Lysa TerKeurst | 2010 September

Thursday, September 30

Kind? True? Necessary?

If you are visiting today from the my P31 Devotion called “Words,” welcome!

I’m giving away my book “Becoming More than a Good Bible Study Girl” to 2 randomly chosen commenting friends. To participate in today’s give away, click on the word comments below and follow the prompts.

If ever there was a day I needed to preach to myself, today is that day.

Now that school is back in session we always seem to be running on a tight schedule. And when demands are high, and time is low I can be tempted to just squeeze Jesus into my schedule rather than really focusing on what He wants to teach me that day. Then I wonder why my fuse is short and my words more edgy. Can anyone relate?

Well, my “Words” devotion today talked about making the commitment to ask ourselves 3 questions before speaking:

“Are my words kind?”
“Are my words true?”
“Are my words necessary?”

I’m convinced the reason it’s so crucial I spend a little time with Jesus each day is so that He can prepare me for what He sees I’ll be facing that day. Inevitably I’ll read a Bible verse that sticks in my brain and softens my heart. And a soft heart is able to hear when Jesus whispers, “Pause.”

He reminds me to think before reacting when I face that situation for which He already prepared me. When I stop to pause, ask those 3 crucial questions, and let Jesus untangle my natural flesh response, everyone is better off. Boy, does that save me from having to go back and mop up emotional messes later.

“O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is even on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord” (Psalm 139: 1-4).

The Lord perceives the thoughts we’ll think and the words we’ll speak in response and He wants to prepare us, interrupt us, and maybe even rearrange us. He loves us enough to desire to protect us from ourselves.

So, who wants to commit to spending a little more intentional time with Jesus? And pausing before speaking? Leave a comment below making a commitment about your words. I’ll announce the winner of today’s drawing for “Becoming More than a Good Bible Study Girl” and the other drawings from this week on Monday’s blog.

Have a kind words weekend. Again, preaching to myself today. Smiles.

She Cooks

I have a confession. I don’t like to cook.

I like to eat. I like to feed my family healthy meals. I like to gather around the table. I like being in my kitchen. I like for yummy, nutritious food to appear in my kitchen.

But, cooking? Not so much. When God was handing out the cooking gene for people being made in 1969, I missed standing in that line. Oh and worse yet, I don’t like to watch the food network. Nothing about a cooking show keeps my attention. You know it’s bad when you’re excited about the commercial breaks during a show.

However, I have a friend that not only watches all the cooking shows but then she sets out to make the stuff she sees. Then she makes it better than the famous chefs. She’s cool like that.

And what makes her the most cool of all is she likes to make things and bring them to my house. Seriously? She trusts her magnificent creations to the girl who thinks fancy is eating collard greens and grilled chicken tenderloins from the Cracker Barrel. (That is some fine eating if you’ve never tried the Cracker Barrel collard greens and grilled chicken tenderloins.)

Hands down though, LeAnn’s food is always the best. No matter what she’s ever made me, it’s the best. So, if you like to cook you must visit her blog and sign up to get it regularly. Even if you don’t like to cook, you can hop over and pray one of your friends gets inspired to make some of LeAnn’s food and bring it to you.

Recently, she made this crock pot pork and apples meal that I ate for three dinners in a row. That’s big because I don’t like to eat the same food back to back. But I made an exception to my quirk because it was so delish! She also brought over the apple crisp found in this post. Now, I don’t do desserts but you better believe I picked out some of the apples and tried them.

I finally understood for the first time how an apple (or whatever kind of fruit it was) tempted Eve. I bet the scholars lost something in translation and what was really hanging from that tree that day was a fruit cobbler! Now, that I can understand.

So, go visit my “She Cooks” friend LeAnn and prepare to be delighted.

Oh and just as a side note- she is planning to share many healthy recipes when I release “Made to Crave” in late December. She did the healthy eating journey with me and Holly and lost 50 pounds. Amazing.

One Less

Every now and then a simple photo captures the essence of life. Not just a moment of life’s experience, but something so much more. That’s what this photo is to me. It was a highlight in my son’s life. Therefore, it is one of my greatest moments as well.

It’s my son Mark and his life long friend, Nyan, singing on stage with Matthew West at a concert. Matthew invited Mark and Nyan to sing backup for his new adoption song called, “One Less.”

When I tell you this is hands down my new favorite song, I kid you not. Now, that is a bold statement for me. All of my favorite songs are from the 80′s— the decade with the best music and don’t even try to argue that truth.

I mean seriously any decade that gave us U2, Duran Duran, Rick Springfield, and Amy Grant- rules in my book. My little izod wearing, papagallo purse toting, jelly shoes dancing self was serious about her music. So serious that I sort of got stuck in the 80′s with my musical bent. Thank heavens my hair-do progressed past that decade- and all my sisters said Amen!

But this song may actually make me go get an ipod and progress into the year 2010. And yes, you picked up on that little factoid about me correctly. I might be the only human alive today that doesn’t own an ipod.

However, that might change since “One Less” is being released on i-tunes today! You can get it by clicking here.

Seriously, you will want to grab a tissue and download this song. You will love it. It will make you dance. It will make you cry. And it will make you want to help the helpless children in our world. Any song that can do that is the absolute bombdiggity in my book.

And, guess what else?

I have 3 CD’s of Matthew’s soon to be released new album called “The Story of Your Life” to give away today!
All you have to do is leave a comment below and you’ll be entered.

Feel free to comment on whatever, but if you mention something from the 80′s you might be entered twice. And if you weren’t around in the 80′s, let me pause a moment and weep for you. And now I am so in the mood to wear a pair of jelly shoes again. Like totally.