PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!

Practice makes perfect-----or does it?

Does practice influence your life?

Maybe a better question would be, "Are your practices worthy?" 

Heart motives need to be in a positive realm.

Coach Vince Lombardi said, "Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect."

In other words, some training is superior to mere repetition. If wrong practices are repeated, bad actions can become permanent, but not right or necessarily correct! 

Progress in wrong doing is not in any way perfect!

Does practice influence your life the right way?

How do you know?

Make your request be known unto God. Pray for discernment.

Let Him lead.

"Stand firm in the Lord." (Philippians 4:1) The only One who is perfect!

He will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus..... topping it off with His peace. (Philippians 4:7)

GIFTS THAT KEEP ON GIVING!

Fellowship, in an of itself, is a gift that keeps on giving!

Friend WH, who understands better that I, all my age-related maladies has a way of of giving that helps me embrace God's truths and my need for all of them.

Reminders wrapped in an acrostic!

A great focus to remind me to not lose sight of Who God truly is in my life (Psalm 46:10) even when I struggle to set myself aside and choose to surrender to Him! (James 4:7)

Remembering His promises is key! (2 Corinthians 1:20) Yes and Amen.

The outcome allows me to experience peace. His peace. (John 14:27)

A gift of joy in His presence! (Acts 2:28)

True peace regardless of circumstances. 

What a gift!

PEACE! PEACE !! PEACE!!!

So many terms for peace; nouns, verbs, (new to me) phrases; and exclamations.

Just check out Paul David Tripp's terms and phrases in my scribblings!

But.........peace can be  so transitory. Just ask your Ukrainian friends. 

True peace in Scripture passes all understanding. (Philippians 4:7) Christ's peace is the sum total of God's blessings to those in his covenant community. In Christ. (Psalm 29:11) Peace with God through Christ Jesus

Peace is a person, and his name is Jesus. (New Morning Mercies, 2/16)

SNIT, TWIT, OR WRONG SIDE OF THE BED

Have you ever started a day feeling off-kilter. At 2211, in my early years, Mother would say, "Looks like someone got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Lysa TerKeurest said, "I woke up one morning in a twit." Embraced devotional (p. 259)  I, too, as Terkheurst says, am not even sure what a twit is unless one adds a "ter" to it. These day everyone knows what twitter is. 

TerKhurst describes a twit as "all twisted up with irritation sprinkled on top."

To me, that's a snit. I can wake up in a snit. Even a slight traffic delay, computer snafu or 45 minute hold on the phone can throw me into one. 

Regardless of the word choice for irritation/agitation, there's a real "choice" to be made! 

Choose to focus on God and not the "bum circumstance." Pause--inhale, exhale! Then choose.

 

His presence can unleash peace--enough peace for any snit, twit or wrong side of the bed! (Philippians 4:7)

of stillness and storm

What a paradoxical day for dear friend and author, Michèle Phoenix. A day of comings and goings.

As Michèle celebrates the "coming out" of her latest novel today, Of Stillness and Storm, she will be "going into" Central Dupage Hospital for a bilateral mastectomy.

The Amazon reviews on this "release" day have been glowing. As they should be. This gal can write. For those in ministry on foreign fields, Of Stillness and Storm will seem more REALISTIC than fictional. Michèle's words create mental images of the poverty stricken Nepal setting while touching us right in our emotional core as she weaves us through the lives of a missionary family--- Lauren, Sam and their son, Ryan. 

For me there was an intense emotional undertow throughout the story. The beauty of Michèle's prose is that she doesn't use additional adjectives for her words to convey feelings but that she uses the perfect words. Pithy with a punch----the way I like them. It's almost poetic when an author has the ability to say the most with the fewest words.

Of Stillness and Storm is a contemporary read that begins in Katmandu, introducing us to the daily life and hardships of the Nepali people and yet transcends the miles to an America connection via the internet. A juxtaposition of hope and disappointment at almost every turn.

“I felt torn between two worlds. Each with its own mystery. One more captivating than the other, but the other more real and breathing.”  (Michèle Phoenix)

Her reviewers used words and phrases like poignant, heartrending, and "must read." I agree.

A riveting story, the book will keep the reader turning pages long after the acceptable time for lights out. (B. Miller)

Complex characters and a provocative theme---comparing it to reading Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible as Phoenix masterfully plays with the reader's perspective's and emotions as the story unfolds.

(J. Morris)

An absolutely outstanding cautionary tale that is deeply affecting and will linger in reader's minds long after the last page is turned. (K. Branfield)

To me, the title also reflects much of Michèle's life as an MK. Her life has spanned the ocean and travel in third world countries but because of her faith in Jesus Christ she has weathered these storms, being an inspiration for all who know her. "In quietness and trust is her strength." (Isaiah 30:15) 

Even today in the midst of this new "cancer storm,"  Michèle has an aura of peace---a peace that passes understanding. (Philippians 4:7)