Obtaining Mercy

Taking Captives, First Thing This Morning

Do you ever wake up, before your feet even hit the floor, and feel defeated?  Or sad?  Or angry?  Or despondent?

It's not a good way to start the day, is it?

For me, the two things that can start my day off in a very negative way are pain and dreams.  This morning, it was a dream.  About Isaac.  About someone hurting Isaac. 

I woke up angry and sad and feeling unequal to the task of starting a brand new day.

These are the mornings that I must immediately begin to practice the truths of Scripture, particularly this one:

 

II Corinthians 10:5 "Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"

 

Bad dreams are not reality.  They are imaginations.  And if they are contrary to reality, they are contrary to the knowledge of God.  They must be brought into captivity.

 

How can we bring a thought into captivity?

1. Ask the Lord to remove the images from your memory.
2. Pray for forgiveness of any waking thoughts or fantasies that could have encouraged the dreams.
3. Deliberately refuse to relive the scenes of the dream in your mind.
4. Begin to quote Scripture or sing a song of praise to focus your mind on true things.
5. As soon as possible, find time to read God's Word so that the Lord can fill the emptiness left by the dream you have cast down.

I know these seem very simplistic, but this is the only process I have found to combat the negativity that can overwhelm me when I wake from a nightmare.

Finally, let me encourage you that today can be a day of victory and peace for you.  You simply must ask the Lord for courage to face the day, resting fully in the truth of the Word:

 

Joshua 1:8-9 "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."

 

Those are bold words, aren't they?

Let's begin our day by trusting in these promises of God...by leaving behind the things that weigh down our spirit...and by meditating on His Word to find the good courage that will lead us to success!

I am praying that you have a great day, despite the way it started,

Alesha

Just My Thoughts on Family

Family is family is family. 

Nothing should break that bond, lessen that love, remove that responsibility. 

God has placed us in our familial circle for a reason.  Let us love one another with the love of Christ, and move through our trials together. 

The prodigal knew the Father's love was unconditional before he ever left his home. 

May our homes and families be havens of forgiveness and support for those who have believed Satan's lies and walked away from the ways of truth and righteousness. 

We do not love the sin, but we must continue to love the sinner in ways that are honest, tangible and safe for our other family members.  For example, we do not expose our children to sin or to danger while we work with a wayward loved one. 

It is not an easy task.  It is not a frivolous decision.  But it IS showing God to the world when we love as He loves.

For the truth of the matter is...the next family member who is in need of unconditional love may be you or me!

 

 "Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
 "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
 "For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself."  Galatians 6:1-3

 

 

Thank You

Thank you so much for praying for me yesterday.  The MRI went well.

The tech would not let me bring my iPod in with me.  She said it would "fry" it.  As I swung my feet up on the end of the bed and felt my shoes being pulled down to the magnet - I totally believed her!!!  I also said, "Hey, I feel that in my shoes!"  She quickly removed them and said, "Who would've thought you had metal in your shoes?!!"

I was able to have an "open" MRI, which was a blessing.  I had never seen one before, and as I lay there listening and feeling the giant magnets pelt my body with...(what...magnetism?!!)...I kept thinking "I need to ask to take a picture of this machine!"

But in the end, I chose not to subject my phone/camera to the magnetic field!  I would hate to ruin my phone while trying to get a picture of that thing!!!

If you've never seen one, imagine a stack of 3 pancakes...but the 2nd pancake is missing.  That's what it reminded me of.  Then they put you on a moving table, slide you in, and you become the 2nd pancake! :)

It was loud.  It was mind-blowingly vibrate-y.  But it was tolerable.  I've seen Isaac go through medical tests and procedures that are so much worse.  I kept reminding myself of that when I opened my eyes and saw the top "pancake" just inches above my nose.  Then I just closed my eyes really quickly and "sang" in my head.

My doctor should have the results of the MRI by next week.  I will be making an appointment to see him then.

Thank you, again, for praying for me.

Blessings,

Alesha

Just Asking a Little Favor

 

Good morning!  I do have a lovely blog planned about mine and Doug's day out last week; but I just want to pop in to ask you to remember me in prayer today.  I go for an MRI on my back this afternoon.  I have my "MRI Playlist" ready on my iPod. ;)  I'm hoping it won't be too traumatic!  Thanks friends.  ~Alesha

Listening for the Shepherd

The little lamb was caught in the thicket. 

The roar of a nearby lion had sent him scurrying, and in his fear he ran away from the Shepherd. 

He ran blindly, not heeding the Shepherd's call, until the branches pressed close and blocked his path to safety.  The thorns jabbed, piercing his tender skin, drawing blood that stained his white wool an ugly reddish-brown.

He cried out, willing the Shepherd to hear his feeble "Baa!  Baa!"; but no help came. 

He floundered a bit, trying to gain ground to move through the hedge that surrounded him; but the brambles held him tight. 

He waited...too tired to continue struggling.  His panting eased, and he rested in the midst of the brier. 

He knew the Shepherd would come.  He had no doubt.  He trusted his Shepherd. 

Within a few short moments darkness fell.  At first the silence was frightening, but then the night creatures began to sing their nocturnal refrain, crickets and frogs in unison with the occasional melody of the whiporwill. 

He stilled then, as he thought of his Shepherd, remembering nights of snuggling at His side within the safety of the sheepfold.  He pushed his fears aside, for he knew his Shepherd would come.

The cold of the night began to penetrate his wooly coat, and he shivered in the gloom of the night. 

He soon noticed the sounds of other beasts in the night: the bellow of a bear sounded loud in his ear.  The howl of the wolves echoed eerily along the valley floor.

He trembled violently as he wondered what terrors this night held for him; but he calmed once again, as he thought of his Shepherd.  The One who had led him to this place.  The One who met his every need.  The One who had killed many wild beasts that had threatened his flock.

No, he would not fear the darkness of this night, because he knew, beyond a doubt, his Shepherd was near.  The Shepherd would come for him.  The Shepherd would rescue him out of the blackness of this night.  He trusted the Shepherd.

He squirmed a bit, seeking a small place of relief from the pain of the thorns, and settled himself into the heart of the hedge.  He quieted himself and listened, not for the sound of wild beasts, nor to the howling winds that blew through the valley.

Calmly, while the darkness pressed in around him, he listened for the Voice of the one he knew best. He listened for the Voice of his Shepherd.

 

 

 

2012 Goal Planning - A Beginning

Sigh...

I'm pretty sure that this blog will reveal waaaaay more information about my weird psyche that any of you ever wanted to know...so I begin this post with some trepidation. 

I'm not really worried that you won't like me after reading it; but I'm pretty sure you will be thinking, "Yep...I knew she was a bit strange!"

Heh heh heh...

Today, I was finally able to find some quiet time to work on my list of goals for the year 2012.

I have 4 typed pages, in outline form.  I know!  It's a lot.  That's one of the reasons I dragged my feet about beginning this project; but I am very glad I persevered with it. 

I'm not going to show you a picture of those pages, because I feel like it's just too personal.  I will, however, share with you the categories that I came up with.  I read 3 other blogs, to see what categories they started with.  In every case, they were not exactly what I needed for my goals.

Setting yearly goals is a very personal thing, isn't it? 

Case in point, my husband made his goals for 2012 quite clear when he hung this cartoon on the refrigerator:

You can be SURE that I included his resolution in my list of goals, as well!!!

These were my categories:

1. Personal
2. Residential

I found that everything else fit into those two headings.  I have many subheadings under these two categories.

Under "Personal", I included the following:

1. Spiritual
2. Physical
3. Emotional
4. Marital
5. Parental
6. Familial
7. Relational
8. Ministerial
9. Recreational
10. Vocational

Under the "Residential" group, I included these subheadings:

1. Financial
2. Nutritional
3. Ornamental
4. Agricultural

I think most of those are self-explanatory, except for "ornamental".  I was really stretching there, trying to find a word that ended in "-al" that meant all the improvements I'd like to make around the house this year.  I used my thesaurus, even, to come up with that one, but I was pretty pleased when I found "ornamental"!

By the way, don't let "agricultural" conjure up visions of acres of land, tractors and grazing cattle.  My goals under that were as follows:

1. Plant two vegetable/herb plants in the spring
2. Water plants every day
3. Find organic fertilizer for plants

It's ok to start small, yes?

This is actually the first time that I have ever done such extensive goal-setting.  I will be very interested towards year's end to see how I have done.  I am really looking forward to making progress on all of them, though!

I also picked a theme for this year, and a Bible verse to go along with it.  I had to have a starting place before my ideas would start to flow.  Once the Lord gave me those, I was ready to begin.

My theme for this year is "Fear Not!", and my theme verse is the following:

Isaiah 43:1 -

"But now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not:  for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine."

Well, I think I've got a pretty good foundation laid for this coming year.  I pray that I will pursue these things faithfully, as I feel the Lord has laid them out before me.  I hope, too, that I can let go of anything that might hinder me from following them. 

As always, I will keep in mind to hold my plans loosely, should the Lord decide they need rearranging at some point during the year.  In fact, I'm almost certain this list will evolve as the months pass.  Maybe I'll accomplish so many things that I have to add on others to carry me through to December of 2012!

I'd love to hear how you go about planning for the new year.  Please leave a comment and share your ideas with me.

Fear not in 2012,

Alesha