At the end of each month during the third quarter, I've chosen to bring us back around to the foundation of our faith as we diligently pursue the tasks of saving money, calories, and time. This week: HOPE.Many years ago, a pastor "etched" something in my mind by using an acronym for hope: Hold On Pray Expectantly! I've never forgotten the saying or what it conveys. Prayer is God's method of touching us, holding onto us and letting us hold onto Him.
I don't know if what I'm about to tell you will encourage or discourage you, but here it is anyway.
Almost every day, there comes a moment of anxiousness or anger or fear that overwhelms me. I must get a grip--not on my reality, but on my God. I must physically take hold of Him and let Him take hold of me. This can, does, and will always happen when I pray. Whether it happens during my daily quiet time, while working with staff in my office, or when I'm at home and can kneel by my bedside, prayer connects me with God and His power. You see, I need God's power to fight for me, to "snap me out" of my pity parties, or remind who is in control of EVERYTHING. So, even though I've known God a long time (33 years on 8/26/09), not a day goes by when I don't ask Him to come alongside of me and invade my life. I need Him to correct my thoughts, direct my finances, guide my decisions, and improve my relationships.
What I'm suggesting to you is this: You never get too old, too mature, too strong, too empowered to live your life without conversing with God. He has the answers. He knows your every hope and dream, fear and failure. Get connected and stay connected to God. And when you need HOPE on any given day, hold on and pray expectantly.
Be encouraged,
Becky
By the way, my new book, Let God Talk to You, ships this Friday! Woo hoo!
I have an appointment with a pulmonary specialist in the morning, Wednesday. Please pray for wisdom as weather or not to go ahead with the surgery on this Thursday. I have acquired a case of what appears to be asmatic bronchitis. (not a good thing to have if undergoing general anesthesia). This was probably brought on from irritating the bronchial tubes in the first attempt at surgery. I have been given a bronchial dialator which may clear up the bronchial tubes and make it safe for surgery. As you can imagine I am a wee bit nervous about surgery to begin with considering the last results. Please pray this gets cleared up. We have left the go ahead or the stop in the hands of the pulmonary specialist for the most part. (meaning God' wisdom will come through his decision).
ReplyDeleteThank you to everyone who is praying for me. Here is my private email for anyone who wishes to write, as I probably should not be using this forum to address this issue. I do appreciate all your prayers. Perhaps I will be able to make the next call.
Please pray for wisdom on everyones part.
Hugs, Sandra
azpurpleprincess@cox.net
Becky.... so exciting about your new book!!!!
Yes, yes, yes and AMEN! Thank you Becky for your message about prayer. Holding on to Him daily for everything. How does anyone live on this earth without Him?
ReplyDeleteThank you also for the motivation to stop procrastinating, to stay healthy, to exercise etc. Your words and calls are such encouragement to me. Your help is instrumental in keeping me on the path to a better life. I am getting things done that I have been putting off. I did fall off the wagon a bit on 2 trips out of town in relation to shopping for clothes/shoes...but at least I am now more aware and am making better decisions. Yesterday I dropped off clothes for crisis assistance...more cleaning today...
Thank you a million times over! Even though I rarely can make the calls live, I keep up with the group and it has been a great summer! I have a lambskin that I will put at my bedside today...for kneeling! And we now have a bowl for change that will go to charity. And, I am asking for His guidance in giving more...in general, daily giving. This has been difficult for me because of this past year of trauma in the banking industry (my husband) but God has been so faithful to provide. I have a feeling He is taking me to a place of radical giving.
Blessings and peace to everyone.
This week's assignment is an answer to prayer, Thank You. Let me explain: I was asked to give a devotion to a group of women; it was to address what has God been showing me this summer. I said I would pray about whether God wanted me to do this or not. How could I say in 12 minutes what God is showing me. Weekly, through this quarter God washes over me new ideas encouraging me to draw close to him and never let him go. Getting my life in order has had profound effects on my walk with God. In the book Rest In God he asks the question Do I want to be well? He is speaking of spirtually. Yes, I want to be well. I want to do whatever God is calling me to be and do to be all that he intends for me. When that desert is placed in front of me I ask myself do you want to be well. Yes, no thanks, and God washes his blessing over me. I haven't felt sooo good. Do I want to be well? Yes, I am out for the walk. Do I want to be well? Yes, show up early for God. At the begining of the summer I gave my son a graduation from high school party. At the end of the evening, I looked at the 7 ( 3") photo albums and thought, what if these albums represented a stack of prayer journals, how much more significance they would represent. My son has had a rough schooling journey, many schools to help him, and even me homeschooling him so I could in the privacy of our home teaching him to read and write. We sent him off to a private christian high school in 9th grade. He wanted to be normal and be aroung normal kids. I prayed that year everyday. if he was going to have a test I l prayed through his test, if he had a bible verse to recite, I stopped what I was doing at 11am Fridays and held him up in prayer. If he got anxious at school he would text me and I would pray. 9th grade he met new friends, connected with teachers, and was on the deans honor role. I didn't stop praying for him but the intensity changed, maybe once a week or a test. 9th grade was full of HOPE: hold on and pray expectantly. So, when this week's assignment was about prayer I thought this was the devotion, this was the answer. God wants me to do a devotion on prayer. My son is going off to college in a week, this was a kid who in 8th grade couldn't write a paragraph. I have purchased a prayer journal and started filing it for him. In 4 years I will have a stack of journals of God invading our life. There isn't anything greater than HOPE.
ReplyDeleteSandra, praying wisdom for the doctors,and your whole medical team.
ReplyDeleteThat nothing is done outside of God's timing.
We're all here for you.
I have a confession to make , I was out of town last week and procrastinated listeing to the live call until last night. Now I have a lot of work to do to make up for last weeks assignment + this weeks! Obviously, procrastination is my biggest problem. I make lists, my lists are too long so I get overwhelmed. Thank you for putting into words my feelings of being paralyed. Looking forward to call in a few minutes, Now you will know why my rating will be so low :-(
ReplyDeleteThanks for the call.
ReplyDeleteIt goes well with a verse I have been reading this week, why so downcast my soul, put your HOPE in God. Now I have a new way to rememember hope.
I am getting a new computer tower today or tomorrow.
Please pray I can get back online and not lose any info.
I dont know how easy this is going to be.
Blessings all, and prayers for all.
Thanks for those of you who have lifted my journey with surgery up in prayer. Surgery was once again postponed. I was unable to make the call yet, once again. Looks like I missed some great insights... catch them later. Thanks again.
ReplyDeletePurple Princess be sure to listen to the call, you will be very encouraged. We are lifting you up to our Lord who hears our prayers.
ReplyDeleteLaura, Fear not for I am with you, thus says the Lord. Praying for a smooth computer transition.
Becky, thanks for the call, we all need hope, without hope there is ...........hoplessness. Thanks also for sharing about your life. I don't think it will discourage anyone. It will encourage everyone that you are a real person. I know I get discouraged at how slow my progress is compared to others in this group. Your honesty gives me hope that there is even HOPE for me!
ReplyDeleteBy the way, thanks for telling us about your upcoming graduation. You must have been amused at all of my whining and complaining about my 1 paper and last class when at the same time you were taking lots of classes!. By the way , I graduated with my Bachelors at 51 years old and my parents were very proudly in the audience. I changed my profile pic to show us together. They gave me money. I used to to pay for my dress, shoes , jewelry and such for my sons wedding. My kids have me an "angel of learning" statue, ( my paper was on angels) I got assorted other gifts. It was kind of fun at my age to get graduation gifts, :-)
You all fire me up!
ReplyDeleteI finally had a chance to listen to the call for this week. I am encouraged and thank you for your prayer this week. Thank you too to the nice person who remembered to have you pray for me. I felt and feel those prayers greatly. They are are filled with HOPE and are sustaining me.
ReplyDeleteMy surgery has been rescheduled for the 8th of September.
Becky one of the tips that you shared with us in the past was to take advanatage of those little 5 or 10 minutes throughout our days that are kind of like dead space and make them productive space. I have used that little time saver so much in the past few weeks. I don't remember what quarter it was, but it finally took root and it is making a difference in my life. I just wanted to say Thank You!
Hugs, Sandra
OK, I am back.
ReplyDeleteI spent a whole day with extreme computer frustrations.
Extreme.
I'm worn out.
The only thing left to do is reinstall some programs and my Bible Explorer software (which is built in layers and not quite showing up anywhere yet.
Wanted to say, Becky thanks for sharing that you have daily moments of anxiety, etc which come over you. I know I sure do.
Last night I really started praying with that HOPE in mind. I appreciate your honesty with our group.
Sandra, so sorry the surgery didnt work out yet, but because we gave it to Him, it must be His perfect timing.
We'll be praying onward....
Thanks for the encouraging words, you all. And Laura, hang in there with the computer...
ReplyDeleteOur group is very caring. I enjoy our time together...
Becky
Sorry to be posting at the ninth hour. I just listened to the phone call and I heard David Jeremiah recently on procrastination and he said in a study it showed that an employee may procrastinate up to 9 weeks a year. It is sometimes known as the Felix syndrome after Felix in the Acts account of Paul because Felix had Paul in prison two years and did not make a decision for Christ, Then he gave this definition of Discipline...doing what needs to be done when it needs to be done, and doing the job the best it can be done, and doing the job the same way every time, ie the same amount of effort.
ReplyDeleteYour call and post was amazing, I have many fears and have been dealing with anxiety since September 2008. My body physically reacts to conflict with an outward responce, my hands shake but it starts internally, so I am in classes thru my insurance called rapid recovery and we have been looking at core beliefs, cognitive training.
I loved the meaning of Hope. We serve a God of Hope. I have had several major answers to prayer. I serve a God that gives me the desires and heartfelt cries of help. Two weeks ago, we reconcilled with our oldest son and we had the grandkids this weekend. My youngest son and his family have returned to church and they love it. Now he needs a job. So if you could continue to pray that he finds a job. His name is Dale.
I had a beautiful time with my grandkids this weekend and was able to take them to church. Ethan said Grandma I like your church.
The sermon was on raising kids and my youngest son and his wife have heard a sermon on marriage and raising kids.
Okay it is late nned to go to bed. Becky I graduated with my nursing degree when I was 39 and then went on for my Bachelors and Masters degree graduating when I was 49. My BSN in 1995 I was going to go to Israel on a missions trip so I asked for contribution to the trip so that was such a rewarding time, to sit back and see God raise the money for my trip to Israel. Congratulations on graduating in December. Blessings...Diana