stretching

Yes....yes, LORD....I'm sometimes amazed how continual reminders are encouraging to me- even though at times, I'm like- are You serious? I'm surrounded by the word wait.

So, I'm trying to be faithful in my stretching, but sometimes it hurts and can be painful.......

Tenderness

This morning I have to proclaim the excellencies of my God. It is so true that when we draw near to God He draws near to us. His tenderness is like no other. So I don't necessarily believe in Bible rush and roulette, but it seems like He's been directing my hands as I open His Word- ministering to me. I'm so thankful for Him. Psalm 59:14-16 "God in His lovingkindness will meet me;
God will let me look triumphantly upon my foes. Do not slay them, or my people will forget; Scatter them by Your power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield.

But as for me, I shall sing of Your strength;
Yes, I shall joyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the morning,
For You have been my stronghold
And a refuge in the day of my distress.
17 O my strength, I will sing praises to You;
For God is my stronghold, the God[24][Lit God of my lovingkindness- I like this! ] who shows me lovingkindness.

Yes- be my stronghold- I want more of Your lovingkindness. May you be encouraged by His lovingkindness as He has encouraged and will encourage me. I praise You Abba!
Jeremiah 32:17

One more thought....so, I love how old songs will pop into my head. I think I sang this old hymn in my church growing up....love the words.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!
Thou art the Potter, I am the clay.
Mold me and make me after Thy will,
While I am waiting, yielded and still.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Search me and try me, Master, today!
Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now,
As in Thy presence humbly I bow.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Wounded and weary, help me, I pray!
Power, all power, surely is Thine!
Touch me and heal me, Savior divine.
Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way!

Hold o’er my being absolute sway!
Fill with Thy Spirit till all shall see
Christ only, always, living in me.

Decreasing for His Purpose- today from My Utmost for His Highest

Wow- this is some good truth......

If you become a necessity to someone else’s life, you are out of God’s will. As a servant, your primary responsibility is to be a "friend of the bridegroom" (John 3:29 ). When you see a person who is close to grasping the claims of Jesus Christ, you know that your influence has been used in the right direction. And when you begin to see that person in the middle of a difficult and painful struggle, don’t try to prevent it, but pray that his difficulty will grow even ten times stronger, until no power on earth or in hell could hold him away from Jesus Christ. Over and over again, we try to be amateur providences in someone’s life. We are indeed amateurs, coming in and actually preventing God’s will and saying, "This person should not have to experience this difficulty." Instead of being friends of the Bridegroom, our sympathy gets in the way. One day that person will say to us, "You are a thief; you stole my desire to follow Jesus, and because of you I lost sight of Him."

Beware of rejoicing with someone over the wrong thing, but always look to rejoice over the right thing. ". . . the friend of the bridegroom . . . rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease" ( John 3:29-30 ). This was spoken with joy, not with sadness-at last they were to see the Bridegroom! And John said this was his joy. It represents a stepping aside, an absolute removal of the servant, never to be thought of again.

Listen intently with your entire being until you hear the Bridegroom’s voice in the life of another person. And never give any thought to what devastation, difficulties, or sickness it will bring. Just rejoice with godly excitement that His voice has been heard. You may often have to watch Jesus Christ wreck a life before He saves it (see Matthew 10:34 ).

Easter; Resurrection Day

Ahhh....what a blessed day- although now I'm ready for some shut eye :) What an awesome God I serve- truly; that is truth! I'm so thankful for a God who can show love in no greater way- Jesus laying down His life for His friends. The huge number of people that he bore our sins- across the generations and the generations to come and that could not keep my Victorous Lord down- no way jose! That I may know Him and His resurrection power and the fellowship of His sufferings. Today we talked about the cross at church. I have found myself guilty of not wanting to go through pain, of not taking up my cross daily. But my God gives me grace- as I humble myself and ask Him for help He gives me His enabling power (grace). I do want to be found in Him! Lately I've been envisioning a vitamin- one of those gel vitamins! I want Jesus to be the outside coating, to be covered by Him! And Lord- use me like a vitamin- bringing health to others! More thoughts to come......

Lessons from a hamstring...who would have thought?!!

Seriously- I have to chuckle at my Lord teaching me so much from this hamstring of mine. First though- I have praises of my Jesus! Jesus- thank You that You chose to lay down your life in love- thank You for Your passion for us. I am thankful; I am grateful; I am humbled; I am tearful. Thank You. Praises that I got to attend the Good Friday service with my parents- which was really good. We were admonished about truth- that truth at times does bring pain, but it is good and it does set us free. Jesus You are truth! Things can be true, but that doesn't mean they are truth. Good stuff. Then I had a wonderful lunch outing with my brother at McDonalds. I loved it- and he admonished his big sis- which I was suprised about, but truly blessed. Thank you Mark. God is working in my brother's life- praise the Lord- Mark listened and heeded the Holy Spirit- yeah! Like I said I was extremely blessed by it. Then I headed to St. Paris- where I love God's reminders that He is a good provider, when you least expect it! So a couple days ago I got a phone call from my dad saying that the bank in St. Paris said I had two checks from interest from a CD from four years ago. It was $20- but what a suprise! Then I stopped at my grandma's and truly had a wonderful time talking about all the ways God has blessed us. We are blessed to trust Him. God does inhabit the praises of His people!

So as I'm at my grandma's my hamstring starts hurting- well, aching majorly. Have you ever worked out and then bam- the next day, or if you're like me- it's two days after it hurts like the dickens. Ok- where does that phrase come from? Hopefully that's appropriate- it just came to my head. Back to topic....ha, ha..... so I was thinking about why my hamy was aching. Well, on Wed I had my second physical therapy appointment. My hips were in better alignment, she observed me running- no overt problems and then she had me do exercises. Well, I was on this nautilus machine laying on my belly lifting this bar up with the backs of my legs- then I was to isolate the right leg and lower the bar down. Three sets of 10. Wasn't quite thinking clearly- as when I go to the Y- the most I do of anything is 2 sets of 10 and I never isolated one leg. So, today I'm paying the price. I was thinking how does this correlate to what God is teaching me. Waiting. So when we plunge in too fast and don't wait for the LORD- we're not ready, we don't know how to handle it- and it's too much, it's not healthy- and man, my body doesn't function the way it should as I'm limping. It's hard for us to wait. I was reminded as well as I was driving home- I was at the intersection of two St. Rts and I wanted to get home. Well, here comes this semi and I thought if I didn't wait for this semi- bam- it would be deadly. Of course I could go when the coast was clear- there is a time to go. So, Lord teach us Your kids how to wait- when to go- counsel us and guide us. I loved it today as I read- yes, when I acknowledge the LORD (in every situation) and He will guide my path. I acknowledge You oh God! I love You!

Simply Amazing

Ahhh my Lord is simply amazing. I love the little things He does as well as the big things. Today I'm drying my hair and praise the Holy Spirit that at 11:49 He reminded me that I had a 12:15 dentist appointment. Double time- I scarfed down some food and of course brushed my teeth. Arriving at 12:16, I sat down and started to read Good Housekeeping. I turn to this page where they were talking about good health. The first article was about oil- and how healthy extra virgin oil is- that it prevents clotting so in essence decreasing your chance for a heart attack or stroke. I thought about how God chooses to use oil for anointing. Oil is thick and healing. mmmm. Then seriously, seriously, one more time seriously!!!!!!!!! right on the same page was an article about stretching- I start chuckling out loud. The importance of stretching is that it only provides limberness but strength! Yes, LORD! This morning with my time with Him- we read Hosea 12:6- Therefore, return to your God, Observe kindness and justice, And wait for your God continually. Again this word continually denotes stretching- makes me flexible and strong as I wait. In the process- I can observe my God's kindness and justice which enables me to wait patiently. Ahhh yes. Then God just wanted to give me one more entertainment piece....I'm watching the TV in the waiting room and I see this commercial from Hanes with Michael Jordan- I really wasn't paying attention, but all of a sudden this girl starts saying, "Noooooo" in this real deep voice, which reminded me of the first youth video. Have you seen it yet? Here it is:
God is a trip!

God's Amazing Time

God's timing is amazing. Why, oh why Lynn do you fret? I feel like Jesus is the one talking to me- oh, you of little faith. I am saddened how I don't trust my Savior, when that is the very essence of His character- is trustworthy. His timing amazes me. So I have to talk about my first phyiscal therapy appt yesterday. When I initially scheduled it, it was to ensure that the ankle I sprained back in August would be ready for the half marathon in May. Well, after scheduling my appt- I had pulled my hamstring pretty good. I hadn't run for over a week allowing it to heal. Yesterday was my first day to run in awhile and I pulled it again- but perfect timing as I headed to my PT visit. What they found out is that my hips are out of alignment! Amazing. She manipulated my hips, gave me some exercises, and guess what- I'm stretching 5-6 times a day. I'm excited to write more about stretching and what the Lord will teach me through this! Thank You my Lord for Your super kindness towards me~!!! I'm so grateful- I love You!

At church

A Volcano

"Let the glory of the Lord rise among us...let the praises of the King rise among us....let the joy of the Lord rise among us...." singing this today- I envisioned a volcano- oh yes Lord- may Your Spirit rise up in us in a powerful way- spreading...our God is a consuming fire.






A Kite

Today sitting in my chair at church I was focusing on the cross and the Holy Spirit gave me the vision of a kite- that through the cross of Christ we soar- Holy Spirit breathe on me- send Your wind and guide me that I may effortless soar with you!!!!!!

One Word

Relax.

God's Total Surrender to Us

This is today's excerpt from My Utmost for His Highest.
Yes- Lord- this is where I am...more accurately where I want to be....grace.....grace...and more grace.....

Salvation does not mean merely deliverance from sin or the experience of personal holiness. The salvation which comes from God means being completely delivered from myself, and being placed into perfect union with Him. When I think of my salvation experience, I think of being delivered from sin and gaining personal holiness. But salvation is so much more! It means that the Spirit of God has brought me into intimate contact with the true Person of God Himself. And as I am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself.

To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification is to miss the main point. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:2 ). The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is actually part of the effect of His wonderful and total surrender to us.

If we are truly surrendered, we will never be aware of our own efforts to remain surrendered. Our entire life will be consumed with the One to whom we surrender. Beware of talking about surrender if you know nothing about it. In fact, you will never know anything about it until you understand that John 3:16 means that God completely and absolutely gave Himself to us. In our surrender, we must give ourselves to God in the same way He gave Himself for us— totally, unconditionally, and without reservation. The consequences and circumstances resulting from our surrender will never even enter our mind, because our life will be totally consumed with Him.

Everywhere...waiting

Ha- I can't get over my God- I term this in a good way. This is going to be a very short entry- but looking at my myspace layout, which I've had for a couple of months- I've just noticed the entitlement: Waiting for the Light- Elohim, Truly you make me smile :)

Stretching & Resting & Waiting

So, for you faithful readers, thanks to the snow I am on a roll again on my blog writing! Yesterday I was able to leave work one hour early, so off to the YMCA I went to get my running in. Approaching the door, what do I see but a sign saying the Y will be closing early and will be closed all of Saturday. According to my running schedule, Saturday was to be my 9 mile run day. So, I thought- okay, Lord, today will be the 9 mile day, or so I thought..... I start my run out on the treadmill, not the dreadmill as my pastor calls it- ha,ha. After mile 5 all of a sudden my knee felt a little weird and then a shooting pain ran down my right leg. Oh, yes, I recognized that area: my hamstring! I am very tight when it comes to my hamstring. I am a determined one and tried to continue to run some, but there really was no way. So I got off and strecthed. Due to my past ankle injuries I know the importance of rest! My nature wants to keep going- I don't want to lose progress, but the reality is I need to wait for healing.

Hosea 12:6 states "Therefore return to your God, observe kindness and justice and wait on your God continually." So I love looking up words in the Hebrew- check out the rich meaning of these words!!! Wait: to bind together (perhaps by twisting) to expect, gather, look, patiently, tarry, wait (for, on, upon)
Continually: from a root meaning to stretch, continuance, constant, the regular (daily) sacrifice- alway (s), continual (employment), daily, ever, perpetual
Wow- STRETCH

Then as I arrived home what is waiting for me but my newest addition of Runner's World. Guess what was in this issue? Injury Free 5 Fixes for Bad Running Habits. Intrigued I open it up and read this very enlightening information! Here it is: "Your muscles get the most befit from strecthing postrun. Ideally, you'd tack on a 15-minute flexibility routine to your workout...'You're not hurting your workout- you're enhancing it'..'the benefits of stretching will do your body more good than could be done by running that mile.' Wow- the importance of stretching....the importance of waiting CONTINUALLY!

Here's some more info from a runner's world website: When runners take on a training program, they focus on building endurance and speed. Improving their flexibility never seems to make it into the game plan. Yet, a flexible body is more efficient, sees more gains in strength and endurance, enjoys more range of motion, is less injury-prone, recovers more quickly, and simply feels better. When we stretch or lengthen our muscles, the area strecthed will fill with blood and oxygen, which repatterns the neurological pathways, restores muscles that have become torn, and realigns postural imbalances.

Yes LORD- truly help me to stretch, rest and wait spiritually and physically!
Isaiah 40:28-31

ice ice baby....doo doo doodoo doo do do do

Well, if you live around the Miami Valley you may have experienced the ice that came down and decided to stay awhile. Ice can be beautiful, but quite dangerous! So I was thinking about ice and what makes it pretty, because what they term "black ice" is not pretty b/c you can't even see it and then bam you're down. What makes the ice pretty is the light that shines on it! But, ice also causes damage- I heard many stories of trees and limbs that were breaking because of the weight of the ice. So, I then started thinking about our hearts. There is a verse in the Bible that says- today, if you hear His Voice, do not harden Your heart. I was thinking that when we go our own way and don't listen to God we harden- just like the ice- and we become weighty; brokeness occurs. Pride comes before a fall. But when the light comes and shines and warms the ice, beauty comes. Just like Jesus, who is the Light of the world, His loves warms our heart. And as I witnessed yesterday- shards of ice hit the ground from the warmth- the light, Jesus, creates beauty in our life.

Amazing Grace

Last night I watched Amazing Grace, the life story of William Wilberfoce. Living in Ohio I knew of Wilberfoce University, but sad to say I didn't know anything about William Wilberfoce. How appropriate that I watched this movie last night as I feel like God is teaching me about grace. His grace is SO sufficient! He's been teaching me- Lynn, do you believe in my grace and rely on my grace? In the past I didn't actively believe in God's provision of His grace as I ended up relying on my own strength. Sunday, I asked for His grace- and I'm thankful I can come to my God for any reason- big or small! This weekend I helped with a sexual purity retreat. I do get excited to think that people committed their lives to be pure sexually- that God has good intentions for waiting! That was communicated well this weekend. So I got back on Saturday and had three high school girls for an overnighter. So, needless to say, Lynn didn't get a ton of sleep over the weekend- and since I'm following Runner's World half marathon training I was scheduled for my 8 mile run on Sunday. I had never run more than 6.2 miles before. So, at church I asked for prayer for grace to run (and for the next two months with my schedule)- because I know my body- that when I get little sleep and push myself physically my immune system will run down. When asking for prayer- I was asked do you believe? How appropriate. God's grace: SUFFICIENT! I felt good after my run and am well- praise the LORD- that is His grace: unmerited favor- divine influence straight from His good Hand! So- in the grand scheme of life that is little compared to what John Newton faced. He is the man that wrote the song Amazing Grace as he was in charge of a slave ship. Watching the movie, you could see how hurt this man was as he was part of people undergoing slavery. Grace- God gave him/me/us grace- a free gift- as He forgave us through His Son through faith- I'm getting excited about all of these correlations between faith and grace! Yeah Jesus! Please Lord increase our faith- we believe help our disbelief! I praise You for Your amazing grace- the grace that covers our sin, our mistakes- and even goes beyond that- to make changes- Your sanctifying grace. You bring Your children out of slavery of sin, to the freedom in Your beautiful Son- that's amazing grace!