For or Against?

"But discipleship never consists in this or that specific action; it is always a decision, either for or against Jesus Christ."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 226

A Definite Step

"The road to faith passes through obedience to the call of Jesus. Unless a definite step is demanded, the call vanishes into thin air, and if men imagine that they can follow Jesus without taking this step, they are deluding themselves like fanatics."

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 63

Clearing Space Part 2

"All goes well for those who are generous,

who lend freely and conduct their business fairly.

Such people will not be overcome

by evil circumstances.

Those who are righteous will be long remembered.

They do not fear bad news;

they confidently trust the Lord

to care for them.

They are confident and fearless

and can face their foes

triumphantly.

They give generously to those in

need.

Their good deeds will never be forgotten.

They will have influence and

honor.

The wicked will be infuriated when

they see this.

They will grind their teeth in

anger;

they will slink away, their hopes

thwarted."

Psalm 112:5-10

In the Midst

It is one thing to doubt that God can do something:

it is another thing to doubt Him when

He is in the midst of doing it.

God won't begin a good work in you and not complete it.

He won't be with your going and not with your coming in.

He won't say, "This is the way" and later say,

"You should have gone that way."

He won't let all grace abound toward

you and then leave you to find

the sufficiency in your own resources.

________________________________________

God's plans for us do not include partial victory or
incomplete solutions.

Not only will he defeat our enemies,

but He will utterly defeat them.

Christ didn't come to save us in our sins;

He came to save us from them.

He didn't weaken the works of the devil;

He destroyed them.

He didn't look at His enemies eye to eye and stand with them
toe to toe;

He put them under His feet.

He didn't knock the devil unconscious;

He gave him a death blow.

- Author unknown.

Its posted in my kitchen and people always want a copy.

Prayer Catapults...

"Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of the spiritual life... To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives."

Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline, p. 33

Clearing Space Part 1

The Retreat is Called "Clearing Space."

In honor of the Writers Reach retreat... I am going WAY over the top. I will literally be clearing space. Funny how the two activities happen to coincide. "God, are you there? Its Me Margaret." (by Beverly Cleary)

Details: I'll need to complete my move from apartment to new place in just 15 days... of which I only have two partial days off work available for this activity.

More Details: Tonight, I am having book-packing anxiety. Keep in mind, if I was given a Native American name, it could easily be... "One Who Travels With Many Books," unless they went with the more obvious "One Who Never Shuts Up."

I'm having the resistance because most of the boxes will probably be in storage long enough for me to forget what I actually own. So, I'll be pulling some more of my favorite info. onto the blog. At least I can maintains some virtual haven. This is not the point- but if it gets the books into boxes, I'll be making progress.

Now stay with me...

Loaded Words

Some words are simply loaded. These words are emotionally charged and there are a thousand things you could say about the word before its even fully registered. For example, the word "home." Another example could be "free," or "change," or even "Christmas." I believe the aforementioned words are universally loaded. However, there are also individually loaded words, the words that zap my emotions and not yours. The reverse is also true.

Most of my loaded words, whether universal or individual, seem to slide into either positive or negative slots. This past weekend I experienced a neat thing. One of my loaded words stood up and walked across the road from the bad side to the good side. The word was "family," and I know that God was responsible. There was no way I could have carried that "word," across the road. It was simply too heavy and it seemed to reside quite comfortably where I had stored it.

What are your loaded words?
Have they ever relocated without your permission?

The AM

I don’t know what I am always thinking when I say to myself “ I will just get up and do that in the morning.” I have never been a morning person except by the miracle of God needing me to be awake for His specific purposes.