Seeking God...for our "Yes and No's"!

Happy Thursday Morning!  I was awake way too early this morning.  The Lord had some scripture for me to read to bless and encourage me with so I am thankful for being up before the crack of dawn.  I wondered aloud to my hubby, "Where would I be without my God?"  I am so amazed at His grace, mercy and great love for me.

I thought about our handout for our weight-loss support group as I sipped my "whole body pleaser" a.k.a. coffee.  As I read about setting godly boundaries, I went to the chapter  in our "Thin Within" book and read something that I think is really important as we seek God's wisdom and guidance in our saying "Yes" and "No". It has to do with the previous chapters we have worked through.  Thin Within says, "It is possible that those significant events you reviewed in Day Sixteen, (our Week 17 handout) may affect your ability to establish godly boundaries. For example, if others have treated you inappropriately and violated your personal boundaries, you may not have a clear understanding as to what makes boundaries godly and what makes them inappropriate.  If so, it is especially important for you to seek the Lord, and possible godly counsel, to determine what appropriate boundaries are for you at this time. ...As our restoration work continues, let's remain aware of the ways the enemy has encroached on us in the past, so we can be better  prepared for the future."  As I was reading this, I felt it important to share this with you that are seriously seeking to set those godly boundaries in your lives.  We have learned that those events of our past may have shaped who we have become but God is the master of our hearts and thinking.  Therefore, when we go to Him, surrendering our thinking on a decision that we need to make, we give Him the authority over those significant events that have directed our thoughts in the past.  What freedom God gives to us when we can stand sure that He has directed our path.   One of my favorite verses just came to my mind as I typed this.  Proverbs 3:5 & 6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight".  God's Word...brought to life, right here and right now in this part of our study! So cool!!  We are all on this journey for His purpose in our lives.  To grow closer to Him, to know Him better and to let His light shine through us for His glory. Another portion of scripture that brought me so much peace this morning is 2 Corinthians, chapter 4.  God's word is so rich....but that is for another blog. :)  Blessings, as you seek His plan for your day.

WOW!!!  I have ONE THOUSAND  page views on my blog!!!!  I am so very blessed by what God has done!!!  THANK YOU to ALL who have come to AUNT ANNIE'S ANTICS blog as I have shared the words God has given to me.  This is such an amazing thing to me!  I look forward to keep on, keeping on and learning more on what to do with my blogging. I have years worth of stories to tell but I can't seem to find the time to get to them!  Life just keeps happening, praise God, and I know when His timing is right, I will dig them out.  For right now, however, it's CELEBRATION TIME!!!  I must go have a piece of dark chocolate or something!  :)   Whooohoooot!  Blessings, my special readers!

Fly to Jesus...and be Free!

Good Morning! Hard not to wake up and be energized by the beautiful sunrise and clear skies! I hope that I don't overload you all but I was reading "Jesus Calling" for today and couldn't help but share how it applies to our handout for this week for The Faithful Weigh. It talked about "excessive planning" but what it said next hit me. It says, "Your mind is so accustomed to this pattern of thinking that you are only now becoming aware of how pervasive it is and how much it hinders your intimacy with Me." This is so true with so many things in our lives! Those things in our past that we have hidden from "the light" have become such a part of us that we have not been aware of how they are affecting so many part of our lives, most importantly our intimate, trusting relationship with God. We may be so "used to" making sure it is "hidden" from those around us, even God, that we cannot not see how that "work" of hiding it has shaped who we are, how we speak, how we act, how we love and how we walk with our Lord. This pattern that we have grown accustomed to. Even though we may not completely understand what may be "hidden" that has deeply entwined itself into who we are, God already knows what it is. "Jesus Calling" goes on to say, "Repent of this tendency and resist it, whenever you realize you are wandering down this well-worn path. Return to My Presence, which always awaits you in the present moment. I accept you back with NO CONDEMNATION." God has already forgiven you for those sins of your past when you came to the foot of the cross and washed you white as snow. He has forgotten them as far as the east is from the west. Yes, He may have allowed them to happen to you to mold and shape you into who He has planned for you to be BUT he has never asked you to carry those sins past the cross where He died for them. Resist that well-worn pattern of even our unconscious attempt to keep hidden that which has been brought to the light of His shining grace, mercy, forgiveness and love. LIVE as a redeemed precious daughter of Christ in the FREEDOM of loving and living for Him without restrictions. Right now, this morning, after seeing this wonderful truth from my Father, I feel as if I can fly with the eagles!! Fly to Jesus, my sweet Friends and be free!

What a Good Friday Morning...Indeed!

This morning, conflicting thoughts have flowed from my pen as I read God's Word.  Today, this weekend, we are celebrating what our Lord did for us by dying on the cross and raising from the dead so that we have a way to know Him and be with Him forever.  I believe this with all of my being and know that He is my Savior and I am His child .   I know God's Word to be true and He is worthy of my praise.  Then why these conflicting thoughts as I read His Word in Psalms 139 this morning?  I love the Psalms!  God has used them more times than I can count to comfort my soul and lift my spirit  in praise of His love and goodness for me.   I have prayed verses 23 & 24 many times and know that God is faithful to His words.  "Search me, O God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." 

I was reading this chapter  this morning as the reference for our weekly handout for The Faithful Weigh.  We are being reminded that God knows all about us, our comings and our goings, our thoughts and our actions.  Even who we were going to be before we were formed in our mothers womb.  I can not even question God's truth in these verses.  Then why, when I came to those last verses that I know so well, do I find myself struggling with these conflicting thoughts?  When I came to these familiar words, thinking in the realm of my eating habits, as I continue on this healthy-eating journey, I find that even though I believe God's truth in them in many areas and circumstances of my life, I must think  they do not apply to my thoughts and response when it comes to my eating.   This is a bit troubling to me because I love and know my God and stand on His truth as my foundation.  How can I block these very truths out of many of my thoughts and responses?  And then the next thought that "justifies" my actions?  This  is not a "new" journey for me.  God has blessed me with many years of walking with Him and it has been a few years now that I realized that my eating habits were a part of this walk with Him, too.  I know that as we battle with the sin nature within us.  I echo Paul's struggle in Romans 7:15 where he says, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do."  This is where I am when a situation comes into my day that I just don't know what to do with.  It's filled with emotions and feelings that I can't seem to figured out.  There seems to be no action that I can take to "fix it" but I just can't stop thinking about it and mulling it over and over.  In those times, IF I was applying God's truth in the "prayer" in Psalms 23 & 24, I would be trusting God to already know my anxious thoughts, to show me any error in my thinking and walk with me through it in the way of righteousness.  However, this is what I look back and observe what I do, over and over again.  I evidently "forget" the truth on which I stand.  I mull over the conversations, the possible "fix it" remedies, the frustrations of my words not being heard, the actions of others, and on and on I go.  I realized that what I am doing is searching my OWN mind, therefore, my thoughts are formed by my sin nature.  Inside of these thoughts, I am seeing how I have been offended or hurt by this situation, as self always dominates our sinful ways.  As this process continues, I will try to find some way to make this situation turn out right, in my way of thinking.  While I am going through this internal turmoil, somewhere deep inside of me, my senses are heightened by a need to be pacified and I seek to find something to do just that.  Without another conscious thought, I reach for anything to give me that comfort of doing something that I don't have to think about it.  This, for me, is munching, grazing, chewing, sipping or even gobbling down food!  While in this state of "unconscious eating", you can bet that it is NOT a healthy choice!   Hence the conflict that I so clearly see this morning.  Not a conflict within God's Word, but within me!  Should not this prayer, that I know is God's truth and He has answered for me so many times, be my prayer  in these times as well?  Yesterday, as a matter of fact?  This is the question I ask myself today.  Am I truly taking all of God's Word as His "Pardon, Provision, Presence and Power" (TW) in my everyday life?  Or, am I choosing to believe some of these truths all of the time, some s half the time, yet, sometime forget them as if they never even existed?  My prayer today is,  "Father, I believe that You are my Savior, my Provision in all things.  That Your constant presence and mighty power are with me. Forgive me, Lord, for choosing not to believe Your words of truth that I have read in the Psalms when I come to circumstances in my day that cause me to run my own way instead of seeking Your way. Help me, Lord, to live each moment in Your presence and know that each thought is captured by YOU before I can even form it enough to respond to it. Oh Father, help me to quickly remember that You have done this so that I will not go on in my own way but that I will follow Your leading that  keeps me from following my sin nature.  "Oh God, I need Thee, every hour I need Thee, O bless me now my Savior, I come to Thee."  Amen. 

I come humbly to this remembrance of what Jesus did for me to save me from the sin that separated me from the glorious riches in Him.  Praise God that He is risen, indeed!  It is a good Friday, for He has reminded me of who He is!

So long......but not Silent!

I do believe that Spring has finally arrived here in New York!  Winter seemed to have a tight grasp on our region and also, our dispositions as we seemed to have to grip harder to hold down our need for brighter, warmer weather.   In that grip, I think it squelched my ability to keep up with my blog.  Certainly not because my creative brain was frozen!  I have been very busy writing, creating and continuing on my journey that God has planned for me.  I have been so blessed and also a tiny bit overwhelmed and tired from all of my activities of the last month.  One of my ministries that God has blessed me to be a part of is our Women's Ministry at my church.  We have just been privileged to host our annual Retreat with the most women than we have had in the past 10 years.  Weeks of brainstorming and planning with the women's ministry team was enjoyed by all who came.   We give God the glory for every moment of it.  From the theme,  "Sisterchicks", to the facility, a beautiful huge lake home and every part of the music, decorations, gifts and for giving me the words to share during our "special speaker" time.  I was so grateful and blessed to have this opportunity to share God's truth of the importance of having a "Sisterchick" friendship with another women.  God has blessed my life with so many special friends and it's not because I am anyone special.  It's more about what God has done for me through His grace, mercy and unconditional love that I have learned to love, laugh and enjoy the blessings of others in my life.  I may share what I spoke on sometime here on my blog.  God is so incredibly amazing with the wisdom He has put in His Word that I haven't even seen before.  But , for today, I am just checking in to let my readers know that I have not gone.  I have not been silent in my month long absence.  I have been busy, tired and waiting for the weather to inspire me to get out of my chair after my work day, to get my body moving to better this temple God has given to me and to reign my thoughts and time into the routine of writing on a regular basis again.  I have much swirling around to write and do with my blog.  In God's time, it will come and when it comes, you will see what has been swirling in the cyber space of my mind.  I have to laugh at the "new" technology of putting things in "clouds" to store.  It's not new!  God designed our brains to do just that, to store things in there until it is time to bring them down and put them into formed words and actions.  I'm glad it's that easy for God to do this because I am technically challenged and can't figure out how to get things in or out of the "cloud"!   With that thought, I will get moving!  It is Saturday and my week-long neglected housework is calling my name...and I think it may be "Procrastinator"!  Blessings for this glorious, sunny, Spring day!

The Piercing of the Sword....OUCH and THANK YOU!!

What a blessing I have enjoyed this week with the gathering of sister's in the Lord .  I say "enjoyed" only because of the hindsight of reflecting on those times, but as they were happening it was more like a pain of the reality that I was in... OUCH!  But isn't that what the Word speaks to us in Hebrews 4:12 & 13?  It says "For the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than a double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.  NOTHING in all creation is hidden from God's sight.  Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."  That is my emphasis on NOTHING.  These verses pierce every excuse we can come up with to not do what we know God has called us to do when it comes to our actions, decisions and choices.  We definitely can understand Paul's dilemma in Romans 7:14 where he says that "I do not understand what I do.  For I do what I don't want to do."  He goes on to ask in verse 24, "Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!"  We, like Paul, and every true believer that we come in contact with, can echo his words and know the answer to our unending question of who our rescuer  is.  Praise God that through the blood of Jesus Christ that we are not left in this endless state of wandering, repeating our destructive choices over and over again.   Our discussion yesterday at our meetings at The Faithful Weigh were pretty deep and thought provoking as we continued to look at past experiences for the positive things that God had taught us through them .  We are also looking at our past and present failures as opportunities to grow closer and deeper with our Heavenly Father.  In doing this, we are opening more  "hidden" parts of our thinking;  sinful dark holes in our hearts that we have been attempting to keep under our own control.  It is painful to bring out in the open these very things that have brought us the consequences of selfish desires.  So many areas of our lives are affected, including our complete openness of our hearts before God.  The decisions we make to plan our day, our menus, our activities and the very thoughts and words that come out of our mouths come out of these hidden parts of us.  I'm sure that we all can echo the "OUCH" that I mentioned earlier.  I am so very thankful for the amazing work the Lord is doing through The Faithful Weigh in my heart and in the hearts of those precious ladies God has brought to join me in this journey with Him.  I wrote in my journal this morning that even though my soul was pierced by the sharp sword of truth yesterday, I came away refreshed and renewed and lifted to a higher  level in my spirit and hope in my Lord's love and grace for me.  That is my God!  Desiring to go so much deeper in my soul but yet His truth is so very plain and simple because He knew me before the world began.  He created me after His likeness.  He knew that the experiences that I would face, the failures that I have experienced were what I needed to peel off the layers of sin that bind me to a burdened, self-centered life.   Thank you, Lord.  Thank you for your patience, love, grace and mercy that You have for me, day after day.  Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young, says today that "Waiting, trusting and hoping are intricately connected, like golden strands interwoven to form a strong chain."  It went on to say that , "If you mouth the words "I trust You" while anxiously trying to make things go your way, your words ring hollow."  My prayer for myself and my dear friends today is that we WILL mouth those words with a pure heart before our Lord and have this verse, Psalms 27:14 on our lips. "Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."  I stand in the presence of God this morning in awe of His amazing grace, mercy and love for me and each of His own.  Blessings, my sweet friends.

Are Responses Really Truth?

What a winter!  Along with the frigid weather, we have had beautiful, sunny skies, moments of snow globes and a lot of opportunities to take notice of our  responses to all of them. I must admit, my response the sunny skies out my window have been nicer than my other grumbling responses.  God is working in many areas of my responses not just responding with food.  He is faithful when we truly come to Him with our hearts and hands wide open for His help. The term we learned this week is "unworkable beliefs". Thin Within tells us that, "Unworkable beliefs can be very powerful. They may, however, be so subtle that we accept them as facts rather than recognizing them as false beliefs or lies."   As we contemplate each of these beliefs and now are more aware of our responses to all situations, we can ask ourselves if there is any contradictions to God's truth in our responses. Think about it! Even when we say, "This winter is going to last forever!!" This is contrary to God's Word that promises a seedtime and harvest! (Gen. 8:22) So, remembering this truth, we can take heart and continue on instead of curling up in a blanket with yet another cup of sugar-laden hot cocoa and a cookie! (Or whatever your response to cabin fever is!) So, with that note, have a blessed week and pre-plan your response to this bitter cold and take note of the beautiful sunshine, blue skies and God's promise of Spring! Blessings!