I am... He is...

To Do:
Wash clothes, clean dishes, mop kitchen, take daughter to the doctors for her unexplained sickness...
Grade homework, write advertisements for ministry, call so-and-so...
Teach AWANA, exercise, pray for the little baby at church who is having heart surgery...

You can read the rest of my devotion at Laced with Grace....

Self-Reflection

My oldest daughter loves to look at herself in the mirror, or any reflection for that matter. She'll be having a conversation with her dad, but the whole time she's watching herself talk in the reflection on the widow-pane. We tease her about this natural (although a bit narcissistic) trait. All of us are prone to it, right? We walk by a mirror and we do a quick check.

What do we say to ourselves at that moment - when we are looking deep into our own eyes in the mirror? Do we say, "You look maahvelous, dahling?" Or, "Woah, chickie, you better lay off the chocolate ice cream for a while?" (And, on a total tanget, I have been doing that and I've lost 5 pounds. Woo-hoo!)

Jennifer Rothschild asks us to think about the top five thoughts we have about ourselves. What are yours? Mine seem to fluctuate. During some seasons, I think I'm clumsy, forgetful and dippy. In other seasons, I think I could rule the world. Well, maybe not the world, but a High school or a blooming ministry, or something like that. I see that my behaviors are distinctly different depending upon my inner thought life. When I feel like I am on top of the world and I believe that I have something to offer, I act like it. When I think I'm totally useless, I act like it. (Which, by the way, is a pretty pathetic sight!)

So, what names do we call ourselves when we look at that person on the other side of the mirror? I remember telling my little sisters that we shouldn't call each other mean names, but instead should come up with silly names for each other. It was so ridiculous...my sisters just looked at me like I had lost it. I was calling one of them a bunny and the other a butterfly while they were laughing at me and calling me a frog. I'm not sure if it cured us of calling each other names, but it made us think about it.

But now I know that God has a name for me, a special name that He keeps hidden away until the day when I see Him face to face. He has a name He calls me even now and it certainly isn't the names I heard on the playground as a child or in my sibling squabbles. He calls me Princess, Child of God, His Ambassador, Beloved, and so much more. I just need to remind myself of those names the next time I look in a mirror!

Thankful for Words

When God really wants to speak to me, He keeps on repeating Himself. I'm not sure why He does that, but I have a few hints. I do have a tendency of forgetting items at the grocery store, or things on my to-do list, or the time for an important event. Oh, all right, I'll just be honest: I'm forgetful and a little ditzy.

So, He keeps whispering in my ear until I finally hear Him.

It's amazing for me to see how so many peices can fit together into a clear message. I have been focusing on Philippians 4:8 for a long time since I need to keep my thoughts and WORDS on things that are excellent, pure and praiseworthy. Part of this process is being involved in Thankful Thursdays. Each week as I count my blessings, my thoughts are turned toward all the good that God is doing instead of toward my natural pessimistic thinking.

A few weeks ago, without requesting it, I recieved a copy of the 4:8 project in my mailbox. When I opened it, I wondered if I had fogotten one more thing. But, NOooo, I think God is trying to tell me something. This Philippians 4:8 thing isn't just a fad, but something that needs to become a lifestyle for me. Meditating upon truth, upon God, and upon what is good can change a person's whole outlook.

I've been reading Joanna's Weaver's latest book about Having a Mary Spirit and the last chatper I read was about the power of our words to encourage others. In addition, I'm reading Jennifer Rothschild's book about the words we speak to our souls. So, it's all piling up and now the sometimes easy to ignore whisper of God is becoming a loud voice in my ear speaking truth.

Words contain great power - power to lift up a soul, power to drag one down and power to change our thinking. I'm so thankful for God's Word because it is always there and it always contains truth that I need to hear.

So, it all comes back to the simple truth that God gave us His Word as a great gift and that we are blessed when we read it, meditate upon it and memorize it.

Thank You Lord, for Your Word, which inspires, redirects and lifts me up!

Do you talk to yourself??? Hmmm?

Ok, so one of my goals for this year is to get back into blogging a little bit. It's tough for me to find time to blog on a regular basis now that my life is just plain busy, but it's something that refuels me and I often forget that others also appreciate hearing from me regularly.

So, all that to say that I'm going to participate in a study on the book Self Talk, Soul Talk by Jennifer Rothschild with Lelia. I'll do my absolute best to post each week on what I'm learning from this book and I might even add in a little smidge here or a comment there from the other books on my nightstand right now too (Having a Mary Spirit, The 4:8 Project and Oswald Chamber's book on Prayer).

The first section of Jennifer's book is about the life-changing power of soul talk. It's really weird and funny to admit it, but don't we all talk to ourselves in some way or another?

I talk to myself out loud often and that's when people give me strange looks, but I'm a verbal person and it's how I process my thoughts, so give me a little grace, people! But, the really damaging self talk is usually more silent. The words I repeat over and over to myself about how I'm a failure as a mother when my kids misbehave or I'm such a loser when I trip and fall (both literally and figuratively). I know all about that kind of self-talk, but I never really paid much attention to it. I mean, I say mean things to myself, but I don't think I ever realized how dangerous that habit can be.

Jennifer points out that the writers of the Psalms talked to themselves too - they spoke truth to their souls and encouraged themselves with God's word. I've always thought that Psalm 42 had some great soul-talk in it:

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

I finished reading the chapter and then I started to read Joanna Weaver's book and I had one of those moments when it seems like God's voice booms straight from heaven to my heart. Right in the middle of the chapter I was studying was a description of the wrong ways to talk to our selves. Joanna even used some of the same research as Jennifer did.

I knew right then that this habit of degrading myself had to be turned around and turned into the kind of soul-talk the Psalmist used. Instead of condemning myself when I make mistakes (which is bound to happen...and frequently), I have the choice to speak the Word of God to my soul and encourage myself with Truth. That's the way I would talk with a friend, so why not with myself?

Walking the Balance Beam of Grace

This past summer was the first time my daughters were old enough to appreciate the Olympics. They watched the swimming, the diving, the hurdles, and the sprints, but there was one sport in particular that caught their attention. Gymnastics. Doesn’t every little girl wish she could make her body move is such graceful ways around parallel bars or on a balance beam?

But not all of us are so coordinated (as I could well demonstrate). I can’t even balance myself when I’m standing up to sing in church, much less try to do a complicated flip on a bar several feet up in the air. That’s much too dangerous for someone like me. The bruises on my thighs attest to my clumsy nature; bumping into a table here or a chair there, I’m lucky I stay upright some days.

I feel that way spiritually too at times.

You can read the rest of my devotion at Laced with Grace....

The Only Way to a New Start

I tore down the ratty, marked-up calendar and replaced it with a fresh clean one for 2009. Just like everyone else in America, I celebrated the end of 2008 last night and welcomed in a brand new year filled with fresh hopes and new resolutions. The financial sector is ready for a new year and so are the politicians. Dieters and smokers embrace the New Year as an opportunity to knock those bad habits, certain that THIS time around they’ll do a better job of sticking to their resolutions.

You can read the rest of my devotion at the Internet Cafe. I'm excited to share the first cup of coffee in 2009 with you! :)