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Topic: RE: Life Plan Devotion #134 [All the way]
how awsome is this, thank you so much.... .."for i know the plans i have for you, plans to proper you..." your word**** home for me today. i am waiting on the Lord to restore my marraige and to save my husband, ans i know that with the Lord i will make it all the way to the other side
Topic: Flashback Friday Devotion #30 [Contentment]
Hi, Everyone.
TGIF [Today God Is First]! Today's devotion is from my personal journal dated May 8, 2007. Even though it is 2 years later, I find myself in a similar place...disappointed that I'm not farther along. I need to be reminded of this, too.
Have a great weekend, everyone. I'll see you Monday, Lord willing. :)
Flashback Friday Devotion #30 [Contentment]
I'm disappointed that I am not farther along in my weight loss, which affirms to me the need for the topic that the Lord has been bringing up to me over and over today: contentment.
One of my two accountability partners, Debra, sent me an email response to my journal entry from yesterday. Debra is a dear friend, but she is definitely a "straight shooter." After reading her email, I was "in my pity pot," as my grandmother used to say.
I kept mulling over Debra's email, and every time I did, a verse kept coming to mind: "Godliness with contentment is great gain" (I Timothy 6:6). The Greek word for "godliness" means "holiness," and the Greek word for "contentment" means "self-satisfaction." That tells me that holiness is key to feeling satisfied, in myself and in my cir****tances.
Here I've been doing exactly what I can't stand in the Israelites, when I read in the Old Testament about their constant murmuring. I found the story where the children of Israel wept, asking, "Who will give us meat to eat?" and they remember all the good food they had in Egypt [not an accurate memory, I'm sure, since they were slaves there], much better than the manna they were having to eat. (Numbers 11:4-6)
God gets His holy fill of them and tells Moses that the people WILL have meat, nothing but meat, for a whole month. I wonder if the saying, "Be careful what you pray for" originated with the Israelites. (Numbers 11:18-20) A "wind from the LORD" brings quail, lots of it, and "while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very severe plague" (Numbers 11:31-33). Nothing is said about thanking God for His provision. Not good.
Numbers 11:34 tells what happened to them. "The name of that place was called Kibroth-Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had been greedy." I looked up Kibroth-Hattaavah," and it means "graves of craving." Yikes!
I don't think this is so much about food for me, although I totally recognize that my cravings nearly had me in a grave, but I believe the Lord is gently dealing with me about a discontented heart. Lately, I have not been contented with God's provision in my life. I want things to happen MY way and in MY time. I have not been satisfied. I realize that now. I had not realized it before.
Debra's email, as difficult as it was to read, made me take a good look at myself. I went back and thought of my times of prayer. Many of them have been short on thanksgiving and praise and long on petition and requests. Perhaps when I learn to be content in my cir****tances, God will be free to intervene in my cir****tances.
Today, take your "godliness with contentment temperature." Is it high [great contentment and satisfaction] or is it low [great grumbling and dissatisfaction]? Prayerfully listen to Micah Stampley as he sings, "Take My Life." The words to the chorus are, "Take my heart and form it. Take my mind, transform it. Take my will, conform it to Yours, to Yours, Oh, Lord."
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=30e6bb115ee6e5 50059e
Blessings,
Mary
TGIF [Today God Is First]! Today's devotion is from my personal journal dated May 8, 2007. Even though it is 2 years later, I find myself in a similar place...disappointed that I'm not farther along. I need to be reminded of this, too.
Have a great weekend, everyone. I'll see you Monday, Lord willing. :)
Flashback Friday Devotion #30 [Contentment]
I'm disappointed that I am not farther along in my weight loss, which affirms to me the need for the topic that the Lord has been bringing up to me over and over today: contentment.
One of my two accountability partners, Debra, sent me an email response to my journal entry from yesterday. Debra is a dear friend, but she is definitely a "straight shooter." After reading her email, I was "in my pity pot," as my grandmother used to say.
I kept mulling over Debra's email, and every time I did, a verse kept coming to mind: "Godliness with contentment is great gain" (I Timothy 6:6). The Greek word for "godliness" means "holiness," and the Greek word for "contentment" means "self-satisfaction." That tells me that holiness is key to feeling satisfied, in myself and in my cir****tances.
Here I've been doing exactly what I can't stand in the Israelites, when I read in the Old Testament about their constant murmuring. I found the story where the children of Israel wept, asking, "Who will give us meat to eat?" and they remember all the good food they had in Egypt [not an accurate memory, I'm sure, since they were slaves there], much better than the manna they were having to eat. (Numbers 11:4-6)
God gets His holy fill of them and tells Moses that the people WILL have meat, nothing but meat, for a whole month. I wonder if the saying, "Be careful what you pray for" originated with the Israelites. (Numbers 11:18-20) A "wind from the LORD" brings quail, lots of it, and "while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very severe plague" (Numbers 11:31-33). Nothing is said about thanking God for His provision. Not good.
Numbers 11:34 tells what happened to them. "The name of that place was called Kibroth-Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had been greedy." I looked up Kibroth-Hattaavah," and it means "graves of craving." Yikes!
I don't think this is so much about food for me, although I totally recognize that my cravings nearly had me in a grave, but I believe the Lord is gently dealing with me about a discontented heart. Lately, I have not been contented with God's provision in my life. I want things to happen MY way and in MY time. I have not been satisfied. I realize that now. I had not realized it before.
Debra's email, as difficult as it was to read, made me take a good look at myself. I went back and thought of my times of prayer. Many of them have been short on thanksgiving and praise and long on petition and requests. Perhaps when I learn to be content in my cir****tances, God will be free to intervene in my cir****tances.
Today, take your "godliness with contentment temperature." Is it high [great contentment and satisfaction] or is it low [great grumbling and dissatisfaction]? Prayerfully listen to Micah Stampley as he sings, "Take My Life." The words to the chorus are, "Take my heart and form it. Take my mind, transform it. Take my will, conform it to Yours, to Yours, Oh, Lord."
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=30e6bb115ee6e5 50059e
Blessings,
Mary
"Don't tell God how big your storm is; tell your storm how BIG your God is!"
ObesityHelp Support Group Leader and Support Group Coach
ObesityHelp Support Group Leader and Support Group Coach
Topic: RE: Requesting prayer for my surgery tomorrow morning
Praying for you as we all are. God Bless
In Christ
Karyn
In Christ
Karyn
Topic: Life Plan Devotion #134 [All the way]
Hi, Everyone.
A dear OH friend and sister in Christ, Carolyn, is having WLS today. Please keep her in your prayers, for a complication-free surgery and recovery. Let's pray for all our August surgeries, too.
Also, just a reminder that tomorrow, Lord willing, I will post the Flashback Friday devotion.
Have a great day.
Life Plan Devotion #134 [All the way]
Mark 4:35-38 "On the same day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to [His disciples], 'Let us cross over to the other side.' Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, 'Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?'" (NKJV)
When I read this in my quiet time, for the first time I noticed what Jesus said, in verse 35, "Let us cross over to the other side." It was as if God was saying to me, "I have plans for My people. My plan is not for them to fail halfway, or to stop halfway, or to die halfway." God has plans for you to make it all the way!
But while you're on your journey, someone else has the ability to project lies and thoughts that are exactly opposite of God's plans. He'll say things like, "You're going bankrupt. Your business is failing. Your family's going to get sick. You're going to die."
The devil is the one who comes up with thoughts that are opposite of God's. The reason is he wants you to believe him, not God, and if you do, you'll have his ways instead of God's ways.
But Jesus said, "Let us cross over to the other side." That was the plan. They got in the boat, and Jesus fell asleep in the back. He was at peace, full of the assurance that His Father was with Him. He wasn't worried about a thing.
While they were crossing by boat, a storm broke. The winds blew, the waves rose, and the boat was soon full of water. The frantic disciples went to Jesus and woke Him up, crying, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"
That's what was said, but it was first a thought. Someone thought, "We're going to die!" And someone (Thomas, my guess) said, "We're going to die!" Fear spreads. Satan whispered a thought of fear, and they believed the cir****tances rather than God's Word, which contains God's Thoughts and plans, and makes God's way available.
Jesus, Word made flesh, had said, "You are going to the other side," but the cir****tances said, "You are going to die here." Someone chose to listen to the suggestion of the cir****tances, hide it in his heart, worry about it, and speak it from his mouth.
Waking Jesus was like the way we pray when we're afraid, "God, I'm sick. Don't You care?" Or, "Lord, don't You see I'm going broke?" That's the sequence: negative cir****tance => negative thought => negative emotion => negative speech.
It doesn't stop there, though. The result is that God's plan for your life, His intended miracle for you, gets reversed. Rather than taking God's Word and allowing it to make His way available, the decision is made by the doubter to reverse the intended order of things.
Does God ever plan for you to fail? No. Meditate on the fact that God intends for you to succeed, to live, to get to the other side! Get it down inside your heart so deep that when the waves come, you'll see that they are nothing. Remember this, God's voice may be softer than the breeze, but it's louder than the storm.
What this has to do with weight loss: If you are experiencing a "storm" on your weight-loss journey, pay attention to your thoughts about that negative cir****tance. Turn those negative thoughts into positive, faith-filled ones, and you will experience more positive emotions and faith-filled speech, and it's your speech, coupled with faith in God's Word, that will carry you to the other side.
Confession:
God plans for me to make it all the way, and I intend to cooperate with His plans. Satan is a liar, and I refuse to listen to his lies. I refuse to think his lying thoughts. I refuse to speak his lying words. My thoughts, emotions, words, and deeds line up with God's Word, and I will see God's intended miracle plans for me come to pass!
Blessings,
Mary
A dear OH friend and sister in Christ, Carolyn, is having WLS today. Please keep her in your prayers, for a complication-free surgery and recovery. Let's pray for all our August surgeries, too.
Also, just a reminder that tomorrow, Lord willing, I will post the Flashback Friday devotion.
Have a great day.
Life Plan Devotion #134 [All the way]
Mark 4:35-38 "On the same day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to [His disciples], 'Let us cross over to the other side.' Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, 'Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?'" (NKJV)
When I read this in my quiet time, for the first time I noticed what Jesus said, in verse 35, "Let us cross over to the other side." It was as if God was saying to me, "I have plans for My people. My plan is not for them to fail halfway, or to stop halfway, or to die halfway." God has plans for you to make it all the way!
But while you're on your journey, someone else has the ability to project lies and thoughts that are exactly opposite of God's plans. He'll say things like, "You're going bankrupt. Your business is failing. Your family's going to get sick. You're going to die."
The devil is the one who comes up with thoughts that are opposite of God's. The reason is he wants you to believe him, not God, and if you do, you'll have his ways instead of God's ways.
But Jesus said, "Let us cross over to the other side." That was the plan. They got in the boat, and Jesus fell asleep in the back. He was at peace, full of the assurance that His Father was with Him. He wasn't worried about a thing.
While they were crossing by boat, a storm broke. The winds blew, the waves rose, and the boat was soon full of water. The frantic disciples went to Jesus and woke Him up, crying, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"
That's what was said, but it was first a thought. Someone thought, "We're going to die!" And someone (Thomas, my guess) said, "We're going to die!" Fear spreads. Satan whispered a thought of fear, and they believed the cir****tances rather than God's Word, which contains God's Thoughts and plans, and makes God's way available.
Jesus, Word made flesh, had said, "You are going to the other side," but the cir****tances said, "You are going to die here." Someone chose to listen to the suggestion of the cir****tances, hide it in his heart, worry about it, and speak it from his mouth.
Waking Jesus was like the way we pray when we're afraid, "God, I'm sick. Don't You care?" Or, "Lord, don't You see I'm going broke?" That's the sequence: negative cir****tance => negative thought => negative emotion => negative speech.
It doesn't stop there, though. The result is that God's plan for your life, His intended miracle for you, gets reversed. Rather than taking God's Word and allowing it to make His way available, the decision is made by the doubter to reverse the intended order of things.
Does God ever plan for you to fail? No. Meditate on the fact that God intends for you to succeed, to live, to get to the other side! Get it down inside your heart so deep that when the waves come, you'll see that they are nothing. Remember this, God's voice may be softer than the breeze, but it's louder than the storm.
What this has to do with weight loss: If you are experiencing a "storm" on your weight-loss journey, pay attention to your thoughts about that negative cir****tance. Turn those negative thoughts into positive, faith-filled ones, and you will experience more positive emotions and faith-filled speech, and it's your speech, coupled with faith in God's Word, that will carry you to the other side.
Confession:
God plans for me to make it all the way, and I intend to cooperate with His plans. Satan is a liar, and I refuse to listen to his lies. I refuse to think his lying thoughts. I refuse to speak his lying words. My thoughts, emotions, words, and deeds line up with God's Word, and I will see God's intended miracle plans for me come to pass!
Blessings,
Mary
"Don't tell God how big your storm is; tell your storm how BIG your God is!"
ObesityHelp Support Group Leader and Support Group Coach
ObesityHelp Support Group Leader and Support Group Coach
Topic: RE: Please Pray
I'll certainly pray for you and know just what you mean because I have a 2 yr. old great grand and she can be quite a little hand full! Just know that alot of it is her age and that mom is sleep deprived and has hormones running amuck too probably. I think Mary's suggestion is great if you can work it out. As far as I'm concerned the gramma gets to be less disciplining, cause we're the gramma. Not that she should go crazy but that we can be more relaxed with the little ones. Just do the best you can and don't take it too personal because there are alot of emotions flying everywhere. Just smile and ask what you can do to help. God bless, hon!
Topic: RE: Requesting prayer for my surgery tomorrow morning
Hi, Carolyn.
All is well. :)
(((Prayers))),
Mary
All is well. :)
(((Prayers))),
Mary
"Don't tell God how big your storm is; tell your storm how BIG your God is!"
ObesityHelp Support Group Leader and Support Group Coach
ObesityHelp Support Group Leader and Support Group Coach
Topic: Requesting prayer for my surgery tomorrow morning
Have a great day! 
Hi All,
Well, tomorrow (8/6) is the big day. I'd greatly appreciate your prayers for a complication free surgery, a speedy recovery and grace to make all of the necessary changes needed with my new life as a post-op.
Thank you so much.
God Bless.
Carolyn
Well, tomorrow (8/6) is the big day. I'd greatly appreciate your prayers for a complication free surgery, a speedy recovery and grace to make all of the necessary changes needed with my new life as a post-op.
Thank you so much.
God Bless.
Carolyn
Have a great day! Topic: RE: Life Plan Devotion #133 [What's God Thinking/Doing?]
Thank you Thank you and Thankyou. I am so blessed by all the prayers that go out for me everyday. I can not thank you enough. I also know that God is so using you, I know I say this to you all the time, but I am amazed at the words God gives you, because it is exactly what I need. Thanks for loving God and being obediant, i am truly blessed by it and I know you will be too.
In Christ
Karyn
In Christ
Karyn
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