Do you put God first....or does He come last???

Psa 1:3 They are like trees that grow beside a stream, that bear fruit at the right time, and whose leaves do not dry up. They succeed in everything they do.


I need to always go to God first. He is the stream that keeps the tree strong. No one else can do that! With Him I can get through everything. I thank God for every single circumstance that I have gone through and each one that I will go through in the future. These are all opportunities for us to grow just like the tree by the river. Just like the tree depends on that stream....we must depend on God. This means we must go to God in everything FIRST! Not after we go to our friends and family going to God when nothing else works. How would you feel if you had a friend that only contacted you when he or she had no one else to go to....you always being very last option. I would feel horrible if I knew a friend only wanted to do something with me because they could find no one else yet we do that very same thing to God all the time. He tells us that we WILL prosper in all we do if we would just listen to Him! If we would just go to Him in everything! So....what is stopping us?

Memory Verse Time :)

Psa 1:1 Happy are those who reject the advice of evil people, who do not follow the example of sinners or join those who have no use for God.

Psa 1:2 Instead, they find joy in obeying the Law of the LORD, and they study it day and night.

Okay, so we are to meditate on His word day and night! That means to meditate consistently always! How are we to do that? Can we walk around with our noses in our Bible all day long? Well, we can read our Bibles more than we do but that still isn't going to allow us to do it day and night....every second. To do this we have to start memorizing scripture. So, do you memorize scripture? That is a loaded question and one that I ask myself also because my answer would be no. UGH! I hate to admit that but it is just true. I have memorized verses in the past but not consistently. And is memorizing a few verses here and there enough? What would happen if you no longer had access to a Bible? Would a few verses here and there be enough to sustain you? We need to be doing more!

We are told in verse one to not follow the example of sinners. Well, the easiest way to do this is to INSTEAD.....meditate on scripture. This reminds me of when Jesus used the Word against Satan when he was trying to tempt him. Jesus is our example! Did He pull out the Bible right then and there and read it to Satan? Of course not! He knew it! He had these laws memorized!

So, this is our challenge.....memorization! With God you CAN do this!

What will you choose for today?

Luk 10:38 As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him in her home.
Luk 10:39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the feet of the Lord and listened to his teaching.
Luk 10:40 Martha was upset over all the work she had to do, so she came and said, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself ? Tell her to come and help me!"
Luk 10:41 The Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha! You are worried and troubled over so many things,
Luk 10:42 but just one is needed. Mary has chosen the right thing, and it will not be taken away from her."
Wow, I am sooooo totally Martha! I am the first to make sure everything gets done and as soon as it is done there is more to do. I realized this Sunday morning during the sermon. I was actually thinking about leaving church early to get some stuff done! WOW! I didn't leave but I prayed before the sermon started that I would get something out of the sermon. My thinking was, "If I am going to stick around for this instead of getting done what needs done then it needs to be good." Are you serious? I mean.....helloooooo! What am I thinking these days?! Everything God does is good and even He rested! So here I am, beginning to think that what I have to do is more important than staying in church. This is just crazy! I am glad that I am still a work in progress. It would just be horrible if God left me all on my own to figure this out because I am such a complete and total mess. Praise God that He doesn't leave us alone and that He wants what is best for us and that He knows what is best for us. We are totally clueless!
Psa 27:4 I have asked the LORD for one thing; one thing only do I want: to live in the LORD's house all my life, to marvel there at his goodness, and to ask for his guidance.

God asks for relationship with us. That is what he wants. We can't have a relationship if we are constantly running to and fro trying to do what WE want to do and not even giving Him a thought. I do want to live in the LORD's house all my life. We should marvel at His goodness always. When was the last time you just really looked around your life...your house....your family....the nature all around you...your many many blessings and just got overwhelmed and said WOW...look at His goodness, I do not deserve this. Because we truly do not. When we make a choice in the morning of how to live we need to choose this every single day. If we do not choose to let God lead us then we are choosing wrong.

Quote from last Sunday's sermon: "Sin isn't ot just choosing evil of God....it is also choosing good over God...."

God wants our everything and He is leading us. When we start taking things in our own hands....even the good things....we need to stop and think about what we are doing. For me this means to take the time every day to really stop and think about what God is calling me for that day. I put SOOOOOOOO much unnecessary stress on myself every day because I try to do so much that God doesn't even ask me to do....that is crazy! We need to be listening to what God has for us. He wants what is best an only He knows what is best.

So.....how do I apply all of this to my life? Well, for starters, I start my day on my knees. I ask God to please lead me through this day. I ask Him to please control my thoughts and help me to remember that I am NOT in charge. I am NOT in control. And I don't want to be in control. Life is sooooo much better when we give it all to Him.....

Have a super blessed day with the Father!

~Dawn~

What are you willing to give up?

Mat 19:21 Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me."

Mat 19:22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he was very rich.

I know that if someone were to come up to me and ask, "What are you willing to give up for the Lord?" I would answer EVERYTHING with the quickness. But, am I really? I mean, when you think of everything you tend to think of all the excess that you have. But there is so much that we think we need...are we willing to give up the things that we think we need? What is a necessity and what is a want? What is our desire and what is God's desire for us? These are questions that we should really think about every single day. We are living in a land of plenty! Even if you are sitting back thinking right now, "Dang, I am straight up broke and I don't even have something to give up!" Well, I would say you must have something to give up since you have the time and ability to be reading this post. I don't think we have to give up every little luxury in our life to be a Christian but we need to be willing to. The second you put something above God you are committing idolatry! That is a fact. Even the good things God blesses you will can become idols if you let them. Do you have idols in your life? Ask God to reveal to you anything that you have put above Him.

Be blessed!
~Dawn~

Mission time! :)

Wow...it has been long time since I posted anything. It is ironic that my last post was about my daughter's cell phone because she doesn't have a cell phone anymore. It got stolen and I used it as a chance to just not get her another one. Don't get me wrong....she was really good with it but I just regretting get her one so young. I will get her one again when she is 15 or 16.

Today I went to the church to see the team to Armenia off. I really thought that I wanted to go but I thought, "No, I am not going to go to Armenia because I want to save and go to Kenya." There is of course part of me that wants to see Armenia again and maybe one day I will make it to Kenya also but God has revealed to me through it all that these trips are not for me. Sometimes we want to do something that is not God's will for us This doesn't mean that it is something bad. I mean....going to Kenya to help build pole houses is a good thing....but just not God's will for my life now.

So what is God's will in my life now? Now THAT is a loaded question! I have a lot going on right now and some of the things are things that are soooooo far our of my comfort zone it is just blowing my mind. But these are the things that God wants in my life right now. I am leading a ladies' class on Monday nights and doing the children's class on Wednesday night and these are both definitely lead by the Lord because I COULD NOT do either on my own. And of course...I am still in school and God grants me the time to get my assignments in every semester....because that also is NOT me. But I gotta tell you...the biggest thing that I have going on right now is that I am headed to Deep Impact with the youth at our church in about a month. This is what is definitely out of my comfort zone. You would think that I would be more worried to go over seas than to a simple week of missions with the youth. Well, I have realized that it is just not that 'simple'. It is a God ordained thing for my life which makes it BIG! HUGE! AWESOME and AMAZING! And I am more nervous than I was when I went to Armenia! I can't wait to see what God has planned in all of this :)

Loves to you all! ~Dawn~