I made a deal with God this morning and he came through!!!

Yep, you heard it! I made a deal with God this morning. Not because I planned to, it just happened. Plus it was early in the morning and when it's early in the morning, I am a teeny bit stubborn. I have heard all of these stories about people praying to God to help them wake up at a certain time without their alarm clock so they could do their quiet time in the morning before starting their day if he really desired for them to do it, and he did. I never believed those stories for a second. Well, I must have a little because I decided to try it myself. I did not go as far as without the alarm clock but I did do some dealing with Him.

Last night, I set my alarm clock 30 minutes early with one intention. The intention was to get up and start the day with the Lord. As my goal is to do this much more consistently. Well, the alarm went off at 5:15 and of course, I pushed snooze. I decided if I just let my hair be curly (no blow drying no straightening), I could sleep in a little longer and still do my Bible study. Well I pushed snooze a couple of more times and at 5:39 I decided to put him to the test. I made a deal. I said "Lord, if you will help me wake up without the alarm at 5:45, I will get up, come spend some time with you and dive into your word." If I woke up that way, I would know it really was meant for me to get up and do this early morning thing. What happened next you may ask, or did my blog title give it away??? I woke up by myself at 5:47. "Close enough," I thought to myself, and I got up and held up my end of the bargain. It was rough but I did it. I would have been really good to get up a little earlier but hey, it is a work in progress.

Now, I just have to do this all over again for 20 more days to make it a habit. I might have some inspiration coming soon. Not that, a more intimate relationship with Christ and a consistent Bible study time is not enough. Let me explain.

For my birthday in August, I have asked for two things...

From Hubby: some sort of soft comfy sofa chair with a foot stool (it can come from a yard sale or Good Will as long as it is clean. I can always cover it with a blanket)

From Mom & Granny: a porch swing

My ambition for these items are in no way selfish. It is my attempt to give myself a "cozy place." I can get up and go to either place depending on the weather. There, I will start my day with the Lord, Beth Moore (or whoever I am doing Bible study with), & coffee. My quiet time has never been consistent and mostly never quiet. Sometimes I do it in the car while Brandon is driving us to work but that means Ralph from talk radio is my quiet time serenade. Sometimes I do it in our bed while Brandon is working on his school work or coins or something like that but that means I am in a hurry so I can go to sleep cause odds are I am not doing it before 10pm. Some days..I do not have my quiet time...I know, I know...shame on me! Don't worry though I am working on it!

So how about you, tell me about your quiet time. What works best for you? Do you have a cozy place? If not, what is your idea of a cozy place?

I am going to share this with you!

Go HERE!

www.vietnambabygirlsmith.blogspot.com

Go to the bottom and read that post first.

(I am sorry but after several attempts, I could not get blogger to link to my other blog. Copy and paste the address above if you can!)

Something worth sharing....

Just in case any of you have not seen THIS blog, I want to share it with you. I will be adding it to my favorites! I need a little something every day to remind me of where my head and heart should be as a woman striving to be of God's will.

If you could read the tablets of your peers heart, what is it that you would have contributed?

The verse below is a verse that was brought to my attention at our church's women's retreat a couple of months back. I really LOVE this verse. In fact, I have not moved the ribbon in my Bible from the page it is on since. I do not want it to get lost in the pages because I can look at it anytime, and be reminded of the desire God has for us in our walk with him.

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
2 Corinthians 3:3 (NIV)

The Message says it this way:
Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it.

It is just a reminder of what we are called to do as Christians. Our everyday walk should consist of investing in the hearts of others. I think that if Jesus were a member of my church, he would not spend so much of his time at "church." He would challenge the "church" to get out of the church building and invest in the lives of others. By others I mean those who do not already know Jesus or seek a relationship with him. We should be a breath of fresh air to "others." I think that the hard part is that we do not know how to relate or how to avoid coming across as judgemental or condeming. As a result, we then avoid investing in the hearts of those people all together. I know that I struggle with that balance myself. I feel like I could do so much more but am concerned with these very things.

When you serve in many areas of a church, you start to see and realise things that you could do without seeing or realising. This verse helps me to overlook these things and to focus on the ultimate goal. I do not need to be concerned with others actions and agendas, I need to make sure that my heart is in the right place and that the imprint that I leave in the lives of others is what God would desire it to be.

This helped me to have a, much needed, spiritual reality check today. I thought I might share!

If you can't say anything nice....

" I have no respect for justice and no mercy for defenseless humanity. I ruin without killing. I tear down homes. I break hearts and wreck lives. You will find me in the pews of the pious as well as in the haunts of the unholy. I gather strength with age. I have made my way where greed, distrust, and dishonor are unknown; yet my victims are as numerous as the sands of the sea, and often as innocent. My name is Gossip."
-author unknown

We all know the phrase.... "If you can not say anything nice then do not say anything at all."

Well, I have started attending a ladies Bible study on Monday evenings. I have always wanted to do this. By this I mean, regularly attend a Bible study with a group of girls. I really did not realize what I was missing. The accountability and the prayer partnerships are so great. It also helps to keep me in the word and of the word...if you no what I mean. The difference is amazing!!! It really keeps you on your spiritual toes. The study we are doing is by Elizabeth George. It is titled, A Woman's High Calling. We have studied wisdom and now, you guessed it....GOSSIP! What girl can not use help in this area?? I have been presented with scripture that compares gossip to things such as murder, poison, evil, and even compares a gossiper to a she devil. There are three categories of gossip. The categories are malicious, rationalizer, and innocent. I think most of us probably fall under the last two categories. I have never studied gossip to this degree. It really gave me a wake up call about the damage that it does not only to others but, to ourselves and our ministry to others. The study of this topic has really helped me to realise that gossip is not of God. I want everything that I am about to be of God. The study has definitely helped me to be aware of my everyday speech and action. I want others to see Christ in me. Gossiping is not going to help that. Just some thoughts I though I would throw out there. The "riddle" above really hit me hard and I thought I would share it.

She opens her mouth with wisdom and on her tongue is the law of kindness.
-Proverbs 31:26