A New Heart
I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove
from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)
I
just finished my 6th time through the Bible by listening to the Daily Audio Bible podcast. That’s almost 2200
days of God’s Word poured into my heart and out through my life. If you spend 2200
days in anything, it is going to make a difference.
I knew it would change me, bring me closer to God and
things like that, but I didn't realize how much it would do to my
heart. Really, I still don't. The only way I can describe it is that my heart has
expanded. It's not just bigger, it's MORE.
My
emotional range is now much wider. I grieve deeply over things that never used to bother me, including many social hot-button issues. Life
losses can be nearly crippling. But I also feel Joy I never knew before. Peace.
Contentment. His Presence. And OH the Love I can feel!
I don't always know what to do with this new heart. I don't always manage it well. And
when this expansion of His love clashes with my own desires, well... it can get a little messy (Okay, VERY messy).
It
also makes life easier in many ways. Decisions I would have agonized over just
a couple of years ago are no brainers. Worries, fears, temptations like fame
and fortune have lost much of their appeal. Peer pressure isn’t as much of an
issue (although I definitely still struggle). Patience has grown, despite my
best efforts to avoid praying for it. I think I have more wisdom and insight
than I used to.
And
do you know what? I really like this New Heart of Flesh thing.
I'd even go as far as to say I love it.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
|
Read more...
Nehemiah, Brian Hardin and Bricks in the Wall
I
believe we can learn something from everyone we meet. For the past few days, however, I have been
learning from people I have not met.
I've mentioned before that I listen to the Daily Audio Bible. The Old Testament reading for the last
several days has been from Nehemiah, and God is using this book as a crowbar,
attempting to pry out some of my serious disobedience and lousy attitude. I have been, um, shall we say, resisting.
Brian,
the DAB’s fearless leader, speaks about Nehemiah’s life--an exile from Judah
and a servant of the king of the Persian Empire, he leaves this great position
to take fellow exiles back to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall. What he gets for his passion is
discouragement, diminishment, frustration, even death threats, yet he refuses
to come down off the wall, to stop doing what he is meant to do. Through his leadership the exiles finish the
wall in an astonishing 52 days, often working with tools in one hand and a
weapon in the other.
It
was terribly difficult for Nehemiah. At
any time he could have said, “Forget it.
It’s too hard. It’s too
dangerous. It’s costing me too much. I quit.”
But he doesn’t. He stays the course,
inspires the nation and succeeds.
Brian
applies this to our lives, saying, “It is so much more romantic to think about
what you’re called to do than it is to do what you’re called to do…it’s hard,
hard, hard work. Don’t come down off the
wall…we can’t get to what comes next until it’s done.
“Whatever
it is for you, don’t stop what you know God has told you to do….Don’t be
discouraged. Don’t be distracted. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t be diminished…And don’t think it’s not
enough…
“My
goodness, what brick in a wall doesn’t matter?...They all matter because they together make the wall. Everything that we are called to do matters….Finish
what you started.”
Hear
that? That’s God’s crowbar (hopefully, finally) succeeding. I will finish, even though it is hard. Through distraction, discouragement, intimidation, diminishment. One brick at a time. Standing on the wall.
*Daily Audio Bible Transcript, 8-13-13
Debbie Legg is your server today! Find out more about her here and don't forget to sign up for updates by email or RSS before you go.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
|
Read more...
A Daily Prayer--Give or Take a Few
It
all started in May of 2008 with a used treadmill, an iPod and the One Year
Daily Audio Bible Podcast. I would listen to the Bible while walking. Eventually I faded out of the treadmill part but
kept listening.
Through
the DAB I was introduced to the Daily Prayer from John Eldredge and Ransomed
Heart Ministries. I started praying the Daily Prayer on a daily
basis but sadly, I faded out there, too.
Something
else I have faded in and out of is praying for my husband and sons through Stormie
Omartian’s Power of a Praying Wife and Power of a Praying Parent. These are not only greatly helpful books but are broken down into thirty chapters
and prayers, one for each day of the month.
Recently I bought the audio versions of these two books and downloaded
them to my iPhone.
Now
I think I have it all down to a science.
Three days a week I walk on the treadmill for thirty minutes. I spend the first eleven or so minutes praying
the Daily Prayer from the DAB app on my phone.
The rest of the time I pray whichever chapters coincide with that date and the next. For instance, this morning,
Friday May 3, I'm praying the Daily Prayer, then Praying Wife and Praying Parent
prayers from chapters 3, 4 and 5. Monday I’ll
pray the 6th and 7th to coincide with those dates.
I
do have to laugh, though. It seems I’ve
faded in and out enough times that I’ve come full circle. I’m back to where I started nearly five years
ago with my treadmill and iPod.
My
goal is to keep this up and not fade out this time (having accountability sure
helps, right Joline?). Perhaps when I pray
The Daily Prayer I should add a request for self-discipline and perseverance.
And
for the treadmill and phone to not break down before I do.
Debbie Legg is your server today! Find out more about her here and don't forget to sign up for updates by email or RSS before you go.
Thursday, May 02, 2013
|
Read more...
A Word (Or Several) For the New Year
For
the past few early-Januarys I have asked God to give me a word or phrase to lend context to the upcoming year, something simple and easy to remember, that I can go back to
as sort of a North Star.
My
word for 2012 was HOPE. God provided
opportunities to increase hope, seek hope, cling to hope, encourage hope, and
draw close to The Hope We Profess.
This year my word is STEADY. My first thought
about it was that 2013 is going to be a roller coaster ride! I looked for a verse and the one I was drawn to was Isaiah 35:3, Strengthen the feeble hands, STEADY the knees that give way. I get
the feeling that this will not be an insignificant year.
Then
there is the word for the Daily Audio Bible community, of which I am a part.
That word is RHYTHM. As a drummer
and dancer, I definitely identify, and a STEADY RHYTHM makes my heart soar.
A few more came along when, inspired by my friend Corky, I choose three words as my goals (NOT
resolutions) for this new year. After
prayer and contemplation, those words are FINISH (my screenplay), PUBLISH (a bit of my writing) and PURGE (my house, maybe even following Flylady
guidelines of working 15 minutes a day).
Using
those goals and themes, maybe if I STEADilY seek and work, with God’s Grace and
Blessing, I will find my RHYTHM.
And
I do know that, whether this year is a roller coaster ride or a smooth drum roll, God
is with me, in me, next to me, ahead of me and behind me. I will rely on His strength for my feeble
hands and His love to steady my steps.
Debbie Legg is your server today! Find out more about her here and don't forget to sign up for updates by email or RSS before you go.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
|
Read more...
Be a Link
This
week’s theme of Journey to the Nations is quite timely in my life. Right now members of the Daily Audio Bible community (where I “read” the Bible) are on a mission trip in Rwanda. Our church will soon fill shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. Preparations are underway for the pledge drive
to fund missions through our church’s Faith Promise Program. Next week will be a meeting of ACMInternational,
the missionary-sending organization for which my husband is a trustee and I help
with Member Care. It’s missions season
here!
Outside
of the ACMI commitment, these mission opportunities only require a short amount
of time and a little money, and yet those small things can make an enormous
difference.
I’m
neither a “missionary” nor a millionaire, but I can do something. I can
be a link in the chain.
I
can pray and send money for the DAB Rwanda trip, linking Jesus to me to the
mission’s team to the Rwandan children.
I can fill a shoebox or two with toys, trinkets and school supplies for
a child who wouldn’t have Christmas or Jesus any other way, linking another
child to Jesus. I can Promise to give in
Faith as God provides, linking Jesus to me to the children’s homes, colleges,
foreign and domestic missions my congregation supports. Our small actions bring God’s big
impact.
Beware
of the little voice telling you that your two copper coins are not enough to
make a difference. I don’t know anyone who can stretch a single
dollar to maximum effect better than a missionary. In God’s economy, every little bit truly goes
a long way.
But how can they call on him to save
them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have
never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells
them? (Romans 10:14)
LINK UP! YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR
ETERNITY!
Debbie Legg is your server today! Find out more about her here and don't forget to sign up for updates by email or RSS before you go.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
|
Comments
Read more...
The Proverb That Makes Me (almost) LOL
I’ve
mentioned here before that I listen to the One Year Daily Audio Bible podcast. Besides offering the Bible in several other
languages and a NT version for kids, DAB also offers the Daily Audio Proverb. Five minutes a day is all it takes to listen to
a chapter of Proverbs, and one month will get you through the whole book. That translates into hearing the
whole of Proverbs twelve times in a year.
That’s
some serious wisdom, folks. King Solomon,
the wisest man ever, wrote the first 29 chapters. Chapter 31 is from King Lemuel (and his
mother), and Chapter 30 was written by a man named Agur.
As
sober and thought-provoking as the Proverbs are, Agur gives me a chuckle every
time. In fact, I’m looking forward to
meeting this guy in Heaven and telling him as much.
Why? This:
I am too stupid to be human, and I lack
common sense. I have not mastered human wisdom, nor do I know the Holy One. (Proverbs 30:2,3 NLT)
I
imagine that Ag’s being humble here, or else just plain old exaggerating. Nonetheless, I completely identify with the sentiment.
Many
are the days I feel too stupid to be human.
Many are the days I can think of other people who are too stupid to be
human. Common sense? Not as common as it needs to be. Like Agur, I have also neither mastered human
wisdom, nor the ‘foolish to man” wisdom of God.
But
I’m learning. I'm searching. I’m slowly acquiring wisdom and
knowledge. It’s taking longer than I’d
like, but even at turtle-pace it is happening.
Agur
proved it can be done. Verses 4-33
contain some pretty wise insights and observations.
If
there’s hope of spiritual growth for Agur and me, I’m sure all of you who are
wiser than us can learn a thing or two as well, even in five minutes a day.
Debbie Legg is your server today! Find out more about her here and don't forget to sign up for updates by email or RSS before you go.
Thursday, August 09, 2012
|
Comments
Read more...
Study -- If You Want to Call It That
My
biggest problem studying the Bible is making time. Multi-tasking is the word of the day, and I
have found a way to make that work for me.
I love to
study the Bible while I am putting on my makeup. Sometimes I study while folding laundry or washing
dishes. I’ve studied on the treadmill,
in the car, on vacation, even soaking in the bathtub. Any mundane or mindless task will do. As of the end of May I will have completed my
fourth time through the Bible, and very rarely have I been sitting down when I
studied.
I listen to the Bible with the One Year
Daily Audio Bible podcast (no, this is not an ad. If you’re interested, this is what it is and this is how I found it).
Well, okay,
I guess it’s not really “studying” per se, but the effect of having read any
book four times through is that you notice things that you didn’t before. Stories gain context, characters develop
nuance. Themes emerge and evolve. What has been a jumble of disparate stories
becomes an epic adventure, chronicling the rocky relationship between God and
Man from the dawn of time to the end of the age.
The effect
on me has been profound. I am not the
same person I was. I am more.
Everything about me has expanded (no waistline comments, please). My ears listen and hear better. My mind has clarity. My eyes see more compassionately. My Irish temper is tempered. My hands are gentler. My laugh is heartier. My mouth is kinder. My feet move more quickly to help. My heart is larger. My soul is fuller, deeper, richer. Sadly, what hasn’t changed is that I am still
profoundly imperfect, but I think that this quality is here for the foreseeable future.
But the best
thing about studying the Bible is that the near stranger I decided to follow years
ago has become my First Love. It’s not What I am learning so much as Whom… and He is definitely worth my time.
Debbie Legg is your server today! Find out more about her here and don't forget to sign up for updates by email or RSS before you go.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
|
Comments
Read more...
Seeking Direction: Toward
Me
as in old habits I struggle to overcome.
Distractions that are far more fun.
Comfort food. Retail therapy. Vegging out with the boob tube. Surfing the Net. I
have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I
inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me
that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is
still within me. (Romans 7:21-23 NLT)
Most days I’m tired of struggling against what I don’t want to do, who I don’t want to be.
Most days I’m tired of struggling against what I don’t want to do, who I don’t want to be.
Recently I heard this: “If we are going to struggle with something, why don’t we struggle TOWARD something, toward being more and more Christ-like rather than against old habits that are no longer who we are? Why don’t we shift the same amount of energy into becoming more and more full of the fruit of the spirit rather than trying to battle defensively against who we used to be, that we are no longer?” (Brian Hardin, Daily Audio Bible podcast 9-10-11, emphasis added)
That was a direction-changer for me, a roadblock demolisher. If I concentrate on Jesus, on holiness and listening and growing, then my desire for the old ways will look far less attractive.
Not
that it won’t still be a struggle, it will just be a struggle TOWARD rather
than AGAINST. Isn’t
that always the more productive, more worthwhile, more successful struggle?
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.”
Debbie Legg is your server this week! Find out more about her here and don't forget to sign up for updates by email or RSS before you go.
Monday, September 26, 2011
|
Comments
Read more...
