grace.... pass it on

I witnessed something sad recently. Someone with a bad attitude taking all of their woes out on innocent bystanders.

I'll be honest. I'm having a bad attitude at the moment. Is it just me, or do you ever want to fix people? I get so tired of people being rude, or people acting out their feelings of entitlement. It especially bothers me when these people are old enough to know better. People; hear me: Yelling won't get you anywhere. Rage will not solve your problem. And lastly, sometimes, it just doesn't matter who is right and who is wrong. At the end of the day, it is what it is. When screaming starts working for you...you know...winning you friends and influence, let me know. I'll not be holding my breath. And for goodness sakes, if you are going to continue to scream and yell to make your point be known and to get your way in life, please don't come bragging to me about it...because I am not going to be throwing you any parades. If this is how you "think" you are winning influence and getting things done, I'm not impressed...and I don't want any. Thanks anyway.

God has given us His grace. In fact, He has poured it over us to overflowing. Individually, and collectively, we have done some pretty crappy things that are not glorifying to the Kingdom of God...and yet, He offers us His grace, through Jesus. When we accept His grace, and then turn around and treat others like mud and scream like idiots....it is as if we are saying, "Thanks Lord for accepting all of my imperfections, cleansing me and giving me another chance, day after day.... hope you don't mind that I'm going to live my life expecting perfection from everyone else, and not giving an inch in my mentality". Do you know what God says about our enemies? He says we should pray for them and love them. He also says we should turn the other cheek. And He also says that if they ask us for something, we should give it to them. He isn't saying we should be a floormat, or take unnecessary abuse. He is saying....show them the grace I have shown you...and do it in love. He also says we should encourage each other and that it is good to speak truth into the lives of people who maybe do not see the damage and destruction in their own personal behaviors. But if you are breathing, you probably know that there are people out there who are right all the time, and they just don't want to hear anything...not even in love. I honestly don't know what we are supposed to do with those people. Just pray for them I guess. Try to be an example of light and love.

Sometimes I just get fed up with bad attitudes. Lord knows I had a chip on my shoulder for a long time and the cure for that did not come easily. In fact, it was utterly painful. But the beauty that has come out of that negativity is that I now know that my days are woven with events that were permitted by God. He blesses me with precious moments and he allows me to be shaped, molded, affected, and effect others through some of life's more unpleasant happenings. Nothing in my heart or in my mind wants to deny that this is a story written by God himself, and that I am a part of it, and no matter what happens in my day, my week, my year or my life.... that if I remember He is with me and if I can be willig to let Him shine through me, that He is accomplishing something for His kingdom, through me.

I am trying to pass along grace today, without passing judgement. I realize that there is not a simple formula for this, but that it requires intention and it requires tapping into the grace that Jesus has to give to me. I am asking. He is giving. The magic and the mystery truly is that the more I pray for grace in my own life, the more abundantly I have to share it with others.....even screamers with bad attitudes.

Blue

Today, my oldest son is 20 years old. This is rocking my world. Oh, Lord help me!

Today, my heart is heavy for many challenging situations that I have been made aware of. Today, a baby I am praying for is having a very risky surgery. I'm on pins and needles for the udpates.

Today, I am in prayer for friends who are trying to raise thousands of dollars to adopt 4 (FOUR) children in Ethiopia. These children are siblings, young, on the streets waiting for a place in an orphange...and then eventually to be able to come here to their forever home. For now, they wait and they pray that their children will be safe until that time.

Today, I am grieved over several friends who are going through divorces, and knowing how they are hurting, how conflicted they are feeling, and knowing that in some cases, glimmers of hope are just slipping away.

Today I am grieved over people who are confused about Christ Jesus, feeling empty and hopeless. And I am praying for people who have recently suffered loss or abandonment.

Today, I am grieved over finances. Our life is becoming so complicated. I pray about it. I give it to God.

Today, I am in prayer for various friends facing various challenges with their own families. There are surgeries to pray about, finances, marriages, health, dysfunctions, addictions, and salvation.

It's a heavy day.

I'm okay that I'm feeling this heaviness. I'm thankful that God would allow me to share in some of the pain others are experiencing, because my hope is that there is some transfer and shift of grief, and that the people I am praying for today, will feel lighter as a result.

God is good, even in grief. He allows pain to strengthen us. He allows us trials so that we may grow, perservere, and develop the maturity in faith that He designed for us.

Blue is one of the colors in the rainbow. I'm feelin it.

The Satan Invasion

I just thought I'd rush to the computer to post this....because I rarely post when I'm thinking about it and I almost never post about what I intend to. I just don't have time. So when I do update my blog, it is usually because I had a moment, and so I just write whatever comes to me in that moment.

But THIS moment is intentional.

I have been doing this incredible bible study (with my women's group) called "Discerning The Voide of God", by Priscilla Shirer. The subtitle is: "How to Recognize When God Speaks". This study, in its simplicity, is unbelievably AMAZING! I am so loving it. I recommend it to any believer. If you are not yet a believer in Christ, this book will not make sense to you....so please wait. I am eagerly doing my studies and my homework. I'm even jotting down verses to review later, and the most remarkable thing that has changed about me is that I am more aware than ever that if I will just be aware that He can and will speak to me, I can hear Him.

This isn't a sermon.

What I have also realized is that any dishonorable thought that enters my mind is from the devil. That freaks me out. I have had at least 3 thoughts today (it's only 1pm) that Christ would never honor. They have involved potentially hurting the feelings of other people in my life, just because they have hurt mine. Well....in my heart I have no desire to actually carry out those thoughts into live action....but the thought still invaded my mind and at least dipped its toes into my heart. That is Satan.

If I feel short-changed....that is Satan, because Jesus will never give me less than what I need.
If I feel abondoned...that is Satan, because Christ will never leave my heart that has begged for His.
If I feel afraid....that is Satan, because the God of the Universe desires for me to fear nothing but to revere Him.
If I feel unworthy.....that is Satan, because Jesus showed me how much I am worth to Him when He died on the cross for me.
If I feel vindictive....that is Satan..... because scripture says that I need not vindicate myself because the wrongs against me will be handled by God....in His time....and I don't even have the right to know the details.
If I feel envious.....that is Satan, because my relationship with Christ alone is the most precious and valuable thing my life could ever have.....and I should not want for more.

It isn't that I thought those thoughts were from God. I just thought they were my own. But as one who is a Christ follower, seeking His purpose, and serving in ways that can bring more of His light into the world....what I recognize is that I am a threat to Satan. I might screw up his plan because I have a word to share. If I testify to the unbeliever in my midst, that person my take up a cross and walk with Christ. I AM A THREAT....and because of that, Satan himself wants to invade my soul, my spirit, my heart and my mind. He cannot mess up my salvation. But he can trip me up and cause me to be a major stumbling block to someone still outside of the kingdom.

Satan has really got some nerve. Beware....that's all I'm saying.

All you or I can really do when we feel the powers of that dang devil invading our spirit territory is identify his presence, shoo him away, pray for redemption, and focus on Christ.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. As always...feel free to leave a comment and share whatever you are thinking.