MIA

Sorry that I've been missing in action (MIA), lately. I've been working through some really great books, but they're deep... I won't be able to articulate my thoughts until after I've finished them.

Just know that God is doing a mighty work in and through me. I'm learning a TON, and growing so much! I'm feeling so blessed!

I will post more when I feel ready... hang in there. ;o)

For Heather...

Beth wrote this post:

"...BooMama is hosting a day of love for Heather on April 18th. Heather was diagnosed with a brain tumor last week, she is scheduled to see a neurologist at the end of April at the Mayo Clinic, the number one neurosurgery hospital in the country. The goal is to help Heather and her family with as much of the expenses as possible."

While I don't really *know* Heather all that well (I've only been reading her blog for about a week or two now), I care deeply about her current circumstances, and I want to help her out in any way I can. While that can't be financially, I am sending her my sincerest prayers, and I am blogging this to try and find others who will be able to help her, too, either financially, or by joining me in prayer.
:-?

"It can be well with our souls,
even when it's not with our circumstances."
- Jennifer Rothschild

Let's Worship!

Found this video over on Heather's blog. I'd never heard the song before, but now I'm convinced that I'll have to get my church to sing it on Sunday mornings. ;o)

Never Let Go by Matt Redman

** For whatever reason, the video wasn't playing when I embedded it here, so I've taken that off, and just left you the link to go listen... ** :-(

And, here are a couple of other videos that I really loved!...

We Win by the David Crowder Band

Indescribable by Chris Tomlin


Let's worship in the SON-shine! ;o)

Enjoy!

Believing a lie

I discovered, a while back, that I feel unfulfilled. I lack true 'sastifaction'. Sure - I realize that I am VERY blessed to be where I am, and to have what I do. But something is still missing. And I know, now, what that is: it's faith.

Don't get me wrong! I have faith. But, it's weak. I believe in God, but I have trouble actively believing God. I constantly doubt Him: His love, His acceptance of me, His care, His plans for me...

It's all a lie! In her book, "Believing God", Beth Moore says:

"Satan, posing as the serpent, couldn't keep Eve from believing in God, so he did the next best thing. He baited her, tempting Eve not to believe God or trust His motives."

There are a multitude of verses, though, that refute these lies!

Jeremiah 31:3 - God loves me...
Romans 15:7 - ...and accepts me
Isaiah 43:10 - I am chosen by God
Jeremiah 29:11 - God has "good plans" for me
1 Peter 5:7 - God cares for me

So, if there are verses to help lay my doubts aside, why do I still have an issue here? It must be that I doubt... the Bible! :-(

Do I believe the Bible? Absolutely! I believe it's God-breathed and God-inspired TRUTH! But...

... Do I believe it is "truth" for me? Ah... herein lies the issue. I can so easily accept the Bible's truths as they apply to other people. But, when it comes to believing them for myself, I falter. I want to! Oh, how I want to! But, for some strange reason, I struggle to do so.

And, I believe I've discovered the "root" of all of my "issues"... I've done up two different "flow-charts" to explain...

This one is of my trouble "believing God"... the ROOT is my unbelief.

(click the picture to enlarge it)

This one shows the natural consequences, were I to be "SECURE" in God's love & acceptance of me! :o)

(click the picture to enlarge it)

See the HUGE difference?? It's amazing!

In the first picture/chart, it's a self-defeating cycle... it should almost be in a circle, as it just repeats on itself.

But in the second picture/chart, there's a natural outflow of love that just keeps going forward... doesn't get "stuck" somewhere along the way. ;o)

I am praying for a heart change... for God to allow me to accept that His Word is true, even for me (maybe *especially* for me!), and for God to help me feel secure in His love & acceptance of me.

Getting Free... (more on Thoughts)

In my "Breaking Free" Bible study homework, last night, I was studying about a "steadfast mind", and how we are to "take every thought captive" to Christ & His power. And, Beth shared the steps we need to take to "get free"!

1. Recognize the captor.


2. Confess sin to God.


3. Tear down the lies.


4. Put up the Truth.


5. Take every thought captive.

Here are some quotes from the study...

p.188 - "captivating thoughts are controlling thoughts -- things you find yourself meditating on too often. Focusing thoughts."

p.189 - "Taking thoughts captive to Christ doesn't mean we never have the thought again. It means we learn to 'think the thought' as it relates to Christ and who we are in Him."

p.191 - "Confession means coming to the point of saying the same thing God says about any specific matter."

p.193 - "The demolition of strongholds really begins when we expose and tear down the lies fueling our strongholds."

p.194 - "...if you don't listen to God and obey in the early stages, the longer you wait, the less discernment and strength you have."

p.194 - "If you know a stronghold exists somewhere in your life...yet you cannot identify the lies, you are still a captive."

p.195 - "...the walls of your mind will never stay bare...Once we tear down the lies, we have to re-wallpaper with the Truth or the enemy will happily supply a new roll of wallpaper [for our 'prison']."

p.195 - "God will not release us from anything that has enslaved us until we've come to the mind of Christ in the matter... Once the mind of Christ has taken over, the power of the stronghold is broken and the person and situation will finally begin to evacuate the premises."

p.197 - "Before we can get any controlling thoughts out of our minds, they must become Christ-controlled thoughts while still in our minds."

Steps for getting free...

1. Search God's Word for Scriptures. Find Scriptures that speak the mind of God to your specific stronghold.

- compile a list of Scriptures. Keep looking until you find them. Not just those that rebuke, but also those that speak of God's unfailing love & forgiveness to you.

2. Write these Scriptures on note cards.

- best way to compile them is to use spiral-bound note cards... call them "Truth cards".

3. Take these Truth Cards wherever you go.

- "be prepared to fight for your freedom with some radical choices...expect the battle to heat up when you start tearing down the lies!"

4. Avoid as many forms of deception as possible.

- "flood your mind primarily with truth and secondarily with materials that line up with truth... we must exercise radical caution when we're escaping."

More quotes...

p.198 - "Our thought life is something we'll work on for the rest of our lives."

p.199 - "When we do not make the deliberate choice to think according to the Spirit, we tend to default to the 'flesh'."

p.199 - "When the Holy Spirit convicts me of sin, the purpose is for life & peace."

p.200 - "The more we feed the Spirit of God within us and yield to His control, the more His presence will fill and satiate us with life and peace."


My biggest "stronghold" is currently my overeating & weight issues. And, the cool thing is, I already have an "armory" of verses (both "rebuking" and "uplifting") to combat the lies and replace them with Truth! God has given me many over the last year and a half. :o)

Fears...

In her "Believing God" book, Beth Moore writes:

"I was a victim, all right -- a victim to my own erroneous belief system. Satan quickly detected my fears and preyed on them, doing everything he could to confirm what I believed... a huge reason why we must believe we ARE who God says we are, and we can do all things through Christ!"

So, what are my fears? If I can get them out in the open, and pray against them -- laying them at Jesus' feet because "perfect Love (God) casts out fear" -- then I can overcome them! I can rid myself of that which Satan would love to use against me!

I'm afraid...

- of gaining back whatever weight I release
- of falling away from this closeness with God
- of diabetes and heart troubles
- of developing some sort of food intolerance/allergy that
would cause me to have to restrict my food choices
- of never fitting back into the clothes I bought when I
released all the weight the first time
- of not succeeding with this... or not as much as I'd like to
- of being prideful, and trying to steal the credit away from God
- of getting too *much* attention
- of the emotional things God might bring up for me to work on
- of not being able to keep practicing what I learn (of getting
lazy and returning to my old ways... again)
- of being hypocritical
- of my husband's jealousy
- of others spewing "diet speak" at me, and causing me to stumble

I'm sure there's more... but this list was getting kinda long. ;-P

I need to learn to "let go and let God"... just release all this to Him, and let Him show me that these don't have to be my *reality*. I'm a "Spirit critter" in a human body, not a human in a "Spirit body". ;o) "I can do ALL things through Christ who strengthens me!"

I also need to learn to believe God! (which I'm working on!) I need to believe that...

* God is who He says He is
* God can do what He says He can do
* I am who God says I am
* I can do all things through Christ
* God's Word is alive and active in me!

[from Beth Moore's "Believing God"]

This morning, in the TW_Support group, a friend said something powerful... She said that we need to stop saying that we're going to lose weight, and "stop talking about the latest & greatest methods for eating, and just get quiet and listen and do."

She also said that we need to start seeking God's answers to our questions FIRST, instead of always running to our group friends... much as they could give us a quicker answer, it may not always be the answer God would've given us, had we turned to Him in the first place.

I really thought this was well-spoken, and I've written it down so that I'll remember it. I want to remember to turn to God first. That's what He's been trying to teach me this year: "Put ME first, before everything else!" (see Matthew 6:33)

Starting out with TW, I didn't do that. But, this time I'm making a point to make God my first priority... my "protos" (Greek for "priority").

Knowledge Overflow!

God is just washing me in Truth, lately! I'm so blown away!

This past week, in my "Breaking Free" (Beth Moore) Bible study homework, I learned all about God's unfailing love. And, it hit me as a breath of fresh air! I am starting to begin to really believe that God does love me! :o) The real "kicker" was when Beth said that refusing to believe God loves us is a "slap in the face" to Him... because we're taking His Word and basically saying, "Yeah right... that's not true." :-O

She also said something that I'm treasuring:
"Belief is NOT a feeling; it's a CHOICE."

Whoa. That just got me.

So often I complain to God saying, "But I just don't *feel* it... I don't *feel* like I love You, though I desperately WANT to!" Here He's saying, "You don't have to feel it... just CHOOSE to believe it!"

The same thing works for issues of trust, I'm sure. We may not FEEL like we can trust God, but if we just CHOOSE to trust Him, overriding our feelings, we will be walking in obedience, and we'll be blessed for it! Whoohoo!

Today I started rereading the Thin Within book. God showed me that He wants me to go back through it, only this time He wants me to take notes as I read. I'm to jot down what stands out for me, and my feelings about those particular passages. So, I've done the Introduction and Chapter One already. And, God's already revealed some things to me!

For instance, on page xiv of the book it says, "You will learn to make food choices based not only on what tastes good, but on what is excellent in the eyes of God." In my first go-'round with TW, I chose to really focus on the "everything is permissible" part of 1 Corinthians 6:12. I also completely ignored the "but not everything is beneficial" part.

Also, sort of related to the previous "revelation", there was one related to Key #5: "Eat and drink the food & beverages my body enjoys". In the beginning of following TW, I would choose the food and beverages that my MIND enjoyed, but ignored how those foods made my body feel afterward. I dabbled in being conscious of how foods made me feel briefly, about 7 months ago. But, I let that go, as I did with almost all of the rest of the principles.

And the last example would be where the TW book warns not to let what they say become a set of "rules" for us to follow, by which we judge ourselves 'good' or 'bad'. Well, I did just that! I turned TW into another "diet", rigidly adhering to the principles, and scorning anyone's "advice" to the contrary. As a result, I maybe ate too little at times, and I wasn't really being "intuitive". I wasn't listening to my body -- I was listening to "rules".

So, a fresh start today! I've observed... now I need to "correct". Or, better yet, how about we let GOD "correct". ;o)