Conformed or Transformed?

Our merciful Father, may Thy church be stripped of all that weakens and be clothed with all that strengthens. Cleanse us from a worldly mind-a mind that reaches eagerly for the things that perish and discerns but dimly, the values that are deathless- and purge from our souls the pettiness that quarrels over trifles, the pride that makes an idol out of titles and offices, the narrowness that has no understanding eye for churches and nations and races other than our own. Drive from our hearts the complacency, the prayerlessness, the heedlessness that form always so deadly a drag on our discipleship and witness. We ask, amid the difficulties and vexations of these times, for a holy and heartening remembrance of the pioneers who have blazed the long trails by which the gospel has been carried to strange lands and distant peoples. May the mantle of their dauntless courage and their passionate love for the souls of men fall upon us. Revive Thy church everywhere. Give us reality to our worshi...

It's been a while since my last post. It seems life has been pretty crazy. Olivia was in the hospital for a few days with a kidney infection. Brian was out of town and some friends of ours were out of town and we were watching their 3 girls. I wasn't sure how I was going to take her in to the hospital at 9pm and manage to get kids off to school and such in the morning. I am so blessed to have good neighbors. Andrew was ok to spend the night here and "hold the fort down" and my neighbor took the girls and my brother was able to take the big kids to the highschool. A big hearty THANK YOU to all who helped make things easier. I couldn't have done it without you. Olivia has been on antibiotics since the visit and is doing well. It took us a week to get back in the groove of things, but praise God she is back on her feet! How quickly we can take our physical health for granted. I have a friend who has to go to the hospital all the time for her three children...

Prayer can no more be divorced from worship than life can be divorced from breathing. If we follow his impulse, the Holy Spirit will always lead us to pray. When we allow Him to work freely, he will always bring the Church to extensive praying. Conversely, when the Spirit is absent, we will find excuses not to pray. We may say, "God understands. He knows I love him. But I’m tired…I’m so busy…It’s just not convenient now." When the Spirit is absent, our excuses always seem right, but in the presence of the Spirit our excuses fade away. R.T. Kendall

There are so many areas of my life that I have been bringing before the Lord. I am staying focused and worshipping and serving Him while I wait. Listen to the words of this song.... While I'm Waiting John Waller The Blessing I’m waiting. I’m waiting on You, Lord And I am hopeful I’m waiting on You, Lord Though it is painful But patiently, I will wait I will move ahead, bold and confident Taking every step in obedience While I’m waiting I will serve You While I’m waiting I will worship While I’m waiting I will not faint I’ll be running the race Even while I wait I’m waiting I’m waiting on You, Lord And I am peaceful I’m waiting on You, Lord Though it’s not easy, no But faithfully, I will wait Yes, I will wait And I will move ahead, bold and confident Taking every step in obedience While I’m waiting I will serve You While I’m waiting I will worship While I’m waiting I will not faint I’ll be running the race Even while I wait I will move ahead, bold and confident I'll be taking ...

I have been reading a book called The Prayer Life by Andrew Murray. This book was written after a ministerial conference in Stellenbosch, South Africa in 1912. The ministers at the conference realized that one of the deepest roots of evil is the sin of prayerlessness. Andrew Murray writes about what they talked about to be victorious in this area. It was interesting to me that the reasons they struggled with not praying back in the late 1800's and early 1900's are the same reasons we give today: distractions, busyness, sin, ect.... It is not that we don't have time to pray, as we make time for friends to come over when they call. It's a matter of choice. Just as a doctor takes our pulse, our level of prayer is the pulse of our spiritual life. Prayer is a weapon that can destroy in a fight. We can conquer EVERYTHING by prayer. "Is it any wonder taht Satan does his utmost to snatch that weapon fromn the Christian or to hinder him from the use of it." ...

I run to You. When the waves around me are crashing from the storm.... When I'm in the stillness of the redwood forest and not a sound is heard... When I am in a crowd of people and feel all alone.... When I sit on the edge wondering where you are.... When I am filled with excitement that I cannot contain..... When I don't feel I can go on.... I run to You. Your love reaches. Your love touches. I run to You. Where it's always safe and I am held. I run to You. The One who never changes. I run to You. I run only to You. Jesus.

The following article is from http://www.crosswalk.com/spirituallife/11595374/ (Answers with Bayless Conley) It really hit home in many ways for me. It is a great follow-up to yesterday's post about waiting. If you’re like me, there's been a time in your life when trusting God has been tough. Perhaps that time is right now! Maybe your marriage isn't where you would like it to be. Perhaps it's far from ideal… even very far from being happy… and you've been praying and trusting God to turn things around. Maybe you're trusting God for the healing of a physical affliction in your body. Maybe there's a difficult financial situation in which you're trusting God for favor. Maybe it has to do with your kids or some other situation in the home. Maybe it has to do with something that's going on at work and you're trusting God for something to change. Whatever it is, I want to encourage you with a word from the Lord today. I want to share with you one rea...

It is so hard to wait. We can get impatient. We can get down right mad at having to wait. We have gotten so used to instant gratification that I think we have lost the art of waiting. The "art of waiting"? What does that mean? There was a time when people prayed until they saw God moved. There was a time when people pleaded with God and stayed all day, all night, whatever it took to see God move. There was a time when people fasted and gave up everything just to wait on God. There was a time.....when was the last time for you? Has there been a time? I am convicted in my own spirit by this. So, what will I do about it? I find there are some things I have been praying about and I am waiting. Trying to be patient. Trying to be faithful. Trying to keep my face on the ground and not give up. Trying. Trying. Trying.....and yet....what are we supposed to do "in the waiting"? Here are some things God spoke to my heart about this morning: - Fast and keep a...

It is now time we set aside our feelings about the election and act. We can spend a lot of time speculating, fighting, talking about the election, but what if we were to spend that same amount of time in prayer for our president? I believe that God can change even the hardest of hearts. I believe that God can move mountains....truly. I believe that God is ABLE to do exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or imagine! Do YOU? PRAY....... The following was sent to me by a dear saint: The 10 Ways to Pray for Barack Obama Whether you are happy about this week’s election results or not, all Christians must unite in prayer for our new president. Please don’t forsake this responsibility. It’s over. We’ve reached the end of the longest, angriest and most nerve-wracking presidential campaign in American history. Finally the “I approved this message” ads have ceased. The endless robot phone calls have stopped ringing. The debates, and the annoying post-debate comments from “experts,”...

I have been watching some of the speeches this week from the Republican Convention. I was really impressed with Sarah Palin. She's got such personality! You could feel the people being drawn in by her speech and by the end, you could tell that they loved her! The commentators at the end of the speech were saying what an incredible job she did and then it immediately went to a clip about a lawsuit she is currently fighting in Alaska. I was really disappointed. It seemed they took her great moment and tried to squelch it. Every decision she has ever made, her family life, her job, everything is under scrutiny. It got me thinking, what if my life "went public" tomorrow? What if others evaluated my every decision? If they scrutized how I raised our family and spend my money, how would I hold up? Would they have a lot of "dirt" to proclaim to the press or would they see a life of integrity? 1 Peter 2:12 says to live such good lives among the pagans that, ...

It has been an extremely difficult month, hence the reason for the lack of posting here. I have been working two jobs and spent very little time on the computer. It has been a month of hard work and lots of thinking, discussions, praying and seeking God's heart. We have finally made some decisions and it will mean change for our family. As much as we know this is the direction we are to take and have such a peace about these decisions, the transitions and goodbyes are difficult. I will be posting more about what it will look like in future posts. For now, I am working for Homeless Outreach Ministry Exchange, which houses the homeless and transition house clients. It is very demanding, but rewarding. My job includes doing the books, working one on one with the women and a little work at the 4 men's houses that we have. We are a faith-based ministry, so I am allowed to talk freely about my faith and share it with them. I am very thankful for these opportunities to present hope in...

This is a great prayer by Charles Stanley: Good morning, Lord! Thank you for assuring me victory today if I will but follow Your battle plan. So by faith, I claim victory over: ______________________________________. To prepare myself for the battle ahead, by faith I put on the Belt of Truth. The truth about You, Lord, that You are our Sovereign God who knows everything about me, both my strengths and weaknesses. Lord, You know my breaking point and have promised not to allow me to be tempted beyond what I am able to bear. The truth about me, Lord, is that I am a new creation in Christ and have been set free from the power of sin. I am indwelt with the Holy Spirit who will guide me and warn me when danger is near. I am Your child and nothing can separate me from Your love. The truth is that You have a purpose for me this day, someone to encourage, someone to share with, someone to love. Next, Lord, I want to, by faith, but on the Breastplate of Righteousness . Through this, I guard my...

I have been reading the book The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence again. This book is one of my favorite books. I am amazed at a man who lived his life washing dishes and was able to live a life of worship through it all. He prayed continually and was an incredible example to me on living a sanctified, holy life. He was as ordinary as they come in this life, and yet so extraordinary in his walk with God. I will probably be posting more from this book, but for today, here is the quote that got to me: "When he was troubled by something, he seldom consulted anyone about it. Knowing only that God was present, he walked in the light of faith and was content just to lose himself in God's love no matter what happened." I am a person who processes things by talking them out. Sometimes that gets me in trouble. God is really the only one that can do anything about my situations. In times of trouble, I need to "lose myself in God's love" and trust...

I am amazed at all that happened this year....and these pictures from msnbc don't even cover it all. We live in a world that has exciting things and devestating things happening at the very same time. These pictures remind me that I need to be praying for our world! And so much more than "Bless the people in Africa" type prayers. I am also reminded of God's greatness in creation. What amazing beauty he has given to us. The space pictures are incredible! Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Lord, we need you!

The past few months have been difficult with my daughter. Has anyone noticed that girls are soo different than boys? My son, now 13 years old, never cared what I picked out for him to wear. He was just glad that I picked them out! My daughter, almost 7 years old, HAS AN OPINION! My daughter and I have been struggling every day with our morning routine. And somewhere in the morning, I get a "NO, MOMMY!" from her. But, today was a different kind of "NO" from her. We have discussed our morning attitudes and she truely desires to do what God wants her to do, because she has Jesus in her heart. So, we started to pray about it together that Jesus would help her make good choices regarding her attitude. She asked me to remind her when she started to get a bad attitude that we should pray. This morning, as she started to get a little testy with me, I said "Olivia, let's pray!" So, we prayed and I asked Jesus to help Olivia have a good attitude this...

One summer day, a drought threatened the crop in a small town. On a hot and dry Sunday, the village parson told his congregation, "There isn't anything that will save us except to pray for rain. Go home, pray, believe, and come back next Sunday ready to thank God for sending rain." The people did as they were told and returned to church the following Sunday. But as soon as the parson saw them, he was furious. "We can't worship today. You do not yet believe," he said. "But," they protested, "we prayed, and we do believe." "Believe?" he responded. "Then where are your umbrellas?" The last 24 hours have been tough ones for me. I prayed, yes, but not with my umbrella in hand! Why is it that we pray half-heartedly? Why don't we expect God to to the impossible? He wants to bless us! He wants to give us the desires of our hearts! So, where's the faith? Today it's raining outside.....and inside. God answered pray...