Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Not too chatty

It's been almost a whole week since I last posted. Hmmm. I guess I'm just not that chatty right now. Honestly, I only share a small portion of my life here on the blog and I just haven't had that much to share lately.

Some family stuff: both Bobo and Bear are very good at riding their bikes without training wheels now. We spend most afternoons outside and they rarely get off them. Princess loves to sing and I feel confident that God has gifted her musically. Popeye's hair seems to get redder by the minute. He was my blond baby, but not anymore.

Some random stuff: I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow and then on Friday will color it. And, yes, I'm keeping the blue. We're planning a trip to Sea World San Antonio in May! Wahoo! I just finished reading Pride and Prejudice for the first time ever. My favorite movie of all time is Pride and Prejudice (starring Keira Knightly sp?) and I finally got around to reading the book. It was great and I believe the movie did it justice.

Some God stuff: Last week Satan attacked me hard. I felt beaten down and frustrated. Then on Monday I woke up in a bad mood. Everyone else suffered because I didn't do anything about it. So on Tuesday when I woke up in the same mood I decided enough was enough. I put in my Hillsong DVD and praised God. Then I cleaned my living room. Then I put on a Beth Moore DVD I have and watched the lesson on wisdom. Good stuff. After lunch I put on a CD of the sermon our Pastor gave on Eastor that I hadn't heard yet, because I worked in the nursery that morning. I was determined to saturate myself with the Word and force the bad mood to leave. It worked and God spoke something to me that I desperately needed to hear.

God has been doing a mighty work in my life over the past year. He has freed me from some strongholds and filled me with His power like never before. My life looks different and my attitude usually does too. Well, I was really down after this last week mainly because Satan was trying to convince me that all the work in me God had done this past year was for naught. That I had somehow in the matter of a day backtracked to where I was last year. God spoke very clearly into my spirit that Satan was bluffing. The changes that God has made in me are not so very insignificant that they can be gone in a day. Of course, if I choose to walk in the flesh day after day over a period of time the changes will not hold any power simply because I chose not to live in that power. But I have not, nor will I ever make that choice. I chose to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit every day, every hour, every minute for as long as God allows me to live.

I don't feel like I'm doing a good job of getting my point across. I want this to bring hope to someone today who has let Satan try to convince them that they are no different or that they can't ever change. The TRUTH is that when you have the Holy Spirit living in you, you ARE a new creation. NOT: you will be. The old has gone, the new has come. Yes, some change takes time and effort, some change happens supernaturally, but God has made you different and just because you happen to react in the old way one time doesn't mean you have blown it. Paul talks about running the race and finishing well and this picture just came to me: When I mess up I have fallen down in the race. I get up and continue on from there. I don't go back to the starting line and start all over. God has brought me this far in my race and yes, last week I fell down, but I got up and I am continuing on. Not starting over. The changes that God has made in me are still changed. I'm still a new creation and so are you. So, If you haven't already, get up. Get up and continue on and don't listen to the lies of the enemy. God has done a work in you that even you yourself can't mess up that easily.

There is one word for what Satan was trying to pull with me last week: CONDEMNATION. And there is one scripture that I need to say in his face to shut him up. Memorize it and USE IT.

Romans 8:1 There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Verse 2 is great too: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.

4 comments:

Becca said...

Preach it sister!

Anonymous said...

Good word, you did make sense by the way...thanks for sharing...you're kids are just to precious...I want to eat them all...I love you so stinkin much and am so blessed to have you as an older sister!

Tobias Valdez said...

Right on! There's been a lot going on in our world too that has been frustrating to deal with and has "seemed" to pull me down or back to the way things were. But today is not yesterday, and I cannot live in it. I will not! Thanks for the encouragements, again!

Anonymous said...

Your analogy about falling down during the race blessed me! What the Lord impressed on me while I read it was how the crowd will always get behind that runner who has fallen and cheer them on even louder and more enthusiastically than the other runners. I want to cheer you on, I want to encourage you! Imagine a whole stadium of other believers cheering for you!
Love,
Ro