Well, it’s nearly springtime. I love the spring and planting season. It’s almost time to start thinking about my spring and summer garden. I absolutely LOVE gardening, and I’ve learned so many practical spiritual lessons from it. One such lesson is that of slow growth and gradual progress.
Like a plant, I should always be growing. Sometimes growth is slow and not as noticeable though. It’s often only detected in hindsight.
Consider a plant…
Most of the time, when I go out and look at my garden every day, I rarely notice a significant difference in size from one day to the next. It’s a slow growth that is unnoticeable without a time-lapse camera or video. However, if I look at the plant just every now and then and then think back to that same plant a month ago, I can definitely see a difference in size and growth. The same is true if I were to take a picture and then compare the plant to a month old (or more) picture of that same plant.
We usually can’t see the growth as it’s happening. It’s only in hindsight and retrospection that we can observe some of the progress.
I don’t notice my kids growing from day to day. I can look at them each and every morning and they look exactly the same to me. However, if a friend or family member who hasn’t seen them in a while sees them, they always comment on how much they’ve grown.
This past school year my son went up 4 sizes in clothes all in one year! We even had to buy him new baseball pants and cleats midseason because he outgrew the others just since the start of the season. He was quite obviously growing. I just didn’t notice it daily. It’s a slow growth process. Though my bank account might not have considered it too slow having to buy new clothes so often!
“Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered” Psalms 105:5 (ESV)
Happy New Year to you!! 🙂 This week I’m sharing the Top 10 Posts of 2018. I always like to take the first of the year to recount some of the top or most popular posts of the previous year. I like to share them for a few reasons…
First, there are several new subscribers/followers who may not have seen or read these posts and might find some of them to be helpful.
Secondly, looking back also helps me to remember what God has done and is still doing through this website. I continue to hope and pray that I am making an impact with what I write and share. My hope is that looking back might help and remind you as well.
Lastly, it helps me (and hopefully you too) have ideas of how to pray based on what the current need or demand is, and when I know that I know how to continue to pray for others. I pray very fervently over this blog, its content, and the readers. What people are frequently searching or clicking on can be an indicator of some of their needs. Whether it’s a need for spiritual growth, leading others to Christ or overcoming personal struggles, I can pray more specifically based on these posts and their popularity.
Take Some Practical Steps:
As you look through this list of most popular posts, please stop andtake a minute to pray for one or more of the topics that stand out to you.
Please click on and read or re-read one or more of the posts from which you feel you may be able to receive some benefit or of which you might need some reminding.
Take some time to remember and contemplate what God has done for youin these various areas of your life over this past year or previous years. Remembering what God has done can be an incredible motivator!
Pay it forward…if one or more of the following posts has benefited you, please consider sharing the post on Facebook and/or your other social media channels (sharing links are available at the end of each post). You can also forward posts to specific people you know who might benefit (you might prayerfully consider who to share them with).
Lastly, please pray for me this year to #1-continue to help others, #2-for me to have to right words at the right time, and #3-for the right people to be directed to my site for God to help them.
I shared this story last year. It’s worth watching/reading over and over. It’s one of my favorite illustrations of the story of Christmas.
A few years ago I heard this story as an analogy of why Jesus came to earth. I thought it was a perfect explanation that makes Jesus incarnation (becoming human) easier to understand. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas this year and a very Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous 2019!
Here is a longer, written version of the story that I found–the author is unknown:
There was once a man who didn’t believe in God and didn’t hesitate to let others know how he felt about religion and religious holidays, like Christmas. His wife did believe and raised their children to have faith in God and Jesus, despite his disparaging comments.
One snowy Christmas Eve, his wife was taking their children to a Christmas Eve service in the farm community in which they lived. She asked her husband to come, but he refused as usual, “The Christmas story is nonsense!” he exclaimed. “Why would God lower Himself to come to Earth as a man? That’s ridiculous!”
She and the children went, and he stayed home.
That night the wind began to blow and the snow turned into a blizzard. As the man looked out the window, all he could see was a blinding snowstorm. He sat down before the fireplace to relax. Suddenly, there was a loud thump. Something had hit the window.
Then, a second thump. He looked out, but couldn’t see more than a few feet because of the blinding snow.
When the storm let up a little, he ventured out to see what could have been beating on his window. In the field near the house was a flock of wild geese. Apparently they were flying south when they were caught in the blizzard and couldn’t go on.
They were lost and stranded on his farm, without food or shelter. Flapping their wings, they aimlessly flew around the field in low circles. Some had apparently flown into his window.
The man felt concern for the geese and wanted to help them.
The barn would be a great place for them to stay, he thought. It was warm and safe. They would be saved if they spent the night there waiting out the storm.
He opened the barn doors wide. Then he watched and waited, hoping they would notice the open barn and enter. But the geese just fluttered around aimlessly and didn’t seem to notice the barn or realize what it could mean for them.
The man tried to get their attention by waving a lantern, but that just seemed to scare them, and they moved further away. He went into the house and brought out some bread, broke it up, and made a breadcrumb trail leading to the barn. They still didn’t catch on.
Now he was getting frustrated. He got behind them and tried to shoo them toward the barn, but they only became frightened and scattered in every direction except toward the barn.
Nothing he did could get them to go into the barn where they would be safe. “Why don’t they follow me?” he puzzled. “Can’t they see this is the only place where they can survive?”
He thought for a moment and realized that they just wouldn’t follow a human. “If only I were a goose, then I could save them,” he said out loud.
Suddenly, he had an idea. He went into the barn, got one of his own geese, and carried it in his arms as he circled around behind the flock of wild geese. When he released his goose, it flew through the flock and straight into the safety of the barn. One by one the other geese followed it to safety.
He stood silently for a moment as the words he had spoken a few minutes earlier replayed loudly in his mind: “If only I were a goose, then I could save them!” Then he thought about what he had said to his wife earlier that evening, “Why would God want to be like us? That’s ridiculous!”
Suddenly, it all made sense. That is what God had done. We were like the geese–blind, lost, perishing. God had His Son become like us so He could show us the way and save us. That was the meaning of Christmas, he realized. As the winds and blinding snow died down, his soul became quiet. Suddenly he understood what Christmas was all about, why Christ had come.
Years of doubt and disbelief vanished like the passing storm. He fell to his knees in the snow, and prayed his first real prayer: “Thank You, Lord, for coming in human form to get me out of this world and leading me to a better one.”
Could the Shepherds Who Visited Jesus Have Been Women?
The Shepherds and Angels
“That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.” Luke 2:8-20 (NLT)
Female Shepherds?
About this same time a year ago, I saw an Instagram post on shepherds from Dave Adamson. Dave is a favorite of mine, often giving Hebrew and biblical background and insight in his devotions (go give him a follow—he’s amazing!). This post (below) offered a paradigm shift for me and for the way I could potentially look at the nativity and the shepherds. In this case, what stood out to me the most initially was that I never thought of the shepherds potentially being women.
“Christmas is a time when we many of us break out nativity scenes of adorable baby Jesus laying on golden straw, surrounded by Mary and Joseph, some cute sheep and lambs, and a few friendly shepherds. We do this because while we instinctively know that Jesus’ first century birth was not clean or sanitary by modern standards, we want it to look as inviting as possible. But when we do this, we also risk inadvertently sanitizing the Good News of the story. Let me explain.
On a trip to the Holy Land, I had the chance to meet a shepherd herding her sheep. Yes, I said “her”, because in the Middle East, shepherds are culturally most often the young girls of the family—unless there are no daughters, in which case it falls to the youngest son (like David). As I approached the flock—and especially the lamb in this image—the smell was overpowering, even from a distance. In the first century, this smell marked a shepherd as an outcast. Author Alexander Shaia says; “To smell like sheep was the mark of shame. When you smell of sheep, everyone knew you were to be avoided.” But God chose to announce the birth of His son to these smelly, outcast shepherds, and even sent angels to invite them to see Jesus!
THIS IS THE GOOD NEWS—that Jesus left the comfort of heaven to welcome the outcast, and the shamed. He came to be a shepherd—to be surrounded by his sheep, to carry us on his shoulders. He came into our mess to smell like sheep.
Are you feeling outcast today? Do you carry shame and guilt? Is your life a mess? Then the Christmas story is for you!”[1] “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” — John 10:11
Could the shepherds who visited Jesus have been women?
We’ve been talking a little bit lately about obedience to God—some of the whys, hows, warnings, and scripture resources (links to previous posts at the bottom). I think I’ve written more on obedience lately because I have a lot of that written in my journals (what I often reference when writing my posts). Since, I have a lot written in my journals, this probably means that God is really trying to get this point through my thick head!
If I’m being totally honest with you, I have to admit that I often struggle with obedience to God—at least immediate obedience. I tend to argue, push back, and fight a lot when God asks me to do something I don’t really want to do. You know…a lot like a toddler! Toddler Tracy, that’s me when it comes to obeying God! Does anyone else relate? I don’t know why I fight so much though because it ALWAYS works out better than I imagined in the end.
Unfortunately what it really boils down to is that I apparently don’t really trust God, and I’m definitely not demonstrating my love for him when I ignore him or am defiant. These were some painful convictions I recently had. I’ve learned through reading the bible and from some devotions/messages how our obedience to God proves that we love him and demonstrates our trust. Today I’d like to share some examples of those insights with you.
About 5 years ago, I read through Rick Warren’s Daily Devotional—it’s a year reading plan in the bible app (or Bible.com). It’s an excellent plan that I highly recommend. Several of the devotions throughout the plan focused on obedience to God. Below is one that stood out to me about today’s topic.
Rick Warren’s Daily Devotional, Day 320
“Today, the word obey has a negative connotation. We view obedience as a forced, unwilling decision to do something we don’t want to do because we’re afraid of punishment. But that’s not the kind of obedience that’s in God’s Word. Obedience in the Bible means this: love + trust + action.
It starts with love, as Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” (NIV) Obedience comes from knowing that God loves you and you love him in return.
A lot of people think obedience is about fearing God, but God wants us to see obedience to him as a relationship of love. And out of love comes trust. If you trust what God is saying to you, and you believe that he loves you, then that will lead to action.
You need to have all three because action without love is just rote religion. And love without action is just mere talk.”[1]
What I wrote to myself this day…Don’t fight against God. Do you love God? Then keep his commandments—obey.
I KNOW God loves me, and I really do love God. So now I just need to turn this to trust, then to action.
After all the mega shopping weekend hubbub of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday– there is “Giving Tuesday!” Giving Tuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving. Giving Tuesday serves to remind all of us to be outwardly focused…to look to our communities and to those in need and donate towards helping them.
Amanda and her daughter
This year I’m partnering again with the Glory House ministry for Giving Tuesday. I have served with this ministry in a teaching and volunteer capacity for many years. I mentioned last week about how Glory House helps women rebuild stable foundations as they find hope, healing and direction in their lives. This week I’d like to share with you one of the hope-filled stories that happen every day at Glory House. Continue reading and watch a video to meet Amanda and learn about how God, and Glory House, have changed her life and how she’s building a better foundation for herself and her daughter!
I would also like to invite you to pray and consider giving a financial gift on this Giving Tuesday to help us raise the money needed for each of these women. Your gift will help women and their families transform their lives as they come from all over the United States to break free from drugs, alcoholism, anxiety, depression, and other life issues.
Please check out the Glory House Website and Facebook to learn more about what they do…
A couple of years ago, Amanda came to Glory House addicted and struggling as a single mother. However, when God began to work in her life through Glory House, everything changed.
Amanda was adopted at just 12 days old by Paul and Dana Higbee. Like Paul and Dana’s other adopted children, Amanda was special to them. They raised her with the Word of God as a lifeline and set her on a path to success. Still, Amanda struggled with her identity and her desire to truly embrace God as a Father. This led to a life of seeking for an identity in drugs, immorality, and illegal activity. Like most people that abandon a relationship with God, she found herself hopeless.
When you find yourself alone at the lowest part of your life, you can be assured that God is still with you. Amanda also found that to be true.
What made a difference in the Higbee Family?
Amanda, Dana, & Paul Higbee
That answer is not a “what” but a “who”. Jesus made a difference in Amanda and then she made an impact on the rest of her family. Thankfully, we get to be a part of the process. God chooses to work through each of us individually to bring hope, healing, and direction to people. This is why you are so important.
Glory House will invite 6-8 women into the program in 2019. Glory House takes on the responsibility of the women’s physical needs so that they can focus on the one thing they most need, a relationship with Jesus. During that time, they help them discover their identity in Christ, their God-given abilities, and most of all, their new found life in Christ.
Here is what it takes to impact 8 women at Glory House:
Food: $3,120
Housing: $7,920
Utilities & Operations: $3,360
Transportation: $4,080
Spiritual Discipleship: $3,120
Other Living Expenses: $2,400
Approximate Total for 8 women monthly: $24,000
Approximate Total for 8 women annually: $288,000
Glory House is supported by people like you who pray, give of their time, and donate financially. Moreover, your generous donation doesn’t stop at Glory House. Your influence spreads from each woman into the families they impact. Those families help others and the impact continues. This is all made possible when you choose to make a difference.
When you partner with Glory House, you are giving women an opportunity for God to work healing in their lives. You can see lives changed and families restored just by generously donating your financial support.
Please help us raise the money needed for each of these women!
Take A Practical Step to Support Glory House this Giving Tuesday 2018:
I would love for you to join with me in supporting this life changing ministry on this Giving Tuesday! Please pray about giving to help them raise the money needed for each of these women. If you are ready to give now, you can click on the secure Glory House PayPal link below…
Please share this content across your social networks.
Tell your friends too! Giving Tuesday marks the beginning of our revenue campaign to see the lives of women in Tulsa changed by the power of God!
If you are unable to give financially, would you please partner with us in prayer for this ministry and the lives of the women and families affected?
Please stop right now and say a quick prayer for…
-Provision–financial support and needs of the program
-Wisdom and guidance–for the leadership, staff, teachers, and volunteers
-Open and teachable hearts, transformation, and full restoration for the women in the program
-Grace, healing, and restoration for the families
-Continued progress, direction, favor, and success for the graduates of the program
Know someone else who could either benefit from Glory House or who would be interested in supporting this ministry? Share this post via the sharing links below!
Last week I put together a resource page with a list of helpful scriptures encouraging us to obey God. I mentioned that I would further discuss obedience to God and how it’s like a sturdy foundation on which to build a house/building. That’s what I’d like to discuss today. We’ll see how the Bible compares our obedience to building on stable foundations. Additionally, we’ll look at some of the purposes for a good foundation.
Learning to obey God creates and builds a stable and firm foundation on which we can build our life. A sturdy foundation in our lives will also help us to withstand the storms that may come in our lives.
My family likes to watch the television show Survivor. This season on Survivor a cyclone hit the island on which they were staying forcing them to evacuate one evening. They returned to find that their shelter, which had been built on sand (important point), had been torn to shreds. You can imagine how disheartening this was for them. This scene immediately brought to mind the scriptures in the Bible that address building on different types of foundations.
Obedience vs. Disobedience–2 types of foundations
When we listen and obey, it’s like building a house on a solid, firm foundation. It can be trusted, unlike a house built on shifting sand or without a foundation. Disobedience is like building a house on an untrustworthy foundation.
“So then, anyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, and the wind blew hard against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on rock. But anyone who hears these words of mine and does not obey them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, the wind blew hard against that house, and it fell. And what a terrible fall that was!” Matthew 7:24-29 (GNT)
“So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.” Luke 6:46-49 (NLT)
Anybody else find it hard to obey God’s directions at times? Previously, I’ve written a couple of posts on how to obey God via steps of incremental obedience and on how we need to learn to obey God without a “leash”. Subsequent posts will further discuss obedience to God and how it’s like a sturdy foundation on which to build a house, how obedience proves that we love and trust God, and how obedience provides rewards. Today I’ve put together a resource page with a list of helpful scriptures encouraging us to obey God.
“He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the LORD who heals you.” Exodus 15:26 (NLT)
“Now if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own special treasure from among all the peoples on earth; for all the earth belongs to me.” Exodus 19:5 (NLT)
“Pay close attention to him, and obey his instructions. Do not rebel against him, for he is my representative, and he will not forgive your rebellion. But if you are careful to obey him, following all my instructions, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will oppose those who oppose you.” Exodus 23:21-22 (NLT)
“Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse! You will be blessed if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today. But you will be cursed if you reject the commands of the LORD your God and turn away from him and worship gods you have not known before.” Deuteronomy 11:26-28 (NLT)
“If you fully obey the LORD your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the world. You will experience all these blessings if you obey the LORD your God…” Deuteronomy 28:1-2 (NLT)
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