Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Imagination...

"Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"  II Corinthians 10:5

Imagination… that is a word I have lived too much of my life by. I can have a very vivid imagination, which is good in creating, but when imagination turns to negative thoughts… that is where the problem lies! In Genesis 33… where Esau and Jacob were going to meet up with each other so many years after Jacob had stole Esau’s blessing… Jacob imagined Esau would still be mad and maybe want to kill him, but that was not the case.

There have been so many times when I would walk into a room of strangers or acquaintances and just know they were looking or thinking critically of me. I could have the whole scenario playing out in my mind, when none of it was true only my imagination. The devil loves to play off our imagination… it is like we are doing all the work for him… you know the thoughts… “that person thinks I am not good enough”… “they are staring at this big zit on my face”… “they think I don’t belong here”… “what if I trip and fall as I walk across the room”..."are they laughing at me?" All those condemning thoughts of inadequacy… we do it to ourselves and then let the enemy have his fun too with our help. I know that my imaginations of inadequacy have come from me not being secure in who I am in Christ… human fear over Christ-like faith. If the devil can keep us from living in our faith in Christ then he has got us where he wants us.

A couple years ago God really spoke to me about living life “out-loud” for Him. All the insecurities that I lived everyday of my life with were keeping me stifled and I was becoming stagnant for Him… I was determined that with God’s help I was not going to live one more day based on my insecurities or emotions. Not saying that I don’t have trouble with that anymore but I try to live day to day and moment to moment trying to conquer that with comfort and guidance from the Holy Spirit. It is so freeing and actually refreshing not to have those imaginary conversations going on in my mind… I saw the people around me as my enemy when they were not my enemy… my enemy was my own imagination.

"Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking,.. Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."                        I Peter 2:1, 4-5

I have a little graduation card to share with you... embossing folder with the Cuttlebug... SU corner and edge punch... mini butterflies... and little half pearls... thought it turned out pretty.
I know this is a long post today, but I felt like I needed to share this.  Asking once again for prayers for my mom... she has been through a lot over the last year and it is all catching up with her... she is dealing with major mental anguish and she is in the hospital once again... God hears our prayers and we believe for complete healing in Jesus' name.
with a grateFUL HEART, carin

Saturday, June 19, 2010

The Weekend...

I just noticed my "blogoversary" was yesterday... 2 years since I started "grateFUL HEART"... how time flies!

It is Saturday morning... 2 days before the first day of Summer... 1 day before Fathers' Day, but as for today... it is a BEAUTIFUL day!

No stamping for today but a funny picture... Do you remember the 1989 movie, "Weekend at Bernie's"? Well, here is a picture I took of a couple friends and my hubby...
Disclaimer... there was no one harmed in the production of this picture nor was there drugs or alcohol involved! LOL

Okay, now on the serious side... just a verse to share too... Psalm 91:1-2 Live under the protection of God Most High and stay in the shadow of God All-Powerful. Then you will say to the LORD, "You are my fortress, my place of safety; you are my God, and I trust you." (Contemporary English)

Have a great Saturday... with a grateFUL HEART, carin

Friday, June 18, 2010

Security...

I hope you haven't totally forgotten me... I am so sorry I have not posted in weeks... that is so not like me, but life happens and I don't take the time to write it down. *Ü* I spent almost a week at my parents, trying to be encouraging to my mom who is still having health issues (prayers still appreciated). 

The other day I saw someone write, "I wish I could see into the future just for a second." I know how dangerous that would be and I told her so, but now this morning in my quiet time I saw that how even one second could change one's path for a lifetime… one split second! Why do we as humans think we need to know everything… choosing knowledge over life.  In II Timothy 6:17 it says, “As for the rich in this world, charge them not to be proud and arrogant and contemptuous of others, nor to set their hopes on uncertain riches, but on God, Who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” Even the news on TV… reporters think that they need to know everything so they can inform the world of “everything” that may or may not be going on… personally I don’t want to or even need to know everything! Ironically, having too much information can just lead me down a path of uncertainty… it makes me want to take the control out of God’s hands and put it into my own incapable hands… I fight with being in control everyday… it is a choice everyday, sometimes even minute to minute, to hand all control over to God… completely trust Him. In reality I know I never have the control anyways… I just think I do and all that does is make me miserable and more controlling!

If a person could see into the future just a couple seconds how would that couple seconds change the choices they would make? And by making that choice how would that choice change the next choice and the next choice… see it would be like a domino effect… and what happens to dominoes when one starts going?... they all eventually fall. I don’t know about you but I do not want to live my life trying to keep all my “dominos” standing. God sees the big picture. I only see a pixel in the big picture, and I am so thankful for that.

What is secure? My security lies in the mighty hands of God, my Father, my Provider, the One who holds my future.

Yes, I do have a birthday card to share with you today... I saw a card like this somewhere... maybe on SCS???  I don't have a stamp to make the grass-look so I think it is so cool to be able to use the edge of my stamp pad.  And of course the butterfly fanatic that I am... I have the butterfly die folder from SU. Luv it!
Okay, I need to get some other stuff done today, so have a sweetly blessed day... thanks for stopping.

with a grateFUL HEART, carin