Do you need to change your perspective on some things in life?
I was at a friend’s house a couple weeks ago and something simple but profound happened that I just can’t get out of my head. God showed me something through her five year old son that I want to share with you [the world] today. May you be as encouraged as I was. You see, my friend’s little boy was “making ice cubes” that day. While his mom and I talked, he would run into the kitchen every five minutes or so and say to his mom, “Can I check and see if they ‘are ice’ yet?” She would respond with a happy tone of voice and smile, “Sure, baby, you can check and see.” So he would gleefully open the freezer door in great anticipation to check on his ice cubes only to find that there were no ice cubes to be found! Again and again they were not yet frozen. By about the third go round, in his disappointment, he gasped out a big sigh and said with all boldness, “What’s wrong?!” His mom chuckled at his cuteness and she responded, “Nothing’s wrong. You just need to give it more time, that’s all. It will happen.” Immediately, the word picture popped into my head: Isn’t that a great life lesson for all of us – we just need to be patient and give things more time and they will happen! Just because things may be taking time, longer than we want them to, it doesn’t mean anything is wrong! We just need to give it some more time. What are you eagerly waiting in anticipation for? What is it that you are excited about that you want to see happen? Are you feeling like just giving a big sigh? Are your emotions crying out, “What’s wrong?!” Be encouraged today by the truth of God’s Word that tells us that He makes all things beautiful in His time (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Be patient! Nothing’s wrong! It will happen!
I love it when God shows me something new while studying a familiar passage of Scripture! And that’s just what He recently did for me while studying John 2: 1-11 where Jesus performs His first miracle and turns the water into wine, while at a wedding feast. I was doing my Bible study homework for a women’s Bible study that I am in when the application question – If you had been a wedding guest, what do you imagine your reaction would have been to this miracle – changed my whole outloook on things!
While recently reading the book/letter of Philemon from my Message Bible, God spoke to my heart that He answers beyond what we pray—He answers my/our prayers and then He does even more! That alone encouraged my heart but God went a step further and showed me a powerful example of how He has already done this and I had not even realized it! I received a phone call from my youngest son [now age 26] that day and we did a three-way call with a friend of mine who was wanting to start a garden but knows little about it. So, via three-way calling, my son talked with my friend and gave her much information on what she needed to get started.
I heard a song on the radio recently and the words so struck me. The lyrics went something like this: that which bends will not break. Wow! The words went straight to my heart and I knew that I needed to do better at “bending”! Well, I put the philosophy into practice that very day and I was amazed at the results. The results were immediate and powerfully positive and beneficial for all! You see I was working on a project with a friend. I am a perfectionist at heart and thus can easily get struck in my ways but this day I chose to bend where I could (for sometimes it is just as important
I am on the “homestretch”—in ten short days I will be graduating from seminary! People have been asking me what I am going to do after I graduate and I find myself responding with one short, simple word—REST! It has been a wonderful journey being in seminary for the past four years, but it has also been a lot of hard work and I am exhausted (happily exhausted)! God put it on my heart this morning that I have been so busy asking Him to help me: get my homework done, do a good job, learn what I am suppose to learn, have energy, finish well etc., etc. Yet, in the midst of all this, in my quiet times alone with God in the mornings this week, He as been sprinkling in words like: slow
My husband and I watched the movie “Cars” on DVD last Saturday night. I know I am a little behind the times, since this movie came out in 2006, but I am so glad we watched it! It was light-hearted, cute, and funny; it just left you with a happy feeling in your heart! I often take away life lessons from watching movies and there were many life lessons to be gleaned from the movie Cars, but the lesson that hit home the most, with me, was the need for us to not try and do it/ do life alone! At the beginning of the movie, that was the mindset of the “hotshot rookie race car Lightning McQueen,” but by the end of the movie he was a changed man/a changed car, as the result of some unexpected and unwanted life experiences, like that of spending time in “Radiator Springs”!
Last Saturday, I attended a half day conference and heard a speaker talk on Designing Your Life; it was amazing! I got so much out of it; I took seven-teen pages of notes as I listened to her speak and share words of wisdom, from her personal life experiences. Whenever I attend a gathering and have pages and pages of notes, I always try to condense it to one page of bullet points, with the main things that I want to focus on and apply to my life, at the time. After doing so on Saturday, this is some of what I had written down: My need: be free My desire: be happy My legacy: be myself I shared this with my lifecoach this week and she pointed out to me how great it was that they were all “to be” statements and they were not about “doing” anything. This is huge for me, for I am such a check things off my to-do list type of person. I realized, I really am becoming free (my word for this year)! It was very encouraging to me. How freeing it is to know that the legacy I will leave on
While being interviewed on a morning talk show, this week, the guest star (an actress of a weekly TV series) was asked, “Is it hard for you to not know the future of your show and what’s going to happen to your character in it?” Her reply resonated with me, so much so that I came home and wrote her words down! She responded to the question with such transparency saying, “Yes, it is hard for me because I have a ‘type A’ personality and am a ‘control freak.’” Then she went on to say (and this is the part that really struck me), “But, I have learned to be okay with it because I
This little book is a profound demonstration of God’s power and of true faith in action. It is a guidebook for learning how to pray Scripture, filled with eighty-nine weekly Prayer Sheets for your marriage — eighty-nine pages of power that will change your life and the lives of all those around you, as you too learn to always pray and not give Up!
Testimonials
“Praying Scripture is the most powerful and effective way to pray for your marriage. It can be a daunting task to search out all the passages that apply, though. In this book, Tammy has done the hard work for us in compiling a beautiful arrangement of God's attributes along with verses to pray for myself, as a wife, and verses to pray over my husband and marriage. The Lord has used many of these passages to bear fruit in my own life and marriage."
Mariel Davenport , Author
Knowing God Through His Names
A Housewife Desperate for God
“Tammy Rentsch is passionate about prayer. She prays faithfully and frequently. She is also committed to loving her spouse enough to pray for their marriage. Read this book and you will be equipped and encouraged to pray consistently and powerfully for your marriage with the Scriptures as your guide.”
Brian D. Russell
Professor of Biblical Studies
Dean, School of Urban Ministries
Asbury Theological Seminary
What is written in this book began for me over 30 years...
Do you need to change your perspective on some things...