The Same Glory as Christ

I attended the Ted Dekker “Outlaw” tour event on Friday night. He said something that I hadn’t given much thought to:

In John 17:22, Jesus says “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one…”

Wow!  We have the same glory as Jesus? God has made us that special?  That floored me. 

Amazing love.  Amazing grace.

I'm Back!

I figured September would be a good time to get back in the swing of things. For the first time in YEARS I took a few months off. I joked that God gave me a sabbatical, but indeed He did! He gave me June and July and most of August off to write a novel! I am so excited about it!

But literally as soon as I typed "The End" I started getting calls to speak and do book signings. God has clearly taken me off my sabbatical and put me back to work! So it's gonna be a busy fall!

Helping Others is my theme for this month. Mostly, I'm focusing on my family. I've been so busy in the past doing this and that for volunteer work that I've once again let my own house slip. So I'm trying to get the kids more organized and take some of the work load off of my husband.

I've also experienced the help of others helping ME. I have a lot more to say about that, so will post that later, but sometimes we need to receive help instead of give it.

I'll be away from my desk for a few days....my sister-in-law passed away yesterday morning. She died with a smile on her face so we know she's with Jesus now. I have more to say on that too, when I've got the energy. Right now it's time to grieve and help where I can.

Blessings to you all.

The Power of Prayer

Spiritual Warfare by Ron DiCianni | Christian Art - Christian Framed Prints | Tapestry Productions          

           As a praying parent, this is one of my favorite paintings.

         April’s Princess Project topic empowers us. God doesn't send us out alone to face the world and the Enemy. He not only backs us up but He equips us with His armor. Your prayers are important too – your prayers bring angels to defend and protect you. Notice the details in the painting - the battle raging outside the window.

         Remember whose side you are on this month, and who is on your side.

Our Body, God's Temple

            The book I’m reading on healthy aging devotes an entire chapter to stress and how it can harm our bodies.  We obviously can’t eliminate stress from our lives, but we can modify our stress response. 

            In the two years since my car accident, I’ve kind of taken up meditation.  I say “kind of” because I do it for awhile and then don’t. This morning, for example, I have a sick child home who was well enough to take the laser pointer and shine it on me to make the kittens pounce on me while I was meditating.  It’s hard to focus when that’s happening.

            I’m not talking about meditation in the middle-eastern Buddha sense. I mean mindfulness, where you sit quietly for about 15 minutes and focus on your breathing and the sensation of your body, like relaxing your shoulders. If any other thought comes into your mind, you are supposed to ignore it and go back to focusing on your breathing.  This simply gives me a few minutes of doing nothing, which is so rare in our culture and yet so healthy. Remember the days as a child when  you’d sit on your back porch step in the summer and play with a dandelion, just spending time blowing the seeds across the grass, and maybe watching a bug crawl across the sidewalk?  I imagine that’s close to meditating and some days in the summer I simply sit on our swing outside and watch the birds.

            But this active form of meditation, of making time to focus on your body and your breathing, has really helped me.  Once you capture the feeling of being that relaxed, it’s easy to take a few breaths during the day and recapture the feeling, throughout stressful moments.

            Stress is toxic to the neurons in our brains. It’s a major cause of heart disease, inflammatory disease, digestive disorders, headache and other ailments and chronic conditions.  It can make us tired, dizzy, and achy. Unchecked, it destroys our body.

            If Christ is in us, we need to take care of our bodies, inside and out. It’s a command.

            Here’s a sobering verse:

                        Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?

            If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you are that temple.  1 Corinthians 3:17.

            What do you do to keep your “temple” healthy for God?

Faithful Abandon!

An opportunity arose last week which I absolutely didn't have the funds for, although I knew I should do it.  "I can't afford that," was my instant response.  My heart told me different, though. So Monday morning I prayed about it and then opened my quiet time Bible study and the words that jumped out at me were "Why do you say 'I can't afford this or that when your Heavenly Father has all the riches of the world at your disposal?" Wow - that really spoke to me!  Oh me of little faith! So I said "Yes, I'll do it" and I've set up some fund-raising and am excitedly waiting the opportunity!  What a fun chance to watch God work!
       I know that in general I have to be sensible in my expenses and frugal with my budget, but there are times when I can throw all caution to the wind and let my awesome God shower me with blessings.  What a sense of excitement and freedom when I abandon myself to His will!

God's Love

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishent. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. - 1 John 4:18

I attended a Beth Moore Bible study class the other night and they were studying God's love.  Moore said that God's love is perfect and to be filled with God's love means that there isn't room in us for low self-esteem or fear.  Perfect love casts out fear.  But how do we fill up on God's love?  Is it a matter of will?  Or of sin? Or of letting go?  Perhaps it's simply a matter of knowing.  Knowing who we are in Christ and gleaning our security from that sacred place of grace.

Resolutions? Nope - it's More of a To-Do List!

     I have taken on the task of being princess of my castle.
     I usually work at my writing job quite a few hours per week but I've realized we are drowning in clutter and disorganization and perhaps for a short while my time would be better spent bailing us out.   So I've made a check-list of things I want to do to help my family. (These are NOT New Year Resolutions. Been there, done that.)

         1) De-clutter the house.  This is harder than you might think. I've found I have an emotional attachment to certain "things" and that makes it difficult to part with them. But... I gave eight garbage bags of clothes to charity and transformed one of my closets into a new work space. What do you think?
         2) Make a meal plan.  I used to do this, coupled with a weekly grocery list.  I've re-started by making a meal plan for the month of January and actually put together several meals and froze them.  I feel AWESOME about that!
          3) Get our finances in order.  We've always worked off of a budget, but I'm thinking of getting one of those fancy computer programs that tracks your every dollar.  ( I have to be diligent about entering all my expenses.  Am I expecting too much from myself?)  What programs do you like best?
          Empowered by the King of Kings, and a whole lot of prayer (will you pray for me 'cause I need it!) , I strive to be a more organized and calmer woman by the end of the year!
     

Ramblings and Updates

Just a bunch of rambling....
     First off, after clearing eight garbage bags of clothes out of my closet, my friend and I were finally ready to convert my one closet into my home work space!  I'll put photos on my Facebook page.  Check it out!  I am so excited about it!!
       This isn't really on topic either (for this month's theme) but I posted about a month ago that I was inviting some neighbor's over for a Bible Study.  We met and it was awesome!  We had a great time and I think it's going to be fun making some new friends.  We are a mix - some strong Christians, some just curious, and a self-proclaimed agnostic, so it should prove to be a great ground for discussion.  Plus, it's fun to get together with my neighbors, who I would otherwise not see!
         On to other topics, I am thinking ahead for December's Princess challenge, Respecting the King. What a great way to remember the true meaning of the season.  I'm going to focus on ways to put Jesus back into Christmas in my own life.  I'll keep you posted. What are some of your ideas?

Guilty

              So I blew it yesterday.
              I'm working on being more humble this month, and mostly I'm working on keeping my mouth shut. As my mom says "If you don't have anything good to say, it's better not to say anything at all."  Or my grandma, who used to say "You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar."  Not sure if those two relate, but you get the point. Anyway, the family was driving me crazy, I was sleep deprived, and I had a HUGE scheduling conflict I was trying to resolve that was going to make me lose $45 if I didn't get it resolved.  Plus, I was trying to wash dishes and the faucet has this annoying whine to it that hurts my ears when the water runs. (We really need to get that fixed.) People wouldn't stop complaining and asking me for things and I finally got really upset and told them all what I thought about them.  In a not-so-gentle voice.
              (To be fair, though, I did warn the kids several times they had pushed me to my boiling point and Momma was about to explode.)
               But really, is that anyway to handle things?  When a princess loses her cool doesn't that make her look weak? (And scary!)  I don't want to run the household by fear.  Yes, it works, but no, it isn't fun - for any of us.
               I'm just thankful I get a redo.  Here's to a better day and a bit more self-control, while at the same time giving myself a break.  I am, after all, imperfectly human.

Princesses by Station, Humble by Grace

A lot could be said about not abusing our power in our roles, especially in light of this political campaign season.  We don't want to take for granted who we are, and Whose we are.  Because of the sacrificial death of Jesus, we entered into the Kingdom of God through a price.  This makes us children of God, but it should also humble us with the realization that we didn't get here by who we are. We got here only through grace.
       Sometimes it's hard to be humble, especially when we know we are right. :-)
      For Lent this year, I gave up being angry at my husband, which really boiled down to me not having to be right all the time - even when I was.  By keeping my mouth shut, and letting go of control issues, I saw some amazing positive changes in my marriage and the muscle tension in my neck. So, in light of this month's theme, "Not Abusing Our Power", I'm going to remember that I'm God's child and a princess by right, and don't have to prove it to anybody, so I will try to be humble, especially in what I say.  I will try to give up being right and rest on the promises of God, knowing that He is in control and it will all turn out okay in the end.
        It's gonna be a long month!

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: not of works, least any man should boast. – Ephesians 2:8-9

Update on the Bible Study

I handed out fliers for the neighborhood Bible study and have had several positive responses!  How exciting!  It took me an hour and a half just to get around to half the houses because people wanted to talk.  I’m already getting to know my neighbors!  This is turning out to be fun, so far, and now that I know people are actually coming it gives me incentive to clean the house.  LOL!!! 

Princessing....

It seems I get carried away with the princess thing in the summer.   I've been hanging out at the beach, writing fiction, playing with the kids, and basically NOT posting to my blog!  When my mom called the other day my husband (my earthly prince) was cooking dinner and I was on the porch swing, reading.  "I'll tell the princess you want to talk to her," he said.  Hmmm.
     In all truth, I am the carpool queen and have been driving various kids to various events, cooking (most) of the dinners, and worn myself plum out.  But it has been fun to slack off of work a little bit (except for my clients - you I haven't slacked on!) and be a princess.  So all of this to say why I haven't posted more on Mary M.  Working on it.....at the beach. :-)

Innate Wisdom

A bird has built a nest in our bathroom fan.   I hear momma bird go out and then come back in.  She gives a screech (which I think sounds a bit frightening) but then I hear little bird voices peeping excitedly, I assume for food.  This very noisy process continues for about 10 minutes, several times a day.

It occurs to me that God is generous with wisdom.  The bird knows how to take care of its babies.  The peonies on my front porch know when to open – and it’s interesting to watch the black ants eat away the green covering so the pink flowers can burst forth. 

We, too, have a deep, innate type of wisdom.  My body tells me when I’m hungry, it heals me when I am cut, and when I’m cold (like I was in the pool on Sunday) tiny little bumps form on my arms and hairs stand on end in an  attempt to keep me warm.

Amazing.  God has equipped us well.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. - Matthew 6:33

Wisdom is a Process

Wisdom.

It’s more than an accumulation of knowledge.  It’s an ongoing daily acquisition.

When I started writing my latest book A Kid at Heart I thought it would go quickly.  God had given me the title, the subject, and even most of the chapter titles!  My publisher told me she’d like it in six months to a year.  “No problem,” I said.  But God wanted to take me to a deeper understanding of Him first.  Last year was abysmally dark and for the first time I found myself afraid of God – and of what He would – and could – let happen.  Could I still trust Him then?  Could I run to Him as a Father and take refuge in Him? 

For while I couldn’t. Now, coming out the other side of that dark year, a bit battle-weary, it seems I can.   As a child, we not only have the privilege of coming to Him, but we have the responsibility of coming to Him.  Where else, after all, can we go?

Wisdom dictates Him as Lord.  There’s no other way – there’s no better way.  

Wise Choices?

I think most of us struggle with our choices sometimes.  I know that for me, on my birthday last month, I looked at my life and wondered if I was where I should be.  I had dreamed of living on a horse farm, teaching writing at a university and writing novels.  My life hasn't led me there yet, and I'm halfway through.

            Have I made the right choices in my life?

            God, our Heavenly father, is the keeper of wisdom, and He gives it out to those who earnestly seek it. 

            If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.  James 1:5.

            That's a pretty amazing gift!  And, princesses, one we should desire. 

            Solomon was the richest and wisest king in history.  Why?  Because God told him he'd give him anything he asked for.  Solomon asked for wisdom, and because of that, the rest of his life was blessed beyond measure.

            So whether you are struggling with major life choices, or just trying to check off your to-do list, take it before God first.  Ask Him what to do.  You may be surprised at how much more smoothly things turn out!

Not I Should, but I Am

Take a good look at yourself in the mirror and realize that Jesus is living inside of YOU.  The fact that we are important enough for the Holy Spirit to indwell in us should be enough for us to realize how much He values us.  So drop the "I shoulds" and for today, KNOW that you are good enough as you are. God doesn't love you for how good you've been today.  He loves you for how good you've TRIED to be and for WHO you are as He created you.  That  knowledge is the first step towards peace.  KNOW how valuable you are to Him.

What Are Your Dragons?

The past couple of days have been difficult ones, and busy.  On Sunday I first noticed that gnawing in my gut that I call anxiety.  Yesterday it was worse, and I couldn’t figure out if I needed to exercise and burn off the excess energy, or take a nap! 

When I tried to figure out what was causing it, I realized it was my schedule.  I had far too many responsibilities crammed into a couple of days.  Not all of them were bad – it was just nearly impossible to fit them all in, and I spent a large part of Sunday ruminating about Monday and how I would get everything done. I had three different appointments at different times and in different places, and that didn’t count my kids’ various activities, and the fact I needed to pick up groceries.  Or my looming writing deadline.

            I have read that our thought life is the greatest cause of anxiety for most of us, so I tried to take control of my thoughts.  I wrote everything down in my calendar – color coded – and just looked at my list every few hours.   Then I tried not to think about it.  I even read Psalm 91 several times.  I’ve got to admit, it didn’t work.  On most days, I can handle my “to-do” list but I had a few very unpleasant tasks to do yesterday and today that I just couldn’t get out of my mind.  I was fearful.

            I’m done now.  Mostly.  And I’m better.  But anxiety has been my dragon the past few days, caused by my over-loaded schedule.  Next time I’ll have to manage my time more wisely, and put in some “fun” breaks as a reward for an unpleasant task accomplished. Lesson learned.

            In order to slay our dragons, we need to know what they are.  What steals your joy?  What takes away your peace and brings you fear, or stress?  When you identify your dragons, you’ve taken the first step toward conquering them.

            Just remember, your power comes from God.  You aren’t in this alone, and you have every resource you need to overcome.

            Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. – Ephesians 6:10

Putting Me First

After several nights of very little sleep, I am tired.  I'm dragging around and realized this morning how much physical effort it actually takes to shred cabbage for cole slaw!  During my prayer time I read a scripture in which David is challenge by yet another enemy, and before he does anything else, he makes sure his family is safe.  Then I read another scripture that says "Love your neighbor as yourself."  Well, from both of these I surmised two things:  We need to put family first, and we need to love ourselves.  What does that really mean?  Lately I've been volunteering a lot - giving and giving and giving.  As women we tend to do that, and put ourselves last.  But since I barely have the energy left to shred cabbage, I'm not much use to anybody else, am I?   :-)  So this afternoon I'm planning to take a nap.  Our discussion this month re; inner and outer beauty fits into this.  How beautiful can we be physically and in our attitudes if we are exhausted?  Another thing I've done all morning is take care of the house.  I've put the laundry away, washed dishes, and cleaned.  I want my family to come home to a haven, not a mess.  I hope that by putting my needs first, and taking care of my family, I can regain some sense of balance.  After all, you never see a beauty with dark circles under her eyes!  God bless you in your journey to become the woman God knows you can be!

Being Transformed

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. – 2 Corinthians 3:18

What reflection do you see when you look in the mirror?  According to this passage, we should see a likeness of Christ.  Beyond the hair and make-up, our faces should glow with the glory of God.  It’s not a physical transformation – it’s a spiritual one.

 I don’t always feel like I’m glowing, but the beauty of this passage is that we aren’t there yet.  We are being transformed – in present tense.   We’re a work on progress.  Isn’t it exciting?

God Made You and He Don't Make Junk

            You are uniquely you.  God created you the way He wanted you to be, and had plans for you long before your parents ever gave a thought to having children.

            Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart;  Jeremiah 1:5

            Isn’t that exciting?  God likes you the way you were born.  Eye color, hair color, talents, personality -  He designed you that way.  It’s up to us what we do with what He gave us.

            Remember, you are fully equipped to be the woman God wants you to be.