choosing wisely

It seems like everyone is trying to sell you something these days.  Each morning when I open my inbox at work there are several emails telling me what I need to purchase or buy into.

Have you noticed that too?  With all of today’s social media you can really get inundated with information.  Whether you are in the work place or have the wonderful opportunity of being home with your children, you seem to get it from everywhere.  Even some of my favourite blogs have gone from being a place to visit with a friend to a commercial either selling their products or those of their friends.

Recently I have stopped following several blogs and people on either Facebook or Instagram because it was so disappointing seeing these beautiful women marketing their gifts and talents in shameless promotion or what seemed like false modesty.

It just breaks my heart, mostly because I was caught in that trap years ago.  I took the webinars and listened to the podcasts of how to market the gifts and talents that God gave you so that you can become a rich stay at home Mom.

You know what, it didn’t happen.  I spent so much time fighting against God trying to convince Him that He needed to bless all these things that I was doing because I deserved to make money because I was doing all this for His glory.

Let me clarify something: I am not judging the writers of the blogs that I left.  I do not know their hearts, what they choose to post on their blogs and write on Facebook is something that is between God and them.  I used discernment and if I felt uncomfortable visiting their blog I choose to leave.

I have the privilege of choosing what I put into my heart and mind.  As I edited my blog RSS feed it was like saying good-bye to friends.  But I know that a cleaning of my heart and mind is needed.  This is my new journey.

I want to apologize to anyone who may have visited my blog in the past and you felt like you were visiting a commercial; and I want to thank you for visiting my blog today.  Like myself you have the choice to choose what you are putting into your heart and mind.  I thank you for stopping by to spend this time with me.  I hope that you come again and that this becomes a place where we can visit.

Have a beautiful day!

Crazy Glue is really sticky

This is a post I wrote for the Godly Girls Series over at Mel’s World.  But I woke up thinking about it so I thought I would share it here.

"Be still and know that I am God."

Has that verse ever lain heavily on your heart? For me it is like that verse has crazy glue on it and it is stuck to my forehead and it is never coming off. At first I tried to peel it off, but that was too painful, then I tried nail polish remover and that made my eyes water. Then I just hoped that if I ignored it, it would eventually wear off. Nothing worked, it is still there in bold letters across my forehead staring at me every time I look in the mirror.

One day I paused and stared at my image in the mirror. I had been so used to seeing these words on my forehead that I forgot what they said. "Be still", that was a hard one for me. I have so much on the go, so much I want to do for God. Stillness equals laziness and no one is going to accuse me of that. I have my family and house to take care of, a ministry, my husband's business, I teach Sunday School, volunteer at my daughters school, oh my, the list could go on and on. Why am I doing all of this? Be still. Be still. Well, no time to think about that.  "Know that I am God". Of course I know God, I accepted Him in my heart, got baptized, I even have a few T-shirts that will tell you about it. I remember something from the "Experiencing God" stuff that I am teaching at the church. There is a difference between just knowing and experiencing God. Am I really experiencing a living God actively in my life right now? Am I cultivating a growing and lasting relationship with Him? Maybe these words on my forehead are there for a reason?

Maybe God is trying to tell me something? I am going to promise myself that I will read these words each time I look in the mirror. (Then hopefully they will come off.)
As time goes by I pause to read the words -- first frequently and then not so much -- I feel like I have read them enough that I don't have to take the time to stop and look at them anymore.

Then one day a headache knocks me out, I'm bedridden---incapable of doing anything. Sound is too loud, light is too bright. I snuggle myself down under my covers, hiding myself from the world around me. My husband comes to check on me, as he lovingly wisps the hair off my face to look in my eyes he asks me what is on my forehead. What I thought only I could see it. He says he sees something so faint.
I have enough to deal with! Now other people are going to see it. What does it say again? Be...still. Well, at this point I have no choice my head is killing me. Be still and know that I am God. Hey, that is in the Bible somewhere, maybe that will help me figure this out. I ask my husband to bring me my Bible. It takes him a few minutes to find it, frankly I can't remember where I put it the last time I read it. When was the last time I read it?

There it is Psalm 46:10. It feels good to open my Bible, to search through it. I think I will read through the chapter to learn more about this verse. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. --I need to hear that. I feel so at peace as I spend time in the word. I close my Bible, hug it to my chest and thank God for who He is and is words to me. Now I understand, Be still and know that I am God.

This is a parody about what I have gone through over the last few years. This verse has laid heavily on me and I continually pushed it away and ignored it. I bought a mug and wall art with the verse on it. But I never took the time to understand it and why it laid heavily on me until my health deteriorated so far that I lost my job and I could barely function in my home.

Finally I had no choice but to be still and trust that He is God. That is a hard thing for us as women to acknowledge and respond to. But it has been very rewarding. I made myself so busy doing things for God that I forgot to include Him in His plan. Now I am choosing to do things differently and by giving Him the lead things that I would have never dreamed, hoped or dared to ask for are beginning to happen.

May you learn from my experience to slow down and let God be the God of your life.

31 Day Challenge, Proverbs Chapter 8

We are moving right along onto Chapter 8.   I like how it starts out as wisdom yelling out trying to get our attention.  Wisdom wants to give us understanding and excellent things to tell us.  It feels that way as parents, that we are calling out to our children begging them to listen to us, to help them learn from our mistakes but the choose to go their own way sometimes and learn the hard way.  How hard it is for us as parents to watch and experience, the same goes for our Father in Heaven.

V.12 is my favourite: "I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment. I know where to discover knowledge and discernment.”

I have been having fun trying to find an image that goes along with what I am learning with each chapter.  Today I found this:

I think it fits well and says everything better than I could say it.