Cease Striving

 Have you ever been so worried about everyone and everything that you lost sleep? Another translation says it this way: "Cease Striving and know I am God" Psalm 46:10 NASB. What exactly does "cease striving" mean? In some translations, it says "Be still and know I am God." Be still or Cease Striving, have one thing in common, they both require you to stop. STOP. Stop trying so hard to impress everyone. Stop trying to do good deeds to make everyone accept you. Stop being so concerned about pleasing others. God wants us to stop it. He wants us to know that he is the one who can take care of us. He can clean up the mess and make it a message! When reading Psalm 46, it clearly says God is the one who can put a stop to wars. He can put a stop to the war raging within your heart. But he also has this way of taking the truth that we are inundated with and shaking up our worlds. When we see our condition, as we really are and are broken by it, something amazing happens. God steps in. He begins to comfort us. He is near to the broken- hearted and to all who are crushed in spirit,

. Being broken is a part of being real. It is like looking at yourself in the mirror when you first wake up in the morning. (not a pretty sight for most of us) and knowing that God loves you "just the way you are" with messed up hair, drool. smudges of yesterday,smelly breath. He LOVES THAT PERSON. You do not have to do anything to make him love you. You could go out in public all scuzzy and he would still love you. I am one of those who would rather not go out like that. I want my hair brushed, makeup on, and teeth brushed. NO WAY do I want people to see me that way. But what if they did? What if I had an emergency and I had to run to the grocery store and my hair was a mess? Would I still be the same person on the inside? OF COURSE! How we appear to others is not as important as what we are in our hearts. In our relationship with Jesus. He sees all our sin, he sees all the ugliness.. and still loves us just the way we are. I do not have to go strive to be a good person for God to love me, I do not have to get busy getting involved in every charitable organization for God to love me. I do not have to live a perfect life for God to love me. I come to him as I am, flaws and all- now this is a daily process. This is not something that happens overnight. Maybe for some people they have this miraculous transformation, but for most of us, it is a day by day journey. Sometimes we make mistakes. We brush ourselves off, tell God all about it, and let HIM be God. God can move mountains, WE CANNOT. Cease trying to fix all the problems yourself. (yeah I am talking to myself here too) .  Maybe it happened to show us just how flawed we are. Maybe we needed to have our pride crushed down. Whatever the case is, Gods love does not change. He will take us from where we are and cultivate us.What we need is a good dose of letting God be God. He knew that situation was going to happen, before the beginning of time. He knew you were going to fall away, or be tempted in some way. But He still loves us. He is still God. He is working it all out for his good. Whatever you are going through, be confident in this, those times when everything seems so out of control, those are the times that we are GROWING.

Think of it this way: The Potter and the clay: When the potter sees a flaw in the clay, he mashes it  back down in to a ball and starts over, adding moisture, and his hands to the wheel to mold and shape that clay into the perfect pot. It is not the first time around that the pot is made perfect, it takes many trys. All that clay has to do is be on the potters wheel. It does not have to do anything but allow the potter to mold and shape it.

Lord, Let us be like a big lump of clay. ready to be transformed into your image. Let us stop trying to make ourselves look good. Let us trust that you are God and you have it all under control. You can move mountains, you can stop wars. Let us have the faith that you have this all under control. Your will is working even as we are hurting or worrying. You are near to us. Help us to cease striving and know you are God. You are God and you are in control. Let us let you mold us and shape us, let us be unashamed of the process it takes to be made into your image.

May you find peace letting go and letting God, 

            Ruth A. Hidalgo

(Thanks to my husband[above] who ministers to me when I am at my wits end!) Love HIM to the moon and back!

Joy in the Journey

     So many times in life I have had the experience of life's circumstances raining on my parade. In fact, I have been living in one of those circumstances as we speak.  (This is going to come as a shock to many of you-because I only told three people  that do not live in my community).  Since July of this year, my family moved out of our home and began to share space with my mother- in- law. We are going through some legal issues with our home. I have kept very quiet about it, grieved privately as I packed up our precious memories. That is the best way to put it because really, we do not have a lot of valuables, what we have is a bunch of junk to an on-looker, but in the eyes of our  family members, we have boxes and boxes of "treasures  of the heart". Instead of drowning in sorrow,

 I chose to continue on. To continue focusing on  things we were doing. We began a small business.We were growing, and stretching, in ways I never dreamed. One of those ways came to me as a total surprise. One of the smartest moves I made about a month ago, was to hire my husband to run the technical side of my business. He is such an asset to what I am trying to do. Then, I hired our son, Joshua to work for me too, and it has grown from there. I know it sounds so silly to "hire" family, but it has been such a unifying experience. Deep in my heart, there is this longing to be working together with my husband, in every aspect of life. It seemed like the longer we lived here in South Dakota, the more separate our lives became. We still functioned as all families do, but the main difference was I was always doing my own thing and he was always doing his. The unity we experienced working together on the business reminds me of when we were in Florida, 9 years ago, ministering, singing  and praising God side by side every Sunday for the first 11 years of our marriage. Now don't get me wrong, singing will always be my first love, but having the privilege to mesh our work worlds together has been such a sweet blessing. I enjoy every moment of it. Creating, thinking, brainstorming, tracking work and progress on projects, it is actually very fun! Who wants to go to work every day with people they do not like? Not me! Even better to go to work with a person I dearly love! I have truly found joy in the journey.

 I am so thankful for what God is doing, and this is not a sad time at all, it is actually a very blessed time. I have nothing to be sorrowful about!

It is now four months since I wrote this, and the journey has taken us yet another direction. Now, I am completely focused on home care services. With no extra side jobs, I keep being reminded that the steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord. The Lord keeps gently nudging me to follow His lead and to trust Him with all the details. He shut doors and he opened another. I continue to serve the Lord with gladness as I go about my daily life, and God is blessing that. I had a lot of anxiety today because I had an evaluation, all these "what if's" came into my head. I prayed all day. I prayed a lot. I prayed and I cast down all kinds of imaginations of what could happen. It was a blessed day. I refuse to look down because the Lord is the lifter of my head. He is my reason for each day that I live. Yes, I make mistakes, yes, I fail. Yes, I have disappointments. But He never fails and for that I am thankful. 

Blessings to all of you and may you find Joy in the Journey!

Ruth A. Hidalgo

How Do you Deal with Disappointment?

Disappointment is a part of life. We all experience it. How do you handle it? Do you talk to a friend?

Do  you confront it head on? Do you go for a walk? Sometimes talking it out makes it better, while, at other times, it seems that talking just digs a deeper hole. How are we are to even get to the point that we have peace in the midst of disappointment when the hole gets deeper and deeper talking? The way of obedience makes it worth the while. Rejoice! That is actually a commandment from God. Rejoice evermore for this is the will of God. God wants us to rejoice, My youngest son just learned this memory verse in his school lessons: "In everything give thanks". I Thessalonians 5;18

 These two scriptures do not say rejoice only when things are good or give thanks only when you are happy. There is a reason God gives us the instruction to give thanks and to rejoice, I think it is because it is not in our natural human nature to do so. The first thing we naturally do when things are going wrong and we are feeling disappointed is complain about it. Did you know that every time you do something in the natural, it releases something in the spiritual? Imagine the angels and demons fighting in the spirit realm.. you are helping the angels every time you obey, it gives them ammunition by which to defeat the enemy. It is hard to imagine spiritual warfare, and we really do not clearly know how it happens, but the truth is there is a spiritual side to every word we speak.  So if  you want to be free from the bondage of disappointment? Then OBEY and rejoice! Sing! Find SOMETHING  to be thankful for. When you do, then it releases heaven on your behalf. Imagine it. It is like a ten-ton brick is being lifted off of your shoulder. Who wants to go around carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders? NO ONE!

 The burden of disappointment can be so overwhelming. Just Do it. Try it. Choose to say OUT LOUD  what you are thankful for. It will feel weird at first because it is not the natural thing to do. But as you do it, you will have joy flowing up from the inside out. God takes over. You know it is God because really, you still feel sad about whatever it was that was bothering you, but miraculously, you are able to still be thankful and rejoice. This is how to  cast your cares upon Him. He takes "the load of disappointment" as soon as you are willing to obey and do two simple things. Rejoice and be Thankful. Give it a try. It will help.

Ruth A. Hidalgo

When all you can say is Why Why Why??

Why?

Sometimes when bad things happen, it does not make sense. Seems like the news is chock full of stories of bad things happening to good people: Shootings, abductions, diseases, sickness, the list can go on and on. Sometimes the list is very real and personal: inability to qualify for the desired job  position, not being able to drive (due to special circumstances) to go wherever you want to go, not knowing where the next meal is going to come from when the bank account is low and there are bills to pay. It seems devastating, hopeless, and dire. You may have the sensation that "your ears are burning" because you just know everyone is talking about your awful situation. Or maybe it is just the opposite, you have the sinking hopeless feeling in your stomach because you are keenly aware that no one really cares; you are experiencing private pain that is real and serious, but you know deep down that there is no shoulder to cry on and that no one that really understands you completely. 

Plan A

Question everything! Pull the covers over your head and have a good cry. Call up a friend and complain (if there are any available to talk to).  Go for a walk and contemplate all the evil in the world. Shake fists in the air and scream WHY, WHY, WHY?????!!!!!! 

Plan B

So now that you are through with Plan A, it seems pointless and futile. Maybe you feel a little better after the crying and the screaming, but still, you are left hopeless, with no real direction to take. So you try a new approach. This one is the most popular plan in the world. It is called:"Fake it". So you put on your smile; hold your head up high, and go about your daily life. If anyone asks how you are doing, you cheerfully reply, "GREAT"! Or maybe your reply is more subtle, "good". It is still the same approach. Ignoring the hopelessness in your heart is not going to make it go away. 

Plan C

Plan A and B did not really help you very  much; sure for a moment there were som moments of stress relief, but overall, no real help to change the way you are currently feeling. The reason for this is that the plan that we put as "C" should really be "Gird up your loins" Huh? My loins? What the heck are you talking about? In bible times, if a man was in battle, he had to gird up his loins, that means he had to tuck in his dress so that it became like pants so that he could run and fight. I am talking about the warrior inside of each of us. We cannot handle all the why's in the world on our own. We cannot handle them with friends, we cannot handle them by pretending they do not exist. "Cast your cares upon Him because he cares for you" That should be the first line of defense to the whys of the world. Here are the effective steps to "Plan C":

•  Step one: Tell God about the situation.
•  Step two: Intercede on behalf of the situation.(That means pray about it) 
• Step three: Let God have it, do not take it back. Lay it on the altar and leave it there. 
• Step 4: Trust Him with it. He has it all under control.
• Step 5 : Thank Him (in advance) for taking care of the situation, I mean, not after the situation has had a happy ending, I mean as soon as you tell Him about it.  

I have seen plan C in action so many times in my life, maybe you can reflect on times in your life that you effectively worked out plan C. I have also seen Plan A and Plan B take over quicker than you can say "Bob's your Uncle" (to quote Mary Poppins .. :-) )  I am not saying friends are a bad thing, they are not. "Two is better than one, a three- fold chord is not easily broken". " Bear one another's burdens". As a friend, encourage your friend to implement Plan C as their Plan A. Do not fall into the trap of merely being there, or just being compassionate. Take action! Faith without works is dead. By trusting God with our burdens, our questions, frustrations; our WHY'S.. we are taking action: a very important step in faith. The next step to take is to believe that God is in control.  God takes the suffering and uses it for his Glory. Look at the story of Joseph: Can't you just see him sitting there in jail asking God WHY, WHY, WHY?? !! I want to be like Paul and Silas when I am faced with hopeless situations. I want to praise him anyway! God said that he can move mountains. The question is, do we really truly believe that he can do it? 

Challenge for today: Be a real friend:  Help friends implement Plan C. help them make it their Plan A. If you are the one in the tough circumstance, just start with Plan C. God is in control. We can see Him at work when we take it to Hm. Keep a journal. This is an awesome thing to do because it can be a way to reflect and see how God  has been taking  care of us all along when we forget. The Old Testament is sort of like a Journal, each book will repeat the same stories, telling what God did from one generation to the next. That is what we need to do, remind ourselves of what God has done.

I have teens researching colleges, planning their futures, and a husband who is very careful to follow the ways of God and not the ways of the world. Can they have both? (I mean the ways of God and college?) Of course! Do I know how God is going to work it all out? NO. But I can start with Plan C! Or should I say, Plan A? Have I confused you yet? Hopefully not. Hopefully, you are inspired and challenged to face your circumstances with a brave heart full of faith! He is with us always, even until the end of the earth!

Ruth A. Hidalgo

One Word That Is Paralyzing

I really love writing! I think of  topics to write about all the time! It is not just one subject that permeates  my thoughts but several topics, Topics such as Song Writing, Poetry, Faith, Motivation, Inspiration, Devotionals, Gardening, Health, Natural Health, Raising a Family, Teaching Children, Homeschooling, Corporate Worship and Intimate worship,  "Challenging" Children, How to live Frugally, Leadership Strategies, Ministering on a daily basis,  and the list goes on and on! I am a defender of these topics and hold them dear to my heart. There is one tiny word that "gets me" every time I go to the laptop to brainstorm. It is only three letters, yet has had a tremendous impact on my lack of writing. It is the word BUT!

Can anyone else relate?

...But I am not an expert

...But no one would read it

... But I am still testing my theories

... But I do not have enough time

...But I do not have a professional looking Blog

.... But I need technical support

... But I need an editor

The list of "Buts" could go on and on. 

It really gets to me when I think about my life's passion: What sums up my whole life's existence is not found on the page of a Blog. It is found in the pages of one book, Ok so you can already guess what the one book is... The Bible

. Sounds Cliche', however,  it is the truth, The only thing that matters is how to live it out. This is not "works-based"; It is not some kind of "checklist" where I say I have fulfilled different instructions in the Bible.  I am not saying that at all. I am not setting some kind of unobtainable goal, The standard of the Bible is to keep me moving forward. To keep me pressing toward the goals that God has. When I am busy doing something I am constantly analyzing it to see if it lines up. If it does not, I go back to the drawing board. I have been back to the drawing board so many times I can't even keep track. Right now I am in one of those "back to the drawing board" times.

So here is my plea for my readers: So now you know I want to write, and you know that I have not been writing too. Pray that I will defeat every "But" that gets in the way of writing. I do not care the outcome, what I care about is fulfilling that inner desire that God placed in my heart to write. It is there for a purpose. If I do not do it, how will I ever know what that purpose is? Maybe you have something that you want to do too.

Let me know and I will commit to praying for you as you put faith into action.

"The question is not what we intended ourselves to be, but what He intended us to be when He made us" C.S. Lewis

Thanks for reading,

Ruth A. Hidalgo

https://notegraphy.com/ruthnickelhidalgo/note/2100892

Hidalgo Journey of the Heart: from our heart to yours! Come journey with us!: New Year Reflection

Hidalgo Journey of the Heart: from our heart to yours! Come journey with us!: New Year Reflection: "With my God, I can scale a wall"Psalm 18:29 Scaling a wall is not an easy task. The psalmist that wrote this, had a lot of con...

New Year Reflection

"With my God, I can scale a wall"Psalm 18:29

Scaling a wall is not an easy task. The psalmist that wrote this, had a lot of confidence in what he could do with God on his side. We should too! This year, the family chose new words to represent their year. I did not do good at keeping up with everyone's words, and I know I will not be doing that this year too. The main thing one word does is get you in a frame of mind. To have something to focus on through out the year. My word last year was peace. Peace  in my home, peace of mind, to cease worrying about things that are out of my control. I truly gave it my best and then some, I have to say choosing one word, for me, was very meaningful and helped me to focus on one thing. I can honestly say I found peace, and I found the secret to peace too. If you want to know more about my discoveries about peace, scroll down to one of my blogs about it. I mention it here only to testify that choosing one word was significant and meaningful for me.
I finally have my ONE WORD  for 2015: my word is ADVANCE. Advance means to press forward, to make up for lost time. When a line of solders move forward in a line, they are advancing, as they move forward, they have a plan to win a battle. They take it one moment at a time.The war is not won with one advancement, but with several.As I will be graduating from College in the Spring of 2015 (21 years later than originally planned), I will be advancing to that goal, and moving on to the next goal.(Where ever God leads me).

I thought my word was going to be trust. I was going to say I trust God to take me to new levels in all areas of life, finances, relationships and personal growth. But I realized that I do trust HIM. I completely trust God with all of my life, and I have for a long time. He has been more than faithful to me. 
What I need to do now is just advance in every area of my life, and press forward. I am not regressing and I am not plateauing; in 2015 I am ADVANCING.

Last year, I took some time to explain everyone's word and how it was meaningful to them. Realizing how deeply personal this is, after choosing one word last year, I recognize the vulnerable place it puts others in when they may or may  not want to share why they chose their word with the world. So,  this year, the other "one words; in our home will be kept anonymous. The other words for 2015 are Abundance, Achieve, Hopeful, and Win. The Hidalgo's have set their goals high! Why not?  After all,"With my God, I can scale a wall". Psalm 18:29 .. so this leads me to one more thing, as a soldier in God's army, We must have "marching orders". Many think that those marching orders are things like the Beatitudes, or the Great Commission, but I am here to tell you that in the Hidalgo home, our Marching orders come from
 Joel Chapter 2. You can read it here:

 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Joel+2&version=MEV

Before a battle in Bible times, the shofar was blown. If you want to know more about the Shofar, just read this article.http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Holidays/Fall_Holidays/Elul/Shofar/shofar.html

The Shofar is also significant for Christians as well. We have been blessed at various times in our lives to be in situations where a real Shofar was blown, for a significant and real purpose.

The word shofar comes from a root word which means to "beautify". and indeed, that is what God does with each of us. "He makes all things beautiful in His time" Ecclesiasties 3:11. 

I am reminded of our family's theme song as I write this: If you could be a fly on a wall, You would be surprised to find every member of our house sing out jubilantly :

Blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain, blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion, sound the alarm! 

SOUND THE ALARM!

They rush on the city, they run on the wall, great is the army that carries out his word. They rush on the city they run on the wall, great is the army that carries out his word. The LORD honors His voice, before His army, the LORD honors his voice, before His army!

Blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain, blow the trumpet in Zion, Zion, sound the alarm! 

SOUND THE ALARM!

If you are interested, here is a link to listen to the song 

Blow the Trumpet in Zion:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYK1B7ung-s

The alarm is the sound of the shofar being blown as the people of God move  forward trusting him to do what only HE can do. That is what the Hidlago's are doing in 2015! 

Happy New Year!

The Hidalgo Family