Rich and Satisfied

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Today is a new day.  A new year.  Since God allowed me to see it, I realize that He still has work for me to do on this Earth.  I don't take it lightly.

I'm not afraid, but I sometimes feel inadequate and unworthy of the task.  Who am I?  I am a broken vessel. I am filled up with love for others but often too afraid to let them get close to me for fear of the pain they cause when I open up my heart and let them in.

The last year was filled with challenges.  Some were welcomed, but truly most of them weren't.

In this fresh year, I want to LIVE and BE, not just DO.  I have been on auto-pilot as life has been flying by.  I am starting to realize that there will always be clothes and dishes to wash.  Something will always require my attention, but I have a right to ENJOY each day.  That will not happen without deliberate efforts on my part.

So what are my plans for this year?  First, I plan to write more.  Second, I plan to have way more fun.  Third, I plan to fully embrace ALL of the things God wants me to do and take leaps of faith every chance I get.  I know there is more to life than this insane rat race.

He came to give me life, abundant life (John 10:10 NLT).  I am ready to live a rich and satisfying life, with joy overflowing from every part of me.

The cool thing is that I have control over this.  For all of us who love control, this is good news!  I can control my attitude and reign in my thoughts.  This will go a long way toward overflowing joy.  I can't always control my circumstances, and I definitely can't control others, but I can work on controlling me.

Will you join me?  How will you live a more richly satisfying life this year?  Share with me.

Survival Truths

When you ask God for something, do you really think He will answer you?  When you pray, do you believe He hears you?  When you call out to Him, do you think he really cares about what you're saying?

I admit that I sometimes lose sight of these truths when I am in the middle of a big crisis (or two).  Sometimes I whine and cry and ask why this or that is happening to me.  Sometimes I allow doubt to creep in and the devil to steal my peace from me.

One thing I love about God is that He is patient with me.  He patiently waits for me to refocus my attention where it's supposed to be: off of my problems and onto Him.  He forgives my lack of faith and holds me closely.

The Word reminds me that we will have problems, but we can take heart because He has already overcome the world.  May this Truth remind you as I am allowing it to remind me tonight.

No Such Thing as Freedom of Speech

As this political season heats up, I can feel my temperature rising.  I have never enjoyed election years, but so far, this one takes the cake.  The whining and mud-slinging are just plain annoying.

Oh, I'm not talking about the candidates, I'm referring to the voters.  There are those that take freedom of speech to new heights.  Our so-called freedom of speech is not meant to be a free-for-all of hate and disdain being volleyed back and forth like a shuttlecock.

Christians have a responsibility to share their views in ways that reflect Christ's love at all times.  This doesn't mean that we have to be soft on the ideals we hold dear, but we do need to consider our desired end result.  We should examine our hearts and motives carefully before jumping on a bad wagon or plastering our car bumpers with political paraphernalia.

Every word that comes out of our mouths has the potential to be a fiery dart.  Is it more important to point the lost to Christ or prove a fleeting point?   Freedom of speech may be a constitutional right, but is it a God-given right?  Scripture gives us many stipulations about the way we speak.  We don't have carte blanche.

We should stop deluding ourselves into believing that the world can't see through the thinly veiled hatred behind our words and deeds.  As the saying goes, "you catch more flies with honey..."  Not that people are flies, but you know what I mean.

So please, before you hop in your car and "eat mor chikin" or post your latest dig at "obamacare" or "r money", please ask God to give you the wisdom to love your neighbors first.  We have to make sure that we are not using God as a shield to hurt others or propagate our own twisted opinions.  The ultimate goal is to win another to Christ.  Let's not lose sight of that.

                                             "Speaking the truth in love..."  Ephesians 4:15

Temper-Fire Starter

When I started to ponder gentleness this morning, I wasn't sure what I wanted to write.  Then it occurred to me.  "A gentle response defuses anger..."  (Prov. 15:1 MSG)

I'm not sure why that was the first thing that popped into my head.  Well, maybe I am.  Maybe it's because I sometimes have a hard time with that; more often than I care to admit.

The problem is that I sometimes flip out when I am hurt or upset or stressed out, and I usually hurt the people I care about the most in the process.  Oh, I always feel terrible afterwards, but that doesn't undo the damage I've caused.

I've always been a bit rough around the edges.  It's primarily a defense mechanism that's been in place for as long as I can remember.  But, the rest of this verse says, "...but a sharp tongue kindles a temper-fire."  Wow.  Is that what I've been doing?  Perhaps.

So, I don't have any wise advice on this topic today because it's something I'm struggling with right now.  What I have is an earnest prayer that God will pluck out the non-gentle responses from me and replace them with words that lift up, inspire and promote peace.

If you sometimes falter in this area, feel free to borrow my little prayer.  May God make us all more gentle today.  Amen.

His Goodness, not Mine

Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.  And I will live in the house of the Lord forever.  Amen.

While this is a mishmash of several different versions of Psalm 23:6, it's how it flowed out of my heart tonight.  I hope you're okay with that.

This is the verse that entered my mind when I was pondering the fruit of the spirit of goodness.

Since I am not good, I thought of God's goodness.  We are not born good, nor do we become good.  But in God's goodness, He has volunteered to share some of it with us.  He shines through us.  We are not good in anyway without Him.  So any "good" people see in me is His light shining through.  I can't take a bit of credit.

I'm just grateful that He's so good to me, even though I don't deserve it.

• a joyful journal
• apopiptolepis
• out loud in my head
• by feet or heart
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• the rabbit hold chronicles
• there is beauty in letti...

I'm Not Kind

I once told a friend of mine that I'm not kind.  He looked at me with the most peculiar face.  He was utterly baffled.  He responded in the most incredulous way.  "You are too!" he said. I have to chuckle at the memory.

While I don't remember what we were talking about, I do remember meaning what I said.  If someone asked me to describe myself, that's not a word that would make my top ten.

Why? I always associate kindness with sweetness.  In truth, I'm feisty and a bit rough around the edges.  I think I'm compassionate, but not really kind.  Is that possible?

I'm not sure, but the fruits of the spirit require kindness, so I have to work on it.  I have to embody kindness.  I should exude kindness and ooze it all over everyone.

So here is my question:  do acts of kindness make you a kind person?  If not, why not?

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• a joyful journal
• apopiptolepis
• out loud in my head
• by feet or heart
• the ever-changing th...
• the rabbit hold chronicles
• there is beauty in letti...

Anxiously Waiting Patiently

PATIENCE.  I wrote it in caps on purpose.  This word screams at me a lot.  Does it scream at you, or are you one of those disgustingly patient people who has no problem waiting for anything?  I bet you don't have road rage.  You never yell at your children.  You don't even get mad when you pray for an answer and are met with deadening silence.

That's not me.

I don't typically characterize myself as impatient, unless it's really important.  Will I get this job?  When will You tell me what direction you want me to go?  When will this work day end?  You know, that kind of stuff.  The big stuff.

So what's the deal with patience?  Why is it so hard?  The tough thing for me is to accept God's timing.  I wanted to know last week, but He's got me scheduled to find out sometime in 2014.  What am I supposed to do until then?

WAIT.

That's what we're expected to do.  Wait on Him.  Psalm 27:14 says:

Wait patiently for the LORD.

Be brave and courageous.

Yes, wait patiently for the LORD.*

Patience is a process.  If I am waiting patiently, I am not stressed out with worry and fear.  If I am waiting patiently, I am learning to persevere.  If I am waiting patiently, my faith is taking wings and building muscle.

  It takes courage, but we can rest in knowing God knows the paths we are to follow, and his GPS never causes us to end up in a backyard when we're trying to get to the mall in the next town over.  He is infallible. He is unchanging.  He is worth waiting patiently for.  I love how God reminds me to be patient when I need it the most?

What are you waiting for God to show you today?  Are you waiting patiently or biting off your nails?

*Scripture from YouVersion.com NLT

• a joyful journal
• apopiptolepis
• out loud in my head
• by feet or heart
• the ever-changing th...
• the rabbit hold chronicles
• there is beauty in letti...