Still more...on listening

I think I know most of the reason I am stuck on finding out how God speaks to me. Ephesians 2:10 tells us, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." I know God has things He wants me to do. I can get confused by what good works I am to be doing (and truly want to do) because I am so selfish--because I have a *loud* world (even well-meaning Christian brothers and sisters) giving me all kinds of ideas what I should be doing--Satan is still a roaring lion. If I am to do the specific good works God has for me--I have to be able to hear Him--and know it is Him. Listening leads to an obedience that glorifies God.

That's not all. When I hear something like "you need to check on XXXXX today"--I believe God is telling me to be obedient because He wants to use me. If I don't listen, if I'm not obedient--then He can't use me to be a part of His plan on this earth. I want to be a part of that minute-by-minute plan. Not for me, but just for Him.

"The LORD confides in those who fear him"
Psalm 25:14a

What I did today!

 
PH and I were tremendously blessed to meet/worship/eat with Jenn and her sweet family today. I imagined she would be wonderful--and she was even more wonderful than I imagined! What an impressive hubby and delightful little boy she has! I am so thankful they made the time to allow us to get to know them just a wee bit. 

On Beauty

Critter has been encouraging me to drink more tea, because of all it's health benefits. I had to laugh when I found this tea, I never knew tea could make you gorgeous.

I've known some beautiful women in my life, but I don't know if they drink tea or not. They don't necessarily use cosmetics--or wear the latest fashions. Some of them have lots of wrinkles.

The gorgeous women I am talking about have died to themselves. They are so totally surrended to Jesus, He radiates out of them. They love their Savior in such a way I can't help but notice. I can believe Jesus is Who He says He is--just because I can see Him so vividly in them. I can smell the sweet fragrance of Jesus just be being around them. Jesus IS their beauty. Their love and grace are contagious.

In defense of the tea above, it states on the package "true beauty comes from within".

I believe drinking in Jesus, brings true beauty.

"If you believe in me, come and drink! For the Scriptures declare that rivers of living water will flow out from within."
John 7:38

FREE BOOK

There may not be any such thing as a free lunch--but I do have a free copy of Nancy French's book: A Red State of Mind, for someone who would enjoy it! If you would like this book--please send an email to: jettybettyblog at hotmail dot com some time soon (say, next Saturday--Nov 4). We will do something high tech around here, like put the names in a hat and have PH draw one out. This is a GREAT book--I am thrilled to be able to pass along a copy to someone!

Thursday Thanksgiving

"Now thanks be to God which always causes us to triumph in Christ."
II Corinthians 2:14

Today I am thankful:

God keeps His promises. Always.

That He loves me so intensely--so unconditionally.

God changes my heart so I want His way and not mine.

God removes some blessings, so I can get closer to Him.

He speaks to me.

We celebrated 21 years of life for Aggie-Ed this week.

My mom has been here this week for a great visit.

For good health.

For beautiful fall days.

For wild berry plum decaf green tea.

More on listening

Thanks to Keith for sending this passage:
(Bold letters are my emphasis--they answer some of the questions I had in this post.)

John 16: 13-15

"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not be presenting his own ideas; he will be telling you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by revealing to you whatever he receives from me. All that the Father has is mine; this is what I mean when I say that the Spirit will reveal to you whatever he receives from me."

On Communication

When PH and I really need to communicate--we take a walk. Communication is the trickiest thing. Sometimes I hear something PH never says--and occasionally I expect him to read my mind--and he doesn't--so we just don't connect.

Since our children were pretty young--we've communicated while walking. For several years we walked the few houses in front of our house--never was our house more than 30 seconds from us. The neighbors were probably thrilled as we eventually added the whole block.

My favorite way to communicate with PH is still walking--now we just get to walk wherever our feet will take us. I'd rather take a walk with him as go out to a fancy dinner--or a movie--walking and talking tends to keep us on the same page better--occasionally he even reads my mind ;-)!

Thursday Thanksgiving

I tend to reflect on things as I celebrate anniversaries. One year ago today, I wrote my first Thursday Thanksgiving.

If even one word from any one of them encouraged you--or caused you to be thankful--I am humbled and give praise to the Father.

Thursdays have become a highlight of my week. I remember exactly where I was about 13 years ago when I read Romans 1:21. It was one of those moments I had no doubt the Word of God was living, because I was so overwhelmed that I needed to live a life of intense thanksgiving--only something living could have impacted me like I was on that day. I don' t want to forget it.

After I started blogging--I thought blogging would hold me accountable to what I already believed. Most Thursdays it's incredibly easy to write a list of things I am thankful for. God has blessed me with an incredible life. I write a short list of thanksgiving here--but because I know I will write--I have sought ways to be thankful all week long--recognizing many things--some to be published--and some to just thank and praise God for during our private time.

I remember one Thursday it was really difficult to write. If you read my blog in July of this year--you might have noticed some pain--so many things were going on for most of that month--I changed the words of "I Need Thee Every Hour" to "I need Thee every nano-second". About 10 pm on the Thursday I am thinking of, I realized I had written no list--I sat down at the computer--and the computer would not work. Thankfully, Aggie-ed was home--he can heal computers--he did before midnight--I was able to write my list. The reason that is so important to me now--is we are told to thank God in good times and bad--and I needed to be thankful when I was in pain. If I am going to thank Him through the good times--I want to do it in what was a hard time for me. I doubt I would have done it then, if it were not for Thursday Thanksgiving.

Thanks for taking the trip with me!

TODAY I AM THANKFUL

God can be trusted.

God comforts me exactly when He knows I need it.

God delights in me, quiets me with His love, rejoices over me with singing.

He is my Shepherd and I can listen to Him.

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

For all the ways God encourages me.

For good health.

For my family.

For my job.

For midnight yell.

For laughter.

For a place to share my thankfulness.

On listening

A few weeks ago I had a terrible-awful-miserable day. It was the kind of day I had faith that God loved me and He was still God--but I couldn't feel it.

That evening I checked my email and had a message from someone I don't really know (since you all are bloggers I can confess this--it was someone I had heard of in the blogger world--but I was not a regular reader of her blog at that time).

In the message she said things that really encouraged me--she said specific things that dealt with some of the issues I was dealing with at that time. That evening, through I email--I did feel God love me again. It was just a few words--yet my burden was lighter--I went from feeling pain--to feeling love again.

That email has made me think a lot about how I listen to God. I believe the sweet lady that wrote that email was listening to God--and in her obedience she lifted a sister--she didn't even know.

So often, someone I don't particularly know all that well comes to my mind along with something I need to do for them--sometimes I get a conviction to say something specific to someone in my daily path--and I've never been all that good to actually follow through with the thought or conviction.

I've searched for scriptures that tell me the Holy Spirit speaks to me like that (and I am still looking, please send those along!)--but I haven't found those. I have found John 10--and do believe that Jesus does speak--and I will hear Him. I don't want to hear the selfishness of jettybetty--I want to hear Him!

I once believed that God only spoke through the exact words of scripture--and though I don't think He ever contradicts scripture--I do believe He speaks (not audibly) to us. He speaks to my spirit.

So, now when someone, something comes to my mind--and especially if it won't leave--even if it's for someone I don't really know--I am seeking to be obedient. There's not been any big things I believe God has asked me to do--I am guessing I have to start with the little things--and bigger things will come. Have any of you read the story of Beth Moore in the Knoxville airport--when she heard God tell her to comb a man's hair? That would be a stretch for me now--but I want to get there--soon!

Recently, I was in a deli for lunch--just wanted a few quiet minutes with my book--and the only table I could find was in an area with about 4 moms and 10 children. I reluctantly took the table, informing God I needed "quiet" time. Those children were all great--I never heard a disobedient little voice. Then, I heard something say "those moms need encouragement--do you remember how exhausting it is to parent young children--go tell them what a good job they are doing." So, I did. And, I pray God will use my words to build them up--just where He knows they need it.

So, I am listening--praying I will be obedient to even the little things that don't really make sense to me. I believe God knows exactly why they make sense.

"The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice and come to him. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they recognize his voice. They won't follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don't recognize his voice."
John 10:3-5

"I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep, too, that are not in this sheepfold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice; and there will be one flock with one shepherd."
John 10:14-16

"My sheep recognize my voice; I know them, and they follow me."
John 10:27

Midnight Yell

Aggie-ed'’s time at A&M is flying by--and one of the things I wanted to experience while he's there is midnight yell. We got to attend one on Friday night and had such a fun time. It's the Aggie version of a pep rally--usually about 40,000 attend--and it was a rocking good time. It really is at midnight--and it was worth it even though we didn't get to bed until 2 am (extremely very late for us!).

A&M beat previously undefeated Missouri yesterday--so PH is wondering if Coach Fran would like for us to attend more midnight yells--you know, there could be a correlation?

READ THIS BOOK!!!!

After I got to TN last weekend, I found out my copy of Nancy French's book, A Red State of Mind, arrived about the time I boarded the plane. Since I arrived home from TN, I have given up sleep, food and blogging time to read said book. It is very funny--and I truly enjoyed it!

One of the extreme blessings of attending Zoe was meeting the now famous Ms. French herself. She spent a long time chatting with several bloggers--even when we told her we were not terribly political. She's a charming, witty and funny southern gal. I LOVED her.

There's an excellent review here. (Much better than I can do.)

When I was with Nancy last weekend, I asked her who she wrote the book for, and she said a secular audience. However, this woman is totally in love with Jesus and I believe He will be glorified through this book.

My favorite section (will be no surprise to you!) was on God. I love to hear how God works in other's lives--I love testimonies I suppose--and Nancy's is powerful.

I almost wanted to put a disclaimer in here to say I don't agree with Nancy on everything (of course, I don't agree with anyone on everything). I do think I understand Nancy on many things--and what I take away as the commentary for this book--is the last sentence of the book (which I will take out of context--and apply to diversity in general). "It requires us to be patient, forgiving and above all gracious". Since God has been gracious to me, I think that's a pretty good statement for any item of discussion.

Please read the book--it's a hilarious and introspective look at diversity in our country. If you like to laugh--I think you will enjoy it!

Thursday Thanksgiving

Thanking God today:

That He loves me too much to leave me where I am spiritually--I am thankful He keep moving me higher and higher.

That it's not how perfectly (or not) I understand the Bible that will save me--it's His grace.

That I have Christian brothers and sisters that absolutely are in love with Jesus--and yet I am quite different from them.

For intense, powerful times of public worship at Zoe.

For time to renew old friendships at Zoe.

For new friends made at this year's Zoe.

For a weekend with Critter.

That Nika is Texas teacher of the year!!!

For 13 days away from work--and still being able to remember what I was supposed to do most of the time.

For hot apple cider.

"The LORD will comfort Israel again and make her deserts blossom. Her barren wilderness will become as beautiful as Eden – the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found there. Lovely songs of thanksgiving will fill the air." Isaiah 51:3

Nika is teacher of the year!
I think they picked the right one for sure!

Today would have been a perfect day to sleep in. It was raining--rain gently pounding my window--some soft thunder in the background--no wind--it would have been great. The two most relaxing sounds in nature to me are ocean waves crashing and mountain brooks babbling--but since neither of those are likely to actually happen in North Texas--a nice morning rain ranks a high number 3 for me.

But I got up--and went to work for the first time in 13 days. I wondered if I would even remember anything since I've not done this job all that long--but it was a good day--I remembered most everything--and perhaps it will be raining some Saturday morning really soon!

The Zoe conference was powerful and intense. I loved it--and I am exhausted!

Zoe is really not a blogger conference--but a bunch of bloggers attend--and I was incredibly blessed to worship with them. I hope I don't miss anyone--but in alphabetical order--I was blessed by Amy G, Amy W, Angie, Donna, Happy, Jenni, John, Justin, Nancy, Paul, Phil, Snapshot, TCS, and Terri.

I had a yummy lunch and great visit with Malia.

Sunday we had time with Tony (and family), and JMG.

My traveling companion and roomie was the fascinating and fabulous Critter.

What a weekend--God is so good!

Thursday Thanksgiving

I am thankful:

That God is so wise.

That God is so creative with color in nature--I am so thankful our world is not black and white.

For times of refreshment.

For slow, relaxing days with PH.

That my mom taught me to love fall.

For just-picked apples.

For Vermont cheese.

That I can carry on travel-size liquids/gels now.

For a day off to get the laundry done--before I leave to go to the Zoe conference.

I'm in rural Vermont with PH-we've really been relaxing--and it's so beautiful. I've enjoyed the many fall-colored leaves for years--but this is the first time I've got to see them in New England--and I am loving it!

I am reading "The Secret Message of Jesus" (McLaren). I wouldn't want to argue with McLaren--but a better title might be "The Real Message of Jesus". I've adjusted His message to fit my nationality, politics, culture and religion. It's a great read so far--even though I am convicted about some things.