One of my favorite things to do after I wake up is to sit in my bed and think about everything that I have to do during the rest of the day, week, and sometimes month. It is like my brain goes at full throttle in the morning and I all of a sudden become aware of the mass amount of things that I have going on which I somehow don't realize during the rest of the day. Take this morning for instance, I woke up and started thinking about the retreat I have to finish planning that starts in two weeks; the youth art project that comes a week after that; and what I will be talking about for church tonight. Probably what should be considered the most stressful of these things is the retreat.
In school I have planned retreats and camps and teachings and putting everything together but this is the first time that I have actually had to do it for real. I know how much work goes into planning a retreat and I know that I only have a short amount of time to finish up what I am going to do about worship, teachings, fun activities, and everything else that goes along with it but I'm not worried. I mean seriously I feel a bit rushed now to quickly try and figure things out or put things together but ultimately I am not worried about it. I have a ton of things I need to do and get done and I might be the one having to do a lot of the work but I'm not worried at all. This only comes from God.
I am completely at peace with everything that is going on and I am not stressed out at all (even though there really is a lot of stuff that I have going on right now). I started to stress out about the retreat at the beginning stage of putting it all together and God asked me one question, the same question He always asks me, "Do you trust me?" Following that He told me that He would take care of everything and that I had nothing to worry about. Okay, so if God says that I have nothing to worry about than I think it really means that I have nothing to worry about. But I don't have a worship leader. I have to plan teachings for 4 days of a retreat, I have to put together teachings for regular Sundays/Wednesday. I don't know where any of the money for the students to go to camp is going to come from. In the midst of all these things God still says, "You have nothing to worry about."
I am trusting in God to put it all together. I am trusting in God to provide the money and lead me in what He would have me do for teachings/worship/activities. If this retreat and if this ministry is something that God has called me to do than He is going to put it all together and I have nothing to worry about other than to make sure I am not sitting around being lazy and just waiting for something to happen instead of walking out in Faith.
Good thing I don't have anything to worry about because I would be pretty stressed out right now if I did.
B.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Monday, July 5, 2010
Death or Peace Which Do You Think is Better?
Romans 8:6 says “to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” In this scripture Paul is giving us a tool for recognizing when we take our thoughts or our minds off of Christ and spiritual things and on to worldly things. When we lose focus of God in the midst of all of our situations and His dominion over our entire lives we lose our peace and we lose our joy for life. In this life we live we deal with so many crazy situations that tempt us to take our eyes off of the Father because when we do we become overwhelmed, stressed out, afraid, or depressed. When we are walking in the Spirit those things have no hold on our lives because we are focused on the abiding presence of the living God within our hearts that gives us abundant life in the midst of our seemingly poor situations.
For me, I have to admit, it has been far too easy to take my eyes of the Creator. The enemy has distracted me with so many different things that I have lost sight of what really matters and have been caught up in the fleshly thing. Being caught up in what surrounds me has caused me to become overwhelmed, stressed out, depressed, and afraid because I have focused on the issues that have come up rather than the God who is bigger than all things. I know that in the midst of all these things God has a great calling on my life and that He loves me more than I could ever comprehend but when I get caught up in what is going on in the flesh I lose sight of all those things and all I want to do is run away from it all rather than press on towards the goal.
So, I pray for all of us who have been distracted that God places our eyes on Him and we lose sight of the flesh.
B.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Jogging With the Sunrise
Last night I had this Ridiculous idea that I should try and go to sleep before 10pm. I don't really know what came over me. I was bored, tired, grumpy, and started to get a little bit depressed which normally means i need to go to bed because I am letting myself get overwhelmed by things that I don't really have any control over. So guess what? I went to bed at 9:30pm. I was actually really excited when i started falling asleep before 10 because I knew that I would wake up early and I thought to myself that it would be a perfect chance to get up in the morning and go jogging. I had no idea what time I would wake up but I figured it would still be nice and cool outside no matter what time i woke up. Sure enough I woke up at 5am before the sunrise and decided to go jogging right when the sun had come over the mountains.
It is amazing how the morning or the next day can bring so many new and clear perspectives to the things going on around me. Lately, it feels like every day I get overwhelmed with a heavy heart for the people or students that are around me who are dealing with tough situations and my instant reaction is to figure out a way in which I can help. The problem is I can't really do much of anything to help the situation but for some reason I have a hard time believing that. I think the reason is I want to help others so bad that I won't let myself believe that there is nothing that I can do about the situation. And this is the truth, that there is nothing that I can do about the situation but I believe and trust in a God who can.
Sometimes it doesn't feel like praying is enough. I don't know if you ever feel this way yourself but sometimes, even though I know God is big enough, I still want to do something more, I still want to try and fix the problem myself. Maybe this comes from me being the oldest and being independent but for whatever reason I find myself praying less and thinking about ways that i can help the situation. Instead, what I really need to be doing is giving ever situation and every person and their struggles over to the Lord of all Creation because He is the Heavenly Father and how much more can the Heavenly Father give than I? I mean honestly what can I really accomplish on my own strength or what can any of us accomplish without Him? Anything that I could do in comparison to what God does would pale in comparison.
So my prayer for all who are going through difficult situations is that you would see the face of the Father in every sunrise and know that He holds you in His hand and has no plan to ever let you go. And, may the God of Heaven and Earth continue to provide for you everything you need to live and follow Him everyday of your life.
B.
It is amazing how the morning or the next day can bring so many new and clear perspectives to the things going on around me. Lately, it feels like every day I get overwhelmed with a heavy heart for the people or students that are around me who are dealing with tough situations and my instant reaction is to figure out a way in which I can help. The problem is I can't really do much of anything to help the situation but for some reason I have a hard time believing that. I think the reason is I want to help others so bad that I won't let myself believe that there is nothing that I can do about the situation. And this is the truth, that there is nothing that I can do about the situation but I believe and trust in a God who can.
Sometimes it doesn't feel like praying is enough. I don't know if you ever feel this way yourself but sometimes, even though I know God is big enough, I still want to do something more, I still want to try and fix the problem myself. Maybe this comes from me being the oldest and being independent but for whatever reason I find myself praying less and thinking about ways that i can help the situation. Instead, what I really need to be doing is giving ever situation and every person and their struggles over to the Lord of all Creation because He is the Heavenly Father and how much more can the Heavenly Father give than I? I mean honestly what can I really accomplish on my own strength or what can any of us accomplish without Him? Anything that I could do in comparison to what God does would pale in comparison.
So my prayer for all who are going through difficult situations is that you would see the face of the Father in every sunrise and know that He holds you in His hand and has no plan to ever let you go. And, may the God of Heaven and Earth continue to provide for you everything you need to live and follow Him everyday of your life.
B.
Friday, July 2, 2010
You Can Feel Homeless Even If You Have A House
What is life without a home, wandering from place to place with nowhere to go? No place you can call your own, no place to feel secure. Can you have hope when you have no home, when you have no love?
Home isn't necessarily the one place you go to sleep at but it is all the people your around and the atmosphere in which you feel loved and cared for. So in this context what is life without a home? I work with youth struggling with this same problem. Maybe there are people all around them that love them but then why do they not feel loved. I think many of us deal or have dealt with this same thing. We live in a society that is crowded with people who have been raised in broken homes and unhealthy environments. Even in my life there were so many times where I never felt like I had a home.
Each person has their own reasons as to why they feel this way but, as a community, do we care enough to find out the reasons why? For some of us it isn't that we don't care but we are afraid. I think what scares some of us is finding out that the kids we love or the people we love don't feel at home or cared for when they are around us. I mean, what would happen if we were part of the reason why people or youth felt like they had no home? How would you respond? If it was in your power to do something about it or change would you? It's so easy for us to push the blam on to something or someone else rather than take responsibility for our own actions and recognize that every decision we make effects the people around us. It is easy to completely ignore the effects of our decisions when we believe that we have a right to do something or when we are walking in a selfish mindset. Also, our interactions with other people effect the people around us, whether we are aware of it or not.
Take kids for example, in a household their parents relationship and interaction directly effects them. Yelling and arguing in the home increases the stress levels of the kids in the home and can cause them to being to feel isolated or alone and possibly lead to the child mimicking the parents behavior. Every interaction that parents have within a household and everything that goes on within that environment directly effects the children within the home, even if the parents don't expect it to. Similarly our interactions with others can effect those who are around us.
So, if part of why people don't feel comfortable or loved or cared for when they are around us is in part because of our interaction with others then we need to find a way to change, or at least be aware of our actions. The challenging part is finding a way to get those who are hurting to be honest with us about whatever is keeping them from feeling "at home" when they are with us. If we are the ones directly causing a person to feel as though they have no home than it is even less likely they would be honest with us. If they are our kids or one of our students it is even more difficult to get them to be hones (not in all cases of course) because they don't want to hurt us or disrespect us or make us mad or cause us to think badly about them.
One of my biggest concerns for people dealing with these kinds of situations is that rather than "listening" to what the other person, or child, has to say they become defensive . In these kinds of situations it doesn't help to get defensive or give reasons/excuses for our actions. Doing this will, or could, wind up causing a person to shut down rather than continue to be honest, especially youth. If you begin to get defensive with a kid they will shut down or you willf just find yourself getting into an argument. However unique a situation is it requires a lot of love, grace, and patience which I believe can only come from God. It would be Seriously Ridiculous for us to try and go into any type of situation like this and rely on our own wisdom and knowledge. It has to be God in us who gives us the supernatural ability to listen, love, and be honest ourselves.
So, may God help us to be quick to listen and slow to speak.
B.
Home isn't necessarily the one place you go to sleep at but it is all the people your around and the atmosphere in which you feel loved and cared for. So in this context what is life without a home? I work with youth struggling with this same problem. Maybe there are people all around them that love them but then why do they not feel loved. I think many of us deal or have dealt with this same thing. We live in a society that is crowded with people who have been raised in broken homes and unhealthy environments. Even in my life there were so many times where I never felt like I had a home.
Each person has their own reasons as to why they feel this way but, as a community, do we care enough to find out the reasons why? For some of us it isn't that we don't care but we are afraid. I think what scares some of us is finding out that the kids we love or the people we love don't feel at home or cared for when they are around us. I mean, what would happen if we were part of the reason why people or youth felt like they had no home? How would you respond? If it was in your power to do something about it or change would you? It's so easy for us to push the blam on to something or someone else rather than take responsibility for our own actions and recognize that every decision we make effects the people around us. It is easy to completely ignore the effects of our decisions when we believe that we have a right to do something or when we are walking in a selfish mindset. Also, our interactions with other people effect the people around us, whether we are aware of it or not.
Take kids for example, in a household their parents relationship and interaction directly effects them. Yelling and arguing in the home increases the stress levels of the kids in the home and can cause them to being to feel isolated or alone and possibly lead to the child mimicking the parents behavior. Every interaction that parents have within a household and everything that goes on within that environment directly effects the children within the home, even if the parents don't expect it to. Similarly our interactions with others can effect those who are around us.
So, if part of why people don't feel comfortable or loved or cared for when they are around us is in part because of our interaction with others then we need to find a way to change, or at least be aware of our actions. The challenging part is finding a way to get those who are hurting to be honest with us about whatever is keeping them from feeling "at home" when they are with us. If we are the ones directly causing a person to feel as though they have no home than it is even less likely they would be honest with us. If they are our kids or one of our students it is even more difficult to get them to be hones (not in all cases of course) because they don't want to hurt us or disrespect us or make us mad or cause us to think badly about them.
One of my biggest concerns for people dealing with these kinds of situations is that rather than "listening" to what the other person, or child, has to say they become defensive . In these kinds of situations it doesn't help to get defensive or give reasons/excuses for our actions. Doing this will, or could, wind up causing a person to shut down rather than continue to be honest, especially youth. If you begin to get defensive with a kid they will shut down or you willf just find yourself getting into an argument. However unique a situation is it requires a lot of love, grace, and patience which I believe can only come from God. It would be Seriously Ridiculous for us to try and go into any type of situation like this and rely on our own wisdom and knowledge. It has to be God in us who gives us the supernatural ability to listen, love, and be honest ourselves.
So, may God help us to be quick to listen and slow to speak.
B.
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