Have you ever looked at someones life and thought, if only I could be them for just one day? Which of course leads to an entire list of "if onlys"....
Women especially are so good at this! If only I had their hair, if only I had their clothes, if only I had their confidence and talents. And the "if onlys" only get more serious the further you go..... if only I had their children, if only I had their spouse......if only I had their life.
Before we know it we've compared ourselves to believe we could never be as amazing as this other person and we've buried our self esteem 6 feet under in the dirt.
Why do we do this to ourselves?
Galatians 6:4 says, “Each of you should test your own actions. Then you can take pride in yourself, without comparing yourself to somebody else.”
I know God has a specific lane for me and a race for me to run within that lane. When I start trying to dip into someone else's lane, not only do I mess up my race, but I mess up their race as well! The thing we must remember is God has made us all in His image to use our lives to glorify Him. He has made us all to run our own race with the talents and giftings He has placed within us. And the most incredible thing about that is this; the talents and giftings you have, I may not have and what I have, you may not have so we work together as a big team to see Gods will accomplished here on the earth!!
Funny how God knows exactly what He's doing isn't it?! ;)
Choose today to be uniquely you....exactly who God created you to be, doing exactly what God created you to do.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Friday, May 18, 2012
I did it my way....
I'm sure you have heard the song "I did it my way" by Frank Sinatra.
Yes there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I chewed it up and spit it out,
I faced it all and I stood tall,
and did it my way.
Man, growing up that could have been my theme song! I did things the way I wanted, when I wanted and no one could tell me it wasn't right. After all I knew everything! :)
After many wrong turns and learning multiple things the hard way I learned a valuable lesson....its not about doing it my way at all.
"Abba, Father, He cried out, everything is possible for You. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." Mark 14:36
Jesus prays this prayer to His Father right before He is arrested and put on the cross to die for us. Obviously He is struggling but, what I LOVE is His heart to do the will of His Father. He realizes it's not about Him at all, but about what His Father has asked of Him knowing there is a greater good. Knowing there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel....knowing if His Father is asking Him to do it, everything He goes through in the process will be worth it.
This verse has changed me to my core...changed everything about how I think through things and live my life every day.
When we live with the mind set that its not about us, it makes doing His will a whole lot easier.
Of course there have been times in my life where I have struggled with this and wrestled with fear and anxiety over what I wanted to do up against what God was asking me to do. I've struggled with what people think or say up against what God has asked me to do. But the thing I have come back to every single time is Gods way is better. I've settled it in my heart, His way is ALWAYS better. We may not understand why He does what He does or how He does it, but the thing we can trust is its for GOOD.
<3
Yes there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew
But through it all, when there was doubt
I chewed it up and spit it out,
I faced it all and I stood tall,
and did it my way.
Man, growing up that could have been my theme song! I did things the way I wanted, when I wanted and no one could tell me it wasn't right. After all I knew everything! :)
After many wrong turns and learning multiple things the hard way I learned a valuable lesson....its not about doing it my way at all.
"Abba, Father, He cried out, everything is possible for You. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine." Mark 14:36
Jesus prays this prayer to His Father right before He is arrested and put on the cross to die for us. Obviously He is struggling but, what I LOVE is His heart to do the will of His Father. He realizes it's not about Him at all, but about what His Father has asked of Him knowing there is a greater good. Knowing there is a light at the end of this dark tunnel....knowing if His Father is asking Him to do it, everything He goes through in the process will be worth it.
This verse has changed me to my core...changed everything about how I think through things and live my life every day.
When we live with the mind set that its not about us, it makes doing His will a whole lot easier.
Of course there have been times in my life where I have struggled with this and wrestled with fear and anxiety over what I wanted to do up against what God was asking me to do. I've struggled with what people think or say up against what God has asked me to do. But the thing I have come back to every single time is Gods way is better. I've settled it in my heart, His way is ALWAYS better. We may not understand why He does what He does or how He does it, but the thing we can trust is its for GOOD.
<3
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Be Still
Psalm 46:10 is one of my most favorite verses and funny enough, the one I can't seem to get through my thick skull the majority of the time.
"Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world."
The verse is so simple but requires greatness from us. I say that because if we're honest its difficult for us to be still. As difficult as a child with a new toy they want to play with on Christmas morning! In this day and age we want what we want when we want it and all that equals out to NOW. We and by we I really mean I, don't want to wait and especially don't want to be still in the process of that waiting. We want to be hands on and when we don't see things happening fast enough for our liking we have a tendency to get in there and try to MAKE things happen!
This reminds me of Sarah (Sarai) in the Bible. She wanted a child so badly and even though God promised her and Abraham (Abram) they would be parents, it just wasn't happening fast enough for her. So what did she do?
She got involved.
She told her husband to sleep with her servant to produce a child for her. Did it work? Yes, but did it cause more damage than good...YES IT DID!
That's what always happens when we take matters into our own hands. When will we get that Gods ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts?! :) He doesn't think like us nor does He do things the way we would do them, but the thing we can BE STILL in knowing is He is God and He will ALWAYS do them in a greater way than we ever could do on our own or even imagine in our minds.
Still = devoid of or abstaining from motion.
It all comes down to trust. The ability to be still before Him is all about trusting He doesn't need our meddling or negative speech about our situation. All He wants us to do is read His Word, do what it says and trust He knows what is best.
BE STILL........
"Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world."
The verse is so simple but requires greatness from us. I say that because if we're honest its difficult for us to be still. As difficult as a child with a new toy they want to play with on Christmas morning! In this day and age we want what we want when we want it and all that equals out to NOW. We and by we I really mean I, don't want to wait and especially don't want to be still in the process of that waiting. We want to be hands on and when we don't see things happening fast enough for our liking we have a tendency to get in there and try to MAKE things happen!
This reminds me of Sarah (Sarai) in the Bible. She wanted a child so badly and even though God promised her and Abraham (Abram) they would be parents, it just wasn't happening fast enough for her. So what did she do?
She got involved.
She told her husband to sleep with her servant to produce a child for her. Did it work? Yes, but did it cause more damage than good...YES IT DID!
That's what always happens when we take matters into our own hands. When will we get that Gods ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts?! :) He doesn't think like us nor does He do things the way we would do them, but the thing we can BE STILL in knowing is He is God and He will ALWAYS do them in a greater way than we ever could do on our own or even imagine in our minds.
Still = devoid of or abstaining from motion.
It all comes down to trust. The ability to be still before Him is all about trusting He doesn't need our meddling or negative speech about our situation. All He wants us to do is read His Word, do what it says and trust He knows what is best.
BE STILL........
Friday, May 4, 2012
In love with the local church
I absolutely love the local church....there I said it!
It was in the local church that I found my relationship with Jesus, that I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. It's where I met and married my husband and where I stepped into the calling God has for my life. Its where I've met the most amazing people that I get to do life with every single day, and dream about the future with them. Its where I've met and had the privilege to lead the most amazing teenagers who I know will continue to go on and change the world we live in.
I LOVE THE LOCAL CHURCH!!
Is it perfect? Absolutely not, but why should we expect it to be? The local church is meant to be a hospital for the broken, a place where we grow up and grow THROUGH our growing pains. Is there the possibility of getting beat up a bit along the way...absolutely! But how foolish are we, if we allow that to get in the way of all God wants and purposed for the local church to do!
I LOVE Psalm 92:12-13 "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green." These verses tell me that those who are PLANTED in the house of God WILL flourish and we will continue to bear good fruit into our old age! How foolish to read that and still think we know better and think we don't need to be rooted in our local church!
One final thought: being planted doesn't mean we come in late each week and fill a seat either. It means we are sold out to the cause, active in the pursuit of winning the lost and serving/loving those who come through our doors each week. We never stop growing, never stop learning and choose to look past the things we may not like and remember there is a greater cause....the cause of Christ!
It was in the local church that I found my relationship with Jesus, that I figured out what I wanted to do with my life. It's where I met and married my husband and where I stepped into the calling God has for my life. Its where I've met the most amazing people that I get to do life with every single day, and dream about the future with them. Its where I've met and had the privilege to lead the most amazing teenagers who I know will continue to go on and change the world we live in.
I LOVE THE LOCAL CHURCH!!
Is it perfect? Absolutely not, but why should we expect it to be? The local church is meant to be a hospital for the broken, a place where we grow up and grow THROUGH our growing pains. Is there the possibility of getting beat up a bit along the way...absolutely! But how foolish are we, if we allow that to get in the way of all God wants and purposed for the local church to do!
I LOVE Psalm 92:12-13 "The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green." These verses tell me that those who are PLANTED in the house of God WILL flourish and we will continue to bear good fruit into our old age! How foolish to read that and still think we know better and think we don't need to be rooted in our local church!
One final thought: being planted doesn't mean we come in late each week and fill a seat either. It means we are sold out to the cause, active in the pursuit of winning the lost and serving/loving those who come through our doors each week. We never stop growing, never stop learning and choose to look past the things we may not like and remember there is a greater cause....the cause of Christ!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)