Get Fit!

A few years back I trained for the Gate River Run. When you first start running you think your run will never end and then all of a sudden something clicks with you and you actually love it. Running for me is a stress reliever and actually it is a time that I can reflect on God's creation and God Himself. It is a great prayer time!

While studying this week for my Sunday School lesson, God reminded me that a race has been placed before me. It is not a physical race, it is a spiritual one. Hebrews 12:1-3, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." 

I can remember when I first made the decision to start running how daunting the task was. I started with a walk to warm up and then I would run for a quarter of a mile. I thought I would never get to the point of running a mile without walking. I was winded, I was tired, my calves hurt, I had blisters...I could go on and on, but you get the picture. There were times I just wanted to stop, but I had a goal set in front of me that I wanted to accomplish. I had to persevere! My body had to be trained to have the correct posture, a proper breathing pattern and most importantly I had to train my mind.

Our lives spiritually are conducive to the same type of training. When the decision has been made to enter into a relationship with Jesus, our training begins. I think so many of us including me, expect our lives to be hassle free because we have Jesus. This is not an accurate assumption. James 1:2-4, states, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." Paul says in Romans that we must "rejoice in our sufferings", because through these sufferings we will yield, you guessed it perseverance! Not only perseverance, but character and hope.

What am I doing to train for the race set before me spiritually? Do I realize the goal....the PRIZE? When training for a race like the River Run, there are definite benefits. You have more energy and you will see your body transform! It is the same when you train spiritually, you have increased endurance, AND your life is being transformed in the likeness of Christ!

When training, there are several obstacles that can be a deterrent. When getting up early to run, I can be hindered by the weather or muscle aches and it is no different for spiritual training! Galatians 5:7-8 (MSG) says, "You were running superbly! Who cut in on you deflecting you from the true course of obedience? This detour doesn't come from the ONE who called you into the race in the first place."There are hinderances that are occur in our life, but we must persevere, keeping our goal in front of us. We are sure to have the proper equipment when running; running shoes, clothing that is comfortable and sometimes we go the extra mile and purchase a pedometer or an awesome application we can add to our phones to help motivate us. The same is indicative in our pursuit of becoming spiritually fit. The training equipment to help us endure the race spiritually should involve  time spent daily in God's Word, find an accountability partner, and fellowship with fellow believers!

A Clean Mirror

"Lukewarm living and claiming Christ's name simultaneously is utterly disgusting to God." by Francis Chan

Over the past month this statement has been prevalent in my life. Scripture tells us to live a life that is holy, I Peter 1:16-16, "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written, 'BE HOLY, BECAUSE I AM HOLY'." In the times we are living, it is so important for us to live this scripture out. I will be the first to ask, how in the world can I live this day in and day out? But God in His "all knowing" character has already answered that! 2 Peter 1: 3-4 states, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires." Are you kidding me? You mean He has given me EVERYTHING I need? Then why is it so hard?

Why is it that we struggle with envy, pride, not being self-controlled, lovers of ourselves, ungrateful, unforgiving....the list goes on and on? We live in a society that has made us believe that it is all about me and my happiness. As a wife, parent, daughter, sister, aunt and friend,  there are so many things I would change. That is if I could go back. John Maxwell said, "I can teach what I know, but I reproduce what I am"! Ouch! Have I lived a life that is lukewarm? Is that what my life has reproduced? Others being lukewarm because of my example? Revelation 3:15-16 reads, "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! so, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit (vomit) you out of my mouth."

Do I live a life that screams, I can do what I want because I know I have a God that will forgive me? It was said to me this past week, "why can't I make a mistake? Others that I have looked up to are choosing to be stupid!" I have replayed this statement in my head over and over and the problem lies in the fact that we have fixed our eyes on others and not on Christ. With that being said, we as Christians have to make sure that our lives reflect Christ! Don't get me wrong, we are going to make mistakes and we do have a God that will forgive, but that is not how I should venture to live my life.

Years ago, I went to children's camp as a chaperone. It is so funny, as an adult you go to help with the children, to counsel them, to be a blessing to them! Oh, let's be honest, I went to make sure my kids were taken care of! On arrival, I quickly found this was not your typical camp. The chaperones did not have to entertain or even prepare Bible study. What? This particular camp was put on by a man of God who had a passion to disciple college students and teach them to love others. The college students were the ones that prepared devotionals, recreation and down time for the kids. So what were we as adults to do? We were being fed spiritually by the leader of this camp.

I will never forget the illustration he gave one night! He had a full length mirror that he held and a light was shown into the mirror, producing a reflector of bright light. This is what he said..."Our lives are like a mirror and they give off a reflection of who we are. If I know Christ as my personal Lord and Savior then my life should be a reflection of Him!" He proceeded to ask if our mirror was clean, so that others would see a reflection of Jesus in our life, or was it dirty? Was the reflection of me and not Jesus? This goes back to John Maxwell's quote, "I can teach what I know, but I reproduce what I am!"

2 Timothy 1:7, "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." Living a life that is lukewarm is not pleasing to God, nor is it what I (we) should be reproducing. Father, help me to keep the mirror you have given me clean, so that others can see a reflection of you and not me. Give me strength to live with the spirit of your power and your love....to be self disciplined.

What Does Geography Have To Do With Prayer?

This past week, I was beyond blessed to have spent the week in New York City with a sweet friend. Our purpose was to encourage and help one of our missionaries with spreadsheet designs and other clerical things he needed. You know it is a "God thing" when you have not signed up for a mission trip of this nature, but have been asked and then the leader splits your cost of the trip with you!

Our week began on Tuesday, with spreadsheets of information that I did not understand, but God in His infinite wisdom began to work on me throughout the week. Being a homeschool mom, I am big on my children knowing their geography. One of the spreadsheets contained information about the Alliance of Small Island States. WOW, there are so many islands that I did not know existed!

The Small Island States is just where God began to work on me. We all know and have been told that there are millions of people who have never heard of Jesus, but the reality of this statement became real this past week. For instance, there is a small island in the Pacific, call Niue. This particular island has about 1,400 hundred in population. Have they heard of Jesus and what He did for us? Has anyone ever prayed for them?

Well, a new homeschool class is being developed in our household (Jenny Beth will be sooooo excited)! We will study a different country every two weeks and pray for the people of that region. We are commissioned to go and tell, but we are also commanded to pray. James 5:16, "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

Sometimes my prayer life revolves around "my four and no more"! But, there is nothing like God using a missionary and his need for a spreadsheet to help shed light on my weakness. I stand in awe how God has used the past 7 months to mold and convict me in the area of prayer, although, I did not realize it until this past week. I am a little slow, so he had to show me in a more profound way (through black and white excel spreadsheets).

Everyone of us have people in our life that are prayer warriors. This became evident to me when our two oldest went away to college. So much encouragement came from these warriors. There has not been one week that has gone by that we have not had someone send us a message or call us just to let us know they were praying for our family. What a testimony! Every time we would get a call, I would think, "I want to be just like them when I grow up"! Little did I know that God was using them to prepare me for what He had in store for me throughout my week in New York.

Prayer is such a vital part of our relationship with God. He tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5: 17 to pray without ceasing. My favorite is found in Matthew 6:6, (MSG) "Here is what I want you to do, find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be temped to role play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God and you will begin to sense His grace." A lot of molding and scraping took place on this clay of mine this week, but I am so thankful that God loves me enough to keep molding me to be just like Him!

Father, Abba, help me to focus on you and your grace. Give me your eyes and heart for others of the world that do not know you! Mold me into a prayer warrior, give me a boldness to share you with others.

Are you wondering where you can go, to find out more information about countries that you can pray for? Here are a few you can start with:

http://joshuaproject.net
http://www.operationworld.org/a-countries
https://www.persecution.com

 A city that NEVER sleeps!

Learning To Let Go and Let God

When our children were young, I can remember thinking, "Goodnight, will they ever be self sufficient". Especially when the twins were babies; I thought they would never be old enough to feed themselves. Just when they were old enough to feed themselves, go to the potty by themselves and even make some decisions on their own, another baby was on the way! The process started yet again. As I sit back and think about how tired I was with two 5 year olds and an infant, those were the days to cherish. Now they are young adults and the baby is now 13 years old.

Lately, the baby, Jenny Beth has wanted to watch home videos, in which has stirred up many different emotions for me. I have laughed, I have cried and even thought, "what was I thinking", that is in reference to hairstyle and clothes! A children's book that we read to them was, Love you Forever by Robert Munsch. At the time it was just another book to read, but recently I have discovered how accurate the words really are. "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living, my baby you'll be" rings in my mind to this very day. No matter how old your children get, they will always be your baby and you will always love them.

As our children grow older and develop who they are as adults, we may not always agree with their thoughts, or their actions, but I cling to Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it". There are many times, we want to help them make the "right" choices; one, because we have been there; two, we have witnessed others experience or three, because we can see the "whole" picture.

If I could give young parents some advice;  teach your children, Matthew 22:37-39, "Jesus replied; 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind', this is the first and greatest commandment, and the second is like it; 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" I truly believe if we as parents would make a point to teach and LIVE OUT this truth to our children from day one, the promise of Proverbs 22:6 will be evident.

I cannot say that Gary and I were always great examples of loving the Lord with all of our hearts or for that matter loving our neighbors, but I am confident that God is always faithful, even when we were not. Through the process of watching our children grow up, we are trying to trust God with them by learning to let go and let God direct their path. They may not always do things right, but I remain hopeful that my God is faithful and He will continue to provide them with direction, even if it hurts them along the way.

Father, give me the strength and discernment to know when to step in on choices that our children are making and when to keep my mouth shut. Help me to let go and let you direct their path.

http://robertmunsch.com/book/love-you-forever