Update: Oops...now you all know how left-handed, blonde, hormonal, emotional and female I can be. Hey I was excited about Friday...so excited I celebrated a day early by posting the Friday Challenge on Thursday...thanks to my friend Kimberly for so gracefully participating..and loving me!
Happy Friday everyone! Thank you for stopping by the blog. It's always a treat for me to read your comments...I learn so much from you! It also gives me a 'link' back to your blog and I get to come check out your lives...much fun!
Today's challenge will actually be easy for some and hard for others.
Friday Challengeleave your prayer request(s) in the comments.
Please know that I will lift up each one and take them to our Jesus. Trusting and knowing He will work out all the details to bring glory and honor to the situation! He is amazing friends, and He cares deeply about you. He sees your heart and He knows what concerns you. Please feel free to leave them anonymously.
It is such an honor and privelege to get to pray with and for you. Thank you for blessing me with the opportunity.
May you truly know deep in your heart that you are loved by the Creator!
I was driving down the street this morning with my little guy in the back...in his car seat pretending to be Spider Man shooting webs...and God and I had this amazing moment.
A moment in which He so graciously reminded me that no matter where I am, He is there.
Where are you?
Overwhelmed at the length of the to-do list?
Stressed at trying to figure out how to make ends meet this month?
Questioning your purpose?
Tired of playing the roles you have been assigned?
In a lot of physical pain?
Worn out?
Lost?
Confused?
Anxious?
Jealous?
He reminded me this morning in the car that He has been there, is here and will be there.
Where has He been?
He was there at the beginning. He was there to lead His people through the desert. He was there when His people needed delivered. He was there when the Sea needed parted. He was there when His people walked into the promised land.
Where has He been?
On a cross.
Where is He now?
Standing beside you. Holding your hand. Lifting your chin. Wiping the tears from your eyes. Breathing life into you. Filling you. Restoring you.
He SO desires to be where you are. He loves you!
Are you aware of His where?
May we know that where He is, is truly where we need to be.
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 (NIV, emphasis added)
Hello and welcome! I hope you have had a great week.
This morning I read 1 John 5 and I would love to invite you to read it, as it is some much needed encouragement and foundation in answering today's question.
Our Friday Challenge this week comes in the form of a question.
The Friday Challenge is to answer, who do you say Jesus Christ is?
Now friends we have been talking about questions all week on the blog...and this is a question that will change your life.
I would encourage you to write out your answer either on a piece of paper and save it somewhere, or maybe like me you keep a journal on your compuer. But record it somewhere! Date it and write out your answer and spend a few minutes today praying and thinking on this.
Thank you for joining me today...as today follows yesterday and my heart is still hearing Him!
My questions come from a heart that desires to know Him more.
Understand? No!
Know? Yes!
A knowing that is not of me but rather a filling of Him.
An asking of my questions.
Asking the questions, so as to empty myself.
An emptying of myself.
Empty. Nothing. So He can fill. Fill with more of Himself.
More of His love. More of His peace. More of His patience. More of His self-control.
It is in our relationship, a relationship in which I desire to be a child. His child. I have nothing to give my Father. I come, fully dependant on Him. Dependant on Him for everything. I learn by asking and experiencing.
Only He is the answer.
Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. Matthew 7:7 (CEV)
And answers were given. And even more questions were asked.
Well I could type these words;
God is Sovereign...means that He sees all, knows all and controls all.
Right?
I can hear the question that was asked in that room yesterday, a bunch of His children sitting around, 'then why did the earth quake in Haiti happen?'
Someone elses question...has led this girl straight to her Father's feet.
A girls heart is completely unsettled.
Yet I know His Sovereignty is NOT.
So I will continue to listen, hear and apply, His truth.
Friends I believe as I sit here and type this at 2:48 in the afternoon, the answer will not be found in seeking the answer to the 'why did this happen' question, but I believe it will be found in seeking Him.
As I sit here I am praying. For I believe I am NOT alone. For others, maybe even you this afternoon have a 'question' and you need your Creator to hear, and answer.
Will you join me in asking?
Lord please prepare our hearts and minds for the out of the box answer You are preparing for us. Amen
Just maybe our hearts will remain unsettled so as to not let us depart our place of settled security, at our Fathers feet.
We haven't had a Friday Challenge for a super long time...I checked and the last one was back in May of 2009...yikes!
I don't know about what life is like for you right now, or how hard your week has been, or the storms that are going on all around you.
But I do know that our brothers and sisters in Haiti have been hit very hard.
Friday Challenge will you take a few minutes today and pray for the people of Haiti? The people who are working to save lives? The military men and women who are there?
Friends there is power in prayer.
May we know that He is there. He will provide healing, restoration and renewal.
Hello and welcome to the blog! Now I don't know about you but have you ever felt like others have so arrived and you are back somewhere in their dust just trying to pick yourself up off the ground and see clearly?
Well friends its been a week! A week in which this real Jesus seeking girl has had some knee scraping lessons!
Monday I had to take my oldest little guy back to school. Taking him back to school was so stinkin hard for me! Oh if I could just put into words how my mommy heart was grieving. I really do think it’s a grieving on some level. It was big yucky not fun hurt. I missed him greatly. And the grief was not easily escaped with distraction...and unfortunately my youngest little guy had to 'put up' with a grieving momma.
I got to the end of Monday and I didn’t want to do anymore for anyone! I had nothing to give. I even was ugly enough to tell a friend when she asked how I was doing, ‘not good I am empty and tired of doing and giving to everyone else’ It sounded just as yucky coming out as it did inside me.
The week rolled on and on Tuesday I picked my oldest little guy up from school he told me it had been a terrible day and his little eyes were just ready to burst. I grabbed ahold of his hand and said 'lets go home babe'. He told me a little bit about how a friend and him did not get along that day. I listened but felt he didn’t really want to talk to me. So I served snack and started getting ready for dinner.
The minute the Engineer got home my oldest little guy grabs his hand and tells him…’we need to talk’. What? I about popped I was so immediately mad and angry…it was ugly when the Engineer came back in the kitchen. I was making dinner as if I was a mad woman slamming things down on the counters. I was all huffed up about 'not being the one who gets any good parts of parenting I work and work and don’t reap any benefits'. It was very much an ugly monologue which could have been easily just replaced with the words. What About Me? The Engineer was so gracious and listened so amazingly…he let me vent it all out. My heart hurt so bad.
I went to bed with an aching heart!
A heart that was aching, not rejoicing not living in joy, not content.
Wednesday morning when I woke up I read 1 John 2:1-14. And there was two verses that grabbed my heart;
But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. 1 John 2:5-6
Jesus used these two verses to grab my heart and ask me a very personal questions,
Nichole are you obeying? Are you living in My love?
It was in these moments with Jesus on Wednesday morning I heard Him speak to my heart. The word He spoke, Selfishness. I have a lot of selfishness in me. I am thinking about how I am feeling, what I want, what I need, what about me? And its not pretty. If I was truly loving my oldest little guy with the love of Jesus than I would be praising God that he has a daddy who is so amazing, a daddy he can talk to, trust, and go to with all things. I wouldn’t be so stinking ugly and selfish and throwing a fit about it not being me that gets that opportunity. But rather the Engineer who is created in His image to be ethical, full of integrity, honest, loving, graceful, caring, and most awesome!
Friends from the deepest part of my heart I come today asking,
What Happens When Women Say No
To self?
God.
God Happens.
And His love is made complete.
And it looks amazing.
Friends I am on a mission to say no to self and let God happen!
Happy New Year friends! It is going to be a great year filled with a whole lot of great stuff!
I am so glad you are here today visiting with me. I have just been filled with a whole lotta love from my Jesus and I hope to just scatter it on you while you are here visiting. And if you lived close enough I would have you over for a warm cup of Oregon Chai tea and we would just scatter the love and joy back and forth.
Have you ever played pinball?
You know that big machine game that lights up and makes a whole lot of hoots and hollars, and bells are ringing and points are racking up as the pinball is just bouncing and flying off everything it can run into, and its going as fast as it can?!
Can you relate to the little pinball inside that game?
I know there are times in my life that I sure can.
How do things look in your life right now?
Are you bouncing from relationship to relationship?
Are you racking up points with God?
Are you going from church to church to see which one is more entertaining and exciting?
How are your emotions, on a roller coaster?
Are you committed to anything?
What are you doing with all the stuff, points and prizes you are earning?
Is your job your job, or where you are suppose to be on purpose?
Can you keep up with all the trends?
You're cheating on God. If all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and His way. And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that "He's a fiercely jealous lover.” And what He gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find. It's common knowledge that "God goes against the willful proud; God gives grace to the willing humble." So let God work His will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God and He'll be there in no time. Quit dabbling in sin. Purify your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out. The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet. James 4:6-10 (The Message) (emphasis mine)
What Happens When Women Say No
To playing games.
To being a pinball just bouncing around.
What if we stopped bouncing around long enough to seek peace?
Be still, and know that I am God; Psalm 46:10
May you know that He loves you. He loves you with a love that covers you in grace and peace. A grace and peace that will still you still you long enough to hear His voice and to be filled with all you need to go and be living life on purpose.
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