Desires of The Heart

Remember when the Bible tells us God gives us the desires of our hearts?

New American Standard Bible (©1995)Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart.

Well, look it up if you don't. I feel frustrated sometimes because God has given me so many desires, I don't know which ones to follow. Being a wife and mother are the most pressing, so I usually deal with those first, but what am I supposed to do with everything else? I mean, some of my desires may seem over the top, but they are reoccurring dreams, so I should listen to them right?

Anyway, am I the only one who gets caught up in the feeling that I desire more than I am capable of accomplishing? Am I using each desire to serve God? Am I taking the time to thank and recognize God when I get to experience things or actually GET the desires I have prayed so much about?

No. sigh. I guess I know where I need to start.

Here are a few desires I feel are from God:

successfully play a stringed instrument- guitar, piano, cello, whatever

serve my community through outreaches

raise my kids to be contributors to society

be a teacher in a public school

graduate from college

Feel like sharing yours? We won't mock you or hold you accountable to them unless you want us to.

Serving Others

I have talked about this so much, but it's because God keeps bringing it up, and because I have a brother and a mother missionary who have taught me that servant hood is godliness. Not just next to it. My challenge to you all is to read these scriptures, then read them in your own bible, then underline them, then read them again, then do something about them. How are you serving? Who are you serving? Why are you serving? When is the last time you served? Are you still flying high from a missionary trip you did in high school, or a some time when you used to help out in the kids classes at church? That's great that you have those experiences to pull from, but don't stop there. Paul said our Christian lives are a journey. Are you stuck like a bump on a log? Get moving.

Deuteronomy 28:47 “Because you did not serve the Lord your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity, there fore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. “

Ephesians 6:7 “Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men…”

Luke 22:26-27 But you are not to be like that. Instead the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

1Peter 4:11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Joshua 24: 14-15 Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods you forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Practice What You Preach

So, without getting into personal details, I was on a bit of high alert the previous few weeks over my health. We had a small unsubstantiated scare with some pain I have been experiencing. I finally made it to the doctors today, and even though they got my chart confused with a 7 months pregnant lady, made me pee for her in a tiny cup, weighed me in and stared at me in confusion for longer than I was comfortable with, they declared that I will not be needing further testing and my parts are "fantastic."
On my way home, I made a couple phone calls to people who have been praying for me through the waiting, and reported calmly that everything was fine. A little while later, as I was driving to school, it hit me that the results could have just as easily gone the other way. I was so busy with what was coming next in my day, I forgot to do the very thing I am reminding so many others to do.
In a way, it was like I was praising myself for not having a deadly disease and the doctor for not finding one. What?! How bizarre.
What am I so busy doing that I can't stop for a second and realize that God was just holding me, protecting me, asking me to notice how loving, caring, and worthy he is?
I noticed. I had to do a little backtracking and confessing, but I did it. Is there something you are forgetting to mention to the one who loves you most? Come on, you can tell me.

JOY

Did you find any this week?














My guess is, if you even cracked open that book, you were faced with everything BUT joy. I knew it was going to happen, but I still felt a little blind sighted. This next week, I am hoping for smoother days, but I am not scared. I can take it. Actually, God can take it; I don't need to. I just have to be willing to:

Focus on God,
Turn to my Bible consistently,
choose my moves carefully (kiss my husband rather than kick him as he goes by),
Trust that God is my healer, is up to something great, and loves me,
show that love to others, no matter what,
turn over those issues at every step no matter how many times I have to do it!

I don't mention any of those things lightly. I have my work cut out for me this week. How about you? Anything come up this week that you want to share? Any joy robbers lurking? Any challenges this week?

On the First Day of Bible Study (are you singing?)

(This may be a repeat for a few of you. If you don't want to read it again, go do some situps!)
Read Psalm 19:1-2. Read Genesis 1:1-5.

"The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known."

Darkness is:
a hiding place
quiet. silent.
scary.
mysterious.
unknown.
luring.
continuous until you allow the LIGHT to change you.



We find light in the stars. They are what brings the joy in the night. We find light in the moon. The moon, the stars, and the street lights shed light into the dark night. What are you looking to to shed joyful light into your dark night? Is it artificial or temporary? The best sources of true light will bring you joy: God's word, following what he asks you to do (aka obedience), other Christians (mentors and peers), worship, and prayer time.

Read Titus 2:1-10

I am called to not only mentor others, but be mentored myself!

Why do we skip this part of scripture? We mean to learn from others; we NEED to learn from others. In a letter to Titus, Paul systematically lays out a plan on who and what we should be listening to (and incidentally, what we should be saying and who we should say it to.)

Men, it says, must be worthy of respect. Whoa! Ouch. Them's big shoes, especially in a day where respect is no longer automatically given. We seem to be a guilty-until-proven-respect-worthy-generation.
Older women (I won't give an age, you can just know who you are) are called to be reverent in the way they live and teach what is good.

reverent: submissive, humble, respectful.

And Paul doesn't mention a time clock or schedule, so I am guessing he wants us to be this way regularly. Constantly. So much pressure!

Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran pastor during WWII. Read about him; you won't regret it. At one point, he said, " I fear that Christians who stand with only one leg upon earth, also stand with only one leg in heaven."

What he is saying is obvious, but what he meant is we can't be in the world, but not of the world no matter how catchy a phrase we come up with. He meant, "We are the world" just like Michael Jackson said we are. He meant Jesus did not live this way. He meant Jesus came to be Jesus-down and dirty and living in the world no matter what issues his company had; no matter what those sharped dressed guys over there had to say about it; no matter if he was going to die because the Pharisees couldn't stand to go one more minute without irrationally judging someone.

Here's the rub: Jesus wasn't influenced by these people. He didn't need to be. He had a mentor.

paraphrasing here: I only go where the father instructs me.

Jesus had a trustworthy mentor to teach him to be worthy of respect, self-controlled, reverent, pure, kind, subject to his leaders, full of integrity, honest, and fully trusted.
God has given us all the type of people we need to connect with and model ourselves after as they model themselves after Christ. (Who, remember we talked about this, modeled himself after God.)
It's an excellent system. We each have a calling to be a part of it.

So, this week, our first week, spend some time praying for God to reveal the feedback you are receiving in your life. Do you have a mentor, someone you go to who leads you to Christ when you have struggles or triumphs? Has God placed people around you (probably younger) that you are setting an example for? Is it a good one? All of this is your fruit. Good or bad, you have to decide, but it is in fact the fruit you are producing. If you are being mentored, that wisdom contributes to the fruit you eventually produce. It's all part of a circle, a cycle, a ripple in a pond, the trickle down effect- you fill in your own analogy. But, pray about it. Feedback welcomed.

This week we are beginning the bible study Joy for any of you following along. I will post something about it tomorrow, but tomorrow is day one. If you have not picked up a book yet, try Barnes and Noble or that link over there to the right. See me pointing? Click on the picture of the book.

FYI

and BTW (don't you love tween lingo?) For any of you following this here blog AND interested in following along with the Bible study, we are starting on Monday, the
19th as day one. SO, anyone who stuck with it a little longer in their previous attempt gets to lay out and get a tan in the snowy reflection of Mount Peavine. You could also read through the scriptures, declutter a closet, add ten jumping jacks to your morning routine, quilt a blanket, take up the new hobby of watching sports. You decide. Let me know if you come up with anything spectacular.
You can get your book from a website by reading the first post on this blog and following the directions there, or simply click on the picture of the book on the right.

A Giant Carrot up His Sleeve

"I think God is working on something up there..something heavenly"

This is (mostly) a quote from a song I heard on the radio today. The songwriter is saying he has lots of issues, life is chaotic, and things don't really seem to be going the way he thinks he wants them to go. BUT he says he trusts God because He must be working on pulling something great together or God wouldn't be asking this songwriter to keep enduring.
Fill in your own blank with what you are enduring. Are you supposed to be enduring something and you have been hiding in the background hoping the choir director doesn't pick you for a solo? It happens to the best of us. Maybe you are tired or sick or sick AND tired. Maybe you need physical healing and all the faith you can muster doesn't seem to be enough for God to make it happen. (Lucky for you God doesn't solely operate that way.) Perhaps you are suffering in some other way: depression, addiction, self loathing, too much junk food, too much single living when you really just want to be married. What ever your "blank" is, trust that God is working on something up there...something heavenly. Maybe it's a giant carrot.

Here are some steps to take to help you wait (sounds funny, I know):

Join a bible study so you are meeting with God and faces to hold you accountable

Serve a little more. (My mother nicely tells anyone feeling badly about themselves to 'quiet down and serve' only she doesn't say quiet down. Maybe she doesn't say it nicely either, but people listen!)

Show up to church (mind-bottling, I know. "Did you just say mind-bottling?")

Join a prayer group or small group at your church

start exercising

start cutting down on rotten food and bulking up on the healthies. If you are full on healthy food, you won't have as much room for the junk. It works- honest.

Find a good book- I recommend The Bible, but those ones listed over there on the right are pretty good as well.