random- Encourage one another daily

I am so dizzy that I don't know why I am attempting to blog but I am. My little best buddy spent the night with her MiMi and Pop last night. She stayed with them while I went to the doctor and when her dad went to get her SHE DID NOT want to come home. I didn't know what to do with myself last night and as sad as this is I felt lonely without her around. She never spends the night out. It made me think of how fast this time really is going bye. I wish I could stop time and stay in these precious times with her. The Lord reminded me last night that He is my portion. It is so easy to get our identity wrapped up in being a mom or wife or single or whatever. The Lord wants me to mother my sweet child but my identity has to be in Him and I don't need to find my identity in just being her mommy. I was thinking ahead last night about when she grows up and when she leaves the house and my heart ached. I know it is a woman thing. I know Rod was like Jenny she is only 3.

Last night, I felt like I was single again. I curled up in my bed and read my bible without distraction until my man came in and turned on a hunting show. As she was gone I just prayed scripture over all of us and I prayed for most of you that have sent me emails asking me to pray about some very dark valleys you are in. I asked God to heal you and that you would draw near to Him with your broken heart and let Him bind it up. That you would not be under the weight of the enemy's condemnation. I have come to love some of you that have poured your heart out to me so much. It is so wonderful that we have this connection in Christ.

My heart aches for some of the things that you are going through and I am faithfully going to the throne of grace for you. It's like the Steven Curtis Chapman song that talks about carrying you to Jesus on my knees. And we still need to pray for him and his sweet family after the tragic loss of their daughter.

Anyway, I have had these verses on my heart for like 3 weeks:

Hebrews 3:12-14
12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. 14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.

I started to feel lonely the other day and my friend reminded me of Psalm 68:6

6 God sets the lonely in families,

he leads forth the prisoners with singing;
but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. (emphasis mine)

If we will stop long enough to hear the ache in our own soul and take the time to run to Jesus He will heal us, and fill us with His Spirit. I truly believe that through our suffering we come to know Him in a way that we couldn't know Him. Meaning that the gaping voids in our soul that we so desperately try to fill with other things can only be filled by Him. Lord convict us when we try to stuff the world in our soul in search for happiness or to medicate our own pain. Let us run to Him and find refuge and rest.

Back to my Hebrews 3 verses. It is so easy to get wrapped up in so many other things, and sometimes we are just plain entangled in our own sin that we don't take the time to encourage one another daily.

The writer of Hebrews says "12See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. "

Sin is so deceitful. If you and I don't keep short accounts with the Lord of confession and repentance we can get so choked out in our walk with the Lord that we have a sinful unbelieving heart and we can turn from Him and turn to sin in our unbelief. Notice the last part..."turns away from the living God." Our God is a living God. Yet we so often operate out of our feelings that we stifle the Spirit of God within us and become less sensitive to His voice. I know at times I have had that sinful unbelieving heart and for a season I have turned my back on the living God. I hate the times where I have left the God I love. I am so thankful for His grace and loving discipline and most of all the mercy that He died for us to give.

So as believers that are engaged in a real battle with unseen forces in the heavenly realms we are to encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today. I am so thankful for one friend especially, Jessica. She encourages me literally daily with scripture. She prays for me and encourages me to believe God, and to forgive myself at times for what God has already forgiven me of. She know my faults and prays for them. She asks me how I am doing with the things I am struggling with. And she loves me with all of my flaws. We are not co-dependent but we are Christ centered in our relationship as I seek to do the same for her. It is so easy to get in a tangled web of sin and become hardened by sins deceitfulness. We can become so deceived that we don't even recognize it once we start to move away from God. Because if we harden our hearts in rebellion we are ultimately moving away from God and becoming hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.

I can not remember for the life of me who said this but I remember hearing it: "If we are being deceived, we will start to deceive others." It is so true because we are deceiving ourselves.

The Lord reminded me as I was feeling lonely to pour out myself and try to minister to others through sending them mail (yes actual mail with a stamp on it) and scripture and to pray for them. We have got to stop focusing so much on ourselves and pour ourselves out to encourage one another. For a time I sort of got lost in my own little world and have really neglected that.

Well, that is all I am going to say on that for now but I have a quick story about how sweet my Lord is. Yesterday, I was on the phone with Roderick on my way home from a Doctors appointment and I being my dramatic self told him that I had just finished a bible study I was working on and that if I didn't get another one to do on my own in the mornings that I would go off the deep end. He said Jenny GO GET ONE! He knows me. I always have a book going, a study, and at night I just read the bible and let the Holy Spirit speak to me. Anyway, I prayed asking God to show me what to do and "Can We Talk" by Priscilla Shirer totally leaped out at me. So if you are looking for something to do I can tell you it is already good!!!

Back to my story. The other day this young man at Lifeway had recommended a cd to me. He said they had it in stock for 7 dollars yet we couldn't find it. I knew he was new there and mentioned that I was having a hard time finding any really good music.

Well, when I get to Lifeway yesterday, he remembered me and said hey I have that cd for you out in my car. It was such a blessing and once again I saw that if the Lord wants me to have something that I need to be still and wait on Him. Sometimes He just wants to bless His children but we get so busy "blessing" ourselves that we don't have time to stop and see how freely He gives.

Well, I am still dizzy and I doubt many of you made it this far but if it is just for one person then that is why all of this was burning on my heart. Be encouraged. The Lord is the Living God. Even if you don't feel it in your present circumstance He is. He is working in your situation in His time.

Love