Showing posts with label heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label heart. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

An Update On My Heart

My one word for 2013 is heart.  I want a heart that mirrors God.  When people look at me, what do they see?  Do they see Jesus?

Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus did.
1 John 2:6

If we claim to be a Christian, we need to act like it.  Our heart needs to look like Jesus.  Our actions need to be Christ-like. Our words need to be uplifting.

Right now my focus is my words.  Are my words lifting others up?  Do they encourage others?  Do they bring life, love and laughter?  Do the challenge others to see Jesus.  Or are my words hurting others?  Do they bring pain?  Do they cut deep?

I want my words to bring life.  I want them to bring truth.  I want my words to point others to Jesus.

My favorite song right now is Hawk Nelson, Words.  Read some of these lyrics:

Let my words be life
Let my words be truth
I don't wanna say a word
Unless it points the world back to You
...
Words can build us up
Words can break us down
Start a fire in our hearts or
Put it out

If my words do not bring life and truth, do I really need to speak them?  Just as the song says, words can start a fire in our hearts, or they can put one out.    

My words are not always uplifting.  Especially at home.  I get tired.  I get sick of chasing runaway dogs.  I get sick of attitudes.  I get moody.  My family deserves my words to be life.  They need my words to be life.

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, 
and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. 
For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.  
Luke 6:45

I will continue working on my words.  Continue to strive to have a heart like Jesus, and for my words to reflect that.



Do you struggle in this area?  Is it hard for your words to be uplifting?

What is your one word for 2013?  Are you still working on it?






Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Two Week Heart Update

We are two weeks in to the new year.  Two weeks in to focusing on my heart.


This is about the week that most new year's resolutions fly out the window.  The time when a lot of people just give up.  We fail once and think it's over, why keep trying.  However, we need to persevere.  We need to, as the saying goes, get back on the horse!

This year I chose the word heart to be my focus.  I want a heart that mirrors God's.  How am I doing so far, two weeks in?  There are days when I can see that I am mirroring my Father.  And there are days I can clearly see I am not.

Last Wednesday at church, God spoke to me.  He was giving me a message, a message to share with my church.  I desperately want to shrink back and not share it.  It is easy to talk to the kids in our children's ministry.  It is easy to talk to you through this computer screen.  But put me in front of a room full of adults and well, it isn't pretty.  But when I think about Jesus, He didn't shrink back.  He was bold.  He went about sharing His message with everyone.  He was obedient when the Father sent Him to the cross.  If I want a heart that mirrors Him, I am going to have to share this message.  {I have said yes to Him so now please say a prayer for me as I speak this week?}

When I am driving, that is when I seem to struggle the most.  I am a very slow driver.  My family tells me I drive like I am 85 years old.  {smiles}  Driving is not my favorite thing to do at all.  I do not like rude drivers that think it is okay to cut people off, speed ridiculously, or disobey other traffic laws.  I do not like drivers that think they need to get very close behind and 'push' me along.  I do not like the careless drivers around me.  I take my family out on the road and I shouldn't have to fear for our lives because the car driving next to me will not put down their cell phone or mascara tube.  So when I am driving I tend to be a little...ah hem...rude.  If I see a person driving careless I will yell, and no they cannot hear me, I know this.  This is an area that I am learning, slowly mind you, to turn over to God.  I want to mirror Him in all things and if God were down here driving I am not sure He would be yelling at the car riding His bumper or the car flying past twenty miles over the speed limit.

I want a heart like Jesus and it is taking time, I am thankful I still have fifty more weeks to focus on this.  {smiles}

How about you?  Does your heart look like God's?  Where do you struggle to look like Him?



Review:
Have you ever wondered if God knows the details of your life? If He really cares?  In the new Christian fiction, Love's Memory: The Scott's of Mountain Ridge book one, as you journey with Manny and Valerie, you see how God is there and how He cares.  The Scott's go through changes and hardships in life that could make or break them.  It is a beautiful story of love and learning to trust in God.

I love reading Christian fiction.  I am always thrilled to find books that are wholesome and encouraging.  Books filled with Christian witness and scripture.  Author Shannon O'Donnell gives us just that in Love's Memory: The Scott's of Mountain Ridge book one.  Join Shannon today for a Virtual Book Launch Party!  Prizes, party favors, and lots of free stuff!  Click here to join the party.






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