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Tuesday, March 17, 2009

YES to GOD study: ch. 11~Lift up praise the Lord, O my soul! (final chapter)

So glad that it's time for our
Yesterday after school Alivia played with the neighbor kids. I used this time to Spring clean her room or rather throw things away without the arguments of a 7 year old to why she should be able to keep what I consider trash. It was so nice and she didn't even miss what was tossed.

Don't we do that with God sometimes? He tries to get rid of something that is just clutter in our lives and we try to give Him our best argument with why we think it should stay. That's one thing I'm trying to different is trust God with my whole life. I'm such a controller that it is hard for me to let Him drive without trying to give Him the directions...and sigh in disgust when I think He's turned the wrong way.


Oh boy...I am definitely one of God's long term projects. ~smiles~


Okay...first things first the winner of Micca Campbell's book,

An Untroubled Heart is....KIM!!!

Congrats to you! E-mail me your address so that Micca can send you your book.

So glad you'll be joining the study with us!

Be blessed! Thanks Micca for donating your book!



Well ladies...here we are the final chapter of Jennifer Rothschild's book Let's get to it...

CHAPTER 11: LIFT UP: PRAISE THE LORD, O MY SOUL

Remember words in blue are a quote from the book

Healthy hearts are centered on others, not on self. And a healthy heart is a happy heart.

The purposes that drive your life already fill your thought closet. You can track them by the space they take up on your calendar, by the phone log of your cell phone, by the outbox on your e-mail, by your Internet surfing history, by last month's credit card statement, or by your check register.

Ugghh!!! I think Lisa Whittle...you know the author who encourages us to be "real" must've been over Jen's should when she wrote this part of the chapter! I loved every part of that and am going to write it out on a note card and put it in my car so I can read it every day.

I have to remind myself...what or who is getting my loyalty? What or who is on my mind?

I loved how Jennifer taught us how to get the focus off of ourselves and on to others.

When we tell our souls to get the spotlight off our own preoccupations and onto the needs of others, we reopen the potential for joy in our lives--joy that we may have thought we'd never experience again.




For me this was huge because I can get so focused on Lelia. One of me and Alivia's memory verses will be

John 3:30

He must increase, but I must decrease.


Then Jennifer so wisely encouraged us to not only focus on others' needs but above all else, focus on Jesus Christ.

She quoted well known author, C.S. Lewis as saying, "As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you."

Jennifer also taught us that God loves our praises...When God calls us to praise Him, He is calling for us to enjoy Him and His benefits. As we center our souls on God, we lose ourselves in His wonder.


So we look to others' need instead of our own....

we look up to God instead of to ourselves...

and we shower our King with the praises He so rightfully deserves.

And like Jennifer said all is well with our soul.


Loved this book!! Jennifer...thank you so much for listening to God and writing what you have walked out before us. You are such a blessing to us and we love you!

If you have something to share on your blog please sign up under Mr. Linky below.

And come back tomorrow for another book drawing of Lysa TerKeurst's book

"What Happens When Women Say Yes to God"

Leave a comment today so I can have a name to draw out of the hat and tomorrow the winner will be announced! Thanks Lysa for donating your book for us!

Next Tuesday, March 24th...the discussion of the first chapter of Micca Campbell's book An Untroubled Heart! (See top of sidebar to join in!)

~Many Blessings~


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey there!
Great to see a post. God just pushed me to write my post last night, and it all fell together so well, I had to post it last night... It was again another one of those things where God has been working the chapters of the books, along with my LPM scripture memory verses, along with sermons, and what I am going through during that week to teach me something. Amazing how He does that!

Put me in the drawing for Lysa's book, as that is one that I don't have, because I didn't join you for that book!

Love you,
Heather
P.S. Mr. Linky doesn't seem to be there to sign up under!

Cindy said...

I wasn't able to get the current book but I enjoyed following along with what you and others posted and look forward to doing the same with the next book.

Your blog is fun to visit.

The word verification for my comment is "faniries" What is that, I wonder? lol

Paula said...

Hi lovely Lelia, I have thoroughly enjoyed this book, and while I haven't always posted, I have kept up with reading each chapter. I hope to prepare a summary post over the next fews days. I have learnt some valuable lessons from this book that I use every day now. Can you come and clean out Jasmine's room now? Hehe...love and hugs, P :-) xo

Anonymous said...

Yay! Mr. Linky is working! :)
Thanks Lelia for hosting this... did I mention how awesome you are and how great it is that you are doing this all for us, even in the midst of "life" happening to you?
Love ya girlfriend!
Heather

Laura said...

I really enjoyed this book, Lelia. I love Jennifer's touching and humorous writing style. Feels like I've grown a lot through this one.

Can't wait to get on to the next one!

KelliGirl said...

Lelia,
It's hard to believe this is the last chapter! I sort of fell off for the second half because some things came up, but I still got a lot out of reading the book and reading others' thoughts on it. Plus I made a few new friends, which is always a welcome treat!

I'll try to get the next book before you start.

Thanks for doing this Lelia. What a blessing it is to me and so many others!

The Dementia Nurse said...

Lelia, this has been such a BLESSING to me as we've studied this book together. Thank you sooooo much for choosing Self Talk, Soul Talk. It reminded me a lot of Joyce Meyer's Battlefield of the Mind. I'm looking forward to what's next for this crew!

Tina said...

Lelia,

Thank you so much for hosting this study! I have been a bit battle weary lately. This study has really helped me to put one foot in front of the other and the women here have literally been Jesus to me. For as He has touched them they have reached out to minister to me and I am blessed. What a great and wonderful family, this family of God that we are a part of!
In Him,
Tina

Anonymous said...

Hi, I'm new and have been following your blog for several weeks now. I bought Micca's book and am so looking forward to the study starting next week! Thank you for leading this!

Anonymous said...

woo-hoo Lelia! Thank you and Micca for the book drawing. I am VERY excited and hope to be a more faithful participant in your book study...I have really missed it!

hugs to you my friend.

Kim

Corner Gardener Sue said...

Hi Lelia,
I got my post done today. I've had a lot going on, some of which was gardening. Haven't we had wonderful weather lately?

I was blessed by doing this study. Thank you for hosting it.

I like the points you brought out. I had trouble putting my words together today. It was an excellent chapter. Now, God is giving me opportunities to put it into practice.

My book for next week arrived today. It looks good, too.

Carol said...

Lelia,

I sooo hear you on cleaning the room. I did that a few weeks back, but had my daughter with me. Wow that girl kept every piece of paper that any of her friends drew a picture on. 7 yes 7 trash bags, that doesn't include the toy stack in the hall headed for charity. By the way I've got some Barbie DVD's if your Aliva is interested. I'll mail them to you, Brinn doesn't watch them any more.

Seriously, though this was a great study. I'm really looking forward to this next book, got mine yesterday. It looks so good.

I finally posted today, love that C.S. Lewis quote too. Looking forward to our next adventure and what God has for us.

Hugs,
Carol

Pamela (His maidservant) said...

Friend, I so miss being in your bible studies. Facilitating the Esther study on two different times each week has me too busy. We will be done the first of May and I have not yet decided if I will start another community Bible study or break over the summer and join your summer study. I'll keep checking in though.

Do not sign me up for Lysa's book-you know I have it already!

Love you! Blessings!

In His Graces~Pamela