GOD continues to speak and as He always does with something at least 3 times. He has been using the idea of Hoping and Waiting (Growth) alot over the past few days, and one used a tree example.
Of course, HIS source of speaking to me has been through "Our Daily Bread", "God Calling", and "Living the Message"
Here are some parts of ODB, October 25-26; LTM, October 24-26; and GC October 25:
When trouble comes into our lives, we sometimes feel as if we've been hit broadside. We feel desperation and then we wonder, WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?...The season of trouble may not be easy, but if we let ourselves be trained by it, new growth will result as we become more like His Son. - Cindy Hess Kasper
We shrink from the purging and pruning,
Forgetting the Gardener knows
The deeper the cutting and paring
The richer the cluster that grows. -Anon.
Only as we submit our brokenness to the good and great Shepherd of our hearts can we find the peace that allows us to respond to life: "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance" (Psalm 42:5). Hope in God- it's the only solution for the deep traumas of the heart. -Bill Crowder
The Christian's hope is in the Lord,
We rest secure in His sure Word;
And though we're tempted to despair,
We do not doubt that God is there. -D. DeHaan
No one is hopeless whose hope is in GOD.
...hope desires what God is going to do- and we don't yet know what that is.... Wishing has to do with what I want in things or people or God; hope has to do with what God wants in me and the world of things and people beyond me....Hope means being surprised, because we don't know what is best for us or how our lives are going to be completed. To cultivate hope is to suppress wishing- to refuse to fantasize about what we want, but to live in anticipation of what God is going to do next.
Hope affects the Christian life by making us expectant and alive....People who hope never know what's coming next. They expect it is going to be good, because God is good. Even when disasters occur, people of hope look for how God will use it for good. A person of hope is alive to God. Hope is powerful. It is stimulating. It keeps us on tiptoe, looking for the unexpected.
...waiting does not diminish us,any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. Romans 8:24-25, The Message
Believers must be aware that most of the time discipline feels dull and dead. We're impatient if we have to wait a long time for something....Simple desire for more in our Christian lives is sufficient evidence that the life is there. Be patient and wait. It's the Spirit's work. We simply put ourselves in the way of the Spirit so he can work in us.
Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God's Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don't know how or what to pray, it doesn't matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. Romans 8:26, The Message
Waiting may seem a time of inactivity, as far as the outer world is concerned, but it can, and should, be a time of great activity in the inner life, and the surrounding material plane.
And as of today, HE has used Matthew 5 for the third time. I first read Matthew 5:13-20, On Wednesday, October 24, in "Our Daily Bread." That same day "God Calling" used Matthew 5:13 and added: Power which maintains the salt at its freshest and best, and also preserves from corruption that portion of the world in which I place it. And, to top this three fold off, the lesson this week in Bible that my class will be learning is from Matthew 5:1-20, The Beatitudes, Salt of the earth, and Light of the world. I could not have planned this at all.
Oh, what is HE trying to tell me? What is going on in my life right now?
Friday, October 26, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
It continues...
Today as I was reading "Soul Cravings" by Ewrin McManus, entry 25 in the Destiny section, titled 'A Place of Hope' it spoke directly to my heart and seems to be one of the many themes (caterpillar to butterfly and trees/seasons) that GOD keeps using to speak to me.
So let me share some of what McManus wrote, it went something like this:
Probably the most famous metaphor to ever come from the early followers of Christ is the butterfly.... When you come to God and allow Him to re-create you, from that moment the old is past, and all things are made new. The word describing this is metamorphosis, the image of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly- same species, completely different. This describes a change that literally moves us from crawling to flying. It is a necessary change if we are going to journey to the future we were created to live, to experience, to enjoy.
Sometimes, we choose just to be a worm; at other times, our preference is to hide in the cocoon, but every now and again we choose to engage in the difficult struggle of breaking out. It's painful; it's frustrating; it's hard work. We might even wonder why God would make the cocoon so hard to escape from, never realizing it is the process itself that strengthens our wings and prepares us for flight....
All God wants to do is to take you where you cannot go alone and make you what you cannot be alone. You were not created to live your life absent of God. There is a dream for your life you can't even begin to imagine without God. Without Him you are settling for less.
If you were meant to fly, not even running really fast is that impressive.
You can spend your whole life trying to become what your soul longs for without God. You might resent Him that He's made it so hard for you to live out your dreams or fulfill your destiny. It's never quite hit you that it's in the struggle, in the process, even in the search for God, that He is making you strong enough to take flight. What in the world enters the mind of a cocooned caterpillar that would make it want to break out?
Maybe there's an instinct somewhere deep within it that lets it know something's happening, a change is taking place. It is no longer the same; it is somehow different....
Our ability to endure, to persevere, to overcome is fueled by this one seemingly innocuous ingredient called hope.
Everything that drives us,
every effort to succeed,
every attempt to be significant,
every moment we pursue a dream,
advance a cause,
or work to make the world better in any way
is an act of hope....
"Where There Is Hope, There Is Life." I agree.
I recently sent out and email that said I felt as though I had no hope left. I feel like I am the cocooned caterpillar, yet have a fear that I cannot break free. I have experienced being the butterfly and want to be there again. I feel trapped, sure I know that it is in the process of the struggle to break out where we get our strength, but I don't feel hope or as if I have the strength to make it out.
I feel like the ugly worm, trapped, scared,... not knowing or understanding what is going on right now. I don't like it and want to break free and fly. But...
Though I said I feel there is nothing to hope for, It is the one thing that I can not let go of. The hope that all the struggle was worth it, for there is, well has to be, something better to come.
So let me share some of what McManus wrote, it went something like this:
Probably the most famous metaphor to ever come from the early followers of Christ is the butterfly.... When you come to God and allow Him to re-create you, from that moment the old is past, and all things are made new. The word describing this is metamorphosis, the image of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly- same species, completely different. This describes a change that literally moves us from crawling to flying. It is a necessary change if we are going to journey to the future we were created to live, to experience, to enjoy.
Sometimes, we choose just to be a worm; at other times, our preference is to hide in the cocoon, but every now and again we choose to engage in the difficult struggle of breaking out. It's painful; it's frustrating; it's hard work. We might even wonder why God would make the cocoon so hard to escape from, never realizing it is the process itself that strengthens our wings and prepares us for flight....
All God wants to do is to take you where you cannot go alone and make you what you cannot be alone. You were not created to live your life absent of God. There is a dream for your life you can't even begin to imagine without God. Without Him you are settling for less.
If you were meant to fly, not even running really fast is that impressive.
You can spend your whole life trying to become what your soul longs for without God. You might resent Him that He's made it so hard for you to live out your dreams or fulfill your destiny. It's never quite hit you that it's in the struggle, in the process, even in the search for God, that He is making you strong enough to take flight. What in the world enters the mind of a cocooned caterpillar that would make it want to break out?
Maybe there's an instinct somewhere deep within it that lets it know something's happening, a change is taking place. It is no longer the same; it is somehow different....
Our ability to endure, to persevere, to overcome is fueled by this one seemingly innocuous ingredient called hope.
Everything that drives us,
every effort to succeed,
every attempt to be significant,
every moment we pursue a dream,
advance a cause,
or work to make the world better in any way
is an act of hope....
"Where There Is Hope, There Is Life." I agree.
I recently sent out and email that said I felt as though I had no hope left. I feel like I am the cocooned caterpillar, yet have a fear that I cannot break free. I have experienced being the butterfly and want to be there again. I feel trapped, sure I know that it is in the process of the struggle to break out where we get our strength, but I don't feel hope or as if I have the strength to make it out.
I feel like the ugly worm, trapped, scared,... not knowing or understanding what is going on right now. I don't like it and want to break free and fly. But...
Though I said I feel there is nothing to hope for, It is the one thing that I can not let go of. The hope that all the struggle was worth it, for there is, well has to be, something better to come.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
What is happening?
I don't know what is happening, but it feels like the hardest thing I have ever had to face in my life. I feel I am losing who I am. I don't know how to get me back. I am discouraged, lost, and very broken.
Here is what I just shared in an email to most of you:
In John 10:10 it says, "The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy." To be honest with you all........ he is winning right now with my heart. The enemy is stealing my joy, killing my spirit, and destroying my heart. I don't have the strength to go on some days, though I do know that it is the LORD that carries me through each day...I really can't. What hope is there to look toward at the moment, other than the Hope that comes from JESUS CHRIST. That Hope that someday I will get to sit at HIS feet, get to talk to HIM face to face. The enemy is winning today, because I feel I don't have hope or joy. If that makes any sense? But, don't get me wrong, I do know that we all go through different seasons in our life and this is just one of them. I will make it through, because I have Faith and Hope in the RISEN CHRIST. And I DO KNOW that it is HE who gives me the strength right now to carry on. And I do see HIM in so many different moments, like this morning in the sunrise. I am praising HIM and thanking HIM and hoping in HIM and trusting in HIM and waiting on HIM and loving through, in, and with HIM. I just feel crushed and destroyed at the same time. I pray this finds you meeting the RISEN CHRIST in moments like the sunrise as well.
To continue, I guess the best way for me to share what is going on is to give you a small piece of an email that my headmaster/principal wrote to me and then an email from a friend and fellow coworker. I think it sums up some of the things that have been going on, without going into long details. It looks like I am losing a student in my class as well.
Headmaster wrote:
For several weeks now I have received multiple complaints from almost all the parents of your students regarding anger and yelling at students. Some of the complaints I have received includes elements of students crying, both at school and later at home, and students (most of them) not wanting to go to school or making statements of being scared of their teacher.
I have noticed a change in you from the summer. You are normally a bubbly and joyful person and I feel you have been under spiritual attack. Know that you are in my prayers. I am confident that things will get better for you. I just need to know from the Lord how I can help guide you and support you in that path. After a year overseas, much is happened in your heart and mind that you might not even be aware of. I have seen it in many believers who went overseas.
You are an awesome woman and a beautiful daughter of God. I am thankful you are with us. You are a blessing and an asset to this school. We all love you as a cherished sister in Christ. Sometimes bumps along the road are used of God to help us be more like Christ. We should look at those unpleasant "bumps" with joy and thanksgiving, humbly allowing the Holy Spirit to change us and mold us to be more like the Son of God.
Friend/Coworker wrote:
At the moment I am just hurting for you and not even sure what to say. I want you to know that I hear him say (and I agree) that you are a beautiful daughter of God and that we believe you are a great woman of faith and strength. I know that this is going to be a hard thing, but my prayer is that God will teach you and grow you stronger in Him because of it.
Here is something that one of my professors in college and grad school taught us: There are two responses when criticism comes your way: --if it's true (and we all make mistakes), confess, repent, and walk in His forgiveness and grace; --if it's not true, give it to the Lord and trust Him to be your defense and know that you stand before Him in truth.
I think this is hard, because I grew up in a home where there always seemed to be anger. I learned to walk on eggshells at a very young age. I grew up in 4th Grade because Mom got mad enough and left for a while and someone had to take care of the three men at home. I knew back at that young age that I would rather die than every be like that. Don't get wrong, as I have gotten older I have learned to be soooo thankful for my childhood. Both the good and bad have shaped and formed who I am today. Well at least I had thought so.
I keep questioning who I am and who I am in Christ. Maybe you can never get over something like that. It is in my genes and maybe it is who I am. I know that if any of you know me, you would know that I would rather die than hurt anyone in this way. I would rather take all the pain myself. Like I said, I choose a long time ago not to walk down that same path. If I ever get married I would NEVER treat my husband that way, and when it comes to children....like I said I would rather die.
But, as I think about that, well maybe that is why I am not married and don't have children. GOD knows it would break my heart to ever hurt anyone like that. So maybe it is my true nature to be this way. I don't feel this is true about me, but maybe GOD knows that I really can't break these chains that bind and that is why HE has kept me single and someone from loving me.
I know this is not true of me and I have laid it at the foot of the cross and given it to the LORD. Yet, it still doesn't make it any easier. And I don't know what I am feeling, yet feel like it has something still to do about my time spent in Korea.
*note it has almost been a month since I began this and am just now editing and posting it to my blog. Things have gotten better in some ways and how the students were sharing things has come to light. However, I still have lost myself in the whole situation. Even this past week three people (1 someone every close, 2 an acquaintance, and 3 someone I haven't seen in two years) said that I wasn't me and haven't been in a very long time. HELP me LORD!
Here is what I just shared in an email to most of you:
In John 10:10 it says, "The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy." To be honest with you all........ he is winning right now with my heart. The enemy is stealing my joy, killing my spirit, and destroying my heart. I don't have the strength to go on some days, though I do know that it is the LORD that carries me through each day...I really can't. What hope is there to look toward at the moment, other than the Hope that comes from JESUS CHRIST. That Hope that someday I will get to sit at HIS feet, get to talk to HIM face to face. The enemy is winning today, because I feel I don't have hope or joy. If that makes any sense? But, don't get me wrong, I do know that we all go through different seasons in our life and this is just one of them. I will make it through, because I have Faith and Hope in the RISEN CHRIST. And I DO KNOW that it is HE who gives me the strength right now to carry on. And I do see HIM in so many different moments, like this morning in the sunrise. I am praising HIM and thanking HIM and hoping in HIM and trusting in HIM and waiting on HIM and loving through, in, and with HIM. I just feel crushed and destroyed at the same time. I pray this finds you meeting the RISEN CHRIST in moments like the sunrise as well.
To continue, I guess the best way for me to share what is going on is to give you a small piece of an email that my headmaster/principal wrote to me and then an email from a friend and fellow coworker. I think it sums up some of the things that have been going on, without going into long details. It looks like I am losing a student in my class as well.
Headmaster wrote:
For several weeks now I have received multiple complaints from almost all the parents of your students regarding anger and yelling at students. Some of the complaints I have received includes elements of students crying, both at school and later at home, and students (most of them) not wanting to go to school or making statements of being scared of their teacher.
I have noticed a change in you from the summer. You are normally a bubbly and joyful person and I feel you have been under spiritual attack. Know that you are in my prayers. I am confident that things will get better for you. I just need to know from the Lord how I can help guide you and support you in that path. After a year overseas, much is happened in your heart and mind that you might not even be aware of. I have seen it in many believers who went overseas.
You are an awesome woman and a beautiful daughter of God. I am thankful you are with us. You are a blessing and an asset to this school. We all love you as a cherished sister in Christ. Sometimes bumps along the road are used of God to help us be more like Christ. We should look at those unpleasant "bumps" with joy and thanksgiving, humbly allowing the Holy Spirit to change us and mold us to be more like the Son of God.
Friend/Coworker wrote:
At the moment I am just hurting for you and not even sure what to say. I want you to know that I hear him say (and I agree) that you are a beautiful daughter of God and that we believe you are a great woman of faith and strength. I know that this is going to be a hard thing, but my prayer is that God will teach you and grow you stronger in Him because of it.
Here is something that one of my professors in college and grad school taught us: There are two responses when criticism comes your way: --if it's true (and we all make mistakes), confess, repent, and walk in His forgiveness and grace; --if it's not true, give it to the Lord and trust Him to be your defense and know that you stand before Him in truth.
I think this is hard, because I grew up in a home where there always seemed to be anger. I learned to walk on eggshells at a very young age. I grew up in 4th Grade because Mom got mad enough and left for a while and someone had to take care of the three men at home. I knew back at that young age that I would rather die than every be like that. Don't get wrong, as I have gotten older I have learned to be soooo thankful for my childhood. Both the good and bad have shaped and formed who I am today. Well at least I had thought so.
I keep questioning who I am and who I am in Christ. Maybe you can never get over something like that. It is in my genes and maybe it is who I am. I know that if any of you know me, you would know that I would rather die than hurt anyone in this way. I would rather take all the pain myself. Like I said, I choose a long time ago not to walk down that same path. If I ever get married I would NEVER treat my husband that way, and when it comes to children....like I said I would rather die.
But, as I think about that, well maybe that is why I am not married and don't have children. GOD knows it would break my heart to ever hurt anyone like that. So maybe it is my true nature to be this way. I don't feel this is true about me, but maybe GOD knows that I really can't break these chains that bind and that is why HE has kept me single and someone from loving me.
I know this is not true of me and I have laid it at the foot of the cross and given it to the LORD. Yet, it still doesn't make it any easier. And I don't know what I am feeling, yet feel like it has something still to do about my time spent in Korea.
*note it has almost been a month since I began this and am just now editing and posting it to my blog. Things have gotten better in some ways and how the students were sharing things has come to light. However, I still have lost myself in the whole situation. Even this past week three people (1 someone every close, 2 an acquaintance, and 3 someone I haven't seen in two years) said that I wasn't me and haven't been in a very long time. HELP me LORD!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The Butterfly
This week during Bible, my class has been learning about how Jesus transformed the lives of the men He called to follow Him, and He promised He would make into fishers of men. Today we read this story about the transformation of the caterpillar to a butterfly.
STORY: I'm just an ugly old worm. No wants me, only the birds and lizards. I'm so fat. I'm so yucky brown. I'm so useless. I've spent my whole just eating. Every day, I eat more and more green leaves, sometimes leaving the whole branch of the tree completely bare. No wonder farmers hate me. I could just crawl under a rock and die, but right now I'm very sleepy. So sleepy...(yawn). I think I will just spin a nice, warm blanket cocoon around myself and get some z's.
What a sleep! Hey, this cocoon is mighty tight. What happened while I was asleep? I need to stretch and get out of here. My goodness, I'm not the same worm. Look! I have feet and legs. And, oh my goodness, can it be? I have wings. Not just any wings! But, big beautiful wings with the colors of the rainbow! And I can fly! I mean really fly, up and down, from flower to flower, darting quickly or fluttering lazily a summer breeze.
Is this unbelievable? I'm really part of God's plan. I'm a living object lesson on how something that seems so ugly and worthless can change from the inside out into a creature that is beautiful. Hey, boys and girls! Don't give up hope! God is not finished with you yet. He has a marvelous plan to change you to become more like Him. Now I need to run, or I should say fly. The farmer needs me to help his plants grow. Don't forget to wave the next time you see. (From the Third Grade Teacher Edition of ACSI's Bible curriculum)
GOD spoke even to me in this. Yes, something you know to be true and an object lesson you have heard, but to hear it when you feel like that ugly, worthless worm. To be reminded to not give up hope knowing that GOD is not done with us. I know that growth takes place inwardly and that it can often be slow and unnoticeable, but at other times be very painful. Growing is also a process that involves a life-long walk with the RISEN CHRIST.
"Living the Message" from yesterday and for today were titled 'Growth and Growing' and 'Growth is NOT Painless'
Yes, GOD keeps speaking and confirming the place HE has me, but at this moment if growing is going to be this painful then I don't want to grow any more. But only in this moment.........I know that only something beautiful can come from all of it. Well at least I use to Hope that it would. It doesn't feel like it right now. What if I actually don't make it out of this cocoon?
STORY: I'm just an ugly old worm. No wants me, only the birds and lizards. I'm so fat. I'm so yucky brown. I'm so useless. I've spent my whole just eating. Every day, I eat more and more green leaves, sometimes leaving the whole branch of the tree completely bare. No wonder farmers hate me. I could just crawl under a rock and die, but right now I'm very sleepy. So sleepy...(yawn). I think I will just spin a nice, warm blanket cocoon around myself and get some z's.
What a sleep! Hey, this cocoon is mighty tight. What happened while I was asleep? I need to stretch and get out of here. My goodness, I'm not the same worm. Look! I have feet and legs. And, oh my goodness, can it be? I have wings. Not just any wings! But, big beautiful wings with the colors of the rainbow! And I can fly! I mean really fly, up and down, from flower to flower, darting quickly or fluttering lazily a summer breeze.
Is this unbelievable? I'm really part of God's plan. I'm a living object lesson on how something that seems so ugly and worthless can change from the inside out into a creature that is beautiful. Hey, boys and girls! Don't give up hope! God is not finished with you yet. He has a marvelous plan to change you to become more like Him. Now I need to run, or I should say fly. The farmer needs me to help his plants grow. Don't forget to wave the next time you see. (From the Third Grade Teacher Edition of ACSI's Bible curriculum)
GOD spoke even to me in this. Yes, something you know to be true and an object lesson you have heard, but to hear it when you feel like that ugly, worthless worm. To be reminded to not give up hope knowing that GOD is not done with us. I know that growth takes place inwardly and that it can often be slow and unnoticeable, but at other times be very painful. Growing is also a process that involves a life-long walk with the RISEN CHRIST.
"Living the Message" from yesterday and for today were titled 'Growth and Growing' and 'Growth is NOT Painless'
Yes, GOD keeps speaking and confirming the place HE has me, but at this moment if growing is going to be this painful then I don't want to grow any more. But only in this moment.........I know that only something beautiful can come from all of it. Well at least I use to Hope that it would. It doesn't feel like it right now. What if I actually don't make it out of this cocoon?
Discouragement
I feel so discouraged at the moment in so many things.....I am sure I will write more about it when I can actually sit down and give what is going on the proper time it needs and deserves. Thoughts I have constantly, I wish I could write when I am driving in the car.
But for the moment, I spent my class's break time just reading some online devotions. I really want to draw closer to GOD. I am feeling again like I would give anything to have HIS arms here in the flesh. To just sit on a couch, be held in some one's arms, and just cry......nothing else.
Anyways, I just read "My Utmost for His Highest" for October 13. It said:
We may have the vision of God and a very clear understanding of what God wants, and yet when we start to do it, there comes to us something equivalent to Moses’ forty years in the wilderness. It’s as if God had ignored the entire thing, and when we are thoroughly discouraged, God comes back and revives His call to us. And then we begin to tremble and say, "Who am I that I should go . . . ?"... We are focused on the right individual perspective of things; we have the vision and can say, "I know this is what God wants me to do." But we have not yet learned to get into God’s stride. If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a time of great personal growth ahead.
That last sentence is actually something I read in something some time ago and I KNOW is written in my Bible.
After writing that, I read another blog. Adrienne so touched my heart with her reference to the trees. It is something I have been noticing and feeling as well lately. Not a day goes by that I don't have some kind of thought or conversation with GOD. I actually wish I could write all those moments here. What I write here is usually only a portion of what I have as thoughts and conversations with GOD. It is such a beautiful time spent with HIM. And so awesome to meet HIM in such an amazing way every day. Even if I do feel like I am in winter right now and not for sure if spring will come again.
Yet, I feel guilty for feeling the way I do. I can't even compare my winter to the winter Noah Steven's family must be in. I can't imagine the loss, grief, healing...they must be going through. If you haven't read that blog in a while, I'd suggest you click on the link in the top right side of my blog and have your heart moved and touched.
But for the moment, I spent my class's break time just reading some online devotions. I really want to draw closer to GOD. I am feeling again like I would give anything to have HIS arms here in the flesh. To just sit on a couch, be held in some one's arms, and just cry......nothing else.
Anyways, I just read "My Utmost for His Highest" for October 13. It said:
We may have the vision of God and a very clear understanding of what God wants, and yet when we start to do it, there comes to us something equivalent to Moses’ forty years in the wilderness. It’s as if God had ignored the entire thing, and when we are thoroughly discouraged, God comes back and revives His call to us. And then we begin to tremble and say, "Who am I that I should go . . . ?"... We are focused on the right individual perspective of things; we have the vision and can say, "I know this is what God wants me to do." But we have not yet learned to get into God’s stride. If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a time of great personal growth ahead.
That last sentence is actually something I read in something some time ago and I KNOW is written in my Bible.
After writing that, I read another blog. Adrienne so touched my heart with her reference to the trees. It is something I have been noticing and feeling as well lately. Not a day goes by that I don't have some kind of thought or conversation with GOD. I actually wish I could write all those moments here. What I write here is usually only a portion of what I have as thoughts and conversations with GOD. It is such a beautiful time spent with HIM. And so awesome to meet HIM in such an amazing way every day. Even if I do feel like I am in winter right now and not for sure if spring will come again.
Yet, I feel guilty for feeling the way I do. I can't even compare my winter to the winter Noah Steven's family must be in. I can't imagine the loss, grief, healing...they must be going through. If you haven't read that blog in a while, I'd suggest you click on the link in the top right side of my blog and have your heart moved and touched.
The Tale....
...of Mr. Morton is a clip from "School House Rock!". I don't know if anyone remembers it, but I do and use the grammar and multiplication ones in my class room, at least in the last three classes I have had.
'The Tale of Mr. Morton' has to do with the subject and predicates, but mostly the subject. See Mr. Morton is the subject of the sentence and what the predicate says he does. This is usually the first video clip I show and it has always been the favorite and the one most asked to see. This might have something to do with the name.
Why do I write about this you ask? Well, other than the obvious of this being my last name. Every single class I ever had makes a statement about this being my husband. And I always have to info them that if Miss Morton ever gets married, that her last name will change and no longer be Morton. They always listen, but I don't think they get it. I just wish you all could be in my classroom and experience this moment each time it has happened.
Just makes me smile and see and feel GOD. It just amazes me how it is the exact same thing each time I show it. Just funny and very interesting.
'The Tale of Mr. Morton' has to do with the subject and predicates, but mostly the subject. See Mr. Morton is the subject of the sentence and what the predicate says he does. This is usually the first video clip I show and it has always been the favorite and the one most asked to see. This might have something to do with the name.
Why do I write about this you ask? Well, other than the obvious of this being my last name. Every single class I ever had makes a statement about this being my husband. And I always have to info them that if Miss Morton ever gets married, that her last name will change and no longer be Morton. They always listen, but I don't think they get it. I just wish you all could be in my classroom and experience this moment each time it has happened.
Just makes me smile and see and feel GOD. It just amazes me how it is the exact same thing each time I show it. Just funny and very interesting.
Friday, October 12, 2007
"Nature's first..."
Everyday on my drive South to work I get to see the most amazing sites. Today, however, seemed a little more special.
I recalled this morning how much the book, "The Outsiders" touched me when I read it in school. As well as, the movie when it came out. S.E. Hinton used Robert Frost's poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay". That poem moved me enough that I memorized it (still know it today) and on the day of my cousins funeral, over 22 years ago, I went to be alone during a certain time of the day and prayed and recited the poem in their memory.
I was moved by today's sunrise which made the sky look 'gold' and for the first time EVER I noticed that the tops of the mountains appeared purple. As I looked to the West, I understood where "purple mountain majesties" came from in Katharine Lee Bates' song, "America the Beautiful."
"Nothing Gold Can Stay"
by Robert Frost
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
"America the Beautiful"
by Katharine Lee Bates
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
I see GOD every day on my drive, but today........HE just really was there this morning in a very powerful way. HIS golden sky and purple mountains............just as amazing as HE is.
I recalled this morning how much the book, "The Outsiders" touched me when I read it in school. As well as, the movie when it came out. S.E. Hinton used Robert Frost's poem, "Nothing Gold Can Stay". That poem moved me enough that I memorized it (still know it today) and on the day of my cousins funeral, over 22 years ago, I went to be alone during a certain time of the day and prayed and recited the poem in their memory.
I was moved by today's sunrise which made the sky look 'gold' and for the first time EVER I noticed that the tops of the mountains appeared purple. As I looked to the West, I understood where "purple mountain majesties" came from in Katharine Lee Bates' song, "America the Beautiful."
"Nothing Gold Can Stay"
by Robert Frost
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
"America the Beautiful"
by Katharine Lee Bates
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
I see GOD every day on my drive, but today........HE just really was there this morning in a very powerful way. HIS golden sky and purple mountains............just as amazing as HE is.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Wow!
I haven't been reading "My Utmost for His Highest" like I usually do everyday, but today I went back and read them for this week. Some of the words from the first four days of this week were exactly what I needed to read. They reassured me that I am right where GOD wants me to be at the moment. Each of the four days just touched me right in the center of my heart. It felt like the exact words I needed to hear as encouragement. So here they are:
October 1: We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there.... We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain....We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something.... The moments on the mountaintop are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.
October 2: After every time of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they really are, where it is neither beautiful, poetic, nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are always at some heroic level of intensity, simply because of the natural selfishness of our own hearts. But God wants us to be at the drab everyday level, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship with Him.
October 3: When you are brought face to face with a difficult situation and nothing happens externally, you can still know that freedom and release will be given because of your continued concentration on Jesus Christ. Your duty in service and ministry is to see that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself....Then that very problem itself, and all that you have been through in connection with it, will glorify Jesus Christ in a way that you will never know until you see Him face to face.
October 4: Thank God for being able to see all that you have not yet been. You have had the vision, but you are not yet to the reality of it by any means. It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to relax on the mountaintop and live in the memory of the vision, then we will be of no real use in the ordinary things of which human life is made. We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.
October 1: We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there.... We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain....We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something.... The moments on the mountaintop are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.
October 2: After every time of exaltation, we are brought down with a sudden rush into things as they really are, where it is neither beautiful, poetic, nor thrilling. The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed. Most of us can do things if we are always at some heroic level of intensity, simply because of the natural selfishness of our own hearts. But God wants us to be at the drab everyday level, where we live in the valley according to our personal relationship with Him.
October 3: When you are brought face to face with a difficult situation and nothing happens externally, you can still know that freedom and release will be given because of your continued concentration on Jesus Christ. Your duty in service and ministry is to see that there is nothing between Jesus and yourself....Then that very problem itself, and all that you have been through in connection with it, will glorify Jesus Christ in a way that you will never know until you see Him face to face.
October 4: Thank God for being able to see all that you have not yet been. You have had the vision, but you are not yet to the reality of it by any means. It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to relax on the mountaintop and live in the memory of the vision, then we will be of no real use in the ordinary things of which human life is made. We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Love is....
I just received this in an email from a friend and just had to post it. I just love what it says. So here it is:
THE BEST EXPRESSION OF LOVE IS TIME
The importance of things can be measured by how much time we are willing to invest in them. The more time you give to something, the more you reveal its importance and value to you. If you want to know a person's priorities, just look at how they use their time.
Time is your most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it. You can make more money, but you can't make more time. When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you'll never get back. Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.
It is not enough just to say relationships are important: we must prove it by investing time in them. Words alone are worthless. "My children, our love should not be just words and talk: it must be true love, which shows itself in action". Relationships take time and effort and the best way to spell love is "T-I-M-E."
The essence of love is not what we think or do or provide for others, but how much we give of ourselves. Men, in particular, often don't understand this. Many have said to me, "I don't understand my wife and kids. I provide everything they need. What more could they want?" They want you! Your eyes, your ears, your time, your attention, your presence, your focus, your time. Nothing can take the place of that.
The most desired gift of love is not diamonds or roses or chocolate. It is focused attention. Love concentrates so intently on another that you forget yourself at that moment. Attention says, "I value you enough to give you my most precious asset-my time". Whenever you give your time, you are making a sacrifice, and sacrifice is the essence of love. Jesus modeled this: "Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave Himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins."
You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving , "God so loved the world that he gave...." Love means giving up-yielding my preferences, comfort, goals, security, money, energy, or time for the benefit of someone else.
THE BEST TIME TO LOVE IS NOW
Why is now the best time to express love? Because you don't know how long you will have the opportunity. Circumstances change. People die. Children grow up. You have no guarantee of tomorrow. If you want to express love, you had better do it now.
The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.
And the best is: GOD is LOVE!!
THE BEST EXPRESSION OF LOVE IS TIME
The importance of things can be measured by how much time we are willing to invest in them. The more time you give to something, the more you reveal its importance and value to you. If you want to know a person's priorities, just look at how they use their time.
Time is your most precious gift because you only have a set amount of it. You can make more money, but you can't make more time. When you give someone your time, you are giving them a portion of your life that you'll never get back. Your time is your life. That is why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.
It is not enough just to say relationships are important: we must prove it by investing time in them. Words alone are worthless. "My children, our love should not be just words and talk: it must be true love, which shows itself in action". Relationships take time and effort and the best way to spell love is "T-I-M-E."
The essence of love is not what we think or do or provide for others, but how much we give of ourselves. Men, in particular, often don't understand this. Many have said to me, "I don't understand my wife and kids. I provide everything they need. What more could they want?" They want you! Your eyes, your ears, your time, your attention, your presence, your focus, your time. Nothing can take the place of that.
The most desired gift of love is not diamonds or roses or chocolate. It is focused attention. Love concentrates so intently on another that you forget yourself at that moment. Attention says, "I value you enough to give you my most precious asset-my time". Whenever you give your time, you are making a sacrifice, and sacrifice is the essence of love. Jesus modeled this: "Be full of love for others, following the example of Christ who loved you and gave Himself to God as a sacrifice to take away your sins."
You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving , "God so loved the world that he gave...." Love means giving up-yielding my preferences, comfort, goals, security, money, energy, or time for the benefit of someone else.
THE BEST TIME TO LOVE IS NOW
Why is now the best time to express love? Because you don't know how long you will have the opportunity. Circumstances change. People die. Children grow up. You have no guarantee of tomorrow. If you want to express love, you had better do it now.
The best use of life is love. The best expression of love is time. The best time to love is now.
And the best is: GOD is LOVE!!
Cracked Lenses
I seriously love the way GOD speaks through reading. As I was writing an update to my email list (you all reading this) I took time out to have my quiet time last night. I really liked Our Daily Bread for October 3, 2007. You can click on the link to the right and read it in its entirety if you'd like, but this is what stuck out to me in this place I feel I am in presently.
In life, pain often functions like cracked lenses. It creates within us a conflict between what we experience and what we believe....As we turn our eyes to the Lord in times of pain and struggle, we will experience His comfort and hope in our daily lives. He will help us to see everything clearly again.
—Bill Crowder
In life, pain often functions like cracked lenses. It creates within us a conflict between what we experience and what we believe....As we turn our eyes to the Lord in times of pain and struggle, we will experience His comfort and hope in our daily lives. He will help us to see everything clearly again.
—Bill Crowder
Monday, October 01, 2007
"I don't know"
On Friday, I desperately needed and WANTED to hear from GOD. At times, I don't feel like I am doing all that great since returning home. It seems like more days are struggles than are not. It is really a million things that are going on in my head and heart at the moment. And as much as I hate that old saying "I don't know"..............well, that is what is true right now in my life. I hate this saying because it is really saying "I don't want to go there....so I don't know." I truly do not know what is going on in my life at the moment and that is most of the problem. I don't know why I am struggling and that two or three days a week seem rough emotionally.
Why is it I start crying for no reason. Life is good in some aspects and a hard struggle in others. However, this is nothing new or different, especially for me. Life is always like this. I actually had a friend recently say she didn't know how I did it, because just being my friend was exhausting enough. I knew exactly what it was she was saying.
So back to my original thought, GOD speaking to me when I so desperately Wanted and needed HIM too. I opened up "God Calling" after I so cried out to HIM and here is what I read and felt HE was speaking to me.
Beloved, you are called to save and share in a very special way. The way of sorrows if walked with Me, the Man of Sorrows, is a path kept sacred and secret for My nearest and dearest, those whose one desire is to do all for Me, to sacrifice all for Me, to count, as My servant Paul did, "all things but loss so that they might gain Me." But, dreary as that Path must look to those who view it only from afar, it has tender lights and restful shades that no other walk in life can give.
I have wanted to write all weekend, but without my computer it is hard to do so whenever I have a thought or want too. Then today, I reread something I received from a friend recently. It is a poem, thoughts she wrote and I just feel like sharing them here with this message.
Do you look life in the eyes
do you look life in the eyes
or do you shy away
from yourself and it
for what it really is
life is one though
dreary long road
but in between
the struggles and
pain and disappointments
there are rays of hope
grace and love
these can be found in the
simple things
like a beautiful sunset,
the clouds on a clear day
the hug of a good friend
the voice of someone familiar
do you accept your
life for what it is
an opportunity for God
to grow your heart and your spirit
and do you Cherish the opportunity
to share your life with people
you meet along the way.
search your heart, search for light and when you find it be the mirror that reflects it to a broken and burdened world. Love always, Vibeke
I read this and then "Living the Message" for today, which said:
Jeremiah did not resolve to stick it out for twenty-three years, no matter what; he got up every morning with the sun. The day was God's day, not the people's. He didn't get up to face rejection, he got up to meet with God. He didn't rise to put up with another round of mockery, he rose to be with his Lord. That is the secret of his persevering pilgrimage- not thinking with dread about the long road ahead but greeting the present moment, every present moment, with obedient delight, with expectant hope: "My heart is ready!"
This is true for me presently and I am reminded that we all go through different seasons of life at different times. I am just in a season right now. I do have JOY and Peace in my heart........I just don't feel 'happy' a couple days a week. I do wish I knew why. But maybe right now I am not suppose to know why. GOD knows I am not afraid to go deep, so I am not just using 'I don't know' as an excuse. I am ready and willing to go there, where ever there is. I am very ready to 'pick up my mat and go' as Matthew 9:6 talks about and a friend shared so wonderfully. I am also ready just to REST in the place GOD has me at the moment. Who says that we have to be 'happy' all the time. I will REST in this season that the LORD has placed me in. It is about being present in the moment, seizing it for all it has, whether that moment is good or bad I want to be fully present in it.
A line from the movie, "Notting Hill", comes to mind. It is where Julia Roberts stands in front of Hugh Grant and says: "I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her." It is where I feel I am at, but it is not standing in front of a boy. It is me standing in front of JESUS and saying, "I am just a little girl, standing at the foot of the cross, asking HIM to take me in HIS arms and never letting go."
Why is it I start crying for no reason. Life is good in some aspects and a hard struggle in others. However, this is nothing new or different, especially for me. Life is always like this. I actually had a friend recently say she didn't know how I did it, because just being my friend was exhausting enough. I knew exactly what it was she was saying.
So back to my original thought, GOD speaking to me when I so desperately Wanted and needed HIM too. I opened up "God Calling" after I so cried out to HIM and here is what I read and felt HE was speaking to me.
Beloved, you are called to save and share in a very special way. The way of sorrows if walked with Me, the Man of Sorrows, is a path kept sacred and secret for My nearest and dearest, those whose one desire is to do all for Me, to sacrifice all for Me, to count, as My servant Paul did, "all things but loss so that they might gain Me." But, dreary as that Path must look to those who view it only from afar, it has tender lights and restful shades that no other walk in life can give.
I have wanted to write all weekend, but without my computer it is hard to do so whenever I have a thought or want too. Then today, I reread something I received from a friend recently. It is a poem, thoughts she wrote and I just feel like sharing them here with this message.
Do you look life in the eyes
do you look life in the eyes
or do you shy away
from yourself and it
for what it really is
life is one though
dreary long road
but in between
the struggles and
pain and disappointments
there are rays of hope
grace and love
these can be found in the
simple things
like a beautiful sunset,
the clouds on a clear day
the hug of a good friend
the voice of someone familiar
do you accept your
life for what it is
an opportunity for God
to grow your heart and your spirit
and do you Cherish the opportunity
to share your life with people
you meet along the way.
search your heart, search for light and when you find it be the mirror that reflects it to a broken and burdened world. Love always, Vibeke
I read this and then "Living the Message" for today, which said:
Jeremiah did not resolve to stick it out for twenty-three years, no matter what; he got up every morning with the sun. The day was God's day, not the people's. He didn't get up to face rejection, he got up to meet with God. He didn't rise to put up with another round of mockery, he rose to be with his Lord. That is the secret of his persevering pilgrimage- not thinking with dread about the long road ahead but greeting the present moment, every present moment, with obedient delight, with expectant hope: "My heart is ready!"
This is true for me presently and I am reminded that we all go through different seasons of life at different times. I am just in a season right now. I do have JOY and Peace in my heart........I just don't feel 'happy' a couple days a week. I do wish I knew why. But maybe right now I am not suppose to know why. GOD knows I am not afraid to go deep, so I am not just using 'I don't know' as an excuse. I am ready and willing to go there, where ever there is. I am very ready to 'pick up my mat and go' as Matthew 9:6 talks about and a friend shared so wonderfully. I am also ready just to REST in the place GOD has me at the moment. Who says that we have to be 'happy' all the time. I will REST in this season that the LORD has placed me in. It is about being present in the moment, seizing it for all it has, whether that moment is good or bad I want to be fully present in it.
A line from the movie, "Notting Hill", comes to mind. It is where Julia Roberts stands in front of Hugh Grant and says: "I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her." It is where I feel I am at, but it is not standing in front of a boy. It is me standing in front of JESUS and saying, "I am just a little girl, standing at the foot of the cross, asking HIM to take me in HIS arms and never letting go."
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