I wanna be like Enoch :-)

My devotion for January 3 is about Enoch. He enjoyed a close relationship with God throughout his life by staying in constant touch with him. The King James version renders this verse, "Enoch walked with God." Another word for that is "fellowship". In the end, after he had lived for 365 years on earth, he was favored by being taken to Heaven in a supernatural way. The way it is described is as if God and Enoch had taken so many walks together through life, talking and delighting in each other, that one day as they walked along, God said to Enoch, "It's late, why don't you come to my house tonight?" And they walked right on home. To be fruitful, faithful, and favored in such a way shows us what true fellowship with God is all about.

I admit that I plagiarized a portion of that directly from my book of devotions  After reading this I realize I need to go for more walks, both physically and spiritually. Our woods have many paths down which I enjoy walking with my dogs. I feel closest to the Lord there, and I use that time to pray, reflect, and clear my head. Since the weather has been colder, I have not been on those walks. While I realize that Enoch's walk refers to a spiritual one, I do believe that my walks  through the woods were also of the spiritual sort. I love being alone with the Lord, with my own thoughts, with my own prayers, and with my own praises. I can bask in his glory when I look around at all of the beautiful trees, flowers, and animals that I see and hear on those walks. All the beauty of nature. It amazes me how creative He is and what wonderful masterpieces He has created for us to enjoy. And then that reminds me, He created me, too. No matter how down on myself I am feeling or how many things are not going my way, I can still smile like a dearly loved child of God, because I am one. Today's devotion has inspired me to make more time for my relationship with God, and to communicate with Him more. Walking with God speaks of a commonality, a communion, an easy, conversational "walk" with our Creator on the road of life. It involves being honest with our heavenly Companion. Hurt feelings must be discussed, misunderstandings laid on the table. Fellowship means warmth of understanding and an interest in the thoughts and feelings of another. When we walk with God all our days, we'll find ourselves walking right on home 

Diabolical Footsteps

January 2nd's devotion discusses Satan as a serpent in both Genesis and Revelation in the Holy Bible. He is seen to be cunning,articulate, a liar, a deceiver and destroyer, and an enemy of the Lord Jesus Christ. The devotion goes on to explain how we should never attempt to take Satan on by ourselves; we should rely on Jesus to fight our spiritual battles.

This one has me thinking. Every time I try to get closer in my relationship with Jesus,Satan seems to pop up and want to take me down. Every time I try to do the right thing,Satan is there to tempt me to do something I know is wrong. Sometimes I think I see and feel Satan's presence in people who are close to me, and it makes me unsure and a bit uneasy. This reminded me of a time when I was teaching Sunday school to a group of 3 and 4 year-olds, and I had to explain to them what it meant to 'put on the armor of God'. Because that was several years ago, I researched the armor of God as a refresher,and here is what I found:

To put on the "full armor"--and enjoy a daily and eternal love-relationship with Jesus Christ, thank Him for what He has shown you in His Word. Know the Scriptures behind your prayer so that your words and faith are grounded in the authority of the Bible. (Some of those verses are listed in the chart above.) Then pray through each piece. You can use the following prayer as an outline:

• The belt of truth: Thank you, my Lord, for showing me the TRUTH about Yourself, Your plans and Your ways. Thank You for reminding me that You are the only God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the King of the universe, my Father who loves me, and my Shepherd who leads me. You are my wisdom, my counselor, my hope, and my strength. You are everything I need each day!

• The breastplate of righteousness: Thank You for showing me the truth about myself -- that on my own I could never be good enough to live in your presence. Thank you for taking my sins to the cross and offering me your perfect, RIGHTEOUS life.  Lord, show me any sin that I need to confess right now, so that nothing will hinder me from being filled to overflowing with your Spirit. [Take time for confession] Thank you for forgiving me and for filling me with your RIGHTEOUS life.

• The sandals of peace: Thank you for the peace you give me when I trust and follow you. Show me how to help others find that PEACE.

• The shield of faith: Thank you for helping me have FAITH in you. I choose to count on everything you have shown me about yourself -- and everything you have promised me in your Word.

• The helmet of salvation: Thank you for promising me SALVATION both for today's battles and for all eternity.

• The sword of the spirit, the Word of God: Thank you for the scriptures you have given me to memorize. Please show me which  you want me to use to cut through deceptions and gain your victory in any battle I may face today.
  
  
  

  God's Armor	Know the Truth about...	Affirm key Scriptures
  Belt of TRUTH	God: the Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit	"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) Deut. 4:39; Psalm 23:1; 18:1-3
  Breastplate of RIGHTEOUSNESS	The holy and perfect righteousness of Jesus in those who are "born again" and filled with His Spirit	"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." (Matt. 5:6)Psalm 100:3; Rom. 3:23-24, 6:23; Gal. 2:20-21; Phil. 3:8-10.
  Sandals of PEACE	Inner peace and readiness	"For He Himself is our peace..." (Eph. 2:14-15) Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:14; John 14:27, 16:33, 20:21.
  Shield of FAITH	Living by faith	"I am crucified with Christ:...and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God...." (Gal. 2:20) Rom. 4:18-21; Heb. 11:1; 1 Pet. 1:6-7
  Helmet of SALVATION	Salvation through Christ today and forever	"Nor is there salvation in any other..."(Acts 4:12) Each day: Ps. 16, 23; Heb. 1:3-6 For eternity: 2 Cor. 4:16-18; 1 Thess. 4:17; 1 John 3:1-3
  The victorious Sword of the spirit: GOD'S WORD	God's Word countering spiritual deception and accusations	"...the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory...." (John 1:14)  Heb. 4:12; Matt. 4:2-11; 1 Pet. 3:15; Ps. 119:110-112

  
  
  This has been a good reminder for me. I need to practice putting on this armor,perhaps first thing in the morning each morning. With armor such as this, I can battle anything that comes my way, whether it be a traffic jam, a negative peer influence, gossip, sickness, or even death. I know these things; I just need the reminders,because it's so easy to get caught up in my own life and what is directly affecting me at one given moment. It helps to remember that God has my back, I just have to ask for his help when I need it

Elohim

"Used 2,500 times in the Old Testament, the name Elohim reveals the mighty strength of God. El is the Hebrew word for "strength", while alah or oah means "faithfulness". God's faithfulness begins afresh each day (Lamentations 3:23). God is always fresh, never stale. We can depend on it!

The Bible is not a scientific textbook, but a book about faith. It does not tell us how the heavens go, but how to go to heaven. It also tells us who makes the heavens go and who upholds them "by the mighty power of his command" (Hebrews 1:3).

Elohim meets us in Genesis. In the beginning of days and nights, flowers and trees, fish and mammals, he tells us his name that is he is the Creator of all. God is strong enough to make myriad universes and faithful enough to keep them all spinning safely at the right speed.

And what does this mean to me? It gives me confidence. It tells me that if God made the world, he can make my world spin around with a little more order than I've managed to create in it! It gives me something-Someone- on whom I can depend.If God is perfect faithfulness, renewing his pledge to me morning by morning,I can go to sleep in peace evening by evening. Elohim can be known; Elohim can be trusted; Elohim is here!"

-written by Jill Brescoe, January 1 excerpt from The One Year Devotions for Women.

So, as I mentioned in my previous post, I was wanting to find a book of devotions to do for the year 2013. I happened to find one sitting in my very own bookcase, unopened and unused. I believe it was given to me mid-year one year and I held on to it, but forgot that I had it. My resolution this year is to spend more time in God's word,and I think these daily devotions will help me to reflect on things in a new and positive way. After reading this particular devotion, I'm reminded that God is in control of everything. It reminds me that I CAN depend on him, when humans fail me. I've been failed far too many times, and I've failed others-including myself-even more. But God can be trusted to take care of me morning by morning. That is a very comforting thought.

Welcoming 2013

Happy New Year! It's only noon on New Year's Eve, and I've been off from work for two weeks now hanging out with the kiddos on their Christmas break. It has been lovely, but I must prepare to go back on Wednesday. As I reflect on 2012, I have to say it was a really good year for my little family. It was the year I lost 46 pounds, after all :). I also managed to get my husband to take Crown Financial with me. My son blossomed in school, and my daughter found her sport (soccer). Despite all of the economic hardships going on all over the country, our family has (by the grace of God) managed to stay afloat and Corey and I have been blessed enough to keep our jobs. 

For 2013, my only resolution is to make my life more about HIM and less about me. As I began to lose weight, I grew in confidence, and I'd even go as far to say that I grew in selfishness. I became more concerned with the flesh than with the eternal. My hope is to return my focus to HIM but to maintain my physical accomplishments through working out and eating healthy. With that goal in mind, it would mean more time spent in God's word, more time passionately praying, more time spent teaching and talking to my children about God, more time at church, and less time engaging in distracting things like FACEBOOK :-P. I  am considering starting a devotional and keeping a blog to keep me in check throughout the year. The other thing  I'd like to work on is to explore my creative side again. I know it's in there; I used to be quite the artist, but my wonderfully chaotic life and career have smothered it into unconsciousness. 

My resolutions for my children are that they will keep their rooms clean and spend more time reading. I'm allowed to set resolutions for them, too, right? Well, those would be my suggestions to them. 

Anyone have fun plans for New Years? We're staying in, for the umpteenth year in a row, and my children have invited others over to spend the night and ring in the new year with us. My how times have changed since our college days :-P

New Testimony to Share :)

It's been awhile since I blogged! I've been maintaining my weight loss, and I've moved on to accomplishing other life goals. My husband and I started taking a course together back in September called Crown Financial Ministries. It is through our church. For those of you who are not familiar with Crown Financial, it is a bible-based course about handling your finances God's way. Going into the course, I already knew quite a bit about God's plan for our finances, because I read a book some years ago which was actually called 'God's Plan For Your Finances'. However, my practical application of God's plans for my finances had basically gone down the toilet. Though I've always been good with money (my father is a stock-broker, who always instilled the "pay yourself first" motto), I entered into a marriage with a shopaholic. After 12 years of marriage, I grew tired of butting heads and I think we've both kind of met somewhere in the middle with our attitudes about money. I went from being a complete tightwad to living this free-spirit, willy-nilly kind of lifestyle and very little regard to money. Since my husband and I both work, we check our balance frequently and it seems that there is always money there. We got into a really bad habit of spending it, though, before paying the bills :-0. Now I'm not a big spender, but I do buy my children whatever they need. And sometimes they 'need' things all at once, such as soccer dues (x2), uniforms, dance dues, lunch money, haircuts (x2), ... the list goes on and on, but you catch my drift. And another priority in our home is always groceries. I will say that I do and have always shopped at WalMart for groceries to save money, and I still believe that this is the most effective. I buy mostly WalMart brand products, which I find is cheaper than going to Kroger or Food Lion and using coupons. But our bills always came last. And when it was bill-time, we would get stuck picking and choosing (juggling) which ones to pay. We grew tired of living that way, because it was very stressful.
 
So... we made the decision to enter into this committment of taking the class together. I will admit that, at first, it was a bit of a pain... you know, ANOTHER thing we have to do during the week, another thing to add to our already over-loaded schedule.... And the homework for the class is no joke. You have to read the Bible, answer questions, and memorize Scripture. Most of the information started to come back to me as I began to do the work. What I had forgotten over the course of the past few years is that 100% of everything I have is GOD's and not mine. It's his money, and I am supposed to be a good steward of HIS money. Well, that was tough one to swallow, even though I'd heard it before, I'm not going to lie. I am also being very honest when I say that I've struggled with tithing throughout the years. I've done it inconsistently in the last year, even though I've experienced huge blessings from doing it consistently in the past. It's like that line in that Christian song, "I throw a 20 in the plate, but never give til it hurts" (Matthew West). After completing the lesson on tithing and giving, I felt really convicted to start tithing consistently again. As I said, I've done this in the past, and it was a real source of tension between my husband and I at the time. He has come a long way spiritually since then. So, with his blessing, I woke up that Monday morning (payday) and immediately got a money order for 10% of my income. My reason for getting a money order was so that I did not spend it and was not able to tear it up. I also wrote the name of the church on it so that I would not be able to cash it. I stuck it on our refrigerator for my husband and I to see and to pray about it.

Now I have to admit, I was not a happy camper. God says to give cheerfully, not begrudgingly. But I just kept looking at that money order, thinking, "that's grocery money", or "that would have paid such-n-such bill". I began to worry over it, which God says not to do. He wants us to trust Him. And to test Him. After taking that money out and setting it aside, I paid our bills like a responsible adult. The wee hours of the next morning, I was awakened by a bone-chilling nightmare about Satan. It was so real, and quite disturbing. As a matter of fact, it stuck with me for the entire day. The next day, we only had $66 left in our account. This was TWO days after I got paid! NOT COOL! I was used to having much more money (but what I didn't realize is that I was also used to not having the bills paid, either). That night, I went to my Crown Financial class and shared with my fellow classmates what I had done and how worried I was feeling. I told them about my nightmare, and they confirmed what I already thought; Satan was trying to attack me, because I was trying to obey the Lord. A classmate encouraged me to just Trust and Test the Lord, and that's what I decided to do. I figured, at least the bills are paid. We DO have money in savings, if I need to transfer that over to cover the low balance...

The following day, I had an appointment with one of my mentally ill clients. She happens to be bipolar and by far my most difficult client. I prayed in the car on the way to her house for God to give me the words and the wisdom to reach her that day. It ended up being one of the best sessions we have ever had. And i was able to reach my client with the gospel. I feel that that was God's blessing to me for being obedient to Him. This was Thursday, and we only had $46 left in our account. We had ourselves on a complete spending FREEZE. But I trusted God, and I also knew that my husband was getting paid the very next day, and we were going to be OK!

Now for the big praise report... Friday morning, I woke up and immediately checked our bank balance. I wanted to be SURE my husband's paycheck was in there! Imagine my surprise when I saw that there was nearly $6,000 in our checking account. Ok, so we went from $46 to $6,000 overnight?!?! I believe I started shaking, crying, and praising God so fast and hard some might say I was speaking in tongues . Not only had my husband gotten paid, he had also received a huge bonus. God knew that he needed to act, and fast... and that is exactly what He did. What is even more amazing is that my husband immediately agreed with me that this was an act of God and that we needed to tithe 10% of what He had provided for us.

My purpose of this story is not to be boastful or bragging, but to share that if you are faithful to the Lord, then He will be faithful to you. We put the bonus money into our savings account to help us pay for some major house repairs, nothing to be jealous of. We are just so thankful for the Lord's provision and His perfect timing. We continue to live paycheck to paycheck like most of the country. But I will tell you one thing, we will be tithing from now on, not to just receive blessings, but to give God a fraction of what is 100% His anyway, and to prove our faithfulness to Him. God is so good...

Super Excited!

I'm on my way to the gym, but just wanted to comment quickly that I found a box FULL of "skinny" clothes in my attic that I'd forgotten about (because it's been so long since I could wear any of them)! It was really exciting to go through them, because they're all super cute surf brands and I'm just so happy to have clothes that fit! THANK YOU, previously skinny self! That is all ;) 

122 pounds and STILL losing :)

Yes, I can disclose my weight now because I'm proud to be 122 pounds. I've never told my weight to anyone (other than my doctor, and against my will) I've lost 46 lbs, so you do the math. Let me just say, I'm enjoying this new, thinner me. I am now comfortable in a bikini and I wear them to the pool all the time! I've got a couple 'skinny' pics to post so you can see the results. I only wanted to get down to 125 lbs, but I'm still losing... I have a little flab here and there that I'd like to eliminate, so I guess I'll keep at it. Who knows, maybe I'll get down to 115...