Blakeyblog

For the rest of March we are house-sitting for some friends and their little beagle named Libby. On our previous occassions to do so we enjoyed ourselves immensely! These friends have a large beautiful home with a big jacuzzi tub in the guest bath and a fountain in the back yard. We are thankful to be there and that we are told to “feel free to have people over” as we will have many visitors in the coming weeks. There is no way that our small apartment could hold all of the partying that will be taking place!

Last night I had tea with an older friend who is a mentor to me. She and I are doing a book/video study together on the life of Jesus. In the video we watched last night, the speaker talked alot about the neccesity of communication. She read from Amos 8 where it records how God did not speak to His people for nearly 400 years between the Old and New Testaments. I was baffled by this becuase I can clearly see that relationships are steeped in and comprised of communication. A relationship is only as good as the communication of the parties within. No communication, no relationship.

Last night before I went to her home and heard this lesson I was at my home having dinner with Bobby and Ty. I noticed Ty’s keys on the floor by our shoe basket. Thinking I’d be helpful, I hung them from one of the little coat hooks near the door. When I cam home Bobby told me how Ty searched high and lo, but ended up going home frustrated and unable to find his keys. I hadn’t communicated and it made things so difficult. I realized that I may often take too lightly the responsiblity of communicating well to those around me and I wonder if I am challenged to ask myself how often and how well am I communicating with the Lord, through prayerful conversations with Him and listening to Him by immersing myself in His Word?

Today I found a Proverbs 18:21 which says, “The tongue has the power of life and death.” The Lord is really showing me that great good and great harm can come straight from my mouth. With my tongue I can build one person up, and tear another down…this should not be! I wonder what it would be like to be confident that my tongue wouldn’t speak complaints, arguments, gossip, belittling, needless words, or lies. The reality is that out of the overflow of my heart my mouth speaks. (Proverbs 21:23) If I am realizing problems in my words, I am realizing problems in my heart. It may be easy to react defensively to my words or lack of right words. Meaning well does not elevate me to a place above error. Instead I can give my words to the Lord and ask Him to make them like those of Colossians 4:6, “always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”

What a relaxing weekend it has been. Bobby returned home safely and it stopped raining for a couple of days. It has been sunny and 70 degrees and my weekend has consisted of few engagements, walks, and reading time at Starbucks. So refreshing.

Today I pulled The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace of my shelf to re-read. This book is Biblical, practical and simple in it’s approach to explaining what God desires of a Christian wife and His will for her life. The first time I read this it was as a textbook in a Marriage Counseling class I took in college. A few years later I was given a copy by a friend after Bobby and I became engaged to be married. I have read it several times and it never ceases to open my eyes to ways that I must surrender my will to God’s and follow Him in obedience as He grows me in this role. Something that stood out to me today was a reference to the woman of Proverbs 31. It says that she “smiles at the future.” This is a pretty stunning perspective towards the future! It is easy to look at the future and have thoughts of nervousness, anxiety, fear, dread and worry. But the godly woman of Proverbs 31 is confident, trusting in God, His sovereign will and presence and control in all her tomorrows. This is something I would really like to aspire to.

I was really inspired today when Ty had the opportunity to share his testimony. He didn’t follow the norm, “I was born and raised…” but gave a dynamic picture of the two ways to go: death or life. He spoke on the contrasting decisions of people in a “downward spiral” verses the “God-filled life.” Throughout his lesson he shared his personal story of redemption and I was especially encouraged by his main verse. Deuteronomy 30:19-20, “I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days…”

It’s a cold and rainy Friday. It has been a busy week and I am relieved that Friday is here and Bobby will be coming home. Since Tuesday he has been at the Shepherd’s Conference at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley. I can’t wait to hear about the refreshing messages, inspiring teachers and look through all of the free books he’ll come home with!

We still had our student Bible study this week, even though Bobby was gone. One of the students shared some thoughts on “Apathy” from Luke 6:46-49. This passage is the parable of the two foundations and how one is built in sand and the other in the rock. Then a storm comes and it floods and the house whose foundation is the sand falls to ruin but the one built in the rock stands the storm. This story addresses the issue of apathy in that the houses represent religious lives and the storm represents judgement and trials. Only the life that is truly saved, having a foundation of obedience to God’s Word stands all of life’s storms as such a life is characterized by repentance, fruits of a changed heart, and trust in God’s grace to save and persevere. The life founded in a false sense of salvation, merely wanting to associate with Christianity in salvation by works, and keeping up appearances. When challenges come into this life it collapses, being characterized by sinful responses, doubt, disobedience and selfishness. I tried to encourage my small group to see that the life that stands is built as spiritual growth, obedience and seeking the Lord are genuinely pursued. The life that falls is sometimes developped as we let approval, fear of others, and reliance on self or circumstances dictate our heart. Sometimes I see apathy in my life when I am overwhelmed, self-focused or discouraged. When I focus on these things I fall into a keeping-up-of-appearances instead of living obediently to the Lord. This is such a foolish mentality because no matter how right my actions may look to those around me, God looks beyond my behavior and into my heart, knowing whether it be apathetic–just going through the motions or truly passionately obedient to Him.

I’ll try to work on being passionately patient for the work-day to end, Bobby to come home and the weekend to begin. It’s always good waiting when you have specific things to look forward to…

I had a refreshing conversation with someone last night. We talked about life, church, change and family. She offered great encouragement toward my growth and advice for the future. I was blessed. I was telling her about some problems that I have in planning ahead, because I’m not sure where God will guide us. I find myself wanting to be wholly surrendered, but don’t want to be foolishly unprepared. She simply responded by saying, “You aren’t going to make these things happen, God is.” She showed me that my responsibility and planning is always subject to God’s total and absolute sovereignty over all of time and life. There are things that I hope for and decisions that I wonder about, and she helped me to see that if I want to be prepared, I must have a readiness to be led by the Lord. Living obediently, I can be available to God’s plans, becasue my own will be changed to His as I rely on Him.

When I came home I looked up Proverbs 16:9, “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.” I find this to be such a relief. God’s plans will always come to pass, and His purposes are always fulfilled. The best plans I can lay out are to be directed by and obedient to the Word; free from sin and fear; persisitent and faithful in the things that God has put in my life to do today.

For all who will follow
You say “Come”
Take up your cross today

March is here and with it come a plethora of new and exciting things that we are looking forward to. This month Bobby is going to a conference, some family will be visiting, we get to house-sit for a couple of weeks and who knows what else will come up! Most of all I like driving home from work and seeing that the sun has not yet set…it makes me feel as though I have more time left in the day.

Last night we had chinese food for dinner and my fortune cookie told me “Work at your excercise routine.” Being a devoted pilates practicer, I laughed at the fortune. Later I decided that maybe I could work better at excercising my mind by being more consistent in my reading, writing, and thinking practice. I find consistency difficult to maintain without discipline and practice. When I think of consistent godly living I think of always moving forward. Not standing in place or looking back, but staying in line spiritually pressing on in sanctification, determined in a persistent pace forward. Coincidentally my “Verse of the Day” touched on this same theme when Philippians 3:16 popped up on my computer, “Let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained, let us be of the same mind.”

The tide has turned
The wind has changed
Set my heart’s course
To seek Your face