The end has come for the year 2011 and as the new year approaches I thought it would be a good time to reflect on how I have grown in Jesus this year. Which got me thinking... it seems that New Years is advertised as a big deal because it's your time to think and reflect and start over. Of course that is what a lot of people do when the new year comes.. I mean.. people *try* to do that. They try to make the new year sound like some deep meaningful mile marker that is so great an achievement that we should all pat each other on the back and give free high fives. It sounds silly.. but it's true. Why is it that people try to make New Years into something so big?
I've found that people see New Years as that chance to start over, turn a new page, if you will. It's a nice concept. I feel like New Years might mean a lot more to non-believers because their chances to "start brand new" only happens once a year...ish. Thank goodness God's mercies are new every morning. No one has to wait for the New Year seeing as God is available 24/7, but since a lot of people don't see any need to believe in God or ask God for help or include God in their lives... New Years is as good a time as any to attempt to create some order to one's life.
I'm sure a lot of people can relate to the feeling of going through life blind folded. (Christians call it walking by faith.) Sometimes life is a bit like the game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.. you're blind folded. Everyone is trying to tack a tail onto the thing and of course they look foolish as they blindly stick it where ever they think it goes and often finding themselves missing the mark by a long shot. Of course there are the kids who wait for their turn and watch where the other kids put their failed tails and attempt to grope out the right spot with their fingers while wearing their blindfolds... a noble effort.. but still off.
People blindly try to pin the meaning of things all over their life. Death... why do people die? What comes after you die? What is one's life purpose? Life.. What did I do with my entire last year? What should I do this coming year? What's the point of New Year's resolutions if I know I'm not gonna follow through? We try to tack on the answers and meanings where we think they go. We try to follow the examples of others and feel out the answer from what others have tried.
But, Jesus is like that kind adult that would take the blind folded person's hand and guide it to the right spot on the donkey. It doesn't always feel right because there are no other tails around it cuz everyone else has missed the mark by a long shot and it feels like you're just tacking the tail on in the middle of nowhere. But Jesus know what he's doing, he's got answers. Alls we have to do is trust him.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Christmas Cheer is In the Air!
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| My Calvin nd Hobbes cookie... I was told he looked like Charlie Brown.. |
Decorating cookies is fun! :) |
| Add caption |
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| I turned the Christmas stocking cookie upside down and it looked like a llama... So I decorated it accordingly. |
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| It was quite the spread we had going on.. |
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Puddle Hopping with Jesus
I was originally working on a Christmas-y post... but while doing my quiet times this morning, Jesus brought up a very interesting concept that I've never really thought about before. No worries! Christmas posts will be coming soon!
It is currently Wednesday of finals week here at Iowa and I am happy to say I'm completed 3 of my 4 finals and I have been blessed with some down until my final final on Friday morning. Last night as my roommate and I began planning out our next couple days of freedom and relaxation before we both take our last final (studying? pshh) we came up with a list of fun things to do. Somewhere in my evening whilst enjoying a nutella chocolate granita and trolling on facebook I was asked the question via text message "how are you doing internally?"
It was at that moment that I had realized I had spent my entire day studying and taking exams and I hadn't spent anytime with Jesus at all during my day..unless you count all the prayers to do well on my exams along with a half hearted prayer of thanks for my lunch... I don't think that counts though. The text message was just like that time in the day when you've been busy all day and someone asks you "Have you eaten yet?" and then all the sudden you realize you're really hungry.
Last night I realized that while I don't feel like I'm starving to death spiritually and I don't feel like I've put up any walls between me and God, I don't feel filled with His spirit either. I've missed that. That moment in high school when I realized what it was to fully surrender to Jesus, that was a good moment. I was so incredibly full of joy. SO incredibly in love.
Just now I was talking to Jesus and thinking about how many times since that moment that I've been stuck in the mud and mire and have needed Jesus to pull me out and place me on a rock and give me a firm place to stand. I asked Jesus, "why is it that I keep doing that? How do I keep finding myself in such deep pits?" I know if you've read my blog before you've seen me ask that question before and have witnessed my discouragement on more than one occasion.
This morning, my kitchen was quiet and there was stillness and there was Jesus. Jesus gave me such a wonderful answer to my question. In the spring time, when the snow has melted and it rains a lot and things flood and mud puddles form all over the place, I have often enjoyed putting on my oldest, worst set of clothes and jumped in the mud puddles with my brothers and friends. It's a lot of fun. Sometimes it's so fun that we laugh until our sides ache and find ourselves hopelessly stuck in the mud whilst tears of joy roll down our muddy cheeks.I remember one such instance of being very stuck in some thick mud and laughing so hard I couldn't get out. My friend endeavored to pull me out and found herself stuck as well. We both attempted to help each other but we weren't much use to each other seeing as we were both stuck. Someone had to reach in and pull us out. Some mud puddles are deeper than others. Some are stickier, some have worms, some look small and then turn out to be much deeper than originally thought. I *hate* worms. Hate hate HATE worms. I gag when I see them on the sidewalk after a good rain. But I still jump in mud puddles because it's so much fun.
And that's the trick of it all. As we walk with Jesus down the road of life there are hundreds of potholes and mud puddles along the way. We have to be careful or we'll fall in and get all muddy. But it would be far too much work to tip toe through the maze of mud puddles, they look fun! And we feel so compelled to have the fun of jumping in them that we jump in all of them. We move from puddle to puddle splashing along in our merry way.
Some times we're just splashing around and not suffering anything more than mud stains on our pant leg. Other times we find ourselves hopelessly stuck.. utterly and completely.
The answer to how we keep finding ourselves in the pits is that we keep jumping in. The answer to why we keep finding ourselves in the mud is that we think it fun. It looks appealing and we remember times we've splashed in little puddles and giggled in delight. We don't often remember the times we came out with worms between our toes or when it took Jesus' rescue helicopter coming in with a search party. We don't like to remember the times we were in the pits. Those were bad times.. hard times. Let's remember the fun times.. the moments of silliness and harmlessness...
King David once wrote, "Restore onto me the joy of your salvation." He's asking Jesus to remind Him of that first moment of being rescued. How incredibly sweet and joyful that was. He was in a hopeless pit just before that moment and he wanted to remember how it felt to be rescued. If we don't remember those moments.. we jump in big puddles again to see if they're still as sticky and dangerous and painful as people who've gone before us have warned. We think, "well, they probably weren't as strong as me so they couldn't resist the suctioning of the mud or the stickiness as well as I could." Wrong. Mud is mud. It'll getcha everytime.
And if you don't wash that mud off of you, it'll dry. It'll stain, it will become hardened to your person. I know a lot of people who are walking around with mud caked to their feet as heavy as cinderblocks cuz they don't let Jesus chisel it away for them. Seriously.. you're walk isn't gonna be going very fast with all that stuff on your feet. In fact, all that mud makes you clumsy and fall over a lot... into more mud puddles.
Psalm 40
It is currently Wednesday of finals week here at Iowa and I am happy to say I'm completed 3 of my 4 finals and I have been blessed with some down until my final final on Friday morning. Last night as my roommate and I began planning out our next couple days of freedom and relaxation before we both take our last final (studying? pshh) we came up with a list of fun things to do. Somewhere in my evening whilst enjoying a nutella chocolate granita and trolling on facebook I was asked the question via text message "how are you doing internally?"
It was at that moment that I had realized I had spent my entire day studying and taking exams and I hadn't spent anytime with Jesus at all during my day..unless you count all the prayers to do well on my exams along with a half hearted prayer of thanks for my lunch... I don't think that counts though. The text message was just like that time in the day when you've been busy all day and someone asks you "Have you eaten yet?" and then all the sudden you realize you're really hungry.
Last night I realized that while I don't feel like I'm starving to death spiritually and I don't feel like I've put up any walls between me and God, I don't feel filled with His spirit either. I've missed that. That moment in high school when I realized what it was to fully surrender to Jesus, that was a good moment. I was so incredibly full of joy. SO incredibly in love.
Just now I was talking to Jesus and thinking about how many times since that moment that I've been stuck in the mud and mire and have needed Jesus to pull me out and place me on a rock and give me a firm place to stand. I asked Jesus, "why is it that I keep doing that? How do I keep finding myself in such deep pits?" I know if you've read my blog before you've seen me ask that question before and have witnessed my discouragement on more than one occasion.
This morning, my kitchen was quiet and there was stillness and there was Jesus. Jesus gave me such a wonderful answer to my question. In the spring time, when the snow has melted and it rains a lot and things flood and mud puddles form all over the place, I have often enjoyed putting on my oldest, worst set of clothes and jumped in the mud puddles with my brothers and friends. It's a lot of fun. Sometimes it's so fun that we laugh until our sides ache and find ourselves hopelessly stuck in the mud whilst tears of joy roll down our muddy cheeks.I remember one such instance of being very stuck in some thick mud and laughing so hard I couldn't get out. My friend endeavored to pull me out and found herself stuck as well. We both attempted to help each other but we weren't much use to each other seeing as we were both stuck. Someone had to reach in and pull us out. Some mud puddles are deeper than others. Some are stickier, some have worms, some look small and then turn out to be much deeper than originally thought. I *hate* worms. Hate hate HATE worms. I gag when I see them on the sidewalk after a good rain. But I still jump in mud puddles because it's so much fun.
And that's the trick of it all. As we walk with Jesus down the road of life there are hundreds of potholes and mud puddles along the way. We have to be careful or we'll fall in and get all muddy. But it would be far too much work to tip toe through the maze of mud puddles, they look fun! And we feel so compelled to have the fun of jumping in them that we jump in all of them. We move from puddle to puddle splashing along in our merry way.
Some times we're just splashing around and not suffering anything more than mud stains on our pant leg. Other times we find ourselves hopelessly stuck.. utterly and completely.
The answer to how we keep finding ourselves in the pits is that we keep jumping in. The answer to why we keep finding ourselves in the mud is that we think it fun. It looks appealing and we remember times we've splashed in little puddles and giggled in delight. We don't often remember the times we came out with worms between our toes or when it took Jesus' rescue helicopter coming in with a search party. We don't like to remember the times we were in the pits. Those were bad times.. hard times. Let's remember the fun times.. the moments of silliness and harmlessness...
King David once wrote, "Restore onto me the joy of your salvation." He's asking Jesus to remind Him of that first moment of being rescued. How incredibly sweet and joyful that was. He was in a hopeless pit just before that moment and he wanted to remember how it felt to be rescued. If we don't remember those moments.. we jump in big puddles again to see if they're still as sticky and dangerous and painful as people who've gone before us have warned. We think, "well, they probably weren't as strong as me so they couldn't resist the suctioning of the mud or the stickiness as well as I could." Wrong. Mud is mud. It'll getcha everytime.
And if you don't wash that mud off of you, it'll dry. It'll stain, it will become hardened to your person. I know a lot of people who are walking around with mud caked to their feet as heavy as cinderblocks cuz they don't let Jesus chisel it away for them. Seriously.. you're walk isn't gonna be going very fast with all that stuff on your feet. In fact, all that mud makes you clumsy and fall over a lot... into more mud puddles.
Psalm 40
1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the LORD
and put their trust in him.
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the LORD
and put their trust in him.
Lucky for us, God doesn't grow tired of pulling us out of the mud. He's excited for that moment when you reach blindly for help and He's gets to grab your hand and pull you out. But more than that moment, He wants to keep holding your hand and walking you through the mud puddle mind field and keep your foot from slipping. He wants to guide your steps and give you joy. He wants to carry you when there's only enough room between the mud puddles for one set of feet.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Second Chance (Hillsong)
You called my name
Reached out Your hand
Restored my life
And I was redeemed
The moment You entered my life
Amazing grace
Christ gave that day
My life was changed
When from my shoulders
Fell the weight of my sin
So it's with everything I am
I reach out for Your hand
The hope for change
The second chance I've gained
On You I throw my life
Casting all my fears aside
How could greater love than this
Ever possibly exist
Consume my thoughts
As I rest in You
I'm now in love
With a Saviour
Bearing the marks of His love
So I'll wait upon You now
With my hands released to You
Where a little faith's enough
To see mountains lift and move
And I'll wait upon You now
Dedicated to Your will
To this love that will remain
A love that never fails
Reached out Your hand
Restored my life
And I was redeemed
The moment You entered my life
Amazing grace
Christ gave that day
My life was changed
When from my shoulders
Fell the weight of my sin
So it's with everything I am
I reach out for Your hand
The hope for change
The second chance I've gained
On You I throw my life
Casting all my fears aside
How could greater love than this
Ever possibly exist
Consume my thoughts
As I rest in You
I'm now in love
With a Saviour
Bearing the marks of His love
So I'll wait upon You now
With my hands released to You
Where a little faith's enough
To see mountains lift and move
And I'll wait upon You now
Dedicated to Your will
To this love that will remain
A love that never fails
Friday, December 2, 2011
Thoughts on Thanks
The day of Thanksgiving is now behind us and it was one of my most refreshing and needed breaks.
Unfortunately, remembering to be thankful is not something I have done on a regular basis. How sad it is we don't really remember our gratitude until that one day of the year and even then, our gratitude is short lived (if lived at all) after the big meal as we begin to prepare for Black Friday shopping, Christmas gatherings and, if your a student, finals.
It's almost like being thankful is another thing we've added to our checklist of things we *should* do but more often than not we *don't* do. And if we so happen to accomplish one of those things on our check list, we give ourselves a gold star, a pat on the back, and delight in the fact that we did something good.
Recently, I saw a quote posted on facebook that said "What if you woke up today with the things you thanked God for yesterday?" (Thank you to the person who posted that.) I shared it with my roommate and we both sat silently a minute as we began to comprehend the weight of that question. The truth is, I wouldn't have woken up with much. In fact, I probably wouldn't have woken up with anything. : /
Seeing as I lead a Bible study, I figured that this really important topic would be our next thing to learn and thus began searching out things about thanks and why it is so important. Why does it matter if we are thankful?
Here is what I found:
1)Your thankfulness keeps you close to God. How seriously huge is that?? When you think about people who "drifted away" from the faith, you don't picture someone turning 180 degrees and walking the opposite direction. Drifting is subtle. It's sneaky, it's hard to notice. When you're in a boat and decide to sit still in the water for a bit, unless you drop anchor, you're gonna drift. And if you're not paying attention, you're gonna eventually find yourself way off course and perhaps you will wonder how on earth you got to where you found yourself, but anyone could tell you that the water has a current and it will pull you with it while you idle in the water.
I imagine as believers, we are rowing upstream.
The world is like the water. It has a current. It pulls in different directions and really just wants to take you with it. It'll take whatever it can really. It's going the opposite direction that we're going and if it can find you in a moment where you are not rowing against it, it will surely cause you to lose some ground. It's strong. Beautiful, enticing, and sometimes dangerous. Sometimes it's calm and friendly and delightful and then storms come along and it is no longer friendly. It sends waves of discouragement that crash down on us.
Putting our faith in Jesus is like climbing into a boat. We are safe there and we can rest. We won't get eaten by the mean fishes and we won't drown. Sometimes when the storms come we get knocked around a little bit, but we're ok. We learn how better to grip onto our boat so we don't get too many bruises the next time.
Thankfulness is our everly so important anchor. Keeping the boat where it needs to and preventing it from dumping us out in very nasty storms. It keeps us from floating to some unknown place that we don't need to be. It allows us to rest and replenish. It is NEEDED. When storms are raging and we have no strength to row through life's difficulties anymore, dropping the thankfulness anchor is the best thing we can do. Sometimes we just have to ride out the storm and trust that for as much as your little boat of faith is getting jerked around in the waves and the currents, when the storm ends, your little boat did not move.
2) "It is impossible to be negative while giving thanks."
If someone were to ask me what my biggest pet peeve was I think I would answer "Complaining." Complaining for the sake of complaining. I hate the word 'suck.' Like when people have some complaint and then say "doesn't that suck?" Why yes! Yes it does. It sucks my joy right out of me. Someone once said, "Wise men count their blessings; Fools count their problems."
Phil. 2: 14-15
Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky
3) Being thankful prevents burnout.
I recently heard a story about a man in his 80s that was so passionate about Jesus that, as a young man, he shared his faith wherever he went. It was not always easy, and he took a lot of flack for it. But still to this day he shares his faith. He was once asked, "What was it that kept you from burning out all those years?" "Thankfulness," was his reply. And thanks to this man who stayed thankful and did not burn out, there is one person a week coming to know Jesus.
"Seeds of discouragement will not grow in a thankful heart.
Unfortunately, remembering to be thankful is not something I have done on a regular basis. How sad it is we don't really remember our gratitude until that one day of the year and even then, our gratitude is short lived (if lived at all) after the big meal as we begin to prepare for Black Friday shopping, Christmas gatherings and, if your a student, finals.
It's almost like being thankful is another thing we've added to our checklist of things we *should* do but more often than not we *don't* do. And if we so happen to accomplish one of those things on our check list, we give ourselves a gold star, a pat on the back, and delight in the fact that we did something good.
Recently, I saw a quote posted on facebook that said "What if you woke up today with the things you thanked God for yesterday?" (Thank you to the person who posted that.) I shared it with my roommate and we both sat silently a minute as we began to comprehend the weight of that question. The truth is, I wouldn't have woken up with much. In fact, I probably wouldn't have woken up with anything. : /
Seeing as I lead a Bible study, I figured that this really important topic would be our next thing to learn and thus began searching out things about thanks and why it is so important. Why does it matter if we are thankful?
Here is what I found:
1)Your thankfulness keeps you close to God. How seriously huge is that?? When you think about people who "drifted away" from the faith, you don't picture someone turning 180 degrees and walking the opposite direction. Drifting is subtle. It's sneaky, it's hard to notice. When you're in a boat and decide to sit still in the water for a bit, unless you drop anchor, you're gonna drift. And if you're not paying attention, you're gonna eventually find yourself way off course and perhaps you will wonder how on earth you got to where you found yourself, but anyone could tell you that the water has a current and it will pull you with it while you idle in the water.
I imagine as believers, we are rowing upstream.
The world is like the water. It has a current. It pulls in different directions and really just wants to take you with it. It'll take whatever it can really. It's going the opposite direction that we're going and if it can find you in a moment where you are not rowing against it, it will surely cause you to lose some ground. It's strong. Beautiful, enticing, and sometimes dangerous. Sometimes it's calm and friendly and delightful and then storms come along and it is no longer friendly. It sends waves of discouragement that crash down on us.
Putting our faith in Jesus is like climbing into a boat. We are safe there and we can rest. We won't get eaten by the mean fishes and we won't drown. Sometimes when the storms come we get knocked around a little bit, but we're ok. We learn how better to grip onto our boat so we don't get too many bruises the next time.
Thankfulness is our everly so important anchor. Keeping the boat where it needs to and preventing it from dumping us out in very nasty storms. It keeps us from floating to some unknown place that we don't need to be. It allows us to rest and replenish. It is NEEDED. When storms are raging and we have no strength to row through life's difficulties anymore, dropping the thankfulness anchor is the best thing we can do. Sometimes we just have to ride out the storm and trust that for as much as your little boat of faith is getting jerked around in the waves and the currents, when the storm ends, your little boat did not move.
2) "It is impossible to be negative while giving thanks."
If someone were to ask me what my biggest pet peeve was I think I would answer "Complaining." Complaining for the sake of complaining. I hate the word 'suck.' Like when people have some complaint and then say "doesn't that suck?" Why yes! Yes it does. It sucks my joy right out of me. Someone once said, "Wise men count their blessings; Fools count their problems."
Phil. 2: 14-15
Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky
3) Being thankful prevents burnout.
I recently heard a story about a man in his 80s that was so passionate about Jesus that, as a young man, he shared his faith wherever he went. It was not always easy, and he took a lot of flack for it. But still to this day he shares his faith. He was once asked, "What was it that kept you from burning out all those years?" "Thankfulness," was his reply. And thanks to this man who stayed thankful and did not burn out, there is one person a week coming to know Jesus.
"Seeds of discouragement will not grow in a thankful heart.
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