His Precious Will

From March 30:
"BEFORE I arise from my be in the morning....God has already arranged the events of my day."
God has already written this day in my book. He know s exactly what I am going to do today...He has already set the ball in motion. He has set up divine appointments...He has provided open doors for me to walk through when I am faced with temptations....He will meet all my needs....His will will be done in my life today...His Perfect Will...not my will but His . He just asks me to take His hand in trust...and go about my day. I may have my agenda all circling around in this brain of mine....and He knows it...He knows every one of my thoughts...and boy do I have a lot of them. He knows the desires of my heart. He takes all of “me” and orchestrates “His” day for me...to help me to become the Joni that He made me to be. When plans change....God knows and He has a better plan. When I have no clue what “to do” I tackle first....He makes me perform His number one choice.
Always working....always faithful.
So today..and tomorrow....I will SEEK my Lord...and know that I will find Him...when I am seeking Him will ALL my heart. Seeking with ALL....Trusting will ALL...because He is my ALL.
Thank you Lord for ALL that you have planned for me today.

Weebles Wobble

As I began reading "Jesus Calling" today, I first read the scripture references and have been blown away by God's Words in  
 Psalm 37:23-24.....
"If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm;  though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand."
 Wow...
When I step out the Lord's will,  my steps will be wobbly. Every time I choose to disobey what the Lord tells me to do  in His Word.. I will wobble through the day. When I walk hand in hand with the Lord  and follow His statutes He will make my steps firm. So whenever I an tripping over my own two feet, it is a sign that I am stepping away from the Lord. This still doesn't guarantee that I may not "stumble",  because the stumbling will be part of the path that the Lord has constructed for me. 
I think of the toys from way back... Weebles...egg shaped characters given the catchphrase of " weebles wobble but they don't fall down". Boy does this explain Psalm 37:23-24... How God is the One who makes our steps firm, yet since we are human, we will stumble or wobble but will not fall down because the Lord will " uphold" ( to lean, lay, rest, support, put, uphold, lean upon ) us! How cool is that. What freedom to know that I will not fall..  Even though the circumstances around me may feel crushing. We are all fragile eggs, yet having Christ as our center( our yolk) and when we are following the Lord's ways... we may crack a bit,  but won't be destroyed, because  our  Daddy is "upholding" us.  But   when my "wobbling" is due to my choice of going my own way...I will fall.  



So wobbly me will take my Lord's hand so He can uphold me in all circumstances for which He places me in today...because as a daughter of the King I am a  Weeble that will wobble..but won't  fall down!  

May your steps be firm as you lean on the Lord in this wobbly world. 

Check out the Weeble commercial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qq0OQBdIhsc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Centered in His Precious Presence

"From March 9..
The world around you "seems" to spin faster and faster.

The world... My to "dos" seem to cloud out the light of your presence. When I fix my eyes on the world and it's pleasures and demands I start to spin faster and faster... And everything is a blur!

I am to go to Jesus to be re-centered... As it is in Him where I get " energized" as He fills me with His love, joy and peace!

Lasting peace is not found in the things and the wants of this world.. All temporary.. "a chasing after the wind."

" The world is a needy place.." always screaming out to me that " you need this and that"... That is where you will find happiness and peace. The neediness of the world... God knows what I need. He has everything that I will ever need. My "wants" come from what I see in this world.

Jesus I just want you and all that you want for me! Fill me with you so I will slow down and enjoy every step that I walk with you.

Signed...Sealed....Delivered

(Feb. 26 Jesus Calling)

Your future LOOKS uncertanin and FEELs flimsy...even PRECARIOUS (shakey, unstable, insecure, uncertain, wobbly). That is how is should be.

Wow, the future should look uncertain and feel flimsy...because it is the future....

A synonym for future is hope (confident desire, expect, trust, anticipate, wish, look forward to).

What am I placing my hope in?

Is it a job, my purpose, the what ifs....? If that is the case, I will feel wobbly, insecure and unstable. If I am placing my hope in “what is yet to come” according to what my eyes can see, according to the wordly standards, I will continue to crawl through life constantly striving for what I think is best for me.

Placing my hope, my “what is yet to come” in “the WHO has come”, then I can look forward with confidence, anticipation, expectation to an already planned future, which is an eternity with the Lord. Secure in His everlasting arms. I have that place right now...signed, sealed, and delivered...so why do I “choose” to focus on an uncertain future, the future that I am creating in my mind?

The future is anything that happens beyond this current second. This sentence is the future of the last sentence. Did I fear the next second? Do I fear the next sentence I write...or do I rest in the second that I am in right now in “peaceful trust” believing that my future is held in the creator of the universe.

I know how my story ends. I don’t know what is going to happen on the road as I travel to my final destination. So how do I travel down the road, facing my future every second, marked with uncertainity as my eyes are fixed on my “happily ever after” ending?

Trusting the One’s whose hand I am holding and whose hand is holding mine. My days, belong to Him. The “future things are secret things”. The future things belong to the Lord.

“When I try to figure out the future. I am grasping at things that are the Lords. This, like all forms of worry, is an act of rebellion: Doubting My promises to care for you.”

I am to repent when I get myself all tangled up in worry. I am doubting my Lord. I am questioning whether His provisions for my life are enough. After I repent I return to Him...so He can continue to walk me down the path of life He has constructed personally for me.

Awesome God. Awesome Savior. Awesome Provision!

S-L-O-W-L-Y with my Lord

Do not BOLT into the day like a racehorse suddenly released.

Wow. ..it that me or what. I think of a lightning bolt that comes out of nowher that shoots across the sky with a loud crackling pop...Ouch....I wonder where did it hit, what did it strike.

Oh how I am like that...I wake up from a peaceful state...and then Bolt out of my bed like a speeding bullet, and then wonder when I strike something or someone with a crackling pop.

Instead I am to “walk purposefully with Jesus, letting Him direct my course..one step at a time”.

When I do that, I am able to see and experience all of the blessings God has for me. I am able to thank Him. I am able to be a light and a peaceful blessing in the lives of those who come in contact with me.

When I make my life a race, bolting in ever which way, I will eventually hit something that will bring me to an abrupt hult. To live that way is exhausting.

I will instead to choose to take my Saviors hand as I get out of bed, and allow Him to walk me slowly through the day that He has planned out with me. I don’t want to miss anything.

So as I walk through this adventure called life, I will...“Be joyful always. Pray Continuously. Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for me in Christ Jesus. “ I Thessalonians 5:16-18

In Quietness and Trust

As I am reading through todays "Jesus Calling" (February 16) about thanking God for the "conditions that are requiring me to be still"....I think about how that in all circumstances He is calling us to be Still...in Him. He is the one who gives that perfect peace in the midst of busyness...in the midst of the eye of a storm in our life....in the midst of even calmness...quietness. He is calling us to "Be Still"...because He is God. When I try to be my own God...when I fight the circumstances that I am in, when I try to play the Holy Spirit in other's lives, when I don't give Him my first fruits...when I fight His calling me to be still...I always end up exhausted from all "my" striving.

All He wants from us to serve Him in "quietness and trust". Being still before our Lord...is serving Him. Being quiet in our soul before Him...is a form of worship. That is all we have to do. How we fight the quietness....the stillness...when we are forced to be still...as many of us are experiencing this through transition. How our circumstances have provided more "stillness hours"....How our Lord has provided these for us to come and be still....before Him...so He can fill us with Him....

I ask myself....

Why don’t I chose God in the stillness and only choose Him when I want to be still?

A loaded question....When God provides the quiet times, I seek the activity....but when I am overloaded I seek Him to be still. Hmm....I never win...always wanting what I don't have.

May you find your Lord in every second of your day today...whether it is filled with quiet seconds or a whirlwind of activity. He is there. He is calling us to be quiet and trust....in all things.

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:

“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength,
but you would have none of it. Isaiah 30:15

Shine Jesus Shine

God’s peace is like a shaft of golden light shining on me continuously.

If His light is shining on me continously what am I doing or allowing in my life that is dimming the light?

His light of peace is with me, so what do I have to start doing or stop doing so it shines within me?

On “sunny” days in my soul and in my surroundings, do I ignore His light? Do I not ask for His peace? Do I acknowledge that is still shining? Do I shine brighter?

And when the clouds come...those dark clouds...do I focus my eyes on the darkness or draw light from His peace?

The clouds are a reminder that I need the Savior’s light upon me. It is a gentle reminder that He wants me to draw closer to the light source.

I have a choice on the days covered with a cloud covering and the days which are beaming sun rays....where are my eyes focused? Do I focus them first on my Lord and give thanks through the rays and ask Him to shine through the clouds? Do I bring His light into my life so He is able to shine through me so others will see His radiance.

My Lord, the light of my life...”Shine Jesus Shine” in all areas of my life so I can be a light for you....

Shine, Jesus, shine

Fill this land with the Father's glory

Blaze, Spirit, blaze, Set our hearts on fire

Flow, river, flow

Flood the nations with grace and mercy

Send forth Your Word, Lord And let there be light

Lord, I come into Your awesome presence

From the shadows into Your radiance

By the blood I may enter Your brightness

Search me, try me, consume all my darkness

Shine on me

Shine on me

When I Seek His Face

*Seek my face...MORE and MORE

My seeking the Lord increases minute by minute. As I meet my Lord, face to face, my heart craves more of Him. As I go about my day, and “life” creeps in, it is a reminder that this world is not my home, and I desire more of the face of my Lord. His face...crowds out all that is seen...all that I feel. His face shines upon whatever I am facing...when I seek His face.

"When I seek His face, He lightens up my life,

In the midst of whatever I am experiencing, especially when it’s strife.

He tells me that He’s always with me, that I am never all alone

I just have to ask Him to join me, and make His Face my home."

*To think that I am only just beginning my journey of intimacy with Jesus.

Wow...at times I feel so close to Him and want to shout for joy. Other times, when I allow the world to clutter my being, I can’t even see Him anywhere. But to know that this is just the beginning...that every second I have an opportunity to meet my Savior at a deeper level is incomprehensible. He just waits for me, to come to Him so He can meet me at a deeper level. He wants to be intimate with me. It is a choice. He waits...and waits...and waits....for me. The funny thing is that at times I feel that I the one doing all the waiting for Him. He hasn’t gone anywhere...it is me that has moved.

My Jesus...so full of grace...just waiting with open arms to do my life with me. All that He asks is for me to “Seek His Face”...that’s it. When I seek Him, He will be found...which in turn means that I am found. I will be in His perfect will for me...to be in His Presence. Perfect Fellowship with the Perfect One.

*At times it doesn’t feel like an easy road, but it is the perfect road for me.

I am to see it as a treasure hunt...with the Treasure being Jesus. So I seek His face...in all things...and I will find the treasure.

Jesus is even gracious in the hardships for which I face. He does not give me more than I can bear. He gives me just enough. Wow does He trust me with at times, when the burden is so heavy. Burdens are supposed to feel heavy to remind me that I have Someone who wants to carry them for me. If I didn’t have any hardship would I seek out the Burden-Carrier?

When I believe that what I encounter is not too much for me, I will experience the peace which the Lord has for me.

So easily said, yet so hard to do at times.....when I stop seeking the Treasure in all things.

*Do not recoil (suddenly spring or flinch back in fear, horror or disgust )from afflictions

How often my first response is to “recoil”...to go backwards because of fear or disgust...instead of going forward and seeking the Lord’s face. It is all about choice....choice to choose to Seek my Lord or to seek the pain from my circumstances.

Thank you Lord for wanting me to Seek You. Thank you Lord for being with me in all things. Thank you Lord for your patience, in my impatience. Thank you Lord...for being my Lord.

So I will praise your name because....

“Surely God is my salvation;I will trust and not be afraid. 
The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense^; he has become my salvation.” Isaiah 12:2

Fix My Eyes...on Him

Feburary 3

God is with me and for me.

If He is with me, how would that change my mood, my attitude, my perspective on everything that I am facing at this very moment?

If He is for me, then why would I choose fear over peace?

There is nothing that I will face today...alone. His Presence is with me always.

Since God is with me always....I have a helpmate right by my side, when the silence around me is deafening, I will not focus on that....I will grab my Father’s hand and enjoy His company.

When I feel anxious....it is a warning sign that I am focusing on the visible world...and leaving God out of it!

This is so true. There is nothing in God’s character that is anxious. He is total peace. He gave us total peace when He sent His Son in our lives. God and anxiety can’t fit in the same sentence (oops...I just put them in the same one)...but they don’t. Whenever I choose anxiety I am leaving God out of the picture. Wow...just choose God...and I won’t be anxious. How simple!!!

I choose to Fix my eyes on what is unseen...what is in the heavenly realm...my Jesus...that is the secret in walking through my moments in peace. What is seen is so temporary...everything is one big distraction...satan’s playing field. He is the author of distraction. He so loves pulling our affections off of God and onto the world. He knows that when our eyes are fixed on what is seen...we will become anxious.

God is about right now. He wants me to walk with Him right now. He has taken care of the future, when I said “Yes” to Christ. I will live “Happily Ever After”, so why would I even start to worry about tomorrow...what is to come, when “what is to come” is the ultimate present...to be in the Lord’s Presence always.

Each day is a precious gift from my Father.

Every second that I have is a precious gift because God has given it to me and He is in all things. Why would I want anything more?

I am to receive today...as a gift “gratefully, unwrapping it tenderly and delving into its depths”.

How beautifully put...unwrapping today slowly, peacefully, savoring the taste of every second, as God brings me deeper into His presence, as He transforms me into the likeness of His Son.

What a precious gift!

So I will “...fix my eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporay, but what is unseen is eternal “(eternal defined: everlasting, never-ending, ceaseless). 2 Corinthians 4: 18)

God is first, second, third......

God is first, second, third... God is all in all I do. He is to be the focus of my every moment. When he is the focus... When seeking His face, is the goal of my life, I will be smothered in a sea of peace...that displaces all worry. 
He is always with me... But do I recognize Him, do I acknowledge that he is with me... Whether I am washing dishes, eating a meal, or driving my car?
He always IS... even when I am not. 

God's perfect road

God knows what my day is going to consist of? He knows my whereabouts. He knows what I will encounter. His plan is bigger than mine. What does that mean to me? If god knows everything about my day... And he will work all things for my good, then I should jump out of bed with a huge smile and with joy... Everything is under His control.
By my spending time with God, He will equip me with me everything that I need for the journey ahead.
So today I will walk with great expectation to what God has for planned for me on the road before me. It will be a perfect road, as I walk with a perfect God.

Thank you God... For all

Today's  reading is filled with action steps... Simple yet hard, especially when circumstances shaken our faith. 
God asks us to:
1. Trust him... By relinquishing control ... As He is in contol. What do I need to relinquish control by trusting God?
2. Let go... What do I need to let go into God's hands... After I choose to trust Him first?
3. Respond out of love... His gift of love given to all... How do I respond out of love? I guard this gift by igniting it in my life by spending time in His Presence. His love, His Present. 
4. Pour out my heart to Him... As He knows it anyway. Be honest, be candid... What peace is experienced when I can pour out my heart to the one who loves me unconditionally.
5. Thank Him... For listening to me and hearing me... And answering me. He always answers even when I can't see the answers.  God... Always working behind the scenes on my behalf. Working ALL things for good ( Romans 8:28). He tells us to " be joyful always; pray continuously; give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in christ Jesus" (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). I will practice a lifestyle of thanks... Especially when my circumstances scream complain... How  hard to thank God when my heart feels unthankful... But knowing God is always working behind the scenes in my life, piecing  together my life for His glory... How could I complain? So where in my life do I have to start thanking God? 

So I thank you God for having all control over my life. I thank you for putting up with me when I am ungrateful. I thank you for for your gift of love, through your Son. I thank you that I am able to come to you and honestly pour out my heart to you. I thank you for answering all my prayers in your perfect way that is perfect for me. I thank you lord and will " be still knowing that you are the God" of my life.. Today, tomorrow, forever.

Trust. Let go. Pour out. Thank. The steps for a peaceful walk.

Plant Your Desires

What an amazing prayer...Lord, plant YOUR desires for me in my heart. How cool is that? Not my will, but God's will. Since God made me, since He knows when "I sit and stand", since He knows everything about me, then He knows what desires I should have. I don't have to go seeking for a purpose, I just have to pray for the Lord to plant His desires in me...and then He will be the one to grow them into something beautiful. What peace.
Psalm 37, I feel really explains this...If I take delight in the Lord and trust in Him...He WILL...there is that promise...He Will give me the desires of my heart. My heart is His. It will be His desires for me. The perfect desires that are perfect for me. I will wait on the Lord and ask Him to "plant His desires on my heart" and wait in great expectation for what He is going to do through me.
Thank you my God.
3 Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Take delight in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

5 Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:
6 He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun