Say Yes 7 Day Challenge

Don't let that title scare you....this isn't the typical challenge you think of - it doesn't involve exercise!  Some of you know me well enough to know that the words "exercise" and "Amy" are not best friends!  Lest you think I've lost my marbles, let me explain this Say Yes 7 Day Challenge.

For the next seven days, I challenge you to exercise your minds, your thoughts, your spirit, your eyes.  I love to watch for God in the everyday comings and goings of my life, and when I live through those eyes, I sense Him so near.  He seems so present.  Real.  Involved.

Involved in MY life.
Alive.

He's still alive.  Did you hear me?  He's alive!  He's still moving and working. We just have to watch for Him. 

This past week I watched a webcast featuring Lysa TerKeurst and Ann Voskamp entitled "Yes to God".  When I heard about the webcast, I was excited to see it because I enjoyed reading Lysa's book What Happens When Women Say Yes to God last summer. I have also enjoyed Ann Voskamp's writings that she mixes with photography.  With her words and images, she ministers to others with her heart completely exposed.  Their program served as an alarm clock to my spirit to wake up and not forget to watch for God in the everyday and say "Yes" to Him.  Even if that yes is but a simple acknowledgement that, in fact, it IS Him that I see in the ordinary.

Ann said this, "May we have a thought life of Yes so that we might live an action life of Yes." When our thoughts are centered around seeing and acknowledging Him,  it's so much easier to have a Yes action life.  It's easier to act at the moments of God's urging when in our thought life we have been looking for opportunities to say, "Yes, that's Him." 

Please don't tune me out thinking you don't have time to walk around with your head in the clouds looking for cute God moments....It's about more than that..

Engage.

Please.

Don't believe the lie that you can't see Him.  Don't believe the lie that you are too busy. Where ever you are, He is there.  Psalms 139: 7-12

 I can never escape from your Spirit!
      I can never get away from your presence!
 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
      if I go down to the grave,you are there.
 If I ride the wings of the morning,
      if I dwell by the farthest oceans 

  even there your hand will guide me,
      and your strength will support me.
  I could ask the darkness to hide me
      and the light around me to become night—
    but even in darkness I cannot hide from you.
   To you the night shines as bright as day.
      Darkness and light are the same to you.

Lysa TerKeurst said this, "If we wait until everything is in place or wait until all of the broken things in our life get fixed to say Yes to God, we will miss saying Yes to God.  Because the messes and the broken pieces will always be there, in the midst of now, say Yes to God."

So what's the challenge you're wondering?

For the next seven days, look for Him in the midst of the everyday.  Live expecting to experience Him and when you do, come back here and post a comment telling us about it.  It doesn't have to be long, it can be a simple blip.  If you have trouble sensing Him, ask Him for eyes to see.  Lysa shared that she starts every morning with this prayer before her feet hit the floor:

God, I want to see You.
God, I want to hear You.
God, I want to know You.
God, I want to follow hard after You.
And even before I know what I will face today, I say yes to You.

For the next seven days, I am expecting to experience Him, and I am expecting you to experience Him too. 
As I intentionally watch for Him over the next week, I may not write new posts, but you can trust that you will find me in the comments below - and I'll be looking to meet you there.

To get you started, here's my first Yes, that's you God moment:

As I type this post, it's Sunday night, I am sitting out on my deck.  I sat here reflecting upon God while wrapping up this post,  I looked up at the moon, looked for Him there, but that wasn't it.  KLove is playing on our stereo in the background and I'm not really paying attention, but suddenly my attention turns from the moon for a moment and I hear these words:

God says yes to His promises
Take Him at His word
Yeah you can believe it
God says yes
To a child-like faith
When we claim everything He died to give
God says yes

The song was entitled God Says Yes by John Waller, and God's boldness at that moment to be so obvious to me just made be belly laugh - out loud. I say Yes to Him and He says Yes to me....You see, I was reluctant to issue this challenge to you.  I was afraid you wouldn't participate, but I said Yes to His prompting and He's already answered me.  I hope I made Him belly laugh too! By the way, the crickets think I'm crazy now!

Royal Princess Daughter Of The King