Offensive.

This week our Seeking Him Together group has been studying 'dealing with offenses toward others' and by dealing... they mean DEALING... as in going out and fixing the ways we've wronged others. Paying back anything we've stolen (time, money, items, etc.), apologizing for unfair things we've said or done, making amends, so to speak. And we're not just talking someday... we're talkin' right away. now. this minute.no messing around.

The sequence of this study was well designed. By the time we got to this portion, I was ready! Is this offensive to you God? Let's get rid of it! Am I sinning? Remove it! Take it out! I don't want it! I want to be free of these burdens! I want to follow Jesus! Go!

And then I started reading the scriptures:

• Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward me. Acts 24:16

• So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24

And though I thought we had tunneled deeply below the surface, I found I actually had to dig some more. I had some big questions. Yes, there was clear cut sin I needed to reconcile: I could think of some old but awful 'white' lies I will be taking care of this week, I have a couple of other items I'm praying about, too. I'm far from blameless... it was hard to own up to the offenses, but again, I am actually happy to get those out of my heart, out of my conscience, out of the darkness.

However, everything isn't as simple as just going out and righting wrongs, and I found out through multiple conversations with ladies in the study that each of us had some specific points to consider. Between us, we wondered:

• What if the person I've sinned against does not know I said this horribly mean thing about them?
  
• What if the way I've sinned against someone was in my heart and not out loud? I'm afraid that confessing this to them will cause this person pain/cause them to stumble.
  
• What if there will be consequences when this person hears that I sinned in this way?
  
• What if I've already apologized, but the person still holds this over my head? Do I apologize again and again?
• What if the person I've offended has expressly requested no contact from me/won't meet with me/won't answer my calls? Our study guide advises against letters or emails. How far should I go to make peace?
• What if I feel confident I haven't sinned, but know for a fact that someone is still offended by my words/actions. Can I make peace without compromising my commitment to be authentic and honest with God and others?

Together, my Seeking Him Sisters and I came up with some Biblical answers, but before I reveal what we agreed on, I'd love to hear what you have to say...

Do you have a scripture-based opinion on one of the above 'special circumstances?' Please share!

ps: check out the other Seeking Him Together bloggers by clicking here.

Seeking Him Together Week 8 Links

Hi, all! I'm the hostess again, since Melissa is still on her mission trip to Peru! Without further ado, here is this weeks' question:

Q: Discuss this statement from day 3 "Revival and reconciliation are inseparable. You cannot be right with God and not be right with your fellow man." Why do you think there is such a strong connection between our relationship with God (the vertical) and our relationships with others (horizontal)?

You can post your answers here either in the form of a comment or in the form of a link below to your blog. I'll be back later today with my take on this BIG topic: Dealing with offenses toward others. Blessings!

Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offense toward God, and toward men (Acts 24:16)

Seeking Him Together: Week 8 Discussion Preview

Hey all-
Week 8 has been a particular struggle for me... wondering if it's just me or if everyone is trying to wrap their hearts around what exactly God wants to be done?

I'd love to give you lots of room to discuss this chapter, so I'm only going to do one review question- hoping that frees you up to really elaborate on what God's telling you about it.

Q: Discuss this statement from day 3 "Revival and reconciliation are inseparable. You cannot be right with God and not be right with your fellow man." Why do you think there is such a strong connection between our relationship with God (the vertical) and our relationships with others (horizontal)?

Herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men (Acts 24:16)

We'll be posting the answers on our blogs Tuesday... I'll be linking ya'll up here, since Melissa is still on her mission trip to Peru!

Obedience

What is more pleasing to the Lord:
your burnt offerings and sacrifices
or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 15:22

When my son was a toddler, every now and again he would run to me, smother me with kisses and say... "I wuv you, Mommy. You are da best Mommy." and there was just something about the way he would do it, that I would know to ask... "What did you DO?" This would cue him to start that toddler chant "SowwyMommywuvyouMommy."

So, I would get up, go into his room and find whatever it is that he had done and start the lesson; "I love when you tell me you love me. I love when you say you are sorry when you break the rules. But do you know what Mommy loves best of all? What makes Mommy soooo happy?"

"When I fowow da rules"

Ah, yes. I'm pretty sure that's what the Bible is telling us in the above verses. It's great to pray and ask forgiveness. It's great to sacrifice. But if we simply follow God's commandments- we will be speaking volumes to Him. We will be telling him:

• I trust You- I believe that You want what's best for me
• I respect You- I submit to Your authority
• I hear You- I am giving You my attention and listening to Your directions
  
• I acknowledge You - I don't think you're easily fooled or unaware
• I honor You- I want to do what you've asked me to do because you are worthy
  
• I love You-

If you love Me, you will keep My commandments
John 14:15

Next chapter: Clear Conscience: Dealing with offenses toward others *gulp*

Seeking Him Together... Week 7 Links

Hey, all the cool kids are linking up their week 7 blog posts here:


Keep checking back to see what everyone has to say (I'll be back later with mine:) )

Seeking Him Week 7 Discussion Questions

Good Morning!
It's been QUITE a weekend {posted about that HERE} but I'm still lovin' our study. You may be noticing right now that I'm hosting a few weeks in a row! That's because Melissa is going on a mission trip to Peru starting TODAY! I am so proud of her and so excited to see what God is up to and to hear all about her adventure as she goes out there, Seeking Him in real life! Please join me in praying for her while she's out on this trip!

Here are the discussion questions to answer on your blog, on FB or in the comments portion tomorrow:

1. What blessings or consequences have you personally reaped from some act of obedience or disobedience in your life?
2. Why is it so important that we obey God completely? Why is it not enough to obey some, or even most, of what He says?

Can't wait to read all your answers! See you tomorrow for a linky and all kinds of obedient fun!

If you love me, you will keep My commandments
John 14:15

Father's Day with a Little Hitch

Last night we were out celebrating Father's Day with a delicious BBQ with our friends. Dinner was over, and the kids were playing with Nerf guns. My husband called me to the bathroom where my son had gone to take out his contact lenses. My hubby, J, was under the impression that my son, S, got hit in the eye, since one of his eyes was very, very swollen. The reality was that S had come to take out the lenses because his eyes were itchy. While we were watching, his entire face swelled up to look remarkably like this:



We didn't waste a minute- J and I jumped in the car with S, leaving the girls in the capable hands of our friends. As we were driving, S's face was swelling by the minute, and he started complaining about his throat getting tight. As I dialed 911, he began wheezing and gasping for air. His eyes and nose were running like crazy and his voice began to sound more like a growl than actual human speech. We determined it was faster to speed to the hospital than pull over and wait for an ambulance.

As we pulled into the emergency bay at our local hospital, I ran in with S while my husband parked the car. I approached the desk:
"Hello! My son is having a severe allergic reaction! I need him to be seen right away!"
Without even looking up, the receptionist motioned to paperwork to be filled out and turned in, then we could have a seat.
"Um, no."
One glance at my boy's face, and the receptionist got up from her desk and RAN into the emergency room (bless her heart). In seconds, S had the attention of several nurses and doctors. He was so brave as they put in his first ever iv line, hooked him up to fluids and then gave him some meds to chill out the reaction. They also hooked him up to a heart monitor, and found him with a heartrate of 145... way too high to give him the Epinephrine that he needed. The medication that they did give him, though it helped him to breathe right away, caused him to shake uncontrollably. They found a bed for him right away (excessively rare in our area) and as they tucked him in with purple hands and feet, shaking, eyes the size of golf balls, nose swollen, ears red, heartbeat racing, waiting for the meds to sink in, I finally took a deep breath and prayed.

It was one of those simple, desperate prayers that are not really made up of words, but instead are comprised of something that I just can't describe. There was just a connection between my mommy heart and my Daddy's heart and I just knew that He had it in control. I sent a text to my Twitter account, who relayed the same message to my Facebook account:

In hospital with son. Severe allergic reaction. Please pray.

Now, here is where I would like to say that never have I been so grateful for social networking in all my life. Though I wouldn't read the notes until I got home (I don't have one of them fancy internet phones) dozens of people from both FB and Twitter let me know they were instantly praying. Even though I couldn't see them, I just could feel the prayers, and knowing that there were so many people petitioning for my son was so extremely comforting. I just literally felt a peace washing over me.

About an hour or so later, his heartrate settled into a nice respectable 100 bpm. The shaking stopped. He was breathing normally, and could open one eye. We were sent home after another hour of observation, prescriptions in hand, and instructions to make an appt. with an allergist ASAP so we can get to the bottom of what on earth caused this reaction. When we got home, we made a list of everything he ingested yesterday (which is quite a list... that boy is a serious eater) including Advil. We'll see if the doctor has a better understanding about what we can avoid in the future to make sure that this never happens again.

Today, his face is still startlingly swollen. Right now he can actually open both eyes, but his face is still puffy and he doesn't look right. He's already up and eating again, a sure sign that he's on the mend. I'm feeling exhausted but thankful... God is so good!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.
Psalm 107:1

Personal Holiness

This week I took a sleep test from the comfort of my own bed with a monitor strapped to my bod. It was a sheer hoot~ I had a tube in my nose, traps all over my chest, a machine between my... ribcage, and red glowy lights on a tape-y thing wrapped around my pointer finger. I wanted to take a picture and post it for you, but it turns out I was unable to rock the look as well as one might think. I heisted this pic from the Canadian Lung Association which is actually the exact configuration I was sent home with:

*fighting the urge to point out how this girl and I obviously differ*

Now, if you've been reading for any length of time you already know that I did all of this as part of my determination to get to the bottom of the extreme fatigue I've been fighting the last few months. I don't want to whine, but I do feel the need to let you know that this isn't the regular, "Oh my heck I am so tired" sensation I have felt since I became Mommy. In fact, calling this fatigue 'very tired' is like calling a migraine a 'bad headache.' This is a tired that surpasses even pregnancy tired, nursing twins tired, and working-the-graveyard-shift-at-Bob's-Big-Boy-while-going-to-college-and-teaching-preschool-simultaneously tired all rolled into one.

Anyhoo, it's gotten so out of hand that it's affecting my ability to do the things God has called me to do... like mother my children or care for my husband... not to mention effectively do the work of the ministry I'm part of. I realize that taking care of this on the surface (with caffeine or whatever) is not going to be sufficient. Because it is slowing me down so badly, I am willing to do anything to get to the root of the problem~ blood tests, fancy contraptions, Xrays, you name it. I'm drinking more water, less soda, spending time outside, taking vitamins, keeping a bedtime. I'm following every sane bit of advice I hear. And you know, it doesn't even feel like a burden to do all of this because I want to eliminate whatever it is that's keeping me from being at the top of my game.

Reminds me of this week's Seeking Him Together Bible Study chapter on Personal Holiness. One of the things we've been doing all along is testing, inspecting, poking at our hearts. We're trying to get the things out of our lives that are slowing us down. I'm beginning to realize that no longer do I feel like uprooting the sin in my life is a form of torture, but instead an opportunity. I'm happy to get to the roots of this junk.. for I know from experience that the surface fixes don't last.

In a way, I feel like this study has been like a set of diagnostic tests. I am pleased to say that while I'm not any closer to finding out why I'm so physically exhausted, I'm feeling increasingly spiritually energetic! I have hope that the more I know about God, the more naturally holiness will come to me. It's a natural reaction to seeing Him for what He is- a wonderfully loving, perfect, forgiving, holy God who is pleased to see His people love Him (and each other) in a pure, forgiving holy way.

The results of my sleep test should be back within the next three weeks. I'll of course keep you posted ('cause I know you're at the edge of your seats) about both that and the spiritual results as we move on through this study. For now, I must sleep... *yawn* g'night all....

"Strive for peace with everyone, and for holiness
without which no one could see the Lord"
(Hebrews 12:14)

ps: Over {here} is a printout form of one of the exercises we worked on for day 5. It's a handy-dandy key for looking at the sins we need to put off- but it doesn't stop there. Once we strip off the vile, worn rags we've been parading about in, God doesn't leave us out shivering in the cold! Instead, he gives us something to put on. The heart condition and the corresponding scriptures are listed on the chart. I think it's a cool tool and I hope you will consider printing it out and keeping it where you can easily reference it.

Week 6 Discussion Questions and Links

Good morning, Seeking Him Together Bible Study Ladies! What a great week of studying Holiness! I'm so excited to share with you all that God has been showing me... but I'm even more excited to see what YOU have to share...

Below you'll find the discussion questions for you to respond to on your blog/in the comments/over at facebook starting today (choose one, some, or all):


1. Define "positional holiness" and "personal holiness." What's the difference between the two?

2. First Peter 1:13-16 and other Scriptures urge us to be active in our pursuit of holiness. How can we cooperate with God to grow in personal holiness?

3. How can believers be delivered from hypocrisy and move toward living more authentically holy lives?

4. How did the Lord use the "Put Off/ Put On Exercise in your heart? What are some practical ways you can continue to put off the 'old self' and put on the 'new self'?

I know we normally only do 2-3 questions, but I just couldn't choose. Pick whichever questions speak to you most...

As soon as your post is up on your blog, be sure to link up here:

10 on the 11th - Better Late than Never Edition

It's fitting that I'm a day late to Meredith's Ten on the 10th carnival. I've been behind on everything for about a month now, and so I'm going to commemorate this tardiness with a 'Better Late than Never' edition- 10 things I meant to blog about the last week but didn't:

1. I intended to post about the fact that we took a mini-vacation in May, where we, among other places, visited a Bass Pro Shop. I have never been to such a place, and am pretty sure I stood with my mouth wide open as I took in my first glimpses of this manly disneyland. See this? This is on the second story:



My son took up archery this year, so we visited the indoor range while we were there. I loved seeing him turn into this focused sportsman:

Another thing that I loved seeing was watching my son be so sweet and patient with his sisters. A sheer miracle:

I didn't take any pictures of my trip to Anthropologie or White House Black Market on this mini vacay, so you'll just have to imagine me browsing with a dreamy smile on my face.

2. Also meant to blog also about our amazing thunderstorms last week. I know you non-SoCal gals are getting tired of the inclement weather, but I for one am happy, happy, happy. I know what's around the bend, and I am savoring the cooler temperatures as long as I can.
Anyway, I was awed by all the incredible clouds. I took 64 pictures... not even one captured the spellbinding sights, so it never made it to the web. Here's a fun one, though:


3. Oh yeah! My son promoted out of 8th grade! He received a special honor for his achievement in Bible class. I cried like a baby, vowed to blog all about it, then promptly got too busy.



I can't get over how much taller he is than me.



4. Wanted to also tell you about the High School he's headed to next year. In fact, I still do. I'll come back and blog about that later.

5. My girls played flute in the All District Band Concert. They impressed me. Here are pictures:




6. Composed a whole post in my head about people who let their children scream through band concerts. Was a scathing rant that lost steam by the time I got home. If I had mobile blogging capabilities, I would have given all those crazies a piece of my mind during intermission. I mean, seriously! If you have a loud kid, take them outside until they are no longer loud! This counts double in libraries, informative meetings, and band concerts. Uh oh, better move on, I'm getting riled up again!

7. I'm still working on my excessive fatigue problem. I started a part two of my D-Ficient post in which I whine about the fact that although I am following orders, I am still testing poorly in the Vitamin D department, and I am still so tired I feel like I am in my first trimester (remember THAT feeling ladies?) even though I REALLY AM NOT PREGNANT. (praise God) Then, I remembered that I hate whining, so I scrapped it.

8. Hey, how did THIS get in here?

9. I got a sewing machine for Mother's Day! I am so excited, since this is my first project:
I do know why I never posted on this one, though. I haven't gotten beyond cutting out the pattern. I am apparently worse about completing sewing projects than I am posting blog entries.


10. I've also owed you an update on a couple of things I asked you to pray for. a) My sister-in-law & brother are recovering from the loss of their baby a couple of weeks ago. We're all very sad, but grateful that my SIL is okay. Still, very very sad for them. Please continue to pray as they adjust to life without this baby they dreamed about. b) My unbloggable situation is still unbloggable. God is moving in a very obvious way, and there are glimpses of hope everywhere, but it's by no means smooth sailing. In fact, the seas are rough and unpredictable, and heartbreaking. Still, I know the One who calmed the sea with just his Words. I'm clinging fast to His promises, and feeling a special comfort knowing I'm being held up by Him and supported through your prayers. Thank you doesn't seem enough....


Alright, this is getting long and sappy- I'll leave you with this...

When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you.

Isaiah 43:2

Amazing Grace

*Note: this is part of the Seeking Him Together Bible Study, though everyone's welcome! Here are some ways to participate:

• You can blog about one or all of the discussion questions, then leave a link in the comment over in the comments section of the post written by the lovely Melissa at Breath of Life, who is our hostess this week -and/or-
  
• You can chat about it over at our Facebook group -and/or-
  
• You can leave comments here on this post....

And now that business is taken care of... on with my contribution for Week 5:

How has your understanding of grace been helped or challenged this week?

Nothing whatever pertaining to godliness and real holiness can be accomplished without grace -Augustine

I think maybe I've always thought of grace as my life preserver. I chose to dive into the sea of sin, and God was Amazing and Incredible and Gracious enough to send me a way to stay afloat in the trouble I got myself into. And the part that I just marveled is that He was willing to let unworthy, undeserving me into eternity with Him even though I constantly struggle against Him. All true.

However, when looking over my notes in preparation for this post, I realized that I haven't fully explored all the features that come with Grace.

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:8)

I love the idea of exploring Grace more thoroughly, and I feel like a girl who just discovered Ctrl+A or Ctrl+Z or Ctrl+T on my computer. All this time I had been highlighting everything manually or hitting 'edit, undo' or opening new tabs the old fashioned way or whatever and then, my eyes are open that there is an entire new set of keys that can make my life easier and they've been there all along!

And even more so for Grace! This last chapter opened my eyes that there is more to Grace than I first knew. It's hard to put into words, but I think that my heart is in the process of understanding that Grace is not just a life preserver to hang on to until I get to heaven- it's a vehicle to get to where He's leading me while I'm here on earth. As long as I'm trying to do ANY good work without Grace, I'm not doing myself any favors. But once I humble myself and ask God what He means by 'abounding in every good work'- I'm pretty sure there's no limit to what He can do!

I'm so looking forward to seeing what that looks like in action! It's time to jump in and see what else this Amazing Grace can do....

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace,
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need
Hebrews 4:16

next week: Holiness!

Week 5 Questions Preview

Hey all! This week our hostess with the most-est is Melissa at Breath of Life. Click on over to preview the Discussion Questions for Week 5. We'll be posting our answers via Facebook, Blog, or in the comments on Tuesday, 6/9/09.

See you then!

Sweet Repentance Part 2

So much for sneaking over here and telling the rest of what I learned the next day... I got all busified this week (let's not even mention my Chipotle addiction) and just never could settle down to write part two. Now, it's almost time to move on to the next week, but I first wanted to at least leave you the thing that stood out to me from chapter 4.

It's simple, really. Repentance begins when we 'agree with God' (thanks, Bran! great phrase) that what we're doing is sin. Then, and only then, He can take the need to do that sin from you, and free you up to turn and start following Him. As long as we are unwilling to recognize and admit that our ungodly 'struggles' and 'idiosyncrasies' and 'habits' and 'quirks' and are sin, then we are never going to be able to repent.

So, this week, I've made it a point to consciously call a spade a spade- to call my 'shortcomings' what they are- and I am amazed at how much easier it is to repent!

Here's a word picture (since that's how I think):

Imagine I made you a meal at my house. I call it My Famous Secret Recipe and you dig in. "MMMMMM" you might say, "This is delicious. I don't know if I will ever be able to put down this fork! What's it called?"

If I were to then say (which I would never do- remember this is a parable) "Oh, I call it My Famous Secret Recipe but it's actually Deep Fried Rat with Urine Sauce."... it would not be a problem for you to put down your fork at all! The flavor wouldn't actually change, but your ability to continue partaking would- don't you think? By a mere name change, the taste became undesirable!

I'm getting the same effect by calling sin for what it is this week. Last night, I was telling my friend some information~ "OOOOh! I have something juicy to tell you!" I said out loud. Immediately after,in my heart, I told myself, Wait a minute...this is gossip. But I still wanted to tell it! Man, I thought, how is gossip still a struggle for me? Then, I heard that key word, struggle. By using that word, I was giving myself permission to tell that story. I was acting like stopping at this point was too hard by merely calling gossip a struggle.

Instead, I said out loud, "You know what? There is no value in telling you this. It is gossip and gossip is sin." After that, the temptation was gone. The sin was identified. Not only did I render myself unable to tell the story, I lost all desire to tell it! what a wonderful release! Simple repentance, and I was able to go on without that sick feeling I always get when I gossip. Freedom! Whooo Hoooo! What a gift!


You see, I'm learning that repentance isn't something you have to do when you sin. It's something you get to do because you are loved by God. That's amazing to me....

next up, Grace (oh, how I love this study!)

Create in me a clean heart, O God
And renew a right spirit within me
Psalm 51:10

Sweet Repentance Part 1

When my girls were very, very small little toddlers, they used to like to wear my shoes and carry my purse. It was excessively cute. However, because they were toddlers, it posed two problems:

1. My 'purse' was actually a small convenience store. Having twin toddlers required me to be doubly stocked up on diapers, backup outfits, toys, snacks and other accouterments. This made my purse very, very heavy.

2. My girls were teensy little wisps of people back in those days (yes, and even still) and were early-ish walkers, so therefore they tipped over rather easily. Imagine them walking around with my big ol' chunky-heeled sandals (it's California. we wear sandals year 'round. what?) and my giant bag of tricks. Not very stable.

Now, when we'd want to leave anywhere, the struggle would begin. Purse? Purse? My Purse? I carry? Mine? shoos? shoos? mine shoos? I could let them carry my stuff and walk in my shoes, but then we would NEVER get out the door. I would be unable to bring them where they needed to go while they struggled with trying to wobble to the door all bogged down with things they were never meant to carry.

You see where I'm going with this?

I think that for a long, long time, I was walking in shoes that are not mine. Pridefully, I was trying to work out problems and attend to details that were weighing me down. The reason fretting and worrying were sin was because I was taking the responsibility for figuring out how the world should turn, and guess what? not. my. job. Hello, letting God be God.

And in this bag that wasn't mine, I was carrying a bunch of sins that I wasn't being honest with others or God (or even myself!) about. Each time I shoved something else in the bag, my walking became harder and harder and harder until, without even noticing it, my Christian walk was becoming a crawl. I was never going to get to the place where God was trying to take me this way. It was definitely time for Revival.

Letting go of those things was not easy, and there were a LOT of tears shed. However, now that I've been relieved of the burden of lugging around stuff that is just not meant for me, I feel like I have a new lease on life! The 4th chapter in our Seeking Him Together study on repentance was perfectly timed and a perfect fit!

Can't wait to tell you all about it, but I'm out of time for this morning... tomorrow perhaps?

Create in me a clean heart, O God
And renew a right spirit within me
Psalm 51:10

for other Seeking Him Together week 4 discussions, click HERE

Week 4... Discussion Questions & Links

Hey, Friends!

For those of you just joining us, this entry is part of our Seeking Him Together Bible Study. My amiga, Melissa over at Breath of Life, and I are taking turns hostessing the festivities, and this is my week to have you over. Come on in, I cleaned the house just for you! Take a handful of peanut m&m's from the dish coffee table. Okay, it's really just a virtual hosting, but it's still just as much fun without the stress of housework.

This week's questions are as follows:

1. What is repentance and why is it so crucial in the process of both personal and corporate revival?

2. When God brings conviction of sin to the heart of one of His children, what does it tell us about Him?

3. When is the best time to respond to God's conviction and His call to repentance? Why?

You can read the answers that the other participants in the study post on their blogs by clicking the Mister Linky graphic below, and then clicking on the links that come up in a new window... and keep checking back! I'll even be linking up my own discussion post in the morning! If you are participating on your blog, please leave a link to the specific Week 4 Post (not just to your general blog) below in the Mr. Linky (providing it actually works today)




Seeking Him Together Bible Study Participants

1. DianA @ Walk of Faith 2. care-in@sweet brown sugars 3. Brook

4. Melissa 5. His Girl Amber (part one) 6. gretchen jewels...

7. 2Thinks Heidi

Powered by... Mister Linky's Magical Widgets.

Looks like the Linky is coming and going *sigh* so leave your links in the comments and then I'll put them up here...
If you're not participating, or you don't have a blog, we'd still love your input- you can answer some/all of the 3 questions in the comment section below. Please do!

Blessings!

Create in me a clean heart, O God
And renew a right spirit within me
Psalm 51:10

Seeking Him Together Week 4 Discussion Questions

Good Morning, All!
First, thank you all for your support last week. I felt so blessed and encouraged by your comments on my Unbloggable post. Feeling so much better this week, and actually have had quite a lot of "bloggable" moments this week! Can't wait to share!

But first, since I'm the hostess this week, it's time to post the questions for week four for you who are participating in the Seeking Him Together Bible Study to ponder and prepare to answer tomorrow:

1. What is repentance and why is it so crucial in the process of both personal and corporate revival?

2. When God brings conviction of sin to the heart of one of His children, what does it tell us about Him?

3. When is the best time to respond to God's conviction and His call to repentance? Why?

Ways to share your answers:

• If you have your own blog, you can write a post answering some or all of the questions. On Tuesday, I'll have a Mr.Linky here in a fresh new post (if Mr. Linky is working again) so ya'll can give us a simple way to find your post.
• If you're not a blogger, but you are on Facebook, the questions will be in the Discussion Board for the Seeking Him Together Bible Study Group on Tuesday and you can answer them there.
• If you're neither a Facebooker nor a Blogger, you can simply leave your answers in the comment section of Tuesday's post which will be herethis week. (next week Melissa at Breath of Life will be hosting) This option is open to everyone, even if you're not participating in the group study.

I can't wait to see what you come up with! See you back here tomorrow!!! Here's this week's memory verse, which I can't seem to practice without singing:

Create in me a clean heart, O God
And renew a right spirit within me
Psalm 51:10