Jesus Calling - Day 34 - February 3, 2015

I get teased all the time when I open presents.  I tend to open slowly, trying to lift each piece of scotch tape carefully as to not rip the paper.  I unfold very patiently to prolong the excitement of the gift!  As family and friends look on they watch with smiles.  But if a thought bubble would be raised over their heads I am sure I would see statements like, “Rip the paper already!  Hurry up!”  

Reading the devotion today brought me to the picture of my opening presents.  “Receive today’s gift gratefully, unwrapping it tenderly and delving into its depths.  As you savor this gift, you find Me.”  Yes!!!!  I know whatever gift awaits me it will be good. I trust that when a gift is given it will not hurt me.  Even though I can not see it until the package is opened, I trust nothing bad is going to jump out at me.  

I want to look at each day this way.  I trust God.  I know when I open the gift of today I will find Him!  So family and friends...the way I open presents is here to stay!  Now, I may even go slower!  Oh no!  Ha ha!  

There is another aspect of today’s devotion that impacted me.  Today, February 3, 2015,  one of my former students from an ISP team, has to go to court over the custody of their child.    I have gone with her before to just be present in the court to pray.  Today, my schedule didn’t work out for me to be there.  Yet, I opened up my Jesus Calling for today and saw these words, “I am with you and for you.  You face nothing alone - nothing.  When you feel anxious, know that you are focusing on the visible world and leaving Me out of the picture.  The remedy is simple, Fix your eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen.”  Sarah Young bases this on Scripture ... 

Romans 8:31, “...If God is for us, who can ever be against us?”

2 Corinthians 4:18, “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.  For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”  

She has others with her.  More important, the Lord is with her and for her.  I just got off the phone praying with her.  She gave me permission to share this so we would all join in prayer.  She had to be at court at 8:30 am.  We don’t have a specific time she stands before the judge.  Just pray this morning as we stand alongside her.  We are praying that His will be done.   

SAVOR the Gift! 

mama eydie! 

Jesus Calling - Day 33 - February 2, 2015

I have got caught in the trap of focusing in on a problem, “circling round and round it in attempts to gain mastery.”  I was miserable when I was caught in this “merry go round” journey.  When I finally got off of that ride, it was as if I was slapped in the face or had a bucket of cold water dumped on me.  It was the wake up call that I was stuck on a ride I didn’t need to stay on.  My energy and attention were all directed to the negative problem.  

During the heyday of the carousel in the U.S. about 1880 to 1921, they would have brass ring devices that were designed to perhaps draw interest or build excitement to riders.   If a rider managed to grab a brass ring, it could be redeemed for a free ride. (Wikipedia)  

In order to grab the ring, you would have to keep your focus.  If you kept your eye on everything else going on around you, it would distract you from reaching the prize.  I think that is the sentiment behind today’s devotion.  If we keep our focus on our problems and feeling sorry for ourselves we will be miserable.  I can testify that it doesn’t fix the problem.   Let’s train ourselves to keep our focus on His Presence.  Our lives sometimes are like a merry-go-round going faster than we would like.  Sit and enjoy His Presence.  We will win the prize each time if we just seek His face every moment of each day. 

Reaching for the Prize! 

mama eydie! 

Jesus Calling - Day 32 - February 1, 2015

Last year, before I left for Uganda, I had a few minutes to speak at my church before they commissioned me off in prayer.  One of the things I remember that I said was, “I am going and just following Him one step at a time.”  It was so exciting to watch God work as I truly did just put one foot in front of the other.  The outcome was so much better than anything I could have planned.  

In my previous fast pace life, I was either so busy planning or worrying about what to do, that I did find myself often “stumbling on the easy path.”  I didn’t realize that I was in trouble. Who knew?  It really is all about “Keeping my mind on the present journey, enjoying His Presence, walking by faith, not by sight, trusting Him to open up the way before me.”  When this truth moved from my head to my heart it made all the difference in the world.  

Another song, “He Moves, You Move” by Audio Adrenaline...

“You, you’re scared to take a step, afraid to see what’s next

So you wait ‘til you think it’s safe to move.  You tend to think too much,

You need to open up your heart to see where He is leading

With a lamp just for your feet, a spotlight just for your path

When He moves, you’ve got to move, you know

You’ve got to lose control, let go.  There’s nothing left to hold on to

This life you live is really not your own.  So where He goes you go, you know

He leads and you follow.  He moves, you move.  He moves, you move

He moves, you move.  When He moves, you move

Right now, is all you ever have so forget the past.  And don’t worry about the future

‘Cause He’s the Author of your story,  So let Him take you on the journey of your life

Oh, it starts tonight

So if I move to the right, or I move to the left

Move up north, move down south, the east or the west

No matter how far I go, or if I stay right here

If I’m in the middle of Your will, there’s nothing left to fear.”

HE MOVES, YOU MOVE!! 

mama eydie! 

Jesus Calling - Day 31 - January 31, 2015

I woke up this morning and I began to praise the Lord by listening to music.  

I put on the song, “Everything to Me” by Avalon.  

“But I'll never be the same because He changed my life when He became...  

Everything to me.  He's more than a story.  More than words on a page of history

He is the air that I breathe, the water I thirst for and the ground beneath my feet

Oh He's everything, everything to me”

Then I listened to the song, “Everything” by Andy Chrisman...

“Everyday there's something more to discover about You

Every time my eyes are uncovered I see more of You

Taken back by the depth of love and the echo of Your name

And the way that You never change  

And there's more, and more, and more and more.”  

I was filled with so much joy as I look to this new day that He has planned for me.  Then I read today’s devotion.  I was reminded of the day that I woke up after I had quit my job. I remember all of the mornings that I woke up that led up to that decision.  Mornings that I had that deep pit anxious feeling in the stomach not knowing what to do.  I woke up worrying, scared, sad and discouraged.  Today the contrast between waking up and worrying about the day or trusting that “He has planned out each day and has it ready for me long before I rise out of bed” is life changing!   When we put the Shield of Faith on each day from Ephesians 6, it is not an inanimate piece of armor.  He is always alert and active.   Put the armor on today then march into battle praising the Lord! 

Psalm 28:7 “the Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.”  

Waking up singing songs of Praise!  

mama eydie! 

Jesus Calling - Day 30 - January 30, 2015

Once I recognized that His daily Presence was the key to His peace, everything around me began to fall into place.  The more that I keep my focus on Him, the more the things that used to occupy my mind would fade away.  It truly was as if I was living in bondage...and I didn’t even know it.  Not until I broke free and gave it all over to Him did I truly experience His Peace.  The day I left my job and all the junk behind, I experienced the “peace that passes all understanding.”  To this day, that Peace occupies my day to day life.  It truly is how we can walk through the challenges of this life. 

Think on this phrase, “Whatever occupies your mind the most becomes your god.”  In does chain us down.   The devotional said, “What goes on in your mind is invisible, undetectable to other people.”  While others may not be able to detect what we are actually thinking, it is far from invisible.  It is detectable by our actions.  When we worry it affects every part of who we are.  It does effect our decisions and how we treat others.  

This became so true of my job at the church.  It occupied so much of my time and energy.  I made the church my god rather than focusing on my relationship with the true God.  I didn’t realize how much bondage I was in.  It became easier than I thought because full-time Christian work is suppose to be a good thing, right?  Yet I allowed the “gods” of church to occupy more of my mind than my giving God that time He alone deserved. That is where I found myself in trouble and didn’t know why.

What is it that occupies your mind the most?   Refresh yourself in HIs Presence alone today!  It truly will make a difference! 

Keeping My Eyes on Him! 

mama eydie 

Jesus Calling - Day 29 - January 29, 2015

In the movie, “Finding Nemo,” my favorite character is Dory.  I think it is because I relate to her so well.  Her “short term memory” and how she can so easily be distracted is so me!   I saw a cute photo with Dory at the top and the phrase, “Keep Calm & Nope...Lost It!”  I can do the same thing so often.  I can get so sidetracked that I forget what I was talking about...or I am talking and then all of a sudden I say, “Oh look, there’s a fish!”  

Sometimes I just have to say to myself, FOCUS!  I have experienced this when it comes to my daily life.  When I “bring every captive thought to Him” it truly can change the way I live out my day.  Any time I can become anxious, if I bring it to Him in prayer I will experience His peace.  When traffic on the way to Riverside gets crazy, instead of getting upset at the other drivers, I pray for them.  When I can remember to focus on Him , “confused ideas are untangled while I rest in the simplicity of His Peace.”  When I act like Dory and get distracted by the things that come my way, I take my eyes off Jesus.  Usually this does not work out too well.   The key to His Peace is to keep our FOCUS on Him! 

Dory would say, “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.”  

Keep calm & keep your focus on Him!   Keep calm & keep your focus on Him! 

Smiling! 

mama eydie !

Jesus Calling - Day 28 - January 28. 2015

“People respond to My continual Presence in various ways.  Most Christians accept this teaching as truth but ignore it in their daily living.”  This was true of my own life.  When I accepted Jesus Christ as Savior, I understood that I now have a personal relationship with Him.  His Presence should have made all the difference in the world.  Yet because it is unseen, there were times I lived my life forgetting that He is right there with me in everything that I say or do.  

Then eight years ago, I had that “ah ha” moment.   Little did I know that I was lacking in truly having a DAILY RELATIONSHIP with Him.   As I watched the children in Uganda display this authentic faith in Jesus, I realized something was missing in my walk.  The simplicity of it all was that I just was not spending enough time in daily communication with Him.  The Word began to come alive in my hands!  I started spending more time daily reading and studying His Word.  I spent time talking to Him each day .  Amazing how a relationship can grow when you invest in the relationship! 

The move that Carol made back East has taught us both many valuable lessons.  Living with Carol for 7 weeks while I helped her through the packing and moving process caused us to spend quality time together.  We were given a gift by being able to have so much time daily together.  In the 18 years since I’ve known Carol, this process of her moving has caused us to be closer than ever!  Why?  Because we value our relationship and do everything we can to invest in it.  The more time we spend together, the deeper the friendship becomes.  The time I just spent in Maryland on my way home was precious because we actually had a couple of days to be in each other’s presence. 

How much more exciting is it that Jesus’ Presence is ALWAYS with us!!   He is just waiting to spend that quality time with Him!  Why not spend time with Him today and see for yourself!  I am not sure why I waited so long! 

Experiencing His Peace,

mama eydie