Sunday Reflection July 22, 2012

Photo Credit: Creative Commons

Thank You

First thank you all for reading this. You have made this new chapter of my life so much fun. Writing alone in your room is a challenge. I do this because God asked me to, and I am so glad He allows me to see a little fruit now, in the form of my readers. 

Can it get better than this? 

I have some of the best readers in the world. recently a group of you (you know who you are) responded so above and beyond to The Post that Almost Wasn't. Some of you local readers took up a collection and gave me a gift card toward the purchase of a tablet. I am so excited. Now in less than a month my budget will allow me to complete that gift card amount and buy me a great tablet! I will be able to write anywhere, not just my room. 

Milestones

This week the blog was viewed for the 15.000 time. I was so excited. In addition to that, thehighcalling.net  via their twitter handle @thehighcalling tweeted about my blog not once but twice. That is almost as cool as Justin Beiber tweeting out a 13 year old fan's name, and you happen to be the 13 year old fan. Huge Deal!

Every Perfect Gift

My Father has proved to me over and over this week that His love and grace fully encompass my life and every part is His to bless and grow. This is my testimony: my God is good! 

I hope this week you can spend some time reflecting on His goodness toward you. 

Question: What is one thing that made you stop and say, "thanks Lord" this week? 




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Sunday Reflection April 22, 2012

This week was a crazy one for me. My daughter got surgery earlier in the week and the recovery has gone well. I will have to write about the whole experience one day, but right now, it is a little too fresh- it probably needs to marinate for a while. 

We started off the week on the blog with Oh Be Careful Big Mouths, and I had to heed my own advice several times this week. Then we took up Mountain Climbing! That was one of my favorites. We all have mountains, the question is, how do we face them? As a climber or a go around-er? 

Waiting is a skill I have yet to perfect. My patience is not where it needs to be. Learning to wait on God is something we all should learn because without this particular skill, we could end up in a real mess. 

I have been thinking about this next post for a while. Originally I wanted to call it "Why Carelessness has No Place in the Body", But instead called it "Why we are Called to Love" . I cannot stress enough the importance of this. 

This morning Joyce Meyer tweeted this: 

"Every believer has a ministry. It may not be a public one, but you've got a ministry to your children, your spouse, your family, to God." 

Put your hand to the plow and don't look back. Get to work walking out the love of Christ! It will change your world! 

After watching my 14 year old go through the pain of surgery, I began to think about pain: physical pain, yes, but mostly emotional and spiritual pain. Victim or Victor came from that pondering. You are more than an overcomer in Christ! You just need to change your perspective, and gear up! 

As a woman, I love telling the story of "how did you two meet"? I took it a little further and told you the story of "How I knew He was the One".  I love a good love story, and God wrote ours long before I did. 

So there are things that I have wanted to do with this blog for a while and I have not been able to for one reason or another. I want to change that. Soon there will be a little method to my madness and hopefully the structure will help you find posts on topics you want to hear about. 

SO... what do you want to hear about? Let me know by leaving a comment below. You could see your idea in a post soon. 

 

Sunday Reflection April 15, 2012

This week has been a potpourri of posts. The first was about God’s restoration of dreams. He restores things we have given up on because He has plans for us that include those things. For me, it was singing. What is it for you? Whatever it may be, just surrender to God in it. 

On Tuesday I just got really honest and shared with you My Struggle with the blog. In so many ways this is not about me! Yes, God is working in me and through me to write this blog, but it really is about you, the reader. Whether you are an audience of one or one million, I need to be faithful and consistent. 

On Wednesday we talked about The 4 Benefits of Being a Believer. This was also the day I was launching the new podcast. I was so excited to bring the option of listening rather than just reading, but technical difficulties squashed that. I am working on finding a way to get around that, but it may take a while. Please continue to bear with me in this. 

Storm Stories was one of my favorite posts this week and then my husband corrected me about something, it wasn’t Hurricane Rita that the kitten story happened in, but Tropical Storm Faye. I do not know why I got those confused in my head and I want to apologize for the error. It does not change the points I make about preparing for the storm. I hope that you can enjoy the story for the allegory it is and overlook my mistake. 

If you haven’t read Exercising My Faith then you may not know that my youngest child is getting surgery this week. When the surgeon’s office called me and said how much the cost of just his services was, I began to have a little panic session. This post was about building my faith in that moment, and I wanted to share it with you, because what came out of it is so important: trust. 

An update on that is this: The surgeon’s cost was dramatically reduced by more than 75% and they will take it a day later than they originally said which is a blessing because it means less traveling and expense for us. God is good. 

Yesterday, with the pressures of everything that is going on right now, I began to feel overwhelmed and wonder can we Have It All? I know that everyone feels overwhelmed at one point or the other, but the key to getting past that is to really look at the why of it all. Why are you focusing on the things in your life more than the God who loves you? It is worth the read. 

As I wrap this week’s reflections up, please pray for our daughter, Connie-Lyn as she goes into the hospital for surgery. Pray for the doctors, and pray for us. As always, I love you, I pray for you, and I ask you to trust in the God who made you. He has plans for you and His promises are Yes and Amen! 

Be blessed and be a blessing!

Sunday Reflection April 1, 2012

It is time to reflect on what we shared during the week, and this means it is Sunday once again. Today is also my cousin Bradley's birthday so I want to send a shout out to him! Happy Birthday Bradley. Hugs and Kisses to you and yours!


So this week was a little strange for me since I seemed to get on a couple of themes. The first was "gardening", and you can read more about that in Gardening 101 which explores getting our hearts ready for what God has for us and Four Gardens which explores God's plan for redemption via four "gardens" in the Bible.


Then, for all you married women out there, I shared my ideas on the three things we can do as wives to help our husbands spiritually. It was a lot of fun to write and you can catch up on that by clicking here. Warning, the title is very cheeky, but I thought it was funny. Hope you get a giggle out of it.


In "Do We Really Appreciate God's Word" I made a visceral cry to read and appreciate the word of God more after watching a very moving and compelling video clip. It is only 10 minutes long and is so worth it to watch. My heart got poured out on that post and I have to say, I have watched it over and over this week, to get that embedded down into my heart, and to rejoice with the people in the video. Please, feel free to share that on Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter, and/or email the link to your friends and family. It should span the globe over and over.


That sparked something in me that carried over into "A Walk in the Park" and I explore the two things that are most important to any Christian. There are pictures from a walk in the park I recently took with my 13 year old daughter, and I have to say, it is one of my favorites for that reason.


By Friday, it seemed my brain was a little fried and I really wanted to seek you out and get to know you more. You, my dear gypsy, are so important to me, and I want to get to know you more. Plus, I was having major writer's block. To see what that looked like, click here.


Yesterday I wrote about disappointment and overcoming it. Recently we received some disappointing news and I could have been really devastated by it. Almost immediately God took me to 1 Kings 19 and began showing me some amazing things, and I had to share them with you.


In the last month this blog has seen a 62% INCREASE IN READERSHIP! Thank you so much for sharing this page via Facebook by hitting the "Like" button at the bottom of each post, Tweeting about what you read, and by +1ing it on Google Chrome! Remember you can always e-mail a post by clicking the icon at the bottom that looks like a little envelope.


A special thanks to http://tolovehonorandvacuum.com/  and author of The Good Girl's Guide to Great Sex; Shelia Wray Gregoire for letting me link to her page and for tweeting about the blog and my writing this month. You have been such a blessing to me, I cannot say enough good things!


That is the week in a nutshell. I have been working on my latest project I hope to bring to you soon: my first eBook. I want to make that available by the end of the month. I am done with the writing, I am just working on resources to publish, and when those things line up, it should come together really quickly after that.


I look forward to this week and I cannot wait to see what God has in store for us.


Be blessed and be a blessing and remember that reflect is a verb. 

Sunday Reflection March 25, 2012

What a wild and woolly week!  I feel a little overwhelmed with the amazing response this week to both this blog and to the Facebook page. This week we had over 1000 visitors to the blog and I cannot tell you how excited this makes me. Day after day the numbers began climbing and even with a late posting midweek, you came to read what was here. I am so thankful for that. And humbled. And more than a little in awe. 


I want to take time and thank Rashad McConico  for sharing his story with us. What a brave and precious thing to be so completely transparent and share such a personal story with the world. I shared this with Rashad all ready, but one of the stats I can see on this blog is what search words or phrases are being used to direct people to this site on search engines. People are looking for answers. They are searching for hope. "Stories about guys overcoming homosexuality" was searched at least twice and brought people to Rashad's testimony. God cares about the individual and if sharing his story helps one person, I know Rashad is happy to have done so. 


I also wanted to point you guys to a guest blog I wrote for Alan Knox's blog, The Assembling of the Church. I know that I have had to deal with offense before and as a Christian it was hard, but what about the people who are still without Christ, who are hurt by a something a Christian did or didn't do and now they lump that offense with the Church, and run from the congregation? What is our response to them? That guest blog was a blessing to write, but even more of a lesson for me. Thank you Alan Knox for the opportunity. 


What was the lesson I learned from the first guest blog post? Well, it is this, do what God told me, write, and let Him grow it to be what He intends. The bad habit I had fallen into was to over-think and obsess over how many people were or were not commenting on things and what did that say about me as a writer. Alan Knox, Jeff Goins, and other wonderful mentors of mine gave me wonderful advise and it was this: just write. So from that came How does your Garden Grow and Just Keep Swimming.  


Last week I shared that I had fasted my words. I shared the three things I had learned from that and I have to say I probably could have written more. If you did not get a chance to read that, click here for that. 


Then my week got turned upside down as we traveled an hour to Texas Children's Hospital with our youngest daughter, Connie-Lyn. She is battling health issues and we will be continuing to pursue answers this upcoming week for her. Please be in prayer about it. So because we were stuck in an ER with no service, I almost did not get to post for Thursday. This is what did make it: The Post that almost Wasn't. 


To round off this week's entries, I killed my "self" and wrote an obituary for her. I had hoped that you would join me and there is still plenty of opportunity to do so by taking the OBIT CHALLENGE.  Weird, I know, but I think it is so helpful in addressing the issue of obedience in our lives that I encourage everyone to do it at least once. 


So many other wonderful things happened this week, some I am holding close to my heart for now, but I do want to say something to my family who may be reading this right now: May God's grace comfort and uplift you in all you do as you mourn the loss of our dear Sister/Aunt/Friend Barbara Lou Green Frankum. Her funeral was one of the most amazing I have ever attended with laughter and joy permeating the room and even the sadness was tempered by hope. She was a no-none-sense woman with a heart bigger than Texas and she will be missed until we see her again in heaven. 


May the joy of the Lord fill you as you go into this week, may you be blessed by what you read here and I pray that you grow in grace and wisdom as you go from glory to glory. 


Dayna 

Sunday Reflection for March 18, 2012

What a wonderful and kind of weird week for me.

First, it was spring break for my girls, and I got to enjoy having them around quite a bit more than usual. We got some spring cleaning done around the house, and the girls had lots of down time.

This week started off with a real shift in me. God has been dealing with my attitudes about money and Living a "Weed" Free Life was the result. Pulling up the weeds that have choked off real growth in our lives can sometime be difficult, and may even come in ways we never expected.

Well, I already mentioned the cleaning this week. Sadly there is still more to do, since I spent some time with the girls, and with friends this week, it is an ongoing project that I feel may never get finished. Everytime I began to get discouraged about cleaning, I remembered what God had spoke to me about my "Launch" pad! I have to master these small areas of discipline before God will launch me into the next big thing.

My Prayer in the night was about more than just solidifying God as my provider, it was about sharing with you those weak moments where He is my focus and the only One who can pull me out of a murky headspace. I want you to be able to see me as I am, all of my warts, so you can know that if God can work with me, He can work with you.

Real Confidence versus Self Confidence came from a text message conversation with my husband this week. After nearly eight years with the same company he is now looking for something new, and that journey for him has been scary. As Christians we cannot operate in fear, but must rest in who God is, what He has already done for us, and what He will continue to do as long as we are faithful to trust Him.

Then I shared with you my most odd moment, the one where God told me to shhhhh! The past two days have been both a challenge and rewarding and I will be sharing more about fasting my words, my mini vow of silence for two days later this week. I hope you enjoy some of the funny things, and the serious things that I learned through this fast.

Finally, A Charge to Pray was this weeks last post and to me one of the most special. Mostly because it was prompted by someone I did not know who shared his personal struggle with an issue over divorce and dealing with his now damaged relationship with his adult daughter on a forum I belong to on LinkedIn. I had commented and linked this blog to my comment and was flooded with questions by many people. John's really stood out to me:

Please pray for me. I am a father who divorced several years ago and was separated physically from my children for many years. While I supported them and their mother well financially I was not there to be a father. I have apologized to both of them for the divorce and have tried to let them know that I love them however, my daughter (now 32) is especially scarred by the divorce. I want so much for her to love me again but I know only the love of Jesus Christ will ever repair the damage I caused. Pray for Beth and pray for me as God works all things for the good of those who love Him.

Blessings,
John 

When I took the time to pray for him right then, leaving my prayer as a comment to his remarks, a spark lit up the forum page. We began praying for one another, and I was reminded what prayer really is: OUR FAITH IN ACTION!

What a privileged it is to serve a God that cares so much for us that He gave us the power of prayer. The ability to call on the Maker of the Universe for anything is awesome, but knowing He hears us and wants to answer is phenomenal!

Monday I will be a guest blogger on http://www.alanknox.net/ and hope you will visit there and check it out. On this page you will find our first ever guest blog and one of the most moving testimonies I have heard recently. While I would love to share with you more, the reading is worth the wait.

So as I wrap up this week's reflections and you catch up on what you may have missed this week, I want to remind you, my dear reader, of one thing, I am here for you. I write so my words are read, I study so I can share God's love and grace with you, and I open my heart and my life in a very real and often embarrassing way so that you can see that God is not an enigma, but the answer to the enigma. 

You are the reason I am here. I may never meet you, but I will pray for you. I may never talk to you, but my fingers fly across this keyboard just for you.


I would love it if, and actually want to encourage you to, leave a comment on a post this week. Drop a line and say hi. This blog has been read in over 55 nations, and in less than three months, I have gone from an average of 15 hits a day to between 50 to 100 hits a day. That is not a lot by most web standards, but by mine it is humbling. God is doing something here and I am so glad you are a part of it.

Reflect on this week, and tell me, did you learn something new about God, and if so, how are you applying that to your life?

Be blessed and be a blessing and remember that reflect is a verb!

Sunday Reflection March 11, 2012

This week has been focused on a Crisis in the Body: divorce. So I got really personal and shared with you my story of infidelity and God’s Grace. I also shared with you the 3 Keys to a Godly Marriage, what the Bible says about real love, and the 3 Keys to Rebooting Your Life After Divorce.Then you got a glimpse of my life as a child of divorce, which so far has been one of the harder things for me to write, but one of the most rewarding.

You may be wondering why I talked about these things. Simply this: it was on my heart. Someone recently challenged me on my “right” to talk about divorce, since I have never been divorced. I understand where they are coming from, but I would say this: a single man talks about being a lone wolf or a mustang and talks all about what marriage IS in a major blockbuster and we pay money to go see the movie and laugh at it, why do we listen to him? 

For me, it is not about rights, but about sharing what God has laid on my heart, and this topic is one I have heard about recently from my everyday life. People I know are saved are watching their marriages fall apart. I wanted to speak to that. I hope that it has helped the people God intended it to, and that is all I have to say about that.

I hope that this upcoming week will bring you freedom and rest in the Lord, and I look forward to what He will be showing me as I share my journey with you.

Be blessed and be a blessing. Remember that love is a verb. 

Sunday Reflections March 04, 2012

Well, this week has seen a few changes to the page, and maybe in me a little too. I hope the overall tweeking I have done to the content has not scared you away. There will be more Bible Study, but I am "discovering my voice" as a writer (thanks Jeff Goins) and I never know what is going to come of that. 


This week I feel like there were so many things different that I am almost a little embarrassed to talk about them. For one thing, I was extremely personal this week. First I shared my prayer for this blog. Then to give you a little something extra I added a post on the Names of God where we examined who God is. 


Then we looked at God's love manifested through Dream's and Plans. I know this is something that God has been showing me on a very personal level, so I cannot seem to do anything BUT share it. Then to make up for being so personal, I wanted to do a character study on Mary and Martha and still somehow, that boiled down to God completing His plans in us. Told you it was on my mind. 


Now we get to the REALLY different. This Writer's Manifesto was actually going to be just a writing exercise for me but after I was done I really felt like there was some truth there for anyone, and felt compelled to share it. It also was a declaration of what I am, what God has made me, how He is using me and it built me up in ways I did not expect. This blog is named "A Year in the Spiritual Life" and as of tomorrow I will have written this blog for only two months. (I know it seems longer....sorry bout that) In that two months there has been so much growth in me, and changes, internally and outwardly. I am so stoked to see what God will do next. 


Now, as I mentioned before, this week has been different, and this post: The Gardener and the Sapling  was perhaps one of the biggest differences there has been so far. This short story, or modern parable, was actually based on a story I first made up when I was only 15 for my little brother, Aaron, who was four at the time. I have always loved it, as he did when he was small, and when I was completely blocked on what to write, this was the only thing that dropped in my spirit. Since I had never written it down before, I was concerned it may not turn out well, but overall, I think it was pretty good. The scary thing for me was hitting the publish button and sharing it with you guys, because it is such a personal story for me. 


Weirder still was yesterday's post Psalms 151- My song. First of all, you may not realize this, but there are only 150 chapters in the book of Psalms. I was attempting to be cheeky with the title but I am not sure if anyone got my sense of humor... it is a little wacky I know. This was a new song I felt God was giving to me and I wanted to share it with you. This new song was something that I wrote, re-wrote, and one day, may re-write again, because I always want to reach for better, though perfection this side of Heaven is impossible. The sentiment in the song comes from my desire to do all I can to express my love for my Father and worship Him in all the ways He deserves. But I am no dancer, and I am not a great singer. It is a good thing God sees the thoughts and intentions of the heart, because there,  in the deepness of my heart and the loony places in my head I dance like Melanie Moore or Sasha Mallory of So You Think You Can Dance fame. 


This week also saw five more countries visiting the blog, bringing the total to 54. They are Barbados, Indonesia, Syria, Lebanon, Brunei Darussalam, and Argentina. Welcome to the readers in those countries and hope that they are blessed by what they find here, though I am not sure how well my humor translates to all these different languages. I am not sure it translates in English most of the time. 


This week did open up some wonderful opportunities and soon I will be writing a guest blog on http://www.alanknox.net/. That will be coming on March 19 as it stands now and I am very excited about it. I will of course link that for all of you when it happens. 


So that is the week, like I said, I feel a little awkward about it, because it is all so new and different than I thought this blog was supposed to be. This is a stretching time for me, so when you think of me, please pray: I need it. I am always praying for you. 


Be blessed and be a blessing and remember that stretch is a verb. 

Sunday Reflection February 26, 2012

Wow! What a week. We have talked about Praise bringingBreakthrough, Overcoming circumstance and offence, The Importance of Godly friends, our Great Commission, and The Salvation Message this week.  I have to say that every week for me gets better and better. I get to study and spend time writing. Two things I love, and as the blog grows, I get to hear more from you, the readers. The highest read post of all time was the one on Forgiveness this week, and I have to say that I am humbled by the response.

In all, at the time of this writing, there were 1,258 visitors in the 1 ½ months this blog has been live. I hope to one day have that many readers every day, but for now, I write knowing that God is the one who gives the increase, and I just keep being faithful. The most amazing thing to me, as it has been every week is the list of countries this blog is being read in. I want to list them out just so you can see what God is doing!

United States	Russia	Honduras	Philippines	Germany
Canada	Brazil	Chili	Italy	United Kingdom
Romania	India	Czech Republic	Malaysia	Qatar
Australia	Namibia	Bulgaria	France	China
Grenada	Botswana	Maldives	New Zealand	Singapore
Iraq	Turkey	Saudi Arabia	South Africa	Bangladesh
United Arab Emirates	Hong Kong	Netherlands	Latvia	Mexico
Pakistan	Jordan	Ghana	Algeria	Nigeria
Finland	Ethiopia	Norway	Kenya	Viet Nam
Palestinian Territories	Egypt	Spain

That is 48 countries and growing!  Many of these countries have an anti-Christian stance and getting the gospel in is a major victory for Christ! I pray for this list and every one of these countries as they pop up on my statistics screen. I know God is using this blog in amazing ways and I am so thankful and in awe that HE is using me to do this.

I cannot tell you in words how amazing this journey has been so far. The sad thing is I am a writer, so that failing is definitely on me. I am working hard to hone my craft and bring you a solid study of the word each week. I hope that you will continue to comment and share everything you feel moved by, and help grow the site and spread the love and the Word of God! Just look what we have done so far….

Be blessed and be a blessing and know I am praying for you. Won’t you pray for me?

Sunday Reflections February 19, 2012

Well, Sunday has rolled around again, and I have to say that at the writing of this post, there are almost 1000 page views of this blog and 29 countries have logged on at least once. That is nearly 15% of the world's nations and this blog is not even two months old yet! The Gospel is alive and breathing, and it is my hope that this blog will travel around the world again and again.

This week’s posts were about discovering more about ourselves- who we are in Christ. We also learned I hate to clean and I am in no way a Proverbs 31 woman…yet!  I also added a new feature that I call Proverbs 31 Household Hints and I hope you will try them out and enjoy. Feel free to pin the pictures on your Pintrest wall or share on Facebook.

I also wrote to you about God’s Kisses. Those little and big ways God shows us His love is active in our lives. You also had to endure my rant about Valentine’s Day and what real relationships should look like in Relationship Status Update and Valentine’s Day Gripes.

In the works is a guest blog. Hopefully sometime before the end of March we will be welcoming a guest blogger and I hope to have more details soon. I am so excited, because I know that it will be great!

If you have any suggestions or questions, please feel free to share those either by commenting below, or by e-mail to either ayearinthespirituallife@hotmail.com or dayna2k03@gmail.com . 

Be sure to follow me on Twitter, a link to do that is to the right. My Twitter name is @Dayawren. 

I was really pleased to tell you guys about BIG LOVE! Be sure to visit their site and make donations as God leads you. Whenever we give, we give as to the Lord, so make Jesus smile and spread the love of Christ to kids and their families who are battling cancer.

One final thing, to the left you will notice a new addition to the page. I am available for speaking engagements. If you live in the Southeast Texas area, and need a speaker at your Bible Study, Small Group, Woman’s Retreat, or any other event, I would be pleased if you would prayerfully consider me. For anyone outside of the Southeast Texas area, please e-mail for availability and booking information.

Be blessed and be a blessing. Remember that review is a verb. 

Sunday Reflections February 12, 2012

Well it is that time again, and I should probably start calling this something other than Sunday Reflections, but I kind of run out of creative juice by Sunday, and need the down time to get ready for the coming week.

I ran into a friend at Best Buy this weekend, while out with my husband and she was so encouraging to me as we talked about everything God was doing in and through this blog. Thank you for that Bettina Marie, and thank you for your continued prayers.

This week has brought more countries the gospel via the blog, and they are Qatar, and Latvia. I get so excited each time I see a new country I literally have dance attack. (Think Elaine on Seinfeld)

Also I started an “A Year in the Spiritual Life” Facebook page. You can find that here. Please visit and “like” it.

Someone told me they were having a hard time leaving comments. At the end of every post is a “comments” link. Click on it and a box expands. “Leave comment as” is right below that. If you are not a member of the blog (you must be signed in) and you don’t have one of the types of accounts on the drop down menu, you can choose Name/URL and it will let you fill in that info or you can post as anonymous. Of course, it is my hope you will join this site and you can do that to the left of this post.

If you ever need to leave me a direct message there are two ways to do that. Under the “About Me” section on the right of this post is a link to view my full profile, which shows my e-mail information. I will include it in this post as well, so if you want just click one of the following:

Dayna2k03@gmail.com or ayearinthespirituallife@hotmail.com

Someone asked me where I came up with these Bible studies. I write them. Of course God is directing me, and I do quote or list things I hear in church or from past pastors, but for the most part, it is all me (by God's grace). So if you see an error, or want to discuss anything here, please let me know.

Thank you for your continued readership and support. Please continue to share these posts on Facebook and Twitter (those little button icons at the end of each post) and if you have Twitter you can follow me by clicking the icon/link to the right.

If you have not already, please check out the new highlighted ministry BIG LOVE, listed to the left, or follow the link here to read more about them.

Be blessed and be a blessing. Remember that God wrote his love letter to us, I write about his love to you.