Tuesday, August 3, 2010

#44 - Change Starts with Me

Good morning! Did you know that as a Christian you can expect and believe for God's favor?! The sentence or two from Friday... not sure if you had a chance to read it, but it is POWERFUL! Confess God's FAVOR upon your life today! "FAVOR FAVOR FAVOR! God's favor rests upon me now and is changing circumstances, situations, rules, regulations, policies, laws and even my mistakes to prosper! God's FAVOR is working for me now! AMEN!" Now, that is good stuff! If I were a preacher I'd say, "Don't shout me down when I'm preaching good!" Do you have a situation that you need or would love to see turned your way? Confess God's favor! As a believer in Jesus Christ, as a born again child of God, your FATHER wants to bless you and wants to see you blessed. He wants you to walk in being the head & not the tail. Confess FAVOR! But... do more than that! BELIEVE IT! Say it, and then smile. Shake your head in awe, look up to the heavens and just THANK GOD that when GOD is for you, WHO can be against you! Child of God, there is no way around it, YOU HAVE FAVOR! 
PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!! HALLELUYAH! As we SPEAK, God's FAVOR is working for us NOW! WOW! What a good thing!!


Well... it seems like awhile since I posted something. We had a great trip to Hilton Head. Tyler's job is a definite blessing, but how awesome it will be when daddy gets to be a stay-@-home dad with me!! We are blessed now, but that will be a whole new realm of blessing. We thank God for AWESOME growth in our business, our passions & our calling! Open doors all the time! To do what we love! Imagine this.... getting paid to do what you love! Now that is heaven on earth! It's happening now, we call it done in JESUS name! I'm pretty jacked... I read 2 books this week. I am on my own accelerated reading program. Nothing changes until something changes. Insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results! I am changing me. I am starting with me. I am excited about becoming a better me, reading books that inspire, that encourage, that move me on. Filling myself up so that I can pour out, so that I can give more. Who knows, if you are empty you have nothing to give. If the glass has no water in it, you can't pour out ANY water to share with others. I'm going to FILL UP as fast as I can so that I am overflowing... so that I can continue to pour out and fill back up again. VALUE. The law of value. "Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment." Bless people by exceeding their expectations. Are you serving? Are you adding value to others? 


Ok... let's get rolling this morning. Quite a long intro, ey? I was amening myself! ;-) haha! I needed to hear it, to be reminded! 
Proverbs 3:5 - Lean on, trust in, and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own insight or understanding.
Proverbs 31:15 - She rises while it is yet night and gets [spiritual] food for her household....
Side note: I just said "Hi" to my neighbor, Rick. Had a little "mini-conversation". That's another thing I've tried to change, or improve on. Being NICE to people! What a concept! In the past, I would be so caught up in ME, where I'm going, or what I'm doing... what "I" am trying to accomplish. Head down, focused. Walking fast, let's make a bee-line in and out of this place so I can get to the next thing, so I can accomplish the next task. I'm working on a time-frame here. No time to smile at people. No time to say hello. No time to have a conversation or to listen. Go Go GO!!! Anyways... it felt good to say hi to my neighbor Rick. He is typically a quieter guy... and he stood there and talked to me for a minute. :) It was nice. He's off work for a few days. Good for Rick. This weekend in Hilton Head... I made it a point to smile at people. Something free to give, but often priceless to receive.  Sometimes people just need a smile or kind word. I'm working on not focusing so much on ME!


Well, bless the LORD! To lean on, trust in and be confident in the Lord with all your HEART & MIND. To not rely on your own insight or understanding! Wow. Really think about that. I know I often think that I "know" things. For me... I think the biggest area I need assistance in this is my "daily agenda". To be directed by Him with my activities. This is my choice. As I clear my mind, I confess, "Lord right now, I lean on, trust in & am confident in YOU for my day. For my purpose, for my direction, for things to accomplish. With ALL my mind & ALL my heart, I trust in you! Father, I know that in my own insight or in my own understanding I am limited, BUT when I team up with you, my insight and understanding is LIMITLESS! Through you, I can understand all things. I can be divinely directed. Father, right now I CHOOSE to be directed by YOU! I rely on YOU, not upon myself!" 


Our Proverbs 31 friend... what I've in a bit held out from... dreaded... she rises while it is yet night and gets spiritual food for her household. I guess in reading it, it doesn't necessarily say that she gets up "before" her husband, but rising earlier would bless my husband. For me to be able to get spiritual food for myself, to serve my spouse & son better, to prepare myself more for the day, to not feel rushed upon when the boy is going to wake up. To rise earlier would be better. It would also allow me to bless my husband on another level, to rise while it is yet night and get PHYSICAL food for my husband. To make him breakfast. I already know that he would LOVE that. It would be a blessing to him. SO... a new goal. Rising earlier. Once up, I will be ready to go. Rising earlier will allow me to get more done in the morning. Prepare better. Read in the morning. Plan. Complete other tasks. 


What can you commit to today? Leaning on the Lord, more than on yourself? Rising earlier to prepare for your day? Spending more time in the Word? Giving to others? Smiling more?


What are you going to do? Change starts with me. Changing your world starts with you!

3 comments:

Deb Ellis said...

Amy,
Well said! I, too tend to be too busy to take the focus off ME and take the time to minister to other's even if it's just a smile. I am actually guilty of 'pretending not to notice somebody'. Oh, did I just admit that to the world? Yes, very deceptive, isn't it? I choose to change that bad characteristic and be more friendly.
I love getting up early and spending time with the Lord. It's almost like free time for me, because for so long, I would sleep in as late as I could get by with, and get out of bed and allow just enough time to get ready for work. Wow! Getting up an hour (sometimes hour and a half) is so peaceful and relaxing. I also noticed it's so easy to get back into those bad habits if you let yourself take a break. My son has been home this past week and we have stayed up late visiting and hanging out. He flew back to California today, so it's time to get back to my morning routine. I love having him home, but I miss my special quiet time.

Amy J. McCart said...

Thanks for the feedback Mom! Not that I'm excited that you've struggled with the same thing, but it is true that it can be easy to just "go with the flow"... and probably for most people, the flow includes just focusing on self instead of others. But praise the Lord that we are loved so much that God doesn't just leave us "as is", He helps us to change and grow.
Love you!
Amy

Angela Krebs said...

Great devotional!! LOVE IT, LOVE IT, LOVE IT!!!! I even love the part about, “being Nice to People!!” That is an issue I need to overcome too! I would be interested to know what people really think about me! Do they think that I am only into “ME”? Because, I am busy and I don’t have time to stand around and talk and when I do have time to stand around and talk, I don’t want too because I have been so busy. So, I try to look like I am busy! Isn’t that horrible!!! Anyway, that is a great goal! I think that I will add that to my list of goals. I am going to start a list of goals and sometime this year when we get started on setting my goals, we can talk about that more. In the mean time, I am going to start NOW, being “NICE” to people! :D

Also, I agree with the early riser thing!! When I did that last fall, my life was soooo much more “together!!” I am ret to get back to it! I would like to start doing that yet this week because school starts next Friday and I want to make it routine!

So, send me the link to that book! I would like to order it on Friday! Okay then, the Lord led you well with your devotional, Change Starts with Me!! You are soooo blessed! God is good and Amy has MUCH FAVOR in His eyes!! I love you and have a great day!

Social Sharing