Holding Us All Together!!!

Colossians 3:17 "He is before all things and in Him all things hold together."

Have you ever thought about the way our bodies work? I mean have you ever just sat and thought about the intricacies of the human body? We are amazing creatures!! When the Psalmist says in 139:14 that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made", seriously he is not kidding.

Did you know:

• In one molecule of your DNA there is enough information to fill a million page encyclopedia.
• There are about 30,000,000,000 (billion) working sections in the brain. It's able to coordinate with 3,000,000,000,000 (trillion) nerve cells.
• Your ears have about 24,000 hair like cells in your inner ear, which react to sound and convert the sound to nerve impulses so you can hear.
• Our lungs contain about 600,000,000 tiny air sacks, about 750 woven miles of blood vessels. If flattened out, our lungs would cover about 1,000 square feet. As a result, you will inhale and exhale about 23,000 times today.
• The heart pumps on average about 100,000 times a day. It pumps about 2,000 gallons of blood through your body every day and that blood travels endlessly through 60,000 miles of blood vessels, and it makes that trip in less than a minute.
• Our kidney's have about 40 miles of tubing and can clean 500 gallons of blood every day.
• There is about 46.5 miles of nerves that run through your body, and nerve impulses can travel at about 270 feet per second.
• Your skin will replace itself about 1,000 times in your life.
• (info received from Pastor Kyle Idleman, Southeast Christian Church, Louisville)

Oh yes, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. God knows you.He.KNOWS.you. Let that sink in a minute. We cannot hide anything from God, why we try I don't know, but we can't. He already knows. He knows your going to hide it too. Now think about that a minute.

God created your inmost body, He knit you together in your mother's womb, He KNOWS you.

Psalm 139:14-16 (The Message) "Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; You formed me in my mother's womb.

I thank You, High God - You're breathtaking! Body and soul, I am marvelously made! I worship in adoration - what a creation!

You know me inside and out, You know every bone in my body;

You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something.

Like an open book, You watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before You.

The days of my life all prepared before I'd even lived one day."

He knows dear one; He knows.

I want to leave you today with a video that is rocking my world. It is a video about Laminin. I know, me either =) But you will..... just watch..... He holds us together!!!

I love you ~~ let me know what you think,
Dawn

Starting Anew ~~ Welcome Back to CYC!!!

Welcome back students. School is back in full swing and so is CYC - Clever Youth for Christ.

God has lead me to start posting again on this site. I am excited and eager to see all that God will do this year and how He will use each one of us for His glory.

In John 4:23-24 Jesus says, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

The Greek word for worship in this passage means: to prostrate oneself in homage; do reverence to; adore. If we are true worshipers of the Father then there will be times when we bow ourselves in reverence to Him, because He is worthy. He is worthy of our Praise!!! There will be times when we just sit in His Presence and adore Him. There will be times when we lift our hands and voices to Him as a sweet aroma of praise.

The Samaritan woman in John 4 was amazed that Jesus even spoke to her, little lone asked her for something to drink. It just wasn't done. There was no co--mingling with Samaritans if you were a Jew. But you see, Jesus wasn't concerned about laws brought down by man that said He couldn't talk to her, what He was concerned about, is what He is concerned about with you and me, the condition of our hearts.

You see, if your heart is not right before the LORD it is very hard to worship. If you are holding onto sin in your life, the whole time you are trying to worship you are feeling convicted. Believe me, I know, I have been there in my life. But you can be free from that, by asking Jesus to forgive you. Whether that is because you have never done that and you are not a Christian ~~

My friend if that is the case, you are in desperate need right now. If you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus and desire one, but don't know how, please contact me. My e-mail information is in my profile. I would love to talk with you. ~~

Or whether that is because you are a Christian, but you have been living outside of God's will for your life. Come back to Him and ask for forgiveness and allow Him to cleanse you from the inside out. Then make the commitment to walk with Him everyday. He will go with you and help you.

This is the start of a new year, it is time that we get rid of the things that are not pleasing to God and start living our lives with a true passion and love for Jesus. Let's be True Worshipers ~~ Worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth.

I want to leave you with a song called "Unredeemed" by Selah. There is a line in this song that says, "when any thing is shattered and laid before the LORD just watch and see, it will not be, unredeemed."

Let's start this school year with laying all our shattered things before the LORD and watch Him redeem them for His glory.





I love ya,
Dawn

What in the world ?? !!

When in the world have I been?

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks. So So sorry I haven't posted in a while. I am hoping to get back on schedule next week.

Please be in prayer for my mom. She fell a little over a week ago and broke her collar bone, and she is in a lot of pain.

Also be in prayer for each other. Another school year is just around the corner. A new school year, a new school (WOOHOO), some new teachers ~~ a lot of things new. But with the new comes changes. So remember each other as you prepare to go back to school.

I can't wait to see all of you again at the starting up of CYC in September.

Much love and prayers,

Dawn

The Mount Carmel Chronicles . . . Part 1

Today begins a very exciting story in Scripture. This particular story has always made me smile in some ways and made me very sad in my heart in others. It is such a contrast.



I would just like to begin by saying thank you for reading these posts. God has so been doing a work in my heart this summer and this study has been a great thing for me. It has caused me to slow down a bit and spend some time with God through Elijah's eyes. It is my prayer that God will speak to you through the Scriptures. He so longs to have a relationship with you dear child. It is the best use of your time ~~ ever!! So let's open God's Word today and let it speak to the deep places in our lives; Thank you Jesus!!



So please read (aloud :) I Kings 18:15-19. We backed up to verse 15 that we read last time because I'd like to point something out: Elijah kept his word. He'd told Obadiah that he'd be there to meet Ahab, in fact he says "As the LORD Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today." (vs 15). Elijah was a man of his word.



Let's park here a moment. Integrity is an issue of great importance. The definition of integrity according to wordnet is: an undivided or unbroken completeness or totality with nothing wanting; so what is this definition saying? I really like this particular definition because of the picture that it paints. An undivided or unbroken completeness; a person with integrity is undivided in what they know is right; they stand. Listen it is not always easy to be a person of integrity, but we are absolutely called to a life of truth. Merriam Webster puts integrity this way : 1: firm adherence to a code of especially moral or artistic values : 2 : an unimpaired condition : 3 : the quality or state of being complete or undivided : Elijah was a man who was undivided in his stand. He knew what God had told him to do and he was moving on with it. He was a man of action ~~ I like that!!



So In verses 16-19 we see a very interesting dialogue between Ahab and Elijah. Ahab calls Elijah "troubler of Israel". That word "troubler" or in the KJV "troubleth" means to stir. Ahab was telling Elijah that he was stirring up trouble. He was stirring the waters. But Elijah is quick to point out that he is not the one causing trouble for Israel. In verse 18 we see that Ahab had abandoned the LORD's commands and had started following the Baals.



Baal was a false god that the Israelites were lured into worshipping. Why idol worship? Why when they had the One True God who loved them and had proved Himself to them many times over their history would they stray from Him to follow a false god? One commentary puts it this way: "Many knew that the Lord was God, but they enjoyed the sinful pleasures and other benefits that came with following Ahab in his idolatrous worship." They knew who God was, but they didn't like His rules, they wanted to do their own thing and idol worship let them do this. Sound familiar?

In the world we live in today we may not bow down to images made of gold or wood, but anything that we let take priority over God in our lives becomes an idol. This issue of idol worship is of very great importance in the society that we live. We must be very careful in how we spend our time and also what we allow ourselves to think about. God loves us so much and He does not want to see us get stuck in a pattern of destruction, and putting anything above Him in our lives is destructive. God must be first in all that we think and do.



What is this saying to us? In verse 19 we see Elijah give Ahab a call to action. Bring the prophets of your so-called gods (900 in all); let's see what they can do when they go up against the One True God of Israel. So this is our call to action today. There is nothing that God cannot do, but He wants to be first in your life; He must be your priority. If He isn't, start today putting Him first in all that you do and think. He is so faithful my dear one, He will show Himself faithful to you. He loves you with an everlasting love. There is no one or nothing that is like our God!!



Have a Blessed Monday,

Dawn

Obadiah the Faithful

Isn't it interesting how often in scripture we find men and women willing to put themselves out there; willing to do things that might get them in big trouble or even killed. We find ourselves face to face with one of those people today, Obadiah.

As a side note, you might be wondering if this Obadiah was the same one that wrote the book Obadiah. Well, I was wondering that myself - and no, it does not appear to the be same man. Obadiah was a common name in the region at that time.

So who was this Obadiah? Good question; so glad you asked :) Let's go to the Word for our answer. Please read I Kings 18:1-15. Obadiah, we find out in verse 3, was a "devout believer in the LORD". While Jezebel was killing the LORD's prophets, Obadiah was hiding them ~~ a hundred of them in fact and hiding them in caves and supplying them with food and water. If Obadiah would have been found out they would have most assuredly killed him. But it is obvious from this passage that he loved the God, and was willing to try and protect those called by Him. Obadiah shows great bravery and courage in this passage. This would have been difficult to achieve, but he did.

Remember there is still a devastating famine going on in the land, so Ahab tells Obadiah that they are going to go looking for a patch of land that maybe still has some grass on it among the springs and valleys. So Ahab goes in one direction and Obadiah in the other. Obadiah ends up meeting Elijah. Obadiah knows immediately who it is (vs 7).

Now to me in verse 8 Elijah has a pretty simple request of Obadiah; "Go tell your master, 'Elijah is here.'" But Obadiah's response is not what might be expected from a man of God. He wants to know what he's done wrong that Elijah would request this of him. You see Obadiah had been sent by Ahab to look for Elijah many times, and each time when he could not be found, Ahab made that nation swear that they could not find him. So if Obadiah went to Ahab and told him he found Elijah and then he didn't show up, well lights out for Obadiah.

Well in verse 15 Elijah puts Obadiah's fears to rest by telling him that he would present himself to Ahab that very day.

Now what does this say to us today. To be scared or fearful? No I don't believe that is what it is saying at all. This was a very real situation to Obadiah. We read these things sometimes and because we know what happens, tend to think "What's up Obadiah? This is Elijah. If he says he'll be there he'll be there." But put yourself there for a moment. Obadiah knew that it would be lights out, sianara, if he said Elijah would be there and wasn't. So what's a guy to do? Trust God, and that is exactly what Obadiah did. We will find out next time how this turns out (unless you want to read ahead, which is soooooooo okay with me :)

So give it a try ~~ trust God with that problem; that thing that you just can't get out of your head or off of your heart. God has asked me to do that very thing this summer, trust Him with something that I've been trying to do on my own. So that is what I'm doing, trusting Him with it. No it has not been easy, in fact it has been very difficult, but when I decided to surrender this to Him He has so guided and helped me with it. So go ahead give that thing to Him and trust Him. He'll guide you dear one, He loves you so much.

Have a terrific weekend. Enjoy those city fireworks and be safe.

Dawn

Oh Where Oh Where is the Wednesday Post. . .

Well, let me just start with, I'm Sorry. I haven't gotten it done today. It will be back on Friday though. We had a refridgerator mishap - okay breakdown, and so I had to go get a new one today. Yes it is an excuse I know, but please know that I'll be back on Friday and so will Elijah.

Thanks for your understanding ~~ Have an Awesome Wed afternoon and Thursday,
Dawn

Taking a walk on the Obedience Side!!

I know the last post was a long one. There was no good place to break so I carried on through. Today, however, we will be looking at just two verses of scripture. Let's pray first:

Father, You are God alone. In the secret and the quiet you are there. And I thank you. Be with us, your children today. May you find us always faithfully serving you in the whole of our lives and not just one part. You are God. Help us to be all that you have created us to be. Now, open our hearts as we study Your Word. May we glean truth from every word written in Your Holy Writ. Thank you for the opportunity to serve You, Praise Your Holy Name. . .Amen

So let's look at our text for today. I Kings 18:1-2:
"After a long time, in the third year, the Word of the LORD came to Elijah: 'Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land. 2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab."

Well, in these verses we find Elijah in the third year of a "few" years drought on the land (I Kings 17:1-2). Now let's think about this for a minute. Where were you three years ago? Now fast forward your brain to today as you sit and read this post, what if for the last three years there had been no rain. How would your life be different today because of that?

Rain is a huge need for us in this world that we now live. Before Noah and the Ark the earth was watered from springs beneath. There was no rain from the heavens, because there was no need. But when God destroyed the earth with the flood saving only Noah and his wife, sons, daughters-in-law, and animals the earth was changed and rain was how the earth was watered. So to be without it is devastating to the land. Nothing can grow without rain, and if nothing grows we don't eat. Even in this technology driven world we live in, it is crucial that we grow food. Droughts leave the land desolate and empty, cracked and dried up. No life can grow in drought stricken lands.

This is where we find Elijah in this text today. Sometimes it is easy to think that since he is who God used to bring these miracles to fruition that somehow he didn't hurt or suffer in the midst, but that is not true. If you look back over the text we have read, he had a very hard time and I believe that if we will put ourselves in Elijah's shoes for a moment, we might better understand his predicament. So let's put Elijah's sandals on for a moment shall we? :)

Elijah was a man of God, that is certainly apparent from the moment he steps onto the scene in Chapter 17, but look at what happens. He goes to the king tells him no rain for the next few years, so yep he has to leave in a hurry, so the Lord leads him to a ravine where he is fed by the birds and given drink by the brook; the Lord takes care of him. Well, the brook dries up as a result of the drought, so he must move on. Drought brings consequences, but the Lord takes care of his us.

Then he goes to the widow of Zarephath via the Lord's instructions and the miraculous happens again and he is taken care of as well as the widow and her son with the steady supply of flour and oil. But then just when all is well and he's surviving the drought, the widow's son dies. Are you in his shoes? Uncomfortable huh?!! But God, (love that) raises this child from the dead. Are you still in his shoes? Can you imagine the joy and relief? Amazing!!

So now we find him three years into this drought and God tells him to go and present himself to Ahab. Can you imagine what might have been going through his mind? ~~ Back to Ahab? Lord if I go back he's going to dry me up!! Lord Ahab is one bad dude are you sure I need to go back there? Lord just let me pray here for the rain to start that would work right?

Listen God had a plan here and He has a plan for us, we must trust him as Elijah does here. So after verse 1 is verse 2 Hallelujah!! God told Elijah what to do and what would happen. Present yourself to Ahab and I will send rain. So Elijah goes. No hesitation. No relunctancy on his part; nope just obedience.

I love that!! Elijah's story screams obedience to us. God wants us to know the fullness of living in Him, and we can only know that through obedient living. If you are wondering what that looks like, you can find it in God's Word. We are studying the life of Elijah this summer, but I do hope that you will take this example in God's Word and run with it. Let me challenge you this summer to really study His Word. A great way to do that even while we study Elijah is to look at the references for the verses in the margin and then look up those references. If you don't have a cross referencing Bible it is well worth it to have one. When you do this, one verse lends itself to another, because all of God's Word is true, you will find yourself on a wonderful journey of truth which will help lead you to obedience in your life. It is a great way to study His Word.

Have a Beautiful Monday.

In Christ Alone,
Dawn