romans 12:1

romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.


God demands sacrifice of His followers--but not bloody, physical sacrifice. Rather, he wants us to sacrifice our own selves to Him by committing to do His will in our lives. The worship God wants from us is to serve others in His name.

Followers of Christ continually undergo a process of transformation, by which the Holy Spirit shapes us more and more into the sort of person who is acceptable for service to God.

An offering or gift given to God to remove the guilt of sin. Throughout the Old Testament, God's people brought sacrifices to God.

Are you ready to die to your selfish ways to be worthy of God and what he has planned for you, you feeling lost.This past while has been an eye opener for me, the verses have been speaking to my heart.I have an urge that i have not had for awhile to help people and I am ready to offer myself as a living sacrifice to God. I have been sitting back i will admit. I have been angry with things. I thought i was right with God, when i was thinking of what to write today this is what came to me this is what has been on my mind since starting the journal of our journey. We as a family have been going through this process and i think some major changes are coming for us. I also think our team is going through growth, and not just in babies!!:) I have been taking verses and meditating , and memorizing . Praying ,listening to God and hoping for things to change. I believe all things happen for a reason, i believe God was slowing me down when i had this break happen. To take a breath to realize where i should be and what i should be doing. This blog has been inspiration to me. It has opened my thoughts and brought forth issues i needed to deal with. I hope and pray in does for you as well.............i am encouraging you to take romans 12:1 and meditate on it this week

Confidence in God

Congratulations, Julie

Before I get on to the topic of this challenge, I'm sure you would like to join us in congratulating Julie on the birth of baby Owen Bryce, her fifth child - you can see Owen's gorgeous picture here. And another of our team, Ruth, is in the late stages of pregnancy, so our Salt families are extending!

Confidence in God

It is my (Hazel's) turn to choose the topic for today's challenge. I've been thinking that over the last few years there have been many changes in the way we live, in society in general, some for our better and some not so. Perhaps too, like us, you've had changes in your personal circumstances - deteriorating health, financial problems, family stresses and strains, some of which we ourselves contribute towards, but some that we have very little say in or control over. It would be all too easy to get sucked into the feeling that we can't trust anything or anyone as being permanent. Thankfully, we have a constant God who is there whatever the circumstances, whatever our feelings - we can trust Him completely and utterly.

As Pauline said in her reflection on the changing seasons last week: It can often be difficult to understand why things happen, but as Christians we can be confident that God is involved in the world.

Many scriptures come to mind that affirm our confidence in God, for instance: Numbers 23:19, Joshua 1:9, Jeremiah 32:27, Philippians 4:13, Psalm 16, 1 John 5:14-15, but one particular verse that was passed on to me recently is of great reassurance:

'The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever leans on, trusts in and puts his confidence in the Lord is safe and set on high.' Proverbs 29:25.

It is our hope and prayer that you, with us, will deepen your trust in God, acknowledging that it is through Christ that we can be forgiven and put into a right relationship with God if we ask Him to take control of our lives and allow Him to lead and guide us.

I hope that you enjoy seeing the crafting response of the team - please visit their individual blogs to read what they have to say. It would be lovely if you felt able to join in with a creative response to this challenge - please leave us a comment with a link to your creation so that we can come and have a look.

Thank you to those who follow us, leave us comments and join in our challenges - we hope and pray that you are blessed by our little corner of the internet - combining our two passions of faith in Christ and crafting.

Hazel

Stacy


Kim


Lythan

Pauline

The Changing Seasons

"There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to rebuild. time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak up. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace."

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

I've been reflecting on the seasons recently for several reasons. The main reason being that in Scotland we've been very suddenly confronted by the changing seasons - leaves are plummeting in great numbers from the trees, the wind has been much stronger and the temperature has dropped so I have finally set the central heating timer! We've also been celebrating Harvest Thanksgiving in church and thinking about world issues of food distribution as well as local issues. Living in rural Scotland in a farming community we still have a sense of the traditional harvest - we have the combines in the fields, livestock are being moved around and every Monday we see the farm vehicles transporting animals to market.

The passage from Ecclesiastes is one I often turn to when there are very visible signs of the changing seasons. I love the symbolism in it and the way in which it paints a picture of how God sees everything that is happening in the world. While people may question God's involvement in what we see on the news, we can be confident that God is involved in world affairs and that he cares about his creation. It can often be difficult to understand why things happen but as Christians we can be confident that God is involved in the world and is calling us to follow Jesus' example to be salt and light in the world (Matthew 5:13-16).

I hope that as the seasons change around the world that you will trust in God and know that He has given us all gifts to use for His purpose. We cannot see the whole picture in the way God can but we can be confident of His love for us.

Pauline

x

Growth

'Growth'...

an essential part in living! Where would we be without growth?
Growth and development come hand in hand, and usually developing means learning.
Just as babies and children learn, so also as Christians we need to feed on God's word and GROW!
we should crave spiritual milk 'Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation 1Peter 2:2'

In case you think this is a repeat, or some sort of coincidence- well it's not! I hadn't even seen Mona's post that she had put up about Growth. God obviously put it on our hearts, and must be something that someone out there needs to hear!

So I pray it will be a blessing!

As you meditate on this word may God challenge you through our work at SALT.
Please do share with us how you have interpreted this week's theme.

Thanks. Yours in Christ, Esther.

Esther Lythan
Kim


Mona




Tanis

Hazel


Pauline

Stacy

Meditating on Growth

2 Peter 3:18 - Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

For the last few months I(Mona) have felt a little disconnected when it comes to my relationship with God. Life gets so busy - work, kids, scrapping and all the other little things, that sometimes God gets forgotten as my Bible collects dust and some days I only touch it when I move it from one place to another.
I was at the bookstore a few weeks back and the enormous number of books on spirituality and finding "true" spirituality was mind boggling. We are so busy looking for spirituality and that "feeling" of God that we forget that we can just ask for it. It's amazing what happens when you do. When I asked God to "show me" His grace and His presence, I saw him everywhere. In big and little ways God showed me that he is actively a part of my life and taking care of me in everything I say and do. He also showed me that my part is to "dwell" in Him and His word so that I will grow more in His likeness. God is faithful - He will never let us down!


Finally, as a team, we need to say goodbye to a few of our team members. Gina, Nikki and Melita are leaving the SALT team. They have been wonderful contributors and we are sad to see them go. God bless you all as you move on to other adventures in your lives. Hope you'll pop in and join some of the challenges sometime. We'll miss you!

Listening to God

It's usually pretty easy to talk. But how good are we at listening?
We're busy. We live in a busy world. We have lots of commitments. We're pressed for time.

But when it comes to listening to God, we have to make time. Quiet time. And that is hard.

As I looked into my choice of topic over the past week, I found some good words and insights, both from devotionals and from the Bible.
I pray that these will help you as you study the topic this week and create what you've learned.

Here's a few words from a devotional I was reading at delveintojesus.com.

The voice of God whispers directly into our heart and soul, guiding us, counseling us and comforting us. But are we listening, or are we too busy talking? God will not scream at us to pay attention, so if we are too preoccupied with our own thoughts, His gentle voice will be drowned out.

Our prayer time must consist of listening as well as speaking. We need to attentively reach for that small voice and eagerly let it guide us. In quiet prayer, ask God to reveal His will and then listen patiently for His response. The more often you do this, the easier it will become.

And from the Bible, in 1 Kings 19:11-13, Elijah is brought face to face with God. He recognizes His voice, not as a something loud and strong, but as a "gentle whisper". We need to know Him, like Elijah did, in order to recognize His voice speaking to us.

One more verse I wrote down as a good reminder was Psalm 27:14...

¹⁴ Wait patiently for the Lord.
Be brave and courageous.
Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

I am still reading and studying this topic...I'm really looking forward to hearing about what you've learned as you study too.

Some key words as you look for verses about listening: LISTEN, HEAR, WAIT, VOICE, SPEAK, WHISPER.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Tanis

Pauline




Hazel



Julie

Lythan



Stacy

Meet the design team - Lythan Nevard

And now for the final installment of "Meet the design team". I'm Lythan, I am now in my mid 40's and I share my life with my husband Phil, three teenage children and 5 animals. The 5 animals are a bit of a shock as I am not really an animal lover. But I love my family and some of them are! I am Welsh by birth but don't sound it as I have lived all over the UK and pick up bits of accent from wherever I am. That is currently in the suburbs on the edge of London. I live on the doorstep of countryside but am only 20 minutes by train from the Tower of London. 10 years on and I still think that is cool.

Phil and I have both been Ministers for 17 years now. We work in 4 United Reformed Churches in the London Borough of Havering. As God would have it, both our fathers were Ministers in the URC too. (And both had grandfathers who were coal miners as well. That has nothing to do with faith, it is just a cool coincidence). We were both blessed to be brought up in families of faith where Christian love was not just preached but practiced, and we try to do that too. Although I sometimes think Jesus would say "enough practicing, time to grow up and get serious"

There have been times when I have been jealous of those who have a date of conversion. Until I woke up and thought "hang on, I am the one who has been given the gift of always knowing she was loved by God" and realised how special that is. I also noted that it is like falling in love - for some it is a "ping" moment and for some a gradual realisation - each equally valid and special. I have to be honest and say that at times in my youth I wore my faith loosely. It was helped along by the URC youth movement (ie a place for meeting boys) which played a big part in my teenage years. At University I tried to keep my faith quiet. Then in my third year I realised that everyone knew I was a Christian anyway and they still liked me and thought I was normal. God taught me a BIG lesson there. I don't know what gave me away as I did my best to hid it (sorry Lord) but I suppose his love just kep busting through somehow!

During that time I was already struggling with a call to Ministry which I recieved during a service of worship when I was 17. (hint: when you hear the reading from Isaiah 6 when God says "Who will go?" and Isaiah responds "here I am send me", saying in your heart "hear I am send me" might result in God leading you places you never expected!). By the end of University I realised that I was just making excuses about why I shouldn't say yes and it was a big relief when I did.

I'm still unsure, 23 years later, what God sees in me. Perhaps it is a keen awareness that I am not perfect! God's love has stuck by me through highs and lows. Through times of seriously considering doing something else and times of depression when caring for myself, let alone others has been hard work. And I know he's not finished with me yet, however hard I test his patience! That is why Psalm 139 is so important to me - that wherever I go he is sticking by me. And probably why I love the gospels and letters to the Churches of the New testament too. Oh and all the people in the Old Testament while I am at it. There are so many people like me - who know what to do, but seem to find it hard to do it right; who know love but sometimes struggle to express it. And through it all radiates God's love, centred in the cross saying "I love you no matter what"
And so I keep trying, really trying to be the person God made me to be.

And Salt helps me with that. The challenges we are set help me think about my faith and how I express it. Sometimes it comes easily and sometimes I have to mull over a challenge for a while, but always I feel the Spirit move, guiding me in creation. And I see that in the work of my team mates too, which lifts me up so much. Its a real blessing in my life.