"Not About Me" - Putting Love into Action!

This morning I'm glad I didn't give in to the temptation

to crawl back into my warm comfortable bed.

One of my husband's employees says,

"Don't let yourself fall in love with your bed!" 

That sounds like it came straight out of the book of Proverbs,

doesn't it?!!!

Why am I so glad I made myself stay up?

Well, for one thing, I wouldn't have been able to have

 any alone-time with God if I had crawled back in bed.

And I probably wouldn't have seen that verse

at the top of the page.

It was on the calender, and caught my attention

when I flipped the page over to the new month.

As I saw it, I asked God how He wanted me

to put love into action today.

I didn't have to wait long -

A call from Gary,

A granddaughter out of school with an injury,

A grandmother needed!

How have you put love into action today?

Linking with Jenny Matlock, Tracy, and Laura.

To follow my A to Z names for God, click here.

How can JOY be a sacrifice?!!

"I will offer sacrifices of joy..."

Psalm 27:6

This morning as I went downstairs to spend some time with the Lord,

the "Not About Me" challenge that was given to us by Laura of

Brag on God Friday was on my mind.

I didn't have to wonder long about what God wanted to show me.

My Bible opened up to Psalm 27,

and my eyes immediately fell on verse 6 as quoted above.

God had spoken to me before about the

"sacrifices of praise" mentioned in Hebrews 13:6 that says,

"...Let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God,

that is, the fruit of our lips,

giving thanks to His Name."

And now here it was again.  Was it the same thing?

 God had previously shown me that when my life with its situations

and challenges seemed out of control, they would come under His control

when I would praise and worship Him.

He would give me His peace as I placed my thoughts on Him,

and He would work out all things for my good.

Looking at notes in my study Bible, I read that although we

no longer have a need to bring the thanksgiving sacrifices to God described

in the book of Leviticus, we are to offer spiritual sacrifices.

According to Hosea 14:2, we do this by "taking words with us",

and using our lips to speak His praise outloud to Him.

So, to me it looks like the "sacrifice of joy"

and the "sacrifice of praise" are really the New Testament version

of the "sacrifice of Thanksgiving".

How appropriate is that for this season?!!!

As we praise Him for WHO HE IS

and celebrate the blessings He has given us,

He fills us with His JOY and STRENGTH!

In giving up my rights to pout, be discouraged,

or nourish negative feelings, it is a sacrifice.

I have a right to feel that way if I want to dwell on it.

But what a trade-off if I let go of it and praise God instead!

When I praise Him, I take my hands off my problems

and give Him room to work.

JOY instead of self-pity!

JOY instead of gloom and doom!

I don't know about you, but today I choose JOY!

And that's my JOY4TODAY!

To see Names of God on rocks,
hop on over to my ROCK4TODAY blog!


Linking with Women Living Well Wednesdays,
Brag on God Fridays,
and
Spiritual Sundays.

Joplin - 5 months later

It had been about two months since we were in Joplin, and as Gary and I went back last week, it was a very encouraging visit.  The last time we were there, I could not bear to look at a lot of the damage.  (The Joplin tornado came soon after we had just seen the flooding devastation along the Mississippi River and the tornado destruction in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa.) 

I'd like to share a few pictures with you of this visit, and pass on a story of survival that was shared with us.

 

Piles of rubble were evident on many parking lots

that were in the process of being cleared. 

The trees, although having put out new growth,

still looked mishapen and showed signs of trauma.

Evidence of new construction abounded with multiple port-a-potties

being one of the good indicators at most building sites!

Rows and rows of FEMA trailers gave credence

to the number of people that had lost their homes.

Someone  told me that FEMA furnishes the trailer

rent free for 18 months to give them time to get re-established.

In contrast to all the rubble and construction,

a newly opened Wendy's stood out like a shiny new copper penny.

The manager shared this story with us.

On the evening of the tornado as the sirens were screaming

the warning of the impending disaster,

she spoke to her employees by phone.

Her gut instinct instructed them to huddle together

in the men's bathroom, instead of in the walk-in cooler which

was the usual designated safe place.

She was praying to God for His protection 

as she and her husband drove to the restaurant.

A semi-truck/trailer lay on its side

where the dining room had been.

The only part of the building that remained

was the men's bathroom which contained

seven frightened employees - none with serious injuries!

Truly God had protected them.

Of course, no town in America is replete without its Walmart Store!

The motto on this trailer sums up what we saw in Joplin:

"Rebuilding Together"

A couple of Bible verses that seem appropriate
are from Jeremiah 31:3-4 where God says,
"I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness,
I will build you up again
and you will be REBUILT..."


To see some names of God from A to Z,
check out my Rock4Today blog!

Linking with Women Living Well Wednesdays, Alphabe-Thursdays, Brag on God Fridays, and Spiritual Sundays.

Do you believe in Guardian Angels?

Many times I have thanked God for His protection of my husband.  I have often thought that he must have more than one guardian angel because of the many close calls he has had.

One morning this week before my husband Gary left to work at his tree trimming business,  he prayed for safety.


...I prayed that God would put His angels around him and his helper to protect them.




I didn't know how important that prayer might have been until a little later in the day when Gary walked in looking a bit pale and shaken.

He greeted me with the words, "You are very lucky to have a husband, and not be a widow right now!"





They had been working on a dead tree cutting off the limbs near the bottom.  They had just repositioned the bucket truck to begin working on the higher branches, when  CRASH! A large limb from above where they had been cutting came crashing down on the truck, just missing my husband by about 10 feet!

               So, the next day when they went out to work on the job again,

I not only prayed ---

I also made frequent trips out to the job site.

I watched as they tied a rope around the remaining top

of the tree and secured it to Gary's pick up some distance away.

                    

The sawdust flew as they notched the tree.
 They placed increasing tension on the rope as they began cutting
 on the other side. 

 With relief I watched as it fell to the ground right
 where they wanted it to fall, with no damage to the fence, 
to the horses that were in the adjacent field,
or to the two humans who were doing the work!

 

Watching them repeat the procedure for the next

portion of the tree,  I was so aware of

 God's protection on us frail human beings.

...And so thankful when the next big hunk
again landed where it was supposed to land!

 

       The Angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and He delivers them. 

Psalm 34:7

"See, I am sending an angel before you to protect you..."

Exodus 23:20 

 "For He will order His angels to protect you wherever you go."

 Psalm 91:11

 

What kind of angel experiences have you had?

Aren't you thankful for all the times God has used them to protect you?

Linking today with Laura's Brag on God Friday,

and Charlotte's Inspirational Spiritual Sundays!

Click here to check out this week's name for God!

 

If you need a lift, try a "Blog Hop"

Unveiling

I have often thought of and been a bit envious of Moses' experience with God on Mount Sinai when he received the ten commandments.  To read this story for yourself click on this link from the Blue Letter Bible: Exodus 34:28-35.  As I thought about how awesome it would be to actually see God face to face, I wished, begged, prayed, and hoped that I could sometime see the glory of God without having to wait until I died to see it!  "Show me your glory," I would often pray.

I also found it very interesting that Moses' face was so radiant that the Israelites could not stand to look at him.  Because of this Moses would cover his face with a veil when he talked to them, but he would take it off when he talked with the LORD.

So, after years of pining and whining about not getting to see the glory of God like Moses had, I came across this passage in 2 Corinthians 3:7-18 that really blew my mind.  In essence it seemed to be saying to me that although Moses' face shone and reflected God's glory so much that he had to wear a veil to hide the brightness, it wasn't nearly as big a deal as we have today when the glory of God shines through us by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

What do I mean by that last statement?  We receive something Moses never was able to know.  He lived under the law, the commandments that no one could live up to.  We who have believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior, however, experience not only forgiveness of our sins, but also the life giving presence of the Holy Spirit within us. 

And here's the deal! God wants to shine His glory through us for all the world to see.  He doesn't want us to try to hide it and veil our faces.  Just as a groom pulls back the wedding veil, we are the Bride of Christ;  He wants to pull back that veil and let everyone see the life and joy that we have received from Him! 

When I think about this, I'm not so jealous of Moses anymore!  ...And I do hope that His glory is shining through me!  Unlike Moses, I don't carry a tablet of stone with the commandments on it, ...but I do write God's name on rocks!  (To see some of my art work, please check out  my other blog by clicking this link - Rock4Today.)

Blessings on Spiritual Sundays for allowing me to link with them!

Disaster Relief - What we do when we're out there...

Another Disaster Relief trip ended! 

This time we were with the "Recovery Team" from Arkansas helping clean up some of the damage done by Hurricane Irene in the Greenville, North Carolina area.

I wanted to download some pictures and a video, but ran into a few challenges!  To see a little of the kind of work we did with the feeding unit in Minot, North Dakota, and the "chain saw" work we did this past week, follow this link and click on the Disaster Relief Video.