Day 5 - Wednesday, October 5, 2011 - The Stinky Stomp

When I was a little girl, something awful started stinkin' up my bedroom.  At first, it started out as an unusual odor.  Then, with each passing day, the smell got stronger and stronger.  It didn't take my parents long to realize something, like an animal, must have died outside near my part of the house.  My dad ventured outside to claim the smelly prize and came back empty handed.  Since our house was raised off of the ground, he came quickly to the conclusion that the dead animal must be under the house.  My instructions were simple.  My dad told me to go to the spot in my room where the stinky smell was the strongest.  And then I was to stomp my foot as loud as I could at that very spot.  He would then follow the sound of my stomp and hopefully find the smelly culprit.  It worked!  After stomping VERY loudly (you can imagine how a 6-year-old would love this daddy-given task), he found it...a cat.  You would think a deceased kitten would upset me, but I was thrilled.  Not because the cat was dead, but because the smell was finally gone.  I felt like I had been given a gift.  My room quickly smelled again of my mom's favorite cinnamon potpourri.  It smelled like home again.

And then it occurred to me.  Every bad decision I have made, every example of defiance, every act of disobedience has created an unbearable odor in my heart.  At first, when the path to destruction is slow and gradual, the consequences of our decisions don't seem as bad.  In fact, some of them are quite bearable.  But overtime, just like the stench of a dead animal under a house, the consequences become too much.  For some of us, we get in over our head.  We start to drown in a sea of destruction and despair.  And because our God loves us beyond comprehension, He does just like I did for my dad.  He stands over us, stomping His foot.  In our hearts, He goes to the worst spot He can find and stomps VERY loudly until we hear Him.  That's how He reveals Himself.  But do we actually hear Him?  Do you hear His stomping in your life?  Or have you put your fingers in your ears like a child and refused to listen to His voice?  His stomping foot, His voice is not there to reprimand you.  He just wants you back.  Just like a child playing a silly game of hide-and-seek with dad, He's waiting for you to jump out of your hiding place and run to Him with arms open.  Go, friend.  It's time.  Get your fingers out of your ears, come out of your hiding place, and run.  Run to Him.  He's there.  Waiting and wanting you. 

Day 4 - Tuesday, October 4, 2011 - God's Red Rover Team

I remember sitting in a small group Bible study one summer being suddenly struck with inspiration.  It was almost overwhelming.  The urgency was so strong I didn't really know what to do with it.  It was in that moment where I realized my calling in life was much bigger than anything I could do on my own.  I became so excited realizing that God had something very special for me to do.  I felt selected, chosen, like when the really cool kid at school selects YOU to be on his Red Rover team...but it felt even better than that.  Can you imagine?!  I remember thinking things were about to get interesting.  I remember even telling some of my friends, with tears in my eyes and my heart pounding as I spoke, how I felt the calling of God on my life.  And then?  That was it.  It was like reaching the top of the highest peak on a roller coaster ride and just staying there.  And there is where I have stayed for most of the time since.  But now I am beginning to think that is just where God wants me.  I think sometimes we equate a special calling of God on our lives to something major, monumental, or life-altering.  We think in terms of selling all of our possessions and moving across the world to live in grass huts and share Christ with the natives day in and day out.  And YES, praise God for those who do just THAT.  But for most of us, that is not in the cards for us.  Each day, I realize God's calling has everything to do with just where I am.  It includes telling my boys about how much Jesus loves them and encouraging them to show the love of Christ by simply taking a batch of cookies to a neighbor.  Or it must be honoring to the Lord when I rock my baby girl and tell her how much she is loved by her King while singing a song about it in her ear while she sleeps.  Or what about the people that surround me everywhere I go everyday?  Anywhere you look there are hurting people around us that just need a smile or someone to make them feel valued.  Isn't that sharing the Gospel, too?  Little by little the Lord is showing me that I can fulfill my calling...the very calling He gave me in that small group Bible study on that hot summer day...right where I am.  And honestly, as I realize that more and more each day, I get pretty excited about it.

Did you know you have a calling of God on your life?  Ask the Father to reveal it to you.  He will and you might be surprised in learning He's had this calling on you for a while now.  He's just waiting for us to figure it out.  Let's not wait any longer.

Day 3 - Monday, October 3, 2011 - The Decisions I Make

When she was a little girl, all she cared about was climbing magnolia trees and watching fireworks at the 4th of July picnic.  Her world was filled with baby dolls, Mars Bars, and swimming with her friends each and every summer.  She never knew of hate crimes, human monsters or betrayal.  Until that night.  The night where she learned of her father's unfaithfulness.  It was in that moment where every ounce of innocence was shattered and everything she knew about trust and commitment was forever altered.  I wonder if we parents really know the significance behind each choice we make.  Even as a "big girl," my life is still impacted by choices my parents make.  So, if that is true for me, then I know it is true for my own children.  As a mother, I pray the Lord will help me teach my children more than just who He is.  He is so much more than a Biblical figure we celebrate at Christmas and Easter.  He is the Redeemer.  The Restorer.  The Healer.  And He wants all of His children.  All of them.  He doesn't want even one to be left behind.  He wants everyone of them with Him for eternity.  I know I will fail just as my own parents failed me a time or two.  But I have the power to teach my children about Jesus' forgiveness and the restoration that takes place within the relationship I have with Him.  And He wants that with each of them, as well.  There's no greater lesson than that.  "Our very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at them.  Christ, Himself, wrote it.  Not with ink but with God's Living Spirit.  Not chiseled into stone but carved into human lives.  And we publish it."  -2 Corinthians 3:3 (The MSG)

Day 2 - Sunday, October 2, 2011 - Fame

The American Dream is deceptive.  For those of us born into this country, we've forever been encouraged to pursue the American Dream.  That if you want it bad enough, you can have it.  But for those of us who have spent a large portion of our lives pursuing that dream, we still come out feeling empty.  The Dream deceives us each time.  It never delivers what it promises.  I've realized only recently that I've been chasing after the wrong dream.  We were created for something greater.  And each one of us, at conception, was given a very specific task, a purpose.  We are to spend our lives fulfilling that purpose and the purpose does not include gaining wealth or notoriety.  It does include fame, though.  Not fame for ourselves but fame for the One who created us and gave us our individual objective.  My purpose is to make Jesus' name famous.  I don't have a business plan that outlines how to do that step by step.  Each day, I surrender my soul to Him and ask Him to show me the way to fame.  His fame.  Making His name known.  "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." -Mark 16:15

31 Days To Strength & Dignity

For the next 31 days, I am going to write.  I am simply going to take a few minutes each day to just...write.  I'm not sure what I will say.  My only hope is that my words on the screen will reflect the transformation I am asking the Lord to do in my heart.  Since today is October 3, I will backtrack to Saturday, October 1st, in an effort to align my writings with each day of October.  Proverbs 31 says, "She is clothed with strength and dignity."  That is my hope.  By the end of this month, Father please, help me to find my strength and dignity, the kind that only You can give.  And by the way, I stole this idea from another blogger I like to read on a regular basis.  She is such an amazing writer.  You can check her out at http://www.chattingatthesky.com/.

Day 1 - Saturday, October 1, 2011- A True Friend
Rejection is a big gun.  If someone significant in your life has rejected you, that heartache never goes away.  No matter how far you have to go back, if someone you loved and trusted dearly walks out of your life, you never forget that pain.  It always stays fresh.  And when someone else comes along and rejects you again, it's like ripping the scab right off an old wound.  Those feelings of betrayal, sadness, and fear come flooding in like a rushing river.  But when this happened to me recently, I was reminded that people often fail you, but God never does.  And that was all I needed in that moment.  Assurance that Jesus is my friend.  Jesus will always be my friend.  And even after all of the times I have rejected Him in my life, He kept on pursuing me, never giving up, and always wanting me.  No one is a friend like Jesus.

Mean Girls Stink

I wonder what it would take for us women to stop hurting each other so much.  I wonder what would happen if we all just decided we'd had enough and instead of looking for ways to harm one another, we'd start looking for ways to lift one another up.  I don't know about you, but whenever I participate in gossip even with my own husband, I always feel terrible afterwards.  I hate how being mean makes me feel about myself.  And I hate even more how much I disappoint my God.  Next time when you're tempted to...

1.  walk past someone you know without speaking, make eye contact and offer a smile at the very least even and ESPECIALLY if you don't feel like it.  (CAN WE PLEASE STOP LETTING OUR "FEELINGS" DICTATE OUR ACTIONS?!)

2.  gossip, just stop and just don't.  It's wrong.  It's sinful.  It hurts.

3.  retaliate, pray first.  This isn't God's style.  And if you are a child of God, then it shouldn't be your style either.

4.  give someone a piece of your mind, think before you speak.  Our words are our biggest weapon.  We have the power to build up or cut down in just a matter of seconds.

5.  show your tail, stop and remind yourself about the example you are setting.  Do you really think today's junior high girls invented gossip?!  They learned from someone...YOU and ME.

Today's lesson...mean girls stink!!  Don't be a mean girl!!  Let's be who Jesus created us to be.  If you don't know what that looks like, just ask Him.  He'll show you.  Join me, please.  I want to make my Father proud.  If you need a friend because all of yours are just plain mean, let me know.  I would be honored to call you friend.

Need a good read?

Every now and then I come across a book that is so good I want the whole world to know about it.  And I want everyone I know to read it.  Then, I have fantasies on us all getting together in true Book Club fashion spending hours talking about "this" book that has totally rocked our worlds.  Because it's just THAT good.  Well, friends, I am reading one of "those" books...again.  It's called "Grace for the Good Girl" by Emily P. Freeman.  If you are a reader and/or are intrigued by the title, please stop by this author's website and view the promo on her new book.  There is also a place for you to sign up to win a free copy.  Go to her website by clicking...

here

Happy Reading, y'all!!
Linds