Wednesday, February 29, 2012

New Direction

Thank you for stopping by Titus 2 in Action. Your presence on this blog has been a treasure to those of us who post here.

I remember the night God gave me the vision for this blog. I couldn't sleep, so I took a notebook and a pen to my favorite chair and prayed. Very quickly, the Lord gave me the layout and even who would be the beginning authors on T2. What an exciting time! What a rewarding season.

Today, God is changing my ministry focus and this blog isn't in the new picture. I am just as confident today about ceasing T2 as I was when God first asked me to start it.

My ministry is submitted to God. He is always growing and changing me. In such, my life will take on different focuses at different times. The key is to be tuned into God so we can hear him directing us.

The new direction for my life will include posting to my personal blog, writing more freelance pieces and a new speaking ministry. Everything I do will still fall under the category of Titus 2, but I will no longer use this medium. Running a blog like this one does take quite a bit of planning and effort. Now I will have more time and energy to travel on the new path God has prepared for me.

Please use the links on the right side of this post to visit our personal blogs and keep in touch with each one of us.

May you follow hard after God and find satisfaction only in His presence.

Sonya

Monday, February 27, 2012

The Quiet Teacher

When you are going through something hard and wonder where God is, remember the teacher is always quiet during a test. ~ Facebook post!



Yes, this little ditty was posted to a friend's status recently. However, it prompted me to pray and think about the truth in this simple statement. Like a roaring ocean, we stand at the place where the waves crash hearing the boom of God's great creation. Yet, if we dive in, sinking below the surface, there is a hush, a quiet.

"Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

I can't help but wonder if this is God's will when He is quiet. Remember, the Lord is not absent or removed, just quiet. His desire is for us to dive beneath the surface, seek Him more fully and perhaps, rest in His contentment to be quiet.

"Love the Lord your God, listen to His voice, and hold fast to Him."
Deuteronomy 30:20


Sometimes when our lives present with the most noise, the greatest chaos, it is those times, we wait expectantly, hoping for a loud, thunderous resolution to whatever issue is taking us to our knees. Sometimes, it will require our patience, knowing that the Lord numbers our steps carefully and protects us accordingly. If He is silent, it is in our best interest.

“I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope” Psalm 130: 5

As a behavior therapist, often the louder a student becomes, the quieter I become. The student will eventually meet my voice with their own, changing the dynamic of the interaction and the intimacy of the conversation. As we become content to connect with God quietly, we increase the intimacy of our relationship and dive below the surface of our typical intermingling with our precious Lord. Like the classroom, the children ask question upon question...the teacher guides and sometimes reminds the students, "It's okay, you already know this...I have prepared you." God loves us so much that He has prepared us, His quiet is in love.

Next time an issue is pressing and your repeated pleas yield little conversation, keep close the heartfelt faith that God loves us enough that He has prepared us and that He may be quiet but is never far away. He is always right there.

Heather

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

invite Him in and He will speak!

One thing that I would daresay we all have in common, is the desire for God to speak to us. He WANTS to speak to us. He desires communication with us. The problem usually lies in the process of our own ability to hear and to discern. 

We don't always hear, because we aren't passionate about His Word. We don't hear because we haven't positioned ourselves to listen. We don't hear because we don't believe deep down that we WILL hear.

God wants to speak, but He also wants us to take the necessary steps to prepare ourselves to hear from Him and then to obey it.  Obedience is the key to hearing the sweet, still, small voice of God.   We must prepare ahead of time that we will abandon our plans, no matter what they are, when they differ from what God is telling us.  We have to choose to obey His voice even when it means that our own will and desire will be over-ruled by His. He has to be first priority. 

We must purposefully focus on God  and invite the sweet Holy Spirit to speak and then put our full attention on Him and be ready for Him to impart His voice to our ears. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I will meditate on Your precepts
and regard Your ways."
(Psalms 119:15)