Unexpected Events

I'm a note taker.  I like writing down random thoughts in random places, but I always take notes during Church, so I love keeping a small notebook in my Bible.   I believe it makes me a more active listener, plus I always jot down if I've brought a guest that Sunday, or how many souls were saved, and always include the Word that we read.
      This gem came from none other than Hobby Lobby, where Jason and I hit up some Christmas steals for next year.  I knew when I saw it that it was coming home with me and replacing my old worn out mini notebook. I wanted to start fresh with a New Year and a new book.  I plan to keep all of them, I often find myself looking back through and re-reading a Word that was delivered months ago.  I also write the date and who is bringing the Message, be it an Evangelist, our own Pastor, or a Brother who steps up in the church and delivers when our Pastor is out of town, etc.  My notes are so precious to me, and I hope someday to pass them down to Caiden, and let him have those to look back on.  Someday 2014 is going to seem like it was a million years ago.

      So I started the beginning of my book with some goals that I would like to see myself accomplish, and left the next couple pages blank, because God is always laying new things on my heart.  Not everything is church related, but most of my goals are.  I love my Bible studies, that is my new addiction.  I've had so many people tell me that they love Beth Moore.  A little piece of advice, head over to Amazon where Beth has FOURTEEN of her studies free in E-Book format.  It definitely blessed me, and I can't imagine the millions of others that she is blessing with this offer.  For IPhone users you can download the Kindle app, and the same goes for Android users.  All FOURTEEN books are free right now, so even if you don't think you'll ever read them, its something I would surely take advantage of, because FREE is always good. At least to me anyway. :)
      Jason and I set a goal as a couple to read completely through the Bible this year.  I've read the entire Bible, but never consecutively and never with a plan.  So I hopped on Google and got us a plan for the entire year.  The plan I chose was for the New Living Translation Bible, because it is SO much easier to understand as you read along, at least it has proven to be that way to us.  The plan gives you so many chapters a night, nothing overwhelming or nothing that is terribly time consuming, just a few chapters and you can actually pick how you want to read it.  I chose to read through in chronological order.  So at first, we started with Genesis, of course, and then it led us to Job.  We will finish Job, and then Genesis by the end of the month.

     This is what our Bible study looks like.  I have the Bible App on my Kindle which reads out loud (that's another freebie), that's our plan on the white pages in the middle and to the left you can see Jason following along in his Bible which is the NKJ version.  He likes to read both, and we pause a lot and compare what mine says versus what his says, and so far; its perfect.  It is such a relationship builder, we take time out of every night we can, and then play catch up on other nights.  It has to be my absolute favorite thing to do with him.  He understands parts that I don't and I understand parts that he doesn't, so we're learning, but teaching each other at the same time.  I pray that this is something we do for the rest of our time together. Here is a picture of how my Kindle reads;

very easy terminology, sometimes Caiden even joins.

      I love the story of Job.  I could read it over and over, and I have a gazillion times.  It shows us that God doesn't set us up for failure, he sets us up for His Favor.  I'll be honest, this has been such a rough week.  I've had a ton of blows, and I see so many people on my Facebook, at work, etc. saying the same thing.  The other night I was having the worse day ever, I am a human, I sin.  I don't take the Lord's name in vein, but out of the blue mid-conversation, well, mid-yell to my Mother, I did it.   I had to stop myself right there, and repent.  It wasn't the Lord that was causing me to have a bad day, it was the devil, because just like Job; he can test us.  I failed.  I prayed and prayed for The Lord to forgive me.  That was not my tongue, but I had allowed the devil to control my tongue, temper, and mood for that day.

      Today particularity, I awoke to terrible news, I saw on Facebook where a family had lost all their belongings in an overnight house fire, I saw where an old friend had gotten in to trouble, someone had lost a loved one, and the devil is telling my great-grandmother that she doesn't have control of her mind anymore, all kinds of unexpected events taking place, and I was completely heartbroken.  I have been all day.  It would be so easy to blame God for all these things taking place, but not only was I heartbroken; I became thankful, grateful for a home, my family, my significant other, thankful that as of today I have been sober for 7 years 7 months and 10 days, and thankful that I have had my great-grandmother for 24 years. 

      Thankful that God gave me a choice, a choice to follow him.  Everyone should be SO thankful for that opportunity, many times I fail Him, and yet he still takes me back with arms wide open. So tonight, as I lay down to go to sleep, I think of Job and all that he lost during the storm of his life, the test that God allowed him to go through and how he came out.  Everyone has a chance to "come out" on the good end.  We are given a choice every single day.  I pray for all the messes that the devil has caused, and pray that the lost are found tonight.  For myself, I'm giving thanks, and I can only pray that if tonight is the night that He calls me home, He will be able to say to me "Well done, my good and faithful servant; come and share your Master's happiness!" (Matthew 25:21)