Prayer~~From the Womb to Heaven

Precious Heavenly Father, I praise You this day and every day for being there with me all the way from the time You knitted me together in my mother's womb till now as You chase me into eternity. Psalm 22:10

Thank you Lord for all that You have done for me. You have shaped me through hard times. Comforted me when I felt all alone. Healed my wounded heart multiple times. Gave me directions when I was lost. Disciplined me when I got out of hand. Hugged me when I needed held. You have listened to my cries and heard my many prayers. You have given me Your strength when mine has failed me. You have surrounded me like a shield with Your grace and mercy. 

All I can say Lord is You have blessed me richly with Your blessings such as the family I am surrounded by. I will always cherish the memories with our daughter and the grandchildren. Thank You for the gifts You have given me and Your love You have shown for me over the years. 

I know You aren't finished with me yet or I would have already been gone. Help me to finish well the race You have marked out for me. Whether I can see the finish line or not ahead of me may I cross it glorifying You Lord. 

Copyright 2015 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing 
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Yo, God. Extra Weight

Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, Hebrews 12:1 Amplified Bible

Once again it was time for my Yo, God class. Picking up the weights I needed I also found the scripture I wanted to use too. It was the one in Hebrews 12 about throwing off the extra weight that easily entangles us. 

As I reached for my weights to lift for my exercise class throwing off extra weight sounded good. "Oh bother Karen" I thought to myself, 'you haven't even got started and you want to throw off the extra weight."

That thought interestingly enough led to another thought. It was obvious my Yo, God class was going to be a success today. My second meditation was the fact that we often find it easy to ditch extra weight physically in what we are holding on to but not spiritually. 

As I went through class I began to try and figure out what extra weight I was holding on to. For some people it's anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, addiction to alcohol or drugs, or other things. We seem to clamp on to these things for all we are worth and refuse to let go long enough to deal with them. 

That is not the way the Bible tells us to handle these things. It says that since we are surrounded by such a great crowd of witnesses we need to do our part. It says we need to, strip off and throw aside  every encumbrance or unnecessary weight. It also tells us to toss aside that sin that we get so easily entangled with. 

Every unnecessary weight, every, not just some but every. We are to toss it aside so quickly it doesn't have a chance to slow us down. With that weight goes the sin that so easily entangles us. The anger that gets us in trouble. The drinking that causes us to hurt others. The bitterness that holds us back and the list goes on. 

With our load lightened we are free to run that race God has set before us. Not the race we choose to run. The race to sin, to living for ourselves not caring about the course God wants us on but the race to be a part of the great cloud of witnesses for Jesus. The place where the swift are found in those un-encumbered by the world's extra weight.  

There's no time to wait. Life is too short and eternity long to weigh ourselves down unnecessarily. Go for the swift. Go for the un-encumbered. Go for Jesus. 

Copyright 2015 Karen J Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipe Publishing. 



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Yo, God. My Turn to Lift

As I prepared for my morning Yo, God class I began to warm up by slowly lifting my weights. First the right arm then the left, I slowly warmed up to the task at hand. 

In the midst of my warm up the idea of the scripture I wanted to use came to mind. It was a scripture dear to my heart already which I used many times to get me through rough spots. It was Psalms 121:1-3 "I will lift up my eyes to the hills---from whence comes my help? My help comes from The Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber."

As I lifted my weights ever so slowly at first I thought of lifting my eyes to the hills. In the area where I live we are surrounded by gorgeous mountain ranges. Big ones, small ones, some that are snow-capped and others that are not. It's not the mountains themselves that I look to but the one who created them. As I look to them I am reminded of what we both have in common. It is the fact we share the same creator. 

It is to our Creator we lift our eyes. At first, like the weights in my hand we might start out slow but with time we become much faster. The more we practice the better we become at lifting our eyes to God as we come to realize He is our helper. A helper who never slumbers nor sleeps. 

As with the weights in our hands, we are lifting, are there to help us so is God spiritually. The thing about the two of them is the fact that some lifting is required. The weights will do us no good if we don't lift them frequently. The same with our eyes. If we don't frequently lift them to God and acknowledge who God is, our helper, it does us no good. 

Too often we are the ones who are at slumber or rest not God. We slack off on our task at hand which is to lift our eyes to God. We get busy lifting our eyes to a new car, a movie we love to watch, money, drugs, alcohol, or other false idols and it drives us away from where we need to be. 

We fail to acknowledge it is often our turn to lift that which does us the most good and that's our eyes. The first thing in good communication is eye contact. Many of us have heard it from our parents when they were trying to talk to us or scold us saying, "look me in the eye when I am talking to you."

This is all God is asking of us. To look Him in the eye. We don't need the view of the snow or the green and brown terrain. We need to look at the Creator of this wondrous artwork, God himself. 

Praise be to the one who never sleeps. Praise be to He who is the Creator of all.

 Love you God and thanks for never slumbering. Indeed it is my turn to lift. 

Copyright Jan 2015 Karen Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipes Publishing

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Yo, God~~~Renew Your Strength and Soar like an Eagle

But those who wait for The Lord, who expect, look for, and hope in Him shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up close to God as eagles mount up to the sun; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint; or become tired. Isaiah 40:31

As I reached for my weights this morning to start my daily weight loss class I call "Yo, God" my imagination already was ahead of me. Instantly I knew what scripture I wanted to meditate on while working out. Feeling great from the refreshing Christmas gathering with my family there were new smiles on my face and heart that weren't there before. 

Before meeting with my family I felt like the poem that stated "how do I know my youth has been spent because my get up and go has got up and went."  Mine was more like this:

 

" How do I know that my strength has been spent.

Because my get up and go has got up and went. 

With my spirit flat on the floor and my smile upside down

I wondered how in the world was I going to get around. 

My cancer had me dragging; life's stress had its toil,

was there really something I could do to get out of this hole?

Then I spent time in the scripture and exchange laughter with others,

suddenly what was flat was no longer smothered. 

It's true what God says about renewing your strength,

next time I will mount up like an eagle in a blink. 

It may take me back to the scriptures, to my family galore

but one thing I know I won't leave my spirit at the door. 

God is my strength its not the weights in my hands

but its His love and His presence that gives me my stand.  

Now with my spirit inflated again to be worn,

my upturned smile returns to me more. 

Come fly with me eagles, come fly with me now.

Lets renew our strength in God and get our feet off the ground. 

Life's too short to be a chicken unable to fly.

Lets fly away, fly away, fly away all. 

Mount up fellow eagles. 

"Yo, God here comes Your convocation of eagles."

Copyright 2014 Karen Gillett @ Pencil Marks and Recipe Publishing
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Yo, God~~~~~Let my Voice be Heard

I will wash my hands in innocence and go about Your altar, O Lord. That I may make the voice of thanksgiving heard and may tell of all Your wondrous works. Lord, I love the habitation of Your house, and the place where Your glory dwells. Psalm 26:6-8

On Thanksgiving day before getting into the fast lane of preparing a meal, shopping for bargains, and dealing with unnecessary drama I grab for my weights. As I do that my heart grabs for a scripture to hold on to. The one I found today was in the Psalm where so many blessings and truths dwell. 

The first order of business I am told to take care of is to wash my hands in innocence. In other words I need to cleanse myself. The soap and water I have to use is Jesus and the cleansing He brought upon the cross. I don't need to dirty my hands nor my soul of the things of the earth. We get dirty enough as it is. Where I belong is going about my Heavenly Father's throne or altar concentrating and meditating on the things above. 

Too often the things of this world get in the way of that and we lose site of what is really important. Such as the making of the voice of thanksgiving to be heard by telling of God's wondrous works and meditating on it. Unfortunately more frequently than not we like to let our voice be heard regarding the person we don't like, how the church music is too loud, or the font on the music sheets are too small. 

Our mediation is all wrong. I have a choice to dwell on the weights I am lifting in my hands or the wondrous works of God. Is it going to be my voice of grumbling people hear or the voice of thanksgiving. Which is it going to be depends on the content of my heart and the choices I make in my spirit. 

Today I want my voice to be heard. The voice of thanksgiving for God's wondrous works. Just because I have cancer doesn't mean I can't be thankful. 
There's more cleansing and healing in being thankful than complaining and living off the negative side of life's coin. 

I love You, Lord. Thanks for all Your wondrous works. Including those you have done for me thru Your grace and mercy. Equipping me for each of life's journeys I have traveled thru with Your strength and guidance. 

Happy Thanksgiving. Let my voice be heard. 

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Yo, God~~~Choosing our steps

"Righteousness will go before Him. And shall make His footsteps our pathway."
Psalms 85:13

As I rose before the morning sun it was time to look into my Bible to find a scripture to take with me to my morning "yo, God" class. A scripture to meditate on to bring strength and fitness to my spiritual body. The scripture that caught my attention was found in Psalms 85:13. 

What stood out the most to me was the fact that God's footsteps shall be our pathway. Being a person who has to choose my steps carefully because of my bone cancer pathways are important. The smoother and flatter the better, even then I carefully make sure I am not going to step wrong causing myself to fall. 

Spiritually is no different. The smoother and flatter the better although that's not always the case. It's great that God paves the road ahead of us with His footsteps. His righteousness that goes before Him is the paving material that is laid down to establish our pathway. 

As I lift my weights this morning I can't help but thank The Lord for what He has done for me. It indeed helps to know I don't have to blaze my own trails. I may need to lift my own weight temporarily but even that spiritually is not done alone. 

What I need to meditate on this morning is choosing my steps carefully on a path already paved for me. Looking close to where I am going that I may not fall. It doesn't matter how smooth or flat the surface I could still fall but the biggest issue is if I stay down or gracefully arise again to walk with the Lord in His footsteps. The choice is mine. The pathway is His. 

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Yo,God How long?

Today as I reached out to pick up my weights for my morning Yo, God class I noticed myself choosing my lighter weights. "Hum' I thought to myself wouldn't it be wonderful to get to choose what size of weight for the day would be on my heart.

If that were the case my choice would be a lot smaller than the huge burden plaguing my heart now. Our only transportation had broken down, the dog had taken ill, trouble mounting at work, financial difficulties, marital tensions and so much more were all a part of the weight I was feeling.

The scripture I kept wanting to meditate on was the one in Psalm 6:3 that said "my soul is greatly troubled, how long?" How long, how long, how long kept echoing in my heart like a scratched record that wouldn't quit playing the same thing over and over again. As was the remedy for the record player my soul needed a good bump to get it out of that stuck position so it could go beyond that one area.

Sure enough after a good bump my spirit was able to land on the scripture in the same chapter that made sense to dwell upon. Psalm 6:8,9 that talked about how The Lord has heard the voice of our weeping, He hears our supplication, and He will receive our prayer.

How long? Who knows. What matters is that the Lord hears us and receives our prayers. The rest lies in faith and trust in Him. The road toward anything always seems the longest. We'd rather be on the return portion where it goes by quickly and we're done.

If you think about it often the amount of weight on our heart is chosen by us. We may not be able to choose where the weight came from. The circumstances or the reasons but we can choose our weight by how much we are going to trust in Jesus. Unloading on Jesus lightens the load. Knowing He hears and receives our prayers lightens the load too.

We need to take control over that which we have control over, our faith and trust and leave the 'how long's' to Jesus.



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