I have been reading some hard impacting Christian books lately. I recently finished Kyle Idleman's Not A Fan and am currently reading both Mark Batterson's The Circle Maker and Kyle Idleman's Gods at War. Can I just say that I absolutely love all of these books?!?! I love the challenges they lay out before me to improve my walk as a Christian! My eyes have been opened up to ways I need to stop listening to what the world is saying and tune in to what God is saying. Where exactly are my security and peace of mind anchored? What are my idols? Am I praying God-sized prayers with the full understanding that NOTHING is impossible with God?
The only thing that is hard about this journey I am on is that my husband seems to believe he needs to keep pace with me...and he becomes very discouraged that he is not in the same place as me at the same time. I am constantly telling the kids not to compete in EVERYTHING with each other. They are each at different levels of understanding...seems obvious when you are a child and you are literally learning different things at different grade levels. Somehow that translation becomes lost when you become an adult.
I think we, as adults, become harder on ourselves when we see someone further along the path and we wish to find a shortcut. One thing I have learned in my relationship with God, there are no shortcuts. He has you exactly where you are for a reason. Work with God through the experience. Fighting Him to skip steps can be counterproductive, extending the trial you are walking through rather than shortening it. Praise Him through the trial rather than complaining about why you are still enduring. If I ever begin to feel discontent I know I need to do a spiritual check and put myself back in the right relation to God...forever thankful and in awe. Nothing in this life matters more than my relationship with God. It took me a long time and a hard road to figure that one out. And I refuse to back down on that! I am not going to be moved off of my rock!
I am weary of being asked to fill God-sized holes. I recently read that if a person is constantly disappointing us and we are overly critical of them, we are asking them to play a god in our life. Yes! This struck such a resonant cord in my deepest being!!! How do I stay strong when someone is trying to put me in this role? How do I remain kind and encouraging when the requests/demands are relentless? That is my current struggle. I pray God can fill me from his endless reserves, and I try to do my best in pointing the way back to God. After all, with God ALL things are possible!!! It's time to start circling that promise and pray as though I really believe it.
More than anything else, I want to be living in God's will!
Jeanine
Friday, August 23, 2013
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
What are words for?
I have been reading so many scriptures and teachings, and even secular books, lately that have been dealing with words: the power they contain to both bring life and death. What we speak is perhaps the most difficult area of self-control with which we will struggle.
I am simply trying to clearly state that there are no excuses for when we use our tongue for evil. Letting our emotions get the better of our tongues does not excuse the words that have been given flight in a sudden flurry of activity. And we would do well to remember that, once a word is said, it cannot be taken back...there is no delete button that will erase it from the receiver's memories. No matter what others say to us, do to us, push us toward...we still have a choice.
So who will join me and try to focus on speaking life giving words? I want to be a source of joy! How about you?
Jeanine
All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. --James 3:7-8We are each responsible for the words that come out of our mouth. No one forces us to say anything...we do it of our own free will. Some of us use words more loosely than others. I know what it feels like to be at the receiving end of an unfettered tongue...and I'm sure many others out there do, too. I am not claiming to be innocent of this crime myself...I have been guilty of speaking without restraint as far as tone and content. I am a human being in a fallen world and am by no means anywhere near perfect!
I am simply trying to clearly state that there are no excuses for when we use our tongue for evil. Letting our emotions get the better of our tongues does not excuse the words that have been given flight in a sudden flurry of activity. And we would do well to remember that, once a word is said, it cannot be taken back...there is no delete button that will erase it from the receiver's memories. No matter what others say to us, do to us, push us toward...we still have a choice.
A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control. --Proverbs 29:11
He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin. --Proverbs 13:3I am working very hard at having more self-control over this volatile muscle. And when I fail (which I will from time to time), I attempt to make my apologies as soon as I can without excusing it. I take full responsibility for what comes out of my mouth. In a world that wants to teach us to shirk responsibility, I am walking against the crowd. I am opting to try to really think before I speak. I am attempting to put a filter in place that will help me guard against harmful speech. This may mean that I need to disengage from a heated conversation or to go quiet. I am hoping that each day, with God's help, it will become an easier task to bear.
So who will join me and try to focus on speaking life giving words? I want to be a source of joy! How about you?
Jeanine
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Rediscovering the Power of Prayer
This is something of a theme that has been building in life around me for a while now...not sure I can even place the beginning. I do know that it got a huge spotlight when my church began it's Audacious Prayers campaign. Praying that God would show audacious powers in our church through our prayers. Huh, what a concept, right? I think we often forget just how powerful a tool prayer really is. Yet it is spelled out for us time and again in the Bible:
Be bold! Request a miracle! God is sovereign and capable of ANYTHING. He is a God of miraculous wonders! It is only us that minimize God's abilities, not God. There is no harm in asking God to do something this world will tell you is impossible.
Does this mean that God answers all of our prayers in the way that we want him to? Absolutely not! Do we, as parents, give our children everything they ask for? Only God truly knows what is best for us, and we can trust Him to handle our requests without our directing Him. Many become disenchanted with prayer because they feel God is not answering their prayers (God is not immediately giving them what they have requested). May I suggest that God wants us to place all of our requests at His feet, and then let them go? This includes letting go of what the outcome will be. This does not mean God is limited and unable to respond immediately...it may just mean that He has something better in mind in His perfect timing. Don't give up praying!
I have my own prayers that are yet unanswered, but I am choosing to continue to boldly go before God in prayerful petition. I am asking Him to do wondrous things, having full faith in the fact that He can if He so chooses. I believe God! Not because of what He can do for me, but because of who He is.
I pray that God matures and increases my prayer life, and helps me teach its importance to my children. I pray the same for you.
Jeanine
If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.
Matthew 21:22
The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
James 5:16b
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6-7
Be bold! Request a miracle! God is sovereign and capable of ANYTHING. He is a God of miraculous wonders! It is only us that minimize God's abilities, not God. There is no harm in asking God to do something this world will tell you is impossible.
Everything is possible for him who believes.
Mark 9:23
Does this mean that God answers all of our prayers in the way that we want him to? Absolutely not! Do we, as parents, give our children everything they ask for? Only God truly knows what is best for us, and we can trust Him to handle our requests without our directing Him. Many become disenchanted with prayer because they feel God is not answering their prayers (God is not immediately giving them what they have requested). May I suggest that God wants us to place all of our requests at His feet, and then let them go? This includes letting go of what the outcome will be. This does not mean God is limited and unable to respond immediately...it may just mean that He has something better in mind in His perfect timing. Don't give up praying!
I have my own prayers that are yet unanswered, but I am choosing to continue to boldly go before God in prayerful petition. I am asking Him to do wondrous things, having full faith in the fact that He can if He so chooses. I believe God! Not because of what He can do for me, but because of who He is.
I pray that God matures and increases my prayer life, and helps me teach its importance to my children. I pray the same for you.
Jeanine
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Proof in Us
I was woken in the middle of the night last night with the below thoughts swirling around in my head. I could not fall back asleep until I had decided that I had to get them out in writing. So here is my nighttime meditation:
I've come across many people in my life that have the attitude of believing that God's existence needs to be proven for them to have faith. As in scientifically proven with irrefutable evidence that can be seen and touched by everyone. I am one of many who believes that the proof of God surrounds us every day in our world.
There is something within us that responds to the creations of God. An uplifting of the soul upon the sight of some beauty in nature...a rainbow, sunrise, sunset, waterfall, perfectly formed snowflake, newborn child, the list is endless. The proof is in us. In how we respond to the glory of God's creation. That unmistakable part within us that stops in awe, perhaps even for a moment, that takes our breath away. Every single one of us has the proof of God's existence within ourselves. We were created with a part of us knowing there is a God. The difference lies in whether you accept Him or reject Him.
Coming back to science...there was no irrefutable proof in his lifetime that Copernicus' theory of the earth revolving around the sun was fact. He had to have a certain amount of faith, believing what he could not see. There are medical miracles that occur every single day that doctors are not able to explain, yet the proof that it happened is right there in front of them. They have the facts but lack the faith to believe it could be divine intervention.
Maybe what we lack is not proof but rather faith.
For those of you struggling with whether God exists, I will be praying for your unbelief to be transformed into belief. And what a glorious day that will be!!!
Jeanine
I've come across many people in my life that have the attitude of believing that God's existence needs to be proven for them to have faith. As in scientifically proven with irrefutable evidence that can be seen and touched by everyone. I am one of many who believes that the proof of God surrounds us every day in our world.
For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature -- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
Romans 1:20The world around us can be explained scientifically as to the "how"...how is a rainbow formed? how does a sunrise or sunset create the hues of orange, red, etc.? But I would like to challenge everyone to consider that it doesn't explain the "why". Why is it necessary that a rainbow or colorful sunrises and sunsets exist at all? Why is every single snowflake unique in it's creation and, when fallen together, sparkle with such beauty? The answer for me is quite simple...so that we might know and recognize God.
There is something within us that responds to the creations of God. An uplifting of the soul upon the sight of some beauty in nature...a rainbow, sunrise, sunset, waterfall, perfectly formed snowflake, newborn child, the list is endless. The proof is in us. In how we respond to the glory of God's creation. That unmistakable part within us that stops in awe, perhaps even for a moment, that takes our breath away. Every single one of us has the proof of God's existence within ourselves. We were created with a part of us knowing there is a God. The difference lies in whether you accept Him or reject Him.
Coming back to science...there was no irrefutable proof in his lifetime that Copernicus' theory of the earth revolving around the sun was fact. He had to have a certain amount of faith, believing what he could not see. There are medical miracles that occur every single day that doctors are not able to explain, yet the proof that it happened is right there in front of them. They have the facts but lack the faith to believe it could be divine intervention.
Maybe what we lack is not proof but rather faith.
For those of you struggling with whether God exists, I will be praying for your unbelief to be transformed into belief. And what a glorious day that will be!!!
Jeanine
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