Tag: Spiritual Growth

Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

One Word

Chocolate Castles1 Comment

For a few years, I have taken the advice of Debbie Stuart and prayed that the Lord would give me a word for the year. The word which He gives you is a word that will amazingly appear in places you would least expect and you know in your heart that the word you are given is for a reason. For 2017 my word was Tenacity. I had begun to pray and ask the Lord what word He had for me for 2017. One morning in early December I woke up at 5:30 a.m. and tenacity was the word that was in my mind. I had to go look it up because I truly never remembered using it ever, nor did I know what it really meant. When I looked it up, I discovered that it meant “learning to be content with circumstances and to persevere, going forward. For the next few mornings I would wake up thinking that word. Looking back over 2017, I know why that word was the word that I was suppose to study, to take to heart and to apply to my life. 2017 came with some struggles of circumstances which I had never thought would come across my life. God was faithful and provided His grace and sufficiency to me in areas that I needed to grow up, not only spiritually, but mentally. Fast forward to 2018.
Reading an email from a friend who was talking about what she felt the Lord had given her as her word for 2018, I suddenly realized that I had not even begun to think about praying for this year’s word. So I quickly began to pray and ask the Lord what word He had for me this year. Past years’ words for me have been,
“tenacity” “restore” “serve”. So when I was praying, I expected my word to be something along those lines. But once again, on December 6th I woke up thinking about the word “kindness”. I thought about that and wondered why that word was on my mind. But again the next day, “kindness” would just pop into my mind. IT was then that I begin to ask the Lord if that was indeed my word. On December 8th, I woke up and came into the living room and opened up my devotion book as I do each morning. As I opened up Streams in the Desert for December 8th, this was the scripture at the top of the devotion, “Colossians 3:12, Put on as the elect of God, kindness.”
It was the story of an old man who went around town who carried a can of oil everywhere he went, and if he passed through a door that squeaked, he poured a little oil on the hinges. Anyplace he went that needed a touch of oil to stop squeaking or lubricating, making the hard places easier for those who came after him, he oiled them. The devotion went on to say:
“Have you your own can of oil with you? Be ready with your oil of helpfulness in the early morning to the one nearest you. (oh boy, that meant that I had to be continually “kind” to my husband for a year,) It may lubricate the whole day for him. The oil of good cheer to the downhearted one-oh how much it may mean…our lives touch others but once, perhaps, on the road of life; and then, mayhap, our ways diverge, never to meet again.
It ended with “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love.” Romans 12:10
About an hour after reading this, a dear friend from California texted me with this message;
“thought of you this morning as I was reading Streams in the Desert……….hope you have a blessed day” She had never written to me about a devotion before and here she was writing about the same one I had just read.
Then on December 13th, a blog I read from time to time called Two Chums popped up in my email. For “some” reason, I opened it that morning and this was what it opened with, “above all else, be kind”. It was at this point that i quit asking God for more confirmation and declared that my word for 2018 is Kindness. I don’t know why yet and I don’t know what circumstances will be in my life this year. Sometimes it might be hard to fall on the promises of God that “I can do all things with God’s strength” and “nothing is impossible with God” But I can rest assured that “my God will supply all my needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus”, even His strength to help me show kindness to everyone, no matter what!

If you have never ask God to give you a word, begin to pray about that. It will be amazing how He will reveal it to you and how He will use it for your spiritual growth. Also there is a book called “My One Word” by Mike Ashcroft.
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Daily Thoughts · Uncategorized

Let Go & Grow

Chocolate Castles3 Comments

Isa 43:19 I (the Lord) will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Yesterday a sweet lady who is much younger than myself called me out of the blue. We had met when she took a Bible class which I taught when we lived in Texas. Through the years there have been changes of jobs, a baby, and now, a possible move to a different state. She called to just visit with me about the possibility and ask if I would be praying that she and her husband would know what God was wanting for them. As she explained to me some of the reasons she felt that it would be a good thing, she also began to voice some concerns. As I listened (and yes, sometimes I do listen and keep quiet) to her, I began to try and think of the times when Randy and I were in the midst of a change and needed God’s guidance. After the phone call ended, I thought about the last 25 years of our lives and all the times which we felt afraid that we would make the wrong decision. As I sat there and wondered what words of wisdom I might pass on to her, I reflected on past happenings. Texting her some thoughts I ended one of the text with….let go & grow! After pushing “send”, I began to wonder where those words came from. I had never said that before. Continuing to think about that, memories came crashing through to me about the times, I had had to let go and the growth that ensued. There were times when letting go was the hardest thing I had done. I remember driving through the desert, moving to California, crying the whole way because we had left our kids and grandkids. What had we done? Why had we said yes to a job that would take us 1500 miles away from our precious family, friends and church? I didn’t want to let go and I didn’t care about growing. But 3 years later, as I looked back I could see that not only had I grown in my dependance on God, but some of our kids had grown in their faith and in their marriage. Since I wasn’t there, they grew more depending upon their spouse, and the Lord to provide some of the things I always tried to step in and do for them. God was getting me out of the way!
Looking back over those times when I really had to let go, there were signs there that let me know that there had been growth, not only in my spiritual life, but in my personal life. Why is letting go so hard, when in our hearts, we know that sometimes that is what God is convicting us to do, in order to get a bigger blessing down the road.
When talking to the sweet friend on the phone that day, of course I told her that I would be praying for peace about the decision they would make, but also that God would grow her heart and if they decided to go with the job offer, that her heart would be softened to allow herself to let go of the years in Texas. It is amazing how, when we are called to a new place, all of a sudden, just like the Israelites, when leaving Egypt, all they remembered was the “good” that they had left. The slavery, the hardships that God was rescuing them from, didn’t cross their minds. Fear of the unknown and not trusting, kept them from the blessing of letting God grant them His promises.
As we encounter new surroundings, we tend to fall back on the old familiar comfort of what we had. It is easier to do that than step into a new adventure with God sometimes. But oh when we do, that adventure can open doors of blessings. Blessings to meet new friends who will shower us with friendship. A new church in which we find ourselves with a new desire of serving, possibly in a new way that we had never thought. Now in my 60’s, it is getting a little easier to trust God for His plan, not mine. There are still times, that I fall back to the past of what I had, but then the Lord reminds me how He was always faithful to me in the new places. That each time I had let go, there was something special that happened in my life. Things that cannot be bought. Spiritual blessings. Hum….maybe after all these years, I am learning a little (quicker) to let go….and grow! Can we look back 10 years ago and see that our faith has grown? Do we have greater peace when those “bends in the road” come? Is our natural response now to pray, instead of panic or phone all our friends when circumstances throw us for a loop?
Let’s determine in our hearts to always trust His heart, even when we can’t see His Hand. We will, most assuredly, be blessed beyond anything we can imagine.

John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly”