Experiencing God in my real life...

 

Ann at Holy Experience asked us to share on this Walk with Him Wednesday how we have recently experienced God.  And so I rack my brain and search my heart, for some earth shattering, "I will never be the same" moment.  But the truth of the matter is, while I have had a few such experiences with God, more often than not His presence and intervention in my life is a lot more "everyday" than that.  Like manna*, faithfully given to the children of Israel as their daily sustenance, so is God's presence in my life.  I simply don't live, breathe, function, without Him.  And like manna, I must live on today's manna-His presence, His love, and His work in my life today.  While the memories of the ways I have experienced Him in my life in the past are to be cherished and rememembered, they are not adequate sustenance for today.  I need fresh Bread from Heaven in my life each day.

 So, to answer Ann's question, I experienced God this week... -when I prayed with some of His people at our church's weekly night of prayer -when I was reading His Word and journaling and out of my heart and onto the paper came the words, "God, mark me as a Lover of God. Set Your mark on my heart." 

-when I read the words in Matthew 14:36 that all who touched Jesus were healed and so in prayer alone, as well as with others, I reached out and asked for Him to heal the muscle spasms in my neck. My neck has been much, much better this week. 

-when I asked God to bring His order to a day that had overwhelmingly too much to do in it,

 and everything I needed to do got done

-when I gathered with others at church on Sunday and I felt His heart for people...overwhelming love

-when the church shed tears and prayed together on Sanctity of Life Sunday,

 and asked God to help us make a difference for more young mamas and save more babies

-when I spent time with my grandbabies- all three miraculous answers from heaven

-when I took a walk on a blessedly sunny January day and once again saw and gave thanks for

the beauty He has created just for us to enjoy

  

 -when, like the layers of an onion, He dealt with another layer of darkness in my soul  

When I really look, really take notice, I am experiencing God everyday, right here in my real life.

  

*see Exodus 16

God even cares about "binkies"...

Nana and I are spending quality time together while mama and daddy are attending a conference.  Nana bundled me up and put me in the stroller and we took a nice walk.  Together, we explored  the area and shops within walking distance of the hotel. We went to T.J. Maxx...I love shopping just like Nana!  Then Nana got hungry so we grabbed a bite to eat.  I thought the mashed potatoes were delicious.  Sometime during the meal Nana noticed that my "binkie" was M.I.A.  And of course, I have discriminating tastes when it comes to binkies- no cheap substitutes allowed.  Nana had no idea when or where I ditched binkie overboard.  So Nana prayed that Jesus would help us find binkie.  The waitress helped us look around the restaurant, but no binkie.  We paid the bill and left, backtracking the way we came for a bit, hoping to find it. Suddenly, Nana remembered she didn't get her debit card back from the waitress.  Back into the restaurant we go, and the hostess goes to retrieve the card from the waitress, when suddenly....underneath the hostess desk Nana sees something pink and rubbery.  Praise Jesus it's the binkie!  Now all is right with the world once again.

"Ain't got no satisfaction..."

 
It's a Holy Dissatisfaction...   I'm content.  I know I am blessed.  I know that I am blessed infinitely beyond what I deserve.  I'm content. I'm filled with gratitude. But I'm not satisfied.

"Nothing in this life, can ever truly satisfy, the desires of your heart." Justin Rizzo

Not a bigger house...
Nor redecorating the house I have...
Not another lovely handbag, or pair of fabulous shoes...
Not a wonderful vacation...
Not a perfectly attentive, romantic husband...
Not children or grandchildren who rise up and call me blessed...

I shall be fully satisfied, when I awake [to find myself] beholding Your form [and having sweet communion with You]. Psalm 17:15 

Yes, I am content.  I am grateful.  But only Jesus satisfies.                    


Thank You God for...

231) Sleepovers with the grandbabies

232) An unexpectedly relaxing M.L.K. day

233) A young handyman in our church who knew what was wrong with my washer and was able to fix it

234) God's financial provision

235) A phone call from youngest daughter, excited about what God is doing in her life

236) Friday...our day off together

237) A good meeting with our church's wonderful children's workers

238) Spending time with a friend

239) Stove top popcorn (Grandson, "Nana, I thought popcorn always came in bags!")

240) Cooking with my grandkids

Words of life part two...

So yesterday I blogged about how I'm a one Bible kind of gal.  I do not like breaking in a new Bible.  I like my Bible well used, well loved, familiar.  I like to it to be so familiar that I have a mental picture of just what side of the page the particular verse I am searching for is going to be found.  January 1, 2010 however, presented me with a Bible dilemma.  It has been a few years since I've read through the Bible in a year and I really felt it was time to do that again.  I've certainly read the Bible, and probably read every book, (o.k., maybe not Leviticus), but just haven't done it systematically in a year for a while.  But when your "go to" Bible, the Bible you are currently living in and with, is the Amplified Bible, lets just say they should call it reading through one and a half Bibles in a year. I'm just sayin'!  There's a whole lot of extra reading in the Amplified Bible!  And to add to the dilemma, I wanted a Bible reading plan that was simple to follow, Some of them can get crazy complicated.  So, since we were on our little family coastal getaway on 1/1/10, I headed over to the convienently located near our condo Tree of Life outlet and for $17 bought a One Year Bible in the New Living Translation.  Easy!  Each day I read the pages for that date...no complicated charts or difficult systems to follow.  This Bible I will leave unmarked so that it can be used repeatedly year after year...and like the new year, it will be a fresh, new "clean slate" from which God can speak to me.  As I am reading it, I journal the things God speaks to me from that day's reading.  My much loved Amplified Bible stays by my side if I want to look up a verse in that translation or want to write margin notes, note the date by it, or underline it.  I am really loving the easy reading style of the New Living Translation, and of course reading God's Word, no matter your preferred method or translation, is always life giving and life changing.

Words of life...

 

We are Bible rich at our house.  This pastor's home is filled with Bibles of every size, color, translation.  A whole shelf of Bibles lives in my husband's office.  He loves a new Bible like some women love a new pair of shoes!  Me, I'm a one Bible kind of gal. I love and live in that Bible, carry it with me everywhere, mark it up like a journal, and after a decade or so, I may reluctantly get a different one.  So my Bibles tell the story of my life...of my life entwined with His life, His life in me, Him being my life. 

On the shelf in my office a handful of Bibles sit...

...the green hardcovered copy of the Living Bible that was my companion through highschool, college and my first years as a young wife and mama.  Scriptures about God's guidance are underlined as I sought God's will and direction for my life.  Every verse that speaks of how God feels about me is marked with a smiley face beside it as I groped to find my identity in Him. (smiley faces, I was young, remember?)  The margins show the handwriting of a much younger me.

...the New American Standard "Open Bible" that was my first "grown up" Study Bible.  This was my companion through the 80's.  It's back pages have the dates when each of my three daughters gave their lives to Jesus, the dates they were baptized...

...My burgundy leather New King James Bible...This Bible has my color coded highlighting-

red colored pencil for all scriptures about the blood of Jesus and salvation

yellow for all scriptures about the fear of the Lord (a whole study I did about this topic changed my life!)

purple for all the scriptural promises God gave me for my girls

green for all scriptures about grace

blue marked the verses about prayer

orange highlighted the verses about the Holy Spirit

blue marked the verses that spoke of who I am in Christ

...the most expensive Bible I ever had was a small, calf skin New King James Bible given to me as a gift by my husband.  That's when I discovered that some Bibles "just don't fit"...not the words, but the small size and the way the margins had no room for me to write notes or the date when God spoke that word to me personally.  It was just so small and so pretty and so soft and so expensive, that I just couldn't live in that Bible, mark it up, write in it

...my Amplified Bible.  This is my companion now.  It doesn't sit on the shelf in the office.  It is with me...my Bible goes with me everywhere.  I literally wouldn't think of leaving home without it.  It's Words are my life, breath, food.

Beautiful day in the neighborhood...

For over ten years I have donned my walking clothes and shoes, headed out my front door and made two loops through my neighborhood.  A brisk walk through every little street and cul-de-sac twice equals over four miles.  If the weather is horrid, or I haven't walked before it has gotten dark, I have an elliptical machine to work out on.  But there's just nothing like a walk outdoors...

Yes, we are big on recycling here in Portland!

O.K. so maybe yesterday's walk wasn't so brisk...but it was just so beautiful out!

Ordered steps...

For years we lived in a parsonage, church owned housing for us, their minister.  I made those houses our home as much as possible, but I really wanted to own a home of our own.  So, year after year, that request was on my prayer list.  I always added the words, "in Your timing and in Your place, Lord"  because I knew that a home of our own could turn into a hindrance if God wanted us to relocate and we were stuck with a house that we couldn't get rid of.  When we moved to pastor the church here in Portland, there was no parsonage.  Not having the finances to buy a home at that time, we began to look for a rental.  We scanned the local paper and began to make phone inquiries on rentals that seemed a possibility.  One of those was a brand new duplex, owned by a small family run construction company.  We called and asked to see it, explaining our situation and the reason we were moving to Portland. Not long after, we received a return call from the owners, saying that they felt like we were supposed to move into this rental, and in fact, they said they were going to waive the fees and preliminary paperwork in order to get us in.  We happily lived in that little place for two years. One day, something needed repaired, so the owner came by, did the work, and walked back out to his truck to leave.  Suddenly, he turned around, came back to the door, walked in and said to me, "I'm supposed to build you a house!"  He had us pick out the lot, he paid the upfront costs, and arranged the financing, and within the year we were in a home of our own.  That was over ten years ago.  I still love to tell the story of how God ordered our steps and provided for us.  Out of all the rentals in the city of Portland, He leads us to the rental that is owned by the person that He knows He will use to help us to get a home...but the miracle isn't really the reason I'm sharing this story on Multitude Monday.  This house, my miracle house, is small and it has a small kitchen, and the whole living area is rather small. A few years ago I began to forget the miracle, and all I could see was the small.  I stopped enjoying our house.  I began to just "housekeep" and not "homemake"...I just cleaned and maintained it, I stopped decorating, updating, nesting, My focus began to be on bigger.  I wanted bigger.  We even  made an offer on a bigger house and tried to sell, but, well you know what the market is like right now.  But a few months ago, about the same time I started my gratitude list, I started to love our little home again.  I started to homemake again, instead of just housekeep...some paint here, a candle there.  Sure, I still would love a bigger house to make it easier to have larger groups of people over.  In fact, I pray about it.  But now it's with a heart of gratitude and thanks, for what I already have.

"...with thanksgiving, make your wants known to God." Phillippians 4:6

Thank You God for...

221) A great combined service for our church's north and south locations, and a great week of prayer

222) Home!

223) Baby grandaughter is crawling now!

224) Cousins helping our youngest daughter with a car repair

225) That same daughter finding her "niche"...(even if it is in Missouri, and not by her mama)

226) Sons in law who love Jesus and who love my daughters and grandbabies

227) Prayer support for hurting ones in the church

228) A sunny January day and a great walk in my neighborhood

229) My One Year Bible.  I love how easy and uncomplicted it makes reading through the Bible.

230) My husband who loves me and tells me so