November 2017 – Live the Crazy Life

Thanksgiving when you don’t feel all that Thankful

November 22, 2017 No Comments

The last week has been a little hard. I had to have surgery on my foot for an issue that I had already had two surgeries for on the other foot. The surgery itself went well but the recovery has, well, been up and down. I feel like I am living on a rollercoaster. One day I feel ok and very optimistic, and then the next something will pull or hurt and I will feel like the whole process was a waste of time. Today would be one of the lower days. Frustration is winning. So I sat down at my desk to listen to a worship playlist and read my bible and pull myself out of the funk that I was in. I am doing a few different Bible readings. I have my Beth Moore study homework and then I follow Rachel Wojo (which if you don’t know who she is you really should. Her stuff is awesome and very encouraging http://rachelwojo.com). This month’s Bible reading challenge from her is on Thanksgiving. I opened my bible feeling selfishly not so thankful. My foot is in a cast. My house is, well, a little out of order because I can’t walk and wonderful husband is trying to do all that I do while still doing his job. Needless to say, a few things have slipped or just been done differently than I would have. (And if you are reading this Todd I love you and you have been doing a great job remember I did say I was feeling selfish.) Ok back to the point – THANKSGIVING. Uh, I wasn’t really in the mood to think about how thankful I should be, how blessed I am. I was more in the mood to be, well, negative and unhappy and very ungrateful. Thoughts of why I am going through this again. What if the surgery doesn’t work? And God I don’t want to be thankful right now. I want to mad and self-centred.

I pushed through and read Colossians 3:12-17. And it hit me, and God’s goodness overwhelmed me in that moment. I can’t be thankful because I haven’t put on love, and I certainly wasn’t letting Christ’s peace rule me at the moment. You see, according to this verse there is a list of things we must do and then be thankful. I was trying to start with thankful which isn’t where God wants us to start. The verse says you must have compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. I had none of that at the moment. It goes on to say bear with one another and if anyone has a complaint against someone, they are to forgive as the Lord has forgiven them. And above all of this, you are to put on love which binds everything together. The word bind there has a great meaning. More than just connecting things together it means “a close inner identity which produces harmony between members joined closely together.” Love allows kindness and compassion to follow. Love allows me to be humble and meek. Love propels me towards forgiveness, and love allows me access to God who will bring a peace that only He can to rule my heart. When I have all of that working in my life, then I can be thankful. I can be thankful that my identity isn’t in a messed up foot but in the love of God. My identity isn’t in me at all; it is in HIM and Him alone. Once I realized that I felt this wave of thankfulness. I am so thankful that in a moment God’s presence can change everything – my mind, my emotions, my perspective, and my identity.

So this week as we head into Thanksgiving, remember this – as you come to the table with your list of what you are thankful for, without time in God’s love first you will not experience true thankfulness.

So in the business of cooking turkeys for hours on low and making the perfect pumpkin pie, and making sure the table is beautiful, take a moment and let God remind you that you are beautiful to him. He loves you more than you can imagine. When you do this, you will be able to come to the table with a heart that overflows with thanksgiving.

Bible, End times, Uncategorized

Look to walk for the days are evil

November 15, 2017 No Comments

I was doing my devotions and I read the strangest verse. Ephesians 5:12 says “Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise.” What the heck does that mean, I thought. So I went to my trusty Biblehub.com and looked it up. What I found was very interesting. The word “look” means “to see something physical with spiritual results.” It carries what is seen into the unseen realm so a person can take the needed action. And the “walk” in the verse is “how one conducts life, literally walk around or complete a circuit.” If you add the following few verses, you have a very powerful instruction/warning from God on how to live in these evil days.

In fact, if you look at verses 15 & 16 there is a comma connecting the two into one full sentence. Verse 16 says “making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”

Making the best use means “to ransom, to buy up for oneself.” In this verse, it seems to have a slightly different meaning than that. It connects the idea of ransom and buying for yourself from the store. It means to make a wise and sacred use of every opportunity for doing good so that zeal and well-doing is the purchase – money by which we make the time our own.

We are to live buying time with zeal and well-doing. Wow, that changes how I spend my day!

If we put together both of these thoughts, it is a powerful catalyst to change how we do our day to day life. We are to be watching; seeing things in the physical but applying the spiritual to them; being led by the spirit in how we act and react in all situations we encounter through the day. We are to literally buy back time by living with such a zeal for the Lord that we are consumed with His well-doing. And we are to do this because the days are evil.

I have no idea when Jesus is coming back. And I have no desire to debate those prophecies. But I do have a rising desire to live more alert to the fact that the days are evil and the time is getting shorter to tell others of the love of Jesus.

I find myself with a stirring I can’t explain and one I never thought I would be excited to have. End times stuff scares me if I’m being honest. But suddenly fear is overcome with love for those who are hurting and lost.

Every day we hear of some tragic event on the news – people being killed in senseless acts of evil here in our own towns and all over the world. But there is good news that is never told. Yes! Indeed, the days are evil. But God promises to pour out His spirit in these times like never before. That zeal that we are supposed to have that comes from looking as we walk through this life is real. It is possible to hear bad, scary news, and then make the most of the time we have living full of zeal for God and His well-doing. It is an amazing thing when you surrender your life to God and live the way He says to in scripture.

Life is amazing when you look not before you walk but as you walk. God will open your eyes to see people to pray for, love on, and tell them the good news.

Uncategorized

A Startling Look at Friendship

November 3, 2017 2 Comments

The topic of friendship has come up in at least 3 different areas in my life in one week. When that tends to happen – that I can find a running theme in several areas of my life – I try to take notice, pray and then usually act because God is moving. This week is no exception. The running theme is friendship. Now, this might sound a little junior high-ish but God has really highlighted something in my life I need to change.

I am, for the most part, an introvert. I like my time to do with what I like. I feel uncomfortable in large crowds, and, well, I struggle with friendships. So this hits home for me. I have a very close friend who lives out of state, and then I have a whole bunch of arms-length friendships that are more like acquaintances than true friends. I have blamed that on being busy, being in ministry, being a mom – three busy teens! But the truth is, it is easier to keep busy than to open up and be vulnerable with someone. This, however, is not good. Not good at all.

God speaks to me at the weirdest times. While I am in the middle of making dinner I felt him ask why I don’t have deep friendships? Uh, because as you can clearly see, I am busy God. Then in my bible study reading, He takes me to the story of the Good Samaritan; then to the story of Mary and Martha; and lastly to the man who got lowered through the roof to have Jesus pray for him.

What do all 3 stories have to do with each other? Busy people and people in need. The first one – the Good Samaritan. There is a man who is in need of help. He’s beaten and left alone. The Priest crosses the road as to not walk right by but pass by at a distance. The Levite does the same. The Samaritan is the one who stops. I doubt in the bible times people went on walks for exercise sake. Each one of these people had somewhere they were coming from and going to. They had plans for the day – things they needed to do, people they needed to meet with, and so the list goes on. Sounds like us. We all have places to be, people to meet with, activities to accomplish all day long. But are we all so busy we can’t stop and help the person right in front of us who is in need? Do we really live lives so full that something can’t be bumped back ½ an hour to call that person who needs encouragement rather than send a text which we don’t even have time to type so we instead send a voice to text message?

What about Mary and Martha. Are we so concerned with how our house looks that we never invite anyone over because we don’t have the time to make it look perfect (which by the way no one expects or even notices)? Or are we so consumed by our time with Jesus we won’t make time to pray or bring our neighbors into the presences of Jesus with us?

Lastly, the man who is paralyzed. His friends! Wow, those guys were devoted friends. I find myself, if I am honest, longing for this type of friendship. For devoted friends who will stop at nothing to see me become all that God has for me. Friends who will help me, pray with me, and lead me straight Jesus, regardless of obstacles in the way. I mean they had a literal roof in their way! What do I have – maybe a dirty house or a bible study where I have only gotten to day 3 out of 5?

I want to be that kind of friend and I want friends like that. So when God asked why I don’t have deep friendships, the answer is because I don’t take the time. I don’t acknowledge the need for others. I don’t want to risk being open and honest with ladies and not have it returned. Then one by one, God reminded me of people in my life who I know need a friend right now. Someone they can count on; someone who needs a Samaritan to help in a practical way; someone who needs a Mary to pray for them and a friend who will rip the roof off to help them get to the feet of Jesus.

So I decided to take the bold act of inviting a group of people who don’t really know each other yet (but all know me and all love Jesus) to get together once a month at my house. I know that realistically not all of them will make it every time. But I am offering my home and my friendship with a gentle reminder that they, too, need friends. They, too, need a Samaritan and to be a Samaritan to someone else. They need a Mary to pray for them, and they need to be a Mary and pray for someone else. They need friends who want to see them healed and made whole at the feet of Jesus, and they need to be the one who brings others to those same feet.

So I ask you – how are you being the Samaritan, a Mary, and the friends who bring their hurting friend to Jesus in your life? Who is doing those things for you?

Friendships are risky. They do take time. But we are called to live in community not isolation. We are called to carry one another’s burdens. We are told to pray for one another, encourage one another, to spur one another to good deeds.

Yes, friendships are hard but needed. Yes, life is busy, but it should never be so busy that we fail to make time for others. Find some small way to make an effort in the area of friendship and I bet you will be blessed more than you could imagine.

I’d love to hear how you do friendships in your life. Leave a comment and pass on your tips for keeping, making time for, and building new friendships.