Count your blessings

Oh LORD, my God, you have performed many wonders for us. 
Your plans for us are too numerous to list.
You have no equal.
If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds,
I would never come to the end of them.                    Psalm 40:5

So many times in my life I have had the privilege of standing in awe of what God is doing.  Sometimes it is in happening in other's lives (watching them grow, have personal victory, unexpected blessings, situations turn around etc.) and sometimes in my own.  It seems that lately I am all the more aware of His work and my heart swells with thanksgiving, worship and praise! 

Mountain moments are quite wonderful aren't they?  They are gifts to savour and enjoy.  The reality is, that to comprehend the vastness of mountains, you need to be aware that valleys exist.  But our altitude need not determine our attitude.  Balance comes from a disciplined countenance.  His Word promises us joy in the morning.  You'll find it in Luke 6 after Jesus comes down from time set apart to pray on the mountain.  People came from everywhere to touch Him for healing of all sorts.  Then he spoke these words (excerpt from the Message Bible):

   You're blessed when you've lost it all.
   God's kingdom is there for the finding.
   You're blessed when you're ravenously hungry.
   Then you're ready for the Messianic meal.

   You're blessed when the tears flow freely.
   Joy comes with the morning.

Do you see what I see?  We ARE blessed amidst loss, hunger, tears...whatever the cause.  There is release, hope and blessing RIGHT where you are.  The joy comes next.  So, if you are not "feeling" it yet, despair not.  The blessing is there.  Are you looking for it?  Seek and you shall find.

I have found it helpful over the years to journal or at least think and be in prayerful thanksgiving for at least three things every day.  This has helped me change my feelings of despair more than once.  I want to encourage you to keep a running list of blessings and answered prayer.  For a young mom, it might be a night of undisturbed sleep or for a business woman it may be a favoured parking spot ready and waiting that day.  No matter how big or small, it will be a collection of God's faithfulness and reminder that your Heavenly Father cares about you!  Remember the song you learned as a child..."Count your blessings, name them one by one.  Count your blessings see what God has done..."

Press in and press on!
Giselle

Be Still

As school is winding down and summer is winding up I am once again reminded of a simple yet profound verse from the Bible. Ps. 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Personally, life's been pretty busy on a few too many levels the past number of weeks and I am challenged with this verse. It's difficult to for me to feel “still” in the midst of such busyness. I am in the process of intentionally making some adjustments so I can slow down, realign, readjust and get some perspective. Sometimes life happens at a hectic pace and we need to deliberately stop and put a few things in order in the midst of the chaos around us.

When we can stop and take some time to be still, then we can hear the whisper of His voice -- Be Still . . ., that is when we can be reminded that -- He is God . . . God and only God will be exalted among the nations and in the earth!

Everything needs to fall under and be realigned with these statements. All of the anxiety, all of the commotion, all of the uncertainty . . . Because He is God and He will be exalted among the nations!

I hope and pray you intentionally set aside time to reflect and savour this verse.

Enjoy the coming weeks!

Jo-Ann

Your season of adventure

The summer season is a great time to unleash adventure and new opportunities to explore the world around us...even if its not too far away. For me right now I am living through a season of adventure....with work, one of my two companies is in transition out of my life and I'm walking with alot of prayer with advancement into my other company. It is an exciting time! I am terrified! lol.
Relationally I am on an exciting and blessed journey that just keeps getting more incredible as the months grow....its also become more involved and is challenging me to be more vulnerable. Again exciting, but terrifying at the same time.

One of the books of the Bible that is very close to my heart is Isaiah.
In Isaiah 42.16 the Word says: "I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them."

In the last six months I have felt this verse and many others carrying me through prayer times and stress filled weeks. The Word...the living Word builds us up to inspire and encourage and enable us to keep going through.
Whatever exciting and terrifying adventure you find yourself on this summer....God creates us to live through them, every emotion and experience. He is there giving us what we need and saving us when it looks and feels like we're going to fall off the mountain climb...or when things get intense as your business is growing;)

Continue to go to Him for the shelter and respite you need as you're engaging and living through your adventure...and He will keep taking you through the exciting life He created you for and you’ll keep living every moment*

Mary

Commencement

A song to listen to as you read...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lk6gdX1WCd8

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:5

This has been the prayer of my heart for all my children.  So much so, that we committed to school our children at home. We always approached learning as fun and explorative together, always within a biblical worldview.  It has been an honor to be present for the "aha moments" all these years for all 5 of our children during their primary education.  It has been a challenge to wrestle through the difficult concepts, differing opinions and social challenges of this calling.  Yet, I'm so thankful for the opportunity and desire to run this race. 

Let's compare our form of education to Jesus' for a moment as in the book, Twelve Ordinary Men.  "Jesus discipled the twelve, taught and then released them.  They listened to Jesus, asked Him questions, watched how he dealt with people and enjoyed an intimate fellowship with Him in every setting He encountered.  He encouraged them, lovingly corrected them and patiently instructed them.  It wasn't just information passed on, it was one's life invested in another."  Relationship.  We too, have learned so much more than just book work.

It is exciting to be at the point where we celebrate the accomplishment and the commission of another child.  We pray that His Holy Breath may enflame this new graduate's commencement into this new phase of life.  No matter what profession he may end up pursuing, we know that on this day, we are definately sending him out as a teacher - an example of our witness to others, teacher to our grandchildren and great grandchildren (whether they personally home educate or not) and will know all the years, tears and prayer we poured into his life will prepare him for whatever God has for him as he moves forward.

Josh, my son, we are so proud of who you are.  As we turn to celebrate this rite of passage, we are reminded of God's faithfulness and are in awe of how He directed your education, events and people who also participated along the way.   I am humbled by the fact that inspite of my shortcomings, we have been so blessed.  Remember Proverbs 9:10:

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

and Proverbs 24:3-4:

By wisdom a house is built and by understanding it is established, by knowledge it's rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.

With a thankful heart, we look ahead with faith and want you to know how much we love you and wish you the richest of treasure and blessing in the days and experiences to come.

Press in and Press on my child, love Mom.

Giselle

Don't Judge

I was sitting in church observing an individual and if I'm really honest I was making a judgement based on what I was observing. After a few minutes I thought, “That's their 'normal' and who am I to judge that?” As I watched them talk to others sitting with them I thought, “Maybe they are in the process of giving their life to the Lord. Or maybe they have just recently given their heart and life to the Lord.”

Many years ago there was a saying, “Get them saved, then shaved.” For some people, and in some churches, it should have said, “Get them shaved, then saved.”

If we're really honest with ourselves we want others to change on the outside before we even know if God has changed them on the inside. If we will be patient and let God be God, He will love, convict, challenge and speak clearly about what He wants them to change. Personally, I think we often want an individual to change because of our comfort level... or should I say our discomfort.

As I watched this individual dab at tears throughout the service I thought, “I think God is at work here talking to their heart, and who am I to tell God what order things need to be changed.” So in the meantime I'll continue to pray, for the individual and for those around them whom God has been using to speak truth into their life. As I sat with all of this running through my mind I was reminded of the following scripture. Matthew 7:1-2 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

I'm also reminded of Gal. 5:19-21 which says, “When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarrelling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.” Don't skip over the words in the middle of the list which are sins many of us tend to excuse such as anger, jealousy and discord. God's not talking to someone else in this scripture. He's talking to each of us. Take a good hard look at what's in your heart and deal with those areas.

In my observation of this individual from Sunday they needed to work on the outside as well as the inside. But what about us who have committed our life to Jesus many years ago but we make excuses and sometimes even embrace our sins? Are we really any different than this individual who was sitting near me on Sunday? They seem willing to change. Are we? Am I?

1 Samuel 16:7
says, “But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Don’t judge by his appearance or height, for I have rejected him. The Lord doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'”

Jo-Ann

Hi speed connection

As much as I love my cell phone... which I have come to depend on for both work and general use, its now appearing to show signs of severe use. I am not receiving texts or voicemails....however apparently I am sending already sent texts and calling people without touching my phone (and its a flip phone too)....lol.... I so deeply apologize if you were the one my phone "called" at 3 am this week. I need an upgrade!
As my frustration the last little while has been building, I still had yet to go down and replace my slowly dying, but essential communication device.
In my own prayer life, I know sometimes, alot of times it feels like that. Like my communication went all crazy and what I was praying about for a certain person didn't happen, but it happened for someone who I wasn't even praying for. In my own life, I can think of times where I was asking God for a specific thing, only to hear from several others around me that they were walking in what I was I was praying for...while I still sat praying....and sometimes eventually I would end up giving up.
God hears our prayers, all of them....but the more I studied the Word the more I found that repentance and obedience are very important to God. In obedience, the Word tells me to pray. When I am praying in accordance with God's will...through praying scripture, asking God to align my heart with His will and to give me the grace to walk through His answer....I see a change in my communication. In repentance we acknowledge how much we need God. Its not about me...or earning my way to God...its not about how "I" do prayer, its about how God designed prayer to be and applying that into my everyday life. Without HIM nothing will change or be brought to life, and Hes given us the instructions on how to walk in it best.
Psalm 44.3 says: “It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm and the light of your face, for you LOVED them.

He LOVES us so much....He loves us so much that He intentionally created a way for prayer to connect us to HIM. Its like when you’re with a special person in your life and you want to connect with them in a way that they receive it best.
When our hearts are submitted to Him in repentance and obedience we can and do receive the grace to walk through the answer that He has given. This does not mean that our prayer will have the answer that we were originally hoping for, but the beauty of praying in accordance with God's will is our hearts, my heart is changed in the process. He receives all the glory and we....have a greater understanding of who He is and walk in His fullness. When the connection is right it transforms nations (because its not about anything we can produce)!! I encourage you today, God calls us to live active prayer lives...drawing us to know HIM more. He will show you how to upgrade your communication......unlike your cell service provider, (or my cell phone generally) you won't get God's "voicemail."

Mary

Ask. Receive. Move.

As this Father's Day approaches, I can't seem to get out of my head a very special purple winter coat from my past.  I was about 13 or 14 and my mom had told me it was time for a new coat and we were heading out shopping.  I determined in my mind that this was the trip when I would really get just what I wanted - not just any coat.  Something fashionable, that I knew I would love to wear each day.  We looked through rack after rack and store after store until we stumbled upon it.  The one that I ~had~ to have.  It was a beautiful, rich gem shade of purple, with lovely silk lining and styled just right - the only problem was it was way out of our family's price range - but I wouldn't give in.  No other coat would do and so we left; me distraught over not getting what I wanted and my mom perplexed that what I wanted seemed impossible and disappointed that I was so stubborn.  When we got home, she started to explain to dad what had happened.  I remember him looking at me, watching my reaction, listening to my mom - no doubt trying to figure out just what to do.  That day I won (honestly the only real "battle" I can recall over such a silly thing).  Dad agreed to get me the coat and I have to tell you I wore it for decades (probably long past fashionable) but to me that coat represented his support for me, how he loved me enough to be inconvenienced for a while, and that the joy it gave me mattered more to him than anything.  He wanted  to give me just what I wanted.  I never took that for granted.

I share this story to ask you: Do you know God as a loving Father?  The kind that is "for" you in all circumstances, that believes the best in you?  How precious that He is always close by, willing to provide direction and to be our Source of strength and encouragement.  Conversely, do you see Him as the earthly father you may have had that is impossible to please, condemning and uncaring?

Be careful what you believe.  Our heavenly Father wants a relationship with us that allows us to call on Him anytime - there's no detail too small - there's no need to go through anyone else or wait. Each of us is His favorite and we can get His attention anytime.

Even when we make mistakes, He may not like the path we choose - but He is our closest ally.  When others judge us, He sees us with a father's loving mercy and extends His grace.  When we do wrong, all we need to do is *ask* forgiveness, *receive* His mercy and *move* forward with our lives.  No matter what we have done, we are His.  He wants to pour truth into our lives and mold us and shape us in His image.  What an amazing gift!

As Father's Day approaches, paint a picture in your mind of the real, loving, saving, powerful God who desires you to run to Him so you can live:  free, strong, confident and secure with blessed assurance that you are His.

Luke 15:18 says "I will arise and go to my Father."

Press in and press on.
Giselle
P.S. To my Daddy: Happy Father's Day.  Thank you for all you have taught me. 
To my Heavenly Father: Thank you for the cross.

The Father's Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esapsbVXXsc&feature=related