writing between the lines of the message outline

They were not the blanks to be filled in on the message outline but instead they were the words written on the pages of my journal. They were the words my pastor used last Sunday that I have read over and over again. I’ve read them because they have touched me deeply during a time when I find I am captive by my thoughts rather than taking my thoughts captive to the mind of Christ. How do I take every thought captive to the mind of Christ. I do this by re-reading my journal pages from Sunday’s sermon as we looked into and learned for Genesis:

“May the word of God shape your view of circumstances.”

They were not the blanks to be filled in on the message outline. They were the words written on my heart and on my journal pages to be read, recalled and lived out … not only on Monday but throughout the entire week. A reminder that indeed He is in the midst of my circumstances and it is to His word that I run to for comfort, peace and hope! Praying now that the word of God will shape my view of my current circumstances. I am reminded today my circumstances are for His good and for His glory!

Linking up here ...

http://michellederusha.com/
 

"7" Day 17, Father's Day

Well if you thought I would host Father’s Day at our home, watch the daughter’s prepare hamburgers, brats, homemade potato salad, salsa and special K bars and not eat any of this meal because none of these foods were on my list of 7 foods for the month of June you are wrong!

Today I fell off seven and considering this is the first day of the week this could be a not so promising week on 7. I reminded myself that when I do a month of 7 foods again I will not choose the month of June because of graduation open house, weddings, Father’s Day and the family birthdays that fall in the month of June not to mention the end of the school year celebrations.

I pretty much stayed within 7 throughout last week with the exception of June 10 when the golfer and I celebrated with a monthly date night and coffee lover’s like-it ice cream for me and on Wednesday a lunch with fellow colleagues of Jimmy John’s (ham not chicken).

 

I leave you with this picture of my grandson Sid enjoying Father's Day at our home!

 

 

Love Sundays (Mother's Day at New Hope Church)!

 

Mother's and Daughter's and Daughter's who are Mother's or about to be Mother's

 

 

Staycation July

Ok I know I am a bit remiss in blogging as of late and I could give you a million excuses as to why I have not posted but I will spare you the excuses. Usually when we say we don't have time to "do" certain things it's really that we don't make time to "do" certain things and that is so true for me.

Because I have a love for writing you would think that I would do this more often yet .... I do complete an off-line handwritten journal almost daily but .... I do love to do the online journal as well. So for tonight my update is on our most recent July Staycation at the Wild River State Park.

River Walk

Camper Cabin bed and a good book

River Rest

This was the golfer's and my time away as a couple for our "monthly" anniversary and it was an extremely hot evening yet such a fun time away at another voted "best of Mn 2012" spots.

We stayed in a quaint camper cabin near the St Croix River. Even though it was hot we went for a long hike along the river. The only down size of this is neither of us had enough bug juice on so we both got pretty eaten up by mosquitoes.

After our walk we were pretty hungry so we traveled a few miles to the nearest Perkins for dinner.After dinner we got all nestled up on top of our sleeping bags and enjoyed the camping experience but in a cabin rather than a tent. We woke up to the sun and the birds the next morning and then traveled to Taylor's Falls (which who ever knew was never a falls, what's up with that?)

We did not ride on this just watched it pass down river

Overall ... a  wonderful, refreshing and relaxing time away from TV's, Phones, Computers and the like with much time for conversations, reading, walking, and just enjoying the company of one another!
Remaining in his (the golfer's) arms and enjoying every minute! B.

24 hours of fun!

On Friday, June 22 I arrived in Dallas TX to four smiling faces. It was not easy for the first 24 hours as I had been exposed to Whooping Cough so I was taking precautionary measures and wearing a mask.

I spent some sweet moments with Jacob and Cariie in the late evening and then we got all of the kids out of bed at 1 am and traveled to El Paso TX. We arrived 12 hours later tired but with much excitement to see Ashley during an eight hour pass.

All the girls (both big and little) took a little shopping trip to the PX while Jacob, our driver took a much needed nap at the Army Hotel. Later, I took a much needed nap as Carrie, Ashley, Annika and Eden took a little swim at the hotel pool. After the pool Jacob got all the girls orders from Macroni Grill (Ashley's choice) for dinner. He went to get take out and we ate together at the hotel while Ashley finished braclets for all Davis family members and per my request two more and different colors so I had fashion braclets to wear with my different color outfits ....

Saturday evening we hugged, I cried and Carrie took Ashley to the bus ....

We all crashed and got some much needed sleep and at 5:30 am on Sunday we started the trip back to Dallas!

Whew .... lots of travel, but lots of fun and some much needed quality time spent with family!

Sunday (Memorial Day Weekend) Worship

Today during our Sunday Services we honored those who have lost

their lives fighting for our freedom.

It was a powerful worship service and quite meaningful to me as this was the last Sunday worshiping standing and sitting next to our "littlest" before her deployment to Afghanistan that is planned for the next year or more.

After services we took our military daughter out for lunch to the restaurant of her choice: Benihana's.
We had a wonderful time as she shared life with just the two of us. The meal ended with a group of chefs singing a  "Japanese Happy Song."

Some of us then took naps and soon after naps, family arrived for a grill-out, hot dogs, brats, and hamburgers, cooked by the golfer. We closed out our evening with skype time with our Texas daughter, her husband, and our three granddaughters.

Thank you Father, for a restful Sabbath spent with family!

In His Arms, Beth

Every time we prepare to worship the Lord, we ought to do so with anticipation that almighty God may have something to say to us. Whenever we open our Bibles, we should expect that God has something to tell us in our time with Him. We ought to be far more concerned with what God will say to us during our prayer times than with what we intend to tell Him.                     

                                                                                   Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby


linking up here ....

Is Jesus Clearly and Obviously your Lord?

Another Sabbath and another profound message regarding Living Sent! Take away today for me was:

"When Christians are indistinguishable from non-Christan
they are useless."

The text today was Matthew 5:13-20

But the whole story is in Matthew 5 often referred to as The Beatitude's or the Sermon on the Mount hence the reason I thought this You Tube by Ann was profound as well!

May I remember to be useful, for when Christians intrigue the world they attract the world.

A vision without a plan implemented is ....

Some thoughts from Sunday’s message that I am living out today are:

I must be an effective ambassador for Christ in my neighborhood.

I must go forth with faith, boldness, and ability.

I can be a bringer of peace to Plymouth.

I can intentionally cultivate opportunities to spend time with unbelievers.

Because I know the Gospel is the answer for all and because I am called to be an everyday apostle here: “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two (I am one of the 72) and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town …” (and the suburb of Plymouth, MN, where I live) Luke 10:1-12 I must LIVESENT!

Finally; a vision without a plan implemented is merely a good intention.

Some questions I am asking myself and you could be asking too are:

What do I know about my neighborhood?

What kinds of people live there?

What do I think people struggle with?

What do I think they care most deeply about?

Listen to the whole message here www.newhomechurchmn.org

Living Sent Today, Monday February 6, 2012

Our Young Adult and Men’s Pastor at our church is preaching a series entitled:

LIVESENT: Sparking Missional Dreams

“Living Sent on Mission with God”

He actually asked us to take out our cell phones on Sunday morning during the message and text or tweet and for those of us who have blogs; blog so here goes ….

Learning on Sunday and putting into practice on Monday these ideas:

The mission field is no longer over there; the mission field is now right here so …

This is an invitation to dream together as a church.

May I live my life with this purpose—this responsibility: to share the mission of Christ as my own!

May I be about the mission of God and may I flood the world with the sublime blessing of knowing, following and worshipping Jesus Christ.

In Gen 12:1-3 God asks me to “GO” …. So I will be a blessing.

In Acts 3:25-26 God will bless me by turning me from my wickedness

In Gal 3:7-9, 28-29 God states this is me of faith and that Jesus Christ is the blessing.

So Pastor Bryan has left me thinking and asking myself:

Will my life be defined by my mission or will my life be defined by God’s mission?
Will I ask God to join me in my pursuits or will I join God in His pursuits?

How about you … how will you answer these questions?

In His Arms, Beth

The Source

It’s the source of everything you do and it is under constant attack

I must have the heart of a warrior. I must be alert but not afraid

The heart of my mission is to make disciples; first, those who do not yet know Christ and secondly, that those who know Christ would grow in the fellowship of believers

742. leftovers
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          leftovers
743. walks in the woods with a friend

744. women’s conference shared time with a co-laborer

745. courageous conversations

746. a great workout with LVA

747. a hard surgery and a hard recovery

748. the thoughts, words, and deeds of encouragement from family and friends

749. His word fresh each day; today Psalm 138

Heard it on past Sundays and now so grateful to believe and live it out on Monday and for that matter the whole rest of the week ahead of me.

750. a heart for His glory!

Sabbath: Release, Review and Remember

I have this weekly practice on the Sabbath to:

Release concerns
Review the past week, good, bad, feelings, emotions sins etc.
and then to
Remember His faithfulness and express praise and appreciation for who He is and all He has done in my life

This is my entry from yesterdays practice of Release:

Father,
I may not get much further than the release today as there is a lot on my mind. I am just 2 days away from surgery now and I am struggling to have peace even though ...

I know this is what You want from me.

I know You want me to trust you for the outcome.

I know You want me to believe that You are the same Great Physician; the same Comforter; the same Peace giver; and the same Healer that You have been to me in the past. Yet to be totally transparent and to be totally honest I am fearful of the outcome of my pending surgery. So .... I desire to put off fear and worry and put on peace.

Thank You father that Your words spoken to me through Your son and my husband today were ...

"Peace I leave with You, my peace I give you, I do not give to you as the world gives; do not let you heart be troubled Beth and do not be afraid." John 14:27

"May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your heart and mind Beth through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:7

From Sunday and remembering it on Monday

Many powerful thoughts from yesterdays message entitled

Crazy Affection (Phil. 1:7-11)

but one with a lot to think about and practice ...

Paul's circumstances are never the thing that dictates

how he thinks and feels.

His relationship with Christ is!

Today I am praying for ... 

Real Love

True Love

Love that is filled with knowledge and discernment and that approves what is

truly excellent, pure, and blameless!

linking up here:

http://nebraskagraceful.blogspot.com

And grateful for:

667.  clean sheets hung on the clothes line

668.  sharing french fries with the golfer at 5 guys

669.  overnight with the grandkids

670.  an inside place for prayerwalking  on an extremely hot day

 linking up here too:

http://www.aholyexperience.com/

questions for my heart, my convictions, my priorities and my purity

Love these questions passed on through preaching from the word from our pastor...

my heart
Have I ever fully surrendered my heart and life to Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord--my gifts, goals, desires, will and future?
Are there areas in which I have a double heart--trying to be pleasing to God and approved by others, asking for His will but doing mine, being a "good Christian" while actually pursuing the "good life"?

my convictions
What are the scriptural convictions that govern my behavior, finances, marriage, morals, political persuasions and recreation?
Am I lovingly seeking to lead my marriage and family to be built upon righteous principles?

my priorities
If someone looked at my schedule and spending patterns for the past 60 days what would they see as my top three priorities?
What changes or choices do I need to make to live out priorities honoring to God and His kingdom?

my purity
Am I involved in any activities that are unholy to God and contrary to His Word, and therefore make me vulnerable to temptation?
What action steps am I taking on a regular basis to keep my heart and mind pure?

It's  great when I can think through these questions prayerfully and ask God to lovingly reveal areas of my life that need particular attention or change.

The Power of Being Forgiven

Lessons from the parables in Luke 7:36-50

Spiritual pride leads to condemnation and judgement of others
Spiritual brokenness leads to humility and contrition before others

The act of true forgiveness flows from grace
The experience of true forgiveness produces authentic love for God and others

True forgiveness precedes true love
True forgiveness is complete and free

If we trivialize sin, we will trivialize forgiveness
Great sinners will become great lovers of Jesus when we grasp how great is our forgiveness

Love for Jesus and forgiveness of others is the prime evidence of the power of being forgiven

I know it is Tuesday but I am still linking up ....

Linking up with Michelle

Mother’s Day May 7, 2011

My pastor preached this amazing message this morning using a Bible from his mother who had passed on several years prior.

He began his sermon by stating that he planned the message using several passages in his mother’s bible that she had underlined. He cautioned us as mother’s to make sure our bible pages were well used, underlined and studied. The transparency in the stories shared by my pastor today was wonderful.

He told of his mother who was raised by a single mom having never known his dad. His mother came from much family disorder and bondage so his first point in his message was that we must not live in bondage from our past but know that Christ came so we might be free and live free indeed from John 8:32. And if our past is in need of healing his second point was that God specializes in healing broken lives and He does this through Jesus as we see in 2 Corinthians 5:14.

The whole message spoke to my heart but it was the next point where the Holy Spirit spoke directly to me and that was that living for Christ does not come without adversity and he added that adversity may mean you are in the direct center of God’s will as found in 1 Corinthians 4:1,9.

I am grateful Lord, for the knowledge of this word from Pastor Steve this morning. He reminded all of us mothers from Ephesians 6:10 that the prayer of a righteous woman yields much. How well I know this from my own family and how often I pray for them and others. The next point was that I must put God first and leave the rest to him from Matthew 6:25. And with a few short minutes to finish he closed his message with sharing that the greatest gift from his mother was the gift of knowing where she would go when she died. He then had all of the mother’s daughters and women stand and prayed a pray for blessing and salvation over the women of the church.

His message: A Tribute to Mom

My message: Grateful for a Pastor who preaches from the word of God

Since blogger was down the middle of last week I have added Michelle's comment here ... Thanks Michelle for visiting!
Michelle DeRusha@Graceful has left a new comment on your post "I know it is Tuesday but I am still linking up ......":




Wow, what an incredibly impactful message you heard, Beth. I do like what your pastor said about faith and adversity -- too often I think I make the mistake of assuming that because God loves me, I will be spared grief and difficulty in my life. The key, though, is that while I won't avoid adversity altogether, he will hold my hand through it all.



It's never too late to link up ... so glad you did!

Divine Time Out, Punishment or Gift of Joy

In the chapter on Sabbath Silence by Allender, the author states “The Sabbath is like every other gift—it requires practice and discipline to grow in delight.” Keeping the Sabbath day holy is one of the disciplines I have continued to study and learn for the purpose of changing the way I  look at practicing my Sabbath. This is why I choose the book Sabbath The Ancient Practices Series from Book Sneeze http://www.booksneeze.com/ where I participate in blogging for books.

If  you or someone you know desires more of God through a Sabbath Rest I would recommend this book. In Allender’s chapter, Acting out the Sabbath in Ritual and Symbol he gives some very practical ways of beginning your Sabbath the evening before. This was an easy quick read, and was much of the author’s opinions, rather than a study of the Sabbath through the scriptures, but a book to have in your library for reference none the less.

Because this is an old testament command and not merely a good idea, I believe that this book could have done a much better job of representing the Scriptures and what God Himself states on the discipline of the Sabbath.

Thomas Nelson has provided me with a free copy of this book for review purposes

How about you how do you practice your Sabbath?

Love Sundays

love God's majestic creation all around us throughout this trip


Sunday Night at the Best Western in Lusk, Wy population 1447

OK so it has been a long time since I have done a Love Sundays post but if you follow my labels you can read past love Sunday posts ... for old time sake's ...

love that I woke up with my husband's arms holding me in a king-size bed this morning

love that I was able to take a nice warm shower

love that we hopped in our car and we were on the road again

love that I was able to read the Daily Bread aloud to Terry as we drove

love that we listened and enjoyed together Selah's CD with the songs .... Great is Thy Faithfulness, His Eye is on the Sparrow, Sweet Hour of Prayer etc.

love that Terry read to me and I read to him from If I Live to be 100 ... such a thought provoking book and I love when Terry reads to me

love that I spent individual time reading the scriptures and praying

love when we filled up with gas yesterday at Nephi, Ut it was with a gas gift card from Terry's cousin Nancy

love that we ate lunch at McDonald's today (not really love but that I can count on McDonald's to be GF)

love when we stopped at Rawllins, Wy to get gasoline and a gentleman from Wy asked Terry if we wanted a discount and he swiped a 3 cents per gallon discount card at our pump before Terry got gas

love when we went to pizza hut for dinner tonight that our server was more than happy to accommodate for GF (not pizza but salad)

love that Terry was able to enjoy pizza even if it was a Sunday night

love that we got a glimpse of the Twins game tonight

love that we are in an air conditioned Best Western with a big screen TV for Terry and free WIFI for me

love ebt's (early bed time) in a big bed next to my best friend

in more ways than one I have rested well on this Sunday, this Sabbath and in more ways than one I rest in His Arms yet one more time ... love Sundays!

Yep, I still Love Sundays

OK it is the last day in February and with trying to stay on track with my intentions I will post today and that will actually make it 2 posts for February. I have been journaling weekly and I have more often then not been drinking the smoothie 5 days a week. I am on track with graduation in May. In fact, I presented an art project yesterday for my art course and the presentation went extremely well. I was excited to get all the positive feedback both from my professor and classmates. I actually have the kids at EB Kidstop and EB elementary and NHC prayer team to thank as it was their drawings that I presented in class yesterday. I find I am loving art and especially enjoying teaching art to the kids and want to go on to take more art courses ... in fact, I have, as intended, registered for a course with the Maple Grove Community Education (on track for that Life Long Learning intention). It is a watercolor landscape class and Terry will be taking the class with me. I'm thrilled to be doing this with him as he has a lot of art knowledge. I have enjoyed times of having Terry read though Proverbs at the dinner table with me many evenings. As for the walking let's just say I'm slacking there with the exception of all the miles I put on at work each day running with and after kids. Fnances ... well I don't always remember to pray before spending, but I have a written account of all money being spent, which should in the long run prove to be a good tool for setting a spending plan with Terry. I plan on writing down one more month of spending and then give an account and set up a plan. Bible reading is on track and as for EX 2:2 I have been tyring to read 5 pages a day but have slipped a bit this week due to the completion of my art project. Prayer day-aways ... tried to reserve Pastor Dave' s cabin for Saturday March 6th but it is not available. I may just look at Saturday March 13th more to come on that ... and lesson plans for Kidstop they are all done for the next 2 weeks Yea! Whew I have written and now I am off to read .... In His Arms, B.

Love Sunday, Especially Easter Sunday (Questions to Probe My Soul towards a deeper Love Relationship with my Risen Savior)

OK, so now I am currently reading Humility True Greatness and I came across an author who I looked up on the web today ... this author pointed me to another author (Whitefield) and these questions by George Whitefield.

Probe Your Soul with Questions
George Whitefield (1714-1770) was "the best-known evangelist of the eighteenth century and one of the greatest itinerant preachers in the history of Protestantism." Before he retired each night, he opened his journal and probed his soul with questions such as these he'd placed in the flyleaf:
Have I,
Been fervent in prayer?
After or before every deliberate conversation or action, considered how it might tend to God's glory?
After any pleasure, immediately given thanks?
Planned business for the day?
Been simple and recollected in everything?
Been meek, cheerful, affable in everything I said or did?
Been proud, vain, unchaste, or enviable of others?
Recollected in eating and drinking? Thankful? Temperate in sleep?
Thought or spoken unkindly of anyone?
Confessed all sins?

It seemed to be something I wanted to remember so I choose to copy and paste the journal ideas which are indeed soul searching questions on my blog rather than just posting them in my personal journal. I post also in hopes that these questions to be asked by me at the end of the day may spur others on to think more deeply and to allow me more accountability for my words and deeds.

For the "pleasure" of family time, Thank You Father! The past week I have throughly enjoyed ... children, grandchildren, celebrating Annika's first birthday in TX, reading, writing and more reading and writing ... I could choose to be "down" today knowing that this time is coming to a quick end as I am done with spring break tomorrow and back to work, and school with less time to spend with family and doing what I love best reading and writing or I can choose this day and tomorrow and here after to look forward to what is ahead walks with Terry ... adding a daughter to my family ... another grandchild ... (Carrie's pg with baby number 2) ... Adam's graduation from Teen Challenge ... and on it goes ...

I choose to look forward to the days ahead and all that God has in store for me and my precious family.

Father, as I probe my soul, just for today, may I be mindful to be "humble and contrite in spirit." Is 66:2

Constantly running into Your arms for confession, and forgiveness because You were forsaken!

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

A very Blessed Easter to All! B.

Love Sunday

Sunday Afternoon
March 15, 2009

I am well overdue for a Love Sunday post so .... having said this I will just begin with the fact that I do indeed Love Sundays! This past week I was given an amazing challenge to think about Sunday, the Sabbath, a day of rest. What does that look like for me? What about for you? Is it the day it is truly meant to be. Has God not commanded in His Word to "Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it Holy"? (Exodus 20.8) What does it mean to keep this day Holy? Is it just like any other day when I can lay around and read the Sunday newspaper, shop at the mall, go to a movie or sit for hours on end and watch TV? I read on today in Exodus 20 and God says that "Six days a week are set apart for your daily duties and regular work, but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any kind of work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; then he rested on the seventh day. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy".

It seems as I read more about this I found myself further missing the mark of "Keeping the day Holy." What does it mean to have a day of rest dedicated to the Lord? And what about "set it apart"? How does my Sabbath look any different than the other six days? Oh and how about yours?

Then as I was writing this today as I work (serve) at the desk of New Hope Church on a Sunday I asked a co-worker hey you work on Sunday what does the Sabbath mean to you and what is your Sabbath like? He proceeded to share with me that since Sunday is his work day he takes Monday as his Sabbath. He said that he loves to sleep a bit later on Mondays (his Sabbath day) and catch up on some rest that he has missed out on in the previous six days. He states he wakes up and grabs his Bible and his Journal along with a couple of books he is working his way through right now, Death by Love and a Piper book. He likes to just spend extra time in the word and currently he is reading through Romans 12. (this happens to be one of my favorite passages of scripture as it is a powerful personal prayer).

I loved that even in thinking about keeping the Sabbath Day Holy has spurred on a deeper conversation with others about what it means.