Jesus Sandwich

The last few months I did an online bible study through Proverbs 31 Ministry and we read the book, What Happens When Women Say YES to God by Lysa Terkeurst. This book really made me stop and think about my walk with Christ. During the course of this study the leaders encouraged us to step out and let go. They also showed us great examples or physical things that we can see or touch to remember that God is with us when we feel alone.

One of the chapters we looked at was titled: You never know how God will use you until you let Him. In this chapter we learned by letting go it can be the stepping stone for what God can do in our lives. And then with this stepping stone we can be AMAZED how God is working. 

So what does it mean to REMAIN?

Choose to stay connected, to stay put, stay connected

So what does this have to do with being AMAZED.?.?

If we choose to REMAIN where we are not moving things more than likely will not change but if we choose to REMAIN in Christ then things are going to change. So what holds us back from Letting Go and Letting God use us? Fear, the loss of control, the unknown, outside our comfort zone......

But for God to use us we must remember, " God must be Lord of All if He is our Lord at All."

So how can I let God use me???

I must CHOOSE to Him.

I must stay CONNECTED to Him.

I must stay FOCUSED on Him.

Remember He is INSIDE of me as a believer.

In John 15:4 Jesus states:

Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ~NIV 

He is with me through every minute to every second of the day. If I move from one thing to the next guess what He is still there. Jesus is physically moving me, not me moving Him. 

 So what happens when I get discouraged or forget my way? I need to remember to to REMAIN in Jesus. Those little nudges I get  are the Holy Spirit, Jesus inside of me, working, moving me to let go and let Him. He promised that when He left the disciples he wouldn't leave them alone or us. He would send another counselor in His place,  

John 14:16,

And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever.

Through this chapters in John we learn Jesus is with me always and not just Jesus but because of Him we are in the God our Father.

John 14:20

In that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in Me and I am in you.

So to help us as a group to remember this verse and that Jesus is always with us the Proverbs 31 team gave us this example to see, touch and share.

 

Take 3 envelopes in varying size and one index card.

On the biggest envelope write the name GOD, the next size write Jesus, the smallest envelope write your name (in my case I wrote Kim) and on the index card write Jesus again. Shown below.....

Also on the GOD envelope write the bible verse, John 14:20 and if you want to flip the index card over and write the bible verse, John 15:4. As a reminder to REMAIN in God and in Jesus.Now take the Jesus index card and put inside your name envelope then add this into the Jesus envelope and last but not least put them all into the GOD envelope. Now you are a Jesus Sandwich because

In that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in Me and I am in you.

John 14:20

So what do I have to fear. God and Jesus are EVERYWHERE I go! I just need to CHOOSE to REMAIN.

Because I am a 

JESUS SANDWICH!

This visual had a big impact on me when I first did it and ever since then. What a great thing to have stuck in places that I will see and so I can remember I am not alone.

hugs and prayers~ KMS

Good Morning God

Start of the day

What is the first thing you do as that alarm goes off in the morning? For me it's usually telling Daniel to shut it off as he hits the snooze button multiple times. Then finally I usually say, "Daniel it's time for you to get up." sometimes in a nice way and sometimes not so nice, "I'm ready to throw the phone out the window." Depending on how I sleep depends on my reaction. We both like to sleep because we stay up late and get up early. We are up early getting kids to school on time and Daniel to get either to the fire department or to go mowing. We stay up late because sometimes that's the only alone time we have together, to ourselves, to watch a certain TV show, Daniel to study for test, me reading a book, up and down with kids, playing catchup on bible school lessons, or bible studies and the list could go on and on. But come the next morning we are dragging because of the lack of sleep, not always but most times. I know people are always saying get up early in the morning and have your alone/quite time with God. And I really, really want to do that but I just don't.  In this time or season of my life my alone/quite time just doesn't work out for me in the early morning and I use to beat myself up because of it. I don't now because to me what the important part is, is not the time of day completely, its taking the time to just do it. So I have found myself as I go through this study and read What Happens When Women Say Yes to God, starting my day with a prayer, more than I have in the past, before I even lift my head from the pillow. It is a great way to start my day. It even tides me over until I can sit later in the day for my alone/quite time. Some mornings the prayer is long and sometimes short. 

Here is a sample of what I will say......

Lord, Good morning. Thank you for a peaceful night of sleep. And a good start to my morning. Lord, you know what today is going to be like and you know the path I will choose. I just pray that I listen to you as I walk today. I ask you to watch over my children at school and that they be a blessing to each person they come in contact with. I pray for Daniels safety as he does his job today. I ask for my head, my heart and my ears to be clear of the jumbled stuff that keeps me from you and that I listen for your voice in the direction I take for the day. I pray that I say Yes Lord as you call on me today. Lord, you know, there are more times than not I truly would like to slap some people or lose my cool. Lord I ask for help to keep it together and strength for control of my actions. You also know I need to keep my thoughts good and not let negative things bring me down.  I pray that I am your blessing to someone who needs you the most. I pray that you use our family as shining lights  and that others will want to know you through our actions.  I want to accept what ever is thrown my way today Lord to help build your kingdom. I want my palms up, for whatever you ask of me, so I can be amazed with your strength and I'm going to stick with it because you love me and have my back. I love you Lord.......in Jesus name......Amen

  

Or it could be as simple as....

Lord, Good Morning. I love you. And I need your strength for what lays ahead. 

in Jesus name... Amen

Like I said somedays are different in what I may say but I always ask for his strength to say Yes to the tasks ahead. I have found if I at least start my day with, "Good Morning, Lord", I have more energy for the day. Also what helps me to is not just starting my day with a prayer to God but to end my day with a prayer. I try to recap what the day has held and where I've seen God or how He has used me. And tell Him, 

"Good night, thank you and I love you." in Jesus name.....Amen

This has helped with a peaceful night of  sleep. 

Don't think I have it all together because trust me nothing is further from the truth but I am TRYING each day to live a life of Yes God Use Me Today. Somedays are much better than others.

hugs and prayers ~KMS

YES

Something Big Something Small

Sometimes Yes Sometimes No

We want God to show up during the Big stuff and do our on thing during the small stuff. We want to tell Him Yes with the little things and No with the big stuff.  Half in Half out.

But see God wants to be there for it ALL.

Sometimes our Yes to something is a No to God and Sometimes our No is a Yes for God.

 And sometimes it's a mixture of them all.

But guess what He is still God.

As I'm on this journey to completely Saying Yes to God in Everything. I'm having to look and see where my heart is. Is it truly on God or this world? Do I only trust Him with certain stuff and try and keep the rest secret? I need to completely surrender to Him. Why you might ask? Because He wants me, for me because I took that step and believed and was baptized. I want to spend eternally with Him but to do that I need to start NOW here in this broken world. He has called us to live for Him. 

 Philippians 1:21.....For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 

I like to say I am to busy to spend time with God, start my day out with Him, end my day with Him, read my Bible, and just pray. And yes I am busy taking care of the things He has blessed me with. How would I feel if my children never told me thank you or showed any emotions to me. Yeah, I wouldn't be to happy. So I need to remember He is my Father and to spend time with Him. And it all starts and ends with ME, MYSELF, and I. I need to remember when I am struggling to still go to Him. And there will be struggles but that makes it mean more deep down. So I need to let go and Let God work in me. I need to say YES in everything I do with a happy heart. Even the things I think are just run of the mill or just ordinary things.  It's still saying YES to God.

For starters......

Talk to people I don't know.

Do something for others just because.

Take joy in my house, chores and all.

Enjoy my children.

Spend time with my Husband, just the two of us.

Be an ear to someone who is in trouble or hurting.

Give hugs.

Pick up the phone and call not just send a text.

Send a card not just a Facebook message.

Put flowers on a strangers grave when I visit my Daddy's or best friend Pat's grave-site.

Tell my husband I'm proud of him.

Tell my kids I'm proud of them.

Connect with people not just the ones I'm comfortable with.

Be Thankful.

Count my blessings and keep a list again.

Share when I'm struggling.

Open the door.

Cook a meal for a family.

Pack backpacks with food.

Send extra school supplies.

Send a kid to camp.

Serve at church, in my community.

Study my Sunday school lessons before Saturday night.

 Pay it forward.

Visit people.

Open our home.

A time to talk and a time to listen.

Be a servant not a taker.

 This is just a small list of stuff, things our family does sometimes without thinking about it but it's a starting place. But these little ordinary things can have a big impact. Once you start it may be hard to stop.

Lysa writes in her book....

I remind myself often that people don't care to meet Jesus until they meet the reality of Jesus in my life.

We think saying YES to God has to be some big thing but actually everything big started from something small. My mission field starts first with Me and then pours into my house through my husband and our children. And then others can see Christ in our lives.

I want to be fully commented to saying YES to GOD.

I pray my children Amos, Carter, Isaiah and Laura Mae grow to have servants hearts and show Christ love in everything they do. I pray they say YES because of the way Daniel and I (hopefully) are showing them,  Whatever God says to do, do it.

5 Questions+Radical Obedience= #SayWhat

August 4th I started a Online Bible Study through Proverbs 31 Ministries with over 22,000 ladies from a 120 countries around the world reading the book, What Happens When Women Say YES to God  by Lysa Terkeurst. I have to say it is making me think and I am loving it. I'm also a part of group of great ladies on Facebook, who I don't even know but soon will, that are going through this study together.  I believe, life is about being together for fellowship while worshiping God.

This is the second week of this study and God is moving through me. The first week we study about having our #PalmsUp and ready for, "Whatever God says, do it."(pg 20). And this week we are Hearing God's Voice and Radical Obedience (chapter2/3).

I pray for my mind to be clear and my heart to be open to hear.

5 questions to help me hear God, #SayWhat moments, Radical Obedience

I don't know if you can have any of these without the other. When you sit with God and use these questions and give into radical obedience the #Say What moments are going to come. I struggle with my quite time. I want to blame it on the fact there are 4 kids in the house and I'm busy with them or busy keeping the house clean (cough, cough) and any other task I can come up with. But the true reason is I CHOOSE other things to do. I choose to start my day on the iPad, computer, or even my phone. And then if I have time, I will spend a few minutes with God. But who am I kidding, I put God off until I lay in bed and have put my book down before going to sleep and sometimes not even then. Then God is getting the leftovers of me. And I know in my heart that is so off and wrong. I tell lots of people if you put God first and get right with him then everything else will fall into place. It's a great speech and I probably should listen to my own advice. It's easy to tell my husband. kids, family, and friends to put God first and ignore it myself, thinking I've got this all figured out. Yeah right, if anything I am more fake than ever. I don't want to be fake I want to be Real. I want my kids to see me spending time with God. I don't want that old saying, " Do as I say, not as I do." to be apart of my life. I want to be REAL with my family.

In the book, Lysa uses John 15:4,"Remain in me and I will remain in you.No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." to talk about obedience. So if I want to bear fruit to my family and friends I MUST make the choice to be with God.

So my Radical Obedience is Choosing God First, being Real with people in my life and shutting out the stuff. I'm reprogramming my life by having time with God. Asking these questions, having the obedience, and  those #SayWhat moments will keep me on the road to saying YES. As I say YES to GOD. I'm going to have my #PalmsUp and ready and #SayWhat when He calls.

 

Here's the list of questions to ask is you aren't sure what you want (things, which road to take, which choice to make and so forth) is in line with God. A great starting step on the road to hearing God.

hugs and prayers~ Kim