Reflection on Our Word for the Year Part 2

I continue to reflect on my word for the year, and the changes that it brought.  God is showing me how He has used that word in my life this year. Prayer is a powerful thing. It has the power to mend the broken. It has the power to transform a person. It has the power to show you God’s wonder. That is how powerful it is. That is God’s Power!

Whatever your word for the year was this past year, I hope that God shown you His Power.  I pray that you had your eyes open to see the awesomeness of God this year and every year. He definitely wants to show you His Wonder.

I have learned something about God this year that I don’t think I ever really thought about. I think God loves to show off for us. It is to show us how much He loves us. Some of you may not realize that God loves you so much.  Do you realize that God loves you?

Yes, we have heard the song “Jesus Loves Me”, but have you really let the words sink into your heart?  I myself have had that struggle of how can God love me?  I have messed up so many times, and felt like “how could God love me.”

Reflecting on my word and praying that God would show me the reflection He wants to show me, I have come to several realizations. The realizations, all of them, have to do with Jesus loving me, and even if life is not always easy, He is trustworthy.

My word for this year is trust. Jesus loves me so much, and He has shown me over and over that He is trustworthy.  There has been so much hurt in my life and I felt so broken and incomplete.  Jesus loves me so much, and made me whole and made me new.  Thus, showing me that I can trust Him.

By trusting God, He is transforming my life.  My trust in God is changing me from the inside out.  I no longer fear the past.  I cherish the present, and I look forward to a future that God has planned for me.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6

I have learned that I have to Trust in Him.  He is the One who is giving me a transformation to love myself and others.   I thank God for directing me on my journey.  I would be lost without Him.

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” Romans 12:2

With all the wickedness that is happening around us, our eyes must be focused on God.  The devil is all around us, but if our eyes are fixed on God, then the devil has no power over us.  God is our past, or present, and our future.

I pray that God is showing you His glory.  My prayer for you, is that your eyes are open the amazing love of God.

Dear Jesus,You have shown me how trustworthy You are.  I am so grateful that You have shown me Your love and grace and continue to do so on a daily basis.  Without You, I would be lost.  Without you, I would be broken, and feel incomplete.  Thank you Lord for saving my soul. Thank you Lord for making me whole.Amen

Laura Maxson

Reflection on Our Word for The Year

In January, we prayed and chose our word for the year. The word that would help define the year 2015.  Well, the year is almost over. This month, I want you to reflect on what changes have occurred in your life based on your word for this year.

 What was your word?  Has God opened your eyes?   Has He shown you His glory?  What difference has that word made in your life?  Has it made a difference in your life? Did you allow God to show you his meaning of that word for your life?  What changes did God make in you because of your word? 

As the end of the year is fast approaching, I want us to pray that God will show us what He has done in our lives this year.  Make this a month of reflection and prayer for what God has done in your life. You will then realize that God is in control, if we allow Him.  So, that no matter what happens, with God in our lives, we can get through it.

My word for the year was trust.  That word was something that I didn’t do very well. Now trusting God has changed me from the inside out.  My reflection of my word over this year and the changes that it has brought, has been eye opening.

Through my reflection of that word of the year, God has opened my eyes, and showed me His glory.  I realized that I could TRUST God.  It was that trust that helped me truly realize the grace that God has for me. It was my trust in God that helped me give grace to the people that hurt me. 

I trust God with all my heart, and with that trust He is showing me His love and grace daily.  Every day is a battle, but right at this moment, I have given up control of my issues, anxieties, and fears to Him.    They are all God’s now, and He is so much bigger, stronger, and more capable then I am.  I have given Him my life.

I learned that His way is the best way. I trusted Him with all of me, and gave up control. There was never a told you so, or a too late.  He is cleaning me up from the inside out.  He made me new, and made me whole again.  That is what my trust in God did and continues to do for me.

My journey with God is far from over.  It is a trusting relationship that grows more and more every day. Given up control of my life was the most difficult part.  However, I was done fighting.  God was there through it all.  He was waiting for me to come to Him. He doesn’t force His way into our lives.

My trust in Him allowed me to face the person that so many years ago hurt me.  The baggage that I had been holding onto, I had given to God.  So, when I saw that person, I did not see that person in my human anger.  I saw them in a new light, and saw them as a child of God who needed God’s grace just as much as I do.  When I saw that person, I realized that they were not the same either.  God is working in their life too.

My trust in God, I can truly believe and realize that there is nothing that we can do that will separate us from the grace of God.  As long as our hearts are open to Him, God will always try to reach us.  We can trust him with our lives, and all the darkness as well as the light.  God is trustworthy.

How do you trust someone?  The more you get to know them, the more you trust them.  God has   I have learned that my God is to be trusted.  He is a God of His word.
shown me time and time again that He is a God to trust.

I never realized that a word could change me completely.  It isn’t the word that changes my life, but the meaning of that word. If I am truly allowing God to work in me, then my word will change my life.  To just know that I can trust my God is an incredible feeling.

Life won’t always be perfect, I know that.  Yet, with my trust in God, the mountains don’t look so impenetrable.  With my trust in God, my fears, anxieties are now His, and they are no longer fears or anxieties.  With my trust in God, He is in control, which is so much better than me being in control.

God has control.  I trust that He will be my GPS in my life.  I am no longer afraid that God won’t do what He promised.  He has already proven that He is a God of his word.  I trust God, and that trust has manifested itself into my life in many ways.

By my allowing God in, I have also let in good people.  My heart is open. I used to be scared to let people, but now I trust. I trust God. He is such an amazing God that changes people if we allow Him access to our hearts.

God has a plan for our lives, and He wants to show us that plan.   If I trust God, than He will lead me step by step along our journey together. To me that is cool. 

“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

He is giving me the desires of my heart, only my desires have changed. What I used to want have now grown into something more.  God has given me new desires, and a new focus.  He is guiding my journey.  I trust God to guide me, to show me his plan for my life.  I trust God.

Dear Lord, continue to guide me on our journey.  I trust you to lead the way. Each person on this blog, bless them, and continue to guide them on their journey with You.  You have done such an amazing thing in my life, and I can’t take credit for any of it.  It was all You.  If we allow You, You will change us from the inside out.

Amen

Laura Maxson

NOTE: If you want to comment on what God has done for your life during this year, please do.  There is a comment section on this blog, feel free to use it.  We want to hear what God is doing in your life, or if you don’t feel comfortable, just share your word for this year.  Thank you for being on this journey with us.

Thanks Give(ing) in Action

Thanksgiving 

What does that word mean to me?

A holiday, day off from work, meal with the family, pumpkin spice everything, cool autumn weather, leaves changing color, thanking God for what He's done in my life.

I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart;

    I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.

2 

I will be glad and rejoice in you;

    I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.

Psalm 9:1-2

This month we've been praying about INTENTIONAL Gratitude, in a sense, Thanksgiving. 

I'm so thankful that God never ceases to surprise, because I thought He would help point out the things in my life that I could thank Him for. 

Which He did, but that's not where He stopped. He decided to change my definition of Thanksgiving.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary   

give

verb \ˈgiv\
gave \ˈgāv\ giv·en \ˈgi-vən\ giv·ing
Definition of GIVE
transitive verb
1
:  to make a present of <give a doll to a child>
2
a :  to grant or bestow by formal action <the law gives citizens the right to vote>

b :  to accord or yield to another <gave him her confidence>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A transitive verb has two characteristics. First, it is an action verb, expressing a doable activity like kick, want, paint, write, eat, clean, etc. Second, it must have a direct object, something or someone who receives the action of the verb.

It was this "Ah-ha" and "Oh, that should have been obvious" moment. When I GIVE thanks the way I believe God has intended. Not just keeping it to myself, or only in my personal devotion to Him. But, when I take it further and act upon it. When there's a direct object that receives it. When I tell, write a letter to, leave a note for, call, text someone why I'm thankful for them; something crazy happens.

I'm double blessed and I feel I'm the one who's been given something. 

Paul does this, thanks give(ing), and I believe he had that same feeling.

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God. Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. Philippians 1:3,4 (MSG)

Then in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18(KJV) he wrote,

16 Rejoice evermore.17 Pray without ceasing.18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

So I'm Thank Full for a new life definition of Thanks Give(ing). And my prayer will be that it's not just once a year, but a life full of Giving Thanks.

~Kartini Maxson

November Prayer Topic: Intentional Gratitude

What am I grateful for today?  What are you grateful for today?  Who am I grateful for? Who are you grateful for? I imagine that you could make a list for both “the what” and “the who”.  During this month we want to be intentionally grateful.

If I stop for a moment and think, I could name a list of those things that I am grateful that is quite long.  It includes everything from waking up today to it being pay day.  I am thankful that I can share my thoughts on this blog. I am grateful that it is that time of year where there is a little crispness to the air, and the leaves are changing colors.  There is a breeze today, and I love the wind.  

These are just a small handful of what I am grateful for today as I write this.  What are you grateful for today?  I can only imagine that you have a lot to be grateful.   Take a moment to name of those things that you are blessed with.  Again, you don’t have to look at just the big things.  It could feeling the sun on your face after working indoors all day.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!  His faithful love endures forever.” (1 Chronicles 16:34, Psalm 107:1, 118:1, and 136:1)

Do you realize that there are four verses in the bible that say the exact same thing?   Look up, 1 Chronicles 16:34, Psalm 107:1, Psalm 118:1, and Psalm 136:1, and you will see that each of these verses say the same thing.  It was a statement that was worth repeating. Give thanks to the Lord, for HE IS GOOD! His faithful love endures forever.

I give thanks to God for my family and friends, and I also thank God for those of you reading these words.   God has also blessed me with an amazing sister-in-law that is going on this journey of this blog.  I am grateful for her as well, and thank God for her.  She is my prayer warrior, who, if I am needing a prayer, is there to offer a prayer or words of encouragement.

           Last, but definitely not lease.  Actually, this is my top blessing. I am especially grateful for God who has my life in His hands.  I have given him my life, and I am grateful that he is the Author of my story.

 “For I know the plans I have for you.  Declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you.  Plans to give you hope and a future.” 

Jeremiah 29:11

          Jeremiah 29:11 is one of my favorite verses.  It does not mean that life won’t be difficult sometimes, or that tragedies will not happen.  To me it is another blessing to have God know the plans for my life.

Who are you grateful for?  Take a moment, and look on your life, and see who you are thankful for.   I am sure that you will come up with a list of people.  This month do your best to let them know what they mean to you.   They will love it.

An idea of how to let them know would be to send them a card letting them know why you are grateful for them.  Maybe, if you haven’t talked to them in a while, call them. Do something personal, maybe taking them to lunch, or buy them a coffee.

 There are countless ways to let someone know you are grateful for them.  It doesn’t have to cost a thing to tell someone that you are grateful for them.  Try it this month, and you will feel better too.

Dear Lord,

Right at this moment, I am not asking for anything.  I want to just thank you.  I thank you for all the blessings, both big and small, that you have given on me.

Amen

Laura Maxson