Captive?

The Breaking Free bible study I'm working through  is having some impact... the author's definition of the captivity of a believer is this:  A Christian is held captive by anything that hinders the abundant and effective Spirit-filled life God planned for her (or him). "Anything". That leaves a pretty wide scope... fear, unbelief, pride, impure thoughts, laziness, legalism... the list goes on and on and is tailored according to the person... sometimes we may not even be AWARE of what is in the way of us enjoying the fulfilling ABUNDANT life God intends for every believer. 


John 15:8 says:  "My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples." In John 10:10 Jesus says "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly."  Abundant life. Life to the full. Does this characterize my Christian life? Can I joyfully say that I am living life to the full to the glory of God?? Am I experiencing that true liberating abundant Freedom that only Christ can bring?  Is there evidence? Does the world know that I am happily a disciple of Christ? Happily being the key word.


Questions to ponder. An abundant life doesn't come with a snap of the fingers... becoming a disciple of Christ doesn't happen overnight. I became a Child of God in a moment when I trusted Christ as my Saviour and know that I have peace for all eternity. That can not change. But while I"m still living in this world - God wants me to have a satisfying, abundant life in Him.  God longs for a relationship with me... longs for me to be a vessel in which He can reveal Himself to others... A true disciple is called to obedience. A surrendering of my own will... there WILL be a cost...  But a quote from Beth Moore on this topic spoke loudly to me:  


I should not be scared of what it will COST me, but I should be scared at what I will MISS .... by not laying everything down at the Lord's feet... surrendering to Him. To the One who gave everything for me. He wants more for me than I can ever imagine... that abundant life?? Freedom?? He WANTS that for me. And that life is what I will miss if I continue to hold onto my own will and live my luke-warm Christian life.  The choice is up to me.  And in your life... the choice is up to you.  "Choose you this day who you will serve."

10K... my golden moment :)

I thought if I posted a picture of my achievement from  October 2009 that it might "kick me in the butt" to get out the door and get running... I had so much fun (and pain!) running the 10K Oasis Zoo Run at the Toronto Zoo this past fall... I did the 5k the year before, which in itself was a huge personal accomplishment... my "training" (REAL runners would laugh) was a little slow taking off, with a lot of knee pain... but finally by the end of August, I was starting to get some rhythm. But 10k?? I couldn't make it to 8k!! Kept hitting 7.54k... bam. The first time I crossed that 8k barrier, I went to 10.62K in 1 hour 11 minutes... I was in shock that I ran for over an hour.. haha That was Oct 5, 2009... my 10K race was Oct 17/09! So you see, I didn't run very many 10K's before my race, so it was still a big challenge to finish... but finish I did, in 1:03... in pain but so excited that I did it! :) :) And all the while my husband was in bed... ;) Some year I will get him on the course to at least cheer me on! :)

Spring is here?

How I would love to believe so... but the skeptic in me says this is likely just a teaser as it's only March 17! But for however long this weather lasts - I'm going to fully enjoy it. Sunny t-shirt weather... love it!

The fresh spring air makes me want to run, but I haven't run more than 10 feet (!!) since Christmas break... last night I attempted a short one... yikes. It's going to be painful getting back into it...but worth it. :)

It was my Mom's birthday yesterday... Dad was away, I'm in Ontario, my sister is in Halifax... thankfully my brother was home to wish her Happy Birthday in person! And she had visitors from NS - her mom and sister went over for the day to celebrate. I thought that was sweet! So... a shout out here - Happy Birthday to the best Mom ever! I love you!

I'm excited that next Tuesday night we start our bible study on Daniel. This is a Beth Moore study, and I'm doing it with 3 other girlfriends. It's my first time doing anything like this, so it will be interesting. I'm going to be busy keeping up with the Daniel study as well as my Breaking Free study (which I'm loving, btw)!

That's all my randomness for the moment... hope everyone else is enjoying sunshine as well!

Milestone Moment

So, we were married on July 2, 2007... and today, March 14, 2010 we submitted our order for our wedding album!! Talk about loooong overdue... it's sad when the photographers have to keep hounding you to see if you're ready to do your final draft! :) We sent the email off with our final changes; now we get to wait for the final product... and I am excited! I love looking at our wedding pictures and reliving that wonderful day when I married my best friend... it was such a fun day (minus the long walk to join my man) and I am so thankful to God for having Evan in my life. :)

Enough mush? ;)

So beyond the exciting moment of pressing "send" on that email, I had a great weekend. I attended my first Beth Moore Lifeway event here in Toronto Friday night and Saturday morning. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I found the ministry to fit me so well... 3300 women (and a few brave men) were in that arena looking to go away refreshed - recharged... and the message God gave Beth to deliver to us was SO relevant to any age group there...  Her theme was "God is up to something New" based on Is 43:18-19 (and a whole bunch of other scriptures she drew together)... I just wish you all could have been there to hear it, because there's no way I can relay her points to you the way she drove them home with me. But one thing I know, I am ready to stop looking back... I'm ready to move on... and I'm ready to let God do His thing and see what new thing He does in my life! Another time, when my computer battery isn't about to go blank, I may share a few of the eye-opening points that hit me - that I left mulling over in my mind... and praying for God to develop the Truth in me  - to cause me to see things in a new way - HIS way.

As a closing remark - we found out last night through the LPM Blog that one of the MALE security guards working the event trusted Christ as his Saviour!! I found that so thrilling - Praise God! How great His salvation... :) That news was definitely the "cherry on top" of a great weekend!