1. Prayer. I learned recently that there is a simple acronym for how we are to be in prayer. It is ACTS.
A stands adoration. A simple act of acknowledgement of the awesomeness of our holy God.
C stands for confession. A simple act of knowing we are sinners and asking for forgiveness.
T stands for thanksgiving. A simple act of thanking him for the gifts in our life.
S stands for supplication. Knowing and believing that HE can and WILL answer our prayers.
This has helped me to pray with a mission.
2. Family. Isn't it wonderful? I love family. It is the bones of who we are.
3. Friends. I spent a short hour with good friends yesterday morning. Not enough time. But it was wonderful.
4. Home. I want to have and create a home that I can be proud of.
5. Simplicity. I do not have a simple life. But, oh, howI want it! The peace and simplicity of life. I want to eek this out in the craziness of the Enns home!
6. Profession. I struggle with this one - and am wrestling with it as I write this. I love my job. I worry that a new position might morph the job. I worry if I am doing enough or doing an adequate job. I worry about students. I worry.
7. Pets and uncondition love. I want to be like them.
8. Recipies. Can you share a favorite with me? I love to cook, and love to cook NEW things. Share with me something that you like so that I can try something new.
9. Life. Isn't it strange how it changes and morphs?
10. Blessings. I am greatly blessed.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Graciousness and a Big, Big God
I want to be gracious. I want to be thankful for the little things in my life. Like KayDee kicking me in the tail yesterday and reminding me to blog...I just haven't had the energy or inspiration. I have also struggled with my Bible Study, struggled to come often and diligently in prayer. After completing the dissertation I think I let out a huge sigh of relief and let everything else go LUKEWARM.
But, each day there are little things that remind me (when I choose to think of them) that my God is Big; big enough to know that my faithfulness has been lukewarm, big enough to be persistent in my daily activities, providing encouragement and inspiration in little ways.
Yesterday, these things happened that reminded me that God was there...
"He has made his wonders to be remembered, He is gracious and compassionate." Ps 111:4
But, each day there are little things that remind me (when I choose to think of them) that my God is Big; big enough to know that my faithfulness has been lukewarm, big enough to be persistent in my daily activities, providing encouragement and inspiration in little ways.
Yesterday, these things happened that reminded me that God was there...
- Tim, the director of the school of education, came by and asked why I had a long face and provided encouragement.
- Antionette gave me a hug and reminded me that I could come and talk with her.
- KayDee and I made plans for a girls weekend (YEA)!
- Mark listened (not just nodding his head, but really listened and asked questions).
- In my meeting with Ag and Resource Economics (my potential new department - although I don't think they are wild about that) James sat in the back and nodded his head and gave me encouragement during my presentation.
- Boone loves me...even when I neglect him. He loves it when I come home. Even after he has been in the kennel all day. He is always excited to see me.
- I had enough energy to walk Boone 2 miles this morning in the beautiful crispness of daylight...and I feel BETTER.
"He has made his wonders to be remembered, He is gracious and compassionate." Ps 111:4
Friday, February 8, 2008
Thankful
I have experienced blessing beyond what I deserve.
The Lord has worked through me and helped me to complete my PhD.
The Lord has richly blessed my life, my family, my home.
I have no power, no talent, no passion, no love that wasn't first ordained by my God.
I give you, Father, the Glory and richly thank you for your blessings.
AMEN!!
The Lord has worked through me and helped me to complete my PhD.
The Lord has richly blessed my life, my family, my home.
I have no power, no talent, no passion, no love that wasn't first ordained by my God.
I give you, Father, the Glory and richly thank you for your blessings.
AMEN!!
Monday, February 4, 2008
Thankful in All Circumstances
I have been in Indianapolis, IN from Thursday last week at the National Ag Ed Inservice. It is a chance to learn what the national focus in Ag Ed is each year and plan our state plan accordingly. It is always a good conference and I come back renewed and refreshed with ideas about my career.
The challenges are great. Last week, honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted the challenges (how is that for being pathetic?). Ag Ed needs a lot of work at CSU, and honestly, with a new position, it will be under a lot of scrunity. No one on campus seems sure where to house me - and a move to a new department will most likely be immenent. I have to be able to advocate for myself and our program this week and it makes me tired....
Oh yea - and I have to defend my dissertation this week too.
I am not so sure that I want all of that. And yet, during a lunch prayer at this conference the speaker said: "Lord thank you for our challenges." And like a ton of bricks, my heart sunk. I have not at all been thankful for these challenges. Not at all. I have faced them like a whiney child, "Why, Why, Why?" I want to say, "No, thank you. I am just fine the way that I am." After struggling through the challenges of the dissertation, I guess I felt like I deserved a vacation, not more challenges. And yet, we are to be thankful for everything. Everything. It helps us to grow and depend on each other and on our heavenly Father. It refines who we are and what we are.
So, apparently, I need to be thankful for these challenges ahead. They are great, but they will allow for great growth opportunities, for Ag Ed and for me. I am thankful for that which lies ahead...the unknown. May I learn to appreciate all of the challenges, be thankful for them, and praise God for them.
Happy week family and friends. I pray for you today and lift up you in your challenges as well.
The challenges are great. Last week, honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted the challenges (how is that for being pathetic?). Ag Ed needs a lot of work at CSU, and honestly, with a new position, it will be under a lot of scrunity. No one on campus seems sure where to house me - and a move to a new department will most likely be immenent. I have to be able to advocate for myself and our program this week and it makes me tired....
Oh yea - and I have to defend my dissertation this week too.
I am not so sure that I want all of that. And yet, during a lunch prayer at this conference the speaker said: "Lord thank you for our challenges." And like a ton of bricks, my heart sunk. I have not at all been thankful for these challenges. Not at all. I have faced them like a whiney child, "Why, Why, Why?" I want to say, "No, thank you. I am just fine the way that I am." After struggling through the challenges of the dissertation, I guess I felt like I deserved a vacation, not more challenges. And yet, we are to be thankful for everything. Everything. It helps us to grow and depend on each other and on our heavenly Father. It refines who we are and what we are.
So, apparently, I need to be thankful for these challenges ahead. They are great, but they will allow for great growth opportunities, for Ag Ed and for me. I am thankful for that which lies ahead...the unknown. May I learn to appreciate all of the challenges, be thankful for them, and praise God for them.
Happy week family and friends. I pray for you today and lift up you in your challenges as well.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Refining Me
I received this over email this weekend - and I love it.
Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.' If today you are feeling the heat of the fire , remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.
Don't you love this...as I wonder what the next challenge is, I know that God is refining me until he sees his image in me. I pray to be malleable and moldable so that he can do his work. Blessings to you today.
Malachi 3:3 says: 'He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.'
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining Silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: 'He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.' She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, 'How do you know when the silver is fully refined?'He smiled at her and answered, 'Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it.' If today you are feeling the heat of the fire , remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.
Don't you love this...as I wonder what the next challenge is, I know that God is refining me until he sees his image in me. I pray to be malleable and moldable so that he can do his work. Blessings to you today.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
A Few of My Favorite Things...
I woke up on Saturday morning and for the first time in five and one-half years, I did not have a dissertation paper to write! So I am celebrating by remembering January and a few of my favorite things over this month - that I didn't take the time to blog about...
Celebrating the New Year playing Mexican Train Dominoes and Toasting with Sparkling Grape Juice. There was a lot of laughter that night...
Flowers from my husband for our Anniversary...makes me long for spring.
Then we made a spur of the moment trip to the Grasslands in Eastern Colorado this morning to get out and breathe...
A place filled with windmills
Cattle guards and fence posts....and thats about it! But it is vast and glorious nevertheless.
The wind was so strong and cold it made your eyes water. But it was time away from the computer with my boys....
Mark and Boone.
Watching my mother-in-law feed the "herd" of cats as the late afternoon sunlight fades in Oklahoma...
Celebrating the New Year playing Mexican Train Dominoes and Toasting with Sparkling Grape Juice. There was a lot of laughter that night...
Reuniting with old friends (four National Jr. Angus Board Members and our Advisor)... over a fantastic dinner in Old Town Denver during Stockshow.
Flowers from my husband for our Anniversary...makes me long for spring.Today I woke up and read in bed until 10 am - until the book I was reading was DONE. HEAVEN!
Then we made a spur of the moment trip to the Grasslands in Eastern Colorado this morning to get out and breathe...
A place filled with windmills
Cattle guards and fence posts....and thats about it! But it is vast and glorious nevertheless.
The wind was so strong and cold it made your eyes water. But it was time away from the computer with my boys....
Mark and Boone.These are a few of my favorite things. I praise God for these blessings.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Goal #3 Obedience
We have been studying Jonah at Church. You know, the human that was called by God to Ninevah and instead ran the other direction...only to be thrown over-board and swallowed by a great big fish, to be vomited up on the shore, and THEN went to Nivenah. God did not tell Jonah how to get to Nivenah, or what he was to do there, just that he was to GO.
The point is that once God called, he wouldn't leave well enough alone until Jonah listened. I wonder what my big fish is. What is it that God is doing in my life to get my attention? If God is seeking you today, know that whatever you attempt to do to run the other direction, he may put a big, giant fish in your path until you listen!
So, goal #3 for the New Year is to be obedient. Some may think that this is a goal that means sacrifice and pain, but instead I have come to realize that an obedient life gives peace and happiness. It is one that I never could have imagined.
I am asking for God to reveal the ways that my life is not obedient. I want to pray my way through the scriptures. I want to lift up friends and family in prayer. I want to be a student of the bible, learning the details of the stories. I want and need that time, daily, in the Word and in prayer. And this is my goal. An obedient life.
Revelation 3:19-20:
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained acces by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
The point is that once God called, he wouldn't leave well enough alone until Jonah listened. I wonder what my big fish is. What is it that God is doing in my life to get my attention? If God is seeking you today, know that whatever you attempt to do to run the other direction, he may put a big, giant fish in your path until you listen!
So, goal #3 for the New Year is to be obedient. Some may think that this is a goal that means sacrifice and pain, but instead I have come to realize that an obedient life gives peace and happiness. It is one that I never could have imagined.
I am asking for God to reveal the ways that my life is not obedient. I want to pray my way through the scriptures. I want to lift up friends and family in prayer. I want to be a student of the bible, learning the details of the stories. I want and need that time, daily, in the Word and in prayer. And this is my goal. An obedient life.
Revelation 3:19-20:
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained acces by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
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