Time for....... you decide

I was listening to this song the other day while painting. I had heard it many times prior to this, however, it is amazing that when you are otherwise scatterbrained, you don't actually "hear" what is playing in the backround. This time, I heard for the first time how deep this song really is. I would venture to say that it is the story of the work God began in me before our move. It is still an unfinished work, as we all are. However, it is my prayer, year by year, to allow this process of God's house cleaning. To continually ask for refining/purification so that God has HIS way into shaping me into who HE desires me to be.
No matter how long you have been saved,there are always times to allow the Lord to CLEAN HOUSE. We never become immunized to change and allow the Lord to purge our 'old man.' Dont get me wrong, it hurts, it is hard and even a bit traumatic at times, however the result is pure freedom. When we get saved and repent, all of our past is forgiven! We have a clean slate! Unfortunatley, sometimes we continue to 'hold on' fearing what may happen if we let God have ALL of our baggage! We sometimes like to take our baggage with us just to keep it 'safe'. Sad thing is this is a lie from Satan. This is bondage! Bondage to our former self, our past sin, and finally bondage to the present sin....... Lack of trust that the Lord can handle our fragile hurting hearts with the same amount of care He handles our eternity. When listening to this song, ask the Lord to search your heart to find those things that have been 'broken too long'. The Lover of your Soul is just waiting on you.
Make sure to mute my music on the side bar to hear this amazing song! Lyrics below!



It's time for healing time to move on
It's time to fix what's been broken too long
Time to make right what has been wrong
It's time to find my way to where I belong
There's a wave that's crashing over me
And all I can do is surrender

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
but I'm giving in to something Heavenly

Time for a milestone Time to begin again
Reevaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow Your will
Or just climbing aimlessly over these hills
So show me what it is You want from me
I give everything I surrender...

To... Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
but I'm giving in to something Heavenly

Time to face up Clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out
That I've wanted to say for so many years
Time to release all my held back tears

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but I believe
You're up to something bigger than me
Larger than life something Heavenly
Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but now I can see
This *IS* something bigger than me
Larger than life something Heavenly
Something Heavenly

It's time to face up Clean this old house
Time *to* breathe in and let everything out

After allowing the Lord to search your heart, if you find that there is a lot more cleaning that you want the Lord to do I highly recommend going through the study Healed & Set Free by Tammy Brown. This site has a very good description of what it entails. There is even an audio file where you can listen to the author's testimony. I can truely say that it is the best investment I have ever made in a bible study. It is not just a book of ideas and quick fixes. It is a labor of love for HOW the bible applies to HEALING the deepest wounds and truely moving on. Even good bible believing churches tend to lean toward adopting physchological non-sence to sustain a 'status quo' of misery and bondage. Being faced with the scriptures in this book changed my marriage, my family, friendships and my perspective on who I am in Christ.

Loves & Hugs!

Shock & Awe

This post is dated just 2 years to the date where the Lord first allowed us to come to Florida. At this time 2 years ago we were hustling around packing for the vacation of a lifetime. We had amazing plans to visit Walt Disney World AND more importantly, meet my hubby's birth~daughter for our first face to face meeting. The kids were so excited to meet a sister they had only heard about from e-mail, pictures and phone calls. You can read a bit about that here. Without that pre-ordained plan to come spend time with her, we probably would have never visited Florida. What an amazing gift we have been given to have her on our lives. Who would have ever figured a simple visit of a lifetime would be the precursor to something way bigger?

As of February 4th, we are the owners of a home that we do not deserve. It is a huge blessing and I can't even comprehend why the Lord would so abundantly give us our hearts desires. Especially after the many temper tantrums I avoided blogging about when I knew I was going to have to sell our last home....... On the outside, I was trying to be excited about this new plan from the Lord. I didn't want to quench His plan by mourning our losses/counting the cost, OUT LOUD. However, in my heart of hearts, I didn't want to. I could only see the reality of giving up my family's fingerprints on that home. The time invested there making memories. I know we are not to hold on to earthy treasures, but I really didn't want to let that one go. Remember in the Old Testament where their mourning was filled with sitting in ashes and wearing sackcloth? My dramatic pity party was quite similar to this with the exception that my mourning was all about something that is going to burn.

When I look at the blessing of this house the we just purchased, it is just an amazing testimony of the character of God. While I am so reactionary when He takes away a blessing that we didn't deserve in the first place, He remains the same. He still wants to bless my socks off regardless of if I deserve it. His amazing provisions are not based upon anything I can earn, but about resting in His grace. While this new home doesn't have my family's fingerprints on it quite yet, in some ways I hope it never does. At least not in the same manner my last one did. Effectively being able to use God's provision for HIS glory is all I should be satisfied with. Don't get me wrong, I want to make it inviting, pretty and LESS COLORFUL, but I never want it to take captive a special place in my heart. To make me second guess the fact that God always has our best interest at heart if He wanted us to give it up tomorrow. The difference between Earthly treasures and the things that God finds worth in are quite clear.

Proverbs 24:3 By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; 4 through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.

Isaiah 33:5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high; he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness. 6 He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is the key to this treasure.

Matthew 6:19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Lord, continue to guard my heart so that what my heart treasures, are reflective of what you find worth in!

Stolen Opportunities

As I was trying to fall asleep last night the Lord brought to remembrance something that happened a while back with my middle child. He wanted me to blog about it so I hope it is for someone else's benfit besides just me.

We were waiting at our local Warehouse club to get gas. There were 2 cars in the stalls pumping and I was the second in line to be next. The place was crowded so there were a lot of people waiting in lines at each stall. A eldery gentleman walked from one of the other stalls to the payment booth to make his purchase with cash. I was not paying much attention to this man but apparently, on his way back from making the purchase, he dropped some money on the ground. My dear middle child spotted the sight and immediately alerted me to what had just transpired. I must admit that I was a bit suspect to how she could have witnessed this from so far away and being tired I just "poo poo-ed" it off, hoping she would let it go. For those of you who know my dear, sweet, middle child, you will probably laugh at the fact that I hoped she would just 'let it go'. You see, this type of thing is just not in her nature! My DD persisted in asking if she could go look and return the money to this man. In order to quiet her, at first I told her to go out with her sister to look. However, my flesh began to speak to me. "What will people think if you let your children run wild in the gas station parking lot; what a reckless mother!" So after this thought entered and they were just about to make a break for it, I hastily told them to wait till we parked in our gas stall. I explained RATIONALIZED that after second thought, it just was not safe to allow children to look for something while surrounded by moving cars at a gas station. Once we parked, the girls quickly got out and couldn't wait to do their searching. To my surprise ERROR, my DD was correct. She HAD seen the man drop money and it was a $10 bill. Unfortunately, because I procrastinated in letting her look for the money, she was too late to return it to the man who had lost it. He had driven away! We had to settle instead by giving it to the teller in hopes the man may come to realize his loss and return to the station.

SO, why was the Lord bringing me back to this scenario? Many times our children have amazing opportunities to do what is right and let their lights shine for Jesus. They can be stifled, however, by their parental counterparts. DRAT! Their faith is child-like in that it is not hindered by the adult list of CAN'T or WON'T. Rather than encouraging her in the ability to do what is right, I stole from her, the opportunity to shine the light of Jesus. While one of my reasons may have been valid (danger of kids walking around the gas station) there would have been no harm in me getting out to look with them. Who cares if the guy behind me got his panties in a bunch and honked at me. Maybe my family was his lesson in patience that day? It was the "what would people think" and my own exhaustion that became dominant excuses for laziness.

~How can we foster the right opportunities when we are blinded by our adult inhibitions or selfishness?

Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. 4 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.....

This little analogy that God was using to get my attention is a well noted lesson. I want to see less of ME and more of the Lord in my daily goings on. That He would give me many more opportunitites DO-OVER'S to seize opportunities for His Glory rather than steal the moment for convenience sake. In the business of the day how many God-moments do we miss due to our own agenda and muddling through..... Just my thoughts on a missed opportunity! Love ya all!