Indiana Country Girl

Description

Country Girl married to an awesome Country Boy! We are raising our 4 children to love and serve our Lord Jesus! I am striving every day to live a simple life, a life of joy! I am now the owner of my own website business. My passion is to bring families together at the supper table! www.simplefamilysupper.com


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Pursuing God

10 minute Tuesday as hosted by faithfulchick:

I participate in a weekly "mom's group" Bible study. We are transitioning to a new study next week, but God laid this on my heart for us to do this week. God really touched my heart on Sunday with a message on Pursuing God Encounters..... God wants encounters with us!!!! I am focusing on pursuing God this week! Take 10 minutes to Pursue God!

Pursuing God

Pursue (to put forth an effort, to focus, to spend time and energy, to be determinied,) encounters with our God Almighty. He desires to have 2 way communication with us. He longs to spend time with us!

Getting Real:

Pursuing God comes at a cost. We all only have 24 hours a day and our days are full. What are you willing to give up to Pursue God? What are the other things in my life that I pursue? Where does God fall on the scale of my focus?


Bring it to reality:

On a scale of 1-10 (1 being extremely little, 10 being very much) how much time (of the 24 hours given to us) do you spend pursuing the following: (this is not to say that the activities listed below are bad…. Most of them must be done) Just be honest about the time you spend on these activities: Rate on the scale of 1-10

Sleeping ________

Eating ________

Outward Beauty ________

Chores/housework ________

Laundry ________

Cooking/baking ________

Work ________

Time with husband ________

Romance ________

Taking care of kids ________

Fun time with kids ________

Organization ________

Shopping/acquiring ________

Money ________

Paying Bills ________

Friendships ________

Hobbies ________

Seeking attention ________

Reading ________

TV ________

Computer ________

Planning ________

Church ________

Volunteering ________

Extended Family ________

Phone ________

Running errands ________

Children’s Activities _______

Negative thinking _______

Worry _______

Praise and worship _______

Prayer _______

Listening to God _______

Time in the Word _______

Journaling _______

Bible Studies _______

Outreach to others _______

Hospitality _______

Other:_______ _______

Other:_______ _______

Other:_______ _______

Other:_______ _______

Other:_______ _______


Now it is more clear what things I spend my greatest time and energy pursuing. Am I giving God any reason to be “Jealous”? Where is my focus? What do I spend a lot of time pursuing:

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________

How Can I make pursuing encounters with God a reality? What is the plan? What will I need to reduce my time on in order to have more time to pursue God? ____________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Follow up: Encounters with God

This week I changed some of my “pursuing” habits in the following ways: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Encounters with God: Share anything you feel comfortable sharing about your time spent pursuing God. What did you learn? What did you hear? What did you experience? How did you grow?

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How did the “cost” of giving up time in other areas affect you? Are there some things that you found you need to spend more time on? How about balance? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What does pursuing God mean to you now? How does this impact daily life? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________




It is 5 o'clock.... What is for supper???
To end this daily stress join me at www.simplefamilysupper.com

Posted: 07:23, Tuesday, March 11, 2008 in NONE of me, ALL of you		 Comments (0) | Add Comment | Link

NONE of me... ALL of you!!



About a month ago our paster preached a message encouraging us to stop praying "more of you, less of me" and pray "NONE of me, ALL of you" instead. Isn't this how we really want to live??  He said to expect some radical changes if we really pray this.... God has some big plans for our lives and when we live that prayer out our lives will NEVER be the same again!

I caught the vision.... I thought that was awesome... that is what I want for my life.... I want NONE of me, ALL of you.  So..... over the last month I have been praying this.  I mean I have been PRAYING this.  I even typed it up and posted it in the kitchen, put it in my Bible study note book and wrote it into my life purpose statement.  It gave me "warm" feelings... good "spiritual" feelings.... hey, this is great... NONE of me, ALL of you!  How wonderful!  This is great!!

HA!!!    Then God says...Do you really mean this???  Do you really want to live this way???  The Holy Spirit began pointing things out to me that had never bothered me before.  Why are they bothering me now??  Must I really deal with these things in my life??  NONE of me, ALL of you!  OK, so I have faced these things and have grown.... so far so good!  This isn't so hard!

Then TODAY..... WHAM!!!  A BIG one hits!  I had a friend (probably one of the top 5 closest friends in my whole life) that a couple of years ago hurt me.... the kind of hurt that goes deep.  I know you all can relate... we have all been hurt by someone.  I honestly thought I had forgiven her... had moved on.  We haven't really had much of a relationship since and I had grown to be ok with that.  Fast forward to today.....  she asked me for a big help.  I am going to be completely honest.... my first reaction was... "are you kidding??"!!  My heart was in turmoil.... I stewed over it all day.  Finally the kids were tucked in for the night and I am in the kitchen making granola bars and two loaves of bread.  My praise CD is on and I am in my "prayer" closet as I work.  

Have I really forgiven her????????  Yes, No, Yes, No....  Yes, I have forgiven her, I don't dwell on the hurt, I don't let it affect my life.  No, I am not walking in forgiveness.... I have built up a wall.... "I'm not going to let myself get hurt again!"  Can anyone relate??  Walking in forgiveness is WAY HARD!!  I could end up hurt!!!  Can I possibly walk forgiveness??  The Holy Spirit is working... speaking....... Christ walks out his forgiveness.... his love is unconditional!  He never leaves me in the dust.... no matter how many times I fail.... He is ALWAYS there!

All of a sudden.....  God touches my heart... breaks down that wall.....  NONE of me, ALL of him!!!!!   I don't have to do this on my own.....  I stood crying into my granola bars... then I was just singing along with the song that came on... "Lord reign in me..."  The peace, the joy that enveloped me I can't put into words.  The hurt, the unforgiveness.... GONE!!!!!!  It isn't me.... My flesh would love to harber bitterness..... but God moves!!!!!!!!!

I know I am not done growing.... more WHAM moments are on their way.... God is at work in my heart..... my life will NEVER be the same!!!!  Now I am excited:  I am thrilled  to have the opportunity to help my friend!  I am soooo glad she came to me!!!!!  God will help me to serve her!!!!!   This whole thing is taking me places I never dreamed of going!!!  God is amazing!


ALL of you, NONE of me!!!!

Posted: 10:07, Monday, February 19, 2007 in NONE of me, ALL of you		 Comments (1) | Add Comment | Link