Friday (Re) Focus

As I grow in my relationship with Christ, the Holy Spirit reveals more and more areas of my life that need to be surrendered to Christ. This is never easy. Actually, the longer follow Christ, the more painful this process becomes. 

This should not be surprising. 

When I first submitted my life to Christ, the Holy Spirit convicted me of superficial things that needed to be cleaned up in order for my life to outwardly display the inward change that had taken place. My language changed. My social activities changed. My habitual behaviors changed. 

Gradually, my close circle of friends changed. The things I value changed. My desires changed. The things I pursue changed. My thoughts changed.

As time went on, my attitude changed. My beliefs about people and human nature changed. My priorities changed. The things I value changed some more, as did my thoughts. Things I once considered "personal" began to cause me grief. The Holy Spirit convicted me of sin that is not always evident to those around me. I'd never given much thought to things like jealousy, pride, arrogance, vanity, and lust...things that are more feeling than action, but these began to break my heart as I realized that these things grieve God.

Still more time has passed and the Holy Spirit continues to dig deeper into who I am and reveal areas of my heart that are not pleasing to God. 

This week, I was convicted of not being a good steward of the gifts God has given me. Add to this, a list of idols that I didn't realize were idols. I've wrestled with how "good things" can be idols and can cause me to be separated from God. 

I'm still working through this, but I believe that this has more to do with my heart than it does the "good things" in my life that I have turned into idols. It is my prayer that, as I grow in my relationship with Christ, I will be able to enjoy the wonderful gifts that this world offers without worshiping them.

I want to grow in my relationship with Christ that I ALWAYS worship the gift giver and not the gift given.

Thursday Thoughts on... cleaning my room, carrots, and chocolate ice cream

Let me see if I can paint a picture of what me dealing with sin often looks like....

When I was a kid, there were times when I wasn't very excited about cleaning my room. (shocker) SOMETIMES I might possibly have tossed all my stuff in the closet, shut the door, and called it done. Every thing looked fine... until Mom opened the closet...

As an adult, I rarely stuff actual things into an actual closet, BUT when prompted to get some sin out of my life, I am prone try to get by just making a few changes to my behavior without really giving the actual area of my heart controlled by the sin over to God.  I might even clean everything up so well that it looks absolutely lovely on brief inspection, but if you dig beneath the surface.. the mess is still there.

That MESS steals my joy.

This very thing is why I talk to my Sunday School class often about the Holy Spirit working in us to change our "want to."  I don't want to just change my behavior (hide my mess) so that I look like a more mature mature Christian.  I want my "want to" to change so that what I truly want lines up with God's Word. I want the desires of my heart to match His. I want to love the things He loves and hate the things He hates.

It feels something like this.....

I know  I should eat carrots because they are good for me, but what I WANT is chocolate Ice Cream. I'll eat the carrots (because I should), but unless what I WANT changes, I am going to end up leaned against the freezer at midnight (so no one catches me) eating the ice cream out of the carton...OR I will continue to eat the carrots because I'm sacrificing, denying myself, being a martyr... and be generally grumpy and openly mad at less health conscious people who have the audacity to enjoy ice cream.

In contrast, if what I WANT changes from "I want what tastes good" to "I want what is good for my body" then not only can I enjoy the carrots, but I will have compassion those who have yet to discover the benefits of healthy eating and are in bondage to their poor food choices.


I want God to create a CLEAN heart within me so that I gladly give him my idols and gladly turn from my sin, knowing that the JOY of being closer to HIM is better than any brief happiness Satan tempts me with. Not only that, but I want Him to fill me with love and compassion for those who have not experienced the freedom, joy, and peace that comes with following wholeheartedly after Christ.


Just my thoughts,
K

Wednesday Weekly Recipes - Meal Prep- Week 1

Okay before I say anything else, give me one moment to say...

Yes I did!
Wanna see?
I even took a picture....


I am SO proud of myself!!!

This may not seem like a big deal to you, but for me, this is HUGE! Not only did I have a plan, I followed through and... TA-DA!!!! Lunches for the week! I am just pleased as punch! The colors are beautiful. The whole thing makes me very happy.

This is super simple, my goal was simply to get it done. I made spaghetti with ground turkey and baked some chicken and steamed some veggies and some rice. Kept the rice to a minimum. Leaning heavily on the veggies and fruit. I also made a separate box for snacks. This was mostly self- defense. Since I am giving up my morning coffee (and 210 calories worth of creamer),  I was afraid I'd crash before lunch. my snack was some grapes and apple and a piece of cheese. 

I know from experience that my entire body feels best when I eat a plant based diet. Even my hair and skin respond well to a plant based diet. HOWEVER, I get a lot of push back from the meat-eaters in my life, so i am not cutting meat out... at least not yet.

Next week I hope I can work a little variety into this process, but... baby steps.

Hugs!
K

Tuesday Tips and Tricks - 100 acts of kindness

In keeping with my promise to myself to love the heck out of everything this year, Tuesday's Tips and Tricks will be dedicated to my effort to complete 100 acts of kindness. I HOPE that this will keep this idea in the front of my mind and MAYBE make my little part of the world a better place!

I have a terrible tendency to make wonderful plans and then expect them to just happen. I know that sounds silly and childish. Still, it is not false. While "being nice" is something that USUALLY comes somewhat naturally to me, these Acts of Kindness require deliberate action on my part. Only took me a month to figure out that they were not just going to happen on their own. I'm still playing catch up but DID mark a big one off one of the previous weeks' list last night and it felt REALLY good!

In light of this week's theme of "Choose Joy," join me in considering the joy we can bring to others through simple acts of kindness.

This weeks acts...

13. Give someone a book you think they'd like

14. Take baked goods to your neighbors

15. Leave a dollar on the vending machine for someone's snack

Much love and big hugs!

K

Monday Motivation

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

Sometimes we have to LOOK for the joy. Being joyful, positive, and optimistic can be just as easy as being angry, negative, and pessimistic. It's all in what you look for... it's up to you.

Choose Joy!

Much love and Big hugs!
K