Operation: Asa Joy

I had planned to start studying the word abundance at the beginning of the new year. To truly sit down and start searching the scriptures for the things that the Christian are supposed to abound in. That was my intent. But not God’s. I was trying to figure out what to study this morning when God reminded me of a book that I had just unpacked. It was a book I had gotten at the beginning of last year and then set aside. Write the Word: Cultivate Joy-Love One Another. It is a scripture writing journal designed by Lara Casey of Cultivate What Matters. You write a scripture passage, list one thing you are thankful for, write some thoughts about your day, and then chose a word of the day. Very simple. I grabbed it this morning because I finished the Ann Voskamp devotional yesterday and was looking for something to do. I am so glad I did. I love having my bookshelves complete downstairs so that I can go and find any book that I need. What a wonderful Christmas present from my de...

Christmas Morning Musings These past couple mornings at the new house I have endeavored to start getting up early and spending the first minutes of my day with the Lord. I have neglected this for a while now and have realized how much I have missed it. Coming out of my new master bedroom and right into my kitchen does help. I have fixed myself coffee and read or pulled out a journal or written scripture. In the quiet of the morning, before any of my family has risen from their beds, I find myself craving this time more. Why did I stop doing this? To be honest, I do not know. Life. Moving. Children. Tiredness. Sickness. Apathy. Laziness. All of this led me to forget all the many verses that state that we are to start our mornings with the Lord. Even if that means reading a quick scripture passage before our feet hit the floor. I prayed last night that the Lord would give me an insight for this morning. I have found that when I pray expectantly ...

2019 Word of the Year I have been praying for several months about what the Lord would have my word of 2019 be. For the last few years the Lord has given the word around October or November. For several years I had my word as JOY. I had a wise friend tell me that I should make JOY my life word and pick a new word for last year. Very wise advice indeed. JOY is still a word that is very special to me since it was the loss of our dear Asa that sent me on a journey to seek true JOY in Christ alone. That journey will never end. The Lord revealed my word for 2018 right away. UNRIVALED. I have spent the past year truly focusing on making Christ the true priority and focus. It has been a year of searching out the things that steal my time away from Christ. The Lord has revealed to me that there are many things in my life that I need to do away with so that I can spend more time and focus on Him. It has been a year where I learned about seeking out those whom I have offended and hurt an...

November 17, 2018 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 English Standard Version (ESV) 14  But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. 15  For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, 16  to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? 17  For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. Thanksgiving. That is what it is all about this month. I have been amazed at the amount of scripture that talks about thanksgiving. We are supposed to embody a life of gratefulness for all that God has blessed us with. This passage made me think about the fact that I need to be thankful for the fact that God is causing his glory to spread throu...

Lessons from the Prayer of Jonah A lot of my blog post come from the scripture writing that I do every day. I will write a verse and then God will gently lead me to dig a little deeper into a verse. It is normally a word that will pique my interest and I will want to dig into the meaning behind why that verse is there in the Bible. I will read other translations and go to commentaries and dictionaries to study the passage. It is exciting to learn about why Bible translators chose a particular word based on the Greek and Hebrew originals. I have always said that I would probably enjoy taking seminary classes bot to get a degree but just to learn more about the Bible. Well, today I was continuing in my thanksgiving scripture writing for the month of November. I ended up in the book of Jonah, which is not normally a book of the Bible that I am in too often. I wrote Jonah 2:7-9 7  When my life was fainting away,      I remembered the Lord , a...

For a while now, Carl and I have felt that the Lord was leading us to move from the house that we are currently in. We have been praying and trying to discern what the Lord would have us do. About a month and a half ago we saw a house for sale that is next door to good friends of ours. We contacted a friend of ours that is a realtor. She set up a showing for us. We felt the Lord was not leading us to that particular house, but it was good to start the process of looking for a house. With Carl doing football and myself involved in The Prodigals, we just could not find time to look at houses. Our realtor emailed us one day to say that we should look at a specific house. She said that she thought it would be perfect for our family. We had been looking for one story houses or one and half stories. We wanted to make sure that the house would fit our needs even when the kids started moving out. We wanted lots of space but everything for Carl and I to be on the first floor. We went ba...