Last day . . .

. . . to get your free "green grocery bag" from Hannaford. All you need to do is buy any Nature's Place product, and your re-useable bag is free!

Matters of the Heart - part 4 of ?

Let's get back to what the Word says about the heart.

The next form of the word heart we find in the Old Testament is the Hebrew word Sekviy (sek-vee) which means observant, i.e. the mind.

Of all places to find this word, we see it in the book of Job, chapter 38 and verse 36 "...who has put wisdom in the innermost part, or given understanding to the heart?" It is worth the 2 minutes it would take to read the entire chapter to get a proper context of what is being said here. Basically, Job was having some conversations with God and in chapter 38, God began to give a list of questions to Job as to what man has done, compared to what He has done. God began to prove His omniscience and man's ignorance, in comparison to it.

Keep in mind that Job had lost practically everything at the beginning of the book. He was being tested and tried, and in the end he came out with the right attitude over the test. At the end, he was restored with even more than what he started out with. But in the mean time, if anyone might develop a misunderstanding over observations, it would be Job.

Our natural thinking would question the difficulties and losses that Job faced. Our observations of the seemingly unfair and downright horrific scenario that Job endured would definitely shake our faith's strength. It would cause us to wonder if this was because of something we had done wrong, or question why God would not stop it, temper it, or allow it at all.

This reminds me of the song Blessed Be Your Name which says "You give and take away, my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be Your name!". Can we come to the place where our natural observations will not cause our faith and trust in God to waver? Consider Who it is that you are believing in. God will not be moved! We can still our minds, pull back from the observations, and remember that God knows what He's doing even though we don't have full understanding during moments of trial.

Plowing the field

The seeds are waiting, but they can't be sown yet. The time is right, but the field is not ready. Plowing needs to happen first.

Music is a means to plow up the hard ground in one's life and bring up the fertile, soft soil.

Being exposed to the presence of God through song will ready you for His many plantings.

Plowing isn't an easy process, but it is crucial for the successful sowing of those good things that God has for you.

Desire Him, embrace Him and allow songs of worship and praise to bring you into His presence and prepare the field of your life.

Journey with Heart and Cheap Trick

The concert of the summer at SPAC - August 24 - 7:00 p.m.
Be there - we will be!

Lawn and garden battle

My neighbor has one of these in her yard. When it is in bloom like this, it is time to put your fertilizer on the lawn.

We do not have any fertilizer yet, so we'll have to go pick some up and get it spread over our choppy, nasty looking lawn.

It's hard to believe that it is almost time to start mowing again.

Nutty night

If you go to a restaurant and order a salad, you get these on them (shelled, of course). And I kinda like that.

For dinner tonite, we had bar-b-q and salad. Not a vegetable salad....we had romaine lettuce with strawberries, walnut & pecan meat, cheese crumbles, and black olives topped with balsalmic viniagrette dressing. Mmm Mmmmmmm!!!

Spring has definately sprung...

I let Sparkie outside yesterday morning when we got up, and this is what I saw...
This means spring is here! We have daffodil blooms opening up, all in a row along the side of our house. It is so pretty to see their yellow faces in the midst of the brown flower beds.

The sun is shining and the temps are up. But more importantly, we are bar-b-q-ing on a regular basis again. How can you not love the spring?

So many questions . . .

- who - what - why - when - where - how -

Do you ever have questions that burn inside of you and you just have to know the answer to them? You are no different than a king. Some questions have easy answers but others seem to reamain unsolved. The daily reading source is going through Proverbs right now. Here are a couple of verses that jumped off the page at me.

"It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. As the heavens for height and the earth for depth, So the heart of kings is unsearchable." ~Prov 25:2-3

We are faced with questions and have to make decisions our whole life. Will we take the easy answer or will we rise to the glory of searching for the best answer? And there is none better to go after about them than to the omniscient God! He knows where all the best answers are concealed!

What is God's will for my life?

This is a common question or thought among anyone who is trying to live a life that honors God. Our heart thinks one thing, our mind gets analytical and reasons out another thing. There are so many choices to be made and so many opportunities in life. So how are we supposed to figure out what God's will is in all that?

Thank God we can find directions in the Word! Paul heard this same question from the people in the church in Thessolonica. As he and Sylvanus and Timothy crafted a letter to them, under the inspiration of God he penned these words:

"Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." 1 Thes 5:14-18

Sometimes we get things out of order when we are zealous for Christ. We think we should be doing work across the sea as a missionary or that we have to be a preaching machine to everyone we come across, or else we are missing God's will for our lives. Don't misunderstand, some will become evangelists or preachers. And maybe you will become one of them.

But what I am reading here is we all have the opportunity daily to be in God's will, just as we are. Isn't that great news? God sees your submission to His will in the way you treat Him and the way you treat your neighbor. It is not about a title or a position, it is about a matter of your day-to-day walk with Him and letting that example spill over into the lives of those around you.

A Greener Way

Hannaford has a deal for you! During the month of April, if you purchase any of the Nature's Place products, you can get a reuseable shopping bag for free. I have 3 of these things now and my biggest challenge is remembering to bring them to the store with me. Let's get 'em and use 'em! Thanks Hannaford.

Incredible.

When was the last time you sat down to think about your day and thought of it as being incredible? A day that is one to remember?

We had one today. After a very restful night's sleep, we woke up refreshed and ready to do the stuff we needed to do. My honey went out and got us Dunkin' Donuts coffees, we sat down and made our list and started at it. Things just seemed to flow along, while we talked things out and got things done. A couple things we wanted to do didn't work out, but that was ok. All the makeup of an incredible day, and that's how today was.

The frosting on top of the day was the fact that it was sunny and warm, even though it was forecasted to be rainy and grey. Heck, we even had bar-b-q again!

I am sitting here blogging about it. That's how apparent the incredible-ness was today. Whether you had just one or many reasons to feel this way, I hope you had a day worth remembering.

Your future...

I have been going to a blog that I am starting to really like . . . check it out - http://www.stevenfurtick.com/

I found a quote there, author unknown, that was really inspiring:
“The future cannot be predicted because it is waiting to be created.”

You can shape your future. Keep God in His rightful place. Make wise choices. Say the same things God says about things. I can't wait to see what happens! Can you?

Matters of the Heart. Part 3 of ?

Let's take a look at another verse that speaks of a matter of the heart.

Here's the picture: Saul has been chasing after David to kill him, but winds up dying with three of his sons. David gets word of Saul's death and mourns him. Not long afterwards, David is proclaimed king over Judah. The house of Saul gets weaker and David's house became stronger. However, one of the commanders of Saul's army was gaining strength. He gathered 20 men and they came to David's house. David put out a feast for the men. Here's how Abner responded to David:

2 Samuel 3:21 Abner said to David, "Let me arise and go and gather all Israel to my lord the king, that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may be king over all that your heart desires." So David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.

The word for heart in this verse is nephesh (neh'-fesh) which means an appetite, lust, pleasure.

Notice that this word is proclaimed by a man to a man. This is a purely self centered statement. There are 10 more verses which use this word. They are: Exodus 23:9; Leviticus 26:16; Deuteronomy 24:15; I Samuel 2:33; Proverbs 23:7; Proverbs 28:25; Lamentations 3:51 Ezekiel 25:6; Ezekiel 25:15 and Ezekiel 27:31.

I encourage you to take a few moments and read each of these ten verses.

Let's think about what we read and ask ourselves some questions. Does the knowledge of the meaning for the word heart (or in some versions, soul) make more sense in these verses? Is there one that seems to jump out at you? How can we become more Christ-like by reading these verses with the correct interpretation?

Bar-b-q

We drug our grill out of storage, cleaned it up and had our first Bar-b-q this year yesterday afternoon. Oh man, did that smell awesome! And it tasted so great too. Nothing is like a good bar-b-q!
I stopped at Sorrentino's in Clifton Park on the way home and got 85% ground beef and 5 specialty sausages that were seasoned and kinda tasted like taco meat when they were cooked up. I also picked up potato salad and a bag of ripple chips. Good stuff.
We LOVE to bar-b-q. Vince loves to cook up the meat and I love to not have to cook for most of the summer.
I don't think we've ever grilled this early in the year. It was time to grill - after all, it was almost 60 degrees out.

Matters of the heart . Part 2 of ?

To be completely honest with you, I thought I would find about 15 or 20 different meanings for the word "heart" in the concordance. I found several but not that many. Let's go over each, one by one.

The most common use of the word heart is the Hebrew word Leb (pronounced layb). It is used widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; the center of anything.

See it in some verses. Here is the first time it is written: in Genesis 6:5-6. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. We are certainly made in God's image, we even have the same "heart". Only man's heart is corrupted by sin; God's heart is perfect.

A story about a man's heart that I find especially interesting is in Exodus. It starts in chapter 7 and verse 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart that I may multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. Since mankind has a free will and the means to make his or her own decisions, then why would God do this to the heart of Pharaoh? It sounds like Pharaoh didn't have a will in this situation. Like he was a puppet being made to do that which God wanted. This isn't the case. God knew the heart of Pharaoh. He knew his will and intellect. He knew what was in the center of Pharaoh's intentions. Pharaoh was going to be a key player in God's means of doing His work in Egypt and freeing His people.

Here's where it becomes interesting. When Moses spoke to Pharaoh, it was God speaking to him according to Exodus 7:1. The words from God, the demands of God, and the acts of God were causing Pharaoh to resist that which God wanted from him. Hardened is defined as: to strengthen, prevail, harden, be strong, become strong, be courageous, be firm, grow firm, be resolute, be sore. Pharaoh made a choice, God hardened his heart. Or shall we say it another way - Pharaoh's heart was hardened because God's presence invaded his way of life.

Our feelings, will and intellect are such important parts of our life - this is our center. We have been given a free will that can decide as to what we are going to do with God. Sometimes He makes a move in our life or needs to bring about a change. Sometimes His ways are not what we want to have happen, or make us have to get out of our place of comfort. What will you do with God? Will you be open to Him, or will He harden you?

Matters of the heart. Part 1 of ?

Let's talk about the heart.

I guess a good place to start would be to define it. I know we all think of the heart as that muscle in a body that makes our blood flow. Dictionary.com describes it in these ways:

1. As an organ: "a hollow, pumplike organ of blood circulation..." Of course, this is only one of several descriptions.
2. We also see the word as a description of our personality: "the center of the total personality, esp. with reference to intuition, feeling, or emotion".
3. There is a place where we act on our surrounding circumstances: "a capacity for sympathy".
4. Or how about a zeal or passion: "spirit, courage, or enthusiasm".
5. The last definition I will present is: "the vital or essential part; core".

Interesting how we can have one word, but yet it has so many very different meanings. Understanding the real meaning behind the word will bring meaningful understanding when we dig and properly define it in Scripture. We will look at some biblical definitions for the word heart next time.

Stampin' Up time again

The next Stampin' Up class is on April 14th at 7 p.m.

We will be making a card and a candy holder. Let me know if you want to come!

I survived...

My teeth are clean, and I had no cavities. Hooray!

I am starting to have less anxiety over going to the dentist. Maybe it is because I've been going there for a couple of years now and the worst is over. I don't get many cavities, but I did have to get a wisdom tooth pulled last year. That was no fun! It may be a nice gesture to tell my dentist that I am starting to not hate going there as much as I used to.

Are you a dental-phob?

What is the name for this phobia?

Whatever it is called, that's the one I have.

My appointment is at 9:30.

Bye.