¹“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.” — Matthew 6:1 (NKJV)

A few months ago I got a comment on one of my blog posts. The comment referenced this verse and made me stop and think. I was sharing in the post, one of my struggles and how I think God wanted me to handle it. My intentions for sharing that information were not to thump my chest and say “look at me! I’m great and wonderful!” But evidently someone wanted to remind me not to do my charitable deeds before men. So then I started thinking about writing. Writing can be a very public thing — especially when you’re blogging on the internet. You may think no one is reading it, but you’d be wrong.

My purpose for writing is one, to follow God’s will for my life and two, to share my God experiences with others so that they may not feel alone. When Jesus shared these words, He was speaking to priests — the religious people — in His day (of course we have religious people like this today — all around unfortunately). He knew their hearts and intentions. They did not care about God as much as they did their reputation — what others saw them do. Only Jesus knows my heart and knows why I write what I do, but I hope I never come across to anyone as trying to boast about accomplishments. Because I know it’s God working in those accomplishments — not me. If it were up to me, I’d crawl back in the bed and pull the covers over my head — not put myself, my embarrassment, my wrong choices out there on the internet for the world to find.

Prayer: Lord, please help me to focus on You and Your will for my life. Help me to remove my ego and let You use me and write through me. I never want to take credit for anything, because I am nothing without You. Everything I’ve ever accomplished in my life has been through Your grace. Be with every person reading this. Guide them in what they should do — their charitable deeds — and guide them in what to share with others and what to keep between You and them.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” — Matthew 6:33

Where have I been the past 2 months? Did I stop using the potty?

No, I didn’t stop using the potty. But I’ve been doing the exact thing I warned all of you against — not seeking God first in all that I do. I don’t know if I became lazy, tired, or just plain indifferent.

Last week we went on a family vacation — just the 3 of us. My husband, my daughter and me. Honestly, I didn’t want to go. My husband insisted we should take our daughter to Orlando (Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure, Sea World and Wet N’ Wild). Why didn’t I want to go? Because I knew what would happen. I would be stuck in the middle. My daughter often craves my attention. She just wants to be in the same room with me. My husband craves my attention at times too. What could I do? Nothing really other than make sure the hotel room had at least 2 tvs — because they must have their own space at the end of the day. The problem only comes when they want Mommy to share that separate space with them.

By Day 3 of the vacation, we were not acting like a family at all. Seriously, how hard can it be for 3 people to get along? That night in the hotel room, I grabbed my journal. I literally was so twisted up inside I didn’t know which way was up. I wrote. I prayed. I wrote prayers. “God, help us get through this vacation without killing each other.” “God, only you can straighten this out so we can have somewhat of a good time.”

It felt good to write — to talk to God again. Where had I been? I couldn’t tell you. What I can tell you is that God still answers prayers. We all made it home from vacation He answered my other questions too — where have I been the past 2 months? Seeking anything but the kingdom of God FIRST.

Prayer: Lord, thank You so very much for answering my prayers especially during the vacation. Thank You that You take me back even when I make the same mistakes over and over and over again. Your mercy and forgiveness totally blow me away. Help me to remember to look to You in everything I do and use me to reach others — to help others seek You FIRST in all they do. You are truly awesome and faithful. I don’t know why You love me as screwy as I can get sometimes — I’m just ever so thankful that You DO love me.

3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ “ — Luke 4:3,4

A friend of mine went through her first spiritual attack last Sunday — at least her first noticeable one since she made the decision to follow Jesus. One friend told her she had left herself open for attack because she read the latest Harry Potter book. One friend told her the devil was trying to tempt her — distract her. She wanted to know my opinion on it. I told her I agreed totally with her second friend. The reason I don’t agree with the first friend is because Jesus was tempted by the devil three times in the wilderness. Jesus didn’t do anything to “open himself up for attack.” The devil is a deceiver and a liar. he will come after every single person, and I think he especially comes after God’s children. Why does he do that? Can he take away our salvation? Absolutely not! What he can do is distract us. In this scripture, we see the devil trying to get Jesus thinking about His physical body and hunger. Instead, Jesus replies with scripture — God’s Word — because He was focused on doing God’s will.

The devil comes after me all the time. “Sure it’d be ok to go read that blog. You can read your Bible later.” “Oh your body is so tired. Lay down and take a nap. The housework can wait another week.” I’m sure you get the point. When we wake up in the morning we need to start the day off with prayer. Prayer to help us be focused on God all day, to not be distracted by the devil, and to obviously see the devil’s lies and tactics for what they are.

Prayer: Lord, I thank you so much for sending Jesus not to just die for my sins, but to give me an example of how I should be living my life. I know I can’t do it alone. Please help me to be strong, to fight off the temptations that may distract me from Your Will, and give me the discernment to know when I’m being attacked and when I’m in Your Will.

“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” — Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)

I honestly can’t believe I haven’t written a Potty Prayer about this verse yet. It’s one of my absolute favorites, and also one that I struggle with constantly. I have gotten away from my quiet time and reading my Bible in the mornings. I jump right in to reading other blogs (some Christian so that’s good, right?) and reading email and before I know it the morning is gone.

Well, that’s not good at least for me. Whenever I have a choice to make in my life, I remember this verse and look to God first. I need to continually do that, every hour of every day of every week. Whether I realize it or not, I make choices all the time — not just major choices, but choices on how I’m going to spend my time. Am I going to check my email now? Am I going to read my Bible? Do I turn on the radio or sit in silence praying?

Prayer: Lord, help me to constantly remember I am making choices. Guide me to make the right choices even in the little decisions I make all the time — most of the time without thinking. Make the right choice (Your choice) obvious to me so I know without a doubt that it’s from You. Thank You Lord for my renewed sense of being just what You have made me to be.

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. — Genesis 2:24 (NIV)

Back in June I went to my family reunion. Since then I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about what a family is. I can understand this verse in the context that a husband and wife shall become one flesh, but that doesn’t mean they are to ignore their parents (honor your father and mother stuff). Many times it is hard to draw those lines — you know those boundaries where we shouldn’t cross.

I remember when I was younger and living in West Virginia where most of my family was at the time, we would have huge dinners at our house around the holidays. Thanksgiving would bring aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, brothers, sisters, and many more to our house. The women would gather in the kitchen and help my Mom fix all the food. Being the Daddy’s Girl that I am, I was always with the guys watching football

It was a lot easier to keep up with what was happening in our extended family then. We were all apart of the same community. When we moved out of state, it was harder to keep up with some of the extended family. In today’s world, we often get caught up in our own busy schedules and rarely have the time to check in with extended family. We get to know what’s going on in our children’s friends’ lives and totally loose touch with our nieces and nephews.

We have all kinds of different families — our church family, our school family, our blood family, our blood and adopted family … etc. Our parents, our brothers and sisters, should not be forgotten when we “leave and cleave” to our spouses. So be sure to schedule some time (make it a priority!) to check in with your family.

Prayer: Lord, please help me reach out to my family — as awkward as that may be. I may feel like I’m talking to a perfect stranger, but I’m often nicer to perfect strangers than I am family. Lord, give me direction on how much to be involved with my family (and my husband’s family) and also to know when I am stepping over lines — when I should just let people deal with their issues. Help me to be a good witness of Your love to my family. Family are some of the toughest people to witness to because they have seen all of my ugliness. Use me for Your glory Lord. Bring Your glory out of mistakes I’ve made. Help my family to see Your love in place of my ugly sins.

If you shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. — John 14:14

This may be stretching this scripture a little. I’ve heard many preachers say if you ask for fame or fortune, God will give it to you. Well, I’m definitely here to tell you that is *not* what this scripture means, but God is in the details for sure.

I was witnessing to a friend online several months ago. She was asking me lots of questions about who Jesus is and what exactly God wants from us. One day she told me that she’d misplaced her glasses and she was stressing having to go pay for some new ones. A single mom needs to watch all her expenses you know. I told her to pray about it and I would pray about it, and God would help her find her glasses.

I know she thought I was nuts but that’s ok. A few hours later, she found her glasses — in a place where she’d looked a gazillion times before. She asked, “why does God care about where my glasses are?” Because He cares about what’s most important to me. He cares about what’s most important to you. God cares about the details. He wants to be a part of our life — every day, every hour, every minute, every second. Was my friend finding her glasses some great miracle like parting the Red Sea? Not to you and me. But to my friend it was a great miracle and yet another detail to thank God for.

On a funny side note, my friend lost the tv remote about a week later. She’d frantically searched for it all over the place. She went to the potty, prayed that God would help her find the remote, and when she came out — she found it Take *all* your worries and cares to God. He wants to be in the details of your life!

Prayer: Lord, I pray that every person who reads this realizes how much You want to be in the details of their lives. Help me to remember to take every thing that comes to my mind — even as simple as losing the remote — to take every thing to You. I’m so thankful You are not some big, mean guy who sits up in heaven looking down at me, but that You wanted to have a relationship with me so much that You sent Your son to have a human body like me, to die a cruel death, to conquer death for me because You knew I wouldn’t be able to. Lord, thank You for wanting to be in the details of my life — the little stuff no one else really cares about.

Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today. — Deuteronomy 15:15 (NIV)

God had finally rescued the Israelites from decades of slavery under the Egyptians. God had performed miracle after miracle with the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea. Can you believe the Israelites had to be reminded to remember where they came from? When they grew tired of the manna God provided every day, they complained that they had better food in Egypt. With their selective memory, they forgot about all the pain they had in slavery.

I just got back last night from my family reunion. I was born in Princeton, West Virginia and my parents and I moved to North Carolina when I was eleven (roughly 23 years ago). I used to go back and visit my family (sister, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends) but when I got married and had my daughter, I got lazy. It was just a lot easier to catch people when they came here to visit my parents.

Over the years though, I’d forgotten many things. I had forgotten how depressed the area is — the old, small houses that are falling down; the lack of places to work for something other than minimum wage. The town has grown tremendously from what it was when I lived there, but I never would have had the opportunities I had here in North Carolina.

I’m a big fan of remembering where you came from. It’s very easy to get caught up in the day-to-day troubles and worries to forget the way things used to be, the things you used to worry about and the things you used to do. I used to worry about who I was going to marry. I used to worry about the little baby crying wondering what it was she was trying to tell me. I don’t worry about those things anymore.

I miss the mountains and will always be a mountain girl, but I’m thankful God brought me to where I am now.

Prayer: God thank You so very much for Your love that is so great that it cannot leave us where we are — thank You for the love that changes us and grows us into the people You want us to be. Change is often difficult for all of us when we get set in our ways. Please help us to be filled with Your peace during the changes we need to go through.

²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. — Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)

The other night I was playing with my church’s women’s softball team. It was my turn to hit. I stepped into the batter’s box and watch the first pretty pitch go by — “Strike” the umpire said. In this league you only get 2 strikes (instead of 3) unless you foul one off — supposedly it hurries the game along. I got set in my head how everything was going to go with this next pitch. I was going to hit the ball no matter where it was (inside or outside of the plate, high or low) and then I was going to run. All I can tell you is that I swung and “whoosh” was all I heard. I completely missed the ball by about 3 feet. I walked back to the dugout shaking my head. What happened?

It hit me today why I missed the ball completely. I had taken my eyes off the ball. I had lost focus. I was concentrating so much on the way I was standing in the batter’s box and how I was going to swing the bat, that I totally missed the ball — the whole point of being there in the first place.

I do that with Jesus too. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I had done all the research, gone to all the classes, and had it perfectly staged in my head. Contractions would start. They would be painful but I would go to the hospital and get medicine. I would be ok. They’d tell me to push when it was time. Baby girl would be born. All would be well. So many times we get caught up in how we think things are going to go that we lose sight of Jesus. It seems that we’re walking in a fog. That’s what I was in the other night — a fog. My head was not in the softball game or focused on what it should be focused on.

Really soak up these words from one of my favorite hymns, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus:

O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s a light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!

Refrain

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
Over us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!

Refrain

His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!

Refrain

Prayer: Oh Lord, thank you so very much for reminding me to be focused on You. Help me not only to start out my day focused on You, but to continue through everything I do totally focused on You. There are so many things going wrong in this world, and I dare say most of it is not important when we look upon Your face. Thank you for conquering sin for me because I am weak and couldn’t even come close to doing it myself — no matter how perfectly pictured it was in my head!

¹⁴“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. ¹⁵To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. ¹⁷So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. ¹⁸But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.” – Matthew 25:14-18 (NIV)

A few months ago, a good friend and new Christian asked me, somewhat jokingly, “what does the Bible say about cleaning?” I know the Bible has answers for anything and everything you could ever come up with to ask. So I prayed about her question and thought about it. I kept coming back to this parable. [You can read the whole parable at Matthew 25:14-30.]

In this parable, Jesus equates talents to money, but really a talent is anything God gives us. After all, everything on this earth is God’s — He just made us the managers of it. Later in this parable, the master comes back and wants to know what the servants have done with what he gave them. To both of the servants who doubled their talents, the master says “well done, good and faithful servant.” Both of these servants did well with what they were given. One was not better than the other simply because he was given 5 instead of 2 or because he made 5 more talents. They both did what they were supposed to do with what they were given.

For the servant who buried the one talent he was given, the master says “you wicked, lazy servant!” Ouch. The master continues by explaining that if the servant was worried about losing the talent, he could’ve at least went to the bank and deposited it there gaining interest. So what good is money if we bury it in the back yard? It’s a total waste!

God is our Master and He gives us talents according to our abilities. It’s our responsibility to take care of those talents — to use them as they should be used. When God blesses us with money, we give, invest and spend wisely. When God gives us a home, we keep it clean, make repairs and share our home with friends. When God gives us a few extra “free” minutes we didn’t already have something planned, we invest it in our relationships — with God, with family, with friends.

I know my friend was looking for advice on keeping her house clean and that’s something that I really detest doing myself. But the talents don’t have to be spotless. We just shouldn’t bury the talent in the dirt either. Somewhere in there, there’s a nice balance.

Prayer: God, thank you so very much for all of the talents you’ve given to me. Help me to know what I should be doing with each and every talent. Help me to not only take care of them, but to grow and multiply them that I may share them and bless others.