Love & delight

Psalm 119: 46-48

"I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, for I delight in your commands because I love them. I lift up my hands to your commands, which I love, and I meditate on your decrees."

* statutes- a record of God's stated will and give guidance and instruction. The word sometimes refers to the Ten Commandments.

* commands- words from God with a special focus on God's authority.

* decrees- a synonym for law, but with an emphasis on civil and ritual ordinances.

I was reading through Psalm 119 this morning, and had to stop when I came to these verses. It caught me off guard a little bit that the psalmist said he delights in God's commands....he loves them.

I thought to myself, why in the world would you DELIGHT or LOVE commands? Isn't that what we're always trying to avoid?

So I asked myself, "Self, do you love God's commands?"

I had to respond with a big fat negative. There are so many things that I'm commanded to do from God's Word that I would dare to say I hate even.

For example:

- "Carry each other's burdens" - Gal 6:2

- "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths..." - Eph 4:29

- "Always giving thanks to God the father for everything..." - Eph 5:20

- "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord" - Eph 5:22

- "Do nothing out of selfish ambition" - Phil 2:3

- "Do not be anxious about anything..." - Phil 4:6

- "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business..." - 1 Thess 4:11

**Whew, that last one certainly goes against Facebook any other social networking site doesn't it!?!?**

I'll stop there. I found these verse simply by flipping through my Bible and scanning some of the underlined scriptures. As I typed each of these out, I began thinking that I often come up with some pretty lame excuses about why I don't do these things.

But forget about doing them....I'm just trying to learn to love and delight in them today.

I have a feeling that if I began loving God's commands, and lifting up my hands to them as the psalmist writes, then I'll be much more likely to follow through in living them out.

Will you join me in changing our hearts and attitudes towards the commands given to us in scripture?

Let's delight in them, and love them....lifting up our hands to them out of our love.

Mr.Baby update

So the THIRD trimester is here alas, and I can't believe how quickly these past several weeks have flown by! Just sitting here today, I've been thinking about how I never really knew all that pregnant women go through. hahaha The other day I had the thought that I think the nausea during the 1st trimester and constant exhaustion, among other "changes" in a prego body takes place over 9 months to seriously prepare you for being a mommy. It somehow makes you tougher.

Lately, I've been feeling extremely huge. Like I can't bend over, roll over or stand up without making some kind of grunting sound. It's pretty humorous actually because every time I do something, Thehubs asks what's wrong...and I'm like "oh, nothing just the usual." He's probably getting tired of me by now.

I just wanted to document some of the lovely "milestones" I've gotten too here lately.

1. Some of my maternity shirts are now too short for my big belly....is that bad? lol

2. My back hurts 24/7, despite my chiropractor adjustments.

3. My hips and inner thighs feel like I've ran a marathon and pulled about 10 muscles.

4. Apparently the tingling/numbness in my right let is called Sciatica. It began at 26 weeks, 2 days and has progressed since then. It's almost a constant thing now.

5. My feet and hands began swelling this past weekend (at 27 weeks)

6. My energy level is still high, but I've seen a slight decrease since the sciatica began, and now swelling just makes me not want to stand at all.

7. Mr.baby kicks CONSTANTLY....which is a good thing, I just wish sometimes I could watch him in there. I stare at my belly often as if I can see what's going on.

I think that's about all as far as pregnancy symptoms and "milestones".

I went to the doctor last week, and passed the glucose test. YAY!! I have now officially gained a total of 9 lbs, but don't let that fool you, I lost several pounds in the 1st trimester, and it's ALL been gained in the belly!!

As far as the baby room goes-- it's STILL a guest/junk/computer room. But I'm thinking just a few phone calls (thrift store pickup & ATT to re-route the cable wires) and a few hours of cleaning out should finish the job.

Then we'll make the purchase of the crib!

Baby showers are quickly approaching. I have my 1st one on September 18th in Bham, and my "big" one on October 2nd in the big WC. We have registered at Buy Buy Baby, and plan to register at Walmart....I'm thinking we'll have to do that this week considering invitations for both showers will be going out very very soon!

No pic of the new baby-hump (no longer baby bump) now, but I'll try and take one later this week. =)

Worry wart?

Have you ever read a very familiar scripture, one that you've known pretty much your entire life, and had the Holy Spirit renew it in your heart as if it were the 1st time you'd ever heard/read it?

Don't you love that feeling??

Well, a few months ago something happened in our lives that caused some significant worry for me. I'm talking about, losing sleep, all I can think about, crying often kind of worry. So I read Philippians 4, with the purpose of just focusing on the verse that says

"Do not be anxious about anything..."

But instead I read verses 2-9....which is exactly what God had in mind, I'm sure.

I meant to write then about what was revealed to me, but never did.

Last week, a friend had put "Philippians 4" as her Facebook status. It's been on my heart since then to actually read the chapter, as I had obviously forgotten what it says. So I sit down this morning determined to spend some time with Jesus instead of wasting it as I normally do, and I turn to that chapter.

Here are verses 4-9 for you...

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-- think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or heard from me, or seen in me-- put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

So I've heard verse 6 many many times, as I'm sure you have as well. But I don't know that I ever remember having this entire passage come together as it has in my life over the past few months.

We are NOT to be anxious about ANYTHING- but instead present our requests (our desires) to the Lord.

Then Paul goes right on to write about our thoughts! Which is exactly where worry comes from!

If we only thought about the things that are true, noble, right, pure, etc. then I strongly believe our worries would not exist. We tend to worry about things that will probably never happen. I heard a quote one time (not sure where) that says this:

"90% of the things we worry about will never happen."

I have found that to be true SO many times in my life. Worries about finances, jobs, family members, safety, relationships, busy schedules, to-do lists......do they come from us thinking about what Paul instructs us to think about? I think not.

They come from the opposite!

We let our minds be held captive by the enemy, and oh how the worries begin. I have to remind myself of these verses often...meditating on what I'm instructed to do, which is to allow Christ to take captive my thoughts- chewing on scripture, not letting my mind run wild with worries.

The Christian life is hard, but it's supposed to be. If it were easy, everybody would do it!

=)