Real Life Team

Manure makes you Mature

CMSkory — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:48:47 +0000

My husband just hauled 2 truckloads of manure into our yard for us to fertilize the garden this spring. Apparently, if you can get over the thought of it, manure makes the best fertilizer and softens the soil, making it much better for producing vegetables and fruit. Manure turns just plain dirt into a living matter…something that produces organisms. In other words, you only find worms in good soil! I’m sure, most of you know that already, but did you know that manure also helps us to grow? I don’t mean actual cow manure…I mean the difficult times that we face in our life.

Luke 13:6-9 And Jesus told them this parable: A certain man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the vinedresser, see here! For these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue also to use up the ground (to deplete the soil, intercept the sun, and take up room)? But he replied to him, leave it alone, sir, just one more year, till I dig around it and put manure on the soil. Then perhaps it will bear fruit after this; but if not, you can cut it down and out.

God wants us to produce fruit in our lives. We aren’t here to just take up space! Galations 5:22 &23 says ,”The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness ,gentleness and self-control.” This is the goal of the Holy Spirit living within is, to accomplish or produce this fruit in our lives. When that isn’t happening for some time, God will often allow a little “manure” to enter our lives. We have a choice at that point to become bitter about it or become better. No one can live on this earth without experiencing difficulties, but the hope we have as believers, is that God can use these things (with our co-operation) , to soften our hearts to mature into a heart more like His, to produce such amazing fruit in our lives that other people will notice and be blessed by it!

So next time you feel like some manure has been dumped on you, instead of asking God to take it away…try asking Him to use it in your life to help you become who He wants you to be.

Whatcha Lookin’ At?

CMSkory — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 21:40:02 +0000

A couple of years ago, my husband and I took a motorcycle defensive driving course. It had been a goal of mine to someday drive a motorcycle, but I wanted to learn to drive one well. It was not an easy course! You had to drive through different obstacle courses, start on ramp (without going backwards), drive at walking speed while keeping the bike from wobbling etc. I won’t tell you everything I learned and I won’t mention that at the end of the two days, I passed the course, but my husband didn’t (oops!), what I want to share with you is something the instructor told us which I have often thought about since, because it can apply to so many areas in our life. He said (and this was referring to when you are going around a curve in the road) , “Always be looking where you want to go !” You will always go where your eyes are looking!

The bible has a lot to say about where we should be looking. Here are just 2 verses:

Hebrews 12:2 ”Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how He did it. Because He never lost sight of where He was headed – that exhilarating finish in and with God – He could put up with anything along the way: cross, shame, whatever. And now He’s there, in the place of honour, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility He plower through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!”

Psalm 34:5 ” Those who look to Him (God) are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.”

We’re not just talking about an occasional glance here, but a choice to keep focused on God and His will for our lives and what He has done for us. Let me ask you this…Do you look more at what you’ve done wrong? or at what God has done right? If you are always looking at your shortcomings and failures, you’ll eventually want to dig a hole and climb right in! But if you are looking at the good things God has done and begin to praise Him and thank Him, you’ll be amazed what this will do for your soul!

Whatcha Thinkin’ About?

CMSkory — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 18:25:15 +0000

Sometimes when my husband and I are out for dinner or driving somewhere, and there is a long period of silence , I like to suddenly ask him…”Whatcha thinkin’ about?” This usually brings a smile to his face because sometimes he is embarrassed to tell me, but when he does, it always leads to another good conversation.

It would be a good thing to ask ourselves this question periodically throughout the day…”What am I thinking about?” What we are thinking about and how we think about things is very important. Our thoughts affect our attitudes and our moods. What we think about and how we think will come out in how we live out our lives. Positive thoughts produce positive lives and negative thoughts produce negative lives. Are most of your thoughts positive or negative? “Stinkin’ thinkin’ = a stinkin’ life” (Joyce Meyers). We can choose what and how we think about things. We don’t have to be a victim of our thoughts.

Phil. 4:8 says “Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious-the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.”

I encourage you to start filling your mind with positive thoughts through what you read, watch and listen to. Make a choice to “hang out” with positive people. Changing our thinking is a process, it takes time. Spend time with God …talk to Him and read His Word. Learn how He thinks and let Him change you from the inside out!

Standing In The Storm

CMSkory — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 20:02:20 +0000

A couple of months ago, we bought a playhouse for our grandchildren. The instructions said it would take about 16 hours to assemble, so when we got it home, we went right to work to put it all together. With four of us working on it, we hoped 16 hours would only be 8, but after putting in 24 hours, it still wasn’t completely done. By then we were all sick and tired of working on it and decided to finish it later. There was enough of it done for the children to have fun on it. The playhouse came with stakes to anchor it down, but it was 11 pm and we decided it should be fine for a few days. Besides, we didn’t want to anchor it down before moving it to where we permanently wanted it to be (which hadn’t been decided yet). A few days later, we arrived home to find the beautiful playhouse completely knocked over onto it’s side with several broken pieces. A strong wind had come up and because we never took the time to anchor it, it couldn’t stand up in the storm.

Matthew 7:24-27 (The Message) “These words I (Jesus) speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit – but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.But if you use my words in Bible studies, and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.”

Don’t talk the talk and not walk the walk! Jesus doesn’t want to be an add-on to your life, He wants to be your life! Get to know Him – let Him be the anchor in your life, so when the storms come (and they will!), you will be standing because He will hold you up!

A New Language

CMSkory — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 19:04:05 +0000

I just finished my 2nd training session on how to use this website. My brain is so tired because it is a whole new language to me. Now I know words I never knew before and what they mean…like widgets and tag clouds. Some of the words I knew before, but on the computer, they have a whole different meaning…like dashboard, plugins, backbone and bookmarks. It’s not that easy to learn this computer language when your “middle-aged”, but I am determined to learn it, and as I do, it’s opening up a whole new world for me! Younger people catch on to these things so much quicker. My children love to tease me when I make a “pooh flaw” (that’s a whole ‘nother story). Then there’s the time I ended a serious email with “lol”, thinking that meant lots of love! So, I’ve come a long ways and I will keep learning.
That’s how it’s been for me in my Christian life. I thought at one time that I basically knew everything there was to know about the Bible. My parents read it to me since I was a small child, followed by years of church attendance, sunday school, bible studies and so on.
Then through incredible pain in my life, I experienced God’s grace. After this, the Bible took on a whole new meaning for me. Instead of a book of rules for me to follow and try to live up to, it became a book about God’s love for me. The same words I read before, but a whole new language! I challange you to start reading God’s Word as a love letter and learn not only a new language, but a new life!

WHY REAL LIFE?

CMSkory — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 04:32:06 +0000

Hi! My name is Catherine, and I am one of the members of the Real Life Team.

We chose the name Real Life because we have each experienced the joy and the pain that life on this earth brings every one of us. Also because in our darkest pain, we cried out to a Real God who healed us and who loves us with a Real Love. Now, because of His grace and love, we are each experiencing the life Jesus died for all of us to have.

“I (Jesus) came so that they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.”

John 10:10 (The Message)