Setting the temperature

For the past two years I have been on a journey of change. In some ways I feel like I’m being transplanted like a pot plant from one pot to another. To do that you need to uproot the plant from its familiar pot and soil and move it across into new, unfamiliar. Even if is a good thing for a plant it is still unsettling and can take some time to get used to. In between the two pots the plant has nothing but air surrounding the roots. That’s exactly where I feel I am right now: mid air with nothing solid beneath my feet.

I’m challenged with many of my paradigms, realizing many new ways of viewing the world, myself and God and also having to make many choices: choices about my attitude, my identity, my point of view vs the Truth of God’s Word, who I used to be vs. who I want to be... Sometimes it can feel a little overwhelming. But one thing I do know is that I still choose to be a thermostat (rather than a thermometer) even if it takes a while to get there.

Andie, a friend of a blogger friend of mine, explains it well. This is a guest post written by her. I loved what she had to say. Enjoy it with me!

I am reading the book, God’s Power to Change Your Life, by Rick Warren. Tonight, I read the following paragraph.

Are you a thermostat or a thermometer? You are one or the other.
A thermometer registers the temperature. It simply reflects its environment, whether it’s hot or cold.
A thermostat, on the other hand, controls the temperature. It influences its environment; it sets the standard.
Which are you-a thermometer or a thermostat?

I have been pondering this question and feel stuck in self-analysis like a person gets stuck in quicksand.

Making changes in a person’s life isn’t as easy as turning up the heat or clicking on the AC. I wish it was. Don’t you?

People just don’t just magically change. We have to make the DECISION to change our lives. For example, as I got older I gained a lot of weight. I knew how to eat right and how to exercise property. I just didn’t do it. I was a thermometer on the beach of laziness.

Recently, I started to lose a lot of weight. Why? Because I made the DECISION to do it and am following through with what it takes. I feel more like a thermostat every day, setting a standard for myself and a temperature that feels just right. I’m trying to do this with other aspects of my life as well. I want to be better, to do better, to be kinder and gentler, and to be a better communicator regardless of my environment; to be more like a thermostat set on a comfortable 75.5 degrees.

Which are you – a thermometer or a thermostat? Is it time to change the temperature?

Mobile accessibility: blog on the run

A while ago someone contacted me requesting that I look at ways to make my blog more accessible for the mobile/cell phone community. The web version is so cumbersome that he was unable to post a comment. Aah! How disappointing!

It made me realize that many people might be using their cell phone instead of a laptop. Because I mostly use my laptop I didn’t think of it that way. Therefore finding a solution could actually mean broadening my audience.

So I am happy to let you know today that I have found something AND it works. Tested and approved!

Just to be safe I will give both options of how you can do it:

Firstly, I’ve selected this setting for my blog: On mobile devices, show the mobile version of my template. By this I understand then that when you open my blog on your mobile device it should show you the appropriate version. This is what it should look like:

If it is not what you see (1) please let me know, and (2) I encourage you to use the second option: Add the mobile blog address to your favorites: www.creativelee.blogspot.com/?m=1

Option two is what I’ve opted for on my own phone so I KNOW that one works. Not only does it make viewing the blog that much easier, it also simplifies comments – reading them and leaving one of your own.

No more excuses, WG! ;) I’ll be keeping an eye out for your contribution :)

If anyone still find that they have a problem please let me know so that I can look into it.

Enjoy the read! And don't forget to drop me a line. No more excuses ;)

What lies behind

Thought for the day

There is nothing that I can do to change the past, but I can let it go to make room for a beautiful future.

Phil 3:13 ~ No, dear brothers, I am still not all I should be but I am bring all my energies to bear on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God is calling us up to heaven because of what Christ Jesus did for us.

Prayer

Lord, things don’t always work out the way I anticipate, and sometimes not the way I want it at all. It is hard when we do not understand. I am comforted by the fact that you understand all things, and you are with me every step of the way, even in the mistakes that I make. Above all things you know the heart of every person and you still have a good plan if we would be willing to journey with you.

I don’t believe in coincidence, accidents or luck, but I do believe in a divine God who holds my future securely in His hand, just like He does me – a God who is very much concerned with every detail of my life because He loves me, and nothing can ever separate me from that, no matter how hard things may get.

In the middle of my trial you still tell me 365 times in your Word not to be afraid; not to be dismayed because You are God. I am chosen and called by name; I am yours and your Word stands forever! In rivers of difficult I will not drown and flames from fires of oppression will not consume me. When it is hard you are right there, upholding me with your victorious right hand.

When I cannot see what is up ahead I feel tempted to grab a hold of what used to be because it is familiar and comforting in a way. Help me instead to not spend my time trying to understand what is in the past or why something happened as it did. I don’t have control over it, neither can I change it. Help me to rather learn what it is that you want to teach me right now, right where I am.

I thank you for your faithfulness and your steadfast love and kindness. When I am weak, You are strong in me. Because you are my shepherd I have everything I need! Thank you for all you are, and all you do for me, Lord. Thank you that I can have hope because of You. You work all things together for my good.

In Jesus’ Name
Amen

If you will humble yourself...

James 4:10
- AMP: Humble yourselves [feeling very insignificant] in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you [He will lift you up and make your lives significant].
- NLT: Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
- MESSAGE: ...Get down on your knees before the Master; it's the only way you'll get on your feet.

I used to think about this verse mainly in context of a promotion in my workplace. I used to think that if I’m humble and I do the tasks that have been assigned to me to the best of my ability, as if unto the Lord, that God would make sure that I move up the corporate ladder, so to speak. I can’t remember a time that I have ever really thought of this in another context. So what to do if you are not in an employment situation? Does this verse then become irrelevant?

This verse has been on my heart a lot the past few weeks. I’ve been feeling very prompted about surrendering my will to God. Where I find myself is not where I want to be. I think it is safe to say that I’ve been fighting God a lot of the way. I’ve just been wanting out and maybe I’ve not been paying attention to what needs to be accomplished before God lets me out.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what Maria (Jesus’ mother) said when the angel told her about her pregnancy. “Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be done to me according to what you have said.” (Luke 1:38) God gave her the greatest assignment ever. She was to carry the Son of God in her womb and give birth to him on earth so that God’s plan of salvation could eventually be executed. But it was not quite all rainbows and lollipops.

She was going to be a pregnant virgin – no one was going to believe her (“yeah, RIGHT! Pregnant AND a virgin...”) – her fiancé (the man that she loved) was not going to understand it and it was going to upset their relationship – the community could have stoned her for being pregnant outside of wedlock – she was going to have to deal with all of this coming her way and not feel condemned as they gossip behind their hand. In Maria’s world she wasn’t just saying yes to being pregnant, she was giving up her plan and saying, “Ok, Lord. Let’s do it your way.”

She humbled herself and surrendered her plan - she trusted the Lord.

I keep thinking that Holy Spirit is telling me the same thing, but I find myself not quite as brave and noble as Maria. What if God does something that I don’t like..? Anyone else ever felt that way? Yet, I know with my head that He is a good God, a loving Father and that He does nothing other than act out of love and kindness. I don’t even know what the plan is, but yet I want to feel in control. I don’t know where I’m going, but I want to drive...

I think one of the things I’m learning in this season is to let God have His way in my life. Sometimes humbling yourself means to forgive that person that you’ve been angry with for so long, or staying put when all you want to do is run away, or to do the simple things when you rather want to do the things that seem more important to you – the things that make you seem or feel more important.

Sometimes it means spending your money on something other than what you had originally planned because you feel prompted in your heart, or maybe not doing or buying something that you really had your heart set on. Sometimes it might be telling someone something that is hard for you to say – whether a compliment or a rebuke – but obeying Holy Spirit’s leading.

It doesn’t matter whether your obedience takes you to a geographical location or an emotional or spiritual one, but rather it is believing it enough that God loves you and always has your best interest at heart and being set free by that to follow where and how He leads you in obedience. Maybe I need a deeper revelation of His love for me.

When you do humble yourself and follow God’s way He says that He will lift you up. Maybe this means a promotion in a job. Maybe it means a job after not having one. Maybe it means a deeper relationship because of what was restored by your obedient act, or just greater emotional or spiritual freedom or wholeness. Maybe it means feeling joy again after carrying a burden for so long and finally letting it go. Maybe it means you finally learning the next step to move forward after having waited on the Lord for a long time, having had to grow in your faith that He would come through even if you didn’t know when or how.

Maybe sometimes the answer does not lie in knowing the next step, but in humbly submitting to God, seeing His face for what He wants to accomplish IN you during your season of surrender, so that He can lift you up in His time and His way, and so you may be ready for whatever He has prepared for you.

God knows details of our future that we don’t. One thing we can look forward to on the other side of our humbling ourselves is the encouraging promise of being lifted up – a promise of a God whose Word endures forever, a God who is not a man that He would lie and a God for whom no time is wasted time - a God who says that I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Maybe God is waiting for me to humble myself rather than me waiting for Him to uplift me...

Sing Me a love song

When I just sit down and think about songs that I used to sing when I was a child I can’t really think of any. But more recently I’ve been so blessed with songs sung by my three year old niece. Out of the mouths of babes... Even though I couldn’t think of them, I would recognize them when she was singing them, and I would remember.

On the days when I have been feeling very low and struggling to have faith to hold myself up and stay focused on God and His Word, she would be walking through the house singing children songs of faith, God’s love and His greatness – ever so innocently – just singing a song.

Maybe to her it was (is) just a song, but the lyrics are actually scriptural, so in effect she was (is) singing the Word and, without her knowing it, Holy Spirit has been ministering to me when I felt too low to hold on to the Truth myself, too discouraged or overwhelmed.

Most times those simple songs would then get stuck in my mind and would catch myself singing them unintentionally, but after a while I would feel encouraged. They would also remind me of other scriptures that say similar things and so I would start to rise up.

I can understand why Jesus said “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3 and “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Mark 10:14

Sometimes it is just that simple.

As a worshiper I have learnt the value of worship songs that are based on the Word of God. Many mornings I have woken up with one in my heart and the lyrics would have a special meaning for me; as if God wanted to tell me something specific for the day.

Or, during times when I’ve felt low and I don’t know what to pray, those songs have been my prayers and my worship, lifting me up as I lift up the Name of the Lord. The Lord inhabits the praises of His people or He is enthroned by the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). It is impossible to lift up the Lord and not be uplifted yourself.

Also, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17), whether you speak it or sing it... So sing your heart out!

I encourage anyone to get yourself some good worship music, based on the Word of God and anointed by Holy Spirit. Worship wins the war.

Let’s sing a new song unto the Lord!