A lapse of posting

Obviously I have had a lapse in posting. So much and so little has happened since my last post.

I don't know how I want to use this blog, even if I want to use it. I started it for an outlet but have been so busy I haven't had time to use it.

Hopefully will be able to come up with something sometime soon!

Don't stop running

Psalm 18:30

As for God, his way is blameless. The word of the Lord is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. NASB

What a God! His road stretches straight and smooth. Every God- direction is road tested. Everyone who runs toward Him makes it. The Message

My two favorite translations of God’s Word are the NASB and The Message. I love the NASB for technical purposes. I love the Message because sometimes it speaks to me in my own vernacular so much more than the NASB. I am so thankful that God has placed people on this earth in my time that have translated and printed His original words in ways that can move my heart and help me understand.

I love the last part of the psalm in The Message translation. “Everyone who runs toward Him makes it.”  Isn’t that amazing? That everyone makes it? Not the fastest or the best or the most dedicated. Every single one! Every little lamb. I know that there are seasons in my life when I run towards Him more than others. Kind of like the ocean tides. A periodic rise and fall of seeking Him and of trying to do it on my own.  I am so glad that His word promises me that I will make it. Even if the Lord decides to bring me home today. Today when I have been short tempered with my husband. When I haven’t performed my job perfectly and when I have placed idols before Him. I believe Him when he tells me that if I am running toward Him I will make it. And I am…despite my failings. My heart loves Jesus. I desire to know Him and follow Him every single day.

Me and the Army

Save your best striving for Seeking My Face:

Things I strive for in no particular order

Losing weight

Having a nice home

Being a loving wife

Being fit

Being an exceptional mom

Being a strong Christian

Being a good friend

I am ashamed to say that I hardly ever ever have “seeking God” on that list. I do seek Him. I seek him in my thoughts and my prayers and our conversations. But not the way I seek the other things. I can research diet tips and exercise moves for hours on end on the computer. I can spend hours in a TJ max or online looking at design ideas. I can talk to my friends for hours or spend time reading books about childcare. You get the idea.  After all that, I don’t have my best to offer God. I have what’s left over. I have good intentions but more often than not that is where it ends up.

I want to strive to seek God’s face. About everything. About losing weight or taking care of my daughter and my husband. I want to seek Him in how to be a good wife or a good friend.  Most of the time I just think I know how to do it. ON MY OWN. One of the first things I learned when I chose to walk with Lord was that I can’t do it on my own. EVER. Why is it so easy to forget that? Why is it so easy to think I know it all? Or that my friends know it all or that website know it all?  I know that God has given me a beautiful community of different personalities and points of view. But He gave me Him first. His word second. His holy spirit.

God’s word says that anything I desire more than him becomes an idol. When I was in high school I went on a retreat to West Palm with my youth group. Our youth leader had us wear a plastic army figurine around our neck the entire week. When we slept. When we ate. When we showered. When we hung out with friends.  It got in my way. I eventually took it off because it irritated me so much. People looked at us funny because we were on the only ones with green army men hanging from our necks. At the end of the week our youth leader told us that it was there to represent what an idol does to our relationship with the Lord. IT GETS IN THE WAY. Something clicked.

Now some 10 years later my life is cluttered with idols. Idols that are getting in the way of glorifying the Lord.  It is time for some spring cleaning of my mind and heart…

"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Matthew 6:33 The Messege

Some facts about sheep...

Yesterday I spent some time googling “sheep.” I found out a lot of interesting facts that I did not know before. I also saw a ton of similarities between people and sheep.

-          Sheep are most likely descended from Europe and Asia

-          A group of sheep is called a flock

-          In both ancient and modern religious ritual, sheep are used as sacrificial animals.

-          They come in different colors

-          The average life expectancy is 10-12 years

-          Sheep have great hearing

-          Sheep have horizontal slit shaped pupils, possessing excellent peripheral vision

-          Sheep can see behind themselves without turning their heads

-          Sheep have a tendency to move out of the dark and into well-lit areas

-          They have an excellent sense of smell and have scent glands on their feet.

-          They have a natural inclination to follow a leader to a new pasture

-          They have a tendency to congregate close to other members of the flock.

-          Sheep can become stressed when separated from their flock members

-          Sheep recognize individual human and sheep faces and can remember them for years.

-          Relationships in flocks tend to be the closest among related sheep.

-          Sheep are frequently thought of as unintelligent animals

-          They are below the pigs and cattle on the IQ scale.

-          Sheep can tell when humans show different emotions on their faces.

-          Sheep can learn their names

Out of all the facts that I learned about sheep some of my favorite include that they can remember faces of humans for years, they have a closer relationship to related members of their flock and they become stressed when separated from their own flock.  I think that we as humans are so much like sheep!! Usually we are closer to our families than friends; there is even that saying “blood is thicker than water.” We remember faces for a very long time and when we are separated from the ones we love we do have a lower quality of life in some aspect even if it is just an emotional one.

Christ called us HIS sheep. His flock. That means that he knew that we are able to remember his face. That we are to be with one another, not alone. That we need one another. That we have a natural inclination to follow and that when confronted with the dark (sin) we have every opportunity to move out into the light.

I can’t wait to see what I find out when I google “shepherd.”

Why Sheep?

My sheep know My voice and they follow it

- Jesus of Nazareth

I have been craving a creative outlet since I gave birth to our gorgeous little daughter. I have been itching to do something that involved documenting, writing and recording. I really want to be able to have a record of her "firsts" like sucking her thumb, smiling, and crawling. I am currently working on getting that together but I needed something that I could do from anywhere and something a little more for me. Hence this blog.

I have always been a journaler of thoughts until the past couple of years.  Some of my most precious seasons of life have passed without me putting a pen to paper. Thankfully, my first year of marriage was documented electronically via my main blog. I guess it has become the busyness of life or maybe just our culture wining out. Using electronics instead of old fashioned paper. I would rather it be the fast paced lifestyle than the latter.

The title of the blog came from the continual reference in the Bible of being Jesus sheep. I love how Jesus constantly gives us (the visual learners) images to understand our relationship to him. I have always felt a connection to the sheep reference and wanted to use it in my blog somehow. 

I used to think that blogs were really only for prideful people. For people who think everyone wants to know everything about them. I usually tend to think that no one wants to know anything about me, so having two blogs is an odd choice for me.  I don't think that about people and their blogs anymore, in fact I am a bit blog obsessed. I have come to realize that blogging is a great way to document, to tell a story to share your life with others and keep a line of communication open for friends and family that live far away.

I hope that this blog can be a place where I can give my heart and soul and mind a place to breathe. I hope that it can make others think. I hope that it can tell about Jesus to those that do not know him or know him well. I hope it can be a place were growth happens. I hope that by this blog I as well as others can know and see and hear how Jesus is alive as much today as he was 2000 years ago.