On being an intentional Christian

It seems like again and again I am hearing and re-learning that being a Christian isn't just about taking that first step and believing that Jesus is the son of God and asking for forgiveness. We are hard-wired to have this desire within us to draw closer to our creator but in order to do that we have to become intentional Christians. We have to plan, prepare and prioritize how we live our lives so that we are doing, thinking and being in every way more like Christ, our Eartly example of who God is. Jesus is holy, selfless, loving, humble, zealous and more. For us to drawer nearer to God we have to strive to be more like Jesus and be more God-like. The seed of the Holy Spirit was planted in us when we made that decision to believe but we have to take the next step and the next and the next. Everyday it is a challenge to put the focus on God and being intentional in cultivating that relationship and therefore feeling his presense in our lives more. The fabulous thing is God is always right here, right now with us but we don't often feel it. We have to be active participants in this relationship through prayer, praise, worship, song, study, fellowship and whatever creative way you can come up with to spend more time with God. Before starting work full-time a couple of years ago, I really enjoyed my one hour class a week called Holy Yoga. What a wonderful creative way to worship the Lord and get in some good exercise in and respecting the body he gave us. I am working on finding a yoga class that works in my schedule but it won't be the same but it will get me going again and I will be more likely to be motivated to do it at home too like I was before. I have also loved working on scrapbook pages that are geared around a sermon, book, scripture or something that puts my focus on God. I think the hardest part is there are many ways we could be more intentional and doing more of those next steps but they are often inconsistent. I start reading my bible for a couple of days in the morning and than one morning I am struggling to just wake up or I have too many other things on my mind that need attention so they get it first and reading the bible doesn't happen. Priorty is the key to consistency. I have good intentions but have not made them a priority. I have to give myself some grace and plan it right this time. I can't change everything today but I can take one piece of my puzzle of my life with God and starting fitting it in to the space it should go. I am going to ponder all my thoughts today and come back tomorrow and make a more detailed list on ways I can be more intentional and than I will choose to set my goal on prioritizing on the one and getting that consistent like breathing. So what do you intend to do today that will draw you closer to God?

Alive to God's Desire

I was thinking about our sermon series bible study. The title/phrase that the church is calling it is Alive to God’s desire. In this weeks study questions, it asked what is God’s desire and what does it mean to be alive to God’s desire. I knew that God’s desire has and will always be that each and everyone one of us, the good, the bad and the ugly, all of us; he wants us to love him back. I thought of that in bed this morning before getting up and tears came to my eyes because I felt so much how similar we really are to God. He made us in his image. I have pondered that and really didn’t grasp what that meant but I believe it all has to do with love. God made us because he loves us and wants to be in a relationship with us. We are SO the same. The greatest need in all of us is to be loved and to love. The world and the sin in it, I think truly hold us back from our full potential to love that God has given each of us. He just wants us to love him back. Tears…. So how does this desire of God’s make me alive. I so want to tell everyone! It’s that simple. God just wants us to love him back. So, it’s our call as believers to help in this cause. We have to fight the sin and the devil at work in our world and overcome so that more and more people can see the truth that all God ever wanted was us to love him back.

I had a dream...

no really, literally! I had this dream where I was a photographer and we were celebrating the start of my new business. Well, when I woke up from this I was like why not? I have been looking into a few different things that I have always wanted or considered doing for a career. Where I am now is not a career of choice but more by the grace of God I have a job kind of thing. Anyways, I started researching being a family therapist. I talked to a couple of school sales rep's and learned how much it would take and how much it would cost. Yeah, not going to happen! Strike One. Then, I thought maybe I should look into Medical Transcription as it is something that could be done at home but upon researching that I realized you have to be a super good listener and typer and I really can't say those are my best quaulities so Strike Two but then I had this dream about being a photographer. I started researching it and realized this is something I could do without the need for formal education or a lot of money. So my first goal is to really learn everything I can about the very good digital camera that I have and practice, practice, practice. I got a book at the library that I have been reading to start learning all the lingo and everything else. I found a great site on-line that helps teach you and you can get into contest and such, good community of other photographers so I think I am off to a good start. I can go at the pace that is best so it doesn't screw with the rest of my life. It may take a couple of years to get to a place where I can say yes I am a professional photographer but that is the goal! I am so excited about it as it can add another dimension to my scrapbooking business as well. So, that is what has been consuming my time a lot lately. I am also working on stuff for my networking group that I have been President for the last year. We do not have a President Elect nor anyone willing or able to take on being President for next year so the board all voted I do it again. In the end I do think it will be better for the group to keep the consistency because I did make a lot of changes this year that were for the best but we have struggled to get more women coming and joining. I think the economy and the other FREE networking opporutunities just were hurting us so I made some changes and things are looking UP! It will be another great thing to put on my resume'. We are poor as heck right now because the child care for Faith is sucking me dry! We won't be eating any steak for the next month but somehow I just know we will survive. Maybe it's because at every other time the past where finance were super awful God stepped in and that little extra help was there to get us through it EVERY SINGLE TIME. God is so faithful so I am going to just have faith back in him that he will take care of it all. I am still considering a mission in finding out what love language each of my family members are and how to make a family album sharing this with everyone. I imagine it will come to me some morning as I wake up. That's my best brain time of day! I also thought I should write a children's book about a premature baby since I have never seen anything like it in the library. Something with animals as the characters and along the same story of how Faith came to be born and named. So, off I go to spend some time with Faith and get some errands done before my people come over for Project Playground. Yes, I will have crafting time with friends this afternoon. That makes me smile! :)

DISCOVERING YOUR LOVE LANGUAGE AND OTHERS LOVE LANGUAGES

I have been re-reading the book God Speaks YOur Love Language by Gary Chapman and had such a pivital moment yesterday. I was at the YMCA at the pool. My daughter was swimming and I brought the book to read. I started going through the chapter that has the 5 love languages briefly described. I had been thinking my hubbie was Acts of Service but I got it wrong. He is quality time. The first thing it says is Quality time is giving someone your undivided attention. I must have missed that the first time I read it or maybe it was because literally my hubbie said I just want you to give me your attention recently but now I know what he is. I also looked carefully at the other love languages. My daugher is quality time too! She was yelling at me from the pool to watch her and I realized she so just wants my undivided attention too. Now, I am not talking like every waking moment has to be given to them but when they are asking for it, that is when I really have to step up and give them the attention so they feel I do love them. I already discussed this with my sister and mom on our trip when I bought this book and we figured them out. Mom is gifts and Susan is quality time too. I think my Dad and Mary are both acts of service because they seem to do best only when you are in a crisis and need help. They are all over helping you but all that in between time I am not feeling the love. I am wondering about how you can do acts of service when you have live so far away from each other? That is something I will have to figure out so that they know that I love them. I want to be able to speak their love language. Mom already determined she thought Lyle is Physical Touch and I think Tristan is that too. He is such a hugger. Loves to give hugs. Now that he's a teenager I will have to find other ways of physical touch like high fives and pats on the back. You know how teenagers can get with hugging. I also came up with some questions that we probably ask God. Here's what I came up with for each love language:
Words of Affirmation: I can't hear you God. What are you trying to tell me?
Quaility Time: Where is God when I need him?
Gifts: What has God given me?
Acts of Service: What has God done for me?
Physcial Touch: Are you with me God?
Just some things we may be saying to ourselves when we aren't feeling God in our lives. I am Words of Affirmation so I know now that I feel God most when I am reading the bible, listening to a sermon and singing a worship song. I have to continue this later but had to get some of this out...