fears. Things like holding on to a grudge or taking things too personally. You know, those every day unspoken types of things. While we are holding on to these things, life is racing by and days that could be filled with the goodness of loving others and serving God with full hearts, are being checked off the calendar…never to be given to us again.

Our best life waits us each day when we open up our eyes. Each day, whether rich or poor, sick or healthy, offers a grand surprise of His Presence. We often are so busy that we miss it, don’t we? But, Today is the day. The day to come to attention, thanking God for life, and living it with a gratefulness that fills our hearts and changes our perspective.

No more humbug, no more spiraling down. It’s the day to Live Up! Living Up! in all that God has created us to be, in Him. Are you a mother? Love your children! Are you a wife? Honor your husband! Are you a friend? Remember to care and be there! Are you part of a church? Quit criticizing the pastor!

This holiday season I want to reclaim, once again, what is mine in Christ. A relationship, vital, personal, intimate and growing…with the God who made me, and Jesus Christ who redeemed me from the old girl that was lost in herself, in her personal history, and in her dysfunction. Jesus changes lives, and I want to continue the journey of change.

Well, gotta go for now, the carpet cleaner is here…after all, it is also time to deck the halls and cleaning our carpets is on today’s calendar square. But, in that square is also the call to come to Him, be renewed in Him, and experience Him…one calendar square at a time.

How about you?

It goes with what are we eating, how are we moving, what are we living for, what are we believing? Start a plan of figuring out, how you can live for God, totally…..what area has been left out of the mix. Look Up! Live Up! Walk it Out!

Here’s Truth from The Message:

“So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle alone, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ, that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.

Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life–even though invisible to spectators–is with Christ in God. He is your life. Kill off every thing connected with that old way of death. That’s a life shaped by things and feelings instead of God. You’re done with that old life.

Let very detail in your life–words, actions, whatever–be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.”

Colossians Chapter 3–The Message

with joy,

Debbie

It’s hard to get on track physically, so stay with it.  Pray about your health choices and allow God to give you, your own plan. There is enough information out there to draw from, but allow the Holy Spirit to customize for you. Keeping in mind that the custom plan might be for today, and could be tweaked again later.

For me, there are two words that help simplify eating these days. Lean and Green. For the most part, Lean Protein and Veggies,  needs to be my diet. I didn’t like that answer when the Dr. gave that to me through some medical diagnosis this year. I hated this idea and new plan, and cried ( stupid) over my meal plate for a few weeks.

I had to face that, white foods are not good for me, because I am over 50 and have diabetes in the family history. Sugar, white flour and the yummy foods made with both, are not my friends.

I hated coming to that conclusion, but God is the one who brought me there. Does this mean I never eat them? No.  I didn’t eat them at all for a few months, but then God lead me to something called “Carb-Cycling” which means paying attention to carbs, which means  that I might not eat them at all 4-5 days and eat them in small moderation on the other days. This has been a balanced approach for me, and is even possible with as much travel as I do.

I feel much better when I am not overloaded with either carbs/sugars or bad fats. I have come to love good fats/ such as olive oil, avocado, nuts! Some days I don’t even desire bread on the days that I have given myself permission to have it. When I do have carbs, they are usually whole wheat.

I used to focus on what I could not eat, and cry. Now I try to focus on what I can eat and maximize that list, allowing for a small portion of treat now and then. But the treat must have some nutritional value (nuts/seeds,  pumpkin, oatmeal, low fat dairy) There are many wonderful foods that are healthy for us!  Too many to count!

It’s easy to skip the importance of physical health when faced with the joy of ministry and the opportunity to serve Christ in meaniful ways. Whether ministry is a vocation or volunteer position, it’s important not to take our health for granted. The following breakdown was taken from Mad Church Disease, and is the Ellison research of 568 senior pastors. This could apply to anyone who is doing ministry and forgetting about the importance of their own physical health.

“When my husband and I got married in 2003, both of us were right around our ideal weight for our height. We had also started working in ministry that year. Now, I’m not saying that the two are entirely related or that ministry “made” us gain weight, but because we didn’t manage our schedules and plan our meals well, over the course of the next three to four years, we each gained thirty to forty pounds!” Anne Jackson/ Mad Church Disease.

• 71 percent of all ministers are overweight by the average of 32.1 lbs. One third are overweight by 20-25 lbs.
• Two thirds of all ministers skip meals
• 83 percent eat food that they know they shouldn’t
• 50 percent get the recommended minimum of exercise ( 30 min a day/ 3 times a week)

Pray today about a plan specific for you. The Holy Spirit leads us and guides us into all truth, so the Holy Spirit can very specifically lead us to what our body needs and what our personal plan should be.

Today’s Prayer

Father, forgive me for the times that I take my health for granted. I am sorry. Help me to get on track and stay on track. Help me to follow after you by respecting my body as your temple and vessel. Make your way for me known to me.

Holiday Treats

Dryers Grand Light has a holiday ice cream out called PUMPKIN
It has 1/2 the fat and is only 100 calories.

Yoplait Yogurt Parfait in Lemon, is as good as lemon pie, for 100 calories

Atkins Chocolate Granola Bar is a delicious meal replacement

skinny latte ( tall size) are a low cal, good for you treat. Skinny meaning, nonfat, sugar free.

Vanilla Protein shake with some canned pumpkin in it and a dash of pumpkin spice is a delicious pumpkin pie type of treat.

Medifast bars are delicious and really work for me when traveling. I can eat one every 3 hours when it’s impossible for me to get to healthy good food. This also works when shopping and running errands. Each are only 100 cal, and have 11 gram of protein and low sugar grams. They really keep you full and blood sugar balanced. Purchase at a medifast store or online.