Conversations, Reflections & Meditations


	Main Page \| My Articles for The Life Connection \| Prayers and Meditations \| Poetry Haida Gwaii Reflections \| Education & Home-School \| Family
Sign Guestbook \| View Guestbook Comments? Questions? [email protected]	Prayer topics Give Me the Desires of Your Heart (Not Mine) 1% Fibs are 100% Lies - Holiness Requires Perfection Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Help Me Keep My Promises To Pray Sacrificing 'Me' Plans So You Can Use Me For Your Plans Help Me Truly Love and Submit to My Husband, Lord A Chain of Unconnected Activities... Or Your Task For Me Give Me the Desires of Your Heart (Not Mine) Date: October 17, 2004 Scripture says that You will give us the desires of our hearts. But oh, dear God, I only want to have fulfilled those desires that are from You, because all others are not Your purposes for me and so are not good or right for me – or for those whose lives I touch. Why has it taken me so long to see this? And why do I sense I am still only seeing it fuzzily, just stepping a toe into the great ocean of Your love and Your purpose for me? I feel so small, like a little child on a long-deserted beach stepping his toes into a vast ocean that stretches as far as the eye can see and disappears over the great horizon – for how far? Forever! Take my hand, Lord, walk with me, take me safely through the storms and the sunshine into the eternal light of Your presence, Lord. I want to go with You all the way, dear Lord. Amen and amen. …. My child, I love You. You are mine. I have bought You. You are paid for, you are freed from slavery to the enemy. You are mine forever. Don’t feel guilty. It’s a ploy of satan. Cast him behind you. Keep your eyes on Me alone. I am the One who loves you. I am all you need. I am your shepherd. Rest your weary body in my loving arms and let me carry you awhile. Just rest, relax, enjoy me, hear me, feel me, know me. Know that I love you. Know you are perfect in My sight because of the blood of Jesus. Know I will never leave or forsake you. Know you are mine always and forever. Lay back. Listen to the rain. I will quench your thirst. I will answer your prayers. I will give you the longings of your heart, the longings that after all come from me. I will make you whole. I will heal and soothe your broken heart. Sleep now, relax, rest in Me. I am yours and you are Mine. We are together in My love. Goodnight. (Thank You, Lord). Return to the top 1% Fibs are 100% Lies - Holiness Requires Perfection Date: October 19, 2004 Dear Lord, ____ and I were talking this morning about the book he is reading, Ender’s Game, and we were talking about how Ender knew when adults were lying. ____ said all adults lie, then he said (but not maliciously) that I probably lie more than he does. Know what? He’s right. I do lie. I lie because I am scared what will happen, what people will say or do if I tell the truth. I lie to cover things up so people won’t find out what’s really happening and get upset. I lie because I am embarrassed. I lie – only I often call it exaggerating – so that the story is more exciting. Sometimes I tell the same lie so often that I begin to really believe it. Lord, it is so easy to lie. It feels so safe to lie. A lot of lies I tell are half-truths, but half-truths are also half-lies. Wrong is wrong. Bad is bad. Evil is evil. Good is 100% because God is the true good and He is 100% good. So even 1% bad is just plain 100% bad! Holiness requires perfection. Dear God, please help me to truly be holy – perfect – no lies! That is so scary, Lord, but I know it is what You require of Your children. So please forgive me, Lord. Please “change my heart, make me ever true, cleanse my heart oh God, let me be like You.” Lord, please “mold me and make me after Your will.” Please help me to be squeaky clean by the power of Your Holy Spirit, Lord God. Please help me! Amen and amen. Thank You, Lord. Return to the top Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Date: October 23, 2004 I was sitting here thinking, “I’ve got an hour to kill,” and then I realized I can put the time to better use, Lord, by coming to You in prayer. Thank You, dear Holy Spirit, for helping me pray on my paper route. Thank You for praying for me when I don’t know how to pray. Thank You for giving me strength to go on when I’m tired. Thank You for helping me focus when my mind fills up with other stuff, whether from my flesh or from the enemy. Thank You for loving me, dear Lord God. Thank You for Your words in my heart the other night, and for giving me the energy to write them down. Thank You for helping me read and understand the scriptures in French. I like the new slant or understanding I often discover. Like “deny yourself” being translated as “stop thinking about yourself” – that’s so cool, so easy to understand, and it speaks volumes to me. Return to the top Help Me Keep My Promises to Pray Date: October 24, 2004 Dear Heavenly Father, Well, You just heard that phone call from ___, and my prayer for them - forgive me, Lord, for not praying before. I guess I just thought You’d take care of it anyway, and I guess I thought it would be easy for ____ to get a job… when I should have known it’s not about his ability, but it is all about You and Your will and purposes. Yes, Your purposes for his life, but maybe also Your purposes for my life: to be a prayer warrior, to keep my promises, to love others and pray when they ask me to, and I say I will. And obey Your clearly written will in Your words to pray for daily needs and for You to provide for our earthly needs. So yes, I have been shirking my responsibility, Lord. Please forgive me. Please, please help ____ find work now, or find the path You have for him, and know that it is from You and that he hasn’t been forgotten. God, You are a God of love and You never forsake or forget Your children, but sometimes You do step back for awhile and let them go through some struggles. And although You are still caring and still very much in control, because they can’t see You (or sometimes even hear You) it seems like being deserted. Lord, that’s how I often felt when my husband was working that “away” job because he loved us and wanted to be responsible… but Lord, it was so hard for the kids, and for me, too, as time went by, to see that as his motivation. And yes, honestly, I sometimes wondered why You weren’t “answering my prayers.” I was so hurt, Lord, so alone. And yet, out of that time, I have come to know You are there always, caring and controlling. And even if “nothing else good” had ever come out of it, that would have been eternally enough, just to know You, to know You care, to be assured of Your presence. It was years, Lord, and to humans (You must remember) that can seem endlessly hopeless and wearing and exhausting and painful. Anyway, Lord, You know all about _____s’ needs. Lord, please just do Your will in their lives. Provide for ___ the work and purpose You have for him. Provide for ___ the strength she needs (and encouragement and comfort) as her husband is feeling hurt and alone, and as she must continue to work in a position that she would love if it were permanent, but which is so frustrating and often unfulfilling in its “on-call” nature. Oh, Lord God, do Your work in their lives, I pray. And please, let them have at least a clear glimpse of Your presence and Your caring and Your purpose. Remind them clearly, dear Lord, that You are in charge. Thank You, dear Jesus. In Your precious name I pray, amen. Return to the top Sacrificing 'Me' Plans so You Can Use Me for Your Plans Date: october 25, 2004 Dear Heavenly Father! O it is so exciting to walk with You. To be able to be the person, to fulfill the purpose for which You created me. Thank You. O You are so wonderful and loving and kind beyond all that I can think or imagine! Yesterday’s sermon was so for me. It was so kind of You to give me an opportunity to kneel before You, and just cry my eyes out, let my frustrations go, and finally come to the realization that You are using me according to Your plan and purpose, not what I think it should be. Because unfortunately, I just realized, what I think I should be doing is really all about “me” while what You have planned for me requires that I sacrifice the “me” plans so that You can use me to fulfill Your plans for all mankind (including my husband with whom I have been angry because I felt he was standing in the way of my serving You…). Just to think, if I let go of “me” then You can use me to partake in the work for the eternal salvation of all who are called, instead of just me doing something good that might bring me recognition. Wow! That is such a great privilege, to be part of a work of that kind of cosmic scope. Thank You, Lord. Return to the top Help Me Truly Love and Submit to my Husband, Lord Date: October 25, 2004 I have been struggling since my husband “cut me off” from doing church activities, because suddenly I didn’t know what to do with myself, where to start, what to do next. But it is good because now I can slow down, listen to You, find out what Your priorities are. Isn’t it something! Even reading I Heard The Owl Call My Name yesterday, helped me want to slow down, to listen, to think what is really important, to really want to see and know and understand people, and love and serve them on a deeper level than just “practical” help. I see that I have been filling my life with activities of little importance. I knew it all along in the sense that I constantly feel scattered, disorganized, frustrated, even lost. I resent that people are constantly asking, even demanding, things of me. I do have to learn to say “no.” As ___ said, I am a “giving” kind of person (yes, my primary love language is acts of service ) so when I keep saying, “yes, yes, yes,” after awhile people stop appreciating it and start expecting it, and expecting more and more, taking me for granted and burning me out. And if I dare to say “no” they are angry and offended. I do need to pay more attention to my husband. Because he has been away so much, it has become easy to squeeze him out, so that I can squeeze other stuff in. Oh, I can give him a bit of extra attention for a couple weeks now and then without too much resentment, but for these past six weeks while he has been “needy” due to continual pain and inability to entertain himself in other ways… Lord, I really wasn’t prepared for that! Lord, I have resented that the things that he wants to do are things I’m not interested in; and that the things I am interested in, like Bible reading and prayer and family worship, or even things we used to have fun doing together, like walking in the rain, or visiting people and having people over to visit, or playing table games, or even going hunting together, he doesn’t want to do. Lord, I feel like we don’t even know each other any more. It’s awfully hard to feel relational when I don’t feel hardly any unity of purpose or interest between us. But I see that it isn’t my job to fix, except as I can change my own attitudes and reactions, and be obedient to Your word by respecting my husband, being obedient and submissive to him, and praying for him and letting You do Your work unhindered by my interference, rotten attitudes, crabbing, and complaining. So help me, Lord, to be the wife You will for me according to Your will and purpose as shown in Your Word, and as You direct me as I listen to Your Holy Spirit and grow into closer relationship with You. I see that my anger toward my husband, the hurts I refuse to let go, hurt not only my relationship with him and with You, but relationships with my children and extended family (my side and his) and with church family and friends, and with everyone we are connected with, as a couple before You, dear God. So I sense that I’ve written enough about that. It’s out in the open, in black and white now. I see it and I acknowledge it. And I here and now ask You to forgive me, and help me to change before You, before my husband, and thus before my children, relatives, friends, the church, and the world (who are watching to see any evidence of Christ in me!). I give my husband to You, dear God. And I give me to You, too. I hereby vow to do my best, with the help of Your Spirit and Your Word (and Your body, too, Lord) to take my eyes of “me” and put them on Jesus. Thank You, Lord! Return to the top A Chain of Unconnected Activities... Or Your Task for Me Date: October 25, 2004 Lord, for several years I’ve had this dream about an intentional community and/or a camp or retreat speaking and teaching ministry, especially to women and girls. Does that still hold true? It’s a big dream, Lord. I know I can’t do it all. I can sit with the women and talk to them, and teach them about You while we learn to do practical things together. But I’m not a counselor, Lord (am I?). And I’m really not a big administrator. I can come up with ideas, get them organized, set things up. But I’m not so good on carrying them on day after day. I don’t like repetitive jobs, Lord. I’m not even good at it, am I? I’m good at teaching people things and, I think, getting them excited about it. But then I always want to be going on to something new and different. Is that a problem, Lord? Do I lack the ability to be steadfast, activity-wise? Is it lack of faithfulness, or is it simply not the role and purpose for which You made me? (Oh, I do hope it is the latter. Lord?) What did the pastor say yesterday? “Know your task.” But I really am still not sure of it. Maybe I really do need to take a couple days to seek Your face to really answer this question. Or maybe You just want me to wait for a while longer, and trust You to be in control… however long it takes, in Your purpose…. “Good actions are not necessarily godly actions. Godly actions lead to growth and relationship with God.” So what have I been doing that is godly? Yes, prayer, Bible reading, journaling, working on the newsletter (I so heard from You last night!) and life group, and developing friendships with people in our life group, and preparing for an teaching French, and the understanding I’m gaining about God-based education and learning, and yes, my changing relationship with my husband (but what about my children? That’s important too, but it needs a change in approach; I need to examine Your way and purpose and plan there). But then what is “merely good?” Or even bad? Running to do things for my kids all the time, things they really need to be learning to do for themselves. Backing down from confrontation too much. Fearing to “push Jesus” on them. Spending too much time reading junk… even too much email. What about not visiting mom and dad often enough? What about things I’ve been neglecting, like prayer and fasting? “True impact is found when we live life out of our values… or you end up living a chain of non-connected activities.” Yes, that is exactly how I’ve felt lately, Lord, a chain of unconnected activities. And I don’t even know, at least I haven’t really articulated or sought Your face on what my key values are, or should be. How do I do that? Obviously it is a pretty crucial step. I do see how our core values do affect everything else we do. “If you try to do more than the will of God for you, you will burn out. To really live we must understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment. The enemy of priority living is busyness that is not important to your main task.” Okay, I am getting that! Well, at least in my head… now the tough part… putting it into action. “Know your task, and your assignment within that task. Do your assignment and delegate the rest. And if others won’t do the rest, let it go. Don’t give in and do it, too.” And “Love on and encourage those that you delegate to.” Okay. I didn’t see that there was a difference between task and assignment. So if I get this right, for example, the church library is a task. Reorganizing it so that would run more smoothly was my assignment. Other people can keep it up, including preparing new books for the collection, once I’ve trained them how to do that. And what else? What exactly is my task/assignment re my husband, my kids, the church, school? Lord? Return to the top
Main Page \| My Articles for The Life Connection \| Prayers and Meditations \| Poetry Haida Gwaii Reflections \| Education & Home-School \| Family


	Main Page \| My Articles for The Life Connection \| Prayers and Meditations \| Poetry Haida Gwaii Reflections \| Education & Home-School \| Family
Sign Guestbook \| View Guestbook Comments? Questions? [email protected]	Prayer topics Give Me the Desires of Your Heart (Not Mine) 1% Fibs are 100% Lies - Holiness Requires Perfection Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Help Me Keep My Promises To Pray Sacrificing 'Me' Plans So You Can Use Me For Your Plans Help Me Truly Love and Submit to My Husband, Lord A Chain of Unconnected Activities... Or Your Task For Me Give Me the Desires of Your Heart (Not Mine) Date: October 17, 2004 Scripture says that You will give us the desires of our hearts. But oh, dear God, I only want to have fulfilled those desires that are from You, because all others are not Your purposes for me and so are not good or right for me – or for those whose lives I touch. Why has it taken me so long to see this? And why do I sense I am still only seeing it fuzzily, just stepping a toe into the great ocean of Your love and Your purpose for me? I feel so small, like a little child on a long-deserted beach stepping his toes into a vast ocean that stretches as far as the eye can see and disappears over the great horizon – for how far? Forever! Take my hand, Lord, walk with me, take me safely through the storms and the sunshine into the eternal light of Your presence, Lord. I want to go with You all the way, dear Lord. Amen and amen. …. My child, I love You. You are mine. I have bought You. You are paid for, you are freed from slavery to the enemy. You are mine forever. Don’t feel guilty. It’s a ploy of satan. Cast him behind you. Keep your eyes on Me alone. I am the One who loves you. I am all you need. I am your shepherd. Rest your weary body in my loving arms and let me carry you awhile. Just rest, relax, enjoy me, hear me, feel me, know me. Know that I love you. Know you are perfect in My sight because of the blood of Jesus. Know I will never leave or forsake you. Know you are mine always and forever. Lay back. Listen to the rain. I will quench your thirst. I will answer your prayers. I will give you the longings of your heart, the longings that after all come from me. I will make you whole. I will heal and soothe your broken heart. Sleep now, relax, rest in Me. I am yours and you are Mine. We are together in My love. Goodnight. (Thank You, Lord). Return to the top 1% Fibs are 100% Lies - Holiness Requires Perfection Date: October 19, 2004 Dear Lord, ____ and I were talking this morning about the book he is reading, Ender’s Game, and we were talking about how Ender knew when adults were lying. ____ said all adults lie, then he said (but not maliciously) that I probably lie more than he does. Know what? He’s right. I do lie. I lie because I am scared what will happen, what people will say or do if I tell the truth. I lie to cover things up so people won’t find out what’s really happening and get upset. I lie because I am embarrassed. I lie – only I often call it exaggerating – so that the story is more exciting. Sometimes I tell the same lie so often that I begin to really believe it. Lord, it is so easy to lie. It feels so safe to lie. A lot of lies I tell are half-truths, but half-truths are also half-lies. Wrong is wrong. Bad is bad. Evil is evil. Good is 100% because God is the true good and He is 100% good. So even 1% bad is just plain 100% bad! Holiness requires perfection. Dear God, please help me to truly be holy – perfect – no lies! That is so scary, Lord, but I know it is what You require of Your children. So please forgive me, Lord. Please “change my heart, make me ever true, cleanse my heart oh God, let me be like You.” Lord, please “mold me and make me after Your will.” Please help me to be squeaky clean by the power of Your Holy Spirit, Lord God. Please help me! Amen and amen. Thank You, Lord. Return to the top Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Date: October 23, 2004 I was sitting here thinking, “I’ve got an hour to kill,” and then I realized I can put the time to better use, Lord, by coming to You in prayer. Thank You, dear Holy Spirit, for helping me pray on my paper route. Thank You for praying for me when I don’t know how to pray. Thank You for giving me strength to go on when I’m tired. Thank You for helping me focus when my mind fills up with other stuff, whether from my flesh or from the enemy. Thank You for loving me, dear Lord God. Thank You for Your words in my heart the other night, and for giving me the energy to write them down. Thank You for helping me read and understand the scriptures in French. I like the new slant or understanding I often discover. Like “deny yourself” being translated as “stop thinking about yourself” – that’s so cool, so easy to understand, and it speaks volumes to me. Return to the top Help Me Keep My Promises to Pray Date: October 24, 2004 Dear Heavenly Father, Well, You just heard that phone call from ___, and my prayer for them - forgive me, Lord, for not praying before. I guess I just thought You’d take care of it anyway, and I guess I thought it would be easy for ____ to get a job… when I should have known it’s not about his ability, but it is all about You and Your will and purposes. Yes, Your purposes for his life, but maybe also Your purposes for my life: to be a prayer warrior, to keep my promises, to love others and pray when they ask me to, and I say I will. And obey Your clearly written will in Your words to pray for daily needs and for You to provide for our earthly needs. So yes, I have been shirking my responsibility, Lord. Please forgive me. Please, please help ____ find work now, or find the path You have for him, and know that it is from You and that he hasn’t been forgotten. God, You are a God of love and You never forsake or forget Your children, but sometimes You do step back for awhile and let them go through some struggles. And although You are still caring and still very much in control, because they can’t see You (or sometimes even hear You) it seems like being deserted. Lord, that’s how I often felt when my husband was working that “away” job because he loved us and wanted to be responsible… but Lord, it was so hard for the kids, and for me, too, as time went by, to see that as his motivation. And yes, honestly, I sometimes wondered why You weren’t “answering my prayers.” I was so hurt, Lord, so alone. And yet, out of that time, I have come to know You are there always, caring and controlling. And even if “nothing else good” had ever come out of it, that would have been eternally enough, just to know You, to know You care, to be assured of Your presence. It was years, Lord, and to humans (You must remember) that can seem endlessly hopeless and wearing and exhausting and painful. Anyway, Lord, You know all about _____s’ needs. Lord, please just do Your will in their lives. Provide for ___ the work and purpose You have for him. Provide for ___ the strength she needs (and encouragement and comfort) as her husband is feeling hurt and alone, and as she must continue to work in a position that she would love if it were permanent, but which is so frustrating and often unfulfilling in its “on-call” nature. Oh, Lord God, do Your work in their lives, I pray. And please, let them have at least a clear glimpse of Your presence and Your caring and Your purpose. Remind them clearly, dear Lord, that You are in charge. Thank You, dear Jesus. In Your precious name I pray, amen. Return to the top Sacrificing 'Me' Plans so You Can Use Me for Your Plans Date: october 25, 2004 Dear Heavenly Father! O it is so exciting to walk with You. To be able to be the person, to fulfill the purpose for which You created me. Thank You. O You are so wonderful and loving and kind beyond all that I can think or imagine! Yesterday’s sermon was so for me. It was so kind of You to give me an opportunity to kneel before You, and just cry my eyes out, let my frustrations go, and finally come to the realization that You are using me according to Your plan and purpose, not what I think it should be. Because unfortunately, I just realized, what I think I should be doing is really all about “me” while what You have planned for me requires that I sacrifice the “me” plans so that You can use me to fulfill Your plans for all mankind (including my husband with whom I have been angry because I felt he was standing in the way of my serving You…). Just to think, if I let go of “me” then You can use me to partake in the work for the eternal salvation of all who are called, instead of just me doing something good that might bring me recognition. Wow! That is such a great privilege, to be part of a work of that kind of cosmic scope. Thank You, Lord. Return to the top Help Me Truly Love and Submit to my Husband, Lord Date: October 25, 2004 I have been struggling since my husband “cut me off” from doing church activities, because suddenly I didn’t know what to do with myself, where to start, what to do next. But it is good because now I can slow down, listen to You, find out what Your priorities are. Isn’t it something! Even reading I Heard The Owl Call My Name yesterday, helped me want to slow down, to listen, to think what is really important, to really want to see and know and understand people, and love and serve them on a deeper level than just “practical” help. I see that I have been filling my life with activities of little importance. I knew it all along in the sense that I constantly feel scattered, disorganized, frustrated, even lost. I resent that people are constantly asking, even demanding, things of me. I do have to learn to say “no.” As ___ said, I am a “giving” kind of person (yes, my primary love language is acts of service ) so when I keep saying, “yes, yes, yes,” after awhile people stop appreciating it and start expecting it, and expecting more and more, taking me for granted and burning me out. And if I dare to say “no” they are angry and offended. I do need to pay more attention to my husband. Because he has been away so much, it has become easy to squeeze him out, so that I can squeeze other stuff in. Oh, I can give him a bit of extra attention for a couple weeks now and then without too much resentment, but for these past six weeks while he has been “needy” due to continual pain and inability to entertain himself in other ways… Lord, I really wasn’t prepared for that! Lord, I have resented that the things that he wants to do are things I’m not interested in; and that the things I am interested in, like Bible reading and prayer and family worship, or even things we used to have fun doing together, like walking in the rain, or visiting people and having people over to visit, or playing table games, or even going hunting together, he doesn’t want to do. Lord, I feel like we don’t even know each other any more. It’s awfully hard to feel relational when I don’t feel hardly any unity of purpose or interest between us. But I see that it isn’t my job to fix, except as I can change my own attitudes and reactions, and be obedient to Your word by respecting my husband, being obedient and submissive to him, and praying for him and letting You do Your work unhindered by my interference, rotten attitudes, crabbing, and complaining. So help me, Lord, to be the wife You will for me according to Your will and purpose as shown in Your Word, and as You direct me as I listen to Your Holy Spirit and grow into closer relationship with You. I see that my anger toward my husband, the hurts I refuse to let go, hurt not only my relationship with him and with You, but relationships with my children and extended family (my side and his) and with church family and friends, and with everyone we are connected with, as a couple before You, dear God. So I sense that I’ve written enough about that. It’s out in the open, in black and white now. I see it and I acknowledge it. And I here and now ask You to forgive me, and help me to change before You, before my husband, and thus before my children, relatives, friends, the church, and the world (who are watching to see any evidence of Christ in me!). I give my husband to You, dear God. And I give me to You, too. I hereby vow to do my best, with the help of Your Spirit and Your Word (and Your body, too, Lord) to take my eyes of “me” and put them on Jesus. Thank You, Lord! Return to the top A Chain of Unconnected Activities... Or Your Task for Me Date: October 25, 2004 Lord, for several years I’ve had this dream about an intentional community and/or a camp or retreat speaking and teaching ministry, especially to women and girls. Does that still hold true? It’s a big dream, Lord. I know I can’t do it all. I can sit with the women and talk to them, and teach them about You while we learn to do practical things together. But I’m not a counselor, Lord (am I?). And I’m really not a big administrator. I can come up with ideas, get them organized, set things up. But I’m not so good on carrying them on day after day. I don’t like repetitive jobs, Lord. I’m not even good at it, am I? I’m good at teaching people things and, I think, getting them excited about it. But then I always want to be going on to something new and different. Is that a problem, Lord? Do I lack the ability to be steadfast, activity-wise? Is it lack of faithfulness, or is it simply not the role and purpose for which You made me? (Oh, I do hope it is the latter. Lord?) What did the pastor say yesterday? “Know your task.” But I really am still not sure of it. Maybe I really do need to take a couple days to seek Your face to really answer this question. Or maybe You just want me to wait for a while longer, and trust You to be in control… however long it takes, in Your purpose…. “Good actions are not necessarily godly actions. Godly actions lead to growth and relationship with God.” So what have I been doing that is godly? Yes, prayer, Bible reading, journaling, working on the newsletter (I so heard from You last night!) and life group, and developing friendships with people in our life group, and preparing for an teaching French, and the understanding I’m gaining about God-based education and learning, and yes, my changing relationship with my husband (but what about my children? That’s important too, but it needs a change in approach; I need to examine Your way and purpose and plan there). But then what is “merely good?” Or even bad? Running to do things for my kids all the time, things they really need to be learning to do for themselves. Backing down from confrontation too much. Fearing to “push Jesus” on them. Spending too much time reading junk… even too much email. What about not visiting mom and dad often enough? What about things I’ve been neglecting, like prayer and fasting? “True impact is found when we live life out of our values… or you end up living a chain of non-connected activities.” Yes, that is exactly how I’ve felt lately, Lord, a chain of unconnected activities. And I don’t even know, at least I haven’t really articulated or sought Your face on what my key values are, or should be. How do I do that? Obviously it is a pretty crucial step. I do see how our core values do affect everything else we do. “If you try to do more than the will of God for you, you will burn out. To really live we must understand that activity is not necessarily accomplishment. The enemy of priority living is busyness that is not important to your main task.” Okay, I am getting that! Well, at least in my head… now the tough part… putting it into action. “Know your task, and your assignment within that task. Do your assignment and delegate the rest. And if others won’t do the rest, let it go. Don’t give in and do it, too.” And “Love on and encourage those that you delegate to.” Okay. I didn’t see that there was a difference between task and assignment. So if I get this right, for example, the church library is a task. Reorganizing it so that would run more smoothly was my assignment. Other people can keep it up, including preparing new books for the collection, once I’ve trained them how to do that. And what else? What exactly is my task/assignment re my husband, my kids, the church, school? Lord? Return to the top
Main Page \| My Articles for The Life Connection \| Prayers and Meditations \| Poetry Haida Gwaii Reflections \| Education & Home-School \| Family