Psalm 143:8, New Living Translation

Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning,
for I am trusting you.
Show me where to walk,
for I give myself to you.

Thank you Lord for a day off! A day to appreciate You and settle down and relax. Turn everything over to you. Stop the stress. Thank You for Your unfailing love each day. I pray that today and all days from here on out I give myself to You and follow Your hand as You lead me and show me where to go. I love You!

Footwashing India

Since the summer is officially over (hello labor day, goodbye white pants and shoes!), and now the countdown has begun for my November 19 departure for India. 73 days!

If you'll remember from my June 2 post, God just dropped this opportunity into my lap from the sky. Also, instead of doing the usual of sending out fundraising letters, I'm praying for the funds and letting the Lord provide. So far, people have responded and blessed me beyond my imagination by providing $1700 of my needed $2500! I'm so encouraged and humbled by the prayer and financial support I'm receiving.

If you're interested in knowing more about the trip, here is a promotional video: Footwashing India

I am honored to be a part of this upcoming trip to India. Thanks for your help.

Proverbs 13:3, The Message

Careful words make for a careful life;
careless talk may ruin everything.

If you know me well, you'll know that I have quickly moved from the faithful Facebook to the trendy Twitter. Take heed of what I say next, I feel it is wise and profound.

I use Facebook for information. (600 friends, mostly people I never see or talk to)
I use Twitter for information. (following 140+, mostly Christian authors/artist whom I don't know)

The information I get on Facebook, for the most part, serves no redeeming purpose.
The resources and encouragement I get on Twitter have been huge blessings the last two weeks.

I realize that Facebook is a weak area for me spiritually. As a self-proclaimed Christ-follower, I want to live more like Christ. And gossip is not Christ-like. Yes, Facebook feeds my gossip and I want it to stop. Having spent hours of clicking on page to profile on Facebook, I only really gain new information to gossip about. "Did you see that so-and-so had a baby?" "I can't believe whats-her-name wore that outfit and was with that guy!"

I'm not saying that Twitter is the saint of social media! On the contrary, I have to intentionally resist the urge to follow the popular and entertaining celebrities as that would feed celebrity gossip and I don't want to be know for my pop culture trivia. I want to be know for my heart for the Lord and my endurance through life to become more like Christ.

I have found hope from pastors I follow on Twitter - some "big names" and some very unknown. I am motivated and encouraged by the authors/writers/artists I follow as I sense their quest for authenticity and "realness" in our culture. I am learning from their work and from their words. I sense a bond with fellow Christians in the trenches of this temporary world as we share and re-tweet each others prayer requests and selected verses for the day. It's truly been such a positive social media experience that I wanted to share about it with you.

It might look different for you than it did for me, but what time-consuming activity are you engaging that has no redeeming value and takes you further away from Godly pursuits?

Psalm 34:11, NIV

"Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD."

When I lived in Ireland, retreats were a priority for the entire staff. Since we were all working in full-time ministry, the need for rest, silence, encouragement, and spiritual nourishment were never ignored. Why do we forsake this need in our lives today?

Maybe I'm wrong and you are good at scheduling yourself frequent get-a-ways that are based around a spiritual retreat concept - but I have a feeling that you're not. I know this because it's an American mindset that we all either have to (a) work continuously to get where we want to be with what we want to have and stopping will only prolong the life we have to have, or (b) we have somehow earned or deserve the right to indulge ourselves with expensive vacations that are filled with activity and, ultimately, hardly relaxing.

This is so backwards, especially for Christians! I believe a spiritual retreat can be no more than a two-hour drive away to sit at a lake and read - or - a "fast" from technology and time of silence so you can hear God. You don't have to physically get away, but you do have to spiritually welcome what God might say - and ask Him to speak.

You might be surprised at the outcome.

I'm excited about my scheduled retreat in two weeks. I'm going to visit some family in Portland and use that time as a break from technology so my spirit can be at ease and clear to hear from the Lord. I feel like He's been speaking very specific things to my heart and it's important to me that I don't pursue them until I can sit in the lap of my Father for a couple days and seek His voice for further confirmation.

Plan a "retreat" for you and God. Let me know what happens.

Snooze Button

As some of you may know, I like to give myself personal challenges. The challenges are random and often nonsensical, often not lasting any longer than a month or 40 days (during Lent). If you're wondering why I do this, the truth is simply that I like trying new things, having temporary sacrifices of things I like, and I get bored. Sadly, not all my "challenges" are spiritual fasts... like I said, I just get bored.

Most recently, I challenged myself to be a vegetarian for the month of August. I gave up all meat, fish, and poultry for 31 days. It was difficult but I did benefit from the education I had to acquire in order to maintain a reasonably healthy meat-free lifestyle. I believe that with more work (and money, haha) I would be able to continue a meat-free existence. But not now. Bring on the bacon! :-)

When contemplating what challenge I should experiment for September (yes, apparently I'm bored again), one of my friends said that she once gave up the snooze button.

I wonder if you have the same puzzled look on your face right now that I did when she said this.

I asked her, "why would you give up the snooze button? How could you benefit from eliminating your secondary alarm?!"

Because she is a very wise young woman, she responded with something along the lines of: "I realized that if I need to wake up at six, I should be waking up at six instead of setting my alarm for 5:30 and hitting the snooze button for 30 minutes. In reality, I can discipline myself to wake up on time - the first time my alarm goes off. Besides that, what other areas in my life am I hitting the proverbial 'snooze button?' I don't want to become lazy."

Her words hit home.

I realized that, in many ways, I'm a "spiritual snoozer." I procrastinate my tithing, my good intentions of service, prayer, and of proving myself as a workman for the Lord. I do this almost daily. Isn't it time that I challenge myself to give up the snooze?

Hebrews 6:12 says: "We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised."

So my September challenge is to begin quitting my nightly habit of falling asleep watching television and also my morning habit of waking up to the television. This will get me on my way to hearing my alarm the first time and not waiting around for my second and third alarms to go off. Let's be efficient in our habits and eager to serve the Lord each day!