Dear Friends & Readers,
I am back once again. Remember my last blog about “imperfections”? I am not stemming off that right now. I would like to talk about spending time with God. As Christians who love God and believe He is real and exists, I have come to believe in the existence of God through the past several years of my adult life. More so today than back in 1999. Yes, His existence, not seen, has been shown to me in ways I cannot put into words very well. Right now, since April 24, 2019, my time sitting in a church pew with other members of the church I attend, has been put on. Hold because I have dialysis in the morning for 3 ½ hours. It is very frustrating for me when it comes to the weekend even though I have no problem doing dialysis Saturday mornings because of my medical need. Because of my ability to go to church has been taken away from me, I have been doing my best at finding time to be with God on a daily basis at home when I am alone to think about what I am reading, thinking, and wanting to reflect on as my day continues to move on right ahead with me. Time is important when it comes to spending time with God. That is exactly what I am working on right now. This a part of me that is imperfect. I need to spend time with God, but first I need to find the right time to it. I know it is not a good time to do it while I am at dialysis because I do not have my computer with me, but I can always take my Bible and a notebook to take necessary notes, but not always do the machines cooperate while being dialyzed. I can read Bible Scripture and reflect on it, but the machines and workers are quiet enough. So spending time with God at the dialysis center will not work for me. I will have to find a better time. I also know it is not easy to spend time with God when my IRIS workers or company are here because we have things to do together. I do not even get on my computer much when I have people here anyway. So, I need to find other ways to spend with God when I am at home with no one around except for Bing Crosby the Cat who happens to be my feline companion and he does not count as a distraction unless he gets into my lap while the computer is there as well, LOL. I need to find the right time to spend with God, and I believe I have found the right time. Right now is a great time friends and readers. Now I have to commit to this time with God by turning the TV off, going to the quietest place in my home which would be the bedroom, and sit and spend time with God. It is a great time for me to relax and then go to bed knowing that my day has been complete.
My relationship with God is veryimportant to me. My time with God is my time and I will always do my best at sharing what I have learned through Bible scripture. Right now I have, since going to church right now is not possible, begun reading/listening to the lessons/courses at Our Daily Bread, read/listen to the devotional of the day, and also read/listen to a devotional of the day by Brenda Walsh at Brenda Walsh Ministries. I am able to sit back and reflect what I have read or listened to with an open and decluttered mind. At least I hope my mind is decluttered. I do not want to have any fog while spending time with God. In fact, when I get into a fog, I need to go to God right away. Do you agree?
When it comes to a relationship with God, God wants our full attention or what attention we are able to give Him at the time. Just like God did by walking in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve before their fall to sinful nature, He too wants us to connect with him daily. God does not care what time it is when you spend it with Him. It is encouraged. David in Psalm 63:1 and 119:148, and Ezra in Nehemiah 8:3 seek God at different times of the day, whether it be morning, afternoon, and evening. I have chosen to do so before 4 PM today when my TV decided to show me that my Roku 2 system wanted to reset itself for some reason while I was listening to the TV trying to do my lesson of the day. Once my Roku system reset itself, I have been spending time with God and sharing what I need to for the day. I will do this up until I am going to bed for the night that will be about 2 to 3 hours from now. I feel I am on a roll but not to be recognized for it. I have decided is all. How important is your relationship with God? When do you spend time with Him?
My life as a Christian, is a daily learning process. Writing a blog about my Christian attitude is necessary for others to see I am another human being who struggles while being the best Christian I profess to be. My attitude is very important. I cannot have one attitude out in the real world and another in my home. It has to be the same throughout the day. I struggle with the need to correct my attitude at times, too. That is one of my imperfections in life. Not anymore starting right now. I am not going to be two-faced. God is going to begin working in me from this day forward inside and out, and I will have what is necessary to be the Christian out there. The game plan is God will guide me where I need to go and I am going to listen to Him with all my heart and ears. It is not easy being Kristi Karnopp, but it is going to take a lot of pruning and shaping to become the best I can be.
When it comes to building my relationship with God, I have to stick to my plan to spend time with Him at the desired time I have chosen. I understand that there will be things that come up from time to time that will take priority such as appointments, running errands, and if necessary, hospital visits like I did in January and April 2019, it is important to get back on track immediately afterwards. A good example about my time with God is I have an appointment next Wednesday to talk to a doctor about my ultrasound that we will be discussing a day when I will be going into the hospital to have the procedure done. When the procedure takes place, hospital stay or not, I will have to stick to my time with God after it is all over. Spending time with God is important. God will be with me during my doctor visit and procedure when the time comes, but it will not be a good time for me to spend time with God alone. God is among us all at all times. As I sit and talk to all of you through this letter/blog, I am also reflecting on what I am learning about my relationship with God and where I need to be with Him right now. How about you? Where do you stand with God?
I have gotten this example in one of my lessons/readings today at Our Daily Bread Courses. “A classical guitar instructor once told a student, “It’s better to practice 15 minutes a day every day, than to practice for several hours on only a few days.” He was right, especially when it comes to establishing new habits.” As far as spending time with God, it is important to have 15 minutes of devotionaltime with God and be faithful by carrying out your time with God during your time with Him. You can learn a lot from Him and feel good about it. I know this because I feel better and different. I am one human in this world who feels wonderful after achieving something that has taken time to achieve, and that includes spending time with God that has started this week. Does that sound wonderful? Now, finding a quiet place, which was mentioned earlier. That is my bedroom and it is away from distractions of TV, food, and other noises that come from fans. And outside because my windows are open. Right now we have a nice rain falling and it sounds beautiful. As long as it does not thunder, I am okay. I want to be able to sleep well tonight and thunder is one thing that can distract my sleep pattern sometimes. I find that my bedroom is the right place for me to be where distractions are not as prevalent or problematic. I have my phone with me just in case important calls come through, but my phone is silenced, and my computer shows calls coming in, but I do not foresee any calls coming in. My phone has been silenced because then I do not get distracted or discouraged with the sounds of messages and alerts cannot be heard. This is going to be a change for me, but I have to do it, and it will be done.
I have not gotten the idea of sticking to something and staying with it in some aspects of life. I am one person who begins something and then does not finish it. It is the saddest aspect of my life. How can I do this by sticking to realistic expectations? I have learned that in order to have realistic expectations work, I need to stop being a perfectionist and changing things all the time. I need not to worry about high expectations when it comes to pleasing others while I am doing something that really matters to me. When it comes to spending time with God, go to a quiet place wherever I am, and just do it. I am one of those people who want to please others with my actions and words at times, and now I Ineed to stop that because I know I cannot please everyone. Not everyone is going to smile back when I smile at them. How people feel from one day to the next may be different from mine. My circumstances are going to be different from others as well although we have some kind of connection somewhere. With my connection with God is personal to me whereas it is personal for another in a different way than mine. What happens when the human strength goes awry?
What happens when human strength goes awry? That is not an easy question to answer sometimes, but of course, I can answer right now. I need to pray to God for guidance to get my mind back on track from its disoriented state, give it to God to help me out to prioritize my need to spend devotional time with Him. It is not an easy task when certain things get in the way or I find more important than God. I am learning that nothing is more important than God. Yes, making sure my health is in check at the point where it is right now, getting to dialysis three times a week, and going to necessary doctor appointments are important and cannot be missed, but yet God needs to be in the schedule, too. We do not want to be selfish now, do we? Not me. God is not selfish. He is waiting to have time with us every day.
Having a relationship with God is a two-way communication process. I want that communication with God. How do I go about it? Prayer, praising. And thanking God. Although my schedule differs from one day to the next does not mean my communication with God has to end one day to the next. If I do not find time for God, He will not know what I really need or wish Him to know. I have to talk to Him. I have to allow Him to show me the way that is best to go on a daily basis when I am awake and aware of what is happening to me. I should not ever be afraid to speak to God. It is like communicating with other bloggers reading their stories here at Bloggeror anywhere else I am communicating my thoughts. It is not an easy process, but it can be done. Right now I am writing a “letter” to friends and readers. I am doing my side of communication and my friends and readers will do their part by reading what I have written to see what I have to say. I still find writing a blog different writing a diary entry. Prayer is not the only thing that is done in a two-way communication process with God. We also read God’s Word that is the Bible. It tells stories in the Old and New testament, 66 books in one big book that has chapters telling stories of prophecies that have been fulfilled and prophecies yet being fulfilled today. The Bible is one of His other ways God brings to light what we need to know about Him and what He has done and what is necessary for our futures with what we have decided when the second coming of Christ takes place. I am not going to argue or have debates about Christ’s return because I do not know the time. I just know that we are living in the last days.
Reading a Bible passage and digesting it is like taking and digesting a meal we have just eaten. We need to read the passage, look at its contents and see what the words mean. I understand some Bible passages better than other passages and I do my very best. I think it depends on the version I am using at the time. I used NKJV and NIV the most. When I read on God’s Word, I find thinking about the passage and cannot wait to get home to write about it. I am writing about it right now – this very minute – and going to be sharing it in a little bit. Passages in the Bible will be taken in context when I share them in my blog from this day forward as a good example is shared earlier in this letter about David and Ezra.
As I sit here writing this letter to communicate to others, I am here wondering what it is that I can share after a Bible lesson, reading a Bible passage, and sharing what I have learned or feel. As I do a lesson or read a passage, I can take notes, and write my thoughts about the lesson and passage then share with others to show what my thoughts have led me to. That is the way I am going with my time with God from this day forward.
As I end this letter. I would like to say that what I have shared with you today has come from a lesson I was reading/listening to at Our Daily Breadjust like my first letter/blog titled “Imperfections” although I had taken a different approach to writing it after reading/listening to the lesson. I also learned that it is important to vary my methods of taking time with God, and that is going to begin right now as well. I personally enjoy reading devotionals from Our Daily Bread, Bible Passages that coincide with the devotionals I read, and I have no problem taking notes and writing my thoughts down. I/We all have experiences that can be shared with others. We will never know if someone has experienced something similar as you if you do not share your experiences with others. I understand that the internet can be dangerous so no personal information will be shared in my blogs or writing that can cause harm to myself and others. I know the dangers of identity theft. There is no worries. No information where identity theft will be prevalent will not happen here.
Until next time, I am here to say good night and God bless.
Sincerely,
Kristi
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