The Song God " GAVE " me to " OWN "

I was woken up this morning around 5:30.  I have no doubt it was God and I have no doubt He gave me a song.  What does that mean?  It is a song that I can "OWN" to my life.  I can OWN the words and apply them to me personally.  This song has been one of my favorites for a longtime now but to be honest, as much as I believed what they sang, it wasn't something I took so serious.  In a world where sometimes your mind and brain can go blank, dark and foggy in a moment, it's been hard for me to hold onto my foundation.  My foundation being Christ and His promises to me.  It's easy to believe that His promises are meant for everyone else but yourself.  It's easy to truly believe that.  Some will disagree but you haven't walked in my shoes.  I don't say this to bring pity either.  It's a hard cold fact that can come with depression and pushing it back can seem next to impossible.  It's not impossible though.  Through this song, God reminded me that His promises are for me too.  I needed to hear that from Him, directly.  I'm glad and so thankful that in this huge big world that we live in with so many issues and heartbreak that God still chooses to meet with each of us, One on one no matter where we are.  He knows what we need and He is the provider of that. 

I remember thinking this morning either there is other things coming up to happen in my life ( more circumstances that are so huge to me) or He is reminding me of this where I am now.  Regardless, the promises never change.  I will put the video and words up so you can have a listen.
Promises:  Sactus Real

Sometimes it's hard to keep believing
In what you can't see
That everything happens for a reason
Even the worst life brings
If you're reaching for an answer
And you don't know what to pray
Just open up the pages
Let His word be your strength

And hold on to the promises (Hold tight)
Hold on to the promises (Alright)
Jesus is alive so hold tight
Hold on to the promises
[From: http://www.elyrics.net]

All things work for the good
Of those who love God
He holds back nothing that will heal you
Not even His own Son
His love is everlasting
His faithfulness unending
Oh, if God is for us who can be against us
So if you feel weak

Neither life, nor death
Could separate us
From the eternal love
Of our God who saves us

In staying with my Coffee theme today: Here is a devotional written by Julia Bettencourt

A Bad Cup Of Coffee
Julia Bettencourt

---

""…Be ye holy; for I am holy" 1 Peter 1:16


I think everyone disagrees on what makes a good cup of coffee. With today's hot coffee trend, we try all kinds of flavorings and different ways of experiencing coffee. It used to be basically served black or with cream and sugar. There wasn't much variety.

Nowadays, people like coffee served and brewed a lot of different ways. We tend to disagree on what's good. What we usually agree on is the basics on what makes a bad cup of coffee. It can be weak, bitter, stale, cold, or soured by something we put in it and we'd probably all agree that it tastes bad. Face it. No one likes to drink a bad cup of coffee.

I don't suppose people like those bad tasting Christians they come across either. I wonder what type of coffee we'd be.

1. Weak.
   When we are weak Christians, we don't have much faith. Sometimes when we are weak we don't know God's Word enough to know what we stand on. The way to remedy our weakness is to add some grounds.  Dig into God's Word and get grounded on the principles found in the bible. Study the attributes of God. Learn what you believe concerning doctrine and bone up on the basics of living the Christian life. Enrich yourself with a vibrant prayer life and rely on God's strength and not your own.



2. Bitter.
   I've known my share of bitter Christians and I've been there at a few points in my own life but if bitterness isn't dealt with, it starts growing and eating up your life. Bitterness doesn't leave a pleasant aroma. You can't do much with a bitter cup of coffee. No matter how much cream or sugar, or even how much whip cream you want to plop on top, the bitter taste is still there. You have to dump it out and refill the cup with a new fresh brewed pot of coffee.
   
   Isn't that just so like in the Christian life? No matter how much we add to our Christian lives, no matter how many good deeds we do, how many church programs we become involved with, if our bitterness is still there, we are still bitter and it hinders us in our Christian walk. What we need to do is empty all our bitterness and ourselves of self and then allow the filling of the Holy Spirit to take control of our lives.



3. Stale.
   The dictionary describes, stale as "tasteless or unpalatable from age". Do you ever get complacent about your Christianity? Just have lost that first love? It's easy to do, especially for those of us who've known the Lord for a very long time. We kind of get weary in well doing.
   
   I know we don't want to just sit as Christians and not do anything but we do. "Unpalatable" doesn't go far enough to describe us sometimes. I guess we need to freshen up. There's a worship chorus that says, "Holy Spirit fall fresh on me. Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me. Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me." I think that's what we all need so that we will get busy for the Lord. We don't want to be Christians that just sit and get stale and tasteless.



4. Cold.
   You may have brought a cup of coffee to your lips that you hadn't realized had gotten cold. You think it's going to be warm and good and then you realize that it's cold. We get that way in our desire to serve Christ. We grow cold as a Christian. There are probably a lot of reasons. We get away from Christ, slow down in our bible reading and prayer life, stop going to church and pretty soon we are cold.
   
   What do you do to a cold cup of coffee? Most of us just add a little bit of hot stuff from the coffee pot. We go to the source of the heat. That's how we should do as Christians. Go to the Source. Get on our knees and talk to the Lord. Draw closer to Him and then we'll get warmed up in our Christian walk.



5. Sour.
   Have you ever tried something new in your coffee? With all those new flavorings and things out there, I'm sure some have. Ever tried something in your coffee that just left a sour taste in your mouth and that didn't agree with you? Or maybe you've put some cream that had gone bad into your coffee. That's a sure fire way to ruin a perfectly good cup of coffee.
   
   It's the same thing when we allow worldly and ungodly things into our lives as Christians. It doesn't agree with us because we are in the world but not of it. As Christians, those things sour us and basically make us rotten. We become ineffective in our Christian lives when we allow the things of the world to come spilling in.

Conclusion:
I hope I don't prove to be a bad cup of coffee. This past Sunday our pastor spoke about being in the presence of the Lord. He used the verse, "…Be ye holy; for I am holy", 1 Peter 1:16 and was talking about how spending time with the Lord brings that sweet aroma. I think that's what this is all about. In order to avoid being weak, bitter, stale, cold, and sour as Christians, we have to learn to be in the presence of God more.

Spending time with the Lord through prayer, bible reading and study is what's going to make us into those strong cups of coffee. It will allow us to let the Holy Spirit stir us. I know I need to work on spending more time with Christ. I think we sometimes take our time with the Lord lightly. I know perhaps I do. We think of it as just a devotional time or bible reading time but when we realize that we are spending time in the "presence of the Lord" it really puts things into perspective. He's a great and holy God and we have the opportunity to spend time with Him each day. He'll blend us to perfection if we'll just spend time with Him.

So, what type of coffee are you?



 COFFEE: Wordly Random ( Alexis' other Blog )

 

Life ( or something like it)

April 28th.  Wally's Birthday.  Geesh...we are oooooollllldddd this year! 

Tomorrow ( Monday ) our facilitator is coming for her last visit this year.  I'm actually hoping for us to be done school ( books etc.) by the end of May and I'd like to think of some fun physical activities..purposeful activities for June to end grade 7.  Usually by this time I know what we are doing for the next year but this year, I don't know.  I have some books I want to take a look at.  I need a few hours to spend at Cher to see what else is out there.  Math is a big one we have to change up.  I'm not feeling a rush at this time though.  I plan to enjoy our time off this summer for sure.

As for me...I'm continuing to muddle through the weeks.  Some days are better than others and I'm learning what I need to do.  Counseling continues to go well.  I'm just so fortunate that my counselor ( as my Pastor ) is patient with all the questions I have which are mainly spiritual.  It's amazing how much or should I say, how little one knows especially after being born again for over 20 years.  It's quite discouraging but I'm planning on coming out the other side, I have to.  I continue to fight the depression.  It sucks so bad.  I'm so amazed at what I have shared and with the wisdom and grace that my Pastor has with me.  I find myself constantly in awe that I can be treated so kindly by both him and his wife.  I'm pretty blessed.  Weird thing about it, if I didn't need the counseling, I wouldn't be getting to know them like I am.  Crazy ways that God works.  Perhaps one day I will be able to thank Him?

An update on my memorization:  I know the first two verses of Psalm 42 in both English and Spanish.  It is hard learning it in Spanish but as I go, I'm learning a bit about the language itself so that's cool.    The whole idea of focusing on it has been awesome.  It's exactly what I need.  I don't find myself scrambling so bad when I have panic or anxiety attacks....I just think of this Psalm and it almost works like a guard rail for me.  Keeps me steady until I'm able to move on.  

Life is what life is and what I'm learning is it's a gift.  A precious precious gift.  See you later my friends...God Bless you!!

Bible Memorization...Edited just because

My goal is to know God and walk closely with Him

Discipline:  is an intimidating word.  Janet Pope says in order to memorize Scripture, you don't need more discipline, instead you need more HUNGER...more hunger for God and His Word.

It's not so you can memorize the Bible, it's so you can be thinking God's thoughts.  Trading your thoughts for His.  Meditating on what's important to God instead of what's important to yourself.

I have a note in my Bible on the page where I'm memorizing where I have written these little quotes.  I got them from this article.  I encourage you to read it:

https://www.reviveourhearts.com/radio/revive-our-hearts/you-can-memorize-more-you-think/

I have never purposefully memorized Scripture.  I've helped with Awana but that's different.  I have decided that I needed to find something to focus on during this time that my stupid depression still has to invade me and make me half mad.  When I have fly off the handle moments I need something to focus on and even though the Bible is right in front of me, I can't even find a verse..so I usually end up wallowing and making things worse.  I needed a long term plan BUT verses that flowed and worked independent with each other.  I needed something that made sense to me where I'm at so that when I do focus, I am focusing on the right thing...on the right Person.  So....I chose Psalm 42.  I have been reading it off and on now for about 5 weeks and it just so happened to be the Psalm that was at a funeral we were at last week.  Part of me is scared to death because I'm so afraid of failing.  I have set myself up so often in my life for fails and yes, every time, they happen.  I have decided not to give myself a certain time limit at this point.  I truly want to do this for the right reasons.  Problem is, the way my brain thinks, I doubt myself often so of course I will have regrets throughout the process.  That is why I love the notes up at the top written by Janet Pope.  Perspective.

There are some twists though.  :)  I have asked my friend Leslie if she wants to do it with me and she said yes AND the biggest twist ever ( are you ready????)  We are memorizing not only Psalm 42 BUT we are also memorizing Salmos 42.  Yes, we are memorizing in both English and Spanish.  My friend Leslie speaks Spanish and is working really hard at learning English and well, my
Spanish isn't even close to her English but I figured, what a great way to learn the language. Not only that the accountability and the encouragement can't hurt either.  <3 br="">

Here are our verses for this week:

¹ As the deer pants for streams of water,
    so my soul pants for you, my God.

¹ Cual ciervo jadeante en busca del agua,
    así te busca, oh Dios, todo mi ser.

So.....off I go to experience something  new and crazy..... TOODLES!!!!

Transformed By Tough Times by Steve Reed

A book about tough times usually implies that the author has had some personal experiences that connect to that topic. Where did the book start for you? 

In college, I was a kicker and punter at Oklahoma State University under a demanding head coach, Jimmy Johnson. (Football fans might recognize him as the coach for two college national championships in the 80’s and a couple of Super Bowls in the 90’s for the Dallas Cowboys). Just playing for Coach Johnson was tough enough, but my sophomore year, I got my knee bent backwards in a Junior Varsity game in Lincoln, Nebraska. When surgery and rehab efforts didn’t get me back to playing football, I eventually had to hang up the cleats. Looking back now, that experience made me more aware of how other people dealt with adversity and caused me to pay more attention to how I could respond when faced with tough times.

Your book transitions pretty quickly from your football days to life as a church planter and how that actually prompted you to write this book. How did that all happen? 

When football didn’t work out, I found myself drawn to ministry in a great church near the OSU campus. Charlie Baker, the pastor of that church, invited me and other college students to partner with him in creating a weekly worship service for students. In doing that ministry I fell in love with the church and decided to go to seminary and be a pastor myself. After getting married and going through seminary training, we eventually moved to Kansas City to start churches. For nearly 20 years we were involved in the roller coaster rides of starting five different churches in our region. Most days, I absolutely loved it. But in one of those church starts we had a train wreck that knocked me for a loop and out of a church that I loved perhaps more than I loved my wife and family.

So after that you went on an even deeper quest for figuring out what was happening to you?  

Right. With a new intensity I began to systematically search the scriptures to find some help for my pain. And I collected information and stories from others wiser than me and from many who had suffered greatly and come through with amazing faith and character.

You write about a day in Costa Rica that changed your life. What happened?  

After the break up from the church, I wound up going to Costa Rica on a mission trip with my parents. My parents, by the way, were missionaries when I was a kid and 30 years prior we had actually lived in Costa Rica. For me, going back was a fun, blast to the past. But more than that, the people there were cathartic for me. I was an emotional mess much of the time. And one day I must have cried with three or four people who needed to know Christ, but who were in pain. God used my pain and my weeping with others to both minister to them and to me. That day I discovered something about God’s ministry of tears and how sometimes He does more through our weaknesses and frailties than He does with our strengths.

So this is where your international ministry began? 

Yes. While in Costa Rica, a Guatemalan man by the name of Cesar Gonzalez invited me to come to his country and dream about ministries and churches for people in Guatemala who don’t like church. To hear the whole story you’d have to pack a lunch! But let me briefly say that Cesar would have been a mafia hit man if God hadn’t gotten a hold of him! With a little encouragement from some pastor friends in Kansas City, I took him up on his invitation, and for two weeks Cesar and I drove around the country looking at dozens of different situations and groups of people. Little did I know then, that 13 years later we would be working in over 55 locations covering Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. I mention this because I have learned a lot from believers from other cultures and have put much of that into the book. Many of us in North America aren’t aware that both Guatemala and El Salvador have been through recent civil wars. Many people there have shared first hand stories of unimaginable grief and heartache. As I have walked alongside them, my faith has been challenged and I have an increasing desire to not just mindlessly go through my tough times, but to actually think deeply and grow through my tough circumstances. As I’ve done a little bit of that, I think it’s time that I pass some of this on to others who can benefit like I have.

Where can people find your book?

For now it’s only available from the trunk of my car! Or, more conveniently, it can be ordered from the website www.TransformedbyToughTimes.com. Soon it should become available on Amazon and we hope to have a Kindle version available in the near future as well. By the way, before Christmas we finished taping the audio book and I can’t wait to unveil that in the next couple of months too.

You also have a companion Bible study available as well right? 

Yes! Thank you for mentioning that. I think I am about as excited about the study guide as I am the book. On the website, www.TransformedbyToughTimes.com is a 24-session small groups Bible study guide that can be downloaded for free. It matches up to chapters in the book and then goes deeper with pertinent Bible stories and information related to the topic. Incidentally, when someone wants me to coach them through their own tough times, this is essentially the material I use. In early tests, we are getting positive feedback from groups going through the book and the Bible study together. Do check it out!

Find out about more opportunities for a free copy of TRANSFORMED BY TOUGH TIMES, go to https://www.facebook.com/events/338690666247617.
This blog host was given a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for posting the author’s interview and/or book review on this blog. CSS Virtual Book Tours are managed by Christian Speakers Services (http://ChristianSpeakersServices.com).

 

 

 

 

ABOUT STEVE REED

Steve Reed is the Chief Encouragement Officer and Cross Cultural Catalyst for Daybreak International, a missions organization he founded that is dedicated to planting churches for the marginalized and forgotten peoples of the world. Currently, his two major projects focus on cowboys in Central America, and Kekchi Indians in the jungles of Guatemala. Those who know Steve best speak of his relentless encouragement and undying loyalty to people who face tough times. When not traveling in Central America, Steve comes home to Kansas City. He is married to Nola, and they have three young adult sons, a beloved daughter-in-law, and a grand baby on the way!  

Obsessed? A short update of sorts.

The journey continues and as I pass the different obstacles and pause and look at them, I take note of what needs to be done.  I know what needs to be done on many levels and one issue I have is obsessing HOW to do it.  What I am slowly starting to realize is that I don't have to do anything, in fact, I can't.  I spend so much time figuring out how to get to the next " level" and how to do it in a way that is glorifying to God, that I forget that it isn't me, but HIM.  What I need to "do" should be a result of my love for God and HIS grace toward me.  SO, that is why I have quit doing.  That is why I have lost contact with friends for a while and family as well.  My journey is a selfish one of sorts.  It includes two of us...God and me.  I may have taken this to crazy levels because of my obsession and I may be way off course but I'm going down the path that I see and the one that I believe God has layed out for me.  I have no idea who will be waiting for me on the other end, if anyone, but I do know that the One taking the journey with me, the One TAKING me on the journey is the most important.

I can say with clarity though, that I truly do hate depression but I'm willing to accept the fact that God could be and is using it to bring me closer to Himself.  He is using it to bring me to an intimate relationship with Him.  I'm definitely not at a point of embracing depression and I'm surely not even at the point that I can even admit that I have it ( ex. to a couple people and in writing).  But I praise the God, I praise my God who will use it anyway and hopefully even me too. 

Blessings to you my friends.  I love you, I truly do. 

A Sunday Tidbit from Henri Nouwen

Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious
and merciful . . . abounding in steadfast love. Joel 2:13

Returning to Trust

In my own life I well know how hard it is for me to trust that I am loved, and to trust that the intimacy I most crave is there for me. I most often live as if I have to earn love, do something noteworthy, and then perhaps I might get something in return.

This attitude touches the whole question of what is called in the spiritual life, the "first love." Do I really believe that I am loved first, independent of what I do or what I accomplish? This is an important question because as long as I think that what I most need I have to earn, deserve and collect by hard work, I will never get what I most need and desire, which is a love that cannot be earned, but that is freely given.

Thus, my return is my willingness to renounce such thoughts and to choose to live more and more from my true identity as a cherished child of God.

Henri Nouwen