All Things Work for Good

Posted on April 20, 2015 by Tamar

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Romans 9:1-12:21
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6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Romans 12:6-7

My friends, I have had a rough morning this morning. I mentioned to you last week to be expecting a time management post soon, well here it is and it’s nothing like I was expecting it to be! God had other plans for me today.
First of all, I had a REALLY hard time even waking up! I had this really weird dream that put me in a sour mood. By the time I finally was able to drag myself from the bed it was an hour later than I had expected to get up. MY plan had been to get up at 5, leisurely brew my coffee, fill out my covey model to do list, read my Bible, write my post, and then greet my family with a warm alert smile as they joined me in the land of the living. What actually happened was that I ended up being the last one out of bed, looking like the walking dead! I’m pretty sure I sounded like it too!
As I shuffled around the house feeling like my body parts were made of lead and not flesh the rest of the family moved around a little lethargically too. As we waved good-bye to Daddy from the living room window Gabe looked at the clock and said, “OH SHOOT!” He had exactly one minute to get his sweatshirt and backpack on, run two blocks down the street and get on the bus. He didn’t make it.
So now – because we know that this day had nothing to do with anyone else and everything to do about dear sweet little ole me, not only was I already an hour behind on MY schedule but with my son missing the bus I was going to be even further behind schedule because now I was going to have to drive him to school. Fabulous! Yet I didn’t give up my hope for a productive day, not yet anyway. That happened when my daughter missed her bus too!
So now my morning plans have been completely wrecked. (Keep in mind here, we live two minutes from both of their schools, literally TWO minutes.) Mommy, turned Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street, grumbled as both children appologized most sweetly for missing their busses. I dropped them both off at school and decided that since MY schedule had already been thrown out the window I might as well keep going with it. I had planned on spending my morning working on homework and writing, BUT since I was out and about already I might as well stop by the local IGA and do the grocery shopping I had planned on doing this afternoon after school. As I got out of the car and scannd their ads on the side of the building I smacked my right hand on my rear view mirror – HARD. And if that hadn’t been enough there were other people in the parking lot that witnessed my pain and embarassment. siiiighhh… the day continues. However, many of the ingredients I needed were on sale so that’s good right? When I went to pick up the chicken that was on sale I got chicken juice all over my hands, ew ew ew ew ew ew ew EW!!!!!!! As I was leaving the check out the cashier thought she saw my paper bag ripping, turns out it wasn’t, but by the time I carried it to the car, it did. I just barely got it to the passenger’s seat before the handle completely gave way. When I got home and opened the passenger side door my purse fell out of the car and into the mud in the driveway – AWESOME!!! I brushed it off, put it over my shoulder trying to ignore the fact that I was probably getting my coat all dirty too. I loaded my arms back up with grocery bags, took two steps towards the front door and dropped my keys in the mud. “ACK!!!!! SERIOUSLY LORD!?!”
Some days just DON’T go the way you planned them. And you know what, that’s OK. Because “this is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!” No, it didn’t go at all the way that I had planned, it went better than I had planned. I got an obviously needed extra hour of sleep, I got to spend an extra twenty minutes with both my dear sweet children, who were perfectly lovely this morning despite having a grumpy zombie mommy. I got to drive them to school, probably keeping them from hearing/doing naughty things on the bus. I got my shopping done, including buying party supplies that I hope I get to use at school today as a reward for some great test grades. Not only did I get a week’s worth of groceries this morning in record time I got them on sale and from friends. And then, after I got back home and was text venting about my morning to my husband, I got to spend a little extra time with him making me laugh this morning in order to cheer me up. And then, because God is this kind of good, He pointed out to me all these good things that He had given to me this morning according to HIS plans that I would have missed if I had followed MY plan. And by pointing all these things out, He also gave me something to write about for my time management post. Which is a really good thing too because I had really been drawing a blank on what it was going to say!
All too often we make plans and then get frustrated and upset when they go awry. We shouldn’t. What’s the point of getting angry about something you have no control over? Will I try again tomorrow to have that ideal morning with the coffee steam swirling and the heavens singing that morning song that plays in commercials where there are happy morning people greeting each other with their coffee that’s good to the last drop? Sure! I try for that morning every day! But somedays, God has something better planned and I need be able to accept that His better might just look like my “worse”, but that doesn’t mean that it is worse. Sometimes my “worse” is really for my “best”!

“For in all things, God works for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

Categories: 365 Life, Romans, Season 3, The Crazy Mom Blog, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Read Your Bible Today

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Tamar

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Romans 4:13-8:39
My friends, even if you’ve never read the Word of the Day before, you NEED to read it today! The Word of God is a powerful two-edged sword that has the ability to separate you from the things that are hindering you from achieving what God has for you.
Read the Word of God today!

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Nature Declares His Majesty

Posted on April 19, 2015 by Tamar

Look what I just found sitting here on my tablet waiting for me to hit send! Friday’s  post! Sorry about that!

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Romans 1:1-4:12
As I sat on my deck with my breakfast burrito in one hand and my Bible app in the other I relished in the morning sun as it soaked into the right side of my face while my toes were bundled up in winter socks and my arms were wrapped in my warmest sweatshirt. I watched as the steam from my coffee swirled through the air into the folds of the patio umbrella. I listened as the birds’ song rang out in the new morning echoing off the morning dew.
It was glorious.
So glorious that when I found this verse, I just had to get up and find a picture to go with it!

19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. (Romans 1:19-20)

Happy Spring my friends! I love you and the role you play in my life! God bless you this day and always!

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Show Your Chips

Posted on April 16, 2015 by Tamar

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Revelation 19:11-22:21

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I am a nut when it comes to being “fancy”. I love doing my nails, I love doing my hair and make up and getting dressed up. When I first started working at the school I had TWENTY-EIGHT outfits laid out and ready to grab out of the closet and go to school. Accessories and everything, I’m not kidding. One thing I loathe is chipped fingernail polish, it’s just so annoying to me, and a little gross. I mean, I could care less about your chipped polish but mine had better not be! Yet I’ve been so busy this week that a few days ago when my nail started chipping I chose to ignore it and keep going and I haven’t stopped since. BUT being a teacher, my hands are constantly pointing things out to students. Usually with my right index finger. So to have my right index fingernail polish chipped and have every single one of my students see that has been really annoying to say the least.
This morning the chip caught my attention even more than usual, in a different way. Like a chink in my perfectly fashioned armor it’s been right out there for all of them to see… I’M NOT PERFECT. And what’s more important, that it’s OK to not be perfect!
NOBODY IS PERFECT, not a single one of us. Yet we try. OH how we try. We try to fool ourselves by trying to fool others thinking maybe if I can convince them that I’m perfect then maybe I will be… at least in their eyes. But the truth always comes out in one way or another, nobody is perfect; and that is perfectly OK.

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An Update from the Front

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Tamar

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Revelation 15:1-19:10

Oh my friends! I am so very exhausted. I have signed up and started taking online classes in order to renew my teaching license. So now, I’m studying in the morning, working at the middle school from 11-3, doing homework with the kids at school, coming home and cooking dinner, taking Gabe to tennis, coming home again to put the kids to bed then flop back down in front of the computer to work on more homework and my post for the day until I drop. So do please forgive me if I’ve been late posting lately or my just plain short posts. I’m spread thin. But at the same time I’m excited about the possibility of having my own classroom again. I have missed being a teacher of children. And now that I’m working on being a full time teacher again I’m missing writing, go figure.

One of my assignments for my classes is to write a few blog posts about what I’m learning. Which I find interesting seeing as how that’s precisely what I always write about!!! J So don’t be too terribly surprised if I throw a teaching post at you here from time to time in the next few weeks. In fact, there might just be one on time management at some point this week! J

Alrighty my dear ones, it’s time for me to give in for the day. This weary head is in need of a bed to rest upon. Sweet dreams my friends! You are always in my prayers!

Categories: 365 Life, Revelation, Season 3, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | 2 Comments

Reward

Posted on April 14, 2015 by Tamar

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Revelation 10:1-14:20
A few days ago Tim asked me how we can KNOW that the Lord’s mark is on our foreheads. And while I haven’t had the time to research that question to the best of my ability, I did find this verse in today’s reading:

 16 The twenty-four elders sitting on their thrones before God fell with their faces to the ground and worshiped him. 17 And they said,

“We give thanks to you, Lord God, the Almighty,
    the one who is and who always was,
for now you have assumed your great power
    and have begun to reign.
18 The nations were filled with wrath,
    but now the time of your wrath has come.
It is time to judge the dead
    and reward your servants the prophets,
    as well as your holy people,
and all who fear your name,
    from the least to the greatest.
It is time to destroy
    all who have caused destruction on the earth.” (Revelation 11:16-18)

We often talk about judgement day and the possibility of being judged. But according to this verse in Revelation, it’s a time to judge those who are dead (who haven’t declared Jesus as their Lord and savior) and to REWARD all who respect His name.
For all who have died in Christ, will also be raised with Him.
Jesus died to forgive your sins…every single one of them. Think about this, at the moment when Jesus died, how many of you’re sins had you committed yet? None! And yet He forgave each and every one of them before you ever committed a single one. HE paid the full price for your sin that day right there on that cross. A price that doesn’t need to be paid again because Jesus paid it ALL, the whole bill AND the tip. He received the entirity of the Father’s wrath leaving nothing for those who accept that gift of sacrificial salvation except… REWARD!
TALK ABOUT A GOOD DEAL!!!!
May you KNOW the goodness of the Lord, in this, the land of the living and forevermore!

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Saved!

Posted on April 13, 2015 by Tamar

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Revelation 5:1-9:21

 But one of the twenty-four elders said to me, “Stop weeping! Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, has won the victory. He is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals.” Revelation 5:5

He had won the victory. The victory had made Him worthy to open the scroll and is seven seals. In all the Earth, in all of creation, no one but Jesus is worthy to open the scroll that unfolds the judgements upon the Earth. All because HE died for US. How blessed are we to have the seal of the Almighty God upon our foreheads? Hallelujah! We are SAVED!

Categories: 365 Life, Revelation, Season 3, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: | 5 Comments

Don’t be Afraid. Keep Calm and Carry On

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Tamar

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Revelation 1:1-4:11

 “I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things. Revelation 2:19

On the way to church this morning Sean and I were discussing some travel plans we have slated for this summer and the more we talked the more I could feel fear tightening it’s grip on my heart. I have been really stressed about money the past few weeks. I signed up for some classes this past week that I thought were going to cost us $$$$. Stress. Where was this money going to come from? I didn’t know. Where is the money for this trip going to come from? We HAVE to go, it’s a close family member’s wedding and Anna is in it, we don’t have a whole lot of choice in the matter. Worry and fear were playing tug of war and I was the one losing the battle.
Then we got to church and I’m handed a buletin that looked like this:

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Keep calm and carry on. It’s been a catch phrase that has caught fire lately and I honestly didn’t pay that much attention to it, until today. As I held the bulletin in my hand we sang, and sang, and (praise God) we sang. We kept singing until my heart broke in and joined the song. Have you ever had that happen before? Where your mouth was singing but your heart just wasn’t in it. In fact, perhaps, your mind was a million miles away while your body was there singing. Or maybe like me, it was two months in the future worrying about things I could do nothing about in that moment… other than surrender them to my Jesus.
And that’s what I ended up doing. I surrendered them, I set those thoughts aside in order to concentrate fully on the gift I was being given in the present. The gift of the present!
I can’t live in tomorrow because I haven’t been given tomorrow yet. I’ve only been given today. And while I can TRY to live in two moments at the same time, it’s just not possible. And honestly, it’s pointless anyway.
And in that moment of surrender, do you know what God said to me? “Keep calm and Carry on. Calm is something that you can keep or you can let it go. KEEP calm! And then carry on.”

There was a moment in the Exodus where the Israelites had gotten their first real taste of freedom from slavery. They had witnessed all the plagues of Egypt and seen the power of the Lord. They had been released from their slavery and had journeyed to the Red Sea. When in the distance they could see that Pharoah had changed his mind about letting them go. In that moment they panicked. They were free men and women, and they had decided they liked it. But off on the horizon there was this huge dust cloud threatening to take that freedom back from them. Now, the dust cloud was not the army itself, that they couldn’t see yet, it was just the threat of the army. And yet that was enough to terrify them. They cried out to Moses, asking him why he would bring them out into the wilderness to kill them. And weren’t there enough graves in Egypt? And in that moment of preemptive fear Moses told them, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to get moving!” (Exodus 14:13-15)
God literally told them to keep calm and to carry on, to stay calm and keep moving in the direction I told you to move. But they couldn’t keep moving forward, there was an OCEAN in their way. Did that stop God? Of course not! Was that a problem for Him? NO WAY! He performed the most miraculous miracle those people had ever seen, and at this point they had seen quite a few!
2 Corinthians 4:6-18 says,
For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
8 We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. 9 We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. 10 Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.
11 Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. 12 So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you.
13 But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.” 14 We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. 15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory.
16 That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.

Press on towards the mark my friend, keep running for the goal, persevere through this trial. It will not last forever, but the strength you gain from it will!
So keep calm and carry on.

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Mommy Nap Day

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Tamar

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Psalms 146:1-150:6

I can’t do it all and it kills me. I’m tired, I’m hungry, I’m dirty, my house is a wreck, the laundry needs done, there is no kitchen counter right now because it’s buried under dishes. The bathrooms are in desperate need of cleaning, the floors need swept, the dust is taking over, I’m not sure there’s anywhere to set things down at the moment. And don’t even get me started on the OUTSIDE of the house! But right now I can barely convince myself to stand up long enough to fix myself an egg for breakfast, I have to have an egg because we’re all out of milk, did I mention someONE needs to go to the store? I have work until 3, then an appointment right after that, then dinner and bedtime routines then maaaybe I’ll be allowed to rest. But not for long because Sean works in the morning, no sleeping in allowed, and even if I could sleep through Sean’s morning routine, I have to get up anyway because Gabe has to be at the school by 7:30 for a Saturday field trip with the FFA.
Can you tell I’m tired, hormonal and overwhelmed right now? Maybe you can relate.
Alright, rant over, I’d say I feel better but I don’t because all that stuff is still here along with plenty of others I didn’t mention. But you know what, I’m going to take a nap. All that stuff will still be here when I wake up. It’s not going anywhere. And if I take a nap, then I know I’ll be in a better mood to handle it. So I’m going to take a nap. Anyone care to join me? We can declare this a mom nap day! I like it. Let’s do it! :mrgreen:

Psalms 149:5 Let the faithful rejoice that He honors them.
    Let them sing for joy as they lie on their beds.

Yes, that really was in the reading for today! Rest Mama, the world will wait.

Categories: 365 Life, Psalms, Season 3, Writing Through the Bible in a Year | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Open the Heavens Lord!

Posted on April 9, 2015 by Tamar

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Psalms 139:1-145:21
5 Open the heavens, Lord, and come down.
    Touch the mountains so they billow smoke.
6 Hurl your lightning bolts and scatter your enemies!
    Shoot your arrows and confuse them!
7 Reach down from heaven and rescue me;
    rescue me from deep waters,
    from the power of my enemies.
8 Their mouths are full of lies;
    they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead. Psalm 144:5-8

After yesterday morning’s storm I was very excited to find this verse today! Honest to goodness, when I was out there it FELT like the heavens had opened!
Friends, if you’re not in the habit of daily Bible reading may I strongly suggest it? It’s one of the healthiest choices you can make for yourself. Really. Your soul was created with a hunger, a desire to devour the Word of God. And when you don’t feed that hunger it often gets misinterpreted as a hunger for something else; food, material wealth, human love and companionship. But in reality what you’re really longing for isn’t the sugar or the nicer car or that hot guy or that lady with the friendly eyes. It’s Jesus and His love letters to you through time.
Last night I kept searching for something, I kept thinking I was hungry for more dinner but I wasn’t, there was no way I could eat another bite! My stomach was as full as I could fill it… so why did I feel like I wanted more to eat? All night I felt like this until I hopped into the car at a quarter to ten to go to Dollar General before they closed. At that point I kept thinking of food I could buy at the store for a mid night snack, I  turned the corner and thought, but I’m still stuffed so why buy something to eat that I don’t need? So I asked God,
“Lord, why do I feel so hungry when I’m not?”
“You’re hungry for something that you can’t eat with your mouth and put into your stomach. What you’re hungry for you eat with your eyes and your ears and put it into the depths of your soul. You, My dear, are hungry for Me.”
My friends, again, I encourage you to click on the link above and make the time today to feed your soul with the Words of God. You won’t regret it I promise.

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