2013 ~ A Year Of Choices

Yogi Berra said it like this, "If you come to fork in the road, take it."

It's already the fourth week of January, and I haven't blogged about my word for 2013.  I have heard from a few of my friend and read several other blogs and everyone pretty much seems to be on a timely schedule announcing their word for the year.  Which for some of course, would be the beginning of January not dragging in with only nine days left in the month.

But then again, it really doesn't matter when I select my word.  For me, it's a matter of first of all selecting my word and then branding in into my memory so when the Arizona heat hits it won't be gone like an ice cube sitting on the scorching pavement.

Are you ready for the big reveal?  My word for 2013 is.......Choices

 I don't really want to get all legalistic because that would take away the beauty.  It's such a simply perfect word, don't you agree?  From the moment I open my eyes until the moment I fall asleep, I am given (for the most part) an opportunity to make:

CHOICES

"Today I have given you the choice between life and death, 

between blessings and curses.  Now I call on heaven and earth 

to witness the choice you make.  

Oh, that you would choose life, 

so that you and your descendants might live! 

 You can make this choice by 

loving the LORD, your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him.

  This is the key to your life.  

And if you love and obey the LORD,

 you will live long in the land the LORD swore 

to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

A Love Story...How God Pursued Me and Found Me An Impossibly True Story ~ Book Review~

An overview of the book and author Samantha Ryan Chandler

Samantha tells her story of living her life without God.  Or at least she thought.  In A Love Story ...How God Pursued Me and Found Me, she tells her story of love, hatred, abuse  forgiveness, betrayal, greed, enlightenment, and fear.  Born to a pagan mother and a former altar boy living in a land of denial, she recounts how God was involved in her life even before she knew who He was.  She shares the story of her trip to the Holy Land and how her prayers at the Wailing Wall were interrupted because of a hamburger.  Yes, despite her tribulations, her life has had its funny moments as well.

Samantha Ryan Chandler was born in a colorful town in Louisiana, which helped shape her view of life  to "love life and live it large".  A series of divine interactions led Samantha to co-found a children's ministry Childspring International, formerly call Children's Cross Connection.  The organization brings children with severe deformities or life threatening illnesses to the United Stats for donated surgeries and medical care.  She now divided her time between North Carolina and Georgia.


My review:  I really enjoyed reading Samantha's story.  Her life has had many ups and downs, just like our own lives.  A reality show about her life would not even be able to do do justice to Samantha's real-life story. I so appreciated Samantha's willingness to vulnerable with her reader and yet she did not hold back in giving God the glory.  I especially liked that scriptures we shared through-out A Love Story... How God Pursued Me and Found Me.  Here is my favorite part of the book:  'I hear God so very clearly and He says to me, "You did not write the book to yourself.  I wrote it to you!!!"


Disclosure:  I received a free copy of this book/ebook/product to review.  I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way.  The opinions I have expressed are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.  I am a part of the CWA Review Crew.

I'm Thirsty

I have come to the place in my life where I've become thirsty.  Thirsty for God, thirsty for God's Word and thirsty for the Holy Spirit.  Nothing else is going to quench this thirst that drives me to realize how thirsty I truly am.

"But the 

LORD

 has become my 

                                                           s    

                                                  t

                                                      r

                                                        o

                                                          n

                                                            g

                                                              h

                                                                o

                                                                  l

                                                                   d, 

and my God 

the rock of my refuge."  

Psalm 94:22

Silhouette

I can vividly remember back in the first grade, our whole class had their silhouette's drawn by the art teacher.  Nothing fancy, just a side silhouette traced on white construction paper that was then glued onto black construction paper.  All of our silhouette's were to be displayed in the hallway during parent night.  I can also vividly remember that I was mortified how my silhouette turned out.  Was my nose really that pointy (almost Bewitched like)?  My lips seemed non-existent and my hair, what was going on with my hair????  It seemed as though every cowlick on my head decided to make an appearance in that drawing.  

And so began my journey.

Looking back, those thoughts that were being embedded in my little first-grade mind, I began to believe I looked exactly like those unflattering caricature's people have drawn of themselves.


Johann Wolfgang von Goethe says it this way, "The soul that sees beauty may sometimes walk alone."


I know I'm not alone when I wrestle with myself-critical thoughts, the lies this confused world would have me ask myself:

What is beauty?

Does it truly lie in the eyes of the beholder?

And why, oh why, do I struggle in seeing it myself?

I'm taking 2 Corinthians 4:16 and making it my own, "So we (I) do not (cannot) lose heart.  Though our (my) outer self is wasting away, our (my) inner self is being renewed each day." 

And that my sweet friends is a glorious place for this girl to be!

Wardrobe Malfunction

"Grey is NOT the new white!"

Last night our women's ministry hosted a forum called Shades of Grey in Christianity.  We tackled just three topics from the plethora of issues we could have chosen from:  Speech, Morality and Worldliness.  Although we didn't delve to deeply into each topic, that was okay.  God told us very early on that was never to be the intent of the forum.

This morning, as I was standing in my closet pondering what to wear it hit me like a two-by-four.  I was having a major wardrobe malfunction!  Only my outside clothing was not the issue, it was my heart.  I have years of grey hidden in my heart and God said it's time for a new wardrobe a.k.a., a clean heart!  

My mind started racing, I wanted to know more.  This is what I discovered: the average human heart will beat 2.5 BILLION times in a lifetime!  In layman's terms, a heart attack means heart cells die due to lack of oxygen.  Heart failure means the heart does not pump blood properly.  Cardiac arrest means the heart stops.

"Create in me a clean heart, 
O God, and renew 
a stead fast spirit within me."
        Psalm 51:10  



Anyone
else 
ready
for
a
new
wardrobe?

Pesky Extra Pieces

I recently started reading 'Mended' by Angie Smith and in the very first chapter she challenges you to break an item and mend it back together.  At first I thought, this sounds down-right goofy but I'm not one to walk away from a challenge.  Especially when the Holy Spirit won't let me.  In the book, Angie breaks a large pitcher.  I went with a small coffee mug, after all I'm not one to go all crazy, and I admit I wanted a feeling of accomplishment today.   

Dumping my broken pieces in a box, I heated up my trusty glue gun.  I began the re-gluing of my smashed mug.  My first thought was maybe I should have gone with something easier, a plate perhaps.  But as I sat there trying to figure out where to start, God so sweetly reminded me this wasn't about perfection.  Boy, was I glad to hear that. 

Being the self-professed mystery solving gal that I am, I just knew God was going to tell me the verse in Isaiah 64:8.  You know the one, "we are the clay, He is the potter."   As I kept gluing and trying to fit pieces together, I realized I had a bit of a dilemma on my hands.  I had

extra 

pieces!

As I neared the end of my Saturday morning project, God revealed a bit of what He is wanting to show me. The gaps, those are places He wants to fill-in for me.  And what about the pesky extra pieces?   These are things He wants me to let go of and give to Him.  I found the perfect spot for my mended mug on my desk as a sweet reminder!

Finishing

It's is January of 2013, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that concept.  A friend of mine and I were contemplating this on New Years Eve.  I remember I had a new teacher  in 5th grade, her name was Ms. Marsh.  She was young, beautiful and oh so full of life, something I had never experienced with my other (older) teachers.   Ms. Marsh  had given us a math challenge: figure out how old we would be in the year 2000.  2000????  I couldn't even wrap my 5th grade mind around that, let alone the answer to the question, in 2000 I would be....35 (gasp), my head was spinning!!!


I recently began Ecclesiastes in my daily reading.  I love the book of Ecclesiastes and I am almost certain it wasn't by mistake I'm reading it in January.  Ecclesiastes 7:8, 13 says, "Finishing is better than starting.  Patience is better than pride.  Accept the way God does things, for who can straighten what he has made crooked."


What a great verses for the new year!  Did I finish 2012 better that I began 2012 or maybe I should ask myself if I accepted what God made crooked?  Finishing is better than starting....But there I go again, getting way ahead of myself and God.  Trying to figure out what is going to be in the year 2013.  But God in his infinite wisdom only promises me today.  Lord, help me focus on today and your plans for me: today.  Not my plans or man's agenda.  Let me seek you first, not comparing my walk with what I perceive others walks to be.  One finish at a time, in God's time.


Patience is better than pride......Lord you know patience is not one of my strongest virtues.  Sometimes I try and fool myself into believing if I don't verbally have a hissy fit then I am being patient.  But on the inside I'm a raging, uncontrollable two-year old who just wants her way.  For years, my husband and kids have paid an exacting price for my impatience, that self-controlling need for everything to go according to my desire.  That ugly, deep dark thing that desires to consume me and everyone and everything that gets in the way....my pride.  Oh, can anyone else relate??


Accept the way God does things, for who can straighten what he has made crooked.....this is not to say I don't participate in this journey after all I'm here in this place at this moment.  But I do have a choice of how I participate.  Oh how quickly I can look inward, and feel defeated trying to fix, manipulate even avoid the very crooked thing God wants me walk through with him.


My prayer:  In Jesus name I pray, I can't do one moment with you Lord, let each finish be far better than its beginning. Fill me with your patience and empty me of my pride.  Show me Lord, there is joy on these paths you have made crooked.  Amen