Hungry for a fresh word from God, I found myself searching His word and being still long enough to listen to Him speak over me throughout 2009. In doing so, I learn that he is creating a new thing. He wants me to stop looking back and trust him more going forward. He wants me to rest in Him in a way that lets go of fear and anxiety.

2009 was a year of preparation. He is still writing my story, and I know now that he is getting ready to tell it.

2009 is over, but I don’t want to lose that which took ahold of me. I’ve replaced my memory verse page with one titled C-Fit, which is a new program being offered in my church. I’ll be using that page to keep authentic and accountable with my commitment to it.

I’m not sure what I was looking for at the end of 2008. I was feeling edgy. I was praying for a word from God; something to study and focus on for 2009 and nothing was coming to me. It’s not that God was silent, I can’t explain it other than he either wasn’t bold or I had a hearing problem. I’m guessing it was my hearing. I wanted His direction for me, and lo I came upon Beth Moore’s

I’ve layed down a lot of things over the years, bad habits and good. This is a year of thoughtfully choosing which good habits to pick back up. Beth is doing a scripture memorization challenge for 2009 and was asking for participants. I found that, and heard God – do THIS. 😉

I used to memorize scriptures, but had gotten away from it. So this is my new goal for 2009, memorize 24 new scriptures. Only don’t just memorize them – meditate on them, study them, ponder them in my heart. Allow them to become part of my marrow, and not just my brain cells. This isn’t a works thing, it’s a relationship thing. It’s a conversation, a two way dialog with God. Nice habit to be back into.

December 15 , 2009 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple. Psalm 27:4

December 1 2009 “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Jeremiah 6:16

November 1, 2009 Fulfill Your promise to Your servant, so that You may be feared. Take away the disgrace I dread, for Your laws are good. How I long for Your precepts! Preserve my life in your righteousness. Psalm 119:38-40 NIVOctober 15, 2009 Phil 4:4-9 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

October 1, 2009 – “¹ But now, this is what the LORD says— he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

September 15, 2009 – Revelation 17:14 (NIV) “They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings–and with Him will be His called, chosen and faithful followers.”

September 1, 2009 – Isaiah 43:18-19 Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

Aug 15, 2009 – “Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift your hands toward Him for the life of your young children.” – Lamentations 2:29

Aug 1 – I was on vacation

July 15 – Psalm 116:7 (NIV) “Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.”

July 1 – “The LORD has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” -Psalm 126:3 (NIV)

June 15, 2009 – Psalm 121:1-2 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

June 1, 2009 – Psalm 143:5 (New International Version) “I remember the days of long ago;
I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.”

May 15, 2009 – “Being confident in this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 1: 6 (NIV)

May 1, 2009 “In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and He answered me by setting me free. The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? The LORD is with me; He is my helper. I will look in triumph on my enemies.” Psalm 118:5-7 (NIV)

April 15, 2009 – Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8 NIV

April 1 2009 “The LORD your God is with you; He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” Zeph 3:17 NIV

March 15, 2009 – (Isaiah 4:10) So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you: I will up hold you with my righteous right hand.”

March 1, 2009 – Hebrews 10:35-36 – “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded, you need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.”

February 2009 – Deuteronomy 31:6 (NIV) “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

January 15, 2009 (Isaiah 41:9) – “I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, ‘You are my servant’: I have chosen you and have not rejected you.

January 1, 2009 – Ephesians 3:17-19. “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”

LPM Blog. I did not know she had one. I love Beth’s Bible studies. I’ve facilitated several.

 

Imagine if you will, posting a humor piece that is poorly received. So poorly received in fact that one woman actually posts something along the lines of calling you “an overstuffed pig who plays with puppets and can’t keep a day job.” How eager will you be in responding? Will you be nice enough to say “Give me three days to think about my response and I’ll get back to you?”

My head line should read “Smart man meets stupid redhead with a hot temper and behaves much better than she does.” I’ll be lucky if I hear from him in the next century much less in three days.

For better or for worse, the world wide web makes everything more readily accessible than ever before. That applies to great things, and not so great things. The web makes it easy for all of us to sit behind a screen and communicate things to a computer forgetting we’re talking to a person.

Every day I read words that I know the person would not use face to face. Some days I respond with words I’d never use in person. Some days I’m brutally harsh. The downside with writing, is tone cannot be conveyed. It takes a very talented writer to properly convey humor. And it takes self restraint to not ask the person where their head was when they wrote that story when the humor fails to be conveyed. While my self restraint is improving, I still have a lot of work to do. As is the case with a very talented comic whom I called a stuffed pig yesterday. He wrote (what I hope) is a humor piece only I didn’t get it.

I didn’t see the humor. I saw (read) a very degrading post against women – and it lit a fire in me that ensured 1 – he’ll never hire me to open for him and 2. I was not so sure I wanted to ever buy tickets to his show anymore. I should have sat on my “instinct” and said nothing. Really.

I allowed my emotions to rule my actions – I’m usually better than that.  I should have read it, remembered the guidelines for commenting (keep your comments productive or move on) and either moved on or simply stated “Wow, I don’t get this, would you please expound?”  Turns out it was a humor piece – but not having a personal relationship with said comic – I did not know that. I should not have called him anything.  That not the way to communicate “I don’t understand this.” Chances are, he’ll never speak to me again – and I deserve that.

In today’s world we can blog, twitter, digg, and stumble our way to fame (for better and for worse) and mediocrity in a heart beat. There is no such thing as a “private” email, e-zine, or blog post. We forget that as writers. Sometimes, self indulgent creatures that we are, we forget that while *I* know what I meant by this or that post, my reader may not. I need to choose my words carefully.

There are wonderful writers out there – and I do not pretend to be one of them. There are great blogs to read and to learn from – most of them are on my blog roll.

My whole point here is I forgot I was responding to a person – and that is never cool

Blogs and social networking are about relationships and two way communication. And with the “safety” of a computer screen, we sometimes write blogs we’d never speak out loud and sometimes we comment or email responses using words we’d (hopefully) never say otherwise.

Has that ever happened to you?