Okay, I was studying my Forgiven and Set Free post-abortion Bible Study for Women, by Linda Cochrane, when one verse just hit me and I was just in Awe of God. The chapter is over the different names of God which describe his character, I love studying this stuff. The name today was Jehovah-Shammah (God, who is there).
With that we should take such comfort that he is with us at all times through everything we go through the good, the bad and the ugly, he experiences it with us, "Never does he leave us or forsake us" (Hebrews 13:5).He is the only One that will never turn his back on us. We can't say that about any human, no matter how sincere they are humans will let us down, that's why we should not put anyone on a pedestal or in the place that God belongs in our lives. He also states that promise in Deuteronomy 31:6. We know that by the statement in John 14:16-18, where he promises to send the Holy Spirit that resides in us FOREVER!! We are His for life and eternity.
So, here is the Verse that jumped out at me, 1 Chronicles 28:9 9 "And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever." King David is passing on the crown and charging Solomon with the plans to build the Temple for God. We can take on the same charge and the temple is our body, spirit and mind. I'll show you how this verse spoke to me.
1)"acknowledge the God of your father"-we have to choose God and give him the controls of our life.
2)"serve him"-we can't serve man, money or anything else that sits itself up before God those are idols, get rid of them and worship God and put him before all things.
3)with "wholehearted devotion"-WOW! He wants our WHOLE heart, not 1/4, 1/2 or 3/4 he wants it all. He can and will heal all the hurts of our heart that have occurred in our lifetime, if we choose to let him, and do the hard work of bringing it back, offering forgiveness to all that have offended us and giving it all to God he is the judge and we need to let him deal with it. Remember the heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9) Take warning and ask God to heal it (Isiah 61:1-3).
4)"with a willing mind"-there is so much in the Bible about our minds and the importance of filling them with God's word and good thing, we have to renew our mind and get rid of all the trash, lies and junk, we need to Go GREEN with our minds! Here are a few verses to check out on this: Romans 8:5-8,12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 10:5-6; Colossians 3 the entire chapter is good!
5)the "LORD searches every heart and understands the motive behind the thoughts." this is another WOW phrase for me! He is the only on the completely knows and understands us and why we made/make the decisions that we do. I am in awe, Thank you Jesus, my heart is pounding right now with such Joy, that he was there with me and understood me even when I didn't understand myself, but HE does and still loves me unconditionally. This is why he have to search our hearts because that is the bottom line behind our motives, we react based on feelings and don't reason or think through the consequences of our actions. So, when our minds are polluted and full of lies our heart deceives us and we make poor choices that can haunt us for a lifetime. But, Glory to God that through the blood of Jesus we can renew our minds and hearts we are a new creation in Him (Colossians 3:5-14). Just Let Go and Let GOD!
6)"seek him, he will be found"-he is there patiently waiting on us to ask him into our lives, his way is so much better and there is true Freedom in Christ. (Galatians 5:1)
7)"if you forsake him, he will reject you forever"-take this very seriously it is a life and death decision. I believe Hell is a real place and God leaves it up to us to decide on how we want to live...so choose life...choose Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. He doesn't want anyone to parish. (John 3:16, salvation Romans 10:9-13).
God Bless
Thank you Jesus for loving me and giving me freedom and eternal life, I can't wait to be with you! All the Glory is Yours.
go to www.biblegateway.com if you want to look up referenced passages.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Why Mid Cities Pregnancy Center?
I want my life to count, to be purposeful but most of all I want to give back to God in some capacity for what He has done for me in my lifetime. He has given me Eternal life because I turned over my life to him in September of 1997 I'm secure in that decision and ready for eternity I'm not afraid of dying and ready if he should call me home. It has been a great journey and I can't wait for what we are going to do in the next year and beyond. I've had to revisit my past, the hurts, heartache, poor choices, guilt, shame and all that stuff that comes with sin and living a self centered life, it is a heavy burden to carry, thankfully I don't have to carry it. He also took all that from me, when I finally agreed to give it to Him, I now walk a little lighter (only in the burden department, my weight is still another issue!) and proud to be a Christ follower. I want everyone to experience the Grace, Mercy and Love that only Jesus can give us. I hope through my sharing if anyone else is struggling with these same issues they can see and receive the same as I have. For we are a new creation in Christ, the old is gone, Thank you Jesus for that!
So, what does a Pregnancy center have to do with all that? When I was 18 I headed to Dallas, Texas from small town Amarillo where I grew up hoping to find love, happiness etc...but I only found myself faced with a decision to make only one month into junior college...I was pregnant and in my mind there was only one choice...abortion. So, that one choice started my downward spiral of poor choices and bad decisions. I continued to do it "my way" which was obviously the wrong way for the next 9 years. That is a little of my history, I won't bore you with all the details right now anyway.
In September of 1997, when my husband, Doug, and I started attending Fellowship of the Parks and I gave my life to God, I struggled in my walk because of the choices and felt like there was no way God would ever forgive my for my horrible sins, we tend to lump our sins into categories but fortunately for us God sees all sin the same. I finally came to understand Jesus' love and forgiveness through years of Bible studies and digging up all the ugly stuff, through all that God brought "beauty from ashes" (Isaiah 61:3) out of my life.
Here I am at a point in my life where I want to reach into the lives of other young girls that have found themselves with a decision to make, my prayer is that God will use my life story to encourage them to make the right choice and choose life. I don't want anyone to have to live with the emotional, and spiritual turmoil that the choice of abortion does to a women, they don't tell you that at Planned Parenthood. Through my studying so far in the training manual I see so clearly where God's hand was on me and protecting me all those years from diseases, infertility and I shutter to think what else could have happened to me. Jeremiah 29:11 states "I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." That promise is for everyone!
The hardest thing so far has been the videos I've had to watch which are very detailed in all the abortion techiques. I was so ignorant and uneducated when I made my decision. Whoever said "ignorance is bliss" is stupid, but I need to know and be educated so no one walks away saying they didn't know how it was performed and how horrific it is on the baby. But here is my comfort from my reading today:
1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." What a great reminder for me today to not let Satan try to sidetrack me in my attempt to do the right thing, because watching those videos I had a moment of doubt but had to remind myself that I am not the person I use to be.
Thank you Jesus for your love and the ultimate sacrifice of giving your life for me so that I may live.
You are my HERO and SAVIOR!
So, what does a Pregnancy center have to do with all that? When I was 18 I headed to Dallas, Texas from small town Amarillo where I grew up hoping to find love, happiness etc...but I only found myself faced with a decision to make only one month into junior college...I was pregnant and in my mind there was only one choice...abortion. So, that one choice started my downward spiral of poor choices and bad decisions. I continued to do it "my way" which was obviously the wrong way for the next 9 years. That is a little of my history, I won't bore you with all the details right now anyway.
In September of 1997, when my husband, Doug, and I started attending Fellowship of the Parks and I gave my life to God, I struggled in my walk because of the choices and felt like there was no way God would ever forgive my for my horrible sins, we tend to lump our sins into categories but fortunately for us God sees all sin the same. I finally came to understand Jesus' love and forgiveness through years of Bible studies and digging up all the ugly stuff, through all that God brought "beauty from ashes" (Isaiah 61:3) out of my life.
Here I am at a point in my life where I want to reach into the lives of other young girls that have found themselves with a decision to make, my prayer is that God will use my life story to encourage them to make the right choice and choose life. I don't want anyone to have to live with the emotional, and spiritual turmoil that the choice of abortion does to a women, they don't tell you that at Planned Parenthood. Through my studying so far in the training manual I see so clearly where God's hand was on me and protecting me all those years from diseases, infertility and I shutter to think what else could have happened to me. Jeremiah 29:11 states "I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." That promise is for everyone!
The hardest thing so far has been the videos I've had to watch which are very detailed in all the abortion techiques. I was so ignorant and uneducated when I made my decision. Whoever said "ignorance is bliss" is stupid, but I need to know and be educated so no one walks away saying they didn't know how it was performed and how horrific it is on the baby. But here is my comfort from my reading today:
1 John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." What a great reminder for me today to not let Satan try to sidetrack me in my attempt to do the right thing, because watching those videos I had a moment of doubt but had to remind myself that I am not the person I use to be.
Thank you Jesus for your love and the ultimate sacrifice of giving your life for me so that I may live.
You are my HERO and SAVIOR!
Monday, January 5, 2009
Ending 2008 on a good note!
Another year gone. I hope you closed out 2008 on a good note.
We had a wonderful family and friends vacation to Fairplay Colorado. It is about 90 miles NW of Colorado Springs. We found a great cabin there to hang out for a week after Christmas. The best thing about the cabin was we had no TV!! Unfortunately, i think my family is addicted to TV, so i wasn't sure how they would do. I think it turned out to be the best family vacation to this point because we didn't have a TV to fight over. If it where up to me I would banish the one in my living room, but I was told "that ain't gonna happen!"
So, what did we do without TV? The cabin was loaded with games, puzzles and God's playground outside. There was great snow so the kids couldn't wait to get outside each day. The big thing to do was sled, along with hiking in knee deep snow and a snowball fight between the kids and the dads, the moms decided we needed to be the photographers to capture it all in pics. (i will post later, all of them are on Doug's computer). Going with friends was great as well, all the kids got along and i have to say my kids seemed to get along better or they were more occupied with their friends and didn't realize they hadn't fought with their siblings. I did discover that my kids have too much stuff and they can find things to do with out all the modern conveniences we have provided them with at home! And true family time is not sitting around watching TV!
All in all we decided it was a great trip and the entire family enjoyed it!
We had a wonderful family and friends vacation to Fairplay Colorado. It is about 90 miles NW of Colorado Springs. We found a great cabin there to hang out for a week after Christmas. The best thing about the cabin was we had no TV!! Unfortunately, i think my family is addicted to TV, so i wasn't sure how they would do. I think it turned out to be the best family vacation to this point because we didn't have a TV to fight over. If it where up to me I would banish the one in my living room, but I was told "that ain't gonna happen!"
So, what did we do without TV? The cabin was loaded with games, puzzles and God's playground outside. There was great snow so the kids couldn't wait to get outside each day. The big thing to do was sled, along with hiking in knee deep snow and a snowball fight between the kids and the dads, the moms decided we needed to be the photographers to capture it all in pics. (i will post later, all of them are on Doug's computer). Going with friends was great as well, all the kids got along and i have to say my kids seemed to get along better or they were more occupied with their friends and didn't realize they hadn't fought with their siblings. I did discover that my kids have too much stuff and they can find things to do with out all the modern conveniences we have provided them with at home! And true family time is not sitting around watching TV!
All in all we decided it was a great trip and the entire family enjoyed it!
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Fully Invested!
I went to a Leadership Conference for Women's Ministry leaders. I had asked some ladies to go with me but due to their summer schedules I had to go alone, which was OK, and I have to admit, with 4 kids home for summer, I really enjoyed it! But anytime I am going to learn I want to take women with me. As it turned out, God had me there alone on PURPOSE. I needed to hear from Him, I let my guard down and was totally focused on the speakers and what they were teaching. The theme was "Fully Invested", the key verse was Matthew 6:21 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." hmmm...
I've heard that passage several times and probably even quoted it, but to really stop and think on it and ask myself that question, what is my treasure? What is in my heart? Am I fully invested in anything? God had my attention. I felt like life had become some what chaotic, going in so many different directions, and not doing any one thing really well. Is this what God wants our lives to feel like? So, during the conference I asked God to perform open heart surgery on me and show me how to be "fully invested" in my life. So, I opened my heart and here are some things He showed me:
1) Who or what am I placing my confidence in? Me; which has led to most of the chaos, because I can do it all! (not really), but now it is in Jesus!
2) What am I passionate about? Definitely ministering to women and helping them see and feel God's love.
3) What are my priorities? I was going through the motions like everything was under control. In reality, I have too many things going on in my life to truly do the work God has laid out for me (see Ephesians 2:10, one of my favorites). I will be making some changes, giving some things up and truly "fully investing" in the areas that are important to God. I will share this process in another blog as it unfolds. For now, it will be God, family, ministry.
4) What is my quite time consisting of? I am great at rationalizing and making things look like it is from God or for God, but I don't stop long enough to give Him a chance to tell me if it's what I should be doing. I bought a prayer journal, which specifically leads me step by step during my prayer time to stay focused. One thing I noticed right away is I have been telling or requesting but not listening. Prayer is a tw0 way process. Check out www.oncallprayer.org if you are interested in how the journal works.
5) What is up with my mouth and words? My biggest discovery was the damage words can cause. In my family, friends, and ministry, I don't intentionally set out to hurt; sometimes I just talk before I think about what I am saying. I tend to react instead of responding with kind words or just keeping quite, and especially my tone with the kids. This one is bringing me to my knees daily and Jesus and I are working on it. I bought a blessing bracelet at the conference with Psalm 19:14 "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Check out these great bracelets at www.blessedbling.com.
So, the list could go on and it does, but those are the top ones that hit home. Life continues but now I am back on track and hopefully with less chaos. So, when life seems to be spinning out of control; we need to STOP! Look to Jesus and ask him to redirect us back to what we are suppose to be “fully invested” in to carry out his mission.
much love and blessings,
vonda
I've heard that passage several times and probably even quoted it, but to really stop and think on it and ask myself that question, what is my treasure? What is in my heart? Am I fully invested in anything? God had my attention. I felt like life had become some what chaotic, going in so many different directions, and not doing any one thing really well. Is this what God wants our lives to feel like? So, during the conference I asked God to perform open heart surgery on me and show me how to be "fully invested" in my life. So, I opened my heart and here are some things He showed me:
1) Who or what am I placing my confidence in? Me; which has led to most of the chaos, because I can do it all! (not really), but now it is in Jesus!
2) What am I passionate about? Definitely ministering to women and helping them see and feel God's love.
3) What are my priorities? I was going through the motions like everything was under control. In reality, I have too many things going on in my life to truly do the work God has laid out for me (see Ephesians 2:10, one of my favorites). I will be making some changes, giving some things up and truly "fully investing" in the areas that are important to God. I will share this process in another blog as it unfolds. For now, it will be God, family, ministry.
4) What is my quite time consisting of? I am great at rationalizing and making things look like it is from God or for God, but I don't stop long enough to give Him a chance to tell me if it's what I should be doing. I bought a prayer journal, which specifically leads me step by step during my prayer time to stay focused. One thing I noticed right away is I have been telling or requesting but not listening. Prayer is a tw0 way process. Check out www.oncallprayer.org if you are interested in how the journal works.
5) What is up with my mouth and words? My biggest discovery was the damage words can cause. In my family, friends, and ministry, I don't intentionally set out to hurt; sometimes I just talk before I think about what I am saying. I tend to react instead of responding with kind words or just keeping quite, and especially my tone with the kids. This one is bringing me to my knees daily and Jesus and I are working on it. I bought a blessing bracelet at the conference with Psalm 19:14 "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer." Check out these great bracelets at www.blessedbling.com.
So, the list could go on and it does, but those are the top ones that hit home. Life continues but now I am back on track and hopefully with less chaos. So, when life seems to be spinning out of control; we need to STOP! Look to Jesus and ask him to redirect us back to what we are suppose to be “fully invested” in to carry out his mission.
much love and blessings,
vonda
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Welcome and Here Goes!
Well every one's doing it so me too!
Blogging that is. My hope and plan is to share my life and how God has worked in the past, today and I know He is in my future. I have a strong desire for others to know HIM (Jesus). It is more than head knowledge it is a matter of our heart. To really know Him is to have a personal relationship with Him, Jesus.
What I've learned is I can't make that decision for anyone no matter how bad I want all to become a Christ Follower. So, I hope through my flawed life I can shed light on others of Jesus' Grace, Mercy, and Love that He offers to the entire world. I am not an English major so my writing is flawed as well but I want you to know it is from the heart, and I will be honest, sincere and very transparent. My blog will be my perspective on my life it is not an agenda nor will I use it to target anyone. Feel free to respond, ask questions or share your thoughts. If you want to contact me please email me at: vondacurlee@fellowshipoftheparks.com.
Much Love and Blessings,
vonda
Blogging that is. My hope and plan is to share my life and how God has worked in the past, today and I know He is in my future. I have a strong desire for others to know HIM (Jesus). It is more than head knowledge it is a matter of our heart. To really know Him is to have a personal relationship with Him, Jesus.
What I've learned is I can't make that decision for anyone no matter how bad I want all to become a Christ Follower. So, I hope through my flawed life I can shed light on others of Jesus' Grace, Mercy, and Love that He offers to the entire world. I am not an English major so my writing is flawed as well but I want you to know it is from the heart, and I will be honest, sincere and very transparent. My blog will be my perspective on my life it is not an agenda nor will I use it to target anyone. Feel free to respond, ask questions or share your thoughts. If you want to contact me please email me at: vondacurlee@fellowshipoftheparks.com.
Much Love and Blessings,
vonda
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