Today I listened to a Family Life Today broadcast (actually 2 of them) that had a mother/daughter writing duo on. They had written a book called, "7 hardest things God asks a woman" and I can't speak for the book, 'cause I haven't read it, yet, but the broadcasts were, almost literally, day- if not life- changing for me! I don't know why I often forget about having a quiet time on Mondays, but that just seems to happen to me a lot...I get busy cleaning the house and getting back into our "routine" and I just sort of let my Bible sit. Maybe I feel like I can coast on Sunday for a few more days, or maybe I just don't think that God has a place in my "cleaning day," whatever excuse I use isn't a very good one! I NEED to take time to read my Bible I NEED to take time to spend in prayer and I NEED to take the time to get my heart and mind right with the Lord before I start the busyness of the week. And, that is what these broadcasts really drove home for me- that in all things Christ must have preeminence! They talked about 4 verses and I am going to make them my memory verses for the week- as a reminder for next Monday not to loose my focus and to keep God in my Monday(and Tuesday, and Wed, and Thurs... routine! :)
Colossians 1:17, 18 says, "And he is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might have preminence"
Is it just me or is this verse so easy to read and so hard to put into practice??
I find that the center of my focus shifts from Korey to my kids, to my house, to myself, but very rarely do I have the central focus of my life where it belongs- on the person and life of Jesus Christ! I can only imagine how different my life would be, how differently my attitudes would play out, how different my marriage would be, and how different my parenting would be if I put this verse into practice and put Jesus as the center of my life!
John 15:4, 5 says, "Abide in me and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine; neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he, is is that bears much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing"
This verse, too, seems like it should be pretty "simplistic" or "elementary," but it seems a lot harder to put into practice in real daily life! Drawing the basic essence of my life from Jesus Christ and his teachings and life and letting him live through me is definitely easier said than done! I guess that's why they call it the daily disciplines of a christian life, rather than the every other month or every other year rewards of the christian life. Discipline seems like a word that just evokes rather unpleasant feelings in a person (or at least me, because we're doing a lot of "disciplining" of Hailey right now), but just as a parent disciplines their children, not to make their life hard or awful or anything but fun, but to train and encourage right behavior, so God wants me to spend my time near Him, gaining more training in right behavior so that I can go and live my life as one who Christ lives through!
These two verses aren't just going to be my "inspiration" for this week, they are going to be my prayer- that I would be putting them into practice and not allow myself to forget them!
I'm so thankful for christian broadcasts and christian writers and speakers that can keep encouraging me in my daily walk! And, I just love the fact that I can listen to Family Life Today or Focus on the Family broadcasts on my Ipod. It seems like I never had time or a quiet house to listen to them before, but now that I can listen to them at my leisure it is pretty exciting! :)
(I do get excited about the littlest of things, but I just can't help it- I've always been an emotional rollercoaster of a person- where else would my daughter have gotten it??) ;)
I guess it has become more and more important to me, lately, because I skipped out on our churches Thursday morning bible study this session and I'm kind of missing the great teaching that I got there! I just always felt like I left there encouraged and strengthened in my walk...good thing they have another session starting in a month that I can get in on!
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