Where is my focus?

I am a perfectionist, no doubt.  I am a girl who wants it figured out, all of it.  My mind spins around daily trying to figure just about anything out, but I would have to say the thing I try and figure out the most is WHY AM I NOT SETTLED, WHAT IS IT THAT IS MISSING?

I feel a unsettling feeling in my heart usually.  I go round and round in my brain thinking, what is it?  What do I need to figure out to make this feeling go away??

Well, ya know what, I think I am realizing that there is nothing for me to figure out.  For heavens sake I need to let go of control and seek God.  I need to change my focus.  This is a huge refreshing revelation for me today.  It's not like I do not know that.  Walking with Jesus since 2003, almost 10 years, I do know that my focus is not to be on myself but on Him...on things of heaven.

Seek His will in all you do and He will direct your paths.  Proverbs 3:6 (NLT)

So really as I go through the day, and I really need to work on this daily, starting now, I need to constantly refocus on Jesus.

Heidi Bylsma has said a good tool in helping with this and she sets her timer to go off every hour and checks in with Jesus and asks Him if He is the focus and just refreshes her focus.  

None but Jesus.  He must be all in all and my total focus...when I do this and when anyone who has asked Him into their hearts does this, we will be renewed and that uneasy feeling that something is wrong will be soothed by Him, the ultimate comforter.

More later...Love to you!

Kim :)

Lets Be Real, Kim...

I think ok, when I am writing this blog it seems so positive and so all about God.  But lets be real, Kim.  Do you really feel this way and live this way?  I mean, seriously, how can it always be like that.

Well I question that sometimes.  I want to be honest, I do.  But then over and over I continue hearing the words in Scripture that I have read that says what to think about.  Over and over again it turns out that it is Jesus, God, His Holy Spirit, all about Him, that is where I am to park my thoughts...my life, everything I've got in me.  So as much as I want to question and not do that or think I am doing something wrong, I simply am not.  I am training myself to think about God so that He can transform me and my thoughts, renewing my mind to His.

Jesus is my life.  I am learning to flesh this out and not be legalistic, but real, authentic and enjoy this journey as I learn to figure it all out, or maybe not figure out.

Hear this...

More later...Love to You!
Kim :)

True Satisfaction

Yesterday I missed my quiet time.  I wanted to squeeze in whatever I could hear from God that day so that I knew He was still with me and guiding me.  And He showed me just what I needed to hear yesterday.  He showed me I could rest.  Stop grabbing for things to try and give ME what I needed.  As I listened to K-Love and driving along Scenic Highway after taking my children to school...the morning show hosts were talking.  Someone called in and was talking about how she was newly married, 18 years old, and was working this new job she just started.  She was working 50 hours a week and was finding it difficult not to become angry that she was working so much and could not spend time with her husband.

Then...

She remembered that she had prayed for a full time job.  Wow.  What she was living was an answered prayer.

Then the host said this.  That goes to show that even when we pray for things and we get them, and we STILL are not satisfied, that we realize where our true satisfaction comes from.  What we were created to be finding our only satisfiaction in.

JESUS.

 

Do you need to hear today that HE is your only satisfaction.  Him alone.  Are you seeking for something to satisfy your deepest longing and just cannot seem to make it happen yourself?  It seems strange to the world to think that.  Heck even I keep asking for things, get them, and then realize its NOT what I really wanted to begin with.  Its all temporary and false.  He is the only real thing.  I need a fresh reminder of this moment by moment.  

Ask Him to satisfy your every longing today, join me in doing that.  How quickly I seem to forget.  

Lord meet us where we are and help us allow You to be our only source of satisfaction and to desire you more each moment.  In Jesus Name, Amen

Listen...

More later...Love to you!

Kim :)

I. Matter.

The little voice in my head...........for as long as I can remember.............the lies of the enemy...........says.......

You don't matter.

Well guess what.  I matter.  And.  You matter too.  Completely.  Listen to these words to you today.  Then look up to Him and allow Him to speak to your heart.



Love to you,
Kim :)

I'm Workin' in the Home Wednesday

To plan or not to plan, that is the question.  Heard of that quote before..."to fail to plan is to plan to fail?"  It is important to have a plan, not a legalistic list of things or anything, but a loose plan/schedule/structure for our home and family.  This will cause thriving and not chaos.

Why oh why though do I try and control and think I have it all in order and can relax, only to realize that I do not.  Hello!  I need to use the plan/schedule that I created when reading the e-book Tell Your Time.

Fail.  That is what happens when there is no plan.  Things fail or falls apart.  I have a very, very loose schedule for the day now and I do not like to even think about it during the day, it just stays planted in the back of my mind somewhere where I think..."I'll think of it some time or some day."  The reason I do not like to think about it is because I am too focused on wanting to "enjoy" my time and relax and not think about things to do.  (Note there is a scripture that talks about living for pleasure, it doesn't work.)  This seems to trick me though because when I do the plan or stick more closely to the schedule I make, then I have more time to relax and enjoy and when I do it that way I can see all the fruits of my sticking to the schedule by having the home look more organized and clean and have the kids relaxed because their sweet mommy stuck to what she said she was going to do.

This week is going well with my 15-minute cleaning.  Monday was the kitchen.  Yesterday was the bathrooms.  Amazing I was able to spray down each shower and while it soaked I cleaned each sink in our 2 bathrooms, toilets wiped well with Lysol wipes and the floors all wiped down with Lysol wipes...then went back and scrubbed out the showers/tubs and wala, actually right before I was done the timer went off so it probably took me 16 or 17 minutes.  Still, I was like, wow!  Now to make this a habit, hehe!  Today, is the living room.  (Funny laugh out loud moment, I don't even know if this is the right order I wrote on my blog that I was going to follow OR if it is even the same as I wrote on my schedule I wrote down on paper...I just picked a room and said, Ok!)

So I have my schedule all written down.  Before making the schedule though she has you go through what your priorities are and figure out what things are fixed and what things are negotiable.  It was an amazing little journey to go through it and answer all of the questions.  Now to just do it.  Stumble through starting to work the schedule, even though my perfectionist brain wants to do it perfectly, which is another reason I probably have not started honestly trying to live it.  Then I will make progress.  That is what I am going to do.

Here is to sticking to a schedule more closely today (or going now to pray about a schedule for your home and family and how God would see you to do that), so that at the end of the day we can say we were good stewards of our time.

More later...Love to you!

Kim :)

Sit Still Long Enough

Sit still long enough for it to penetrate.  What is IT?  It is whatever God is doing in me at any given moment, God's Word.  It needs to penetrate deep in me so that His work can be accomplished in me and He can change me from the inside out.  If I don't sit still long enough and keep moving before I have grasped something He is teaching me, then I am setting myself up once again to miss what He has.  No more!

It's time once again to remember, complete dependence on Jesus and to be still.  Bloom where I am planted.  It really is the best thing in the world, for me, and for each person God is working in.  To be still and let Him work.

Take some time today to be still and listen to His still small voice.......

More later...Love to you!
Kim :)

10 Million Things

There are 10 million things I could write about right now it seems.  This morning the battle in my mind I cannot being to explain.  It is amazing how crazy it can be on the inside when on the outside we can appear just fine.  Crazy I say!

So today there are a few things I want to chat about.  One is that Monday is for the kitchen!  So today I plan to set my timer and I will move all things off floor and sweep and mop.  Then I will wipe cabinets with soapy cloth and feel so refreshed because I love a good clean kitchen floor!  You know there are those things in your house, where for you, when it is done it is all good.  It feels like your house is clean.  But if "it" is not done, then it seems so dirty and chaotic.  Well that is my "it"...the kitchen floor.

So if you ever feel overwhelmed about your house and you don't know where to start...search your heart a minute, take a mental walk around your house and find that one thing.  What is it for you that when it is done/clean/organized you feel better and at ease?  Is it your kitchen sink, kitchen floor, ring around that toilet, bathroom counters wiped off, clutter picked off the floors in the house...?

The next thing is this.  When my mind is frazzled and 10 million things are running around...God reminded me this morning to stop, take my focus off of myself and towards Him, and praise Him.  Ask Him for His plans for me in my mind and in my day.  Keeping myself focused on myself is not going to help me at all.  

I made a short list that can be so super infinity long about God and all He is to me and all He is period.  Those things included:  Lover of my soul, my perfect provision, Creator of all things, I'm the apple of His eye, the most awesome sky I saw when I walked out my front door this morning, He made that!  Then I went on and made a list of who I am in Him.  If I get all mixed up in my head and forget who I am in Him, that is wasting time, ack!!!  Remind me so many times that again and again, and I will continue to need reminding.  I am MORE than a conqueror through Him, I am the apple of His eye, I am dead to sin and alive in Christ!!  I am a child of the living God!!  He lives in me!  I am a new creation!  AMAZING.

So now to restart my day and freshen up.  Reminders to myself, I do NOT have to have a perfect day.  This day will not be perfect.  If I try and go by my plans especially, it will not be perfect.  I will always be in His sight and in His hand.

Psalm 139:10 ..."even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me."

Can I pray for you today?  

More later...Love to you!

Kim :)

I Can't Go Far on My Own

I can't go far without Jesus.  Now that my life is His, I need to learn to let go of control and let Him lead.  I have a mind that goes 90 to nothing throughout the day.  Learning to tune in to His voice and not my own is a challenge indeed and an area I am weak in.  I will boast in that weakness though.  I can't go far on my own.

Isaiah 30:21 says:
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

Daily surrender.  Daily choose.  Who am I living for today?  If I try and pick up the reigns in the beginning of a day and set out to do "my" plan, I am going to be a bit confused and not have peace.  If I start my day saying good morning Jesus today is yours and I choose You today, to die to self, and carry my cross and follow "Your" plan, things will go great!

I can run myself in circles all the day long and longer, just like the Israelite's did going an 11 day journey and taking 40 years.  I sure hope, Lord, that I can make my trip MUCH shorter than that and pick up on things much quicker, more of You and less of me.

John 3:30
He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

More later...Love to you!
Kim

Faithful in the Small Things

I say to God, about this blog and writing which I feel led and drawn to do and enjoy, how can "I" do this?  I am not good at it.  I don't know all about blogging and there are so many more ladies that are better at it than me...and on and on and on I go with my words and the enemies lies.

Luke 16:10
If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.  But if you are dishonest in little things, you won't be honest with greater responsibilities.

That was my answer.  Kim, if you are faithful in using your little bit of talent in writing now, then later you will be honest and ready for bigger things.  I know this applies to all areas of life, if I am faithful in little things then when bigger things come, I will be faithful in them too.

More later...Love to you!
Kim :)

Think About These Things~God's Makeover

In walking with Jesus and letting Him give me the makeover from the inside out, the mind is something that really needs work.  Renewing the mind so that it is how He wants it (which is much better, the best actually, than what I myself could make it).  So today this verse is on my mind a lot:

Philippians 4:8  (MSG)
Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.

Today I tried thinking about what I was thinking about.  I learned that phrase from Joyce Meyer.  I have heard that whatever you think about is what you become.  The scripture that says, as a man thinketh in his heart so is he...well it is amazing the things that go through my mind.  But it was also amazing to be able to think about what I was thinking about, and as soon as something came to my mind that was not good I immediately said, God take that thought, and He did and it was hard work, but I tell you what, I have so much peace in the midst of this day its great, thank you Lord!!

This is part of having God as my personal trainer, actually a pretty big part.

Romans 12:2 says this (Message version) Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking.  Instead, fix your attention on God.  You'll be changed from the inside out.  Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it.  Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

That is definitely something that isn't part of a regular "diet" plan given to us in the world, your mind.  So I challenge you who want to be made over from the inside out, let God get ahold of your mind, minute by minute throughout the days.  Transformation happens.

Here is Joyce talking about "Think about what you are thinking about"...listen as you can.



So how do I do this throughout my day.  I try and bring God into my moments throughout the day and ask His opinion and His thoughts on each thing I do...talking to Him in my heart all day long, consciously making Him my focus, like filtering everything through Him before I do it.  This takes time and work, but I am willing to go through that because it is His will and I am learning more each day.  It does get easier.  Also, like I said, I think about what I think about and say STOP, God take that thought, when I think something that I feel isn't in line with those things above, actually I haven't thought about those things in Phil 4:8 in a while, so this is a reminder to me what TO think on instead of what NOT to think on.

Lord be with whoever reads this and help them to see how awesome it is to let You renew their mind, and continue helping me learn how to do that as hard as it seems some days.  Thank you.  In Jesus Name, Amen

More later...love to you!
Kim

Live

My one word for 2012 is Live.  I keep hearing this song and today I said ok what do I need to hear from this song because I hear it...a LOT.  So I listened.  I got keyed into the word "live."  Take a listen to this song:

  

Weak and wounded sinner 
Lost and left to die 
O, raise your head, for love is passing by 
Come to Jesus 
Come to Jesus 
Come to Jesus and live! 

Now your burden's lifted 
And carried far away 
And precious blood has washed away the stain, so 
Sing to Jesus 
Sing to Jesus 
Sing to Jesus and live! 

And like a newborn baby 
Don't be afraid to crawl 
And remember when you walk 
Sometimes we fall...so 
Fall on Jesus 
Fall on Jesus 
Fall on Jesus and live! 

Sometimes the way is lonely 
And steep and filled with pain 
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain, then 
Cry to Jesus 
Cry to Jesus 
Cry to Jesus and live! 

O, and when the love spills over 
And music fills the night 
And when you can't contain your joy inside, then 
Dance for Jesus 
Dance for Jesus 
Dance for Jesus and live! 

And with your final heartbeat 
Kiss the world goodbye 
Then go in peace, and laugh on Glory's side, and 
Fly to Jesus 
Fly to Jesus 
Fly to Jesus and live! 

This song says this about living:

• Come to Jesus and live
• Sing to Jesus and live
• Fall on Jesus and live
• Cry to Jesus and live
• Dance for Jesus
• Fly to Jesus

Going to let that soak in for a while...

More later...Love to you!

Kim

(forgoing topic schedule for now)

3 in 30

I like this new challenge that I have seen on Sam's Noggin blog, I like 30 day goals, and I am going to take 3 things that I am already doing and have them as my 3 goals in 30 days.  I think this is a good way to stay on top of things that I am working on in my walk in life.

My 3 goals:

1. Finish reading the Bible in 90 Days.  This will end October 8th and by God's grace I will press on and finish it and continue hoping for a renewed relationship with the Lord and to learn things I have never learned before.
2. Focus on feeding on God's Word and my relationship with Him and not food.  Take one moment at a time and learn to recognize my true hunger signals and with His help learn to stop when I am satisfied and not grab for more food.
3. Internet breaks.  Finish reading my Bible in 90 Days reading before I "play" on the internet.  Reading email for work or quick things ok, but no playing on the internet until my reading is done.

More later...love to you...Rest in Him