Hello out there! I am a little behind this week in my posting. Life has come in like a huge wave and it has been hard to keep my head above water and the current has been pretty strong as well. Can anyone relate? I feel like I am being hit from all directions. When you have 4 children there is never a dull moment so I am used to juggling normal life stuff but this has been different. I have felt like I have been in a battle. This has been a time of being "on guard".
The bible reminds me that in this time that we live in "this is not your REST".(Mic.2:10) In Luke 22:46 I am reminded by Jesus to "Rise up and Pray!"
The most ironic thing about this is that when you think that what you really need during a situation like this is SLEEP,A VACATION,A DRINK,ETC.,prayer is the GREAT ESCAPE!!!! God truly knows what he is talking about.
The greatest rest I ever have no matter what is happening around me is right after I have prayed. The greatest vacation I have ever taken was one soaked in prayer. The only drink that has filled me with such Joy and relaxation was a drink of "Living water".
I found the words to a beautiful song that describes what prayer does.... IT STOPS ThE WORLD! Maybe that is why God tells us to PRAY WITHOUT CEASING!
STOP THE WORLD
THE TV IS TALKING
THE TELEPHONE'S RINGING
THE LIGHTS ARE ALL ON AND THE RADIO'S SCREAMING
A MILLION DISTRACTIONS ARE STEALING MY HEART FROM YOU
I'M TIRED AND EMPTY
THIS LIFE IS RELENTLESS
IT WEAKENS MY KNEES AND BREAKS MY DEFENSES
IT'S WEARING ME DOWN AND I'M DESPERATE TO HEAR FROM YOU!
STOP THE WORLD
I WANNA GET OUT
I NEED AN ESCAPE
AWAY FROM THIS CROWD
JUST TO HEAR YOU SPEAK TO ME
I NEED TO BE STILL BEFORE I MAKE A MOVE
I NEED TO BE HUMBLE WITH NOTHING TO PROVE
I NEED YOUR WORD TO SHOW ME THE TRUTH
AND I NEED TIME,PRECIOUS TIME.
If you want to hear the next verse and the beautiful melody, pick up Matthew West's cd called "Something to say". The whole cd is worth listening to and pondering. My prayer for you is simple: May you pray and discover that God truly is your"GREAT ESCAPE". d
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
AHA!
There is a road I travel frequently and just recently I saw a little gravel road that someone had carved out leading back into a wooded lot. A sign had been erected at the entrance that merely stated,SANCTUARY. You couldn't see anything from the road,not a building,bulldozer or any sign of movement at all. There was an air of mystery about it and I just can't stop thinking about it. So, you know what that means... I began to ponder the word,sanctuary. The dictionary defines it as a holy place or a place of refuge. Funny thing how God speaks at just the right time ,if you are listening. In my daily Bible reading this morning in Ezekiel the scriptures were:"This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you said "AHA!" over my Sanctuary when it was desecrated and over the land of Israel when it was laid waste and over the people of Judah when they went into exile,therefore I am going to give you to the people of the east as a possesssion." God makes it clear here that He does not take it lightly when we say "AHA!" over His Sanctaury when it is being harmed in any way. But what exactly is His sanctuary? Back then, it was a building because that is where God's presence dwelt among the Israelites but today God has made it clear that those who invite Jesus into their lives to forgive and cleanse them also invite in the Holy Spirit to dwell within them and therefore we become God's Sanctuary. If that is true, why do we take such poor care of God's Sanctuary? Are we saying"AHA!" when we run around and never rest,drink,smoke,eat junk constantly? Are we saying,"AHA!" when we worry and forget to pray? How can we be a place of refuge for others when we are sick,tired and harried ourselves? Please believe me this is convicting to me and I am not preaching to you but to myself. I think of the song:"God prepare me to be a sanctuary,pure and holy,tried and true. With Thanksgiving,I'll be a living sanctuary for YOU!"
My prayer for us is simple: May we never say"AHA!" over God's sanctuary and may we become a refuge for all those seeking comfort and shelter in our lives.
My prayer for us is simple: May we never say"AHA!" over God's sanctuary and may we become a refuge for all those seeking comfort and shelter in our lives.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Lovewalking
I am posting late today because it is the first day of school. My dining room table looks like a display table at Office Depot. It will look this way for about 2 weeks as the kids gradually get everything removed to their lockers. They were nervous and a little excited as they moved through the new but familiar routine of dressing,quick bites of 'whatever" I can entice them with on a stomach full of butterflies and gathering all the necessary tools for the day.
They are also nervous because of what they will face,hear and be made aware of.
Public school is not the safe,warm and fuzzy place it was 50 years ago. There are many reasons for this which I will not try to explain or give my personal account of at this posting. No, today is about my reaction to this truth. 11 years ago my 4th grader and my kindergartener started public school. I had been a public school teacher for many years and knew what they were going to experience. First, I was gripped with fear and then I fell on my knees and cried out to God for their protection. Second, I attended a meeting I had heard about on the radio. I invited an aquaintance that also had a daughter who was entering kindergarten. We attended this meeting out of desperation. It was called Moms in Touch.
Moms In Touch is a prayer ministry. We were told how to use a simple outline of Praise,Silent Confession,Thanksgiving and then Intercession using scripture to pray for our children each week for one hour. My new friend was a little nervous. She barely knew me and she went home and told her husband," I have never prayed for anything for one hour".
But pray we did and the hour flew by.
I have to tell you that this new friend became my best friend. We have cried and laughed and sang and danced and shouted in some of the most exciting hours of prayer that I have ever experienced. We have seen our children succeed and fail and get up again as we have prayed them through elementary school,middle school,high school and now even college. Many other women have joined us through the years. Some have come and gone and some die hards like us are here to stay. 3 years ago another aquaintance called me up and asked me to help her with this vision God had given her to start a County-wide prayer walk for all our schools. I was excited about this because I was already doing this for my kids schools. It seemed like a huge task to get the whole county involved but we met to pray and God showed up and that is how the LOVEWALK was formed. The name came from 2john 6-"And this is love,that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning,His command is that you walk in LOVE."
Every year the LOVEWALK has grown from just a few moms to moms,dads,children,grandparents,teachers and even people who have no children at all. We had no idea who walked the first year and now we have a website where people contact us and let us know who walked and what they prayed. The first year we had a reporter take our picture and write an article in the paper. It was truly a God thing. Last year we had signs made and my friend and I hammered them into a hard dry ground because of the drought. We placed them at all of the schools by ourselves. This year just like the abundant rain we have had to loosen up the soil.. we had an abundance of helpers with this task.
On Saturday I stood at the elementary school where my son had graduated from and now will be entering the middle school next door. I stood with my Moms In Touch friend who started all this with me. We couldn't believe how 10 years had flown by sorta like the first hour of prayer. We asked God to replace us. We released this wonderful school with all the students,teachers and staff into His hands. And we turned toward the middle school to begin another year of LOVEWALKING.
They are also nervous because of what they will face,hear and be made aware of.
Public school is not the safe,warm and fuzzy place it was 50 years ago. There are many reasons for this which I will not try to explain or give my personal account of at this posting. No, today is about my reaction to this truth. 11 years ago my 4th grader and my kindergartener started public school. I had been a public school teacher for many years and knew what they were going to experience. First, I was gripped with fear and then I fell on my knees and cried out to God for their protection. Second, I attended a meeting I had heard about on the radio. I invited an aquaintance that also had a daughter who was entering kindergarten. We attended this meeting out of desperation. It was called Moms in Touch.
Moms In Touch is a prayer ministry. We were told how to use a simple outline of Praise,Silent Confession,Thanksgiving and then Intercession using scripture to pray for our children each week for one hour. My new friend was a little nervous. She barely knew me and she went home and told her husband," I have never prayed for anything for one hour".
But pray we did and the hour flew by.
I have to tell you that this new friend became my best friend. We have cried and laughed and sang and danced and shouted in some of the most exciting hours of prayer that I have ever experienced. We have seen our children succeed and fail and get up again as we have prayed them through elementary school,middle school,high school and now even college. Many other women have joined us through the years. Some have come and gone and some die hards like us are here to stay. 3 years ago another aquaintance called me up and asked me to help her with this vision God had given her to start a County-wide prayer walk for all our schools. I was excited about this because I was already doing this for my kids schools. It seemed like a huge task to get the whole county involved but we met to pray and God showed up and that is how the LOVEWALK was formed. The name came from 2john 6-"And this is love,that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning,His command is that you walk in LOVE."
Every year the LOVEWALK has grown from just a few moms to moms,dads,children,grandparents,teachers and even people who have no children at all. We had no idea who walked the first year and now we have a website where people contact us and let us know who walked and what they prayed. The first year we had a reporter take our picture and write an article in the paper. It was truly a God thing. Last year we had signs made and my friend and I hammered them into a hard dry ground because of the drought. We placed them at all of the schools by ourselves. This year just like the abundant rain we have had to loosen up the soil.. we had an abundance of helpers with this task.
On Saturday I stood at the elementary school where my son had graduated from and now will be entering the middle school next door. I stood with my Moms In Touch friend who started all this with me. We couldn't believe how 10 years had flown by sorta like the first hour of prayer. We asked God to replace us. We released this wonderful school with all the students,teachers and staff into His hands. And we turned toward the middle school to begin another year of LOVEWALKING.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
What are you Pondering?
It has been a busy summer! Have any of you seen something or read something that has made you Ponder? If you have trouble commenting on this blog just keep hitting the "publish comment" and type in the silly words until it goes through. It's a pain i know i have to do it on another blog I comment on. You could also just send me an e-mail at deniselthomas4@hotmail.com Can't wait to hear from you with new things to ponder. Maybe we can ponder them together! denise
Monday, August 3, 2009
Is the Lord Willing?
Today I was reading in my favorite devotional,"My utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. I will probably be quoting him alot in this blog so just remember it is from this book. His comment this day was,"We have not yet understood all the COMPELLING purpose of God." As you can see the word, compelling jumped off the page at me. When that happens I know that God wants me to ponder this word. I got out my trusty old Webster's dictionary. Compel means to "constrain". Constrain means to "confine". Confine means to "keep within bounds,to limit or restrict,to give borders to".
And there lies the rub........We do not like to be constrained! We do not like someone telling us where we can and cannot go. But just like children need a fence around the yard to keep them from running out into the busy street,we also as children of God need the same confinement. A loving God does it for our protection,but we have the choice of staying within that wall of protection or breaking through to complete abandment of all rules ,guidelines and direction form the One who loved us first.
As a young child I remember my Granny Langston responding a certain way when someone would ask her if she would do this or that or go here or there. She would say ," If the Lord is willing." She read her bible and was quoting James 4:15. This passage warns us about boasting about tomorrow as if we decided what it holds. I guess that is as silly as hearing a two year old say."Tomorrow I am going to travel alone to New York and do some shopping". The bible says that God laughs at the plans of man. This puts his laughter in perspective doesn't it?
So, My prayer for you and myself is simple: May we get up each morning and say to the Lord," What is your plan for me today? What are you compelling me to do or not do today? Keep me in your fence of love and protection!!!! dedelang
And there lies the rub........We do not like to be constrained! We do not like someone telling us where we can and cannot go. But just like children need a fence around the yard to keep them from running out into the busy street,we also as children of God need the same confinement. A loving God does it for our protection,but we have the choice of staying within that wall of protection or breaking through to complete abandment of all rules ,guidelines and direction form the One who loved us first.
As a young child I remember my Granny Langston responding a certain way when someone would ask her if she would do this or that or go here or there. She would say ," If the Lord is willing." She read her bible and was quoting James 4:15. This passage warns us about boasting about tomorrow as if we decided what it holds. I guess that is as silly as hearing a two year old say."Tomorrow I am going to travel alone to New York and do some shopping". The bible says that God laughs at the plans of man. This puts his laughter in perspective doesn't it?
So, My prayer for you and myself is simple: May we get up each morning and say to the Lord," What is your plan for me today? What are you compelling me to do or not do today? Keep me in your fence of love and protection!!!! dedelang
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