tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33150614595623992012024-03-13T10:39:22.679-05:00Blessed BuilderYou will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear. ~Job 11:15Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.comBlogger355125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-6637555668291026622013-05-30T08:48:00.004-05:002013-05-30T08:48:35.492-05:00Change Always Brings More Change. I'm Moving Over I started Blessed Builder one night late in 2007. It was the first I'd encountered blogland and out of curiosity more than anything, I clicked the button in the upper right hand corner "Create Blog". That night I became a blogger, even though I barely knew what a blog was.<br />
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I connected with a circle of bloggers who were connected through <a href="http://www.proverbs31.org/">Proverbs 31 ministries</a> and have made several friends from the early years. </div>
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More connections were made when I attended (at the encouragement of another blogger) <a href="http://shespeaksconference.com/">She Speaks</a> in the summer of 2008. {And I'm excited to be going back this year!}</div>
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Since then things have changed. Blogging, life and me.<br />
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So I've been wanting to move from the original title which I didn't give much thought to when I created the blog on a whim that night. I am still blessed (and honored) to participate in building the Kingdom of God by encouraging your faith-walk. </div>
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But I no longer build furniture, yard ornaments and home decor. Which was the other inspiration for the title, "Blessed Builder". </div>
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God has changed our circumstances and my heart. I am more passionate to live Isaiah 61. As much as I have loved my <a href="http://bittersweetfarmgiftshop.blogspot.com/">Bittersweet Farm</a> life, my heart is no longer there.</div>
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So, I am moving over to Wordpress. It's taken me a bit to get accustomed to the basics. But you can head over to <a href="http://kathyschwanke.com/">Truth and Love</a> {the address is simple: kathyschwanke (dot) com}<br />
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If you are a subscriber to this blog, you can just add your email in the box over there for updates in your inbox.<br />
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Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-19888517389945524712013-05-22T17:32:00.000-05:002013-05-22T18:15:21.869-05:00Adventures on the Road to Somewhere<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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The smoky-blue papered walls provided a rich backdrop for
the framed black-and-white photos of days gone by. The mirrored walls reflected
the suit-and-tie businessmen dining next to us, and the four gracefully aged ladies
with their glasses of white zin. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The ceilings were draped with heavy fabric of the same hue
as the wallpaper and buttoned in the center reminding me of Pollyanna-day
pageantry.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I felt like I was 14 again, pretending to be of a different
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I looked across the table at my husband, his denim shirt
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now-sparkling hair with only hints of pepper remaining and his blue eyes stand
out against the denim. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I had that feeling you get when you are watching one of
those movies. You know, like, You Got Mail? And it all comes together in that
one moment when Tom Hanks comes over the bridge calling after Brinkley (the dog)
and there is Meg Ryan. Their eyes lock. THAT moment. And I let out a breath. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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What is that feeling? Satisfaction? Joy? Wonder? All three
encapsulated in a moment. <i>Yes.</i><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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He and I have been in a season of waiting for a while now.
He works away from home; I keep up our now nearly empty hobby farm in hopes of
selling so I can be with him more. Then
I sneak away for a week or so to wherever he happens to be working. Currently in
Bismarck, ND.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The front and backside of traveling for me can be grueling.
Making sure I stop the mail, pay the bills, secure a lawn care specialist or one to plow the snow, whichever the case may be. (His
name is Tuffy, we will see how it looks when I get home!) Then getting the undone things done upon returning...<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has been hard. But it has also been really, really good. And sometimes wonderful. In moments like this one, dining in mid-day in my little version of Storyland. I
let out a breath. And my heart sings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://blessedbuilder.blogspot.com/2012/07/god-is-romantiche-is.html">God has romanced me</a>. And so has my man. Our relationship has
not been this satisfying since before the wedding day. (psst: it will be 30 years in August!) I don’t say that because
our marriage has necessarily been hard-though it has had severe bumps. It just seems in the prime of life, after we started our jobs, marriage, and family… life
happened! We let ourselves become too busy (I know you know what I am talking
about!) and we just often forgot to slow down and look at each other. Much less enjoy one another. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So now, here we are, living our life in the balance. We both
have longings and hopes and dreams on our radar, but we need things to happen
first. And so we continue to wait, to pray, to listen for the Lord and rest in
His timing. We realize we are in "school". God's training-time. The <a href="http://www.blessedbuilder.blogspot.com/2011/12/waiting-is-preparation.html">Waiting is Preparation</a>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In the meantime, I anticipate the adventure that awaits 'round the next bend on the road to somewhere, and trusting the process. Anyone want to buy a hobby farm? </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #fffefd; color: #001320; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px; text-align: justify;">For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10</span></blockquote>
Linking up with Jennifer to <a href="http://jenniferdukeslee.com/when-storms-rage-on-and-how-to-get-through/">Tell His Story</a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=" http:="" jenniferdukeslee.com="" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" tell-his-story="" title=""><img alt="" src="http://jenniferdukeslee.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/tellhisstory-badge.jpg" style="border: none;" title="" /></a></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-60727228698984938512013-05-01T19:22:00.002-05:002013-05-01T19:27:02.410-05:00All This Talk About Heaven<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I believe the moments in life that take your breath away, the newborn baby, the sunrise, the majestic mountain-view, the immensity of the ocean, the sun-sparkly ripples in the river. Those are glimpses of God. King's kisses I call them. Or "glory moments". </span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnnrrue6CyWs1j4mF6EZLhrt5TZDyag0NH0TBF4eMBsQc2Jg3roDvu4umkZ1LtDje8tzQN6_dG_gp1omdc3ih83unvDy8yyhyphenhyphen6GdqZoujPPy7o_-SDPFWvTsTqCXvqfSY1RBPR57Ys_kOD/s1600/Moments.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnnrrue6CyWs1j4mF6EZLhrt5TZDyag0NH0TBF4eMBsQc2Jg3roDvu4umkZ1LtDje8tzQN6_dG_gp1omdc3ih83unvDy8yyhyphenhyphen6GdqZoujPPy7o_-SDPFWvTsTqCXvqfSY1RBPR57Ys_kOD/s640/Moments.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was in my early 20s when I
called my mom with the question. She had done it a dozen times--labored and delivered babies. But I
found no courage in knowing that. Dale and I were beginning to talk about
having a family and the thought of the process was freaking me out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Mom asked me, “Kathy, have you
ever done something that was terrible-hard but when you got done you were
overjoyed with what you ended up with?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I looked at my freshly painted kitchen cabinets, sky blue doors framed in white. Just a few weeks prior they were dark red with brown frames. Ours was a very small, dark kitchen in our White Bear Lake cottage. I
had lived with it dark long enough and decided that it would be worth it take all 15 doors off, bring them to
the basement to sand and repaint. Imagine what I looked like after sanding all the red off of one door! I was head to toe in red dust and the walls of my basement were a haze of red. I momentarily changed my mind about having blue cabinets. But I realized there was no turning back. It was grueling, but when everything was put back in place and I stood
back and looked, it was a dramatic transformation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think I understood. ‘<b>Hanging in there’ hinges on hope for the
reward (and relief).</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ultimately, I decided if all
the other mothers in history could do it, I would do it too. And I did. Twice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What kinds of things freak you out? Are you facing a
building project with little resources? An illness? Loss of a loved one? Challenges with your
children?</b> Do you turn on the news at
night and like me, and think, “How will we get through all this and what is on the
horizon? <i> </i>Do you see the broad destruction in the
world, hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados and now bombings and wonder
where we are headed? We hope things get better, and we should, but what if they don't?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>It is easy to get discouraged. It is easy to complain.</b> But discouragement and complaining never helps
anything. It just makes matters worse lending to those around us getting discouragement and
complaining. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In Matthew 24:6-8, Jesus says when
we see these things, they are the beginning of birth pains, and that we should
not get discouraged or be alarmed but keep looking up.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last summer my friend lost
both of her parents. Their family was very close. They are a family that loves deeply. They epitomized love. Recently she told me that she
didn’t think about heaven much before, but now she thinks about it every day.
She looks at all of life differently. I could relate having lost a niece in
2003 and then my little brother in 2006, I have had the same thoughts. I
imagine you have too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hearing her say that reminded me of a demonstration by Francis Chan (watch it, it's only 5 minutes!)</span></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/86dsfBbZfWs?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Revelation 21:1-4 says in
eternity God will wipe every tear away, and there will be no more sorrow,
death, disease or any of the brokenness we deal with in this life. <b>We can hang
in here hinged to the hope of heaven.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we set our sights on the
other side of any difficulty and realize that pain will pass, the evil will one
day be obliterated and life will be free of tears and suffering, we can endure
and live our life knowing the best is yet to come. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We will be energized and
motivated to do things beyond ourselves. We will use our time, energy and
resources for blessing and honoring God and others. When we even give a cup of
cold water to the thirsty, or visit someone in the hospital the Bible promises
we will be <i>rewarded in Heaven</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2 Corinthians 4:16-18</b> <i>Though
outwardly we are wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day,</i> <i>for our light and momentary troubles are
achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all, so we fix our
eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen, since what is seen is
temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.</i> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Isn't that how it is? Everything begins to deteriorate the moment you own it. New car, new paint, new clothes...and similarly our bodies, our world. Wearing out like a garment God says in Isaiah 51:6 and when that happens all will be made new {Isaiah 65:17-19}</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When you are tempted to feel
discouraged or freaked out by the evening news or a difficulty in your life, remember this: <b>Endurance hinges on hope</b>. Focus on Heaven. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>There are only two things for hope to safely land on: God and Eternity. When hope lands there, we will not be disappointed.</b> </span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span class="text Rom-8-24" id="en-NIV-28141" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">For in this hope we were saved.<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28141AW" title="See cross-reference AW">AW</a>)"></sup></span> But hope that is seen is no hope at all.<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28141AX" title="See cross-reference AX">AX</a>)"></sup></span> Who hopes for what they already have?</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="text Rom-8-25" id="en-NIV-28142" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:24-25</span></span></i></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Linking up with Jennifer for <a href="http://jenniferdukeslee.com/when-youre-desperate-to-find-the-main-thing/?fb_action_ids=10152770169395114&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210152770169395114%22%3A191230411028606%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210152770169395114%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D">Tell His Story</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=" http:="" jenniferdukeslee.com="" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" tell-his-story="" title=""><img alt="" src="http://jenniferdukeslee.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/tellhisstory-badge.jpg" style="border: none;" title="" /></a></div>
Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-68679279107578597522013-04-26T14:02:00.001-05:002013-04-26T14:09:01.667-05:00UNSTUCK- We Made It!!!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's alway hard to come to the end of a good thing. But it happens on a regular basis, right? Life has chapters. Family chapters. Career chapters. Phase chapters. We've closed a few here at our house in the past few years with Kayla getting married, and Ethan off to college. Closing my gift shop. Closing our farm.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>The sweet thing about hard goodbyes is the anticipation of what is ahead.</b> Often we don't know. For instance, when Kayla was married in 2009, I didn't know that I would be enamored by two little grandsons by this time. And when Ethan left for college, I didn't know I would be gaining a lovely daughter this summer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As we wrapped up our STUCK study, we all felt it. The sorrow for the last chapter. We gained so much from our time together. We enjoyed one another, opening our hearts and embracing who we are as women on this journey of life, learning and love.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIk4DIilJz01PibXSVciOh4gSd0nJJJMmNnakU1sW6LvVC2K_8hFcHRK7a9kaxaZAmdroYkaC5J6ZcTDDRYE6uzxXFRNn7OxJKgahVF6Bw_bzzXeEmI37j0yFwR4TjFEWjh2Zz2aT2-epO/s1600/header_stuck.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="68" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIk4DIilJz01PibXSVciOh4gSd0nJJJMmNnakU1sW6LvVC2K_8hFcHRK7a9kaxaZAmdroYkaC5J6ZcTDDRYE6uzxXFRNn7OxJKgahVF6Bw_bzzXeEmI37j0yFwR4TjFEWjh2Zz2aT2-epO/s320/header_stuck.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I highly recommend the study. <a href="http://jennieallen.com/">Jennie Allen</a> is gifted in transparently expressing her heart and studying/teaching scripture. The format was do-able for everyone. It didn't take a lot of time, but it was enjoyably valuable time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In our two hour meetings, we started by walking through our homework and sharing stories. Each week digs into a passage of scripture, and asks questions to get us interacting with the God's word. Digging deeper than a read-through.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Then there are projects. It was fun to see how much the women enjoyed the drawing projects. I think sharing our hearts through the art, or...sometimes scribbles was a fun way to "see" what we were studying, and each picture would enhance the lesson for others. <b>We see things differently, and our lives are different, but when we let ourselves be vulnerable and trust one another, the differences intertwine and enhance our relationships and life experience</b>. I love that!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In the middle, we watched a short (and creative) video of Jennie teaching on the chapter. The last hour was spent guided by question cards which were exceptional conversation starters. We encouraged one another and laughed a lot. Sometimes we cried too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So we are closing this chapter, but eagerly looking for what is ahead. Ultimately for our home with Jesus in Heaven.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If I were to write a sub-title to STUCK, it would be "forget the temporary temptations and trappings, instead spend your life for eternal joy- which is being with Jesus in Heaven" </span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To close, I wanted to give everyone something to take with them to be a reminder of what we learned, and of our time together. So I asked <a href="http://www.blogger.com/elementdandp.com">my graphics-girl (daughter)</a> if she would create a printable with my chapter summary statements. Here is what she came up with:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnyiKsAlCPeIKgsXpai3P0Hsbhl2ODt8PU-97ozJLeyh4dMsXc8wWNcciOaoZ3NomjAW4aWOdDeMmpjSy6UNUtFq7ha_nRNfh9JlSQ009I8CgN0H43VFFCh33KOZXcgJHPr7W1QhC8WQuW/s1600/I+will..2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnyiKsAlCPeIKgsXpai3P0Hsbhl2ODt8PU-97ozJLeyh4dMsXc8wWNcciOaoZ3NomjAW4aWOdDeMmpjSy6UNUtFq7ha_nRNfh9JlSQ009I8CgN0H43VFFCh33KOZXcgJHPr7W1QhC8WQuW/s640/I+will..2.jpg" width="512" /></span></a></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the way to get UNSTUCK:</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will trust Jesus to heal my broken places.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will relinquish my rights so that I can truly love.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will look for my satisfaction and glory in Heaven.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will overcome fear by praying and trusting God.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will listen for God's voice and live free in His will.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will trust that I am in Jesus-the source of my life. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will spend my life bearing fruit that will last.</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you would like to download it to print for yourself, you can click <a href="http://elementphotos.wordpress.com/author/elementphotos/">HERE</a>.</span></div>
Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-52945878310945835852013-04-18T09:30:00.003-05:002013-04-18T09:30:37.571-05:00Sad Longing For Heaven<span class="text Rom-8-18" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Just ask anyone who has lost someone dear to them how much more real Heaven is...Or ask them if they long for Heaven more now than before their loss. If you don't hear them groan, you will see it in their eyes. The longing for Heaven.</span><br />
<span class="text Rom-8-18" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text Rom-8-18" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Our study this week brought greater clarity regarding the feeling we are all familiar with. The longing for something more that seems to linger even on the best of days. We savor the moments of life that ignite our hearts. The precious moments like the first wobbly steps our baby takes, or glimpsing the perfect fiery orb descending in colorful horizons</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> at the close of day, or the magnificent Ocean waves rolling toward the sandy shore landing at our feet.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><b>And still, on the other side of those glory moments, there it is. A feeling of <i>wanting more</i>.</b></span><br />
<span class="text Rom-8-18" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span><span class="text Rom-8-18" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">And God created it that way. He doesn't want us to settle for less than Him. He knows we are too easily satisfied with inferior things. He knows we cannot even imagine what pure glory is like, and He is eager to show us. So he gives us the longing in our soul for His glory.</span><br />
<span class="text Rom-8-18" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text Rom-8-18" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">When we realize that, we can embrace the longing. He loves us so much He doesn't want us to settle for "here". His desire is that we will anticipate going there. His amazing love enables us to maintain joy in the midst of the inevitable broken and messy places we find ourselves in. </span><br />
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<span class="text Rom-8-18" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Our life on earth is temporary. Aren't we seeing that now more than ever?<b> As the storms of life rage, we can rejoice because we know</b> <b>Heaven is ahead and it is eternal! <a href="http://blessedbuilder.blogspot.com/2011/07/this-life-is-like-dot-on-million-mile.html">This life is like a dot on a million mile string...</a></b></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtAyAw5ysj68d9Fap7dNhOA7TO7gPiMaB2EkajXtrgZTDFReic0moMsXmbK9V9PkA8NyRAhs4xkXCCS7f1d2ym8HP6HpO39c-rpz1LluU3fWsN6XcCNtZK71sAqd1tPWG_tI1nZU0W2a4n/s1600/Heaven.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtAyAw5ysj68d9Fap7dNhOA7TO7gPiMaB2EkajXtrgZTDFReic0moMsXmbK9V9PkA8NyRAhs4xkXCCS7f1d2ym8HP6HpO39c-rpz1LluU3fWsN6XcCNtZK71sAqd1tPWG_tI1nZU0W2a4n/s640/Heaven.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="text Rom-8-18" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The pain of this life serves us. Just like pain in training serves the goal of an athlete, and pain in labor serves the birth of a baby, so pain in this life serves our life in Heaven. This world is not our home, we are just passing through. <b>Heaven is on the other side, so keep your eyes focused on what is ahead and maintain your joy while you wait in hope for it!</b></span><br />
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<span class="text Rom-8-18" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="text Rom-8-19" id="en-NLT-28097" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </sup>For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.</span><span class="text Rom-8-20" id="en-NLT-28098" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </sup>Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. <b>But with eager hope,</b></span><span class="text Rom-8-21" id="en-NLT-28099" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><b><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; vertical-align: top;"> </sup>the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.</b></span><span class="text Rom-8-22" id="en-NLT-28100" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </sup>For we know that all creation has been <i>groaning</i> as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.</span><span class="text Rom-8-23" id="en-NLT-28101" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </sup>And we believers also <i>groan</i>, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.</span><span class="text Rom-8-24" id="en-NLT-28102" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </sup>We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it.</span><span class="text Rom-8-25" id="en-NLT-28103" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </sup>But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.) Romans 8:18-25 NLT (emphasis mine)</span>Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-46477285837577427392013-04-11T20:53:00.001-05:002013-04-11T20:53:51.953-05:00When You Get Overwhelmed Then {What?}We drew pictures of what our lives look like right now. One sister's was orderly and told a sequential story: past-->present-->future. Another sister's was progressive. One day she drew how she felt and then she went back and added things. I drew where I spend my time and I ran out of room on the paper! In seeing it, I began to feel overwhelmed!<br />
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There are seasons of life when we find we have said 'yes' to one thing too many. When we do that, we have put ourselves in a position of living with little energy or inner-reserves to handle the incoming interruptions {sometimes we call them 'wits' and they can come to an end!}. When the milk is spilled, or the car cuts you off in traffic, or too many kids come through your door at the end of a long day and you feel like running and hiding or yelling at the top of your already-strained lungs.</div>
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Lungs that inhale hard because you feel like you can't get enough...<br />
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And then there are seasons when it is not due to a choice, but life circumstances. Loss of a loved one, disagreements with a friend, or spouse. And transitions are stressful, like a move or job change. <b>Circumstances involving change can deplete our inner-strength bank.</b></div>
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The question we all face in these times is, <b>"How do I manage this crazy life without <i>going crazy</i> or driving everyone around me crazy?"</b> or more importantly, <b>"How does God want me to respond in these overwhelmed seasons? In my overwhelmed moments?"</b></div>
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Surely we need to step back and take a look at what we have said yes to and ask God if there is anything that He wants us to eliminate. Then we need to do it. {that is the hard part, right?} Then we need to remember He is in it with us. {AH! That's right!} Sometimes He leads us into places where we are limited so we will learn to tap into His strength. <b>Then we re-learn that we still are human.</b> :)<br />
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When we feel stretched to the limit and on the verge of anxiety, we may have failed to consider that God is with us, and the very simple-yet profound passage stating that, "Without Him we can do nothing." John 15:5 </blockquote>
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Or we might be doing things for wrong reasons (like to build our own kingdom instead of God's) and with our own energy (without God) and soon come to the place where we are ready to plant our face in the pillow for awhile. Matthew 6:33</blockquote>
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When we need a guide for our choices, when we need to know what God wants us to do, He is there willing to lead us. He reminds us that we <i>can</i> hear His voice and follow Him through prayer, reading His word and usually He also confirms what He is saying with outer circumstances or other people in agreement.<br />
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Isn't it good to know that He is always with us and just a prayer away? That even in sustained dark-valley seasons, He is working things for our good. Romans 8:28<br />
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Once again we find that our perspective and our attitude have much to do with our experiences. They determine our motivation and the value of the things we spend our life on. We are all given gifts, resources and time. If we follow God and use our resources His way, we will reap rewards that will come with us to eternity. {See 1 Corinthians 3:11-15} </div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="text 1Pet-4-7" id="en-NIV-30454" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">The end of all things is near.<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30454A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></sup></span> Therefore be alert and of sober mind<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30454B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></sup></span> so that you may pray.</span><span class="text 1Pet-4-8" id="en-NIV-30455" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </sup>Above all, love each other deeply,<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30455C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></sup> because love covers over a multitude of sins.<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30455D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)"></sup></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="text 1Pet-4-9" id="en-NIV-30456" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </sup>Offer hospitality<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30456E" title="See cross-reference E">E</a>)"></sup> to one another without grumbling.</span><span class="text 1Pet-4-10" id="en-NIV-30457" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </sup>Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others,<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30457G" title="See cross-reference G">G</a>)"></sup> as faithful<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30457H" title="See cross-reference H">H</a>)"></sup> stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.</span><span class="text 1Pet-4-11" id="en-NIV-30458" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </sup>If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God.<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30458I" title="See cross-reference I">I</a>)"></sup></span> If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides,<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30458J" title="See cross-reference J">J</a>)"></sup></span> so that in all things God may be praised<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30458K" title="See cross-reference K">K</a>)"></sup></span> through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:7-11</span></span></blockquote>
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Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-15959515022098220032013-04-04T17:27:00.000-05:002013-04-04T17:27:01.944-05:00When We Sit 'n Spin ScaredWe sit and spin our strategies for making our life work...or toss and turn at 3:00am while worry wears us down. Sleep stolen and life-on-hold we dizzy ourselves with mental anguish and we don't even realize often that we have the power to "stop this crazy thing!" {Remember George Jetson on the treadmill?}<br />
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I try to figure out how to make so-and-so_____________. {it could be children that do what we want, friends that do what we want, a husband that does what we want} My greatest fear is _____________. {fear of anger, fear of failing, fear of losing something or someone...the list could go on and on} The things we highly value can consume us and we can become in bondage to them. Whatever we fill in the blanks with can become idols in our lives. Idols always bring us into prison.<br />
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"Whatever you fear is your god." ~Ann Voskamp</blockquote>
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Anxiety has been an unwelcome companion in my life. If you type 'fear' in my search box, you will find more than a few posts. I'm always learning and seeking greater freedom from it..<i>.and now this chapter in our STUCK study</i>. It is entitled <b>"Scared"</b>. Its the place I am most likely to be tripped up. Ensnared. About a dozen years ago, I was. Spun into a web of fear that derailed my life, paralyzed me in many ways and really landed me 'rock bottom' in the dark place where one has no choice but to surrender their <b>faulty concept of life being something controllable</b>.<br />
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<b>It was excruciatingly painful. But also beautifully good.</b><br />
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It was a gift. A hard gift. Its what <a href="http://onethousandgifts.com/tag/hard-eucharisteo">Ann Voskamp calls "Hard Eucharisteo"</a> and my friend <a href="http://www.lauraboggess.com/2011/06/one-thousand-gifts-hard-eucharisteo.html">Laura Boggess writes about it more here</a>.<br />
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Perhaps you've heard from teachers that when you teach something you are likely to be tested in it. Its true. I experienced what I've come to believe at the end of the week as God lifting His hand of protection over me and allowing the fear-bully to have access to my soul another time. I haven't had a full-blown panic attack for quite a while, though I do still at times experience symptoms of anxiety (breathlessness and like I need to run).<br />
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Last Thursday while in the salon, head bent for foils by my hairstylist of three years, the young woman... <i>I am still uncertain of whether she likes having me and all my hair in her chair</i>... <b>I felt it.</b> The rise of heat and the split-second of blackness in my head, and then the fear-feeling of panic and need to immediately exit for air, or water, or a really wild scream. And the cape was choking me, and the foils felt heavy. I wasn't sure it was a panic attack, it felt like it might be a physical condition-you always wonder what it is. I'd started my day with two cups of coffee. Maybe it was that.<br />
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What if I pass out? Should I tell her I feel like passing out? She would feel alarmed! And then I would feel more alarmed because she would be maybe freaking out inside. And on it goes. And I remember reading 'no one ever died from a panic attack'...</blockquote>
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So, as I had done in the past, I kept thinking faster than usual. <i>Where is my faith during this time?</i> What is happening? <b>Process. Remember: give thanks in all circumstances. God is here. </b>What is the worst thing that can happen? I could pass out? <i>"Thank you God that you will still have me!"</i> I might need people to care for me, and heaven forbid, <i>carry me</i>? <i>"Thank you God that you will be there too!"</i><br />
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Fear: <b>F</b>alse <b>E</b>vidence <b>A</b>ppearing <b>R</b>eal. </blockquote>
It gave me some comfort to process, but I still felt the urge to <b>get away</b>-that's the best way to describe it.<br />
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I had one more panic attack later that day. And then I felt so discouraged. Then came the fear of "going back there" into the pit like before. But I remembered when I was being rescued a decade ago, I asked the Lord, "What if I fall into this hell again?" to which He distinctly so-I-would-remember replied, "Just keep holding my hand." and I<i> knew</i> that He would uphold me. I am always in His hands. This gave me great peace and the ability to walk forward and mostly free until Thursday.<br />
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...perfect love drives out fear... 1 John 4:18</blockquote>
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Monday I sat down to do the study. I saw the title: SCARED. As I was doing the work, I realized that what had happened to me was something God wanted me to share. I had never admitted before to having a full-blown panic attack. It scared me bad. I've always called it 'anxiety'. That felt safer to say, it made me feel <i>less weak</i>. I prayed. Then I sent half a dozen text messages to friends and to my mom asking them to pray. I knew God wanted to use this story for my freedom- and maybe for others to understand or find freedom and I had to fess up. To reveal the thing that scared me. <span style="font-size: x-small;">Expose my weakness.</span><br />
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I also understood my salon-chair fear was prompted by several things converging in my life including hormones, the caffeine from my morning, recent challenges, and the thoughts I was having that day about her not liking me as a client (which are most likely not true). God revealed that to me. I also knew I needed to renew my reserves; to enhance my natural tranquilizers by rest and laughter and exercise. But mostly recharge my trust. <b>To remember (again) it is not me who is running this show.</b> {ha ha, I know. but I still live like that sometimes! ~as if!!!}<br />
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Oswald Chambers says, "Anxiety is calculating without God" </blockquote>
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Ann Voskamp said, "Pride is fear's father and kin to all the cowards." </blockquote>
It has been my pride that makes me want to hide. Exposing my fear is freeing. Not only for me- I learned already that God has encouraged at least one friend who struggles. <b>And I know He knew. He knows what He is doing. And I am His. And she is His. And He wants to see us free from fear's shackles. </b>Have you faced down fears? Are you fighting them even now?<br />
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Trusting Love is the antidote to fear. God is love. Trusting God then. That is freedom...</blockquote>
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If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:36</blockquote>
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<b><br /></b>The LORD is my shepherd...Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,<b> I will fear no evil, for you are with me</b>; your rod and your staff, they comfort me...Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days fo my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.<br />Psalm 23:1, 4, 6</blockquote>
Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-49206940856207208432013-03-27T23:46:00.002-05:002013-03-27T23:51:59.829-05:00Are We Really Just Chasing the Wind?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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When I was a school girl, I thought, "if only I had friends..."</div>
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When I was in high-school, I thought, "if only I could be a cheerleader..."</div>
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When I was a stylin' hair stylist (before having kids), I thought, "if only I had a great figure..."</div>
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When I was a young mom, I thought, "if only I had a nicer house..."</div>
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When I was in the middle-school-parenting years, I thought, "if only I were a better mom..."</div>
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When I was first an empty-nester, I thought, "if only I had a couple more kids..."</div>
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Now...if only...I could lose the 15lbs...and move to Florida every winter...(in that order of course)</div>
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<b>Whenever I focus on the "if-only's" or my "have-not's" my focus leaves anyone else and fixates on 'poor me'. </b></div>
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<b>BLAH! </b></div>
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All my 'if only' statements are external, temporary things. <i><b>Things</b> that do not ultimately satisfy, and are fleeting.</i> {are you picturing it? Elementary friends? High-school accomplishments? Great figure when I'm 80? (okay, don't picture that one!) The house 10 years after a remodel? The inevitable empty nest?} <b>Going, going, gone!</b></div>
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<i>Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man's envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after the wind.</i> Ecclesiastes 4:4</blockquote>
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This week our STUCK focus was on becoming content (unSTUCK from our discontent) and can you believe we came up with more than a few areas of discontent on our list? And it appears that different seasons bring different things that we struggle with. The common denominator in discontent is paralysis or bondage (ie: stuck). We get stuck if we are focused on the things we don't have. </div>
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<b>What is the remedy?</b></div>
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Realizing that God <i>gave us</i> longings, and that He wants us. (YES! <i>He wants us</i>!) <b>He placed within us the longing in order that we would long for Him and that we would reach out for Him and find our joy and satisfaction in Him. </b><br />
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How does that sound to you compared to a large vanilla latte? Compared to owning a brick house with grand pillars and white board fences along your grandiose driveway? Compared to a successful career surrounded by people praising you? Compared to a Hawaiian vacation every year?<br />
<br />
At first glance, that Hawaiian vacation looks quite appealing to me at the end of this seemingly endless Wisconsin winter. <b>Unless I were to compare my longed-for vacation with eternity.</b><br />
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<b>Everything pales when you think of eternity. The forever place of continual discovery of God, the glorious Artist.</b><br />
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I attended the play <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kingdom-Undone/304666502904929?fref=ts"><b>Kingdom Undone</b></a> last weekend. I was drawn in by the amazing artistry of the playwright and the artistic talent of the director and the actors and by the moving music of the orchestra. When it was over, my heart wanted to run and grab and hug each person invested in the play because they gave me something I treasured, a life-experience that took me beyond myself and brought to view a greater glimpse of God's amazing eternal story. <b>I wanted to do more than watch. I wanted to 'engage' with the artists.</b><br />
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I think that is what it is like with God. Last summer I spent about a month in<b> <a href="http://www.blessedbuilder.blogspot.com/2012/07/god-is-romantiche-is.html">Montana</a></b>, I marveled at God's artistry as the carver of magnificent mountains and the painter of stunning skies! Seeing made me want to engage more somehow with the Artist. It was so wonderful, so amazing, but it somehow STILL didn't feel like enough! <b>I wanted something more.</b> You know what I mean. You have had the same experiences. Where you delight in a moment, then the moment is gone and you want more, but it is done. <b>There is a thrill, and simultaneously-or shortly afterward-a regret that there isn't <i>more</i>...</b><br />
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A true artist leaves you with the desire for a connection to more art, yes...but ultimately to the creator of the art itself... That is God's desire in ALL of His good gifts (Like friends, and houses, and our bodies, and our vacation experiences, etc): It's like He is saying in each of them, "Enjoy these displays of my love for you because I want you to want more of ME!"<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
If we enjoy something and never look up and give thanks, we lose our joy. We are left wanting. <b>Thanksgiving </b>is one of two keys of removing the discontent in our hearts, lives and frees us to live fulfilling lives of purpose and meaning.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The first key, which is necessary for thanksgiving to take place is found in focus. Where we focus determines our attitude. <b>Our contentment is based on where we set our sights. </b></blockquote>
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<b>So the first key is focusing our hearts on HEAVEN!!!</b> If our mind is heavenward, our expectations (focus) are not on this life and the fleeting outward things that disappoint us or leave us feel unsatisfied. If our mind is on heaven, we keep proper perspective and can give thanks in all circumstances because of His promises to bless and keep us. And ultimately we know that He is going to take us home where we will be free of all the brokenness and longings of living this fleeting life. We will be truly satisfied.<br />
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Isn't that how we endure our hard things? Things like having a baby? We endure the temporary pain knowing that we receive relief and joy on the other side. Or doing a difficult project, we endure the work knowing we will have the satisfaction on the other side of the difficulty.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The keys to contentment then, are: </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;">Eyes on Heaven & Hearts of Thanksgiving! </span></b></div>
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<b><br /></b></div>
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<span class="text 2Cor-4-16" id="en-ESV-28859" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;">So we do not lose heart. <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-ESV-28859A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></sup>Though our outer self is wasting away, <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-ESV-28859B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></sup>our inner self <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-ESV-28859C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></sup>is being renewed day by day.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"> </span><span class="text 2Cor-4-17" id="en-ESV-28860" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;">For <sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-ESV-28860D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)"></sup>this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,</span><span class="text 2Cor-4-18" id="en-ESV-28861" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </sup><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-ESV-28861E" title="See cross-reference E">E</a>)"></sup>as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. </span></div>
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<span class="text 2Cor-4-18" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;">2 Corinthians 4:16-18</span></div>
Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-55385340221354509292013-03-21T23:35:00.000-05:002013-03-21T23:35:17.597-05:00Fight. Fight. Fight. Crush. Crush. Crush...Come to the Cross...Let's Do Our Part to End the WarI skip around the internet...from one post to another commenter's blog, to another post and so-on... and I see things that just <i>get me flustered and cause my heart to twist in a knot</i>. <b>You do too I imagine. </b>Whatever social media you might wander through from YouTube to NY Times, you will encounter a host of angry comments and what I call <b>a volatile undercurrent of war.</b> Fighting. Fighting. Fighting. Pride. Pride, Pride. Ugly. Ugly, Ugly.<br />
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...I've been caught up once or twice in opinion-slinging myself. <i> You?</i><br />
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There is a place in our soul...a hole that needs, desires, <i>longs</i> to be fulfilled. We want someone to say to us, "you are special. valuable. known. loved. heard." and when people in our lives inevitably disappoint us, don't meet our needs inevitably, cross us inevitably, hurt us inevitably (did I already say that word <i>inevitably?</i>-because <i>we</i> <i>are human after all</i>)<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Then we respond with feelings of <i>inferiority</i> causing us to withdraw (flight) or <i>superiority</i> causing angry tongue-lashings (fight). </b><br />
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Inferiority. Superiority. Neither of those responses lends to living free and certainly does not lead to love. They are both bondage. Living with either attitude is like being held in a prison of people's opinions.<br />
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<b>We let them crush or we set out to crush. ...Crush. Crush. Crush...</b> <br />
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The absolute most grievous displays of crushing-fighting-pride are the ones who do so in the name of Jesus. Yes, Jesus. The one who said, "If anyone claims to love me but hates his brother (or sister) is lying, and my love isn't in them."<br />
{1 John 4:19-21}<br />
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Once in awhile I find a back-story by an angry blogger (those prone to 'flight' probably don't write blogs, but probably read them). <b>And I see they have been hurt.</b> I feel sorrow for the pain~so much pain inflicted, real and raw~ but I also feel sorrow for their response to it because by holding on to the pain, they continue to give it power over their lives. They carry their burden when they could lay it down!!! Jesus would so willingly take it from them if they'd give it, and they could walk free. <b>He died to set us free.</b><br />
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Carrying an offense is an offense to the One who died to deliver.<br />
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You see, when we have been hurt, <i>He gets it</i>. Look at Him. Innocent, hanging on the cross! If anyone was {wrongly} accused and rejected it was Him. Perfect love, never sinning against man but always telling the truth.<br />
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<i>But his very love</i>, it stirred the fierce anger of the prideful ones that crucified him. That was each one of us, right? We all have crucified the Christ because we all have had anger at someone. {Matthew 5:21-22}<b> How then can we be angry with those who hurt us when we are just as capable of hurting? </b><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><i>We have done the hurting</i>? </b></blockquote>
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I pray for the hurting people who continue to nurse their wounds, (I've done that!) who have removed themselves from church, but who desire reconcilliation. I pray that they would find a safe place…for strength and wholeness… and I pray for those who are hurting and who have embraced resentment. I pray for them to be set free. <b>It is the enemy who is the enemy, not the church made up of people.</b> <b>Our battle is not against flesh and blood but the principalities of darkness. </b>{Ephesians 6:12} and I pray for us, the wound-makers, that we take responsibility when we have slung one <i>and apologize</i>. Be humble. Seek peace and pursue it. Let's end the war. <i>Yes?</i><br />
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I pray for wounded ones (I've been them) to discern truth about their situation. To get counseling if needed. To see that they have fellowship with Christ Jesus in His sufferings and they will be enabled to say, <i>“Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.”</i><br />
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I pray that those who hurt, {pray this with me} that they will love the Scriptures which shine light on the lies. That is my prayer for all who feel hurt and cannot let go. To know the truth... and the truth, it sets us free.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.</span><sup class="crossreference" style="background-color: white; font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29164A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></sup><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> Stand firm,</span><sup class="crossreference" style="background-color: white; font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-29164B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></sup><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span></span>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="text Matt-5-21" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span class="woj">“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’</span></span><span class="text Matt-5-22" id="en-NIV-23257" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"><span class="woj"><sup class="versenum" style="font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </sup>But I tell you that anyone who is angry<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-23257AC" title="See cross-reference AC">AC</a>)"></sup></span> with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment.<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-23257AD" title="See cross-reference AD">AD</a>)"></sup></span> Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court.<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-23257AE" title="See cross-reference AE">AE</a>)"></sup></span> And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. Matthew 5:21-22</span></span></span></i></blockquote>
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<br />Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-78093832631145509502013-03-20T23:19:00.000-05:002013-03-21T22:48:05.436-05:00Words on Anger-For How To Get Unstuck From Its Ugly ConsequencesMAD. {Have you ever been?}<br />
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<b>There's a photo of a horse and then a reference to controlling our tongue. The member of our body that is hard to keep a tight reign on. {Does that resonate with you too?}</b><br />
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A horse compared to my tongue... A mighty powerful <i>little</i> thing, right?<br />
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{Photo courtesy of <a href="http://wallpaper-me.blogspot.com/2012/11/black-horse-running-wallpaper.html">Wallpaper-me</a>}</div>
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That large, enchanting and sometimes scary "beast" with the velvet-soft nose and often spunky spirit. <i>And my tongue.</i><br />
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I was ten when Daddy said 'yes' to the horse for his <i>pleading girls</i>. Our neighbors had horses, and like many little girls, we dreamed dreams. Visions of having our own horses caused us to press our papa...<i>Finally</i> he gave in when the opportunity presented itself...<br />
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Flicka was actually a Welsh pony, but she was a bit larger than a typical pony. When you are ten, you don't want to say you rode<i> a pony</i>. I slung my foot over Flicka's back and planted my bottom on the saddle that very first time. <b>It was with false confidence which reaped ugly consequences. </b><br />
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My child-pride, it can't admit, <i>"I don't know some things. Like how to stop a horse when it runs away with you on its back"</i> resulted in my very first-riding misadventure. Its typical, shortly after saddling a horse which bloats its belly (in resistance to being saddled), the leather cinch loosened, and the seat beneath my butt,<i> it slid right off her back!</i> It fell with it, all of my panic-stricken body went down too as she continued her wild get-away race.<br />
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I've heard pride comes before a fall, and I also think it then might drag you on further in order to grant more pain, for my foot was stuck in the stirrup, and my whole body was hauled right through the ruts of the thistle-laden pasture. <i>For what seemed miles</i>. <b>Fortunately, the grace of God gives boundaries and Dad had erected a fence around this arena or I may have died right there that day.</b> <i>Who knows how else Flicka would have been stopped?!?</i> On the opposite end of the pasture, the fence kept me from certain death...I'm sure of it!<br />
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And this is my tongue. It needs reigns, and a skilled rider. It needs boundaries.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span class="text Jas-1-19" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">My dear brothers and sisters,<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30286AH" title="See cross-reference AH">AH</a>)"></sup></span> take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, <b>slow to speak<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30286AI" title="See cross-reference AI">AI</a>)"></sup></span> and slow to become angry</b>,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="text Jas-1-20" id="en-NIV-30287" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">because human anger<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30287AJ" title="See cross-reference AJ">AJ</a>)"></sup> does not produce the righteousness that God desires.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="text Jas-1-21" id="en-NIV-30288" style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, get rid of<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30288AK" title="See cross-reference AK">AK</a>)"></sup></span> all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you,<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30288AL" title="See cross-reference AL">AL</a>)"></sup></span> <b>which can save you</b>. </span></i></span> James 1:19-21 </blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><i>and<b> James 1:26 <sup class="versenum" style="background-color: white; font-size: 0.75em; vertical-align: top;"> </sup><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues </span><sup class="crossreference" style="background-color: white; font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-30293AP" title="See cross-reference AP">AP</a>)"></sup><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px;">deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless.</span></b></i></span></blockquote>
<i><br /></i>
<i>Be slow to speak, slow to anger... </i><b>Slow down Horse!!!</b> (I think my words were more like "AAAHHHH HELP!!!! STOP!!!")<br />
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It is a common denominator among us, the need to slow down and reign us all in. Our perceived 'rights' cause us to react to situations with less-than grace. {say,<i> impatience...and worse, harmful anger?</i>}<br />
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In order for us to get unstuck from this pattern, we need to understand something: We humans have no rights, all of any good comes from God. <b>We sin. So we cannot hold others under the gun when they sin against us.</b><br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Turn the other cheek.<br />
Love your enemies.<br />
If someone takes your shirt, give him your coat as well...</blockquote>
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If that kind of behavior doesn't send a shockwave through the system of the one who sins against you, what will? Right?<br />
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But who can do those things? Giving more to the one who steals from you??? Really?<br />
Offering your other cheek when you are slapped??? Okay?<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jesus. </span>He who was without sin but took on my sin as he hung there. When I realize it is because of me; <b>the cross is on behalf of me</b>-<b>of MY sins</b>. I offended God with my sin. But then, because of His great love with which He loves us sinners (as exhibited on the cross),<span style="font-size: large;"> I have been pardoned.</span> I have been forgiven.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I cannot then withhold forgiveness even one little bit from someone else...who am I? Why would I have expectations on another to fulfill what I, myself cannot? {did someone say perfectionism?}</blockquote>
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Only the person who is laid low before the Lord Jesus in absolute surrender due to the humble state of her grateful heart that says, "I have no rights" can love like that. Because, truth be told...<b>the only selfless One is Jesus and when we lay down and let Him live in and through us, then and only then can we obey Him by loving our enemies or blessing those who curse us</b>.<br />
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<b>Victory over anger or any other sin only comes from surrendering our whole self to Christ.</b> This is the cross His disciples are asked to 'take up daily' (Matthew 16:24-26). Lay low. Let Him in. "<i>Have your way with me Lord!</i>" It is the only way. <b><i>And it is freeing!!!</i></b><br />
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To let Him run the show means rest for me. It means Life and Peace and Joy. I've got nothing to hide, nothing to lose, nothing to fear, and nothing to prove since I am so loved already by Him who gave to me what I did not deserve. When I slapped Him, He turned the other cheek. When I was His enemy He loved me, and when I stole from Him, he gave me more...That is His essence. He is the Gift-Giver.<br />
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No longer do I need to strive or fight for 'mySELF'. He has me. I am cared for.<br />
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When we realize that this life WILL have its share of suffering and we stop trying to create heaven on earth for ourselves, then we are free to enable others to see God by letting Jesus love through us. Yes, even our enemies. Even those who slap us. Even those who steal from us...<br />
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{Re: MAD chapter of STUCK}</div>
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<br />Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-41750286037804431072013-03-15T23:03:00.000-05:002013-03-15T23:03:03.246-05:00And Who Can Teach?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Teaching about a subject doesn't mean you know all about the subject...but that you know in part and are researching it in order to bring to light more of the truth about a subject. <b>Teaching is a most humbling gift since one can only teach what one has been taught.</b> And every teacher knows, or should know, that unless One Greater reveals, there is nothing to teach...</div>
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<b>Who knows a thing unless she searches it out? And what is the source of truth to teach?</b></div>
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So then, the one who teaches is simply reflecting the Teacher regarding the thing that has been taught. The learning, the seeking out of the truth becomes a song sung by the one taught...</div>
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"...what do you have that you did not receive?..." 1 Corinthians 4:7</blockquote>
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So sing the song you have been given and bring to light the knowledge of the One who created YOU for His glory in HiStory...<br />
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Ponder this for your Saturday...joining <a href="http://sandraheskaking.com/still-saturday/">Sandy for STILL SATURDAY</a> where we are slow and still for the weekend...<br />
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Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-31316796756341334222013-03-13T13:05:00.000-05:002013-03-13T13:05:31.788-05:00Interlude {Broken}<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
This problem, it shows up wherever we go. </div>
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I grumble having to climb out from under the warm covers in the morning. I wonder what that un-named cloud is hanging over my head, haunting my day~when I finally seek its source, I find out it's from an unsolved issue from two weeks ago that I have not yet taken to the Lord in prayer. </div>
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I worry. I feel hopeless in the face of new problems. Powerless to overcome them. Broken. Weak. Stupid. </div>
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This is the problem that we are talking about~sin. Its trying to live without God, relying on our own resources. As if we had any apart from Him, right? {1 Corinthians 15:10}<br />
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I don't want to worry, fear, let things go unresolved. I want to jump out of bed like I'm a morning person and dance for the joy of a new day, but I don't. I'm broken.<br />
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<sup class="versenum" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;"> </sup><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">So I find this law at work:</span><sup class="crossreference" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28113AH" title="See cross-reference AH">AH</a>)"></sup><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> Although I want to do good, </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">evil is right there with me. Romans 7:21</span></blockquote>
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So what is the answer to our want-to-do-good but feel incapable problem? What is the solution to my grumbling for having to get up on a cold day? {Did you know grumbling is a most-evil sin and invites darkness into the day? Just read the book of Numbers about the Israelites after their miraculous deliverance from Egypt through the Red Sea...}<br />
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I talked about this in my last post <a href="http://www.blessedbuilder.blogspot.com/2013/03/broken.html">BROKEN</a><br />
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<span class="text Rom-8-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Therefore, there is now no condemnation<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28118A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></sup> for those who are in Christ Jesus,<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28118B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></sup></span><b><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span class="text Rom-8-2" id="en-NIV-28119" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">because through Christ Jesus<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28119C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></sup> the law of the Spirit who gives life<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28119D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)"></sup> has set you</span></b><span class="text Rom-8-2" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span>free<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28119E" title="See cross-reference E">E</a>)"></sup></span> from the law of sin<span style="font-size: 0.65em;"><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28119F" title="See cross-reference F">F</a>)"></sup></span> and death.</b> Romans 8:1</span></blockquote>
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God did something:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">For what the law was powerless</span><sup class="crossreference" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28120A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></sup><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> to do because it was weakened by the flesh,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b> </b></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh</span><sup class="crossreference" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-28120C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></sup><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> to be a sin offering.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> And so he condemned sin in the flesh, Romans 8:3</span></blockquote>
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That is what makes us right. <i>But we still have the war inside...we want to do good, but we fail</i>. So how do we take God into those broken places? It is by realizing, by admitting that we are broken. We need to stop pretending we are not. Acknowledge our need for something more than our own resources. It is when we come to the end of ourselves we find God waiting there to love on us, to provide for us, to help us.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">When I am in distress,</span><sup class="crossreference" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-15292A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></sup><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">I call</span><sup class="crossreference" style="font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-15292B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></sup><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">to you,</span></div>
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<span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-86-7" style="position: relative;">because you answer<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-15292C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></sup> me. Psalm 86:7</span></div>
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The past few mornings I have been getting up earlier. I am not dancing just yet, but I feel more productive all day. <i>And I am not grumbling</i>. Not because of a great rush of will power, but because I asked God to help me. He has been waking me up before my alarm goes off. I love that! I acknowledge Him in that. And that is a great way to start any day! Knowing Someone is on my side who is bigger than my problem.<br />
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What area are you needing help in today? What might be clogging your gears?<br />
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Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-74493083354200907882013-03-06T22:44:00.001-06:002014-03-15T18:52:12.831-05:00BROKEN?What do you get when a dozen ladies gather in a coffee shop? LOTS of laughter and in-depth conversation...and of course coffee. And today covering chapter two of our Bible Study STUCK.<br />
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We are all BROKEN {that is the chapter 2 title) and spend much of our lives trying to fix ourselves. When we finally "get it"...when we get what Jesus came to do (mend us) we still will revert to trying to fix ourselves and in doing so, we get STUCK<i> again</i>. That is where grace comes in <i>again</i>. When we see <b>we need</b>, when we are at the end of our rope.....then,<br />
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<b>There is grace</b>, which we identified as <b><i>God's Righteousness At Christ's Expense</i></b> and also <i><b>unmerited favor</b>.</i></blockquote>
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In our read-through of Romans 8 we learn of the two ways to live and the inner war that we wage every day to allow the Lord to lead instead of relying on ourselves. <b>That is the black and white of it: His way...OR...Our way</b><br />
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The colored parts, the parts that we differ in, are the methods we use to get our way. Those are our stuck places mostly. (ie: prideful, overspending, grumbly, manipulative, fearful.....)<br />
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We have two ladies who are dealing with grief from loss.-That is a stuck place not related to sin or selfishness,<i> but a stuck place just the same</i>. It isn't something you can rush through or put on a shelf to deal with later. It is something you must walk through in order to process your loss in a healthy, freeing and God-honoring way. I am glad that we have that picture of a stuck place not always being a pit of our own making, but a place of inevitable pain that each of us will face during the course of our life.<br />
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We are also challenged in this chapter to really look hard at our faith. Is it genuine? Do we say we trust God and live like we have never encountered Him? Are we thankful for what Jesus did? Do we see how desperately we need Him and His mercy? Or are we coasting along taking it for granted and continuing to live however we want to? Are we obeying Him because we love and trust Him?<br />
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There is comfort in finding that our weak areas are not something we need to hide or cover up, but can be the very place where God shows Himself to the world. And that is always His aim. To be known. To reconcile His people to Himself. So, our weak areas become places of grace for others. It's kind of a loaves and fishes type of miracle. He brings nourishment from what little broken pieces of ourselves we have to offer Him. Isn't that what Jesus did with the loaves and fishes? He gave thanks and broke them and they multiplied and fed thousands.<br />
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"In the Lord I put my trust" (Psalm 11:1) "O my God, I trust in You." (Psalm 25:2)<br />
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"The Hebrew root word for "trust" suggests "to fling oneself off a precipice." It is to be like a child who hears her father say, "Jump!" and she trustingly obeys, throwing herself from a height into his waiting arms." ~David Wilkerson</blockquote>
As we encounter the grace and love of God we can fling ourselves into His crazy-big arms and live free!<br />
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<b>BROKEN INTO-------->>>>REDEEMED!!! Live Free in Jesus! </b></blockquote>
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free! Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery! Galatians 5:1<br />
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For those doing the study through the Facebook group, I will post again on Sunday afternoon about the DVD for this weeks' chapter: MAD. (I have a super-busy weekend!!!) But please leave your thoughts and questions, I will check in as often as I can.Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-1450290100390178102013-03-04T13:41:00.000-06:002013-03-04T22:15:29.461-06:00Accusation Suspension <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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It is never the voice of God that slings stones of condemnation when you are in Christ. Its our soul-enemy that does that. {See Revelation 12:10} Often he just yells in our head, but he also uses people.<br />
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The condemnation that I felt before receiving the forgiveness of sin by surrendering my life to Jesus was a gift. Because it led me to find Him. <b>Discomfort serves to seek solutions.</b> I like how that works.</div>
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But after finding Him {or rather He found me, lost as I was...} I still struggled with feeling horrible when I didn't do something right. I knew I needed to be gentle, kind, and loving but, <i>sometimes I wasn't</i>.</div>
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One day my four-year-old grabbed a bowl sitting on the counter with leftover milk from cereal, and the sticky milk went flying, and so did I. Flying off the handle. Words went slinging. </div>
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I was mortified two seconds later with my high expectations and unreasonable reaction toward my little blonde girl, eyes wide scared at how her mommy morphed. Instantly I apologized and told her that wasn't how God wanted mommies to act. But the aftermath of remorse in my heart went on for some time.</div>
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Then I went back to this verse: <i>Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. </i>Romans 8:1</div>
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There are certain passages of scripture that I think if it were possible, I have worn right through like my favorite wool socks. Threadbare on the bottom of the heels....only with scripture being eternal, there is no such chance of having it fail. <b>Eternal truth to keep me eternally forgiven. In Christ.</b><br />
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It takes less time these 20 years later to appropriate the truth of those words. I know my Savior better than I did then. I know myself better. I am not afraid of being found out as a sinner because really...<i>who isn't one? </i>Now it goes something like this: I fail--> I feel bad--> I find forgiveness-->I fly forward.<br />
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Sin is a birth defect of the heart. It is like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clubbed_thumb">my funny club thumbs</a>. There's nothing I can do to change them, they came on my hands. Its why Jesus came. To cure my heart-defect (I might wish my thumbs but...) Only by His life laid down can I be free from condemnation and no longer tied to the past sins.<br />
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<b>I'm free to fly by faith now, even after times of flying off the handle.</b> Which, by the way, is less often as I learn from the One I follow.<br />
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Joining <a href="http://www.themominitiative.com/">The Mom Initiative</a> today:<br />
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<br />Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-86192473186787886142013-03-01T13:53:00.000-06:002013-03-01T13:53:20.835-06:00Riding the River Faith<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Leaving a company you have been employed with for 15 years when you are approaching the mid-century mark is a tiny bit scary. But that is what is happening here. With a new job comes facing the unknown no matter how things look from this place. No matter how things sound.</div>
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Naturally this brings tiny waves of "what-am-I-doing??" for my husband. And for me, a splash of "what <i>is</i> ahead for us?"</div>
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Him moving on, and me, closing my shop when I have no 'career' plan to follow, but a "calling" that I have yet to fully discern...we don't know what is around the bend. But we know WHO. </div>
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<b>The One WHO is governing my life has proven faithful in a thousand ways.</b> I am so grateful for His faithfulness. Jesus is in my boat, this I know. {and if I were a songwriter...} </div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Great</span><sup class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-16324F" title="See cross-reference F">F</a>)"></sup><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">is the</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">and most worthy of praise;</span></span></div>
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<span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-145-3" style="position: relative;">his greatness no one can fathom.</span></div>
</span><span class="text Ps-145-4" id="en-NIV-16325" style="background-color: white; position: relative;"><sup class="versenum" style="display: block; font-weight: bold; left: -4.8em; position: absolute; text-align: center; vertical-align: top;"> </sup><div style="text-align: center;">
One generation<sup class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-16325I" title="See cross-reference I">I</a>)"></sup> commends your works to another;</div>
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<span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-145-4" style="position: relative;">they tell<sup class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-16325J" title="See cross-reference J">J</a>)"></sup> of your mighty acts.</span></div>
</span><span class="text Ps-145-5" id="en-NIV-16326" style="background-color: white; position: relative;"><sup class="versenum" style="display: block; font-weight: bold; left: -4.8em; position: absolute; text-align: center; vertical-align: top;"> </sup><div style="text-align: center;">
They speak of the glorious splendor<sup class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-16326L" title="See cross-reference L">L</a>)"></sup> of your majesty—</div>
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<span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-145-5" style="position: relative;">and I will meditate on your wonderful works.</span></div>
</span><span class="text Ps-145-6" id="en-NIV-16327" style="background-color: white; position: relative;"><sup class="versenum" style="display: block; font-weight: bold; left: -4.8em; position: absolute; text-align: center; vertical-align: top;"> </sup><div style="text-align: center;">
They tell<sup class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-16327N" title="See cross-reference N">N</a>)"></sup> of the power of your awesome works—</div>
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<span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-145-6" style="position: relative;">and I will proclaim<sup class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-16327P" title="See cross-reference P">P</a>)"></sup> your great deeds.</span></div>
</span><span class="text Ps-145-7" id="en-NIV-16328" style="background-color: white; position: relative;"><sup class="versenum" style="display: block; font-weight: bold; left: -4.8em; position: absolute; text-align: center; vertical-align: top;"> </sup><div style="text-align: center;">
They celebrate your abundant goodness</div>
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<span class="indent-1-breaks" style="line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Ps-145-7" style="position: relative;">and joyfully sing<sup class="crossreference" style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV-16328S" title="See cross-reference S">S</a>)"></sup> of your righteousness.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> <span style="text-align: center;">Psalm 145:3-7</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="text-align: center;"> </span></span><span style="text-align: left;">Where has your boat been? Are you facing a place that requires eyes of faith, a heart of trust? Remember this:</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9DCHKu51cT06bm9-QPvsCOUzaPXcVKwtvaBcDcvrBih_ieel3FvJW1UtKos_QU9ksb-HMuTEBJPs50cqMBV-2PfAXb65KNj8d5q168iknKA_LFkOX6ZhHMVEjPdXdIwWCVfgMnv-L5KVZ/s1600/apple+river2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9DCHKu51cT06bm9-QPvsCOUzaPXcVKwtvaBcDcvrBih_ieel3FvJW1UtKos_QU9ksb-HMuTEBJPs50cqMBV-2PfAXb65KNj8d5q168iknKA_LFkOX6ZhHMVEjPdXdIwWCVfgMnv-L5KVZ/s640/apple+river2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God; </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">the holy place where the Most High dwells.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Psalm 46:4</span></div>
Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-72400027741186872392013-02-27T17:32:00.001-06:002013-02-28T22:12:22.359-06:00Sin's Demise is Bondage & Brokenness. Freedom's Keys are Confession & Repentance<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Welcome to an overview of our first week of <a href="http://jennieallen.com/blog/">Jennie Allen's</a> Bible study called STUCK! If you were one who joined us today, THANK YOU for coming and for your insight! What a beautiful group of women! I can't wait to get to know you more as we get to know God more. </div>
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I must admit (and I did at the Cafe today) that having the first chapter talk about sin felt like it could be a bit awkward considering we would be diving in with several women who don't know one another. But I reminded myself that we all have it, this sin problem, and so we all share the need to get unstuck.</div>
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<i>"We are never as sweet as we appear." ~Jennie Allen~ referring to her sweet and well-behaved daughter suddenly yelling at geese at the beach out of frustration with their noise. :)</i></blockquote>
As human beings and maybe even more as women, we tend to live with this tension in our souls between what we know we should do (love, forgive, be patient) and how we really act in the heat of the moment. We long to live free from the stuck places and so often they are emotions we need to deal with aren't they?<br />
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The aim of STUCK is to enable us to experience and know God more, and trust Him more readily and therefore gain His power at work in our lives. <b>It is in knowing God and His love that will enable us to live in His grace and respond to life with His grace. God is the only answer to our stuck places.</b> Since Christ shed his blood to cover our sin, we no longer need to use the masks we tend to use to cover up. <i>We can live progressively differently as He transforms us. </i><br />
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I'm going to highlight a few of our discussion questions here to enable you to join in with us. Please leave your comments here or on our <a href="https://www.facebook.com/AmeryLadiesgetUNstuck?ref=hl">Facebook page</a>.<br />
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<b>1. "WHAT ONE THING DO YOU HOPE TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS STUDY?"</b></div>
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* <b>We want freedom!</b> We hope to get free from things like fearing what people think (who is not with us there?), and manipulating people to get our way. Free from avoiding uncomfortable situations and freedom from being self-focused. Free from the stuck places that keep us from having a healthy view of God. And free from stuck places that keep us from having healthy relationships~even with ourself!</div>
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* <b>We want to have our emotional needs met by God</b>.</div>
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We often pray for our physical needs, or families' needs and most every other thing, but this thought hit me when it was brought up. This is the core of our need, to be fulfilled in our hearts, to feel valued, cherished and fully accepted...and only God truly can.</div>
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<b>2. "HOW DOES FEELING STUCK AFFECT YOUR DAILY LIFE?</b></div>
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* We feel drained, unable to manage the things on our plate, perhaps inadequate. Our relationships can be strained. We can cause wounds with our reactions. We can blame others without acknowledging our own wrongs leaving barriers. </div>
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<b>3. HOW HAS YOUR PAST CONTRIBUTED TO YOUR STUCK PLACES?</b></div>
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* Things that have hurt us in the past make trusting people in the now difficult. This is challenging if one has had a break-up, and then moves on to a new relationship. I talked about a time when I reacted to my husband negatively because he did something that reminded me of my dad being mad at my mom <i>and that wasn't at all what he was doing</i>. {fortunately when he looked at me with a 'what-planet-are -you-from?' look, I knew in an instant what had just happened and took note for the future!}</div>
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It goes against our nature to admit we are wrong. Totally hard, but when we realize we are all stuck in places, somehow it becomes easier. Just having spent a little time together today talking about our struggles brought light into our lives. There is something about getting it out there that frees us. <b>Admitting our weakness makes us more free.</b></blockquote>
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I am so glad to have you coming along on this journey to freedom with us! </div>
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For this week, do chapter 1 homework {<b>Broken</b> on Page 19} and please share your insights!!!</div>
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<b>Remember this:</b> He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3 </div>
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<br />Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-23697257336144161312013-02-25T23:37:00.000-06:002013-02-25T23:37:03.597-06:00Issues Anyone?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Perhaps like me, you find yourself often in a position where there is only one place to land. In the heart of Jesus... </div>
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Remembering He promises to work all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28</div>
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Remembering to crawl back up there and be transformed. Romans 12:1-2</div>
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May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-64515507448453215262013-02-24T23:18:00.000-06:002013-02-24T23:27:43.155-06:00When You Hope For Relief & Instead Hard Gets Harder<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I was telling him, "You are making bricks with no straw!" Like Israel when their breakthrough was so near, their deliverance from slavery was just days away...but it felt so far...</div>
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After two years on the market and two years on-the-road-working for my husband, <b>in June we had buyers for our farm.</b> We built a relationship with them over the next few months hearing about their dreams for here. Meeting, praying, texting and emailing. They planned to have a retreat center here for families who lost babies. How cool is that? We waited for them to try to acquire non-profit status so they could avoid capital gains on cashing in their 401k. It was such a thrill to us to have our farm, where we raised our family, used for blessing people who were hurting. </div>
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In August he (my guy-D) took a de-motion so he could come home and work...after three years working away from home, we looked forward to 'starting over' and being together full time. Finding a house closer to work for a shorter-than-1.5 hour commute one-way.</div>
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He started his job from home August 20 with that commute. {that is our anniversary, that's why I remember} <b>And then...our buyers backed out Labor Day weekend.</b></div>
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<b>Back to square-ONE.</b></div>
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The job here at home has been his<i><b> hardest ever</b></i>. </div>
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With challenges <i>above </i>with architectural messes, and<i> below</i> with men who lacked passion and drive. Daily I heard stories of frustration and I reminded him several times, "Bricks without straw, Honey. Your deliverance is near" </div>
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He is a natural-born, Big-Picture guy. A natural-born {if you know the personality types, <b>D</b>. As in <b>d</b>riven, <b>d</b>ecisive, <b>d</b>irective, etc...} Though he was assistant to the Superintendant, he was the one the men came to for answers. He had the skills without the authority. Without the positon. This has happened several times over the years. He has continued to say, "I am just there to do a good job." And he did...he kept integrity. </div>
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After two years of looking for jobs, applying for jobs and looking into getting a degree for a better chance at a new job-but no time to do school, <i><b>he got an interview last week!</b></i>. The company looking to hire someone soon for a job that is floundering.</div>
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<b>Perfect. D's specialty. Overseeing and orchestrating successful operation of a construction site. But now he would have authority.</b></div>
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While he was in interview #1, he received a message from another company that wants to do a phone interview. Two in ONE DAY???</div>
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He is giddy with excitement. After these long years of hope with no rope, he has not one, but TWO interested in him-who-has-no-degree <i><b>but the school of life experience has taught him well</b></i>... The phone interview goes well too. Which one would we take???</div>
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At Walmart this past Friday afternoon we met on his way home. He gets a call. We want you. {!!!!!} He came <b>skipping</b> (he REALLY DID!!! And, yes he is going on 50!) down the chip isle like a five year old. ......I <i>kid</i> you not-it was quite the sight!!!</div>
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During dinner we discuss it. The job looks perfectly fitting but for one thing: our need to be paying $350. or more for <i>my</i> insurance. That would be a step backward...but he is tempted to take it. I told him to email interview #2 and ask if they are interested since he has this offer. </div>
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In the morning he finds out that they<i> are </i>interested. So he lets #1-job offer know. Friday night another call came in from them (#1), <b>"We want to sweeten your offer." And they offer to add the insurance cost-per-month <i>plus a wee bit of a signing bonus!</i></b> {Just what we need to catch up from falling behind from the de-motion he took voluntarily}</div>
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And true to His promises. God...<br />
Had a plan all along.<br />
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<b>We couldn't see it.</b> But {mostly} trusted Him to make it known in His time.<br />
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And here we are on the brink of more new adventures. D {is for Dale} will be traveling again, <i>which we have decided over those three years prior, that we love to do</i>...and the next mountain we need moved is the selling of our no-longer-needed little hobby farm. Since he is not here to share the responsibilities of it, and I will be making a few trips out until it sells...we have one more faith-stretching, mountain to be moved.<br />
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And we have no doubt God will do it in His perfect timing for His perfect purpose. He is busy making all things ready as we wait and watch for Him knowing He is preparing the next owners of our farm <i>for their next destination</i>!<br />
<br />Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-84478757211259912892013-02-24T19:05:00.002-06:002013-02-24T19:05:44.465-06:00For When You Feel Broken In A Million Pieces...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="text Isa-61-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; position: relative; text-align: start;">The Spirit<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18845A" title="See cross-reference A">A</a>)"></sup> of the Sovereign <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span><sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18845B" title="See cross-reference B">B</a>)"></sup> is on me </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="text Isa-61-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><b>{JESUS your Redeemer}</b>,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="indent-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Isa-61-1" style="position: relative;">because the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span> has anointed<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18845C" title="See cross-reference C">C</a>)"></sup> me</span></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="indent-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Isa-61-1" style="position: relative;">to preach good news<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18845D" title="See cross-reference D">D</a>)"></sup> to the poor.<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18845E" title="See cross-reference E">E</a>)"></sup></span></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="text Isa-61-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; position: relative; text-align: start;">He has sent me to bind up<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18845F" title="See cross-reference F">F</a>)"></sup> the brokenhearted,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="indent-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Isa-61-1" style="position: relative;">to proclaim freedom<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18845G" title="See cross-reference G">G</a>)"></sup> for the captives<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18845H" title="See cross-reference H">H</a>)"></sup></span></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="indent-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Isa-61-1" style="position: relative;">and release from darkness for the prisoners,</span></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="text Isa-61-2" id="en-NIV1984-18846" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; position: relative; text-align: start;"><sup class="versenum" style="display: block; font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; left: -4.8em; position: absolute; vertical-align: top;"> </sup>to proclaim the year of the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span>’s favor<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18846I" title="See cross-reference I">I</a>)"></sup></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="indent-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Isa-61-2" style="position: relative;">and the day of vengeance<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18846J" title="See cross-reference J">J</a>)"></sup> of our God,</span></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="text Isa-61-2" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; position: relative; text-align: start;">to comfort<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18846K" title="See cross-reference K">K</a>)"></sup> all who mourn,<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18846L" title="See cross-reference L">L</a>)"></sup></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="indent-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><span class="text Isa-61-3" id="en-NIV1984-18847" style="position: relative;"><sup class="versenum" style="display: block; font-size: 0.75em; font-weight: bold; left: -4.8em; position: absolute; vertical-align: top;"> </sup><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span>and provide for those who grieve in Zion—</span></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><b><span class="text Isa-61-3" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; position: relative; text-align: start;">to bestow on them a crown<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18847M" title="See cross-reference M">M</a>)"></sup> of beauty</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="indent-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Isa-61-3" style="position: relative;">instead of ashes,<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18847N" title="See cross-reference N">N</a>)"></sup></span></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="text Isa-61-3" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; position: relative; text-align: start;">the oil<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18847O" title="See cross-reference O">O</a>)"></sup> of gladness</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="indent-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Isa-61-3" style="position: relative;">instead of mourning,<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18847P" title="See cross-reference P">P</a>)"></sup></span></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="text Isa-61-3" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; position: relative; text-align: start;">and a garment of praise</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="indent-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Isa-61-3" style="position: relative;">instead of a spirit of despair.</span></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="text Isa-61-3" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; position: relative; text-align: start;">They will be called oaks of righteousness,</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="indent-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Isa-61-3" style="position: relative;">a planting<sup class="crossreference" style="font-size: 0.65em; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-18847Q" title="See cross-reference Q">Q</a>)"></sup> of the <span class="small-caps" style="font-variant: small-caps;">Lord</span></span></span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;" /><span class="indent-1" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;"><span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span><span class="text Isa-61-3" style="position: relative;">for the display of his splendor.</span></span></b></div>
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<span class="indent-1-breaks" style="font-family: monospace; font-size: 0.42em; line-height: 0;"> </span> Isaiah 61:1-3</div>
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<br />Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-2937823340639324382013-02-18T14:09:00.001-06:002013-02-18T14:09:10.238-06:00Thoughts on the Power of Words<div style="text-align: center;">
"Nothing is more powerful than God getting bigger in our lives. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
He has the <b>power </b>to heal with a <b>word</b>." </div>
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~Jennie Allen "STUCK" study</div>
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<b>God's word is powerful.</b></div>
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The words we speak have power too...</div>
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<b>So powerful that they move us!<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Knock it off you dummy! You'll never amount to anything!!!</div>
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You are such a blessing to me! I love
when you sing, your voice is beautiful!!<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Have you had words spoken to you that have had a strong
impact on your life? Perhaps you are thinking of <b>a cutting word</b>? Or hopefully the first thing that comes to mind is <b>a life-building word</b>. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Words have the power
to move us forward in life and they have the power to hold us back. <o:p></o:p></b><br />
<b>Words can build us. Or they can break us.</b></div>
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<br /></div>
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I tend to think of things more black and white than grey.
Though I acknowledge that there are grey areas in life…certain mysteries, I
think the black and white of life serves us well in viewing life in general and
acting as a guide. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><i>We might ask why do words have power? What is the source of power?</i></b> </div>
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There are basically two power-sources that I know of in our universe that can affect our hearts, God and the devil-and
their intent, power and purposes of good or evil. <b>Good builds up or imparts life and forward movement</b>, and <b>evil tears down or destroys and hinders
growth.</b> I believe these are the two sources of power behind words-<b>good and evil</b>. It's ...black and white...<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Look! If you add {+} an 'o' to God you have good! {build}</div>
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If you take away {-} the 'd' from devil you have evil! {destroy}</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4XFBMU5a2N9PI_3kqLeQ8L60aey4BMsx6hYCqdmhSA2LKZ4Un6z-xlizrSum4icD_owyNdHyrnTO65QOoK0X1wcOUBF9xaJ5c-h6hzYDnq5p1YlprcMISkS0Dov2kBMzoNV70RTya-Gdy/s1600/IMG_2482.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4XFBMU5a2N9PI_3kqLeQ8L60aey4BMsx6hYCqdmhSA2LKZ4Un6z-xlizrSum4icD_owyNdHyrnTO65QOoK0X1wcOUBF9xaJ5c-h6hzYDnq5p1YlprcMISkS0Dov2kBMzoNV70RTya-Gdy/s400/IMG_2482.jpg" width="362" /></a></div>
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<b>Every tool</b> (think: 'mouth') you
and I have, and <b>every choice</b> we make
can be used to move our lives and the lives of those around us either to
greater heights or lower depths.</div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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So what comes to mind when you think of the power of words
in your life?<br />
<br />
Words you have spoken? Or words you have had build you up? Or
tear you down? A parent, coach, teacher or peer? Have they encouraged you and you credit them with where you are today? Or have they laid words on you and you fight to this day to overcome believing they are true?<o:p></o:p></div>
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I imagine most of us have a little of both. If we have been so blessed to only have had the positive things stick over the years at least we all know of someone who has not. We all know someone who is fighting battles today that we might help them overcome with having an understanding heart. Speaking positive words over them...<br />
<br />
Wherever you resonate with this reality of the power of words, the Word of God has the power to overcome any words spoken by people that have penetrated our hearts. That have cut our hearts. That have broken our hearts... {The power for us to heal from lies is found in having the faith to believe and receive the words of God. Truth}<br />
<br />
Romans 12:2 says, ...and be transformed by the renewing of your minds...<br />
John 8:32 says, ...and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free... {Jesus' words}<br />
John 1:1-5 tells us that Jesus is the essence of the Word of God. So when we know Jesus, HE sets us free.<br />
<br />
This is why we study the Bible. To know Jesus and His word and to be transformed by it, by Him. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds. By knowing the truth that sets us free. I will be co-leading the study: STUCK by Jennie Allen and blogging about it here over the next nine weeks. If you would like to keep up to date with posts you can put your email address in the box on the top right side-bar and my posts will come directly into your inbox. I'd also love to hear your comments along the journey! ....looking forward to becoming free....<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioYmF_DtkQGoQsBqonvtSki7jy1ETUwh58Hs9Fkxzie-5cum-fdSaxOBz4-575TcWzYSKwSBnQcBnBHDAPne-N91DpxxO5NIctZdgwRam407w7GadyRfjOVRtAQvsNhoVb_4__K7mY7ftL/s1600/The+Lord+is+Near.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioYmF_DtkQGoQsBqonvtSki7jy1ETUwh58Hs9Fkxzie-5cum-fdSaxOBz4-575TcWzYSKwSBnQcBnBHDAPne-N91DpxxO5NIctZdgwRam407w7GadyRfjOVRtAQvsNhoVb_4__K7mY7ftL/s640/The+Lord+is+Near.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<!--EndFragment-->Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-17885143463383410332013-02-17T22:23:00.004-06:002013-02-18T11:19:42.689-06:00It's An Epidemic He SaidOur culture has a severe problem.<br />
<br />
This epidemic, it is a rebellion. It is like a life-eating fungus (my words). This spirit of complaining.<br />
<br />
We complain about the weather.<br />
We complain about the price of gas.<br />
We complain about the government.<br />
We complain about our employment.<br />
We complain about the perceived lack of funds.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
Should I go on? He did. The Bread-bearer this morning bringing us our food from God.</div>
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He had a list a mile long...or so it seemed. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc5NcwK2Mp9Q3UAhyphenhyphenMQGbOwKu1qLe0ehfSy9POpW5XNFFDmXIS2dfcNUJf_zz55vJf7DIga9vaRig3BqD2klKwmhnvIS2mGgYsdKXwKRi8-ftcEDyB6pxhCQYC3ILdPvRfgpMLywRhiAc2/s1600/Rejoice.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc5NcwK2Mp9Q3UAhyphenhyphenMQGbOwKu1qLe0ehfSy9POpW5XNFFDmXIS2dfcNUJf_zz55vJf7DIga9vaRig3BqD2klKwmhnvIS2mGgYsdKXwKRi8-ftcEDyB6pxhCQYC3ILdPvRfgpMLywRhiAc2/s640/Rejoice.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
They headed toward death as a society because ~<i>what did they fail at first?</i> <b>Giving glory and thanks to God</b>. Romans 1:21<br />
<br />
Then the Bread-bearer gave us<i> the Always. Everything. Nothing verses:</i> Philippians 2:13-14 * Colossians 1:3 * Colossians 1:12 * Colossians 2:6-7 * Colossians 3:15-17 * Colossians 4:2 * (Do you see a Colossians Theme?)<br />
<br />
And look at this!!! Ephesians 5:20<br />
<br />
And this one: 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 <i>Be joyful</i> ALWAYS. <i>Pray</i> CONTINUALLY. <b>Give thanks</b> in ALL <i>circumstances</i>. <br />
<br />
And I thought, "I know all this!" I grumbled about the cold and the length of winter far too often in the last week. Instead <b>I should have given thanks for my warm home, clothing, bed, car.</b>.. Then I grumbled about having too much to do when <b>I should have given thanks for my ability to do the things on my agenda. The time, the inclination! </b><br />
<br />
What can we do about all the negatives around us? Look up. Look out. Look beyond. <b>We need God.</b><br />
<br />
We need to acknowledge Him in all things. Trust Him with everything. Proverbs 3:5-6 He, the <b>I AM</b>.<br />
<br />
<b>The problem is that when we respond to difficult circumstances we tend to see the negatives because we know we are weak creatures limited in power. </b><br />
<br />
<i>The solution is acknowledging that.</i> And more: <b>Acknowledging that we need God.</b><br />
<br />
And then leaning into the Power Source (the Holy Spirit of God) to enable us to rise above the harsh realities of this world in to the Glorious realities of the one to come. <b>We....you and me...walk by faith and not by sight.</b><br />
<br />
Join me in staking a flag in the ground now and determine by the grace of God to turn every complaint into voicing thanks! Tomorrow is a new day! A new week! A clean slate to bring joy instead of heaviness into life. Lets live it!Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-89871429239711891192013-02-14T09:45:00.004-06:002013-02-14T09:45:53.699-06:00If We Dry Up We Don't Grow<div style="text-align: center;">
I love listening to Pandora Radio at my desk while I apply my make-up in the morning. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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Today while I was brushing my mascara on my </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
otherwise-minuscule eye lashes</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
I heard this song called:</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>GROW</b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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<b><br /></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
The real application of the song-title is to our relationship with God<br />
{and the resulting condition of our hearts}<br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
so I saw my eyelashes</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
as the object lesson of the day.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Don't you love how God's timing is so sweet?<br />
<br />
(Click to listen on MySpace)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.myspace.com/jjhellermusic/music/songs/grow-59516399">JJ Heller GROW</a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="http://www.blessedbuilder.blogspot.com/2013/02/new-bible-study-in-amery-feeling-stuck.html">Starting next Wednesday we will be doing a community Bible Study<br />
using Jennie Allen's STUCK</a><br />
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Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-86571354706050615862013-02-13T01:16:00.000-06:002013-02-13T01:17:03.047-06:00New Ladies Bible Study in Amery: Feeling Stuck In A Rut?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<b>If you are in the Amery, WI area...</b></div>
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Join us At <a href="http://www.switchboard.com/business/dicks-fresh-cafe-amery-wi">DICK's CAFE</a> on Wednesday, February 20th at 12:30 pm</div>
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Right after lunch we will meet for two hours.</div>
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~Just enough time to linger before picking up kids from school~</div>
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The first meeting will be an introduction,</div>
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a chance to look at the material,</div>
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to become acquainted with those you will be </div>
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connecting with over the course of the following eight weeks...</div>
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This is an opportunity to connect with other women who want to </div>
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move forward in their relationship with God.</div>
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Women who want to live above the status-quo.</div>
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Women who are interested in being who God created them to be.</div>
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Positive Influencers.</div>
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Promoters of True Beauty.</div>
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Lovers of Life.</div>
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Join<a href="https://www.facebook.com/hleggert?fref=ts"> Heather Eggert</a> and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/kathy.schwanke">I</a> (Kathy) as we lead through Jennie Allen's study:</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>STUCK</b></span></div>
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(on how not to be)</div>
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<br />Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-81502409085314165712013-02-11T11:27:00.000-06:002013-02-11T11:27:25.659-06:00When Worlds Collide And We Cannot Hide~His Love Compels Us<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As I approached the house, the dense stench of cigarette smoke hit me like that gust of wind on the forefront of a storm that has more-than-once turned my patio umbrella{s} inside out. The smell nearly gagged me- it was so potent.<br />
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I was on a mission. Our church had a call from a woman who was cut off from her home, renting a place of her own, she had nothing but discount beds with no bedding. And her clothes.<br />
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Her heart and head and body plagued with brokenness, 42 years old with a collection of bad choices by herself and others in her past. Unable to work.<br />
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We had gathered love-gifts, and I was delivering.<br />
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A man helped me carry the things in, about the same age as the woman, he was well-built and had a certain tenderness in his eyes. Boyfriend of a friend...I found out another day he was not tender as he appeared. Two days after I met him, he was in jail. <i>{I trust as an answer to prayer and I pray he will meet the One who loves his soul while he is detained}</i><br />
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I leaned in to listen with questions, and concern. She was obviously desiring her home to be 'better looking' in apologizing for the state of the carpet, but was grateful and hopeful in sharing what she would like to do there. Her voice- twenty years older than her age, her body was gaunt; frail-looking. She told me her best friend, she found homeless, was now living there too. So she called her name, but no answer. Several times. Still no answer. Peeked inside her bedroom door and it was empty. Walked to the back of the house and came back, "She will be out soon".<br />
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Ten years younger, her friend's story is even more painful to hear. Her life riddled with death of loved ones to suicide and disease and laden with abuse and mental illness in her family of origin. And she herself-struggling with a backlash of agoraphobia from her losses. One story after another created a knot deep in my gut. My heart was heavy as I sat on the arm of the sofa with my hand on her shoulder. Tears stifled.<br />
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I embraced her with both arms and prayed for Jesus to make Himself known, to restore to her what the enemy-thief has stolen. Tears flowed. {John 10:10}<br />
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I prayed for protection, for healing and for transformation. I prayed for <i>hope</i>. I prayed for <i>salvation</i>.<br />
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She told me she had prayed the day before. She didn't know how to pray but she just said something like, "Help me Jesus." And here I was. Jesus with skin on. <i>{But Jesus, please show me HOW to help her! ~and~ I can do all things through You.}</i><br />
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"How do you know Jesus?" I asked.<br />
"He was with me when I was a little girl taking care of my mom and sister. He never once left me."<br />
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Wow.<br />
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She wants her own children back. All three in the care of others since the suicide of her boyfriend two and a half years ago.<br />
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I left that day with that smoke-smell in my hair...wondering 'how many?' <b>How many people are living underneath real living~<i>not really living?</i></b> And right under our noses? The USA is a mission field. I don't need to go to Haiti. {something I have wanted to do} Here are needs as deep and disturbing as any across the sea. Here we need Jesus to do His mighty miracles of delivering, healing, restoring and binding up wounds. I trust the fragrance of the Christ that I brought to their house remained with them...<br />
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As I think over the tangled messes that sin has left in their life-and restoration? It feels impossible. But God. I know Him. I know what He has done in my life. In others' lives.<b> With God all things are possible.</b> Please pray for God's grace to pour out, for the resurrection power of Jesus to break the chains of deception and destruction and to lift these ladies to their feet from ashes. And all the others from broken homes. All the school children who go home every day not to a place of refuge, but of pain and disfunction. We know they are there. They need us who know the source of Life. Let's intercede for them, pray and ask for opportunities to sow blessings into their lives. Offer hope. Offer grace. Our land needs Jesus! Please have hope for your community to experience transformation!<br />
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<i>Jesus, please rescue and heal them! The power of your beautiful truth will set them free as it has for me. You are amazing... Show your power Lord! </i><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life,</span><sup class="crossreference" style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 0.65em; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: top;" value="(<a href="#cen-NIV1984-26481L" title="See cross-reference L">L</a>)"></sup><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> and have it to the full. John 10:10</span></i><br />
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<br />Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3315061459562399201.post-65599495482169849002013-01-28T14:53:00.000-06:002013-01-28T14:53:26.784-06:00Be Brave * Step Out * Find Joy<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">He was not quite two years old when we took him to the beach for the first time. His face showed the curious-excitement from the first time his toes felt the sand, and then for the beach toys. <b>But when it came time to walk into the water...there was that human emotion we often experience when encountering something new. FEAR. </b></span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">We prodded him in. Step by step, with limbs shaking and face registering trepidation. He took a few steps. Wanted to turn back, but there was also this longing. This wonder, and curiosity that compelled him to stick with it. To take the next step. And the next. And the next...</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Here on the farm, we have a windmill. Something I found out to be coveted by a few land-owners who have stopped to ask if they could purchase it. Yes, they are becoming rare. To top off having this original historical-architectural-water-lifter on our property, we found a treasure growing upwards on it our first autumn here. It was embraced by a large bittersweet vine which reached to the heavens and then down again drooping beautiful orange berries and curly-q's that ended in mid-air from the fan-blades at the top. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">It's a ways up there. I don't like heights. I love bittersweet. And I had several other bittersweet-lovers looking to purchase some from me. My husband talked several times about getting a 'boom' from work. (He is in construction and the boom is the box to carry one up higher to work. A safe box to ride up in) However, it wasn't happening in the window of time for harvesting the bittersweet. So, one day I decided to try climbing up myself. Did I mention I was afraid of heights? </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The built-on ladder seemed sturdy. A peg which held a foot on each side of the upright bar that extended to the blades in the sky. If I can carry my cutter in my pocket and always keep my elbow wrapped around that upright piece I should be safe. The first year I got about half way up, and found plenty of woody tendrils with orange berries. I would hang on for dear life with my left arm wrapped around the upright metal, and then cut with my right hand. Put the cutters back in my back pocket, grab the branch I had just cut -and <i>fling it dooooowwwwwnnn to the ground.</i> </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">When I returned to safe ground, I had that exhilarating feeling of having accomplished the impossible and having a harvest of glorious autumn-decorating beauty to boot!</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Each year I became a bit more brave and it seemed the berries were higher up on the windmill. So about four years in, I reached the top (perhaps 30-40 feet?) The autumn view from up there was breath-taking. So was the view down! (perhaps a different kind of breath-taking) </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The rewards of stepping into that fear have been rich for me. Overcoming fear of heights, taking in a panoramic view of the Wisconsin autumn splendor, and being able to sell and decorate with the spoils of my warfare. This has made more brave. Much like my grandson last summer delighting in his time in the water when he overcame his fear. </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">So what are your stories of overcoming? Where might you benefit from taking a step in or a step out or a step up? </span></span><br />
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<br />Kathy Schwankehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16575973280157910643noreply@blogger.com0