Sunday Sabbath July 5, 2015  THIS IS THE DAY THAT THE LORD HAS MADE!

I LOVE SUNDAY SABBATH.  I have chosen to honor God on this day.  To keep it holy.  To rest and be restored in body, mind, and spirit.  Sunday Sabbath is set aside as an oasis in busy world.  It is as if God is giving me a gift with permission to use it.  “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”. Exodus 20:8

I believe keeping the Sabbath Holy is to refrain from working your regular work.  A time of rest for mind and body, from that which taxes your mental capacity all week or your physical body.  To refrain from doing the toil of your everyday life.  A time to reflect and think on God.  To serve Him with your worship and praise and fellowship as a community with other believers.  This is my concept of keeping the Sabbath Holy.  I know that it is necessary for some people to work on calendar Sunday but Sabbath can be honored on another day.  A day set aside when you are not required to report to duty.  A time to think on God and do something you enjoy doing that will give you a reprieve from that which is your regular toil.  Try it.  Take time out to rest in the presence of God, to do something that refreshes your heart and soul and give yourself permission to use the gift that God has actually given to us as a commandment.  How awesome it is that God purposely tells us to rest from our work.  Not only do we have permission to have a Sabbath rest once a week, I also enjoy taking “little Sabbaths” each and every day.  I stop and just turn off the world and have a conversation with the Lord and just rest in his presence and wait to hear the words He has for me.  If I wait, He always has words that he speaks into my spontaneous thoughts.  I listen and then I write when the words start coming.

God is a good God.  His words are always full of love and exhortation.  He builds me up, never tears me down.  He fills me with loving thoughts, never negative ones.  I just wait and listen and ours spirits experience an intimate relationship.  Did you know that the Lord can and wants to impress His thoughts into yours.  The more we do this, the more we have the mind of Christ.  The more we become like the one we follow.  I love this Sabbath time with the Lord daily.  While on my trip I often did not have pen in hand when I spoke with my God.  I was in the car a lot with all his majesty and glory surrounding me in the mountains, and rocks, and valleys, and oceans, and lakes, and wildlife.  I glorified Him in my thoughts and in my heart for all He created and continues to create.  Sometimes when I look at something he has made like a rainbow I just know He put it there just for me!  There are so many things I just see that no one else in the entire world will ever see.  It is but a glimpse, come and gone, and I am the only one there to see it.  These are the little gifts and jewels He sprinkles into my day.  So…as I drove I did not do much writing but He put beautiful thoughts of love and encouragement into my heart and I cherished them.

Usually when I write I write everything out longhand.  I love the feel of a pen in hand, my journal on my lap and the peace and comfort of my surroundings as I lean into the Lord (figuratively speaking) and listen for what He speaks.  I am alone.  I am quite.  I am silenced from the world around me and I start worshiping and thanking God for His love and wonder and majesty.  I visualize Him and think of Him as the person He was walking on this earth, I think about Him sitting at the right hand of God, and I visualize all the praise taking place around Him in eternity.  And this same Lord, through His Holy Spirit, lives within me.  How awesome is that.  I was created in the likeness of God that our spirits would dwell together.  And I sit and listen.  Sometimes I ask questions.  Sometimes I put on instrumental music by David Hollandsworth and it just seems to reach to the heavens.  And I “hear” God speak to me.  It is more of an impression of thoughts or images that come flooding out of my pen onto the paper and I just write down all that flows from me during those few moments.  And later I read it.  To me it is beautiful.  No beautiful writing, but beautiful words that touch my heart, that give me strength and encouragement and sometimes chastisement and directions of what I should do.  Given in love which gives me positive awareness of which path I should follow.  And I ask now:  “Lord what words do You have for me this night”?

Here are the words I have felt impressed to write from the spontaneous thoughts coming into my heart.

You are My beloved child whom I have chosen.  I have chosen you to love others and be My light to a dark world.  I have chosen you to smile and let My smile shine from your countenance.  Your journey is not over but just beginning.  I have promised to bring those to you that need my touch, those who need their eyes open to see the truth of who I am.  I am blessing you that you will bless others in my name that they would feel My touch, and desire a relationship with Me.  Just be yourself.  Be who I created you to be.  Though some will try to tear you down, always know that My strength is sufficient for you.  You can do all things through Me for it is my strength that lives within you.  Forgive others as I have forgiven you.  .”…clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  Put love over all these because it will bind them all together in perfect unity…  (Colossians 3:  12-14 paraphrased) and lives will be changed.  Go and rest in Me and I will restore your strength.  You are my beloved whom I love.

And the above is the first time I have sat at a computer and asked God to give me the words He wants me to hear this night.  I have journals filled with God’s loving words to me.  If these words touch your life in some way then I am honored to share them with you.  Some may raise their eyebrows with skepticism and that is okay too.  But you’ll never know until you enter into a relationship with the Lord and ask Him for yourself what words He has for you.  The more you ask to hear God speak, the easier it becomes to hear His voice and recognize it.  If you desire Him to speak in your life, read the scripture for it is through His scripture that He speaks to us.

I had no idea this was going to be my blogging this night.  I just assumed I would share my Sabbath day with you.  Well, here it is in a nutshell.  Sunday morning service at 8:30 a.m., a wonderful time of quick exchanges with friends I haven’t seen for four months, an even more amazing worship service and then a sermon about becoming a community of God.  More visiting afterward and then Dave and I hightailed it to Costco to rejoin after our card had elapsed on Feb 28^th, just when I was scheduled to leave.  It was nice we waited because they gave us a $10 gift certificate for rejoining (which we were going to do anyway).  Shopped at Costco, then went to grocery store for toothpaste, came home and I prepared dinner (midday meal) while Dave deboned the chicken.  After dinner I called my cousin Joyce and I talked her ear off.  Then I rested, fighting sleep (I don’t like to take naps) so I got up and continued unpacking.  I know this unpacking talk sounds like a lot but let me tell you, it is taking me longer to unpack than it did to pack.  It is taking time to reorganize my closets (yes closet with an “S”).  When I left it was snowing.  I have returned in my Rip Van Winkle state to summer in the 80’s.  I must change my winter closet into a summer closet, which means swapping my clothes from one room to another.  We must actually have two very separate wardrobes to accommodate our extreme temperatures.  So that is part of my reorganizing.  Dave went back to church to hear Pastor speak on “Let’s talk about Israel”.  I decided to stay home and finish my Sabbath by writing my blog to you and now it is already later than I hoped.  The alarm is set for 5:00 a.m. in the morning.  Reality is knocking.

Davie is in the other room and it was so quiet I asked him if he was in there.  He said yes.  I asked him if he was sleeping.  He said no he was thinking.  I asked him what about.  He said oh just this and that.  I asked him if he had any wisdom for me tonight.  Here is Dave’s quick response.

Dave’s wisdom:  “If you don’t like your present circumstances do something about it”.

I asked him where that came from.  He said “My brain”.  Then he continued with…I’ve found if you stop and think on things long enough it seems things seem to fall into place.

Hmm…now that got me to thinking! Just what is taking so long to fall into place?  I didn’t ask any more questions.  Every man is entitled to his own personal thoughts.  I do like that it sounds like things are falling into place…  I sure do love my husband!

Tomorrow is a busy scheduled day to tie up a lot of loose ends before I open my Big MAC and put on my creative hat.  I hope my brain isn’t rusty.  I’ll just ask God to help me because He is always there for me.

I don’t know how many of you are still following my blog.  Let me know if you would like me to continue and then again, maybe I will just continue anyway.  I’ll have to see how my life settles in.

SUNDAY SABBATH

By Kathleen Martens

July 5, 2015

Oh how busy life can be

Time for me is never free.

But one day finally comes

Set aside for God’ Son.

Sunday Sabbath worship time

Ah a day oh so fine.

To be with God all day long

As over me He sings His song.

And I sing in repose

The most tranquil time I know

Honor and worship to my King

Joy and peace is what He brings.

I love this time with my Lord

And my hours I secretly hoard

That to Him I freely give

All my life for Him I live.

Good night.  Sweet Dreams