Marilyn's Day in Pictures
This has been a really fun VENTURE OUT CHALLENGE day! Taking pictures at random throughout my day made for some funny memories.
Did anyone else have fun with this challenge? Its not too late to get in on the daily venture out challenge updates. They’re posted every morning on our Road Signs to Him Facebook page (just click the “like” button at left). Check it out, play along when you wasn’t to, and VENTURE OUT if the box!
Today’s theme (rather, the theme of our life): The Lord Will Provide.
Today’s reading: Genesis, chapters 22-24
Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he replied.
Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.”
Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”
Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
(22:1-8, NIV)
The Lord DID provide for that burnt offering. The Lord DOES provide all we truly need now. And, the Lord will CONTINUE to provide for us in the future. By testing us, God is able to prove again and again that He will forever provide for our needs. After we pass these tests, large and small, God blesses us with greater responsibility.
I love the quote from Mother Teresa, “I know God will not give me anything I can’t handle. I just wish He didn’t trust me so much.”
God blessed Abraham for his faith, and He blesses you and I, as well.
The Lord rewarded Abraham for passing the ultimate test:
I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.” (22:17-18, NIV)
God blesses us all the more because you have obeyed me.
I want to pose an open-ended question. Don’t panic, it won’t be too deep…it’s more a Sunday school question, but hopefully over time we can add some depth to our answers.
The question is two-fold:
1) How do we, in our daily lives, obey God? How do we, REALLY, obey Him daily? Not, what should we doing, but what do we do?
2) What proof have we experienced in the past that when we obey God, we truly are blessed in cause and effect kind of responsiveness?
My answers, #1) In my daily life, I have to have my “God time.” And most of the time that need to have quiet time alone with Him is because I feel so lonely without it. Whether I spend the time on this chronological journey, reading and writing, or it’s time spent in prayer or some other form of time with Him, I know I must have it in order to remain full and focused.
Through this year’s reading journey, I am purposely avoiding commentaries and teachings that pertain to the passages we are reading together. This is not to suggest that I don’t love to hear my pastor preach, or get so deeply involved with my latest ladies Bible study, but I have not gone out of my way to research the daily scripture reading passages more in-depth. If it’s not in the Book, itself, it can wait. This year for me is about knowing what the Bible actually says, without spin or outside interpretation. There are so many great thinkers and students of the Bible that have incredible insight, but I first want to strengthen my own biblical foundation in the Word so that I can make out right from wrong, skewed from biblical, in the teachings and readings I come across in the future. In fact, I am already thinking about next year’s self-assignment (I know, I know…we’re not even out of the teens and I’m already planning for the next 365 day stretch), and I think it will involve commentary. Right now, I am just enjoying the living, breathing, Word of God. Aren’t you?
My answers, #2) Even as I posed the second question my mind went blank. Isn’t it frustrating when you know there’s so much to say, so many exciting stories, and you just lose it? I would say that 90% of my prayers also include pleas to God to make the pathways He wants me to follow as obvious as possible; I’m always afraid I may miss a turn and completely miss the awesome life God has in store for me. That being said, I have had countless wonderful experiences with God, when I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was being greatly blessed because I was faithful and trusting in Him. Cause & effect.
The summer of 2009 was a difficult one in my family. Anyone who is or ever has been married knows there are hills and there are valleys. Let’s just say, the summer of 2009 was a rocky valley; it was a test that my husband and I barely made it through. It was a summer that I knew would make me stronger if I persevered or weaken me to a shell of the person I once was if I didn’t hold strong. I say with unwavering certainty that that rocky valley, that test of strength, was the best thing that could have ever happened in my family.
Sometimes, we have to hit rock bottom, to completely lose sight of the light, so that we can crave it so much that we finally seek after it. And, friends, when we regain our sight, it is a beautiful thing! I don’t ever want to return to that dark hole. I don’t want my feet to ever touch that rocky place again. Steve and I are blessed today because we passed a very difficult test. We are closer to one another; we are happier parents; and, best of all, we are closer to God and feel more secure in our relationship with Him, than we ever were before the rocky valley. Glory to God!
I look forward to hearing each of your insights into the cause and effects of God’s blessings. I want to live out His daily Word through my life in this world. It’s a tricky balancing act, as you all know, but together and with His Word and His Spirit, we will pull through the tests and our foundation of sand will be strengthened into the Rock!
Tomorrow’s reading: Genesis, chapters 25-26
Make it a great day,
Marilyn
Thanksgiving joy!
Is it the job of those who do believe in God to stand up for and defend Him? I used to think so.
I have had friends who either didn’t believe in God or they did believe but really that was as far as their faith went. I can certainly relate to the latter, there have been times in my own life when I believed but I did not pattern my daily walk as a believer.
I have had one close relationship with a man who did not believe God existed and this was the topic of countless discussions (read: arguements) over the course of our three year relationship. It was only after that relationship was severed that it came to me that God doesn’t need me to fight His battles for Him. Now, that one realization likely wouldn’t have saved the relationship but it would have made those times of “discussion” less detrimental.
The realization that I don’t have to fight in defense of God was such a relief. Instead of fight, my job as a believer and servant of God is to love you no matter your circumstances or opinions.
My job as one of His is to pray for you, as God works through prayers and He is absolutely unlimited by human understanding.
My job is not to fight because this brings me (and God) down to the level of the evil one who is working against God. This makes God look bad and further engrains the belief of the non-believer against God, which is the exact opposite of what I’m trying to accomplish.
My job is to serve, to pray, and to live a life that gives all honor and glory to God, so that the word of God can spread through me, strengthening those who need strength, shining a light on those who do great things in His holy name, and carrying the ones whose burdens are too great to carry alone.
God, the Creator, has given us each gifts and talents to be used carefully and that will further His kingdom. God gave me the gift of and love of written word and through that I will share and spread His love.
Make it a great day,
Marilyn
“‘But nothing that a man owns and devoted to the Lord–whether man or animal or family land–may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the Lord.’” (Leviticus 27:28)
I believe in tithing. I believe that God instructs us to tithe 10% of our earnings and also give offerings of ourselves above and beyond our tithe in accordance with our faith.
Malachi 3:10 tells us that God will “throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.”
That sounds pretty awesome to me! I think the rub happens in the questions: Really??? Do I have to??? How much? How much money? How much time? Where does the tithing begin and where does it end?
Through the inspired word of the Bible, we are told, “Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God.” (Exodus 23:19)
We are to tithe our money based on our gross earnings, our “firstfruits,” as calculated before the government has taken its share. When I write that check to our church home each week, I feel a great sense that I am honoring my end of the bargain with God and helping to further His word. I also feel a wonderful feeling of stewardship when giving to a few select charities and non-profit organizations that are close to my heart.
Even if you are not a member of a church or religious organization, tithing of yourself and your time to causes that you deem noble is a healthy practice. I would much rather have so much blessing that I don’t have enough room to receive it all than the alternative. Wouldn’t you? After all, Romans 8:31 reminds us that “if God is for us, who can be against us?” For me, that is such a refreshing thought that it makes me excited to do my part.
In all of my thinking on tithes, I believe there is no limit to the 10% God deserves from us. He deserves 10% of my monetary income, that’s a clear. But He also deserves 10% of my time. There are 1,440 minutes in every day;10% of that is 144 minutes, or two hours and 24 minutes. Just like calculating monetary tithes from the firstfruits, or the gross income, we must also figure our tithe of time from the firstfruits; not just the hours we are awake every day, but all of the hours we are given in a day.
When I did the math, I realized that I generally spend anywhere from no time to about an hour a day staudying God’s word, either through reading the Bible itself or commentaries on the Bible, writing my own thoughts on God, and in prayer to Him. Even my peak hour a day fell short of my 10% time tithe, so I began to reschedule a little so I could spend more time devoted to Him. I don’t set and alarm clock to measure the 144 minutes exactly, but I do shoot for two-and-a-half hour time frame over the course of the day. My true goal every day is to make that time my “firstfruits,” when I am first beginning my day, before the busyness of life crowds in and takes its share, I want to first give my time to my Lord. I enjoy spending my 10% with God, and feel blessed for being an obedient child of His.
What other areas of our lives can we give 10%? I can devote at least 10% of my writing to Him, His teachings and lessons. Though only a casual gardener, I can give at least 10% of my fruit and vegetable harvests to someone who would enjoy them. Our opportunities to give to God by giving of ourselves are as impossible to count as the sands on the beach.
Today, I challenge myself and all who read this to give your 10% and then give a little more. He has given us so much, and all He asks in return is 10%.
Make it a great day,
Marilyn
