Do We Just Settle?

I've been thinking a lot lately about living out God's will for my life.  It has been in the past just me trying to figure it out.  Search myself instead of asking Him to search me.  What do I want?  What inspires me?  While those are valid questions they do not require implementing God into the equation.  But I have been somewhat content in my Christian life of going to church faithfully, paying my tithes, reading my bible, praying, etc.  I'm following all of the "rules" right?  But at some point there is a restlessness.  Why?  Is this not good enough?  Am I settling for the lukewarm Christian walk that God so warns us about.  I think, I know He wants more from us.  And I am finally realizing that I cannot dream big enough to satisfy His plan.  So why would I try to draw it up myself when I can just choose to obey and trust?  I feel as if I've settled into being okay with this world.  Being okay with spending my time on meaningless tasks.  Being okay with irresponsibly spending His money on "things" that could better be used for eternal things.  I have to ask myself...What am I doing with this life He has blessed me with?  Did I forget how far he brought me up from.  No, I did not forget...but nice dinners, shopping sprees, and fancy coffee sure can make that memory pretty distant.  I am not an extremist...although I do see it's upside, but I do believe He blesses us so that we may bless others in return and seek His purpose.  I don't want to be caught up in living a routine Christian life.  I know where my heart lies.  The lost.  How do we reach them from our comfortable houses and our fancy cars and our organized extracurricular events?  I was lost.  I need to remember how Jesus found me.  So I am resolved to embark on this journey.  The road He intends for all of us I believe.  I want to leap with my eyes closed out of my comfort zone and into the assurance that while it may not be glamorous or convinient or easy, His plan is what I am here for and it is where I will find true meaning to this life.  Isn't that what the world has been searching for? 

"He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." -1 John 2:6

"Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." -Philippians 1:6

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye." -Psalm 32:8

"Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right hand or whenever you turn to the left." -Isaiah 30:21

Large Family Logistics

This is a giveaway on a blog I just love.  While I do not have near the large family Kimberly does, I can relate to a lot of what she blogs about and love her passion for family, homeschooling, and simplistic living.  Check out her recent giveaway for a great book called  Large Family Logistics.
http://raisingolives.com/

Happy New Day!

When I think about the New Year and all of the possibilities and resolutions we all make it gets me thinking that each day is like that with the Lord.  It reminds me of the song with the chorus, "Today is the day, You have made.  I will rejoice and be glad in it! And I won't worry about tomorrow. I'm trusting in what You say, today is the day!"  I know this song is taken straight from bible verses and it rings so true to me in this season of my life.  There comes a time, I believe, in all of our Christian walks that God has to make clear to us who we need to put our hope and trust in.  Who we need to worship.  Who we need to make the center of our lives.  And in that process of learning to rejoice and be glad regardless of the circumstances.  He is the reason we sing!  Who other than God can bring joy in great sadness?  Who other than the author and finisher of our faith can give us utter peace when we feel such heartache?  The possibilities for today are endless just as the possibilities for this coming year are.  But what my focus has be directed to is today.  Today is the day to rejoice and sing His praises for what He has done and what He will do if we will let Him in.  I am so very thankful for the trials my Lord has brought me through.  I am so grateful that He has a purpose beyond what I can imagine.  I am so grateful that although I may try and fit Him into my little mold He is faithful to show me in all His wisdom and glory how much more He is.  I serve an awesome God who can work in the hearts of even the most stubborn willful humans like myself.  There is no greater love.  As I reflect on last year and the year before it seems they run together.  We had so many trials as a family, one after the other it seems like a dense fog that we just muddled through.  But as I also look back on the struggles, I look back on the victories.  Not victories in the sense that we as humans would like to define them.  You know, everything was made right, all problems solved and are no longer there.  But victory in His definition.  Victory in the sense that we know He is the same.  We know we can turn to Him and he will be our Comforter, or Counselor, our Prince of Peace.  This is victory in Jesus! So rejoice!  Praise His holy Name!  And expect the unexpected in 2011=)

Psalms 30:5...."weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning."