Glory From our Troubles

God is reminding me every day that we will have troubles in this world, but that He has already overcome them. "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all" (2 Cor. 4:17). I tend to become overwhelmed very easily with troubles, and my difficulties are so small compared to those in other parts of the world. I am blessed with a warm home, plenty of food to eat, an amazing church, and friends and family that truly bring joy to my life. My troubles, while they might seem like mountains to me, are truly just small hills in the wide picture of this world.

I don't have to be afraid that I will be arrested for going to church. I don't have to worry about being tortured or killed for being a Christian. I am able to afford gifts for my children and to bake yummy Christmas treats with them. My blessings are overflowing!

And yet... there are days when I can barely get out of bed. There are mornings, when the last thing that I want to do is go and cook breakfast for the kids. I have Sunday mornings where I wonder, would they really miss me at church if I decided to just hang out and watch t.v instead? There are days when I am in pain, pain that makes it almost impossible to think of anything else. And, there are times when I wonder, what do I really do all of this for? Why do I go to church, why do I worship, why do I devote so much time to these kids who are, quite frankly, completely oblivious to how much is really involved in keeping our family running?

In every struggle that I have, God is preparing me. He is preparing me for eternal glory. When my daughter rolls her eyes at me for the fifteenth time in the morning, God is showing me how much sweeter it is when I can gently correct her than if I were to start yelling (but sometimes all I really want to do is blow my top). When I am in pain and even the process of walking across the house is too much to bear, God is teaching me empathy and to rely on Him for everything that I need. When I a feeling overlooked, unloved, and taken for granted, I know that God sees me. God loves me, and He loves that I worship Him.

The eternal glory that I will receive when I finally enter the kingdom of God, far outweighs those daily struggles that truly are light and momentary.

How Can I Be Like Christ?

I look around the world today, when we are in the middle of the season that is supposed to be all about celebrating the birth of Christ, and I begin to feel discouraged. I begin to wonder, how can I, a small, broken woman, proclaim Christ to a world that is in so much pain. As I read in Isaiah this morning a few verses jumped out to me:

Isaiah 3:15 "People will oppress each other, man against man, neighbor against neighbor. The young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honored."

Isaiah 5:20 " Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter."

My sweet friends, this is the time that we live in. People are being oppressed in every corner of the world and society celebrates evil and sin. How do I rise above that? How do I show Christ to others? I feel so broken, full of holes. It is so easy for me to look around and feel overwhelmed and terrified of all of the need everywhere around me.

God can shine his light through those broken pieces of my soul. "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness' made his light shine in our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6). Those parts of myself that I'm not so proud of, God can use those to shine his light. He can work with my brokenness to show other broken people the redemptive power of his love.

So, how can I be like Christ? I can take this small, broken woman and I can give her to God. I can spend time in his word. I can choose to obey his commands, and I can love the people that He places in my path. I can choose every day to love God more than myself and to love His people with all of my heart. When everywhere I look around me I see pain and suffering, I can choose to be love and shine just a little bit of light into the darkness of this world.

Honoring the Temple

"Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefor honor God with your bodies." (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

God created me to live a life that brings honor to Him and to help guide other people to a relationship with Him. He gave me my body as a tool to accomplish this goal. I have not been treating this tool as a gift from God. I have been abusing this body by filling it with food that is unhealthy and by not exercising. These habits have led me to be a part of the trend of obesity that we are seeing in our country.

I am a wife and a mother. I am leading three amazing daughters to adulthood, and right now I am showing them that it is not important to keep myself healthy. I want my little girls to grow up to be women who understand the importance of physical health along with a strong relationship with God. I am making this commitment, right now, I will no longer be a slave to food and laziness. I will treat this temple with the honor that it deserves being the house of God.

I am starting my journey with a seven day clean eating challenge. For seven days, I will commit to eating food that is good for me and is fuel for my body. I will need support. I will need to be surrounded by people who, like me, are no longer satisfied with an unhealthy life. Let's begin this important task of being a healthy servant of God together.

Even When I Don't Feel Worthy

I know that God created me by design. He has plans for my life, plans for a future that will glorify Him. So, why are there some days when I can hardly pull myself out of bed? Why do I wake up some mornings and still find myself wondering why I even bother to function at all? I believe in God. I love God. Doesn't that mean that I should no longer struggle with my own worth?

How I wish that was the case! God loves me exactly the way He created me, but sometimes I don't love myself so much. I have a supportive husband, three amazing kids, and a church family that supports us no matter what. And yet, sometimes I look in the mirror and wonder why I am even allowed to be a part of the family of God. If they really knew what I looked like inside, who I really am, the thoughts that I sometimes think... they wouldn't want me anymore. I know that I am not the only one sitting in that worship center wondering if I belong, if I should even be there, if my belief in God is really strong enough to live a life devoted to following Him.

I was reading in Ephesians this morning and I read chapter 5 verses 1-2. They say, "Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." I am a dearly loved child of God, with my internal struggles and all. He loves me so much that he was willing to endure torture and death on a cross for me. So maybe, like Paul, I will struggle with this thorn for my entire life. Maybe there will always be days when I wake up and feel like I am not worthy of God's love. But even though I feel that way, it is so far from the truth. God loves me. Me! The girl who doesn't have it all together. The mother who wonders if I am screwing my kids up for the rest of their lives. The wife who thinks my husband is way too good for me. The woman who sometimes wonders why I bother to get out of bed at all. And even if I was the only one to save, Jesus still would have hung on the cross for me. So, even when I don't feel worthy, God tells me that I truly am.

Worrying About Tomorrow

Tomorrow wraps up my first college term, two classes down and a million more to go. I look at my degree completion plan and all of the courses that I have before me and I feel overwhelmed, like there is no way that I will be able to complete this journey that I started.

The other night one of my seven year old daughters told me that she was worried about some tests that she had coming up at school. I told her, “Honey, God doesn't want us to worry about tomorrow. He says that today has enough worries of it’s own. Have you studied?” Her answer was yes. “Did you practice test taking?” Another yes. “Then you have nothing to worry about.”

Man I’m good at giving advice to my kids…. Not so good at following that same advice. Here I am looking at 7 years of school to become a Christian Counselor and worrying about the next six and a half of them. Sometimes I doubt my sanity in starting college now, at 32 with a husband, three amazing daughters, and a day job. I kind of like hanging out with that guy I married and playing with my kids, I have to work so that we have a house to live in and food to eat, what makes me think that I can jump into full time college on top of all of that? I have felt God stirring in my heart for years about gaining my degree and becoming a counselor, from my own struggles to all of those friends that I met for coffee so that we could work through an issue. I started school with a heart full of optimism and my “I can do anything” attitude. It didn't take long for me to begin feeling like maybe I had jumped in with both feet a little bit too soon.

Do you know what made me feel that way? That dang degree completion plan that lists out every single class that I will have to take in order to receive my degree. I found myself up last night stressing out about an internship that I don’t have to do for another three years. I was seriously worked up about how I was going to work and do an internship and still have time for all of the things that my family depends on me for. Talk about worrying about tomorrow.

I know that God placed it on my heart to be a counselor. I know that I am fully capable of carrying a full time college schedule and a part time job. I know that every day when I line up my schedule for work, school, kids, and housework, it is all doable. I have already experienced weeks when I get behind and have to ask that incredible man I married to help me out a little bit more. The kids have learned how to load and unload the dishwasher, sweep and vacuum the floor, and operate the washing machine; it was probably about time for that to happen anyway. I know I can do this with God’s help and guidance. I will focus on what He has asked me to worry about today, and tomorrow, well I’ll get to that when I get there.

Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (NIV)

Dealing with temptation

Matthew 4:10, "Jesus said to him, 'Away from me Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.' "

Can you imagine going forty days and forty nights with no food? How about staying in the wilderness with nothing but the clothes on your back? Then someone comes along who tells you to turn the rocks into bread and that you can have all of the wealth in the world. Now, imagine having so much trust and love for the Lord your God that, even though you are weak and hungry, you combat those temptations with truth from scripture. In everything, Jesus is an example for the way that we should live.

I wake up every morning determined that I am going to be that great, patient, loving mom who never yells at her kids or is late to an appointment. I will handle everything that comes my way during the day with grace and kindness. Usually, I make it for the first hour of the day. (My kids are still in bed during the first hour of my day.) As soon as the busyness of my day begins to sink in, my great intentions go out the window. I find myself snapping at the kids because they just spilled the milk, again. We rush out the door to get to work and school and I feel helpless again that I have spent the first few hours of my day being frustrated instead of loving.

I know that with God, all things are possible, even a peaceful morning with my three children. I want to rely on God's word in my times of temptation to loose my temper with my children. So, that is going to be my goal going forward. I will take an extra breath and recite a scripture instead of giving into the temptation to get angry. I think I will focus this week on Proverbs 15:1, "A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." I am going to focus on giving gentle answers and staying away from the temptation of anger.

Christ Lives In Me

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me." Gal 2:20

When I think about the person that I was before I fell in love with Jesus, I am struck with amazing gratitude. If I had been left to my own devices, I know that I would not be where I am today. I can’t even begin to imagine the direction my life would have gone had I not discovered the love that Christ has for me. As a Christian, I am no longer a slave to the sin that used to rule my life. When Christ saved us, he replaced that old person with a new person that is free to live a life without sin.

Now, this doesn’t mean that I never sin. I sin every day, but that sin does not rule my life. This life that I live in my sinful body is guided by my faith in Jesus. He loved me so much, that he died for me. He endured suffering and even crucifixion because He loves me that much. My response to the knowledge of God’s sacrifice for me is to give my life to Him. I follow Him and I live my life knowing that my every action is a reflection of Christ living in me. I need to remind myself every morning before I walk out the door that when people see me, they are seeing the one that I serve.

Dear Lord, please keep your Son in the front of my mind throughout my day. Help me to remember that when people see me, they see you. Thank you so very much for sending Jesus to die for me. I love you Lord. In your Son’s amazing name, Amen.