Plans for 2019

As the final minutes of 2018 pass, I sit pondering on where the Lord seems to be directing me for 2019.

Our Bible Study group has chosen Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest for our one-year study, a collection of 365 devotions.  Throughout 2018, as I read the book, I continually referenced it, acknowledging that, besides the Bible, this was the most powerful book I had ever read.  Truly.

Today, I finished my one-year read and ready to begin again in just a few short hours.  Yay!  I am looking forward to discussing the nuggets each of the ladies glean from the book.

Additionally, I feel the tug, the pull to study Paul.  I just finished reading Acts and Paul's letters and find myself wanting to get to know him better, to have more of what he had.  

For this study, I have chosen two of Beth Moore's books - 1) Paul:  90 Days on His Journey of Faith and 2) To Live Is Christ (this one I just ordered today).  Not sure that I will complete the first in 90 days...nor the second in 11 weeks!  Just going to dive in and take my time...and get to know Paul.

I have also decided to read the Bible in chronological order again this year.  I think I need this again, for I have learned much, yet I still have so much to learn about the chronology of the Bible.  This year, though, I want to watch specifically how Jesus is present on every page of the Old Testament.

Four books = my goal (so far) for 2019.  I am ready for the journeys of faith they will each take me on.

What journey do you have planned for 2019 to ever draw closer to Jesus Christ?  A verse a day?  A chapter a day?  Book by book?  Whatever the journey...just take the journey!  This is the way to draw closer to Him.  

Blessings!

Sweet Season

Here's praying you have had a blessed season!  

During the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, my sister-in-law Kim made this cake; neither time I tried it.  But.  I just knew my husband would like it, so yesterday, I found the recipe, baked it, and sampled a corner piece, and instantly declared this sweet treat a new family favorite.  As a matter of fact, I took the blogger's recommendation and had The Daughter pick us up several bags of cranberries to place in the freezer to use throughout the year.  Yum!

This cake represents one of My Intentions (not resolutions...just a goal I "intend" to attempt to keep for 2019)...try new recipes!  I have become my mother, baking and making the old tried-and-true recipes, ones for which I do not even need a recipe, for I have made them so many times that they are committed to memory!

I am already looking forward to taking this sweet treat with me to my ladies' Bible Study...church fellowships.  Just that good...and what better way to bond even closer with brothers and sisters in Christ...than around a "new" recipe!

What new recipes have you attempted lately?  Please share!

Day 1: 25 Days of Kindness

Peer Leigh Keller challenged friends/peers to this 25 Days of Kindness.  Yes, I accepted the challenge.

Need more info?

Check out the Facebook page where this explanation resides:  We are a group of families who do acts of kindness for others from December 1-25. The purpose is not only to spread joy in the holiday season, but also to teach our children - and remind ourselves - that the season is not about STUFF.


You might consider purchasing these 25 cards with 25 ideas.  Cute.  Organized.


Another idea...focus on Advent...Advent Acts of Kindness...here, they have links to several years of ideas.  Interesting.

Enjoy Pinterest?  Then check out these cool calendars!  Life made easy!

I would like to be this together, but, alas, I am not.  These next three weeks will be so busy, with many deadlines, grades, grades, grades...yes, and just a few more papers to grade.

Therefore, this method chose me:  my prayer is that the Lord plant in my path a person upon whom I may display an act of kindness.

1. Along with my Beta Club, we sang Christmas carols at two of our local nursing homes.  This always blesses me so.  Especially one lady.  She sang every word of "Joy to the World."  When I suggested she sing a solo, I saw the hope.  I then suggested we sing together.  And we did.  One day, I will meet that lady in Heaven, and she and I will sing "Joy to Heaven."  That song has not been written, but she and I will sing it. Yes, we will!
2. Between caroling events, I played piano for a couple in our church who chose today to marry.  God blessed me with this gift to play the piano, and, when asked, I use it for Him.  Or...He uses the gift to His Glory.

Already I am learning...that these acts of kindness are really just a blessing for me, for we simply cannot outgive God.

Would love to hear about your act of kindness!  Please share!

October Arrives!

This continues what my husband calls the "ber"....or burrrrrrr...months.  :)

This also continues my selecting a verse on which to focus for a month.  Thanks to my friend Amanda I began this last month...she posts on the first day of each month a verse to which the Lord has directed her...and then listens as the Lord speaks to her throughout the month.  Powerful.

Last month's verse John 15:16.  So needed.

This month's verse will be Psalm 46:10:  "Be still, and know that I am God.  I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"  (ESV)

I remember this verse being on a sign that hung across the front of the church.  For most of my years, I thought this was a message to be to mind my manners in church!  Maybe it was...is, for this journey is not about me.  This journey is about my being still and allowing God to use this vessel for His Will.  Notice the pronouns?  I...is the I Am.  All about him.

All about Him.

November's Verse: A Few Directives for Me

My verse of the month for November is Luke 6:27-28.  Why?

27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

Shall we break down the verse?

Am I listening? 

Love your enemies. 

Do good to those who hate you. 

Bless those who curse you. 

Pray for those who mistreat you.

Listen.  Love.  Do.  Bless.  Pray.

A bit of background:  At the beginning of the school year, I unintentionally offended a peer.  Privately, I apologized to this person.  Then, I apologized to the group (without mentioning any names.)  But.  I was not forgiven.

When I read this scripture, I chose this one with the above situation in mind.  Not that this is a poor, poor me scenario.  This is not about my obtaining forgiveness.  This is about this peer seeing Jesus Christ alive in me.

This is about my learning to listen. choosing to love, doing good, blessing others, and praying especially for those who are hurting.

This is about allowing Jesus to use this vessel...somehow, some time, in some way.

Am I listening? 

Love your enemies. 

Do good to those who hate you. 

Bless those who curse you. 

Pray for those who mistreat you.

Yes, I am listening.

Everyone Builds

This week, I have spent some time in Nehemiah.  Love that book.  So many powerful messages from the Lord located within those pages.

As I re-read the chapters, I asked the Lord to open my eyes/mind to something new for me.  He did.  Of course!

This time chapter three spoke to me.  If you have time and would like, go read chapter three now.  Yes...I will wait!






Back with me?  I can almost hear what you are thinking...one of those chapters with all those names I cannot pronounce!  So true.  Those names, though, are the builders, the workers, the rulers.  Yes, those in positions of overseering perhaps who modeled work, becoming involved in this massive reconstruction.  Could this be a tremendous example of "servant leadership?"

Would you think with me for a moment?  Leaders who work with...and not over...how much more do you respect them?  I know they are busy, with loaded plates, people to see, decisions to make, orders to give.  But.  For whom will we in turn work for more?  Yes, servant leadership is a definite win-win.

Nehemiah 4:6b says, "for the people had the will to keep working."

The will to keep working.

Nehemiah and the leaders modeled, encouraged, served.  I just have to think that this "will" came from those powerful examples of work.

SIDENOTE:  I have inferred that Nehemiah's love language, according to 5:17-18, was food!  Please read those verses.  Right?!

Just one more nugget...this one came to me a few years ago, when I needed it the most.  In the midst of those attempting to distract and disrupt the progress, Nehemiah says in 6:3, "I am doing a great work and cannot come down."  These words spoke to me during a time when I needed just this encouragement.  Our eyes must remain focused on the end, the goal, the Creator.  We cannot allow ourselves to become distracted and disrupted from the task of the day nor the goal of Eternity.

Yes, everyone builds.  Serving, leading, working, restoring, building...all through modeling Christ-like behaviors.

Blessings, my friends, as you go forth and "build."

He Was There

Have you ever heard the song "He Was There All the Time"?  This song began to swirl around in my head as I read Ezra 8 this morning during my daily Bible read.  Here, we find Ezra returning to Jerusalem 80 years after  the first exiles returned.  (That is quite the time span...would love linger here and chat...but not today's focus!)  Here, we find a man ready to travel 900 miles, trusting and believing in God to provide along the way...and He did.

First, Ezra notes that no Levites had volunteered to travel with them, so he sent some men asking for "ministers for the Temple of God at Jerusalem." (v 17)

Love these words, "Since the gracious hand of our God was on us..."  Yes, He was.  Yes, He is.  I want more of the close walk with God that Ezra had!

Then, in versus 21-23, Ezra and people "fast and humble ourselves before our God," asking for protection since Ezra, as he says, "After all, we had told the king, 'Our God's hand of protection is on all who worship him..."

"...he heard our prayer."

Again, I just love those words, for His Words are as alive today as then.  Very alive.

Shall I place those words again?  "Since the gracious hand of our God was on us..." AND "...he heard our prayer."

I am praying now for me and you...to have those words be ever alive and real in our hearts and lives as they were to Ezra and those exiles making that 900-mile journey.  Aren't we all on a journey?  So good to know who our travel companion is!

He was/is there all the time...

Blessings!

Less Is More

I just realized that I have taken an unintentional siesta from this blog.  Time for an update!

Isn't how God gains our attention just so interesting?

My One Word for 2018 is less. This morning as I began the study pages for my women's Bible study group (Week 3 of Priscilla Shirer's Gideon), and, in response to one of the questions, I had discussed with myself how...(I am sure God smiled...just a bit)...this weekend I did not dive in and take over concerning an issue at church.  Instead, I requested prayer for this particular topic and intend to sit back and watch as God answers the prayer.  He will.

Then, I turn the page from Day 1 to Day 2...and there rests the next topic:  Less Is More.

I just love when He chats with me!

Just as John tells, "He must become greater; I must become less." (John 3:30, NIV).  Just so true, He wants to flow through us as He is glorified.  Every time.

Just in case you thinking this is easy?  Sometimes.  More so, as I spend time in His Word...and listen to Him.  No, not quite there...but I am working on it, and He is working on me!

How's that sitting back and resting working out for me?  Feels soooooo good.  Seriously!

How does God chat with you? 

Sometimes...The Tiny Things Are HUGE!

When you check your schedule and the meeting begins at 8:15...instead of 8:00...

When you pull into any parking lot and an empty spot is waiting that protects at least one door from getting binged...

When you need a medical text but no openings exist until Nov...but one is now open on Tuesday morning...

Some might argue these are just coincidences.  I say this is God saying my timing is perfect, and I will always take care of you.

The parking spots began during the time when my sister was in the hospital for months.  I arrived at all times of the day and night, depending on her status, and a parking spot would be waiting, often close to the front...always on an end...just for me.

Sometimes, God speaks in a loud voice.

Sometimes, He quietly whispers.

Sometimes, He opens a parking spot just for me...time after time.

So I testify to those in my vehicle as they witness the available spot, for I know He wants to assure them, too, that He just as mindful of them.

Watch.  Listen.  See.  He is there for you, also.

Go in Peace

This morning, this scripture speaks to me:

"But may the LORD forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also--when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant for this."

Here, Naaman speaks, having just been cleansed of leprosy and having just acknowledge God as his God (yay!  good times!)  Might I add...a Naaman who had just consumed a dose of humility (times 7!).  Sometimes meds are just hard to swallow...ask anyone preparing for a colostomy!  I know...I had my first one recently.  Gracious!  Ugh.) 

I digress.  Sorry...:)

Back to Naaman.  On fire for God!  Excited!  But.  Reality sets in.  His world.  His "real" life.  His mission field.

He knows that part of his job is to take his boss to worship false gods. A job he must do.  Can't get out of it...and still remain on the mission field.

Interesting.  May we pause here?  And think.

In our every day lives, under what circumstances do take a stand while also bowing?

Very interesting.  Anything coming to mind.

God is so mindful...or should I say He is so "heart"ful, for He truly knows the intent of our hearts.  Of every single heart.

Glad I am to serve the One True God!

Two Months?! What?!

Oh, my goodness!  I have not landed my thoughts on this blog in two months! 

Busy, busy, busy!  (I did blog at Treasures and Mrs. G's Book Reviews...and wrote about half the number of poems I planned in April...again, I remind myself:  writing some is better than writing none!)

So here goes....

Currently, the Lord is busy keeping me busy for Him...AND, at the same time, teaching me to say, "No."  "No thank you."

Reminder...my one word for this year is LESS, and on that, I am still working.  For instance, last evening, while chatting with the ladies at church, I asked for another volunteer to be in charge of the t-shirts sales, and after a bit, that volunteer spoke up.  Yay! 

My "less" also continues as I work with the youth, for the Lord has sent to us a potential youth director...no, a potential youth couple!  How amazing is that!  They feel the call to work with the youth.  I feel the call to not.  God just works like that!   I am excited to see how He works out the details!

My Bible Study with my Gal Pals (Making Choices) is wonderful.  I love these ladies and appreciate them sooooo much. We are one meeting away from finishing Beth Moore's The Patriarchs.  My...what an amazing study.  AND  Beth Moore is coming to Arkansas in August, to which I have won two tickets!  How exciting!  That will be a lovely girl weekend.  Looking forward to that.

We have learned so much.  Sooooooo much.  Last evening, we decided that our next study will be Priscilla Shirer's Gideon.  I arrived to class with no particular study in mind (well...I do want to study Moore's Daniel and Paul studies...at some point...but I do agree with the ladies that we need to study and get to know other authors).  After some discussion, the consensus was Shirer...and then Gideon.  Perfect.

Therefore, beginning the second Tuesday in June, I will begin this study.  Would you like to join us...me?  Please do!  More details...just as soon as I purchase my book and have some time to pray about how to set this up!

Also...school is about out...May 22, here I come.  Time to rest and refresh.  AND time to focus on some events for church.  Two events that I so enjoy...Women's Conference and VBS.  I love both.  Very much.  Yes, more about both soon!

I have completed two studies...with just myself...as part of my morning Quiet Time.  Two books that I highly recommend!

1. 40 Days of Increase...and amazing study for Lent, one I may just repeat next year.  I came across this book for the low cost of $5...and bought it.  So glad I did.  
2. Awaken...this one I began in January, one that contains 90 days of devotions.  Written by Priscilla Shirer, I marked it up from cover to cover.  Really enjoyed it...and will purchase copies to give as gifts.  Just that good!

Much to say...much to pray about...so I will be back soon!

In the meantime, please consider joining me in my study of Gideon!  Blessings!

He REALLY Knows What He's Doing

Really.  He does.

As I type this, I am in Arlington, VA at a National Board Advisory Panel meeting.  Get this:  I was chosen because I am still in the classroom teaching.

This morning as introductions continued, I realized...quickly...that I was the only in-the-classroom teacher.  Then, a bit later, the organizer explained this team was chosen strategically so that a plethora of ideas would come to the table.  I was chosen because I am a teacher.  Not an admin.  Not an academic coach.  Not...

Then.  Again, He confirmed what I already knew.  He really does know what is He doing.  Every time.  All the time.  Past.  Present.  Future.

For years, I have whined, moaned, groaned, "Lord, why will you not allow me to use my masters degree to the extent that I just knew you were leading.  Why?"  Ever since 1999, I have asked this question...with some degree of stress embedded. (He has answered along the way with more than one answer.  I am just a slow learner.  Really, I am.   Slow-mo!)

Until, just over the last few years...when He also began to change my want-to.  Our God is just so very good at that, isn't He?

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

Today, has been such a grand day of validation...on several levels; all of which, He knew exactly what He was...and is...doing.  I no longer desire what I thought I wanted so badly.  I ever want His will.  There, I am the most happy.  There, I am the most peaceful.  There, I am resting.  Yes.

No matter where He has you right now...maybe you, too, are whining, moaning, and groaning...or maybe you are have days that are grand, He has this plan just for you.  He is connecting all the pieces just that you might be made progressively perfect.

I often think that God pats me on the head and says, "Tammy, if you could see things through my eyes, you would see things differently" (words from a song...not mine!).  Yes, I would!

In the meantime, I will take the head pats and will attempt to not whine, moan, and groan...too much...too loudly as He continues to work on me, making me what He would have me be (yes, words from another song!).

Blessings.

Lord, Do You Need My Help?

This week, in the study of The Patriarchs, time has been spent with Rebekah...time I needed, time that has resulted in my being less enamored with her!  I just so love the romance of Isaac and Rebekah.  They pause...see each other for the first time...love sparks...they run to decrease the distance between...and they live happily ever after.  Or not.  No. Yes.

Then, she gets pregnant.  With twins.  What a happy time.  Or not.  No.  Yes?

The younger grabs the heel of the younger.  Rebekah is told, "The older shall serve the younger."

As it just so happens, she prefers the younger.

Wait.

She is the mother to both...the older AND the younger.  Times have not changed that much!  A mom loves her babies.  How could she not? 

My enamoredness declines!

As I continued to ponder on this lesson...and later discussed with my husband...sometimes NOT knowing is just for the best.  Certainly so, in my case, for I know myself.  I would just be too tempted to help out.  Just a little.  Here. And there. Or a lot!

Thank you, Jesus, for saving me from myself! 

As I meander over my past, I can now say...isn't hindsight truly 20/20?!...my ways may not be His Ways, but His Ways I always want to my ways.  Every day I seek this more.

Amen!

Pouring Into

This year, I have been reading a devotion a day from Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest, a collection of his scriptures/topics his wife put together after he passed.  Isn’t it just amazing how God can have you in a book in such a timely fashion?

Consider this scripture:  

If I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. - Philippians 2:17

God immediately placed a few areas of my life right there:

1. Our Women’s Conf at church. What a powerful way to approach the conference!  Not want is in the event for me, but how can God use me to pour into others that they may receive such a blessing!  Lord, even now, please begin to prepare the hearts of the women who need to attend this event.  
2. My sister...who is again in the hospital with issues that stem from the surgery she had on Sept. 11. What a journey. What a rollercoaster. Dips and turns. Just never quite anticipating what will happen next. Trying to keep the right attitude when decisions are not made as I would have made them. Learning how to pour into others...even when I don’t want to. Especially when I don’t want do. Lord, help me here to be to my sister and the other three you are using to guide this journey. We need a Shepherd in a mighty way to keep us together, United.  
3. My students...as I get to know them more. They each have baggage and backgrounds that just melt your soul right down to compassion. So many of them needed pouring into. Lord, place those in my path who need the most pouring into. Then, help me love them as you love them!  I know...the ones who need the pouring...may be the one who challenge that very pouring the most! 

How is God speaking to you about this scripture?  Over whom do you need to pour into?  

What I know?  We just can’t outpour God!  We pour...He fills us up again. 

As the song goes, Lord, feed me ‘til I want no more. Fill my cup. Fill it up and make me whole. 

Amen. 

2018 Winter Bible Studies...Coming UP!

A new year.  A new round of Bible studies for me!

Chronological Bible One-Year Read

Again, this year I will read the Bible chronologically, using this plan found here.  This will be my third such journey through the Bible, through which I have learned more about this living book than in my previous years combined.  Seriously.  This is beginning to place the Biblical events in a more orderly fashion for me...which I needed.

My first read of the Bible took two years:  in 2015, I read the Old Testament; then in 2016, I read the New Testament.  Last year...the whole Bible!  Yay!

Why again?  Still so much to learn and organize in my mind.  Even in the past 13 days, I have discovered so many nuggets I missed during the first two reads.  Powerful!  There is power in The Word.  He meets me there...every morning.

This year, I hope to ponder and write and ponder...and ponder...on a series of posts entitled Between the Verses, not to add or take away anything from the Bible (never!)...but simply to ponder on the lessons there when I slow down, get quiet, and allow God to speak to me.  The first one is there, sprouting, growing...yes, will be my next blog post!

Joanna Weaver's Bible Read

Click here to find more info about this one.  I am just participating in part of this one:  the reading of My Utmost for His Highest.  That little jewel is full of multiple nuggets each day!  A collection of his lectures and talks, Oswald Chambers' wife compiled and published them in 1927.

The version I am reading, edited for today's language by James Reimann, still takes two readings for me to grasp all he was saying.  Well...some of what he is saying!  I predict this will be one I will re-read yearly!  (Going to being looking for a hardback copy...mine is paperback; I plan to wear it out! Yay!)

Making Choices:  Beth Moore's The Patriarchs

We began this study last fall.  I regret not holding off until January to begin, for with the holidays and such, the study was halted for over a month.  I "felt" a year ago to host Max Lucado's Because of Bethlehem.  I regret that decision.  (Note to self:  Heed that inner voice!)

BUT.  We are off and studying again.  We met last week.  Already, what a powerful study.  Looking forward to learning...and learning.

Have enjoyed getting to know Hagar more.  Did you know?  Throughout the Bible, she is the only one to ever name God?  What an experience she must have had with Him that day!  Can you imagine?  Sure, you can!  You have been down and out...and felt no one cared...and then that Small, Still Voice begins to nudge you.  He cares for YOU!

Poor Hagar (not that she had always been Little Miss Innocent!)...pregnant, seemingly on her own...but then He showed up in a mighty way!  That's must My God!  Yes!

More about this study coming up!  An 11-week study, we have completed three.  Since we meet just twice a month...yes, four months in this study, which is awesome.  Much time to marinate on the lesson He wants to teach me...and my other seven lady Jesus Gal Pals.  Love them...and very thankful God has placed them in my life in this particular setting.

Side Note:  Beth Moore will be in our state in August!  Last fall, at a women's event, I won two tickets to this event.  Wow!

Sunday Evening Discipleship Training Class

Just before Christmas, I asked a friend to lead this class beginning in the new year.  He agreed, for which I am thankful...as God liberated me to do less in my church.  (More about this also throughtout 2018!)

He chose to continue the second study in the Summer 2017 Masterwork Lifeway curriculum.  I am soooooo glad, as this study focuses on Adrian Rogers' The Kingdom Authority.  We just started this one...have some reading to do today!

With each study, I purchase the book on which the study is based and dive a bit deeper.  This I enjoy.  Marking up the text.  Making it mine.  Marinating more on His Word.  All gifts to me.

Online Bible Study:  Lifeway's and Priscilla Shirer's Discerning the Voice of God

Begins January 18...as in next Thursday!  Sign up here!  A seven-week study, this one allows you to be as involved as you would like.  Watch the videos (free during the study!).  Complete the study guide.  Read the accompanying book Awaken :  90 Days with the God Who Speaks.  (The last two...the study guide and book are on sale for just $20 at Lifeway...or it was...hummm...cannot find the special online.  I purchased mine in the store before Christmas...)

Some time ago, Making Choices (my Bible study group) studied Fervent along with a War Room study.  Enjoyed it very much!

Sunday School:  The Gospel Project

Currently, I teach the Sunday morning youth class, and we are studying Acts.  Oh, the hidden beauty of leading/teaching a class:  I always learn so much more than the participants.  That's just how God is...we can never outdo Him!  Ever.

Stephen.  Phillip.  Saul.  Paul.  Learning much.  Gleaning much.  Hopefully...sharing much. 

______________________________

There.  That's my winter focuses!

Should you want to join me in any of these studies, just comment below.  I would be honored to study His Word with you.

How about you?  In what study, in what Word has God placed you?  Please share!