2 Cor. 6:10 Challenge

       

2 Cor. 6:10 Challenge

March 1, 2013 at 9:45am

"With My help you can find precious pleasures I have scattered alongside your path."-Sarah Young

"Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything."-2 Cor. 6:10

The Bible verse I just put up there is a good mission one for overseas and everyday life here right where we are right now. I made a list of what that verse means to me right now. Here it is:

We maybe be:
-sorrowful
-poor
-have nothing.

But in God we are:
-always rejoicing
-rich
-possessing everything.

As I think of this verse now in my life, I think I might not have the time I want with friends or to do anything extra like that and might be strange hours but I do have everything in the world. I have my passion/mission as my job. Yeah, it does get sorrowful at times but yet I'm always rejoicing because that gives me more children to love on. It also shows me if children can have very little but yet possess everything and always be happy, then what is wrong with us adults today. Where did the simple life go? Yeah, things got more confusing and busy, but that is the world's way of taking us away from God. I challenge whoever reads this to slow down and just spend time with God and see what HE can teach you. 

Needs vs. Wants

          What do I really need? What do I want? God has been pushing those two questions on my heart lately and I think where I am in life right now is a good spot to firugre out the answers to those questions with my job and just different situations like friends, hobbies, even God, in a good way, and other things. We all need to ask ourselves those questions every once in awhile to rethink what our lives are really about. I have had two main situations that have been going on to help me see more clearly the difference between those two things. God has given me one situation and I'm not really a big believer or I don't like to admit I know when the Devil is trying to get me away from God but I strongly believe He is trying now or has been lately. There has been tugging at my heart on both ways and it is so clear which way I should go. I didn't know how good of desirment I had until this past week.
            First I will tell you the situation I think the Devil is putting me in. It has stopped for now I think and hopefully for good but these past 2 weeks were hard. I might this random guy at church two weeks ago on a Saturday night and I thought nothing of it because I have seen him around church before but he just came up to me that night. We talked for a bit about the church and what we liked about it and he asked me some questions about me. The normal questions you would ask when you first actually talk with someone. Before I knew it I gave him my number because he asked if he could have it just in case he had any questions about the church. I gave it to him and that was dumb on my part. The reason it was dumb is because he texted me and called me the next day. I don't pick up the phone because I don't like talking on the phone. We went ahead and texted though. His texting was strange though at first because he started to complient me and give me wisdom which sounded like it was from forture cookies and they made me feel good. Then a week later he said that he would like for me to preach at his home town.
            This situation was what I WANTED but it was too easy and too good to be true in a lot of ways so I stopped talking to him.  I got me thinking though where I am now and what I am learning now is great. I love it and I love the people around as friends because they tell me the truth and gives me the chance to fix it but still love me for me. They don't try and cover it up and they don't make judgements before they really know me.
            Second, I will tell you about the situation I need and I know God is in this one for sure. I had a disagreement with some friends a few months back but they pointed out some really good things that I needed to focus on on myself that I needed to change so I could be a better person. When it first happened, I would push it down and say no but as the months have gone on, I'm seeing how they are really helping me without knowing it. I started a Women's Bible Study in Jan. about the book "Boundaries" and that book is so GREAT and the study is too! Through that book, I see a lot of things that I need to fix about myself before I can go on into other friendships or relationships. God is teaching me a lot about me and people in general through this study. Through the situation that I'm having with these friends I'm learning a lot about what I did and how I messed up and what I need to do to change that and build more friends and closer friends. I really appicate the friends I have now more then anything but I don't show it and I need to.
               God knew I needed this friends to do what they did. It is being used for His Glory and it is changing me in ways I could never think possible. It is breaking me out of my stubbornness that I guess got bad over the years and is turning me closer to God and relying on Him more. God knew I NEEDED this hard situation to learn things that He had for me to learn because I would not pay attention any other way and sometimes He does it in ways we don't like. I'm not this princess or has smart as people think I am. I am a sinner and I need God's help in everything I do. I've made tons of mistakes and dumb things whether said them, did them, or thought them.
                God is renewing and turning my life around through this Bible study and it is one I'll take over and over because there is so much to grasp. It is like I need to quit my job and just focus on my and this study for a few months or even a year. It's that deep because I feel like I'm that messed up. Little things we do to people can have the biggest impact but yet at times we might not know that it is being mean to them or destorying them in some way. We might not know that we are holding them back from something they could be doing but not. We might not know that we are luring them in when really we are espically as women. Sounds bad but at the same time it could be true.
                
              Thought for Today: "You might know what you WANT but God knows what you NEED and He will get you through it."

Snow Day Memories with my Children

          It was March 4th and yes, there was snow on the ground. Hard to believe right? No, not here in AR. The weather changes all the time. I was at work all day working a double because of us being short-staffed. The children spent the day playing in the snow because that was all we could do.  We took bowls of it inside in the morning and played with it that way. We had our picture taken with a snowman that some of the older kids built. We went out a played in it on our playground until it was time to eat.
            I guess when the snow is in bowls or something you can eat it from it means you eat it espically when you give the children a spoon to play with in it. They didn't quite get the idea of building little things with it but that had fun anyways. There were sprinkles in the snow and they would try and find then and then eat them. They also got to watch it melt in the bowls and on the tables. Some of them even said that they couldn't build anything with it because it kept melting in their hands.
             After naptime, we went out and played in the snow on our playground. The children made snow angels, through snowballs at me, and we tried to build a snowman but I couldn't help because I forgot my gloves so my hands were getting cold fast. I will tell you though that was a prefect moment and it reminded me why I love my job. I got to thinking a little bit when I was getting snowballs thrown at me, "how many of these children actually get to play in the snow like this and enjoy it?" "How many of them really got to feel snow before this?" Now, most of mine did because they knew about snow angels, wanted to build a snowman and knew how to start one, and really knew how to throw snowballs but it really makes you wonder sometimes. It was just so pretty outside itself. The sun was shining and really you could do without a coat on. On of my children did. It made my day, I almost cried out there but that could be because I worked all day too. Who knows? Just a neat and wonderful moment in time. One of the joys of my job and I needed it since I had worked all day. I needed that reminder. Sometimes we all do because we get so caught up in doing everyday things that we really forget the reason we are where we are.
              Before we went to our playground to play, we went a took pictures with a huge snowman, when I say huge I mean 7 feet huge, that the bigger kids took two hours to build. It was spiecal too for me just seeing my children standing beside a huge snowman. Thought going through my head: This might be the first picture for them with a snowman. We have a newborn at my job and we took him out there to get a picture with the snowman and it was so cute it looked fake. Here is this huge snowman, 7 feet tall, and this tiny little newborn laying down on a pillow beside it. Also, one of my children has a family of 6 slibings including him and they are took a picture around the snowman. Of course, I have 6 siblings too so while their picture was getting taken that brought back memories for me too. Family memories. Who knows that might be their last or only picture of the whole family together.
                 The point of this entery is: "Remember to take every moment in because every moment is a Blessing from God, whether at home or work."
            
          

Freedom=Love

         " Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
DOESN'T FORCE ITSELF ON OTHERS,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end."

       "But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love."

-1 Cor. 13:4-7,13

        I have always loved this verses and look back on them every so often. These were the verses I wanted for my wedding until one of my sisters took them for hers. :) I really love how The Message verison puts it and I didn't notice it until a friend put it on her status on Facebook. Then I got to thinking about them again in this wording and what I'm learning now, it makes total sense. 

          I'm learning about having Boundaries with Spouse or how to have those when I get and if I ever get married because of a Bible study I'm going through so what I'm about to say has no experience whatsoever. It just makes sense to me right now. My title: Freedom=Love is true in marriage or that is what the book "Boundaries" say. You need to give your spouse room for them to have their own boundaries in the marriage. Yeah, two are suppose to become one but you don't throw everything away when you get married. Not againist any guys out there but I would go crazy if I did that. 

           I read in these verses where it says, "Doesn't force itself on others" and in ways I felt like I've done that off and on but I didn't know until know. If you really care and love someone you don't want to force anything on them espically love. They need to have the freedom to love you the way they do. Isn't that the reason you first fell for them? You don't want to force someone to change, do you? 

            Jesus didn't force us to love Him. He did what was right and we can come to Him if we want. He leaves the the choice of free will but yet He stills loves us and we know that. We should do that. We should do what is right towards our friends and not want anything back. We shouldn't do something because we want something back. We should do it because we want to do it and love them enough to do it. 

            Then the phases "Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly" mean a lot. Trust STEADILY in God that means never to doubt in the trust with him. He is our foundation for Love and everything else. He is there all the time. Then "Love extravagantly" when you put those two words together nothing can stop that love. I love the word "extravagantly" because it means forever and ever without end. Love forever and ever without there being an end. God does that to us. Why can't we do that for others? 
            Remember all of this is coming from a single person on this earth so don't take it for real but maybe just think about it some because she has God in her life and that is all that matters. She will say that "Actions out of love does speak louder then words" from the experiences and situations she has been in.

            

      Challenge for Today: "God doesn't force His Love on us but yet He loves us forever and ever with the actions and words He does for and says to us." Can we do that to other people?

Boundaries with Self-Part 2

         Here is part 2 for making boundaries for self from the book "Boundaries". There is a check list in the book that asks 6 questions for a person to be able to noticed that they need boundaries within their self and ways to establish them. The 6 questions are: "What are the symptoms?, what are the roots?, what is the boundary conflict?, Who needs to take ownership?, what do you need to do?, and How do I begin?" The book really gives steps with two of the steps and those steps are: "what are the roots? and How to I begin?"
            We will start with the question: What are the roots?. Here are 7 possible roots for self-boundary conflicts:
             1. Lack of training-"Some people never learned to accept limits or to pay the consequences of their actions, or to delay gratification when they were growing up."
             2.  Rewarded destructiveness-"May learn that out of control things can bring you closer."
             3. Distorted needs-A person can take something that was made for the good and use it for the bad.
             4. Fear of relationships-"People want to really be loved but their out of control behavior keeps others away."
             5. Unmet emotional hungers-Want someone to love them.
             6. Being under the law-Some people were not able to make decisions for themselves growing up so when they try to make some of their own decisions they feel guilty and then they can tend to rebel in a bad way or just not want to be around people or in situations where they have to make a choice.
              7. Covering emotional hurts-People can hide their pain with things such as eating too much or spending too much or not talking at all to other people. They do this so they will be distract from the real pain of being unloved or any other bad feelings.
              Here are 5 ways that you can begin setting boundaries on yourself:
              1. Address your real needs.-What do you need? What is your real problem? I need help with my real problem. Committing you have a problem.
              2. Allow yourself to fail.-It won't be easy right from the start when you set boundaries. You have to let yourself fail but yet get back up again and do it again. It will make you stronger that way. "The recurrence of destructive patterns is evidence that God's sanctifying, maturing, and preparing us for eternity. We need to continue to practice to learn things."
               3. Listen to empathic feedback from others.-Surround yourself with friends that will tell you the truth when you ask about yourself and then listen to them and see if you can change in a good way. "Sometimes you may not truely understand the extent of the damage your lack of boundaries causes in the lives of those you care about. Other believers can provide perspective and support."
                4. Welcome consequences as a teacher.-"Just as a loving father's heart breaks when he sees his children in pain, God wants to spare us pain. But when His words and the feedback of his other children don't reach us, consequences are the only way to keep us out of further damage."
                5. Surround yourself with people who are loving and supportive.-Need others who are supportive but won't rescue you. Maintain close contact with your support group.
                 The quotes with these marks (" ") around them are straight out of the book by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend.
            
    

Boundaries with Self-Part 1

        It is the start of a new month and therefore, I am going to try and have a theme this month at least one day per week and then I will write whatever I want on the other days. That theme will be about the book: "Boundaries" by Dr. Henry Cloud and Dr. John Townsend and what I am learning from it. I have been in a Women's Bible Study with it and we are getting to the parts where it talks about setting boundaries in certain areas in your life. This week it was about setting boundaries with yourself which I needed really bad and is probably is the reason I act the way I do now. I will admit.
        Then there are 7 boundaries that we need to think about in life. The 7 are family, self, spouse, children, friends, work, and God. Two weeks ago, we went over having boundaries with our family, which was good and I could see some areas that I need to work on but this past week we went over boundaries with self like I already said and boy, do I need help with that one?! It should interesting for me I could learn what not to do and what I need to do on all of them now and in the future. There might be a lot of parts from me in this blog. Like there might be 2 or 3 parts on just self because I don't want to make a entery too long where people get bored reading it.
         There are 7 ways that our soul can be out of control and you might be able to guess some, if not all, of them. They are eating, money, time, task completion, the tongue, sexuality, and alcohol and substance abuse. I will admit that I might tend to get a little personal here so please don't judge me. We all have our own mistakes and mess up. One thing I'm learning through all of this is that I'M MESSED UP SO I NEED JESUS! I'M SORRY. You can take it or leave it. I would say my worse two ways are time and task completion. I will admit sometimes my tongue can get in the way too.
           There are four reasons that time can be a problem that we need to fix. If we don't have boundaries on time this is what can happen or does happen. When people have no boundaries on time, they can be:
           1. omnipotence (have bigger views of what they can get done on certain amount of time).
           2. Overresponsibility for the feelings of others (think how the other person feels when leaving a party or somewhere too early.
           3. Lack of realistic anxiety (They live so much in the present that they forget to plan ahead for things like parking the car or dressing right for an outing).
           4. Rationalization (They make the distress and inconvenience on others small like they won't care if I'm late because they are my friends).
            Here is a verse that we want to say and how we want to feel with our time well spent after the day is over and it is Proverbs 13:19.
            There are 6 reason that task completion can be a problem for many people. The book calls them "poor finishers" and they are pretty much self-understanding. They are:
            1. Resistance to structure-Can be a putdown if limited to a way of doing things.
            2. Fear of success-They don't want to lose their friends because of what "big people" they have become due to their success.
            3. Lack of follow-through-They like the idea of starting a task but not finishing it. They would rather put the finishing on other people.
            4. Distractibility-They are not able to focus on a project til it is done.
            5. Inability to delay gratification-They can't work through the pain of the project to experience the happy ending of getting it done and doing it well. They want to go right to the pleasure.
            6. Inability to say "no" to other pressures. -That one is self-explained. Unable to say "no" to other people.
            Here are a couple of verses having to do with task completion that the book gave- 2 Tim. 4:7-8 (we want to be able to say that about one task not ten million tasks), and John 19:30 (3 simple words that would be so nice to say after being done with one big task).
            Hope it's not too long for you to read and think about. If it is I will try to shorten the next one but you have to admit it is so good stuff to think about. I recommend the book to anyone and everyone. No matter the age or stage of life you are in.

Transition to Grace

       As if learning about Grace on my own last week and two weekends ago from church, I had to hear it again at my small group this past Sunday night but it was good to hear. I still don't get it and never will but it brought a picture to mind that I have to deal with in my job and it was neat to see. I need to make a poem out of the title sometime but this will just explain the, I guess, background if the poem does ever come out. Then a little girl hit me yesterday with a simple thought of grace and thankfulness that I will tell at the end of this entery.
       Where I work I have children come in every 3 months and of course it is hard for them. It is a transition and a big one at that. Then they leave after 3 months to a foster home or back to their parents depending on the situations. I couldn't help think about how that is us with God and His Grace.  We come into God with being really quite and seeing what it is like and what we can get away with just like little children do at a new place. We really don't understand why or how everything works so we just watch for a little bit. With the children, we they have things firugred out in their new place they open up. They are their normal selves. We can never go by the first week sometimes even the first month because they are so scared and haven't opened up yet. Eventually, they do and they have the energy to do whatever but then they calm down because they know what will work and not work with the staff,
        They also get into a routine where for some of the children it is a first time they have ever had a routine in their life. They seems to calm them down because they know what to expect and they don't have to be on edge or be the bigger person. They can just be children. They calm down for about a month and a half and then they start to get crazy again because they know their time is almost up. They get crazy because they don't want to leave and/or they are scared again because they have no idea what is ahead of them. I don't like to see that because then it makes the staff wonder sometimes will they make in in the foster home or make with their parents. Did we make an impression on them somewhat and somehow?
        I share this in relation to grace because that's how we are with Grace.  We get into a routine where we feel comfortable but then God calls us out and we a scared. I feel like when humans use or relie on Grace or see it that most is when things are changing in our lives and we turn to God for help. We get comfortable in our ways but God is like "nope, you are not going to stay there. I still have a lot more to teach you so let's change some things around." You might have to give Grace to people because they hurt you without knowing or you have been given Grace without knowing it too. Things might be hard to where you have to give Grace because you just need to move on and forget about it.
        I feel like children, espically the kind I work with, learns what Grace really is moving place to place but they don't know that word yet. In different areas and season of our adult lives, don't you think God shows and gives us Grace everyday. I know right now in my life He is every single day because I've messed up in so many ways with so many people I feel like but with God all that is forgotten and I'm sure people don't even think about it a lot like I do.
        I had a little girl say to me yesterday at work, "God gave me these shoes" while I was bending down to tie them. She said that out of nowhere. Thinking about Grace and how that goes together. This little girl is thankful for a small gift of shoes. Shouldn't we be thankful and notice the gift of Grace and stop trying to work for it as humans. I know easier said then done. HE GAVE US HIS GRACE just like He gave those shoes to the little girl. She didn't have to work for them. He cared enough to provide for her and for a lot of these children I work with.
        There is a challenge and a prayer I want you to take away from this entery and here it is:

Challenge: "Am I in a spot where I am transitioning to another part of my life where I need Grace to get through the hardest part?"

Prayer: "God, thank you for beautifully dressing the lilies of the valley and keeping Your Eyes on the Sparrow. Thank you for giving us the simple things like shoes on our feet. Thank you for your Grace even though we can't understand it to the fullest. Help me understand that I don't need to do anything to earn it. You just give it to me because you Love me." -In Jesus' Grace, Amen