Exactly What Does it Mean to Send Positive Thoughts My Way?

                                                              

When I interact with people on the Internet, sometimes I ask for prayer. 

When people say they will send positive thoughts my way I am often left scratching my head.

Exactly what does it mean to send positive thoughts my way? Do they think of butterflies and chocolate dipped strawberries? If so, how will that impact my life?

I am sorry, but sending positive thoughts to someone is not the same as sitting at Jesus's feet talking to Him about what is on my mind.

Don't get me wrong. Butterflies are good. Strawberries are only made better by that wonderful coating of chocolate. But let's be real. They will do nothing for me.

Jesus on the other hand, is not only positive- He is real and ready to handle whatever I bring to Him.
I have seen Him answer prayer.

 Its not just a coincidence. there are countless examples of answers to prayer, but here are a few:
 Prayed my sons surgeon would have renewed strengths and wisdom during one of of his surgeries.
-doctor shared afterward that half way through, our son had begun to bleed I expectantly, but after the bleeding was controlled the surgery went better than they expected.

Prayed for mercy during a very difficult pregnancy. Baby was in an excruciating position
-baby turned sideways for the duration of my pregnancy and relieved much if my pain.

Prayed for clothes (knowing I needed maternity clothing and could not swing a new wardrobe at the time)
-received 2 huge boxes of maternity clothing unexpectedly from my mother in law ( who lived 2,000 miles away and did not know I needed them). She said she walked into a store that was having a blow out sale and couldn't resist. **she had never sent clothing before or since**

Prayed with young son that God would help people in our neighborhood to stop hanging a scary skeleton from a tree because it terrified him.
-that year, they cut down the tree and never hung another skeleton.

These are just a few answered prayers off of the top of my head. Again, I say I scratch my head when someone thinks of puppies for me when I ask for prayer. Why? Because its so beautifully obvious that there is a true and living God. He not only created us, but He loves us. He cared for us. He wants us to talk to Him, to trust Him, to rely on Him.

Do you know Jesus? If you have any doubt about whether He is real, take the time to ask Him to show Himself to you. Then: wait, watch, and listen.

This is one of those prayers that is always answered.


Your turn: share an example of answered prayer. Please;).

When You Look for God, You Find Him

James 4:8
Draw close to God, and He will draw close to you.

When I look at the grammar of this sentence it tells me:
 You, Bekki, draw close to God, and He will draw close to you.

Today, I am choosing to look for evidence of Him. Guess what? I found it immediately.


I walked out my front door only to be met with the flowers my boys blessed me with for Mothers Day. First I say them, then I smelled them. I looked at the flower and it truly was joining creation.

I used to believe in evolution when I was younger. Don't stone me.
I wasn't a believer until I was 24. Although I believed in God, I definitely did not have a relationship with Him.

How does this flower testify to the glory and Reality of a Personal God?

• Not only does this flower look beautiful, but it starts out as a secret locked away in a tiny seed.
• The flower must be pollinated and nurtured by tiny creatures that are drawn to its coloration and aroma.
• Water needs to soften the seeds outer coating.
• The soil it lands in must contain the minerals the seed needs to sprout.
• Slowly, but surely the little sprout grows and breaks through the soil.
• Day by day, the stems grow stronger and taller.
• Buds begin to form.
• One day, a blossom "pops" as if to shout, "Ta da!"

As if that's not enough, the flower perfumes the air, beconing all to share its beauty, pollen, and nectar with anyone or anything that will stop by.

I used to believe that creation was basically an accident. 

I believed in evolution until I was about 25 years old. 

Today, as I gaze upon this blossom I have to know, I have to see, I have to believe 

that there is a Wonderful Creator. 

He loves me so much that He becons me to Himself.

When I draw near to Him, He draws near to me.

He reveals His plan for my life in this gift from my children.

• I too was a seed. dead and unremarkable.
• At some point in my life, He and others who adore Him watered my life with love.
• Slowly, but surely I began to stretch toward His beautiful light.
• Then one marvelous day, I broke through the soil of sin be condemnation and believed in the God who loved me so much He sent His only Son. Yes, I believe in Jesus!
• As I began to read my Bible, pray, and learn about Him my life began to bud.
• One day, my life popped open into a fragrant blossom. My faith in the Lord allows me to shout, "Ta da!" And I am able to bear witness to the living God.

Yes, I sought the Lord today. Guess what? I found Him.

Luke 19:40 Jesus: Listen—if they were silent, the very rocks would start to shout!

Your turn. Seek God. ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Then join the bouquet and shout "Ta Da!" By sharing with others...

Do You Ask for Prayer?

"Pray without ceasing," the Lord tells me.  I wish I could say that I never stop praying, but I do.
I look away from Jesus and look at the storms around me. I look at the people I admire rather than The Lord within them. I say "I am fine" rather than saying I need prayer.

When my son was having major surgery, I was asking anyone who drew breath to pray for him. There were times that I asked for hundreds of people to pray. I even stumbled upon a church that would pray for any request for 24 continuous hours. I never hesitated saying we needed prayer.

So why is it so hard to ask for prayer for myself? I guess it's pride. My flesh wants to present itself as being all together, when it is not. Just yesterday I went through minor surgery. Did I ask for prayer? Yes, but I found myself struggling to get the word out. I did not ask with the same urgency as I would  have asked if it was for someone else. What am I trying to say? I am weak. But even in this weakness, I know I need prayer.

I should bring all of my requests to The Lord myself, yet there is power in united prayer. There is something amazing that happens when a group of God's children are asking the same question at the same time. We should not hesitate to ask others to join us in prayer when life gets hard.

I have a small group of friends that I can call or Facebook at anytime day or night and ask for prayer. The incredible truth is that they will actually pray. It's like that old Steven Curtis Chapman song, Let Us Pray. They will actually join my voice and ask The Lord to intervene on my behalf.
They do not gossip, or judge, they just pray.

So why is it so award to ask for prayer? The enemy of our souls knows there is power in united prayer, so he makes us hesitate. He gets us to think people will judge us by our challenges. He leads us to believe that we can handle this difficulty on our own. He uses our own hands to cut our security lines. He isolates us and convinces that no one else knows deals with "this challenge". He lies and manipulates us.

Break free.

Find one friend at a time that loves Jesus and spends time in prayer daily. Begin praying for them every single time they come to your mind. Ask them how you can pray for them, then pray. Seek The Lord on their behalf. Share Bible verses and songs that speak to your heart about their situation. Now you are ready. The next time you are in the middle of a storm, bodily ask for prayer.

Do you ask for prayer? If not, begin asking today.

Do you need prayer? Leave me a comment, email me, or Facebook me and I will pray for you.

Foundation Building: Does it Have to Take So Long?

Look again at Proverbs14:1. 
I am staring at this single verse for a reason. 

"A wise woman build up her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands."

When I was first married, I did not have a solid foundation.
I did not know Jesus. I wanted a cute husband and a bunch of kids. I wanted to be a stay at home mom. I was insecure about who I was and what was expected of me.

Trust me when I say that it is easier to build a proper foundation before you build your pretty little house. Those things in my heart that kept me staring at myself and my own needs were hard to reach after I was married to that cute man and blessed with a quiver full of kids.

Life is wonderful, yet it can be incredibly hard and chaotic at times. If my life sits on a cracked and flawed foundation then I will be tossed to and fro by challenges, disagreements and traged
Remember that verse about the wise man builds his house upon the Rock? That's what we need to do.

To those single gals out there:
Take all the time necessary to lay a proper foundation with your God. Cast all your cares on Him; cry out to Him; seek His face daily; study the Bible; pray without ceasing for everyone that He brings to mind; find ways to serve and bless others; and wait for Him to lead you to your life building partner.
When you are young, you may find yourself frustrated that you are in this stage for entirely too long (from your perspective), but God wants the best for you.

Ask yourself, what good is a pretty little life nestled in a beautiful house and being surrounded by a handsome family, if everything crumbles to the ground just a few years or decades down the road due to some really hard life challenge? It is worth all the waiting so that you have a solid and unshakeable life.

Take your time. Lay a good, solid, secure foundation now.

If you are like me, 23 years or more into a marriage and surrounded by 5 kids and a dog... Do not lose heart. God is awesome, amazing, and able to reaching in and repair and reinforce that foundation. It is deep under there, but never out of His reach. The difference for you and I is that we need to be totally surrendered to His hand. We need to be patient and willing during the process. There will need to be some demolition, renovation, and reconstruction done.
Surrender is our action verb.
 Should a foundation take so long to build?

Short Answer: Yes. And it is worth it.

Building Permits for Marriage

"A wise woman builds her house..." Proverbs14:1

If I were going to buy a plot of land and build a new home, one of the first things I would need to do is obtain  a building permit. That's right. Owning the land is not enough to legally build my dream home, I would need to get permission to build the kind of home I desire.

Now, I have never built a home. Quite honestly the process scares me to death because of my lack of conviction in the decision making arena. I hate shopping and do not have a unique and creative eye for decorating, therefore the thought of all those choices makes me want to run away quickly.

I hear I am not alone in this.
Obtaining permits can be not only the least enjoyable stage of building, but also one of the more frustrating. My web dictionary says that this permit is a document that authorizes the holder to construct a building of a particular kind on a particular lot. Yuck. Who wants to ask permission and get authorization?

Permits take time and money. The problem is that if you cut this corner, in the end you can be up for some pretty big heartaches and fines.

I just love this spiritual parallel...

In America, the majority of people skip over this phase in building a home. We are bombarded with the messages that we are in control of our own destinies and that we do not need to ask permission to do anything.

Seek permission to get married? Are you kidding?

This is about as anti-American-culture as you can get.

Now, before I go any deeper let me say that I am writing this to women who are either are or not married. This message is more of a self note to myself, and I welcome other women to come along with me. I am assuming that you want to be that "wise woman who builds her house, not the fool who tears it down" Me too.

I think the reason most unmarried gals skip this step is fear. They do not want to be alone, and so they are quick to settle for one of the first men who shows interest in them. They are afraid to ask God, "Is this the man You have chosen for me?" The enemy of your soul loves fear. He can corner you into making unwise choices when you are staring at fear.

The way to navigate this stage of building your home is wrapped into one word: Ask.

Did you know the Bible speaks of Asking over 200 times? 200! A quick search of scripture reveals that God wants you to ask. He's waiting for you to ask.

Ask What? Well I guess it depends on where you are today. Are you married yet or not?

Before you marry:

• Am I ready to marry?
• Am I content in my current state? (You will not become content through marriage. Fact.)
• Am I the kind of woman ready to complete my future groom, or am I seeking a groom to complete me?
• Lord, is he the one? (Because it would be eternally better to be alone rather than to pick someone for myself instead of waiting for You)

There are countless questions you could and should ask, these are just a few

But what if you are already married? Ah, like me you have an endless supply of things that you can ask the Lord about. This is a good thing. You can be assured that He is waiting to hear from you and answer you.

After Marriage:

• Am I a godly wife?
• Do I seek God with all my heart?
• Am I a wise woman who builds, or a fool who destroys?
• Is there any wickedness in my heart? (There always is...)
• Do I have my priorities straight? (God, husband, children, ministry)

Again, there are thousands of things to ask. God wants us to rely on Him alone. He cares about the minute details of our lives and actually knows the best for us. We need to ask Him to show us.

I have picked out a few verses for you on asking. There are so many more. I would encourage you to do your own study and see God's heart for yourself.

Side Note:
If you made it this far, but you do not know with all certainty that there is a God and He loves you so much that He died to save you, I would say either you are searching for truth or really bored. I pray you are on the search for truth.
If you do not know Jesus Christ died for your sins and rose again to save you, there is only one question He wants you to ask today...

Jesus, Will you come into my life and take over? 
Sure, there are other ways to ask, just ask.

Is God real? Does He love you? Did He really come to this earth to die for your sins? If you believe in Him will you be saved from hell? Will your life be different if you let God in?

I challenge you to ask Him...

Now. Grab your Bible and a notebook and pencil. Here are just a few verses about "asking" God. Whether you are a single woman waiting for your future groom, or a married woman its time to revisit this part of your life. Do you walk through your day without paying to attention to the Lord, or do you include Him in all parts of your life.

A wise woman build her house... She asks guidance and assistance and yes permission from the Lord for everything she does.

Isaiah 7:11
Matthew 21:22
Luke 11:9
John 11:22
John 14:14
John 16:23
Ephesians 3:20
James 1:5-6
Matthew 7:7-8