Get off your soapbox

 

 

Yesterday a group of 6th grade girls in the classroom asked me what I would do if someone came in with a gun. It's only natural, working in a school, for that question to weigh on your mind but when confronted with the question out loud my mind went blank. I didn't know what to say. I had been trying since I heard the news not to think about it. It turns my stomach to think that kind of evil really exists in the land of the free. But the fact that kids in my home town are asking questions forces me to consider it.

When I start to think about it, as a mother, my heart breaks for those parents that lost their children. As an educator my heart breaks for those that lost their coworkers. As a child, my heart breaks for those that lost their parents. The entire situation is bad, filled with evil.

As Christians, instead of fighting political debates on school safety and gun control we should trying to show love to these people who's world was flipped upside down a week and half before Christmas. Today I actually saw a post on facebook questioning if it even happened.  Let us show them the love of Christ and encourage them to accept his unfailing love. We are to show unbelievers God's agape love. It is an unconditional love that heals a broken heart (Ps 147:3). So instead of littering Facebook and Twitter with your political soapbox rants and picture of guns over a banner of the bill of rights, spend that time sending a prayer for the families of Newtown, CT.

If today's your darkest day
And you can't escape the pain
Don't be afraid
He will never walk away
(Fireflight's "He Weeps")

Submission is Not Oppression

Submit: to yield oneself to the power or authority of another...to defer to another's judgment, opinion, decision etc... (dictionary.com)

As a woman educated in a liberal arts school, the word submit took on a new meaning from the one I learned growing up.  Growing up in a Christian home with a good, Godly mother as an example, I learned that submission was the natural balance in relationship.  Then in college, with a focus on gender studies, I read a lot of feminist prose which influenced my definition of submit.  It began to mean to oppress, abuse or enslave.  I still enjoy women's studies and I do think that a lot of those women truly felt oppressed but that is the worldly view of submission.  When I was in college, I was so determined not to become one of those oppressed women that I actually told my husband on our first date that I wasn't the kind of girl to roll over and follow orders.  I said it in a sort of nasty, defensive way so I'm surprised (and very glad) that he stuck around. 

After we got married, I realized that my view of submission was not working.  Not just in my relationship with my husband but with God.  You see, when you define a word like submit for yourself, when I became so determined not to be submissive because I didn't want to be oppressed, I was refusing to be submissive to God as well as my husband.  When I realized this and began to submit to God's will, the burden was lifted. I yielded that weight of trying to do everything on my own.  The same thing happened with my husband.  Being a submissive wife does not mean that I don't get an opinion.  It means that I value his opinion.  I am not his slave.  I am his friend and he is mine.  Instead of trying to do everything on my own and answer all the tough questions on my own, we do it together and we are both happier because of it.  Mary Kassian was quoted in Disciplines of  a Godly Woman as saying:

Believers  who cannot submit to human authority do not know how to submit to God, for it is God who demands submission within human relationships.  Conversely, believers will be ineffective leaders, incapable of fulfilling human authority roles, until they learn to submit to others. (Hughes pp.37)

We are all called as believers to submit ourselves wholly to God as living sacrifices.  It is not our will to be done but his.  The relationship of submission in marriage is a practice, or model if you will, of submission to God. 

I challenge you to change your view of submission.  Do not view submission to others as oppression but view it as sharing the burden.  Whether it is submission to your spouse, parent, employer or pastor, submitting brings peace and comfort. 

Remember your face

"Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.  Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves.  Do what it says.  Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what is says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.  But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it-he will be blessed in what he does."

(James 1:21-25 NIV)

 

 

Why is this so difficult?  If you read it literally, the difficult thing to do would be to forget what you look like.  This is such a great analogy because it is so hard to forget something you have seen.  Have you ever seen something you really didn't want to see?  Everyone has so if you said no, you're lying!  Old people in their underwear, dog gets sick on the carpet, you get the idea...  As you are reading those examples, some image just came to your mind.  Right?  It is so difficult to forget a visual image.  Christians who know what is right but do what is wrong often say, "It's complicated, you don't understand."  What is there to understand?  That is the point of the story.  It should be harder to forget what you look like than to knowling go back to a sinful life.  Do what it says.  Why is it so hard to stop living adulterous lifestyles?  Why is it so hard to share the gospel with others?  Why is it so hard to give God some of your time?  There is nothign complicated about it. 

 

Follow the word in every way and you don't have to worry about what you look like. 

How Deep is Your Love

How Deep the Father's Love for Us
Between mothering a young child, work, and graduate school, I have been neglecting my job as another unpaid mom-blogger. But God has really been working on my heart lately.  Lately I have been so blessed.  God has really been showing his love for me but not how you may think.  I’m not meaning materialistic blessings.  I am blown away by those blessings but I am even more blown away by God’s love for me.  He has really been touching my heart and showing me how much he loves me.  There isn’t much to this blog other than to remind you to seek God’s heart and he will show you how much he loves you.  When you truly chase after him, you will not be disappointed.  Regardless of your circumstance or if you even feel like it, praise God and lift up his name and then see the changes that will take place in your life. 

Accountabilty v. Judgement

Accountability v. Judgement
I've had this message on my heart for a long time but I have been putting off writing this because I've been afraid to offend someone or that someone would think this is about them or whatever. I've come to the realization in the last week that there will never be a convenient time to write this blog but God put it on my heart for a reason. And trying to hold it back for fear of offending someone is exactly the reason it needs to be written.

Often as Christians we pick verses of the bible we choose to remember:

"For God so loved the earth that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have ever lasting life."John 3:16

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for You are with me..." Psalm 23:4

"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11


And many others. One verse that seems to be a favorite among well read Christians is Matthew 7:1 "Do not judge or you too will be judged." This is something we as Christians turn to in an instant if a spiritual leader is telling us something in our life doesn't align with the word. I'm as guilty of it as they come. I say "don't judge me" at least once a day even if it is usually in a playful joke. The point is that as Christians, we need to understand that there is a difference between judgement and accountability.

In Genesis 4, there is a story of Cain and Abel. Two brothers that both gave offerings to God. Abel brought God his very best and first of his animals. Cain brought God some fruits and plants instead of an animal offering. God did not accept that offering and went to him. In verse 6-7 God said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." At that moment, Cain became accountable to his actions. There was no playing dumb anymore. It was laid out before him clearly by a spiritual leader (the spiritual leader).

As Christians, we need to be accountable for what we do. I've been corrected many of times by people that see something in my life that isn't right. I can either choose to accept the remarks or get angry about and let more sin enter my life. It's time to stop using Matthew 7 as a crutch to keep on sinning. "Yes I know what I am doing is wrong but it's not your place to judge me." If what you are doing is specifically not aligning with the word of God, it is not judgement for a fellow Christian to bring that light to your eyes and Christians should help each other. Sometimes the devil is tricky and sin sneaks up on you to the point you don't even know it's there. If you see it in a brother or sisters life, tell them! Then back off! Once a person knows the truth, it is up to them how they choose to live in it. Pushing beyond that put you in danger of judging. If you are the one being told and choose not to accept it, then the sin falls onto your own hands. So let us support each other. Stop trying to break each other down and be there for one another in God's love!

Dreams Revealed

What is your dream? From the age of five, and maybe even earlier, I have always wanted to be a teacher. My friends would be playing in the floor with Barbies and I was standing up next to the easel chalkboard giving a math or whatever lesson I felt was appropriate. Of course they weren't listening but those are the kind of games I played. As I grew older I began teaching Sunday school and leading bible studies and this really encouraged me in my dream. My last year of high school and the summer before my freshman year of college (even into my freshman year of college) I fell into a very blinding trap that almost made me lose sight of my dream. I'm not going to get into what it was that happened but in every area of my life I was being attacked and pulled away from where I needed to be. That's how the devil works. When we have a vision and we know that we should be doing something great, there are going to be people or situations that try to tear you from the right path. God promised Abraham (then Abram) that he would make him the father of many nations and instead of waiting on God's timing, Abraham took that dream into his own hands and that mistake has caused strife in the world ever since.

Last night, I started teaching a class at a local bible college. I can't even describe how right it felt to be teaching again. I am living the dream that God planted in my heart as a child. In each one of us, God has planted a dream. It is a desire to accomplish something in your life. Dreams are never easy to reach and shouldn't be. If your dream is easy to reach, you need to dream bigger! God's dream for YOU is so much bigger than you can ever imagine. If you allow him to, he will use you in ways that may seem impossible. God loves to use a nobody with no talent to do something big because then he gets the glory.

I know it seems that I am talking about working but dreams are more than just career goals. Maybe your dream is to raise a family through Godly example and through that example they may do something big. It will ripple and change lives in amazing ways. They told a story on the radio the other day about a man that got saved because of a woman but they had never met. She ministered to someone in college that ministered to someone else that ministered to someone else that ministered to him. Never underestimate the power of a Godly example. And never, EVER give up on the dreams that God has given you. There is nothing more fulfilling than following through with his plan in your life.

Into the Holy Place

http://youtu.be/6Tyu9IJKFi0
For the past several months I have had a renewed, crazy hunger for more of the Lord. I'm not sure if it is because I am so desperately wanting to be a righteous example for my daughter or if awesome things are just happening in my life but this is the best feeling! I am encouraged by reading my bible, and constantly being in prayer. Even if it's only a quick prayer to say "by the way God, thanks for letting me hit EVERY green light on my way to..." (Which never happens to me in case you were wondering.) I've been feeling an urgency recently. Not only in my own life to stay focused but an urgency for the people around me. Trying to be a better, Godly example and encourager.

This is the passage that has been on my heart this past week:
"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another..." (Heb 10:19-25)

The whole passage is just amazing to me. We, sinners, have the right to enter into a holy place of worship with God. And for some reason, once we get there and a fire lights in our hearts we start to fade away. Instead of dwelling in that holy place with God constantly, we let things come between us. It can be anything really: sin, addiction, lies, etc... Personally, mine is allowing myself to become too busy. No matter what the reason, it's bad. I don't want to allow myself to be too busy for God anymore. I want to always stay in that holy place.

Focusing on that last part of the passage is the main thing I want to get across here. It is so important as believers that we are constantly encouraging each other. That doesn't always mean a cheering for doing the right thing. Sometimes, pep talks happen when things aren't going so well. I want to be receptive when a friend tries to tell me that I may be wrong. I want you, my Christian friends, to tell me when I need to go pray about something! My mom does it all the time (thanks mom!) and I am finally at a place where I can hear what she is saying.

I want to end this blog with an invitation. If you have been feeling the same way I have, longing for a deeper relationship with God and encouragement in studying the word, let's get do it! Whether through online discussion or meeting at a Starbucks it would be awesome to get together with other believers and offer encouragement.

The Desires of Our Hearts

One of the most common verses that people quote when they are waiting for something is Psalm 37:4 and it's usually paraphrased to say God knows the desires of your heart and he will give them to you. This is partially true. God does know the desires of your heart and he does want to give them to you but there is more to that scripture than just making God your own personal genie. When my husband and I were trying to have a baby, I had "God will give me the desires of my heart" written on a posted and pinned on the board next to my computer. It was my reminder that God would give me a baby. I read that note every time I sat down at the computer. Until I realized that maybe I should read more into it and explore the context of the verse.

Psalm 37:3-5 says "Trust in the Lord and do good, dwell in the land and feed on his faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the Lord and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass." I prayed very hard about this scripture and the desires of my heart. I felt God tell me that when I get back to a deeper place with him, in prayer and in worship, that he would give me a baby. The verse calls for us to trust God and his faithfulness. When we trust God and follow his directive voice, then he will give us the desires of our heart. We need to be aligned with his will or we cannot expect him to provide.

Once we are in God's will, you still may be waiting. God's timing does not always happen the way we want it to. Sometimes waiting just a little longer the way God plans will give you more than you even knew your heart desired. If you are waiting for something (a new job, a baby, a spouse, etc...) pray to God and ask him for faith and trust. Seek him first and all other things will be given unto you.