Status Update

I will be the first to admit that I kinda have a deep fascination (some may say an addiction) to Facebook. I love to stay connected and I love to see what my friends near and far are up to. Yes, sometimes it's a little much, but I enjoy the positive inspiration, the prayer requests and scriptures that several of my friends share. And I enjoy the funny banter that we exchange between friends.

But there is that side of me that struggles with the easiness of it all. I wrote my friend an actual email the other day. Even though I got her updates and photos, I realized that it had been a while since we talked or even wrote to each other. I told her that she was worth so much more that a status update to me.

I am so thankful that our Lord who calls us friends, see us as more than a quick status quote or daily update. I'm so glad that I mean so much more to Him than that. I pray that God allows me to be more than a one liner in the busy lives of my friends, family and neighbors.

I'm so thankful for His word that blows the top off the status box. I love His word for His word is life. His word is Salvation for all who believe.

So each time I am on Facebook, I pray to remember that these Facebook friends are more than that, they are God's beloved and He desires that we all come to a saving knowledge of Him through Jesus Christ.

I pray that Facebook, yes even Facebook, would be a means by which people will see our light and give glory to God in heaven.

One of the last Facebook statuses I put up said this... ‎

"Facebook is proof that we DO have time to pray"~John Piper

Lord, help us to be more than an update in the lives of those we love and help us to be more than a one liner in the lives of people who desperately need our time, our ear, our hearts and our hands reaching out to them. Amen!!

Happy Thanksgiving~Happy Day

A friend share today in her daily email devotions what she was thankful for and then asked what we were thankful for. This is what I said.........

Sometimes I feel like it may seem that I am a bit cliche' but really, I am so thankful for a Savior that has redeemed mankind and draws us unto Himself. What else matters. I am thankful that our God who knew us before creation, who knew that we would turn our backs on Him, still loved us enough to create us, knowing full well He would have to redeem us by His own shed blood. It blows my mind.

I am thankful that he allows us to worship Him, serve Him, love others and share His story. I am thankful for my family, my friends, opportunities to love and be the hands of Christ to others. I am thankful that God forgives me in the name of Jesus because as much as I am thankful for all this, I fail at it so miserably. Yet, He still loves me.

He still loves us. Wow, I am thankful! So I give thanks with a grateful heart to the Holy One, because He HAS given Jesus Christ, His Son. I am strong and I am rich because of what the LORD has done. I give thanks!!

Maybe not my most eloquent note, but simply stated, I am thankful to God for it all.

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Day that points us one day closer to celebrating the birth of our Savior which points us one day closer to celebrating His resurrection. I'm thankful that we walk each day in the celebration of that day. Death has been defeated. Thank you Jesus!

Dare 2 Share

I have so much to write about, I just don't know where to begin, so until I get it all straight, I'm just going to say. . . .I can't wait to go to the Dare 2 Share Conference in Denver. I have been given the great opportunity and entrusted with four (one is my own daughter) amazing kids from our church.

I pray that the Lord sees us safely to and fro. I pray that the kids (and myslef) are motivated, encouraged and suppoerted to be unashamed in sharing their faith. I pray that the Spirit of God moves us all in ways that are evident to the world so that others are impacted by our faith in Christ and begin to see the truth of the Gospel of Salvation.

I pray that we all fall crazy in love with the Lover of our souls, Jesus Christ.

Dare 2 Share, Dare 2 Pray

Pray for us.

http://www.dare2share.org/thecause/

God's Encouragement to me this day

. . . my thought of the day as the Lord speaks to me through His Holy Word. . . "Mia, Don't try and be somebody that your not, cause there is already somebody filling that spot-don't be a greedy "somebody" snatcher-God has ordained you to your "own body" for HIS body. You are crafted by the hand of God to do specific work for His glory. Mia, go reach the people for the Gospel that no one else will, the people that God has placed for you to reach. If you don't, then who, If not now, then when? They might be different people than your friend or neighbor will reach. It's all for His glory. . . One body. . . MANY parts . . . One Lord. . . One Mission. . . . Saving Souls with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!! . . . .

Feel free to insert your own name. God be Praised!!

Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint from hunger at every street corner~Lamentations 2:19

Keep Us Forgiving

This past weekend, I was the guest speaker at a Lutheran Women in Missions Fall Rally. I was given 40 minutes to speak and used every last one of them. When I finished speaking, I looked at the timer and it said 1 second. The 40 minutes were packed with scripture, personal testimony, and lessons to learn and encourage us as we desire to live lives of worship. I had my speech written out as a guide, but knew it well enough that I was not tied to it; some things were added and some things were left out as the Lord lead me.

The one thing that struck me this day was one of the thoughts that I spoke passionately and with conviction that the Lord brought out of my mouth. They were words that I had not written down and words that I had not even thought about as I prepared, but they were words that are ministering to me this day and hopefully to anyone that the Lord put there to hear them.

What I said, when talking about releasing bitterness and un-forgiveness that we harbor, was this. . . "Ladies forgive, It could change someones life, It changed mine!"

My main viewpoint in un-forgiveness that day was the need for us to be obedient and to show grace as God has shown us, but the turn it took at that moment was the effect that our forgiveness to others can impact their life. This hits me tenderly and deeply, because my life would look very different today if people, if my family, if my husband, if my children had not forgiven me for what I had done to them.

My life is different this day because of what Christ did once and for all and because others followed his call to forgive.

If you (if I) have people, that to this day, we are separated from because of un-forgiveness that we have refused to show them, lets start following the example of Jesus Christ and forgive. It can and will change someone life. If not theirs. . .then ours.

Luke 11:2-4

"When you pray, say,
Father, Reveal who you are. Set the world right. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil." The Message

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My Proper Place

This was my prayer today. . ."God, put me in my proper place so that I have a proper and right perspective of how You want me to view things."

How often do I ask to be "put in my place?". Most the time "putting someone in their place" takes on a negative connotation; it's like knocking them down a few pegs, forced humility of the sorts.

But lately (and often) I have been asking this of God for myself. When I get out of place and follow my desires and my own will, my view tends to get obscured. I can very easily rationalize why what I am doing would be for the good, but I have a blocked view of what God is calling me to when I do this. I'm viewing the prize from the wrong angle. God can not be fooled, God will not be mocked, God knows my heart and my motives.

How often I recite Psalm 139:23-24 "Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."

And how lovely it is when He searches my heart and leads me back into his will. Quickly and swiftly He straightens out my motives and my desires, and takes away my anxious thoughts. He plucks me out and leads me in His way everlasting. Daily. . . . daily crucified. . . . daily.

Because of what Jesus Christ did on the crossed, because He allowed the Father to put him in his proper placed, because he humbled himself on the cross and had the perfect view of OUR sin, because he took it all on, conquered death and rose from it, I. . .WE are redeemed when we put our faith and trust in Him. He made us holy, sanctified, justified and righteous. He became sin, He who didn't even sin, EVER. He knew no sin so that we could become His righteousness. Thank You Jesus.

Oswald Chambers writes "Receive Jesus to be made sanctification to you in implicit faith, and the great marvel of the Atonement of Jesus will be made real in you. All that Jesus made possible is made mine by the free loving gift of God on the ground of what He performed, my attitude as a saved and sanctified soul is that of profound humble holiness......The effect in me is obedience and service and prayer and is the outcome of SPEECHLESS THANKS and adoration for the marvelous sanctification wrought out in me because of the Atonement."

Believe in Him this day for the salvation of your soul. May we all be put in our proper place, standing clothed in the righteousness of Christ, loved and adored by the Father, received into life everlasting!!

Mmmmm, thank You Lord.

Curly Toes

One of my nick names when I was young was "Curly Toes" because I had curly toes. They weren't long and straight, they were just cute little baby toes. I am resigned to the fact that my feet are not one of my greatest beauty assets and I'm ok with that.

Now as my daughter comes into her teen years, she increasingly says (as she did a minute ago, which prompted me to document this) that she wishes she had prettier feet. Yes, she inherited my feet! What she said to me this day is "Mom I wish I had beautiful feet." So with that I simply said "You know the Bible says 'How lovely are the feet of those who bring Good News, so if you want beautiful feet, Go tell someone about Christ and the promise of forgiveness"

With that she responded "ok, but how come your feet aren't beautiful yet?" She always makes me laugh!

What is our definition of beauty, Aren't the beautiful feet those that are worn from walking it out for Christ. Aren't the beautiful faces those that are carried with wrinkles from the years of smiles that they shared. . . . our hands, rough from the years of service. . . . . and our hearts so full from the joy that God fills us with until that last moment when they cease to beat and we are instantly in the presence of God . . . .

Yes, "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" ~Isaiah 52:7

When I look at this picture of Mother Theresa, I pray that same beauty upon myself and to you.
I had the opportunity to serve at Mother Theresa's Home for the Sick and Dying in Port Au Prince, Haiti. There are no words to express it and no cameras allowed inside to capture it, but as a dear friend told me "The people who come here, do not come to die, they come to live" Those words made it possible for me to enter, to serve and to have engraved in my heart beautiful tears of life.

Peace Out! I'm off to do a beauty check!