Bible in 90 Days Week 5-Update

Well, I'm throwing in the towel on this attempt to read through the Bible in 90 days.  I just got too far behind and it was feeling stressful rather than helpful to me.  I'm not discouraged and I will try this again later in the year, hopefully with better results.

We are blessed when we remain steadfast under trial

James 1: 7-15 7For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
9Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. 11For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God," for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

I loved verse 12 this week.  The word blessed is the same blessed as in Matthew 5's beatitudes.  Blessed means happy, but happy from the inside out, not based on external things.  It's based on internal joy that comes from God.  I love God and I know He loves me; so when trials arise in my life, I can totally rely on God to see me through the trial.  His love is my security, his promises are sure and God will use the trial to strengthen me and cause me to grow.  We spend most of our lives trying to avoid trials, but we can learn so much from God when we go through trials.  Satan wants to see me doublemind, unsure, and doubting.  But even if I don't feel it with my emotions, I can, with my will, remain steadfast in a trial because I know God is with me and will never forsake me.

Bible in 90 days Update-Week 4

I am still running behind on my reading, but I have learned so much.  It's amazing how I can be reading in Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy and see parallels with what I'm reading or studying in other books of the Bible.  Even though the Bible was written over a period of 1500 years,  it is still totally relevant today.   God's love for people shines through each verse, along with his holiness and his patience with people.  The Isrealites complain and I think to myself, "How could they complain when they have seen firsthand God's deliverance of them from Egypt?   If I were there, I'm sure I wouldn't complain".  Only to realize a couple hours later, I'm complaining about something myself instead of asking God for his help.  

I have a generous God!

James 1: 1-6  1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:    Greetings.
2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

We all will have trials; it's not an if but a when in verse 2.  I am to take the trials as an opportunity to be joyful in my heart and soul because the results will help me grow spiritually.  Normally, when difficult circumstances come my way, I want to avoid them and would rather be comfortable. I know the trials I've experienced in my life have been minor relative to many people in the world; my life is not threatened because I know Jesus and read the Bible. I'm not riduculed by my family for being a Christian. Yet, I do experience various challenges daily and the Lord can cause me to feel joy, to choose joy despite the people, things and circumstances that are causing distress in my life.  Do I accept my trials with joy?  

Long story short:  In December 1996, I was sitting in the hospital parking lot crying in my car asking God "where is the joy of knowing You".  My beloved mom had died in 1996 after a long battle with Parkinson's, my sister (and best friend) had been diagnosed in August 1996 with Stage 4 cancer, and I had just left the hospital room of another dear friend who had only days to live.  I was struggling in my marriage, I was only 9 months away from being an empty nester (which has its high and low points), my job was stressful, and I felt no joy in knowing Jesus.    I was desperate to find the joy that the Bible talked about.  I drove to the local Christian bookstore to find a book that would show me where to find the joy.  I purchased 5 books, read through them, and didn't find the joy.  It's been 15 years since then.  Finding joy has been a long slow process, but I can truly say today that I have found the joy in knowing Jesus.  It was a long journey of learning to come to God each day and ask Him for his wisdom for that day and for him to help me that day have joy despite my circumstances.  It was learning to be thankful in all things.  God brought me some good Christian friends who could walk the road with me.  Verse 5-6 tells me where to go for help in having joy in my trials.  I'm to ask God for wisdom.  Why not ask for deliverance from the trial?  Because God wants me to grow spiritually and have faith in Him.  Wisdom is not knowledge, but it is the right use of knowledge.  I am to ask God for wisdom.  How am I to ask?  In faith without doubting.  

What an amazing God!  It says He gives generously to all without reproach.  God simply gives his wisdom and doesn't hold my past failures against me. I'm so thankful that God doesn't give up on us.  His love is sure and steadfast.  His wisdom is perfect.  He understands and knows me better than I know and understand myself.  Don't you wonder why we don't go to God sooner when we run into trials! 

I'm glad to have the group of  online women to go through this study with me.  It keeps me accountable and I like reading what they've learned. 

Bible in 90 days Update-Week3

Still forging ahead with the reading....I will post more this evening, but now I need to go to work.  Have a great day

I Peter 3: 3-4

I Peter 3:3-4 ESV

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

While I will never be known as a woman who is preoccupied with her looks or appearance, I still have miles to go before I come close to being adorned in my heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit.  That is something I desire and pray that God works out in my life this 2011, so I will be pleasing to Him.

James Bible Study

I've joined a group of women online who are walking through the book of James together.  We are reading the same verses each day.  Our purpose is to be accountable to each other and to help each other maintain the discipline of reading God’s word daily.   Each morning, (Monday-Friday) the first person who has her quiet time starts the group off. She will share in her post something she learned during her quiet time study of James that morning. Then each member of the group will reply to the whole group after they have their quiet time. 

We start next Monday.  So to prepare myself, I read through James and jotted down some initial "big picture" notes. 

James wrote the book to the "12 tribes of the dispersion".  My Bible's notes say there are a couple choices of which James wrote it.  There was James, son of Zebedee (one of the 12 disciples of Jesus) or there was James, the half-brother of Jesus who became a leader of the church after Jesus's resurrection.  In all likelihood, it was the latter.  Galatians 2:9 says James was a pillar of the church.  We see him in Acts 15 settling a major dispute within the church.  Our best description of the author of James comes from James 1:1 where he calls himself a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

The "12 tribes of the dispersion" tells me that the readers of the letter were probably Christian Jews who had been scattered around outside of Jerusalem and Isreal.  It must have been hard for them.  Being Jews, they were probably not accepted by their Gentile neighbors.  Being Christian, they were probably rejected by their Jewish neighbors. 

So why did James write the letter?  I went to a commentary for a little help.  Jame's readers were going through trials, facing temptations to sin, having problems with their tongues which caused division, failing to "walk the talk"; having problems with worldiness; were disobeying God's Word and were sick.   Their root problem was spiritual immaturity.  It sounds like Christians today.   James wanted his readers to learn to be spiritually mature. 

I want to be known as a Christian who is spiritually mature; not a Christian who knows a lot of Bible, but one whose life displays the character of Jesus.  I know I will learn alot from James, but I pray that what I learn goes from my head straight to my heart and soul. 

So looking forward to this 12 week walk through James.....care to join me?

Bible in 90 Days Update

It's day 8 of my Bible in 90 Days read-through with Mom's Toolbox.  And I'm a couple days behind, but I'm still highly motivated.  I was driving in my car today and listening to a CD, and got so excited to recognize that the words to the song (which I had heard many times in the past) came from this past week's reading.  It was a verse that I had highlighted and meditated on for that day's reading.   Here I had listened to the song numerous times, but had never really taken to heart what the words of the song were saying....that is, until this past week. 

Exodus 15:  2, 11-13
"The LORD is my strength and my song;he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you—
majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

You stretched out your right hand and the earth swallowed them.
In your unfailing love you will lead the people you have redeemed.
In your strength you will guide them to your holy dwelling."

The song was "Who is Like You" on the Glory Revealed album.

The Lord is my strength & my song
He has become my salvation
He is my God and I will praise Him
I will lift Him up


Chorus: Who is like You, majestic in holiness
Awesome in glory, working wonders
Who is like You, majestic in holiness
Awesome in glory, working wonders


In Your unfailing love
You will lead the people that You redeem
And in Your strength, You will guide them
To Your holy place


Who among the gods is like You
Who among the heavens.

Who is like our God? ABSOLUTELY NO ONE and NOTHING. He is incomparable, indescribable, the Only One, majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders....and He loves me with an unfailing love.  Thank you, Lord so much.

Don't tell your goals to others!?

I saw an interesting short video yesterday that basically said that when you share your goals with someone else, you are less likely to achieve your goal.  The speaker said that studies dating back to the 1920s have shown that when you tell someone your goals and they acknowledge them, your mind is tricked  into feeling that it's already done, which makes you less likely to complete your goal.  The speaker said to resist the temptation to share your goal which delays the gratification that the social acknowledgement brings, and to understand that your mind mistakes the talking for the doing.

I really think there's some truth to this, especially the part about the mind being fooled into thinking the goal has been completed, when it hasn't.  So, I guess I shouldn't have posted my 2011 goals the other day.  Oh, well.  I don't think anyone is reading my blog, so I'm safe. So here's my little social experiment.  I will not share this year's goals with anyone outside of this blog and I will look at them at year's end and see if I did better this year by not sharing compared to 2010, when I did share my goals with several good friends. 

Read through the Bible in 90 Days-Day 1

I decided to join a group of women over at Mom's Toolbox who have made the commitment to read through the Bible in 90 days.  So now, I've probably have  really bitten off more than I can chew...can you read too much Bible?  I like Mom's Toolbox SOAP idea for this read-through.  SOAP is an acrostic that stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer. Here is how Amy at Mom's Toolbox describes it:

"S: Scripture-Write the ONE scripture that I feel God is using to speak to me in today’s reading
O: Observation-What might He be telling me with that scripture?
A: Application-How can I apply it to my life?
P: Prayer-What is my prayer to ask God in helping me to make that application?"

Here's my plan:  Fortunately, I own a 90-day Bible.  I have a journal that I will use to record my daily SOAP, along with a couple highlighters that I can use to highlight verses that are meaningful to me or are verses that I would like to understand better at a later date.  They will be easy to find later if I highlight them as I read.  Plus I will check in on Mom's Toolbox every Monday night.  I signed up too late to be part of an assigned accountability group, but that sure won't be deter me.

I have a Droid Phone and also added the Bible in 90 days on my phone through YouVersion.com's Reading Plan.   So, if I get behind, I can always whip out my phone and catch up with the reading...can't highlight or journal (at least I don't know how to do that on my phone), but I can keep saturating myself with the Scriptures.  YAY!

Day 1-check

Psalm 13:5-6

Psalm 13:5-6:
But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.  I will sing to the LORD, for he has been good to me. 

I was at a funeral a week ago and this verse was on the bulletin.  For me, it was a wonderful reminder of God's goodness to me regardless of my circumstances.  Way back in 1996, my mom was hospitalized and lost most of her ability to move and to take care of herself.  Her voice was basically gone, yet when asked by my sister if she was mad at God, my mom mouthed "Oh no, how I could ever be mad at God, He's been so good to me!"  I will never forget that lesson from my mother.  I don't know if my mom knew this verse, but she clearly understood its meaning and she lived by it.  Thanks, Mom, for your example to me.  Thank you, Lord, for your unfailing love and goodness, ALWAYS!

2011 Goals and Resolutions

It's a new year, a fresh start! Here are my goals for 2011.

1. Spend a consistent, scheduled time in prayer each day and establish a habit of QT daily.
2. Organize our financial picture.
3. Verbally praise my husband more
4. Clear the clutter in my house
5. Lose 20-25 pounds and continue to work-out at least 3 times/week.

For each of these 5, I have created action steps in order to try to accomplish each goal.  I'm almost afraid to share them here, because it will mean that I really have to follow through with the action steps.  Here are a few action steps for each goal.
1.  Spend a consistent, scheduled time in prayer each day and establish a habit of QT daily.

• Use my envelope system for prayer each day.
•  I'm using a Key Bible Character reading plan this year, along with Spurgeon's Morning and Evening Devotional, along with a One Year Chronological Bible.  I've probably given myself too much reading here,  but we'll see how I do.
• I am also reading through the Bible in 90 days through http://www.momstoolbox.com/blog/

2. Organize our financial picture

• Update our living trusts
• Go through all the boxes of paper (bills, tax papers, etc for prior years and winnow them down to the pertinent papers only.  Then when our bank has its spring shredding day, I will be ready to shred all the unnecessary stuff)
• Update our Quicken so all balances are accurate

3. Verbally praise my husband more

• Every day regardless of circumstances, I will find a way to compliment, encourage, and praise him.  His love language is verbal praise; mine is acts of service.  So I think he will know I love him because I have come alongside him by doing things for him.  I could probably work a lot less but praise him more, and he would be happier with me.  He compliments me alot, but it doesn't exactly fill my tank, like it did when he cleaned and dusted the condo last weekend.  That spoke more to me than 100 compliments.  So I hope to ramp my verbal praise (which I'm very poor at), continue with the acts of service, combined with heaps of prayer for our marriage, and see what happens.

4. Clear the clutter in my closets, basement and garage.  I keep the house sufficiently clean; it's the stuff in these trouble spots that's accumulated that I want to pare down

• I am using the Flylady system this year. I've done it in the past or used simlar systems with success.  But over the last 6-8 years, I've accumulated more than I need, mostly inherited. 
• I also want to winnow down my cookbooks and update my recipe book this year.

5. Lose 20-25 pounds and continue to focus on getting healthy.  I started this goal in 2010 and had good success: lost 30 pounds, was told by my doctor that I no longer have high blood pressure (but I'm going to continue to be careful about it), and just generally felt better and more energetic.This is more a continuation of what I did in 2010:

• Cardio for 30-60 minutes 3-4 days/week and strength training 2-3 days/week
• Stay hydrated by drinking water
• Eat breakfast
• Count my calories
• Plan my meals
• Don't eat after 8 pm (evenings are my munching time)

So, briefly, there are my 2011 goals.  Within each of these goals, there is the overriding goal of being aware of what God wants me to be doing, and then acting on what He wants me to do.  For example, getting healthy was one of my 2010 goals and because I had good results, I had a platform on which to encourage and come alongside some of my friends in their own battles to get healthy.  And I was blessed to be able to deepen some friendships because of this.   As God teaches me in each of my goal areas, I hope to be able to find ways to be an encourager, teacher, and helper to my friends and family. 

I don't really have any accountability partners on these goals. (I have one group of friends that I share these goals with each year, but we don't really hold each other accountable in tangible ways).  So, by laying these out here in the world of blog, I do feel some accountability, in case someone out there discovers this little blog. 

Happy New Year!