..thoughts for today

this just shook me.. and has me thinking..

Hosea 13:4-6 (The Message)

4-6"I'm still your God, the God who saved you out of Egypt.I'm the only real God you've ever known. I'm the one and only God who delivers.I took care of you during the wilderness hard times, those years when you had nothing.I took care of you, took care of all your needs, gave you everything you needed.You were spoiled. You thought you didn't need me.You forgot me."


i was remembering the Egypt God brought me from.. how he led me out of such bondage to true Freedom! a freedom I can now dance in!! Ah! (i can hear..."my chains are gone, i've been set free..my God, my saviour has ransomed me).. what Joy there is in knowing that even in my desert and in my wilderness.. HE cared. HE fought for me! He saw my worth.. before i did anything of worth. and now brought me to a place of such purpose, greater than i could have imagined, a Joy that strengthens the weakest of days and hope that is an anchor truly unshakable. i now know what it means to be innocent & whole, to be pure in the sight of my Father! To be free, restored and loved by the King of the universe. unfortunately, there have been times on this journey that I have forgotten. I have shifted my focus from Him to "them".. I shifted my focus to being so satisfied with my Father.. To the point of forgetting. and if you asked I would say God was my number one.. but my actions spoke differently. I started living for one who I was trying to gain approval from.. I started looking to some other as a place of comfort and trying to find who I was by what they thought.. I began going down the same spiral I had once been on. daughters, we are so easily shaped and molded by things in this world. everything around us is trying to tell us who to be and what to look like. we have to be molded by the hands of our Maker. we have to rely and trust in Him Only, to form us into who He's created us to be.

Revelation 2:4,5.. You have forgotten your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen.. Repent (turn from your ways) and do the things you did at first..or else I will remove the lamp stand from under you... Wow! BUT Praise Him!! Bc he is holy and so merciful to forgive when we truly come to him with humble, repenting hearts! Just as the end of Hosea 14 says.. In Him the fatherless find compassion.. i'm so thankful for my Daddy God... HE's still fighting for me! and loves me Enough to correct me. that's what daddy's do for their daughters, for their children.

Hebrews 12: 4-13 the Message

...have you forgotten how good parents treat children, and that God regards you as his children? My dear child, don't shrug off God's discipline, but don't be crushed by it either. It's the child he loves that he disciplines; the child he embraces, he also corrects. God is educating you; that's why you must never drop out. He's treating you as dear children. This trouble you're in isn't punishment; it's training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God's training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God's holy best. At the time, discipline isn't much fun. It always feels like it's going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it's the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.
12-13So don't sit around on your hands! No more dragging your feet! Clear the path for long-distance runners so no one will trip and fall, so no one will step in a hole and sprain an ankle. Help each other out. And run for it!

i love verse Heb 12:11 in the NIV version.. it says..."11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

what growth and wisdom discipline can be. it's all about the attitude we take on in our hearts. Prov 15:33.. the fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom and humility comes before honor.

Prov 22:4 .. Humility and the fear of the LORD bring wealth and honor and life.


What a wonderful God we serve :) He is so faithful in Everything He does.


with love,


kristy

oh the journey of a life in surrender

first time blogging and i'm so excited. i love writting, so this can be my place of release. so here we go.. this past month has been quite the journey. if i could title it- i'd name it Change. at times we can be so sure of something and in surrender, find our world completely turned. i have been reminded to stay in constant surrender to our Father. saying God, not my will but only yours. to say it is one thing and living it is another. even when our flesh may hurt, we still must remain surrendered to His perfect will for our lives. in the moment we give Him complete control of every area, things may change we aren't necessarily ready for and it hurts. but in that very moment is when the beauty of faith can rise up in the pit of you. faith believing in a God who is soveriegn. who holds your world in the very palm of His hands. who loves you enough to fight for you and protect your every step. His ways are higher than our ways..His thoughts greater than our own (isaiah 55:8-9). there is such peace that comes from trusting in your Maker's words and standing on His promises, the one we trust in is faithful and he does what He says He will do.

a simple, but astounding promise i'm clinging to .. Romans 8:28 He works all things out for the good, for those who love Him and are called according to His design and purpose.

there can be great things, but not God's perfect for you. my heart smiles knowing my God loves me enough not to allow me to settle for my fleshly wants but aligns all things for His very best in my life. what an incredibly loving daddy God we have.

i hope this meets some at their very need.

with love,

kristy