C.O.G.

COG---Most people think of COG as the abbreviation for Center Of Gravity.

Think "source of power." A power that provides moral or physical act. A will to act.

I was so intrigued by COG thoughts during my Wednesday Wordsmith quiet time, I looked up "cog" and even asked hubby to explain it to me.I became a bit more confused. My mind does that a lot lately. But God, in His love and mercy showed me the COG I needed to focus on during this season of my life. "Rouse yourself up and look to God." (MUFHH)

Concentrate on God. "Look unto Him."(Isaiah 45:22)

Motion occurs. Action is transmitted. A smooth interlocking. His Word to my thoughts!

My Utmost for His Highest (1/22) reminded me how difficult it can be to continue to concentrate on God. One must, Narrow all your interests (COG) until the attitude of mind, heart and body is concentrated of Jesus Christ. "Look Unto Me."

The important spiritual COG starts turning the minute one "looks unto Him", turns to Him and builds his/her hope in Him. (Isaiah 45)

GLANCE OR GAZE ON GOOD FRIDAY

Glancing or gazing----It's a choice. 

I know because my journal jottings reminded me this morning!

My Utmost for His Highest Journal has been a go-to devotional for me since 2001!

It might not be neat, though I do use a lot of white-out these days, but it's always "on target" for me.

This morning, I spent a good deal of time gazing into God's word---that's my way to know Jesus Christ and Him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:2) How else can one be aglow with the Spirit? (Romans 12:11, RSV)

Choosing to "Gaze on Him" is the best way to to begin Easter weekend on this "Good Friday" in Texas!

REAL POWER RECONSIDERED

A popular myth is that you can do or have whatever you desire if you work hard enough to achieve that goal.  REALLY!

All who espouse that theory haven't burned our yet or run out of steam yet or hit the wall yet in order to learn that "empowering beliefs and one's own strength are no always enough. NOT to be a naysayer.....but be positive with encouraging words and call that myth what it is----malarkey.

Life happens along the way. sometimes, no matter how how you try things don't work out regardless of all you positive thinking and mantras. 

Don't fritter your life away trying "to do it all" in your own strength.

A Christian's "point of power" is centered around the Lord in an abiding relationship. (John 15)

Note to self---quit striving and allow Him to exert His great power on my behalf, even in my greatest weaknesses.
It's time to reconsider Who is the source of real power and stay plugged in to Him.

INTERCESSORY INTROSPECTION

Nine years ago today----tho it's not Thursday, it is a throwback.
A throwback to the first time I ever heard the word biopsy as it related to me.

But God....now as then, used today's My Utmost for This Highest "Intercessory Introspection," to minister to me.
According to Chambers, the psalmist implies in Psalm 139, many of God's attributes. "God of the early mornings, God of the late at nights, God of the mountain peaks and God of the seas."

Omniscient. Omnipotent. Omnipresent.
"But God goes even beyond that---with further horizons, deeper darkness, higher peaks and greater depths." My last nine years have been a testament to that. Through all the ups and downs, and unexpected bumps in the road, God has been there,

As Chambers states, "Thou who art the God of all of these, be my God." was and still is the prayer of my heart.

Now, as I look back I see the Lord's answer to my request. His omniscience hemmed me in---behind and before, He laid His hand upon me. (Psalm 139:5) Before my diagnosis, throughout my cancer journey and even nine years, later,  His full knowledge of all of me, guides and protects me.

Still His Son is intercessor on behalf of all believers. A deep personal truth worth introspection.

CHOOSE: MINISTRY OF THE INTERIOR

"Ministry of the interior" is Oswald Chambers analogy (in a nutshell) for prayer. (My Utmost for His Highest, 6/20) A most important ministry.
Prayer is what I've needed these last few weeks. A need to intercede for many others (Job 42:10) as well as to pray for myself. Praying for myself seems far harder to do. Certainly I do it less often.

But lately, as a "phrase from the funnies" jolted me, I realized that "no matter where I go, I carry so much in the confines of my head."

That's why, for me, it's so important to have those thoughts be prayerful ones---for both self and others. Remembering to prayerfully take thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5) helps to dispel the worries and fear which so easily consume my "interior."

CHOOSE: PATIENCE

Hard to choose patience when you're harboring Apple Store Angst!

But, choosing patience it is! It is a choice---even if It means  much is lost on my laptop, thereby making blogging on my phone a necessity--though it's very difficult!

My, my---I wrote the above entry around 10:20 this morning. After taking a visiting friend to lunch and the airport, I headed to the Apple Store---just like yesterday but this time I took a book for "the wait."

So....though my choice was made early, I didn't get my "affirmation from above" until I came home and picked up my devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest.

Patience--"the idea of an immensely strong rock withstanding all onslaughts." My day with seemingly "unsolvable" tech problems both local and with on-line tech support, seemed like a great onslaught.

I knew patience was the right choice to begin my day. But God...seemed to give me a "pat on the back" for choosing it.

Choose introspection

Too much introspection, for many, can be more harmful than good. The lower case letters are that reminder for me.
So...I certainly didn't plan a two "cuppa" quiet time.
But God.....had me in a mental, physical and emotional"introspecting" state throughout the day.
But....in fact, it was a spiritual introspection with the other listed factors thrown in for clarity.

It all started this morning when reading my 2009 journal entry for January ninth. that date was the first time I had ever heard the word, biopsy, as it related to me. I had also written that Dr. Schneider said, "It doesn't look like cancer but that's where we start in order to rule it out." Boy, was he wrong! But God wasn't.

Even that day I had read in my devotional, My Utmost for His Highest, on "Intercessory Introspection" and from Psalm 139 that God knows when I sit and rise, what words I will say before I say them---for He is the one who created me. "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Throughout the day I did dwell on so-o-o-o many positives that were a result of my cancer and my roller coaster year of surgery upon surgery to rebuild my face. So many blessings---mainly because I knew that the Lord had answered the prayer I had prayed in 2009, "Lord, if it doesn't matter for eternity, I'd rather "it" not be cancer." How much easier it was to recall that prayer and know that the "CANCER" answer was His answer. God's best for me. It would count for eternity.

As today was winding down, God affirmed my introspection as I picked up a "new" gift. (which is a blog entry in and of itself) My gift, the devotional book, Savor LIVING ABUNDANTLY WHERE YOU ARE AS YOU ARE 's 1/9 entry spoke right to my heart.

"Blessings & Curses" and scripture citation, centered at the top of the page, was contextually about Joseph comforting his brothers who had left him for dead but overall it's a perspective of seeing how God can show good in one's life when situations seem so adverse.
You (cancer diagnosis, in my thinking) "intended to harm me, but God intended it for good." (Genesis 50:10)

The author expounded on the intent of wanting to savor life saying,  "When what you see in front of you is so far outside of what you dreamed, but you have the belief........to call it beautiful instead of calling it wrong, that's celebration."

In hindsight or introspection of said event, I can see my rare MAC cancer as one of the BIGGEST BLESSINGS of my life. An event worth celebrating.

2016: a Year in Review

2016 has been a hard year for many.

Even our nation as a whole has seemed to "suffer" on so many fronts. In fact, thinking back has been more disheartening for me than productive.

Then, I poured my morning cuppa, opened the last page of my devotional book, My Utmost For His Highest and read  Oswald Chamber's answer. (paraphrase is mine)

Anxiety can easily arise from remembering all the yesterdays but as the year ends, one must once again turn with fervor to all that God has in store for her in the future. I need not let my present enjoyment of God's grace be hampered by the memory of my yesterdays with all its blunders and regrets. (sins)

"...But God is the God of our (my) yesterdays..."
"God's hand reaches back to the past and makes a clearing-house for conscience."

Prayer: May God allow my past memories to be an impetus for future spiritual growth as I recall how "insecure"  all of life is, apart from Him. May I not bemoan lost opportunities---remembering "but God," in His love and mercy gave me life in Christ. May I not hastily enter 2017 impulsively or thoughtlessly but may God allow me to let go of my broken, irreversible past.

As  Chambers clearly states it, "Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible future with Him. "

Reviewing 2016 gave me much to ponder.....prior to my "resolve" for 2017.

So, after my review,.....what's my resolve?
Maybe the best resolution is NO resolution---at least no resolution apart from Him.

Personali-TEA : NOT an individual cuppa

That they may be one, even as we are one. 
(John 17:22, KJV)

At our house, in the “kid raising” years, personalities were as unique and diverse as the number in our household. But….that’s the way personalities are. Yet, over the years they have changed for each of us. Some traits seem very similar---along the Liles/Adams bloodline characteristic. Others have emerged with maturity.

Praises for kindness, a trait I see in each of my ”kids,” though it certainly was not learned from me. I was the disciplinarian. I still seem to struggle with kindness---I want things done the right way….at the right time…for the right reason. This tenet needs to be tempered with kindness. So….I pray.

And….I open today’s entry of My Utmost for His Highest. Oswald Chambers delineates the difference between individuality (all elbows, which separates and isolates, 12/11) and personality which, when combined with love or the Spirit of God, transforms.

As we give up ourselves to God, “Love is the overflowing result of one person in true fellowship with another.” (Chambers, 12/12)

Enough said.

Tea with Thee time served me a cuppa “We are one” personali-TEA, to savor throughout my day.

Prac-TEA-cing Thy Presence

Back soon---gone to prac-TEA-ce what I'm preaching (writing).

Found out that it's much easier to type "Prac-TEA-cing Thy Presence" than to actually experience it.
At home, it's quiet and my prayer chair beckons....at the beach, needs of others beckon. AND in many ways, that's a good thing. Like Richard Foster I "honestly fill thee pull of many obligations and try to fulfill them all, " (Freedom of Simplicity e-book p. 347) and describing such actions as trying to live "lives of frantic faithfulness. (Ibid, p. 362)

 It's just hard to sip a cuppa with Him when my mind is elsewhere. Reali-TEA is the cuppa at hand. BUT.....

Oswald Chambers obviously realized this when he penned, "Dependent of God's Presence." (MUFHH, 7/20)
The reality of God's Presence is not dependent on any place, but only dependent upon the determination to set the Lord always before us.

Brother Lawrence certainly experience the Lord each day "among the clatter of his kitchen, while several persons ...at the same time called for different things." His heart was at focused (in great tranquility) on the Lord in the midst of the hubbub as if he were on his knees." (Practice of the Presence of God, p 26)

Taking my cuppa reali-TEA to the 2nd floor balcony---where family can join me---time with family and communion with Him.

"Infideli-TEA!"

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, (Matthew 6:25, NIV)

Infidelity stinks. Whether it's a physical infidelity of a spouse or a breach of loyalty that breaks an emotional relationship with a friend, infidelity takes its toll upon relationships and leaves deep scars. What about spiritual infidelity? 

If we are to "take no thought for our lives" (KJV) doesn't that imply that mapping out our agendas and planning over excessively are a form of spiritual infidelity? According to Oswald Chambers it does. (My Utmost for His Highest, 5/23)

So much forethought can bring undue pressure. (Don't I know that to be true!)

Worrying implies that God can not look after the practical details of our lives. Infidelity can begin with the smallest worries. What to eat. What to drink. What to wear. 

"Look at the birds,....."Matthew 6:26

"Consider the lilies...."(Matthew 6: 28)

But in our own lives we still falter and thus fall into the worry trap. "I will not trust where I cannot see." (Ibid, 5/23)

Worry is infidelity.

Therefore, in obedience to the Spirit, today's blog holds no cuppa because I don't want to drink from a cuppa of infideli-TEA!*


*2:29 pm disclaimer/admission---Woe is me---I had no more gotten up from my prayer chair than I began to "sip" from that cuppa spiritual infideli-TEA. I couldn't find my car keys. Worries flooded in. "What if's" pounded in my ears! I not only sipped it, I swallowed it ----I should have spit it out!

I was headed to "work out" my stress (thru Zumba and a water class) wondering what if I can't get in without my pass, which is "attached" to said keys.

Woe is me who can "type it" but can't "live it"----at least not for sustained periods!

"Invincibili-TEA

"....the joy of the Lord is your strength." (Nehemiah 8:10, KJV)

How grateful I am to Oswald Chambers for serving up a cuppa invincibili-TEA for me today in his My Utmost For His Highest entry. His reminder that the only way to know the strength of God is to give up complaining and take up the yoke of Jesus and "learn from Him." (Matthew 11:29)

We are "burden bearers" with Him. Hopefully others see peace and the joy of the Lord in our lives, for those two emotions are proof positive that a burden is there as well.

The burden that God places on us squeezes the grapes in our lives and produces the wine, but most of us see only the wine and not the burden. .....the Spirit of God within the human spirit, creates that inner invincibility! (My Utmost, 4/14)

Chambers goes on to say, "If your life is producing only a whine, instead of the wine, then ruthlessly kick it out." (My Utmost, 4/14) What a great pithy grabber that is!

Don't you love it?  No whine, just wine.

Want to find the perfect cuppa to begin your day with Him??? Expore your options---you have a choice of accepting "God-placed burden bearing" that will produce the best wine in your life.

A cuppa inner invincibili-TEA is just what one needs to "sip" during a "Tea With Thee" morning time.

Questions and Answers: Fear & Insecurity

2/7/13 Friends and blog readers, concerned about our home break-in/burglary have inquired, "How are you doing?' One that I loved was, "Are you back to sharpening pencils? 

Yes, is the answer. I returned to pencil sharpening.
Hubby provided me with a "handy-dandy" hand held pencil sharpener to use on the go. No electricity needed. Though I do LOVE my oft-used electric one (I'm surprised it still works), it's not always convenient.

During this go-round of battling anxiety, I even included tidying up my tea cabinet---a helpful mindless activity. Like alphabetizing Claudia's pasta. 

Funny how one wants to "do" or "fix" something when life situations are so "disturbing" and totally out of one's control. Mind-numbing activities like pencil sharpening and tea tidying can work for me.....when I am "haunted by apprehension"....until God gets me back in His grip. Why do I ever pull away?

As Oswald Chambers states (My Utmost for His Highest, 11/13) "fear comes from not nourishing ourselves in our faith."

So...after days of anxious thoughts and nights of not night sleeping well:

• Faith nourishing began.....I'm grateful for time at His feet to read and reflect on His Word. (Jeremiah 15:16)
• I'm grateful also to remember that God is not sleeping so I can rest well. (Psalm 121:3)

Thanks for asking.

Dalton Ghetti has taken pencil sharpening to a new level.

Maintenance ???

9/15 12 Saturday’s have become a day for asking questions. No answers given, just questions to provoke thinking. Today’s question is, “Do you maintain a continual watchfulness over your heart?”  “Are there on-going thoughts for which you are ashamed?” (Psalm 19:14)

Oswald Chambers in 9/15 entry of My Utmost for His Highest asks the same type question. “Is there a thought in your heart about anyone that you would not like to be brought into the light?”

Unlike me, he also gives the answer. If so, “renounce” those thoughts immediately. That’s the maintenance required for one to live to the higher standard of God’s calling---of being our utmost for His highest. (My Utmost, 9/15)

Maintenance required. Always for our spiritual growth, maintenance is required.

3X

9/6/12 Three times something is mentioned in the spiritual realm is a real heads-up for me.

After Monday’s blog entry on the idea of fullness of Christ in me overflowing to others, friend Jennifer B. sent me (9/5) this great poster, John 7:38, from a Broken People facebook page. Today’s on-line devotional was on “Rivers of flowing living water.” Thus, the head’s up.

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Broken People FB entry

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https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150876815937255&set=a.379006197254.150030.272936877254&type=1&theater

My notes:

• Such a river is all about the Source….
• If we have received His fullness, “rivers of living water” will flow out of us, reaching in blessing even “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8)
• We have nothing to do with the outflow
• God rarely allows a soul to see the blessing that he is to others
• A persistent river often has to overcome obstacles.
• Keep paying attention to the Source… God can either take you around the obstacle or maybe remove it all together. Wonder if sometimes He leaves it there until we learn the life lesson He has for us?

In conclusion, Oswald Chambers says it perfectly.

Think of the healing and far-reaching rivers developing and nourishing themselves in our souls! God has been opening up wonderful truths to our minds, and every point He has opened up is another indication of the wider power of the river that He will flow through us. If you believe in Jesus, you will find that God has developed and nourished in you mighty, rushing rivers of blessing for others.

http://utmost.org/ 9/6

 His words are often a real heads-up for me!

SABBATH SNAPSHOTS: CONVEYANCES OF GOD'S MESSAGES IN CREATION

3/4/12 "A lily, or a tree, or a servant of God, may convey God’s message to me. What hinders me from hearing is that I am taken up with other things." (My Utmost for His Highest, 2/13 entry) During my first weekend in March walk, I listened to the Lord with my eyes. What a conversation we had!!!

Tulip Poplar, I think?

Forsythia, unfettered and splashing everywhere---the way Mother said they were meant to grow---not clipped like a formal hedge.

Hyacinth---none sweeter
(Berries in background---just another plus for me.)

Bark and berries----I so-o-o love both.

Lenten Roses Smiling---it is Lent.

Lenten Roses Bowing---an appropriate gesture for the season.

Bradford Pears in abundance

New addition to the Dinkelspeil's landscape

Camellia with more blooms than usual it seems. 

ROR = an acronym lesson

2/1/12 In our abbreviated world of texting and e-mailing, acronyms are a way of life. Financiers know that the IPO for FB will result in millions for those young upstarts of the company. NASCAR folks know exactly what those letters stand for, but I don't have a clue. Internet slang has people LOL after their puns---just don't confuse it thinking it means lots of love or you could hurt someone's feelings.

Today's My Utmost for His Highest entry dealt with the "reality of redemption"---ROR in my marginalia. Christ's suffering was a reality that offered redemption for the whole world. ROR> Phonetically did you hear the "roar"? That's the sound of angels in heaven approving and applauding someone's acceptance of the Lord's redeeming grace. AKA the Reality Of Redemption.

He redeemed us through His death on the cross. That's the gospel....condensed.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)  

ROR is what keeps me AGOG---Awed by the Gospel Of God!

SILENCE

8/30/11 As I mentioned in yesterday's blog, silence in conversation makes me a little nervous. My sad admission is that I too often suffer that malady even in my prayer times.

Silence seems to "pile up" as I try to "be still and know that He is God." (Psalm 46:10) Listening is hard. Distraction is easy. Supplication begins to flow, as if I need to jump in and ask, in order to fill the void.

I know that the "asking" is not the entire purpose of prayer. Prayer is so much more than the getting things/answers for ourselves----though I rationalize that mostly I'm asking for others. The purpose of prayer is to get to know God. As Oswald Chambers reminds me, (My Utmost for His Highest, 8/28) "It is not so true that 'prayer changes things' as that prayer changes me."

I need to try to get over trying to alter things externally and allow the silences to alter me internally as I listen for more of Him.

accorDANCE

6/11/11 Assume the postion for accorDANCE---if you want a 3 word answer to most of life's questions, that is! The answers to the questions that matter in life are not, do this or don't do that. Rather, according to Oswald Chambers, the answer lies in 3 words, 'Come unto Me.' (Matthew 11:28) "If I (you) will come to Jesus, my (your) actual life will be brought into my real desires.........and actually find the song of the Lord" (My Utmost for His Highest 6/11 entry)

My way of thinking about that is----if I align my will with His will, His desires will become my desires. In this dance of life, if I want to be lead by the spirit of life, I need to learn the "new" steps of "accorDANCE!

Now it's your turn to think on the implications of that verse in your own life.

SPIRITUAL PLUCK

5/22/11 I have been “in a mood” lately---though not exactly one you would dance to. I feel stretched, tired, and the last three days physically ill with the “crud”---sinus drainage and a persistent cough that is robbing me of much needed sleep. So, quiet times/prayer times have been sketchy at best. If I continue to listen to these moods that are resulting from my physical condition, I’m going to lose my spiritual hold. My pluck. I don’t mean to beat myself up. But……pluck, that part of me that decides to “pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over again,” as Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers dancingly demonstrated in old b & w movies, needs to be active. It’s called discipline.

Moods, at least mine, tend to be rooted in the physical part of my make-up. “Pluck” on the other hand is more of a spiritual/moral condition and is garnered through choice or as an act of my will. “Incarnate pluck” as Oswald Chambers dubs it. (MUFHH, May 21) is the strength that is ours when we abandon all to Him. Too often, my “moods” have me carefully mulling over how I’m going to “fix” things. Thoughtful concern (a euphemism for worry) over the practical details of my life can thwart the work of the Spirit within. “Incarnate pluck.”

I need to practice Matthew 6:25. “Take no thought of your own life,,,,,,,,,,” In my life that takes effort. Bringing every thought captive is hard work. It takes relinquishing. A continual effort not to listen to my “mood-induced” thoughts but to focus on hearing from Him.

Where’ your spiritual pluck? Are you making excuses like I am? Are you listening to the voice of reason or are you listening to the voice of the Spirit within. Maybe we both need to “pluck” up and allow God to control all those details that are so worrisome.