Vacation....Maine Coast

Just got back from a mini-vacation on the Maine Coast.

God's Majesty surely shines in the oceans.

No other words are necessary... Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Experiencing God...Days 4, 5

I am going to combine Days 4 and 5 today because the workbook uses it in 2 parts and because I cannot post tomorrow. I am extremely busy today (trying to buy a house! packing for vaca! running daycare! managing family!- deep breath, exhale) but I wanted to get this posted for you:)



God called Moses, He invited him to join Him...

When God is about to do something, He reveals it to His people. He wants to accomplish His work through His people. When He's about to do something through you, He need to get you from where you are to where He is - NOT the other way around - so He tells you what He's doing ... Join Him

The Bible is designed to help us understand Him. Then when God starts to act in your life, you will recognize that it's Him...Accept the invitation!

Are you in?!?

Change is necessary...You cannot stay who you are and join Him.

God uses the insignificant to accomplish SIGNIFICANT things...think Moses, Elijah, Mary, the boy with the fish and bread....it goes on and on....

You are INSIGNIFICANT.

Do you feel weak, limited, or ordinary...you're just right for the job. You see God's standards are not our standards! He doesn't look at what we can accomplish FOR Him, He looks at what He can accomplish THROUGH us!

"When you believe nothing significant can happen through you, you have said more about your belief in God than you have declared about yourself." --Blackaby

You see, my dear sisters--- You are not being humble you are being disrespectful and unbelieving! Yikes!!

Bet you didn't see that one coming!! I sure didn't when I read it.

Father, Thank you for revealing to me what You are about to do. I accept your invitation to join You where You are. I realize I can't stay where I am and go with You and I know You can do anything with an ordinary person who is consecrated to You. Here I am!...I am so thankful Your standards are different from the world's. I wholly yield to Your invitation to be pleasing to You even if it means being insignificant in the eye's of the world. Amen.
Many blessings to you all--Beth





Please visit Proverbs31 Wisdom

Experiencing God...Day 3

Learning to Be a Servant of God

The servant by worldly means is merely one who finds out what the master wants and does it. A lot of people think that's the godly definition, too.

Think again...

A Servant by godly definition is one who God works THROUGH for a purpose.

To be a servant of God, you must first be moldable, and be RESPONSIVE to the Master.

And, secondly, you must REMAIN in the Potter's hands. Even though the Potter has stopped making the pot, it still can do nothing on its own.

An effective servant will:

--Relate to God

-----Respond to Him

-----------Adjust his life to Him so that he can do what he wants to do through your life!

Father, You are the Great Potter and I am the lowly clay. I want to be molded by you and remain in your hands for you to work through. Help me relate to You, respond to You, and adjust my life to You so You can do what You want through me. I don't want to just do something, I am standing here for You! Amen

Thanks for stopping by---Elizabeth

Experiencing God...Day 2

Jesus Is Your Model

Always go to the Bible and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth of your situation to you.

Experiences alone cannot be your guide!

Every event must be understood and interpreted by the Scriptures.

Get rid of your feelings - they are deceptive. Look to see what God says and how He works in the Scriptures.

Make your decisions and evaluate your experiences based on Biblical Truths.

God doesn't change (Malachi 3:6) He will lead the way.

Worldly solutions, programs, and methods cannot solve spiritual problems. God's Word is the only guide on how to live life.

Have you ever asked God what is His will for your life. Blackaby says we are probably getting the right answer but asking the wrong question. The question we should be asking is "what is God's will (period)." Learn God's will and adjust your life to Him.

Follow Jesus' model. He perfectly completed every assignment given to him by God.

Jesus watched where His Father was at work and joined Him!

Let's remember these truths as we go about today:

1. The Bible is my guide for Faith and Practice.

2. The right question is "What is God's Will?"

3. Watch to see where God is working and join Him.

4. God is always at work around me.

It's personal! Get personal with God. Start that loving relationship today!

Father, Today I want to ask the right question: "What is Your will?" I expect an answer because your Words assures me of it. You have always led other in the Scriptures and I know you will lead me. I will be watching to see where you are working so I can join in. Help me to recognise you as you work around me today and follow the model of my Savior Jesus. Alone I can accomplish nothing but with you I can accomplish anything! Amen

Experiencing God...Day 1

I am so excited to share my walk through :

Experiencing God

with you. I hope it will encourage you to begin your own study. The materials are not too expensive and you don't have to have a small group. We can group and share right here.

Let's begin---The study is broken into 12 units with 5 days study for each unit. I am not planning on doing a study every day but will try to do 5 each week as time and spirit allow.

The first unit is -- "God's Will and Your life"

I am not the best at memorizing but I can do it with His help. So, I find it works best for me to focus on key words and then memorize it in pieces using those key words to anchor it all together.

Memory Verse:

John 15:5

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Day 1--Jesus is your way

Blackaby notes that Real Christianity is ...a relationship with a Person. We are to pursue an intimate love relationship with God.

Step 1 - A relationship with Jesus. Now is the time to commit yourself to Jesus and accept him as your Savior. If you are not sure how to do this please click the big, RED ready button on my side-bar.

This is the first step because Spiritual matters can only be understood by those who have the Spirit of Christ. If you are not filled with the Spirit, none of this will make any sense to you.

As John 14:26 tells us the Holy Spirit will be your personal teacher!

The 7 goals of this course are:

1. Hear when God speaks to you

2. Clearly identify His activity i your life

3. Believe Him to be and do everything He promised

4. Adjust your beliefs, character, and behavior to Him and His ways

5. Recognize a direction he is taking in your life and identify what He wants to do through your life

6. Clearly know what you need to do in response to His activity in your life.

7. Experience God doing through you what only He can do!

How exciting is that!!!

Finally let's concentrate on what I found to be the most inspiring part of today's activity and that was that Jesus is the MAP!

He knows all the paths that lead to a certain destination in our lives. You don't need the map or the GPS (stop being a backseat driver!)

You just need to trust that He knows the way and to TURN when He tells you to - no questions asked!

You can probably already guess one of the key versus for today:

John 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life."

When you don't trust in Him to guide you at every step, you will have fear and worry over each and every decision you have to make.

We need to focus on "What does God want me to do TODAY?" Not tomorrow or next week. I think a lot of us spend way too much time worrying about tomorrow when we are totally lost about today.

Our goal should be to follow God day by day so He will keep you in the center of His will.

Claim this verse today:

Phil 2:13

"It is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose"

Father, I know if I follow you I can be in the center of Your will. Please make that a priority for me and help me to stop looking for the big map and just turn when I'm told to. Thank you for providing the Way and help me to know what you want me to do TODAY. All for Your glory...Amen

Thanks for stopping by--- Elizabeth

The Journey....humility

1 Peter 5:6-7

6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,

7 casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

I've often wondered why God put these verses in this order. It seemed a bit backward to me. So there must be something more to it that I wasn't getting.

God's mighty hand tells us He is in control of everything to ultimately accomplish His purpose. One thing we all need to work on is patience. God humbles us through the experiences we face - thus the purpose of each journey.

I think as wives and moms we can sometimes get down and feel unappreciated. We do a lot and though we may all preach humility, let's be honest - it's nice to be acknowledged once and a while....

My husband has a wonderful way of putting me in my place when I fish for a compliment. He can do it in a way that lets me know he appreciates me yet rebukes me for my pride.

I think this is what our Lord does. He wants us to feel good about what we're doing but rebukes us when we fish for a compliment. You see, dear reader, compliments are self-glorifying. It means the reason for doing it was to feel appreciated, not to glorify God.

But, do not give up yet. The passage continues to tell us that He will exalt us in His time.

Moms will, in time, be fully exalted for all their hard work. Before you think no one appreciates you, remember He does. He's the one who give you the job.

He has given us the hardest, worst paying, sometimes most thankless, job there is (in a worldly sense). Further, He expects us to do it with humility, grace, no appreciation, no pay, and with a servant's heart.

Pay? We will get paid in full, at Heaven's gate.

The verses aren't misplaced. They are right in line to the way we are to think. God knew there would be times of impatience, despair, and discouragement. He told us to cast those feeling off onto Him. Throw them like dirty laundry and know His plan is already in motion.

Submit, be humble, and trust that His plan is way better than your plan.

Those are 3 very important areas to work on for victorious Christian Living.

Thanks for stopping by----Elizabeth

The Books are here!!!! Feeling Retro!

The Books are here - The BOOKS are here!


My church is holding weekly Bible study on the Blackaby series -

Experiencing GOD

I have provided a link for these, and I thought we could share this study with you :


Experiencing God




I was so excited to get these. They arrived in 2 days and I didn't even use express shipping!

I also bought the workbook "damaged" and the only thing wrong was some rubbing marks on the spine!





So, while I was saving all that cash on damaged items I got the Youth Edition for my 14 year-old. I'm not sure if our youth pastor is going to take them on this or if he will just study independently with us.

I will be sure to devote at least one day a week to this study! Adult and Youth. I hope everyone is up for it - I've heard it's wonderful:)




Here is a site from my mom. It is just a bunch of pictures of retro items - and by retro I mean 50s-60s not 70s all you young girls! LOL

I think you will enjoy looking at them - I did! Those kitchens looked just like ours and I can still remember going to Woolworth's for a hot cocoa on special days, TV dinners, drive-in movies, of coarse, I was just a baby then...... - Wow, takes me back!

Hope you enjoy it!

RetroLife

Thanks for stopping by---

Elizabeth