Power Up

Psalm 23:1-3
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters, He stores my soul . . .

Don’t you wish you could just plug yourself into an outlet when your battery gets low? Like we do with our electronics now a day. Find a long cord plug it into an outlet and the other end into your port. In an hour you can go for another 24 hours of constant hustle and bustle. Only a dream.

There is a saying that seems to be popular lately “I’m in”. What’s that mean anyway? It means you are on board with the idea or concept. That you agree and will give 100% to whatever the cause. That’s really great, but aren’t we suppose to be “in” already.

• If you’re married – you should be in that marriage 100%
• If you have a child – your should be involved with that child 100%
• If you have a job – you should be giving it 100%
• If you’re a Christian – you should be giving God 100%

Sometimes we need to recharge ourselves to be able to give that full 100% to accomplish all of these things. There are times in our life that struggles and temptations beat us down. We find ourselves running on empty and not being able to give 100% to anything.

When I get that way I call it hitting the wall. That’s it; there is nothing left to give. That happened to me last week when I was helping my husband do some yard work. Let me be clear – I don’t do yard work and I don’t sweat. This was an unexpected “Look honey I stopped to get the truck load of mulch we talked about. It’s in the truck bed and I need to empty it before work tomorrow”.

Since he was creating this flower bed for me as a birthday gift I figured I would offer to help. I mean I couldn’t very well sit here on the couch while he was out there unloading the truck. Then we decided to put the brick edging around the semicircle first so the mulch wouldn’t come out of it. 

So I laced up my workout shoes (that is an oxymoron) and off I went. We worked for 45 minutes straight lifting those edging blocks then pulling and pushing mulch around. Within those 45 minutes of work I must have stopped every 5 minutes for heavy breathing and whining. I thought I would explode from heat exhaustion. Finally I hit the wall. That place where I had nothing left to give. I was done – actually in our family when we hit that place we say we are “done – done”. My grandson Owen started that when he was little. It fits perfectly. When I got to that place I just walked away and left my husband to finish the job.

We all get that way sometimes, really tired. It could be physically like I did or mentally or spiritually. Physical and mental exhaustion can normally be relieved by a good night’s sleep. However if we become spiritually exhausted a night of sleep can’t fix that. Only getting in touch with God can repair our spirit.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

May God Bless

Family - Where do You Spend Your Time?

Family – Isn’t that a great word. The word family conjures up so many different pictures in my mind as I am sure it does for you. We all have family, and different kinds of families that we are part of. I tend to picture Norman Rockwell pictures in my mind when I hear the word family. No, my family is NOT a Norman Rockwell family.

We have a family that we are born into, the people that we have chosen to be our extended family, our work family and our church family. We may even have more than those listed depending on your activities and associations. Notice that only one of these families is a group of people that we did not make a choice to join, the family that you are born into. Some have wonderful supportive families and others not so good.

It is up to you to decide who you associate with and who spend your time with.

When we use the word “associate” as a verb the definition is: "To connect someone or something in your mind with someone or something else" This definition shows us that we are making that choice to spend time with certain people and activities.

We all have characters in our families. You know the ones, they show up late to everything, the ones that you can count on to bring the gathering to life and the ones that secretly in the back of your mind, you hope don’t show up. We are an interesting group of humans.

As adults we make choices as to who we associate with. God addresses the subject to us through His word.

Romans 12:16 - Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Notice that we are commanded to “associate” with all people; however I don’t believe that God wants us to be harmful to ourselves and continually associate with people that are not good for us. We should always strive to be compassionate and loving to all; however, surrounding yourself with healthy loving people that are supportive is what creates a great family.

Do you make good choices about who you are associating with? 

May God Bless

How Big is My God?

The Eye of God

Have you ever thought about how big God is? The thought is so incomprehensible I can’t even wrap my brain around the concept. God is everything and everywhere we look. He is the great Almighty that has made it all. Whatever you stop and look at God has created it.

Children often ask this question in Bible classes. Is he bigger than my dad? He’s bigger than this building, they might exclaim. But we old timers still can’t answer the age old question of “How Big is God”.

He is as far as your eye can see. He is as loud as you can hear. He is as fresh a scent you can imagine. He is as deep into the sea as you can go. Yet, He is so tiny he fits inside your heart.

The Bible tells us God was in the beginning and created everything in seven days.

Genesis 1
1-In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2-The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

At the end of the Bible in Revelation God tells us He is the last.

Revelation 22:13
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last”.

So how does all those words in the middle of the Bible tell us how big our God is? Well you would need to read His word. Every story, parable and lesson that God teaches in the Old Testament and the New Testament tells us what we need to know about Him. Are there are things that aren’t shared with us through God’s word, but that’s OK with me. I don’t need to know every detail to understand that my God is so big that I trust Him with my life.

His stories tell me that He does what He says He is going to do. When He promises me something He follows through. He doesn’t contradict Himself. He is pure white light, so bright that I can’t look at Him.

John 4:24
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

So I still haven’t answered the question of “How Big is my God” because I can’t. There are not enough words of the correct language to distinguish how big my God is.

All I know for sure is my God is big enough for me and He reaches to infinity and beyond.

May God Bless