Happy Birthday Jesus

What a wonderful time of the year it is when we get to celebrate the birth of our glorious Savior Jesus Christ. You can't help but marvel over the fact that He left a throne in Heaven to be born here on earth not to receive gifts but to deliver one, our salvation.

The King of kings didn't need the help of the postal system, UPS, Amazon, google, Bing or anything else to deliver what He had to give us. All He needed was a humble couple and a manger full of straw and future hearts willing to accept what He has to offer.

An offer that comes with something good for all year around not just for a day. An offer stamped with the approval of Heaven waiting for us to collect. A door to Heaven, a passage way through the stars, our own manger surrounded by saints rejoicing and angels proclaiming the joy of our King.

The Christmas we have made it out to be can be hectic, a time of loneliness, pain, a hassle we can't wait to get passed. Instead of searching for the Christ child we are more in search for bargains, ways to get things done, how many minutes does it take to cook a turkey, and how soon to decorate and how quickly those decorations should come down. We pick up on the political correction of it but miss what Christmas should mean to us.

It is a gift not to be given but one to be received. In 2010 when I was diagnosed with cancer on the 13th of December it changed our whole Christmas. Instead of a tree being lit up it was my scans that revealed me lighting up like a Christmas tree where all the cancer spots were in my body. Soon money we had set aside for presents, food, and things was used for medicine, tests, biopsies, and such. It felt as if a tragedy had caused us to miss Christmas.

Shame on me to think or feel such a thing knowing what Christmas is all about. I hadn't missed Christmas. Life hadn't cancelled the event. No storm big enough could close the doors to the stable where Christ was born.

I wasn't forgotten, I was remembered. I wasn't alone, I had a traveling companion Jesus Christ that was walking my family and I through a dark time. Four years later He is still there walking along beside me. No longer a babe in a manger but a King at the throne of my heart.

The real tragedy is when we don't accept His gift by not allowing Him into our lives. Leaving Him merely as a babe in a manger with no other purpose in our lives but to give us an excuse to shop, travel, and eat.

It may be Happy Birthday Jesus but its also Blessed salvation for us if we would only accept His invitation and invite Him into our hearts, actions, choices, attitude, and every other area of our lives.

Love you Jesus. Happy Birthday King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Udder Words~~~~~~~~~~~~~Live It Out

Hebrews 4:3a For we who have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest, in accordance with His declaration that those (who did not believe) should not enter…..v11 Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest (of God, to know and experience it for ourselves), that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience (into which those in the wilderness fell).

They say it’s not the anniversary of your baptism you should be remembering or celebrating but the actual day you “repented” and turned your life around unto the Lord as you live out your new life in Christ. Same thing with believing, if you’re anything like me I’ve believed in God and Jesus all my life but just recently at the age of 54 I told myself it was time I really started to believe. In others words, it was time to live out what I had believed all my life.

I needed to start to strive for that zeal talked about in Hebrews 4 in all areas of my life not just parts of it. A good place to start was to take the definition of believing found in Hebrews 4 and then toss in the meaning of faith and trust. After stirring well I came up with this guideline to live my life by. It goes like this:

“As a Christian I need to adhere to, follow and obey, and rely on God trusting in Him by the leaning of my entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness. Committing my all to Him and confidently looking to Him with my whole being. Believing in who He is and having the faith to know He will carry out His promises as I trust Him to guide me thru all things.”

Indeed recently through my actions, my worries, my feelings of defeat I wasn’t doing what I needed to be doing as someone who believes in God. I was shortening my “all things” list by not trusting that God could see me thru certain areas. All things such as my cancer, the salvation of my love ones, marital obstacles, the true and honest repentance of myself and those around me, caregiving for my parents, my writing skills and enduring life itself one day at a time.

Truly there was no time like the present to start to follow and obey God and rely on Him to walk us through it all. We need to lean our entire personality on God not just the part that goes to church on Sunday. The evidence against us often shows us holding back parts of our lives and it’s time we give to God our absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness.  

 

Daily we need to make the choice to approach every situation believing and trusting in God as we zealously exert ourselves and strive diligently for the rest found in God. The rest received in His grace, mercy and forgiveness. The rest Heaven has to offer. After a long journey on earth that rest in Heaven is going to be simply divine. It will all be well worth the effort we were willing to put in to living out our belief in God, walking out our faith in Him. Striving to make sure our actions speak louder than words all from the day we truly first believed enough to show it zealously, in our choices and attitudes in life.

Live it out, walk it through. There’s a rest stop just ahead! Praise the Lord.

© 2013 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing       In Udder Words Tuesday

Viewpoint

“The eternal perspective is the ability to see all of life from God’s point of view and have what you see affect how you live in the present. Simply stated, the eternal perspective is the ability to walk by faith in God’s Word.”~ Catherine Martin, from A Heart To See Forever



Wherever you go you seem to run across some kind of a “viewpoint” where you can go and see usually something very worthwhile such as the view of a mountain, canyon, valley, or whatever. In the town where I grew up “Viewpoint” was the perfect place to go and hang out with your friends. It was from that very spot that my dad when he was a kid pushed a car over the edge with his buddies just to watch it crash at the bottom of the hill on the road. Definitely the wrong view or way to use what was set up for others to enjoy.


Spiritually we have a viewpoint set up for us to use, the point of view of God. Often people will say, “You need to look at the situation or person through Jesus’ eyes or look at it the way God does.” As simple as that sounds it’s not always that easy to do. Years ago that was the advice I was given when I looked at someone I knew that was giving me trouble. I was to look at them as Jesus did not as I saw them. I honestly couldn’t see God viewing anything different than what I saw therefore what next? I was looking at only the viewpoint, the actual view from a certain point instead of God’s point of view. There is a difference. Am I confusing you yet?


We all seem to have our own “point of view.” Unfortunately that is what gets us into so much trouble. I see something one way and another person sees it in a totally different light. Kind of like Caleb and his buddies in Number 13 when they were sent out to spy on the land they each came back with different points of views. Some saw it flowing with milk and honey and fruitful while others reported seeing big scary giants they wouldn’t be able to overcome.


Reading the Bible and getting to know God in a personal way helps us to see things from God’s point of view. It’s clear we know what He sees but do we know His point of view of what He sees. Again we get that ability by drawing closer to Him and reading His Word and getting to know Him better. Once we do it’s up to us to apply what we have learned to every aspect of our own lives. Daily we need to walk by faith through His Word, through life’s situations, through good times and bad.


Each step forward we take and even those we seem to do going backwards need to be steps of faith and ones that will lead us to the foot of the cross to the viewpoint that beats all views. The place where all journeys need to wind up, where healing, growth, and maturity begin and our personal distorted points of view ends.


God is my viewpoint and His point of view is my God, the Director of my steps, the Author of my faith, and the Perfecter of my faults. We should never climb up onto God’s lap to push things down the hill just to see them crash below. We need to be there to enjoy the view and the view of the One who painted it, God himself.


How great thou art, Lord. How great thou art!



Our host today is Debbie at Heart Choices, go over there and get a great view of her site and what she has to say about today’s quote.

God's Speed, God's Pace

“ Yes, I understand that turning back or waiting for others slows you down, but only at first. The deliberate extension of goodness, generosity, and wisdom always wins out in the end.” ~~ Lisa Bevere, “Lioness Arising:  Wake Up and Change Your World”

When I was first diagnosed with cancer the pain in my back where the bone cancer had showed up was tremendous. My co-workers who I had been walking with daily had to slow down in order for me to even slightly stay caught up. Often they would even put me out in front to establish the pace.


They definitely could have gone further and faster in the time we had to walk but they were willing to hold themselves back in order to help me. They knew the doctor wanted me to get my exercise and our daily walks during our breaks was a great way to get it. So they made the sacrifice.


Looking back over the years I can name several people who did that for me when I was a young Christian learning to walk. They definitely could have gotten where they wanted to be further and faster but they chose to stay with me and help me along at my current pace.


It’s like holding on to the hand of a two or three year old child just learning to walk. They slow us down a great deal but it’s important we stay with them for the time being. Give them a few years when they are 15 or 16 years old or even younger and they will be the ones running circles around us wondering why we’re not the one who are “hurrying up.”


Slowing down for someone else spiritually to walk along beside them at their pace doesn’t have to slow down our spiritual growth. Believe it or not it can help us grow further and faster when we use our energies to serve others in this way. The Bible tells us to pass along to the younger generation that which we have learned and we can do that by staying with them, not harping on them to “hurry up” but encouraging them that they can make it if they don’t give up.


God would have no children if He expected us to keep up with Him. He was willing to slow down long enough to get us going to where we need to be and we need to do the same for others. It is a journey that will get us to where we need to be further and faster than anything else at God’s speed, at God’s pace.

© 2011 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Walking and Talking at the Same TIme

“It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.” ~ Francis of Assisi ~


When I got back recently from San Francisco someone asked me if I saw any street corner preachers. I told her I hadn’t but after reading this quote maybe I saw more than I thought.


Every one of us whether we preach at the end of our walk verbally to someone is making a statement to others by how we walk in our lives. Intentionally or not we leave an example behind for others to follow.


Often our problem is we forget to look behind us and see that trail. We like to walk forward and stop long enough to tell the person next to us they need to quit smoking, or start exercising or clean up their lives when we are doing things just as destructive to our own lives.


Sadly enough we think we can do whatever we want because we don’t plan on preaching to other people. That gets us off the hook for being accountable in our own lives. We just don’t get it that more things are caught than taught. We don’t need to verbally preach with our mouths because our lives are preaching for us by the trail of examples we are leaving behind.


A few years ago I made myself a goal that I wanted to leave behind a tremendous paper trail of writings that people could follow and find their way to Christ. Although that is a very good goal I intend to keep I also need to realize that how I live my life surrounded by those around me is even a bigger influence and reflector of the truth of who I am.


That’s what is so wonderful about God. He is the same in person that He is in paper in the Bible. We need to be that way too, the same on paper if we are writers as we are in person. We can’t overlook the sin in our lives for the sake of pointing out the sin in other. We need to walk the walk which will qualify us to talk the talk.


Although some people just don’t seem to be coordinated enough to be able to walk, talk, and chew gum at the same time. It doesn’t have to be that way with us. As Christians we get our coordination from God. He is the one who helps qualify us to talk the talk when indeed our walking is our preaching thanks to following Him.

© 2011 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

His Pace, His Speed

“Learning to wait on God’s timing –and having the patience to follow his lead rather than running ahead of him –is essential to those who are committed to seeing their faith journey through to the end. God seldom rushes things along. Getting used to his pace will help you in the long run.”~ Essentials for Life For Women by Marcia Ford ~

Recently in my life’s endeavors I made what I called “every hour on the hour” prayer list of things to pray for my daughter and each member of her family. Trying to pick things that were vital to their Christian walk I inserted in the 5:00 in the morning slot “walking with the Lord and learning how to follow.”


As everyone knows the first thing we do when we get up in the morning is walk. We may not get up very gracefully but we still eventually will get to walking. It’s a trait we have to learn physically as well as spiritually.


One time at the clinic where I work with the physicians in their billing we were told we needed to allow them to crawl before they could walk. Kind of an odd request as it seemed like a waste of time but if you think about it though crawling is a first step in walking.


A young baby after learning how to roll over on their stomach discovers they can use their hands and feet to get around. The more they do it the faster they become. Soon you find yourself having to child proof your house as they begin to climb up on the areas where they’ve crawled. Next they discover they can take a step when they are standing. From there, well good luck keeping up with them.


That is what we need as Christians, to learn to walk. Too often we stay in the crawling stage and are content to not go any further. Then there are those of us who learned to walk early and a little too well as we are guilty of running ahead of God. Once way ahead of Him we stop long enough to turn around and give Him the instructions of what we think we need and want.


Wrong way to follow! We need to learn to pace ourselves, to run at His pace, His speed and not own. It’s hard sometimes because we are such an instant, fast, got to have it now society that the thought of taking the snail mail route is just unacceptable.


During this time of living with the bone cancer in my back I was the snail in a group of rabbits that wanted to go quickly. Many times I had to tell my husband and grandkids and friends that I just couldn’t keep up with their speed. Finally they got the message I was doing the best I could. Each one respected that and graciously took it at my pace.


Once I got back to work my co-workers told me they wanted me to start walking with them again everyday on our breaks. I was informed they would be willing to go at my speed. I agreed to their offer and for the first time I got to be the one in the lead as everyone did what they could to slow down to my pace. Occasionally they would find themselves passing me so they would have to stop and wait for me to catch up. Surprisingly enough we got where we needed to go. It may have been slower than usual but it did wonders to get out and walk.


We need to have that same attitude with God every hour on the hour, “God I want to stroll with you. We’ll go at your pace. I don’t care if it’s slower than what I want to do.” Wow, what a beautiful thing we can have with God as our walking partner. The art of striding is an art we all need to learn but we also need to learn how to follow.


Once we take that first step, well then, “Good luck in keeping up with us.” That’s the way it needs to be as the lead position never changes. We may get to walk beside Him at times. At other times we may even be carried by Him through the rough times, the slippery slopes, and dangerous ravines but the lead position never changes.


It’s our day to day task to look and ask, “Are we getting ahead of Him?” If we are we need to stop and wait for Him to catch up, or better yet go back to where He is. After all it’s His pace, His speed and our trust and ability to follow that will get us to where we need to be. It doesn’t work to get around behind God and shove Him in the back when we approach rough roads and tell Him, “You lead now” then when the roads are smooth and open we take over being the lead car.


No, no, no it’s His Pace, His Speed. Repeat that over and over again and live it every hour on the hour!

© 2011 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Moving Forward

“I will never be the same again, I can never return, I’ve closed the door. I will walk the path, I’ll run the race And I will never be the same again.” ~ lyrics by Geoff Bullock ~

Boy, when it comes to Jesus and walking the walk He gives us, I can relate to what Geoff Bullock is talking about. As I carefully look back I can see where I will never be the same again thanks to Jesus. I wish I could relate to the next part as well. The part that says I can never return. Like the Israelites coming out of Egypt I always seem to grumble about something wanting to return but never fully succeeding in my momentary flashes of insanity.

Indeed the best thing we can do is close the door on the past and walk the path the Lord has marked out for us. The path that moves us forward to a race we can win. Our problem is we tend to want to keep one foot in the door so it’s slightly cracked. Cracked enough to peak in and pull out the things that should be behind us or the things yet to come.

When I was first diagnosed with cancer that was the first trip my husband and I both took, backwards. “Oh we should have done this. Oh the doctor should have done. Did we miss something? What if? What if? What if?” One time as I tried to go back to think something out my husband stopped me in my tracks and said, “Don’t go there.”

That is the attitude we need to have, a type of “don’t go there” attitude. Not to deny, ignore, or escape what we need to address or deal with it. It’s an attitude of making up our minds that we are never going to return to the way we were. We are closing the door on the things that need to stay behind the door. Our outlook on life needs to take us forever forward not blindly backwards.

Years ago on my kids blogspot I wrote in what I call my “Picture Dees” a devotion about having a window seat. My grandkids just like my siblings and I did constantly are fighting over who gets to be by the window, the window that opens of course. Having four grandkids and only two windows that open in my car it just doesn’t happen for everyone.

I talked about how as much as we would like to get a window seat on what our life has ahead of us it just doesn’t happen that way. To illustrate my point I took a picture of one of the chemo chairs in the chemotherapy room at work. I talked about how those with cancer would like to have a window seat to see what was ahead of them but not everyone gets that pleasure.


Who would have thought the day I took the picture and prayed for each person that ever sat in those chairs that some day I would be the one sitting in that very chair getting my treatment.


As much as I would like to dwell on that and shed an extra tear like I am right now I need to keep myself moving forward. Slam the door, walk the path, and run the race in that particular order. If I do that I can rest assure in my spirit I will never be the same again because of what God is doing for me spiritually in my heart.


I may not be where I need to be spiritually yet but I know in my heart I’m not where I use to be. Never the same again, always moving forward, thanks to Jesus my walking partner, my coach, and my Friend.

© 2011 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

God's Pages not the Yellow Pages

“The littleness of Christians of this age results from the littleness of their consecration to Christ.” ~C. H. Spurgeon, Samson Conquered a sermon from November 21, 1858


What a sad thing to think there could be any such a thing as “a littleness of Christians.” Unfortunately that is exactly what has happened. Charles Spurgeon saw it in his time. Dr. Vernon McGee saw it in his. Amazingly enough Paul himself saw it during his time. That one really surprises me because it was at a time when the strong movement of Christianity should have been at its peak. Christ had just been in the area, his preaching and teaching should have been strong in their hearts and heads but yet it didn’t take them long to forget and wander away.

It’s important to get straight here what Spurgeon is talking about. Many non-believers have tried to pin that label on Christians for years. The label that they are below the world, narrow minded, insignificant, worthless, enslaved to an agenda that keeps them anything but free.

Perhaps I have it all wrong but what I see Spurgeon talking about here is our effectiveness as Christians, our ability to rise above situations, issues, and troubles. People full of zeal for Christ who carry a strong message with the eagerness to share it. Indeed ones who make a difference in their community instead of blending into the woodwork with everyone else.

I think if I was sitting in Spurgeon’s church that Sunday the hair on the back of my neck would have stood up as I felt offended. “How dare he say something like that here in church,” would have been my thinking. My next move would have been to look around to point at least ten fingers and a few good toes at the people in the church I thought were the guilty ones he was talking about. Unfortunately, the only picture I would have painted is one of a corpse in a state of tremendous rigor mortis. Instead of taking the message home to example my own self I probably would have went home to look at the yellow pages to find me a new church.

Tell me, who would be the one suffering from “littleness.” It would have been me. We need to be like an owl that can turn its head full circle stopping it when it comes back around to us in order to examine deeply our commitment, dedication, and consecration in Christ. Are we there yet? Evidently not.

We have no problem being deeply dedicated or consecrated into a cause, sport, hobby, habit, or frame of mind but we struggle with doing so with Christ. We think its good enough to believe in Him without any other effort on our part. After all, going to church faithfully every Sunday shows I’m dedicated to Christ doesn’t it? No, it’s what we carry into the week in between Sunday’s that will paint that picture.

Our state of littleness doesn’t come from the world it comes from within, from our own actions and choices. Next time a Charles Spurgeon comes along with a similar message don’t go diving for the yellow pages to find a new church, dive into the pages of God’s word to find a new you.



Our host today is Miriam on her blog, Miriam Pauline’s Monologue rush on over there and join in the fun.

© 2010 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Let God do the Lifting

“Only when we understand that God has ordained our suffering can we begin to make sense of it. Only then can we be certain that He has a purpose in it. When tragedy comes, when adversity strikes, we will not be shaken. Yes, we will cry. Yes, we will grieve. But we will move on confidently knowing that God is on His throne, that we are in His hand, that our circumstances are His doing, and He is working them for our good.”
~Terry L. Johnson, When Grace Comes Home


The sad thing about suffering, outside of the pain involved, is the fact that people too often think God is out to punish them through it. Yes, they figure He ordained it alright to penalize them not to work it out for their own good. They figure they must have done something wrong and therefore they are basically paying the price for it via their suffering. They reason in their little minds that God must have abandoned them or didn’t think they were worthy of rescuing them from their current sufferings.

The last thing we think about when we are in this state of mind is the fact that God had a “good and godly” purpose behind ordaining it. That He knows what is going on and is using this time to shape us not smash us. To build us up not tear us down. To love on us not reject us.

As with anyone we could all name our sorrows and we can see the pain that went on but if we look close enough we also can see God at work. It’s inevitable that all will suffer. What isn’t foreseeable is how we choose to go through it. Our attitude going in will affect a great deal the outcome. As much as it may hurt we need to stop and ask God, “What do you want me to learn from this?”

With the correct attitude and focus on the right place we will not be shaken. Yes we are going to cry, grieve, wonder, worry, and feel all sorts of emotions but we can move on confidently that God knows what He’s doing. Just like a young child who doesn’t see any good in their parents making them eat the right food, go to bed at a decent hour, do their homework, or avoid certain situations we often don’t immediately see the good behind what God is doing through our suffering. As a child we have to trust that mom and dad know what they are talking about. As a child of God we need to trust that He too knows what He is talking about. We need to know in our hearts when He says, “this is for our own good,” that He means just that.

During the times of my greatest suffering I thought the scripture 1 John 4:4 had to be a miss print or something that didn’t pertain to me. It says, “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” I didn’t doubt God’s promise here as much as I doubted myself. Evidently I didn’t fit into the “dear children” category. Evidently I didn’t qualify because what was on the outside seemed much greater. Evidently I must have been doing something wrong to not get this one particular promise from God.

Boy did I have it wrong. God was using my suffering to shape me as He put a girdle on my flaws to shape them into something of greater worth. He was walking me through situations not dragging me along by my hair. He was patiently waiting for me to grow up in order to stand on my own two feet to walk forward instead of always falling back.

It’s not always up to us to see God’s plan or goals for us. However it is up to us to trust that He knows what He is doing especially during our times of suffering. His hand is there. It’s not there to slap us down but to lift us up. Let Him do the lifting while we do the trusting.


Our host today is Jennifer on her blog, Scraps & Snippets Hi Jennifer! Everyone you need to get over there and participate in this fun weekly event.

© 2010 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Recipe Box

“Instead of trying to fix yourself, fix your gaze on Me, the lover of your soul. Rather than using your energy to judge yourself, redirect it to praising Me. Remember that I see you clothed in my righteousness, radiant in My perfect love.” Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence by Sarah Young

Hummmmmmm….let me see……..Reading this quote today I see two recipes brewing. One recipe comes with a do-it-yourself fix it kit fully equipped with the energy waste of constantly judging ourselves. Along with a “avoid when possible” warning label or do not add at all the thought that God sees us clothed in His righteousness, radiant in His perfect love. Not a very appealing recipe I must say. Kind of like pumpkin pie, YUK! Oh sorry to all the pumpkin pie lovers out there, including my husband.

Recipe number two comes with an eye correction formula to fix our gaze on Jesus while redirecting our energy to praise Him. Always to be included, never to be left out is the need to stir in well remembering God sees us clothed in His righteousness, radiant with His perfect love. Now that’s one of those recipes we should have memorized in our hearts because we’ve made it so many times. Like non-bake cookies! Yummy.

Either way we are the ones who get to choose between the two. When we reach into our recipe box we usually know what we are after. We might change our mind between chocolate chip cookies and German chocolate cake but we still get what we choose.

When it comes to our relationship with the Lord we get what we choose, believe it or not. Instead of fixing ourselves we can fix our eyes on God. Rather than judging ourselves we can use that energy to praise God. The choice is ours and whether we want to admit it or not the end result will be ours too.

It doesn’t make sense to put together a recipe of something that just doesn’t work well. People out there in Readerland, have you ever put in salt instead of the sugar, baking powder instead of baking soda, pancake mix instead of flour? It didn’t work did it! The first thing a person is told when they begin to cook is how to read a recipe. ½ means just that not 1 plus 2 more. 1 tsp is smaller than the 1 tb and the list of lessons go on.

Our Christian walk is no different. We need to learn how to put it together in a fashion that works well. Some have the knack for it like people have the knack for baking. On the other hand others struggle at getting the results they are after. Either way it’s a goal that is achievable that will get us an end result that is yummy, eternal life with Christ.

The first thing into the bowl of our life should be fixing our eyes on Jesus. We’ve allowed our eyes to wander to long searching for things that shouldn’t be. Other things to satisfy us, to justify us, and give us the excuses we are after for not following God. We have a choice to either stand hovered over our bowl all day long stirring and stirring to get the lumps out or we can get out the mixer and get it done quicker and smoother. It depends on where we want to direct our energy. Judging ourselves constantly will never get all the lumps out; it’s a waste of energy after awhile. Setting our gaze and thoughts on praising God is the quicker and more efficient way to get it done.

Last but not least is the icing on the cake which is the fact that God sees us in His righteousness, radiant in His light and love. It’s the icing on the cake that covers up the imperfections of the cake itself as it dresses it up into something of great beauty. A beauty seen through God’s eyes not the world’s vision of what being beautiful is all about. It begins at the recipe box. It ends at the righteousness of our hearts thanks to Jesus.


Speaking of choices our host today is Debbie over at Heart Choices. Run over there and join in and let’s see what the end result will be. With Jesus as the main ingredient it will be yummy.

© 2010 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Dressing for the Occasion

“A sentence from Psalm 101 has been both challenging and convicting for me: ‘I will walk in my house with blameless heart‘(Psalm 101-2, NIV). When God speaks to me about being more loving, this verse reminds me to make application in my family first—and then to others. It forces me to ask, ‘Am I more spiritual, more loving, or more fun somewhere else? Who gets my best—my family or others?” by Jean Fleming A Mother’s Heart: A Look at Values, Vision, and Character for the Christian Mother Amos 8:11-12

What is it about the home and the family unit that makes us think we can let our guard down and be a totally different person there than what people see on Sunday at church or Monday at work. In the back of our mind we must think we are safe within the home to be whatever our emotions dictate us to be that certain day. “After all these people are family,” is the reasoning we put behind it.

A simple stroll from the kitchen to the living room can totally change our attitude and tone of voice as we answer the phone only to find out it was someone from the church. The grumpy harsh voice we just used on our kids or tried out on our husband changes instantly simply because of whom we are addressing. “Well Hello there Susie. Thanks for calling. I’m having a wonderful day. Oh I wasn’t doing anything.” Boy, what a complete turn around from the “Sit down, shut up kids, leave me alone you’re giving me a headache” remark our family hears.

Every day we need to make that choice to walk in our house with a blameless heart. Our home shouldn’t be our place of refuge to run and hide and be whatever our emotions happen to be that particular day, happy, grumpy, sad, irritated, short-temper, funny, etc. It’s not a place to sacrifice our family for the benefit of letting our virtues go like some “time-out” base. It should be the classroom where we learn how to walk blamelessly in order to model it for others when we leave.

Model, that’s what it is. It’s like stepping out of the dressing room area to show off the new dress or suit we were trying on to those waiting outside. We need to do that with how we dress ourselves at home with our attitude and actions. We need to make sure that our family is the one we first model this behavior to. Our Sunday best should include them as they should be the first to see it. They should never be the ones who get the hand-me-downs.

Being on our best behavior should be a choice we live by daily starting within the home. It’s like putting on our greatest performance when we know someone is watching us like a police officer, teacher, parent, or boss and then the minute we think they are gone we relax our integrity and act like we earned a vacation from it. We figure our family should be more understanding that they shouldn’t hold us to a higher standard. After all, we all should have that time to “let our hair” down and be ourselves. Right?

Wrong! It can’t be stressed enough, the home should never be used as a “Time-out”place from integrity but a place where we can develop it in front of those who matter the most to us, our love ones. Use it as a place to sacrifice what keeps us from walking that blameless life instead of sacrficing the quality of family life we could all have. It may not always be appreciated in the home as even Jesus wasn’t appreciated in His own hometown but it didn’ stop Him from walking the blameless walk He did while on earth.

Indeed we need to model it and stop putting it away the minute we get home like we do our winter clothes when spring comes. Walking with integrity and blamelessly is not a seasonal attire we get to bring out when we want, it’s a 24-7 type of thing that should never be removed!

Dress for the occasion of being a Christian daily, don’t leave home without it and better yet don’t go home without it either!


© 2010 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

Inclined to Action

“We Americans are pragmatists to the max. We want results. And we want them yesterday. We want them without too much pondering and too much pain….We have developed all kinds of Christ-coated remedies that are shallow and short-lived. We are not, by and large, the deeply grounded saints that some of our forefathers were.” John Piper

The original note that I wrote on this quote had me disagreeing with John Piper’s remark that Americans are pragmatists to the max. Now that I understand what it means I’m afraid I do agree with him. We are so stuck at trying to be practical that we have ridden the pendulum to the other side to where we are too practical for our own good. When that happens it appears, to the ignorant like myself, that we are anything but practical and down-to-earth. Many people think that having faith in God and believing in Jesus just isn’t all that practical. However, that’s where faith plays it part.

After writing on this quote on the news I heard two anchormen say, “That’s not very pragmatist.” As I heard it I shouted out to my husband, “Hey honey there’s that word I had never heard of before.” According to Webster pragmatist is “a practical approach to problems and affairs. It’s trying to strike a balance between principles and pragmatism. This started out an American movement in philosophy founded by C.S. Peirce and William James that was marked by the doctrines that the meaning of conceptions is to be sought in their practical bearings. That the function of thought is to guide action, and that truth is preeminently to be tested by the practical consequences of belief.”

Practical or too practical remains to be seen but what we definitely show ourselves to be are people who want results and we want them yesterday. We have come a long ways in the wrong direction as we believe that everything should be handed to us on a silver platter with very little pondering and pain on our part. We appear to be more prone to be lazy and people of assumption than people of true action.

We have moved away from where our forefathers were in the fact that we are not, by and large, the deeply grounded saints a great deal of them were. We find it easier to develop those Christ-coated remedies that are shallow and short-lived. We think being “good” is good enough. We don’t need to go any deeper than that. We believe just sitting in a local church pew once a week will make us a Christian with no further efforts on our part.

Too often we choose the sand to build our house upon that shifts with every passing storm instead of the solid rock of Jesus. Not a very practical thing to do but oddly enough we find that more practical than building our lives upon the rock of Jesus. This extreme has left us hanging in a place we shouldn’t be. Christ needs to be a permanent fixture within our heart not something we wear on the outside like a jacket. A coat we keep around to put on when the weather gets bad.

We fail to take our knowledge of God and turn it into a relationship. When that happens we handicap ourselves to shallow waters instead of the deeply grounded Saint we all have the opportunity to be. How deeply grounded we are in Christ is a choice we all need to make. It requires trust, faith, commitment and obedience on our part. It’s something that is well worth the effort and time to develop.

One of the definitions Webster gives for practical is, “one who is inclined to action as opposed to speculation.” There we have it. This is where we need to be as Christians. People who, as they walk with Jesus, are inclined to action as opposed to speculation! Amen? AMEN!!!!

© 2009 Karen J. Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

A Complete Staircase

“Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

When I read this quote from Martin Luther King a vision of my husband and I’s first home and the driveway to it came to mind. We lived off on a dirt road that was not visible from the main highway. Sounding almost like Martin Luther King I tried my best to include in my directions to my home a little encouragement, “You may not see the road but its there just turn to your left. You’ll see it when you drop down.” To some people it definitely took that first step of faith to trust my instructions and believe in my reassurance that there really was a road there.

Recently I have been finding journal entries I wrote over 22 years ago when I had epilepsy. The dates on the entries were dated 1986 just 4 years before I was cured of my epilepsy. At the time as I was writing in my journey little did I know where the road was going to take me. I had just been told the year before in 1985 that 90% of my seizures were stressed caused. They said if I wanted to qualify for the surgery to cure the remaining 10% of true epileptic seizures I had to get rid of the stress seizures first.

In 1986 that was exactly what I was trying to do as I was in the process of taking that first step of faith. I had boldly told the doctors at the epileptic clinic I didn’t need the psychiatrist they recommended. No, they were the ones that needed them for telling me 90% of my seizures were stressed caused. Talk about open mouth, insert foot! Unavailable to me at the time was a view of the whole staircase but yet it was up to me to take the first step in faith. It was a step towards a possible cure that didn’t come with any guarantees.

It was almost like the time I went with the youth group to a water theme park. The kids I was supervising decided for me that I needed to go down the big slide. And I am talking BIG! Being the coward that I am I tried to back out of the task but found myself walking one step at a time up the long staircase, saying a word of prayer with every step I took. Standing at the top looking down the slide I could clearly see my destination below. Just one more step and I was there ready to be, what I felt was, launched. After that it was quiet the ride to the end but I made it. I have to confess it turned out to be kind of fun.

Often that first step of faith in Christ can be the same way. We don’t have a clue what lies ahead. At the theme park I could see what was ahead but for all I knew I could have gotten caught in the tube or launched into orbit at the other end or have a heart attack halfway down. At least those were my fears. No matter what our fears we can’t let that stop us, the road may not be visible but its there. The staircase does come complete.

We may wind up going on “quiet a ride” but if we stick with God we will make it to the end. Life is a journey full of unknown steps, roads, and destinations with no guarantees but the faith we have in God will see us through them all. Our destination is Heaven. Our travel agent and companion is Jesus. Don’t be afraid to take that first step. A leap of faith gets us further any day than our fears.

Take hold of God’s hand as He takes hold of your heart and together you can successfully complete that first step of faith. Indeed, the first of many steps of faith that will come up in your life over the years. Praise the Lord the staircase comes complete.


Our Host this week is Denise over at her blog full of cute teddy bear’s called ShortyBear’s Place get over there quickly and share with us on today’s quote.

Manual Entry

August 19, 2008

Order my steps, in Your word. Order my tongue, in Your word. Guide my feet, in Your word. Wash my heart, in Your word. Show me how to walk, in Your word. Show me how to talk, in Your word.(refrain) I want to walk worthy, my calling to fulfill. Please order my steps, Lord, and I’ll do Your blessed will. The world is ever changing, but You are still the same. If You order my steps, I’ll praise Your name.~A hymn by Glen Burleigh~


If we listen close enough when we read this fine hymn from Glen Burleigh, we can hear an echo in the background from God Himself.

In My word I have ordered your steps, mouth, and heart.
Showing you how to walk and to talk.
The goal is for you to walk worthy my child, your calling fulfilled,
your calling made real.
With your steps that I’ve ordered My will can be done.
It’s accomplished through Jesus, Christ my Son.
The world is changing, but I am the same.
Your steps that I’ve ordered are like they originally came,
The same as they were for Saints of old
Such as Enoch, Moses, and Paul as they were told
Yes, I’ll order your steps, I’m happy to do
Your job is to get in them to use thoroughly through.

Praise the Lord that we just hit the jackpot on what the Bible is all about, the purpose of why it was written, and its goal. It’s there to guide us. It’s our owner’s manual, map, and encourager. Full of stories of people’s failures, successes, words of wisdom, warnings of stupidity, and steps of direction. Problem is it doesn’t come with its own CD in the back of the book that we can take out and plug in to download all the information into our heads and hearts. It still is and always be a manual entry.

Manual, Emmanuel interesting closeness to the two words. God with us. That’s all it takes is getting into His word to get the things needed to do His will, to walk as He walked, to guide our steps, mouth, and heart. Taking with us as we dive in to what He has to say the willingness to apply what we learn. A smorgasbord of information, the multi-vitamin of our soul that requires a manual entry on our part to take in and digest what God has to say and apply it thoroughly through in our lives. Our steps have been ordered. The question is “are we ready to walk the walk?” Join with me in listening for one more echo from my heart. A prayer I wrote once that suits us all:

Today Dear Lord

Today Dear Lord, I commit myself, soul, body, affairs, family, friends to Your care.
Mould me wholly into the image of Jesus as a potter forms clay.
Let no evil this day soil my thoughts, words, hands, nor heart.

May I view all things in the mirror of eternity, waiting for the coming of You my Lord.
As I listen for the sound of the last trumpet call.
May I speak each word as if my last utterance
and walk each step as if my final stride.
If my life should end today,
Let this be my best day.

I love You Father God,
Your daughter, Karen


Our host this week is Lori. I’ll shut up now so you can get over there and read and share at All You Have to Give with others on today's quote. Remember to into God's word and stay there!