It Starts With One

If we were to compare ourselves to Billy Graham, we would feel pretty insignificant. He is a man who has witnessed to millions of people in his lifetime. But, have you ever thought about how many lives could be changed by our witnessing to just one person?

My great grandfather, Pop Pop, was born and raised in the Catholic Church. Every Saturday, he would go to confession. On one particular Saturday, as he was trying to think of his sins for the week, he realized that he didn’t have any to share. So, he felt like he needed to make stuff up. It dawned on him how foolish it was that he was going to some man every week to ask for forgiveness. The next day, he decided to go to an Assemblies of God church near his home, and that same day, he accepted Christ into his heart.

Once Pop Pop found Christ, he started inviting others to church. As a result, his brother and sister-in-law and their family became saved, as well as my grandfather and his brothers. It continued to grow from there. My grandfather and the pastor from his church would travel through the streets of their town with a loud speaker announcing a revival at their church. A lady standing on the corner attended the service that weekend and she, too, accepted Christ. As of this day, many of her family members are born again believers.

My Pop Pop is now in heaven with Jesus, and thankfully, I can say that our family will see him again some day. It took one person hearing the message of the cross and believing for it to be passed down from generation to generation. It is awesome to know that I am now passing that on to my children.

Remember, it starts with one. While you may not realize the impact you are having on others, know that as you plant the seeds, God will use it in great ways just as He did with my great grandfather.

Much Needed Rest

Last night, on my way home from a soccer game, I had an emotional meltdown. Call it a “feeling sorry for myself” moment. I started playing soccer when I was five, and 21 years later…ok, 27…I still enjoy playing. But, the hardest thing to face is that I am not the same player I was ten years ago. You see, I know what to do when I am out on the field, but my body no longer wants to cooperate.

That was not my only issue last night. I always tell my kids that when my bucket is full, watch out! It seems that at the moment, I have so much going on with work and family, and I am exhausted by it all. And, sometimes I feel that I am falling short on all that is expected of me. Maybe that’s not true at all but add “hormonal issues” to that, and you can see why I had the meltdown. My mind was going a mile a minute, and I just wanted to turn it off! What’s funny is that I was even thinking about this blog, and wondering how I could use that moment for one of my posts. But, as I tried to work my way through my issues last night, I could feel God saying to me, “Let me give you rest.”

There is a song called “Come Unto Me” that says, “Are the clouds above your head oh so heavy bursting with showers of despair? Do you struggle under more than you can carry? Has life given more than you can bear? Would you like to trade your failures in for victories like piles of ashes in for piles of gold? Can you fall down like a child who is helpless so He can pick you up and make you whole? He says come unto me all who are weary and I will give you rest. Bring what hurts, bring your scars, bring the load that you carry, and I will give you rest.”

Do you know that God knows every little thing about you – every burden, every worry, and every fear? Psalm 139:1 says, “O Lord, you have examined by heart and know everything about me.” When He says, “Come to Me,” He means run to no one else or anything else, but to Him. Jesus gave up everything on the cross, so that we can have rest, peace, freedom, and healing.

Come as you are and lay your burdens at the foot of the cross. The gift of rest is His gift to us!

Ode to Planet Fitness

Every year during the fall and winter, without fail, I take a hiatus from my normal exercise routine. It bugs me that I do this, but I have zero motivation to keep it from happening. I always joke that I am in hibernation mode and that those extra pounds will keep me warm on the ski slopes! So, as I saluted Planet Fitness with my Dunkin Donuts on my drive to work this morning, I thought about my identity, not only in this world, but in God.

Romans 12:1-2 (Message) says, “So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

Our pop culture tells us how important it is to have a slim and trim body and to wear the right clothing to show it off. Being wild isn’t necessarily bad, and being normal is boring. Teenage boys are taught that girls are objects and that relating to each other is all about sexuality. In addition, we are taught to focus on achievement, money, possessions, pleasure, gratification, and comfort.

It is our responsibility to make sure we are pointing our children and others to Christ so that they might find their identity solely in Him. The first thing to do is to take a good look at yourself and ask where you are finding your identity. It is a continuous struggle for all of us. We want to feel acceptance and significance, but ultimately our identity is in Christ and Him alone.

So, how do we help our children? By culture watching. Culture is constantly changing and shifting, so we need to stay on top of the messages that are being presented to our children. Then we should confront these lies. Tell your children that the world says this, but Jesus says that. Kids are smarter than you think. They will pick up on whatever has a hold of your identity, and if you have embraced Christ, it will send a strong message on the who they have been made to be!

Finally, Ephesians 4:21-24 (NIV) says, “When you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”

Here is a great link for a list of scriptures showing who we are in Christ: http://www.persevering.org/perceiv.html

Have a Blessed Day!

Thousands of Hair Dryers

Do you ever just have weird random thoughts that take you down a strange trail, and before you know it, your mind is on something else and you’re not even quite sure how that first random thought brought you to that point?

This morning, as I was blow drying my hair, I thought about how old the hairdryer is and about how I really need to clean out the dust and lint that has piled up in the back of it. Then I thought about getting a brand new hairdryer because maybe a more powerful dryer would help me get ready faster in the mornings. And, then I thought about how at that very moment, there must be thousands of women standing in front of a mirror blowing their hair dry. And for some strange reason, which I am still trying to figure out this one, I wondered what type of hair dryer Kim Kardashian uses. This thought then led me to think about her 72-day marriage, and how all her wealth and fame can’t possibly be bringing her happiness. Finally, I thought again about those thousands of women standing in front of their mirror blowing their hair dry, and I wondered if they are happy.

My quest for happiness unfortunately led me to all of the wrong places. The problem is that I was looking to worldly things to fill the void in my life. For us to grow as Christians, our desires should be to learn more of Jesus’ character so that we can try to establish ourselves in a world focused on desires of the flesh.

Desire is a part of being human. We are made in God’s image and God Himself has desires; therefore, our very being is a function of His desire. Like God, as a result of our desires, we are moved to action. Nothing happens without desire. The trouble with us as women, we are challenged with wants all the time, but we often lack the wisdom to guide and direct them. We are essentially governed and battered by impulses.

Fulfilling our desires can be addictive because accomplishing them can bring great satisfaction. When we are unable to fulfill our desires, we can experience pain. As a result, without God, we can easily fall into a trap of continually fostering them and pursuing them. We get on a path where we never feel truly satisfied. When one desire is fulfilled, we look for another. Without God, we feel empty and repeatedly chase after the next desire hoping it will bring a more complete sense of gratification.

Psalm 37:4 says, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” A desire is not something that is essential, but something which is pleasurable in the process of fulfilling God’s purposes. Our desires come from Him, and they are what He wants most for us. God delights in giving us our desires! However, He will give them within the context of what we need. God responds to us when we desire Him with our whole heart, and when we hunger and thirst for Him and His righteousness. If we desire God above all else, then He can change our heart to desire Him more than life itself!

So, what is your desire? Don’t hesitate to talk to God about it! He wants you to come to Him about your desires, hopes, and dreams. Ask Him how you can achieve them and also grow in a relationship with Him!

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Are chains of guilt holding you back from being all that you can be as a Christian woman?  We all have it in some way, shape, or form. We feel guilty when we’ve done wrong things or when we didn’t do what we thought we should have. Sometimes we feel guilty over something that doesn’t violate God’s standards, but fails to come up to meet our own or other people’s expectations.

There are times when that wave of guilt will come over me when something happens to remind me of my past sin. There was a time when I felt like every single day it was right there in my face. I knew that I had been forgiven and the shame of it was taken away, but still I would have that moment when the sting of guilt would hit me.

One of Satan’s biggest weapons against us is guilt. It can tear us down and make us feel unworthy. It takes from us the faith and confidence in Jesus Christ. As we allow ourselves to continually dwell on how we messed up, it cultivates that guilt. Falling for the enemy’s trap allows him to build a stronghold in our minds.

The Bible mentions two kinds of guilt: the Godly sorrow that leads to repentance and then the condemnation from the devil. 2 Corinthians 7:10 says, “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.”

There are important things to remember when facing guilt. We must understand the nature of God’s forgiveness towards us. When our sins are forgiven, we are made clean! We need to stop thinking about our past sins and start thinking about the new person we are in Christ. Paul says in Philippians 3:13, “Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it: But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.”  

Another thing, forgive yourself! When Jesus said to be forgiving, that includes forgiving yourself in order to be able to be released from that bondage of guilt! If God chose to forgive you, then why are you hanging on to it? I love Psalms 103:12: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us.”

So, today, let us agree together to thank God for the fact that He has forgiven us! Let us praise Him that He chooses to forget about our sin that has been forgiven and that we are no longer condemned! And if for some reason that burden of guilt creeps up on us again, let us give it back to Him over and over if need be!

2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

Say Good-bye to the “Bah-Humbug”!

Ah, yes, the most wonderful time of the year has quickly made its way here again! While it may only be November 2, many of you have already started your Christmas shopping and maybe even started playing the Christmas music! As for me, I am beginning to stress out at the thought of them!!

For some of you, the holidays are a whirlwind of tree decorating, gift giving, carol singing, cookie eating, and watching “It's a Wonderful Life” while sipping eggnog by the fire and cuddling with your loved ones. For others, the holidays are an omen of doom. We cradle our maxed-out credit cards in fear, stock up on meds, and pray no one will notice the ten pounds that we gained. We make our way through department stores and try to stay clear of the clawing stampede desperate to plunder them. We spend hours traveling and sitting in traffic to be with the people we've spent a big part of our year avoiding, and when we reach our final destination, we inevitably overeat, give out presents we can't afford, have nervous breakdowns in locked bathrooms, and then plan our early escape.

I wish I could give you ten easy steps to survive the holidays, but truth is we’re all different. My steps of survival may not quite match up to how you do things. What I can give you are things to remember as we dive into another crazy season:

Remember the Child Within. Find ways to have fun again! Make hot chocolate with marshmallows and sing Christmas carols. Think back to your favorite holiday or childhood moments and go for it. Play games with your children or spend a morning watching cartoons.

Remember to watch the Dollar Signs. It's a tempting time of year to go overboard. Remember to budget! You don't want to spend the next ten years paying everything off!

Remember the reason for giving – The holiday season is about love, laughter, family and friends. Holidays aren’t about the most number of gifts given, the prettiest wrapping paper, or the most number of cookies consumed. It’s about telling your loved ones that you love and appreciate them.

Remember to Reach Out. Step outside of yourself and look around you for others who are in need. Lending a helping hand could have an awesome impact on your holiday season.

Remember Tomorrow. Remember, if all else fails, this will soon be in the past :)!

May we all remember Christ, who is the reason we celebrate this season!  

Luke 2:10-11 “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”