What Girls Get Wrong

I've been thinking again about how much God loves us. His love is so strong, so pure, He's willing to watch us suffer. Let me explain what I mean. When things happen to us which are painful, we tend to beg and pray that God will resolve the problem quickly, or make it go away. The situation will be really difficult.  Someone we love will be dying.  We'll be down to our last ten dollars, our last rent money.  We'll be struggling with a health issue. We'll be in agony over it, and we let our human perspective blind us. We begin to doubt God, that He is good, that He cares about us or our situation. But the amazing thing, if we take the time to consider, is that God never stopped loving us, or caring about what we're going through.  The Bible is full of verses declaring His love for us. God loved us so much: 1. He sent Jesus to die for us ( John 3:16 ; 1 John 3:16 ).* 2. He calls us who have accepted Christ's sacrifice and Lordship His child...

Some time ago, I wrote a post about how dangerous it is to compare ourselves to others .  Whether your comparisons make you feel bad about yourself, or whether they cause you to feel superior to someone else, the comparing game causes pain. At least, when we're framing it in a me versus you format. Why did God include so many stories of people in the Bible?  If we shouldn't compare, why did He write of Esther and her courage, of Ruth and her diligence, of Tamar and her seduction, of Mary and her obedience, of Naomi and her bitterness? The Bible is ultimately the story of God, His creation, the first man and woman's betrayal, His undying love and sacrifice, and His rescue of mankind from their sin and complete victory over evil.  But along the way, we read of many people, both good and bad, both repentant and in denial. What was the reason for all of these stories?  Was it just to make the Bible longer?  Did God have a word count He wanted to hit, and so ...

"...Who among us doesn't have sin or discouragement? Who among us doesn't fail? There are a million things we don't want to let anybody know about us, but He knows them all. And He is not discouraged about us..." ~ K.P. Yohannan, founder, Gospel for Asia Confession time: I am an overachiever. And while there are a lot of good things that can be said for having that kind of drive, it can also be a very dangerous thing. Being an overachiever means that, if I fail at something, or if I don't get something done on my to-do-list, I feel like I've failed for that day. It doesn't matter if I got five other things done which were really important. I'm unhappy with myself for not getting that one little thing done. For almost the whole month of July, dipping into August, I've been struggling with some health issues, and looking back on it, I feel like this area of my life is what God was trying to teach me about. There have been so many days these...

A while ago I was watching a YouTube video, and I heard a saying I'd never heard before. The girl in the video said that when it came to things you learned in life, you had to "eat the fish and spit out the bones," meaning that you had to decide what you would take from something, that you had to pick and choose what you would accept and what you would reject, what worked for you and what didn't. She used this as an example of how she could participate in yoga even though she doesn't believe in Hinduism. And while I agree with her in regards to yoga, and that this idea can be helpful in some situations (during my counseling classes, I had to decide what theories worked best for my personality and pick and choose between techniques), this idea can also be rather dangerous. You can't pick and choose when it come to God's Word. You can't decide to accept the part about the Flood but reject that God created the earth. You can't decide to acce...

Doubtless you've heard of it. Meditation features in almost every TV show/movie that has an eastern flair or character in it. It's a huge part of New Age practices, and abounds in yoga. It's also in the Bible. More on that in a bit. Meditation has gotten a bad rep from the way people practice it, but it has many benefits. For me personally, I notice I am more focused and calmer on days I take the time for it. And unless you think I've totally gone off the deep end of sanity into some miry pit, check out the Psalms. At least a handful of them talk about meditating (especially Psalm 119 ), though not in the way we hear it described today. Rather than the common "empty your mind" nonsense, the Psalms name something specific we are to fill our mind with: God's Word. You see, meditation as described in the Bible is really just a fancy way of saying focus on/think about. Meditating on God's Word is useful. Meditating on nothing and letting any li...

I love the week between Christmas and New Year's. I mean, absolutely, positively, LOVE it. It's a week I usually spend cleaning (yeah, I love cleaning, it's weird, you can say it), getting a last few things done, and of course spending time with my family and friends. It's a time of dreaming, planning new goals for the year ahead, and just taking time to realize how far I've come over the past twelve months. Basically, I love the new start. All the times I failed over the past year are about to be shoved behind me as a brand new year breaks forth. A new year to go places, meet new people, to set new goals and reach them, a chance to try again on the goals I missed the year before. A new year to grow in my relationship with Jesus Christ. To become more like Him. To know Him better, to learn to trust Him more as He works in my life to bring me to where He wants me to be. You may have heard about a book in the Bible called Lamentations. It's not preached from...

" Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them."  ~ Hebrews 13:7-9 NKJV   I recently watched a documentary about three people who escaped from cults. Yeah, I can be a nerd, but that's another story. These people, a young man and two women, had horrible things done to them, all in the name of "truth." They were abused, raped, convinced to mistreat their family members, persuaded to abandon their families... All because of a horrible lie. Today, we’re too quick to trust. You’ve probably seen and heard the liars on T.V., those men and women who convince people that Jesus is some sort of magic genie rea...

Sometimes, you feel as if you've got nothing more to give. I stared at the screen for a good ten minutes, trying to figure out something, anything to write about. Sometimes it's easy to write something. Sometimes I get an idea that practically writes itself. And sometimes I have to drag the idea out, inch by painful inch. All-in-all, it's not easy a good chunk of the time. A lot of things aren't easy. Being a Christian isn't easy. Taking a stand for what God has taught you, taking a stand against what you know in your heart and from God's Holy Word is wrong, is not easy. Serving God with your all by completing your assignments or grading papers when you rather go eat chocolate chip cookies and watch reruns of Once Upon a Time is not easy. And sometimes (at least I do), we feel completely drained from it. Like we can't go on. Like we have no idea what comes next. What step we should take...what project needs to be finished...how to finish...

So last week, you may have noticed that I posted on Tuesday instead of my usual Monday. I didn't forget, but I had what I feel was a reasonable excuse. I was sick. Like about to throw up sick. I woke up in the morning feeling absolutely terrible. I didn't call out of work, because usually when I feel sick in the morning it disappears within an hour or so. But this time it didn't. It actually got to the point where I had to step out a minute at work to try to avoid losing the few crackers I'd eaten that day. So when I finally got home, nauseated and my brain trying to get out of my skull, I pretty much just went to bed. Monday definitely didn't go my way. And considering I suffered residual symptoms a lot of last week, it wasn't a week of awesomeness for me. It stunk. I had so many plans... Sometimes, though, God lets our plans get spoiled because He has better ones. He allows things to happen so He can turn it around for His glory, so no one ca...

It's almost Thanksgiving here in the U.S.A., and while I don't want to do some cheesy post to tie in with it (I think giving thanks is something we should talk about all year long), I did just want to say that I'm thankful for all of you. I'm thankful that you take the time to read my musings. I'm thankful that you ask questions. I'm thankful when you point out something you disagree with (let's face it, I'm no where near perfect). Some of you I know personally. Some of you I don't know very well. Some of you are my closest friends. Some of you I've never met. But if we had a few minutes, where we could sit and talk together, before we left, there's a few things I'd want you to know. That I pray you realize through the craziness of the season ahead of us, and all year long. So as we rush into Thanksgiving, and into Christmas, please...remember... You are a beautiful woman. Your worth isn't in what you wear. What you lo...

"Make me understand the way of Your precepts; So shall I meditate on Your wonderful works."  ~ Psalm 119:27 NKJV Mondays are tough. But they're awesome. Monday is the most common day for heart attacks . If you don't like your job, it can be tough to get out of bed on Mondays. At the same time, Monday is a day full of possibilities, where our strength's been recovered by the weekend. It's a busy day. An exciting day. A day where we can be overwhelmed, yet thankful for the fresh start. My posts tend to be long (I'm naturally wordy). But for the month of September, I'm going to try to make this series brief. A verse to think on. To meditate on. A few thoughts. That's it. I hope to keep them under 250 words. Because we're busy. And our busyness (at least for me) tends to make us push aside God. But if we just take the time, we find that God can help us get through the crazy hours, the crazy days, ...