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Surgery Scuttlebutt, part six – surgery and recovery

I’m home! It’s been over two weeks since I’ve shared anything…and I wanted to share the update! Surgery was July 17th. I was in the hospital for 7 days.

If you don’t know what scuttlebutt is, please check out

Intro, part one, part two, part three and part four

If you want a great book to help you prepare for, and recover with, please check out Healing and Hope by Christine Carter. Tell her Christi sent you!

I finally got to Chapter 7. Adjust your lens.

The day before surgery, Jim took me to a very unique hotel, the Tudor Arms in Cleveland, Ohio…just down the road from the Cleveland Clinic.

I wanted to have a restful evening with my husband, and that is exactly what we did.

The outside of the hotel is beautiful.

The history of the hotel is amazing.

The entry was intriguing!

We loved the room.

We had a great supper,

And then we went exploring.
In the rooms that were for banquets and balls, there were details that were amazing, but when you stepped back, you could see the whole picture! Go to the website and look at the beautiful weddings!

The next day would be my surgery. This whole surgery scuttlebutt series has been how I could be focused upon the minutia of the issue, but instead, I have been encouraged to widen my focus to see the larger picture, and in that larger picture, I have seen the hand of God.

When I widen my focus, then, when I narrow down into the details, I can see God’s hand, even in the little things.
I was unaware of doing this, until I read chapter 7 – Adjust your lens.

Christine had been encouraging me to be intentional in my healing…via the book.

We must be intentional with our thoughts and expand our vision to include the full scenery we are leaving out.

Here are a few of the things that happened while in the hospital:

Our daughter Faith was able to be at the hospital with me because of a scheduling boon with her mother-in-law, making it possible to have the children babysat. She braided my hair after the surgery. Big Picture? LOVE!
A dear friend came to visit – and one night, it was so perfect because Jim was exhausted and he felt free to go to the hotel, since our friend Suzanne was there with me! The Big Picture? God will provide for our needs!
Jim’s cancer treatment got messed up and he had to have some medicine shipped, and it arrived the day after my surgery. Jim and I had forgotten my CPAP for recovery in the hospital. The day of the surgery, our daughter Faith had been asked to bring it, but she forgot. We were able to not make this detail a bit thing. God took these details, and the big picture was that Jim drove back home for the CPAP, was able to pick up his medicine and continue his treatment while staying at the hotel near the hospital! The Big Picture? God had it under control, with all of our frailties in mind, and the possibility that Jim would not have driven home for the medicine except that he needed to pick up the CPAP!
My first roommate was apparently a very angry person. I barely remember. Jim remembers her well. He was trying to figure out how he was going to get me transferred so that I was not with her yelling angry presence. She decided to get up, pack, and leave AMA – he says she walked out of the room, yelling, someone get here and take this IV out of my arm…I’m going home! Big Picture? I know that I felt bad for her, and was praying in my drugged state, but God had already made sure that I would have a peaceful room…the woman made her own choice to leave.
I had two other roommates during the 7 days, and as they were preparing to leave, they came over to my bedside and sat down and visited with me. I was drugged, so I have no idea why they became so friendly. the Big Picture? When you pray that you will be Christ like, sharing Christ’s love no matter what, people are drawn to you. Jim says that my character was gracious, compassionate and apologetic for bothering the nurses, even drugged.

From Help and Hope:

I finally discovered that if you can broaden your view – expanding the moments when your vision seems stuck – a massive shift in perspective happens.

When I think about my view, I think about this little house that God has provided us.
Out my bedroom window

Out the bay window….

On the swing and from the swing!

There are parks, and places that I can go to immerse myself in beauty. (these were taken on our 38th anniversary, less than one mile from our home!)

There are many other beautiful views…
My grandchildren, who love to come and say hi.
My friends on the internet that check on me daily, from all over the world.
I just have to look outside of myself – see the big picture, and then, I can drill down the focus and see the beauty of a butterfly, a vine ripe tomato plucked by my grandson, or a marigold that he brings me to cheer me up.

Looking at the big picture reminds me that

Even though there is pain…there is no infection.
Even though there is pain, there is no cancer.
Even though there is limited mobility, THERE IS MOBILITY!

The choice is to be grateful, to acknowledge my blessings, and then, my heart is content!

Isn’t that like looking at the stars and seeing HIS handiwork….

Psalm 19:1 King James Version (KJV)
19 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

and after reading the whole of Psalm 19, I drill down to MY response:

Psalm 19:14 King James Version (KJV)
14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer.

Part of adjusting my lens also deals with my mental illnesses – depression, PTSD, and anxiety. When I am in a ‘normal’ state, I feel – MUCH.
But I have been drugged…to help me not feel the pain.
I appreciate the “not feeling” pain, as much as the meds were able to help, but this also effects my emotional state, which is tied to the mental illnesses.

One of the concerns for this journey has been the chemical upset that the various medications will cause to my mental health. Even if one didn’t have mental illnesses, the normal mental person would have struggles with depression and being homebound and such. Therefore, we took measures to insure that I would not succumb to the enemy of my mind.

Just the other day, I read a blog by a dear lady that is also struggling with mental illnesses, and writes about her struggle. She opened my eyes to one of the things that I was experiencing…numbness. What is normal for us is to FEEL – BIG. Take that away, and we don’t feel alive. This can bring in some other issues, for me, such as cutting and bingeing…just to feel. These are some of my enemies.

Katie wrote Wait in the Middle, that so clearly explains this strange situation that effects those of us with emotional issues. I encourage you to go read this!

Back to the book, Help and Hope …I prepared.
I saw the big picture – I have illnesses that need medication.
I saw the big problem – without addressing it, I could relapse into suicidal depression.
I made small, detailed plans – meds were laid out for three weeks, photos of joy were put into photo albums, music to encourage was downloaded, a cd player was set up in my bedroom, and my medical providers were aware of the situation.

Have I had thoughts? not of suicide, Praise God – but I’ve started to have a pity party or two…and by being prepared, I was able to stop that party!
Have I gotten down? yes – and I started counting my blessings, because they were all around me…so the enemy couldn’t lie!
Have I had pain? Yes, and I was able to quote verse as things were being taken care of…to mentally handle the pain.

No matter where you find yourself in this journey, there are those that are willing to help!
In Surgery Scuttlebutt, part two, I talked about how I was afraid I’d be alone…and I have not been!

I hope that you have found something in my story to help you in yours. I have one more blog to share with you the various other things that I have learned…please stay tuned!

Hi!
My hope in the midst of despair and my joy in the face of depression is because of my relationship with Jesus Christ. If you do not have one, or are not sure you will join him in heaven, please check out these links.

Got Questions provides a detailed explanation of The Roman’s Road.
Billy Graham’s version of the Plan of salvation

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

Copyrights and Legal-eze
There are many organizations that support children and families. Here are ones that we are blessed to be a part of. Please consider sponsoring a child – the life you change could be your own.

Naomi’s Heart Ministries
Obed’s House Ministries
Project Based Missions, Global
The son of a friend will be interning with CRU – previously known as Campus Crusades for Christ. If you’d like to support someone I can vouch for in this area, please consider going to Matthew Plant’s donation page.
Compassion

Advent 2015 – days 19 – 26 part 1

In 2016, Advent is 28 days long.
In 2017, advent is 22 days long.

What? 26 days of Advent?,
Isn’t Advent 24 days before Christmas, on the 25th?

The length of Advent changes every year – based on the date of Thanksgiving. Advent is the first Sunday after Thanksgiving, or the fourth Sunday preceding Christmas. In 2017, for example, Thanksgiving does not fall on the last Thursday, but the fourth Thursday of November, and the fifth Thursday is Nov 30. That year, the 1st Sunday of Advent is Dec 3rd – making that Advent only 22 days long.

Thank you Catholic Resources – Advent!

The longest Advent is 28 days.
The shortest is 22(I think).

This blog is going to be about the characters in the Christmas story. Use it however you would like.

Mary, Joseph, Jesus & Bethlehem, then the second half; the Star, the Angels, and the Shepherds

Away in the Manger

Mary
Advent day 19

Holy Family

By all accounts, a young girl, Mary was chosen to marry a man, named Joseph.

But even before her was Elizabeth and Zacharias.
They had been waiting for a child.
Zacharias received a very special message during his service to the Lord in Luke 1:5 and following. This child was going to announce the coming of the Messiah!
An Angel messenger.

Luke 1:26-27

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

Sixth month of what? Elizabeth’s pregnancy!

What did the Angel say?
Luke 1:28

And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.

Thou that art highly favoured – favor and grace
The Lord is with thee: – with – as in WITH? an unheard of position.
blessed art thou among women. – above Rachel and Leah by whom Jews had been blessing their daughters for centuries!
She is one that Loves her God!

She’s told she will have a child…with no male intervention. This means that she will be seen as a harlot. This is punishable by death. Maybe this is why it’s angel GABRIEL! that came to speak to her! But, her response is a beautiful statement of complete yeildedness to God’s plan, no matter what.
Luke 1:38

And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

The Angel sends her on her way to Elizabeth’s – the babe in Elizabeth’s womb jumps for joy, and Mary sings what has gone down in history as her Magnificat.

Luke 1:46-55

She raises the Son of God – her story continues to the day he dies. She was a person, just like me, that said yes to God.

The key to me in this is am I willing to be embarassed at least, persecuted to death at the most for something that God has told me I should do. Now, Mary did get some evidence pretty soon that she was going to have a baby – but she also knew that she hadn’t been with a man. I, on the other hand, just have the strange visions, notions, or thoughts that God might want me to do things…and I often beg out because I am embarrassed. Mary’s reputation was on the line, and it was even brought up to Jesus years later. And she said yes!

Joseph
Day 20

Holy Family wood

Joseph.
A Carpenter.
Asked for Mary’s hand in marriage.
we know he is a Godly, compassionate man, for when his bride to be is found with child(and has some cockamammy story about being impregnated by God), he decided to divorce her quietly – so she won’t be stoned. Or would she? Anyway – he’d made his decision, and he got visited by an angel!
Matthew 1:18-25
Joseph was told that he was the stepfather to the Son of God. And he was to name him Jesus, God with us. or was it Immanuel?
The folks over at Christian Apologetics and Research have a great explanation of the two names of Jesus and why. I won’t go into it!

Joseph provides the flesh and blood father that protects Jesus when they have to flee to Egypt. He provides training for Jesus and provides for the family as a carpenter. Apparently, he, also, was chosen for his role in Christ’s life, and by taking Mary into his home as his wife, and not ‘knowing’ her as was his biblical right, Joseph said yes to God!

The angel thing again. But seriously, if I met an angel that told me that such and thus was going to happen, especially if I had been in bed, I would second guess myself. Of course, Mary was with child. Joseph could believe or not believe. but he said yes. I believe.

https://youtu.be/BARVAg0gl6w

https://youtu.be/PytP9XPhP1g

Jesus
Advent day 21

Away in the Manger

The best way to describe Jesus, is through the Word of God:

Is 9:6

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Zacharias prophesied Jesus’ purpose, to which his son John would proclaim in Luke 1:67 and following.

John poetically describes Christ in John 1:1-18 – describing the difference again between Jesus, and the prophet John.

Jesus – Son of God, Son of Man, Savior of the World.

https://youtu.be/MC9cbEHjvPs

Of course, before Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had to get to Bethlehem.

Bethlehem

Advent day 22

Yes, Bethlehem IS a character in this Christmas story, because it was foretold that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.
Micah 5:2

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Bethlehem wasn’t a large city…but it was the city of David’s birth.
During the taxing, everyone had to go to the city of their ancestors birth to be counted. Luke 2:1-7

This is where we learn that she had to go, ‘great with child’ and that ‘there was no room for them at the inn.’
They key for Christmas here is the question, is there room for Jesus in MY heart…or does he get left out in the stable?

This gets us almost to Christmas Day.(in 2015)
if you added these four to the previous 18, you are at day 22 – the shortest of the Advent seasons. I will be providing another set – Star, Angels, Shepherds and Magi to make it to the 26th day of Advent next.

Love nativity

My prayer this Advent season was to become more aware of Christ in My life, and to make sure that he dwells in my heart – not on the outskirts of my life. I pray that this is your prayer as well.

For the rest of these, go to Advent 2015 part 2

More Advent Devotions

Merry Christmas!

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

I want to thank

for the ability to search the Bible online.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

I’d love to hear what you think – please leave a comment!
Or choose to LIKE me on facebook, or other social media!
I’d love to stay in touch with you – we are working on email subscriptions…sign up!
Soon, we will have a gallery for the art I have created by the hand of God.

There are many organizations that support children and families. Here is one that we are blessed to be a part of. Please consider sponsoring a child – the life you change could be your own.

Itty Bitty Bible Study – Ephesians 1:3-6

My thoughts for the Itty Bitty Bible Study group on Facebook. (join if you’d like to get these in fb!)

In the IBBS Ephesians Introduction, I shared my thoughts on Ephesians 1:1-2.

In my research, I have found some that say that verses 3-14 are all one long sentence.
It is commonly known that the verses, the chapters, and maybe even some gramatical markings were not necessarily in the original texts. The KJV has it split up with colons and semi-colons.
ESV has added periods.
I’m not sure if God is concerned how we break it down, as long as we choose to read his word, to apply our hearts to wisdom! I think Psalm 90:12 applies here!

Ephesians 1:
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and blameless before him.
In love
5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ,
according to the purpose of his will,
6 to the praise of his glorious grace,
with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

I really do not want to deal with the predestination and election theology. That is WAAAAAY above my pay grade.
There are many teachers out there pro and con predestination and election – and one can simply do a google to find whichever point of view feels right. I even hate saying it like that. But, this issue can become a very volatile and divisive issue, and I do not believe that is the point Paul is trying to promote here.

I want to focus on how God the Father positioned us to be sons!(and daughters)

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ, God has given us every spiritual blessing in heaven.
4 In Christ, he chose us before the world was made. He chose us in love to be his holy people—people who could stand before him without any fault.
5 And before the world was made, God decided to make us his own children through Jesus Christ. This was what God wanted, and it pleased him to do it.
6 And this brings praise to God because of his wonderful grace. God gave that grace to us freely. He gave us that grace in Christ, the one he loves.

Praise be to God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ

That’s a good start for a confession of faith.

In Christ.

That is our profession of salvation. That is our position.
It is from that position, that we should be everything else in our walk, in our lives.
We are seated in the heavenlies with him.(Ephesians 2:6)
We are joint heirs with him.(Romans 8:17)
In this verse we find out that we are blessed in him.

Every spiritual blessing in heaven.

There is a song that I love called I Can Only Imagine.
There is nothing we can compare to being blessed with every spiritual blessing in heaven!
It will be exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think! (Ephesians 3:20)
Right now we can only see through a glass Darkly.(1 Corinthians 13:12)

In Christ, he chose us before the world was made.
He chose us in love to be his holy people—people who could stand before him without any fault.

In Christ is the first blessing. Because it’s by faith by grace through faith and that not of ourselves that we are saved. Which we will see in Ephesians 2:8-9.

Here is the tricky part, He chose us before the world was made.
This gets into the predestination and election.
The thing is, do I believe the Bible means what the Bible says?
Yes I do.
I believe God the Father chose each one of us

before He created the world,
before Adam and Eve fell,
before he sent his son,
before my mother and father met,
before I was conceived,
before I was born,
God chose me!

The tricky question, which will come up in this book, is, if God chose people from before creation does that mean He chose those to go to hell?
When we stand before God on the judgement day, we will not be judged on whether God chose us or not, we will be judged on whether we chose God or not.
I’ve been doing a Bible study group at church about God being sovereign. In that group the teacher is talking about God’s perfect will and his permissive will.

Pastor Jimmy Knott, from First Baptist Orlando is doing a study on God’s Will.
He’s talked about God’s Determined or Decreed Will and God’s Desired or Permissive will.

here’s some of my notes:

Many years ago in a Thompson Chain reference Bible, there was illustration that shows the two sides of God’s will. It is from the Bible analysis of Romans.

God’s ways are above my ability to comprehend.
The main thing for me is to know the God has had a plan for me from before the foundation of the world!

He chose us in love …

Why did he choose me? Because he loved me.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever whosoever whosoever.

God chose us in love. This brings us back to Genesis 1.
Why did God create? Love.
God chose us before the foundations of the world because of love. Therefore he had to create a world for us in which we could live.
God created the heavens and the Earth and everything that dwells therein, because he loves.
Even simpler, God is love.

He chose us in love to be his holy people—people who could stand before him without any fault.

Chose us to be His holy people.
Holy does not mean perfect, holy means set apart on to him.
Second part of this says “people who could stand before him without any fault.”
That is why Jesus came. In 1st John 1 we are told the followers of Christ do not sin but that if we say we have no sin we lie and that if and when we sin we have an advocate with the Father which is Jesus Christ and that we can pray and ask forgiveness and he will washes clean of our sins. 1 John 2
We stand before God the Father without any faults because God the son, Jesus Christ, took our sins on the cross, and paid the price, so that we are seen as if we had never sinned.
Justified equals just as if I’d never sinned.

5 And before the world was made, God decided to make us his own children through Jesus Christ. This was what God wanted, and it pleased him to do it.

Why did God do this?
Because he wanted to, and it pleased him to do so.

God decided to make us his own children.
That is the whole purpose for creation, for God to have children.

God wasn’t surprised that Eve listened to the serpent, that Adam listened to Eve, and they both sinned.
God wasn’t surprised that Cain killed Abel.
God wasn’t surprised that Moses killed an Egyptian.
God wasn’t surprised that Ruth left with Naomi and met up with Boaz and had a child.
God wasn’t surprised that it was the Seventh Son of Jesse that chose to worship God and therefore was chosen for the king of Israel.
God wasn’t surprised when Herod sent out the soldiers to kill babies around the time Christ was born.
God wasn’t surprised when the people of Jesus’s day kept trying to kill him before his time.
God wasn’t surprised when Judas betrayed Christ with a kiss.
God wasn’t surprised when Jesus hung on the cross to pay the price
God wasn’t surprised that Jesus rose from the dead because that was God’s plan from before creation!

The reason that God created from the beginning was so that you and I could become His children through Jesus Christ’s death, burial and Resurrection.
The plan was that the Father would draw us to Him!John 6:44
Just in case we weren’t able to handle it(which he knew we would not be) God gave us the gift of faith so that we could believe in the grace of the cross. Ephesians 2:8-9
He gave us the gift of repentance so that we could turn away from our Wicked Ways and humble ourselves and seek his face. 2 Tim 2:25
Everything that we have comes from God’s hand.

6 And this brings praise to God because of his wonderful grace. God gave that grace to us freely. He gave us that grace in Christ, the one he loves.

This is preparing us for ephesians 2:8-9.
And it gives us our appropriate response for the grace that God has given us that we should praise God from whom all blessings flow!

He gave us the grace in Christ, the one he loves.
He gave us the grace to Believe In Christ, and
He gave us the grace to become children of God, through Christ, whom he loves.

But this whole plan was constructed and conceived because HE loves, because HE loves us, from before the foundations of the world.

My word of the day meditation on February 15th 2017 talks about my choices and HIS plans!
Jeremiah 1:5 talks about being known before we were conceived
Jeremiah 29:11-13 talks about the plans HE has for us.
Psalm 139 talks about being fearfully and wonderfully made

Here is the foundation piece, we love because he first loved us. In addition we are because he first loved us. We will be because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19
Our past, our present, and our future are all enmeshed in His love for us.
There is nothing about God that isn’t done because of his love.
Because of His great love, we are not destroyed!Lamentations 3:22
When we look at First Corinthians 13 describing What Love Is, it really is a description of God.
Love is patient, love is kind, love is not envious, does not rejoice in wrongdoing.
We can go through the names of God and see His love in every name even those that are considered harsh or cruel.

In the King James Version – Ephesians 1:6 says:

To the praise of the glory of HIS grace, where in HE hath made us acceptable in the Beloved.

Acceptable in the Beloved.
Why would I want to be anywhere else?

That’s my thoughts for today….I hope this blessed you!

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

I want to thank

for the ability to search the Bible online.

Some artwork is from me – ChristArtist. It is copyrighted – by me. Please do not share it without my permission.
The same goes for my written work.
Some artwork is from ChristArt – not me! I have purchased a membership, and the art is copyrighted by them.

There are many organizations that support children and families. Here is one that we are blessed to be a part of. Please consider sponsoring a child – the life you change could be your own.

Itty Bitty Bible Study – Galatians 1:1-10

Galatians 1:1-10

I am sharing my thoughts, and others are commenting their thoughts at the Itty Bitty Bible Study on Facebook. Please Join us! You can also comment here if you’d like!

I’m trying my hand at highlighting, I’m not sure this will show up for anyone but me!

Galatians 1

1 Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—

In the old days (hahaha), folks put their authorship at the beginning of letters. It’s kind of like a return address.

Paul – once Saul. Wikipedia is not the bastion of Christian thought, but, it is a good place to obtain a summary on Saul/Paul! Lot’s of excellent information and links to research on Paul’s life.
CALLED as an APOSTLE

Not of men
neither by man
but by Jesus Christ
and God the Father (Who raised HIM(Jesus)from the dead)

This book is truly deep – and I’m not going to go into a word study on Men and man – because honestly, in the strongs, they look like the same thing.
Matthew Henry has this to say, if you are interested!

As to his office, he was an apostle. He is not afraid to style himself so, though his enemies would scarcely allow him this title: and, to let them see that he did not assume this character without just ground, he acquaints them how he was called to this dignity and office, and assures them that his commission to it was wholly divine, for he was an apostle, not of man, neither by man; he had not the common call of an ordinary minister, but an extraordinary call from heaven to this office. He neither received his qualification for it, nor his designation to it, by the mediation of men, but had both the one and the other directly from above; for he was an apostle by Jesus Christ, he had his instructions and commission immediately from him, and consequently from God the Father, who was one with him in respect of his divine nature, and who had appointed him, as Mediator, to be the apostle and high priest of our profession, and as such to authorize others to this office.

The second Part states what he believes about God, as well as the basis for his calling!

but by Jesus Christ
and God the Father (Who raised HIM(Jesus)from the dead)

Again – Matthew Henry’s thoughts on the differentiation here:

He adds, Who raised him from the dead, both to acquaint us that herein God the Father gave a public testimony to Christ’s being his Son and the promised Messiah, and also that, as his call to the apostleship was immediately from Christ, so it was after his resurrection from the dead, and when he had entered upon his exalted state; so that he had reason to look upon himself, not only as standing upon a level with the other apostles, but as in some sort preferred above them; for, whereas they were called by him when on earth, he had his call from him when in heaven.

I have read this, and said yeah yeah yeah – of course.
In Paul’s day – he was under fire about who he was, Whose he was, and HOW he got his calling. This first chapter shows his concern that not HE, but the GOSPEL was being discredited.
WHO calls me?
TO WHAT had HE called me?
and is my life bearing witness to that call, or discrediting that call?

Galatians 1:2 and all the brothers and sisters with me,

It’s nice that Paul includes his brothers and sisters. Though his name is on the letter – he includes others in sending out the blessing. Christianity is NOT a loner religion – it is a communal religion. I do not mean living on a commune together, though, that would be amazing. Living in close proximity to believers of similar intensity would give a standard of support, and even a bit of peer pressure, that would make walking the walk a bit easier. That is the purpose of a local body!

To the churches in Galatia:
3 Grace and peace to you

Grace and Peace.
Grace

Noah found grace in God’s eyes! Genesis 6:8 In this grace, he built an ark and survived the flood!
Moses found grace in God’s eyes! Exodus 33 In this grace, he made a demand of God to go with them!
Ruth found grace! Ruth 2 In that grace, she gave birth to King David’s grandfather and preserved the lineage of Christ!
Esther found grace! Esther 2 In that grace, she delivered the nation of Israel!

Ephesians 2:8-9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—
9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We have found grace in God’s eyes – and in that Grace, there are good works which he has prepared for us to do…amazing!
Amazing Grace!

Peace
The word study on this is Strongs G1515 –

a state of national tranquillity
exemption from the rage and havoc of war
peace between individuals, i.e. harmony, concord
security, safety, prosperity, felicity, (because peace and harmony make and keep things safe and prosperous)
of the Messiah’s peace
the way that leads to peace (salvation)
of Christianity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is

Doing a study on that Greek word has many offerings, but these mean much to me:

John 14:27
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 16:33
33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Galatians 5:22 mentions it as a fruit!

Ephesians 2:14
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,

HE – Jesus is our PEACE!

Isaiah 26:3
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.

Hebrew, 7965 – shalom

completeness, soundness, welfare, peace
completeness (in number)
safety, soundness (in body)
welfare, health, prosperity
peace, quiet, tranquillity, contentment
peace, friendship
of human relationships
with God especially in covenant relationship
peace (from war)
peace (as adjective)

Two different languages, ONE HUGE blessing and promise!
I wonder if this is how we should bless one another – GRACE and PEACE to YOU from our Lord Jesus Christ, ….
Galatians 1:3

from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5 to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Here is the power!
FROM OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST!
BY the power of his paying the price for our sins, and his resurrection by the Power of OUR God and Father(Who is ONLY our God and Father through the price paid by our LORD and Savior, Jesus Christ!)!
BY GRACE – we have been rescued from this present evil age by the Will of our Father God!
PEACE in that we are no longer at war with sin and death(well, at least the war is over…we have to fight the battles).

I want to break out into the song “There is power, power, wonder working power, in the blood of the Lamb!”
That blood bridged the chasm that separated us from the PEACE of GOD!

Jesus was being heckled for mentioning the forgiveness of sins when he healed a paralytic, and he said:

Matthew 9:5 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

The implied answer is that it would have been easier for him to say get up and walk, because man cannot forgive sins! It was a statement of WHO He is, and FROM WHOM He came!

POWER! This is not your squeamish “bless you” thrown around on a daily basis!
AND, as ambassadors for Christ – we are to bless others! Paul begins his letters with blessings, and ends his letters with blessings. The people in that day took blessings very seriously!
Just check out the verses about taking back your blessing if the folks of the house are not worthy!
A blessing is not something to be tossed about willy nilly!

Then, Paul really jumps into the WHY of the letter!

Galatians 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—
7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!
9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

We’ve just looked at the power behind a blessing – now Paul is speaking out a curse!
This almost sounds like some mumbo jumbo in our day in age.

Jesus said, in Matthew 18:18

“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

That’s some more mumbo jumbo sounding stuff.
Is it?
Or do we really have power to impart God’s blessing, and to withold it?

Jesus says in John 14:12-14

12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Matthew 21:21-22 records Jesus saying:

21 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

We are given responsibility for our words, our speech to speak the things of God.
I’m not talking name it claim it, though there is some truth to those teachings. That is why they are so popular.
I’m not saying that we have the same creative power in our words as the Son of God, who spoke the worlds into existence.
I’m saying that the creator God lives within us, and by that position, we have the power available, and we can speak good and evil over people, and God will hear, and move. We are his hands, feet, ears AND HIS MOUTHS!
I want to be a blessing!
But, when someone needs to know that they are taking the wrong turn, I want to speak correction in love!

Galatians 1:10 Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

The Amplified Bible says it this way:

10 Now am I trying to win the favor of men, or of God?
Do I seek to please men?
If I were still seeking popularity with men, I should not be a bond servant of Christ (the Messiah).

I kind of giggle when I read this.
If I wanted to be popular, I wouldn’t be talking this kind of talk!
I’d be talking to tickle ears!
I’d be petting and flattering!
And I cannot be a bond servant of Christ and live like that!

Jesus mentioned in Matthew 6:24

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

On the mount, God spoke to Moses and said (Exodus 20)

20:1 And God spoke all these words:
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

Before I move on to Paul’s explanation of WHY he can claim to be an Apostle – I am thinking on this very point…
If something that is told to me as scriptural leads me to be more comfortable with men/women, and not with God – should I be listening? When I write it out that way, of course the answer is NO!

When I am speaking with someone that is espousing homosexuality, abortion, addictions, promiscuity, working on the Sabbath or even which day is the Sabbath, what to eat or drink or wear or any other item in the word, how do I handle myself? Do I water down the word? Or do I pound them into the ground with scripture from my perspective?
Do I start clawing at their splinter, while I cannot see around the beam in my eye?
The key for me is that I speak the truth in love.

Ephesians 4:14-16
14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

It appears to me that this is addressed to Believers speaking to believers – not unbelievers.

Mark 16:15-16
15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

In case you do not like the latter part of Mark 16, here is Matthew 28:19-20

19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.

FIRST, we preach the gospel to the unbelievers.
NEXT, we teach them about baptism
THEN, we teach them to obey all that Christ has commanded us.
By that time, THEY ARE BELIEVERS!

My point is that we need to recognize to whom we are speaking.
In doing so, we need to recognize our own tendencies to want to be pleasers of men.
2 Corinthians talks about not being unequally yoked.
John 17 talks about being IN the world but not OF the world.
1 John talks about not loving the world.

It is so easy to just hedge, so that I don’t have to deal with conflict.
On the other hand, I’ve been in places where there are those that are screaming angry phrases and waving judgmental signs and I have unbelievers ask me if THAT is the Jesus I serve.
I have to tell them no.
Jesus did not scream angrily at unbelievers.
He did not point out the sins of unbelievers with a bull horn.
He spoke to them one on one, and once they believed, he took them by the hand and discipled them.
Noah, Hebrews 11:7

7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

I’m sure Noah had many many people asking him questions…and I’m sure he told them what God had said.
I’m sure that his life stood out as different – considering that God had noticed that he was the only righteous one!
It wasn’t Noah’s words that condemned the world – it was his righteousness in the face of all the others telling him to be this way or that! IN the midst of an evil generation, Noah was righteous! He did not succumb to peer pressure. He was not a man pleaser!

Hebrews 11 speaks of many that lived a righteous life, by faith.

This is what I see for me in this section.
I want to walk in the Grace and Peace of God, to use the gifts HE created within me to glorify HIM, and to not cave to the ways of the world to be more comfortable. That takes FAITH – which of course is not of my own, but a gift from God!

I want to stand before my Lord and hear Him say that I am definitely a bond-servant of Jesus Christ.
I want to hear him say “enter into the joy of your Lord”
And I’d like to take as many with me as I can!

A Blast from the Past – my comments in 2009 on Galatians 1.
Itty Bitty Bible Study – Galatians 1:11-24 & 2:1-10

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

I want to thank

for the ability to search the Bible online.

There are many organizations that support children and families. Here is one that we are blessed to be a part of. Please consider sponsoring a child – the life you change could be your own.

2016 Word for the Year – Prepare – Psalm 23 – understanding my benefits

Psalm 23.
Understanding the benefits for those to whom the Lord is Shepherd.

The Lord is my Shepherd by Keith Green

In 2011, I prepared a Bible Study for several women at an RV park in which we lived.

PSALM 23 – 11/15/2011

A psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

Shepherd/sheep
Ps 100:3; Ps 79:13
John 10:11 & 14; 27-28

Provide:
Phil 4:19
Matt 6:25ff; Lk 12:30-32
Ps 84:11

Peaceful Place/ Peaceful heart
Ps 29:11; Is 26:3
Rev 7:17; 22:17
Mk 4:9; John 14:27, John 16:33

Yesterday, while I was meditating upon the Lord and His word, I checked out the Bible Promise for the day.Promise 269.

When you walk through the valley of death

Today, I’m meditating on Psalm 23. Not specifically verse 4, but, the fullness of Psalm 23, in providing so much for me to make it through life’s storms.

Psalm 23

THE LORD
Definition of lord
1
: one having power and authority over others:
a : a ruler by hereditary right or preeminence to whom service and obedience are due
b : one of whom a fee or estate is held in feudal tenure
c : an owner of land or other real property
d obsolete : the male head of a household
e : husband
f : one that has achieved mastery or that exercises leadership or great power in some area
2
capitalized
a : god 1
b : jesus

There is much in the Bible about the LORD. Of course, this depends upon one’s beliefs, but for me, this is the part of the definition of GOD’s position:

1
: one having power and authority over others:
a : a ruler by hereditary right or preeminence to whom service and obedience are due

It’s difficult for me to separate WHO GOD is, with Who I believe HIM to be.

CREATOR
The Hebrew from Strongs says this word is Yehovah.
It’s the same word used for the creator in Genesis 2.

יְהֹוָה Yᵉhôvâh, yeh-ho-vaw’; from H1961; (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jeho-vah, Jewish national name of God:—Jehovah, the Lord.

Genesis 2:4 This is the history of [the origin of] the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day [that is, days of creation] that the [a]Lord God made the earth and the heavens—

Continuing on in the Bible, it is evident that the LORD has his fingers in everything that effects mankind.

For anyone’s research pleasure, Blue Letter Bible has a comprehensive list of the use of the word Yehovah!

DELIVERER
The only reason the Israelites were at the Mountain to receive God’s commandments, was that HE delivered them from the slavery of Egypt.

a quick google for God as deliverer produces a Bible Verse list on deliverance of God as deliverer.

The Song of Moses after the exodus!
Exodus 15

Exodus 15
1
Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this [a]song to the Lord, singing,

“I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously;
The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea.
2
“The Lord is my strength and my song,
And He has become my salvation;
This is my God, and I will praise Him;
My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.

Psalms 50:14-16
14″Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High;
15Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”
16But to the wicked God says, “What right have you to tell of My statutes And to take My covenant in your mouth?…

GOVERNOR
When God met Moses on the mount, and gave him the 10 commandments, he described himself thus:

Exodus 20 Then God spoke all these words:

2 “I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.

4 “You shall not make for yourself any idol, or any likeness (form, manifestation) of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth [as an object to worship].
5 You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous (impassioned) God [[a]demanding what is rightfully and uniquely mine], visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers on the children [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers], to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,
6 but showing graciousness and steadfast lovingkindness to thousands [of generations] of those who love Me and keep My commandments.

7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain [that is, irreverently, in false affirmations or in ways that impugn the character of God]; for the Lord will not hold guiltless nor leave unpunished the one who [b]takes His name in vain [disregarding its reverence and its power].

Gen 17:17-18
Psalms 50:7; 81:10
Isaiah 44:6; 45:5-6
Jeremiah 10:10-11

When Moses had to replace the tablets, he begged God to show him HIS glory. Moses wanted to know God better. This is how God described HIMself.

Exodus 33:
18 Then Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory!”
19 And God said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the Name of the Lord before you; for I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion (lovingkindness) on whom I will show compassion.”
20 But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me and live!”
21 Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place beside Me, and you shall stand there on the rock;
22 and while My glory is passing by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and protectively cover you with My hand until I have passed by.
23 Then I will take away My hand and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen.”

When they were done with the new tablets, God granted his request:

Exodus 34
5 Then the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with Moses as he proclaimed the Name of the Lord.
6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him, and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth (faithfulness);
7 keeping mercy and lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin; but He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting (avenging) the iniquity (sin, guilt) of the fathers upon the children and the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations [that is, calling the children to account for the sins of their fathers].”

There is another aspect of LORD that holds great meaning indicated in that visitation from God.

JUDGE
He will judge the quick and the dead.

The Song of Moses(from Ex 15) is spoken about in Revelation 15:1-4…the end.
From the Beginning (Genesis) to the end (Revelation) – the LORD is involved in the lives of man.

Song of Moses by Chris Codding
By Paul Wilbur

Romans 14:12 12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.

1 Peter 4:5 But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
2 Tim 4:1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:

Creator, Deliverer, Governor and Judge.
The verses point to Christ within the context of LORD.

Romans 14:9
For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.

2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Acts 10:42
James 5:9

Oh Lord, You’re Beautiful by Keith Green

The next important part is the response to WHOM HE is.
It gets personal.

THE LORD IS MY

I’m going to stop here – and discuss MY the next time.

How does this apply to PREPARE?
Before one goes into battle, one must know his/her weapons and armor, and how to use them. By the time I get to walking in that valley of the shadow of death, I need to KNOW my shepherd, and KNOW what HE will do for me, and what I can do for myself.

This Psalm came before Psalms 91, and before Ephesians 6.
God putting forth HIS hand to cover Moses is a beautiful illustration of God’s protection, and understanding of our form, and what we need and don’t need.
To be prepared, I have had to hide God’s word in my heart – that I not sin against HIM.

I pray that my thoughts can bless those that read this.
I am so far from getting this right, but I’m willing to share my journey with you.

Me and My Love

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

I want to thank Blue Letter Bible and Bible Gateway for the ability to search the Bible online.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

There are many organizations that support children and families. Here is one that we are blessed to be a part of. Please consider sponsoring a child – the life you change could be your own.

Naomi’s Heart Ministries

28 Days of Grace – day 24

Follow Up with Doctor
oops, nope….health and wellness doctor got sick!
So, work on the things I was planning to work on…online….and then, I thought I’d go paint.
Only, by the time I got the things done I was planning on getting done before my 2pm appointment…well, it was 1:30pm!!!

So – what did I do?
took Gabriel for another walk!
This was not as far…
This morning’s walk was .47 mi in 15:41 minutes(with doggy poo waiting involved)
This afternoon’s walk was .34 mi in 7:40 minutes. I was pushing the speed…and could feel the beginning of the shin spints on the right leg…BUT it was at 2.65 mph…the fastest since my surgery!

My goal? 4mph…is that possible with walking? I don’t know….
How has this yeast free program worked to help me in this?
Lowered inflammation TOTALLY!
My endurance is growing…and I’m not freaked out by the pains!

Eating…totally going paleo…I feel better than ever.

Is this like paying the price for heaven?
what? there’s a price that we pay?

YEPPERS!
Luke 14:35 and following….there IS a COST to discipleship!

And I am learning that the cost for health is just part of the cost of discipleship…because:

1 cor 3:16-17

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are.

1 cor 6:19-20

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

I don’t belong to myself…except that it is my choice to whom I belong…and I choose to glorify God in MY body!

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

I’d love to hear what you think – please leave a comment!
Or ‘like’ me!

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We have email subscription! Or sign up for an account, and you can manage your subscription from the dashboard!
Soon, we will have a gallery for the art I have created by the hand of God.

Naomi's Heart Mission

Help a child in need. Check out Naomi’s Heart Mission or Compassion International. The life that changes will be your own!

28 DAYS OF GRACE – DAY 22! A NEW DAY!

Jim is doing a Level Up program through Nerd fitness….
and today’s post is AMAZING!

But it’s copy righted and for a private paid for group(I get bonus because I’m Jim’s wife).
But this is a quote that Steve quoted in this post:

Victor Frankl, author of the absolutely heartbreaking and yet incredibly positive “A Man’s Search For Meaning” once said:

“Those who have a ‘why’ can bear with almost any ‘how.”

Here’s my response:

Yes yes.yes…I’ve wanted a why for my whole life, and for our married life!

WHY?

and then, the what and how fall into place, or at least the what nots are more easily recognizable!

I’ve always had a WHY that pertains to EVERY Christian:

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Eph 2:10

walk in good works to glorify God!

WHICH GOOD WORKS?????

Obviously, the good works that ALL Christians are supposed to walk in…..
The Fruit of the Spirit – Ephesians 5, Galatians 5

The Number one Fruit – Love – John 13:34

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

The Whole Law – Matt 22:37-40

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

BUT WHAT DOES THAT SAY TO ME, SPECIFICALLY?
That gets into talents, hiding them, or investing them…

I wrote about that before…but the WHY for how to live, for me, is to glorify GOD!
The HOW and WHAT is all about investing the talents God has given ME to use for HIM.

And, there is another thought hidden in here for me….
“Love your neighbor AS YOURSELF.”

I HAVE SPENT MANY MANY YEARS NOT LOVING MYSELF!

Not taking care of my own health has been a self hatred behavior.

These 28 days of Grace…which was what I was begging and praying for to get through this Yeast Free program…has not just turned my body and health around…it has turned my heart and mind around.

I need to LOVE ME because HE FIRST LOVED ME!
And if GOD has decided to LOVE ME the way HE does…Who am I to argue?

Good food
Good exercise
Good prayer
Good fellowship….
Good life!

I CHOOSE LIFE!
God life!
And I pray that my life will glorify Him, as I learn my WHY, WHAT and HOW to walk in good works!

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

I’d love to hear what you think – please leave a comment!
Or ‘like’ me!

If you like The WildBerry Patch, follow me with the RSS feed.

We have email subscription! Or sign up for an account, and you can manage your subscription from the dashboard!
Soon, we will have a gallery for the art I have created by the hand of God.

Naomi's Heart Mission

Help a child in need. Check out Naomi’s Heart Mission or Compassion International. The life that changes will be your own!

28 days of Grace – day 21

Today has been a very rough day.
Many things in our lives have been placed up in the air this weekend…and we are struggling as a couple to figure out what WE are supposed to be doing, in light of GOD’s plan for our lives.

In the process of MY working things out…I called upon a friend to talk things out with me…so that I could figure out my own logic, heart, mind, emotions…and be able to present my position to my husband, Jim, without all the drama of emotions that ran throughout the weekend for and from me.

DID I BINGE IN THE MIDST OF EMOTIONAL TURMOIL????

BY THE GRACE OF GOD I DID NOT!!!

Food is NOT for settling emotional issues.
Food is NOT for comforting a broken heart.
Food is NOT for answering the tough questions.

Food is Fuel
Food is good for celebrations….and no, every moment of every day is not an option for food celebrations!

This weekend, we spent time eating out.
I CHOSE PLACES WHERE I COULD MAKE GOOD CHOICES!

I MADE THOSE GOOD CHOICES…though of course, they were not as good as if I had stayed home….but staying home forever is not an acceptable concept!

I didn’t even think about deserts at those restaurants! SERIOUSLY! AMAZINGLY! BY GOD’S GRACE, I AM STANDING!

And this is with deep despair, lonesomeness and feelings of abandonment and broken promises swirling around me and my husband.
This used to be Pizza and apple pie time, with ice cream.

This time, it was talk with each other, talk with God time!

I pray that, by the grace of God, I will continue to move forward in my life, with this relationship with food…fuel…that can taste good, but isn’t the fuel to make my life good!

My life is about my choices…and I choose to make food one of my tools, not to be ruled by food!

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

I’d love to hear what you think – please leave a comment!
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Soon, we will have a gallery for the art I have created by the hand of God.

Naomi's Heart Mission

Help a child in need. Check out Naomi’s Heart Mission or Compassion International. The life that changes will be your own!

28 days of Grace – Day 13

What holds you back?
Why don’t you move forward?
Why do you hold back from doing your best?

I don’t have any answers for this one….since, I have just completed the 60 day challenge with T-Tapp, and I am struggling with the idea that I held back.
Could I have done more floor exercises? Sure.
Could I have eaten better the first 6 weeks? Sure.
Could I have been more consistent with what I knew to do? Of course.

The question is, did I take every moment, and make the choice to move forward? Fail forward if I needed to?
I don’t know.

Life is made up of choices…and we are the composite of all of our choices.
We are not in control of what others do to us, but we are in control of our reactions and replies.

The past 6 weeks, my husband did a challenge of his own.
Here is his blog post:

ON GOALS, CHALLENGES, AND DOING THE LITTLE THINGS,
by Jim Wildman
As I’ve said before, I frequent the Nerdfitness online community as “wildross”. Every couple of months the community runs a “6 week challenge”. Participants post 3 fitness goals and 1 life goal, then track their progress. In the most recent challenge, and video game system for scoring points was added (which I’ve ignored). The community is divided into “Guilds” depending on what your fitness focus is. Mine is weightlifting, so I’m a “Warrior”. My most recent 6 week challenge thread is here. As part of this 6 week challenge, the guild leaders proposed we try to lift the weight of a loaded space shuttle (4,000,000+ pounds) before the Enterprise was set on the deck of the USS Intrepid on June 6th. To track our progress, they published a Google spreadsheet and divided us into 2 teams.

Right off the bat I saw that keeping track of total weight lifted instead of just repetitions and sets added a different flavor to the competition. All lifts were counted at full weight, with pullups counting at 90% of bodyweight and pushups counting at 60% of bodyweight. I started out doing between 15 and 20,000 pounds of lifting during a workout.

On May 8th, I proposed a challenge to do 30,000# of weights in one session (no allowance for bodyweight exercises). That seemed like a real stretch goal to me. Two guys immediately did over 40,000#. It took about a week and I did it too. Not as hard as I thought at all. One competitor proposed a 100,000# workout. (No one has done that yet, but I believe I can with a bit more conditioning.)

As the challenge went on, I constantly had to revise my goals. 30,000# in a workout became my “standard”. I did it for 2 weeks straight, 5 days a week, with a max of 61,000# on the last day. I thought I would lift a total of 250,000# in the 6 weeks, then 300,000#, then 500,000#, then 700,000#… I ended up lifting over 970,000# of weights in the 6 weeks (including body weight exercises).

So what did I learn from all this lifting?? Maybe nothing new, but lots of basic things got solidly reinforced.

Consistency matters: going to the gym every day (or as my goal was, 5 days a week) adds up. A number or goal that seems impossible is attainable in steps.
Little things matter: the team I was not on “won” the challenge, mostly because several of the women realized that the pushups were “easy” and added up. One did 1,000 pushups in the last weekend (having never done more then a couple dozen in a day before); 10 or 20 at a time. Another did 500. Several of the men did as well.
Success breeds success: once we knocked off the 30,000# goal, we knew we could go much higher and were encouraged to do so. Once the women realized that they could do a set of 10 pushups every half hour, all day, it became possible to do it several days in a row.
To accomplish big things, you need to do a few little things well: The basis for my average of over 30,000# a day is my ability to do over head presses and bench presses. I can do 10 sets of 10 with a considerable amount of weight, every day. I would fill out the workout with other exercises, but those 2 were the base.
Lay the ground work by doing the little things every day: Early on in the challenge, I often thought about doing pushups before bedtime or before I took a shower, but I didn’t do it. 7 pushups a day would have put me over 1,000,000# for the challenge. But I didn’t know that until it was too late to make up the difference.
You have to use all your resources to do big things: I can’t lift 30,000# in a session with just my arms, or in just one exercise (at least not yet). But I have a number of exercises that use different sets of muscles that I can alternate. By varying the routine, I use the energy stored in all my muscles and get more done.
This one is old…slow and steady wins the race: Big and flashy wears you out.

So where does this leave me? Very encouraged at what I can do physically. Very humbled that I have not applied these simple principles to other areas of my life. I’ve sold myself short in many areas because I’ve swung for the fences (big splash) or thought a particular goal was beyond me. Or as the prophet Isaiah said it “Line upon line, precept upon precept”

So what big goal can you break down into little bit size pieces??

GREAT QUESTION!!!!
I’ve been held back because I could only see doing a Triathlon…not walking 1/4 mile 4 times a day.
I could only see doing the Full 15 minute Basic Workout for T-Tapp – not doing the 9 minute chair workout, twice.
I can only see the whole book written, not writing one chapter at a time.

I have been held back by seeing the hugeness of the task, and not breaking it into smaller bites.
Our daughter, Faith, memorized a poem from Shel Silverstein’s book, Where the Sidewalk Ends, and I can hear her recite it in my ear today:

Melinda Mae
Have your heard of tiny Melinda Mae,
Who ate a monstrous whale?
She thought she could,
She said she would,
So she started right in at the tail.

And everyone said, “You’re much too small,”
But that didn’t bother Melinda at all.
She took little bites and she chewed very slow,
Just like a good girl should…

…And in eighty-nine years she ate that whale
Because she said she would!

I pray that it doesn’t take me 89 years, but thanks to Jim, and several ladies I will be praising in one of my future blogs, I am making steps forward.
Here’s my favorite small steps song:

The goals Jim’s team made seemed impossible when they made them.
I do have to keep my health limitations in mind….but, I need to give myself grace, I need to look at things in smaller bites, shorter steps…one step at a time!
Thanks, Jim!

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Romans 5:1-2

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

I’d love to hear what you think – please leave a comment!
Or ‘like’ me!

If you like The WildBerry Patch, follow me with the RSS feed.

We have email subscription! Or sign up for an account, and you can manage your subscription from the dashboard!
Soon, we will have a gallery for the art I have created by the hand of God.

Naomi's Heart Mission

Help a child in need. Check out Naomi’s Heart Mission or Compassion International. The life that changes will be your own!

A Guest Blogger – on Lifetime Goals

My dear friend, Elizabeth Ours, the writer of Yes, They’re All Ours, wrote an interesting blog today.

My Lifetime Priorities and Goals

My comment to her post is this:
I agree that we need to find ways to remind ourselves of what God has put in our paths for our life.

I have written out goals almost every year in January, and one of the things I find interesting is how often, I’ve misplaced last year’s set. And the other thing that is interesting, is how often, when I find last years set – they are almost identical.

One of the neat things, though, is to look and see how far I’ve come since last year. Usually not as far as I’d hoped, but much father than if I had never set goals.

I find Elizabeth to be a Godly woman of influence in my life.

I would recommend following her posts!

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.