Pursuing More

Howdy! So glad to see you joined me for the recap of week 2 of our Bible Study on James! It’s so good to have you here! Brrr! It’s cold outside, its currently -13 as I write this (wind chill is -49), does that even qualify as cold, or is it more like frozen? Anyway,   grab something warm to drink and let’s get started. Most of us are familiar with this passage in James 1:19-27. Be quick to listen…Be slow to speak…Be slow to become angry…Get rid of all moral filth…Get rid of all the evil so prevalent among you…Humbly accept the word planted in you (this can save you)…Do not just listen to the word…Do what it says…Look intently into the perfect law…Don’t forget what it says…Keep a tight rein on your tongue…Look after orphans and widows… Such good and needed instruction packed neatly into one little passage. It’s like a power packed vitamin for the believer’s soul.   Wait a minute! Remember who James is talking to? The scattered Christians. They left homes and fami...

Have you ever been so excited about something? And you just have to tell someone about it? Me too! I’m totally pumped about our Ladies Bible Study on Monday nights. We have decided to be big girls and dig into the Bible ourselves. No study book. No workbook. No DVD to watch.   Just us, God and His word. We are learning to study on our own. To learn hermeneutics, exegesis, and ask who, what, when, where, why and how. Yes, we will miss Beth for a semester, but it will be good for us and I’m sure she would approve of this, maybe even be proud of us big girls! Last night we discussed James chapter 1 verses 1-18. Everyone was eager to share what they pulled out in their studies. Which led to an hour and a half of good conversation. I absolutely love a good theological conversation, don’t you? It truly feeds my soul. It strengthens my heart. And it inspires me to study some more. For those who can’t make it to the study and for anyone else who just loves studying the Word, I wi...

Lying in bed, my mind racing about bloggy stuff, I began to talk to God about it all.     Lord, I need to figure out how to link to other blogs… and how to comment on comments… and how to get traffic to my blog… the experts all say its necessary. After all, if no one read my posts, then my posts are not doing anything…I’ve got to learn how to get noticed…”   It was as if He caused certain words in that prayer to increase in volume, even reverberate. MY blog…I”VE got to get noticed…. Its humbling when God shows you your heart. My goal for having a blog was to use the gifts He had given me to help others. To point their eyes to Him each day. But somewhere in it all, I felt I had to do all the work myself, I viewed this as MY blog and was concerned with others noticing ME so they would read what I had to say. What if I changed my focus to HIS blog and getting HIM noticed, then the traffic issue would be HIS, right? Wow. I like the feeling of that. It’s on His...

I finally got it done.   Bedding changed and laundered, tree down and packed away for another year, furniture dusted, bathroom cleaned, the floors swept and mopped.   Ahhhh! It’s not that I enjoy cleaning, I just love the end result. It feels so freeing and fresh to have a clean home.   I can enjoy my home and relax when I know I have taken care of my responsibilities. Aren’t our hearts that way? We let things pile up, the hurt feelings, the issues that weigh heavy on us and we put off the cleaning we know needs done. We need a fresh start. Clean out the clutter to make more space for time with God. Toss out the things that weigh us down. Wipe off the dust and clean out the sin that hinders our walk. Ahhhh! The feeling is so freeing … a fresh start for the new year. We all have closets and crevices that need cleaning. So go clean out that corner that has been begging for attention and while you’re tossing and organizing, spend some time talking to the Father askin...

I found this while rummaging through my writings from a few years back, and thought I would share it with you.   Thoughts were reeling through my mind. It was New Year’s Eve and I was ready to welcome a new start.   It had been an emotionally difficult year and today was no different.   Tired…worn down…feeling trampled… not seeing much progress… many brick walls to overcome…. The barrage of thoughts and emotions weighed heavy on my heart and mind, leaving me ready to wave the little white flag.   I was preparing some lunch while my daughter was beautifying in the bathroom and the lyrics of her music stopped me short.   I had heard the song hundreds of times, but today, it was aimed directly at my heart.   It always amazes how God can take something so common in my life and then one day, cause it to stand out with a clear message to my soul. I'm barely hanging on With all these empty feelings I'm hurting in so many ways And though I can'...