Archive | July, 2013

Come to Me

7 Jul

Today a friend posted on her Facebook wall “Please let there be only one set of foot prints today.”  I remember seeing this poem on my parents’ wall as a kid.  It made no sense to me then but it is such a comforting visual now.  I am sure many have read it but here it is.

foot prints

  Matthew 11:28 says “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light”.

A yoke was a piece of wood designed to allow animals to support one another in pulling heavy weight.  We can be yoked to many things and people in our life, good and bad.  When hardship and stress happen in our life, Jesus invites us to be yoked to Him.  This means that he longs to draw you closer to Him, to trust, and rely on Him.  This isn’t an invitation to drop all at His feet and carry-on, no it is a process where you will walk together and a heart transformation will begin. Though the hardship may remain, how we respond to it will have changed.  We can find that if we believe and trust we will find peace in our hearts and freedom from stress and anxiety.  A wonderful transformation will happen in your life and you will find true freedom and healing and you will have been changed from your old ways. Our trials strengthen us (2 Corinthians 12:7-9) and allow God to comfort us (2 Corinthians 1:3-4) among other things. I believe our trials are necessary to make us more like Him.

Are you here at this verse where the burden is bigger than you?  His yoke is big enough for us all!  No matter what you are going through you never have to go it alone.

~Be Blessed and be a Blessing~

Rebecca

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Birthday Boy

5 Jul

He has all the fighting noises down when his ninja turtles fight. When he wants to learn something he sticks to it until he gets it. He is fearless and he makes his mama nervous. He has a great sense of humor and laughs easily and hard-and loves to play tricks. He looks up to his daddy and wants to be just like him. His best buddy is grandpa. He loves Jesus, Mr Bean, riding his skateboard, watermelon and his mama’s cooking. He wants to be a doctor and own a Burger King, he knows who his wife is going to be and that his wedding will be at Bunker Beach. When he is fast asleep his impossibly long eyelashes tickle the tops of his cheeks and his little boy hands curl under his chin and in the dim light I can still see the sweet babyish features of my growing too fast boy. He is barely the right size to curl easily in my lap and tell me sweet things that can only come from the heart of a little boy. He was the most welcomed surprise to our supposed to be family of 4. I will tuck him in and kiss his sweet soft cheek once more while he is 5 because tomorrow he will wake up 6.

Be Blessed and be a Blessing,

Rebecca

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So Good to be Reminded

4 Jul

I had the chance to spend some time speaking with a Nigerian woman today. She spent some time telling me about the twenty-some years spent in Nigeria, a life that we don’t see or hear about in the media. I was shaken listening to her stories of polygamy, abuse, corruption, and cult like rituals. She touched on that for a while before moving on to her new life here. Her face suddenly lit up as she spoke with enthusiasm and gratitude of simplistic things, everyday norms that get overlooked in our busy, abundant, entitled lives. Her joy was undeniable and my guilt and embarrassment apparent. You see, I was doing a little complaining.

It got me thinking about how very blessed we are to live in a country where we are free to share our thoughts and opinions, to disagree, to think freely, to dress as we please, to go where we please, to eat what we please and to worship our God freely and openly without fear.  This is normal life to us.  We don’t really appreciate these freedoms until we are reminded that life isn’t so everywhere else.
Despite all the problems, we are blessed.  So I will shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth (Psalm 100:1) and I will do it without fear, for I am a blessed American woman.

A prayer for you:
Thank you God for blessing me with being a woman, wife, and mother here in America.  Thank you for the blessing of clean water, abundant food, education, and medicine regardless of money.  Thank you God for the freedom to worship you wherever and whenever we choose- free from persecution.  Lord, I pray for the women who live oppressed persecuted lives. For the women who live in fear and without hope.  Lord, somehow someway touch them and deliver them from the bondage.  With praise and thanksgiving to you, my mighty King-Amen!

Happy 4th of July and remember freedom isn’t free. With gratitude, I celebrate!

~Be Blessed and be a Blessing~

Rebecca

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Teaching our Children to Have a Servant’s Heart

2 Jul

More than anything else I want my children to have a servant’s heart and to have empathy for those who are lost and hurting. I want their eyes to be open to see that life doesn’t revolve around them but life could be better for someone because of them. To serve in the name and love of God and not in the name of their ego and pride. To serve knowing their eternal reward is far better than any worldly award or recognition (Knowing it is by grace they are saved not works-Ephesians 2:8). To put all selfish desires aside, religious beliefs, social class, racial class, and any other worldly obstacle aside and love because He loved us first ( 1 John 4:19). To teach them to be ready to give their coat, to bandage a wound, to give a hug, to offer encouragement, to offer a prayer, a listening ear, a strong back, but mostly be ready to tell of their Savior and the great gift of salvation He brings (Proverbs 11:24-25, John 3:16).

How, in the midst of an entitled culture do I do this? First, and most important, I need to be in the word and in prayer. Second, I don’t indulge every whim and fancy of my children. A gift then becomes a real surprise, welcomed with true gratitude. We discern the difference between want and need and they are learning to appreciate a job well done. Lastly, practice what you preach. Your children do as they see not as they hear.

I am a work in progress, always! I fail more than I succeed. I just pray that in the middle of my shortcomings, they see the true intentions and through that, I pray, compassion sprouts.

~Be Blessed and be a Blessing~

Rebecca

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This is not Heaven

1 Jul

“The song of the whippoorwill. Let her sing. Let her sing in the dark. let her sing at the dawn. Let her song remind you that you were not made for this place and that there is a place just for you. But until then, be realistic. Lower your expectations of earth. This is not heaven, so don’t expect it to be.”

~Max Lucado~

I just now read that. I had to stop and read it a dozen times. As I sat quietly looking this over, this thought came to my mind-“Will what you sow now be worth reaping in the future?” In Galatians 6:7-10 it says that “for the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

When we live for worldly things it creates turmoil and misery in our lives, well, actually our soul.  When we give in to the lusty appetites of our flesh our only gift is endless disappointment.  But, when we live under the influence of the Holy Spirit we reap everlasting life.

It is hard to comprehend sometimes. We are fallen and of the flesh brings immediate gratification. Doing something for eternal value sometimes can be uncomfortable and even painful. I needed the reminder that what I do or don’t do has eternal effects. Is what I’m planting going to have kingdom value for tomorrow and tomorrow’s tomorrow?

Not always, but God reminded tonight to be more mindful of my life and those who pass through it. To plant seeds of truth and life. To look up and remember this is only my temporary home. To find my joy in the Lord and to not make this place heaven because heaven will never let us down.

~Be Blessed and be a Blessing~

Rebecca

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Image courtesy of [ponsulak] at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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