Tagged, Again!

A friend just informed me that I've been tagged! Okay, so it's been a while since I was tagged before which is probably a good thing but I do welcome the "break"! Let's see now if I can come up with eight new things but I may have to borrow a few from previous tag!

And, I won't be able to follow the rules totally! See, same as last time I was tagged nobody I know except my great college friend Lisa and those that all ready tag me have a blog! And, nearly every one I tagged didn't respond anyway. What party poopers!! So, Lisa sorry to do this to ya again! You can skip it if ya want....but Lisa you are tagged! And if some other readers want to do this....please feel free! We would love to know more about you!

Here's the rules:
-- Post eight random facts/habits about yourself. Choose eight others to "tag", and include the guidelines in your post.

-- Let your "taggees" know they've been tagged!

-- Enjoy learning more about your cyber-sisters/brothers.

Here we go:

1. I love to leave tracts everywhere I go. One of my favorite places lately is in credit card machines at restaurants (Sonic is a good one), gas stations, and bank ATM's. You don't have to get creative about leaving tracts! Just put them where ever you are. Yesterday I ran out of one of my most favorite tracts that fits perfectly in the ATM's. It's called the Smart Card and you can get it, as well as countless others, at Living Waters. It makes my day brighter to know that someone may be brought closer to coming to the Lord just by reading a tract!

2. I believe this nation is at a pivotal point. The outcome of this upcoming election I think will reveal a lot about where the Lord is with patience towards us. We all should be on our knees praying that God heals our land and opens the eyes of our people. Our hearts should ache for the countless souls headed to hell.

3. I absolutely love this video that was posted at The Lawman Chronicles. It is a great indicator of where my heart is right now -- to seek and save the lost while there is still time. I definitely look at faces a lot more know. The love that I have for people and the condition of their souls is very important to me. Please watch:


4. While I still have a strong desire to evangelize, God recently has, for a time, been slowing me down from this task. There are several of my acquaintances that are in this same position. Why? Because He is in the process of teaching ME how to be a Christian. While this task will be ongoing until the end, there are some things that I am having to relearn per se. I hope to be doing more posts on this topic eventually.

5. Spiritual warfare. It is out there. Let's train ourselves to be on the alert for the prowling enemy. I am astonished at how much discipline this takes and how inept I have been at pinpointing this as an issue in my daily battles. We are either giving the enemy too much power or we or not focusing on training ourselves to be victorious with the tools that the Lord has provided! More to come on this topic too, I hope!

6. I have given away about 15 - 20 copies of one of the greatest books I have ever read called Way of the Master. I am about to order more and will be handing these out freely again to those that desire to know more about the Lord and His Gospel message and truly want to seek and save the lost. If you haven't read this book I suggest that you do! What is more important to you, your well being with the Lord or an episode of the worldly Desperate Housewives?

7. I just got a new BlackBerry (thanks Mom!)! Wow, how did I ever function without one of these! And, I didn't even sign up for the email capabilities (yet!). Thank the Lord for his wonderful blessings!

8. And last but not least, I wanted to let everyone know that I have the greatest Mom in the world! She raised me to seek after the Lord with my whole heart and I wanted to thank her for planting that seed that is growing strong due to her constant support, prayers and encouragement. What a great thing to see a Mom that loves the Lord with her whole heart through every blessing and struggle. Thank you for standing firm. I love you Mom!

Blessings to all!

Losing Control

Today I am losing control.

I am letting go and letting loose. Finally, I'm seeing it. The control that I want to have of my own life. I see how I want to grip it and squeeze it and shape it into what I think it should look like. I want to wake up and have every day go a certain way. I don't want any hardships, struggles or conflicts. I want it to look perfect even when it's not.

But not anymore. I am losing control.

Discovering new things about yourself can be surprising but sometimes it is not. You know that thing about yourself is in the closet but I don't want to take it out and wear it...even though really I am wearing it. Each day I cinch it around my waist tighter and tighter. I don't want to take it off because it's seemingly holding up my life. I am comfortable with it. I can make it do what I want but I don't dare take it off.

Sometimes God can use the simplest things to reveal the strongholds in my character. A spark of a revelation that takes you somewhat by surprise. You knew something was there that was hindering your closeness and fellowship with the Lord but you couldn't quite put your finger on it. When the revelation comes it's like a new dawn has opened up your heart and exposed it for what it is. This is what I wrestle with. Knowing that there are so many things left to be exposed and I shudder at the thought of it. My fear of God moves me on to be thankful that He is exposing these weaknesses and areas of control.

Lately, one of my prayers has been for strength and endurance. Sometimes the Lord answers in a way that you least expect. While I waited for strength and endurance to come I expected it to crash over me like a wave so that I could feel it, soak it in and rest in it. Instead, God brought trials, although as simple they may seem to some, they ravished me exposing the rotten core on the inside. See, when I was praying for endurance the trials are what he used to bring that to fruition. This of course would not have been my plan of action. That's where I wanted full control.

And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
(Romans 5:3-5)
I am discovering that not exulting in tribulations can bring unwanted stress. Instead of concentrating on rejoicing through my trials I tend to concentrate on the problem. After all it is human nature to do that isn't it? When I can't control it the way I want it to I begin to worry about how I am going to "fix" the problem instead of relying on God to carry the burden. It can be very difficult when I'm in this situation just to throw it all out there and let God handle it. I am still learning about this process. Although I know to do it sometimes I just don't know always how to do it and this is where feverish and unceasing prayer surface. What I do know that keeps my hope alive in Him is that He will not let his work go unfinished in me!

Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
I look forward with open heart and humbleness to that completed work in my life!

What a joy it is to have my Lord and Savior
directing my steps!

The Supremacy of "ME"

I think this video is the most incredible five minutes I've ever seen. I am so grateful that the Lord is showing me his omnipotent, sovereign and merciful character and that I get it!

Please watch this by Voddie Baucham:

Open Mind Means Closed Bible

I don't have an open mind regarding the book "The Shack". I stand by my suggestion and pleading that professing Christians should not entertain this book.

Here is a thorough review on it:

Tim Challies Book Review of The Shack


HT: Heart For The Lost

And the Wind Doth Blow

***REPOST of post dated February 2008***

The kids have missed two soccer practices and half of another because it has been really windy here in the past couple of weeks. You could barely get out of the car without the wind blowing the car door back on you and crushing part of your body. While I was picking up Beth from school one day I noticed a bird that was lazily “enjoying” the wind. First he would fly a little forward only to be pushed back by the wind. Then, he seemed to give up and be content floating along wherever the breeze would take him. His wings stopped fighting what he couldn’t resist long enough to just float along.

It reminded me of something the Lord has been showing me. Something that is still sinking in. Something that if left untethered can become dangerous.

A while back some of you may recall a post I did on my allergies (I removed this post months ago). I had decided to see a doctor that I thought the Lord was leading me to. I had felt clearly that this is what the Lord was going to allow to help me in this area that had become quite a “thorn in my side.” The methods she used were interesting, not utilizing medication, which I did not want to consider. Things moved along okay. It was getting expensive but I felt it was helping...until she suggested I watch a DVD called The Secret. Then, instantly, I knew that I had made a mistake. I knew that God and not told me to see this doctor. I had listened to my own thoughts, my own ideas, my own agenda of how I wanted it done. And, I was deceived. I immediately stopped going to this doctor. Looking back I see now that I was going down the road associated with New Age doctrine and mysticism. It was clearly not directed by the Lord.

I was extremely grateful the Lord had placed this caution on my heart. As the weeks moved on, it didn’t stop there. I realized how easily one can be swayed by teachings, books, and even today's Bibles that are manmade paraphrases of what they think the Lord is saying. I began praying for wisdom and discernment. I began research on doctrines, book reviews and false teachings. I was alarmed at how easily, for a time, I could have been seriously swayed by false teachings and doctrine. Since then, I have thrown several books that I owned into the trash. When I compared what some authors are writing with the Word of God it did not add up. It sounds good on the surface and made me “feel better” for a time. I have since learned that what I read needs to be carefully assessed to see if it lines up with the word of God. There are some mindsets of mine that I am still working on the Lord changing because it was everything that my flesh wanted to hear.

"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes (Ephesians 4:11-14).

...I will no longer buy books by "famous Christian" authors without careful prayer and research into what they truly believe.

In scripture, we are warned that there will be false doctrine by people who say they are Christians. “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves" (Matthew 7:15). This is why I will no longer buy books by “famous Christian” authors without careful prayer and research into what they truly believe. This can be hard when it seems everyone is in agreement with everything that is out there. If it is mainsteam and tickles the itching ears then it is probably not the full gospel of the Bible.

"For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths"(2 Timothy 4:3-4).

So how do you know? Pray for discernment. Pray that the Lord would give you a heart like the Bereans in Acts who carefully studied the scriptures to make sure everything Paul was preaching to them was true (Acts 17:11). Carefully and scrupulously compare what you think is true lines up with the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. If they are teaching the love of God, are they also teaching about the wrath and judgment of God? Are they teaching repentance? Are they teaching that we are saved by faith through grace and not of works? Are the thoughts taken in context with the whole Word of God or is a verse carefully selected to support what the author is saying?

We are living in an age of deception. Be aware of what is going on out there. Pray that you are not deceived! Read and study the Word of God daily.

"As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith"(1 Timothy 1:3).

To Evangelize or Not

Leon Brown of Evangelism Team has a great post on evangelism being something that we as Christians pick and choose if we want to do it or not.

Quoting Leon Brown:

"We are all called to share our faith in some capacity; and while everyone may not be open air preaching, everyone is required to "preach the gospel to all creation" (Mark 16:15).

Inside our churches, however, this does not seem to be the case. It is quite possible that you are one of the few that actively shares your faith. When you request to have people go out with you, only one shows up, or maybe even none. While that is sad, there's good news!

Praise God for that one that showed up, and praise God if you're the only one. You are being obedient to your Maker! What you must not do is be like Martha and complain. Allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify His Church through your obedience (because people see you), and allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify His Church through your edification and encouragement to the people whom reside in your local body. But again, and I cannot stress this enough...never complain about it."

Read full post here.

From: Leon Brown's Blog

Praying the Scriptures

“Father, grant me a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of yourself. Please, don’t leave me to myself. I am so worldly. My thoughts and feelings are so unspiritual. I scarcely feel any awe or trembling or sense of spiritual beauty or sweetness or glory. Have mercy and by your Spirit awaken in me a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that when I read or hear your wisdom and your revelation I will have ears to hear and eyes to see the wonder of it (Psalm 119:8).”

From: desiringGod (Ministry of John Piper)