Words

Monday Praise – Words

 

There is a very thought-provoking Christian song out now called "Words", By Hawk Nelson. And the lyrics are;

 

"Words can build us up, words can break us down, start a fire in our hearts, or put it out." Here's the full song on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anVweXDcxhA

 

Praise God for words.

Words that can be so powerful in constructing a human life.

Words that plant seeds of hope.

Words of encouragement

Words that communicate.

Words that point others to God's glory.

Words that bring change.

Words of instruction and correction.

Words of joy, peace, and love.

Kind words, loving words, thoughtful words.

Thought provoking words.

Poetic words.

Passionate words.

Words of caution.

Words that cause action.

Words that bring life.

 

Words are powerful things. And we have the power and the responsibility to use them with wisdom and compassion. It's also our responsibility not to misuse them. Because once they are said, you can't unsay them. And words used wrongly can actually drive people away from God.

"Set a guard, oh Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!" Psalms 141:3

 

I am reading a book right now by Paul David Tripp. It's called The War of Words. And it really speaks to God's divine purpose for our words and our communication. If you haven't read it yet, I recommend you read it. It is a very insightful and thought-provoking, biblical look at how we should, and can use our words.

 

"… There is hope of substantial change because Jesus Christ, the Word, the Redeemer, has given us every resource we need to speak as we are meant to speak." Paul David Tripp

 

I praise God for words and I praise him for His Word.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God." John 1:1–2 ESV

 

Proverbs 16:24"Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones."

 

Dear God,

May my words be like a honeycomb.

Amen

 

 

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Change

2 Corinthians 5:17  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone the new is here!"

Change is not easy. But creating new and better patterns and habits in our lives is worth the challenge. And the Bible says that "We can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives us strength." Phil. 4:13

When I first decided to start running, It was a hard change to make in my sedentary lifestyle, because I am basically a lazy person. If I didn't have to get up and exercise every day (otherwise I'd be as big as a house), I know that I would not. But I do, because I know that I have a very slow metabolism and exercise is Gods gift to help me to keep my weight under control.  So I started by making very small changes in my life. The first thing I did was start taking a walk during my lunch hour at work. Little by little I added either more time, or a little bit of jogging to add variety. Soon I decided to get up a little earlier in the morning and do my walk/jog before work. After a little while I was doing more jogging then walking. And not long after that I was doing all running. These were small steps that I decided to make in order to improve my life.  None of them, of themselves, were very hard to do. The hardest part was making the decision to do it.   That's where all change starts.

You must decide what you want to change. Get a clear picture in your mind of what and where you will be after the change.  For me that part  was easy because I knew that I was going on a vacation to Key West, Florida, and I wanted to look good in a bathing suit or shorts. So I pictured myself in a bathing suit on the beach in Florida. Not the current self, but the way I wanted to look.  I had already started a healthy eating program and had lost some weight, so it was positive next step for me to start an exercise program.  And an upcoming vacation was the perfect motivation that I needed to get started.

Now exercise is a lifestyle habit. That Key West vacation was in the year 2000. And since then I have run several half marathons and a marathon and continue a healthy lifestyle of exercise on a regular basis.

I don't believe that it is ever too late to change. Yes, change can be hard. Especially if you're looking at changing something that is very drastic, but empowered by the Holy Spirit we are able to do much more than we ever thought possible.

Like Joyce Meyer says, "You don't have to live in your old ways. You can now make new, better choices empowered by the Holy Spirit. If you find yourself regretting some of the unwise choices you've made in the past, don't be deceived into thinking its too late to do anything about it. Just start doing what's right and stick with it".

 If at some time you fall down and mess up. Just get back up and start where you left off. Change is inevitable. You can either be the subject of change or the instigator of change. You choose.

OMG I'm obsessed!

With Twitter?!!!

Recently I have found myself staying up late tweeting, reading tweets, following, and my favorite part; being followed. I wake up early in the morning and first thing I do is check my phone to see how many new followers I have. What am I a narcissist?

I have never been a big social network person. Yes I've done the obligatory Facebook, LinkedIn, etc., in order to stay in in touch with family, friends and business associates. But I've never been real faithful at posting or even checking my accounts... Until I discovered Twitter.

Originally I thought I would Get a twitter account in order to market my blog. And it has helped bring traffic to the site. But as I have continued to use it and grow my following, I have found a whole new world out there. I have begun to converse with people all around the world.  People I would never have met, or probably even thought about before Twitter. For example. I met an artist in France who is from the UK and has a beautiful website where she sells her artwork and blogs about her life on her farm in France. After conversing with her a few times, I got a tweet from somebody else in that same area. The person left me a comment about my blog saying he was going to send his wife to the site. A few days later, He said "you and my wife have already met.". His wife was the artist. Her Name is Sarah Cunnington And her website is www.artbysarahcunnington.com

Another friend I met is from Bogata Columbia. After she had followed me, I tweeted back to her thanking her for the follow. When I saw that most of her tweets were in Spanish, I tweeted back that I was learning Spanish, and knew very little. She responded that she would love to help me learn.  She is a beautiful young woman with a true heart for God. And we have become wonderful friends.

Yes, Twitter does feed my ego. But I know it also feeds my love of people and my need to make friends. I also know that I have to be careful. I have to be aware of how much time that I spend there. I have to ask myself is it really productive? Or am I just wasting time.

During a breakfast meeting with a friend and mentor yesterday morning, I was describing to her my new fascination with Twitter. In the same conversation I also complained about some of the issues that I was facing in my business. And one of them was lack of organization.  Of course, you have to know that her response was that I was wasting too much time on Twitter and other social networking. She gave me some pointers about rewarding myself for spending the right amount of time on appropriate areas of my business. She suggested that I reward myself with social networking, Especially Twitter. She thought it would be a good idea to save Twitter for the very end of the day and only allow myself to tweet if I had completed the tasks that I had set for myself that day. In other words, punish myself for not completing my tasks by disallowing myself to use Twitter or other social media.

This is a challenge. It is 6 o'clock on Wednesday morning, I've been up for an hour. I read one devotional, checked Twitter, and have spent the rest of my time writing this blog about Twitter! Aaahhhggg!!!!  Am I a lost cause?!!!

Monday Praise: Grandchildren

In thinking about what I am thankful for, There are so many things, it is nearly impossible for me to pinpoint one. So I went to the Internet and Googled 'things to be grateful for'. I did this to help me focus my thoughts on a specific area. Well...a million and one things came up!  Instead of focusing or pinpointing one, it gave me a boatload more to be grateful for. Thanks Google... So instead I decided to start with the obvious. This Week;

I praise my God for grandchildren. 

Lily, Aviana holding Stevie & Isabel

 Duh thought of the day... God knew what

He was doing when he placed grandchildren Into our lives.  

I remember the day that my first child Brook was born. My heart was so full of love for her that I couldn't imagine ever having enough room for another child let alone for anyone else. But God is so good to allow us to expand our love. What I found is the more I love, the more love I have to give. And there was always enough room. But I never, ever thought that there could be a love greater than the love of a mother for her child. Oh how wrong I was....

Aviana

 When my first granddaughter (Aviana) came along, my heart was so full of love for that child that it felt like it would explode.   She was two weeks old when I first met her and I immediately started crying like a baby. I loved her so much, and because we lived in Washington state and they lived in Arizona, I was devastated to think that the next time this child saw me she would not know me.

In fact the love for this beautiful baby was so strong that we sold our house in Washington and moved to Arizona.

Since then, God has been so good and blessed us with three more beautiful grandchildren in our lives. And praise God, they all live close by. I love their joy of life. Their daily exuberance and excitement is like a refreshing rain. 

Isabel

As I watch their carefree play, it refreshes my heart and helps me to remember not to take life so seriously. They usually have smiles on their faces and their giggles are medicine to my soul.  Even when they're being loud and silly

Isabel, Avi holding Stevie, Lily

They give and receive love with such ease and grace. And they're untainted by the world as of yet. I pray that they would maintain their sweet innocence with God's protection for as many years as possible. 

Proverbs 17:6 says "grandchildren are the crown of the aged..."

Lily & Isabel

Aviana

Lily

While I won't admit to being aged, I will admit that they are my crown. They bring so much joy to my life that I am blessed beyond measure.

Praise God for grandchildren!