CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE

Photo Credit: Creative Commons 

I walk a fine line. 

I am caught between the world and my home. 

I long for moments with my Father: moments when His grace and love are so real that my heart breaks and my knees weaken and my voice cries out. These are the moments I live for. Intimate moments. Moments when I not only tell my Father that I love Him, but I hear Him whisper back to me. 

I hear His song...  of love, of grace, and of change. 

Then there are the times when I am bogged down by this world. Bills, and kids, and salesmen knocking on the door all distract me from what my heart longs to do. 

Now I know why Paul remained single. 

Not that I would give up my husband or my children. I love them and I know they are gifts from my Father. I am grateful for these things. 

I am also human. I am selfish. I want... more. 

More of God in my life. More people hearing about Jesus, More love, more power, more of God in me. I am selfish. 

My heart cries out. My heart yearns to see peoples lives turned around! I want my children to burn with passion for Jesus. I long for my husband to live in the freedom God has designed just for him. 

Opening my heart up, and giving God more of me than I ever have before, I surrender it all. 

My pain. Here it is... 

My joy, belongs to Him. 

My hope, wrapped up in His hands. 

My future, my calling, my life.... all His. 

I surrender. Everything! 

I do not know what will happen. I only know what I want to happen. It won't always go the way I plan. I will face disappointment and heartache. I will have trials, hardships, and difficulties. The difference is now, I am not alone. 

Romans 8:28 says "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

God has a purpose. Nothing that happens in my life can derail that purpose as long as I am surrendered to Him. As long as I seek Him first, all that I need will be added. I will not want. I will find rest. My joy will remain, and even more, it will be full. 

I am amazed. 

I stand in awe of God's goodness and His faithfulness. 

I hope you know this same awe. I hope that you know what surrender is like. Like floating on your back in a  cool pool while the sun warms your face... 

Here is a song that I hope ministers to you. 

I Surrender-- Again

Confession Time

I haven't written in days. The mini vacation was nice. Yet, I find myself reluctant to get back into the swing of things. I have used the down time to finish reading a book or two and start a new one.

I spent time with the kids, worked at the church, and found out I have time-management issues. I have heard this before but now I see it in a new way.

Dishes, doctor's appointments, tire buying, clothes washing and many other little chores did not get done in a timely manner. Perhaps it is the time of year. I want to slow down and surrender to the quiet family time this time of year brings.

Perhaps it is more to do with the fact that I am just being lazy.

I used to joke about there being a hidden tattoo on my body that said "Inherently lazy", but I was too apathetic to look for it. Yet, out of the mouth, the heart speaks.

So what am I going to do? I do not know. I do know that I have a song on my heart. Hillsong's new album "Cornerstone" is on my heart, but in particular is this song: "I Surrender".

The old hymn "I Surrender All" played as God dropped the idea of this blog into my heart almost a year ago. It seems appropriate that as the anniversary of this blog's beginning approaches that a similar song is stirring in my heart.

Lord have your way in me.

I just wanted to share this with you today and I hope that it will stir you to surrender to what God has for you and what He wants to do in you.

Join the Conversation: 

How can I pray for you today?

The Names of God

The names of God describe His character to us. There are at least 217 names for God in the Bible. He is Yehweh. He is our peace, our Shepard, our Lord who is our provider, our healer. our Savior. He is our all in all, the King of Kings, The Lord of Lords. 

God is. Jesus read from Isaiah and used the verbs in the first person. HE DECLARED who HE WAS! 

Luke 4:17-19

King James Version (KJV) 

 17And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,

 18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,

 19To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

God said to Moses tell them I AM has sent you. Whatever problem you face, where ever you find yourself in life RIGHT NOW, He is I AM! 

He reigns over every problem, He sees every obstacle, He works all things to your good if you love Him and are called to His purpose. 

Romans 8:28- 30 says this: Amplified Bible (AMP)

28 We are assured and know that [[a]God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.
29 For those whom He foreknew [of whom He was [b]aware and [c]loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning [foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.
30 And those whom He thus foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified (acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity and condition or state of being].

God sees what we can not, He moves and works on our behalf. He is God and He loves, HE is God and He saves, He is God and He Reigns. 

Do not be afraid, do not be shaken, Rest in Him and know He has called you to be in Him, Alive and Free. 

Be blessed and be a blessing and remember God IS! 

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