Five Minute Friday ~ Mercy

Once again I am joining Lisa-Jo for Five Minute Friday. On Friday hundreds of brave writers take 5 minutes and write on a single prompt. You can visit Lisa-Jo here to find out what Five Minute Friday is all about and to read the many other wonderful posts.

On Fridays a bunch of brave writers gather here to all spend 5 collective minutes writing on a single prompt.  - See more at: http://lisajobaker.com/2013/09/five-minute-friday-mercy/#sthash.V4LudN1Q.dpuf

Go.

On Fridays a bunch of brave writers gather here to all spend 5 collective minutes writing on a single prompt.  - See more at: http://lisajobaker.com/2013/09/five-minute-friday-mercy/#sthash.V4LudN1Q.dpuf

On Fridays a bunch of brave writers gather here to all spend 5 collective minutes writing on a single prompt. - See more at: http://lisajobaker.com/2013/09/five-minute-friday-mercy/#sthash.V4LudN1Q.dpuf

On Fridays a bunch of brave writers gather here to all spend 5 collective minutes writing on a single prompt. - See more at: http://lisajobaker.com/2013/09/five-minute-friday-mercy/#sthash.V4LudN1Q.dpuf

Mercy…

What is it? What does it look like?

Mercy is bending down to my daughter, wiping away the tears as she expresses frustration over having trouble reading.

Mercy is sitting on the sidelines of the game cheering my son on as he struggles with anxiety & making the plays he nailed in practice.

Mercy is holding my tongue when all I want to do is snap a quick retort back to my husband.

Mercy is God holding me in His lap when I desperately need someone to understand the frustrations & hurt I feel.

God is Good & His Mercy Endures Forever!

And as He shows me mercy, tenderly supporting me and showing me His Love, I learn how to show mercy to others.

Oh may I give the gift of mercy to others that God has so freely given me.

Stop. 

In His Calm,

Mary

Inspired by the Obedience of my Husband

My husband … he is a man who passionately says Yes to God and stays committed no matter what.

Over the years I have prayed for Jeff to be a strong spiritual leader for our family. I’ve shared it here on The Calm of His Presence. Those prayers have been answered many times.

Jeff is not afraid to take a stand when God calls him even if it’s an unpopular stand in the world. He knows God has a plan for His life and He is committed to following God’s Word.

Most recently He took a stand on an issue with our son and the travel baseball team he plays for. In the world (especially the travel ball world) it is a very unpopular choice not to put baseball before everything including church.

One of Jeff’s priorities is to raise our kids in a family who follows hard after God and shares His Love and Grace to the world around us in our everyday lives.

By making the choice we did to put God first over playing on Sunday’s, we have felt a bit looked down on by other parent’s on the team. To be honest I found myself trying to figure out a way to do both. I even tried to talk Jeff into trying to help me make it work.

Thankfully Jeff stood firm and explained his decision to our son in away Garrett could understand the need to put God and our family first.

This past week we saw a glimpse of the fruits of our obedience. Another father on the team took the time to thank my husband for his example of how to set priorities that turn our family to Christ.

Through our witness he has begun to reevaluate his priorities. He has realized he has been putting other things before God and through that he and his family have fallen away from God. He has made a renewed commitment to being the spiritual leader for his family.

Through my husband’s obedience I have learned that in a world where God’s priorities are looked down on there are people who watch our actions. We may not know they are watching but when we take the bold step of being radically obedient to God and say yes to Him we speak volumes about our walk with Him.

Our witness and obedience to God may be just what someone needs to be drawn back to Him.

Thank you Lord for a husband who obediently follows your direction for our family. Thank you that He is not concerned with the opinion of the world but that he is concerned with saying yes to you. Lord, give me the strength to continue to obediently follow you in the call you have placed on my life. In Your Name I Pray, Amen.

I am linked to do with the P31 OBS Say Yes to God study where other women are sharing their journey of saying Yes to God.

In His Calm,

Mary

Things I learned in August

Over the last several months I've quietly read Emily's list of things she learned each month. So, today  I thought I would share a few things I learned in August & might actually throw some things in I learned over the summer :-). Some of these I actually learned over a fun conversation with my husband and kids as we waited way to long for pizza one night.

My husband led us through a series of questions that really made me feel quite dumb for not knowing.

1. What are the 2 best conductors of electricity? silver & copper

2. What are 2 metals that don't corrode of oxidize? gold & platinum

3. What metal when exposed to water will explode but when combined with a poisonous gas tastes good? Sodium    Sodium + Chlorine = Sodium Chloride aka table salt

4. The first commercial printing press was invented by Gutenberg, the first book printed on it was the Gutenberg Bible. I actually knew this but had completely forgotten. I loved that I was reminded of this wonderful fact.

5 I have a daughter who has a couple of molars coming in. As we were discussing that one night I learned that an elephant's molar weighs 10lbs & is the size of a gallon of milk. Now that is a big tooth :-).

6 A sharks skin is made up of many microscopic teeth which is why shark skin used to be used as sandpaper.

So there you have it a few things I learned over the summer. I know it's not my typical post but I thought I might have a little fun today with Emily over at Chatting at the Sky. Why don't you jump over there and take a look at some of the things she learned. You might learn a little bit yourself. I know I did.

Five Minute Friday ~ Worship

I've been absent for a bit here on The Calm of His Presence. Life has been crazy, busy these last few weeks with school starting and all that goes with it. I haven't shared about it yet but I have a surprise that I'm working hard on for you. So would you pray for me and the direction God is leading the Calm of His Presence. 

In the mean time God woke me way to early this Saturday morning asking me to spend some quiet time with Him. During that quiet time I took 5 minutes to join Lisa-Jo and a few hundred other bloggers to simply just write...for 5 minutes on the prompt ~ Worship. I've linked up at (in)courage for this weeks Five Minute Friday post. 

Start...

Oh my God I will worship you when my life is falling apart & my heart is breaking in two.

I will worship you when I see you in the morning sun breaking through the trees.

I will worship you when I stand in the spotlight but my heart & face want to run to the shadows where I can hide from the world.

I will worship you when pride is spilling over as I watch my son succeed.

I will worship you when times get hard and I don’t understand this journey you have called me to.

I will worship you with my hands in the air praising you for all the wonderful blessings you give.

I will worship you as I fall to my knees begging you to take the pain away.

I will worship you as I sing of your amazing love.

Lord, I will worship you in the good, the bad, and all the in between times.

Stop...

In His Calm,

Mary

When it would be easier to say No God

Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

John 15:4

There are days when the journey of Saying Yes to God is so very hard.

On those days fear, doubt, discouragement, pain, despair & hopelessness take center stage leaving nothing left but an empty ache where hope, strength & life once were.

I know these days. I lived these days. I AM living these days.

And now as I live the hard days it is very easy to say, “I’m sorry God I didn’t sign up for this - I didn’t sign up for the attacks, the pain, the loss. I can’t do this anymore I quit.”

Telling God no, -turning around and walking away- would be the easy way out.

It would be easy to say, “Sorry God I don’t have the strength to stand up & follow you. I don’t have the will power to go against the popular choice. So, God No, I won’t follow you in the calling you have placed on my life.”

It would be easy to continue living my comfortable, oh-hum doing the next thing that comes along life. But, that’s not what God asked me to do.

God didn’t ask me to live a life of comfort & routine.

He asked me to “Come follow Him.” He asked me to join Him on the adventure He has planned for me.

God never promised it would be easy but He did promise that as long as I remained in Him, He would remain in me.

In a day where I have been discouraged, broken hearted & just plain mad I realized I was losing sight of the Light of Christ.

Today I dug deep in His Word & focused on His Truth that he will always remain with me as long as I remain in Him. Today I used His Word as a Weapon & in doing so I was strengthened to continue saying Yes to Him.

Sweet friend, are you discouraged & wondering why you ever said Yes to God?

Will you please hear my heart? Don’t give up! Keep fighting & keep following the plans God has for your life. Lean on Him and He will strengthen you.

Choose to stay focused on His Light & His Truth & He will stay with you giving you the strength & endurance you need.

Dear Lord, Help me to choose to stay with you, help me to abide, rest & endure the hard, discouraging days with you. For I know Lord that when I remain in you, you will suffer & bear with patience, abide & stay with me. Lord I know that no branch, limb or member of a body can hold up or remain firm by its self. I know that it must remain attached to the stem that is attached to the root, the source of its life. Help me Lord remain, abide & rest in you so that I can hold up & remain firm under pressure. For you Jesus, are one with God & will be my source of strength & life. In Your Name I Pray, Amen.

I am linking up today to P31 OBS blog Hop for What Happens When Women Say Yes to God.


In His Calm,

Mary

When Saying Yes to God Causes you to #SayWhat?

When Saying Yes to God Causes you to #SayWhat?

It was loud & clear. I knew God was calling me to follow Him in a plan He had for me. Although I didn’t hear His voice audibly He confirmed through scripture, messages, conversation, & situations He wanted to use me.

So I said Yes to God and was ready to jump in full steam ahead. I was excited and telling everyone I could that He had called me to serve Him.

And then just as sure as I knew He was calling me to serve Him the door slammed shut.

And I said “Say What God? You’ve called me to follow you & serve you and now you are telling me to wait? Are you kidding me? How do I contain the excitement that I have? How do I not serve you?”

To be honest I was rather put out with God. I was frustrated and questioned myself - “Did I really hear God right? Was I wrong? Maybe He really didn’t want to use me.”

Through prayer and studying scripture I realized I did hear God right He did want to use me, only it wasn’t the way I expected to be used at that time.

There is a time for everything,

And a season for every activity under heaven:

Ecclesiastes 3:1

He had a specific purpose for me, I just needed to slow down & let Him show me what it was.

I was reminded that God has a plan and He knows what I need in the perfect time to prepare for the next adventure He has for me.

It may not be in the timing that I expect but His Ways are perfect and higher than mine.

So I let go of my frustrations and questions and committed to serve Him quietly right where He wanted me.

The beauty of where He wanted me to quietly serve is that it was coming along side my husband, supporting and praying for him, being his ear & confidant.

Serving God quietly alongside my husband gave us the opportunity to strengthen our marriage & gain an intimacy we would not have otherwise.

So my sisters, when God calls you to serve Him and you try to run full steam ahead and end up having a #SayWhat moment, remember “there is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven”.

God has a plan and He knows the best way to prepare you for that plan. He knows the perfect place for you to serve, you just need to slow down and allow Him, in His Perfect Timing, to put you in that place.

Dear Lord, Thank you that you have a perfect plan for my life. Thank you that your timing is perfect. Help me to slow down and follow your timing so that I may follow your will for my life. In Your Name I Pray, Amen.

I am linked today with the P31 OBS #YesToGod Blog Hop.

In His Calm,

Mary

Saying Yes to God

I sat alone in my room with my Bible & journal open on my lap.

It wasn’t my normal quiet time but I needed to be out of the way for a meeting my husband had at our house so I thought, “Why not spend some time in God’s Word”.

What I didn’t realize was that God had planned on meeting with me to stretch me, mold me & make me into the woman He wanted me to be, I just needed to say #YesToGod.

My quiet time never looks the same; there are times I will find a passage to read, write in my prayer journal, listen to music, read a book or do a topical study.

This time I opened my bible & read Isaiah 64:8

“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father.

We are the clay, you are the potter;

we are all the work of your hand.”

Those words absolutely jumped off the page!

Yes God is my Father! He wants what is best for me & He wants to mold me into a woman who can be used by Him to bring others closer to Him. But, He can’t do it if I don’t allow Him to shape me into a new vessel.

So that night as I sat on my bed I said “Yes to God”. I committed to follow Him and do whatever He asked of me.

Little did I know that He would test that Yes to God the very next day when I was asked to step WAY out of my comfort zone and lead a Sanctuary full of women in worship with 5 minutes notice.

“Outside our comfort zone… is where we experience the true awesomeness of God.”

Lysa TerKeurst – What Happens When Women Say Yes to God

Now before you start thinking I was still in my #YesToGod high from the night before & jumped at the chance to do it, I need to correct you. I did everything I could NOT to say yes! I gave every excuse I could think of,

·      “Lord, I don’t have any experience leading worship.”

·      “Lord, sure, I sing in the choir BUT I am not a soloist.”

·      “Lord, I am terrified.”

And with each one of those excuses He said “my child let me mold you into the woman who I can use to reach others, trust me.”

So with knees & voice shaking I stood before 200 women as we worshipped our Lord and Savior.

In that moment God gave me the strength I needed to stretch beyond what I thought I could do. I learned to trust Him in what I thought was an impossible task. And I learned that His Ways are Higher than my ways.

Since that night of committing to say #YesToGod He has stretched me beyond anything I could ever imagine.

·      I have watched Him bring hundreds of women together for a time of prayer & worship as we sought revival for our area.

·      I’ve watched him bringing thousands of women together from all walks of life to worship & grow in the Word of God.

·      But most importantly I’ve experienced the profound peace, strength & exhilaration of watching God work within my life one Yes at a time.

So as we travel through the study of Lysa TerKeurst’s book, What Happens When Women Say Yes To God with P31 OBS will you say #YesToGod? Will you allow Him to mold you and make you into the woman He knows you can be? Will you be the clay & allow Him to be your potter?

Will you be the work of God’s Hand?

Oh Lord, you are a mighty, awesome God! I thank you that you want me to be involved with your work. Lord, give me the strength to say yes to you. Mold me into the woman you want me to be so that I can reach others in your name. In Your Name I Pray, Amen.

 

Today I am linked up with P31 OBS for Lysa TerKeurst's What Happens When Women Say Yes to God. Will you join me there & see what happens when other women say "YesToGod?

In His Calm,

Mary