In Need of Peace

Once again, I find myself worried because I have been relying on myself rather than God. Why do I let this happen? I cannot express how thankful I am for God's never ending love and His promise of Peace to those who focus on Him.

Isaiah 26:3 says: "You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on You."

Father, I claim this verse and want you
to know that I surrender all to You and ask that You help me fix my
mind on You. You are more than enough for me and I love you so much.

Make me a Servant

My hubby and I leave in a week and a half for a Missions Trip. We are Lay Leaders in the Youth Group at our church and the youth group goes to Maine every year to do service projects up there and put on 2 Vacation Bible Schools for the local children. So, much of our service on this trip will be leading our Youth group kids during the trip and helping them minister to the little children in Maine.

Anyway, we have been so busy with getting things organized and ready for this trip. Tonight, we received an email from the youth Pastor telling us what location we would both be at (we serve two cities while in Maine), and it was not what we were hoping for, not what we wanted. My first reaction was to complain to my hubby about this and ask him if we could see if they could rearrange this, simply because we wanted to be at the other location. Pathetic, I know, but I am being honest here about this.

The more I thought about it, the more convicted I felt about my reaction. I knew that I needed to be willing to serve wherever they needed me and that this is what going on a missions trip is about...serving in ways that we might not like.

God brought to my heart His Words from Philippians 2:3-8:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Wow...these verses hit me hard. I pray that God will give me the grace and strength to humble myself and truly put the needs and wants of others above mine, so that I may please God in this situation.

Thankful Thursday

As all of us, I have so much to be thankful for today. So, here is my list for today.

1) I am thankful for a delicious cup of coffee every morning to get me started.

2) I am thankful that my husband asks me to pray with him and for him when he has an important meeting, like he has this morning. I love being able to help my husband by lifting him up to God in prayer. Thank you God for allowing us to speak to You in prayer.

3) I am thankful that my Best Best Friend since 5th grade is moving back home this weekend. She has always been there for me and encourages me to be a better person. She truly demonstrates what a good friend should be like. Thank you for being my best friend now for 16 years now. It will be so nice to hang out and live close again.

4) I am thankful for being able to spend time with my daughter. I am thankful for the "little" things that I get to do with her, like walking her to the park last night and pushing her on the swing. She loves the swing and smiled the whole time saying "Wee," actually she pronounces it "Bee" and would say "More" when her swing would slow down. She is a beautiful blessing in my life.

5) I am thankful for God's guidance in our life. It is so comforting to know that as we seek Him, He will make His will known to us and as we allow Him, He is always working to make us more like Him. God, I praise You for giving my hubby and I peace about Your will for us during this time.

God is awesome and has given us so many things to be thankful for. To read other Thankful Thursday lists, please visit Sting My Heart.

Enjoy your day.

Week Four Weigh In

Well, I had an "okay" week. The scale said that I lost 1 pound this week, which I am so thankful for because I didn't incorporate a lot of exercising into the early part of my week. So, I am down a total of 5 pounds, currently at 136!!!!

This week, I hope to be strong and really stick to my diet. I did a lot of cheating here and there this past week. The biggest thing that I need to work on is to not snack late at night!!! I find that if I eat a good breakfast, lunch, and dinner, then not snacking at night is easier than if I skipped a meal during the day because I was busy.

I am so thankful for another small success and for my health. If you would like to hear from other people on their week, please click here.

Week Three Weigh In

I am a little late in posting about this weeks weighing in...Oh well. My previous week was crazy and for some of it I was sick, and then I had to prep for a Colonoscopy (everything is fine, I wrote a post about all of this earlier this week.) So, anyway, I put this off so I could get somewhat of an accurate weight.

I weighed myself Thursday morning, (yesterday), and I weighed 137 lbs. This is great...2 down from last week. So all in all, I have lost 4 lbs.

Today, I feel ready to get back on track completely with my plan now that the stuff from this past week is behind me. So, I hope to pick back up some daily exercises and drink lots of water. I am excited to weigh in on Tuesday and see where I am.

All in all, I am so thankful for my health and have decided to be thankful for everyday and for the weight that I am right now.

Thankful Thursday

Another Thankful Thursday....beautiful. I had some unusual free-time this evening, so I decided to get a head start on tomorrow's to do list and post this early.

Here are the things that I am Thankful for this Thursday:

1) For the comfort that His Word brings to my heart as I read it and meditate on it. His Word is alive and powerful and I am so thankful to be able to immerse myself in it, especially during stressful times.

2) For positive test results from my Colonoscopy today. Praise God, I had nothing serious, only some small internal hemorrhoids, which the doctor said will be fine and advised me to go on a High Fiber Diet. Going through this is what put # 1 on the top of my list this week.

3) For God's forgiveness when I mess up. I had myself all worked up and stressed out over getting this test done and what it might show, that I wasn't trusting God. So, I am thankful that He forgives us and allows us to try again. Sat. and Sunday, I was a mess, but by giving it all to Him and reading His Word and praying, Moday, Tuesday, and Wed, I felt His peace and presence.

4) For a husband who loves me no matter what, even when I am an emotional mess. My hubby was very encouraging to me during all of this and gave me time to take it to God. Thank you honey for your patience and confidence in me.

5) For friends who allow me to express my concerns to them and lovingly encourage me to give it to God.

6) All in all, I am thnkful for this entire ordeal because it was a great opportunity for me to grow in my relationship with God and to feel His love for me and to excercise my trust in Him. Thank you God.

For more Thankful Thursday lists from others, please click here.

Enjoy your day.

Comfort in God's Word

These past few days, I have been amazed and refreshed by the power of God's Word and am so thankful to be able to draw such Truth and comfort from it. From my previous post, I wrote about some anxiety I had and while I do not have the test results back yet, (I go tomorrow for the colonoscopy), I have an indescribable peace from God.
I was encouraged by my Best Friend's Mom to read many of the Psalms from the Bible to calm my heart from the anxiety I was feeling about my procedure. God knew that I needed to hear this from her and I am thankful that I was able to talk with her about all of this. I took her advice and dove right into Psalm.
Many verses in this book brought comfort to me, and as I read the verses over and over and prayed to God asking His forgiveness for my lack of faith and trust in Him, my heart became filled with God's peace.
I am so thankful for this and am glad that through this small trial, I was able to draw closer to my Saviour.
Here are some of the Scriptures that brought much comfort to my heart:

Psalm 46:1 "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."

Psalm 34:1 "I will bless the Lord at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth."

II Timothy 1:7 "For God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

Psalm 139 (the entire chapter)

My prayer is that in the future, I will not worry and get myself all worked up like I did this past weekend. Next time, I will head right for God's Word.

Tonight before bed and tomorrow I will read these verses to myself and continue to trust God.