My Father's World

So yesterday I had a rare Saturday off and I chose to make the most of it by taking the day and going to a state park nearby and hiking with my dog, Brooklyn. Besides my little girl with me, ;) it was solo trip and I have to admit I was looking forward to some time away from everything and where I could just go alone and be in God's gorgeous creation. After hiking a bunch of different trails, playing in a cave and Brooklyn playing in the creek...ok me too. ;) I had a rejuvenation and a revelation. A couple of months ago, I mentioned that I felt like God was calling me to write a book at some point...and I was leaning along the lines of a devotional. However I wasn't quite sure the theme or the main idea I wanted it to take on. Obviously horses are a big part of my life,  I want a future ministry with them and I do hope to a separate book devoted specifically to them someday. But this one, I want to envelope more than just that. God seems to speak to me most through His creation and some of the most simplest processes of nature and life. And today as I was exploring sinkholes, caves, springs, waterfalls, and limestone canyons, I felt wonder and awe at all the things He has crafted so beautifully. I got to do a little bit of reading as well and read this verse in Colossians:  ^"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." (2:6-7) In this verses God uses a tree or plant to describe how we should in our faith. Throughout the Bible, He uses imagery and elements of His creation to express principles. (Ps. 1:3-4, 11:1, 18:33, 42:1-2, Matt. 6:26, 1 Pt. 1:24-25)  I believe words that create these pictures in our brains, give us an easier way to grasp concepts and remember them. With this in mind, I am hoping to begin the journey of writing a devotional based off of the spiritual truths and insights that I believe different elements of nature and what I like to call the "simple" life, give us and how some of the most basic things in life can have such great meaning. My main goal here rather soon is to get a title chosen that can really encompass the objective that I hope to present throughout the book. I am excited to finally have a direction now for this adventure of mine and I ask that you please pray that God would allow the words and ideas to flow so that I can best present them. The beauty of His creation is so unfathomable some times, that I hope to just do it even a slight bit of justice. :)  
And I also want to take a moment to express how important it is for us, to take some time away and be on our own just surrounded by God's greatness. I am learning more and more in my day-to-day hectic life, that quiet time spent just to think, read, listen and pray is so important. We need to be rejuvenated and restored after the world has left us wearied and worn. We need to take time alone and listen to His voice, even it just comes from the trickling of a creek or the breeze blowing through the trees. It refreshes and energizes the soul I feel and we need that time even if it is just at home in a quiet spot away from distractions. Set the time aside and I am certain you will not regret it! I believe it makes us all better equipped to face the days ahead. 
So these fingers are going to hopefully start getting busy and hopefully your feet will be as well, to go spent time in the Father's arms.

This is my Father's world,
the birds their carols raise,
the morning light, the lily white,
declare their maker's praise.
This is my Father's world:
he shines in all that's fair;
in the rustling grass I hear him pass;
he speaks to me everywhere.

This is My Father's World - Maltbie D. Babcock, 1901

Discipling Souls

Hi everyone,

So I want to talk about something that I have believe God has been impressing upon me recently and even today. I have been observing and pondering on our interactions with each other as human beings and the different relationships that we all have with different people in our lives. Every day, unless we are a hermit :D, we have interactions with people. Depending on the situation and the person, it can be merely communicating with people we don't necessarily know personally, acquaintances, co-workers, friends, family etc....nevertheless we have communications with people on a day-to-day basis. I have been thinking lately of how we respond to other people and how as Christians we are to build each other up and be a light to others. And then something else came to mind that a friend's text today also brought about. We are to disciple other believers. The word disciple in noun form means: follower, person who learns from another. Now the verb form means: to train, to educate, to teach. In the New Testament, we become very familiar with the noun form of the word disciple. We have the twelve disciples, the followers of Jesus. But I think that sometimes we have a tendency to forget about that verb form. Our duty as followers(disciples) of Christ is to disciple others as well. Now many of us are familiar in Matthew 28 where is talks about "go therefore and make disciples of all nations..." (ESV) Sharing the Gospel with others is an extremely important duty as a Christian, but I want to touch on a facet of discipleship. And that is the part that involves other believers. This can include those who are new, baby believers, those who need encouragement in an aspect of their Christian walk, those that need accountability or those that are younger than us who need guidance.  As I really thought about this, it caused me to really wonder about how I was being a disciple in my own life. How am I using discipleship in my own walk with God? And I have come to the conclusion not near enough. As believers, who may have perhaps been so for a while, I think we have a tendency to get into this rut. We have involvement at church, perhaps weekly Bible study and such, but are we really doing those things for the benefit of body of believers or is it just for our own benefit all the time? Yes we need to continue to grow and learn but in our Christian life we are not just to be consumers of God's teaching, we are supposed to, in-turn do something with that and be givers of His teaching as well. We may be getting our weekly input from church and our daily input from our quiet time with God but at some point we have to have output. "...it is more blessed to give than to receive." Just as we may receive encouragement from others we need to do the same. We all have a unique relationship with God as born again believers and we all have something to share. A good example of Biblical discipleship is found in Titus 2:2-5: "Teach the older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love and in endurance. Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children," (NIV) And also in 1 Timothy 5:1: "Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity." (NIV) These verse show that we all have something to give. Even as a single woman I can still be a disciple to younger women as sisters in Christ. I can still give encouragement to older woman with respect. Likewise men can do the same. As believers we are called to minister, admonish and encourage each other. And there comes a certain point on our walk with Christ that we need to get off the milk and get to the meat. "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil." Hebrews 5:12-14 We can not stay at the same stage of continually consuming like an infant and not gaining any strength to help those around us. We have a duty to build each other and help further each  other towards God's kingdom. And we cannot do those things by hiding behind closed doors all the time. And believe me I am guilty of it. God is telling me that I have something to offer and I need to stop making excuse of why I don't have the time, resources, confidence etc....God is not limited. I believe He gives us all opportunities. And they may not come exactly like you think. And it doesn't have to be hard. Maybe it just takes a hour out of you week to meet with a member of your church who is struggling with something you have been through. Maybe it is meeting for coffee or a sandwich sometime to just talk about life. Maybe ice cream with a young person who is having a difficult time at school or at home. Maybe it is a phone call sharing a piece of Scripture that spoke to you, using your lunch break at work to talk and pray with a co-worker. Or maybe it is taking a day to really pour into someone's life. And be creative: go for a hike, go fishing, go get a massage, go serve together and volunteer at a local non-profit. But you have to choose to make discipleship a habit otherwise you will find how easily it can get swept aside in the day-to-day hustle and bustle of life. So many grandparents, mothers, fathers, wives, husbands have so much to offer to the younger generation as far as experiences and wisdom. Single people can be such an encouragement to other singles. We can all be a mentor to those younger than us and to those who are newer to the faith than us. And the kicker is...we don't have to be perfect. Now obviously we need to recognize what perhaps is not our advice to give. You don't usually have a single person giving marriage counseling to younger couples, or someone giving people advice on how to quick drugs, or alcoholism if they are still currently an addict, but you get my drift. Or maybe you just don't feel like the right person to talk about a certain topic. That is ok. Leave those things to the people who are best to mentor someone on those topics. But don't feel like just because your life isn't picture perfect that you can't disciple someone. We all still have our battles and struggles as Christians, but how we choose to work through them makes all the difference. And ultimately our duty is to point that person to Christ and not ourselves. Also being a disciple to others calls us to keep growing and digging into the Word ourselves. We have to continue to strive for and receive His wisdom if we are going to be able to pass that onto others. Discipleship doesn't suddenly make us super spiritual Christians who have all the answers. We need to continue to grow just as we are trying to help others grow as well. 

I feel as if God is asking me to take some new steps in my walk with Him and be more intentional about seeking out opportunities to disciple. And for each of us it can and will be different. The important part is to be open and willing to hear and receive the assignment God has given us. We need to pray about how we can be disciples to those around us. We need to look for opportunities in our church and in our community. And we need to make the time and do it! Life is not about just us and what we've got going on. It is about the people that God puts in our path. Let us not miss an opportunity to be an encouragement to someone or the vessel in which God speaks through to put someone back on the right track. And I believe the blessing we will receive from it will be far greater than anything time we had to take out of our schedule. We are called to be fruitful, but not to keep this fruit all to ourselves, but to share it with others. Let us be discipling souls which will do good for our own souls. 
"And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others." 2 Timothy 2:2 (NIV)

The Conviction Catapult

Hi everyone,
So I want touch on a topic that has been on my mind the past week. And that is convictions. Now we, human beings have a conscience and with this conscience comes convictions of what is right and wrong. Just and injust. Truth and deception. There are obvious things that a majority of people have a common conviction on but what I want to talk about is the less obvious convictions of the human soul. Especially that of Christians. For example, this past week I was convicted. I felt as if I was letting my media intake draw me away from the more important things in my life. Conversations with friends, constructive projects at home, time with my critters, and spending quality time with God and in His Word. As of late, because I work so much at my job, when I come home, it is so easy to settle myself into mindless entertainment with the world wide web at my fingertips. And even though it can be a wonderful thing instead of using it for productivity and learning something that will actually benefit me in the future, I found myself wasting it on things that really are of no benefit to my life at all. Watching fictional videos, TV shows and other media does not advance my knowledge or my productivity in Christ. And unfortunately I was justifying it by the fact that I am working so much that I need time to just think about nothing, to just drown myself in other worlds that aren't reality. However God has been showing me a different view:That I am susceptible to slip into a pattern of unproductivity if I allow myself to. The devil is cunning and he knows how to use things against us. "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8 (ESV) So what we think we deserve or is giving us a break is actually taking us down a path we don't want to go. So God has convicted me of my consumption of media. He knows that, that can be my weakness and has brought it my attention. And because of it, other parts of my life have suffered. Because of this I know now that I was must be extremely careful and limit myself. The past week or so I have been doing that and even refusing to allow myself to watch anything that isn't educational or increasing my knowledge in the Lord during the week and still very limited during the weekend. I am choosing to be busy on other things during those times. And let me tell you some days it is harder than I thought it would be. Temptation is strong but I am learning to overcome. I am learning that whenever I feel those urges to run to God in prayer or in His Word to help me stay on course.
Now the meaning of this post rather than my broad description of what I struggle with...I have my personal convictions. I know what draws me away from Christ and time with Him and from being productive in my life. What I struggle with may be of no concern to someone else. And that caused me to think about other Christians. We all have convictions but sometimes they all aren't the same. I mean granted, we should have the same core convictions of what we know to be wrong...dishonesty, hate, envy, and other forms of blatant evil, but what some struggle with is not what others do. For some, their amount of media intake throughout the week is not a stumbling block to them. Maybe it is sports, shopping, working their job 24/7, partying, spending too much time in front of the mirror...it can be so many things. And as we are all different, so are our personal convictions to a degree. And I think part of the problem with the church today is that we think we all have got to have the same convictions and if so and so doesn't hate makeup as much as I do, or watches more football than me, or is on social media three more hours than me throughout the week then they are just lesser of a Christian than me. No. We all need to question how our time is spend and we are not to become a slave to things or let them become our idols, but I think sometimes we worry a little too much about everybody else and not enough about ourselves. We can point out things to fellow believers in love if we notice they are becoming a real detriment to their lives, but we need to make sure we examine our own lives first and that we don't need some serious reproof. We are to not be a stumbling block to someone else. "Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother." Romans 14:13 Also we need to understand that what may be a struggle for us, may not be the same for someone else. And that is the beauty of the body of believers. We all have our personal convictions and that makes up all the facets of the family of Christ. We can help each other in those things. We can shed insights and instead of pointing fingers and condemning one another, begin to understand one another and help one another. We have to be careful to not get into this holier-than-thou mindset just because we do less or more of something than someone else.
Now with our individual convictions how do we move on and change things? Well first off we spend time in prayer admitting these struggles to God and reading in His Word on what He says about these matters. Then based off of what we know to be true we have to consider if this something that we need to cut all together out of our lives or something that need to learn to restrict. Obviously there are things that may need to be cut out of our lives entirely, but for example God is not telling me that I can never watch an episode of Little House on the Prairie again! :D I just need a stricter schedule as to how much and when I watch things when I could be doing more productive things or spending quality time with Him. We may even need to get our friends and families involved to help us. Maybe instead of going shopping at the mall every Friday or going to every game, we can sit down and spend sometime discussing God's impact in our lives and encouraging one another in faith. Instead of shutting off our brains to life when we get home from work,  perhaps we can be refreshed by God's word and choose to do things that edify Him, instead of our own devices. And perhaps one of the biggest helps to me, is before I make choices of how to spend my time, I question is this really beneficial? Is these really helpful to my life or growth as Christian? "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Philippians 4:8 
It all comes down to priorities and discipline. What matter to us most? What kind of life do we want to live? It is not bad to enjoy certain things in life but I think we must always be careful to watch if these things begin to take up too much of our life. Because we only have this one life on earth and we should take care not to waste it. Listen to your the convictions that God gives you. Don't ignore them and don't point fingers at others to make yourself feel better somehow. God wants to use YOU, wants to GROW you, and that is pretty amazing. So don't let those opportunities pass you by. He will give you the endurance to keep going and He will renew your spirit. I am already experiencing more satisfaction, peace and joy and honestly it is worth it. But you have to lay aside the things that keep you from experiencing His best. Don't get to the end our life and see you spend it on so many others things that didn't matter. Convictions don't have to be a crutch. Let them catapult you to a better more fulfilled life God has in store.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us." Hebrews 12:1