Prayer Request Day

Bear one anothers burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. -Galatians 6:2

Here are some answers to pray I have had lately, how about you?

1. The new women's bible study went very well last night at our church. I am so excited for Wendy Wallen to be teaching this study. God has really risen her up in our women's ministry and He has given her a heart for the women of Forest Park and I am excited to see how God will use her!

2. Even though Michael's business is slow, God is faithfully providing for our needs. He is so faithful, plus, he provided me with a new job = more income a month. He is so faithful.

3. God is healing hurt in many people.

Here are some of my prayer requests:

1. Well, here is another disaster currently happening: Cedar Rapids, Iowa is under a lot of water. The river there overflowed its banks and it is all over the city, much like Katrina with New Orleans. I was looking at pictures last night and it looks a lot like New Orleans. Those type of clean-ups are soooo hard due to mold and infestation. My heart goes out to this community and others communities in Iowa, because its not over yet. More rain is coming and 8 other rivers are about to overflow their banks. Pray for God's will to be done in this time.

2. I GET A WEEKEND! No work, no nothing. I can do whatever I want. I get to be with my man and I am super excited about that! Pray that it is refreshing and loads of fun!

3. Pray for our church's VBS program. It starts in 2 weeks or so and there is much to be done. Pray that we will really reach out to our community and the families within it.

Everybody, have a great weekend!

Tell me of your answers to prayers and your requests. I can't wait to hear from everybody!

NChrist, Susan

Walking

Ephesisans 5:15

"Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,..."

I love having time to study the Word of God. I finally have started to get my butt out of bed earlier. I think I have just been so frazzled from certain events + starting a new job that I just wanted to sleep alot. But, I think I am refreshed now. I am totally looking forward to this weekend! I actually get a weekend, with no jobs:) I am so happy!

So, I started cross-referencing this verse above and found some cool stuff, then I looked in my concordance for the word 'walk' and found some rad Scriptures for it also.

Our walk with God is pretty dang important. I love that the Word describes our trek with God as a 'walk'. I love walking. And I have been doing a lot of it lately at my new job. When taking refilled drinks back to people I have to be very careful how I walk, so that I don't spill any of the drink. Our walk with God is very similar, we must be careful how we walk. We carry around in us, the living God in the form of the Holy Spirit. The Holy God whom we serve lives in us and I need to be careful how I walk everyday. For our walk should be led by the Holy Spirit.

Here are some things I learned to day from Scripture:

1. We are to walk in LOVE (Ephesians 5:2, Colossians 3:14, John 13:34). Why walk in Love. Well, first God commands it, Second He was willing to live it out. Remember, being wise is taking what you know and putting it into action in your daily life. Jesus was the Master of all this! His example is the example we should follow.

2. We need to walk blamelessly(Genesis 17:1). What is being blameless? In my bible it is described as 'having integrity'. Peeps, we need to walk in such a way that others cannot accuse us. In such a way that the light of Christ can shine fully. Even as I write this, I am so convicted, becuase I know that by myself I can't walk a life that is blameless. I will have to rely daily on walking in the Spirit. For that is the only way I can do this. In Genesis 17:1 it says, 'Walk before Me and be blameless'. I have to 'walk before Him'. That is the only answer for this equation. I have to be listening and willing to follow where He leads, keeping my eyes on Him continually.

3. Our walk with God will be tested, by Him.(Exodus 16:4). Why would God test our walk? He desires to see if we will walk with Him through thick or thin or if we will pull away. I see so many Christians give up...in so many things.... in their marriages, in their kids lives, in their jobs, with their friends. Circumstances like deaths, illness, drama, misunderstandings drive so many away from Christ. I have come to learn that it is the hard times that I ask Christ, 'Lord, what would you have me learn? What are you trying to teach me out of this?' There is always something to be grasped. He does not test us for our failure, but that we would realize His strength to get us through. That we would learn to trust and lean upon Him heavily in those times and learn that we can do that in All Times. That is what our walk is about.

4. Walking in God's Truth and His ways is primarily done by reading and living out His Word. (1 Kings 2:34, Deuteronomy 17:18-20). The kings of the Old Testament were required to write down the word of God and read it everyday. Why? So that they would walk carefully as they led the people of Israel. Wow, not much has changed. So many people say, 'Ah, the Bible is so boring. I don't get the Bible. etc. etc. excuse after excuse.' But, just like the kings of old, we are called as Children of God to pick up our bibles and read them and learn them so that we would walk carefully. We can't live the Word if we don't know what it says. Invest in commentaries, bible devotionals to help you learn parts of the Bible that are confusing or boring. Ask your questions of your pastor, small group leaders, men's small group leaders, women's small group leaders, professors at biblical colleges and seminaries, biblical internet sites. Even, be willing to ask God your questions. He has answered many questions for me and I am sure He will for you too.

Well, I know this was very long winded today, but there was much to learn and I am excited about this journey!! I hope you are as well!

Have a great day y'all!

NChrist,

Susan

I finally got up early enough!

Wow, peeps. I finally got up early this morning so I could get this blog in before I head to Chick-Fil-A. I have been going to bed at 10(my husband thinks I am crazy, but he just didn't have 20 more hours put onto his week for work) and getting up at 9Am. And I have been sleeping hard. I don't remember anything from dreams and I wake up thinking I just got to bed. But, like I have been saying, I have just been praying to God for strength and his hand of guidance.

This morning I returned to some fave scripture of mine: Ephesians 5:15-21. In my Women's Speaking Class at Boyce Bible College I spoke on these verses and it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed that class with all those other ladies.

Join me today as I learn to practice these verses in my daily life for the next few weeks:

15Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. 17Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. 18Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. 19Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, 20always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father. 21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ

For the next week or so, I am going to work on living as wise instead of being unwise. I read Charles Stanley's 'Walking Wisely' and it was amazing and I think to get a hold on this verse I will read some of that book again. To live wisely means putting your knowledge(facts and stuf) into daily practice. It is good to know to love your neighbor, but wisdom calls for you to live that out towards your neighbor. So, living wisely calls for putting your knowledge into action so that the world can see Christ in us!

I hope you all join me in this journey. Tell me what you learn as you put it into practice.

NChrist,

Susan

Sorry

Y'all, Tuesdays and Thursdays are going to be crazy days for blogs and if I am late in the day doing them, forgive me, but its the only time I have to do them on those days. Please be prayerful for me on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I am begging for prayer. I start work at 10:30 and then go to the other job until 9:00PM. I am really tired on those days, but much like yesterdays blog, I see Gods hand on me, His strength getting me through. However, I notice that about mid-day I am pretty cranky and start getting a headache and I don't want that. I want the fullness of the Holy Spirit lifting me up and I do forget to ask God for that, but I need to learn. Just to cry to Him in my weakest and most vulnerable moments.

I am so thankful for God's word. I really feel that my month long study on 'anger' has done sooo much for me. It's like it is solidified in my body and my mind and I am so thankful to be less angry towards others. When I am tempted to be, His word comes to my mind and I am just so thankful!

I have a funny story from the library today! A woman asked me to come over to help her on the computer. She said she had put in her card and password and it was not letting her on the internet. I immediately looked at the top of the screen and lo and behold it was one our card catalog computers. I explained to her that these computers were not internet accessible. She said, 'well, I put my card in and everything'. Well, as she was saying that line she was pointing to the floppy disk insert in the computer. She said, 'See I put my card in there, why won't it work'. Ladies, it took all of the grace of God to keep me from laughing hysterically in front of her. Yes, she put her card in the floppy disk insert thinking it would read her card. Lord, that was so hilarious. What was most hilarious is that she was so naive and really believed it would read her card.

Anyways, enough of me. How was your day??

Love,
Susan

It's Monday? HUH!

Wow, I can't believe it is Monday again! I never want a week like last week to ever happen to me again. What is sad, is that the there is so much from last week that is going to seep into this week and into the weeks ahead. I almost get frazzled thinking about it, about a new job, about my current job, about my marriage, about youth ministry. Eek, it gets overwhelming. My saving grace has been Christ this week. He has kept me sane. He has carried me when I did not think I could take another step. He kept me strong, when I felt sooooooo weak. He alone is God and I give Him glory for being my constant source of living water and my rock to lean upon. Man, we serve an awesome and glorious God!

I have not read much Scripture, but I have been LISTENING to a lot of Scripture on our Zune and filling my mind with Christian Music whenever I can. I love 1 John right now. I was working on that whole obedient thing through the Bible, but then last week hit and I was like, I need 'to go' Scripture, woot woot. So, 1 John has been amazing! Plus, I love listening to the 'Sojourn Worship CD', 'Ayiesha Woods', 'Hawk Nelson', 'Elventy Seven'. Those have been my faves as of late!

How is everybody doing? How is your walk with God, what is He teaching you? How have you seen Him work during your day?? Let me know I would love to hear about it!

Love to you all,
Susan