The Words of My Mouth

Recently the Lord has been speaking to me about the words that I speak.

All the words of my mouth are with righteousness;

Nothing crooked or perverse is in them. Pro. 8:8

This verse really challenged and convicted me to consider if it could be said of my speech. Are the words I speak, words of righteousness? 

God has shown me that I have been lacking in this area.
Sometimes I may wish it was not true, but people will be affected by my words. It will either be a positive affect, or to my regret, a negative affect.When I am careless in my speech, I end up hurting my brothers and sisters in Christ.

Rather than hurtful and impure words, I desire my speech to be words of love, purity, humility, and grace. 
I want people to leave their conversations with me feeling blessed and encouraged in the Lord - not hurt and confused.

What has God been teaching you recently?


Blessings!
Marie

New Year, New Challenge

Many times at the beginning of a New Year, I ask God to give me a special verse for that year.
This year I feel like God has laid on my heart the following passage:

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 
Set your affections on things above, not on things on the earth. Col. 3:1&2




My prayer and desire is that through this year, God will continue to teach to apply these verses to my life. I want to keep them at the front of my mind, as a reminder of what I truly should be setting my heart on.

As things in life press in, and try to distract me from my relationship with Christ, I pray that God will remind my of these verses again.


Has God given any of you a special verse for this year?

Trusting- Even When it's Hard

Sometimes you may think you have everything lined up for what you want to do for college, what classes you will take, and what kind of job you hope to have. Then sometimes God likes to come in a change our plans up!  

The past few weeks have been a time of stretching me, and teaching me to trust God more. I was planning to take a couple music classes online this fall, and was excited about starting them. Things didn't go as smoothly as I would have hoped though, facing just one complication after another. I finally was able to get into the classes, but not until after they had started.  

Seeing that I was having a lot of challenges getting into my classes, my parent's reminded me that sometimes God brings roadblocks along for a reason. So, last night I sat down and discussed with them whether they thought it would be best for me to stay in the classes or just drop them. After discussing many aspects of my college education, I headed for bed, pretty much planning to drop both the classes, but still not quite sure. As I was getting ready for bed, God brought to my mind what I had read in my Bible reading from Amos chapter 3 that very morning. In summary, God was trying to get the attention of His people, but they didn't seem to be listening. For awhile I was just in awe, seeing how God was speaking to me! I felt like He was just giving me a conformation, that at least for this semester, I should not take those classes. I don't really know for sure why, and may never know, but I do know that He has a reason!  

One other little part to the story; in this morning's Bible reading (Amos,4) I noticed that for times it reminds us  to seek the Lord, and three of them add on the thought, "That you may live". God is good! He knows just how to give us the food we need at just the right times! I don't know where all God will lead me or how much this decision will change things up for me, but I know one thing! I'll be seeking the Lord! 

Prayer Time

I've had a prayer list for my devotion time before, but never kept with them very well. At times it seems that there are so many people and things to pray for, you almost have to have them written down to remember them all, so I'm trying something new.

What I did was, for every day of the week I have note card, then on each note card I wrote things to pray for especially on that day. For example: today I am praying especially for our country, our leaders, my brother-in-law who is deployed, and others serving in the military.As there are answers to prayer I can easily write them on my cards, and make new prayer cards.

I just started trying this, so we'll see how it goes!