Loved Beyond Measure

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Day 3: Going For Godly Goals

"As you listen and draw closer, you will hear God speak specifically to you about His plans for you--plans for a hope and a good future. And as you continue your journey, you will want your own visions, plans and goals to line up with His. Our sincere desire is for you to experience the freedom for which you were created and to catch the vision that God has for your life. Today we will focus on the purpose of life and the blessing of adopting Godly goals."

I'm a great fan of the book 'A Mother's Rule of Life' by Holly Pierlot...it has changed my life. It is an awesome tool to help with setting Godly goals. It shows us the five areas that need to be addressed...Holly calls them the 5 'Ps'. P1= Prayer, P2=Person, P3=Partner, P4=Parenting, P5= Provider. I have prayerfully and with the direction of the Lord set up my own 'rule'by examining each area of my life and seeing what needs to be done on a practical level to maintain it...it is so freeing to see it all in black and white and not have to re-invent the wheel each day on what needs to be done around here. While I'm 'waiting on the Lord'...instead of focusing on my stomach or being tossed everywhere by my ADD tendencies, I instead set out with the grace of God to just do the next thing on my 'rule' aka to-do list. I thereby live in the moment and that is where the Lord meets me...in my regular day to day activities...washing the dishes now becomes a wonderful dialogue with the Lord.

Monday, June 8, 2009

He Chose Me to Be

He Chose Me to Be by Mother Angelica

"Your body, you know, is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you since you received Him from God. You are not your own property; you have been bought and paid for. That is why you should use your body for the glory of God. (1 Cor. 6:19) We have a tendency to think our body is our own and we can do as we please with it. But this is not so. We were created by God—created as weak human beings—part animal, part spiritual. Our dignity as human beings was degraded by pride and rebellion in the beginning by our first parents Adam and Eve and then by our own wrong choices. God's love for us devised a way to raise us above our degradation—above our own nature, and set us apart as beings He could rightfully call "sons." He sent His own Son to take our flesh upon Himself—live and die as one of us and then rise from the dead so we would be delivered from our slavery to sin. What a price was paid for one so fragile in nature, so vacillating in will, so prone to evil. The Great King looks for a peasant to raise up to the dignity of a Prince. Each one of us is a kind of Cinderella, who is beckoned by the King to live a new life. The choice is ours, but the prize is His—He has already a right to everything we are, everything we possess. He has only good to give us. Why do we so often prefer what harms us? Is the right to choose good and evil more precious to us than peace, happiness and joy? Would we rather be miserable and misuse our freedom to choose rather than be humble and admit God Knows what is best for us? What price He paid to save us and what price we pay when we do our own will? No, we do not have a right to do as we please with our life or anyone else's. Our life belongs to God and that God is powerful enough to maintain it, good enough to sustain it and provident enough to care for all its needs.

Week 2 Assignment! Keep Focused! :-)

God Is Doing a New Thing: Week 2 Assignment! Keep Focused! :-): "If we develop an ability to focus on Him, praise Him, pray to Him, we will find that those things that lure us to food when we aren't physically hungry will fade! Honestly! Not only that, but a lot of other challenges in our lives will fall into their rightful place. It is the 'Seek first His righteousness and all these things will be added to you as well' principle again!"

Our challenges will fade because He will provide for our needs. He will either remove the challenges completly, or He will provide us with enough grace to endure it...either way it is a win-win situation. So...why don't we (I) utilize this font of grace more often? I want to bring it ALL to Him...nothing is too big or too small for my Heavenly Father. I can tell right away when I begin to lose focus...my anxiety goes sky high, a bunch of things just seem to go way out of control and get to overwhelming proportions. This was never God's intent for my life.

There is a misconception by some that God created us and then left us alone to fend for ourselves. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

YouTube - DON MOEN - Creator King

He loves ME...

His is an active love that has motivated all that He has done since the beginning of time. When He paints the evening sunset, it is because He loves you. When a child embraces you, it is because He loves you. When the birds sing, the sun rises, the flowers waft a heavenly scent, it is all because He loves you.

He was inspired to initiate relationships with human beings from the beginning of creation because it is in His character to love. He woos you and draws you, placing in you a desire to draw near to Him. That desire is kindled by His love for you. His word reminds us that we love Him only because He first loved us. ---Thin Within p18

YouTube - Don Moen - Rescue

TW Day 2

He desires you to know Him--to be in relationship with Him, and to be absolutely authentic before Him.

Ok...in order to know Him, we have come before Him and listen (be still and know that I am God). In order to be in relationship with Him, we need to come to Him frequently and again 'listen'...like any other relationship it requires give and take. Ofcourse 'listening' is not merely 'hearing' but soaking it all in and acting on what we are hearing. Then there is the authenticity stuff...ooo...that's a little harder for me. I'm thinking that it may be a bit harder for many of us...remember how Adam and Even 'hid' once they discovered they were 'naked'. There are many ways of hiding and 'nakedness' is not simply an absence of clothes. We need to come fully before the Lord without any pretence and without any thing else that may block our way.

Oh Lord, may I be fully authentic before You today...wipe away anything that is not from You.

Abbey-Roads: Deus caritas est.

Abbey-Roads: Deus caritas est.: "Who can separate us from the Love of God that comes to us in Christ Jesus! And so it is that between them there is but a single life, a single love ... The Love between the Father and the Son... The Holy Spirit."

Holy Experience: Soul ADD

Holy Experience: Soul ADD: "Lord, when I pay attention to everyday graces...
I'm spending my life in God-worship. Could there be a better investment?

Cause me today to pay attention to Your gifts.... a cure for Soul ADD."

Yes...spending our life in God-worship is exactly what we were created for. Oh Lord, let it be.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Waiting on the Lord part 2

God Is Doing a New Thing: "Waiting for the Lord will never leave us wanting. He WILL meet us. He WILL satisfy. This is where the wording of things is a bit awkward...If we wait for hunger, our focus is on our body, ourselves. But waiting on the Lord, our focus is on HIM. He will then say, 'Guess what, dear one? Your body needs fuel now. Come and dine with Me!' Isn't that a glorious thought? :-) No guilt, no condemnation, no self-focus. Then our meal time can be a time of praise and worship... 'Lord, thank you for the amazing flavor and texture in this food. You are so creative! Thank you for the abundance. Thank you for supplying my needs. You are an awesome Provider! Thank you for my body that YOU have created--fearfully and wonderfully!'"

This is AWESOME! I admit...this is a new perspective for me. The other times down this road, I waited was on hunger...yikes. You get exactly what you seek. I want it to be different this time.

special situations...

Blogger: God Is Doing a New Thing - Post a Comment:
"For those who have diabetes, it is always best to talk with a doctor, but the Hallidays know many people with diabetes who have done really well with this approach. Typically, you don't want to wait long after the first signal of hunger. Don't wait for a growl. That is NOT a sign of hunger for most people and can cause you to really crash if you wait for that...or to eat too soon! Either way, a growl isn't reliable. Then, what you eat is vital. If you know that there are foods that make you feel good physically, then ask God to help you to have those on hand for when you are hungry. It doesn't take much to fend off a true blood sugar crash...it is just the right something that the Lord will lead you for your body."

Heidi posted this on her comments section and I thought it was so brilliant that I needed to post it in a place that I can re-read as often as needed. I don't have 'diabetes'...but I do have other 'issues' with blood sugar that will be helped by the above suggestion.

Waiting on the Lord

God Is Doing a New Thing: "I challenge you to begin to wait for physical hunger before you eat. (Yes, I know some may take issue with this phraseology, but I think it fits for people just starting out or others of us who 'pre-empt' hunger by eating for a variety of *other* reasons!). Note when you are drawn to eat and *aren't* hungry and ask God to show you if you are not hungry, what it is that is making you think about food--why are you drawn? Food only satisfies physical hunger. All other 'needs' or wants require something else to be satisfied.

What do you learn about yourself and about God as you wait for physical hunger before eating?"

It is 7:30 PM right now and I've done my fair share of eating outside of hunger already today...so it is time to stop and give it a rest. One little step...

The only answer

God Is Doing a New Thing: "I felt God impress upon my heart that maybe someone here can use the encouragement found in some of the words that were a part of the prayer at the end of the chapter...

Lord, You are the only answer to the emptiness I feel when I am not with You. The fullness of Your being is what I crave. The intimacy of Your embrace is what I long for...Help me to make You the first place I run to when I have longings in my heart. I don't want to waste time turning to other things that will never satisfy the need I have for intimacy with You. My soul waits for you, Lord. (Psalm 33:20) Amen."

Thanks Heidi...that's exactly what I needed.

"You see, when I am vulnerable, I am prone to being "needy"--to feeling empty. This is when I can start reaching for anything to fill the emptiness...

As you and I continue the early part of this sojourn we want to ask God to make each of us--I want to ask Him to make ME--to be aware when I am doing this before it happens. This is the crux of much of our disordered behavior and disordered eating. It really isn't about the food, the computer, the books, the busy-ness. It is about my heart, about your heart...and, mostly, about GOD."

Here Heidi touches on the exact thing that I was referring to in my previous post...that when I stray from the awareness of His constant care and nurture is when I start feeling the need for 'self care'. Funny...the name of this blog is 'Nurturing Self' and yet that is the exact thing that I need to get away from. It is not about being a martyr, or rejecting the good things that God brings into our lives...but just making sure that they come from His own hand and in His own timing. All good things come from Him...but He sets proper boundaries for our own good.

God Is Doing a New Thing

I'm redoing the Thin Within study along with Heidi from God Is Doing a New Thing. I'll use my blog here to post my own reflections on it and to really digest all the wonderful stuff that she is putting out there without taking up too much space on her comments box (even though I plan to make use of that too).

"God wants our hearts to belong to him (not to some 'skinny' ideal or even to some vision of 'health and wholeness!'). As we relinquish our hearts to him, we WILL change from the inside out."

I need to relinquish my own desires in order to embrace His fully...and that means letting go of what I SHOULD weigh, or what size I think I should wear...and even how I need to feel. I know that God loves me more then I love myself and I need to trust that He won't lead me in the wrong path. 'ALL' I need to do is act in obedience to Him and He will take care of the outcome...whatever that may be.

2.) Are you willing to foster an awareness of Jesus' presence in every moment of your life? You can do this in your heart even in the midst of a hustle bustle work schedule or being with your kids or running errands or whatever you do. Truthfully, there is no way to experience the kind of lasting, deep, penetrating transformation that we really need apart from developing an awareness of his constant care and presence with you. Truly, this can be quite simple, but it is NOT easy!

I really hunger for this 'awareness' of His constant care. I think it is when I stray from it that I get myself in trouble and try to grab for it in my own way (and that's never good). It is like the kid from the rich family but yet feels the need to go begging for food at the neighbor's house...how pittiful really.