Slow Down Therapy

Slow down; God is still in heaven. You are not responsible for doing it all yourself, right now.
Remember a happy, peaceful time in your past. Rest there. Each moment has richnessthat takes a lifetime to savor.

Set your own pace. When someone is pushing you, it's OK to tell them they're pushing.

Take nothing for granted: Watch water flow, the corn grow, the leaves blow, your neighbor mow.
Taste your food. God gives it to delight as well as to nourish.

Notice the sun and the moon as they rise and set. They are remarkable for their steady pattern of movement, not their speed.

Quit planning how you're going to use what you know, learn, or possess. God's gifts just are; be grateful and their purpose will be clear.

When you talk with someone, don't think about what you'll say next. Thoughts will spring up naturally if you let them.

Talk and play with children. It will bring out the unhurried little person inside you.

Create a place in your home...At your work...in your heart...Where you can go for quiet and recollection. You deserve it.

Allow yourself time to be lazy and unproductive. Rest isn't luxury; it's a necessity.

Listen to the wind blow. It carries a message of yesterday & tomorrow ~ and now. NOW counts.

Rest on your laurels. They bring comfort whatever their size, age, or condition.

Talk slower. Talk less. Don't talk. Communication isn't measured by words.

Give yourself permission to be late sometimes. Life is for living, not scheduling.

Listen to the song of a bird; The complete song.

Music and nature are gifts, But only if you are willing to receive them.

Take time just to think. Action is good and necessary, but it's fruitful only if we muse, ponder, and mull.

Make time for play ~ The things you like to do. Whatever your age, your inner childneeds re-creation.

Watch and listen to the night sky. It speaks.

Listen to the words you speak, especially in prayer.

Learn to stand back and let others take their turn as leaders.

There will always be new opportunities for you to step out in front again.

Divide big jobs into little jobs. If God took six days to create the universe, can you hope to do any better?

When you find yourself rushing & anxious, stop. Ask yourself "WHY?" You are rushing and anxious. The reasons may improve your self-understanding.

Take time to read. Thoughtful reading is enriching reading.

Direct your life with purposeful choices, not with speed and efficiency. The best musician is one who plays with expression and meaning, not the one who finishes first.

Take a day off alone; make a retreat. You can learn from monks and hermits without becoming one.

Pet a furry friend. You will give and get the gift of now.

Work with your hands. It frees the mind.

Take time to wonder. Without wonder, life is merely existence.

Sit in the dark. It will teach you to see and hear, taste and smell.

Once in a while, turn down the lights, the volume, the throttle, the invitations.

Less really can be more. Let go. Nothing is usually the hardest thing to do - but often it is the best.

Take a walk-but don't go anywhere. If you walk just to get somewhere, you sacrifice the walking. Count your friends. If you have one, you are lucky. If you have more, you are blessed.Bless them in return.

Count your blessings ~ One at a time and slowly.

~Unknown~

Others May, You Cannot!

If God has called you to really be like Jesus, He will draw you into a life of crucifixion and humility, and put upon you such demands of obedience, that you will not be able to measure yourself by other Christians; and in many ways He will seem to let other good people do things which He will never let you do.

Other Christian and ministers who seem very religious and useful, can push themselves, pull wires and work schemes to carry out their Christian goals, but these things you simply cannot do. Others may boast of their work or their writings or their success, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you ever try it, He will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.

Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, but most likely God will keep you poor, because He wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence on Him and the joy of seeing Him supply your needs day by day out of an unseen Treasury.

The Lord may let others be honored and keep you hidden and unappreciated because He wants to produce some choice, fragrant fruit for His coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. He may let others do a work for Him and get the credit for it, but He will make you work on and on without knowing how much you are doing; and then, to make your work still more precious, He may let others get the credit for the work which you have done, and thus make your reward ten times greater when Jesus comes.

The Holy Spirit will rebuke you for little words or deeds or even feelings, or for wasting your time, which other Christians never seem to be concerned about, but you must make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign and He has a right to do whatever he pleases with His own. He may not explain to you a thousand things which puzzle your reason in the way He deals with you, but if you will just submit yourself to Him in all things, He will wrap you up in a jealous love and bestow upon you many blessings which come only to those who are very near to His heart.

Settle it, then, that He is to have the privilege of tying your tongue, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that He does not seem to use with others. Now, when you are so possessed with the living God that your secret heart becomes pleased and delighted with this peculiar, personal, private, jealous, guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, then you will have entered the very vestibule of heaven itself.

G.D. Watson 1845-1924

Setting Priorities

Set your affections on things above, no on things on the earth. (Colossians 3:2)

I read this by Jean Fleming and wanted to share it with you.

I view my life as a tree. The trunk represents my relationship to Christ, the limbs represent major areas of God-given responsibility such as family, job, ministry and personal development; and the branches represent the activities and opportunities of life. Even without special care, activity branches multiply. Soon the profusion of branches becomes more prominent than the trunk and limbs. When this happens, I feel trapped, frustrated, and empty. Why? Because my life is shaped and drained by activities that have lost their pertinence to Christ.

For example, the activities expected of a mother multiply conspiratorially; supervising a school field trip, organizing a car pool for soccer games, baking for the forth grade bake sale, helping a child with fractions.

To "sacrifice" for my family is sincere veneer that wears thin in time. I must go beyond defining life by activities. I must focus not on the branches, but on the trunk and limbs. I do what I do because of Jesus and His claim on my life. I don't do what I don't do for the same reason.

On a finely pruned tree, the trunk and limbs are prominent. The limbs grow out of my relationship with Christ and sprout many new branches each year. I must examine my tree and determine which branches need to be pruned back or hacked off at the base. Life is always changing. My tree must undergo changes, too.

EVERYONE THINKS OF CHANGING THE WORLD,......BUT NO ONE THINKS OF CHANGING HIMSELF . LEO TOLSTOY

Working Wonders

Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord. (Zechariah 4:6)

God with power and might at His disposal yet works in the wise. His quiet performances are indirect, deep, serene, and seemingly slow, and have to be explored to be understood and appreciated. he quietly and confidently moves, working wonders day after day. In every experience, at work, hom, at church, and in soceity, it at times appears as though God was being defeated, and the movements of His grace and providence were failures, and all His plans were reversed, flowing upstream in the opposite direction from the ocean of blessings. One has to look up and cast his gaze out from the shore of frustration encirclements of the present and consider the entire stream of God's purpose among His people in order to see that He is continually winning the battle in quiet circuitous ways.

God works through individuals, conquering some heart, and through that heart He pours His purpose like a mighty river. The Lord makes His conquests by keeping His saints in utter dependence upon Him, making them live by faith. There is to be none of self in His program, but all of Christ.

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has imagined the things that I have prepared for those who love Me.”
(1 Corinthians 2:9)

Single Eye Of Faith

Today I heard Rachel Scott's father Darrell Scott sharing some of what God has done and taught them in and through their tragedy. Rachel Scott, was one of the kids who died in the Columbine School shooting.

Though it was a tragedy, God has used it for His glory to save many out of darkenss.


This is what I gleaned from his sharing...

We need to develop a single eye of faith to see through our circumstances. Don't look "at" but see "through" circumstances looking to Jesus.

We either believe God is sovereign or not.

"For by Him ALL things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. ALL things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before ALL things, and in Him ALL things consist." (Colossians 1:16-17)

Sovereingity, grace and God's purpose. He created good and evil. God is in control, NOT satan.

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good. (Prov. 15:3)

The Lord has made ALL for Hinself, yes, even the wicked for the day of doom. (Prov. 16:4)

ALL the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. (Is. 52:10)

He saved and called us to a holy calling. He cleaned us up for a reason.

"Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved." (Eph. 1:4-6)

Free will?? Is that a myth??

God's Word says, "A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." (Prov. 16:9)

God has a purpose much bigger than any tragedy or loss. His plans for us are for good not evil. (Jer. 29:11)

Treasures are usually found in the darkness and that is when God shows Himself so real.

There are places in our hearts that can only be opened through tragedy. Every event holds a purpose.

ALL who dwell on the earth will worship Him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. (Rev. 13:8)

He said that Rachel's favorite verse was Isaiah 50:4, "The Lord God has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary."

Do you have that "knowing" inside of you? Rachel sure did. Please visit and be encouraged at: http://www.rachelschallenge.com/

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in ALL wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself. (Eph. 1:7-9)

Every moment, Every situation, Every issue, and Every concern has a positive side. Find it and bring it to life.

Let me start my work in faith, continue in obedience and finish with love.

Love Is...

* Love is long-suffering ~ It has the ability to put up with stuff for a long time.
Our modern “throw-away” society encourages us to get rid of people in our lives who are difficult to get along with, whether they are family, friends or acquaintances. This attitude runs in complete contrast to the love the Bible describes. True love puts up with people who would be easier to give up on.


* Love is kind, does not envy ~ It doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. If our love is directed toward others, we will rejoice in the blessings they receive rather than desiring those blessings for ourselves. It isn’t resentful of what other people have.

* Love is not puffed up ~ The selfless love that God calls us to does not involve pride or glory. It doesn’t call attention to itself, doesn’t think it’s better than other people. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.

* Love does not behave itself unseemly ~ Love acts right. It’s not conceited, arrogant or full of pride. Love is nor rude. If we can’t do anything else, the least we can do is practice some good manners. Like saying, Please…Thank you…I’m sorry…You go first…Excuse me…

* Love seeks not her own ~ If we truly love others, we will set aside our own plans, agendas, and entitlements for the good of another. We can decide not to be hard to get along with and to be the kind of person other people like spending time with.

* Love is not easily provoked ~ Love is not easily angered or over-sensitive. When we truly love others, we are careful not to be touchy concerning other people’s words or actions toward us.

* Love thinks no evil ~ Does not keep any record of wrongs. It probably causes people to be sick in their bodies and emotions. Forgiveness means that we wipe the slate clean and never hold things against people.

* Love rejoices not in iniquity but rejoices in truth ~ It does not boast about sin. Godly love has nothing to do with evil, but has everything to do with what is right and true.

* Love bears, believes, hopes and endures all things ~ Love puts up with anything and never gives up, knowing that God can change lives for the better.

* Love never fails ~ Love accepts any hardship or rejection, and continues unabated to build up and encourage.

Love is seen in our actions and our attitude. It doesn’t pout and make faces when it doesn’t get it’s own way. It is a behavior we choose to operate in because God has told us to do it. Love prefers other people by allowing them to go first, have the last or best of something…like the last piece of chocolate in the box.

To know what love is we have to look at God because God is love. We need to look at Jesus as our example because He’s a perfect representation of God. (1 John 4:8; John 14:9). To see what love looks like, we need to look at how Jesus lived, how He acted when people come against Him, and how He behaved during trials.

While we may “feel” love for others, we must “show” love if others are to feel it.
Like clothing, we put on love. (Colossians 3:12) When we do, we’re honoring and glorifying God.

Let me start my work in faith, continue in obedience and finish with love.