Lent -Listening to God

Listening to God....


My kiddo says.."BUT I CAN'T HEAR HIM!"


I think it is easier than we make it out to be. At least some of the time. 


My current favorite author, speaker (not sure if he is a pastor) is Brad Jersak.  He speaks and writes about listening to God and I wrote in an earlier post some links of his talks.  One of the things he covers in his material is answering the question,   "how do I know this isn't just  me answering in my own head?  How do I KNOW it is God?"  He gave some ideas on how to sort that out.


I will pose an example that happened to me recently.  At church last week they asked us to write down six people we will pray for during lent.  I felt God nudging me to pray for the person next to me.  I have only been to this church three times...and I did not know this person.  How would I write her name down..if I didn't know it?


Simple solution:  ASK HER.


Ask her?  Heck I don't like to order for pizza (I have baggage..don't we all)..let alone tell a stranger I am going to pray for her and I want to know her name.  The first thought that flitted thru my brain was.."maybe I'm just not hearing God right." (Keep in mind.. I was in CHURCH..not at the local mega mart.)


Well there can be only three people that I could hear from in my brain.  First, the enemy.  And the enemy does NOT want me to pray for anyone.  So it can't be him.


Ok..Maybe it was 'just me.'  Um..no..  Did you read above? I don't like to order pizza and in general talk to strangers.  (My mom told me it was dangerous.)   I wouldn't ask myself to talk to a stranger.  So it wasn't me.


So..it must be God.


So that is my new 'quick run thru' when I want to see who I am hearing from.  Of course there are other questions where it isn't quite as clear but I am learning to tune my ear into what He wants and desperately trying to block out all the rest.  

Mighty Macs DVD and Give Away...

Back in October I reviewed Mighty Macs as it was coming out in theaters.  Now it is available on DVD!  You can read the review here.  I will just give you the run down again here:

THE MIGHTY MACS is based on the incredible true story of the 1971-72 Immaculata College team that started in obscurity but became the original Cinderella story in women's basketball. This team of pioneers went from barely making that inaugural tournament to the first dynasty in their game. And Cathy Rush, the woman that was ahead of her time, became immortalized when she was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

As it says, it is a Cinderella story.  Even though you know what the ending will be the movie is full of wit and fun and plenty of drama.  The movie is about dreams and hope.   It is about commitment and tenacity... and heart.  And it is funny too!

Here is the trailer:





This movie is great for the whole family.  There is zero swearing, sex, violence. It is rated G.   I would think very young kids would be bored a bit but certainly even elementary age children might enjoy the story line.   I give this one two thumbs up.

The Might Macs of course has a facebook page.  And they tweet. And it is now available on DVD both at Amazon and on Itunes.  This is a great family film to support.

And... a contest!!!!!  WOOT!  If you would like to win a copy of this DVD please

1) Leave a comment.
2) Post this blog on your Facebook page and leave an additional comment.

And when you leave your comment, please leave a way for me to contact you!  The folks are Propeller are so generous to be giving these away!  If you don't win the DVD, I highly recommend watching this one! Contest ends March 8 at Midnight.

"Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services 

mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I 

only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. 

I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: 

"Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Lent... What should I give up?

So whatcha giving up?


As I sat with God one morning this week over a cup of coffee, I asked him what I should give up for Lent, if anything.  And I really tried to listen...


I will get back to listening and how that works for me on a later post.


But I listened and I really thought he said..I care about the relationship.   


This isn't to say that giving up something isn't important.  Because God continued... I want you to come to me each day and ask me what I want for that day.


I love that because it says the journey will be ongoing.  


I wrote the above several days ago and God has been faithful to tell me each day what he'd like me to do.   I will likely share a few of these with you over the journey.  

Lent- Worship Style

I have been to many different worship styles in my life... Catholic, contemporary, pentecostal..  Recently I have have been part of worship services that are more reflective and contemplative.  Last summer I went to Capuchin Retreat center twice to do a day 'semi-silent' retreat and it was wonderful.  If I have an opportunity to do this over Lent I want to do that.  It is a great way to center yourself on God.  Although the day retreats were only six hours, I could see myself going there for a whole weekend if I could get away with it.  This is not my usual self however; I love the 'ladies retreats' where lots of talk gets done.  But stepping out into this something different really blessed me.

This is just one of the pictures I took from that day.  I like to look at it because for me it is reflective of what Lent is about.. it is about getting with God and seeing what he has for you.  Filling up on him.  Reflecting on his grace.


On Ash Wednesday, the church I have been going to did a service in the Taize style of worship and it was lovely.  It was about getting quiet with God.  You can google Taize yourself to find out the background but think candles, repetitive songs, reading and silence.  This is something you could easily do on your own as well over the Lenten season.  


There is no one way to worship God.  Ask Him how He might speak to you this season.  Perhaps, if he leads you, try a new style of worship or prayer.  Sometimes just getting out of the rut helps you hear him a different way.  


Join us for our blogging time during Lent at the link below.

Lent - Ash Wednesday

What is Lent?  You can google it.  But many people give up something and I started asking God..what should I give up?  He did give me an answer which I will share at some point here but I came across a great quote today....

And I thought.. what if I gave up myself?  My old self.  The Bible says we do that when we become Christians but I think we spend a lifetime trying to find what that means.  And we can't even do THAT without Him.


I am going to try and blog for the 40 days.. but probably not every day... in the following link up.  So feel free to join!!!  I haven't blogged that much since Thanksgiving and I think it is time to get back in the swing.

Winner of Worship Music

Congrats Chef Penny.  You are a WINNER :).. again.. You might just be taking over the winning streak.  For the record folks, I pray before I 'draw' a number on random.org.  So Penny be blessed!