BeeVeePublications

I know it’s late and technically Tuesday (CST) now, so I’ll make this my post for yesterday and today. I have an application on Facebook called Xtreme Bible Study and there’s a new Bible Study posted everyday. The one posted today really spoke to me and I just felt I needed to post it. Some quick background info though…

So, if you’ve actually read all my posts or know me in real life, you’ll know that a month ago I went on a Ladies’ Silent Retreat with the women from my church. Well, the verse that is the theme of today’s Bible Study was also in the blue notebook they gave us. It was so weird because the version in the notebook was from the Message and so was the verse from today’s Bible Study! It was just really neat to see something that God placed in front of me so that I could remember and stay accountable to what I experienced last month.

” “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me–watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”  Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)

Perhaps you are like me and have begun to hate religion. Maybe that feeling has made you feel weird in the past but good news, God is burned out on religion as well. God wants to have a REAL relationship with you. It doesn’t matter what church you go to or if you speak by using the King James language. Example: O how I hope thou will enjoyest the Bible Study I have written for thee. Ok, nothing spiritual about that. God wants you to be real with him and to enjoy a relationship that is deep! God says if you’ll just spend time with me you’ll recover your life. How cool is that? God will give you rest, grace, nothing will be too heavy for you. The last part of the verse says, if you’ll hang with him, he’ll teach you how to live freely and lightly. This has to be one of my favorite verses in the Bible. Print this verse out and place it in your text book or on your computer so you can be reminded of what God really wants to give you. Dump religion and begin a relationship that will enable you to enjoy the rest of your life!”

Reading this little Bible Study along with that verse, made me remember what one of the ladies shared. She focused on the part of the verse that talked about the “unforced rhythms of grace”. She used that as an analogy to describe how we all live to a forced rhythm or schedule. And something she realized while we were out in the middle of nowhere at a beautiful encampment was that God shows us his unforced rhythms of grace through nature.

She talked about the way the river’s flow would sometimes be rushed, but other times it would seem still. She talked about the wind’s cool breeze as well as the stillness of the air. As long as we take the time to see what God puts right in front of us, we can “live freely and lightly” as he wants us to.

Now, onto why I didn’t get to post yesterday… At 12:30 AM yesterday I started to feel quite nauseous and didn’t get to bed until about 3 AM because I would have these panic spurts. I would be on the brink of sleep and then my heart would start to race, my breathing would get out of conrtol, my body would start shivering even though I felt warm, and my stomach felt like it was gonna hurl itself out of my body via my mouth… It was just awful! I took some knock off brand Pepto Bismol at like 1 AM, but it didn’t last very long.

I laid in bed praying the whole time that God would place a hedge of protection around my body and would get rid of whatever was attacking me. I prayed that he would calm my body down and relieve my mind of it’s worries and fears. I prayed that he would just put me to sleep so that I didn’t have to feel the anxiety or the nerves. I prayed this over and over again and always when I thought I was feeling better, a panic spurt would hit me.

So, when I woke up to get ready for school I did everything really slow so as to not upset my stomach again. I was feeling better, but I was still kinda queasy. I made it through all 5 of my classes and when I got home, I read some of my new book and decided to take a nap. That nap did me a whole lot of good!

I think my body was finally reacting to my abnormal eating and sleeping habits lately and just started to rebel on me. This happened back in January, but I threw up 7 times in one day, so just pray that nothing like this happens again, or at least until school is out because I can’t miss anymore days if I want to exempt my Economics final. =/

Ugh, sorry if that just felt like one big whine fest… Anyone got some cheese?? Ah well, I’ll post more on Wednesday! Toodles!

-Bee-