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Your story

by | Mar 4, 2011 | Uncategorized

Our Pastor shared this on a Sunday and I have been thinking about it now for days. God gives each of us a story for us to share.
Mine is different than yours.
We all have one. We all had a journey of some sort.
We all have something to share.
I hope and pray you discover yours and share it with someone. Our growth comes out of sharing and remembering how much he has done for us.
“In your story you are going to continue searching for a reason God should love you.
In your story you are going to continue finding reasons why he shouldn’t.
So here’s my suggestion: give up your version of your story and embrace his.
In his story, he loves you not matter what you’ve done.
In his story, he doesn’t love you because of what you’ve done.

In his story, he could not love you more and he will never love you less.

It’s a better story. It’s a true story. It’s a story of grace. The grace of God!”
This is ludicrous, absurd so nonsensical…we could even go as far as saying it’s foolish!”
But it is Love…
It is real… and it is the most valuable ‘truth’ you can ever hold onto.

Are you ready to share your story?

Generosity

by | Mar 1, 2011 | Uncategorized

Our Pastor has been sharing what it means to be generous.
What it means to have an open handed~ open heart attitude and thought.
He shared with us that God wants for us to become generous people.
Dictionary.com says that generosity is to give or share liberally free from meanness or smallness of mind or character; to give abundantly with a ready heart without being stingy.
Pastor began to teach us and say:
“Generosity is not measured by our allowance, it is measured by our allowing.”
Learning to give out of an ‘openness’ with no intention or desire to get anything back.
Generosity is the outflow of an inflow of trust.
Trust in a God who will take care of us in spite of our circumstances.
Then he shared how comparing will always discount what God is doing in our hearts and lives.
He said in Exodus the people began to resent the manna that God was providing. They began to grumble and complain and whine and say;
“We remember when we had it all.” In Exodus 16:1-3 it says: The whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “IF ONLY we died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death” verses 5-10 continue showing us the grumbling of the people.
Pastor said Resentment and regret always starts with IF: “If only we were back in the old days when we had all the food all the drinks we could enjoy. Now we only have this manna.”
Basically saying what God was providing for them was not acceptable to them. It wasn’t enough.
Comparing our present provision to our past gets us no where and helps us miss our blessing in what HE is doing now. God provided for them every day exactly what was needed for that day. The instruction was to gather it daily, every day, they didn’t want it they wanted something more.
Pastor then asked the question: “Can you trust God and be obediant to him?”
Pastor said, “God’s faithfulness to you is not equal to your trust in Him. God is faithful even if you choose not to be.”
It is a choice ~ it becomes a matter of our heart.
Then he said, “Generosity shows the expiration of our heart.”
I had to think about that one for some time to really grasp what it meant.
Then he asked us,”What does it mean to be rich? if you define rich by how much money you have your definition is a moving target. Rich is not defined by money it is defined by heart condition.”
He continued to teach, “Richness and wealth is not measured by what’s in your bank. You must redefine what it means to be wealthy and what it means to be rich.
When we do that we begin to realize how truly rich we are.”
How truly rich we are… we are very wealthy people.
Are you feeling the convictions that I did?
We are truly rich and wealthy people.
It is only our discontented hearts condition that discounts the truth for what it really is.
Lord God I pray for our hearts to be broken and to become more generous in the way that you desire. Help us to be grateful and generous with open hands and open hearts.

Changes

by | Feb 24, 2011 | Uncategorized

Changes in our lives often bring grief and loss.
May we embrace and mourn our changes today.
Let us not refuse them and loose what God has in store for us~
from John Eldredge a popular writer and speaker.

I am not one who likes change.
My house is normally the same and my friendships too.
Habits are generally the same over and over and food tastes too.
When a change happens it is hard.
I don’t generally adapt easy to it.
This last month we have dealt with my husbands surgery and visits to the emergency room and then the visits to the various doctors and the inconvenience of his one arm in a sling. I have had to do more and be more patient. It has been good but also hard to be patient and remember he is frustrated at his ‘change’ of situation.
It has been good for him to rest.
To allow the arm to restore itself. As his body recovers from the trauma that has happened.
I think the best thing we can do when these type of events take place is to EMBRACE them as John says. The energy it takes to deny or discount ‘the new’ situation is far worse than saying ‘ok I am not really liking this but I am resting in it.’
Change… is hard. Change is necessary.
Each season we see change. Leaves fall and go dormant, bulbs rest waiting to bloom.
It snowed last night and that change was pretty and white and also created inconvenience for many. The only real way to deal with change is to embrace it.
Then rest in the knowing that soon the new change will be transformed into something we find comfort in.
How do you adapt to change? do you embrace it or fight it?
It is a good question for us all.

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