Making Me Lie Down??? TFW

The second section of our "If You Have a Craving..." chapter for this week shares a verse from Psalms 23.  As Laurie commented at our last meeting, you most often hear this Psalms read at funeral s.  However, there is so much more to it than a comfort for those grieving a loss of a loved one.  This chapter gives us the picture of our Lord as a Shepard and we are His sheep.  Sheri writes, "When we feel like your soul is dying of thirst and you have nothing left to give, stop everything and be still."  Psalms 23:2 says, "He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters."   Ahhh, that sounds so peaceful, doesn’t it?  

You know how I always notice the action words in verses that instruct us on how to live and walk in our Lord?  Well, this scripture also has action words but they are not what we need to do, but they are what our Lord has done and will do for us. 

Because I wanted to know how the Lord "makes me lie down", I went to one of my favorite books,  A Shepard Looks at Psalms 23 by Phillip Keller.  Before I had the pleasure of reading this, I did not know the duties of a shepherd caring for his flock of sheep. What a beautiful picture of our Lord and how He cares for us.

Let me share with you from Chapter 3 of this amazing little book about sheep.  In order to lie down there are four requirements that need to be met.        Because of their timidity, they  refuse to lie down unless they are free from fear.

Because of their social behavior, they will not lie down unless they are free from friction with others of their kind.

If they are tormented by flies or parasites, they will not lie down. 

If they are hungry, they will not lie down.

It is the shepherds responsibility to take care of these four things, in order to "make" them lie down and rest.  Also, In order for them to rest, the shepherd needs to be nearby because when he is near, the sheep know they are safe and cared for. 

Wow!  Did you know all of this needed to take place before sheep would rest? Keller brings this to a Christian's life in these words. "..There is no substitute for the keen awareness that my Shepherd is nearby.  There is nothing like Christ's presence to dispel the fear, the panic, the terror of the unknown."

Our God, because of who He is and His eternal love and care for us, makes it possible for us to lie down and rest. Do we trust Him to have met these four "requirements" so that we can rest and be refreshed?  He desires for us to bring our fears to Him.  He instructs us in His Word how to act and respond to others.  He assures us that we can denounce the tormentors attacks in the name of Jesus.  He fills our empty souls with His Living Word and feeds  our bodies with  the bounty of  healthy, nourishing foods He has provided.   God does all of this for us so that we can lie down in green pastures.

 There are many more pages in this wonderful little book that go on to describe how "green pastures" come about with the extensive work and care of the shepherd.    But for now, let's just rest our minds and souls on all that our Lord has done for us so that it is truly possible to be "made to lie down". To rest and be refreshed.  Right now, in this moment, knowing that He is our Shepherd and we shall not want.

Blessings at the close of this Lord's Day, my sweet Faithful Weigh Friends,

Mary Ann

Refreshed! TFW

It is no wonder that every book study that we have done in TFW has touched on the need to rest and be refreshed.  This study with Sheri Rose Shepard also brings us to our chapter for this week on "Craving Real Refreshment". 

In the "New Life Recipes", she talks about refreshing others and bringing refreshment to ourselves.  How very true this is!  I was very blessed to have a mother that was always giving of herself for others refreshment.  With a smile and sometimes great physical effort, she blessed and was blessed.  Because of her example, I, too, find much joy in blessing others with refreshment.  In the past few weeks, my sister-in-law and I are doing some volunteer re-decorating and we get a chuckle at how we are enduring sometimes painful efforts because we  "get to"  stand back when it's all done and go "Wow"!  Aha!!  This is what it means to be "refreshed as we refresh others".  We and the owners of those rooms, are getting a lift! A double "refresh"!  Two for One!  What a deal! Don't you love a bargain?! :)  Yes, it cost a little money and muscle aches and pains BUT what a "lift" we experience in our hearts and souls!   God has a purpose for putting  verses like Proverbs 11:25 in His Word! "The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed."   

 If this  kind of "refreshment" is not one that you are accustom to or may think that you can't do, perhaps God has brought this truth to you this week to satisfy a craving in your heart.  Perhaps He is asking you to step out of your comfort zone of just doing for yourself and your household.  Yes, it will cost you!  Perhaps  some monetary and/or physical expense but the amazing sense of joy that will arise from your very soul will be the refreshment of doing and giving to others , which God has called us to do.  I was very blessed to learn that a  FW friend dropped off a bowl of her homemade clam chowder to another FW friend, just a few days ago. What refreshing news that was for me and I wasn't even the recipient!  I KNOW that God's Word put into action, brought refreshment to both of their souls!   The definition of "refreshed" always starts with the words, "The act of".  This means that you must DO something in order to fill this craving of your heart and soul.  The spiritual results of being refreshed will keep you from seeking food to attempt to fill a physical craving that just is not there.

Blessings to you, my Sweet Faithful Weigh Friends, as you refresh your souls with God's truths this weekend.

Mary Ann

Give In?? TFW

Happy Thursday, Faithful Weigher's!

  I don't always like the world's sayings about the different weekdays because they are all made and given by the Lord.  However, yesterday just seemed to be a "Hump Day" for me.  My energy level was not there and it did seem to be a struggle to keep moving and stay focused on the task at hand.  Things seemed to get mixed up and burned, as did my dinner on the grill and the eggs I was attempting to boil.   God, in His mercy, carried me through the day.  Maybe not on the wings of eagles but none the less, I know He carried me because He is faithful!

Sheri Rose challenged us this week, on her short video, to find a verse, meditate on it and see how it applies to our lives.  Just one verse.   Where do I start when the scriptures are FULL of verses that I should be applying to my heart and life?   Usually, when I just go to something that I am already reading, such as Jesus Calling, The Daily Bread, a book in the Bible I may be reading through or a book study I am doing, God is so faithful to bring me to a verse that I need to hear with my heart. 

In our book and handout, the first "New Life Recipes" is "Give In".  The verse in Ezekiel 36:26 says, " I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you.  I will take out  your stony, stubborn hear t and give you a tender, responsive heart." (NLT)   The NIV  and several other translations say …"and give you a heart of flesh."   From my NIV notes, the word "flesh" in the Old Testament usually meant a symbol of weakness and frailty.  In the New Testament it usually means the sinful nature, opposing God.  In this verse, however, it means the opposite of a hard, stone heart but one that is pliable and teachable.   This helped me understand this part of the verse better.   In this  part of the book of Ezekiel, these are the prophesies and promises that God had made to Israel.  God is telling them that  He will give them, His people, a new heart.  He, also, will give us, His daughter's , a new heart and a new spirit.   When will He do this, we ask?  When will a new heart and a new spirit replace our "stony, stubborn heart"?  This is the part that I started to ponder.

Sheri Rose asked us to take an honest inventory of our deepest desires.  Hmmm...what ARE my deepest desires?  Can I list them off from the top of my head? No...she said my "deepest desires".  I have to dig down past my immediate "I want's".  Down through the "I wish's".  Down to the yearnings of my heart, some even so small that I dare not form them into words, at this point of my life. 

But one of those yearnings that has words is for the salvation of my children.  I have to say, this is my most deepest yearning. I know that this within God's will for all souls that are lost.  One verse that comes to my mind is 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance."  God is patient and I, too, through His mercies, will be patient and trust for His will to be done in my children's heart and lives.    When you get to that deepest yearning, Sheri Rose asks us if we want that more than God's will for us, or in my case, for others?  Now, this is DEEP!

So, I went down deep but on the way down there, I found that I had to climb over some stony areas.  I went back to those areas and stopped on top of the stone piles.  Are these desires in line with the will of God?  Am  I desiring to do things, which are noble and even scriptural, that just may not be in His plan for my life?   Perhaps they are in His plan for someone else's life that I have seen and I am only wishing that it was for me?  Hmmm…..perhaps these are the "stony, stubborn" areas of my heart that I need to "give in" to the Lord, confess my stubbornness about my wants and wishes and allow Him to give me a "tender, responsive" heart to His will for me in these areas.  They may just disappear once those blinders of "this is want I want to do" are gone!   May He fill my heart with desires to fulfil His perfect plan and will for who He created me to be and do for His glory.

My sweet Faithful Weigh Friends, don't pass by this opportunity that God has brought to you to. Go digging down to see your deepest desires through the eyes of God, who created you and knows you from the inside out.   Do you wonder what this has to do with weight-loss?  Perhaps you will find on your way down to your deepest desire, the "want or wish" to be "skinny" or to look like you "used to" look way back when.  Perhaps God's purpose for bringing you to this is to stop climbing over those heavy, stony places and "taste and see that the Lord is good" and His will for you is to live in His freedom. 

Blessings to each of you today.

Mary Ann

Happy Friday and first weekend in October! TFW

Where have those sunny, summer days gone?  It seems we have been forced to jump into the next seasons without any transition time.  Our air conditioner is still in the window and I still have fans sitting around the house because only a week ago, we needed them.  Last night, we had to turn on the furnace! 

Hmmm....doesn't it seem that way in our lives, too?  We heard Sheri Rose talk about being "in" the season in which we find ourselves and not trying to still "fit in" to our last season. Sometimes, or very often, we find ourselves into a new season before we really have had the chance to prepare for it!  It may be a season of illness, an empty nest, becoming a parent or grandparents, a season of grieving, divorce or financial difficulties.  Even though there may be symptoms for what is to come and perhaps time to prepare, the actual season we find ourselves in still brings us the feeling of "How did we get here?". 

So I will speak to myself, "Mary Ann, you had time to prepare for the coming fall season.  The calendar showed you this, as it has since you were born, so buck up!"  The truth is, I chose to ignore the symptoms of the coming fall season. My love for the warmth and "freedom from heavy clothes" from the last season kept me in this "fairy tale" frame of mind that if I ignored it, it wouldn't happen.  

Perhaps we are ignoring the signs that are showing us the reality of what season we are in? Perhaps we are seeing the signs but choosing to do and be what we have always done and then we whine to our reflection in the mirror, "How did I get here?"  Our reflection may show wrinkles, fat rolls, saggy skin, worry lines, graying hair, sad eyes,or an empty soul.  My sweet Faithful Weigh Friends, these all could be symptoms of a new season God has brought you to for His purposes and glory.  This could be a season in your life that He has called you to be salt to those around you. This could be the very season that it is time to stand on the truth of God's Word and know that it is good.  

Read Ecclesiastes 3:1-14.  There is a time for everything! Verse 11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time.  He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom it."   

I pray that today,you will seek and find the good in the season God has you in.  Yes, it is fall and yes, the colors are beautiful, the air is crisp and my God is so very good to me!  I praise His holy Name the I "get to" wake up this morning, breathe, move and go to my job. and I may not be able to fully fathom eternity but I know that I have the hope of eternity with my Lord Jesus Christ! Hallelujah!

Blessings to each of you this day, my Sweet Faithful Weigh Friends,

Mary Ann   

TFW - May in Motion. God's Plan, My Attitude!

Happy Faithful Weigh Tuesday, everyone!  I know yesterday wasn't a great walking day, well, after I got out of work that is.  However, my Action plan was to walk 3 or 4 times this past week and that I did! :)  A small victory but enough that I can feel the difference in my body and my spirits!!  Thank you, Lord! :)  How did your Action Plan go for this week?  Did you wait until this morning to find your Action Card and then try to remember what it was you were "gonna" do and then try to write something "spiritual" down for at least a couple days of the week?  This may sound a little harsh but I have to tell you that I have found myself doing this and it grieves me.  God has given this to us for our benefit.  He doesn't need to use this Action Plan or anything, for that matter, to show us who He is in our daily lives.  However, He chose to bring us to this little "push" of a plan to bring us into communing with Him daily, as we carry out our Action Plan and more importantly, seeking His truth in it.  I know for a fact that He wouldn't have brought me to this if He didn't have something for me to see about myself and most importantly, about who HE is to me, even in my lack of discipline of caring for His temple. It was Saturday morning before I found my card, still in my blue binder.  I started thinking about what God's truth would be for my plan of walking/exercising...to be Moving in May.  I was reminded that I "get to" move.  I "get to" go to work.  I "get to" go about my day freely.  Why do I "get to"?  Why do I "get to" do anything?  Then, as I looked out my porch windows, I saw the verse on our name plaque above the mailbox.  Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plan for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." (esv) THIS is why I "get to"!  Because my God, who through His love, grace, mercy and forgiveness towards me, has a plan for me.  A plan for my good.  To give me hope for a future.  A future that I will be able to continue to serve Him with vigor and energy and health.  I don't know what the future holds, only He does, but for today, He has given me the ability to move and do and go.  I "get to" go for a walk because of His grace and mercy to me.  It's in my attitude...this is where the procrastination comes from.  This is where the "hopelessness" comes from that it's not really going to help me lose weight.  What is 3 walks a week going to do, anyways?!  Lord, forgive me for an attitude that discounts Your plan for me to move and sustain the health you have blessed me with.  A prayer from our Faithfully Fit book study, (7/10/12) says this, "...I am thankful for the special plan you have for me. I want to cooperate with that plan in my life -in the way I eat and exercise, and in all of my decisions. Help me to be at peace with myself, not constantly striving to be something that you have not designed me to be. Help me not to fear my weakness, but to trust your overcoming power in me. I thank you, Lord, for these places and times of testing that help me to grow stronger in You, Amen"  God has brought me to this Action Plan for this week, for this time in my journey.  Today, because of God grace, mercy and peace within me, I will go for a walk and thank Him that I "get to"!  So, how has your week been?  He will meet you right where you are, right at this moment.  Meet Him!  He has a plan for you that is good and that will give you hope and a future.  That future is a closer walk with Him each day for eternity!  Praise God! :)  Get walking and rejoice because we "GET TO"!!  Have a blessed day and week ahead, my sweet Faithful Weigh Friends!

April in Action! God's Truth! TFW

Happy Wednesday, Faithful Weigher's!  Well, we made it through another week of our April in Action!  What a blessing to hear from our gal's that are serious about taking ACTION!  God truly worked in our hearts and brought His truths into the tools we chose to take action on.  WOW!

If you are of the thinking that to lose weight you just need to eat less, you must not be aware of our sin nature of "self" that takes over our determinations. Too frequently, we allow "self" to sabotage our efforts of "eating less to lose weight".  The fact is, God created our bodies to function perfectly by giving internal signals to let us know what we need to do or not do. Most often, we are not aware of what they are or we ignore them to gratify "self".  Most of this gratifying "self" comes from our emotions, which many times lead us to think we NEED to eat or that we NEED certain foods to make us feel better. The truth is, our body will actually tell us what we need to sustain itself and to function.  For those that understand this truth, they understand that weight loss is much more a condition of the heart rather than just putting less food in our mouths.  Proverbs 23:7 tells us, "As he (man) thinks in his heart, so is he."  If your heart is not desiring to follow God's truths in this area of how you eat and live, than where else can your desires come from?  The answer is not hard to figure out.  The lies of the world, that "feeds" us ways to gratify self!  They appeal to our emotions and what we "deserve"!  I, for one, am so very grateful that God has shown me the error of my ways that I followed for so many years.  Years of yo-yo dieting, continually condemning myself for not sticking to them and falling back into old patterns.  Why was I so surprised that God desires to be in this area of my life, just as much as my walk with Him in other areas?  What a difference from my "self" efforts to be healthy, to lose weight, it has been to learning more of God's truths about my eating habits. Relying fully on Him to change my heart first.  I know now, that without the heart-change, the thinking will continue to gratify "self".  This is why I am so encouraged to see God work in our hearts, week by week.
  My Action Tool was to "Not have something sweet with my morning coffee."  I recently realized that this was a habit that I had acquired over the years.  It was seemingly setting me up for a sweet craving a couple hours later, which set me up for another one a couple hours past that.  Continually gratifying myself with a "sweet treat".  Certainly not what my body needed at those 2 hour increments.  I chose to "stop and think" and to remind myself that "Jesus is the sweetest name I know", a hymn I have loved since I was young.  I would sing it as I walked away from the kitchen.  I went through this whole last week with nothing sweet with  my morning coffee because I was filling my heart with Jesus sweet name!  It was after a few days of this that God showed me Romans 8:6 that says, "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace." God's truth!  I know this to be true as I had peace in my heart as I enjoyed my coffee and my time with Him each morning.  I wasn't beating myself up after I had taken my last swallow of a cookie, brownie or whatever else I could grab on my way to read His Word and pray.
What a blessed week it was for all of us on this April in Action journey with God!  I am excited to see what He is doing in our hearts in this coming week.
Have you joined with us?  What is your Action Tool for this week?  Do you have an Action Plan written down?  Are you looking for God's truth in your life this week?  I pray that you, too, will invite God into your desire to take care of His temple this week and know His peace and live!
Blessings, my sweet Faithful Weigh Friends.
Mary Ann

Tempted? Tired and Hungry? Cadbury Mini Eggs? TFW

Happy Wednesday, Faithful Weigher's. Our meetings yesterday were so uplifting and encouraging to perseveres on this path that God is walking with us on.  We have been talking about temptations and satan's lies around us.  Well, for those of you who read the Daily Bread, today's verse is Matthew 4:1-10. It states," ..the tempter came to Him, (Jesus) when he was tired and hungry."  Hmmmm....this is right where I have been these past few days.  In this state of mind and body, "escapes" around us look so good to us, don't they?  My most recent example is this happened yesterday. I am feeling very tired and worn from not being able to sleep a good, solid nights sleep for over a week.  I was hungry because it was already after 1:00 pm and I realized that I had not even had a protein bar for breakfast and it was past my "normal "eat when I'm hungry" time which is usually about 11:30ish.  Well, I was in Aldi's grabbing a few needed grocery items when in the midst of the boxes in the last row, hardly visable to the scanning eye, I saw that they had bigger bags of Cadbury Mini Eggs.  You know, the little milk chocolate eggs with a hard shell.  Well, they hopped their way into my cart!  Ohhh, they would taste real good with my afternoon coffee.  And the did!  I was rebuked by my friend when I said I "sinned" when I bought them. Yes, she is right. It was not a sin to buy Cadbury Mini Eggs.  It was not a sin for me to eat them with my afternoon coffee, knowing that it was part of my "fist full" of food that I needed to nourish me.  However, I realized this morning after reading these verses in the Matthew and the comments in the Daily Bread that when I was tired and hungry, I zeroed in on that purple bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs!  Hmmm... satan tempted Jesus with bread.  He tempts me with Cadbury Mini Eggs!  The truth is that he is still in the business of tempting us when we are tired and hungry!!  We still need to be responding to him as Jesus did!  He spoke God's words back to him.  May be encouraged by this today, as we seek the Lord for what we need today and trust Him to supply those needs and not that which tempts us to satisfy us for a moment.  Wow!  I think I got it, Lord, for today, that is.  I will continue to trust You for my needs for tomorrow.  Blessings on this Wednesday, my sweet Faithful Weigh Friends.

His Time, A New Word! TFW

I trust that you are looking forward to spending some time in the Lord's house today.  I know I am!! This is my first favorite day of the week.  The next one, of course, is "Ministry Tuesday". :)

I learned a new word today!  If you are like my husband, you may already know it.  I probably should have already learned it, but as we know, we come across things, words, ideas and even more importantly, truths in God's Word us when His time is right.  How do know that "His time is right?"  With the curiosity of what a something means!  I had to have read this word, on this day, in "Jesus Calling" for the past 3 years. I usually mark down meanings, aha! moments and underline phrases that "hit" me on that particular day.  However, when I read this word today, I immediately said to myself, "What does that mean?"  I also noticed that nothing was written above it or that there were no arrows to the margin with a definition.  Huh!  It was "His time" for me to dig a bit deeper into this thought today.  So, being the woman of the techno world that I am...ha ha...I grabbed my cell phone and asked Google what cacophony meant.  She, yes, a woman's voice responded that it means a "harsh mixture of sounds."   Aha!!!   In the context of today's devotions in "Jesus Calling", it made perfect sense.  In the study that we have been doing with our Faithful Weigh book study, it now makes even more sense.  God's time was right! I love it!  IF you have "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young, it is a MUST READ.  If you don't then I will share the verse and thoughts with you.

It is a verse that I have come to love and have found such joy and peace through over the past few years.  Zephaniah 3:17, "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save.  He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."  When God's time was right the first time, I read that verse and was in AWE!  Most of you know that I LOVE to sing for the Lord. I am always in awe what He does with the songs He gives to me to share and with my quivering body and voice.  Knowing how intimately connected I am with Him through singing, it just blew my mind that my God, the God of the universe, would sing over me and rejoice over me with so much more intimacy than I could ever imagine.

 It is a testament of who God is!  

Ok, back to my new word, cacophony, and why His time was right this morning.  The words of Sarah Young, "The voices of the world are a cacophony of chaos, pulling you this way and that.  Don't listen to those voices; challenge them with My Word."  Bingo! Right on, Sarah!  She must have been reading our handouts and learning of the temptations and lies the world so freely gives about who we are, what we look like and what we should be eating!  As I wrapped my mind around this whole revelation of becoming aware of this cacophony, I realized this important thing about me and my relationship with God. (Even before I read the rest of today's words in Jesus Calling.)  As I have sought the Lord in more areas of my life, He has given me more and more of these "aha" moments.  In these moments, I am drawn closer to Him and am learning more about who He is.  Then I read the "rest of the story" and it was right on.  She says, "I love to reveal Myself to you, and your seeking heart opens you up to receive more of My disclosures."  Amen and Amen!!  I have found this to be so very true!  As I sat, in this silent revelation, I realized that the closer I draw to My God, the more the sounds of this world become a "cacophony of chaos." Chaos that I used to think was normal and even more sadly, the truth!  It is clear to me now why His time was right this morning.  I wasn't here at this place in my relationship with the Lord a year ago.  I had read over these words without even a thought about all of this.  Isn't God amazing how He works everything for His purposes and glory?  Even the timing of our Faithful Weigh studies and the work He has done in my heart over this past year that brought new meaning to me today with a "new" word, cacophony.  

I trust that you, too, are seeking the Lord with an open heart and listening to His still small voice. To do this, we must shut out the voices of the world around us and be still and know that He is God. (Psalms 46:10).  In this stillness, you can almost hear Him rejoicing over you with the most beautiful, intimate voice you have ever heard. Oh my dear Faithful Weigh Friends, listen to Him and not the cacophony around you.

May God bless your worship to Him this day,

Mary Ann

Emotions and our journey through them! TFW

Happy Wednesday, you all!  Yep...we were blessed by our meetings yesterday as we continue to work through some tough sections of this chapter on emotions!  Yikes!  Yep, we all have them, God created them, but most of the time, we abuse their purpose.  By this I mean we mistakenly think that they are ours to control.  My prayer request for this week is that I will be able to stop for a moment and recognize what emotion I am feeling and remember just who IS in control.  God, not the emotion.  Like I said, some tough ground we are covering but these very things could be pushing us to eat when we are NOT hungry.  Emotions are not bad or do they need to be ignored.  Perhaps we need to figure out their origin and ask God how to use them for His glory?  The Daily Bread talked about all of the hardships that Paul endured in 2 Cor. 11:24-33. Can you even imagine the emotions he went through time after time?  I could relate to their statement for the day at the bottom. "The journey is as important as the destination."   Wouldn't it be easier to just take a pill and get to our "goal" weight and stay there?  Yep, it sure would be!! However, the journey we are on is transforming us for His glory!  Instead of fussing over what the scales tells us from day to day, let's be more about the excitement of His transforming power in our lives and thank Him for the work that He is doing in our hearts.  We, too, can echo Paul's words in verse 30, "If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weaknesses."   If you would like to learn more about what we can boast about, go to my church's website, www.pybs.us, and listen to Pastor Leo's sermon on Jeremiah 9:24, "..but let him who boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the Lord."   I am so thankful for this journey God has on us together.  May you seek Him this week within your emotions.  He is there already, why not ask Him what He would like you to do with them?  He has the answer!  He IS the answer!  Blessings to each of you, my sweet Faithful Weigh Friends.