Stepping Forward into Life

Our steps are ordered by the Lord. He makes our steps secure.

I was reading Proverb 14 one night and stopped on verse 15, which says, "A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thoughts to his steps" (NIV). Now, this verse didn't have a reference beside it in the Leadership Bible I was reading from; but it made me curious because I know there are a lot of verses on being simple and on the idea of steps. Knowing that Proverb 16 has a few verses on the topic, I came across verse 9 which mentions, "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps" (NIV). 

The idea of planning prior to going anywhere or doing anything has been recommended to me over the years. I have heard it said that one hour of planning can save you ten hours of wasted time each week. I am all about being productive and if planning helps with productivity, I am in. 

In the Leadership Bible (NIV) version, beside Proverb 16:9 there is a reference to Jeremiah 10:23, where Jeremiah is praying to the Lord after being told about the coming destruction to Judah. Jeremiah humbly states, "I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps (Jeremiah 10:23 NIV)". You're probably questioning: do we really have control over where we go, and what we do? I believe the answer is yes, because God has given us the chance to choose, "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!" (Deuteronomy 30:19 NLT). So the choice is ours in how we take our steps, but somehow the Lord is still the one who orders and directs them. 

Today's verse of the day in the YouVersion Bible App is from Psalm 40:1-2, "I waited patiently for the LORD, he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure" (ESV). The psalmist, David, found himself in the pit of destruction and in the miry bog, and he waited patiently for God to rescue him. He had as choice in the steps he took and somehow they got him in a state of needing rescue. Oh, aren't we all in need of rescuing? 

Each day, we are given a choice in the steps we take, but our steps are only secure when they are ordered by the Lord. He is our rock and our way maker. 

Be blessed.

Increase in Wealth - Tuesday Morning Bible Study

It started in Psalm 73, I wanted to read it last night but got a phone call from a friend who needed some encouragement. This morning I am taking time to read, which is rare these days, but since the kids are at daycare the Lord has granted me some time to read and study His word. Let me see if I can connect the pieces today.

While reading through Psalm 73 in the Leadership Study Bible (NIV) I found on my bookshelf, verse 12 put me on pause... "This is what the wicked are like - always carefree, they increase in wealth." It's been a hard season financially for us, maybe that's why I was wondering how the wicked can simply increase in wealth in a carefree manner... oh to be carefree like a child again. Forget about being wicked, that's not my jam. 

Beside each verse of this particular Bible is a corresponding verse. Psalm 73:12 references Psalm 49:6, which says, "those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches?" this verse is midsentence, so we have to go back to the beginning of it, which is the verse prior, to gain better understanding of what's being said. "Why should I fear when evil days come, when wicked deceivers surround me - those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches?" (Psalm 49:5-6 NIV). Again we see that the wicked are wealthy, but this time, the one who trusts in and reveres the Lord, does not have to fear the evil days their faced with. Those evil days are when the wicked deceivers surround them. 

Next to Psalm 49:6 was the reference to Job 31:24, but again the surrounding verses needed to be read, so I will quote from Job 31:24 and 28, "If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, "You are my security"... then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high." Job was being accused that he had trusted in his wealth, and that is why he was in the dyer state that we find him in, but here he is defending his case knowing that God is sovereign over all and it would be a sin to place his trust in anything other than God. It makes me consider God is so much greater than gold, we cannot find true security in the material or monetary possessions of this world.

Which leads us to the next verse referenced, from Job 31:24 we are taken over to Job 22:25, "then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you." Once again, we are midsentence, but in this case, the lightbulb went off and I was strongly reminded that God himself is my source. I never knew the Word of God called God gold! How cool is that? He's our provider of good things, and He Himself is the good thing we need! The verse being midsentence still led me to read the whole passage, so from verse 21 to 30, I basically gathered that when we follow in God's ways and delight in Him, He hears our prayer and will deliver us. Going back to the concept of wealth, in Job 22:21 it plainly states, "Submit to God and be at peace with Him; in this way prosperity will come to you." God tells us the keys to wealth, and it's through obedience and submission to Him.

But it's not over, Job 22:25 then led me to Isaiah 33:6, which moves away from earthly wealth but it still speaks of treasure. Isaiah 33:6 says, "He will be the sure foundation for your times, a rich store of salvation and wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is the key to this treasure." Salvation and wisdom and knowledge money cannot buy, but for those who have it, they are rich. 

The treasure we have in Christ is a mystery; God has made it so that salvation came through His Son so we could be in relationship with Him. And when we have Christ in our hearts, therein lays the treasure in earthen vessels, as it says in 2 Corinthians 4:7, "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us."

My encouragement to you, dear reader, is to get a physical copy of the Bible and just spend time in the Word. The Lord can show up in ways we never expected and we can grow and leave changed by the power of His Holy Spirit. God bless.

Within a Golf Bag

I currently live in an apartment building with my parents and family. In apartment buildings there is a recycle depot where everyone brings their recycling and miscellaneous larger items to be discarded. Today, as I was setting out to bring my son to daycare, I noticed there was a decent looking golf bag in the recycle depot. For some reason I felt almost obsessed with the idea that I needed to pick up this golf bag to try to sell it (because last week I found an epic 4-potted yellow flower pot and sold it for $35!). So I grabbed the bag on my way out and brought my son to daycare. 

On my way back home, my mom requested I pick something up at a nearby store, so before going into the store I decided to check this golf bag out. I go to the trunk of my car and start checking out the zippers of each pocket. Within the first pocket, I found a dime, and thought that it was cute that they had forgotten it. In another pocket, there were some colourful and some wooden golf tees, and also a twenty dollar bill! "Wow," I said to myself, "this bag is already making money!" 

Due to excitement, I shared this news with my husband immediately, then returned to inspecting the bag. I made my way up to the top part where the golf clubs are held, it looked nice and well kept, but then, I saw something with a white tip within the holder. So I turned the bag upside down and out comes a beautiful black and white umbrella! 

Now, this may seem small and insignificant, but for me it reminded me that God sees me and knows exactly the best way for me to hear him. You see, I gave an umbrella away to a homeless man on Sunday night when it was raining. He was asking for change and my husband and I gave the change that we had in our little car cup holder... and then I asked the homeless man if he wanted an umbrella. There was verbal hesitating but the man did happily accept my offering of a nice black umbrella we had in the car.

It's been four days since that moment, and while admiring this umbrella, all I could say is "Wow, thank you God, you gave me back an even better umbrella than the one we gave away!" My heart is touched, I am so thankful for a Father in Heaven who sees us and knows what we need when we need it. 

~~~

"I was young and now I am old,

yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken

or their children begging [for] bread."

Psalm 37:25 NIV

~~~

Sermon notes

 Core Values - Upon This Rock series 

P. Tony - January 30, 2022

Philippians 1:27
1 Timothy 3:15

Cinduct yourself. How do we resolve issues? How we respond to issues creates culture, i.e. when toddlers have a tantrum to get what they want, and if we give in to it, we just created a culture.

You cannot fix culture unless we define core values

1. Excellence
Daniel had a spirit of excellence - not perfection, however a continual effort to improve.
How do we improve?
Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, do with all your heart.

2. Honour and Respect
John 14:28
Recognizing and acknowledging the call and worth of individuals with the Body of Christ.
Out due each other in honour.
We pray and love each other.

3. Teamwork
Ephesians 4:3
United in faith and action for the purpose of achieving one common goal
Everyone help and chip in
Unity of the Spirit

4. Passion
Serving God and his people with fevour and with joy
Colossians 3:17
"Show up with your lights on"
Because you would not serve the Lord with joy, you will serve your enemy with fear (verse)

5.  Training
Commitment to learning - apostolic

6. Stewardship
Accountability for everything we've been entrusted with (all resources!) - your marriage, your kids, your job

7. Generosity
Displaying the heart of God


Fin

The Divine Orchestrator - A Brief Sharing of the Journey from Friendship to Marriage

God is the divine orchestrator.

~~~

Had you asked me a year ago on August 21, 2017, "where do you see yourself in one year?", my answer would not have included being engaged to the young man I love and will one day marry. We've only been dating for the past ten months. Besides the many other events and milestones this past year, of new jobs and job promotions, the passing of my beloved grandma, the accommodating a mom and her two daughters in our basement for a few months, and the purchase of a new condo... this is a moment that needs to be cherished.

My desire, along with my soon-to-be husband, is to only be engaged to one person, and only one time while on this planet. And I said yes, as much as he has chosen me, I have made the decision to choose him, too. So I am certain we are both in this to win it. 

~~~

A year ago I was single, uncertain of what I wanted or who I wanted to be with. God changed that, it wasn't easy to give up the familiarity of toxic cycles and relationships, even though we are creatures of habit. I was in a friendship, that was not a healthy relationship; I was never certain if I was doing the right thing, or going to be shown love back in return. It sucked.

Until, one day, I became so fed up with how I was being treated and the way I had been responding, that I knew something needed to change. I consulted my mentor for direction and advice. I realized there was a young man who really did love me. He loved me so much to pray for me, constantly, and he was asking God to change my heart toward him. And God did. I wasn't about to stay another minute in the toxic situation I had subjected myself to, and decided to make the cut to pursue a relationship with someone who really did care about me. 

At that time I knew my betrothed and we had some very rough patches, but for the most part we had become very good friends with in the previous year. Actually, I considered him one of my best friends, because we were in constant conversation.

They say, "if you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you it was meant to be." But in The Word of God, Jesus said, "'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." (See Mark 10:7-9 ESV)

~~~

When I first saw my fiancé, I was at church outside in the lobby, I looked passed the opened doors to the sanctuary, and he was inside getting up from his seat and walking towards the lobby area. My spirit bubbled up deep inside me, as if to say "you need to get to know this man", and I was like, "but Lord, I said I was going to wait a year before I start to 'get to know' any potential man-to-be-husband again". I bet you're expecting me to say, he came to the lobby and we spoke and ended up talking for hours and hours afterwards... but that's not the case.

I actually determined I would not go up to him, or strike up a conversation with him (or ask for his number directly) until he showed interest in me first. Too many times before, I found myself pursuing the attention of a man, and this is not how the Lord intended for women to operate. So I waited, not really thinking about the potential of being in relationship with him.

At a later time, or it could have been earlier, he said he saw me from a distance, and told me that he felt his spirit was drawn towards me. He said he asked the Lord if I was to be his wife, and felt a gentle "yes". Let me tell you, he didn't come up to me that day either (lol).

It wasn't until I was volunteering to help hand out flyers for one of our major summer events at church, in August 2016. A list had been passed around for people to sign up to help out. When it was passed back to me and I saw his name and number written, I said to myself "yesss, I got his number!". As previously mentioned, I have usually been the one to initiate a conversation because I am so outgoing and bold. But I felt that I needed to wait to begin conversation with him, as I had secretly hoped that he would walk up to me and start one himself. I ended up texting him (and of course the other people who signed up) and ever since then we engaged in many hours of in-depth and meaningful texting conversations.

~~~

Fast-forward about two months, at another special event, my fiancé and I connected. From then we began our dating journey. Let me be real with you, a lot of our fleshly habits came out within the first two weeks of dating. But I would always end up in tears, something in my spirit was saying, "this is not how it's supposed to be. We are not glorifying God in this relationship." He felt the same way.

Kids, if you want to be successful in relationship, establish healthy boundaries:

- Time boundaries; be back at your own homes by a certain time, not being out too late

- Physical boundaries; purity as God intended, some things should be left for marriage

- Conversational boundaries; no heavy intense discussions after a certain time (I'm still working on implementing this...)

There are many more factors to a successful relationship. We do our best to remember to give each other grace, because we know that not everyone has it all together; love each other, faults and all; and, realize that you cannot change anyone but yourself - and even so, we can only change with the help of the Holy Spirit.

~~~

The above portions of this blog were written on November 11, 2018.

Today, December 6, 2021, my husband and I are 2 years and 7 months married, and we have been blessed with one absolutely precious gift, a son. There have been many beautiful moments and some challenging ones as with any relationship, but God is good and faithful. He is the divine orchestrator and we put our trust in Him. Be blessed. 

New Mom Thoughts - Part 3

At the time I was planning to write this, we were officially over 4 weeks old. As of today we are almost 12 weeks. Where has the time gone... I've been learning and pondering so much.

There have definitely been challenges, and the battle in my mind is real most days. I've been asking God to help me perceive this beautiful responsibility as "joy" rather than simply a very hard "job". It's been a lot of hard work; kudos to all the moms out there who have walked this path before me, and for those who have done it more than once or completely on their own... God bless you, really, you are amazing.

~~~

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Psalm 127:3

~~~

The grace and strength required to wake up every two to three hours in the night, as well as living an entire day doing the same thing, just to do it all over again feels endless. Some mom's with adult children remind me that things will get better, but at the same time, I know they will get harder in different ways when the time comes. 

~~~

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness".

2 Corinthians 12:9a

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118: 24

~~~

Let's talk about the reality of mom guilt; as real as it feels it's also a very big lie. I read this blog and found the truth within it encouraging. My biggest takeaway was: It is easier to believe the lies when you are tired and stressed. Don’t let your sleep-deprived or stressed-out brain trick you into believing the junk being thrown your way. Stop it in its tracks, and your mood will likely improve. 

Also, when negative comments come your way just nod your head, but remember you are truly blessed.

~~~

God gives rest to his loved ones.

Psalm 127:2d

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights,

with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

James 1:17

~~~

I'm also learning that I can only do what I can do, and I need to grant myself grace if all the things I want to get done take more time than usual. Preparing a snack for myself takes a lot longer than I expected, especially when baby is in arm. Also there are projects and things I want to get done, but I've reminded that I need to shift my priorities, caring for my little ones needs is important in this season. And I'm constantly reminding myself that this season won't last forever - just like pregnancy itself didn't last forever (and as wonderful as it was, thank God He put a time limit on it). 

~~~

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven...

Ecclesiastes 3:1

When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, 

but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, 

for joy that a human being has been born into the world.

John 16:21

A Gracious Tongue

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. 

Ephesians 4:29-32 ESV 

~~~

Why is this so hard to live sometimes? Well if I'm truthful, it's difficult almost all the time. So often I want to speak my mind when someone ticks me off. It's easy hold on to bitterness, stew in anger and speak slander against the one who has bothered my idea of peace.

But God intended a life at a much higher standard than what my human nature has fallen in line with. It's only by the power of His Holy Spirit that I can truly speak graciously to others. It's only in my understanding of God's goodness and mercy towards me that can I extend the same to others. Forgiveness can be granted regardless of what another person has done to me when I understand the power of the cross of Christ. 

~~~

Lord, by the power of Your Holy Spirit, please grant me a tenderheart and a gracious tongue that I may truly love others the way you have called me to. In Jesus name, amen.