Late Night Talks {Guest Post by R.B. Denney}

Hey all! Sorry for no posts in so long. It's been a crazy couple of months. Today, however, we have a special treat! R.B. Denney from Writing is Home to Me and Foundations 274 has granted us with a guest posting!

Thank you so much, Rachel Beth, for agreeing to guest post! I know how late I am in getting this out, but the message is still, and always, relevant.
Here it is!

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Yep, summer has definitely given its grand entrance and is now enjoying its dominion over our lives. That sounded rather harsh--but for me, especially when it comes to doing my devotions, I struggle with summer.

I love the bright, warm days with friends, iced Americanos, and sandal tan-lines, but on a personal level, I struggle most with God during the summer.

And ever so much have I been wrestling lately.

During the summer months I take anywhere from one to four weeks off (from my regular life) to work at Cocolalla Lake Bible Camp. This place is my second home, I connect so much with God when I'm there. It's a lot of hard work, but I love it--and I love the people. I am always so refreshed when I'm there, I feel so alive and so in God's will. Those are all good feelings, but then when I'm on my own again at home, I topple.

Okay, so it's not that bad--I still do my devotions pretty regularly and I live for the Lord, but it's so much harder when I'm not constantly surrounded by my much adored Christian friends.

I have entitled this post "Late Night Talks" because at the moment it's a little after midnight and I'm just now getting my quality time in with God. Don't get me wrong, I talk with God throughout my day, but there is something special about purposefully setting aside time to just be with God.

It's important for every Christian to be spending time with just God and themselves, be it in prayer or in reading His Word, we all need to be growing in God on a personal level.

So, how do we fit God into our busy summer schedules?

First off, I would give you one of my favorite quotes.
"You have plenty of time for whatever it is you choose to make time for."

The idea is not to guilt you into spending time with God, but much rather to remind you that you have the power to make what you love most a priority in your life.

I know, reading through books like Deuteronomy, Judges, and so on are not always super "exciting", for lack of a better word. But God does everything with a purpose, so ask yourself this, "What can I see of God's character by reading this?"

To close, remember this: there will always be busy seasons in life, but God is always available. Seek Him. Love Him. Trust Him.

Psalm 33:4 "For the Word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does."

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Hello! I'm Rachel Beth, so I'm typically pretty bad at introductions and/or telling about myself, but here it goes. My heart belongs in the woods, I would be lost without my towering trees and endless mountains. Black coffee is where it's at. I've always adored the art of writing since I was young and about four years ago I seriously took it upon myself to tell the stories that are in my thoughts with the words from my heart.

Am I doing pretty good so far? Hope so. Continuing on--I want to explore, and by exploring I don't mean just being there, I mean meeting the people, getting to know where there is, wherever there may be. I want my life to honor my Savior and it is my prayer that His story would come through all of my stories.

I simply adore my folk music. I have no idea what I would do without music. I play guitar and a bit of piano. I grew up in a family of music and it has always been such a way into people's hearts, it mak
es me smile when someone tells me about a song that pulled at their heart.

Oh yes, and I read. A lot. I enjoy all kinds of genres, but I really enjoy reading things that have been around for a long time. I enjoy trying to figure out why it is that particular books have lasted so long, hearing what they have to say.

Hope to get to know other young writers out there, and to encourage you all.

~Rachel Beth

Proverbs 3:5-6 {Think it Through Thursday I}

Happy Thursday all!

I'm starting this new thing called 'Think it Through Thursday'. Where I'm planning to go with this is on (hopefully) every other Thursday, I'll select a piece of scripture (usually a few verses) and pull it apart. This means definitions, cross-references, thoughts on it, etc. I'm really looking forward to trying this out! May God use it how He wills.

I've recently graduated from high school. Many times graduating entails receiving cards from people.
And some of those cards I received had "Proverbs 3:5-6" written in them. So, obviously my curiosity was piqued. I read Proverbs 3:5-6 and thought about what each part means. As far as I can see there's five distinct parts of the two verses.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

1. 'Trust in the Lord'
Basically we need to trust Him. This goes hand in hand with Loving Him and Fearing Him. It's a respect, it's knowing He has our best interests in mind and that His will is perfect. |Isaiah 30:15|

2. 'With all your heart'
We need to give Him everything. Don't hold back. It's so easy to hold a part of yourself back and not even realize it or know what you're holding back. We need to surrender and let Him move through us and in us. Let Him have your heart and mold it and fill it with His love. |Ezekiel 36:26-27|

3. 'Lean not on your own understanding'
We don't know everything. I don't know everything. You don't know everything. We think we know all the sides of something, what we should do, what God wants, but sometimes we just have no clue. Our understanding is different from God's He is omniscient. He knows all. He is the Creator. Frankly, my understanding is so little, I'd much rather have God's understanding. |Romans 12:2 ; Isaiah 55:8-9|

4. 'In all your ways acknowledge Him'
We didn't get to this point in our walk with God all by ourselves. We aren't better than anybody else in this world. He has given us the free but oh so costly gift of salvation. Give glory to God for everything He does and as done. Give thanks! Give Him praise. Talk to Him throughout the day, see where He wants to take you. Continually seek Him. |Hosea 10:12|

5. 'He will make your paths straight'
Or 'He will direct your paths'. God rewards. He's our Father and He loves us dearly. If we hold on to Him, give Him our heart, trust Him, ask for His guidance, He will definitely direct us. It's so hard to figure out what to do sometimes, making decisions is not my strong suit. But if we lean on God and truly seek Him, He will show us the way. His way. |Isaiah 30:21|


God Bless the rest of your week!