A Year of Blogging!

Yesterday was my 1 year blogiversary...

I began blogging as a way to share with others what God is doing in my life, what He is teaching me, and just how wonderful He is. Through sharing the joys of life as well as the trials and hard times, I have desired for my words to be a testimony of His goodness, His love, His grace, His mercy, His forgiveness, His faithfulness, His provision. As the quote on my sidebar states, I have desired that my life, and here in blogland, my blog and it posts, be an exhibit to the value of knowing God.

That is the purpose of my blog... to brag on our magnificent Lord and Savior, and hopefully, to impart to whoever reads my blog a hunger and thirst for Him and for righteousness. For in Matthew 5:6, our Lord states, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." Are you hungry for more of our Lord?

Today I wanted to share what the Lord has been speaking to me about lately... selfishness. Does anyone else struggle with this? Please do not tell me that I am alone!! It seems that the more I long for God, the more I seek Him, and the more desperate I become for Him, the more my flesh fights it! And then I get so frustrated with myself because I long and desire to live in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Why is it that more often than I like I allow my circumstances to dictate how I respond rather than allowing the Spirit of Christ in me to control my responses? Just yesterday our pastor preached a sermon about whose kingdom are you living in and seeking, our own, or that of our Lord? I had to apologize to my husband after church because on Saturday I was definitely living in MY kingdom, and I was not pleasant to be around... thankfully he willingly and graciously forgave me, and confessed that he struggles with the same thing.

Our Sunday School lesson was on prayer, and how all of our battles need to be fought on our knees, and how we need to pray unceasingly. If we are praying unceasingly, we are constantly focusing on our Lord and Savior, we are in constant communion with Him, and that gives our stinky flesh less opportunity to rise up and jump out! It made me think of the book by Brother Lawrence, Practicing the Presence of the Lord. We need to practice and live like we are in His Presence at all times, we need to be resolved to do this, we need to do this intentionally or it will not take place. So that is what I have been trying to do since yesterday, trying to keep my mind and thoughts focused on Him, trying to be in communion with Him, whether I am listening intently for His voice, or sharing my heart with Him.

This morning the following was in the devotion book I am reading, just thought I would share it...

No matter how resistant we may be to the call, our road to true greatness is also the highway of humility. At times it too will involve suffering, rejection, betrayal, and yes, even death - to self. The question becomes, "Is He worth it to us?"

Without a doubt, one of the primary works God has sought to accomplish in me is to help me get over myself. The process has been excruciating and will no doubt be lifelong, but I have never been more thankful for any work in my life. I know no other way to say it: God finally got me to a place where I made myself sick. Oh, I still get plenty of glances at my self-centeredness, but never without a good wave of nausea. God and I now have a term for it in our prayer time. Don't expect something deeply intellectual or theological. We just call it my "self-stuff." Almost everyday I ask God to help me address any active self-stuff and nail it to the cross. I literally name everything He brings to mind and look it straight in the face even if it makes me cry. ....

Here's the big lie: Satan has convinced us that laying down our self-stuff is some huge sacrifice. Oh, beloved, what deception! Our self-stuff is what makes us most miserable! What an albatross our self-absorption is.

I cannot stress strongly enough that getting over the self-stuff is a daily challenge. As long as we inhabit this tent of flesh, it will rise up in us. We must choose to "deny [ourselves] and take up [our] cross daily" (Luke 9:23). The challenge demands total honesty before God. Remember, God never convicts us to condemn us. He wants to liberate us. Oh, God, so deal with self in each of us that when You read our thoughts You will find stronger and stronger evidences of Your own.

(taken from New Every Morning, devotions by Beth Moore, pages 75-76)

Anyone have any thoughts to share...

Back to this blogiversary for a bit... I have been tremendously blessed by this blogging adventure! What wonderful blogging friends I have made, friends who have encouraged me with their words, both in the comments they leave and in the words on their own blogs, and who have lifted me up to our Lord in prayer. Thank you to each of you who have allowed the Lord to use you to touch others lives, you are all truly a blessing straight from Him! As an act of selflessness, the Lord has laid it upon my heart to have a giveaway!! I will be giving away some Therapeutic Bath Minerals by Beauticontrol that I bought for myself and just absolutely love! But I am trying to not be selfish, so I am not going to keep them, I want to bless one of you with them! (They are brand new, I have not opened them yet :) just in case you were wondering!!) Just leave me a comment by next Monday the 10th, and I will enter you in the drawing. I will draw on Monday night the 10th! And I may try to get a few other goodies to send with the bath minerals!!