Faithful Moments

Thought for the Week-Inventory

Good Morning Girlfriends!

Have you ever had a job that required you to take an inventory of your merchandise?  Taking inventory is an extremely tedious task.  You have to be meticulous about cataloging everything, to be sure that you missed nothing and didn't leave anything out.  You must count items and check those items off of a list, and in many cases, check them off of a master list of some sort as well.  Now, let me ask you: Have you ever taken a internal inventory?  Have you ever taken a look at the items stocked in your personal shelves located in your heart?  Items like selfishness, pride, vanity, unforgiveness or just your everyday meanness?  This notion of a personal or internal inventory has been rolling around in my head for several days.  To be perfectly honest with y'all...it's making me uncomfortable.

I don't like looking at those items that I have shoved way back in the back recesses of my heart.  I don't like thinking that those items are taking up space on my shelves.  I prefer to look at the nice and neat and orderly "store front windows" that everyone else can see.  But, just like businesses that need to take an inventory, so too, do we.

Let's see what the Book has to say about this.  "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:8-9.  You see, we if say that these store front windows that we present to everyone is the truth, or the real us, we are really only kidding ourselves.  Everyone around us knows we aren't perfect, and God certainly knows that we aren't perfect.  The trouble is admitting that we're not.  Admitting (confessing) it means, we have to take a look, or an inventory of the ugly stuff: the greed, the pride, the selfishness, the meanness, and lay it all out there.  We have to be real.  Transparent.  Vulnerable.  That is difficult.

Now, to go along with all the yuck...here's the good: did you see the part about God forgiving us?  God knows all of our secrets.  He knows the skeletons that are in our closets.  He knows the struggles we fight daily and the ones that only show up every now and again.  He knows which ones of us are sharp-tongued and quick-witted, so that words fly like knives at unsuspecting victims.  He knows which ones of us are so tied to technology that the wires connecting their gadgets serve as their lifelines, so that they forget the actual people around them.  He knows which ones of us are clinging with both hands to bitter unforgiveness, and projecting those hurts onto others.  He knows all of this, and yet, He still loves us, and will still forgive when we ask Him. 

No one really likes to take inventory.  It's a tedious and time consuming task, however it is totally necessary in order to keep things running smoothly.  So, let me ask you: How's your heart today?  Is it time for a little internal inventory?  Have a little sit-down with your heavenly Father today.  Invite Him in to have a look around at your messy shelves.  I promise that you'll be amazed at how well His Holy Spirit remodels!  Today, open your doors wide, stand back, and let Him in.  You'll be glad you did.  Have a great week!


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Thought for the Week-Rubber Ducky

Good Afternoon Girlfriends!

Did anyone ever watch Sesame Street?  I grew up watching Sesame Street.  I could tell you how to get to Sesame Street.  I loved to meet friendly neighbors...neighbors like Ernie...of Bert and Ernie.  Do you remember him?  Ernie had a yellow rubber duck.  He loved his rubber duck.  He even had a song.  As if the lyrics to Sesame Street weren't bad enough, now I'm going to plant the lyrics to an even more annoying song deep in your mind!  Here we go...

Rubber ducky you're the one,
You make bath time lots of fun,
Rubber ducky I'm awfully fond of you.

Rubber ducky, joy of joys,
When I squeeze you, you make noise,
Rubber ducky, you're my very best friend it's true.

Stay with me, I have a point--I promise.  When children become fearful, many have something like a rubber duck, that brings them comfort.  Sometimes it is a rubber duck that they bathe with.  Sometimes it's a blanket that they must have with them everywhere they go (all three of my children were blanket babies).  Some children have imaginary friends.  My point is that we all have had something that has brought us comfort in the past.

Now, I told you that to tell you this: I collect Nativity scenes.  I've mentioned this before.  I have Nativity scenes from all over the world.  This past Christmas, I was given a very unique, new scene to add to my collection.  It is a Rubber Ducky Nativity scene.  Ducky Mary.  Ducky Joseph.  Ducky Sheep.  Ducky Donkey.  All the other important players, and of course....Ducky Baby Jesus.  This thoughtful and unique gift made me think:

What brings us comfort?  As a child, we were easily comforted by objects: blankets, dolls, or rubber ducks.  As adults, we find it exceedingly more difficult to be comforted by objects.  What comforts you?  Money?  A house?  Your car?  Perhaps.  Read with me from 2 Corinthians 1:1-4 (NLT) "All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.  He comforts us in all our troubles so we can comfort others.  When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us." (emphasis added)  You see, as grown-ups our troubles will be greater than being afraid of the dark or being left at school for the day.  And because our troubles are greater, our source of comfort needs to be greater still.  That's where God the Father comes in.  He is the only source of comfort we need.  He sent His Son, His one and only Son to be here with us, to live with us, to die for us, and to rise again.  Then, in a stroke of sheer God-powered genius, He gave us His Holy Spirit, to comfort us until we get to see Him face-to-face.

So, what does this have to do with my Rubber Ducky Baby Jesus?  Well, Think about Ernie's song: "Rubber ducky, you're my very best friend it's true".  Now think about Jesus.  He is truly our very best friend.  He brings us comfort like no one or no thing ever can.  Are you troubled today?  Are you afraid today?  Are you lonely today?  Do you need a friend?  Can I introduce you to my Friend?  There's no one like Him anywhere.  He's loyal, faithful, and true.  He will protect you and love you--just as you are.  He's the One.  Have a great week!!




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Thought for the Week-The Force

Good Afternoon Girlfriends!!

I have some housekeeping things to attend to this week.  First of all, I'm so thankful and happy to be starting off another year with y'all!  Can I just tell you that?!  I also want to remind you that I am now available on TWITTER!  I know, super high-tech.  Don't worry if you're not totally on board with the whole Twitter-craze.  I wasn't either.  But, I've been strongly encouraged to tweet...so I am.  The only trouble is: almost no one is following me!  (Sad face)  So I thought to myself, Self, let's make it real easy for our girls to follow us on Twitter.  Voila!  https://twitter.com/#!/DallasLouis   Simply click on this link, and you will be directed to my Twitter homepage. Then it will look like lots of folks are following me!!  At least, that's how it's supposed to work!  Now, on with today's Thought...

A while back I received a phone call from one of my dearest friends.  I answered the phone, and instead of hearing Tracy's voice, I hear her wheezing for air.  I instantly became alarmed, thinking that there was something terribly wrong with her.  No.  There was nothing wrong with her.  She was laughing.  In fact, she was laughing so hard, she could not speak.  What was so funny?  Well, it seems that I am not the only one raising miniature Jedi Knights.  Nope.  She too, is bringing up a couple of Padawans.  This particular afternoon she picked her children up from school.  It seemed like a normal day, they were discussing the day: lunch room antics, science tests, spelling, this and that.  When, she glances into her rear-view mirror and sees her her oldest son staring back at her, hands raised, as though he were framing her face in a magic trick.  She didn't know what, exactly to make of this.  So she asked him,
"Sean, what are you doing?" 
"Ssshhh. Mom.  I'm Forcing you."
"You're what?"
"Mom.  Ssshhh.  I'm Forcing you.  You want to take us for ice-cream. You want to take us for ice-cream."

Even though she was thoroughly entertained and extremely impressed at the creativity used in his attempt to gain an ice-cream sundae for himself, his brother and his sister...sadly the Force didn't work.  Sean was at a loss.  It didn't stop him from trying again a couple of days later...with Sonic.  Again, disappointment.  Made me think of something else. 

Today we are going to pick up with the prophets of the pagan god Baal.  Baal was a god (notice the little "g") in the Old Testament.  He was an idol, meaning he wasn't really a god, well, he most certainly was not THE GOD.  But the people liked to think that he was.  In fact, in today's Thought, we are going to look at a portion of Scripture that highlights a showdown of sorts between Baal's prophets and God's prophet.  Any guesses as to which one comes out on top?  Baal had 450 prophets...meaning there were 450 men trying to use the Force in the passage we are about to read.  1 Kings 18:25-29, "Elijah [the good guy] said to the prophets of Baal, 'Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you.  Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.' So they took the bull...and called on the name of Baal from morning till noon...But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made...Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for evening sacrifice. But there was no response..."

What went wrong?  Well, the obvious answer is they were dancing, jumping and sacrificing to an IDOL.  They were never going to be able to call down fire on their bull.  Not in their power.  Not in their own strength.  Not even with the Force.  See, the rest of the story shows that Elijah had a bull and an altar, too.  He soaked his altar with water three times.  Then he prayed to God, the One True God, and BAM! Everything was incenerated.  Even the stones. 

So, what do we walk away with?  Hopefully, what you see is that you don't have to do things on your own.  You can't do things on your own.  Elijah was a great man of God.  But he knew the Source from which he got his strength.  You have strength and power that is yet untapped.  I just know it!  So, today don't tap the Force...tap your Source.  Open up that line of communication with your heavenly Father.  It's a new year, the lines are open and ready to get some really good conversation flowing.  Have a blessed week!!


UPDATES:

My radio show is ON THE AIR!!  This is an Internet station, Girls.  Go to www.wowradionetwork.com  You can pick your station to listen to: Top 40, Country or Lite.  Coming Soon is a Christian station.  I personally like the Country station, big surprise there!  I come on at various times throughout the day.  I'll try and get my time slot nailed down and emailed out to you by next week.  I've been coming on in the 11:00 AM hour.  Listen in.  Follow me on Twitter, because I send out Tweets when I'm on!!

My new book, The Mommy Diaries: How I'm Surviving Parenting Without Killing Anyone is coming out soon.  I still have several boxes of Girlfriends, Giggles & God here at home!!  If anyone needs a couple of books, please email me, I'd love to get rid of them, BEFORE more boxes of books arrive!!!    

Thought for the Week-Back to Work

Good Morning Girlfriends!

Happy New Year! I trust that everyone is rested and ready for the new year!  I hope and pray that each of you had a very warm and special Christmas.  We had a wonderfully relaxing Christmas.  We stayed home for the entire Christmas break for the first time in several years!  It was terrific!  New Year's was nice, and I thought things were rolling along just swimmingly, until...yesterday.  You see, the kids have been home for about two and half weeks.  Oh sure, they've had playdates.  Kids have been at my house.  My kids have been farmed out to other people's houses.  But still, the days of Christmas vacation were wearing on them.  They were becoming more restless.  Think of the animals at the zoo.  They began to pace.  In fact, they began to run...and to jump...to jump off of stairs.  Yesterday Elliott ran, and jumped off of the steps in our upstairs playroom and broke his leg.  Now, don't panic.  This is not a big deal, at least not as big of a deal as it was last year when he broke his arm.  After we dried the tears, found some ice and took some x-rays, we soon found out that are dealing with a break that will heal in about three weeks as opposed to the ten weeks from last May (through July). 

Now, I told you that story, to tell you this one: It's time to go back to work...or school, whichever boat you happen to be in.  We've had some time off, but now is the time to get back into the groove and put our noses to the grindstone, pick your cliche.  I've been holding onto this account for quite some time, just waiting for the right time to turn it lose.  Do you know how utterly amazing God's Word really is?  Can you even fathom?  I've read certain accounts so many times, I can literally see the words and the verse notation in my mind's eye.  Luke 2:1-20 is one of them.  Luke 2 is a very detailed account of the birth of Jesus.  My children recite all twenty verses for their school Christmas program every December, so about mid-October Luke 2 makes its first appearance in our home.  I hear it.  I study it.  It's written on my heart, and yet there is still something new each time I read it.  Today I pray you see it in a new light. 

God does things big.  He does.  It's who He is.  When His Son was born, He sent a multitude of angels down to announce it.  He set an enormous star in the sky over Bethlehem to guide the Wise Men from afar.  In all of His big-ness and His overwhelming greatness, He also shows great attention to detail.  Read with me, "And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid.  I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Luke 2:8-12  And then, with that one angel, there appeared a whole host of angels!  Don't you know that was a sight to behold!  How's that for a birth announcement?  Immediately the shepherds got up and went into town to see what was going on.  They found the Baby exactly as the angels said.  What does all of this have to do with going back to work?  I'm getting to that. 

Having a visit from a multitude of heavenly hosts would be something that you wouldn't easily forget.  At least, I wouldn't be able to.  Then they get up and truck it on into town and see the Baby that was told to them.  My mind would've exploded and my eyes would've popped right out of my head.  But not these shepherds.  Girls, they were there.  They went to the manger.  They knelt before the King of Kings.  They worshipped Him in His purest form.  Then...."The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told." Luke 2:20 (emphasis added)  The shepherds went back to work.  They witnessed this miracle, the key to salvation, and yet, they returned--they went back to work. 

So, what about you?  What have you witnessed?  Are you back at work?  Are you praising God?  Are you thinking right now: But, I'm nobody special...who am I to give a witness to anything?  Let me stop you right there for a moment, did I mention that shepherds in Biblical times weren't really considered the most reliable witnesses or sources of information...yet, here we are more than 2000 years later reading about their testimony to birth of our Savior.  I want to offer you some encouragement today: God does BIG things with small starts.  God wrapped His awesome and unimaginable glory and power in the tiny, soft and vulnerable package of a newborn Baby.  That Baby was the BIGGEST thing to ever hit mankind.  Don't second-guess God's plan for you.  It was no accident that God spoke first to the shepherds...unreliable...outcasts of society...but it worked.  They went away praising God.  I challenge you to go back to work today.  Praise Him.  Be His witness.  Have a blessed week!

Please pray for me this week: The Mommy Diaries goes to print this week!!  My new Publicist starts my campaign this week--pray she is able to make some really good and strong connections for The Mommy Diaries.
If I can pray for you, please let me know!

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