What path am I walking?  

"Lowliness is a love of nothingness.  When we willfully give everything to Jesus, we are left with nothing.  God keeps taking away and taking away until the only thing we have left is God!"

~From "The Heart of the King" by Ron Auch

Some thoughts from "The Satisfied Heart" by Ruth Myers, from Day 9, "He Draws Me Near":

"Because you are a special treasure to God, He is working to draw you into a deeper love for Him--away from any idols in your life, away from rival interests, away from giving first place to His good gifts instead of to Him....

"Every hour since you first met Him, He has been pursuing you, seeking to draw you closer....as a bridegroom His bride.  He wants you near.

"And how does He draw us?

"I believe He grants all of us certain love-gifts that help us move closer to Him and know Him better.  Five of these stand out to me as foundational to our love relationships with Him.

"The first love-gift is His Word, where we find out most beautiful and comprehensive portrait of Him.  As we take time to read and listen, He keeps telling us there--from cover to cover and in a multitude of ways--not only that He loves us, but also how and why and how much."

"Another of God's love-gifts--His basic provisions to help us know Him better--is His indwelling presence through the Holy Spirit.  As we feed on God's Word, the Spirit empowers us to see and understand the Lord and His love.  He takes the truths about Jesus and makes them real to us in the core of our being, in the holy sanctuary deep within us.  As a result, our knowledge of the Lord is more intimate than our knowledge of anyone else.....The Spirit Himself fills our hearts with God's love (Romans 5:5) so that it satisfies us and flows out to others."

"The third love-gift that helps usknow God and His love better is the body of Christ---other believers He places in our lives......no one is a perfect channel of God's love.  But we can also see the Lord in one another if we want to.  We can choose to concentrate on Christ in them, making their strengths our major focus, rather than their flaws and failures.  As we behold Christ in one another, He draws us closer to Himself."

"The fourth basic provision, or love-gift, is simply the circumstances of daily life.  God wants to enrich us through knowing Him better and becoming more like Him.  To this end He arranges our days with the proper mixture of joys and trials, gains and losses, pleasure and pain.  He holds our lives in the hollow of His hand, and into that place of security He brings the blessings and troubles we need......"

"These love-gifts--God's Word, His Spirit, other believers, and the circumstances He allows or sends---draw us closer to Him.  They help us stay on the path of obedience, which I think of as the fifth love-gift that helps us know God better. We can run through life with the Lord only when we choose His paths--the paths where He manifests His presence.  He won't run with us on paths of disobedience.  It's not that He'll forsake us, even as the sun does not forsake the earth when night falls or when thick clouds roll in.  But if we aren't walking in His ways, God's presence won't be real to us.  We won't enjoy the privilege of prayer (another love-gift) the way He desires; we won't know His warm, glad companionship."

"Running with God also includes running with perseverance the course marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1).  We're running with One whose earthly race ended in a cross, and our own path includes the fellowship of His sufferings.  This includes doing the difficult tasks He sends our way.  I may fantasize that just around the corner life will become easy--just as soon as this or that particular commitment is over, this deadline met, this job done, and on and on.  But according to Luke 9:23, will the day come when I won't have to deny myself to follow Him?

"Do I even want such a day to come?  My heart has been stirred by Phillips Brooks' poem:

Be strong.

We are not here to play, to dream, to drift.

We have hard work to do, and loads to lift.

Shun not the struggle; face it.  'Tis God's gift."

~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

I have not always been on this path, where God makes His presence known.   He is always there.  I am not. 

It is my choice.

But only one choice leads to refreshment and enjoyment of Him.

 

~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`

O God, I have felt far from You--yet You are there.

It is me that has chosen not to walk the path where Your presence is manifested. 

Because that path hurts, Lord.  It hurts down deep.

Yet--it is the path of healing, because You are there.  You are the Great Physician of my soul.

I choose....I choose Your path, Your ways.

I choose....to dwell on You, Your loveliness, Your beauty, Your Truth....so that I can know You intimately--more intimately than anyone or anything else.  

(For what I meditate upon will determine how much and with what--or whom-- I will become intimate.)

Draw me....near to Your side...into a deeper, more intimate love.

I love You, my Lord, my Heavenly Bridegroom~

And Lover of my soul.

I've been so slow with blogging lately!  The holiday season has us busy!  (My photo host has also been giving me fits in uploading pictures.  It is usually fabulous, so I'm spoiled.)

I finally managed to upload pictures, so we'll continue the play-by-play of our Arizona trip!



Over there:


And a then from "over there":

What a beautiful and awe inspiring sight.  Pictures (at least my pictures) can't do the Grand Canyon justice. 

As amazing as the natural wonder is, anywhere we go I enjoy watching people:  the people were fascinating, and in return, I realized that people were watching us. 

So many people wanted to take our pictures!  Oh, yes, a  few kind souls offered to take a picture of our whole family (one of them is posted a few posts down).  That didn't surprise me.  What was odd was those who wanted to take our picture with their own cameras!  There were visitors from all over the world--many from Asian countries.  The Asian women were fascinated with our children.  They'd see Kieran coming around a corner and "ooh!" and "aah" over him.  (We think he's pretty cute ourselves.) Then they'd see Keegan and say, "Brother?  Oh!  he has brother!"  A moment later they'd clap their hands in delight seeing the three girls!  "All brothers and sisters?  All?  One, two, three, four, five?"   It was astounding to me because while five is more than our national average, it isn't something that usually stops traffic.  Several of the ladies asked if they could take the children's picture.  Their exuberance and genuine excitement was irresistible, so we were happy to oblige, but  I do wish I'd taken a picture of them taking their pictures.

The other picture I wish I'd taken was of the Condor Man.  As we were heading back toward the train, we saw a man waving an antenna back and forth.  He was off by himself, but as we got closer he looked over at us, and seemed amiable.  The children asked what he was doing,.  (Ken and I were curious ourselves).  We walked over to ask, and ended up being given a wonderful science lesson.  He explained that he was picking up signals from California Condors, and provided a wealth of information on the enormous, endangered birds.

Next up, in my super-slow play-by-play, the return train ride.   Stay tuned, it might be a day or three unless I can mend my ways.

I started to post about our trip to Arizona and the Grand Canyon, but got derailed just before posting about the train!  We took a train to the north rim, and the ride was an experience to remember! 

Before the trip: Kieran got in with a rough crowd, and made the acquaintance of some train robbers!:

The train!

Kieran much prefered this mode of travel to his car seat:


Outside our window--Looks alot like Wyoming!

And in addition to fascinating information told as we traveled, we had great entertainment!

Stay tuned.  I really will get to the actual canyon soon!  (If I don't get derailed again.  It seemed that once we got home and unpacked the Christmas season just hit full force!  Life is busy, but good!)

Next stop: The North Rim.

Hannah Y!!!

Congratulations, Hannah!  

And thank you to ALL who have entered my giveaways!  I might have to do this again after the first of the year---a "beat the winter blahs" giveaway or something like that!  

I would encourage you to get a copy of The Heart of the King--it is an excellent book that still challenges me, even on my second time through.  I think it will be a permanent devotional for me! 

Blessings on your day!