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[IronInsanity]

Thanks for taking the time to post these ATW. God's Word never returns void

[AllTheWay]

PRAISE

"let everything that has breath praise the LORD. praise the LORD!" psalm 150:6


the last verse of the book of psalms. i think that it is probably the most repeated command in all of scripture. praise the LORD! it is nurishiment to our spiritual bodies. like food is to our physical bodies, praise is to our spiritual body. we need it for proper growth! we need to be constantly feeding our spirit with worship to God! jenna pants has been a part of the clinic for over a year and many of you have read about her many times. she is an incredible person, simple and pure and hard working. she finished vet tech school in may and started working the first of june. jenn and i were so excited about her working for us because she gave 110% and never whined or complained. jenna worked for us as an intern last summer and by the end of the summer she had grown so much and was doing an amazing job. this year though she has struggled with the simplest of tasks. she has been very defensive and lacked her usual happy demeanor. she hasnt remembered much of what we have tried to teach her and she shuffles around the clinic like she doesnt want to be there. i have thought a lot of about it and really dwelt on it over the weekend. i discussed it with jenn yesterday morning and told her that i thought jenna pants didnt want to be there and she didnt care about the job. jenn agreed and we talked about what we should do. i love jenna pants like she is part of my family. i pulled her into the office after surgeries yesterday morning and asked her if she wanted to be there and do the job. she was visibly shocked and taken aback. she said that she was giving 110% and she loved what she did. i laid out my thoughts and my observations and she apologized and said she didnt know what was wrong but she was tired all the time and her hands shook. we went out and tested her blood glucose and she was low. jenna was raised on coke. in her family they dont drink water, they only drink coke, fully loaded coke. she is a little bit taller than me and weighs 110#. she stopped drinking coke the first of the year but because she hates to eat (which i think she is crazy ) she is running on empty all the time. i have tried to get her to eat more during the day but she says she isnt hungry. she doesnt have the body reserves to not eat. she has pretty much used up every extra ounce of muscle that she has and she has no fat and her body is starving to death. because of the lack of nutrition she has no focus and no ability to remember and no strength to do her job correctly. that is us when we arent praising God! we are spiritually starving to death! it is the praise and worship of God that refreshes our spirit and nurishes us in our walk! why else are we told over and over and over to praise the LORD? if it wasnt vital to our spiritual walk God wouldnt have put it in His word over and over again! for most of us it doesnt come natural, we dont desire it. like jenna pants doesnt want to eat, she has to force herself to do it to stay alive. we need to make ourselves praise God to stay alive! it might be forced at first but the more we do it the more we crave it because it makes us feel so much better! if i can ever get jenna pants to start eating she will want to do it because she will feel the difference in her body and want more of that. if you arent praising God continually you are depriving your spirit of life giving nutritents! Jesus, thank you that you make it so easy for us to praise you! you pour yourself out on us but we have to make the effort to eat and drink of you! forgieve me for when i fill my flesh with praise of the world and not praise of you! fill me with desire to praise you. i want to crave praise! you are worthy of all my praise and all my time and all my effort!

[AllTheWay]

song of the day

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Proverbs

"trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil. it will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones." proverbs 3:5-8


proverbs, i love being in proverbs. there are 31 chapters in the book of proverbs, that is one chapter for every day of the month. for the past several months the monchers and i have read the corresponding chapter for the day every night before bed. it never gets old and it is a great way to teach ones children great wisdom!

trust in the LORD and do not lean on your own understanding. how often do we do things based on what we feel or what we think? each of my marriages started out with me relying on my understanding and my feelings and not on what God had to say. neither husband was a believer and yet i rationalized that it would be ok. i thought i had it figured out. i thought i was smart enough to work around the fact that they werent believers. had i acknowledged God i would have said to myself, the bible says do NOT be unequally yoked, therefore debbie, it doesnt matter what you feel or how good the relationship appears, it is NOT what God would have for you. how hard is that? it isnt but we want what we want and we then rely on what we can put together as some kind of rationalization to make it all work, we rely on our own understanding. we are wise in our own eyes, we think we can go against Gods word and still make it all ok. we arent fearing the LORD. believe me, i know, i have said it all, thought it all, rationalized it all and it basically comes down to the fact that we lack the fear and we think we can get around the consequences! we think we can outsmart God. it reminds me of the monchers, they always do things and then think that i wont notice. they arent allowed to have food or drink in the livingroom. they spend a lot of time at the house while i am at the office and they of course take food and drink into the livingroom. so when they spill the juice all over the floor and try to clean it up, they think that they are getting away with it. the problem is that there is tons of smeared juice on the floor and it is very sticky and as soon as i walk in and stick to the floor, i know that they have had food and drink in the livingroom. in their eyes, they have gotten away with it until i come home and the mess is still there. in our lives, we think that we are getting away with sin. we think that we can cover it up or clean it up or hide it from God. the problem is that sin ALWAYS leaves a mess. it always leaves a stain in our lives that will not go away until we get on our knees before Christ and allow His blood to cleanse us! the monchers get disciplined in hopes that they will fear the consequences of taking food and drink into the livingroom. when we sin we suffer the consequences of that sin! choose to sin, choose to suffer. we we get tired of suffering and turn to God and acknowledge Him in everything we do, and i mean everything, life is so much better! living for God is a second by second thing. we are faced with choices and decisions every second of everyday. everything that comes out of our mouth or the ends of our fingers, our thoughts, the way we dress, what we allow our minds to think upon, what we allow our ears to hear or our eyes to see. EVERYTHING should go through the God filter. we need to stop thinking that we can get away with it and start realizing that every little sin brings death to our body and every choice we make to turn from evil brings healing and refreshment! Jesus, thank you for never ever ever going back on your promises. EVERY time i turn from evil and choose your ways over evil, i am blessed and my life is exponentially better! the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life! thank you for that gift, thank you that i can freely recieve of it when i turn from my sins! more of you and less of me!

[AllTheWay]

Wisdom

"I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and i find knowledge and discretion. the fear of LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way, and the perverted mouth i hate. counsel is mine and sound wisdom; i am understanding, power is mine. by me kings reign, and rulers decree justice. by me princes rule, and nobles, all who judge rightly. i love those who love me; and those who diligently seek me wil find me." proverbs 8:12-17


a very long prayer of mine has been one of asking for wisdom. give me wisdom LORD, fill me with your wisdom, i need wisdom. it is a great prayer but it is an action, not just something that falls upon us! we are to diligently seek wisdom! action! it is just like desiring to have a better body. just wanting it will not get us a better and more fit body. just wanting wisdom is not going to get us any wiser! wisdom comes by action, by way of fear of the LORD which is hating evil, pride, arrogance, and the perverted mouth. let me tell you, it takes a lot of hard work to hate those things because they are all apart of us. pride, pride is a huge root in all of us that i think most of our sin stems from! it is like the stubborn fat that we all try so hard to get rid of! pride, the fat of life! to rid ourselves of unwanted fat we have to work very hard at our diet and cardio! we need to ramp up our metabolism. we need to dedicate ourselves to eating less and working more. to get rid of pride in our life, we need to work very hard. that doesnt mean that we put ourselves down and say that we are losers. getting rid of pride means exposing it! it is like when you come to the realization that it is nobodys fault but your own that you have too much fat. one eats too much and fat results. we are prideful because we feed into the worlds sins. we are eating at the wrong table! the world tells you that it is all about you! you need to do this for you! you need to watch out for number one! make yourself happy! when we feed at that table we are fat with pride! the table of wisdom is about others! a new commandment i give to you, love one another! john 14:34. when we feed at the table of wisdom we put others first. we look at everything we do and we say, "why did i say that?" pride, i wanted to make myself feel better or look better. "why did i get angry?" pride, i am angry because i screwed up and i dont want to make mistakes and it makes me angry so i blame others. "why did

[IronInsanity]

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom

Excellent post today ATW.

[AllTheWay]

Stupid

"whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid." proverbs 12:1

how many of us hate to be wrong? how many hatet to be corrected? how many of us will immediately come up with an excuse for what we did instead of admiting that maybe it wasnt the brightest or best thing? i do this almost daily! it is an area that i have grown much in. even as close as 2 or 3 years ago i could not be wrong! amazing isnt it, that i would never be wrong. if i had done something wrong then i would blame it on someone else or something else but i would never take responsibility for being wrong! the bible tells me that i am stupid when i do that and it is right on! my pride wells up greatly within me when i have done something stupid and trouble results. it is the pride within me that doesnt want to be wrong, it doesnt want to admit that maybe im not as good as i think i am or maybe i didnt spend enough time preparing so i wasnt as good as i should have been. pride makes me stupid! it is a pretty simple connection between the two. whoever loves disciplin loves understanding. stop for a sec and think of how much more you would learn and understand if instead of immediately coming up with an excuse for ones mistake if you listened, made mental notes, asked how to do it better and actually learned something? it drives me crazy as an employer when one of my staff has not done something or done something wrong and when i go to talk to them about it before i even get finished they are already blaming someone else or coming up with an excuse for why they did what they did. fact of the matter, it doesnt matter why they did it, it was wrong! i dont care why you did it that way, i didnt ask you why you did it that way. we do the same thing to God with our sin. we sit in church and are convicted by the message or we are reading the word and it is dissecting out sin in our life and instead of repenting and acknowledging that we are wrong, we immediately let our pride well up and we start telling God why we are doing what we are doing. "God, i know im not supposed to be in this relationship but im just so lonely and i know that i can change him and he really really loves me." "God, i know i am supposed to tithe but the bills are really big right now and i just dont have any money and we have to go eat after church." "God, i know im not supposed to be flirting with this person but i dont mean anything by it. it is just harmless play, i mean it makes me feel good and my wife wont ever know. nothing will happen." it doesnt matter the sin, we always come up with an excuse for it and it makes us stupid! and i dont know about you but i HATE being seen as stupid! there are no good excuses for sin in our life. we are stupid when we keep it in and keep God out! i dont want to be stupid any longer. i still struggle with this but it is an area that i am growing in and changing in! i want to be wise and i want great understanding! Jesus, forgive me for my excuses. there is no good or right excuse, only you are perfect! everytime i fall or sin there is an opportunity to learn and to be wiser if i will take responsibility for my actions and listen to your reproof! grow me in this area. fill me with your wisdom and open my eyes to understand!

[AllTheWay]

"the one despises the word will be in debt to it but the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded." proverbs 13:13

"He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD, but he who is crooked in his ways despises Him." proverbs 14:2

"the fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death." proverbs 14:27

"the eyes of the LORD are in every place, watching the evil and the good." proverbs 15:3

"better is a little with the fear of the LORD, than great treasure and turmoil with it." proverbs 15:16

"by lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned, and by the fear of the LORD one keeps away from evil. when a mans ways are pleasing to the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him." proverbs 16:6-7



proverbs has such great wisdom in it! it addresses so much that we need to know and understand for a life that is walked according to the word. FEAR of the LORD, it is something that i have written much about. i am very blessed because i was raised in a household where i was taught fear and respect of my parents and elders. the fear of the LORD is very natural to me. even now as a 39yo adult, i fear getting into trouble. i dont want to be against authority of any kind. it is a very good thing to instill in ones children! todays children dont fear anything, there is too much love and warm fuzzies and not enough discipline and demand of respect. why is it that people dont fear? do you fear the LORD? do you understand the greatness that is to be had by fearing the LORD? there was about a 20 year period of my life where i didnt really fear the LORD that much. i was living in the world and i had God in a box that said "in case of emergency, break glass and pray." i did what i wanted for the most part. i wasnt completely out there, i was raised to fear the LORD but i had added so much of the worlds rationalization to my life that i had pretty much come up with a good excuse for all my sin. it is easy to do. im going to live with this man out of wedlock because i need to make sure it is going to work and i want to have sex so if im living with him than it is kind of like being married but than if it doesnt work out then i wont have to go through divorce and so this is better. im going to have this relationship with an unbeliever because i can change them, i mean, they believe in God kind of. i can handle it. do you know what the biggest problem was? i wasnt in the word, i wasnt going to church regularly, i wasnt seeking God, i wasnt actively fearing the consequences of my sin! the world tells us that it doesnt matter. the world tells us that everybody is doing it. the world tells us that it is 2000 years since the bible was written and it doesnt really work for us today. the world tells us to live in sin and just go to church and ask for forgiveness every now and then. LIES! the bible is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword! it is on point as much if not more so for todays world as it was the day it was written! FEAR, that is what we lack in todays world, in our lives! how is your life today? are you on the rationalization wagon? look at what we are promised if we fear the LORD, we will be rewarded, the fountain of life, peace with our enemies, these are just a few of the great things that we get for living according to the word! the eyes of the LORD see everything! you cant rationalize or hide your sin from Him! there is such peace no matter the storm when we are living according to the word and fearing the LORD. it is like a hedge of protection around us! keeping us from harm and the plans of the evil one. do you get that, so much of our pain in life is caused by our sin because the enemy is roaming the earth seeking who he may devour. when you arent fearing the LORD you are easy prey for the enemy! Jesus, thank you for showing me that life according to your word is SO much better than life according to the world! thank you for the peace that is within me as i spend each day striving to live for you! i fear no evil because i fear you and that protects me and places me next to you! you are ALL i need Jesus!

[AllTheWay]

the fool



"a fool does not delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own mind." proverbs 18:2

"He who gives an answer before he hears, it is folly and shame to him." proverbs 18:13

"keeping away from strife is an honor for a man, but any fool will quarrel." proverbs 20:3


much of my life was spent being a fool. pride makes us very foolish. when i was younger, i had to be right. i would argue stuff that had no significance and didnt matter just so that i could prove that i was right and the other person was wrong. i didnt care really what else was being said, i just wanted to be right. this is something that is part of our sin nature and shows in our lives very early. i see it in my monchers already even though they are only 6 and 7. emma hates to be wrong. if she says something that isnt right and i correct her she immediately starts with some defense or says that that is what she meant. all throughout proverbs it talks about the fool! fools allow pride to control their life. i no longer desire to be a fool. it has been a hard transition to make. it has taken a lot of effort to change this nature within me. a fool just wants to get out what they think. how many times in conversations with people or in exchanges over the internet do we jump to conclusions and give our thoughts without knowing all the information? someone starts talking and before they are done you interrupt and give your opinion? how many of us on the internet have taken offense to some post and left some long defense only to find out that we misread the post or the intent of the poster? i must say to my shame that i have done it many times. i have read posts and given my opinion because i want to be right and to prove them wrong and it turns out that what they were talking about is completely different than i had thought or that they are right and i am wrong! i have learned the hard way to walk away. or we read a post and have to write something just for the sake of arguing. we are in conversation and someone says something that doesnt really matter and yet we have to make our opinion about the subject known. how much or our lives and energy are wasted being upset about things that dont matter? when i went to visit my folks in june my mom and i were talking and she asked something about my old nanny who is getting married next week. she was my nanny for 3 years and she got pregnant and has lived with the father of the baby for a few years now and they are now getting married. mom went off on how it really bothered her that they were having a big wedding because they had been living together already. instead of letting mom say her mind and moving on, i had to argue with her about what i thought. the ending result was that neither of us changed the mind of the other, we just ruined our conversation. that is what fools do! in the grand scheme of things, what does it matter? was the discussion that big of a deal? did my thoughts really make a difference? no, my mom is going to continue to think as she does and im going to continue to think my way. it is very hard to realize when we are being a fool! i can tell you that i am working hard at being better about this, not perfect in it but working towards doing it less. when i read a post on the internet and i feel my defenseses rising, i try to stop and think, where will this lead to? does the end result even matter to my life? am i going to make any kind of difference by arguing this point? will my mood be ruined? how much of my energy is going to be taken up with a fight that means nothing? i try to do the same in my converstions with people. if someone says something that i dont agree with, i try and weigh the sides before giving my thoughts. is it something that is actually meaningful? will the end results of the discussion make a difference in the other persons thinking? can i prove my point without getting upset? fools speak before thinking, fools have to get their opinion known, fools argue just for the sake of arguing! i dont want to be a fool! Jesus, thank you that you have shown me that i am often a fool! thank you for helping me to change this! i dont want to be the fool but rather i desire to be a person of understanding! help me to consider all conversations, whether in person or online and not play the fool but rather be wise!

[AllTheWay]

Wealth?


"do not weary yourself to gain wealth, cease from your consideration of it. when you set your eyes on it, it is gone. for wealth certainly makes itself wings, like an eagle that flies toward the heavens." proverbs 23:4-5

as a kid growing up, we didnt have much. thankfully i was raised by parents who worked hard and taught us to work hard for what we had. we didnt accept government help, we did without the extras that some people had. it was a great way to grow up. as i became an adult, i was not so good with money as my parents were. im not entirely sure what happened there other than i was too lazy and living too much in the world to live within my means. i spent every penny i had and more. when i graduated from vet school, i was married to someone who spent WAY more than we had and my habits got even worse. this trend continued for much of my adult life. i got caught up in trying to prove that i was somebody by the money i spent getting stuff to show my success! it is so stupid, as i look back on it. i was driven by the desire to be better than those around me. i wanted to be a big fish in a small pond. a total pride condition! but as the word says, wealth or the preception of it, can leave very quickly! I was doing a mobile practice and working on race horses for the people who had lots of money. at the end of one day i would have anywhere from $5-15,000 depending on the races that were coming up. i had a hummer in smallville and i wore expensive clothes but i was really miserable. i didnt spend much time dwelling on it but i was always concerned with how i was going to get all the bills paid. i was barely scraping by even though by the outside it looked like i was living the american dream! stuff and more stuff. thankfully during this time is when i came back to Christ. God got ahold of me and had started working things around in my life. difficult things and difficult times. it isnt anything that i would want to go through again but i am glad that i went through it. i had to learn the hard way that money couldnt buy me anything except pain and heartache. i had to humble myself greatly! i got rid of things that i had and made excuses as to why. my life now, is very simple. i have things. God isnt against us having things. i have a nice house and a nice car but the difference is that my life doesnt revolve around getting more stuff. i dont lay in bed at night wondering how i can make more money to buy this toy or take this trip. i go to bed at night and sleep. thats pretty much it. i pay my tithe every week, tithe on the business and my personal tithe. when the Lord says give, i give! when He says no, i dont. i live by the Spirit within me. my life isnt consumed with money. if one were to ask me what i made, i wouldnt know the answer. it isnt improtant to me. i know that as long as i put God first, He will take care of me! He doesnt promise me a new anything but He promises to meet my basic needs. food, clothing and shelter. and i am content with it! it is a fabulous place to be! are you striving to get more money so you can buy more stuff? are you sleeping peaceful at night? Jesus, thank you that you took me down a very rough and difficult road to teach me that money cant buy me happiness. thank you that you have provided for all my needs! thank you that as i listen and obey you and give to your kingdom, you bless me with a peace that is way more valuable than all the gold and money in the world!

[IronInsanity]

Another great topic ATW. The love of money truly is the root of all evil.

[AllTheWay]

Wicked and hateful

"like an earthen vessel overlaid with silver dross are burning lips and a wicked heart. he who hates disguises it with his lips, but he lays up deceit in his heart. when he speaks graciously, do not believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart. though his hatred covers itself with guile, his wickedness will be revealed before the assembly. he who digs a pit will fall into it, and he who rolls a stone, it will come back to him. a lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth works ruin." proverbs 26:23-28


i am not in any way a perfect christian. i struggle each and every day against sin and wrong desires. it is our nature and it is a fight to overcome it. but i do not accept the fact that i am a sinner and allow it to rule my life. one of my favorite sayings is 'if your faith isnt changing you it isnt saving you." think about that for a minute. are you the still struggling with the same repeated sin in your life? have you made strides to overcoming it? there are sins that i struggle with daily but each day that i deny them, i struggle with them less. it is like the itch that wont go away. if you itch it, it gets worse. if you keep yourself from itching it then it heals. in dogs there is a condition called a lick granuloma, usually it starts out as a small sore and the dog licks it and the more they lick it the more it bothers then the more they lick and it gets bigger and they lick more and it never heals. lying and hate are very much like the lick granuloma. the more we do them the more they consume us. i had an employee whose whole life was built around lies. pretty much every thing that came out of her mouth was a lie. she didnt want to face the truth of why her life was the way it was. she didnt want to admit that she was at fault. so she developed some story where nothing was her fault and it was always everyone elses fault. she had these incredible stories about things that had happened to her and things that she had done, none of them the real truth. in her mind, these lies were the truth. so deep was her deception that it consumed her. the problem with this is it is like digging a deep pit. she had made this huge hole that was filled with lies. every lie dug it deeper. the problem is that eventually the pit became so big that she fell into it. it was so consuming that she couldnt get away from it. she lost a great job and some very good friends because of her lies. she had everything that she could have asked for and yet because she was unable to be honest with herself and those in her life, she lost it all. when we build our life around lies and hatred of others, nothing good ever comes from it. we always lose, we always get crushed by it! lies and hate cant save us, they destroy us! i used to struggle much with covering up my failings by blaming others! it is a pride issue, it is laziness, it is self deceit! no one can mess up your life but you and no lie will change that, it only makes it worse. each lie is like the stroke of the dogs tongue on the sore. it makes it worse and harder to heal. we all need to start taking responsibility for where we are in our life. Jesus, thank you for showing me that nothing good comes from lying and living in deceit. thank you for helping me to be honest with not only myself but with others in my life. i am not perfect and i never will be but i cant make any strides in that direction if i dont expose it and start changing it! it isnt about me Lord, it has to be about you! no excuses!

[AllTheWay]

Wise and fool

"when a wise man has a controversy with a foolish man, the foolish man either rages or laughs, and there is no rest. men of bloodshed hate the blameless, but the upright are concerned for his life. a fool always loses his temper, but a wise man holds it back." proverbs 29:9-11

many times in my life i was the fool. i was so quick to get angry and to speak out against whomever i was angry at. someone would do something to me and i would lash out and try to bring them down. as i have grown in my walk with the LORD, this is an area in which He has worked greatly within me and i am very thankful for. i dont want to be the fool! i dont want to do anything that makes those around me think that i am stupid or foolish. when controversy arises the fool is the vocal one. the fool is the one who lashes out! the fool speaks his mind and makes sure that everyone knows his thoughts. the fool tells anyone who will listen. "so and so did this and can you believe that that bitch is doing this or did this to me. i hate that person, they did this or they did that! that guy is such a loser, he is so stupid!" words of a fool are always bitter and driven by pride. think about it for a few minutes. when we have a confrontation with someone, generally we have some fault, if not a lot of fault, in the matter. i think the degree of anger and hate that we have is directly proportional to the amount of fault that we have. the wise man holds back and the fool loses his temper. i have struggled with pride my entire life. it used to be that if i had screwed up and someone confronted me, i would immediately get angry and blame the other person. example, i misdiagnosis a animal, for whatever the reason, i was too busy or i didnt ask the right questions or i wasnt paying enough attention, i didnt give it my all and the animal died. the owner gets angry and yells and screams. it used to be that i would have gone to the back and said, well if they had been a good owner than they would have brought the dog in sooner and would have seen that it was sick and it is all their fault. now i go to the back and instead of blaming the owner, i consider my part in it. usually i am angry at myself but i will tell my staff, i should have done this or i should have asked this or i was in too big of a hurry and i missed this. it isnt easy. the owner is mad because they lost their pet but also because they have guilt for not doing something earlier but that doesnt mean that i havent done something wrong as well. it is the ability to sit back and look at everyones role in a situation and say, yes, this is bad and they waited too long to bring it in but i should have done this and maybe things would have been different. that is what makes someone wise. the fool is the one who gets mad at the other person and blames everything on them! the bible has nothing good to say about the fool! i have been a fool enough, it is time to be wise. Jesus, thank you for you word. so much i have to learn and understand. open my eyes and my heart to know your truth! thank you for changing me from the foolish to the wise. continue this within me! the humble will be lifted up and proud brought down!

[AllTheWay]

Striving


"for what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. this too is vanity. there is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and tell himself that his labor is good. this also i have seen, that it is from the hand of God. for who can eat and who can have enjoyment without Him? for to a person who is good in His sight He has given widsom and knowledge and joy, while to the sinner He has given the task of gathering and collecting so that he may give to one who is good in God's sight. this too is vanity and striving after the wind."

what is it that you are stiving for? i used to strive for stuff. you know, a new car, more clothes, more worldly possessions. it is the way we are geared for by the world. it tells us that one needs to get more stuff to be happy! the bible tells us that that is stiving after the wind. can one catch the wind? can you gather the wind and hold it? no! nor will having more stuff ever bring joy and happiness. there is no rest when we are striving after the wind. the mind is always thinking of how we are going to pay for it or how we are going to get more of it. how many of us are happy with what we do? how many of us really enjoy our work? i love what i do. i am very blessed to get to do what i love every single day. it isnt really a job or me. but it hasnt always been this way. there were years when it was just a means to the end. it was what i did so that i could get more stuff. i didnt truly love it and live it like i do now. the difference is in my heart. before i was stiving for more stuff, i was striving after the wind. now i am content with what i have. i am happy to eat and drink and not seek to get more. true enjoyment comes from seeking a right relationship with God! when we allow Him to come into our lives and we start the heart transformation and we change from wanting more stuff to wanting more God, that is true joy! that is when we will be filled with wisdom and knowledge! life will go from stiving after the wind to enjoying the simple relationship with God. He has great things for us and yet we get so caught up in the futile desires of the world that we miss all the comforts of God. i never want to go back to chasing the wind, forever i want to sit and eat and enjoy my companionship with God and all that He has for me! Jesus, thank you that there is great peace that is found in a right relationship with you! thank you that you will give us all our heart desires when we give up the world and follow you! forgive me for my doubt and my unbelief! great contentment i have found with you! my life is yours!

[AllTheWay]

God made them all


"in the day of prosperity be happy, but in the day of adversity consider- God has made the one as well as the other so that man may not discover anything that will be after him." ecclesiastes 7:14

we all want to be happy. we all dream of a perfect happy life. a life where everything falls into place and there are no storms and no hard times but it is never that way. so many people think that when they come to Christ that life is going to easy and joyous and there will never be anymore hard times. the christian life is not an easy life. just think of the great reward we have at the end of it, anything worth having takes lots of hard work and effort. if it were easy than everybody would be doing it and the reward would be minimal. i was thinking this morning that each new thing is like a seed planted. the seed, so small and perfect. it seems so simple and yet the flower must break out of the seed. there is a breaking of the outershell as the new growth comes out, it is a painful process. the flower than grows. it doesnt break out and become a beautiful flower, there is a growing process and it isnt easy. many beautiful plants look ragged and awkward during the growing phase and yet at the end, there is much beauty and joy brought. our life is no different. it is not perfect, it is not easy, things dont just fall and then instantly become a beautiful flower. and yet that is what we want and we get upset and angry or hurt when it doesnt happen. this is where faith and trust is built in Christ. God made the good days and He made the bad days. He allows things to come into our life to change us and strengthen us. how would we know anything better if we dont go through some difficult times and some times of leaness and growth? how does the seed become a beautiful flower without a growing season? as children of God we know that His plan is perfect and everything He allows in our life is for a reason. Jesus, thank you that you are growing me and changing me! thank you that you have great things planned for me. open my eyes that i might see the growing phase and understand it instead of dread it! your ways are perfect and i trust you completely!

[AllTheWay]

Our reward

"enjoy life with the woman whom you love all the days of your fleeting life, which He has given to you under the sun; for this is your reward in life, and in your toil in which you have labored under the sun." ecclesiastes 9:9

i have really enjoyed my reading through ecclesiastes this year. it is not a book that i have thought of to contain much pertaining to everyday living but i have thought wrong. it is loaded with great wisdom! this verse really struck me this morning. how many of us think that our reward is the stuff that we acquire? the position we obtain in life? what we accomplish with what we do? our reward is not stuff! it isnt in what we do for a living, it isnt in our possessions, it is the person that is our spouse, the one that we share our life with! if i had fully grasped this concept i would have been a lot pickier in who i had picked for a spouse! we get in such a hurry when we are young to go out and live the american dream. go to school, get a job, get married, have kids, work and get stuff and get more stuff! life isnt about stuff! life is about sharing our life! enjoy life with the woman or man whom you love, for this is your reward! do you get that?! WOW, what a concept! how much different would the marriages of today be if we thought of our spouse as our reward!? if instead of putting all the stuff that you want to acquire first in life, what if you thought about putting that effort into your marriage!? if everyday you did something to work towards a better marriage and not a promotion at work. life isnt about stuff, it is about relationships! the relationships that we have first God and then with our spouse, then our children, then the other people in life! what if instead of putting all our thoughts in efforts into how to get more stuff and a bigger house and a faster car, what if we put that effort into making our spouse feel like they are first in our life after God? we dont need more stuff to enjoy time with someone! how simple it would be if we enjoyed our life and our time with the person closest to us? young people who have yet to be married, look at the person that you are with, will that person be your reward? does being with them bring more joy than the toys that you have acquired? could you be with them for a day with no stuff, just the two of you and be happy and content without doing anything other than just enjoying each others company? we as christians need to stop being in a hurry to fill our spouse position with the first beautiful woman or handsome man that pays us some attention and start thinking of our relationships as the word does! how many less divorces would happen in the church if we stopped and took the time to know what our reward was and then looked at the person we are considering going out with as our reward for life?! are you treating your spouse like the prize of life? are you happy in your relationship? what effort are you putting in to make that other person feel like they are the best thing that could ever happen to you? Jesus, i am so sorry that i spent my life looking at and striving for more stuff as my reward. i am sorry that i chose men who i didnt view as a prize but rather just a part of my life. i want to live my life according to your word and be wise in my relationships! thank you for a man who will be my reward and my daily prize!