On Tuesday night, I was telling Hank how thankful I am that I haven’t been sick this year and bragging on my strong immune system and then I got sick on Wednesday night. I’m still not feeling my best but I know that I’ll recover soon.

Last night everyone encouraged me to stay home and rest but I really felt like I needed to be at church and teach the lesson that was in my spirit. Here it is in a nutshell:

Instead of giving excuses for our failures, let’s find reasons to succeed. Or, as my fifth grade teacher used to say, “Can’t never could.” I listed the following five scriptures as my reasons to succeed:

1. “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?  Numbers 23:19
2. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:13
3. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28
4. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
5. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:37

I encourage you to search the scriptures and discover the reasons why you are meant to succeed in life and live the abundant lifestyle that Jesus has given you.

While I’m not going to lie in bed in rest, I’m going to take today easy. No gym. No walk through the desert. Just working at the computer and going to lunch with a friend.

Say a prayer for me….

Now one of two things are going on here:

1. I need to get up when I wake up and spend the quiet time with my Father.
2. The dreams are revealing  inner conflict as in each one of them I’ve found myself in situations where I am either not being heard or being misunderstood.

It seems like the easiest thing would be to just get up but our only heat is the wood burning stove and it’s just about out at 4:00AM. Still, I know within that if I were to get up, bundle up, and get the fire roaring again the time would be sweet.

Yet even if I get up I still need to deal with the inner conflict which seems to be the old tired, stressed out, and unhappy Sharon rising to the surface when I seem to have little control over her because I’m asleep.  Paul speaks of the crucifying the flesh but what are we to do when the flesh seems to resurrect itself when we’re the least prepared?

I think this is where the Word comes in. John wrote that  “they overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” Even during the night I can remind my enemy and my flesh of all that God has done for me through Christ. I can quote scripture and preach myself happy. Whether I am awake or asleep, I am washed in the Blood of Jesus Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, and equipped to fight the good fight of faith.

And when I get up, whether it’s at 4:00AM or 9:00AM, I can get up equipped, empowered, and ready to align my will to the Father’s.

It’s up to me.

I’m also trying to learn to align my thoughts with God’s Word throughout the day – whether I’m at the gym telling myself that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” or choosing not to eat sugar  by reminding myself that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control.“

Even yesterday, yet was the Word that interrupted my complaining by telling me to “do everything without complaining and arguing.”

It takes hard, earnest, and continual work to become the woman that God has planned and purposed me to be.

But, as Rita Springer says in her song, it’s gonna be worth it.

And this morning, I gave in and started complaining again. And you know what? It still didn’t get done! So, not only did I waste my breath, create stress and frustration but I still need to do what it is I wanted done or choose to wait patiently.

Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Philippians 2:^14-15

Maybe the not complaining thing is more about creating an atmosphere of peace than anything else. If I would have just gotten up and did what I wanted done, Hank wouldn’t have been running late to his appointment, I wouldn’t have been frustrated because I felt like he wasn’t listening to me, and our morning would have been much more peaceful than it was.

Now, while I failed on the not complaining this morning, I have done pretty well for the last several weeks. I’m not going to consider this a failure but more like a relapse into old habits.

And I’m going to stop blogging and get busy working. I want to do the one thing I wanted done today, take Norton for a run, go to the gym, stop by Walmart, and spend the day feeling and being productive!

May your Kingdom come soon. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10

God hears us saying: “Do what you want to do in and through this earthen vessel known as Sharon today. Interrupt my day. Change my course. Clear my calendar. Send me where you want me to go. Stop me from going where I want to go. Let me be as quick to obey You as the angels who serve You each day. Let me be like your Son and lay down my life, my plans, my agenda, and my desires to pick up all that you have for me.“

Jeremiah 29: ¹¹For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.

Philippians 2:¹³[Not in your own strength] for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you [energizing and creating in you the power and desire], both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight. (Amplified Version)

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wondered if I’ll ever really see the plans and purposes of God fulfilled in my life. How can I know if I’ll experience all that God has for me if I’m not even sure what it is He has planned for me? Through the years, I’ve seen God moving in my life to get me to where He wants me to be but still am not sure exactly where that is….. I only know my absolutely final destination and that is at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

When I’m in doubt,  I know that the one plan and purpose that I can fulfill is allowing God to create the desire in me to want his will,  and the strength to work for his good pleasure, satisfaction, and delight.

Like Jesus, I can greet each day with an expectation of pleasing God through the simple act of obedience. I believe that Jesus began his day with prayer so that He could align his spirit to the will and purpose of the Father and I can do that too. And when it seems too difficult to follow his plan, I can ask Him to strengthen, equip, and enable me make it through the day just like Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane.

I don’t want to waste any more time worrying about the future and what God has for me then when I can be busy pleasing God today.

So, let’s get today started!

I mean as a Christian, aren’t you and I “undefeatable?” Shouldn’t the Romans 8:31-39 make us fearless? When we leave the house, we should remind ourselves that we are superheros, washed in the blood of the lamb, sins forgiven, filled with the Holy Spirit, and equipped with all of God’s strength to handle what will come our way! We need to remind ourselves that through Christ we really are “UNDEFEATABLE!“

Romans 8:³¹ What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? ³² Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? ³³ Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. ³⁴Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.

 ³⁵ Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ³⁶ (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) ³⁷ No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.

 ³⁸ And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. ³⁹ No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

“Exhaust Life.”

Rather than living life to it’s fullest, we tend to live as if we were saving it for another day, don’t we? Tomorrow is not guaranteed so we should live today with gusto, go to bed exhausted, and sleep like a newborn baby.

As Christians, we should be living the abundant life that Christ gave us. I’ve heard of people who look back on the day that they were diagnosed with cancer gratefully because they say it’s the day that they chose to really live…. I don’t want a possible death sentence to cause me to choose life, do you? God has so much for me and I want it all!

Recently, I was looking up acronyms for GREAT and found this one: Get Really Excited About Today!

Today is all we have. This one day of living is all that we may get…. let’s Get Really Excited About Today and exhaust life together! And, if we wake up in the morning, let’s do it again!

I didn’t watch the game much but did get a chance to catch a few of the commercials.  Hannah came up with a great idea to watch the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympics together. I’ve been thinking about this idea a lot —- we could have flags from all the countries on a bulletin board and encourage everyone to come, get a flag, and make a dish that represents that country for the fellowship dinner! I also think that we could encourage everyone to pray for that country throughout the Olympics and maybe do a little teaching on some of the countries during the services. I think it’d be a lot of fun and would open our eyes to what’s going on in the world around us.

While I didn’t know who won the game until Judge Foutz told me this morning,  I did learn  that bingeing on junk food and drinking Mountain Dew Throwbacks is not a good idea for this lean, mean, fat-burning machine of mine. Today I’ve focused on drinking lots of water, eating food that’s good for me, and getting some exercise to try to get my body back on track…. Tonight I’m going to bed early to catch up on the sleep I lost to Mountain Dew last night.

Well, it’s time to call it a night…..

Isn’t it amazing how sunshine can awaken our hearts to the joy that is set before us this day? I find myself looking forward to going out to lunch with friends, anticipating a long walk with Norton, and not even dreading going to WalMart even though it’s the first weekend in February.

If the sunshine can do this for us, what can happen in our lives when the Son shines on us? Jesus said that He came to give us abundant life…. what does that mean for you today? Is it the joy of being around good friends? Is it the simple  pleasure of a great cup of coffee while being curled up in your pj’s? Is it being thankful for good health? Or the courage to navigate your way through illness and disease? Could it be as simple as a whispered thank you to our Heavenly Father?

Jason Upton sings a song titled “Simple Things” and often that’s where we find God and experience the greatest joy, isn’t it?.