Getting unstuck in my walk with Christ - Day 9

     Yesterday was spent doing a lot of reading for my "low-key" class - HA!  It threw me a curve ball paper last night in addition to the reading.  It's all good though, this post is just delayed by a day...

     It's amazing how once you start saturating yourself with the word, numerous connections appear between all parts of scripture.  To begin today's "Getting Unstuck" post, I wanted to share a couple of those that I discovered last night (well, 2 nights ago now), courtesy of the YouVersion reading plans I've started.

     Remember the Exodus story of Jethro and Moses from Day 7?  Well take a look at Proverbs 15:22 where the Bible also mentions the need to share the load with others...

22  Without counsel plans fail,

but with many advisors they succeed.

     And Day 8's post on Isaiah 55: 8-13's call for us to be mindful of the ways of God has a lot of parallels with Psalm 37.  I mention just a few below:  

23  The steps of a man are established by the Lord,

when he delights in His way;

24  though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,

for the Lord upholds his hand.

30  The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,

and his tongue speaks justice.

31  The law of his God is in his heart; 

his steps do not slip.

34  Wait for the Lord and keep his way,

and he will exalt you to inherit the land;

you will look on when the wicked are cut off.

Hosea 6:1-3 - - - What must I do to return to the Lord and begin acknowledging Him again? [Question from Unstuck Chapter 3.]

1  "Come, let us return to the Lord;

for He has torn us, that He may heal us;

He has struck us down, and He will bind us up."

     I think a lot of acknowledging the Lord in our lives simply has to do with us realizing that He does all for our good.  How can we experience His loving grace and mercy if we don't suffer some?  How can we be built up if we aren't first broken down?
     I'd like to reference a couple of Jimmy Needham songs that do a wonderful job of relaying this concept (obviously, I love this guy).

Hurricane

I have built a city here

Half with pride and half with fear

Just wanted a safer place to hide

I don't want to be safe tonight

(...)

I am Yours and You are mine

You know far better than I

(...)

And it's Your eye in the storm

Watching over me

And it's Your eye in the storm

Wanting only good for me

Being Small

Why I wanna be a hurricane

When I'm barely a breeze

'Cause I've already seen Your storm

Bring me down to my knees

(...)

Whenever I climb too high

Keep my feet off the ground

And when I get full of me

Turn me upside down

You know pride and not just summer

Come before the fall

(...)

So maybe hopefully I see less of me

And more of you and its true

I'll be finally free

That's what I want after all

     It's really all about putting our lives into perspective.  We are children of the Creator of the Universe and with that in mind, we should know without a doubt, that He has our best in mind (even in the bad stuff), since He knows all, and understands each of us intimately as one of His creations.

     As a side note, check out this article on singleness that captures this wonderful insight (thanks to my best friend).

     To tie up Chapter 3, I want to share another reason why intentionally saturating yourself in the Word and thus imprinting your heart with the ways of God is so incredibly important...
Romans 1:18-32 - What can I do to ensure that my mind starts being changed away from the deceiving ways of this world? [Question modified from Chapter 3 of Unstuck.]
This passage definitely knocks you in the gut...

24  Therefore God gave them up 

in the lusts of their hearts to impurity,

 to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,

25  because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie 

and worshiped and served the creature 

rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!  Amen.

28  And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, 

God gave them up to a debased mind 

to do what ought not to be done.

29  They were filled with all manner of 

unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice.  

They are full of envy, murder, 

strife, deceit, maliciousness.  

They are gossips, 30  slanderers, 

haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, 

inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 

31  foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

32  Though they know God's decree 

that those who practice such things 

deserve to die, 

they not only do them 

but give approval to those who practice them.

     If this isn't a strong enough call for us to be mindful of the ways of God and spend time in His Word, acknowledging His great presence and authority over all, then I don't know what is!


On a lighter note...cleaning:

My maintenance tasks are going fantastically - hooray :-D

- Laundry:  Almost all the way through this for now!  Although I did manage to come across a bag of dirty clothes from my last visit to my parents...ugghh...why does it seem to multiply??

- Recycling:  Only 2 more bags to take out, and one's already in the car ;-)

- Dishes:  On track with this too.  I need to be sure and run the dishwasher today...

- Kitchen counters:  I've made a habit of wiping them down with Clorox wipes at least every morning when I make my coffee so that they're always clean and sparkly.

Decluttering on the other hand has been a little slow what with the 50 pages of reading I had to complete yesterday, along with the 4 pages I had to write...but I have made some progress in the realm of books:
- Rentscouter is awesome!!  I've found books I have that 3 different companies want, totaling over $30!! Woohoo :-D  And none of them are traditional textbooks btw.  I'll start packing them up as soon as I've gone through all the books.

State-of-mind pic of the day.  

Lake Manyara National Park in Tanzania (taken by me).

That's it for now...hopefully today I'll get through most of the remaining books on my shelves...wish me luck!!