November 28, 2011

I went for a run this morning in the dark. It was probably about 32 degrees out, but it didn't really feel too cold. When I started the run I thought this might not be so great, I didn't take any music and I just wasn't really feeling too inspired to be out there. After about a mile I said, "Okay God, here I am, what do You want me to do?" This simple question turned into a great time of prayer and conversation with God while I finished out my run. God wanted me to look around and see the beauty of His Creation. It was a great time of worship and renewal.

11/17/11

God is so good. God is so good. God is so good, he's so good to me.
He answers prayer. He answers prayer. He answers prayer, he's so good to me.
I love him so. I love him so. I love him so, he's so good to me.

This might be one of the simplest songs, but it completely fits my life right now. God has been here for me throughout everything that has happened in my life in the past month. I really can't believe how much has happened in such a short period of time.

It almost doesn't seem real.

November 16, 2011

I've just started reading "Strengthening The Soul Of Your Leadership", by Ruth Haley Barton, and I feel like I can connect with just about everything that she is saying. A few of the things that have stuck out to me so far have been:

"During those years I myself experienced in this place times of both great fulfillment and agonizing despair."

"I'm tired of helping others enjoy God. I just want to enjoy God."

"Oftentimes our feelings of isolation increase right along with our success."

"The soul... the part of you that is most real... the part of you that longs for more of God than you have right now."

I know already that this book is going to be really good for me, especially coming out of the place where I have been.

November 13, 2011

Continuing on in unpacking everything that has happened... I guess it has been just about a month ago now that I really felt like things were getting pretty hard in Kemmerer. Our tithing had been down quite drastically in the past few months and it became apparent that it wasn't going to start coming back up. At this point I had the feeling from God and others to stick with the Church, that hard times were bound to happen during a pastorate and that this was one of those hard times. I had been in Colorado for a week and half for the face2face portion of this class that I am journaling for. While I was there God moved in my life in some mighty ways, and showed me some things with what might help for the Church. Long story short, the ways in which I felt God leading me and the Church was not the way that others in the Church wanted to go. It kind of opened the door for most of the problems that people had to be pushed onto me.

November 10, 2011

I haven't written on this journal blog for a while. I believe that the reason has been a good one, Audrey and I have moved from Wyoming to Kansas. I will update this blog/journal in the coming days to reflect on all that has happened, and how God has moved in all of it. Here's my thought for today, we are shipwrecked on God. Amen.

October 22, 2011

As I journaled yesterday God has been bringing different things into my life yet they all point to the same things. If that makes sense. In my Masters Face2Face week we spoke quite a bit about transformation, go figure, and when I got home in the mail was an issue of EFCA Today, a publication put out by the E-Free Church of America. On the cover it says, "Pondering Spiritual Transformation", hmmmm... I've been pondering spiritual transformation quite a bit.

I want to highlight a few things in the articles that stuck out to me, and then I'll link to the full page of articles on their website.

"At the heart of spiritual leadership is discernment - the capacity to recognize and respond to the presence and the activity of God both personally and in community."
"The practice of community discernment, like any other Christian discipline, is a means of creating space for God's activity in our lives."
"The Lord seems content to work in people's lives in terms of decades, and in the church at large in terms of centuries. So, we need slow and steady perseverance to get there."
"Sometimes victory is just resolutely facing forward even if you can't seem to move."

Here is the link to the website: http://www.efcatoday.org/

October 21, 2011

God has been speaking to me quite a bit lately, or maybe God is always trying to speak to me and I have been paying better attention. This post is going to ramble, so be prepared...

One of the things that God has encouraged me with is the following devotional that my mom sent to me. The God aspect of this devotional is two fold 1. The date is October 15, which is the same day that Dave Williams one of my Masters Professors talked about the life of Elijah. and 2. I have felt very much like Elijah lately. Here is the devotional.

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Discouragement

And he said, "I have been very zealous for the LORD God of hosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life." (1 Kings 19:14)
Kingdom work can be challenging! You can give everything you have to God’s service and come away exhausted. This is what happened to Elijah. God had just used Elijah to call down fire from heaven in a spectacular display of divine power. But Elijah’s exhilaration was soon replaced by strenuous work followed by death threats, causing him to flee for his life. Now he was alone, exhausted, and discouraged.
Again, God came to Elijah. This time, He came not in fire or in a loud, spectacular way, but in a still, small voice. God’s servant was tired, and God brought him comfort. Elijah’s focus had shifted from God to God’s enemies. He had allowed his circumstances to overwhelm him, leaving him disoriented to God and feeling alone. So God encouraged him. God provided Elisha for him as a helper, friend, and companion.
God removed Elijah from the activity for a time, so that he could rest and spend time with God. When the nation next saw Elijah, he was rejuvenated and refocused on God and His assignment.
If you are overwhelmed by kingdom work so that your focus is no longer on God but on all that there is to do, let Him comfort you. Listen to His gentle voice. He will encourage you and provide exactly what you need to prepare you for what comes next. If He needs to remove you from your work for a time, He will. He may place a friend or co-laborer beside you to help carry the load. God knows exactly how to encourage you. Let Him do so.

Well, that was one of the ways that God has been speaking... Seeing as it is late, I will post another one tomorrow.