I want to be Fruity!

Lord!!! I can hardly type this morning... You did it - you came through and I just am elated. I have been praising Your name ever since we got the word and can hardly contain myself. It was all you and I am so grateful. No manipulation on my part and nothing that I could have maneuvered to go in my favor - just YOU! Thank you thank you thank you thank you! I will give many more details in the days to come! Praise Him from whom all blessings flow! Wow!

Last night, kind of late, we were at my in laws house. We had been out on the pontoon boat and we walking up the hillside to come in. Tucker and Sarahjane were racing to the cat - yes, we got a cat and yes, I am still deathly allergic. Well, actually we got 2 cats because we didn't want one of them to miss it's brother... ANYWAY - all of a sudden i hear this high screech and SJ yelling that Tucker has fallen and needs help. He wasn't screaming or anything so I truly was not worried. Then as I was walking up the hill i remembered at the top where they are building on a room the guys had just poured the beginning of the foundation. There were those steel bars sticking out of the ground and fresh, but firm concrete everywhere. Plus just construction stuff everywhere. Running in the dark up the hill Tucker tripped over a bar on the ground and plummeted into a ditch kind of like thingy of firm concrete and dirt... I wish I could help you understand how bad this could have been and that God graciously spared his life - and I do mean LIFE. Tucker was lying right next to one of the bars sticking out of the ground. In his fall he could has easily impaled himself in the tummy, an eye, neck, head - it could have gone through anything. But God - I know it was my Lord, has His angels place Tucker in the fall just clearing the steel bar and hitting his face on the dirt. He had a TERRIBLE bloody nose, scratches on his face and lips, and possibly a broken wrist. We had him sleep it off and will see how it is this morning! But once again - thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!! Oh Lord, thank you!

On the top left hand side of my blog you will see a Fruit of the Spirit button. I had a sweet lady email me to say that I had been nominated and chosen to receive this award. She has received many emails from other bloggers saying that my contents in my blog were edifying of the Lord and exemplified the attributes of the Fruit of the Spirit. Shocked - uh yeah!!!! Of course I wanted to find out who these sweet people were, but it is policy to not tell. Isn't that the neatest thing. They take away any possibility for man to shine or us bloggers to want to please each other instead of what the whole deal is really about - I think that is really awesome! So thank you to my Lord for the prompting He placed in whomever's life to nominate me to receive such award. I know the real me and know that I do not deserve such at all. But thank you Lord!

So it got me thinking about the fruit of the Spirit and the familiar scripture in Gal. 5:16-26. There are many scriptures in that passage that i am amazed at, but 2 stick out this morning! Vs. 16 - "Live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." So cut and dry - so complete and not confusing! You know, I long to hear every whisper of the Lord in my soul. I want to walk in the Spirit and know when it is Him speaking every time. I have always said even back in high school that i want to be able to hear Him say right, left, right, left - now turn! I am not there yet. When will I get to the point that I am walking in the Spirit and not listening to the desires, passions, lusts, overindulgence of the sinful nature? I think my answer is in my next favorite verse this morning... Vs. 25 "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." To walk with the Spirit and live by the Spirit I must keep in step with the Spirit.

My new friend Julie is a very soft talker. Even when she is disciplining her kids she is very soft spoken and kind. I am not - i am loud, I am kind of abrupt at times, and i have been know to scream just slightly at times - OK that was a lie, I have screamed more than my fair share! So when I am with Julie I have to keep up with her - step by step - just to hear her correctly. Her words are valuable to me and I want to be able to do something if she asks me to. i have to keep up with her and listen intently so that I will know where we are in the conversation!

I think it is the same way in walking in the Spirit. I must keep in step - when I get out of step, behind or before, take a turn that i was intended to take, then I no longer hear my conversation with the Lord. You know, "pray without ceasing". It is a conversation!! constant and wonderful! I get out of step and begin to gratify that ugly sinful nature! So once again as i am seeing quite often - faith, living for the Lord, glorifying Him is not a sedentary life. It is not a life of sitting and wondering. It is not a life of just talk. It is not a life of just floating in one location... A life of faith and believing and truly walking with the Lord is moving, step by step, keeping up with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! Lord, may I be all fruity!!! May i exude You and not yuck!! I want good smelling fruit, not nasty rotten sinful ways!! I love you and your Word!!