It’s the very last week of July and our “STEPPIN” together has come to an end.

How is your steppin going?

Have you put some or any of the Daily Disciplines we have shared into place?

Have you started your day with God in His Word and in prayer to Him? 

Have you sat still with God and let His goodness be revealed to you? 

Have you trusted Him and allowed the TRUTH of scripture to calm your fears and anxieties and give you the peace He promises?

Have you splashed or soaked or sipped any of the sweetness of Summer?

Or, like me, are you reading this and feeling stunned that Summer is almost over?

Those long days of Summer that offer a lack of routine, breaks, vacations, longer nights and earlier mornings are quickly coming to an end. With this realization, I find myself fighting the all too familiar feelings of failure! How about you?

If you are feeling the same way then I have good news for you.

We can push the RE-START button!

“THE FAITHFUL LOVE OF THE LORD NEVER ENDS! HIS MERCIES NEVER CEASE. GREAT IS HIS FAITHFULNESS; HIS MERCIES BEGIN AFRESH EACH MORNING.”

LAMENTATIONS 3:22-23

Friends, this incredible promise comes in the middle of a book of REGRET!

I have been watching the Olympics, have you? I could be called an “OLYMPIC JUNKIE!”

I love watching the greatest athletics do what they do best. I get hooked and have already spent too many late nights watching. I literally mark my calendar and anticipate the Olympic Games!

But this year there has been something I have noticed. The United States has had more failed attempts to win gold than usual.

The unbeatable men’s basketball team lost their very first game. Not the “Dream Team” of old! The GOAT (Greatest Of All Time) of gymnastics has not reached her full potential as expected. The “QUEEN” of the pool dropped into third place and won a bronze medal instead of the gold she was expected to win. I could go on and list even more “failed attempts,” but you get the picture. Sure, there have been great victories as well, but many have “failed.”

I believe God was grabbing my attention and showing me that we all have failures and successes, what matters is that we TRY!

My dad had a great many sayings by which he raised his four daughters. One of them has stuck with me…

“You only fail if you do not TRY!”  -BCD

God does not desire that any of us live with REGRET. He wants us to learn that regret and failures come, even to the best and greatest, but God’s Love and Mercy is new every morning! We have the opportunity at our fingertips to push RE-START and allow God’s mercy to flow through us!

TRUTH BOMB

GOD’S LOVE AND MERCY NEVER ENDS, WE GET TO TAP INTO THEM FRESH EVERY MORNING!

Every day is a gift from God and every morning is new! God’s mercies are not just for us when we succeed. God’s mercies are even stronger when we fail! God’s grace does not just cover us when we are walking in accomplishment. God’s grace covers us in greater measure when we are sitting in failure!

God is a God of RE-START! We can get up every morning and face each day with renewed strength and optimism when we push the RE-START button God has given us!

God does not just give us a “second chance,” God gives us a third, forth, fifth and sixth chance. God’s chances are unlimited because His love for us is unlimited! 

God does not love us because we succeed or fail. He is not counting our accomplishments. In fact, it can be those times of failure and missing the target that bring us closer to Him.

So instead of allowing those feelings of failure to creep in and take over, I am choosing to realize my need for God. Afterall, He is perfect and I am not!

Maybe this Summer was intended to be a time for ‘SUMMER SLIPPIN,’ a time for me to focus on God and realize just how so very much I need Him. And, if that is the case, I have not failed in the least. I have actually been very, very successful!

As I wake each morning, Summer, Fall, Winter or Spring, and do my best to live a life with daily disciplines, I know I cannot do it in my own strength. I need my God and His wonderful RE-STARTS each and every day! That is the key to success!

Speak Truth Love

I just returned home from our Summer vacation and realized that I had, had a ball!

WE laughed, we ate, we ran, we played, we even worshipped together. What I did not do however was SIT! 

Sure, I “sat” down to eat and was technically “sitting.” However, the entire time I was talking, chewing and getting up and down as I made sure everyone had everything they needed. I also “sat” on a beach chair at the beach for moments at a time as I watched my grandchildren ride the waves. Let me tell you, that was the most nervous sitting I have ever done! My back was arched, my neck was strained and my body kept leaping to my feet as I strained to make sure I could see where they were at all times!

There were other moments of “sitting” of course, but each moment was accompanied by other thoughts and actions.
This is not the kind of “SITTING” I am talking about. When you look up the word ‘SIT’ in the dictionary it may surprise you that there are several definitions. 

The first definition is the most obvious:
“To rest with the body supported by the buttocks or thighs; AKA; to be seated.”
The second is also pretty familiar:
“To be located or situated.”
But it is the third definition that made me “SIT up and take notice!” Pun completely intended!
“To remain quiet or inactive.”

I can clearly state that this was not on my agenda for vacation. We had so much fun! I love being active and my family does too! We are famous for packing in as much activity as possible, to every single day we have together. And we did! I am not complaining whatsoever. I would not have it any other way. But as I SAT to write this weeks’ Blog on Summer Steppin, I realized I was lacking the discipline of SITTING!

I ran around the house after returning home like a hummingbird extracting nectar from one flower and then the next.  Unpack this, throw that in the washing machine, carry this upstairs, run downstairs and put this away, and, oh yes, write your Blog!  My heart was racing so fast that the only part of me that could keep up with it was my mind that was spinning out of control with my virtual “To Do List!”  

Suddenly my eyes caught a glimpse of one of the framed verses on my family room wall…

“BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD.”  PSALM 46:10

It hit me like a brick on the top of my head…In order to hear from God you must, BE STILL!  Sit down, be inactive and remain quiet.
This truly is a discipline and one I need to exercise more frequently.
It is wonderful and even important to have fun! It is certainly important to spend quality time with family. But fun in the sun, and quality time with my family does not equate to sitting and spending time with God.
In your crazy, fun, Summer escapades, be sure to include the discipline of sitting and spending time being quiet and still before God.

Discipline #10-SIT QUIETLY AND BE STILL WITH GOD.

TRUTH BOMB

TIME SPENT ALONE WITH GOD IS NEVER WASTED OR INEFFECTIVE!

Happy sitting friends!

Speak Truth Love

We are in the middle of summer and feeling the heat! The first thing on most of our minds, when we think of cooling down is WATER!

No matter if we run and jump into a swimming pool, float down the river in a raft, take a boat ride on the lake, wade out into a creek and feel the water run through our toes, or even run through a sprinkler while watering our lawn! WATER is our source to cool down and quench our bodies heat!

For me, my family is blessed each July as the temperatures rise in Northern California where we live, to spend time at the ocean in Southern California with our dear friends! We ride the waves, body surf the waves, run into the waves, and let the waves roll over our feet as we feel the coolness of the ocean water! I can literally feel the heat leave my body as it is replaced with the cool, fresh feeling that the ocean water gifts!

For me I’m blessed from the outside in as the cool water of the ocean refreshes my body and the time spent with my family and best friends restores my soul!

This time each year is a treasured value to us! We plan for it, look forward to it and even long for it as it draws nearer each year. It is a joy from beginning to end, but it does eventually come to an end. All we can do at the end of our time, is long for next year!

However, there is a WATER that restores my soul that never ends. It is the living water, Jesus Christ my Lord!

Jesus is the LIVING WATER! When we are filled with Him, we are satisfied!

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who is saying to you, “give me a drink,” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you LIVING WATER!”

John 4:10

And just three verses further, in verses 13 and 14, we see that natural water satisfies for the moment, but we thirst again!

Verse 13, “everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again…“

Verse 14, “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him, shall  never be thirsty again!”

TRUTH BOMB

When we splash ourselves with the living water, Jesus Christ, we will always be satisfied!

So no matter how hot or cold life gets, let’s remember to discipline ourselves and cover ourselves in Jesus Christ the living water that always satisfies completely!

Summer Steppin Discipline #9

Splash yourself daily with the Living Water of Jesus Christ!

Speak Truth Love

HAPPY 4th of JULY WEEK!

I hope you had a wonderful time celebrating this great country of ours!

“You my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh, rather serve one another humbly in love.”
Galatians 5:13

In America we value freedom above all else, but we were never meant to use that freedom to just indulge our sinful nature. God tells us to take that freedom and to serve one another in love!

So the question for us this week is…

How are you doing at exercising your freedom?

We have a double freedom as Americans and followers of Christ Jesus. We have the freedom to go after, “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and as Christ followers, we are now free from the bondage of sin and death. 

Therefore, our freedom does not just allow us to live selfish lives doing things that are wrong, but to pursue a God honoring life and do what is right!

Paul says in Corinthians “All things are permissible, but all things are not beneficial.” 

I Corinthians 6:12

For example, I have the freedom to eat a dozen cupcakes! And I’m not gonna lie, there are days when I think of doing just that! However, that would not be beneficial to my body!

As well, I have the freedom to binge watch FRIENDS until my hands grow numb from doing the intro clap,”Da da da dada!” That would only leave me “stuck in second gear!“

You probably have your own list of “I’m free to do…”  The question remains, is that beneficial to you, to your friends, to your family or to others?

Freedom is a great privilege, but not when we abuse it!

Discipline #8-Exercise your freedom in Christ!

As we celebrate the freedom that we have as United States citizens, we celebrate patriotism which is the love of our country, and the freedom that it provides us.

Do you want to make your country even better? Then use your freedom in Christ to serve one another! 

TRUTH BOMB

In Christ we are free to love and serve one another well!

Next week get ready to summer splash!

Speak Truth Love