A rotten week

The first part was a ROTTEN week. I spent Mon and Tues having a big pity party for myself. Not much of a party though when nobody else want to join you. :( Anyhow...I am so thankful that my God loves me enough to not let me continue on in my selfishness. I just got to feeling very overwhelmed with my circumstances and began to tell God and myself that I just couldn't handle it," He must have made a mistake in giving me so much to deal with!" You know, the old "God won't give you more than you can handle" bit. I always assumed God understood that I COULDN'T handle much and that is why my life has been pretty smooth. Monday I was convinced He had me confused with someone else. As the week has progressed He was continuing to bring to my attention that this life I live is not about me. It doesn't help I'm studying Philippians and Paul was rejoicing ALL the time, even in prison! (he sure made it hard for me to feel my problems are tough)
So last night I starting to repent of my self-centeredness and today God brings me to Matt. and the story of Peter walking on the water. I have always thought of his having "little faith" was talking about his faith in Christ. I have been challenged to see it as Peter having little in himself or a better way of putting it is to say he had little faith in what Christ could do with and through him. I believe Peter had faith in Christ because he called out for Christ to save him, he didn't believe that he had the ability to walk on water. He didn't of course but Jesus had the ability to make Peter walk on water. I'm not sure this is making sense. The thought just occurs to me that I am so worried that I can't handle the stresses in my life, but I don't have to Jesus is right there in the center of the whole mess stretching out his hand to me. I know my God can do anything and now I need to live out the fact I can do anything through Him.

My favorite quote lately- "Quit telling God how big your problems are and start telling your problems how big your God is!"

Rejoice

I've started a new Precept upon Precept Bible study on Philippians recently. If you have never done a precepts Bible study I can't recommended it enough. I love digging in and studying using only scripture as the source. Studying Philippians means studying Paul first to understand the author. Its been awesome getting the big picture and getting a small glimpse into Paul's mind. I love how he had true joy in every circumstance,and he had many an opportunity to be miserable. "Rejoice in the Lord".

Another thing I found interesting was how in Acts you learn how Paul wanted to go into Asia to spread the gospel but the Spirit said no several times. It took Paul a while to figure out what Gods will was for him. Jerry and I have really struggled lately with what Gods will is for us. It seems we pray but God is not giving obvious answers. We are having to learn to rejoice in our circumstance...lot easier said than done. :)

Laugh for the Day

It seems as though it has been very serious around here for quite a while so when a friend sent me this web site I about busted a gut. Check it out if you need to lighten up a bit. I found the article on the Proverbs 32 women a riot! I do believe I am a Proverbs 32 gal myself!!



http://www.larknews.com/

Accept One another

Why is it that as "Soldiers of the Cross" we are the one army who wound their own? Why are we not focused on battling Satan and the evil powers of this world and so wrapped up in spewing hurt and cutting remarks at each other? It's no wonder the world sees Christians as hypocrites. We are commanded to "accept one another,just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God." Last I remember, when Christ accepted me I was full of ugly sin,imperfection and in need of His mercy and grace. Why do we not then accept others who are in the same condition? It breaks my heart to see "Christians" cutting each other apart over personal opinions. Pride seems to come into play a lot. I know personally I am very self centered. I am constantly fighting self absorbed thoughts and self righteousness. Hold my tongue Lord!!

Hurrah for Iowa caucus!

Ok. Here is my two cents worth of political talk. Anyone who watches the news knows Iowa has been front and center for the presidential run lately. We have little that puts us on the map so I am excited about this one claim to fame that we have. I got to participate in my first caucus last night. Jerry had been to one before but someone had to stay home with the kids, plus I wasn't as interested in the past. So...we get to our voting place, a local middle school, and the place is PACKED! No parking and Republicans shoulder to shoulder. First I must tell you that Iowa is predominately a Democratic state and Dubuque is VERY Democratic. We had over 1,000 Republicans just at our voting site and there were two other Republican voting places in town. Every seat in the auditorium was filled and people were lined up along the walls. I was excited! I was glad to see people taking an interest in the system and having a say. I am also glad its over as the constant phone calls(sometimes up to 10 a day) were getting on my last nerve.

Happy Sorrow

I was reading something this morning about the New Year and what God may have in store for us. The author was talking about difficult times that may come and how the world would like us to believe that we are never to blame. It's always somebody else's fault and when we take on that opinion we miss the opportunity for repentance. It struck me because in my Bible reading this morning I was reading 2 Corinthians chapter 7. At the time verses 9-11 really stood out to me. 2 Cor 7:10. "For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret..." So is this happy sorrow? I experienced a lot of sorrow in 2007 and praise God, He was patient and waited for me to come to repentance. Those were some of my most joyous times with the Lord. I'm learning now that when hard times come I need to start looking for what God wants to teach ME through it all. So often we think of repentance as being a time when we feel guilt and sadness but God desires it to be a time of renewing and fellowship. So Happy Re-New Year.