Apron Strings Devotional for7/7/99

7/7/99

Good Morning....
Jesus loves You!!

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No matter how disagreeable a thing may be, say, ---"Lord, I am delighted to
obey Thee in this matter," and instantly the Son of God will press to the front, and there will be manifested in my human life that which glorifies Jesus.
-Oswald Chambers-

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Hi Dear Friends!!

Hope you had a super Forth of July!! Mine was excellent! Just a lil footnote before we get started. It may be likely that I will pull from the archives for the rest of the summer. If I have time to create new ones, I will. I would like the option of doing either, if that's okay. I am a bit spontaneous, so it's hard to tell with me. ( smile ) I consider it nothing less than a joy to do these, and I appreciate you guys soo much!!

I pray today's issue ministers to you in a very special way. See you at the end!!

Psalm 34:1
I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

I know two teenage girls who went to visit an elderly lady. They were distraught when they saw the dreariness of her small apartment and learned of the loneliness of her existence. When they told her how sorry they were for her in that situation, she looked at them in amazement. "Young ladies," she said, "do you see these bare walls? They are the walls of praise because Jesus abides in this place. Suddenly, the girls saw in that old woman a light and a life that made them feel petty and empty by comparison. The old woman was actually feeling sorry for them! This woman had never known loneliness because she dwelt in the presence of the Lord. What many would view as an intolerable existence, she was able to see as a joy and an opportunity to draw closer to the Lord. Those young girls ended up having that old lady praying for them!

-By: Rick Joyner-
Excerpt from: "The Journey Begins"

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Once I had a burden that weighed heavily on me. I set it down and looked at it. Then I saw everything about my burden was borrowed. One part belonged to the following day, one part next week. My burden was a huge, stupid mistake. I realized that worrying is carrying tomorrow's burden with today's strength. It's carrying two days at once. It's prematurely thinking of tomorrow. On the calendar, there is only one day for action, and that is today.

-Corrie ten Boom-
From: "Reflections of God's Glory"

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The Best Day of My Life

Today, when I awoke, I suddenly realized that this is the best day of my life, ever!

There were times when I wondered if I would make it to today; but I did! And because I did I'm going to celebrate!

Today, I'm going to celebrate what an unbelievable life I have had so far: the accomplishments, the many blessings, and, yes, even the hardships because they have served to make me stronger.

I will go through this day with my head held high, and a happy heart. I will marvel at God's seemingly simple gifts: the morning dew, the sun, the clouds, the trees, the flowers, the birds. Today, none of these miraculous creations will escape my notice.

Today, I will share my excitement for life with other people. I'll make someone smile. I'll go out of my way to perform an unexpected act of kindness for someone I don't even know. Today, I'll give a sincere compliment to someone who seems down. I'll tell a child how special he is, and I'll tell someone I love just how deeply I care for her and how much she means to me.

Today is the day I quit worrying about what I don't have and start being grateful for all the wonderful things God has already given me. I'll remember that to worry is just a waste of time because my faith in God and his Divine Plan ensures everything will be just fine.

And tonight, before I go to bed, I'll go outside and raise my eyes to the heavens. I will stand in awe at the beauty of the stars and the moon, and I will praise God for these magnificent treasures.

As the day ends and I lay my head down on my pillow, I will thank the Almighty for the best day of my life. And I will sleep the sleep of a contented child, excited with expectation because I know tomorrow is going to be the best day of my life, ever!

~Gregory M. Lousig-Nont, Ph.D.~
From: Beefstu
Received from: spiritfeather7@webtv.net
Thanks Sheila!!

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Me again!

Know what's on the "top two" of my favorite days of the week? Thursday. The other one is Sunday. I love Sundays because they represent church, an opportunity for corporate worship, and fellowship with the Brethren. You may be surprised at my reason for loving Thursdays. Every Thursday at precisely 7:00 A.M., I hear this loud noise outside my window, a few moments of clanks and bangs, and then a grinding sound, and the truck rolls away. Yep, you guessed it! Thursday is "Garbage Day!"

In my town, the garbage pick-up is just once a week. With the size of our family and the constant eating and cleaning that takes place, we pretty much end up with mounds of garbage by Thursday. I envision those precious under-appreciated fellers muttering under their breath every time they roll up to my house. I'll wager that takes them longer to unload all those cans
here than any of my neighbors. I sometimes peek through the slits of the venetian blinds and watch them do their all day trek, hoping each time that they will "get it all!" And they usually do!

Guess now is a good time for the spill, along with a neat spiritual parallel that I just couldn't resist. Bear with me while I lay this all out. Last night, my Darlin, a.k.a. "Jimmy" and I got away from the house and went into our portable building, which we had earlier transformed into a lil makeshift rec room for the boys. We decided to spend some serious time with the Lord, minus the interruptions. It was either there or up a tree, and somehow the building seemed more appealing. As we sat quietly before the Lord, I began to see all the garbage in our lives that God wanted to deal with. You see, last night was Wednesday. I am writing this on Thursday morning, and as we were getting the garbage ready to go out, the parallel hit me.

In your earthly house, you may have a refrigerator and in that fridge you may have a gallon of milk, unless we are talking about my house, in which case it would be two or three gallons. ( My son Joseph is a lil milk lover! ) Suppose that milk gets sour after a season. Chances are, you will eventually pour it down the sink, and throw away the carton, right? And let's say you go through your day, doing things and using stuff. You will throw away wrappers, containers, boxes, etc., as needed. In other words, you wouldn't let all that stuff pile up, creating a huge mess inside your house, or would you?

Now, next question. You don't throw all your garbage away at one time, do you? No, you throw away stuff as you go along. If you want to keep your house clean, you have to do this on a continual basis. It's a process. Use what you need, and throw away the trash. Eventually it goes outside, and is carried off...never to be seen again, unless we make a decision to go "garbage digging."

I began to see that this is exactly the way God deals with our lives. We sometimes get so frustrated as Christians, because we feel like the garbage in our lives never seems to go away. Let's label some of these items and get a real visual for where I am going with this. Picture all your garbage sitting on top of the kitchen counter. Let's say one piece of garbage is pride, while another is unforgiveness. Perhaps on your counter there is a layer of greed, bitterness, resentment, worry. Get the picture? Sometimes we don't always associate these attributes with sin, because we figure that this is part of our make-up, and we have to just "live" with this garbage, and work around it somehow.

Wouldn't you agree that if we made a decision to "live" with the garbage that could so easily accumulate in our homes, it would be a source of great stagnation? As Jimmy and I were praying in the building, we confessed our garbage before each other, and before God. We laid it on the altar, and by faith, we accepted the fact that He took it. With a renewed sense of peace and freedom, we walked out of that building, thanking God for taking that garbage and hauling it off. It was a spiritual Thursday!!

And you know what? This morning, we came together again, and prayed some more. We read the Word together, and we intend to continue to do this. We realize that there will be obstacles. But I notice one thing about human beings. We make time in our lives for what we deem as important.

It will take an act of our will some days, especially when our emotions attempt to say "no." Sometimes I need to throw some trash away on my own, ( likened to individual time in prayer ) and sometimes Jimmy and I throw away a piece together. But, each time, the load becomes lighter, and the path becomes clearer.

Sometimes I make "wop" biscuits. That's the biscuits you "wop" on the counter and the lil container pops open, and this fat chunk o' dough starts swelling out almost immediately. Well, I don't keep the biscuit container on the counter just because I recently threw away an egg carton. No Sirreee!! The more garbage we accumulate, the farther away God will seem. God's Holy Spirit and His Word go hand in hand, CONSTANTLY renewing us, CONSTANTLY cleansing us, CONSTANTLY revealing to us what must go, and what can stay. The garbage must go on a continual daily basis.

Is there any garbage in your life that has accumulated to such a degree that your spiritual walk has become stagnant? If the answer is yes, and you are ready to get rid of this garbage so that your "house" may be clean, then I urge you to do something. Go to the Lord in prayer. During this prayer time, visualize yourself with a handful of whatever it is that is called "garbage" in your life. God will reveal your garbage if you are not sure what it is, especially when your heart is open.

Now, visualize this HUGE garbage can at the foot of the Cross. Put your garbage in the can, and confess each piece as sin. Ask for forgiveness for becoming so hardened that you've allowed yourself to become identified with it. Ask God to "detach" you from this garbage, and to reveal His character and attributes through you, according to His Will. After you have unloaded your garbage into this "can", then simply be still before Him as He refills you with Himself. Then walk away, in faith, knowing that your God has done a work in you, and will continue to do so, as your desire for a clean house becomes a priority, and your hunger and thirst for His righteousness through Jesus Christ becomes the mainstay in your spiritual walk.

Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
John 15:3

I pray that as we continue on this journey together, the garbage will become less as He becomes more. Somehow it all brings a whole new appreciation for those who collect what we discard. Amen?

God Bless You All!!
And remember..
Jesus loves you and I do too!

In Christ!!
Carol
Justaservn@aol.com

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