I have recently come across two different bible verses that use the same word.One verse is rather familiar to us as believers. It says,Cease striving and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10The other verse is penned by Paul, whose ambition in life was to know Christ, and to make Him known. He says,I labor for this, striving with His strength that works powerfully in me. Col. 1:29When looking at these two scriptures, one says not to strive, and the other talks about how it's "right" to strive. How can this be? I beleive it has to do with the motive of our hearts. We must each answer this question honestly:What am I striving for?....for more money, more power, more prestige, more success in this world? If so, SELF is at the center of my motives. If this is the case, an inner dissatifsfaction will restlessly reside at the core of my heart. I must choose to hear the Lord say: Cease striving and know that I am God.....or am I striving to know Him and make Him known in my family, in my workplace, and in the positions God has placed me in for such a time as this (Esther 4:14). If this is the case, I can expect His strength to work powerfully in me! Jesus puts it like this, No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. (Matthew 6:24).So I ask myself daily, am I striving... or am I striving?Dear Lord Jesus, May You be at the core of my heart. Check my motives, clean me out, and fill me up. Make me content in the positions You have put me in. Help me not to strive for more, more, more. May my labor TODAY not be about climbing any man-made ladder, but about humbling walking with You...towards others. Use me up, O God, for Your glory. Thank You for entrusting me with Your powerful strength...for such a time as this. Amen.

We live in a day and age where the phone is always at hand; it is literally attached to us. It has the amazing ability to "speak" to us through text, facebook, snapchat, instagram, twitter, etc. (Oh yea, sometimes we actually talk to someone on it.) Does it ever stop?! I was telling a young teenage friend of mine that if not careful, this gadget can take the place of God's Word in dictating our thoughts, emotions, and actions.When comparing the phone and the bible, here are some questions to answer:1. Which one is full of complete truth? Which one sometimes holds half-truths and mixed messages?2. Which one will NEVER fail you, and brings great peace to your heart? Which one sometimes lets you down, and creates confusion, jealousy, or even anger?3. Which one makes you both secure and mature in who you are and how God made you? Which one sometimes causes you to question yourself and how your are wired?4. If you were asked to put one of these objects down for a couple of days, which one would make you feel anxious to let go of?I challenged my young friend to answer these questions honestly, and then to put up boundaries where needed in this high tech world. Realize, the bible is God's communication "gadget" and His words are full of hope and truth:The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. Psalm 19:7-8Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. Matthew 7:24-25May His word be your lifeline...always at hand, and literally attached to you.

Do you have someone in your life that you have invested so much of your time, energy, and effort into concerning God’s love? You’ve given your heart, soul, mind, and strength to this person, desperately wanting him or her to know and understand who the Lord Jesus is and all that He has to offer. Through your loving words and Christlike ways, you’ve plowed the field,  you’ve dug up the rocks, you’ve pulled out the roots, you’ve planted the seeds, you’ve watered, and you’ve waited. And the result is….nothing. You’re tired.

I have a couple of young friends that have won a place in my heart; I love them with God’s love so it’s deep and rich and full. Right now, when it comes to each of them believing in Jesus Christ as their Savior, there seems to be only an empty plowed up field. Rows of nothing. Will the blinders ever come off their eyes? Will they ever bend their knee to His love? Will they ever receive His grace, His mercy, His peace?

Will I ever get to see a small green shoot pressing through the deep rich soil?

This is when I must turn to God’s word, and claim His promises. To the same degree I want my young friends to believe in God as Savior, I must also believe in Him as Promise Keeper–the one Who keeps His word. I must have faith too! I must leave no room for doubting Him in my own heart… this is the very thing I am asking of my loved ones, isn’t it?

So, I will stand boldly on His promises, and wait, not with hopelessness, but with expectancy, because I believe in His word:

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.  Isaiah 55:10-11

Keep your hands to the plow, my fellow co-laborer in Christ. Do not be discouraged when there seems to be nothing. God is at work in ways we cannot see; and He is working, right now. Trust Him. Water your seeds with steadfast love, ongoing prayer, unwavering faith, and expectant hope.

Then sooner (or later) you and I can rejoice in that tender green shoot sprouting up from the furrowed ground.

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A few months ago (3/11/13), I wrote a post entitled Pray Like This which accumulated much feedback. In this particular post, I confessed that I so often struggle with wishing/praying/pleading to the Lord for the immediate and temporal things of this world on behalf of my kids; consequently, this wrestling causes me to take my eyes off of God's better plan for each of them. (I must remember and trust, He is the author and finisher of their life story, not me!). In this Spirit-flesh struggle, however, God has brouhgt good... He is teaching me how to pray by using His prayer,the Lord's Prayer, as my guideline.

Jesus teaches us and then urges us to pray in this way--not using His prayer in vain repition, but in meaningful and continual conversation with our Heavenly Father. So, I will make a conscious decision topray like this...same song, different verse:

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name:
God, You are FAITHFUL.

Your kingdom come, Your will be done:
Please come into each of my children's hearts as the FAITHFUL ONE today. Assure them of Your loving and living presence right now wherever they are, whatever they're doing.

Give us this day our daily bread:
Remind my children of Your words of truth each day, each moment. You promise... to never leave or forsake them (Duet. 31:6)... and that Your steadfast love never ceases, Your mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your FAITHFULNESS (Lam. 3:22-23)!

Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors:
God forgive each of my kids when they don't believe in or have a desire for Your CONSTANT COMPANIONSHIP. Forgive them when they shun You, thinking they can do this life without You.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:
Help them when their thoughts are misguided. Do not allow the enemy near my kids, I pray...mentally, physically, and spiritually. FAITHFULLY pull them back into Your loving arms. Remind them and help them to put their shield up in order to... extinguish all the fiery darts of the evil one (Eph 6:16).

God, I pray these things because Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. AMEN.

I challenge you to pick another Name, and pray like this...again and again. And then, watch joyfully and expectantly for His answers. God's story for my children is, indeed, much better than mine.

I am a visual learner, so whenever the Lord plants a picture in my brain, I quickly get out my notebook and put it on paper. Recently, God showed me a picture that spoke of His character amidst my circustances. This simple drawing is a not a new spirtual concept--it's more of a foundational reminder to you and me as believers:

God is good, faithful, love, all-knowing... and He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). He NEVER changes. However, my circumstances, can fluctuate quite dramatically. At times, I'm a virtual internal, and sometimes external, roller coaster.

A minor example: I am at the beach with only my husband, which is very, very good. The first morning we woke up to the sound of the waves, the white sand, the warm sunshine... again very, very good. Who would doubt God at a time like this? The second morning however, I woke up to the same beach, in the same cozy condo, with the same sun, but within minutes of this spectacular view, I was experiencing a penetrating migraine that blurred my vision and made me nauseous... not good at all.

At times like this, I must remember the concept that God never changes. He is just as good, faithful, loving, and all-knowing in the lows of my days, weeks, months, and even seasons of my life as He is in the highs.

It's so easy to praise Him in the "feel good" stuff, isn't it? We find ourselves on the mountain top, singing "hallelujahs" and "thank You's" at the top of our lungs! But in the lows, it must become what God might call the "faith good" stuff. When we're in the pit spiritually, physically, or circumstantially, can we still sing praises concerning His unchanging character? Do we believe Him during these times? Can we say, like Job did, after he was struck with peril on all sides, The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21).

I have come to find out that in the "faith good" stuff of my life, the deep stuff, God Himself becomes more evident, and I begin to understand more of Him... and HE is very, very good...in spite of anything I might experience.

Trust Him, my friend, in the highs and in the lows of this life. Praise Him when His goodness is beautiful and obvious, and praise Him when your vision is painful and blurred. May His unchanging character be the unshakeable bedrock of your faith.

In my last post entitled My Dogs Speak, I mentioned how my relationship with my dogs can teach me so many things about my relationship with my Lord. Well, I have another analogy concerning little pup Juliet and big dog Sarge...

One of our (their) favorite games is ball retrieving. Sarge, being a Labrador Retriever, fetches the ball back and forth instinctively, hence the name retriever. Juliet, however, the little cairn terrier, has picked up this habit quite amazingly from observing her big brother in action. We play this game outside, and yes, we play this game inside as well. As a matter of fact, whenever these two four-legged friends see me enter the laundry room, which happens to be quite often, they happily realize that it's play time. One of the two will then do a mad search around the house for the tennis ball; once it's found, he/she will grab it up, and then bring it to me with eagerness. At this point, both tails are a waggin'. How can I refuse?

I then proceed to throw the ball, fold a shirt, throw the ball, fold a towel, throw the ball, try to match some socks from the growing mis-matched pile, throw the ball, fold another shirt...on and on we go. Don't ask me if I am having fun. I'm outnumbered on this, so I endure the game.

An interesting twist...each time I release the ball from my hand, neither I nor the dogs are ever quite sure where the yellow round object is going to land. Let's just say, I was never picked first, second, third, fourth, etc, when being chosen for any sport that involved a ball of any size. There was one recent day in particular that every time I hurled the ball out of the laundry room, it would start out decisively in one direction (my strength is not the problem), but then it would hit an object, be it a lamp or a stool, or the kitchen cabinet, and then bounce just as determined into a totally different direction. I was amusing myself at this complete inaccuracy--so I guess I was having fun after all.

As I was watching the quick re-direction of the tennis ball coming one time after the other, God began speaking to my heart about bigger things, HIS "things". Right now I have come to some crossroads in different places in which I need to make a decision to go one way or the other. I find myself asking, "God, is this the right road, the right choice? Am I doing Your will?" After much prayer and time in His word, I have started walking in the way in which I believe He is leading me, trusting Him to make it clear. Now, I can say from past experiences, there have been times that this path stays straight, with very little surprises. HOWEVER, there have been other times that my steps of blind faith have only been the predecessor to get me to a point of complete redirection. And then I'm re-routed into something much more beautiful and adventurous than I could have imagined on my own.

So often in the bible, God says these words to those whose heart's are completely His:Go your way. (Daniel 12:9, Mark 10:52). And as you do step forward in blind, yet obedient faith, your way transforms into His way.

So throw that ball out there my friend, trusting Him to direct it in whatever way He pleases. Then, just like my dynamic duo, be excited and expectant to see... where the ball bounces.

And Jesus said to him "Go your way, your faith has made you well." And immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road. Mark 10:52