From Vodka to Vanilla

Phil 4:13 - I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me [I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency].

Philippians has always been one of my favorite books in the Bible. When I was in High School, Philippians 4:13 was my favorite verse, we even included it on the back of one of our cross-country shirts. Though there are the other great verses in the book, Phil. 2:13, Phil 3:14, Phil 4:8, Phil 1:6, just to name a few of my favorite.

This morning, for the first time ever, I read Philippians 4:13 differently as I read the amplified version. I noticed that in the amplified, it used the word "infuses." It says, "through Him Who infuses inner strength into me." 

You see... my recent "Martha Stewart" skills over the last 2 years caused me to try and learn how to make Vanilla Extract. I bake enough that I use vanilla extract A LOT! Not to mention my theory with vanilla... "If a little vanilla is good, a LOT is better!" When baking, I think vanilla makes everything better. If a cake or cookie recipe calls for 1 teaspoon, I add 2-3 teaspoons! But, vanilla is not cheap for the normal person! A small 2 ounce bottle may cost $4-5. That doesn't go to far with as much as I use it. So, that brings me to this eye-opening new way of seeing Philippians 4:13. I looked up the definition to the word "infuse." This is what it said:

infuse: to steep or soak (leaves, bark, roots, etc.) in a liquid so as to extract the soluble properties or ingredients.

In order to make vanilla extract, you need vodka or rum. You cut the vanilla beans, scrape out the "caviar" from the center, and both the bean and the "caviar" soaks in the vodka or rum. Then what happens, the vanilla flavor is infused into the vodka creating Vanilla Extract. The vanilla flavor is extracted into the vodka creating that super yummy ingredient for all your favorite baked goods. THE SECRET?!?!

Infusing takes TIME. 

For the vanilla beans to change the vodka from simply an "alcohol" to "vanilla extract" takes TIME. At least 6 months to be exact, and like wine, the longer the vanilla infuses into the vodka, the greater and richer of a flavor it will be. Like wine fermenting over time, vanilla beans will continue to extract their flavor and infuse into becoming a delicious ingredient that could make world renowned cookies! :) (If you know me, you know that I have been in a few chocolate chip cookie bake-off's, so I take my cookie baking and ingredients seriously! Ha!) 

The amplified version of Philippians 4:13 reads, "I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency."

The Holy Spirit will INFUSE INNER STRENGTH within you! But this infusing process takes time. It's going to take you and I steeping and soaking in the Word of God so that the Word of God can be extracted into our lives! So that the Word of God can begin to change our flavor, change our make-up, renew us, change us from the "vodka" (the world & flesh) to the "vanilla extract" (the good things, the God-nature, the Christian who walks in and by the Spirit). As we steep and soak in the Word of God, not only are we strengthened as it says in Phil 4:13, but our literal make-up begins to change. The cuss-words that were a part of our sin nature, as we steep in the Word of God, over time, those same cuss words begin to sound like nails on a chalkboard. Some of the movies we watched at one time, now seem to not be appropriate. As we steep, we are changing! The Holy Spirit is infusing us with INNER STRENGTH! When things come at us, we are stronger to handle them, where the previous us would have broken, the INFUSED US rises up with STRENGTH!

Friend, I encourage you.... take the time now steep and soak in the Word of God. Allow the WORD to get infused into your very being, so that when strength needs to rise up on the inside of you, that is exactly what will happen. You will be filled with inner strength and able to conquor anything!

#263 - Why You WON'T MISS IT?

Jeremiah 29:13 - Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Mark 1:35 (ESV) - And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. 

Proverbs 31:15 - She rises while it is yet night and gets [spiritual] food for her household... 

Have you ever thought, "I just don't want to miss it. I don't want to miss God."

I know that there have definitely been points along my life where I thought the very same thing. This morning as I was journaling and taking some time to listen to the Voice of the Holy Spirit, I felt very reassured by what I heard.

If you get this next thing down, I believe you will have won 95% of the battle!!

What is that? First things first: Daily time with the Lord. Once we have committed and have established a DISCIPLINE in devoting time EACH DAY with the Lord, I believe a large portion of any upcoming battle is won. I believe we will "WIN" the day! I believe we will "WIN" in our relationships. I believe we will "WIN" with our dreams and goals!

I attended a business class last night, and the gentleman was talking about a mentorship relationship and what it looks like, what proper communication looks like and doesn't look like. He said something to this effect, "I recently had a conversation with a guy that I am mentoring. Consistently, when we would get together, he would talk the whole time. It may be an hour long of him talking, the guy barely came up for air. He established a habit of monopolizing the conversation. I'm OK with that, but I finally told him. 'You don't need me. If all I am is just a wall for you to talk to, you don't need me.'"

A true mentoring relationship sometimes means you need to be quiet! A true mentoring relationship means that both parties talk and both parties listen.

What does your time with the Lord look like? What does your "quiet time" with Him look like? Like the protege in the above relationship, are you doing ALL THE TALKING when you spend time with the Lord? Do you pray and pray and pray, then get up to leave while the Lord is still just sitting there. He never had a chance to get a word in. He didn't have a chance to offer HIS advice, HIS answer to the situation or problem.

WHY can we be assured we will not miss it? This is what I heard this morning...

Why won't you miss it? Because of this! Because of this daily time spent with Me! When you spend daily time with Me & even open up yourself to LISTEN, I will SPEAK because you are seeking Me!! You won't miss it! Business, marriage, money, kids. You won't miss it.

So friend, I ask, are you spending time listening? Sitting in silence, pen & journal in hand, ready to hear from that still, small Voice? Ready to record His thoughts about the very situation you are seeking Him about?

I encourage you to take some time today, to get in a quiet place and in that silence ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -    LISTEN. 

#190 - Bit by Bit

Good morning! It's cool on the porch this morning. Overcast, but the birds are still chirping. I couldn't help but think this morning that next year at this time we will have an addition. Trinity will be 9 months old! Amazing to think. Last year this time, that was Tyler Junior. Each season just brings adjustments, but equal blessings. God is good. Well, let's get started... are you ready?

Proverbs 6:6-8 - Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways and be wise!-- ⁷Which, having no chief, overseer, or ruler, ⁸Provides her food in the summer and gathers her supplies in the harvest.

Proverbs 31:16 - She considers a [new] field before she buys or accepts it [expanding prudently and not courting neglect of her present duties by assuming other duties]; with her savings [of time and strength] she plants fruitful vines in her vineyard.

There are lots of types of people out there. Starters, finishers, the detail people who are great at perfecting things - putting on the polished touches, but all are important. Have you ever started a project, but for two weeks later the project to lay on your kitchen table only partially completed? Half done. Cluttered, but you plan to come back to it. In the mean time, it is what it is, an unfinished but started project. What about this.... you are working to complete something good, but then something new catches your eye. Ooooohh! This new idea seems great, exciting, fun. So, you jump ship, leave the first project, maybe even the second project to work on this new thing, this new idea. Now you sit with not one, not two, but three projects, started, but unfinished. Maybe all equally good, maybe even all "God" ideas, but there they all sit, unfinished.

I find myself realizing how quickly that was becoming me. Tyler and I were riding home from church yesterday, talking. It's always good to talk to him because he provides great perspective for things. Upon completing my book in January, I set it aside for 3-4 months to take a break from it. I knew that the draft was completed, but the book was far from complete. I had something to work from, I had 70,000+ words as a place to start. I remember starting the project, getting specific direction "how" to write a book. That directions were to work on it bit by bit, little by little. "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." In my quiet time one morning, the Holy Spirit told me to just write for one hour, four days per week, first thing when I woke up. Even against my "religious" thinking, before my quiet time! The Holy Spirit directed me to write for ONE hour even before I had my quiet time. The funny thing is, guess what? It worked! It's funny how the Holy Spirit know us. He knew that first thing in the morning, I was fresh. First thing in the morning, I wasn't tempted to take a nap, or nodding off.

Well... the last few weeks, as I've been working through the editing process, I thought I would just do things my way. I'm smart, right? I can figure things out on my own, right? So without asking, I determined that I would do my editing in the afternoon during Tyler Juniors nap time. After several weeks, I found myself frustrated. A whole week would go by, and I would not have worked on my book at all. Nothing progressing, nothing moving forward. And even sometimes, like picking up a shiny coin, I would pick up a new thing, a new project.... one more thing to distract me from my goal, completion of my book. SO... on the way home from church yesterday, Tyler mentioned a quote I have heard him say before, it's something like this, "Broken focus is often the enemy to success." He pointed out these several projects I had picked up and gotten distracted with, and he saw it, I was starting to get overwhelmed and frustrated. I was starting to not know how I could get everything done. He reminded me that it would probably be good to FINISH my book and the other projects could follow. I immediately thought about the Proverbs 31 woman. What does she do? She CONSIDERS a field, she doesn't jump in immediately with both feet, she first CONSIDERS it. She expands prudently, not wanting to neglect her current duties, her current projects. Like the Proverbs 6 ant, she progresses little by little, she does bit by bit, until a project is completed and she can take on a new one, she can add to her plate.

What has worked before? How has the Holy Spirit directed you in the past? This morning is one of those "pat yourself on the back mornings" for me. I feel good. I woke up, wrote for an hour. THEN I read my Bible, now I'm writing this devotion. I'm working towards completion of a project that I started. I completed the book bit by bit, from September to December... it only took 4 months to write 70,000 words, doing little by little. Not overnight. Just a little bit at a time on a consistent basis.

What's a project you are working on? I heard a quote yesterday, "Continuity leads to emotional stability." Maybe it's having a regular quiet time.....if you just got consistent, the same time every day, I would almost bet that all around you would be more at peace, more stable, more solid.

What is it that you may need to look at? What is it that you can begin, or begin again to just do bit by bit?  Take advise from the Proverbs 31 woman, take advise from the ant. Is there something you can do & complete just by doing a little bit by bit?