Real or Imitation

1 Corinthians 10:33 reads ..."Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ".  This is the formula for making disciples.  Everyone of us, regardless of our age or our schedule or our family situation or our financial situation should be disciple makers.  If we are livin like the real deal people should want to follow us.
Paul is challenging us here - to walk the way that Jesus did.  Paul was a disciple maker.  He followed Jesus and in turn challenged his followers to follow him:  To live lives not seeking their own well being - but putting the well being of other people in front of their own.  To have every interaction edify or lift up the other person.  How many of us can say that - that every interaction we have leaves the other person being lifted up, loved & supported?  To do everything that we do from brushing our teeth to taking a test to cleaning our rooms to how we treat our brothers and sisters for the Glory of God.  If we are truly disciples isn't this our job?
Paul wanted people to live like the real deal.  Just like Jesus did.  I read this & thought "Wow I've got some work to do".  My thought life still largely centers around me & my wants and needs.  I have interactions that I'm sure don't leave the other person feeling "lifted up". 
Here's the challenge!  Start identifying those things in your life that you really want & start praying for them - for someone else.  Want to really be challenged? - start praying for those things for someone who you don't like.   Spend one week trying to leave every person you talk to feeling better than when you started your conversation.  Say hi to some people you wouldn't normally talk to.  Do an act of kindness for someone every day.  Shock your parents & do something without being asked!  See living like a "real" disciple doesn't have to be about doing big things (although I encourage all of you to dream BIG) - it can be the little things in our life that we do every day that make a BIG difference.  GO & MAKE SOME DISCIPLES!

CHOOSE LIFE!

Deuteronomy 30.  
Verse 16 - ...I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes and His judgments that you may live and multiply and the Lord your God will bless ....

Verse 19 - ...I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life that both you and your descendants may live.

Verse 14 - But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.

Verses 1-3 - Now it shall come to pass when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you and you call them to mind....and you return to the Lord your God and obey His voice....that the Lord your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you....

Obedience Again.  This is old testament stuff.  Full of "you shall" and "you shall nots".  I used to find myself feeling hopeless when I read this stuff because it seemed God wanted me to be impossibly good and I knew I was a sinner.  But look again.  It is clear that God is commanding us to love Him, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments.  He even refers to this choice as choosing life over death (meaning that disobedience will result in death).  How in the world am I supposed to live up to this?  I mess up.  Alot.  He gives me the answer in verse 14 - the WORD.  If I read the Word, speak the Word and have the Word in my heart I CAN walk in His ways.  I can avoid temptation.


But look.  God knew we were going to mess up.  That's where verses 1-3 come in - when we realize we've messed up and we turn back to God and obey His voice he will have compassion on us and bring us back from captivity.  Captivity from what?  The sin or bondage that we have fallen into.


This gives us an amazing look at God's heart.   He made a way out for us.  Why?  Because he loves us so much he doesn't want a single one of us to face death.......so he gives us chance after chance after chance to choose life.

What are you choosing today?  Life?  Death?  Are you trapped today?  God is the way out.  The directions are found in a book we call the Bible.  Crack it open!  Dive in!  You will find life inside its pages!  A life more exciting than your wildest dreams!

The way of Obedience

Deuteronomy 28 & 29. 

Obedience vs. Dis-obedience.  God tells us clearly in these verses that there are tremendous blessings in being obedient to God's word.  There are also huge consequences if we choose not to.  So how obedient am I?  Am I obedient in all areas of my life?  Or are there areas of my life where I know I am doing things contrary to the Word of God?  The Bible is God's word.  All of it.  From the Ten Commandments to the Resurrection to the work of the Holy Spirit.  It all counts.  What are your chances of living a life of obedience if you don't get into His word?   So find that Bible, blow the dust of it & dive in.  The rewards of living a life of obedience will overwhelm you.

Father God I pray for a spirit of obedience.  Reveal to me Father those places in my life that just don't line up with your Word and show me how you would have me change those things about me.  I want to live a life worthy of being called "child of God".  Amen.

I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name. Isaiah 45:3.

God calls me by name. Me. Lori. The creator of the universe took the time to learn my name. To touch my life, my heart. To rescue me from the wrong path that I had chosen. To give me a new beginning. I am HIS treasure. Even on those days I don't feel worthy of being anyone's treasure. Where I see ashes - he sees beauty. Where I see failure - He sees a new beginning. Where I see hurt, pain and rejection - he sees healing.

He has treasures stored for me. Gifts tucked away just for me. As I travel this road and learn who I am and who HE is..........there are gifts along the way. These are treasures he has tucked away just for me. Treasures to be opened and cherished and tucked away inside my heart and then pulled out again and admired.

I wish I could show the world the heart I used to have - full of holes, dirty, thrown away. It looked like one of the rags that disappears out in the garage with my husband never to be allowed back in the house. My old heart had so many holes in it that the wind could just blow through it. I was empty.

Then I would show them the heart I have today. A thing of beauty. There are still some spots here and there, a blemish or two but I know he'll take care of those too. I just have to continue to seek his presence. Look to him to lead me. Follow his example. Do the work he has set in front of me. I need to continue to work on me....HE has promised to make me over in HIS image if I do.

I'm ready. I'm on the diving board. Ready to change and be changed. I know He will catch me. That doesn't make it any less scary when your out there at the edge of the diving board alone. And alone is how you need to stand there.

I'm ready to begin this treasure hunt. I'm ready to discovery the one who made me. Ready to go deeper in His love. Ready to be consumed by His fire.

Face to Face with Me

I am not the person I want to be. I can still be very judgmental & sometimes I have the meanest thoughts pass through my head about other people. I fall into these "depressions" where I am just overwhelmed with a lot of self-hatred. I know that God has better than this for me. Some days I just can't find my way out. I know where to go for my answers yet when these days come I feel like I'm adrift in a small raft in a very big sea and I can't even do those things I know will help - like pick up my Bible or call someone and share the junk I'm hiding inside of me.

Maybe that's the problem - maybe I'm still too worried about what someone will think if I get real about the stuff in my head (and sometimes my heart). This is what I do know - I'd rather get real about it here on earth and have someone think a little less of me than wait until I stand before God and have to account for it then.

Time to expand my accountability list I guess. That's the first step....admit it. I have a problem. I can't handle it alone. I want to change & I know the source of every change I have ever made in my life. God almighty. Only He has the power to deliver me from this. Thus begins the journey of letting Him.......

11 Things I used to Do that I want to do again.

1. Go for walks in the woods and just enjoy the beauty all around me.
2. Buy a new bathing suit. The last one I bought was 18 years ago.
3. Run around the block I live on without having to stop.
4. Read 10 books for pleasure - not for a class or to learn or to improve something.
5. Get set free from my addiction to food.
6. Spend more time telling my husband all the things I appreciate about him - build him up.
7. Spend an entire day in my pajamas watching movies and hanging out with my kids.
8. Spend more time alone with God, listening.
9. Get a manicure.
10. Get a pedicure.
11. Make one new friend.

This list is made up of things I used to enjoy but stopped doing. Stopped because I gave up on myself or felt unworthy or just got too busy to take the time to do them. I'm putting my foot down and getting off the merry-go-round because it doesn't take me anywhere I want to go. Some of these will be easy; others will take some work on my part.

The reason my list is here for anyone to see is because I need accountability or I will give up on myself. This is the beginning of my journey.

Welcome

This is my journey to happy, joyous and free. I'm not the person I used to be but I'm not yet the person I am meant to be either. Between those two points is the journey. My desire is to please God, leave all the baggage of my past behind me and re-discover who I really am. Sometimes the journey is fun; sometimes it hurts. Like clay in the potter's hand I am evolving. Come join me on the path to discovery............