|
|
|
|
|
Nobody worries about Christ as long as he can be kept shut up in
churches. He is quite safe inside. But there is always trouble
if you try and let him out.
-- G. A. Studdert Kennedy
A Christian……..a follower of Christ……how do you follow Christ? How do you love Christ? Whose will………His will? How do you hear Him when He speaks? Do you hear Him? Do you listen?
Which are you…….one like the woman caught in adultery……..or the prideful scorner hurling stones?
Are you like the humble tax collector who comes before God admitting your brokenness……….or are you like the Pharisee…..better than the broken one?
Are you saved? You know the beginning…….you know the ending…….but what comes between?
What does this mean?
Luk 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
What does it mean to you?
I have to admit, there is nothing easy in being a follower of Christ. It’s easy being saved, easy reading the Bible, going to church, praying but when it comes to actually living our belief and faith……we fail miserably.
Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
Mat 11:30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
I have taken these two verses to heart in a big way. Because being a follower of Christ is sometimes burdensome. Giving up your desires for His desires, asking for His will in your life as opposed to your own….this is not an easy thing. But He equips us, and gives us the strength we need to walk the walk with Him.
Psa 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
When you ask God to create in you a clean heart…….it means sometimes He has to break you down, bring you to your knees……..and it hurts! Coming face to face with God with all your brokenness has got to be one of the most painful things you will ever do….but I can tell you from the depth of my heart that it is the most spirit refreshing thing you will ever do!
The closer you draw to God, the lonlier you feel as a Christian. There is nothing sadder than talking with a fellow believer about the wonders of the Holy Spirit, the amazing grace of God, and they look at you with glazed eyes. I know this because I too once stood with glazed eyes, just “not getting it”. When I talk about listening to His Word while I sleep, or listening to His Word on my IPOD as I walk, other Christians look at me as though I am whacko!
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
What does that verse mean to you? It means exactly what it says to me.
And if we are mocked for loving God this way……….who is being mocked……is it me………is it God’s work in me……..is it God Himself?
Mt. 11:15
|
|
|
Gotta leave you for a while..........
|
Oct 18, 2008 3:00 pm
1528 Views
|
I've been reading some of my earlier blogs and I realise all I've been doing is running around in circles. It's like being a little mouse on one of those treadmills....going round and round and getting nowhere fast!
It's made me feel so ashamed and discouraged at myself. You know this, I've spoken of it before. But today it's screaming at me. No, I'm not depressed right now...not sad....not miserable...but I am resolute. I want the freedom God is offering me.
I spent so long loving a man who didn't think I was worth the risk of loving. I was where God wanted me to be....but not so long ago, His still small voice was speaking to me....my heart was crying...there has to be more than this....and God was saying...."enough". Finally He yelled it at me....."is this all you think you are worth? Only the half measure? Because if this is all you are willing to settle for, this is all you will get" I didn't want to leave this familiar place......but no, I don't want to settle for the half measure either. God has let me know in no uncertain terms that He wants me to have so much more. He wants me to drink fully of His cup of blessing.
One of my friends here at BC told me recently that I am "so much of a woman" that it would only take a man, mature enough in his manliness to conquer me! LOL it was said as a compliment, but it got me thinking on it. I may be a woman, with womanliness LOL, but obviously I'm yet to be a total godly woman.....I know this because God is nudging me...He wants to make a woman out of me!
He is transforming me....this is why I am so unsettled...this is a big change that's happening in me...it hurts like crazy...it's exciting...but it still hurts like crazy!!
Something else struck me in the eyes. An ex once told me that I was naive. He was right! Yes I am.....to my own undoing. I allow people to pull me apart, I trust people who are not worthy of my trust......I allow it coz I am too blinkin naive! I take Christians at face value.....isn't that how it should be? But it isn't the reality.
God gifted me with a spirit of discernment...but even discernment needs fine tuning by Him. I need to be able to discern hidden agendas and careless hearts...coz I don't want to be easy bait to people not worthy of my trust.
I need to step back now, and allow God to do whatever it is He has to do in me. I want the restoration, regardless of the pain..I can't be effective for Him until He fixes these broken bits.
I have spent too much time being Martha...doing, doing, doing...thinking I can handle all this on my own steam. I just can't. It causes me to go up and down like a yo-yo....it's ridiculous really! I need the stability that only Jesus can give me.
So I want to sit at His feet, like Mary. I want to worship Him, and allow Him to strengthen me. I want to be every inch the woman He created me to be...this has been my journey...and there's more up ahead.
I wont be around very much, and as much as I will miss all of you so much, I just have to do this. Blogging is so addictive, and the friends I've made here are so precious to me...this is really hard for me. So many of you have encouraged me and loved me along the way...you are so beautiful, and I love you very much. Please pray for me, as I pray for you. 
|
|
|
39
Comments
|
|
|
The "P" Word......yikes!
|
Oct 18, 2008 3:42 am
983 Views
|
This is a pic of my friend Tricia, in the little sports car I'm always raving on about...yep the one with the butt warmer!!
It was a beautiful, warm Spring day, temp in the eighties, so we went down to the pier for coffee and then a walk along the beach.
I'm a very simple girl, really. I'm not into expensive jewellery, nor designer label clothes. LOL I can even drink cheap wine...and not too much of it either!! 
So tell me why then, sitting in this flashy sports car, I feel like a blinkin superstar?
I was telling my son that all the guys notice you when you are in a flashy car like that......he reminded me very sagely that the men were probably drooling over the car, rather than the two women inside it!! Talk about a wet blanket!! 
But really.....what is it about these cutesy cars that make people do a double take? and why do we feel so gooooooooood driving in them? 
Plain and simple really.........PRIDE!
OUCH!! 
Can't get away from that little piece of reality, now can we? Seriously that is exactly what it is.
How many of you men reading this can honestly tell me that you have not coveted a state of the art car at some point in your life? Why?
And what about us girls? When he rolls up to pick you up for that date...in a dream car....don't you feel a little like Cinderella? Why?
Pride!!
In all fairness there are some people that like cars like this for their motoring capability....you are excused....I think!! 
Anyways, much as it feels good riding in that hot little car.... especially on those cold days when the butt warmer is on....it does give me a nasty taste in my mouth.
|
|
|
13
Comments
|
|
|
Another Random Weekend Buy!
|
Oct 17, 2008 6:09 pm
929 Views
|
I went to the op shop (thrift store) this morning coz I was getting rid of "stuff"........and bought a lounge suite!!  Hey it was a bargain ok? $200........as opposed to the single and very gorgeous microfibre couch in steel grey that I have been eyeing for a while now...$900!! 
The only bummer is...it's blue and I'm not really a "blue" person!! But at $200 and in good condition...how could I refuse? My lounge suite has seen better days....and I loved it in it's better days coz it is forest green with white checks.
Well there is another little hitch....it's a three piece and I don't have a big living room, and it's a weird shape....so I'm going to have to get rid of stuff to get more stuff!!
My son thinks I've gone whacko, but he's a guy and what do guys know!!
I'm coming to the conclusion that going out on the weekends is hazardous for my purse! I still have the whipper snipper sitting...in it's box!! I'm waiting for an unsuspecting man to walk in my door!! Any takers??? And if he's real good...I'll show him my garage!! And he can show me his muscles!!
|
|
|
9
Comments
|
|
|
HOPE DOESN'T JUST FLOAT, IT LIFTS
|
Oct 17, 2008 12:58 am
954 Views
|
We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope. -- Martin Luther King, Jr.
My son and I were having a chat the other night. He's been kind of sad lately coz some of his school friends have been doing things without including him. My son is in his last year of school and he has hung out with these same boys for the last six years. So he is hurting. There are only a few more weeks of school left and this should be a special time for him.
As a mother, my heart aches for him. I want him to have a wonderful life, with few tears and heartbreak. Yet I know this is not the reality of the world we live in. No matter how much I want to shield him, he has a journey ahead, prepared by God....and it wont always be an easy ride.
People will disappoint him, people will deceive him and lie to him. He may very well suffer the pain of a broken heart in love. The road ahead will have rocky patches...there's no avoiding it.
The one thing that fills my heart with hope is the fact that his relationship with God is growing steadily. I couldn't have prayed for a better beginning to his walk as a young man....to know that there is a God who loves him, and will never leave him desolate. He has this hope, and as we talked I was encouraged at the wisdom and simple faith of this boy/man.
I am so grateful to God for the pain and heartaches I have endured, coz it gives me an empathy and an understanding when he goes through "stuff". I know it will help us to relate, as we already do. I never had that with my own parents, and I pray that my son will always know that his mother loves him and will stand by him through it all.
I am a blessed mother! 
|
|
|
10
Comments
|
|
|
A Lullaby for Dunky.........
|
Oct 13, 2008 5:32 pm
1165 Views
|
There was a redback on the toilet seat,
When I was there last night.
I didn't see him in the dark,
But boy I felt his bite.
I jumped up high into the air,
And when I hit the ground.
That crafty redback spider,
Wasn't nowhere to be found.
I rushed into the mrs,
Told her just where I'd been bit.
And she grabbed my cutthroat razor,
And I nearly took a fit.
I said 'Forget what's on your mind,
And call a doctor please.
For I've got a feeling that your cure,
Is worse than the disease.'
There was a redback on the toilet seat,
When I was there last night.
I didn't see him in the dark,
But boy I felt his bite.
And now I'm here in hospital,
A sad and sorry plight.
And I curse the redback spider,
On the toilet seat last night.
I can't lie down, I cant' sit up I don't know what to do.
The nurses think it's funny but that's not my point of view.
I tell you it's embarrasing and that's to say the least,
For I'm too sick to eat a bite,
While the spider had a feast.
And when I get back home again, I'll tell you what I'll do.
I'll make that Redback suffer for the pain I'm going through.
I've had so many needles, I'm looking like a sieve
I promise you that redback hasn't very long to live.
There was a redback on the toilet seat,
When I was there last night.
I didn't see him in the dark,
But boy I felt his bite.
And now I'm here in hospital,
A sad and sorry plight.
And I curse the redback spider,
On the toilet seat last night.
Don't forget the bug spray, Dunk!!
|
|
|
15
Comments
|
|
|
DISCERNMENT & DECISIVENESS
|
Oct 13, 2008 3:55 pm
995 Views
|
You know you've heard a good sermon, when even a week later you are still chewing on it!
I don't want to extol Will Graham just coz he is Billy's grandson but his sermon was good.....thought provoking in it's simplicity.
He preached about the indecisive nature of Pontius Pilate. Here was a man who came eye to eye with the creator of the universe...though granted, he did not see that! He had the choice to either believe that Jesus was who He said He was....or not. He didn't choose either, but instead chose to wash his hands of the whole affair.....he refused to take responsibility for his decision....yup an indecisive man.
Something stood out for me in this sermon......the discernment of Pilate's wife. She had a dream, and she warned her husband not to be involved in the death of this man, Jesus.
But unfortunately, there are some men who don't seem to think a woman has the discerning capability to hear what the Holy Spirit is saying.
I wonder if his wife's words niggled at him, or did he just fob off her words as foolish nonsense...being a mere woman and all!
As it turns out, perhaps he should have heeded his wife's warning. Now I don't know what their marital relationship was like...perhaps she loved her husband immensely...yet I wonder if her respect in him diminished somewhat after this incident? I wonder if he humbled himself enough to admit to her that he was wrong, or did he shirk his responsibility here as well....did he wash his hands of the decision to not heed his wife's warning?
LOL when I started writing my post, this was not the direction I intended to take it...the words have kind of flowed so I'm going to keep it as it is and save my other thoughts for another post!
Anyways, it kind of bears thinking about, huh?
I'm a Spirit-filled woman of God. Sometimes I hear something, and I'm not totally sure it's God speaking, but there are other times when I have no doubt in my mind that I heard a word from God.
There have been times when I have been fobbed off...
You reap what you sow, right?
I wonder what Pilate reaped from his indecisive action? 
|
|
|
4
Comments
|
|
|
The Blessing of Friendship
|
Oct 13, 2008 3:38 am
1021 Views
|
Well I can honestly say this isn't a meaningless post coz there is nothing meaningless about my best friend Lorraine!
We had our usual get together today and it was like walking into a sunny room! She does that to me! I keep thinking, Lord how blessed am I, that you gave me this awesome woman to be my best friend!
We just have a connection, you know? You get that with some people, just a something that kind of draws you together and it's like God just showers you with blessings through that friendship.
She is so like me, it's scary!! She's a total nutter, gets me into all kinds of trouble....and as you know, I am easily persuaded!!
Today we talked about anything and everything, as we always do. She's the only friend I have right now that I can talk God stuff with coz she is just as passionate about God as I am! I need that, I come alive when I talk about God...or when we unpack something we read in the Bible. We also share the same daily devotional so we often share about that. I just wish I could see her more often...we can only get together every second Monday coz I work and she is busy with stuff too.
She always helps me to put things into perspective. Especially now where my vision is kind of clouded over...she gives me stuff to chew over, and I often get revelations from God through our conversations. It's a definite God connection!
I guess I'm super blessed coz I have a large network of friends. It's like each one is different, yet they each have a little bit of me in them...yup scary huh!! Do you find that with your friendships too? I don't just mean girl to girl or guy to guy..sometimes it's girl to guy as well.
Well that's all I gotta say about that...as Forest Gump would say!! I'm feeling kind of mooshy and sentimental tonight
|
|
|
13
Comments
|
|
|
My Dilemma
|
Oct 11, 2008 6:27 pm
1252 Views
|
Is it just me or is there a pall about blogland right now? I guess so many of our friends have left the site, especially after these new changes the site has made.
As for me personally, I've felt lately that my posts have lacked the anointing they have had in the past. I seem to be posting a lot of meaningless stuff...it's driving me nuts. In the past, I would get a word from God.....and I would post. Not only would it encourage me personally, but it brought encouragement to others as well.
I guess lately I've been going through my own stuff so it's been hard to summon up a lot of positive posts......I've been trying, but I don't know.....feels kind of forced and flat.
I don't want it to be this way. I love my Lord passionately......I want to express that in my writings. I want to express what He is doing in my life....I want my posts to be ones where someone who isn't a believer, or even a shaky belief...to yearn to have what I have. I want to draw people to Christ. I want to see people being blessed through stuff I've written.
Part of me is thinking, perhaps it's time for a break from blogging.....kind of go and get refreshed. I just don't know what to do. What does God want me to do? Am I to stick it out? I'm not hearing anything from Him about anything....that's frustrating me! If Beth were here, she would say.....be patient...allow God to do what He has to do....don't push things....be patient ms_warriorthingy LOL!
I took off from my buoy with anticipation, with gusto....convinced about new beginnings.....and here I am still flapping around, getting nowhere fast.
I'm sick of crying, sick of the gloom....I want my laughter back, want ME back.
Anyways this is where I am at right now......sick of myself, sick of my attitude. I don't want to be a defeated thingy.
Got any advice?
|
|
|
16
Comments
|
|
|
THE HEART OF A WOMAN
|
Oct 11, 2008 3:06 pm
957 Views
|
THE HEART OF A WOMAN IS TENDER....you can see it in her eyes, feel it in her touch
THE HEART OF A WOMAN IS NURTURING.....as she busies herself in the kitchen, making sure clothes are clean and ironed, tending to the one who is ill, keeping her home clean and tidy
THE HEART OF A WOMAN IS COMPASSIONATE....you see it in the way she cares for others, as she reaches out to help
THE HEART OF A WOMAN IS GENEROUS......as she makes sure her loved ones have the best, putting her needs last
THE HEART OF A WOMAN IS PASSIONATE....for her God, her man, her children, her principles
THE HEART OF A WOMAN IS STRENGTH...as she disciplines her children, defends her man, stands up for her beliefs
THE HEART OF A WOMAN IS FRAGILE....she bruises easily when harsh words are spoken, when injustice strikes, when love is withdrawn
A woman is strong enough to endure periods, childbirth, menopause, strong enough to work 9 to 5 and still manage to care for her family, strong enough to endure almost anything.....
Yet when a woman's heart is broken, she becomes once again the little girl, longing for her Father's embrace, His assurance that everything will be ok.
I might be a little, concerned with my hair
I might need comfort, more than my share
I might seem to follow fashion, but claim that I don't care
My heart is your best friend, when it rules my head
I might want to talk alot, but don't ask me why
And I'll get impatient, if you don't reply
I might always search for something wrong, I want you to deny
And if you love me just stay close, and hold me when i cry
Don't try to understand me, I'm just a girl
One of the greatest mysteries, you'll find in this world
I'm not hard to handle, I'm just a girl
I'm just a girl
I don't seek money, but I want your time
Cos I'd give my life for you, when you are mine
And it hurts me more than I can say when you pull away
But if you love me, you should tell me everyday
Don't try to understand me, I'm just a girl
One of the greatest mysteries, you'll find in this world
I'm not hard to handle, I'm just a girl
I'm just a girl
You might think I'm too demanding
But you're just not understanding, no
I might like to take advice, but go my own way
And it's when I hurt the most, I swear I'm okay
And it's always when you least expect, I say I want to stay
it might take just a single kiss to steal my heart away.
Don't try to understand me, I'm just a girl
One of the greatest mysteries, you'll find in this world
You think I'm an X file, I'm just a girl
I'm just a girl
Don't try to understand me, I'm just a girl
One of the greatest mysteries, you'll find in this world
I'm not hard to handle, I'm just a girl
I'm just a girl
|
|
|
4
Comments
|
|
|
EACH NEW DAY
|
Oct 11, 2008 1:30 pm
590 Views
|
After another restless night, I woke up this morning and prayed that God would birth in me an expectancy, a sense of anticipation for this day...and excitement at what He will do in my life today, either to me or through me...His will, not mine!
I went for my walk and noticed how beautiful the sky looked this morning. There was a pink glow over the eastern sky...it was so pretty! Suddenly the words, "His mercies are new every morning" came to mind...
I realised that each new day that we are given is one where we can sit bemoaning our losses, or count our blessings. Obviously there are days when we struggle, but even within the struggle we can seek out blessings....coz they are there!
I prayed for God's will in my life today...that I can use this day to bring glory to Him. This is my challenge today...to look outside of my circumstances and see the beauty of this perfect day...and to see it from His perspective, rather than mine.
I prayed for each of you as well. So many of you are hurting, carrying burdens that you are desperate to unload. Some are weary, needing God's strength to make it through another day. Some are grieving things lost, some dealing with turmoil or sickness. Some of you are just plain lonely, aching for a human touch.......I pray for you all, that today God will bring something special into your life, a blessing from heaven to you.
Father, I lift these precious children of Yours, up to You. I pray a blessing on their lives. I pray You bring strength to the weary, peace to the troubled hearts, healing to those who are sick and comfort to those grieving and lonely. I pray a little touch of heaven in their lives. Amen
|
|
|
4
Comments
|
|
To link to this blog (ms_warriorthingy) use [blog ms_warriorthingy] in your messages.
|
|
|
| Sun |
Mon |
Tue |
Wed |
Thu |
Fri |
Sat |
| |
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
51
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
31
|
|
|
|
|
|
