Just a quick little post today about remaining. Remember that we must remain in Him to bear fruit. So how can we do that as busy women in today's world?

Here are a few simple suggestions to help you remain in God's presence as you go about your day.

1. Remain God conscious throughout your day.

A simple way to do this is to optimize your awareness of His presence. Cultivate a habit of studying, meditating or memorizing one verse of scripture each day. The easiest way to do this is to write the verse down and post it in several places where you'll see it throughout your day. Bathroom mirror, refrigerator, the car dashboard, your desk at work. As you see the paper, recite the verse and then contemplate how it applies to your life. Get still for a moment and ask God to speak to you. He will! You can even put the verse in your pocket and look at it several times each day.

2. Create an atmosphere for worship.

Saturate your environment with great praise and worship music. Make your travel time a time for renewing your spirit by choosing to listen to music that ministers to your spirit. Invest in good quality CD's if you feel the radio just doesn't play the type of music you prefer to worship by.

3. Cultivate constant communication with God through prayer.

I talk to God throughout my day, about the "seemingly small" details I am faced with on a daily basis. Guess what? God cares about all the little things that can make us crazy!

1 Thessalonians 5: 17 encourages us to "pray continually."

I believe God prefers a heart felt constant communication throughout the day instead of dry,religious,riualistic prayers. If it bores you, it would probably bore God! He wants to develop relationship with you, no detail is too trivial, no hurt too deep.I have experienced God answer swiftly a heart felt prayer that came off my lips in a moment of hurried frenzy, just as much as those moments of deep "closet" prayer.
Make it a habit to practice the "Love you" call with God. I try to make it a point to remember to call Joel sometimes during the week to just say, "Hey, I wanted you to know I don't need anything, but was just thinking of you and wanted to tell you how much I love you!" This kind of prayer towards God draws you into a place of deep intimacy with Him.

4. Choose to be HAPPY!

1 Thessalonians 5: 16 Be joyful always;

Nothing can make you jump out of Jesus faster than allowing yourself to be in a "bad mood". I realized after several years of marriage, that Joel can't make me happy. As a matter of fact, no one can make me happy. Happiness is a choice I choose. If you live your life reacting to people and circumstances around you, you are in for a rollercoaster type Christianity. Up one day, then down the next. Keep your eyes open for this trap that most women fall into, due to the fact that we are very emotional beings.

Yesterday morning Joel told me that I was laughing in my sleep the night before. I did realize that once I woke up I felt very happy. I felt happy until after lunch when we were hit with a series of situations that very quickly turned my joy into a feeling of despair. I felt hurt because of a certain situation, and my mood immediately darkened. By the time I got to church last night, my joy level was pretty low. As a matter of fact, I felt so hurt I had a hard time entering into worship. Sitting in service, I felt God speak to me. I grabbed my pen and quickly wrote down what I recognized to be God's Word for me. This is what I wrote.

" Today I woke up laughing, how can things change so quickly? I refuse to hurt!"

In that moment, I knew God was challenging me to quit allowing other people to steal my joy and to regain it quickly before bitterness tried to gain a foothold.
I'm happy to say , that my happiness meter is off the charts today. Because it doesn't depend on people, it depends on how I remain in Him.

I've got a few more tips for remaining, but I'll have to do finish posting later.
I don't' want to become famous for extremely long posts.

Have a great day, and remain in Him.