Trying New Things/Day 30

January 30, 2014 by Mary

Welcome to DAY 30 of our online study of my new workbook, 101 Prayers and Affirmations for Spiritual Wellness! We have been working through the workbook… one day at a time, one lesson at a time, one page at a time… for 30 days! We have 71 more days to go!

Although this is an individual study… a journey meant to be of your own design… we have a gathering place for those of us on the journey, where nearly 1700 fellow travelers gather on Facebook. You can get there by clicking here. This is where we post prayer requests, my followers can send me private messages, connect with others and read daily prompts and suggestions for the study.

You can jump in at any point by purchasing your workbook through Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, or my website, hopefilledliving.com.

I have been posting the lessons here on my blog everyday and will continue to do so through the remainder of the course. If you are just getting the book, you can go back through the posts and start with day 1 prompts, which are labeled on the sidebar… and work your way through.

The workbook is simple. Just daily questions and journaling space and concepts that make you think deeper about your life and your walk with God. I haven’t written fancy words or phrases, no special prayer language… just simple nitty gritty–let’s cut to the chase kind of language. Why? Because God doesn’t require us to be fancy, to use special words when we pray, to go on and on about things… what He desires is that we connect with him–one-on-one. When we connect, He speaks our language.

I believe that making a commitment to do something for 101 days and following through requires great discipline. Sometimes we fall off… because training ourselves to be disciplined in anything is difficult… but you can just pick up your workbook and begin again.

The key is to try to establish spiritual discipline. The workbook is good practice. It isn’t rocket science, there is no magic formula, nobody looking over your shoulder. It’s about holding yourself accountable… because practice makes perfect.

God says, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much” Luke 16:10.

If you can develop the discipline of meeting with God for 30 minutes per day while doing this study… and doing it consistently for 101 days… God will move mountains, you will see positive changes in your level of happiness, your attitude, your prayer life and your connection with the Maker.

Day 30 prompts:

Dear God, please help me make the most of the life you have given me. Give me the desire and the courage to try new things and to blaze new trails. Where I am weak, give me strength. I am willing to break away from old routines and enter a new season full of adventure and opportunity for growth. Amen.

Make a list of some things that you have always wanted to try:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Write a prayer, asking God to reveal to you the things that have kept you from trying new things.

Since our workbook page today relates to trying new things, here is a blog post from a couple of years ago that I thought you might enjoy!

The more caught up we get in the world, mortgages, relationships, stress and the daily grind, the more obsolete the idea of cultivating a hobby seems to become. We are living in an impulse- oriented society; whatever is good for the moment and whatever new trend pops up, people are inclined to give it a try.

I used to work part time at an antique mall where beautiful things from the past surrounded me. Some ornately woven tapestry pillows in one of the booths reminded me of a hobby I once pursued and enjoyed as a girl. It is called Bargello, a form of needlework that originated in 16th century Italy and became very popular in Europe and America in the 17th and 18th centuries. While on a recent antiquing expedition, we found a stack of craft books, one of which was calling me back to my girlhood and beckoning me to begin my hobby anew. Beautiful Bargello by Joyce Petschek.

My life is very busy and sometimes my mind is too full to entertain the idea of cultivating a hobby for relaxation… but my daughter gently reminds me of the importance of getting back to my roots and pursuing things that once gave me great satisfaction.

There is something to be said for hobbies, something to be said for pursuing something we love, taking us temporarily outside of the busy world and back to the quiet place of our inner selves. By doing so, we are cultivating something much deeper and richer than just a hobby: we are pulling something from deep within ourselves to create something external. The finished product speaks much more about our heart than merely what meets the eye.

What is it that you love to do but have allowed to fall by the wayside?

Whatever it may be, it is a hidden part of yourself which is integrally woven into the design of who you are. I encourage you to go back to your center and pick up your lost art and rekindle your creative self.

I have made a list of 101 Hobbies You Can Try at Home. If you do not know what some of them are, take the time to research them on the internet or go to the local bookstore and browse through the craft books. By doing so, I am certain that you will find a hobby of interest to begin or to pick up from where you left off years ago.

So here is the list:

1.     Decoupage
2.       Painting
3.       Candle Making
4.       Cake Decorating
5.       Jewelry Making
6.       Sewing
7.       Needlepoint
8.       Knitting
9.       Wood Burning
10.   Wood Carving
11.   Soap Making
12.   Collage/Mixed Media
13.   Zumba!
14.   Appliqué
15.   Quilting
16.   Rug Hooking
17.   Pottery
18.   Photography
19.   Furniture Refinishing
20.   Collecting—seashells, sea glass, rocks, etc.
21.   Calligraphy
22.   Poetry
23.   Gardening
24.   Wreath Making
25.   Terrariums
26.   Tapestry
27.   Leather Craft
28.   Ceramics
29.   Paper Quilling
30.   Book Binding
31.   Sketching
32.   Flower Pressing
33.   Tie Die
34.   Stamping
35.   Scrapbooking
36.   Paper Mache
37.   Creative Journaling
38.   Learning to play an instrument
39.   Basketry-weaving
40.   Mosaics
41.   Mobiles
42.   Stained Glass
43.   Clay Modeling
44.   Crochet
45.   Doll Making
46.   Assorted Paper Crafts
47.   Sand Casting
48.   Clay Casting
49.   Rock Painting
50.   Glass Painting
51.   String Art
52.   Glass Etching
53.   Dough Art
54.   Flower Making from Lace
55.   Enameling
56.   Macramé
57.   Bonsai
58.   Building Bird Feeders
59.   Beaded Belts
60.   Driftwood Crafts or Jewelry
61.   Mittens and Mukluks
62.   Fingerprint Notecards
63.   Totes and Bags
64.   Cartooning
65.   Making Clay Tiles
66.   Coiled Bowls
67.   Patchwork Christmas Bulbs
68.   Gift wrap
69.   Candy Wreaths
70.   Cigar Box Collage
71.   Gold Leafing
72.   Stenciling
73.   Greeting Cards
74.   Ribbon Bookmarks
75.   Hammocks
76.   Aromatherapy
77.   Silk Floral Arrangements
78.   Pinecone Art
79.   Potpourri and Pomanders
80.   Busyboards for Children
81.   Puppetry
82.   Puzzle Making
83.   Flags and Banners
84.   Tissue Flower Making
85.   Cosmetics
86.   Costume Design
87.   Dioramas
88.   Dried Flowers
89.   Egg Decoration
90.   Stringed Instrument Making
91.   Oriental Kites
92.   Pinch Pots
93.   Ceramic Picture Tiles
94.   Sand Candles
95.   Seaweed Paper Marbling
96.   Potato Printing
97.   Star Weaving
98.   Corn Horseshoe
99.   Chinese Lettering
100. Felt Crafts
101. Origami

Hobbies can give us a great sense of personal satisfaction and fulfillment at a job well done. When you are first starting out, it’s best to begin with something small so you don’t get overwhelmed and understand that learning something new is going to be challenging, but can also be incredibly inspiring! I have learned that it is not so much about the finished project, but more about the internal process that I go through while creating.

Having a creative outlet can inspire you to stretch your wings in new directions. Once the creative process has started… it will overflow into different areas of your life.

Take some time to browse the isles of your local craft store. Spend some time thinking about what really draws your attention.

Do not be afraid to try something new.

Start small.

Just start.

Live With Purpose/Day 29

January 29, 2014 by Mary

I had a long talk with my dad today. I listened while he told me his view of the universe, the solar system and the stars in the galaxy. I remember growing up in the country, warm summer nights, crickets humming, laying side by side on lounge chairs– tilted back, gazing at the wonder of the twinkling stars. He was a believer. A believer of the wonders of God’s creation, its vastness and the many things we had yet to learn about how God created it all.

“Do you see the Big Dipper?” 40 years later, his cracking voice through telephone lines says, “these kinds of things aren’t for small thinkers“… as he continues teaching me to live in wonder.

I tell him that I am glad that the winter has been extreme because it will kill off the insects, like mosquitoes and ticks. “But everything… every creature God put here has a purpose”, he says. He goes on to tell me about the circle of life. Before we hang up, he tells me he is not sure about the answers to all of life’s mysteries but that when he gets to heaven he will “send me a message…because it will all make sense then.” “Promise?” I ask. “Promise.”

The last time I visited, we spent hours going through old photographs of the life he and my mother have shared for 60 years. Yellowed with age, fragments of lives well lived. Births and deaths, babies and teenagers, gatherings, ponies, puppies, summers at the lake, photographs chronicling their lives.

Photographs of my parents holding hands, holding on…not knowing what the future held, not knowing that one day they would be old together and hold each other up and burn pancakes on the stove because they turned on too many burners …

Not knowing that one day my mother would fall and lay there for hours with the bones in her leg broken in two, calling out for help because she had slipped out of bed…

Not knowing that my fathers hands would shake so much that my mother would help him eat on the days it was too bad.

Some years were rocky. Life is just that way sometimes. We all face hardships. Life is a balancing act of sorts… making mistakes, learning and rearranging. We never quite get it right but then… it was never meant to be just right… or there would be no mystery.

Life, purpose, meaning, wisdom, wonder… these kinds of things aren’t for small thinkers. To live a life full of purpose, we must believe… we must have hope through the rocky years and know that we might not understand everything until we get to heaven.

1 John 3:2

Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Ask God to help you live a life exploding with purpose.

Know that your purpose isn’t for small thinkers…

God’s plan for you is greater than you can imagine.

Hope is more than dreaming

January 28, 2014 by Mary

She wakes up after eight hours curled into a tight ball…pain wrenching her body, consuming the God within her. Pulling open the weighted drapes that keep the winter cold from hitting her headboard at night in an old house, sunshine greets her with a smile. A little worn, a little weary, a little ravaged by an illness trying to suck the life out of her very limbs. She stands, smiling. New day, new hope.

Each night, she closes her eyes, clenching blankets tightly, lulling herself to sleep as if she is holding onto the hem of His garment. Cuz if she can get through the night, He will greet her in the morning and morning may look entirely new. However, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes she has to swallow hard and hold back tears of discouragement when she awakens and everything still hurts.

There is a busy world around her, filled with people worried about small things that seem big, when in reality there are people like her who are fighting to live each day fully and smile while going through the motions. Illness has a way of shredding hope, shredding dreams, shredding plans, shredding futures. Her bedroom, a safe place from the world, the place she takes comfort when pain is too much to bear. Surrounded by pictures of places she dreams of one day going, flowers, things she loves—like the wooden jewelry box with a gold key that her mama bought her, years ago. Marriage vows in a red barn wood frame– etched by a folk artist, trinkets that her children created with small hands while growing through the years, a black and white of grandma and grandpa. These things bring comfort during the dark days of bed rest. A stack of bibles and devotionals with a reading lamp on her nightstand.

Why is it that we pray for things, that we pray for success, affirmation from strangers, and we say that we are doing it to please God? What really pleases God is a contrite heart, a heart so in love with Him that we forget being known by thousands of people and kneel beside the bed of just one person who is struggling. That’s important ministry…one person at a time…those people clutching blankets as though they are the hems of His clothing, begging and praying for healing.

Evening falls and it is dark in her room. I go in and light a small lamp. She’s curled up under furry blankets, the kind that bring comfort when everything else hurts. She has felt it coming on for days, and it gradually gets larger until it washes over her like a tidal wave—three or four days go by and she remembers not much but trying to survive it…the headaches, the blurry eyes and brain fog, the trembling in pain. She takes refuge in her bedroom—a place she has made uniquely her own because she spends more time there than most of us can imagine.

For those of us with chronic illness, we need a holy place. Our bedrooms become just that…the place we meet God at our weakest. The places we reconcile, pray, ask, give thanks and cry tears of hopelessness onto our pillows. We have a special wisdom in that we find Glory in small moments. We see God’s goodness and recognize it quickly. We are eager to give thanks and know the fragility of life. We do what we can with what we have and still find joy. We know the wisdom of suffering and can share our compassion with others who are suffering, because we too, have suffered.

There is a God in Heaven who understands our suffering. He is our refuge and an ever-present help in trouble. There is a God filled with mercy who sends seekers to our bedsides, those who on bended knee, usher up whispered prayers to the Host and He comes down to meet us, right where we are. Where hearts are filled with presence. Where we are one-on-one with those who are suffering, contrite hearts, muttering prayers of selflessness from the deepest places because we have forgotten about ourselves and the world around us, if only for a moment. We have connected with the Holy of Holies as our hearts and knees bend with compassion and humility.

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 2Corinthians 12:9

He says His power is made perfect in weakness. Not only in physical weakness, but in all our weakness. The weakness of perfectionism, the weakness of approval seeking, the weakness of not even knowing our weakness, spiritual depravity, depression, abuse, pride, hatred and unforgiveness, bitterness, lust, addiction, the love of money. My grace is sufficient. Each of us are fighting battles, but with each new day there is new hope…and the greatest news is that we can start again, sins washed clean. God accepts us new each day. As we pull ourselves out of bed, fighting battles, a little worn, a little weary, a little ravaged, He sees us…one person at a time, begging, praying and tugging on the hem of His garment.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Romans 3:23

Suffering makes the rough edges smooth and gives us the wisdom to open our hands and blow seeds of hope to another who is struggling just to hang on…struggling to find joy, struggling to see His goodness. Those seeds of hope covering people who are trapped up in their beds, clenching blankets tightly, those who swallow hard to hold back tears of discouragement when they awake and everything still hurts.

Whatever suffering we endure, the Holy of Holies wants to pick up our shredded hopes, shredded dreams, shredded plans, shredded futures, because he has a plan for each of us and His plan is Perfect. His grace is sufficient for us. His power is made perfect in weakness.

Hope is more than dreaming.

Be a Selective Listener/Day 27

January 27, 2014 by Mary

Day 27

Be a Selective Listener.

Prayer: Lord, guard my ears from things that would negatively affect my spirit today. Help me to tune out all the hatred, anger, gossip and violence that may exist around me. Teach me to be a selective listener, Lord.

Affirmation: I can choose those things I want to let into my spirit. I can, and will, be a selective listener.

Scripture Memorization:

Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. Psalm 63:7

He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and your rampart. Psalm 91:4

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:2

Share with God those things you choose not to let into your spirit…Write them down today.

Ask God to protect your spirit.

My Reflections:

What goes into a mind comes out in a life. Our ears are a portal to our minds and our hearts. We have the power to choose what we will let into our minds, what we are willing to listen to through the voices of others, through our televisions, through our radios, through the books we read, the games we play, through the internet, the company we keep…

“We forget that every good that is worth possessing must be paid for in strokes of daily effort. We postpone and postpone until these smiling possibilities are dead. By neglecting the necessary concrete labor, by sparing ourselves the little daily tax, we are positively digging the graves of our higher possibilities.” William James

“Life’s supreme adventure is the adventure of living. Life’s greatest achievement is the continual remaking of yourself so that at last you do know how to live.” Winfred Rhoades

I love the words of William James: “Every good that is worth possessing must be paid for in strokes of daily effort”…isn’t it true that in order to live a good life, an honorable life, a life worthy of our calling, a life that feels accomplished at the end of our days…we must work at it…daily?

Daily choices.

Daily disciplines.

Then there are the beautiful words of Winfred Rhoades, “Life’s greatest achievement is the continual remaking of yourself so that at last you know how to live.” Everything we do takes practice. It takes practice to tune out hatred, anger, gossip, violence….the ugliness of the world, and quiet ourselves, coming face to face with our Creator, in the silence of our souls. We should continually work at remaking ourselves because growing requires remaking….”so that at last you know how to live“…

Life is hard. We all have pieces we want to leave behind. Sometimes we have been so abused and misused as children, children parenting parents, children without parents, children parenting children…that the child inside of us stays inside of us…we reach a halfway point of spiritual and emotional maturity and never rise above. As life goes by, we realize that the wounded child inside has never let go….

The wounded child who heard ugly things.

The wounded child who listened to voices that told her it wasn’t safe to dream.

The wounded child that put up barriers to stay safe…the one who never learned how to live. However, God says, there is a safe place in the shadow of His wings. “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge”…

Recently, I saw a photograph of a little girl in an Iraqi orphanage. She missed her mother so much that she drew a large chalk picture of her on the sidewalk, took off her shoes and curled up in the fetal position inside of the chalk image.

We can do this too, with God. We can let the little girl inside of us…the one who never left…the one who heard too many things…curl up in the fetal position and let the Maker of the Universe shelter her under his wings.

As we grow and learn how to live, let us pray that God would protect our spirit. Let us pray that we will become selective listeners.

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Psalm 121:2

Unconditional Love/Day 24

January 25, 2014 by Mary

Day 24

Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

Prayer: Lord, I am so amazed that regardless of my mistakes, my own self-loathing, my own hatred, anger and jealousy, you love me unconditionally. I am forever grateful to you. May I be an example of your unconditional love to everyone I encounter today. Amen.

Affirmation: God loves me unconditionally.

Scripture Memorization:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

List 3 ways you can show unconditional love toward yourself:

Write a paragraph or two, thanking God for His unconditional love toward you.

My Reflections:

The Word speaks for itself. Nothing can “separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

A woman came into the church one cold day in December. She was without a coat. Women were gathered around a table, praying. “I need to see Pastor Mary…I knew if I came, she would give me a coat.” She had walked several miles across the countryside in the blowing snow to ask for a coat (the coat could have been an offering…for so much more…an opportunity to share God’s love with someone who was alone, cold and in need of a Savior). They said she was “unkempt and dirty” and that she kept calling out my name.

The saints grew tired of her interruption. The prayer meeting was important. After all, there were important people to be prayed for…one on each side of her, escorted her out the front doors of the church, cold wind hitting her square in the face. No coat. No ride. No compassion. No Savior. She banged on the glass doors that were shut behind her and locked. Prayers went on.

“You see“, said one of them when I heard of the news…”church is supposed to be a safe place for churched people.”

I cried at the sound of the words. They cut me as sharp as the wind that hit the woman with no coat in the dead of winter, when the doors were locked behind her. My heart dripped blood that morning and for many mornings afterward, the blood of Christ hanging on the cross. I cried in my office, alone. “Safe place for churched people…” eight years later my heart still hurts at the sound of the words.

God is compassion. His love is unconditional. May I… may you…may WE… be an example of His unconditional love to everyone we encounter today. The world is our church…and it is full of unsafe people. Mans sin is everywhere, including prayer meetings in old country churches. We are all flawed, our spirits unkempt and dirty, unworthy of a King. He died for us anyway.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

List 3 ways you can show unconditional love toward the world:

Give God thanks.