For days now I have been reading two verses in the bible.  Isaiah 32:17-18 says…

¹⁷ And this righteousness will bring peace.
Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.
¹⁸ My people will live in safety, quietly at home.
They will be at rest.

What a promise!! I was going to have “church” and claim it for my family.  I mean, I have three children ages 6, 5, and 3. I want to live quietly at home!

Seriously though, I started to look inward. I saw the places in my life without peace, were the places in my life void of the Righteousness of God.

Not that He was unwilling to dwell, but I was unwilling to surrender. Get alone today, and ask the Lord to fulfill this promise in your life!

Love you all,

Andrea

As I sat down in my big chair this morning to have my devotionals, I was excited and ready.  I had my cup of coffee, my Study Bible and my journal.  I always start by reading my previous post.  It was a bad day that day.  My mind hurting and confused.  My heart broken.  Asking the question WHY…ever been there?

When I turned the page I saw my precious 5 year old had gotten a hold of my journal before I did.  The top line simply said….

I started to cry and my thoughts went immediately to my Savior.  He really does care when I have a “broken” day!  And He puts people in my life to remind me that I am loved!  Of course, I will probably remind her of this when she is about 14!! lol!!

Remember today, You are LUVed!!

With tears streaming down my face a thought came to me….

Sometimes I resist the refining but I am holding on to the promise that one day….I will be like Him!!!

For the last three days I have been sitting and waiting for something to blog about.  Something. Anything.  And then it happened… The sweet Holy Spirit filled my room and my heart and spoke truth to ME! I don’t want to share things to impress others.  To make them think that I have some amazing insight into God.

I want Him to speak to me so I can be different.  I am not perfect.  But I serve the only One who is.

I am reminded of my favorite song…

Refiner’s fire, my heart’s one desire

Is to be Holy, set apart for You Lord

I choose to be Holy, set apart for You my Master

I’m ready to do Your Will!

Sometimes I confuse the scriptures…Sometimes I think I am the Potter and my life is the clay.  Trying to shape it into a vessel I can use.  One that I can fill and benefit from.  But today I am reminded that HE is the Potter and I am the clay.  When I find myself slipping past perfection into a sea of self loathing, He steps in! He tells me, He will carry me.  He will correct me.  He will restore me. But first, He must break me. May I be molded into the likeness of my Savior!

Growing up in Scarborough Maine, my family and I lived in the old green house off Black Point Rd.  Lots of wonderful memories happened at that little house…

That was the house that I decided to paint the crystal doorknob white.

That was the house where we brought home a black lab from the pound.  We called her Candy, but her name was really Nushie.  We totally confused her to the point that when we would call her name…she would run past us into the wall.

But that house was best known as the house with the “killer” stairs. Yes everyone in our family took a tumble down those stairs more than once. Up until today I have always blamed those “cursed” stairs! Trying to kill our family one fall at a time.

But last night…

While Ryan was at small group I took a tumble down our stairs.  I slid down those stairs like I was sliding into home plate.  Except only one leg came with me.  I blamed my 4 inch heels and one of my babies distracting me by saying, “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy”.

But this morning…

At 6am, on my way to push the button to make the coffee, I fell down the stairs again.  Ryan jumped out of bed and ran to the ledge where he found me at the foot of the stairs.  After asking me if I was ok and hearing my weeping answer yes, he began to laugh.  Telling me he was going to give me lessons on how to walk down the stairs.

Yes, I am no longer blaming the “cursed” stairs.  I now realize that (like everything else) I can blame my childhood for not being taught how to put one foot in front of the other…

or I am just REALLY clumsy!

I had a wonderful weekend.  7 services within 72 hours, but now a day of silence.  Tomorrow I will use it to reflect on what the Lord is doing.

My small group met tonight.  Our lesson tonight was “I am who God says I am”.  I kept saying over and over about my faith walk and my faith journey.  And realizing that I want to truly believe what God says about me.

I must say I look forward to my quiet days…(so does Ryan).  I get to journal and study.  Write poems and usually don’t have to repent for half as much! lol!

Although I love rhythms and cool chord changes, I must say my love for words far supersedes them! My three favorite words…encounter, passion, and excellent.  I think I going to write a song and the chorus is only going to say

Encounter an excellent passion for Christ (repeat)

Even now I can hear them rocking in my head to the beat of “hey now, what’s that sound, everybody knows what going down”

I am learning to enjoy every process of this adventure.  Even if it means driving two and a half hours to pick up my cd’s or sitting for 5 hours on a Sunday afternoon and getting my web-site info down…I’m loving it!

My Lord God
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean
that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that my desire to please you
does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire
in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything
apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this
you will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear,
for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.
- Thomas Merton (1915-1968)

An adventure is a daring and exciting activity calling for enterprise and enthusiasm. This is my word for 2010. You know if you try you may fail, but if you never try you will never live! There may be things that I fail at this year, but I have determined to live.

Remember when you were a little kid and you had no fear? You didn’t care if you fell off the bike. You were more concerned that you would never learn to ride without the training wheels. Somehow when we “grow-up”, we lose that love for adventure.

You know it may be embarrassing to fall off the bike a few times, but I challenge you this year to try a new adventure! No matter what you can say you tried!