08.13.19. Some look forward to summer as a break from the norm adding vacations and extra outdoor dinners and quick weekend excursions. Some take a laid back approach to summer opting for more relaxed time to pursue the latest read or binge-watch a series on Netflix.
Our summer schedule has included all the above and, then some.
This year we launched a non-profit while continuing to press forward with the ministry. My weeks are full leading fitness classes and preparing for fitness classes. Together, Terry and I try to find opportunities to open our home and gather around our table. We live an abundant life full of God's blessing. We don't live large, but our hearts our large to live out the blessings and to make His name known. We pray for miracles. We see miracles. We encourage and receive encouragement.
Encouragement. The bible speaks of just-right words being spoken at the just-right
time as a beautiful piece of museum worthy art, fine jewelry and a welcome change of weather. (Read Psalm 25:11-13.) This reflects how my spirit has received the 73 devotionals in the EMBRACED book, this summer.
Each day, Lysa TerKeurst sets a table with nourishment welcoming me to slow down, sit and open my spirit to God's encouragement and, sometimes, rebuke. His rebuke is gentle, because it is savored with love. As I take it in, I'm both corrected and cherished knowing He won't abandon nor punish me with sullenness.
So, as a catch-up of exhortation, I offer standout Lysa-statements from my past very-busy-non-blogging days:
Now, after that meal I can recline, pat my tummy and declare myself, "Full to the brim!" Until, tomorrow.
Our summer schedule has included all the above and, then some.
This year we launched a non-profit while continuing to press forward with the ministry. My weeks are full leading fitness classes and preparing for fitness classes. Together, Terry and I try to find opportunities to open our home and gather around our table. We live an abundant life full of God's blessing. We don't live large, but our hearts our large to live out the blessings and to make His name known. We pray for miracles. We see miracles. We encourage and receive encouragement.
Encouragement. The bible speaks of just-right words being spoken at the just-right
Each day, Lysa TerKeurst sets a table with nourishment welcoming me to slow down, sit and open my spirit to God's encouragement and, sometimes, rebuke. His rebuke is gentle, because it is savored with love. As I take it in, I'm both corrected and cherished knowing He won't abandon nor punish me with sullenness.
So, as a catch-up of exhortation, I offer standout Lysa-statements from my past very-busy-non-blogging days:
[God] can handle your honesty.
Disappointment only stings as long as I let it.
We must process our hurts through the filter of God's love, not through the tangled places of our hearts.
Grace given when it feels least deserved is the only antidote for bitterness.
Healed people, heal people.
In this set-apart place, God will give you much-needed special wisdom for the assignment ahead.
The voices of shame and rejection can come at you, but they don't have to reside in you.
A depleted girl can quickly become a defeated girl when she lets emotions dictate her reactions.
Live from the abundant place, where you are loved and you won't find yourself begging others for scraps of love.
Are you doing this because you are loved or so that you'll be loved?
Proximity and activity don't always equal connectivity.
Do I walk into situations prepared with the fullness of God in me, free to look for ways to bless others?
If we give [a short-term setback] the power to refine [and not define] us, the hurt will give way to healing.
Isn't it comforting to know God isn't ever broken? He isn't ever caught off guard, taken by surprise or shocked by what happens next.
To dwell on hard things keeps us in hard spots and only serves to depend our feelings of emotional emptiness.
Wisdom will help us not repeat the mistakes we've made but rather grow stronger through them.
Our souls were formed to recognize and respond to the calm assurance of Jesus and truth.
Now, after that meal I can recline, pat my tummy and declare myself, "Full to the brim!" Until, tomorrow.
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