Cccrashed

Welcome to this week's a 2 z: Take 2

and the letter C.

Okay, it's Confession time:
Due some Carelessness on my part, I've let a few things slide here and I'm now running like Crazy to do. See, the accountability I've set up here helps me tremendously, but unfortunately, I don't have similar accountability in home and family things and there are several chores I've crashed and burned on. Sooooo, now I'm playing catch up. And it's not fun. Maybe this time I'll learn my lesson.

But you guys can still have fun without me. =)

If I can get my act together here, I'll be back on Thursday with another Take Flight Challenge. IF...

So tell me, what are some things you put off doing?

If you're joining us for the a2z: Take 2 meme by posting on your blog this week about the letter C, be sure to add your name and the link to that particular post in the linky gadget here.

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White Knuckled Praying

Snow and ice are not on my list of favorite things in life. In fact, they're on the other list—yanno, the list of things I'd rather skip for the rest of my life. Since my family is rather fond of eating, I had to brave the roads to get some groceries. Living out in the middle on nowhere means that we're on our own getting to a main road, which may, or may not, be cleared. I was fortunate. The road was partly cleared. Unfortunately, the part that was cleared was the other lane. I was on packed snow and ice, which meant I went slowly and did a lot of white-knuckled praying.

Sin is a lot like snow and ice. It may look pretty and even dazzle your eyes when the sun hits it, but it obscures the road and makes for dangerous travel.

Road crews, bless them, often work through a storm so they can keep the roads clear and safe. How many times I have failed to have the road crew of my life working steadily, and how often has ick (sin!) built up as a result? Far too too many times! You would think that after as much time as I've spent in white-knuckled prayer while navigating through the muck that I would learn.

Without having the wheels of my life on God's solid surface, I'm liable to slide and go off the road. So what am I to do? I need to pull out the shovel and get to work.

Wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem,
that you may be saved.
How long will your wicked thoughts
lodge within you?
~Jeremiah 4:14

I need to spread the salt of God's Word and allow it to melt through the snow and ice, the sin in my life, so I can clear it off and get rid of it. Only by removing it will I get down to the solid traction of a life built on the Rock, on Christ.

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of the soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ~Hebrews4:12 (NAS)

As God's Word works in my life, I need to be diligent about removing the sin that the Spirit loosens. If I don't remove it, it acts like slush does on a road. It grabs my tires and pushes me every which way, including off the road.

I acknowledged my sin to You,
and my iniquity I did not hide;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord;”
and You forgave the guilt of my sin.
~Psalm 32:5

The best part is that God says that He's removed my sin—as far as the East is from the West. (Psalm 103:12) But He doesn't just remove my sin.
I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me. ~Jeremiah 33:8

So if you, like me, find yourself doing some white-knuckled praying from slipping and sliding due to unconfessed sin, you might want to take a moment to stop and spend some time clearing the road so your tires run on the Rock-hard, full of traction, path of God. Don't forget to liberally sprinkle the salt of God's Word and let it do its work in your life.

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Time to Pour Out

With all this rain we've had, our well has flooded. Repeatedly. But that's not a big deal because it tends to happen once or twice a year, so we just plan accordingly and draw enough water to last us a few days, bleach the well and move on, drinking the water we drew.

So this morning, as it grew darker instead of lighter, thanks to more rain moving in, I was reading in 1 Samuel and came to this:

The Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the Lord for you.” They gathered to Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” 1 Samuel 7:5-6

The phrase “drew water and poured it out before the Lord” caught my attention. Drawing water is something I've been doing it since my years in Ecuador where we were careful to keep water drawn because we never knew when they'd turn off the power and water, and it's something I'm still doing when I see storms rolling and water rising. But why did they pour it out before the Lord? I thought maybe it was part of a ceremony that I had missed in the times I've read through the Bible, but as I cross referenced it, look what I found...



Trust in Him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart before Him;
God is a refuge for us.
~Psalm 62:8
Arise, cry aloud in the night
at the beginning of the night watches;
pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord;
lift up your hands to Him...
~Lam. 2:19

Then I turned to my commentaries and the gist of it was that it was a sincere prayer, an unleashing of the innermost thoughts and emotions and sharing them with the Lord.

It made me stop and think about all that's going on in my life right now. Sometimes I feel like it's as crowded with jugs as my counter was. It made me realized I hadn't poured out much water before the Lord recently. I was carefully clutching it to myself, scared I'd drop something important.

Just like I drew the water to be poured out and drunk, I need to pour out my soul to God as Hannah had (1 Samuel 1:15) and as Israel did. And look at the results of their sincere repentance and prayer: The Philistines attacked!

I bet that is NOT the response they were looking for from God! I bet that I kinda understand their feelings to some small degree. In my mind, the enemy's attack shouldn't follow my repentance, yet so very often it does.

Thankfully, the account doesn't end there!
Now Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, and the Philistine drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines and confused them, so that they were routed before Israel. 1 Sam. 7:10

God fought their battle for them. And I have a feeling God's thunder is so much more than the thunder that's been rolling around here, and the rumbles in my life.

God's response and protection came after they had poured out all that water, all those innermost thoughts and emotions and sincere prayers, before the Lord.

I don't know about you, but I have some pouring out to do...

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Said the Toilet and the Tub

This last week Trish Perry was with us and she gave away a copy of her new release, Sunset Beach and Mez is the winner! Thank you, Trish! Coming up this week is Debby Mayne. Be sure to join us Tuesday and Wednesday for a chance to win a copy of her new realease Love Finds You in Treasure Island, Florida.
~*~*~*~*~*~

I have to admit, I don't have a cleaning schedule for my bathroom anymore. I used to, but it's kind of fallen by the wayside. But that's not to say that my bathroom doesn't get cleaned because it does! *grin* It's just on an as-needed basis.

Tucked behind the toilet I've stashed a toilet brush and Comet, and when I see the pot needs cleaning, I just do 'er up right then. No muss, no fuss and no scuzzie toilet bowl. Well, as I was swishing away recently I overheard a conversation between the toilet and the tub. Really. Here's how it went:

Toilet: (preening) See, I get cleaned when I need it. It's better than waiting for a scheduled cleaning day to arrive.

Tub: Humph. You're a toilet. Of course she cleans you more! You need it!

Toilet: Ha!

Toilet brush: You ought to handle sin the same way. Just deal with it on an as-needed basis so it doesn't build up and make your life scuzzie. Just scrub, swish and flush it right away as soon as you spot it.

Toilet: Yeah! That's how you do it! Hey, scrub a little harder in there and don't forget the top part.

Tub: Now wait just a minute there! There's nothing wrong with scheduled cleaning—for dirt and sin! It's the only way to make sure everything gets cleaned well, especially places that aren't in the main flow of things.

Toilet: Ooooooooh. Very good point.

Toilet brush: Did she skip her cleaning date with you again, Tub?

Tub: *sigh* Yeah, she did. I hope she notices the gray grungies soon. This is getting embarrassing.

Toilet brush: hehe. I'll remind her with a quick spray to the face. Maybe that'll make her see things better...

LoL—Patty here again. Aren't you glad you don't hear things talking inside your head? I giggled as I scrubbed...and remembered my neglected tub. There's a lot to be said for scheduled cleaning—and scheduled time spent alone with God searching, cleaning and confessing things.

I'm going to go grab my cleaning bucket and doing some praying while I'm scrubbing that poor tub. What's your tub saying to you?

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