Money

Wouldn't you know it! God has chosen now to show me many passages on tithing-now!! Now in the middle of economic crisis. I was not even looking for these verses I literally had one of those flip through the Bible moments where I was just looking for a word from God ( does not happen often in this way) and every thing I flipped to was about either tithing or love of wealth. I honestly kept flipping because I didn't want to read it. Not that we don't give, we do, just not as much as we should.Great! now I'm going to have so study up on this. Any thoughts friends?? What is your take on tithing? IS offering money on top of tithes or is it offering services?
Looking forward to hearing from you.

Prayer-2

After praying generally for the week I took some time to reflect on how I was feeling. Basically, I felt unplugged from God. My prayers were less passionate, less faithful, and less powerful. I wondered how I was to give God the praise for answered prayer when direct requests were not made.It was a week of soggy cereal. I was not excited about a possible miracle, because asking God to just help us through or for comfort, is almost insulting. God is always there to comfort if we open ourselves up to it. God is always there to grant wisdom if we seek His heart.I needed more answers. I needed to know if direct prayer makes a difference. Can we change God's mind or is whatever will be (His Plan) will be??? I pondered, I prayed, I studied.I looked at the verses in the Bible where Jesus and the disciples prayed.And I noticed something. It rarely was ever a if it is Your will... prayer.In fact, their prayers were bold. " Get up!" " Be healed!" " Come out!"They never questioned the will of God, instead, they believed they knew it and with authority they prayed. The if it be your will prayers were in times of relinquishment to God's will. Like Jesus in the Garden " Not my will but Thine"But can we change God's mind? If he already planned to do something will our heart cries intervene?As I parent I know my children can change my mind with their desperate pleas- what about My Heavenly Father?I looked to Exodus 32 When Moses was on the mountain talking with God and his people started to make a golden calf to worship God said in verse 10 " Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them."But Moses sought the Lord and begged that He would turn from His anger; relent and do not bring disaster on his people.This is the verse that excited me- verse 14 " Then the Lord relented and did not bring on His people the disaster He had planned."Wait a minute!! Did God just change His mind???I went on to find more examples of God changing his mind. Like in Jonah 3 When God sent Jonah to Nineveh to preach. He proclaimed " Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned."They believed Jonah and turned from their ways urgently calling out to God praying for compassion.Don't miss this-verse 10 " When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened."Conclusion: God does change his mind!But yikes! With that liberation comes great responsibility. Our prayers are to be powerful not mousy. We are working with God. We can even change history!Now that is motivating! Motivating to not only prayer differently but also to dive deeper and master the craft of prayer- I have much to learn.I am now reading some insightful books on prayer and will be sure to journal new revelations.
Lest I forget.

Prayer-1

I have been struggling lately with prayer. It started one night when Cliodhna was sick and I had Kai pray for her at bedtime. He prayed "Dear God, Please make my baby sister all better, Amen." He then opened his eyes and asked me if she was better. I found myself stumbling over the words to explain that just because you pray it won't always happen right then, or ever sometimes.Ouch! If you could have seen his disappointed little face your heart would have been as heavy as mine was going to bed that night. I wondered, should I as a parent be teaching him to pray such specific prayers? Or should we change our prayers to " Comfort us when we go through this storm, Help us accept Your will.."I realised I was not sure how much God intervenes in our messes. I know that He has carried me through many a heartache and has made good things come out of those times by building character in me- that I know. But can it be, I have been praying wrong? Can it be that I'm 32 and need to rewire my whole prayer life? I knew I better come to a conclusion so I could teach Kai the right way to pray.I love that Kai has such faith, I remember being like that when I was young but then... well, then life happened and the times I prayed only to open my eyes and still be in the rain calloused my heart a bit. I rationalized it away by saying basically that in this life shit happens and God helps us through it. I struggle with my health because shit happens, Nortel is going Bankrupt because shit happens, people die because shit happens! Will God strengthen us in those times- absolutely! But He allows it to happen for our good. So, after talking with my friends and family and thinking it through I decided I was going to start praying more generally. This way is safer, smarter, sensible. So I tried it for a week...and I came to some amazing conclusions that I don't want to forget.
To be continued.

I Forget

I forget.
There are lessons I have learned, prayers that have been answered, forgiveness that has been granted, mercy that has been poured out, scars that have been healed, and glimpses of You, God, that in this life I have experienced; and yet, I forget.Time after time I promise You I will not let the fire burn out. I promise I won't let my focus be clouded. I promise that I will always remember the moment, but then I let the every day sweep me away to a place of going through the motions-and I forget.If I were You I would be so sick of my promises. I would roll my eyes and tune me out. I would write me off as an unteachable student.But I'm not You. You believe in me. You don't tell me to pull myself together when I'm down, You don't scold me, You just hold me and wait. Wait for me to collapse into You. Wait for me to realize that You haven't stepped back from me, that You are still holding me. You are desperate to help me remember what ground we have already covered together.I know You are proud of me. Like a father who carries his child's picture in his wallet You look beyond my shortcomings, see my potential, and say "That's my girl! "You patiently wait for the tide to come back in and when it does You whisper in my ear how much You have missed me.So in my attempt to remember, I am hoping by writing this blog that it will keep things fresh in my mind and the next time I am tempted to wander off...I won't forget.