Enjoying the Journey

I am a worrier. I always have been. So when I am asked to do something totally out of my comfort zone or that I am afraid of, imagine how magnified my worry gets!

I like to play “what if” in my head. What if something happens to one of my family members? What if something happens to me? What if someone gets sick? What if we have an accident? What if I am not a good parent? What if? What if? What if?

Recently, David was asked to go to Las Vegas for work. He asked me to join him since he would have a lot of down time. Worry immediately set in. I do not like to fly! I know statistically people will say it’s safer but I like my feet to be on the ground! I knew how much it would mean to him though. Yes, we will be traveling the weekend before. Yes, we will be traveling the weekend of, returning from the mountains just to catch a flight several hours later. Yes, the girls have school and our families are out of town. But yes, I need to go and I will go.  

As usual, God spoke to me exactly what I needed to hear. The first time he used my pastor. His sermon was titled “When God’s People Pray” and was out of Acts 12. Peter was put in prison to be killed to keep him from spreading the gospel. And what did Peter do? He slept! Now I know many nights I can’t sleep and it wasn't from being in prison. But Peter had faith. And like the pastor said, we don’t have to have perfect faith, just have to have faith. We can’t let Satan rob us of our joy.

He also used Lifeway’s Journey devotional magazine. The day we arrived my devotion was titled The Abundant Life.

“His Son came to give us life and life to the fullest (John 10:10). That abundant life starts here and now, and will only get better when we enter into eternity.”

It also goes on to say “Christians should be the first to enjoy this beautiful life God has given us because we have the hope of eternity in our hearts…….”

So yes I prayed for safe travels. But I also prayed to actually enjoy the opportunities to travel and take in all that God has created. And I am happy to report I actually did!

What will you do to enjoy the life God has given you?

God speaks through Candy Crush

Note: This was written a couple of years ago.

I love games. I always have. My younger brother got a Nintendo for his birthday way back when and I feel bad am happy to say I made it to the end, saving Princess Peach, before he did. And I didn’t even have the handy dandy internet to give me cheats and hints on how to do it. So with all the games on portable technology now, you can imagine how much fun I have!

I have to say, though, God can even use Candy Crush to speak to us. When it first came out, I LOVED to play this game and couldn’t believe once I used my 5 lives, I had to wait for more. I loved the game but I was not one to actually pay for more lives or pay to advance to another level.

I was so excited when I discovered that my virtual friends, as my husband calls my Facebook friends, could actually give me lives. I was even more excited when I realized I could hold on to them and save them. It took discipline but by being frugal, my lives little by little accumulated so I didn’t have to wait for them to be replenished. I was good about playing a few rounds and then moving on to something more productive. And if I happened to have “extra” time (which really means I was procrastinating something I really didn’t want to do), I could play more than 5 lives since I had some accumulated. Wahoo!

So imagine my horror when I went to open the app to play and discovered that all 60-something lives were GONE! What??? I have no idea what happened though it may have to do with playing the same account on more than one device.

How often do we try to save our earthly lives? Yes, we should take care of the bodies God has given us. However, we can sometimes obsess over this or in my case, not enjoy life because of “what could happen”. Even more importantly, do we save our lives for ourselves? Do we use our lives to do all the things we want to do instead of what God wants us to do?

Matthew 16:25 “If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.” NLT

And just so you know, I probably have hundreds of Candy Crush lives out there………I have moved on. 

It’s All About Me!

How many of us actually say that out loud? I know I would never want to come across so self-centered. But how many times do our thoughts and actions actually say that for us?

When I went to camp a couple of weeks ago with our church, while the children were in their Bible studies, the adults also had a time to reflect on the word. One day there were stations around the room with Bible verses and thought provoking questions, sometimes even an action to perform.

The scripture reading for one station was Ephesians 5:15-18 and said this:

God commands us to be continually filled with Holy Spirit. God must do the “filling” and we must yield our lives to Him. To be “filled” with the spirit is not a command to get more of Him, but rather to give more of ourselves to Him.

I don’t know about you but when I think about my Christian walk, I sometimes think about what I can get out of it rather than what I can give to God. Sure, I can teach Sunday school and feel good that I am serving God. But it’s not about me feeling good. It’s about planting seeds in the hearts of the children. Being a crew leader for VBS? No problem. But when you look deep in my heart, you will see the dread of long evenings and getting kids to bed late. There again, I put the focus back on me.

The reflection portion of that station read this:

While a piano is capable of making beautiful music, it is useless unless someone plays it. Without the filling of the Holy Spirit, we are like a piano without a player. We have been called to live supernatural lives and do supernatural things, which we cannot do by our own power.

Take a few moments and simply ask God to take His rightful place on the piano bench of your life. Remember that Holy Spirit always works in such a way that He shines the spotlight on Jesus. Spend a few moments simply being still in His presence. Ask Him to focus your ambitions and passions on the person and mission of Christ!

Coming Down from the Mountain

Have you ever had such a good feeling that you were kind of sad when it went away?

Recently, I attended Lifeway’s CentriKid camp with my oldest daughter and our church. Let me begin by saying that though I enjoy going places, I also enjoy my bed and my shower. But I thought it would be a good opportunity to spend some one-on-one time with Madison. And to be honest, I knew I would feel better about being there with her than at home wondering how she was doing.

As it became time to pack and get ready to go, I was beginning to wonder what I was getting myself into. What a wonderful thing that “what” turned out to be!

I guess in my every day routine of being a wife and mom, I can forget that I am also a daughter of God. Responsibilities, distractions, and everything in between often get in the way of my spiritual path.  Well, let’s be honest, I let them get in the way. And sometimes, I’m just too tired to stop them.

Despite the early wake up calls, the late bedtime prayers, and lots of stuff in between, the week was spiritually energizing. It was a week where the main focus was to do just that: focus on God and our relationship with Him, a week to worship God. I feel God often speaks to me through music so what a treasure that was! It was a week to remember He is all we need.

The key verse that week was Philippians 4:19. “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”

What a perfect place to remember that verse. Who cared if the beds were made? I couldn’t do laundry. All the meals were prepared for me and even the dishes were washed afterwards. And though I am somewhat ashamed to admit I was thankful to have my cell phone, there were none of those things we allow to get in the way of our spiritual path. I felt so joyous and at peace coming down from that mountain.

Now that I am back at home, I have been thinking about that week and how I felt. As I was listening to one of the songs I heard at camp, God whispered, “You can feel that way here too!” He is always here waiting for us to come to Him. In fact, He longs for us to come to Him. Part of the lyrics of the song I was listening to are:

So to the cross I run, Your arms reach out for me, You gave your life so I could be set free.

Though Satan tries to tell us otherwise, we can worship God through those responsibilities and distractions that are often called wife and mother.

And for those who are familiar with Jeff Slaughter's "Humpty Dumpty" song, I can still do that “Ain’t that funky” dance here at home.

Why?

That is the question I ask a lot. Right now I ask "why am I trying to start a blog?" I definitely have plenty of things to do otherwise.

I love reading blogs and am often inspired by some that I read. Every now and then I feel inspired by something myself and want so share it with someone.

I definitely didn't get the creative genes in my family. Hence, the "so-so" name of my blog. My name is Faith and a lot of what I feel inspired to share is about my faith so there you go.

Til next time................