Study the Word

It’s been way to long since I’ve blogged, or written anything really…God has been working through some very important things in my life…blessing me in ways that I don’t deserve.  He has been pouring out mercy and grace…my cup runneth over!  I am back to writing!  Ready to blog weekly, I love sharing my journey and appreciate anyone who takes time to take a glimpse into my life and thoughts.

While going through some changes in my life and wanting to feel closer to God, I realize I don’t study my bible enough.  I may “read” my bible but that’s different than studying.  Reading and studying are like the difference between hearing and listening. 

By definition, hearing means The faculty of perceiving sounds,  Listening is to make an effort to hear something to pay attention; heed.

 

By definition, reading means the act or practice of rendering aloud written or printed matter. Studying is the pursuit of knowledge, as by reading, observation, or research.

 

Listening and Studying are detailed actions—they take effort.  I am realizing I can read the bible forward or backwards but if I don’t study the word, it doesn’t penetrate. 

 

When we were blessed with our yard makeover, my husband and I were elated that it rained for days after they were done.  To our surprise, the experts at Linton’s told us that we still need to do additional watering because the rain just touches the surfaces of our plants; we have to water the plants differently to penetrate to the root. 

 

See, where I’m going here? Reading is just looking at black words on a page—surface; the bible must be studied or penetrated for growth….  The Word of God must penetrate into your soul to be actionable.

 

As I write, I don’t want to give the impression that studying the bible is easy….I haven’t mastered this art (daily), just yet.  The other day, I was getting ready for work and was taking some time to spend with God…not necessarily meditating because my little prince Patrick was crawling around me….I was just taking some time to collect my thoughts and talk with God before heading to work.  I looked over at my bible and thought….I don’t have time to read enough, so I just won’t read at all, the Holy Spirit thankfully intervened and I began to pray that what I had time to read was what I needed for that day (or at least the morning J).  Interestingly enough I turned right to…The Seven Woes, in Matthew 23.  I am not a teacher, and some may believe that the Seven Woes are only meant for teachers and/or preachers but to me, it all goes back to checking my heart and not getting stuck into a religious spirit! 

 

My takeaways….

 

Don’t allow yourself to get so caught up in doing things and checklist.  Remember—keeping B.U.S.Y is from Satan and it is exactly what he wants you to do. 

 

If all you have is 5 minutes to spend with God…truly spending time with Him, it’s better than spending no time.  When spending time, make every second count….study, don’t read.  Pray that God guides you in your reading…even if it is one verse; God will show you what you need.

 

~God Bless

Take time to enjoy and smell the roses!!!  In the picture below, my rose is my beautiful son.  Some of my most precious time spent with God, is while holding the invaluable gift he gave to me and my husband....

 

We WON a Front Yard Makeover

Thank you so much for voting for the Shelton family!!!!  This is a HUGE blessing and I am so grateful to all of you for voting to make this happen! 

See ya later weed box!

Heart check

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Psalm 139:23

 I like to challenge myself. Lately I have been challenging myself with heart checks. Heart checks are where I ask God to check the sincerity in my heart. What God is revealing to me is how much I think and use my head and not my heart. God is not only revealing things to me, He is changing my heart. 

 I will be honest prior to my request I was a little all over the place, a little bit in everyone else’s lane.  Way too often I thought I had the answers to everyone else’s problems—“why doesn’t she just….”, “he should start”.  What God revealed is I have a lot of answers to other people’s situations when I am avoiding something in my life or even more in the areas of my life that I am not as confident. 

 Since my initial request, I have made great strides, but I still have so far to go.  I don’t want to

come across as if after my request, I have arrived.  I am far from any arrival.  I, like Paul, die daily.

I die every day--I mean that, brothers--just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Corinthians 15:31

What I want more than anything is for things to break my heart that break God’s heart.  I want to see people and feel compassion and love them the way God does.  The funny thing about heart checks are how often you’ll find yourself needing to do them with those you love dearly.  As a matter of fact, I think it’s easier to veer in the lane of family members and close friends.  It is okay to give advice to close family and friends but do it with caution and check your heart first…check your motives. 

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 6:1

At times, purely recognize when important people in your life need to just pour out.  Just listen (and pray for them), don’t always feel the need to agree or disagree….just listen. 

In my effort to be “good” I feel like I have to agree with people who pour out to me.  What I know, because God is putting a mirror in my face is that I can’t put on “good”.  What He is telling me, is stop agreeing with negativity, just to be a “good” friend.  Start praying more, and letting the Holy Spirit lead me if I really need to say something. 

What is so awesome about asking God to search me is that I don’t feel shame about all of the ugly that I see.  He still loves me, He still thinks I am beautiful and He wants nothing more than for me to lean on Him to show me the right way. 

If you have never asked God to search your heart, I recommend it; you would be amazed by what God reveals.

God Bless

~CShell

Vote for the Shelton Family

A few weeks ago I sent a submission to a local news station WNDU for a Curb Appeal contest....and guess what?  We're finalist!!!!  Starting Thursday, July 12th at 7:00 am you can go onto wndu.com and vote for our family to win a 5,000 front yard makeover!!!!!

Please support our family!  God Bless :-)

Midday Zen

My meditation challenge has been going pretty well...I did miss a day, but I am still trying.  What I have found with meditating in the morning is that I feel much happier about the day ahead.  I feel hopeful about my daily to do list, I don't feel overwhelmed by my emails and I am not nervous about seeing a voicemail light on my phone when I walk into my office.  Yes, all is well with my morning meditation and then lunch happens!  For some reason, I can only keep my little zen peaceful feelings from about 6:00-12:30, when I get back from lunch, the feeling is gone! 

I should be happy, I leave at 4.  My day is more than half done by the time I get back from lunch, but I just can't maintain my peace.  After thinking and praying about what to do to get me over the hump, I came up with a list of ways to get a little Midday Zen at my desk!

1. Try to find a time that you are alone...yes you can be at your desk, but try to pick a quiet time.  A good time at my job is to do it when most people take their lunches.

2. Make your list--empty your thoughts onto paper.  In most cases, since you are already at work, it is likely that you already have a to do list for the day so you may be able to skip this step.

3. Sit up straight, sitting up straight allows for deeper breathing.  You'd be surprised, how much proper breathing calms you down and opens your airway. 

4. Mantra in your head--this piece isn't essential for everyone, for me....I have to do a mantra in my head to get started.  If I don't have a mantra, I think of all of things I will do when I am done meditating....(which completely defeats the purpose)

5. Pick a focal point if you can't close your eyes. (Everyone doesn't have to know what you're doing :-)  Your focal point can be something like a picture of your husband, or children.  Pick anything that puts a smile on your face.  I tried this today and I looked at a picture of my husband holding my son.  Whenever I see my husband hold up my son, I think of the scripture:

Matthew 18 1-4,  At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” ² And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them ³ and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

6. Be thankful!  Let's face it, work can be stressful...but be thankful!  Remember, stress in small doses can be healthy!  Funny thing about giving thanks...the more you do it, the more you feel it.  Try this--whenever you are having a bad day, bad week, bad month...just start giving thanks to God.  Trust me, when times are hard, at first, you won't even believe that you are thanking God.  The more you keep saying..."Thank you, Thank you, Thank you"...the Holy Spirit will begin to reveal to you what God has given to you out of grace.  Note: Grace is when God gives us what we DON'T deserve, Mercy is when we DON'T get what we DO deserve.

7. Remember, meditation is not about what is going on around you, it's about finding your own quiet.  Meditation, like prayer, is not necessarily about how long you do it, it is about the quality and the intentions of your heart. 

Give these 7 steps a try....hopefully you will be able to find a little zen in the middle of your day!

~Enjoy!

Meditation...any is better than none

Meditation should allow you to have a deep communion or communication with God, it should allow you to relax and get a better handle on the issues of the day. For these reasons alone, everyone should be meditating right?  Well I am not and I am a prime example of someone who needs to be meditating.  The problem is, I barely shower without a baby audience these days, so how in the world can a busy, full time working mom and wife take time to meditate? 

I have been looking into this for awhile because I really want to start meditating regularly.  Right now all of my responsibilites and duties are starting to mesh together and I don't know if I am coming or going.  To be the best wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, niece, cousin, employee that I can be....I have to take care of me.  Taking care of self is such a hard concept to grasp when you have so much going on.

I have tried meditation in the past, I usually can't get too deep into because I am thinking things like....my eyes are closed, what if a bug is in the room, I wonder what my son is doing, what am I going to make for dinner, do I need to go to the store today, wow my knee just popped pretty loud.  It takes 10 minutes alone for me to empty that stuff out of my head, and then I get in my own head and think things like...this is silly, I wonder if my husband is outside the door laughing at me. 


 I met with my pastor today and she suggested before having my time with God to just write down all the stuff in my head...that's an awesome idea!I just need to have a pretty nice size piece of paper.  After I write out my thoughts, I am going to take the following steps:

Ask for the Holy Spirit to help me with the peace that I need to relax and commune with God

Don't make it a project.  If I only have 5-10, that is better than the big fat 0 that I am doing right now

Start with a mantra (said quietly in my head) to set the mood...In the past what has worked for me is saying "Let Jesus in, more of Him and Less of me"

Breathe in through my mouth and out through my nose 


Candles and a cd seem to help...but they are not essential.  I find that I get obsessed about things like that, trust me, you don't have to have them!   

My goal is just to take it one day at a time.

Have you ever noticed, the more content you are the less you complain, the less you criticize and judge yourself and others? Contentment is what you end up with, when you erase all of the negative, its not just an emotion or mood...it's kind of a lifestyle when you think about it.  It's being okay with trials because you have faith enough that God is working all things to your good.  Every single day, you make a choice whether to complain or spread positive, judge or uplift.  I have gotta start making the right choices...it's time to find my own peace, I don't think it's just going to help me, I am pretty sure those around me would benefit :-)

I'll let you know how it goes!

Keeping B.U.S.Y?

About a year ago, I heard Dr. David Jeremiah preach a sermon on "Identifying the Enemy".  I used to bring my iPod to work to listen to him, until a few months ago,when I found out I could listen to his sermons online.  I recently heard his sermon on identifying the enemy, again. Being in a different place in my life than I was a year ago, it stirred up some different emotions. 

In the sermon, Dr. Jeremiah read a devotional where the author wrote about being a bug on a wall, or having seen Satan speaking to demons all over the world at a convention.  What he said was so awesome, I rewound it several times so that I could share this with you. 

Satan was telling his demons....

"As long as Christians are close to God, we have no power over them, so do these 12 things to gain victory over Christians...."

1.      Keep them busy with non-essentials

2.      Tempt them to overspend and go into debt

3.      Make them work long hours so that they can maintain empty lifestyles

4.      Discourage them from spending family time for when homes disintegrate, there is no refuge from work

5.      Overstimulate their minds with televisions and computers so they can't hear God speaking to them

6.      Fill their coffee tables and nightstands with magazines so they have no time to read the Bible

7.      Flood their mailboxes with sweepstake promotions and get rich quick schemes--keep them chasing material things

8.      Put glamorous models on TV and magazine covers to keep them focused on outward appearances that way they will be dissatisfied with themselves and dissatisfied with their mates

9.      Make sure couples are too exhausted for physical intimacy--that way they are tempted to look elsewhere

10.  Emphasize Santa and the Easter Bunny, that way you will divert them away from the real meanings of these holiday's

11.  Involve them in good causes so that they will not have time for eternal ones

12.  Make them self-sufficient, keep them busy working in their own strength so they will never know the joy of God's power working through them

Wow!  This was a wakeup call to me.  I get so distracted with all the things that I feel "need" to be done....always wishing for those additional hours in the day.  Often times, more times than I would like to admit....I get off work to get all of the non-essentials done.  Doing all of these non-essentials make me too tired to do the essentials.  I stay busy....Dr. Jeremiah mentioned an acronym for busy-- Being. Under. Satan’s. Yolk.  YUCK, why would you ever want to do that!  If only it were that easy, to not do the things we don’t want to do.  When we are too busy to do what God is calling us to do, when we have to get just one more thing clean (not saying not to clean--just saying do the essentials first), when we are constantly working off a list of non-essentials....we are b.u.s.y.  Being b.u.s.y, may end up being what keeps us from knowing if we are successful in what God is calling us to do. 

I am taking that list of 12 as a challenge.  I dont follow sports, and I am against war, but one thing I know for sure, is that knowing your enemy or opponent is sure helpful in a battle or game.  I am a "tryer"....ha, this means I am always "trying" to do something...."tonight, I am going to try to take my son on a walk", "I am going to read a chapter in the Bible".....No more....tonight....forget the non-essentials....I will spend more time with my husband and son and I will spend time with my Father. 

I will work with these 24 hours...because there is no such thing as plus7hours in any day. 

~Christan

Hello World

There is never enough time!  I am a typical working mom I guess you could say...I work 7-4 and then come home and keep working.  I must admit, as much stuff as I have to do when I get home...all I really want to do is get on the floor and roll around with my 6 month old son.  My husband loves to make what he calls a "baby sandwich"....it's where we are on both sides of the baby and he just talks to us...I love it.  Funny that no matter how many emails, calls and meetings I have each day....no matter how far behind I always am....I get home and I just can't think of any of that. 

A little mom confession is that every single day, I feel like I failed at something.  My son goes to sleep at 8:00, I get home around 5:00, make dinner, get bottles ready, pack lunches, have a little family time and before you know it, it's bath time, then time for bed.  Time for bed?!  I still have cleaning and filing to do...I am just perfectly unorganized. If I could only get seven more hours every single day.....

I don't need additional hours at work, I just need more hours with my family. 

I took 12 weeks off after having my son.  Month one--a complete blur, not really sure if I was coming or going, and I am not shame to admit that I had a little postpartum something....not sure if it was blues or depression, but it was something. Month two--not as tough, finally left the house.  Nursing was a little easier by month two.  Month three--Anxiety sets in, I have to go back to work...staying at home wasn't an option for us.  Where did the time go....maternity leave should be at least one year...seriously!!!!  I don't play the lottery  but I played a few times before going back to work.

More times than not, my blogs will be done when I put our son to sleep.  It will be a way for me to just unload my thoughts, struggles and walk through the journey of motherhood.