This is some of my daughter Linnea's artwork...
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
God can and does use anything and everything to speak to us and move in our lives. It’s such a beautiful, humbling, amazing thing to watch Him work through everyday life and circumstances, and to sense the Divine in the ordinary.
I have struggled with worshiping the idol of my appetite for food my entire life. I started gaining weight when I was 12 and stayed heavy through the rest of my school years. As an adult, my weight has been up and down, with a tendency towards up.
In my head, I understand the multiple priceless benefits of a healthy diet and exercise. What’s even worse is that I really want those many benefits right now and for the future, but the insatiable craving for all things tasty still remains. Twix Bars, cheesecake, pizza, tacos, popcorn, ice cream – I’m ashamed to admit it, but I want the immediate gratification that comes from enjoying these treats even more than I want the many wonderful benefits that would come from abstaining from them.
Last year I read a John Piper message about the renewing of the spirit of the mind, and how God-honoring living springs forth automatically from a mind that is renewed. It is a message that changed my life dramatically, forever and for the better.
A few months ago I started praying that God would renew my eating habits and reset all of my physical appetites by renewing my mind in those areas. I love to fast, and have used fasting successfully as weight control for the last couple of years. But the last six months or so, I haven’t been able to do it. Still, I’ve stubbornly clung to the idea and have rejected any other diet ideas until recently, when God stepped in forcefully to show me another path to follow.
Health problems like cancer and heart disease run in my family anyway, and I had received a disturbing test result at a routine physical recently that got me really thinking about these things. On Sunday, July 6, 2008, during a powerful time of worship at our church, God impressed upon my heart that if I don’t change my health habits, I will probably die young.
The very next day, I received an email from a good friend regarding this topic, in which he suggested several mind-renewing ideas about learning how to eat healthy and take good care of myself. At first when I read it, I thought, sure, I’ll eat healthy, but first I’m going to fast.
But then that Wednesday, at our 7 p.m. home group meeting, we had a time of prayer during which one person would stand in the middle, and everyone else would gather round and pray for them. During that time, people were free and encouraged to share insights, revelations, and observations with the person who was being prayed for. When it was my turn to be prayed for, one of the ladies in the group (an AWESOME prayer warrior) looked right at me and said “God wants you to shelve it. I don’t know what that means, but He wants you to shelve it.”
Immediately when she said that, I knew God was speaking to me through her that He doesn’t want me to fast right now. But almost as immediately, the stubbornness in me argued back and said He couldn’t possibly mean that, He must mean something else.
However, the next morning I couldn’t sleep at about 5 a.m. and was laying in bed praying. I asked God to show me what He meant when He said “shelve it.” And I realized beyond a shadow of a doubt that He wants me to shelve the idea of fasting. I love that He used that word, too, because it means that He doesn’t want me to get rid of the practice of fasting entirely, but that He wants me to put it on a shelf until after I’ve learned how to take care of myself, and to bring it back out at a later time when He tells me to.
That same day, I took my daughter to a local 2nd hand store at her request, and as she was browsing, I went to the book section. I never go to the book section there because there’s no order to the books, but on this day, I felt like there was something there God wanted me to find. And sure enough, on the top rack of books, right in the middle, was a book that jumped out at me called “The Maker’s Diet.” God reached into the river of books in this world and plucked this one out and handed it to me.
So now He’s doing exactly what I wanted Him to do… Through faithful friends and this amazing book, He is renewing my mind in the area of health and food and eating. Thank you, Lord!
I have struggled with worshiping the idol of my appetite for food my entire life. I started gaining weight when I was 12 and stayed heavy through the rest of my school years. As an adult, my weight has been up and down, with a tendency towards up.
In my head, I understand the multiple priceless benefits of a healthy diet and exercise. What’s even worse is that I really want those many benefits right now and for the future, but the insatiable craving for all things tasty still remains. Twix Bars, cheesecake, pizza, tacos, popcorn, ice cream – I’m ashamed to admit it, but I want the immediate gratification that comes from enjoying these treats even more than I want the many wonderful benefits that would come from abstaining from them.
Last year I read a John Piper message about the renewing of the spirit of the mind, and how God-honoring living springs forth automatically from a mind that is renewed. It is a message that changed my life dramatically, forever and for the better.
A few months ago I started praying that God would renew my eating habits and reset all of my physical appetites by renewing my mind in those areas. I love to fast, and have used fasting successfully as weight control for the last couple of years. But the last six months or so, I haven’t been able to do it. Still, I’ve stubbornly clung to the idea and have rejected any other diet ideas until recently, when God stepped in forcefully to show me another path to follow.
Health problems like cancer and heart disease run in my family anyway, and I had received a disturbing test result at a routine physical recently that got me really thinking about these things. On Sunday, July 6, 2008, during a powerful time of worship at our church, God impressed upon my heart that if I don’t change my health habits, I will probably die young.
The very next day, I received an email from a good friend regarding this topic, in which he suggested several mind-renewing ideas about learning how to eat healthy and take good care of myself. At first when I read it, I thought, sure, I’ll eat healthy, but first I’m going to fast.
But then that Wednesday, at our 7 p.m. home group meeting, we had a time of prayer during which one person would stand in the middle, and everyone else would gather round and pray for them. During that time, people were free and encouraged to share insights, revelations, and observations with the person who was being prayed for. When it was my turn to be prayed for, one of the ladies in the group (an AWESOME prayer warrior) looked right at me and said “God wants you to shelve it. I don’t know what that means, but He wants you to shelve it.”
Immediately when she said that, I knew God was speaking to me through her that He doesn’t want me to fast right now. But almost as immediately, the stubbornness in me argued back and said He couldn’t possibly mean that, He must mean something else.
However, the next morning I couldn’t sleep at about 5 a.m. and was laying in bed praying. I asked God to show me what He meant when He said “shelve it.” And I realized beyond a shadow of a doubt that He wants me to shelve the idea of fasting. I love that He used that word, too, because it means that He doesn’t want me to get rid of the practice of fasting entirely, but that He wants me to put it on a shelf until after I’ve learned how to take care of myself, and to bring it back out at a later time when He tells me to.
That same day, I took my daughter to a local 2nd hand store at her request, and as she was browsing, I went to the book section. I never go to the book section there because there’s no order to the books, but on this day, I felt like there was something there God wanted me to find. And sure enough, on the top rack of books, right in the middle, was a book that jumped out at me called “The Maker’s Diet.” God reached into the river of books in this world and plucked this one out and handed it to me.
So now He’s doing exactly what I wanted Him to do… Through faithful friends and this amazing book, He is renewing my mind in the area of health and food and eating. Thank you, Lord!
Friday, July 11, 2008
“…you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.” James 4: 2, 3 (NLT)
“Never stop praying.” 1 Thess 5:17 (NLT)
I’ve been thinking a lot about prayer...
Our church had a 24-hour prayer watch the last weekend in June. It was quite the surreal experience. My mind has been chewing on several ideas ever since.
I used to feel guilty about not setting aside a specific time for prayer every day, as though prayers offered during such times are any more meaningful or powerful than prayers that are offered at any other place or during any other time. My belief now is that the power of prayer is not determined by any given place or time, but the One Who inspires the prayer in the first place.
There are so many things to pray for, that if we made a list of everything there is to pray for, we could spend the rest of our lives in dedicated prayer and still never come to the end of the list. When I make a list and try to pray for the items on it, my prayers feel dead and cold, and usually end up putting me to sleep or just being empty words spoken while my mind wanders to other thoughts.
I believe that when God begins to move in a certain way or a given situation, He usually begins with a move of prayer by planting desire, motivation and vision within His people. But it starts with Him, not with us. We simply respond to the moving of His Spirit.
I am deeply bothered by the way some people pray these days. Claiming things, thanking God in advance, declaring certain outcomes as though those outcomes were already absolute fact. Now, if it is God who has birthed the belief or the faith, that’s a beautiful thing, because all true faith comes from Him anyway and is a gift, not something that we can take any credit for. But if such prayers are motivated by a desire to move the hand of God according to our own will or our own desire or for our own profit or what seems good to us, then that bothers me.
If our “faith” is simply a powerful emotion we’ve stirred up in our own hearts by our own power, our own emotions, our own wishes, our own will, or a belief that doing such will somehow move God’s hand or obligate Him to anything, what good is there in that? I don’t believe God is influenced at all by such things.
I hear people proclaim physical healing as though it were already accomplished, over and over again for years on end. Perhaps it’s not healing we’re supposed to be praying for, or at least not so much. Perhaps what we should pray for instead is more of God Himself and for Him to be glorified in whatever happens in every detail of life.
Perhaps He is not always most glorified by a physical healing. Perhaps sometimes He is most glorified by a person who lives with chronic pain and yet is completely satisfied and joyful in God alone, in spite of the pain and suffering.
Corrie Ten Boom, 5 years before she died, was visited by an angel who told her that she could choose between dying then and going home to Heaven, or she could choose to live on earth for 5 more years, but if she chose that, she would be in pain the entire time.
Her response to this was to ask, “Which one will bring more glory to my Father?”, to which the angel replied that living 5 more years in pain on earth would bring Him the most glory. She chose living with pain 5 more years because that was the option that brought most glory to God.
Think of all of the faithful and faith-filled saints throughout the centuries that have died. Many of them died at a young age of horrible diseases after much suffering. Many of them were prayed for by hundreds, if not thousands, of people, including their own selves.
St. Therese, as she lay dying a painful death from tuberculosis at the age of 24, said that she had reached the end of suffering, because even suffering had become a joy to her. Her entire life, from the age of 15, was purposefully lived for God’s glory.
Was it because these beautiful children of God didn’t have enough faith or because the right words weren’t used when they were being prayed for that these people died? May God have mercy on us for thinking such things. Perhaps it’s because He wanted to bring them into the supreme joy and glory of His presence. Perhaps it’s because they longed for Himself more than anything or anyone on earth, including God’s blessings and promises…
Nearly every time I pray, unless God has laid something specific on my heart already, I always ask Him to pray through me and to let my desires mirror His own. And then, until He leads me to pray for something specific, I pray for things that I know can never be wrong, for myself and others:
For eyes to see Him more clearly.
For ears to hear His voice.
For a heart that treasures Him and loves what He loves.
For understanding and wisdom and the fear of the Lord.
For the ability to trust Him completely and believe everything He says.
For strong faith.
For His perfect will to be accomplished in all things.
For His name to be glorified by every detail of Creation, seen and unseen.
For His fame and renown to reach every corner of the earth.
For His truth to prevail always and in all ways.
These prayers set my heart on fire and fill me with joy and peace indescribable. I know that other people are gifted by God to pray in other ways and for other things. I praise Him for this beautiful diversity and I pray that His people will join together in delighting and rejoicing in the wonder of all of His attributes.
“Never stop praying.” 1 Thess 5:17 (NLT)
I’ve been thinking a lot about prayer...
Our church had a 24-hour prayer watch the last weekend in June. It was quite the surreal experience. My mind has been chewing on several ideas ever since.
I used to feel guilty about not setting aside a specific time for prayer every day, as though prayers offered during such times are any more meaningful or powerful than prayers that are offered at any other place or during any other time. My belief now is that the power of prayer is not determined by any given place or time, but the One Who inspires the prayer in the first place.
There are so many things to pray for, that if we made a list of everything there is to pray for, we could spend the rest of our lives in dedicated prayer and still never come to the end of the list. When I make a list and try to pray for the items on it, my prayers feel dead and cold, and usually end up putting me to sleep or just being empty words spoken while my mind wanders to other thoughts.
I believe that when God begins to move in a certain way or a given situation, He usually begins with a move of prayer by planting desire, motivation and vision within His people. But it starts with Him, not with us. We simply respond to the moving of His Spirit.
I am deeply bothered by the way some people pray these days. Claiming things, thanking God in advance, declaring certain outcomes as though those outcomes were already absolute fact. Now, if it is God who has birthed the belief or the faith, that’s a beautiful thing, because all true faith comes from Him anyway and is a gift, not something that we can take any credit for. But if such prayers are motivated by a desire to move the hand of God according to our own will or our own desire or for our own profit or what seems good to us, then that bothers me.
If our “faith” is simply a powerful emotion we’ve stirred up in our own hearts by our own power, our own emotions, our own wishes, our own will, or a belief that doing such will somehow move God’s hand or obligate Him to anything, what good is there in that? I don’t believe God is influenced at all by such things.
I hear people proclaim physical healing as though it were already accomplished, over and over again for years on end. Perhaps it’s not healing we’re supposed to be praying for, or at least not so much. Perhaps what we should pray for instead is more of God Himself and for Him to be glorified in whatever happens in every detail of life.
Perhaps He is not always most glorified by a physical healing. Perhaps sometimes He is most glorified by a person who lives with chronic pain and yet is completely satisfied and joyful in God alone, in spite of the pain and suffering.
Corrie Ten Boom, 5 years before she died, was visited by an angel who told her that she could choose between dying then and going home to Heaven, or she could choose to live on earth for 5 more years, but if she chose that, she would be in pain the entire time.
Her response to this was to ask, “Which one will bring more glory to my Father?”, to which the angel replied that living 5 more years in pain on earth would bring Him the most glory. She chose living with pain 5 more years because that was the option that brought most glory to God.
Think of all of the faithful and faith-filled saints throughout the centuries that have died. Many of them died at a young age of horrible diseases after much suffering. Many of them were prayed for by hundreds, if not thousands, of people, including their own selves.
St. Therese, as she lay dying a painful death from tuberculosis at the age of 24, said that she had reached the end of suffering, because even suffering had become a joy to her. Her entire life, from the age of 15, was purposefully lived for God’s glory.
Was it because these beautiful children of God didn’t have enough faith or because the right words weren’t used when they were being prayed for that these people died? May God have mercy on us for thinking such things. Perhaps it’s because He wanted to bring them into the supreme joy and glory of His presence. Perhaps it’s because they longed for Himself more than anything or anyone on earth, including God’s blessings and promises…
Nearly every time I pray, unless God has laid something specific on my heart already, I always ask Him to pray through me and to let my desires mirror His own. And then, until He leads me to pray for something specific, I pray for things that I know can never be wrong, for myself and others:
For eyes to see Him more clearly.
For ears to hear His voice.
For a heart that treasures Him and loves what He loves.
For understanding and wisdom and the fear of the Lord.
For the ability to trust Him completely and believe everything He says.
For strong faith.
For His perfect will to be accomplished in all things.
For His name to be glorified by every detail of Creation, seen and unseen.
For His fame and renown to reach every corner of the earth.
For His truth to prevail always and in all ways.
These prayers set my heart on fire and fill me with joy and peace indescribable. I know that other people are gifted by God to pray in other ways and for other things. I praise Him for this beautiful diversity and I pray that His people will join together in delighting and rejoicing in the wonder of all of His attributes.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Happy Birthday to our adorable granddaughter Alexis and our beautiful daughter Kristina. Alexis is Kristina's daughter. She turned four yesterday, July 2, and Kristina will turn 22 on July 8. ~
Alexis is a charming, brilliant, delightful child and I can't wait to see what God has in store for her life. She lives with her great-grandparents on 20 acres in the mountains outside of Colville, so she gets plenty of exercise, fresh air, and exposure to many of the wonders of God's marvelous creation. ~
Kristina is fun and bubbly. She always smiles, loves life, and makes the most of each moment as it comes. Recently she completed a CNA course and passed the state exam with flying colors. She has been working at a care center, which is a perfect job for her, because she loves people and people love her. ~
It is a privilege and blessing to be a part of this family of beautiful people, and I pray that God will continue to knit our hearts and lives together. ~
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