“Pause” Workbook!

Don’t have your workbook yet?  No worries, it’s not too late!  Click here to order your workbook for daily Scripture, inspirational quotes and questions, pages to journal about your spiritual progress, and suggestions for additional readings.

Food for Thought

If I asked what you had for dinner last Tuesday, there is a good chance you would draw a blank. Your memory is already cluttered with details like getting the bills paid, and where the checkbook was last seen. Dinner last week? Dunno.

But today I was in a group of mothers and asked, “Do any of you remember a meal that a friend brought when you had a baby?”  Their eyes glistened with the conjured picture, as each of them described those meals in detail.

Week 7- How Does the Lord Want Me to Serve Others?

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” -John 13:34

For thousands of years, people have claimed to live by the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  But what does living this principle actually look like?  The Word tells us that through being useful to those outside ourselves, we are loving the neighbor, and in turn showing love to the Lord.  How do you believe the Lord wants you to serve others?

Happiness in Helping

The Lord wants us to be happy. He knows we are human and have temptations and struggles, but ultimately, He wants us to glow with happiness. He has a system that helps us get out of our ruts, and that system is doing good works for others.

Have you ever been the lucky one to have jumper cables to help another person start their dead battery? Or, help a person with a heavy bag? Maybe you can bake healthy muffins or a loaf of bread to take to an overworked friend.

Doubt

After a period of time when my life has been less Lord centered, and I am discouraged immediately the Lord speaks to me with a wonderfully cheerful voice “Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid” (Matthew 14:27).  He comforts me and I choose once again to read the Word more often, or to thank the Lord more regularly. Following this renewal of my spirit, I have found that I go through a period of temptation.

A Little Trip to Angst-ville

I have been stewing about something.

Thoughts about this conflict have seeped into my routine for a few weeks now, regurgitating and fermenting.  Since there was never any new actual information, I went over old facts, gaining momentum as I went. I was angry.

Week 6- How Do I Follow the Lord?

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”  Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” -Mark 9:23-24

What does it really mean to “follow the Lord?”  Having faith?  Reading scripture?  Showing kindness to your neighbor?  All of the above?  Whatever your relationship is with God determines how you follow Him.  So how do you follow the Lord?

What Are the Rules?

I have no athletic ability. At least, that’s my story. But sometimes my kids defy genetics and go out for soccer or tennis. Then I find myself on the sidelines, trying to cheer when our team makes a goal, not the opponent. I always feel a bit sluggish, trying to sort out the rules of the game and the score. Some sports inch along, one point at a time. Others capriciously leap by sixes or fifteens, and I am left wondering why.

And God Spoke All These Words, Saying…

The Ten Commandments:

And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. 

Week 5- What Does the Lord Want from Me?

Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.” -Mark 10:21

The Word seems to give people plenty of commandments to follow the Lord.  “Obey thy father and thy mother.”  “Make yourself an ark of gopherwood.”  “And you shall call His name JESUS.”  But what do these mean to us, personally, and individual soliders of God?  What does He have in store for each of us?  What does the Lord want from you?

He’s Always Working with Me

How does the Lord not work in my life?! I feel like just the belief in  God allows me to know that He is always working in my life, even  if I do not see the positive effects right away, I know and trust that down the road it will all make sense.

I loved reading the parable of the man who carries his bed.  I didn’t know, but it makes sense know that the bed represents our beliefs and our beliefs in the doctrine.