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October 13, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

From Hungry to Full (#13)

PROMISE #13 ~ HARDSHIP  (but, trust in Him… and enter the Kingdom)

I read an article a few weeks ago.

It was about fasting.  Now, I don’t know about you, but I had never even considered it.  Yes, there are plenty… plenty of people who do this.  Fasting is a way to draw closer to God, to seek His guidance, to come before Him in humility… taking the focus off of our daily events.  I just thought this was something for monks… or Jesus.

Oh, to be like Him…

I have heard about fasting, I have a few friends who have done this… it just never occurred to me that I should give it a try.

And, then, God.

I don’t know where this sparked, well… let’s say, I don’t know why I responded to the nudge… but, I did.

One of the things about fasting is the need to keep it to yourself… between you and God.  I feel compelled to share, not when or how I approached this challenge, but, rather the outcome… outcomes.

I have to say that in my walk, I have had several God moments that have left me speechless… kicking my God doubts straight to the curb.  I have had the “Ah ha!” moments, the joyous moments of thanks, the moments of sheer frustration with my own inability to measure up (to my self-imposed I’ve-got-it-all-together-Christian-mama-wife standards).  (Aside: I definitely do not have it all together, so these moments are rare).  I have seen sorrow, breathed sorrow, tasted the saltiness of it from my cheeks.

What I am seeking… what I desperately want to meet first hand… is the intense knowledge that God is right here.  The sense that my breath ricochets from His face before mine as I speak to Him.  Bare soul.

and, then, the fast.

So, I was hungry.  I was pretty grumpy.  I looked at the clock and wondered when my time would be up.  Then… I went to Him.  When my thoughts went to my kids’ left overs… I went to Him.  When I hesitated at the refrigerator door chocked full from a commissary run… I went to Him.  You know what?  He answered.  No surprise.  He answered clearly.  No doubt.  He was in my next breath.

It was one of the most intimate times I have spent with Him.  My thoughts of lunch, of chocolate, of snacks… erased by His glorious presence…

filled with the sweet taste of grace

I looked at my clock… knowing that I had 2 hours left in my pact with Him.  I was hungry.  By no coincidence I glanced to the counter at a photo.  A little boy in Africa… just months older than my baby… starving to death.

My prayers changed.  From me to them.  This day… a seeking of Him… and He showed me them.  Again.

No coincidences.  Just a little while later.  Two letters arrived.  The first letters from our sponsor children through Compassion.  Again, them.  Not me.

That we have a gracious God who answers our knocks and brings us in… that He acknowledges and blesses our efforts to find Him, to know Him, to be like Him.

It renders this soul… full

 

PROMISE #13 ~ God promises there will be hardships… but trust Him… and enter the Kingdom.

 

Acts 14:22-23

strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith.  “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.  Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

Filed Under: Compassion, Faith, Food, God's Promises, Grace, Perseverance Tagged With: compassion, faith, fasting, God's promises, hardship, hunger

October 12, 2012 by Karin 12 Comments

Race (for 5 minutes this Friday) (#12)

PROMISE #12 ~ THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Race.

My mind races with thoughts of time, and the thoughts of time wasted.  Time well spent.  Time unrecoverable.

I race to finish… every little thing I have started.

I hear a voice whisper… The only Voice.

Be still

I race to be still.  The promptings overwhelm.

Be still in Him… race only to please Him… race only to love well… race only to serve… race only to become just like Him.

In the rest…

Be still

in the RACE…

R emember why you are here… and if you don’t know… ask Him

A nchor your race in His will… see the time slow to fit all of His plans

C all to those who are racing in circles… band together to focus on the center… Up.

E mbrace the journey, the race… finish it well.

 

PROMISE #12 ~ God promises the crown of righteousness.

 

2 Timothy 4:7-8

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Brothers and Sisters, Community, Faith, God's Promises, Perseverance, Together Tagged With: faith, finish well, five minute friday, race to God

October 11, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

Knock knock… (#11)

PROMISE #11 ~ ASK, SEEK, KNOCK (receive, find, open)

It’s late.

My mind is racing.

The whirlwind of stories that surround me are exhilarating… enlightening… exhausting.

Ever wonder why God is surrounding you with miracles in motion?

Ever wonder if He even performs miracles anymore?

Ever wonder why you didn’t notice them before?

The more I seek God… the more I seek God.

Like water… in a parched throat on a sun-scorched desert… He gives life.  He gives a renewal never thought possible.  The kind of thing you only read about, hear about, doubt about.

It is as real as rain.  But, more so.

The more I seek Him, the more He finds me… and shows me to myself… more graciously, shows me ~ Him.

This chasing of God… this hard pursuing of a promising God… this hanging on by the ragged tips of fingers by this flawed, messy seeker…

This quest to find Him… it shows me one thing.

He has always been here.

He has been waiting.

He is taking the pursuit and molding a new soul from this worn out child of His.

The display of His beauty, His love, His power is blinding… breathtaking.

The joy this heart can not contain.  He is all over this.

The one thing I can say.  Seek Him.  He will show up.

It will blow you away.

 

PROMISE #11 ~ God will show up (ask, seek, knock).

 

Matthew 7:6-8

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

 

Filed Under: Faith, God's Promises, Perseverance Tagged With: ask, God's promises, knock, seek

October 10, 2012 by Karin 2 Comments

A step from the clouds (#10)

PROMISE #10 ~ LEAP OF FAITH

I am stuck in the clouds.

I am certain that one false move will take me careening toward the earth.

I prefer this envelope of false security… dependence on self… dependence on a chosen few that have my heart.

I trust the deceptive certainty of my own will, my own plans, my own heart.

I know I can count on me… after all

I can depend on my warrior…

There are a few close friends… some family…

I am fairly certain that my heart rests safely on the vapor of their humanness.

The truth is… I can trust them… I can trust me… as far as trusting a human soul holds water on its own…

Just like a cloud.

To step from the cloud… that is where the trust really lives… where the faith is born.

stepping out in faith

praying… praying

That He will catch me.

The God truth is… the One who bore me… all of us… into existence holds His hand under the billowy mist…

just waiting

waiting…

For me to leap.

 

PROMISE #10 ~ God will catch us in a leap of faith.

 

Psalm 28:7

The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.  My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to him in song.

Filed Under: Faith, Family, Friendship, God's Promises, Trust Tagged With: God's promises, leap of faith, trust

October 9, 2012 by Karin Leave a Comment

When you think your prayer is not working (#9)

PROMISE #9 ~ ANSWERED PRAYER (in His name)

They walk into our kitchen.

Hand in hand, eyes smiling.

I welcome him with a hug… my eyes darting to her face.

I’d like you to meet my wife

Stunned.

I search her eyes… his… and warm my arms with her embrace.  A strange joy overwhelms.  

When?

How long?

My mind races with the questions that dart to my tongue.  We gather around the table.  My warrior, his friend… a brother-in-arms, this new wife, and I.  A familiarity fills the room…

Why do I feel like I know her already?

My minds races back… a question from my oldest son…

Why aren’t our prayers working?

Why are they all dying?

His child-blue eyes questioned this mama.

We keep praying and they just die anyway…

My thoughts… back to my dear friend… back to our visitor’s wife.  Another mother of six.

Both gone.  We had prayed and prayed.

And it didn’t work.

I look across the worn wood of our kitchen table… the place so many memories are born.  I remember the sorrow, the struggles, the salt of many tears.

I look at these two smiling faces.  Faces of love.

They begin with the story.  The story of answered prayer.  The story of a mighty God moving miracles in rapid motion.  The story itself, this tale of our own Job… this, the story novels are made of… but real.  The novel would hardly hold weight… the reality, lifted high by His hands.

They are going to tell you that it’s all too fast

This pair nodding agreement.

But, don’t listen.  

They don’t know the whole story.  

They don’t know how He is working.  

They don’t know how big He is.

I, one of the guilty… have kept God locked in a box.  This box of restraints… of improbables… of impossibilities.  I look across and see the edges of the safe little box… explode.

Yes, He can.  Yes, He does.  Yes, He will.

He answers every prayer.  Every time.

In HIS time.  In HIS way.  In HIS will.

My mind again wanders… another pair of smiling eyes.  A new love.  An old hurt soothed with the balm of answered prayers.  The dear husband of my forever friend… with a new face leaned on his shoulder.  This comfort.  This content.  This chorus of answered prayers all around.

I smile.  His healing surpasses my understanding.  His love transcends all boxed prayers.  His will greater than our demands.  His timing… perfect.

What do we do when our prayers aren’t working?

Keep praying

Remembering that His is the timing that is perfect… the wide view of our small screens… the perfection in the puzzle.

Put the pen in His hand and allow Him to write the story…

His penmanship is breathtaking.

 

PROMISE #9 ~ God promises us answered prayers (in His name).

 

John 14:13-14

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

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Filed Under: Faith, Friendship, God's Promises, Hope Tagged With: faith, grief, healing, perseverance, prayer

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Meet Karin

Hi! My name is Karin Madden. Writer. Warrior wife. Mom of six pack. Homeschooler. German-blooded southerner. Welcome to the place where I explore what it means to grow stronger - spirit, soul, and body. I write to inspire and encourage - to remind you we are not alone. By being bold with grace and speaking truth in love, we can become who we are meant to be. I'm glad you are here.

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