Saturday, August 15, 2009
17 Years.
On an unseasonably cool August day, God decided to show favor over me when I definitely didn't deserve it. I walked down an aisle into the arms of the love of my life and my very best friend.
We've lived alot of life together and yet it only seems like yesterday that we stood here and smiled the happiest smiles our faces had ever had the courage to smile.
I wouldn't change a thing. The good times, the tough times and the sad ones, too, have all been worth it!
I love you, Butch. With every ounce of my being, I truly love you!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Spurring One Another On...
I'm trying -- I really am -- to get back to my blog. I loved what my friend Fran said recently about blogging. She said that she was looking forward to firing up the old blog to see if she still works. That's what I'm feeling. Summer is just not a blogging season for me. And this particular Summer was quite challenging.
But here I am with a few thoughts. They aren't organized and I'm not promising when I get done they will make a lick of sense.
I read the scripture Hebrews 10:24 this morning fresh and new. I've used this scripture for years as a diving board for ministry - particularly Women's Ministry. God's Word says,
As I read that this morning, I had my children and my husband in mind. I don't have to tell you, because it is a known fact, that we have to make deliberate and intentional steps to give our best to those we live with. We are professionals at putting on our perfect masks at church and giving everything we have to do it right for other people. But what happens when we pull into our driveways and shut the door to the outside world is really our calling, our mission field.
I dearly love my friend, Angela. Her husband is in full-time worship ministry, but I would guess that if you asked Travis he would say that what he does on the road would never be possible without Angela. She is a godly woman who dearly loves His Word and speaks it into the hearts and minds of anyone she meets. She can say more in just a few words than most (including me) can say in hundreds and when she prays for you, you feel God's presence inhabiting each phrase. But one night recently at a gathering we were at together, she reached for the Word to affirm something I had said earlier and then to also share with others about how God has led them in their ministry. She opened up Acts 10:38 and reminded us that Jesus just went around doing good as He had the opportunity. She said that as we just go around and do good when we are presented with the opportunity, God will bless us and lives will find refuge in Him through us.
So in looking at this concept of just going around doing good as we have the chance and reading Hebrews 10:24, I'm challenged once again to look with eyes wide open for ways to spur my children and my husband on to love and good needs.
I'm afraid that most of the time I've been guilty of spurring them on just to get them to behave or do whatever I need for them do and act how I need for them to act.
Rather, my heart cries out this morning with the desire to be the catalyst in their life that opens their hearts up to things that matter, opportunities to do some good in this life knowing that abundant living is the by-product of that, and when all is said and done this world saw a whole lot of Jesus at work in their lives.
God, I am blessed beyond measure with my family. Tomorrow I celebrate 17 years of marriage with the love of my life and I do not want You to think that I take that lightly. I know that when I walked down that aisle on that unseasonably cool August day, You delighted me in a way that I certainly didn't deserve. Thank You for giving us Taylor and Lindsey. Each one is so uniquely wired and gifted -- fearfully and wonderfully made by You -- and I pray that You will help me seek out ways to deliberately and intentionally spur them on to doing good for You, to help them see that serving You is the most important thing and that when we walk with You nothing else matters. Thank You for the reminder today that my single most important mission field starts before I ever step foot out into the world. It starts right here...at The Cook House! I praise You and bless Your Name today...the Strong Tower that I'm so grateful to be able to run to. Amen.
Blessings,
Dori
But here I am with a few thoughts. They aren't organized and I'm not promising when I get done they will make a lick of sense.
I read the scripture Hebrews 10:24 this morning fresh and new. I've used this scripture for years as a diving board for ministry - particularly Women's Ministry. God's Word says,
"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds." Hebrews 10:24 NIV
As I read that this morning, I had my children and my husband in mind. I don't have to tell you, because it is a known fact, that we have to make deliberate and intentional steps to give our best to those we live with. We are professionals at putting on our perfect masks at church and giving everything we have to do it right for other people. But what happens when we pull into our driveways and shut the door to the outside world is really our calling, our mission field.
I dearly love my friend, Angela. Her husband is in full-time worship ministry, but I would guess that if you asked Travis he would say that what he does on the road would never be possible without Angela. She is a godly woman who dearly loves His Word and speaks it into the hearts and minds of anyone she meets. She can say more in just a few words than most (including me) can say in hundreds and when she prays for you, you feel God's presence inhabiting each phrase. But one night recently at a gathering we were at together, she reached for the Word to affirm something I had said earlier and then to also share with others about how God has led them in their ministry. She opened up Acts 10:38 and reminded us that Jesus just went around doing good as He had the opportunity. She said that as we just go around and do good when we are presented with the opportunity, God will bless us and lives will find refuge in Him through us.
So in looking at this concept of just going around doing good as we have the chance and reading Hebrews 10:24, I'm challenged once again to look with eyes wide open for ways to spur my children and my husband on to love and good needs.
I'm afraid that most of the time I've been guilty of spurring them on just to get them to behave or do whatever I need for them do and act how I need for them to act.
Rather, my heart cries out this morning with the desire to be the catalyst in their life that opens their hearts up to things that matter, opportunities to do some good in this life knowing that abundant living is the by-product of that, and when all is said and done this world saw a whole lot of Jesus at work in their lives.
God, I am blessed beyond measure with my family. Tomorrow I celebrate 17 years of marriage with the love of my life and I do not want You to think that I take that lightly. I know that when I walked down that aisle on that unseasonably cool August day, You delighted me in a way that I certainly didn't deserve. Thank You for giving us Taylor and Lindsey. Each one is so uniquely wired and gifted -- fearfully and wonderfully made by You -- and I pray that You will help me seek out ways to deliberately and intentionally spur them on to doing good for You, to help them see that serving You is the most important thing and that when we walk with You nothing else matters. Thank You for the reminder today that my single most important mission field starts before I ever step foot out into the world. It starts right here...at The Cook House! I praise You and bless Your Name today...the Strong Tower that I'm so grateful to be able to run to. Amen.
Blessings,
Dori
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Where We Dwell...
Whew! It is has been A-WHILE, hasn't it? I knew that summer would not be a good blog season for me...it never is. But I had no idea that it would be more than a month from one post to the next.
I could take the time to catch you up on our coming and going this summer, but I won't do that.
What I will tell you is what God spoke over me one morning while we were on vacation last week.
I opened up the Word and my eyes fell on this scripture that was underlined in my Bible:
What God prompted me to do that day was to list things that I let rock the sure foundation or stability that I have in Him. My list included past sins, times of difficult or sickness, difficult relationships, fallen leaders, our country, the economy, anxiety and fear. What would your list look like?
Then He asked me to list things that I look to other than Him to be the strength of my salvation. I included good works, acts of service, pride in doing those things, feelings or emotions that seem to make me feel that He is close, gifts, blessings, perfectionism, our jobs, our things, our prestige and our power.
I then spent a few minutes remembering that His Word says that none of the things that I listed were ever meant to rock our sure foundation or our stability. They may rock our outward lives and circumstances, but our inner man, our spiritual foundation is sure when we have the wisdom and knowledge of God. But what does that look like?
The wisdom and knowledge of God is knowing His Word and therefore knowing His heart. When we know Him through His Word, it empowers us to fight and take captive every thought that tries to make us stumble or make us feel that we are no longer stable or secure. His Word reminds us of God's faithfulness and helps us believe Him for our present and our future. It exposes lies and replaces it with Truth. Our hearts are kept fully trusting Him regardless of the wasting away of the outward -- both our physical body and our earthly circumstances. Relying on the faithfulness of God and the truth found in His Word fosters in us a dependence on Him and takes the pressure off to be in control. The wisdom and knowledge of God casts away anxiety and fear.
Isaiah 12:2 tells us to constantly remind ourselves of this:
Isaiah 51:6 reminds us that this earth is fleeting and the things that we allow to rock us and paralyze us with fear has an end, but what He has promised is sure and it is eternal:
This place we so casually call our home is not that at all. It is faulty. It is fleeting. It is not forever. While we temporarily call it home, we don't have to dwell in it.
No, the place where we dwell is this:
This world looks like chaos, confusion, godlessness, and fear. But you, my friend, as a beloved child of God dwell in a House whose walls are Salvation, gates that are Praise, illuminated with the Light that is the LORD and surrounded by Glory that is your God!
This is the stability of your times and the strength of your salvation.
Blessings,
Dori
I could take the time to catch you up on our coming and going this summer, but I won't do that.
What I will tell you is what God spoke over me one morning while we were on vacation last week.
I opened up the Word and my eyes fell on this scripture that was underlined in my Bible:
"Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times, and the strength of salvation." Isaiah 33:6 NKJV
What God prompted me to do that day was to list things that I let rock the sure foundation or stability that I have in Him. My list included past sins, times of difficult or sickness, difficult relationships, fallen leaders, our country, the economy, anxiety and fear. What would your list look like?
Then He asked me to list things that I look to other than Him to be the strength of my salvation. I included good works, acts of service, pride in doing those things, feelings or emotions that seem to make me feel that He is close, gifts, blessings, perfectionism, our jobs, our things, our prestige and our power.
I then spent a few minutes remembering that His Word says that none of the things that I listed were ever meant to rock our sure foundation or our stability. They may rock our outward lives and circumstances, but our inner man, our spiritual foundation is sure when we have the wisdom and knowledge of God. But what does that look like?
The wisdom and knowledge of God is knowing His Word and therefore knowing His heart. When we know Him through His Word, it empowers us to fight and take captive every thought that tries to make us stumble or make us feel that we are no longer stable or secure. His Word reminds us of God's faithfulness and helps us believe Him for our present and our future. It exposes lies and replaces it with Truth. Our hearts are kept fully trusting Him regardless of the wasting away of the outward -- both our physical body and our earthly circumstances. Relying on the faithfulness of God and the truth found in His Word fosters in us a dependence on Him and takes the pressure off to be in control. The wisdom and knowledge of God casts away anxiety and fear.
Isaiah 12:2 tells us to constantly remind ourselves of this:
"Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation."
Isaiah 51:6 reminds us that this earth is fleeting and the things that we allow to rock us and paralyze us with fear has an end, but what He has promised is sure and it is eternal:
"Lift up your eyes to the heavens, look at the earth beneath; the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment and its inhabitants die like flies. But my salvation will last forever, my righteousness will never fail."
This place we so casually call our home is not that at all. It is faulty. It is fleeting. It is not forever. While we temporarily call it home, we don't have to dwell in it.
No, the place where we dwell is this:
"No longer will violence be heard in your land, nor ruin or destruction within your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise. The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory." Isaiah 60:18-19
This world looks like chaos, confusion, godlessness, and fear. But you, my friend, as a beloved child of God dwell in a House whose walls are Salvation, gates that are Praise, illuminated with the Light that is the LORD and surrounded by Glory that is your God!
This is the stability of your times and the strength of your salvation.
Blessings,
Dori
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