Let’s be real for a minute and please let this question sink into your beautiful soul. Do you feel the need that your life must be all wrapped perfectly and tied up in a perfect bow? Do you ever feel like you don’t measure up to other people’s expectations? Do you ever feel like the expectations are too? How about an example; do these thoughts or similar ones ever creep up in your head? “Look at that perfect Christmas tree…mine doesn’t look like that.” “That family picture is so beautiful…I wish we could do that so others can see us look that good.” “They always get such amazing Christmas gifts…we can’t afford those but I’ll get them anyway.” “It all has to be perfect…I have to do whatever I can to make it perfect.” I am using Christmas time as an example because I sincerely feel that not-measuring-up can be a dominating feeling during and after the holiday season.
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I never realized how hard it must have been for God to send Jesus to earth for those 30 years. Until I lost my daughter to heaven. I loved being her mom, best friend, and serving Jesus together for so many years.
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“I thought we were friends.” / “I thought you loved me.”
The hurt behind those words can overshadow years of life, love, and memories. All the good times fade away when a friendship is betrayed.
Investment, down the drain. Trust destroyed. Love questioned.
Have you been there? / Are you currently there?
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Now don’t get me wrong, I do get depressed; I do struggle at times with frustration; I do wonder why things can’t be easier or why does everything have to be tough sometimes, but I try very hard not to live there. In fact over the last few years, I’ve had many conversations with God about certain things in my life that seem “unfair!” And God has been working on me in this area very much in the last couple of years. One of my very favorite Bible characters is Joseph.
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1. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me? 2. How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
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There are times in life when it may feel like you have so much going on right now and you feel overwhelmed by what’s going on in your life, you have classes, work, things to do at home that it can feel like an endless list of things taking up your time.
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These years have not been easy, but I’m so grateful I have had the Lord to guide me as a mom, a wife, a caregiver, and now as a grandma. I have not faced these trials perfectly, and many times God has had to chastise me because of my attitude. However, I am thankful for a patient God who has molded my family and I along the way.
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“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21
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Sometimes it seems that our world is getting worse and worse. Listening to the news, you would think that there is nothing but wickedness and evil to be found. But really, there is nothing new under the sun. Think about it, everything that is a sin was addressed in the Bible, so man had already done every evil deed thousands of years before there was a CNN or Fox News.
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I wasn't doing something right or enough! Years later - got married, my Pastor husband was saved at his brother’s church during his first revival.
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When you serve the Lord together, your hearts knit in a special way. A church God allowed us to help restart in 2004 held special memories for us. God allowed us to purchase a building for it! Memories with the ladies, decorating for different events. You grow to have a special place in your heart for each person. God was faithful!
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Have you ever had a season of life, or a circumstance where you felt like God just wasn’t around? Or maybe you faced a problem that was too big and you felt like you were all alone? Or maybe sin was so dark and present in your life or in the life of a loved one and you struggled to see the hand of God anywhere? If you haven’t ever felt that way, I’m so happy for you. I, on the other hand, have felt all of those things. Was God absent from my life? No way. He was right there, probably closer than I could have ever imagined. But in that darkness, I couldn’t see Him. I want to share with you what I learned in those times.
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A few months ago I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. The diagnosis came as a surprise as no one in our family ever had it. Although not life-threatening, the disease is and will continue to be life-altering. The “what about? what abouts?”set in. I have given my condition to God for whatever He wants to do with me. My doctor referred to my Parkinson’s diagnosis as “later in life onset.” In fact, the day this article is due to come out, September 5, is my 75th birthday. Therefore, I may not live long enough for the symptoms to get real bad. So, instead of saying”why me?” I say “why not me?” I am not a young mother with small children. Of the many side effects of my medicine is a desire to spend money! So, now I can blame it on the pill.
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When you think of emptying yourself do you truly rid yourself of your wants/desires and allow God His deserved place as head of your life? This is something I’d never really given a lot of thought to until I started really studying His word. Asking God to fill me with His Spirit to be number one above all my wants and needs.
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According to tradition, when an Eskimo hunts a wolf, the first thing he does is coat his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds layer after layer of blood. He then puts his knife in the ground with the blade up. The wolf follows his nose to the source of the scent and begins licking it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more vigorously until the edge is bare. Harder and harder the wolf licks the blade. His craving for blood becomes so great that he doesn’t notice the razor sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue. Nor does he recognize when his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his own warm blood. His tongue has become desensitized. His appetite continues to crave more until in the morning light the wolf is found dead in the snow.
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. KEEP YOUR MIND IN CONTROL… verse 6a – In other words, don’t be too worried or
dedicated to the problem or situation. Paul was reminding us to not worry about
anything. Yes, nothing at all! I know this can be really hard to do, especially when it
involves marital and family problems, sickness, and problems at church which can often
be difficult to ignore. I, myself, have had the tendency to rethink things too much. I put
too much focus on the problem or on the person creating the problem. I often have to
be reminded to not get too emotionally attached to the problem or to someone that I
feel has offended me. We cannot allow these problems or thoughts to take over our
minds and reside deep in our hearts. If we do, we will soon find ourselves having to deal
with the issue of anxiety.
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As the 3 of us were out there floating together, we all were holding onto each other’s float. I am not sure if it was because there was no one for miles, or if it was because I had never been to this beach before. Perhaps it was because we had our daughter with us, or because my husband had us all scared of sharks; but I caught myself starting to worry anytime I was facing the ocean instead of the shoreline. When I was facing the shore, I could see our mountain-high pile of beach things, and I would realize we were not far from the shore at all. I was comforted because I knew we were not drifting away. However, when I would turn and face the ocean, my fear would really kick in. I was worried about everything: were we too far out? What if we saw a shark? Would we be able to get back fast enough if something happened? Had we drifted from our spot? It was then that the Lord brought this thought to my mind:
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Sometimes it rains big rains that make us want to curl up and hide from everything, or sometimes little rains that throw a wrench into our life plans. We all know that we have a big God who can do anything and if we are doing things the right way, we go straight to Him and ask Him to change or fix our storm. But the truth is, sometimes there isn’t a quick answer. Sometimes it even feels as though God has gone silent. We know He isn’t a heartless Father; but for more reasons than we can possibly know, sometimes the rain continues and no end seems to be in sight.
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So, we know the areas in which God does not give us strict guidelines. But what about the areas He does give specific instructions? Like fellowship with God, prayer, church attendance, tithing, soul winning, faithfulness, purity, godliness? Are these things important to us? In the last few years, I've had multiple conversations with people who told me that God would understand why they chose not to tithe to a local church, or go to church because we now have livestream (a great tool when there are no other options or because of sickness, but not a substitute for fellowship with other believers, Hebrews 10:25), or that soul winning wasn't something for them because they are shy, or that Bible reading and prayer is too time consuming and God would rather that they were doing something more “meaningful”, or that watching an R-rated movie was okay because it was with their spouse and they skipped all the bad parts, etc. These weren't people “of the world”. They were born again Christians. People in churches of like-faith. According to the Bible they are playing a dangerous game. Isaiah 33:31b says, “...for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.”
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