Searching?...

"May all who search for you be filled with joy and gladness in you." ~Psalm 40:36a

I am not sure all what was taught this last week since I missed the sermon being downstairs with the kiddos, but I think part of the idea was the question "do you have the desire for a relationship with God?" Well, do you? Do you search for him? Seek him? Long for him? I hope and pray you do. The benefits of searching for him are so numerous, resulting in finding the prize- a relationship with our Heavenly Father. Today as I read the verse up above I began pondering my desire and search for a relationship with God. What I have came up with is that in my walk with God, each path you take is different. Confessing now that at different times I am searching for Him more than others. There have been times when I have gone months without reading the Bible and other times when I can barely put it down. I have also seen this same pattern in others around me. I assume that we all have our moments of searching to no end for God and other moments of kicking up our feet saying we are tired and we will search tomorrow. Do you also notice the difference in how you handle the world around you in those 2 different situations? When you are searching and find yourself close to Him, isn't it true that really nothing can take your joy away? No matter how bad things seem to be falling and crashing around you, you are filled with joy and gladness because of Him. And then also isn't it true that when have decided that you are to tired to search at that moment, those same troubles seem to hit you harder and you find yourself in a joyless and lost state?

So what to do? To tell you the truth I am not sure of the answer but, I do believe it all goes back to the balance of VU VI VO (vision up, vision in, vision out). When you find yourself in a place that you can't smile and the joy is gone out of your life, something is out of kilter. You are unbalanced in your walk with God. Examine your life and ask yourself, have I stopped searching for God? Have I been to tired to try? If you find yourself in that spot don't delay in asking for help. Isn't that what your church family is for, to help you start that walk again. We are holding out our hands to help you stand back up and encourage you to continue your search. There is also another side of this for us as the family of Christ, we need to be more aware of our brothers and sisters and having more boldness to start encouraging those who have stopped searching to grab the hand we are holding out and grasp the strength from Jesus, he so freely gives, to continue that search.

Love Steph

From Cold To Hot...

The weather around here is crazy sometimes. Last night milking was 20 degrees warmer than the night before, which was wonderful. This got me thinking about how this is similar to our life with or without Jesus. Without Jesus we are wandering and lost in a endless cold land of death. No matter how many layers of clothing you put on, the cold still seeps into your body and ultimately brings death. However, this can change in an instant. Accepting Jesus in your heart, is accepting the eternal warmth, the fire of the Holy Spirit into your life that can never be extinguished giving you power over death. Giving you eternal life. "So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God's wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. "~ Romans 5:21

How awesome is that. Thank you Jesus, is all I can say.

However, just like a wood burning fire you need to feed that flame to let it grow and become more effective in warming you up from the cold. Yes, you could always have a small flame to just get you by, but don't you just crave more? Don't you want a stronger relationship with Christ? That is how you build your fire and keep it burning strong. You fan the flames and feed the fire. Dig into the word, pray, listen, and live out who Jesus is in you. "This is why I remind you to fan into the flames the spiritual gift God gave you..." ~ 2 Timothy 1:6 If you stop and come to a point when you look around and find that fire is not keeping you as warm and life around you is all cold. Fall to Him, and lay it all out and redirect yourself to start feeding that fire again. And you will find that even when the cold surrounds you, it can cannot penetrate Jesus.

Love Steph