Oh to Wake Up and Look Like THAT!

“We live in an informational era where often those with acquired knowledge and lots of degrees can be placed on pedestals and acclaimed simply for their knowledge. Can you imagine if Einstein or Edison never took their knowledge and moved forward with it how our lives could have been affected? The disciples had FIRST-HAND KNOWLEDGE of Jesus and His representation of Father God's plan for mankind. Had they been unwilling to LOVE others enough to go and share, again, perhaps our lives might be different. The point: yes, have your quiet time each day. Yes, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal truth to you from God's Word - it is your best weapon to destroy the lies you will hear from the enemy this day. Yes, read other books for additional knowledge and understanding. Then take that digested material and get it out. Memorize your current, favorite passage and find ways to share that with others. Perhaps make a healthy dessert to share at your Valentine's party and tell everyone that you want to invest in their health future or find a passage of scripture each night for a week to share with a friend as a means of encouragement. You know where they are struggling and you know God's Word has hope. Get it out and demonstrate God's love in unique ways.” Pastor Kathy Hill. (http://kathyshcgfamily.blogspot.com/)

To put this into practice...Yesterday I was reading Psalm 17:15 "I will be satisfied when I awaken to Your likeness". This caused me to pause and reflect. There are so many areas in my life I desire to WAKE UP, but my prayer is truly that they would come alive or awakened and be the exact representation of HIS likeness. My prayer is, "Father, when I awake in the morning cause me to awake to/in/for Your likeness not mine. The areas in my life that are already awakened but do not look like You, transform them to Your likeness. The areas that are waking up within me, may they be exactly like You!"

It's ok to look...but you might want to look again...

We had a friend over for dessert last night (no I didn't have the dessert I made - I had a huge navel orange, for all my healthy friends, keeping me accountable). I made Keven's favorite cobbler recipe...chocolate. Oh, it looked so good when I put it in the oven. However, it didn't look right and I couldn't figure out why. I didn't bother looking at the recipe because I knew I had added all the ingredients. The timer went off and the dessert done, but you know what - it did not look right either. Hmmmph. I have made this recipe soooooo many times, what's the deal. I know I looked at the recipe, read the instructions and added all it called for. Well, though it didn't look so great and the texture was not right Keven and David were gracious and said it tasted good. Keven said it tasted different but was still good. We discussed what could have gone wrong and though I wasn't prideful while saying it or thinking it, I knew I had added all the ingredients. After we hung out for a while, David headed home. Keven and I began to discuss what happened again. Finally, I took out my recipe and low and behold, I forgot the most important ingredient - 2 cups of boiling water. Yep.

Isn't that just like life though? We can have something that looks sort of, like the truth, tastes sort of like the truth, smells sort of like the truth but without that ONE ingredients - water (or whatever) - it isn't the FULL truth. Father, Jesus, Holy Spirit, the Bible, going to church, visiting with people of like faith, praying, and more are the WATER that really makes our lives so pleasing to the eyes of others that they want a portion or all of what we have.

Let's not forget to add the WATER of life to our lives. For my recipe, I highlighted, drew arrows to, made mental notes, and know Keven will remind me to get my attention to make for sure I have added all the ingredients for a delicious, complete dessert. Let's set ourselves up for success and do whatever it takes to present ourselves as 'delicious and complete' before all men and Father.