Backpacking Through Joshua - wk 4

This week we are reading out of Joshua Chapter 4; but before I stop at camp, I was so excited to read Amber's encouraging comments today about making it to week 4. I know that I have felt pressed against and pulled away from my time in God's Word while doing this study, so it was especially excellent to have that acknowledged and addressed by our head backpacker! Remember - we wrestle not against flesh and blood....take a few moments, get your groove on and remember we serve a mighty God, a powerful and holy God.....




Week 4's Focus - God is Unchanging

So, the Israelites have crossed over the Jordan and God tells them to erect a stone memorial so that this event can be remembered (paraphrase strictly mine) "that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, so that you may fear the Lord your God forever."(Joshua 4:24)

Amber says this in our text, "Sometimes I lose track of my experiences with God's unchanging character and start to do a 'Peter in the middle of the sea who forgot to look at Jesus and started sinking' style panic attack. But when I remember that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow I can weather storms much better." Then she lays it out there....
"I'm looking forward to hearing how you intentionally remember what God has done in your life and how you use that to teach your children or the other people in your life when we reach CAMP."

...intentionally remember....gulp.

It is now Thursday, and I have been unable to post anything, save for 2 worship songs. I have struggled all week with answering this week's questions because I continually draw a blank.

• How do you keep your memories of the Goodness of God alive?
• Do you feel comfortable sharing the things God has done in/through/for/to you with your children? Your friends? Your family? Your coworkers? Why or Why not?

I have been picturing all week the lack of stone memorial in my front yard. The lack of 'Jesusfish' sticker on my car. The lack of Billy Graham style crusades I have led.

And I was all prepared up until just a few minutes ago (after adding a couple more worship videos) to come humbly before you all and admit that I cannot think of one.single.way in which I keep my memories of God's goodness alive, of how I share these memories with my children or those around me and then it hit me.

HELLO WORSHIP!

I SING 4 JOY! *jumps up and down and giggles and claps* I sing all.the.time of God's goodness, His faithfulness, kindness, love, patience, power, greatness. I sing to my children. I sing to my family. I sing to my friends. I sing to my coworkers. I share, with you, the bloggy world, how I am moved by God to repentance, good behavior, forgiveness, loving others, etc, through the music that I share with you.

And so-----without further ado----

W = Worship













Blessings on your day,

Backpacking Through Joshua - wk 3

Here we are in week 3. I had a little more steam this week. Conviction will ^hopefully^ do that for you. I say "conviction" not "guilt".

Focus: God is our leader

M = More to read
Follow God
Week 3 ~ here we are at the banks of the Jordan river "at the time of harvest, when the Jordan overflows all its banks" (Joshua 3:15). God says, ' okay guys, its time to get this done. See that overflowing river? The Levites are going to carry the Ark into that river and stand in it while you all cross to the other side. Get clean. GO!' (paraphrase strictly mine). I'm a visual sort of girl so I wanted to SEE what I am reading about to have an idea of how big their following-faith would have to be. I found this picture of the Jordan River, although I don't think it is yet overflowing its banks.

'Sooo, You want us to step in and then stop? In that river there? And be still? While holding the Ark?' I don't know about any of you, but I have had a couple of unpleasant experiences with being swept away or pulled under by water that otherwise seemed fairly benign and I have a little idea of what it can do. I can already tell you that I would have a really hard time with this instruction. I can feel the fear taking over and causing me to list all the reasons why this is a bad idea.

fol·low

v. fol·lowed, fol·low·ing, fol·lows

To come or go after; proceed behind

To go in the direction of; be guided by

To accept the guidance, command, or leadership of

Aha. This is not God telling the Israelites to go into the Jordan River. This is God telling the Israelites to proceed behind Him, to be guided by Him, to accept the leadership of Him.

Also, let me make this clear ~ this is not ME telling the Israelites to follow ME into the Jordan River. That would be stupid. Plus, I really would be frozen at the banks. We have already established that the God who is leading the Israelites is a God who keeps His promises and is worthy of our trust. The Israelites already know that God can stop a mighty water from flowing because He has already proven it. I suppose I could make the argument that the circumstances of the Israelites' faith in the time of Joshua, and the circumstances of my faith are very different. I do not have God, through a cloud, leading me and I do not have manna showing up daily for me to pick up and eat and I did not SEE the Red Sea parted, blah blah blah. I HAVE however chosen to believe in God and, through His Son Jesus Christ, receive forgiveness of my sins and live in eternal relationship with Him. I believe that God is who He says He is and does and has done what He says He does and has done. Therefore, my faith should be no less equal than that of the Israelites. If God led them, He will lead and is leading me. Now where's that river??

P = Putting it out there

1. Are there some areas in your life in which you allow God to lead more than others?

• Most definitely. To be perfectly and, well, embarrassingly honest, I do not ask God to lead in most areas of my life. Sure, the big stuff I go to Him about. And I do mean, BIG. We're talking crisis level. The rest of the time(and the reason I am in this study) I just.handle.it.myself. ~working on that~

2. Tell of a time you followed God's leading into an unfamiliar territory.

• Several years ago I was asked to pray about taking on the role of Worship Leader for our military women's Bible study. So, I laughed. Then I agreed to pray (although, I really felt that the answer would be a resounding "You are not qualified!"). You know what? I prayed and God said, "You are who I want to be there at this time." (notice the period? end of sentence?) You know what else? I WASN'T qualified. I couldn't even read music OR play an instrument. How does one LEAD worship in these circumstances? You don't. You step aside and let God lead. I heard once that God does not call the equipped but that He equips those whom He calls.
  
• Ps ~ where my journal pages started for week 3, the scripture quote is this, "For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared." Proverbs 3:26
• Thank You God.
  

Worship =

By His hand He leadeth me. Ahhh.





Where You go, I'll go. Where You stay, I'll stay...




Blessings on your day,

Backpacking Through Joshua - wk 2

Well. Here we are in week 2 of our hike through the Old Testament book of Joshua. Can I be real here for a second? Is anyone else already losing steam? I hate this unruly pattern I have of being so, so excited about a Bible study and then, gradually finding more and more things to occupy my time.

So ~ isn't it interesting that this week's focus is about how God is worthy. Worthy of what? Well, specifically in the lesson this week, worthy of my efforts to be a good witness to who He is. And you know what else He is worthy of? He is worthy of my undivided attention. Do you think that God was distracted by facebook when He was creating me? Of course not. Did He take the time every.single.day to feed the Israelites when they were wandering in the wilderness before we picked up their story in Joshua? Yes He did. Did He, knowing full well every sin I would ever do against Him, create a way from the beginning of time for me to be forgiven of those sins that I might be in full relationship with Him. In awe, I say to you, yes He did.

And where does 'your witness' come from? Is it in your countenance (your facial expressions)?. Is it in your tone of voice? Is it in your willingness/unwillingness to forgive others? Is it in your reactions to circumstances? Is it in the way you treat people? Is it in the time/effort you devote to getting to know your God better?

Yes.

Really poking at my heart tonight. What does it say about my God to the outside world that I am caught up on all my friend's statuses on facebook and I have the reigning score on Zumablitz AND Bejeweled Blitz, but I cannot even list all of the books of the Bible? Not because I have tried and lack the memory skills mind you, but because I have barely tried and then moved on to other things. Don't get me wrong, this is, by no means, a post about the evils of facebook, blogging, tv or whatever else. Nor is this me shaking my finger at you because, you also cannot list the 66 books of the Bible because you have the reigning score at a game I have not played against you :). (Or maybe you can) But I do have to ask the very real question of what of ME is my God worthy of? Answer = everything. Next question = Would people, through knowing me, believe that my God is worthy, like Rahab did, of turning from everything they have grown up doing and believing and rest their very survival in Him? I can't answer that question. But I can say this...I wish that is true.

Wishing is not enough.

Is our witness important? Fo shizzle. Are we always going to get it right? Of course not ~ there is no one perfect. Not one.
But being a sinner is not an excuse. We still have to try.

Geez. Did I even address this week's questions?

Worship =
In addition to You Are My God, which I posted at the beginning of the week, take some time to ponder this song...

You Are My God

Got the material for Backpacking Through Joshua week 2 and the focus for this week is "God is worthy"

Get your praise on backpackers! (And any one else who wants to praise too!)

Blessings on your day,

Backpacking Through Joshua (C)

(P.S. ~ I started writing this post last week.) Today is an exciting day. A good friend of mine heard the heartbeat of her little bundle today. She is an amazing woman and you would be blessed to be friends with her. Some of you are. :) You can get to know her here, where she is Standing On Hope.

Also, today I embark on a Backpacking adventure with a huge group of women. So huge, in fact, that we had to be divided into smaller groups. I am in the Red Group. Go Big Red!!




Some of these women I have never met, which is okay because our leader, (I would say fearless, but I won't because she is not, but she IS faithful) is my BFF, and more importantly our mighty and patient and faithful God is at the helm.


You might not know this about me, but I like tools. And sometimes, accessories. Here are my supplies for Joshua...



There are four components to Backpacking Through Joshua...

C = Commentary (This is where the author speaks a bit about the material we will cover that week)
A = Asking God (This is where we ask God ~ in our quiet/prayer time ~ specific questions about where we are and how we can improve)
M = More To read (Further study)
P = Putting It Out There (Answering group questions with the group)



M = More To Read

I decided to do a word study on Faithful, as it pertains to the faithfulness God has shown, not the faithfulness I/people have shown.
I didn't get very far in the breakdown of the word from the Hebrew, etc etc but as I was researching this, I heard a sermon referring to Joshua 1:8 - specifically where God talks about meditating on the Word, ~let it never leave your lips~ and it struck me that right here, in the very first chapter of our study, God is repeating a command that so many of us in the study have admitted to failing at; being in the Word, meditating, studying, sharing. To me that shouted of God's faithfulness when He says, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" and personal knowledge of me (and all of His children). It's as though He said, "Yes, you do struggle with this, and yes I know it. And right here, in the study that I have brought you to, we will address it." God even felt it necessary to remind Joshua to keep His Word in his mouth and mutter it (meditate) day and night. Joshua had already proven himself faithful to God's commands and God STILL reminded even him. (That makes me feel like less of a dolt and, somehow, more motivated to do better.)

P = Putting it out there

1. What made you decide to join this adventure? There are lots of factors I could list ~

• I know the author,
  
• I am not currently in a group study,
  
• I need to do more studying in the Old Testament,
• Lots of my friends are doing it,
  

and they would all be true. However, the bottom line is that the Holy Spirit has been seeking me on the issue of making decisions based on my own knowledge, out of my own understanding and reasoning, rather than my knowledge of God and His character and commands. Amber addressed this issue IN THE INTRODUCTION of this study. So there you go. God reading my mail again. What do you hope will come from the study? Less of me. More of God.

2. In what ways have you found God to be faithful recently? read here

I have decided that I am going to add one more component to my study each week (without author permission or approval) :) and that will be

W = Worship (I will post for my benefit and yours a song that goes with the week's study)
Today is a song called He's Always Been Faithful by Sara Groves. (Thank you AR for teaching me this song!)

New Day

Blessings on your day,

S4J & His Girl- Caught in the Act Edition

Find the VLOG here

Worship In The Waiting

Waiting. My.very.favorite.thing.to.do

or not.

We've all been there. Waiting for answers from the doctor, waiting for our insurance to approve a referral, waiting for that special someone to propose, waiting for our spouse to come home from far away lands, waiting to know if we got the job, waiting for our kids to move out. eh hem. You get the point.

I've been doing a lot of waiting in recent days, and in all honesty - I am ALWAYS waiting for something. Whenever the circumstance of having to wait arises my first response is an audible sigh of impatience and my toe starts tapping.

I had an "AHA" moment today. Another one of those times where a commonly used scripture moves (in my mind) from the 'placation' category to the 'THAT'S God's plan and it is good' category.

Today that scripture is Isaiah 40:31:

Yet those who wait for the Lord
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary. (NASB)

The Message Paraphrase begins its emphasis on this verse
in verse 27

Isaiah 40:27-31
Why would you ever complain, O Jacob,
or, whine, Israel, saying,
"God has lost track of me.
He doesn't care what happens to me"?
Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening?
God doesn't come and go. God lasts.
He's Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath.
And he knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
gives fresh strength to dropouts.
For even young people tire and drop out,
young folk in their prime stumble and fall.
But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don't get tired,
they walk and don't lag behind.



Hm. Why would you ever complain? Can I tell you that I am not now, suddenly happy to be waiting for the things which I am waiting for (With the exception of GGG's wedding cause the anticipation of that absolutely wonderful event is like electricty! - but it sure wasn't fun waiting for the proposal. just sayin.) However I am purposing today, this moment that I will worship IN the waiting because I know that God is good and His timeline, His plans, His will are perfect. He can and does do far better than I can ask or imagine, and more to the point - He can and does do far better than I can do myself. "Knowing this, S4J - why would you ever complain?" I will work to rejoice when God says, "Wait."

And to that end, I am posting this video of a song that makes the idea of waiting feel good and right - and I am making a 'waiting' playlist on my ipod. Another thing I know about God is that He doesn't leave us without tools to do the things He asks us to do. I challenge you today to find as many uplifting and/or godly songs about waiting and bind them together in a way that will see you through and encourage you in the waiting.

In fact, leave the titles in the comments so I can add them to My playlist too!



Blessings on your day,

The Remedy

So Good To Me

Today I have the honor of wishing my husband a happy 37th Birthday. God has blessed me with a wonderful man with which to share my life. He's been so, so good to me.

The Climb

I loved this song from the first time I heard it in the Hannah Montana movie. What? I have girls.
N E WAY....

When we were up visiting our daughter, we were all in the car returning from our family photo session at The Picture People (whom I love) and my 13 year old daughter was singing along to this on her iPod and the other two joined in. Then my 17 year old played it on her phone so everyone could hear and there they were all singing along. It was such an easy and peaceful slice of time. So I cried. Those moments have been few and far between in these last years and it was such a beautiful gift.

Thank You Lord.

That's Why We Praise Him

He Knows My Name

Have you ever had a friend like HisGirl?!
As she said, I have been recovering from very minor surgery to my right hand that has had rather intense recovery and left me basically useless for 2 weeks. Surprisingly enough,(that was sarcasm) I took sick the very afternoon that I had been holding twin babies. Sunday morning I woke up for church and literally could not open my eyes because they were bound shut from my cold. Bleck!(seems like I am always sick or injured or BOTH). I wanted to share this song with you because it speaks to my life and the Rock that I stand on.



Whatever my life was, is, or will be, I know I AM just fine. He knows my name.

Lighten Up, Will Ya?

Irony Pie And Vestiges Of Christmas Music

As you may recall, irony visits me often. It is a regular companion to me. Here's an example:
Just the other day I said to my friend Jenn, "I don't read your recipe blog because I don't like to cook, but maybe you could publish it cookbook style for your kids."

And then, today, I went to 2 different stores about 30 miles apart to find whole Allspice and Kitchen Bouquet for a recipe I wanted to try. Open mouth, insert foot. The honest truth is that I DON'T like to cook. But I do have a family who needs to be fed, and we do have a need for healthier meals with fresher ingredients. Hence, I read my cookbooks(which were all gifts) and find recipes that require things that half the world has never even heard of. Whatever. It was a recipe for "Lip smackin' chicken", and it turned out fine. If you're really that interested - leave me a comment and I'll email you the recipe.

Anyway, when we try recipes out of a cookbook, we try to rate it in the cookbook so we know for next time whether to bother with it or not. And as I was thinking about that this evening, I thought - you know, my family is pretty particular about their likes and dislikes and it would be way easier for me if all the stuff WE like were in ONE book. That thought took me back to Jenn and the cookbook for posterity idea. SO - I decided that I would put together one for our family and when each kid moves out, I will give them one so that they can have the recipes for their favorite meals altogether in one place. Maybe I'll include lovey quotes and beautiful S4J photography as well. Who knows? Perhaps there will even be a recipe for Irony Pie in there. Don't go getting all 'crazy' thinking that I am endeavoring on this huge cookbook scheme or anything like that, and NO I am not starting a recipe blog. I had already downloaded the Blurb software for my New Year gift which STILL no one has gotten for me, and I just opened a file for the cookbook. As I care to pass the time with it, I will enter a recipe into it. Then, when it is time - I will have it printed.

Tomorrow I am singing a special at first service. Our first service Worship Leader requested that we get in the last vestiges of Christmas music, so I chose a truly lovely song that I heard for the first time about a month ago called Christmas Lullaby (Lead You Home) by Amy Grant which I have posted for you below. Imagine me as that skinny blond girl (minus the foreign choir, the duet partner, and the live musicians) and you pretty much know what I will sound like and look like in the morning.

In Christ Alone

You're Still The One

To an imperfect husband from an imperfect wife...
Thank you for being my love, my partner, my friend, my cohort, my caretaker, my hero, the one who stood together with me for these last 13 years. I love you.
Happy Anniversary Honey Oat Bran.

More Than A Friend

Uncreated One

It Is Well With My Soul

In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You, Lord, alone make me dwell in safety and confident trust.
Psalm 4:8

Tomorrow I will share the results of my visit to the doctor.