Keeping My Mouth Shut!

26 Jan 2010 by sypace

I told you a couple of weeks ago that God had really laid some scripture on my heart and wanted me to ingrain it heart and mind into the very fabric of my soul.  This is not an easy thing for me because I have a pretty sharp mind and the ability to use words to my advantage in most cases.  My Mother always said that I should have been a lawyer because I could win any argument that arose and my husband will tell you she isn’t too far from the truth.  I have learned that I use my words to hide my vulnerability.  I use them to keep people from seeing who I really am and the insecurities that I feel.  I use them when I am unsure of myself, so that I feel secure.  And as you know, if you have been reading my blog, I like to feel in control and when I don’t, it scares me!!!  So without further excuse and putting it off here is what God has been telling me to do:  KEEP MY MOUTH SHUT!!!

I have heard some form of Ephesians 4:29 all my life.  My Mom used to love to use her version of it, by saying, “if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”   I just never realized that it is a mandate from the Lord.  Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”  Ouch. So He really wants me to keep my mouth shut?  When I am scared and want to defend myself?  When I am vulnerable and don’t want to hurt?  When I am wrong and don’t want to admit it?  When I am angry and want to lash out?  When I am not in control and that’s what I want?  Yuck.  I LIKE to talk.  So this command is not an easy one for me.  I have also figured out that the place where I most struggle with this is in my own home.  It is hard for me not to be critical of my husband.  It is hard for me not to push my kids too much.  It is hard to accept that God is in control and I am not.  I would be lying if I didn’t admit that.  So how is this ever going to work????

Psalm 141:3 “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips.”  This is how I’m going to do it; by praying His word daily, hourly and sometimes minute-by-minute.  I have already failed repeatedly at this over the last few days, but it is getting easier.  You know what I have noticed?  My relationship with my husband has become especially sweet.  I have felt things for him that have been denied to us because of my accusatory words.  My kids have benefited from this new denial of self in the way I have been able to see and love them without my words getting in the way.

Our preacher told a story about a young man that was instructed by his father to go pound a nail into a fence-post every time he said something negative to someone.  At first he was constantly pounding nails into the post.  As time went by and he got tired of putting those nails in and he had to do so less and less.  Eventually it became a rarity.  Finally his Dad told the boy that he felt like he had worked on it and done a good job changing his behavior and that now the boy could go pull all the nails out of the post.  As the boy was finishing up, the Dad came out and asked the boy to look at the post.  It was full of holes and badly scarred.  The Dad told the boy that what he was seeing on the post was exactly what our words do to those around us.  We can say we’re sorry, much like pulling out the nails, but the holes and scars are still there.  We can never undo the damage our words cause.  The only way to prevent those scars is to not say the words.

I want my family to be strong, beautiful posts supporting others around them.  I challenge you to join me in upholding Ephesians 4:29. If you need to use Psalm 141:3 like me, by all means grab it too!!!  If there are other verses that mean more to you share it with us here.  We could all use the help!!!

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With a Heavy Heart. . .

22 Jan 2010 by sypace

This morning I really feel the need to share something that is weighing heavy on my heart.  With all the news coverage coming out of Haiti and the economic situation in this country, coupled with a friend who is now having to make a huge transition into single motherhood, I wanted to share with you what I think is the most important thing in this world.  Sometimes we get caught up in the everyday living and become so ego-centric that we miss the really important things because we are so caught up in self and so short-sighted.   My day yesterday showed me that in a powerful way.

If you have been reading my blog at all you know that I have been a stay-at-home Mom for a few years now.  I love my job.  But, every so often I start to miss the adult connections found in a work place.  All four of our little family unit spends the majority of every day in the same house.  Most days I love that.  Some days . . . I feel like I am going to pull all my hair out.  That being said, I have a friend who runs a tax office and she always hires temp workers for the season and Barry and I decided to see if I could join her staff this season.  We could definitely use the money, I could get out of the house and we found suitable and affordable childcare for my girls for the part-time hours I would need to be away.  All these things seemed so important as we were making that choice.  I had no idea how working one day would really impact my heart.

Yesterday was my first day on the job.  I was not used to being away from my kiddos and I worked a really long day!  I didn’t get home until late yesterday evening and Barry and the kids had waited on me to eat dinner.  I had put some soup in the crock-pot before I left for work so we could all just sit together and eat when I got in.  I sank wearily onto the seat at our table and just took in the sight of my girls and their precious faces.  My Mia is a quality time girl.  She was ready to talk about all the things she had done that I had missed that day.  It was enough for her that I was able to sit and just listen to her.  My sweet Selah is a physical touch, love-bug.  So the whole time we ate dinner and Mia talked, Selah kept scooting closer until her little bottom was resting on my lap and her back was firmly pressed up against me.  Every once in a while she would look up and kiss me and say, “I love you, Mama.”  I wish I could convey the sweetness of that moment, but words just don’t suffice.

I was bone-weary from a schedule I wasn’t accustomed to.  In the past, I might have let myself dwell on needing to rest, and that Mia could not quit talking, and Selah was all up in my space.  But that wasn’t what I felt last night and thankfully that attitude has become less and less over the years.  As I sat there I thought about how fortunate I was to have that time with my girls.  I kept thinking about all those women who have to work; those women who don’t have a choice, especially all the single moms who have to do it all.  My heart was breaking for them and I felt so much respect for the job that they do every day with their families.  I felt so undeserving.  I felt so blessed and so unworthy.  And as I sat there with that precious voice of one daughter swelling in my ear and the warmth of my other daughter resting in my lap, I thought not just about all the working Moms who have to mother their children through their weariness, but also about all the families in Haiti who will never again have an opportunity to hear or hold their children or children who will never hear or be held by Mom or Dad.  My heart is so heavy for those families.

My experience working yesterday and thinking about Haiti made me see that no matter what the circumstances and the future holds for me, I have a precious opportunity in every minute God allows me to have with my family. I know that I may need to work or that may not be His plan.  I have no idea what my life’s path is going to take.  I don’t have to know and I don’t have to worry about it.  His word tells me in Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, plans to give you hope and a future.” I am so thankful that I have a Guide who will direct me, provide blessings and sustain me when things are hard.  Watching my friend go through this last year, seeing all the destruction in Haiti and especially all the orphans and their plight has really brought home to me the importance of knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior.  I pray that if you don’t have the assurance of that relationship, you will seek Him out.  Having a relationship with the Savior, studying His word and living life for Him makes life so much sweeter and makes the impossible, possible.  The following video is a powerful reminder of who He really is, even in the midst of weariness, chaos and destruction.  Do you know him?

My heart so longs for you to know Him.

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Sunrise with the Storm Rolling In.

20 Jan 2010 by sypace

This morning as we were getting ready to eat, my daughter Mia, was looking out our back door and asked my husband and I to come look outside.  She asked me to take a picture and the picture to the right was what we saw.  The sunlight was just barely touching the tops of the trees and storm clouds were blowing in behind the mountains.  It reminded me that often in our lives even as the storm approaches God’s goes before the storm and prepares the way.  He tells us in Deuteronomy 3:18 “The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” How awesome is it to know that even when life is nasty and and our lives are blown about, He is there.  Is there a storm approaching in your life?  Take the time today to bask in His light.

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Praise Him!!!

15 Jan 2010 by sypace

Ya’ll, I just have to share my heart and shout a HUGE praise to my Jesus.  For years I have struggled with having a less than positive view of things in life.  I am so thrilled to say that as I read and have embraced Proverbs 17:22 this week, life has been so precious and wonderful.  All the things that normally drive me nuts seemed so insignificant.  I can’t even begin to tell you how freeing this has been.  This has not been an easy week.  There are some circumstances that could have made this week daunting.  And yet . . . I have smiled through it and looked at my life for what it is . . . a precious gift from God as well as an opportunity to praise Him.  I am not naive enough to think that I will never have a negative thought again, but what I do know is that when those thoughts creep in, God’s word provides the support that I need, to see that my outlook on life is a choice.  I just want to say “Thank you” to a Great God who showed me that truth through my devotions this week.

I promise you that I am going to share the scripture that God is directing me to in regards to my family.  It makes me almost giddy thinking about those words and the potential for blessings in them.  I want so much to share them with you, but it’s going to take a while and I want to have plenty of time to share my heart without having to rush through it.

I have another prayer request for you.  My Dad is currently in Belize on a Missions trip and my Mom will be joining him on Saturday.  Please pray for the team from First Baptist Church of Marion, NC.  I know they would appreciate it.  Here is a link where you can keep up with them as they work. http://fbc-belize.blogspot.com/

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A Cheerful Heart.

12 Jan 2010 by sypace

“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.” Proverbs 17:22. I have a confession to make.  I am not generally a cheerful person.  My husband is one of the most positive people I have ever met.  When anything happens in our lives that is, (in my opinion) less than wonderful, my approach is generally to see all the negatives of the situation.  Barry, on the other hand, sees those situations as opportunities for something better.  In the past it has made me so mad.  Invariably he will tell me that I have a choice whether to be unhappy about something or not and my very immature and ego-centric response has been to tell him in no uncertain terms that happiness in not a choice and for him to keep his chipper little attitude to himself; makes me cringe just to confess those words to you.  God has really been working on me about making some changes in my life as this new year begins.  There is something that He is asking me to do with my family that is extremely difficult.  (I intend to post the two verses sometime this week.)  But I have realized over the last two days that It is impossible to do what He is asking if I first do not embrace Proverbs 17:22.

Knowing that I cannot do what He desires without having a complete and total change of heart is daunting.  For so many years I have lived with my emotions and heart directing me to view life a certain way.  I know without a shadow of a doubt that God is telling me that it is time to change that viewpoint and that a “cheerful heart” is a choice.  I know that living life as a pessimist is no longer an option.  I also know that it is not possible for me to become an optimist on my own.  So pray for me.  I’m going to need it.

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My Big Girl’s Big Struggle and God’s BIG Answer.

08 Jan 2010 by sypace

Ya’ll, I have the smartest, coolest kid in the world! (I’m not partial, I promise. LOL)  But sometimes she wears me out with questions that I just can’t answer.  So yesterday I broke down and took her to our children’s pastor.  Her question was, “Mama, how do I know God’s real?”  I had answered with every spiritual answer I knew how to give.  I gave her examples of things in our world that show God’s majesty, power and to my way of thinking evidence that he exists and loves us.  In our homeschooling studies yesterday, the story of Noah was our Bible reading for the day.  My response to her was, “See God promised he would never flood the earth completely again and gave us the rainbow as physical proof.”  Her response was, “Well, scientists say that the sun and rain make rainbows.”  After a short phone call to the children’s minister, Josh, Mia and I discussed the fact that yes, sun and rain make rainbows, but God made the sun and the rain and the ability of those two things to make a rainbow.  But my little detail driven progeny said, “But how do I KNOW that GOD made the rain and the sun.”  Holy cow.  This is some deep stuff.  So we made the appointment to see Josh.

We spent almost an hour with Josh talking about what doubt is.  Discussing the ways that we are able to see God.  We looked at verse after verse about faith and trusting God.  We discussed Billy Graham’s faith that God’s word is truth and God blessed Mr. Graham’s faithfulness by speaking through him to reach millions.  Josh gave a specific example of a prayer request that God had answered for He and his wife Carrie.  But in the end we told her that it really is about a choice to have faith.

We have continued to discuss faith and read scripture and God is so amazing.  On Mia’s bible cover is Proverbs 3:5.  ”Trust in the Lord with all your heart. . .”  We then talked about the rest of verse 5 and 6 “and lean not on your own understand.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your path straight.”  I explained to her that as humans we make mistakes and we often can’t trust just the things that we understand.  We talked about the fact that God understands everything.  We also read Psalm 139.  I told her that God knew her and loved her even before she was formed.

The best part happened this morning though.  This whole issue of hers has made me really look at my own beliefs and things that have happened in my own life that have shown me that He is real, He is awesome and that unbelievably . . . He loves me.  Me.  I have been reminded through my daughter’s questions how strong His love is for each one of us.  What a blessing.  This morning Mia and I were reading in Matthew 7:  7 – 8.  The scripture there says, ” Ask, and it will be given to you.  Search, and you will find.  Knock, and the door will be opened to you.  Everyone who asks will receive.  He who searches will find.  The door will be opened to the one who knocks.” (NIrV)  I explained to Mia that God was very aware of her searching to know Him and that as long as her prayers were for things that God wanted for her, He would provide those things.  We talked about the fact that she was searching for Him and the way to do that was through prayer and reading His word.  I told her I fully expected Him to give her answers and she should too.

Here is the cool part.  Her Dad has been on a business trip and hasn’t had the best of trips.  He locked his keys in his truck, left his lights on and the battery died and then last night left the one crucial piece of equipment he needed to do his job in a restaurant. (The power cord for his computer.)  So he called last night to tell me all of this.  He wasn’t too happy to say the least.  His plan was to try and find a computer store locally and buy a new power cord.  So after reading the scripture in Matthew this morning, Mia and I decided to pray specifically that Barry would be able to find a store open early enough to buy a cord, that they would have one, and that he could make his last meeting on time. About twenty  minutes after our prayer, Barry called.  He found a store about 3 miles from his hotel room that had the cord and was open.

I wanted to shout!!!  Mia and I talked about the fact that we had been praying for her Dad this entire trip.  When he locked his keys in his truck there was someone there to open it (at no charge), when his battery was dead there was someone there to jump-start the truck and last, when he needed the power cord someone was open and had what he needed.  After I had shown her, her Daddy’s struggles and God’s provisions for him, I asked her if she thought it might be possible that God was letting Daddy struggle a little so that SHE could see that God is real and that when we pray He hears and provides what we need.  Her eyes got huge and began to sparkle and I could feel my heart begin to just fill up almost to bursting at seeing God’s Awesomeness revealed in her seeking answers about Him.

You know, I haven’t up to this point in my life, really struggled with doubt that God is real.  My struggles have been with acknowledging His sovereignty over my life and giving Him the credit for my blessings and letting Him guide my life.  It was so powerful to see my girl looking and really searching to find God and for me to see how in control He really is.  If you are struggling with doubt email me.  I don’t have all the answers but I have THE word and can point you to some scripture that might help.

Love My God and Love His Big Answers to our Big questions!

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God’s Pearl in the Making.

06 Jan 2010 by sypace

I’ve been feeling the pull to blog for a while now, but sort of resisted, if you know what I mean. . . Seems like something keeps interfering, i.e. myself.  God is really working on my heart about the new year being a time to renew my commitment to Him, and in my case, that means honoring Him by changing my relationship with my husband and my kids.  In a couple of days I will share the scripture that has been laid on my heart as the means to do that very thing.  In the meantime, I want to share what I read in my devotional book this morning.  It further confirmed what God is asking me to do. LOL!!!

This comes from Five Meaningful Minutes a Day by Charles Swindoll.

“January 6

If it weren’t for irritations, we’d be very patient, wouldn’t we?  But like taxes, they are ever with us.  When it comes to irritations, I’ve found that it helps if I remember that I am not in charge of my day . . . God is.  And while I’m sure He wants me to use my time wisely, He is more concerned with the cultivation of the qualities that make me Christlike within.  One of His preferred methods of training is through the adjustments to irritations.

A perfect illustration?  The oyster and its pearl.”

Hmmm. Not hard for me to see how God is talking to me.  I am the kind of person that likes to be in charge.  I like to have things under control.  It gives me a sense of protection when things are in order exactly how I think they should be.  When things aren’t or people around me cause things to go (in my opinion) awry it causes me no small amount of irritation.  My husband would also confess to the fact that I am not a very patient person.  I am seeing a very clear theme to the message God is sending me repeatedly over the last few months.  He is so clearly speaking to me that I don’t really dare to ignore it anymore.  It’s time to let God make my life a pearl.  Will you join me?


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Soaring in the Heavens.

20 Nov 2009 by sypace


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Originally uploaded by Stephanie Pace

A couple of weeks ago I had to go to an early morning meeting and as I approached my destination I saw a beautiful hot air balloon sailing along.  I chased the thing down and pulled some iffy traffic maneuvers so I could get a picture.  There was just something calling out to me about the beauty of starting the day riding the air currents.  Now, the part of me that is a control FREAK, gets a little antsy at the idea that you have no control over which way the balloon goes, only how high or low you ride in the sky.

Then on Tuesday we took my girls and met a friend and her daughter at a local kids museum.  Right smack in the middle of the museum floor is a replica of a hot air balloon with information on how the balloons work.  I watched the balloon as the air was heating up and then suddenly the balloon lifted off.  It started the wheels churning in my mind.

The last few weeks have certainly been weeks of growth for me.  God is really working on my heart in a tremendous way.  I have had to confront some issues in my own life that need addressing and they have been very painful.  One of the things that has come to my attention is the fact that while I like to control things I am saying to God, “I do not trust You to do this. . .” I’ve been attending a women’s bible study on Wednesday evenings.  We are using the Beth Moore study, “Get Out of the Pit.”  In this weeks video she spoke of how when we have that one thing that we don’t trust God with, we set ourselves up as our own god.  I don’t know about you but I don’t particularly like that idea nor that accusation, but hey, if the shoe fits. . .

I know that God has a purpose in everything He does and all things work together; I am especially seeing that in my life right now.  For the past two weeks I have been stuck in Galatians Chapter Five.  My heart is being truly bound up in God’s word here.  The part that has just pierced me to the core is the following verses from The Message: 19 – 21 It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time:  repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods, magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. . .

What I have learned while I am camped out here, is that even though I may not put a check mark beside every, single one of the things in this list, there are enough that qualify that my heart is crushed and my soul shaken.  All of these transpire because I am striving to always get what I want.  As I have contemplated these things this week it brings me right back to the hot air balloon.

If our lives are like that hot air balloon, we are lying on the ground a shapeless, inadequate mess until God’s hot and holy spirit moves in.  When His spirit fills us and we begin to heat up for Him and we give Him complete control of our lives we can leave the enslavement of these earthly bonds and soar into the heavens.  But what strikes me the most is that it is our choice as to how much we choose to let him heat up our lives.  BUT we are directed to let Him have control of where that ride goes.  And the coolest part is that he confirms He has that under His control in in Jeremiah 29:11:  “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Let me see. . . think that says He has a plan for me.  Not, I have a plan for Him.  He has given me His word repeatedly from all kinds of different directions.  He has given my feeble, distrusting heart a visual image to reassure my heart that He loves me and I can let go!  Trying to let that message sink into my very core this week.  How about you?  Are we gonna soar with the currents of His winds or just stay mired down and in bondage to our wants?

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Not Enough?

10 Nov 2009 by sypace

This morning a friend called me before a group of stay-at-home moms were supposed to meet and said that the guest speaker had to cancel and asked if I would prepare a 5 – 10 min devotional.  Honestly, I can say that my heart was singing, not because I was all that thrilled to get up there and talk, but God has really been dealing with my heart for several weeks now and He presented scripture this morning that really stopped me in my tracks right before Sarah called and I just feel like I need to share with you some things that I hope will help us all.

                I don’t know about you, but as a mom, particularly a stay-at-home mom, I often feel that my life is meant to serve others and go, go, go.  I never feel like what I am doing is enough.  My house is not clean enough, my kids are not learning enough, I am not righteous enough, I am not good enough.  There are never enough hours in the day to get it all done.  Anyone else feel that way? 

                Over the last few months I have been talking with someone who is helping me to delve into some of those feelings and the last couple of weeks I have really been struggling trying to find God’s truth in my life, not the lies that Satan readily gives us that we can never get it right.  This friend of mind has told me several times that I need to slow down, and that I can’t be the CEO of the universe.  That job is already taken.  Now, I don’t know if you can relate to this or not, but I am a control freak.  I like things done in a certain way (mine) and in a certain time (immediately).  I know too, that as long as I feel like I am in control and stay busy I don’t really have to hear when God is calling me to be still and to know Him.  To wait on Him to show me the way He wants me to go.  I like making the decisions.  I like feeling in control.

                This morning as I was journaling about all of these struggles and putting onto paper my questions and confusion about what exactly God wants from me, I read the following verses and they left me reeling. 

Love God, all you saints; God takes care of those who stay close to him, But he pays back in full those arrogant enough to go it alone. Psalm 31:23 (The Message)

Love God: check, God takes care of me: check, who stays close to him: hmmmm, am I?  Pays back in full those arrogant enough to go it alone: me arrogant? Am I?  Is it arrogant to be in charge.  To get things done????  What does He mean to pay back in full if I go it alone?

                I think that we can easily feel like we love God.  I think that it is often easy to feel like, and give lip service to, the idea that we are letting God take care of us.  But for me, I have to confess that I often am in charge of my life.  God has given me the freedom to make decisions for myself, apart from what He wants and desires.  Unfortunately that often leads me to some poor choices and tough consequences.  I think what hit me most in this is the edict that we need to stay close to Him.  That is where our protection lies.  The idea that we are arrogant enough and sinful enough to try to go it alone is heart-breaking.  The idea that He is going to pay that arrogance back in full is terrifying.  As I said earlier, I often struggle with the idea that nothing I do, is ever enough; that idea if we let it dictate our actions and feelings will not allow us to love God completely and let Him take care of us.  So I am asking you to do a heart check with me.  Are we loving God fully?  Are we letting Him take care of the details in our lives?   Or are we walking this journey alone, pretending to walk with Him?

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Being Bound up in God.

03 Nov 2009 by sypace

I don’t know about you, but when someone tells me that I am wrong it makes me mad.  Sometimes they don’t even have to tell me I’m wrong all they have to do is suggest it even with a look, body language or tone of voice.  I don’t like that at all.  As a matter of fact, if it happens I often want to do whatever I can to prove that I am right and the other party is the one who is wrong.  I had one of those incidents yesterday that left me mad as a wet hen, as we say here in the country.  I was airing my grievances and issues to a trusted friend and that person let me know in no uncertain terms that my attitude just didn’t live up to God’s standards.  When I left that conversation, I vowed I was finished talking to that person.  What did they know, anyway?  They weren’t in my shoes.  They didn’t have to listen to and put up with what I was.  Whatever!  I stewed about it all evening.  I barely spoke to my family as I ran the earlier conversation over and over; vacillating between fury and shame.  I shot little darts of flaming prayer skyward asking sometimes for Him to reveal the truth, but really only if it proved I was right. This morning I went to www.d365.org and was confronted square on with how wrong I was!!  I read their first page and was thinking about what I was going to learn today. Looking forward to it.  This was the second page:

Deuteronomy 6: 4 – 9 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. [a] 5 Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

Yes!  I agree whole heartedly.  These things all need to be done.  I am feeling good.  These are some of my favorite verses!  Trying to do all this.  Feeling pretty good about it too.  So then here is the third page of today’s devotional:

Whether you have heard these verses many times, just a few times, or never before, you should read them again right now and get lost in their beauty. It arises from simplicity. If you need help putting specific actions to the disciplines you are adding to your life, here are things you need to do. Love God with all you have, and bind that love in your heart. Since these words were spoken by Moses to the people of Israel they have been held as sacred; we should hold them sacred as well. But don’t be fooled into stopping there. Your hand, head, and home (3 H’s) give you the specific actions involved in loving God. And guess what! Those actions directly involve others. When you offer your hand to someone, if your love of God is bound to it, you will act in kindness. When you think of another, if your love of God is bound to your head, you will consider them as Jesus does – a child of God – and act accordingly. When your home displays your love of God, you open it more readily to strangers and those in need. Your mastery of the 3 H’s will provide the specifics for putting God first. – Allan Burton

OUCH!!  What do you mean, God, that my hand offered if it is bound in You will be given in kindness; that if You are bound to my head, I will see others, even those I disagree with and am angry with them, through Your eyes.  NO FAIR!  I don’t like it.  I want to feel good about myself.  I want to feel like I’m getting it right and even when I know I’m wrong, I want it to feel justified in my thoughts and actions.  OUCH!!!

I”m not sure I’m ready to thank Him for unequivocally showing me that I was wrong in my thoughts and words.  But, I’m working on it.  How about you?  Need to do some binding on of God in your head, heart and hands?  I KNOW I do.

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