Who are you investing time into?

(photo from Su Blackwell)

When I think back to my school years I can remember the teachers I loved.  I remember them not because of the high grades they gave me ... far from it ... I was so not good at school ... and my grades barely scraped through.  I remember them because they encouraged my good points and watched me shine.

An English teacher that encouraged my love of creative writing ... a primary teacher who oozed care and compassion and music ... a home economics teacher that supported my creativity ... stretched my commitment to being better and aiming higher.

SO for me today is about keeping my eyes open and when I notice someone doing something they love ... smiling at them ... have a conversation about how it feels to be in the zone ... asking them how they discovered their talent ... letting them know how special it is to do something you love ... and before leaving making sure to encourage them to continue.

Take time and invest into someone ...  encourage and support the people around you ... to live out there dreams.  I have always had this desire to help people realize their own potential ... to walk beside people as they grow in their relationship with Jesus and grow up into their own Christ heart ... watching as they discover what it is that God has gifted them to do ...

Opportunities have come my way many times and although at the time I often don't realize what is happening ... I just go with the flow of a friendship ... it is not until after a period of time has passed and when looking back do I see the process.

It is very similar to watching a caterpillar cocooning into a butterfly.
'Let go and Let God'... His Hands can do unbelievably amazing things ... and I am just Thankful that I get to be part of His plan.

Blessed beyond Belief.

Teena

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interconnected stories

I am loving the interconnectedness when reading my Bible.  Oral stories that are passed down for generations within families and local churches.

Jeremiah was the son of a priest, so he would have access to scholars and priests ... and the conversations that he would have heard.  Stories of a passionate King David would have been told to him through a grandparents eyes. 

His life stories have become my faith ... my jewish past ... a story of how my God relates to His people ... and my Christian present ... of how God continues to hold tight to His people for eternity.

Jeremiah 1:1-10

 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.  The word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah,  and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.

The Call of Jeremiah

The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
    before you were born I set you apart;
    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

 “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”

 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. ⁸ Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord.

 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth.  See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

^{These words take me straight to my heart ... they speak to me of a God that knows me ... a God that Loves me and sustains me ... a God that chose me to be exactly as I am ... to fulfill a need in this world.}

 

Psalm 139

You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.

You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.

Be encouraged ... to stand tall in your strengths ... to discover all of who you are ... strengths and weaknesses ... celebrate your life's journey and keep on keeping on. You are loved!

There is SO MUCH MORE to come!

Be blessed and be a blessing

Teena


...

Listening for God ...

How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!

Psalm 139 : 17

I have decided to practice my listening again ... this is something I focused my attentions on last year but I feel the need to do some more active listening again ...

I am trying to break my asking continually habit ... and get some balance back .... to be more praiseful and intercessory.

Active listening by reading my bible and hearing God in His word.

Listening and writing ... Listening and waiting.

I am finding it all very refreshing this time around ... I seem to be more observant this time.


... so if you are feeling the need to change the speed a little ... get onto the latest and greatest ...

... say it , pray it and listen ... 

Try it out for yourself and let me know how you go.

Be blessed and be a blessing

Teena

...

stay grounded in your truth ...

songs like this bring me back to reality ... and remind me what my reality is ...  My reality is not from the world but from God ...

Thanks Casting Crowns ... be blessed.