My Temple

I've gone into this year really concentrating on the fact that my body is the temple for the Holy Spirit. I have been eating better and going to the gym 3 times a week and also doing some strength training. I have decided that I also want to set a good example for my daughter. She is 10 years old and just beginning to watch what others look like and say things that could lead to unhealthy habits as she grows up. Especially if she follows my lead from the past, overweight. We talk about healthy things and how God wants our body to be His Temple, so that He is able to communicate with us without all the access

God's YES!!!

Getting ready for my daughter's 10th birthday, I spent a lot of time going over her life. I thought about things that she used to do, what she looked like as an infant and toddler, and when she entered kindergarten. I just couldn't believe that much time has gone by, 10 years. Then I began to think about if I had had my way and the Lord had worked with us, our child could be 17 years old by now. So really all things considered, 10 years wasn't so bad, she keeps me young. Also, during the week leading up to my daughter's birthday, I was studying Psalms 127 and 128, about how families are blessings from God. And I'm so blessed by my family, the family I was born into and then the family that I choose, like my church and friends. I have been able to count on family more times that I can count. They are always encouraging and give good advice, as well as, gentle rebuking.

While studing God's word, the translation of Psalms 128:4 from the Message goes; "Stand in awe of God's Yes. Oh, how he blesses the one that fears the God!" I was completly in awe of that verse. I hit me so hard. Do I stand in awe of his blessings? Do I even acknowledge all his blessings? I need to be standing in awe of them daily. What is standing in awe? I have always been told or read to give thanks for our blessings but this says so much more. Stand in awe. Marvel at. Get swept up in. Give reverence to. I think these say so much more.

I stand in awe of the love that I feel for my daughter. I never thought I could love something so much and to think that God even loves her more than that. I stand in awe of the overwhelming responsibility in raising a child to be God-fearing and desire to have a relationship with her Father. I stand in awe of her beauty that is so deeply rooted within her it can't help but burst through to the outside.

I don't stand in awe of her but of God that would give me these things to feel.

My family is a yes from God. The beautiful day that we had today is a big yes from God. Even the fact that my upper body hurts so bad today from strength training yesterday is a yes from God, I'm working very hard to be healthier this year. I even had the strength to go to the gym and do the eliptical and treadmill for 45 minutes today. The breath that I just took and released is a yes from God. My beating heart that so wants to be a God-fearing daughter of the King is a yes from God. But an even bigger yes is the joy I feel in my heart and the contentment of my soul.

Now looking for God's YES everyday so that I can stand in awe of He who gave them. Will You?

A New Year

The holidays over and the decoration have been put up for awhile now, except some of my snowmen, I keep hoping for colder weather. We did have snow this week, only for a couple of hours but snow just the same. The snow was the biggest flakes that I can remember seeing in quite a few years. I heard last night on TV that we might even get another winter weather storm tomorrow. My daughter is excited about the thought of possible snow again.

Today I sit and write my yearly letter to Jesus. I write this letter almost every year to acknowledge Him for the past year and all that He has done for me, tell Him what I would like to see happen this year in me, and to tell Him of some things that I want. I'm struggling this year with the things that I what to see Him do. For some reason, this year it feels like if I give a list of the things that I want that I'm putting limits on Him and all He can do. My list can't even fathom what my Lord could do if I let Him work His way. Yet, aren't we supposed to petition our Lord? I just have to pray about it some more and let Jesus work through me in this letter as documentation of what could happen this year or what will happen this year. I have always been amazed as I get out the previous years letter of what I've asked, what I received and why some of those thing couldn't work for my good. The letter is still going to be written just maybe not finished today.

Lord, as I go about this letter fill me with you so that I can be on the same page as you. Help me to be specific about things and yet still leave the door open for you to work. Guide me daily in seeking Your face and guidence. In Jesus' Name Amen