I'll Follow

"You lead, I'll follow, Your hands hold my tomorrow,
Your grip, Your grace, You know the way,
You guide me tenderly,
When you lead, I'll follow,
Just light the way and I'll go,
Cause I know what you got for me is more than I can see,
So lead me on, on, on and on,
Just lead me on, on, on and on."


For some reason, every time I hear these words, I get all choked up.  They are the chorus to one of my all-time favorite songs ... "You Lead" by Jamie Grace.  Seriously.  What is the deal?  Pretty much every single time I hear this song ... as soon as the chorus comes on, I can't sing it 'cause I'm too busy almost crying. ... These words are just so powerful to me.  They are such a precious promise to me and for me ... and you too.  When we give up control of our lives and our future and our everyday circumstances and let God do the leading, He holds us steady.  His grace is more than enough to get us through anything.  He KNOWS the way ... He MADE the way, for crying out loud!  So He WILL guide us in that way.  Isn't that incredible to think about??? :)  So when we follow wholeheartedly ... when we accept and trust that God knows what He's got in store for us and believe that it is sooooo much better than anything we could ever come up with, then He holds us tight and leads us where we should go.  Everyday.  In every situation.


That is powerful stuff, people!  What an incredible promise from the God of the Universe, who cares about each and every one of us enough to have a plan for us and then guide us through that plan!  He doesn't just create us and then leave us.  He is ALIVE and ACTIVE in our lives!  All we have to do is have a relationship with Him and allow Him to LEAD us in the way we should go. ... So cool.  It is a promise.  And it is my prayer for my life ...


God, when you lead, I'll follow.
I'll follow.
I'LL FOLLOW!
So lead me on and on, on and on.

CHOSEN

1 Peter 2:9-10
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but no you have received mercy."

God chose me, has given me an eternal inheritance, set me apart for His own purposes, and adopted me as His child SO THAT I can proclaim His excellencies, SO THAT I can live for HIS GLORY.  And as a bonus, He has poured His mercy all over my life.  How incredible!  Today, that word “CHOSEN” is MY word.  That word CHOSEN is for me!  God CHOSE me!  He picked me out at the foundation of the world … to love Him, honor Him, serve Him … be all for Him.  That is so beyond any gift I could ever imagine, beyond any gift I could ever be given.  Thank you, Jesus!

A Resolution

I think the best thing I can do – today – to help me really glean all I can from this season of life is to commit the end of every single day to going deeper in the Lord. I MUST make the time at the end of EVERY day … even when I’m tired, even when I’ve been out dancing or out with Darrell or with SoZo … no matter what I’ve done with my evening … I MUST keep my time with the Lord sacred. If I can be faithful in that one thing, my entire life will continue to be transformed. As I press into Jesus more, my perspective will be completely changed and molded into what He wants it to be … just like my So Long, Insecurity devotional talked about - Hebrews 12:1-2 … God perfects our way of thinking as we fix our eyes on Jesus more and more over time. … Yeah! That’s what I want! I want my mind to be renewed, perfected, and honoring to Jesus. So I MUST stay plugged into the Source, reading my Bible, talking to God, digging deeper every single day. I will continue to do this everyday.

The Demon in the Gloves

We have an unusual, frustrating, comical, and yet very real problem at The Porch: there is a demon who lives in the right hand of every dishwashing glove my mom has ever bought. Yep, you heard me right ... a demon.

We do a lot of dishes at The Porch ... I mean A LOT of dishes. When you own a restaurant, you're gonna have to do dishes ... it's just part of the job - a big part. Well, you gotta have gloves for all those dishes so that your hands don't get pruney, old-looking, dry, and hard as time goes by. My mom, being the wonderfully compassionate and gifted boss that she is, always makes sure that we have dishwashing gloves in stock. And somehow, even in the midst of a demon, she never gives up buying her employees gloves. And if you only knew how many pairs of gloves we've really gone through 'cause I know they're not all in this picture. Without fail, the right-handed glove of every pair my mom has ever bought has gotten a hole in it from something ... a glass gets broken in the sink, a fork or a knife is hiding under the soap suds ... heck! Just yesterday, a piece of plastic sliced through my right-handed glove. The possibilities are endless! Sheesh. But to no end, it's always the right-handed glove that gets a hole in it! I don't think we've ever thrown away a left-handed glove before.

And tell me ... what is more annoying than going to wash the dishes by hand just to find that your hand is getting wet, smelly, and itchy inside that daggone right-handed glove (that you just bought, by the way!)?? As if doing the dishes wasn't trying enough, right? Hahahaha! That's why I'm convinced it's a demon! Only demons are THAT persistent and THAT stinkin' annoying! ...... So if you have a demon in your LEFT-handed dishwashing gloves, never fear! We have the answer for you at The Porch ... 2411 E. Main Street in Danville! Perhaps if we stand together, we can defeat the demon in the gloves!!!! Don't lose heart! The dishes must be done!

Snuffer

So awhile ago, I was reading through Exodus, and I stumbled across a super fun word. Like all the books of the Bible, Exodus is a pretty cool book ... but somewhere in the middle, and for several chapters afterward, it gets a bit dry. It talks about the tabernacle and how tall and wide and such it was supposed to be ... about the high priests and what color their robes should be and what fabric they should be made out of ... and on and on. Not sure why God wanted that in there, but I'm sure He has His reasons. ... Well, anyways ... I was reading through Exodus, and honestly? Was bored out of my mind ... and then I stumbled across the word "snuffer." Yes, I am not joking! SNUFFER! Isn't that an awesome word?? ... Well, I didn't have a clue what it was. I tried reading the same verse in the New Living Translation to see if another word was used, a word I actually knew. Nope. There it was again ... snuffer. Later that week, I told my mom about the word, snuffer, and she asked, "Well, don't you know what that is?" And I said no. So she walks into the next room (we were at The Porch at the time), grabs something off the shelf, and brings it in to show me. It was a SNUFFER!!! Come to find out ... snuffers are tools used to put out candles (shown in the picture above). You cover the lit candle wick with the bell-looking end of this little do-dad, and it puts out the fire. Cool, huh? Ha! Well, of course, I laughed out loud to find out what a snuffer actually is ... and I laughed even harder that my mom not only had one handy, but she sells 'em at The Porch! ... So if you're looking for a snuffer (and you know you are!!! Who wouldn't be looking for a snuffer? Seriously!), we have not one, but TWO, in stock at The Porch! Just sayin' ...

Exodus 25:38 - "Its snuffers and their trays shall be of pure gold."

I can be content through Christ who strengthens me!

Wow. God is bringing lots of ideas about Himself to my mind tonight. I guess that's what ya get when you try to read THREE separate books AND your Bible for your devotions all in one night! Whew! My brain is about to shut off from fullness! But before it shuts off ... one more thought comes to mind.

Just about everyone has heard Philippians 4:13 ... "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!" But how many people think about the context? I haven't thought much about it either. But I wanted to get one encouraging thought out while I'm thinking about it. ... So often, when I've heard Philippians 4:13, people go on and on about how they can do ANYTHING with God's strength. I don't disagree with this idea, but I think it's important that we think about the context of this verse. I've seen this verse plastered on billboards ... a picture of a body builder who believes he can lift some ridiculous amount of weight because "he can do ALL things through Christ who gives him strength." And sure, God could give him the strength to do that. I doubt it. But He could. But the context. Let's think about that for a moment ...

The verses surrounding Philippians 4:13 are all about God providing for Paul's needs. And verses 11 and 12 are about Paul grasping contentment, learning to be content, stinkin' BEING content NO MATTER what his circumstances ... and his circumstances were pretty crummy. So even though God could totally help a really strong guy be even stronger and lift a really heavy weight, that's not the point here. The point is that God can give us the strength to be content (and that's a pretty huge thing 'cause contentment is often hard to come by in this crazy, unstable life). With God's strength (His Holy Spirit's POWER living and working inside of us!), we can be content whether we're excited about our season of life or not.

And I don't know about you, but when I think of God's strength enabling me to be content in every situation, I get excited! 'Cause contentment is a terror at times! ... So please, keep believing you can do ANYTHING with God's strength at work in you ... 'cause He's just that powerful. But don't forget to be realistic ... to seek God out for the right kind of strength for your circumstances.

Okay ... that's all for now. This full brain is going to bed. Good night, y'all! :)

FOTS: Peace

On to the next Fruit of the Spirit post! It's only been several weeks since my last FOTS, so let's go! ;)

I'm so excited to hash out a few ideas about peace. What a precious gift. ... If you've struggled with worry, turmoil, or fear recently, you know how precious peace is. A definition of peace (or serenity) is this ... "calmness of mind; evenness of temper; undisturbed state; coolness." Calm. Undisturbed. Don't you like the sound of that? ... Now, I'm a Spunky, Spazzy Sanguine, so "calm" is not really in my reality most of the time ... if ever. Worry? Now, that's more me. I know ... worry = bad ... peace = good. I'm working on it.

I've been struggling a lot with fear over the past several weeks. It's hard to tell you what the fear is all about. Several things feed into it, I think. I'll just say that it's been overwhelming me, even emotionally crippling me, in some ways. It's been quite the battle. A battle for my heart and future. ... But I'm finally beginning to win. Perspective really is everything. Listening to the Holy Spirit is everything. In fact, here's a great solution for you ...

Perspective + the Holy Spirit = Peace

Isn't that great? Wow! You didn't know you were gonna get the answers to REAL and FULFILLED life in Christ just by reading a blog post, huh? Haha! Well, good job, God! Thanks! .......... Huh. Wow, that's kind of fun. I knew I was excited about digging deeper about peace tonight. :) ... Anyways ... what a solution! As we listen to and apply what God is teaching us, the Holy Spirit transforms our perspective. And as we begin to see things the way God sees them, we find peace. God's perspective of life is undisturbed and untainted, and it can be unleashed in our lives if we'll just grab hold of it. And ultimately, the only way to grab hold of peace is to seek hard after Jesus. One way I have been doing that is by being sensitive to the Holy Spirit's moving in my life. I've been feeling His presence and hearing Him speak to my heart more in the past 6 months than probably in all of the rest of my life put together. I wish it were easier to describe how. I guess, really, He's speaking through God's Word, through music, and through gentle nudges. I'm trying to be specific here. :) The Holy Spirit is the part of God that makes the Word come alive in us! It is only through the Holy Spirit's work in our lives that we can experience, know, and receive what God wants for us. The Holy Spirit can make song lyrics, and even the music, itself, speak volumes into our hearts and minds, slowly changing our perspective. And the Holy Spirit moves us to action through gentle nudges ... maybe you know those moments as "God tugging on your heart."

Wow ... I'm kind of getting off the subject here. I guess I'm just trying to say that I am growing in peace these days. After quite a while of fearing, I'm beginning to embrace God's peace. The more I learn to listen to the Holy Spirit and trust what God is doing in my life, the more I experience peace. ... Let me leave you with a few great verses about God's precious peace ...

Isaiah 26:3 - "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You because he trusts in You."

Hey, look! There's that word "trust" again. When do we receive peace? When we TRUST GOD!

John 16:33 - "I have said these things to you so that in Me you may have peace. In this world, you will have tribulation. But take heart! I have overcome the world."

That's Jesus talking ... just in case you were wondering. :D

Philippians 4:7 - "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Surpasses all understanding ... oh, yeah! :)

Perspective + the Holy Spirit = Peace

Take that, fear!

Just some thoughts about Trust, God's Will, and the Holy Spirit ...

What do you think about when you hear the word "trust" ???

For me, I think of dread. I've been finding out more and more over the past few years that I really struggle with trust. Trusting God. Trusting people. Trusting myself. ... I hate to say it, but I really hate not being in control. I know that every human being on the planet struggles with this to some degree. I guess it's our sinful nature. Sin is so much in opposition to God that it won't let up without a fight ... a HUGE one! And all-out WAR, for crying out loud! ... But I do think some people struggle with trust more than others, and sadly, I'm one of those "some."

Do you ever find yourself praying for change? I've been in a fairly consistent battle with myself about my life. I enjoy what I'm doing and experiencing ... I love dance, my teenagers, and working in such flexible jobs. I love my church and living at home. I love being free to do whatever I want when I want. I love growing in the Lord. All of these things are happening in my life now. But there's still a part of me (that's bigger some days than others) that wants out, wants something new, wants change. I am fairly content ... yet restless at the same time. I am determined to be faithful where I am, with what I'm doing, until God moves me. But I have been praying for God's will to HAPPEN. I've been praying that I would be faithful but that God would bring something new ... a new adventure.

Lately, I've been feeling like that something new is coming - and soon! And isn't it ridiculous? Now that I think it's coming, I'm scared out of my mind! I don't know what the "something" is, mind you. But just the thought of any kind of change scares me. Isn't that dumb? I pray for something, and then when I get it, I freak out? Are you kidding me? ... But it all goes back to that trust thing.

I was sitting in my church's office last night crying, talking to God. I was distraught over the thought that I don't trust Him. My heart was breaking over the matter. As if being God of the Universe wasn't enough ... God reaches down into my life every single day and loves me, teaches me, gives me joy and hope and purpose and strength. God, the biggest, most mighty, most powerful Being in existence takes the time to be in a personal relationship with me. ME. God is eternally faithful to me. And yet, I still do not trust Him. So I was crying out to God last night, telling Him how sorry I am for not trusting Him and asking Him for strength to trust Him, really trust Him, with my entire life.

And then I listened to a sermon by John MacArthur today. So powerful. And I'm just so thankful that God, in all of His faithfulness once again, brings His Truth and Hope (and the real Answer to my lack of faith) to my attention right when I need it. All weekend He's been doing that ... things like, calling my best friend at 1:30am on Sunday morning, having some of the most cherished woman in my life come pray with me, speaking to me through worship and Pastor's sermon on Sunday, having an incredible afternoon with my teenagers and the Calvary kids, sitting in a church office crying, a friend being up for a walk in the park one of these days, a John MacArthur sermon. All of these things are God's faithfulness and care in my life in just one weekend. ... And MacArthur's sermon is just such a great reminder to me ...

I'm sure many Christians wrestle with God's will ... I know I do. And my trust issue makes me want to have "all my ducks in a row" before I do anything, before I step out into something new ... often, no matter how big or small. And MacArthur's sermon really hit me hard. All 5 "S's" that he shared were right on, but the second, being Spirit-filled, was the ONE. And so cool ... because God's been working on me about this for a few weeks now ... through having me dwell on the Fruit of the Spirit and sending me little tuggings of the Holy Spirit in my personal life and even blurbs from books about the Holy Spirit's work in our everyday lives. There He goes again, being faithful to me! ... You see, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit; we must be conscious of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives and follow His leading in order to get rid of our fear, anxiety, anger, bitterness, jealousy ... anything we are struggling with. My trust issue is rooted in fear ... fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of change. Bluck. But if I want to get rid of this fear, I MUST be Spirit-filled. I must be walking closely with the Lord every single day. I must be getting into the Word as much as possible. If I want to build up my trust level, I must be connected to the Holy Spirit at work in my life.

Do you ever forget that? I sure hope I'm not the only one! I just have to keep trying. And I need to do what I also read recently, to "do things afraid." I may be afraid of something, but I need to go for it anyway. Do it afraid. And God will be with me. ... I hope this is encouraging for somebody out there in blogger world. It's just something I'm struggling with and learning ... and planning to overcome! :)

Dear Emily #4

Dear Emily,

I

MISS

YOU

!!!

I got home from Bible study tonight feeling pretty good ... more optimistic than the rest of my week so far. And then I watched a really ridiculous video you posted, and it made me ache a little. And then I saw that you were online, so I said hi. But I don't think you were really online. So then I thought "my Dear Emily posts!" So here I am. :):):)

How are you???

I was really behind with your 366 photos blog, so I glanced through your maaarvelous pictures. The two stories I want to hear ... about the cute piece of pottery? And ... what was the other one? Oh, the keys! You locked yourself AND your client out of HER house, huh? Sounds like a hoot! You must share these stories sometime. :)

I noticed that you're still restless. Me too. What's a girl to do but keep trusting God with it all? I wish that wasn't so hard!!! It's just been a rough week from that standpoint. It doesn't help that business has been super slow at The Porch. For some reason, when business is slow at work, I always start thinking about how my life isn't what I thought, how I want something new, "oh, woe is me." That whole downward-spiraly deal. But then, of course, God brings me back to reality. It's taking a little longer this week ... but I'm getting there. Bible study with the Cooks and the Adamsons tonight helped a bit. :) We love those guys. :D ... But God brings me back and reminds me how good I've got it - I love my teenagers; I love dance (and my dance instructor!) :D; I'm in a really good season right now. I'm bound to have restless days (or weeks) ... but I'm gonna come out (more than) okay. I hope God brings you back to those realizations too, in your restless season.

Well, I'm just missing you a lot tonight. I hope you're having a great week! I'm off to do some Zumba!!! :D

Love you tons,

Mical :)

SoZo: Show Jesus

Hey, SoZo! Since we're not meeting tonight, I thought I'd post some more Jesus thoughts for y'all.

For this SoZo devo, you need to watch the video at this URL ... http://youtu.be/x4p9CdXCPWE ... yep, you guessed it! It's another short lesson over a Jamie Grace song! :) My favorite song on her album - "Show Jesus."

Not only does this song have a great beat, but it's got a great message too. Don't you wanna be around people who love Jesus??? I love being around people who are so full of God's joy that you can see it "all over their face." And I wanna BE a person who exudes Jesus in that way!!!

Matthew 5:14-16 says, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. in the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in Heaven."

We need to SHOW JESUS wherever we go so that other people will come to know Jesus through us. Once the Holy Spirit lives inside us, He is our LIGHT. He is the Light of God that shines through our lives. We don't want to hide that light ... we want to let it shine BRIGHT - in plain sight - right on our faces, even! So that everyone who sees us, talks to us, hears about us will know that we belong to Jesus. We need to constantly set our mind to doing "good works," as the verse says. God wants us to love and serve Him by loving and serving others. Those good works have the potential to lead others to Christ, so that's go crazy loving and serving those around us!

And before you go, take a look at these two passages from Ephesians ... they are all about showing Jesus in the way we live our lives ...

Ephesians 4:1-3 - "I therefore, a prisoner of the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

Ephesians 5:15-17 - "Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."

And what is God's will for us?

To SHOW JESUS!

Love you guys! Have a great week, and I'll see you on Thursday for Zumba and Bible Study! :D

FOTS: Joy

The second fruit of the Spirit is joy.
Ah, joy. Such a blessing from the Lord. A dictionary definition for joy is "the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation." This definition is great on the one hand and not so great on the other.

The definition says that joy is a great delight based on something "exceptionally good." Too true. As Christians, our joy comes from our eternal hope in Christ Jesus ... indeed, that is "exceptionally good." :) On the flip side, though, there is a huge difference between joy and happiness. Joy is something that can last forever if we keep the right perspective; whereas, happiness is based on our circumstances alone. If we can keep our mind and eyes and heart fixed on the promise we have in Christ, that we are co-heirs with Him of the Kingdom of God, that we will live forever if we put our trust in Him, that we have purpose if we live for Him, then we can live in joy, year after year, day by day, moment by moment - no matter what is going on around us. But if we focus on our circumstances, then we'll only be "happy" when are circumstances are "exceptionally good." And how many of us know that our circumstances are not always "exceptionally good?" ... Exactly. I think we all know that! Sheesh ... this earthly existence is crazy!

So to live in joy, I must simply keep my focus on Jesus. Not always a simple thing to do ... but simple in and of itself.

Colossians 3:2 is one of my all-time favorite verses in Scripture. It says, "Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things." THAT'S where joy comes from ... seeing the world and the people in this world and our circumstances through the eyes of Jesus!

Philippians 4:4 says, "Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say, rejoice!" We can rejoice no matter what happens in this life if we are rejoicing (finding joy in) the Lord and His purpose for our lives.

The second half of Nehemiah 8:10 says, "Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Our circumstances don't have to keep us down because God's joy, alive in our hearts, gives us strength to overcome anything!

So today, God, help me think of You and Your joy. Help joy fill my every thought, every breath, every word. Make me wholly Yours, and be the joy that exudes from my heart and life so that others can see You in me. Help me grow in this fruit of the Spirit. And thank you so much that Your joy is not based on my circumstances that change more often than I can count; but instead, my joy is based on YOU, and You NEVER change. Thank you for that promise and that security, God. Be glorified in and through my life and in and through my joy. I love you, Lord! :)

FOTS: Love

I've been reading the book Spirit-Controlled Temperament by Tim LaHaye over the past week. I'm fascinated by the concept of "the four temperaments" and how my temperament(s) affects the way I live, the person I am now, and the person I will one day become as I learn to allow the Spirit to control my temperament(s).

Lately, I've been struggling with myself ... just not liking myself, to be honest. Ultimately, I'm focusing too much on my temperament's weaknesses ... but sadly, the Sanguine (that's me!) has a lot of weaknesses that must be overcome. Thank God He is strong even in our weaknesses, but He still wants us to overcome them. He wants us to be controlled by His Spirit so that we can honor Him with our whole lives.

When the Spirit controls my temperament, I produce the fruit of the Spirit.
Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Gentleness
and Self-control

Ideally, I should be producing ALL of these qualities EVERYDAY. But if you've read my most recent posts about depravity, you can understand that, sadly, this is NOT going to happen. BUT! I CAN take ONE quality each day and really try to put it into practice. And that's exactly what I'm gonna try to do. As I continue to read this book (and hopefully beyond that), I'm gonna try to focus on living out at least one of these fruit of the Spirit everyday.

The first one is L O V E :)
A dictionary definition ... "a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person."
God's Word ...
Love is patient.
Love is kind.
Love is not jealous.
Love does not brag.
Love is not arrogant.
Love does not act like a jerk!
Love is not selfish.
Love doesn't get bent out of shape!
Love forgives immediately.
Love hates sin.
Love adores the Truth.
Love bears all things.
Love believes the best in/of people.
Love is always hopeful.
Love endures.
Love never fails.
(From 1 Corinthians 13 ... with a little paraphrasing ;))

Heck, I could take just one line from 1 Corinthians to work on each day. "Love doesn't act like a jerk!" That one by itself is HUGE! ... But anyway ... I wanna try to live out these qualities. I want to honor God! So here begins a new set of posts ... "FOTS" (Fruit of the Spirit) posts. :)