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“Are You Aligned Or Do You Need To Adjust?”

Have you ever planned your day?  You have everything lined up exactly in a way that should make everything go smoothly.  But then things start happening and your day is falling apart.  It can be so frustrating.  It may be so disastrous that you don’t even want to start another day.

I work at a print shop and run the digital.  We often have a two-sided card, flyer, postcard, etc. to print.  Most of the paper I run is too heavy to duplex.  Besides, it takes longer to print when you duplex.  So I run one side at a time.  Now when you are setting up for printing it is very important that you have a gutter and crop marks.  This makes it a lot easier for the guys that have to cut things out.  We may be printing a sheet of business cards 20 up on a sheet and they need to have the marks to know where to cut.

Once I am done printing the first side I take the paper and replace it back in the drawer for printing the second side.  You start by printing one so you can check to make sure you put the paper incorrectly.  You don’t want the picture on the second side to be upside down.  On the most part I know, now, how to put the paper in so it is rarely put in the wrong.  There are exceptions when designs are out of the ordinary.

The other thing that I am looking for is to see if my gutter and crop marks are aligned.  I take a utility knife and cut the crop mark on the front and look at the back and see if it came through at the crop mark on the back.  If not there is a problem.  If I sent it back for the guys to cut without it being aligned right there would be things cut off the back side that should not be cut off.  It may cut off words, pictures, logos, etc and it would not be acceptable to the client.

If my crop marks are not aligned I have to go onto my computer and make some adjustments until they are perfectly aligned.

It made me start to think about our spiritual lives.  We need to be aligned with God.  I picture myself on one side of the picture and Jesus and His Word on the other side.  The gutter and crop marks need to be aligned.  If they are not then I need to do some adjusting in my life.  When I am adjusting the alignment in the print shop sometimes it takes a couple or more times to get it just right.  I think in our spiritual walk it is the same way.  We do some adjusting in our lives thinking that we are aligned but then we realize we need even more adjusting.  In our walk with God, we will be always adjusting as we learn more and more.

In the print shop if I were to send something back to the cutters to cut without those gutters and crop marks it can be disastrous.  But a lot of times they can cut things out if they realize to start with that they are not aligned.  It takes painstaking time and a lot of times the objects may end up a little smaller than planned.  In our spiritual lives if we don’t stay aligned with God He works to reach our hearts with means that may not be so pleasant.  There will be a cutting away process that is painful.  And we may come out a little “smaller” than if we would have chosen His route to start with.  There will be wounds that He wanted us to be able to avoid.  But often we go on in our stubborn ways and think we know better.

The question is, “how do I get aligned with God?”  It starts with having a relationship with Him.  We can’t get to know someone and build a relationship with him or her without spending time.  We need to spend time with God so that we can get to know Him.  We need to spend time in His Word and in prayer with Him.  Prayer is a two-way conversation.  We often pour our hearts out to God but we forget to be silent and listen.

  • Spend time in His Word with much prayer. Reading God’s Word is the way to get to know Him.  I recently ran across some information that I believe can be helpful to you on how to study your Bible.  This can make it easy and fun.  It is “How to Study the Bible With the 5RS Method”, by Alicia Michelle.
    • Read the verse. This is pretty simple you just read whatever verse you have picked out.  I think starting with the book of Proverbs may be a good place to start.  Pick a chapter and go for it, starting with one verse each day.
    • Rewrite the verse. Then you write it down.
    • Restate the verse. Here you will restate the verse using different words that still convey the same message.  You are just expressing it in a different way that may make it more meaningful to you.  You can do this by taking each of the words and finding synonyms.
    • Relate the verse. Take a moment and really think about what this verse is about and how it can apply to your life.  What are you learning in this verse that you want to put in action?
    • Respond to the verse. This area involves prayer.  Responding to the verse through prayer.  Asking God’s help with what action you want to make in changing your life.

These are some easy things we can do that can help us get aligned with God.  As we learn and follow what the Lord teaches us we will grow in Him.

Dear Father,

As we study Your Word send Your Spirit to enlighten our hearts.  Convict us on what changes we need to make so that we can be aligned with You.  Thank You for Your love and forgiveness.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Get into the Word today.  Make it a daily habit.  You will draw closer to Him and be aligned with Him as You study the light and take heed to the light.

Love you all.

What is your method of connecting with God and becoming more aligned to Him?

 

 

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“Are You Making Holes?”

Have you ever felt like you are being filled with holes?  As we go through life there are things that happen that feel like holes in our lives.  We all know the saying, “Sticks and stone may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”  But how true is this saying?  It sounds “good” but in reality, it is not true.

Reality is what people say to us can stick with us for the rest of our lives and give us the trend of our life as well.  We can also say things to ourselves as well that can destroy our effectiveness in life.  It can be a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Words do affect.  Not only do others words affect us we can also affect others with our words.  We tend at times to be so self-absorbed that we only focus on what others say to or about us rather than what we say to or about others.

It reminds me of a story I heard once.  There was this little boy who had a really bad temper. His dad gave him a bag of nails and a hammer. He told him that every time he lost his temper he wanted him to nail a nail into the back fence post. So the first day he nailed a lot. I can’t remember the number but it was a lot. He continued to do this every day. The boy decided that it was easier to hold his temper than to have to go and nail a nail. So after a while, he did not have to do it anymore. He told his dad and his dad told him, every day that you don’t lose your temper you can pull out a nail. Eventually, all the nails were pulled out and he went and told his dad. Then his dad took him to the post and showed him that even though the nails were gone the holes were still there. That is how it is with our words and actions. We leave holes in people and although we may apologize and they may forgive us, that can’t totally remove the wounds that it has caused, there will be scars.

We all have scars from what people have said or done throughout our lives.  And we have all caused scars in others as well.

This makes me think of the biggest scars that we have caused and it has been in our Savior.  Our sin has cost Him those scars.  The nails were put in His hands and feet because of the bad things that we have done.  And when the nails were pulled out the scars were still there and are still there.

The scars are not just still there; Jesus suffers more every time we sin.  Each time we choose to be unlike Him and sin and wound, we are also putting nails in Him. “If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.” Hebrews 6:6. Christ feels the pain every time we choose to sin.

It is so easy to say or do things without thinking. We need God’s help.  Thank the Lord that He is forgiving when we come to Him in confession.

Dear Father,

We are a people who are desperately wicked and we need You. I pray that each one of us will surrender each day to You and I am asking You to prompt us by Your Holy Spirit every time we go to do or speak so that we only do or speak that which You would have us to.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

If you have hurt others confess and God will forgive.  If you have been wounded God is the healer.  Surrender all to Him today.

Love you all.

Do you have a story of pain and hurt that the Lord brought you through?  Maybe you hurt someone, how did God help you accomplish His will through your experience?

 

 

 

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“Become Like A What?!!!”

Babies!  Who doesn’t like a baby?  They are so cute and innocent.  They have no worries, really.  Yes, they get hungry and want food.  Or they get a messy diaper and want a change.  I think most of us would love to have the innocent life a baby or young child.

Now most of us can’t remember back when we were really young.  I do have a vague remembrance when I was around 2 years old.  As I reflect on that time, I wasn’t worried.  Of course, all of us that have children can remember how our little ones did not seem to be afraid of anything.

As I reflect on little ones it makes me think of about how Jesus said that we need to become as little children to enter into the kingdom.  What exactly does that mean?  I may not understand all of it but I am going to share what comes to my mind.

  • A baby/child is humble. A little child recognizes that they are dependent on those that care for him/her.  So they look outside of themselves for daily provisions.  We need to become as little children realizing that we need to depend on God for our daily needs.
  • A baby/child have a healthy appetite. Wow, do they ever!  All of us as moms can remember what it was like to nurse our babies and try to keep up with their ravaging appetite.  And we know as parents that as the child is developing we need to be careful what we feed them.  We want them to develop an appetite that wants healthy foods.  In turn in our spiritual lives, we need to be developing the right kind of appetite.  We need to have an appetite for the “sincere milk of the Word, that we may grow”. (1 Peter 2:2).  We need to be sure we take in the Word that is unadulterated with the world’s philosophies.
  • A baby/child is teachable. We know how children like to learn.  They start learning movements, like crawling and then walking.  They may fall over or fall down but they don’t give up, they are very anxious to walk.  So they keep trying again and again.  Then they learn to talk.  They want so eagerly to learn that they are constantly asking questions.  We need to be teachable.  As we study God’s Word we should be asking God specific questions just as a child would.  And He will show us the answers.
  • A baby/child is very dependent on the ones caring for them. A baby or child will cling to the one that cares for them when there is any trouble.  They may be afraid of something or even if they have fallen and gotten hurt they cling to their parents or someone they trust.  They feel safe with the one they trust no matter what the problem is.  In turn, as we recognize our needs we should be motivated to abide in Christ.  We should be clinging to Him in all our difficulties.  We should cling to His promises.  This should bring us a peace that passeth all understanding.
  • A baby/child wants to be with their parents. One thing that I noticed when my children were little, it didn’t matter where I was they wanted to be with me.  They were always underfoot and that was frustrating to me at times.  But they were at peace as long as they were with me.  They also would know what was pleasing to me and what was disappointing to me.  They would always try their best to please me.  If they did do something that displeased me they were quick to say I am sorry, when they could talk, but when they couldn’t they had their way of making up, because they did not want the relationship to be broken.  To enjoy our fellowship with Christ we should not allow anything to come between us.  We should not allow our relationship with Him to be broken by unconfessed sin.  When we know we have done wrong we should immediately admit our wrongs and ask God to forgive us.

Dear Father,

Forgive me for not staying connected with You as I should.  Forgive all my wrongs.  Lord, Come and fellowship with me today.  I want that unbroken fellowship.  Convict my heart of those things that come between You and me.  Thank You for Your love and forgiveness.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

It is never too late to become as little children.  Start today.  And if you fall, just like a child learning to walk, immediately get up and keep going.

Love you all.

What are your thoughts about becoming like a child?  How has having the faith of a child been a blessing in your life?  I would love to hear your comments.

 

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“The Hurricane Is Coming, Get Out!!”

Disaster!  Have you ever been involved in a disaster?  Maybe you have had a fire near you or even had to actually evacuate and even lost your house.  Or maybe you have been in the pathway of a tornado or hurricane.  Or maybe your house has been struck by lightning, which is what happened to our neighbours.  Whatever the disaster, it can be so devastating.  Fear can take over and even anger can come into play.

I went to a continuing education convention to do with my business.  It was a very big convention with people coming in from many different locations.  Some of our group came from Florida, Montana, and Oregon.  With all the devastating fires in Montana and Oregon, there was constant watch to make sure at any point if they needed to drop everything and rush home.  And then those that were from Florida had to change flights and head home almost immediately, not knowing for sure if they could even make it to their home before the devastation from the hurricane would hit their house.

Those that are living near the fires not only have to worry about losing their houses but they also are struggling with their health due to the smoke.  And those that are not near the fires have also suffered from the smoke.  The oxygen is so polluted that it is having effects on many.

This summer has seemed such a time for disasters with all the hurricanes and fires.  And many people can be living in fear of tomorrow.  Last week a friend packed what they could in their car with them and their parents and headed out of the danger zone.  It was taking 11 plus hours to travel a 4-hour distance.  There have been whole islands that have been destroyed with still another hurricane coming.  And then there is fire sweeping across many states destroying land and homes.

If we have not been directly affected yet by a devastating disaster we wonder what might be coming our way and if we have something to fear.  It is easy to think that everyone else is having trouble, we are fine but then are we really safe.

The question is how do you prepare for such devastating disasters.  What things are the most important?  Some may think about getting their things out.  Others just worry about themselves getting out.  While still others want to help their family and friends out too.

It makes me think of the Christian walk.  The most devastating disasters are yet to come.  And as Christians how are we preparing for it.  To me the most important things are people.  We can’t save things but we can save people.  We may not be able to save the bodies but we can save the souls.  All we need to fear is that which is “able to destroy both soul and body”.

So what can we do?  I believe that God is waiting for a people who perfectly reflect His character.  As we do this, His truth will go to the entire world.  Those that are seeking for something different will be drawn to us by the love of God because we are perfectly reflecting His character.

We cannot do this on our own.  I heard said, “’Taking up your cross’ involves cheerful submission to the trials and afflictions that God allows in the course of following Him.”  As we take up our cross it leads us toward reflecting Christ.  We will gain:

  • Victory over the temptation to sin.
  • Intimate fellowship with Christ.
  • Fulfilling God’s purpose for our life.

I also heard said, “Cross-bearing flows out of love for Christ and involves doing whatever is necessary to accomplish God’s will.”  We need to do this daily.  The question is, what does taking your cross up daily mean?

  • Cease to make independent, selfish decisions and begin to fully follow God’s will.
  • Go beyond short-term commitments to total surrender to God.
  • Instead of focusing on personal pleasures, live for God.
  • Evaluate every word and deed based on how they show God’s love.
  • Forsaking the distractions of worldly things and activities.

We have just a little time to escape from the “Hurricane, fire, etc.” of this world.  We need to be packing up all our “valuables” so that when the time comes we can escape.  The valuables are people’s character.  We can only take care of our own characters.  But if our characters are reflecting Christ we will influence others so that their characters will be ready.

Dear Father,

Help us keep our focus where it should be.  We know that Your coming is soon.  We ask You to surround us with Your love.  And as we stay close to You refine our characters so that we can be Your witnesses.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

Love you all.

What experience have you had with hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, tornado’s etc.?  And how did the Lord see you through?  Share your story here.

 

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“There Is A Dead Mouse In The Toaster!!”

I don’t know about you but for us this year has been a year of mice.  Maybe once or twice a year we may have trouble with mice.  Maybe someone has left the door open or somehow they have found their way in.  But this year has been unbelievable.  I know I have talked to others that are having trouble as well this year.

This is when you really wish you had a cat.  We do have dogs and we have one that will hunt them out and catch them if he can.  He has caught two this year.  But cats are more natural at catching them.  Our problem is that we cannot have an inside cat due to allergies.  And if we have one outside they don’t last long before the coyotes get them.

So we have been doing our best to keep traps in place every night.  Some are very smart and are able to get the peanut butter off without getting caught.  Still, others get the peanut butter off of one or two traps but the third one gets them.  And still, others don’t make it passed the first trap.

Now in this part of the story, you may not want to be eating because it can definitely take your appetite away.  You can’t say I did not warn you.

Probably two months ago we started to smell a dead mouse.  It was in the corner of our kitchen.  We figured it was a nest of babies somewhere behind the cabinets or in the wall that had died after we trapped their mom.  Whatever the case it stunk terribly but there was nothing we could do.  We searched the area and could not find anything.

As time passed the stench got less and less.  Here a few days ago my daughter came and said, “Mom, it looks like there is a leg of a mouse under the toaster.”  As I investigated, sure enough, it looked like a leg.  I shared with my husband and he took the toast out and was trying to see if he could take it apart to see if there was a mouse in it somewhere.  As he was looking at things he could see the tail of the mouse.  It is a well-designed commercial toaster and he couldn’t figure out how to take it apart to get the mouse out.  It is going to take wisdom from the designer to know how to get it out.

Apparently what happened is this mouse found a way to get into a portion of the toaster and got electrocuted.  It was not in the area where you put the toast.  So every time we would toast some bread he was getting heated up and it stank.  We did, at one point, clean out the toaster because there was a lot of burnt rice cake in there and we were thinking that it might be the burnt rice cakes that we were smelling.  But it did not help.  So then we thought the smell was a dead mouse in the wall.  Needless to say, now that we know, no one wants to use the toaster.  And in the mean time, we are still working on how to clean it out.

This made me think of our Christian lives.  We may have a dead “mouse” in the recesses of our lives.  It is buried deep within.  We don’t want people to know about it and we try to keep it hidden.  But it is stinking.  It may be stinking by coming out in anger, critical attitudes toward others, or in many other ways.  The problem is we can’t figure out how to get into the mechanics of our “toaster”, heart.  We can see it but can’t figure out how to get to it and get it removed.  Here are some things that can help us.

  • First be honest with yourself. Too many times we don’t really want to look to see what the “smell” is all about.  If we don’t look maybe it will go away.  But what it does is destroys our lives.
  • Second, submit yourself to God.  We must first choose to place ourselves completely under God’s authority and control.  We struggle with this because we want full control.  Here is the problem, there are only two powers and if we are not allowing God to control the devil has full reign.
  • Resist the devil. There are two things the devil likes to do about those dead smelly things that we have buried in the recesses of our hearts.  He likes to tell us that we are too bad to be to come to God.  But this is a lie.  He also wants to tell us that the deadly things are not that big of a deal.  We need to resist the devil and the things that he tells us.  We can resist Satan by using the powerful sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
  • Draw nigh to God.  God wants our intimate fellowship with Him through prayer.
  • Cleanse your hands.  We must confess and forsake all known sin in our lives.
  • Purify your heart. This comes as we fill our hearts with God’s Word and allow His Holy Spirit to freely remove anything in our lives that is not of God.

Dear Father,

Give us Your grace to overcome.  Thank You for Your love, even when we stink.  Help us to look honestly at ourselves and let You have full control.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

No matter what you have done in your life God will accept you as you come to Him.  Give all to Him today.

Love you all.

Do you have a mouse story?  I would love to hear it.