Ministered to by my Seven Year Old

I have this box of scripture cards that was given to me several years ago by my Sunday School class when my Father passed away. To this day, they sit on my dresser. Every once in a while, Josh likes to read a few of those before he goes to bed, and now that he can read, he reads them to me.

So, last night he began to read this prayer to me…

“Giver of All, forgive me when I settle for the world’s definition of success instead of the abundant life You offer. Help me to discover Your joy in every hour.”

The world’s definition of success, it is so opposite of what God teaches.

The world says, “look out for number one. Strive to get to the top”

God says, “In order to get ahead, you need to take a back seat.”

"Do you want to stand out? Then step down. Be a servant. If you puff yourself up, you'll get the wind knocked out of you. But if you're content to simply be yourself, your life will count for plenty.” Matthew 23:11

Jesus pulling a child over to him says, “anyone who becomes as humble as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:4

The world says, “go where you want to go, do what you want to do, plan your own life, set your goals and go for it.”

Jesus says, "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am.” Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to saving yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? Mark 8:34..

Final thought, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect his will really is.” Romans 12:2

So thanks, child of mine, for reminding me that what success looks like in this world often isn’t what success looks like to God. And the only way to truly have an abundant life, is to live it God’s way. “Father help.”

God's Words that I've Connected With Today

Here are two scriptures that have spoken to me today. Just thought I'd share...

"O Lord, listen to my cry; give me the discerning mind you promised." Psalm 120:169 NLT

"Many people, including some of the Jewish leaders, believed in him. But they wouldn't admit it to anyone because of their fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. For they loved human praise more than the praise of God." John 12:42-43

Father, give me a discerning mind. I can't do life well without you. And Father, may I NEVER love or desire the praise of humans more than the praise of God. Help me to guard my heart.

How He Loves Us

Exchanging Dreams

Galations 6:14, “…Because of the cross, my interest in this world died long ago…”

I can relate to the above scripture. The closer I’ve become to Christ, the less interested I’ve become in the things of this world, primarily speaking of my former passions regarding this world.

I used to have a direction that I felt I wanted to go, a visual picture of what I thought success would look like for me. However the struggle and striving to get there often left me exhausted, discouraged, and not knowing what to do.

I still remember the moment when I surrendered my dreams to Christ. The moment when I said, “this is not going well, Lord. Help.” In the next days and months after that, He began to show me His vision for my life, His direction—which, interesting enough, still lined up with the desires of my heart. There now is a direction for my life which has been established by Him, and revealed to me by Him, through prayer and the reading of His Word.

One of the benefits of obeying His direction is that we no longer have to strive and struggle trying to “get” there. Whenever we begin to strive and struggle, we have to recognize that and immediately surrender the “strive and struggle” to “trust and obey”, walking step by step with God, trusting that “He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.” (Philippians 1:6, NIV)

Are you currently striving and struggling to obtain something, or to “arrive” somewhere? Surrender to the One who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than all you ask or imagine!

Father God, I will cry to out to You, for You are God Most High! You perform on my behalf and reward me. You bring to pass Your purposes for me and surely complete them! (Prayed from Psalm 57:2, Amp.)


Philippians 1:6, “…being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (NIV)

Psalm 37:4, “ Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. (NIV)

Psalm 37:23-24, “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand. (NLT)

What Love Is...(from my seven year old's perspective)

I'm home this afternoon, I've not felt very well this week. I've spent most of the afternoon in bed, but just got up and was going through a stack of mail that was sitting on our counter.

Hidden within the stack of mail, was a valentine that our son Joshua made. How had I missed that? Or had I read it, and in the busyness of life just not soaked up what it said?

This time, when I read it, I immediately chuckled, 'cause what it says, on a nicely cut out red heart and in his handwriting, is this:

"Love is when Mom plays a game with me. She almost always beats me."

The chuckle came from the "she almost always beats me" part. I had to laugh as I thought, "ya know, love would probably be expressed better if Mama would let him win :-)"

But it was also eye opening to me, that he feels loved when I play a game with him...and we're over due. So tonight, barring any additional unforeseen health issues...it's "GAME ON"...