2014 Life Verse

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your path. Proverbs 3:5-6


Saturday, March 31, 2012

Wonderful Weekend

We had such a wonderful evening on Friday.  We travelled down to Hershey, Pa for the Casting Crowns concert.  It was so nice to have time to spend with adults.  After being with my wonderful daughter all the time...24/7..it's nice to get away and spend some time having adult conversations and relaxing.

Tim drove down and tried to give his mother a heart attack.  Tim has a bad habit of tailgating.  He will wait until the last minute to hit the brakes and even though I have learned not to say anything, but to sit on the passenger side and pray, my poor MIL was a nervous wreck.  She even tried to lay down in the back seat so she couldn't see..LOL.  Finally, Tim decided to give his mom a break and stop tailgating.  Needless to say, I drove home..:)

We arrived in Hershey about 6pm and met up with Pastor Jim and Dorothy and Mohammed and Jennifer Alsafar.  We were planning on a nice dinner at Applebee's but the the wait was 45 minutes so we opted for KFC.  Suprisingly, it was really good.  I love their mashed potatoes anyway, so it was all good.  The conversation made it even better. 

The concert was fantastic.  There were a couple of new groups that I hadn't heard before.  Lindsay McCaul, Royal Tailors and Matthew West.  I was really digging Matthew West.  He had some really powerful songs and his humor was great.  Royal Tailors were pretty good too.  I'm not sure what I would classify their group as, but probably alternative.  Pretty good though.  Lindsay McCaul was good and kind of folksy.  I was very impressed with what a great show Casting Crowns put on.  It was great. 

The best part of the evening was knowing that I was in an arena full of people who believed the same things as I do.  It was great to have liked minded people all gathered in one place with the intent of worship.  Wonderful it was.  It was like a small glimpse of what Heaven may be like.  Hundreds of people all gathered together with the same purpose. 

The ride home was hysterical.  My MIL was tired, as  it was after 11pm before we left the Hershey area....well past her bedtime.  She started singing kid's nursery rhymes.  Tim wanted out of the car.  We didn't get all the words right which made it even funnier.  Yeah, it was a fun ride home. 

Home at 2am and back up at 10am to go to the church for the kid's Easter Egg Hunt.  The kids had a great time and we hid over 200 eggs for them.  They got to do a craft, have lunch and the puppets even showed up to teach a lesson about what Easter is really all about.  I think everyone had a great time.  I know I did.

It is now 3pm and I need a nap....

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Revival

When you think of revival, what do you think of?  A big tent set up with a special evangelist who comes in for a week?  Watching people be hit by the Holy Spirit?  Feeling caught up in the moment but then let down after the week? 

Many people have the same views of revival.  I have been doing a study called Seeking Him.  It has been very interesting.  Revival, as defined in this study, is a personal thing.  It happens inside your heart.  Revival begins with you and me.  Revival is God's way of rekindling the fire that was in your heart, but has grown cold.  You don't need a big tent, an evangelist or lots of music.  Spending time with God, in His word, in prayer and in quiet time can cause revival to happen inside you.

Sometimes, God uses these preconceived notions of revival to cause revival in your heart.  But after the emotions of the moment are gone, you can still experience revival continually.  Revival is a state of mind not a feeling of euphoria.  The feelings fade.  You are not going to "feel" those euphoric feelings all the time.  Faith isn't based on feelings and neither is revival.

I have been in the midst of a revival for 4 weeks now and it has been the most amazing adventure.  Some of the tears have stopped, but the feelings of being loved haven't.  I haven't been in tent meetings, we haven't had an evangelist for the past four weeks, and the music has been from cds, not bands.  The revival I have been experiencing has been an inward change.  A renewing of my heart and mind.  A recharging if you will.  It has been an awesome ride and I look forward to seeing what God is going to do next.

Do you want to experience this revival?  All you need to do is begin spending time with God.  Delve into His Word.  Pray with an earnest heart and sit quietly in God's presence.  These are the beginnings of having a personal revival.  Try it, you might find that revival of your heart is just what you need.

Monday, March 19, 2012

3 Weeks and Counting

Well, it has been three weeks since my close encounter of the God kind.  It has been an amazing three weeks.  School with Kierstynne has been great.  She moved into 3rd grade math today.  She is breezing through.  I am so proud of her.  We haven't had any melt downs, frustrations, or yelling.  I have come to the realization that most of it was my fault.  I didn't realize that my attitude had been so bad, but, well, I realize it now.  Now that my attitude has changed, Kierstynne has changed.  She is still a typical 7 year old girl with emotional issues..lol, but school wise, it's much better.

I am really enjoying the Max Lucado bible study I am doing.  It is very interesting and  I am learning alot.  My Bible reading is going well too.

Stay tuned for more updates about how awesome God is....

Friday, March 16, 2012

God's House

The last two weeks have been unbelievable.  It's hard to put into words what it has been like.  I think the easiest way to explain it is that it has been like being in a coma for 20 years and waking up to discover how much of the world around you has changed.  I am discovering new things daily.

 After my close encounter with God on March 4th, I knew God had done something amazing, but the fleshly, carnal part of me was still in doubt a little.  I had an experience that made me realize that what I was experiencing was truly a miraculous work of God.  I was asked to help someone out, to take a backseat and not be in charge.  Now, the old Emily would have balked at that.  The old me would have literally gotten sick to her stomach at the thought of not being in control and in charge.  Guess what???  It didn't faze me.  I felt nothing in my stomach.  I did what was asked of me without even as much as a flinch of the old me.  AMAZING!!!!  It didn't dawn on my lightening fast mind right at that point.  It was later on during worship that I realized what had happened.  I couldn't believe it.  I  knew right then that God had truly changed me.  He had gone in and taken out the old Emily and replaced her with someone fantastic.  The new Emily is still all awonder and the way that she sees the world.

I feel like someone who is going through AA.  There are steps that God is having me take to rebuilt relationships and bridges that I destroyed in my selfishness.  I have gone and apologized to my MIL and to my husband for things that I should never have done.  I was scared.  I won't lie about that.  Having to humble yourself and admit your mistakes is a scary thing, but has such amazing outcomes.  I am slowly rebuilding the things that I destroyed.  I know that it won't be easy.  But nothing good comes easy right?

I began a Bible study by Max Lucado the other night about Embracing God and drawing closer to Him.  The first two lessons are on God's House.  When we pray, we enter into God's dwelling place.  God wants to converse and commune with us.  In our prayer time, we get to experience God's environment.  What a wonderful thought. 

One of the questions that Max asked was,  "If God's house was in your neighborhood, what would it look like?"  Good question.  I thought about it and came up with this answer.  I believe that if God's house was here in Ransom, PA, it would be a most unassuming house.  No grandure.  Even though God is the God of the universe, he isn't presumptuous.  He isn't grandiose.  I think the house would be like many of the other houses here in town.  The outside would be nice, but nothing spectacular.  When you look upon it, you would feel  welcome.  There would be an overwhelming urge to enter into this house.  I think there would be beautiful gardens surrounding the house with lots of wildlife running through the yard.  You have the choice as to enter or not.  No one will make you enter God's house.  But, the amazing thing is that when you do chose to enter the house, it will take your breathe away.  The inside is where you will find the opulance of God's majesty.  Inside the house is where you find the splendor of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  But until you enter God's house you will never know. 

Would you willingly enter into that house?  Would you want to discover what is on the outside of that normal looking house?  Do you desire to see what is inside a house that looks so unassuming?  I did...try it, you might be surprised at what you find.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Close Encounters of the God Kind

Sunday was an amazing day in the House of the LORD.  Never have I experienced a move of the Holy Spirit as I did on Sunday.  It was indescribable.  It was incredible.  It was AWESOME!!  Something changed in me that day.  The connection between my head and my heart was finally established.

For years I have had head knowledge.  Not just of who God is, but of the Word of God.  From the time I was a child, I have learned Scripture.  I have an innate ability to learn.  Not just of the Bible, but everything.  I thirst for knowledge.  I love to read and to learn about everything.  But, for some reason, being able to put that Biblical knowledge into practice has been just  out of my reach.  I believe that experiences from my childhood prevented me from truly believing that the promises in God's Word were for me.  I had no problem believing in healing and restoration for others.  I knew that God could and did reach down and touch people.  I just never believed it was for me.

Being emotionally and mentally abused as a child and teen, I believed myself unloveable.  Unworthy.  Why would God take time with me when there were so many others who needed Him?  Sunday morning, God made me realize that I worthy.  That every promise spoken in His Word is for me.  God took time to come personally to me and let me know that He loves me.  Never before had I felt such emotion.  From the minute the hands were laid on me, the heat of the Holy Spirit overwhelmed me.  As the tears began to flow, the dam broke.  The wall between my head and my heart crumbled.   Using a simple man, one who was willing to be a vessel, God was able to reach out to me and make me understand that He LOVES me.  What an amazing concept.

I am not what has been spoken over me for years.  I am worthy, useful, compassionate, valued, my life has meaning.  I do not have to stay in the place of lack.  I can rise above my past and the curses spoken against me.  Thank You Lord.  God called me a warrior.  Yes, I am a warrior.  I am more than capable of standing up for God.   God called me beautiful.  Yes, I am beautiful.  My emotions have nothing to do with fact. 

Before I was spoken over, I was sitting in the pew praying for God to make me as nice looking on the inside as I was on the outside Sunday morning.  I had a new outfit and a new hairdo and felt pretty.  I didn't feel so pretty on the inside.  I have allowed my past to have too much influence over my present.  I have done things that have hurt me as well as my family.  I had learned to put up a great facade.   So, as I sat there praying, God touched me.  He made my inside as pretty as my outside.  I AM a new creature.  The old things have passed away and all things have become new.  I feel different.  I have prayed lots of times for change, but something different happened this time.  I am more compasssionate, more caring, calmer.  I still have some things that God and I have to work on together, but I know now that He cares and He will continue the good work that He has started in me until the day of Christ.

I was reading about the sinful woman in Luke tonight.  With new eyes I realized things that I had missed before.  This woman, who chose to live in sin, came to realization that she was a sinner.  Being a prostitute was probably one of the worst things you could have done in that time.  Everyone looked down on her and treated her like a pariah.  She, I'm sure, worked hard for everything that she had.  One of the things that struck me was that without men who used her, she wouldn't have had a job.  That's right.  The same men who talked about her and treated her so horribly in the daytime where the same men who came  to visit her at night.  That's right.  These two faced men keep her in her profession.  The second thing that I realized was that the alabaster box full of perfume was what she used to entice the men.  It smelled good.  It made her smell good.  She spent her hard earned money, and probably alot of it, to buy this box of perfume to aid her in her job.  Her hair would have been an aid also.  Keeping her hair beautiful would have been an asset to her.  The third thing I realized was the she felt unworthy, unloved and lower than trailer park trash.  She wouldn't even look upon Jesus' face.  She stayed bowed down at His feet like a dog. 

This woman took the two things most valueable to her and used them to honor Jesus.  She poured out her expensive perfume upon His feet.  She didn't feel worthy enough to anoint His head.  She used her hair, her crowning glory, to wipe the tears from His feet.  The two things most important to her profession she didn't think twice of using to honor the Lord.  She realized her need for a Savior and knew that Jesus was that Savior.  She never had to speak a word outloud.  Jesus looked into her heart.  Everything He needed to know was right there in her heart.  She repented on the floor at Jesus' feet.

Today, unfortunately, many people don't realize their need for a Savior.  They don't want to use their prized possessions to honor the Lord.  They are content to live their lives to please themselves.  The more stuff they can attain, the happier they think they are.  How mistaken they are.  They need a Close Encounter of the God Kind.

What do you have that you prize above all?  Are you willing to pour it out at Jesus' feet in honor?  Are you willing to be transparent before God?  I was like that Sinner Woman.  Not a prostitue, but a sinner.  I put myself above everything.  I have done things because of this that have some repricussions that I now have to deal with.  I put what I wanted above what God wants for me.   I have hurt others and burned bridges that should never have been burned.  I have made myself untrustworthy because of my actions.  But, by the Grace of God, I am being restored.  I am being remade.  I am more!!

Are you willing to lay your most prized possessions down?