Surrender 2012

Surrender 2012

     As do most people this time of year, I have begun to think about the up coming opportunities that I will have to make the most of the New Year.  We tend to reflect on what we did right and what we did wrong over the past 12 months and make promises to ourselves, our family, our friends, and to God on how we plan to change for the better over the course of the next year.   I am absolutely no different in that I have given the subject much thought.  How should I change?  What do I want to change?  Who will benefit from my changes? 

    God spoke to me as my thoughts began to wander on the subject.  When he speaks to me through multiple ways, I know for sure that it is his words that are forming in my heart and mind.  This was one such occasion as he gave me a song  from Jeremy Camp titled  Surrender.   http://youtu.be/KJ1Hlrs1Fck     He sings about making your heart a home for God. That idea is very appealing to me as I would like to make my heart a constant home for God in the New Year.  My thoughts then went immediately to a couple of bible studies that I have done in the past, one being the Believing God  study by Beth Moore.  Beth taught me that if you say you believe in God, you MUST also believe that:   God is who He says He is, God can do what He says He can, I am who God says I am, I can do all things through Christ, God's word is alive and active in me.

        

       I began to think that if I am choosing to surrender to God and truly make my heart God’s home, then I MUST definitely believe that God is who He says He is and that He can do what He says He can do.  I then began to reflect on a more recent study that I participated in from Priscilla Shirer titled  Discerning the Voice of God.   Priscilla taught me that if you are having trouble determining if God is speaking to you,  getting the same “word” from multiple sources is a sure sign that God is trying to tell you something.  I know that sometimes God will send me the same message more that one time because I do not always listen the first time!  This particular time he just saved himself and me some time and told it to me three ways in the matter of minutes so that I would know immediately that he was speaking to me.

    After this encounter with God, I know for certain that my New Year resolution is to make sure that I remember that God IS who He says He is and He Can do what He says He can do.  Also, I will strive to live my life as if I believe these things, making my heart a home for God, and making sure the people around me can tell that God is working in my life.  The following are ways I will show God and others that I AM BELIEVING:

*Leave the worrying to God – He has promised me He is in control

*Show joy in my countenance

*Love others abundantly

*Give God quality time

*Watch for opportunities to serve God

May God bless you in 2012 as you surrender your heart to Him!  Happy New Year to all……

Thanksgiving - Not Just a Holiday

      Doing without has a tendency to bring out the “thanksgiving” in everyone.  Today as I drove to work, I was especially thankful for my car.  No….I did not get a new car, just the same car I have had for 6 years.   I love the way it drives so easily, stays relatively clean on the inside, fits my short stature, lights go on and off automatically as needed, and the radio stations are set according to my preferences.  I drive this car to and from work for a total of two hours per day so “we” spend a lot of time together.  So why was I especially thankful for my car today?

     You see, last week it was determined that my daughter’s car was no longer safe for her to drive and we had to rotate the family cars so that she would have a acceptable car to drive.  She got my car in the rotation.  I got my husband’s car which was a perfectly good car to drive but, it was just not MY car.  This prompted me to begin thinking today, as I drove to work, how happy I was to be driving my car.  My happy state of mind quickly turned to thanksgiving and praise to God as He alone is my provider and giver of all that is good and wonderful in my life.

      It is startling sometimes how we as Christians know we have so very much to be thankful for; however, our best reminders come from having to do without. It is sad that we need life’s troubles to ultimately help us appreciate what we have and the source of all that we have.  Can I just say, “I don’t want to be a person who has to have these reminders”?   At this special time of year “Thanksgiving” is not just a holiday but a state of the heart and mind that I should embrace and use to reflect on the season in which I dwell.  Join me and become a thankful person in your heart and soul.  Thank you God for my salvation, my family, my job, my health, my friends, and……….my car!   Amen

Valentine's Day

                                                                  


Corinthians 13:13

"But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love."



Valentine’s Day was one of my Grandmother Lois’ favorite holidays. She always mailed us cards and sometimes small gifts as children and adults. She valued love, the presence of it in our family, and the love of God. When she was 14 years old, after an appropriate courtship, she married the love of her life my grandfather William Howard Taft Goble. Theirs was the ultimate love story and she told it to us often. My summary will surely leave out some important details, but I hope you enjoy what I can remember.

        My grandmother was in the 8th grade in 1929 and she along with her sisters would walk to school everyday down a long dirt road. She was “Keeping Company” with Howard and was visited by him on occasion while walking to and from school. They decided that they were in love and marriage was the next step for them. They did not believe that her parents would agree with this decision. He was an “older” man. She was only 14 and he was 21. Having talked to her sisters about her situation, they agreed to help her elope. It was decided that on the chosen day, Lois and her sisters would leave for school just as if it were a normal day. After they had walked a safe distance from home, Howard would pick her up in his car and they would drive to a neighboring state and get married. This plan worked like a charm and he delivered her back to the road where her sisters were walking home from school that afternoon. She went home with them and her parents did not suspect a thing. Two weeks passed with them seeing each other occasionally as “friends” and they decided their current arrangement was not working for them so they had to tell her parents the truth. They survived the disappointment of my great grandparents that finally evolved into acceptance and a blessing for a long happy life together, and “Set Up Housekeeping” a few weeks after their secret wedding day. Theirs was a happy marriage with many ups and downs, but love always reined and helped them through the tough times. They were blessed with five children and because of various infant medical problems only two of them lived longer than 1 year. My mother Dorothy Estelle Goble (named for her maternal grandmother) and my uncle Floyd Alpha Goble were the only children they were given the opportunity to spend time with here on earth. My uncle died about 30 years ago.

    My grandfather died in 1968 and my grandmother joined him in heaven over 20 years later. Their legacy lives on in the lives of their grandchildren and their great-grandchildren. I have included a photo of their family when my mom was a small child and also a picture (above) of the first Valentine my grandfather gave to my grandmother. Their love for each other, family, and God, is the kind of love we should all try to achieve.

Because of my grandmother Lois and her desire to always make Valentine’s Day special for everyone she loved, I too desire to make a big deal out of the holiday. In our family, there are a few “Valentine’s Day” traditions we have and are trying to continue as our family evolves. For breakfast on either Valentine’s Day or a weekend close to the holiday, we have strawberry french toast with all the trimmings. My husband always gives our daughter roses because he said, “She is as pretty as a rose” the day she was born.  I buy gifts for all the children. My husband and I exchange cards and small gifts and I decorate our home with heart shaped decorations. I know my family appreciates the little things we do to make this a special time of year and my desire is for them to carry on these traditions with their own family someday. This is one way that we can remember my grandmother’s love and a way her legacy can influence our children, grandchildren and generations to come.  I have my own little tradition where I wear a heart shaped broach made out of old buttons salvaged from my grandmother’s button jar. This reminds me of her and her love for me, especially on Valentine’s Day!

Burning Bush

Proverbs 4:8
“Whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, good, excellent, or praise worthy; think on these things and the God of peace will be with you.”


Recently, my son Jake had a life altering experience. As a mother, my heart wept for him as he struggled to find peace within himself and his circumstances. You see, Jake is actually SPC Rocky Jake Riddle who is currently stationed in the war torn country of Afghanistan. His barracks was penetrated by an enemy rocket that exploded and left soldiers around him injured or dead. He, and his fellow soldiers, are having a hard time moving on after such a devastating event. Sleep and inner peace are very hard to come by for most of them.

As I prayed for Jake in this specific situation, God first gave me the above verse to share with Jake. I have always loved this verse and was confident that this was definitely an example of our Father handing me a piece of the puzzle that I was seeking as an answer for my son’s current situation. Later that same morning, God was gracious enough to show me more of the pieces to the puzzle! I truly believe this answer is not only my answer for my son; but, the answer for parents in general who struggle with wanting desperately to take away the hurt our children must actually experience to be able to become the men and women that God desires for them to become.

While driving to work that same morning, I was reflecting on the verse I had sent Jake and I remembered that a close friend of mine had thanked Jake for letting her know how he needed for her to pray for him. She stated that she and others needed to know specifics on how to pray for soldiers because she was not in their situation. Suddenly I was prompted by God that I could only sympathize with Jake. I, nor anyone else who has not been in the boots of the soldiers that fight for our freedom, can not possibly have empathy for them. I then felt very incompetent to be able to help Jake overcome his current experience.

Then, just as quickly as the feeling of incompetence flooded my heart and mind, God also sent me the following message:

“If you, a mother who loves her son with all her heart and strength, is at a loss to do anything but sympathize with his current challenging circumstances, how is he (Jake) suppose to LEAD men in the future if he does not EXPERIENCE situations that will be a daily part of their lives as soldiers in the United States Army? I am training him to be what I desire for him to be - A servant in my kingdom and a leader for others who need me as their savior.”

So, as parents, I am thinking that our prayers for our children should be that they are able to see God in their own personal burning bush (which happened to be the exact verses I read during my quiet time early this same morning) and that God will grant them peace in all circumstances before them. All I can do now is praise God for His wisdom and for sharing the pieces of the puzzle when Jake (and I) needed them the most. Blessings!

Exodus 3:2