Peace that all is in His time

I'm currently directing a children's Christmas program of around 100 children.
There have been a lot of details and things that I've had to work through; and many times I've became very stressed about how I was going to get it all done. Earlier this month I still was writing the script, it wasn't finished when I wanted to have it done. I didn't even know what to write. I was nervous about what people would think...would they look down on me?...or would they hate the program?....
And was it foolish of me to even try this?
Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I stopped and cried out to God. I told Him to write the script, change the hearts, open my heart to all He had in mind for the program and be Lord of every detail. It is for His glory, make me merely the tool.
And He is.

A Peace that passes all understanding. The only time I've known it is when I quit being in control and I for that short time quit trusting in myself and begin to trust in God. Then I have that deep, deep, quiet peace.

I have learned in yet another way that God's time isn't mine and that His thoughts are much higher then mine.
But the program isn't for another six weeks…so please pray that I would continue to grow and trust...

God is Good, praise His Name
Anne

Time flies

Life....It's a crazy thing. At this point I am praying that God would teach me to use my time wisely and when life becomes overwhelming, He would teach me to move with it graciously. It shouldn't rock the boat.....but it does. And when it does, these verses become my reminders that God will always be there. That He is sovereign and He is Good

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and He will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

Cast all your anxiety on him because He cares for you. 1 Peter 5:7

Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.Proverbs 19:21

Don't let life get you down, trust in God, He will carry you.

Just a thought to strive for......

A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.

Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.

She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
Proverbs 31:10-12

As a single young woman currently still at home and under my Dad's leadership, I have the opportunity to be a huge influence on my Dad and brothers.
Here's a thought, take the areas in the Bible that tell wives how to treat their husbands and think of them as ways daughters should treat their dads and brothers. To begin to treat them with respect, to bring them good and not harm, that the men in our lives could put their full confidence in us and lack nothing of value.
~Just a thought

p.s. read the rest of chapter 31:)

A bad mood gone good

I was in a bad mood today....and I didn't know it. In fact, if anyone had said anything about it, I would have rolled my eyes and said that I was perfectly happy but I was tired of everyone else being a pain. I even without a thought,would've huffed that "so and so" wouldn't stop complaining and "so and so" kept asking stupid questions and was not listening and I wished that they all would just be quiet.
But I didn't know I was the problem. I thought that I was just being my own "sweet" self. If you would have confronted me, I would have been offended.
I went through the whole day with this attitude, picking arguments with my sister and criticizing my brother about meaningless stuff. By the end, I had everyone else out of sorts and they all started huffing about as well.
It wasn't until later when I was helping my brother take a pile of stuff off the stairway that I finally listened to myself and the things I was saying. I was all a sudden taken back as I heard myself accuse my brother of not using common sense when cleaning and I actually huffed when he flippantly tossed a bobby pin into a near by laundry basket, something so pointless. That's when I realized I was being a brat.

Here's a thought. Often as humans, we don't see when we're the problem and though to everyone else it may seem obvious, we are somehow blinded to the truth. We often look at ourselves and don't see the facts, we think we're fine, even better then everyone else and in complete honesty will tell others just how "fine" we are when they confront us.
Also, if we swing that around, if we have ever been an "onlooker" to someone like this and we feel the need to tell that person off, we need to remember that that person may not know they are the problem and if you confront them, they will be offended.
We need to first pray that God would reveal to us the problems in our own hearts then pray for that other person that God would show them the truth. And last of all, have compassion on them and speak if it's God's will, in love.

Because Lord, You died my death.

With Easter soon approaching, I began about thinking about all Jesus had to do that day on Calvary and also what a thing it was when He rose again.
As I was thinking about it all, this poem came to mind.




I don't feel the pain
Of nails in my hands.
I don't feel the shame
Of whips upon my naked skin.
I don't feel the loneliness
As I'm deserted by all my friends.

And I don't know the sting of dying
Because Lord, You died my death.

I don't feel the mocker's spit
Running down my face.
I don't feel the burning flames
Of hell's eternal fire.
I don't know the bondage of forever sin
For Lord, You set me free.
I'm no longer blind,
Lord, You let me see.

I, a sinner, condemned to die,
Now stand, unscarred, alive.
Because Jesus, fully God, fully man,
perfect, blameless, chose to die in my stead.

I don't know the sting of dying,
Because Lord You died my death,
And rose again.

Do I love God?

God answered a prayer request today. It was something I had pretty much lost hope of being answered yet God came through. The first thing I could say was "Praise God, He is so Good!" Then I began to wonder, "do I say that He is good based on the fact that He answers my prayers or because He is as Himself is all glorious, awesome and indeed very good. Just because He is regardless wether He ever answers my prayers or not. In my heart, I had to wonder wether my love for Him was just for self-centered reasons and wether I actually loved Him for who He is.
My Dad, one time challenged me; "if everything I ever dreamed of about heaven; the beautiful colors, music, seeing the saints from long ago and knowing the family members I lost and having there being no pain or sadness; if all that was not there, but only God in His presence dwelled, would I still long for heaven?" Another way to put it would be if everthing we dreamed of was there except for God, would we even want to be there? If I can imagine enjoying a heaven without God then I'm not sure I really love Him......that my love only goes to the bounds of what He can do for me.
I remember the chorus of a Rich Mullins song titled "Brother's Keeper"

My friends ain't the way I wish they were
They are just the way they are
And I will be my brother's keeper
Not the one who judges him
I won't despise him for his weakness
I won't regard him for his strength
I won't take away his freedom
I will help him learn to stand

The love for his brother this song speaks goes beyond what that brother can do for him. It is a selfless love that does not require love in return nor good deeds to the other. No matter what, he will love his brother.

And what should my Love for God be? Certainly not a self-centered love. I headed back to God's word. It says that God is love(1 John 4:8) but what is this love?
1 Cor. 13:4-7 says
"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." This is how He loves me, I know this is true.
The Bible also says "If you love me, you will obey what I command.(John 14:15) And what are His commands? If you take all the commands of God in the Bible and combine them you will find they can all be summed up with these two "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.(Luke 10:27)
The love, I believe we should have for God is just that.One that is not bound by what He does for us but as John 15:9-17 says

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. 11I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17This is my command: Love each other.

What love is this? That a man would lay down his life for a friend.
Indeed, God is very Good, His name be praised.
~AGK