Blessurheart’s Blog

Our sermon on Sunday was about the laments in Psalms.  You know the ones…they are full of sorrow and sometimes rather violent imagery.  I don’t normally read them, except to pull a verse here and there.  They go beyond being depressing.

However…the preacher made an interesting point.  The laments are full of honest human anger and anguish.  Why should we not go to God with our real emotions?  Do we think if we don’t say how angry we are that He won’t know?  Really?

I do like the idea of saying exactly how I am feeling rather than pressuring myself to put it in “Christian speak” or couch it in some other way so that God doesn’t think I am disrespectful or ungrateful.

The preacher even went so far as to say that we should use them as a prayer guide when we are down or unhappy…substituting our problems or issues with those written by the Psalmist (is that spelled right?)

So the preacher is standing up, advocating we really tell God how we feel, not to hold back…and the sky opened up.  Thunder, lightening and more rain than you can imagine.  Preacher’s response was “Either He really agrees with me, or He really doesn’t.”  Got a giggle from the church. 

But I think God agrees.  Nobody likes a yes-man.  We all want honesty in our relationships and that is what we are supposed to be in … a real relationship with God.  So be honest and tell him how you feel.

This has been a long week. One of those weeks that didn’t feel like it would ever be over. But…it’s Friday and I am this close to the weekend. (if you were here, you would see me smiling. A big smile.)

I am going to take a nap.  Read a book.  Lay by the pool.  Make  a cake.  Watch Food Network (especially the Barefoot Contessa.  She is so soothing!).  Listen to Natalie Grant music.  Nothing stressful, only things that make my heart beat slow down and bring a feeling of ease and contentment. 

Sometime I think we take contentment for granted.  It’s not exciting, I guess, but how appealing in this world of hurry and tension that we can find contentment.  I think if we just eliminated the words “economic downturn” from our vocabulary our ability to be content might be easier.  Just a thought.

I just want to revel in the little things. I want the time to be able to focus on the simple pleasures of my life.  The feel of the sun on my skin.  Cool water on my toes.  The smell of the beautiful rose bush I got for Mother’s Day.  A glass of peach iced tea.    The laughter of my daughter as she watches cartoons…all by herself! 

And I want to take time to genuinely focus on the awesome fact that God knows my name.  Not just knows it, but loves me…cares what happens to me…roots for me when things are hard, even when no one else knows I am having a hard time. 

That will surely make me smile.  It’s making me smile now!

I’ve been a little down. Frankly, it is hard for me to write when I am feeling that way. There is no point in depressing the rest of the world and sucking everyone down into my mire.

I believe that I am past it…for today. How did I get past it? First of all, I realized that as I started to be unhappy, I didn’t do the one thing I should have. I didn’t turn to God. I didn’t pray. I didn’t read my bible. Nothing. I felt so alone and, instead of doing what I KNOW will help, I methophorically locked my self away.

So, last night I realized what I was doing.  And..I started talking to God.  I picked up my Bible and was reminded in verse after verse that he is my protector and my strength.  But, only if I allow him to be.

Don’t forget that he is there for you.  Reach for him and he will lift you out of whatever mire you may find yourself in.  I know.

I do not think of myself as strong. Particularly not physically (I’m short and have ZERO upper body strength…not someone to fear.) Neither do I tend to think of myself as strong emotionally.

I have had people tell me that they think I”m strong and I am amazed and, secretly, wonder if they really know who they are talking to. It’s one of those traits I aspire to.

A big reader, I tend to gravitate to stories about strong women. Women who have shown themselves to be strong in the face of adversity. One of my favorites is a book called Letters Of A Woman Homesteader. It’s a true story and one that never fails to make me wish I could be like that woman. (Maybe without the snow that she found in the Dakotas!)

God calls us to be strong.  All of us.  Joshua 1:7 says…Be strong; be resolute; do not be fearful or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.  Those are some very direct statements. He doesn’t ask us to try to be strong, he said Be Strong.  No messing around.  Be Resolute (that means know what you are doing and get to it.).  Do Not Be Fearful or Dismayed.  We’ll talk about the role that fear plays in our lives on another day.  But it’s a biggie, isn’t it?

After the statements, comes the promise…we can always rest on the promises.  For The Lord Your God Is With You Wherever You Go.  Always with you.  In tough meetings, when the kids are behaving in an embarassing fashion at the grocery store, when you are fighting with your husband.  Always.  No matter what.

That gives me strength.  Being strong isn’t something that I can do, but I gain that strength through God.  Because he is always with me.

Want to arm wrestle?

Work has been hard. Family has been going in hundreds of different directions. Just craziness. That is why I am so excited about this long weekend.

I want this opportunity to take things really slowly. Spend time with each of my children individually and have some time to really talk.

It seems like all of our conversations lately have been: “Is your room clean?” “Do you have everything you need for the game?” “Is your homework done?” Nothing that really gets to the heart of them and how they are feeling.

I want to know where they are in their Christian life.  How is their walk with God?  Are they actively seeking him?  Is He a real part of their life and decision making process?

We can’t be afraid to have these conversations with our children.  They are some of the most important ones that parents can initiate.  We are their guides in this part of their Spiritual journey and we can’t guide them if we don’t know where they are and what they are feeling.

We absolutely can’t put these talks off.  Our children need us and need to know that we care about what is going on with them, and most importantly, that we believe that their relationship with God is critical.  They need that grounding and they need it from us.  Let’s make sure they get it.

Just read the newspaper and am…again…stunned at how cruel we can be to one another. Strangers, our families, collegues.

It reminds me of the plea…”Can’t we all just get along?” We use it as a joke now, but it’s not funny. It’s true. Why can’t we?

I heard a sermon once where the pastor said that by nature, we are evil and must work to overcome that. I just don’t believe that. I think that there is a basic goodness in each of us that we can either embrace or ignore.

Don’t misunderstand me. I think that there are a lot of times that it is easier to just be angry and lash out and being kind is the harder choice. But, every time we ignore what we know to be right, it gets easier and easier to do the wrong thing. To react in anger and with ugliness.

Christ’s life should be an example to us, particularly given the love that he showed to all.  Our actions, and reactions, need to be governed by love.  A genuine love for each other.  Imagine what the world would be like if everyone, everywhere, exuded love. 

I’d love to read the newspaper then!

I don’t know what the weather has been like where you live, but in the South, we’ve had nothing but rain lately. Last year it was the drought, this year it is an abundance of rain. But…today it is beautiful. The sun is shining so brightly (I swear I had forgotten what that looked like) and the temperature was an amazing 52 degrees this morning. It actually feels a bit like fall.

Life can be like that. You feel like ALL you are getting is rain…nothing but dreary days, uncooperative people, any number of things that get us down. It is so important to keep in mind that it won’t last. Remember what it tells us in Ecclesiastes 3:4, in every life there is “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”

The hard part is being able to focus on that promise that there will be a time to laugh and a time to dance. And if we don’t look for the opportunity to dance and laugh…even in the middle of the hard times…we might miss it.   It isn’t always clearly delineated into “this is the tough time” and “this is the good time.”  Sometimes they are intertwined.

That means we have to be ready to laugh in the middle of a tough time.  And the beauty of it is…a laugh can lessen a hard situation.  It’s hard to be down when you are smiling!

This weekend, I felt awful. Just sick with the crud. Nothing life-threatening, but bad enough to drive my family away with the whining. So, I didn’t make it to church on Sunday. And no, the “I felt bad” information was not merely a way to make myself feel better about not going (probably).

I did, however, watch a televised sermon. It was on the fact that, even as Christians, we will be judged by God. Being baptised does not mean that we escape the moment where he separates the sheep from the goats.   Did our actions and our life match up to his expectations?

That has always been a bit terrifying to me because, truthfully, I have a hard time believing that he is going to let me in anyway…I am fully aware of my sin.  I have this visual of me right after my death.  I’m taken into a small room with a very large movie screen.  God walks in and explains that we are going to watch a movie of my life.  VERY early in, he stops the movie to ask me for an explanation on why I told my mother that my sister broke the lamp, when very clearly I had broken it?  “So I wouldn’t get a spanking” doesn’t seem like the answer he is looking for, does it?  And….that’s just the beginning.  Not a pretty picture.  Lots of squirmming.

Hopefully, the part that is going to matter is that I truly want to do the right thing (well, not during the broken lamp saga.  I was only looking after my own rear end) and I am trying. 

We are all going to mess up.  Over and over again.  I don’t believe that this is what will matter.  I think if we try to make the wrongs right and genuinely try to be more like Christ in our everyday life, that is what will get us moved into the sheep column.  Becoming “Christ-like” is a process, but we have to keep moving toward the goal of being pleasing in his sight. Don’t be discouraged, just keep trying.

One of my favorite shows is Biggest Loser. It features people who work hard toward a very measurable goal. They have heart and just keep on going in the face of really long odds.

And interestingly, they seem to be pretty supportive of each other. There is very little tension and ugliness. Of course, this is the only season that I have watched so that may not always be the case.  But it just doesn’t seem like so many other reality shows where the contestants are absolutely foul to each other.  It hurts my heart to watch those.

There are lesson for us all from Biggest Loser. First of all…eat healthy food and get your exercise (It’s biblical! Look in Daniel.) But most importantly, as Christians we need to be supportive of each other.   In-fighting and divisiveness are some of the Church’s biggest problems. When we behave that way, the Church is the biggest loser in that equation.

But…what if we all were supportive of each other’s quest to be a better Christian?  Instead of pointing our finger in accusation, what if we helped each other when we stumbled?  We kept confidences instead of turning them into gossip?  Were cheerleaders for the church?  Made it somewhere positive that would attract others, rather than repel them?

That is how we can attract people to Jesus.  We keep our eye on our goal and remember to be supportive of each other, letting love be our guide.

I am driving the other day and the car in front of me is going about ten miles an hour (that may be a mild exageration).  There is no way around them and I am late.  Instead of taking that opportunity to enjoy the scenery and be calm (yeah, right!)…I go tearing around them at the very first opportunity.  And they are talking on the phone, completely oblivious to the traffic jam they are creating. Just jabbering away.

I start just giving them what for…out loud, mind you, even though I am alone in my car and they can’t see me at all.  So, it is a pointless lecture to someone that has no clue they have even been irritating.  By the time I park, I have worked myself into such a state about stupid drivers that there is no way I can even smile.

The point, and this is probably not really news, is that we have to be careful of what we allow to rob us of joy.  Satan, the great enemy of happiness and joy, loves to see us come unglued because someone is driving slowly!  He doesn’t have to do anything but sit back and enjoy the show we put on.  So much for spiritual warfare…we are our own worst enemy!

In Hebrews 12 it says “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so EASILY entangles.”  Be conscious of the things that are hindering you.  You might get frustrated by politics or innocent comments that your children make.  Take the time to figure out what is making you crazy and “throw it off”.  Release the control that it has on you.

I’ll let you know how I’m doing after the drive home.  Pray for me (and the other drivers!)