Day 99:: Wisdom

What a fresh reminder of my GREAT need for Your wisdom, Oh God.

I need your wisdom when I am completely overwhelmed and stressed to the point of breaking.
I need your wisdom when I am frustrated with others and do not know how to react.
I need your wisdom when I feel like I am right and someone else is wrong.
I need your wisdom when I know I am wrong and someone else is right.
I need your wisdom to carry me through times in the shadows, when your direction is unclear.
I need your wisdom when I feel torn in every direction.
I need your wisdom when I want everyone else to be happy and end up being the one sad.
I need YOUR wisdom.

Please shelter me, oh God, with YOUR wisdom.

Day 93:: My Guardian

"God's your guardian, Betsy, right at your side to protect you."
Where does my strength come from? THIS is what it's supposed to be about. God is my protector and guardian. Everything in my life He has allowed and everything not in my life He has chosen not to be there. Oh, God, teach me to trust. Help me to live each day, believing you ARE my guardian and protector.

Day 92:: Your Word

(I'm back!!!!)

I loved reading this passage in The Message...I'd never done that before. I suppose it was refresshing because I'd grown used to them in the other translations.

"By your words I can see where I'm going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path." I love that illustration. They don't throw all the house lights on so I can see all that is around me and where I'll end up...they throw a light on the PATH that is otherwise dark...a PATH is a single-direction...a PATH heads ONE WAY to ONE PLACE...and with light on it, I can head in the SINGLE direction God is leading me to the place He wants me to be. The concern here isn't to have everything KNOWN or the future assured, it is to "see where I'm going." As I prayed through this Psalm, I was so thankful that I have this tool to use to SEE the path God has laid out for me and not to stumble and lose the path because of darkness. It reminds me of hiking in the dark. The summer I worked in Colorado we did tons of sunrise and sunset hikes so you ended up walking either up or down in complete darkness...except your handy dandy flashlight. The flashlight did not show you all of your surroundings, so you couldn't be sure if there were creatures roaming around you and you definitely couldn't evaluate any alternate paths...you could just see step after step ahead on the path that was promised to be successful...and so you USED your flashlight (duh!) and you stayed on the path (duh!) because it was so incredibly dark and dangerous if you didn't.

Can I think about my life like that? That I need to USE my flashlight and I need to stay on God's path because it is so incredibly dark and dangerous if I don't?

Thank you God, for your Light!

Day 85:: Salivating

I realized something about myself today. I do have a sincere, intense hunger for God...in a way. I hunger for more understanding and knowledge of Him, not in a trivia way but still in a very intellectual way...in a deep and deeper way. I like to "eat my fill of prime rib and gravy..." but then, what I realized is the way I consume it does not always leave me smacking my lips and shouting praises. It's kind of like I like to collect these deep thoughts, these theories, these words...I like to meditate on them...I like to think...a lot...but I need to make sure that all of even THIS is to the glory of God, which means that even all of this understanding-God-driven-passion leads to WORSHIPPING Him, not pride...and leads to PRAISING HIM, not just intellectualizing. I suppose what I mean is that I need to become a person that can't get enough of GOD, rather than the person I can be sometimes...can't get enough of an idea, a theology, an understanding, etc. I know this probably makes sense to NO ONE but me, but its out there anyway.

Day 83:: Set

"Lord the one and only - Everything I need comes from Him - I'm set for life."

This makes perfect sense, but is so hard to implement as a lifestyle of trust.

Lord, may I know AND LIVE as if you you are the one and only with ALL that I need...for LIFE.

Day 82:: Scary

This passage is scary to me. "He's looking for...just one God-ready woman. He comes up empty...USELESS, unshepherded sheep, taking turns pretending to be the Shepherd...treating people like a fast-food meal over which they're too busy to pray?" It almost sounds absurd. Almost. But then, I realize its scary because it is 21st century westernized Christianity. We have more unshepherded (undiscipled) sheep running around wanting to be in charge or in control that our churches are looking for products...quick and cheap. Produce new births and make it snappy. But God is looking for one GOD-READY man or woman, and He's having quite the search. To be God-ready must be a lot harder than running a production line or being in control. Being God-ready means ready to let God do His thing...letting God be the shepherd and asking people to recognize Him alone as the shepherd and choosing to grow. It's scary, too, because how often am I God-ready? How often during my day, am I ready to be evaluated or allow God to walk into my office, home, or car? And, if someone came in to evaluate my life today, would I be among the unshepherded flock...looking for fast-food results? Or, would I be following the One who knows the only way to the water? Oh, God - shepherd me. Ready me. Guide me. Disciple me. Thank you for loving me.

Day 81:: Scrubbing

"Soak me...scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life."
I love the word pictures in this passage of sanctification and holiness. Sancitification is no quick rinse with hand-sanitizer...it is a soaking and scrubbing process that the Lord instills in our souls...and we are changed. It's not about sanitizing but making new.
"Shape a Genesis week from the chaos in my life."
Lord, make new beginnings out of the old, stale parts of my life. Make beauty out of pain. Make holiness out of this earthling.
"Do not fail to breathe your holiness into me."
I need YOUR life in ME just as much as I need each breath that comes in and out of my body. Without your holiness and righteousness, I am nothing.

Day 80:: Safety

It's hard for me to think of God as "safe," partly because I know that regardless of my faith, I am not really "safe" from evil in this dangerous world. Great men and women of faith have still fallen when their home filled with fire or the gunshot hit the heart. Being a Christian, I know, does not make my physical life safe. And God does not keep me physically alive because of my relationship with Him (though some may think so or allude to that "truth"). If He did, though, why doesn't He keep the great Christian down the pew from me alive just as long (or vice versa)? But what I do know is that God keeps me safe in His arms. That where I am (when I am following Him) is exactly where I need to be, where He wants me to be, and where I can claim safety. In His arms, I never have to worry about true death or evil overtaking me, because He has redeemed me with His everlasting life. So I think that is why the Psalmist wants me to look at God, the High God, above politics, above everything...to remember that He is in control and that He is fighting for our best and that He is protecting us in the exact way we need to be protected. I think all of my anxious thoughts and concerns can definitely rest on that.

Day 79:: Celebrating

"I live and breathe God."

The picture in my head of this psalmist is head back, shoulders thrown back, hair flying in the wind, and steady deep breaths in and out....someone resting and enjoying being in the presence of God.

But its hard to always be like that. It's hard to just "hear this and be happy." It is hard to bless God every chance I get...mostly because I'm too concerned with my own concerns, worries, or finding a way to bless myself.

This week, I would like to learn to "open my mouth and taste...to open my eyes and see...how good God is."

Oh, God, I run to YOU.

Day 72-78:: Review

Michelle just had to apologize for a font, but I have to apologize for skipping out on blogging for like 5+ days when I let my traveling and holiday get the best of me.

A short synopsis review:
Psalms: a portrait of our GREAT God and our GREAT need for Him and our GREAT opportunity to personally converse with Him about REAL life. I want to have the relationship with the Lord we have seen so far...I want to know our Great God, and I want to be beautiful in His sight.