This hit home with what I've been struggling with lately.  I've seen a similar email version of this before, but it's been a while.  Very convicting..... 

So, are you busy??

Yesterday afternoon a close friend of mine hosted a "Taking Dominion Tea Party" out of her home. Several friends and their daughters from church and our homeschool group attended. It was such a precious time of fellowship with the ladies and maidens! The theme was on adoption awareness and the importance of fulfilling James 1:27 as believers in Christ.

My friend and their family are a beautiful example of the blessings of adoption when biblically following the commands of scripture. They have adopted 6 amazing children and plan to adopt more, as the Lord leads.  We're so blessed to know them! 

This evening we watched the "Training A Dominion-Oriented Daughter" dvd from Vision Forum.  We do not (yet) have a daughter of our own, but I was so blessed by Geoff Botkin's message for my own role as a daughter. 

I am not only a daughter to an earthly father, but most importantly, a daughter to our Heavenly Father.  How easily I forget my role as a daughter in my relationship to my Abba, Father.  This is at the core of my current trials.

What the Lord has been revealing to me lately, and confirmed in the message that Mr. Botkin gave on this dvd is this:  FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS --- focus on Christ, focus on His Word, and focus on His Kingdom!  This is my biggest area of weakness and to be honest, I am beyond frustrated about it.  My heart's desire is to love the Lord with my whole heart, soul, mind and strength.  But in my sin, I allow myself to be easily (and daily!) distracted from the path that He desires me to walk on.

Let us ponder upon the word "distraction" for a moment, shall we?  What does this word mean exactly?  Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary gives a very convicting defintion.  I'll provide the more eye opening definitions for you:

• a drawing apart, separation. 
• confusion of affairs, tumult, disorder
• madness; a state of disordered reason, franticness, furiousness
• folly in the extreme, or amounting to sanity

I have never thought of distraction in such terms!  How blindly foolish I have been in downplaying the seriousness of this in my life.

Ladies, fellow domion-oriented daughters, may we bring glory to our Father and remain utterly focused on Him and His Kingdom!  And let us be about our Father's business continually. Let us, by His power and grace, re-evaluate the activities we are currently involved in and view it through the lens of scripture to see how it falls in line with the Biblical and multi-generational vision for our family.  Anything that does not fit in should not have our focus!  And, this most definitely includes personal hobbies.  It simply is not our time, but His time.  And it is not our life, but our life belongs to Him.

My soul is aching so much right now to follow Christ, to represent Him well, and to be pleasing to Him.  But even at this moment, my flesh is warring against that desire!  I have fallen too many times to pursue selfish desires that have no great eternal purpose.  Our time on earth is short, I know.  Let us be reminded daily that we simply do not have time for anything that would cause us to lose focus in bringing Him glory!

Dear Lord, may you continue to impress upon my heart and transform my life to seek wholly after you and remain FOCUSED upon You and Your Kingdom.  May you also grant me the wisdom and discernment to know the activities to pursue in my life and for our family that would be pleasing to You.  In Your strength alone can I remain focused on You.  Cause me, oh Lord, to repent when I fall and to love you to the utmost.  You are my Abba, my Father.  Thank you for chosing me to be your daughter - a daughter of the King.  Amen.... 

I have been holding off posting this for at least a couple of months and I don't know why exactly.  Maybe it is my pride??  :::pondering:::  Of course it is.  As a certified raw food teacher and huge proponent of natural health for years, I could never share such weaknesses publicly!!  Well, after today's eye opening revelation while shopping, I can contain it no longer.  I need to confess!  Maybe this is what will help me to get back on track -- accountability.  So here I go....

For the past 8 months (at least), I have allowed myself to indulge in waaaay too much "healthy" junk food (and occasionally some unhealthy kinds as well).  You might be thinking, "Is that all????".  Well, when you begin to feel so unhealthy, have gained 20+ pounds, gone up 2 - 3 dress sizes and when last year's swimsuit can't get above your thighs, you know it's starting to take a serious turn down the wrong path!  I need to nip this thing in the bud and now!  Not for vanity reasons -- of course, I will struggle with such thoughts every now and then.  

God has given each one of us the responsibility of taking care of our bodies, His temples, for His glory (1 Corinthians 6:19 & 10:31).  Period.  We cannot neglect this responsibility as it will greatly affect every area of our lives - physically, spiritually and emotionally.  I definitely know that my health has been a key factor in my lack of priorities recently.

I've justified the "junk" food I've been over indugling in by thinking I don't want to be "legalistic" with food and also that it's healthier than processed junk food.  Oh sure, I knew it still wasn't the most ideal/healthy food to consume, and most especially not on a regular basis as I've allowed myself to have.  But since I was in fairly decent shape, I felt I had more freedom to allow myself to indulge every once in a while -- which is totally fine if you have the self-control to moderate it.  However, my problem was that over several months, I slowly began to increase my intake of such junk food to the point that for the past 2 months, I'm eating it almost daily.  And now my body is feeling more run down, body aches that have been long gone are coming back, and I don't have a clear mind.

So what kinds of healthy (and not so healthy) junk food have I been eating?  Just to name a few....

• organic ice cream
• organic candy & regular candy
• organic chocolates
• cakes (gluten free, cakes at restaurants)
• cream cheese frosting
• potato chips (organic and natural)
• non-grassfed meats
• organic ice cream sandwiches
• too much fried foods (ie: eggs)
• In-N-Out
• crackers
• cookies (organic, natural)
• sugars -- brown, sucanat, agave
• cheeses (raw and/or organic)
• grains
• milkshakes

There you have it (at least from what I could remember at 11pm)!  Lord willing, I will share on my next post, what I plan to do to get back on track.  I'll definitely be in prayer about it!  :) 

What? know ye not that your body is the temple
of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God,
and ye are not your own?
(1 Corinthians 6:19)