What’s your prayer life like?

April 9, 2014April 9, 2014 / kstrick7 / Leave a comment

My Daddy always says this.

Sunday at church, our associate minister preached. When he first started his sermon, I was sorta taken back. He posed this question:

“What would you do if you were told you couldn’t pray?”

Well, this did not sit well with me. I love to pray. It is comforting to me to know there is Someone that I can trust to take care of me anytime, all the time. To even consider for a split second that prayer would not be an option, well, that makes me feel like an elephant is sitting on my chest. Kinda like the times, growing up, when it would come up a cloud. My Mama Boyce would rush around gettin’ me & my brother to the storm house. Papa Clyde would come on down the hill & hunker down with us. Weepin’ & gnashin’ of teeth & a state a panic set in, I’m tellin’ you.
But before I could get into too big of a tiz, Bro. Andrew said what he wanted us to do is think about our current prayer life. Be thankful for it & take inventory on how to make it better. As I jotted down his points, I was thinking, I have a pretty good prayer life. However, I did realize I needed to work on some things.

1. Make time to talk to God, like a good friend. You wouldn’t go days, weeks, or months without talking to your best friend. Set some time aside to talk to God. Just you & Him. No interruptions. Seriously, it can be done. I have really gone back to my bathroom, in my closet, with the lights off & sat & prayed.

(Matthew 14:23) And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone.(KJV)

2. Realize Who you are talking to. We have an avenue of prayer with the One that put 248 muscles in a caterpillars head. Currently, it has been said there are 100-200 billion galaxies. Not stars, vast groups of stars. The human body & how it functions is amazing in itself. However, an animal’s body works a lot of the same way. We were given the gift of a soul. We can reason, think creatively, & through Christ’s blood, be saved from our sins. We have the promise of heaven. The One who created all of this, is Who we are allowed to talk to anytime we get ready. Pretty mind blowing, huh? Kinda humbles you, doesn’t it?

(I Chronicle 29:11) Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all

3. Know Who God is not. God is not a genie. You can’t just ask & ask & ask & expect to receive, receive, receive right then & there every time. God has your best interest at heart. Things will happen on His time, not yours. Be thankful. You don’t have to go at God with a list of demands all the time. God is not Someone to be mocked. You can’t walk with God & hold hands with the devil. You have to take God seriously. You can’t straddle the fence. God is not Someone you only visit when you are in trouble. What if God were only there for you part of the time? You have to have a full time relationship with God. That’s what He has for you.

(Galatians 6:7) Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

I need to make time to clear my mind to talk to God. I need to remember Who God is. I don’t need to forget Who God is not either! Since my “One Word” for 2014 is Pray, I do need to make sure I am practicing making my prayer life better & better.
Thank you for taking time to stop by today. It is bright & sunny in Northeast MS today. I hope it hangs around a bit. I hope you have a great rest of the week. Shortly, I will be mailing in my registration for our town’s 10k run. I have never done a 10k, only 5ks. So ya’ll be prayin’ for me! But for now, I have to be going because I should be washing clothes.

Credits: Parts of this were taken from our lesson Sunday. Thank you, Andrew for letting me use this!

photo credits: therighttrackkc.blogspot, pinterest

Don’t take yourself too seriously

March 18, 2014March 18, 2014 / kstrick7 / Leave a comment

This morning my sweet Miss Neenee said,

“I wish we were writing this week.” (at school)

I got all excited, just thinking, my Miss Neenee might actually love to write her thoughts down, as I do. I said,

“You have notebooks in your room. If you have something in your head, write it down.

I always have & look how great my life has turned out.”

Of course I was being factious. However, I think she takes the opportunity to cash in on my craziness any chance she gets. So, she busted out laughing. Hmmmm…someone that was thin skinned, might have taken her laughter the wrong way. Someone with any ounce of feelings at all might have had them hurt. Someone who had any confidence in their life leading up to that time, might have been a bit miffed at this laughter. However, I knew what she meant. She lives around me all the time & knows what a grandiose lifestyle I live. Along with all the awesomeness in the world oozing out of me at all times. A spectacular life any & everyone would love to have. (You may also bust out in hysterical laughing right now, too.) Yeah, it’s not like that at’all. Her reaction reminds me, I can’t & should not ever take myself too seriously.

When we start to take ourselves too seriously, there are all kinds of things that can happen.

For one, you may start to thinking you can do things on your own. Without the Lord. It’s easy to get so caught up in the world that you forget to pray or neglect studying your Bible.

James 5:16 (NKJV) Confess your trespasses^[a] to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.

However, once a person puts simple things like that to the side, it does not take long to reach the point you are out in the world trying to do everything on your own. Common sense is not a flower that grows in everybody’s garden, but we know better than to let the world creep in on us. We have to make sure we are daily keeping in contact with the Lord, through prayer & Bible study. If not, just know it won’t be long until we start thinking we don’t need God. And heavens knows that’s a dead end road.

Another thing to remember life is just a vapor. Meaning life is short.

James 4 :14 (NKJV) whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Who has time or the want to to run around being a pain to everybody constantly? Wait, before you answer that, I realize those people are out there. But, you don’t want to be one. If I take myself too seriously, I might just spit & spat at others all the time. Because, hey, it’s ok just to be rude & act on every feeling I have. If I feel bad everybody needs to know. If somebody makes me mad, well, I need to let them have it right then & there. My feelings, ugly or pretty, needs to be on my shoulders at all times. You know, I am keeping it real & this is who I really am. Not a fake.

“Lawdy chile, you know better than that!”

That ain’t no way to act. People like that can drain the life right out of you. They can take the friendly out of you right quick. Don’t hang around folks like that. Better yet, don’t be one of them. Be kind. At the end of your time, you want to be proud of the person you were. Don’t get so caught up in yourself that you forget, there is a whole world of people living around you. A world putting up with you, whether good or bad.

When my oldest & middle daughters were little, the younger one would tell my oldest daughter,

“You think you are so popular!”

This was in a hissy fit of being bossed around by her older sister. This was her way of saying, “what makes you so special that you can tell me what to do?” We laugh about these little arguments they had, which sometimes were quite frequently. However, people get to being too “popular” when they don’t consider the feelings of others. If you take yourself too seriously, you can begin to think you have the right to tell others what to do & to treat them without consideration. Thankfully, I have a daughter, that without trying, reminds me not to get too ahead of myself. And I pray that if I ever get to thinking I am too important, she or someone will love me enough to set me straight.

Thank you for coming by to visit with me today. I hope you make it a habit to laugh at yourself. If not, you might want to give it try. It will help you more than you realize. You take care of yourself. Because I would miss you if you didn’t stop by! As for me, I have to be going because I should be washing clothes.

photo credit: lifeisaprayer.com, mission venture ministries

How to handle a rude person

February 17, 2014February 14, 2014 / kstrick7 / Leave a comment

Have you ever wondered just what makes people act the way they do? I have ran across my fair share of people, who live in the land of Meanness. I’m talking about taking up residency on Smarty Pants Lane. They are just rude. You know the ones I am talking about. They stay mad as an old wet hen. Everything is a problem. Ne’er a kind word has parted their lips. And nothing has ever been their fault.

Let me give you my remedy to handling a rude person:

1. Consider what is causing them to be this way. Many people who are rude have these things in common: jealousy, envy, bad attitude, lack of self-confidence, false sense of they are better than others, feelings of neglect, or they do not feel loved. Believe it or not insecurity is the driving factor to a lot of hatefulness & rudeness in the world.

2. Once you identify what it might be, see if you can change any of it. Talk to that person & see what their version of the problem is. If it’s an isolated incident, they might not have felt well at the time. They may have misunderstood something you did or said. If needed, take responsibility & apologize. We are all human & make mistakes. Maybe it’s something you didn’t do. Some people act out because of things that have happened to them in their lives that leave them feeling some of the ways I listed in #1. Or maybe they have allowed the devil to get ahold of them. Maybe they just have a lack of love & concern for others. You can’t fix people that don’t want to be helped.

3. After you have addressed the situation, you have apologized (if necessary), prayed about it, have been kind & tried to help, you should move on. Hopefully, you will resolve what has happened & the world can be wonderful again. However, please remember some people are committed to live in gloom & doom. Once you do everything you can for them, make it a point to distance yourself from their trifilin’ ways. These people create their own environment of hate & discontent. Don’t live there with them.

4. No matter what, Jesus said to treat people like you want to be treated.

Matthew 7:12 So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

He did also want us to stand up for ourselves. He didn’t make us to be cowards or to not stand for right.

Luke 12:39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.

Being bullied is not right. However, I have always heard the people who deserve love & kindness the least, need it the most. Put your feelings to the side & extend kindness to someone who not only does not deserve it, but who you don’t expect kindness in return. A friend of mine’s mama told her the best way to treat those not nice to you, is to kill them with kindness. I would say that’s a good antidote for both the giving & receiving side. Because some people are just hard to be kind to. But that does not dismiss us of our responsibility to treat others as you want to be treated.

Just remember to pray for these people. You never know what lesson the Lord wants you to learn from your trials. Keep your eyes open to learn something from these experiences. If nothing else, to know how you don’t want to be.

I am tickled to death that you came by to visit with me today. I love it when you drop by. Please know you are loved at this little I should be washing clothes blog. You never have to be rude here! But for now, I do have to be going, because I should be washing clothes.

photo credits: someecards,bitsofpositivity

One Word for 2014

January 9, 2014January 9, 2014 / kstrick7 / 3 Comments

So, you may have noticed that my “One Word” for 2014 appeared right over there on my side bar, not long ago. However, I did not formally introduce the two of you. I would like to do that now.

Ahem! My new “One Word” for 2014 is

Pray.

Now, you may wonder, do you not pray? What’s the big deal with praying? To answer some of your unspoken inquiries,

“Yes, I pray.”

I pray in the morning. I pray when I eat. I pray at night before I go to sleep. I also pray at various & asundry times through out the day. However, I have been praying a little more here lately. And you know what? Wonderful things have been happening. In these little talks with God, it has not only been just a list of asking & wanting. I have been throwing some thanks & appreciation, in there, as well. Because there is so much day to day things we have been blessed with, that we should be thankful for. Praying is not something new to me. Growing up, we prayed before we ate, we prayed at church, we prayed with the sick, we prayed when Mama came in the room with the belt, & when she said for us to just wait ‘til Daddy got home. Lots of prayer went on between me & my brother.

Here lately, I have been going a little step further with praying. I have been praying over any & everything that happens throughout my day. If it poses a problem, I go to the Lord in prayer, right then & there. Instead of waiting & relying on my own decision making & knowledge. The other day I had some personal things to arise. Instead of leaping into my trying to figure it out mode, I stopped & prayed about it. Then, I went on with what was going on. I have tried to remember others in prayer, too. One morning on the way to work, I prayed for everybody in the car line at school, the teachers, the policeman at school, the lunch ladies, etc.,. That prayer lasted until I remembered it was time to pray my regular prayer for everybody at work. See what this has done for me? Instead of letting my mind go to worries & uncertainties- I am trying to fill it with conversations with God. Being quite the talker, by nature, this has been working wonders for me! It was no wonder I chose “Pray” as my “One Word”. I really want to keep this up, all year long.

Melanie at Only a Breath is the sweet lady that makes our “One Word” buttons. This year she has given a nice tutorial on how to do it. Go here to read all about it. Whether you are a fellow blogger & use buttons or are just a wonderful person who loves to read blogs, making time to focus on “One Word” this year is life changing. Last year my “One Word” was Confidence. It reminded me stepping out of my comfort zone is ok. And that I need confidence to put more action in my life.

Maybe Paul telling the church at Thessalonica to

Pray without ceasing I Thessalonians 5:17

Was more than just a grand idea. Maybe it was for their own good. It’s for our greater good, too. So, I am hopeful this will encourage me & you to focus on an area of our lives that we need to be working on constantly.

I am so glad you have come by to visit with me today. I hope you will choose “One Word” to help you in your walk, too. As for me, I have to be going, because I should be washing clothes.

Where your treasures are……

December 5, 2012December 5, 2012 / kstrick7 / 4 Comments

II Corinthians 12:7-10

When my mother was in the last stages of Multiple Sclerosis, she used to call my Dad to her bedside. “Pray for me.” She would say, “I am so tired, I just want to go.” My Daddy would pray for her, then he would try to lighten the mood. He would tell her that her illness was helping her to lay up treasures in heaven. That by her being sick, it was allowing others to do good deeds for her. And by that, she was allowing God to work through her. He would tell her, God even allowed the Apostle Paul to have a thorn in the flesh.

II Corinthians 12: 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.

With that she would reason, if God wanted her to have this disease, He would take care of her. Just as Paul reasoned in

II Cor 12: 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

At this point in the conversation, my mama would tell Daddy “Then, go lay up some treasures in heaven & get me some ice cream!”

We never know what God has in store for our lives. However, we know where to turn when the storms of life get rough. He is the one & only hope that we have. During the holidays I miss my mama more than ever. But I do find comfort in knowing what a strong faith she had. At this time of the year, let us remember, with thanksgiving & hope the wonderful blessings God has given us, no matter what our circumstances. Christmas is a time of giving. We should be mindful that the giving of ourselves, for the work of the Lord, is most important.

I have loved having you stop by & visit today. Please come back again soon. I have to be going now because I should be washing clothes…..