zoned out!

I am a busybody!

Not like as in gossiping but as in always having something to do. The truth be told, I would say that I am a modern day Martha. Busy with this, busy with that. I hardly ever take time to just sit and relax.

Sometimes I get so busy with things that I just tune everything out. The phone, the TV, the radio, the dogs, and yes, even sometimes the kids. The kids seem to know exactly what to do to get my attention when I am in one of my "zoned out" states. They will call my name...

"Mom?"... "MOM?"... "LAURIE!!"

The first two times usually does not get my attention, but when I hear the kids call me by my given name ... believe me, I listen then!

I hate to admit this, but sometimes in my time with the Lord, I also find myself "zoned out!" Instead of listening for His voice, I find myself just talking and talking about what is on my mind and in my heart. I go from one thing to another, never focusing on what He is trying to say to me. It is no wonder God has to call out my name sometimes...



"Daughter?" ..."DAUGHTER?" ..."LAURIE!!"

PSALM 46:10 "Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

I need to sit at His feet more and just be still, it is in these quiet moments that I will be able to hear His very still voice. I do not want to miss out on what He is saying to me just because I cannot hear Him over my own voice.

"Dear Lord, please teach me to be still before you. I want to listen to You and Your ways, I don't want you to have to shout my name to get my attention. I give You my heart, my thoughts, and my ears! Speak to me Lord, I am listening!" -AMEN

LACED WITH GRACE...to save a life!

Today I have shared a devotion with the readers over at LACED WITH GRACE! My devotion today is entitled, 'To save a life!" ...

Several years ago, the term “to save a life” took on a new meaning for me.

It was a cool, crisp November evening, I remember it so vividly because we were returning home from celebrating my birthday. As we crossed over the Mississippi River to come into our town, we came up on a stopped car on the bridge. It was really strange, because there in the middle of a busy highway, a car being stopped in the middle of it all just didn’t seem right.

My husband had the same intuition that I had and he immediately pulled our car over to the side of the road and sprinted from our car to that parked car in the middle of the road. Call it intuition or the leading of the Spirit – whatever it was – it was the difference in a persons life.

Right before we came up on the scene, apparently there was ... CLICK HERE to read the rest!

THANKFUL THURSDAY...life is an adventure!

This week I celebrated yet another birthday! Birthdays are always fun, especially when you get to be my age. When you are in your 20's, you look forward to what is yet to come, but the older you get, it is fun to look back and see where you have come from.

This being my 47th birthday, I enjoyed taking a stroll down memory lane. Remembering all the things that I have gone thru to get to where I am today. Life hasn't always been a bed of roses, but even the tough stuff has been worth it all! Without any of it, I would not be the person I am today.

Life is a great big adventure!
 It is full of enemies and friends. Victories and defeats. Ups and downs. Joy and disappointment. Good things and bad things. But without it all, we would not grow, we would not learn to trust Him, we would not become who God wants us to be.



PHILIPPIANS 4:8 "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things."

Today is Thankful Thursday and I am so grateful for the adventure God has led me on. Every memory that I have has been worth it, without them, I would not be who I am today!



THEN





NOW



What are you grateful for this week? Write about it and link up your post below!

 HAPPY TT!

WEDNESDAY WEEKLY WORD ...stop for directions

I think alot of people are going thru life without having any clear understanding of what their purpose is. We all have dreams and goals for our future, but what happens when some of those dreams go unfulfilled? Many times it leaves us feeling empty or aimless.

I have a friend that makes every decision on a whim. He has no clear direction in his life, he goes from job to job, relationship to relationship and just seems to wander thru life with no purpose. I wonder how many times I fall into this trap as a Christian? Living as though I have no direction or purpose.

David writes, "He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His names sake." (Psalm 23:3b)

To lead someone or something, you must have a concept of destination.
 A good leader will have a specific goal and plan. When I think about the Shepherd leading me, He clearly has a destination in mind! But in this particular passage in Psalms, David says that He will "guide" me! Guiding is all about the process not the destination, it is about the journey!

God is walking alongside me, guiding me thru the curves and ruts of life. He guides each footstep, never leaving my side. There is no doubt that God can guide us, the question is will we let Him?

So many times we ask ourselves, "I don't know what to do? If only God would give me some guidance!" But the truth is God is willing to guide us but we often times refuse to follow Him. When I wander around aimlessly, it is usually because I have come to rely completely on my self-direction instead of the loving, guiding hand of God.

Self-direction is never fulfilling.
We can't have it both ways - it is either our way or His way. Finding purpose once again may mean we need to make different choices! Whose leading will you follow?

A PIECE OF MY HEART...hide and seek

When my boys were young, one of the greatest things we did was play hide and seek in the house! We lived in a 2-story older home and it had some incredible hiding spots. We would turn off all of the lights and the boys would all try to get into the darkest, most hidden spot they could find. It wasn't rare to find them deep in one of the walk in closets, sitting up on a shelf with blankets all around them. They thought they were sneaky and could escape the eyes of the seeker! lol

The seeker was very clever though! The seeker was me!

Jeremy, who was very small was always the one to give themselves away. Even daddy would be hiding with him, he would cover Jeremy's mouth so he would not giggle or make some sort of noise that would give their hidden spot away. But I was too clever for that ... I was the master mind of seeking in the game of hide and seek!

After awhile of not finding them, all I had to do was say ..."Jeremy...I have some ice cream? Do you want some ice cream Jeremy?" (said in a very enticing voice)

IMMEDIATELY... squirming and laughing and the sound of running little feet could be heard. BAM! It worked every time, no one could escape and hide from me! (well, not as long as there was ice cream and Jeremy involved in the game!)

PSALM 139:7 "I can never escape from Your Spirit! I can never get away from Your Presence!"

Many times we play a game of hide and seek with God.
Except with Him, He does not use trickery to find us. We try to hide in our darkest corners and escape His eye but truth is that God knows where we are at all times. He sees us when we are down in the valley and He sees us when we are up on top of the mountain. He sees us when we are deep in our sin and He sees us when we are on our face, repenting before Him. He sees us when we are sad, happy, angry, disappointed, discouraged, and lost. There is no place dark enough for us to escape His eye, or His love!

No matter how hard we try to escape and hide from Him, we can never get away from the outstretched hand of His Sweet Spirit. He longs to bring us out of the darkness into His light, so we can forever enjoy the sweetness (the ice cream) of His embrace!

Isn't it time to stop playing hide and seek with God?

and this has been a piece of my heart today;

I need someone to do my heavy work!

Physically, I am not a very strong person. I mean when it comes to being able to move or lift heavy things - I am just a weakling! I often think about joining the local gym and getting myself a personal trainer so I can improve on my muscles so I would not be so dependent upon my husband or sons to do my "heavy" work. But I have decided that that would be a terrible thing to do! If I was strong enough to do all of my lifting and moving of the hard stuff, then I wouldn't need my "boys"!

It is the same thing with God.

Sometimes I wish I wasn't such a weak person spiritually ... but if I was completely strong and could move all of the heavy things of life out of my way ... I would not depend upon God's strength. It is in His strength that the mountains are moved not my strength.

I may be weak (physically and spiritually) - but it is in His strength that my weaknesses are made strong:

2Co 12:9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

His name is glorified and lifted up when we call upon Him and we are dependent on Him. I was thinking, maybe I don't need a personal trainer after all...as long as I have God!

THANKFUL THURSDAY...gratified or grateful?

I am so excited to be hosting THANKFUL THURSDAY once again. I always look forward to spending Thursday's with my sisters in Christ as we all share our grateful hearts. As we enter into THE MONTH of gratefulness ... the month leading up to Thanksgiving, I couldn't help wonder if I am truly grateful or am I just merely gratified?

Evidently, there is a difference between the two. And indeed an important difference.

Gratified or Grateful?

When my focus is on being "gratified", I am focusing on me! What makes "me" happy? What makes "me" look good?

 Me, me, me! It's all about me!

However, when I focus on being grateful, I am focusing on God. He is the giver of good things. Even when things seem "bad" in my life, He still brings something good out of it. Having gratitude is being able to see God in our life. Not focusing on the problem but rejoicing in His answer!

1 THESSALONIANS 5:18 "In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

These next few weeks as you contemplate the dinner guest list, the decorations and the trimmings around your Thanksgiving table, take time to reflect on your heart of thanks ... are you thankful because you are gratified or because you are truly grateful?

There is a difference.

Join your grateful heart with ours today for TT by linking up your post below. Let's all try to encourage one another by a quick visit to each others blogs. I know we are all very busy, but let's try to visit at least 5 other sisters and bring them encouragement! HAPPY TT everybody!