Blessed is she...

"Blessed is she, who has believed, that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished."

Luke 1:45

My entire relationship with Jesus can be summed up in this one verse. From the first time I read it years ago it has been the one verse that I feel completely reflects my relationship with Jesus.I quote it all the time, it is the tag-line on all of my email, I sign it on cards, I share it to encourage others.

Why? I am currently studying Beth Moore's Believing God Bible study and in it she talks about speaking out truth from Scripture. Following are 10 wonderful promises that we can name and claim as our own as Daughters of the Most High King.

“Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation.”

Isaiah 12:2

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Ephesians 2:8-10

“Praise be to the LORD, for he has heard my cry for mercy. The LORD is my strength and my shield;

my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.”

Psalm 28:6-7

“The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.”

Isaiah 58:11

“Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

Romans 8:14-15

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”

Romans 8:26-27

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 8:37-39

“And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”

Colossians 2:15

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”

James 1:5

“But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

James 1:25

Some News

I have some news, but before I share, I guess I need to tell you the back story to get you current.

First, If you have read my blog in the past, you will know that Kevin needs some extra help with aspects of his learning. Although we have worked well with the school, homework has always been a nightmare. I say that in the sense that by the time I get home from work, it is dinner time. Once we get dinner over with, then we can start homework. With his reading difficulties, homework, on average, takes several hours a night. It wasn't anything for him to be finishing up at 11:00pm. Not ideal in the least, but we didn't have any options.

Also, For the past six months or so, God has been really working on me. He has been really convicting me over my lack of trust in the finance department. My lack of obedience, my lack of trust, my lack of faith, my lack of giving up control. I have been fighting God on this issue for about as long as I have been trying to walk with Him. I don't know why other than the fact that I don't want to give up the driver's seat, even though I keep crashing the car, so to speak. After about six weeks of what my friend Shelley calls God screaming at me (the same message in place after place after place for weeks on end) God finally got through to me. I am not one to go down easy, even when the fight is with God, and as you can image,after that kind of fight the surrender wasn't easy. But God. After I finally told God I would listen and obey him, I did. And it hasn't been as hard as I would have thought. Now, not saying I haven't taken a couple wrong turns since then, but I am on a good path now.

Finally, I have been completely overwhelmed, time-wise. I have scaled back everywhere I could think of, but just could not get peace about the amount of time I was dedicating at home. I spent a lot of time figuring out if it was conviction, which is God, or feeling condemned, which is NOT God. I wanted to make sure I was working things out in God's will. Oh how I have longed for a burning bush! For God to say, this is the exact thing I want you to do at this time. I will be there every step of the way, I will tell you what to say, and tell you what to do. But I never got one.  Once again, God started talking. Loudly. Not a burning bush, but pretty good. The same message everywhere I went. It was funny at times because a friend would be sharing something she got out of Bible study, that was exactly what she wanted to hear, and it was the same message I had been hearing everywhere; but because God was working out different things in each of us, the same Bible study had two completely different outcomes.

Where is all this information leading?

As of July 9th, I will be a stay-at-home Mom! Is this scary? SO. VERY. MUCH. but you know what? I am OK with that. I have already had some confirmations since I turned in my notice at work. Will I miss my job? YES! I loved working with wonderful women, in a ministry that is very near and dear to God's heart (a crisis pregnancy center). I will also miss seeing God show up in some unexpected and awesome ways. But, I know that God has some really great stuff for me down this new path I will begin.

One of the things I hope to come back to is blogging. Not that I think I am so witty, or experienced, or more able than any other Jesus-loving girl out there. I just think that sometimes something that happens in my life might look a little bit like something going on in someone else's life. And if I write about my experience, maybe, just maybe, it will help that someone, even a little bit. Also, there are things and times in my life that God has just been abundant, awesome, amazing, patient, caring, convicting, loving, comforting, insistent, amusing, gentle, firm, and always over-the-top lavish in his treatment of me. I just have to share that kind of stuff!

If you are still visiting me, or receiving my feeds, THANK YOU! I hope to be back to regular posting soon. But in the meantime, please pray as I prepare to start this new chapter in my family's life.