Lose the ‘Tude

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My sister used to say, “Lose the ‘tude” whenever I had a sassy attitude or when we were fighting. She is always coming up with funny little quips to say and this one just poped into mind after reflecting on the past month.

Life is getting so much better in the Martin house. We have somewhat of a schedule with little Grayson and he is lighting up the home with his smiles, laughter and cooing. Don’t get me wrong, there are still times when he raises the roof with crying, but mommy and daddy are figuring out what Grayson’s crys mean so we can make him feel better.

About two weeks ago, I woke up one moring after a rough day previously and decided I would lose my attitude of anxiety and fear and proclaim that day to be a GREAT DAY. Its all your perspective.

Psalm 118 :24-29

24 This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. 25 O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success. 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD. From the house of the LORD we bless you. 27 The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will give you thanks;you are my God, and I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Focus on vers 24 first. This is the day that the LORD has made. The Hebrew word for “made” in this verse means just what you would expect: to create. But, the word is also used in the context of the LORD’s creative activity. The LORD not only created the entire universe, he also creates every single day! How should this change our attitude about our life? Our God is a loving and caring God, He only wants what is best for us. So, this means that He creatively fashions our day to be productive and prosperous for His ultimate glory.

Jeremiah 29:11

11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

What’s the catch you might ask? There is no catch, but we just have to be willing to be in continuous conversation and fellowship with the Lord in order to know how He wants us to order our steps all day long. Not everyday will be easy, but we can find joy and hope every day in knowing that the Lord is good.

Now check out verse 27. The festal procession refers to the times that the Isrealites would make their way up to the temple duing their annual feasts. These were times of praise, thanksgiving and petitioning of the Lord. But, the emphasis was on praising God. I believe that if we order our day in line with God’s will, we too join that procession of praise. Each one of us is on a journey and a procession, if you will. As a beleiver in Christ as LORD and saviour we are all on a journey towards our ultimate home in heaven. This earth is not our final destination, heaven is a reality-a glorious reality. So, as we make our way day by day in step with the LORD, we come one step closer to meeting our glorious God in heaven. Now that is somthing to rejoice about!!

Live it out application:

Tomorrow, wake up and say: This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it. How do you think you would order your day differently with this in mind? Would you “lose the ‘tude” after praying this verse?

I hope to teach Grayson to rejoice and be glad everyday!


Baby Whisperer

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I so wanted to post some kind of devotional reading today but my brain is just tired! I do have to say that I have found the ultimate Baby Whisperer! What is a Baby Whisperer-well it is something or someone that just has a special way of making a child stop crying and fall asleep-Praise GOD!!!

Today’s Baby Whisperer is…

applause and drum roll please

Giles Blankenship!!!! or his cd playing very loudly in my car

My cranky child was screaming away while I was driving and I could do nothing accept turn on the music. Was I trying to lull him to sleep or was I just trying to drown out the crying since I was stuck driving with nothing I could do for the poor thing.

Then, all of a sudden, the child is calm as can be as if he didn’t have a care in the world! What in the world!!

Thank you Giles for your soothing voice and beautiful praise music. While it was soothing the baby, it was soothing the mommy too.

You too can have your own Baby Whisperer by buying Giles’ new CD, Planted Here , at www.digstation.com/gilesblankenship .

Fighting Battles

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I came across a great passage in the Old Testament and I thought I would share some insight from it. The more I read in the Old Testament, the more I realize how much interesting and rich lessons there are for us modern day Christians. I encourage you to take more time in the OT and see for yourself how the Lord speaks to you through the ancient believers.

Battles, we all wage battles these days. Not just war time battles, but struggles that are all around us all the time.

Think about some different types of battles that we see play out in our culture around us. Here are a few that I came up with:

War movies, Violent video games, that Gladiator tv show, divorce court, celebrity “battles”, political battles (duh!!)

Now think about some personal battles that you might wage-or are waged upon you:

battles of the mind, battles with weight, arguments with the people around you, marriage battles, battles with your children

side note-the endless battle with my 5 week old to go to sleep!!

You do not have to be defeated in these battles when you are in Christ!

Take a look at 2 Chronicles 32:1-23 or click here . This is a pretty long passage but it is important to get the context.

King Hezakiah is a pretty cool dude-definitely a lover of the LORD. He gives us a great example of what to do when confronted with a battle. We must be prepared and fortified. Verse 4-5

We too can fortify ourselves as we are up in arms. First, we MUST recognize God as Almighty and All Powerful. Hands down, this is Key. We have an almighty God on our side (more on this in a second) Second, it is imperative that we find ourselves in the Bible everyday reading what God would have us do in situations of conflict. Our all Mighty God give us guidance in the Word on everything that we come up against. We just have to make ouselves open to hear what He wants to say to us!

Back to the concept of our all powerful God. Take a look at what King Hezzy said to his men as they were preparing for battle:
7 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. 8 With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.”

Our God is greater than any fleshly and worldly battle that we face. Why? Because He is the creator of the universe for goodness sake! If He created it, then He is obviously bigger than His creation. Think about kids playing with play-dough. They create a little object with the dough and then, because the child is bigger than his created object, he can smash that play dough anytime he wants. Its just like that with God, our Lord can smash our enemies any old time He wants. So, be strong and courageous and put your confidence in the All Mighty Creator.

Finally, Jesus tells us that we have overcome:
4You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4

This is why we can have confidence, we are children of God and have already overcome if we put our trust in Christ alone. Hear that again: WE HAVE ALREADY OVERCOME BY THE BLOOD OF CHRIST.

No need to be afraid, no need to run in fear from the enemy. Enough Said!