Making a change

We have a young man in our church who is interning with Pastor for the summer. As a Bible major, he is preparing to be a preacher one day. Last Wed. night he brought the message. Although he had no formal outline he shared what he had been learning over the past few months from Ps. 119:9-16.

⁹Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

¹⁰With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

¹¹Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

¹²Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.

¹³With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.

¹⁴I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.

¹⁵I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.

¹⁶I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

What he shared was his experience of learning to draw closer to God. Having been raised in a Christian family, he had known all the correct things to do, but hadn't allowed them to change his life. But for the past few months he began to immerse himself in Scriptures, allowing it to change him and learning to truly love the Word.

His testimony deeply impacted me because I had been living much the same way for most of my life. I went through phases of trying to get my life on track but nothing ever seemed to stick. That's why I started the Journey, as a way to let God change my life. It certainly hasn't been easy, but like our preacher-boy, I'm learning. Its a daily process of making the decision to allow God to change me.

Kept

I came across this today as I was going through my old emails. A friend sent it to me last year and I thought it was so good it deserved to be my second post of the day!

A Kept Woman               I Am a 'Kept' Woman You see, there were a few times when I thought I would lose my mind, But GOD keptme sane. (Isa. 26:3) There were times when I thought I could go no longer, But the LORD keptme moving. (Gen 28:15) At times, I've wanted to lash out at those whom I felt had done me wrong, But the LORD keptmy mouth shut... (Psa. 13) Sometimes, I think the money just isn't enough, But GOD has helped me to keepthe lights on, the water on, the car paid, the house paid, etc.. (Matt. 6:25-34) When I thought I would fall, HE keptme up. When I thought I was weak, HE keptme strong! (I Pet. 5:7, Matt.11:28-30)  I could go on and on and on, but I'm sure you hear me! I'm blessed to be 'kept' Do you know a 'kept' woman? If so pass it on to her to let her know she is 'Kept' I'm "Kept"by the Love and Grace of God

the workplace

FYI this post has been in drafts since mid April!
I've had mixed feelings about my job from day 1. While I love being a nurse, there is a lot of drama and chaos that I'd rather not deal with. This usually happens to come from coworkers and patient family members. In the nine months I've been there I can count on one hand the number of patients that have been difficult, and some was due to dementia. The most memorable case though the patient appalogized to me later for being rude. But the work drama has started to wear on me. I did go through a rough patch around the holidays in which I was extremely close to quitting. I've gotten over all that as things don't seem to be quite as crazy. But I still don't feel content at work for the most part. It's a feeling I've tried to shake off but it never seems to go away. And it's slowly started to eat away at me.