Category: Faith

I Believe in You

by atozmom, posted in Faith, Life

This is the title of the new series at church.  I had to fight tears the whole time.

Our pastor may not be the most eloquent but he has one thing going for him:  he is authentic, God-centered, and heart-felt.  He often cries when he speaks about God and one can’t help but feel his passion for the Lord.

At some point or points, one person or persons believed in you. They told you, “Yes, you can” when others (including yourself) believed otherwise.  Our pastor related his personal story and gave credit to his wife who admittedly he said he wouldn’t be here without her.  She believed in him when he didn’t.  He founded our church 28 years ago with 7 people and now it’s in the thousands.

We need to believe in others.  We need to believe in our spouse. We need to invest in those nearest us–someone. We need an older mentor. We need an encourager.  We need to give of ourselves in order to live.

God wants us to quit settling.  God wants us to have all He has given to us; to seize it.  Satan will try to talk us out of everything God wants us to do.  He will lie to us.

Jesus commissioned his 11 disciples to spread his work.  Jesus believed in them.  He believed in Peter, who denied him 3 times.

God believes in us.  He wants us to follow His call on our life.  God believes in us when we don’t know if we want to go on.

Romans 8:31  If God is for us, who can be against us?

Several songs popped in my mind:  Our God by Chris Tomlin, The Words I Would Say by Sidewalk Prophets, and You Never Let Go by Matt Redman

We need to believe we can do whatever our calling/purpose is in this world.  This gets me through when I’m stuck.  I tell myself, “This is God’s work.  It’s for Him.  It will be all worth it when it’s done.”

When was the last time someone told you they believed in you? When was the last time you told someone you believed in them?

You might not remember.  But I bet you remember the last time you needed to hear it.

It’s Not About Me

by atozmom, posted in Book Reviews, Faith

I read Sarah Palin’s new book, America By Heart.  It was good.  It echoes a lot of what Glenn Beck and The 5000 Year Leap say about country, pride, faith, and America.

One book she quoted in her book that struck me was It’s Not About Me by Max Lucado.  Since my husband and I have both been accused of being selfish by his family recently, I thought this book apropos.  Plus, what better way to begin the New Year?

I like Max Lucado.  As creator of the Wemmicks, he’s a special guy in my kids’ eyes.  But I’ve only read one adult book of his until this one.

Here’s the best parts and quotes:

When our deepest desire is not the things of God, or a favor from God, but God himself, we cross a threshold.

Lucado then discusses Moses in the desert and while talking to God he asks him, “Show me your Glory.” (Exodus 33:18)  Lucado asks, “Don’t we all need to be asking the same thing?”  So we can be changed forever as Moses was?

We exist to reveal His glory but we must first see and know His glory and live it in our lives.

Holy is repeated 3 times in Isaiah 6:2.  What other adjective is repeated to describe God?

God’s mercy makes us holy.

We can endure any challenge for a moment when our reward is eternity.

If it’s all about you, then it’s all up to you.  God loves us too much to give us such a burden.  He loves us too much to give us too much.  He knows our limitations and weaknesses.  Because He loves us.

Side Note:  Lucado told a story about Queen Victoria’s daughter, Alice, and how she loved her sick son so much so kissed him even though he was in quarantine.  She died a few days later.  I immediately looked this up on the internet because I had never heard of this story.  Great stuff.  Be prepared to shed a tear.

As we behold His glory, we become it.  As we become it, we reflect it for all to see.

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17

Our body is interwoven with the soul.  “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself?”  1 Corinthians 6:15  So whatever touches the body, impacts the soul.

Your body, God’s tool.  Maintain it.

Your body, God’s temple.  Respect it.

God does leave us to the consequences of our stupid decisions. But our pain has a purpose: problems, struggles, heartaches, and hassles cooperate toward one end–the glory of God.  Is there any change you have been selected to struggle for God’s glory?  “To suffer for Him.” Philippians 1:29

God will use whatever He wants to display His glory.  Nations.  People.  Problems.

God can be seen through your problems.

Your success is all about God.  God lets you excel so you can make Him known.  You are good at what you do for God’s sake.

We exist to give honor to his name.  If they know His child (us humans), then they know His heart.

There is a great section in here discussing Isaiah and when he saw the glory of God, was cleansed by the seraphs, and said, “Here am I!”  This was especially satisfying to me since I knew exactly what Lucado was getting at–all thanks to BSF!

This was a great reminder book.  Easy read and relatively short.  Great ideas and lessons from the Bible. Everything in our lives: our bodies, our struggles, our success, our salvation, and our messages are for God’s glory.  It’s all about God, not us.

Live for God.

Bible Study Fellowship–Isaiah

by atozmom, posted in Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), Faith

Yesterday was our first day of Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), studying the book of Isaiah.  I’m excited to begin.  This is my first year.

So, I began the questions this morning and I hope I get better as I go along.  I had to leave 4b blank because I am unsure how Isaiah 1:1-9 relates to dealing with a past hurt.  The passage is about how God is angry at his children because they have rebelled and speaks nothing of forgiveness or restoration.  It only mentions how his people are stupid and how there will be chosen survivors.

Maybe it’ll come to me in the coming days.

I loved the lecture, especially Principle #1: God uses committed people to impact culture today.  I’d like to think I’m one of these.

It’s also good to be reminded that you were born with a purpose in mind.  I know this instinctively but it’s good to bring it back up especially when someone else says so.

Why I DON’T Want a Writing “Job”

by atozmom, posted in Faith, Writing

My mother-in-law mentioned to me last night that Craigslist has tons of blog writer positions or copywriter or writer in general and I should look into those.  Immediately, without thinking, I said, “I don’t want to write for other people.  I want to write what I want to write, not what others tell me to write.”

I started mulling this over this morning.  I searched Craigslist and everything sounded about as exciting as a 8:00 AM Economics lecture.  Then I thought about my answer last night and seconded it.

I don’t want to write for others.  I write for myself and what my heart (and I believe God) tells me to write about.  I don’t want to have to do research on some mind-numbing topic and turn in a report about it.  Lord knows I did enough of that in college to last me a life time.  I don’t want to blog for others when I can blog about whatever I want to.

Call this selfish or whatever but to me, this is what makes writing fun and if writing is not fun for me, I won’t do it.  I’m old enough in life to realize I’m through doing monotonous stuff if I don’t have to.  Praise God I don’t have to write for a living.  My husband does all of that.

I also mentioned to my mother-in-law that I write books for me and I am going to try my hardest to get published.  But if I don’t succeed, if God doesn’t will it, I will still keep on doing it.

This is passion.  This is where I stand.

Seek God First…

by atozmom, posted in Faith

Everything else falls into place.

Jesus said, “Seek first [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things [eat,drink, wear] will be given to you as well.” Matthew 6:33

Remember God is with you.  You are not alone.  He’s there in your highs and in your lows.  He’s there always.

Do You Pause to Give God Credit?

by atozmom, posted in Faith, Life, Writing

How many times have you paused lately to give God credit for events in your life?

I know I try, especially on Sundays in church, but I’m bad at giving him credit for the little things:  like today for a perfect bike ride with my son where we saw frogs, pelicans, geese, birds, and squirrels–His creations all around us.

I’m bad at giving him credit for the big things too such as my new novel idea (I always say a prayer of thanks but continually giving him praise is hard for me) or for maybe getting us out of this apartment through a nice couple that may sublet from us or for my husband’s new job that is allowing us to go vacation for the first time in at least five years, for us to get our teeth cleaned, and for us to visit the doctor without worry of bills to come in the mail.

I’m reading Daniel in the Old Testament who continually gave God credit for everything despite being exiled in a foreign country his entire life (Babylon).  It’s amazing how far faith can get you.

I do know in my heart I will write the novel that will find the perfect literary agent and an audience as long as I keep following God’s word and his word in my life.

So I will endeavor to pause more to thank God for his little blessings (and his big ones) as I continue on my life’s journey.

The Enemy

by atozmom, posted in Faith, Writing

Lately, I’ve been very discouraged with the progress of my book.  It’s done but I’m still trying to find a literary agent to no avail.  Every time I sit down to query, I’m just overcome with a sense of hopelessness and despair and the rejects that occasionally still filter in do not ameliorate the situation at all.

So, church today was about the Enemy or Devil and how he comes against us and we are in a constant struggle (usually invisible) against him.  This made me immediately think of my novel because I completely agreed that it’s the Devil at work on my will to get this published.  I do believe this book is a strong book for all people and will help them in their struggles and it does grapple with the question of God’s role in our lives.  Thus, I think the Devil may be upon me every time I try to work on it (be it querying, editing, writing, etc).

Step 1) is being aware of this battle and how it’s the Devil focusing on my weaknesses (which are aversion to criticism, my writing sucks, I will never get this published, etc).

Step 2) is depend on God’s strengths to overcome and not yours.  This is important, especially since writing is such a lonely craft.  I do feel alone sometimes in my struggles with this book.

Step 3) will be to use God’s protection to win the battle over him.

I am excited for this next series so I can learn some tools in order to put my mind where it needs to be to create and do God’s work–ultimately your life’s purpose.

God Continues to Amaze

by atozmom, posted in Faith, Writing

God continues to Amaze me and always in unexpected ways.

As you may recall, I spent the last two weeks altering my latest novel for the umpteenth time.  When I was through, I was so burnt out I told myself, “This is it!  I’m done with this novel.  It can get no better through my hands.”  So, I laid it aside, determined not to touch it again.

Well, then I got this wild idea in my head to enter this writing contest.  The suggestions on the contest said to alter the ending to your first chapter a bit even if it wasn’t the true ending in order to keep the judges engaged and wanting to read more.  Well, I discounted this as frivolous nonsense.

Then, an idea kept popping in my head, one that has been coming up again and again throughout my edits that I have been resisting with the fortitude of all of my might.  This idea told me to re-arrange my first chapter to open with a stronger beginning.  I had discounted it because I believed I needed the intro because it contained crucial motivations to my characters.  However, since the idea kept coming up over and over again, I could dismiss it no longer.  So, I figured, “What could it hurt just to play around with it a bit?”

So, over the next two days, I’ve become obsessed with re-working my first chapter.  Nothing has been added.  Just re-arranged and added a past tense to make it all flow.

What amazes me is that I never would have touched my novel again if I hadn’t been researching writing conferences.  As I was researching writing conferences, I came across the writing contest.  Why was I researching writing conferences?  Because a lady at church mentioned to me that I should attend one.  Now, if that’s not a God-thing, then I’m not for sure what else could be?

So, I incorporated my new first chapter into my novel (it can’t hurt?  It’s not like agents are clamoring after my material anyways) and we’ll go from here.

Being Content in Life’s Circumstances

by atozmom, posted in Faith

So, today church was about being content and grateful for what’s in your life and to not take things for granted because it can all vanish in an instant.  I am trying really hard, but I often let life get to me and I really don’t know why.

I’ve been through some tough times and we’re on an upswing right now:  new job, new apartment, new school, etc.  We have money now, especially here in the next couple of weeks once we get our taxes back and pay some debts off.  Still, I can’t help but feel…down.  I’m going to start P90X again tomorrow after two weeks off from our move so I hope that helps.

My husband’s out of town so we can’t move any furniture in until he returns.  I don’t have internet until the 11th (I’m just writing these and will post once I get it), which is really making me feel disconnected from the world.  I haven’t been inspired to write or query.  I haven’t been inspired to do much.

I’m back in contact with my sister after about 4 months of not speaking and she’s annoying. She’s well off but all I hear out of her is how poor she is and it’s getting old.  This is not to mention her other miniscule problems in life.

Then there are the moments when my son crawls into my lap and I just hug him and kiss him.

Still, it’s hard to get over feeling overwhelmed and down.  Today’s message was to trust in the Lord since He’s all we have really.  Our stuff can be taken away, people can be taken away, and even us will go one day.  He is the one constant.

So I guess I have to read my Bible more and trust more in Him and His plan.  Where else can I put my hope?

Words of Comfort

by atozmom, posted in Faith

Just when I’m feeling sad and questioning what I’m doing with my life and even if all my work is worthwhile, I open the Bible and God speaks to me.

“Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?”  Isaiah 55:2

The Bible further goes on and says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found” verse 6 and those who “have no money, come” verse 1.

This comforts me as I know my writing satisfies me (and God) even though right now it satisfies no one else.  It’s encouraging to know in these tough times that there is hope and a future as I’m bogged down in the mire of the present.

“Your ways are not my ways,” verse 8.  This is true but sometimes I wish they were my ways.  His ways tend to be too hard.