The Result of Righteousness

And the effect of righteousness will be peace,

and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.

~Isaiah 32:17

Things That Make Us Wonder

Tim to Brenda, as we waited at a stoplight: "Does that say 'meat pie'?"
Yes, yes it does.

Easter Sunday

Here are some pictures from our Easter dinner at Beth's:

Beth in her super cute apron:

Sam Dancing:

Sarah and Amber watching Sam dance:The sweetest baby on the planet:
Misty, Beth and I:

Erin with her eggs (the only picture I got of any actual eggs):
Sam and Jacob see the Easter bunny:

Hail Mary

These were falling from the sky just a few minutes ago. I've never seen or heard anything like it. When I came in from taking this picture, I heard the weather guy on TV say, "Do not go outside to try and pick up hail!" Oops. Too late. Ha. I have several pieces in my freezer! A shot of the mostly smaller sized hail we got before the really big stuff. :-)

Agree with God

My first memory verses of the year were from Job: "Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you. Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart". And I mused on here some about what it means to "agree with God". I wasn't sure what it meant completely, but I knew that I wanted to know. What I have learned is that all I needed to know is contained right there in those two verses.



A couple weeks ago, a friend unexpectedly gave us a copy of the book "The Power of Spoken Faith" by Don Gossett, saying that God had lead him to share it. Truly God wanted him to share it because it has spoken directly to my question of how to agree with Him.

The author of the book was going through a hard time in his life financially and in the first chapter writes, "During that time, I read a wonderful book called Word Power, by Vernon Hower. God used the message of that book to help me freshly understand the power of my words, and He gave me this Scripture: 'Can two walk together, except they be agreed?' (Amos 3:3)' God was asking me, 'Do you want to walk with Me? Then you must agree with Me. You agree with Me by saying what My Word says. You have disagreed with Me by speaking lack, sickness, fear, defeat and inability. If you want to walk with Me, you must agree with Me'.... How do we agree with God? We agree by saying what God says while disagreeing with the wicked, lying Devil. (Hallelujah for such a dynamic truth!)"


Agreeing with God means that I will say (and believe) what God says and nothing contrary to it.


This is easy to practice on some levels. For example, when it comes to saying what God says ABOUT HIMSELF, it is easy to agree. God is good, compassionate, loving, full of mercy, slow to anger, abounding in love, holy, just, King of kings, Lord of lords, everlasting.... God is all of those things and more and when he says those things, I agree with him.


It is also fairly easy to agree with the things God says about sin and its harmful affects on us and others. I agree with God when he says we shouldn't lie, steal, worship other gods, be sexually immoral, gossip, etc. I have seen the devastating affects of all those things on myself and others.

But doesn't it become much harder to agree when it comes to what God says ABOUT ME. For example, as soon as I say, "I can't....." then I am not agreeing with God, because God says "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". If I say I am afraid, I am not agreeing with God because God says he "has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-discipline".

So this is why I say the "secret" is self-contained in those verses in Job... he says "receive instruction from his mouth and lay up his word in your heart". The way to agree with God about ME is to take every negative thought that I have about myself captive and make it obedient by confronting it with truth from God's word. And doing this over and over and over again until I believe it and agree.

Oh, I believe so many lies about myself and my life. Can I ever change? "With God, all things are possible" and " And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit". 2 Corinthians 3:18.

Thoughts

Topanga Canyon candle from the beach!

A couple of verses that I liked from my morning quiet time.....

Isaiah 42:3 "a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench"

Sometimes all I am is a "faintly burning wick"...

Isaiah 57:15 For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: "I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

And I really liked this reference to God as one who "inhabits eternity". (From ESV). That's all. I just liked the way it was worded!

Updates for those interested

Those are pictures of my newly cleaned office- I'm posting them mostly so my mom can see them, since she was here recently and saw how incredibly messy it had gotten. Okay, she was appalled. I know she will rest easier tonight.

I didn't take a picture of the dining room, which is where all of the stuff is for my upcoming yard sale... wow, it's a mess! But let's call it "a mess with a plan".

~~~And by the way, if anyone wants a piano, we are trying to get rid of the one in the picture and you can have it if you will come get it.~~~

Other than my spring cleaning, Jacob has started playing roller hockey and had his first game this past Saturday and really enjoyed it. They play 3 on 3 and he came home and told me he scored six goals! I found out later it was actually only two goals. Hopefully I will get some pictures soon. I didn't get to watch his game because of piano lesson conflicts.

Sarah is playing on an AYSO Select soccer team again this spring. "Select" is supposed to mean a hand-picked team that is more competitive than a regular AYSO team and travels some. They have a regional tournament that is being played in Huntsville this year, so that is good news for us- although she originally told me the tournament was in Florida and I was sort-of hopeful! Still, she is looking forward to the season and her first "scrimmage" against a club team is tonight unless it snows. What???!! Snows?? In April in Alabama? Craziness! (Better go get my bread and milk before it's all gone!)

In the fall, she may start playing club soccer. Although now she's talking about track and cross country. And I mentioned soccer to Jacob for fall and he said, "What?! I play hockey!" He's very absorbed in hockey right now.

As for Libby, for various reasons, I didn't sign her up for the painting class she wanted to take this spring, but I have found a place that has pottery classes that is closer to our house as well as a place that has cooking classes, so she will be starting one or both of those soon. She also has a school trip to Camp McDowell coming up soon that she is looking forward to ALOT. A few nights ago, she baked cupcakes and has the family together making snowmen (prophetic?) after dinner, which was alot of fun. Here is mine, because mine looked the best (ha ha). Sorry he has no face- we forgot to buy the gel to pipe on the faces.