PRAYER REQUEST DAY

I can't believe its Friday:) But I am soooooooo happy it is and I am super happy that it is my week of rotation that I work today and not tommorow at the library. This has been a good week and the Lord has been ever so gracious to me. He has taught me new things and I am learning to depend on Him at all times. He is my Rock and I am grateful!

Before I ask for prayer requests I want to share with you all a verse I read this morning from Jeremiah 9:23-24.

23Thus says the LORD, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches;
24but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things," declares the LORD.

It is my prayer for myself and everybody this weekend that we detour away from boasting of our own wisdom, of our own might and of our own riches AND that our BOAST will continually be that we understand and Know the Lord Almighty, that it is He alone that exercises lovinkindness, justice and righteousnesson his earth. May Christ be our continually BOAST to those around us and to our own very minds everyday.

What are your prayer requests?
Here are some of mine:

* A major unspoken. I need to see this person and this situation through Jesus' eyes, because right now all I am is upset and very confused.

*The Hogue and Carder Families. Keep praying for restoration in their marriages. For protection of everyone's heart from temptation and the power of God to heal brokeness.

*PRAISES:
A. I am finally losing weight. God used my friend Michelle to show me what I needed to do. Wow, what a Godsend she was. I have been trying to lose weight for 2 years now with only a 6lb loss in that amount of time and lots of exercising and eating well without results. The issue: sugar. I think with my low thyroid, my body just does not metabolize it well and with a slight elevation in my cholesterol the less sugar = the better.
B. Work with my manager at Chick-Fil-A is doing much better.
C. God is really working in the Hogue and Carder families.
D. God is faithful in providing work for our family. Man, God is so good!
E. I am learning to be brave with the aid of the Holy Spirit and I doing much better in the anger department and am continually putting into practice James 1:19 'Be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.'

Have a great weekend of relaxation, fun and family time!

NChrist, Susan

Giving away chicken is easy, but sharing the Gospel is hard

For those of you who do not know, I now have a PT marketing job with Chick-Fil-A. And yesterday was radical. It was like Christmas for me. I knew that our event on July 11 was coming and I needed some promo materials. So, I asked my manager where those might be and took me to the storage room and showed me a humongous box. And I was like, 'That's for me!!!:)!!!' I was so excited. So, yesterday I opened that box up like a Christmas present on Christmas morn. I found wonderful things to promo with. Cow headbands, a 5 foot cow standee, stickers, invites, etc. It was everything I needed to promo and WAY MORE! So, I spent most of the day going down one half of the mall handing out invites designed with the Chick-Fil-A cow dressed as cow. See, the event on July 11 is 'Dress like a cow, git mor chckn'. If you dress partially as a cow you get a free entree', if you dress to the hilt as a cow you get a free meal. Pretty cool, eh. So, I did that and people were totally excited. I was very fired up about promo-ing this event, because when I was opening up the box that morning my manager walked in on me in the storage unit and I was wearing one of the cow headbands. He was like, 'what are you doing wearing that?'. I said, 'I am so excited for Cow Appreciation Day, aren't you?'. He said, 'No, i hate this event. No one does it and its a waste of time.' ERRRRRRRRRRRRR, I just kept my mouth shut and vowed to myself that I want 100 people dressed as cows or atleast wearing the cow headband to show him. I found out later, my boss Jenny, had the same response from her manager and the owner of our Chick-Fil-A'. So needless to say we are fired up!

But, I started thinking this morning. I am more fired up about sharing an event, than I am about the Gospel of Christ. Just like Chick-Fil-A has given us everything we need to promo, I have all that I need to promo Christ too in my life. I am surrounded with unbelievers everyday, I have been equipped with the Word of God, I know how to share the Gospel, I have Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to guide me and to open up doors for His purposes. I have a world who is against me, just like the managers at Chick-Fil-A are about this upcoming event. So, I really want to work on making sure I am just as fired up about sharing Christ, than I am about sharing chicken with others. My prayer is that chicken will be a means to share the free gift of Christ to others, somehow, someway. Jesus gives us the power to be brave!!

What keeps you from being brave about sharing Christ to others? Are you fired up about sharing Christ, or like me, have you found that you are more fired up about other things in life? Let's encourage each other to detour our lives onto the road less traveled. The road that leads us to a fired up life about Christ and sharing His life with others.

Love to you all today and God's peace and bravery to you,
Susan Luka

God is so good

Well, I went in yesterday to work after writing that blog yesterday and spoke with bravery. I did what I needed to do and he did not try to power play me and that was nice. I still don't know about him, everyday is different with him, but I know the Lord gave me those verses and that inspiration yesterday because He had a plan for me. I am usually the one following, or atleast that is how I like it sometimes. If I am told to do something I usually do it, no questions asked. I am just laid back like that. I am not a drama mama. I like to be the most helpful and the least demanding of all people. So when my manager has disagreed with me or told me to do something different I have just said, 'okay' and then harbored bitterness in my heart towards him. But, the Lord wants me in this job for a reason, for some odd idea He saw me as capable for it and He does not want me power played. However, He also does not want me as a godly woman holding onto bitterness. Because that bitterness will erupt like it says it will in the Bible. The word of God says in Hebrews 12:15

15See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;

I don't want to be that kind of woman whose bitterness defiles the many. Where I go around telling everyone my anger about someone and warping someone else's view of that person. I know I am guilty of doing that, but I am saying I don't want to be like that in this situation or others in the future. My job is to ensure that no one I come into contact with comes short of the grace of God. I instead, sacrifice by putting my big panties on and dealing with it and asking God to give me grace for that person. Wow, I can't believe I am learing all of this. I am suddenly so aware of God's lessson for me today and its amazing. In the last few months He has been shaking my ver foundation showing me the cracks in it and showing me how to repair them and I am soooooooo grateful! He is with us and that is soooooooo awesome!

So, my challenge to you today:

Show grace to all who you come into contact with. Especially, the mean of heart, the gossiper, the annoying kind, etc. Show'em grace and if your lacking it, ask God without doubting and He will give to you graciously what you lack. Hope to see you many of you tonight at VBS. I will be bringing the wacky hair once again!

Love to you all and I appreciate those who read my blog and who are faithful commeters, it means more to me than you will ever know!

NChrist,

Susan Luka

Walking with Wisdom

Hey everybody! Thanks for your comments yesterday and your prayers, I really appreciate them. Yesterday was okay. VBS seemed to be the highlight of the day. Singing the songs and doing games made me really happy. Chick-Fil-A is a love/hate thing right now to me. I love serving people and going to the different businesses. That is my fave part by far. But, I am so intimidated by the manager there and I get so nervous asking for samples(will he be okay with it or will he not). It's like I am always walking on eggshells in the back. So, right now, I am always nervous in the back of the store and am fine out in the Mall. I really, really hate feeling like this. My boss Jenny is really cool, I look at her and listen to her and she does a great job of getting the job done with my manager. She told me last week I have to be strong with him and not get underneath him, because he has a way of power playing people. Well, I am just not good at that. I feel like all I do is try to avoid him so I don't have to deal with his up and down moods. And then at the same time I am trying to learn to be brave in my speech toward him and with what I am asking of the crew(sampling, etc.). I am so thankful for learning and memorized James 1:19 'Be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.' Because by now, I might be rambling mean things or saying mean things to him or being really impatient with him. But, God has done a great work. I am trying to learn how to be brave in speech and also carry around being gentle and kind so that I am also viewed as a Godly woman. But I am finding in business this can be really tricky. So the verse I read this morning really comforted me because I can't do any of this without God, I have to lean on Him heavily everyday!

Colossians 4:5

Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of every oppurtunity.

How are your walks with God, what are you all learning? Would love to hear from everyone!

NChrist,

Susan

Speedy Blog

Well, y'all. I don't have much time this morning. I have to jet over to church to get games ready for VBS tonight and then I have to head over to the Chick-Fil-A job for about 3-4 hours and then come home and head to VBS. I chee wa wa.

We had a good weekend. Not great. I worked all Saturday at the library and then we worked all day yesterday at church. Not that work is not good, but now its Monday and work really begins...again. So, I don't feel really rested and am a little moody. Pray for me as I go through the day that I will continually live for Christ and will react in motion with the movement of the Holy Spirit and esepcially that I will 'be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.' I would appreciate your prayers.

Doing my darndest to live for Him today after an unrestful weekend,
Susan Luka