A story of gratitude

Okay guys I have a little story for you. It's a story about a woman for whom ungratefulness was no longer an option. It goes like this...

This woman and her husband and four darling children bought a new house. It was big and beautiful and they couldn't wait to start painting and make it their own.

They moved in and noticed a little mold. After a week of living there they had to leave so it could be remediated. Turns out, the entire house was covered with mold.

After bouncing around from friends to family for 3 months and this woman and her kids being apart from her loving husband and their sweet father, their friends gave them a camper to use.

This little family moved into a small camper in their yard. More mold and more problems kept popping up and they slowly went from being committed to doing the work in the house to realizing it was probably not realistic.

The little family of 6 now lives in the camper in their yard full time as they try to exhaust every last option.

Today that mom had a bit of a surreal moment. The breaker popped in the camper, yet again. She had just gotten home from a huge grocery trip with her kids and after lugging all the groceries into the camper and trying to look around to find where she would put all of them, she turned on the air conditioner. Pop. She flipped the breaker and it popped yet again when she turned on the air. As she walked through the house to flip the circuit breaker, she looked around. She remembered how happy she was about the attached garage so that she could park in it and bring her groceries right through the hallway into the house. As she walked to the basement, she was struck by how good the cool basement air felt on a hot day like today. She imagined that if she was living in the house, she would have parked and brought all of those groceries in while her kids escaped to the basement to cool off and relax for a while while she put the groceries away.

And she got a little angry inside. She got angry that they gave so much money to this house. She got angry that she had to walk through her big dream house to pop the breaker for her little camper where the thermostat said 91°.

And then she remembered. She remembered that she couldn't afford to think about the what-ifs. She couldn't afford to think about anger. She couldn't afford to go there. Too much was on the line. You see, the enemy had been after her heart all along. He wanted to see her dissatisfied and jealous. He wanted to see her angry and discontent. He wanted to see her question her God. And, you see, she knew this. She knew what he was after. So she picked up her head and walked out to that little camper and thanked God for those sweet little children that used a wheelbarrow to bring in her groceries. And she smiled with joy because her husband was coming home from work soon and she gratefully put away each of those things she had purchased because she was able to buy her children food and clothing. And she stood on the truth she knew. And she remembered the promises God has made.

That woman had too much on the line. She had too much to lose if she gave in. So she let the truth wash over her and submitted to Jesus and let him purify her mind. And suddenly, 91° never felt so good.

The Invisible Time: Finding time for God in a busy world

I love the Lord. I love him with all my heart. There's no one I want to please as much as him and certainly no one else I trust as much as him. I love to worship him, talk to him, be with him, and serve him. But sometimes, it is so hard to slow down and be still with him. I can't be the only one, right? Life is so busy and so nonstop and sometimes I get in this rut where I start thinking about my time with God as another chore; another commitment on my calendar. I'll still fill my calendar with things I'm doing to serve him but end up skipping out on my alone time with him so I can plan another event, organize another meeting, or dream of another ministry. I'll make time to talk to the brokenhearted, encourage the hopeless, and lead the lost but I find myself too busy and frazzled to sit and be quiet with the One whom I love. And it doesn't work.

When I get in those cycles, I find myself burning out really quickly. I start getting snippy with my husband and angry with my kids. I begin to look at my ministry opportunities as drudge work and not the privilege I had been asking God to give me and I find myself looking at people as chores, not gifts from God. It's really awful, actually.

This weekend my area was hit really hard with a windstorm and we found ourself without power. It was very unpleasant. As a kid I thought a power outage was the best! We would light candles and cuddle around the wood burning stove while we pretended we lived in the 'olden days' and wished our whole town would turn off the power and water for an 'olden days weekend.' We failed to understand why all the grownups didn't agree. Well, this time, I was the adult. And it was NOT the same. We woke up to the clocks out. Bummer. Oh rats, we can't charge the phones. Bummer. Wait. NO COFFEE????? Serious bummer. And the list went on. The house started getting colder, I couldn't take a shower, I couldn't wash the laundry or run the dishwasher, I couldn't pop on a TV show to entertain the kids while we packed to get out of town. Wait, I can't even put a youtube video on the laptop? No WiFi?? What about the quarter cow in the freezer? How can I even make breakfast? I'm telling you. It was seriously not fun. And all I could think of was how good I have it on a regular basis. I take it for granted.

I find myself the same way with God. I LOVE my quiet time with my heavenly Father. I am encouraged, refined, uplifted, and coached by my perfect and holy God and it is incredible. He speaks to me and gives me clarity, he blesses me with peace and rids me of my fears. When I'm with God on a regular basis, the ministry set before me flows out of me with love and grace. It's such a wonderful way to be and to live. But at some point, I find myself starting to take it for granted. I forget or end up too busy for a couple days and then start only finding brief moments for my precious time with Him. If I let that pattern continue, I start to see the effects of being disconnected to my power source. When I'm plugged in to him, it's easy to forget what I am without that connection.

The hard part is that these days, we often mark our success by how packed our calendars are. We've started to think that our value is based on how much we can possibly do and not so much on whose we are. I've found myself caught in that trap more than I'd like to admit but God's been teaching me a lot about that. I think what really shines through a Christian is that time with God; the invisible time. No one sees you doing it, it doesn't take up calendar space, and you aren't 'accomplishing' anything. It's invisible but the power that comes from it is remarkable. It's the power to walk in grace when in our flesh we'd lash out. It's the power to look at another person beyond their circumstance, appearance, or social standing. It's the power to do more, love more, and be more than we ever could have on our own. It might be the invisible time but the effects are seen in incredible ways. Like my electricity, no one can see my relationship with God but like my living room lamp, I am illuminated by it.

War and Marriage: A series for wives Part 3

This week we're diving into the first part of the armor of God which is the belt of truth. For those who haven't been with us so far, we're talking about the spiritual battle taking place over our marriages and I highly suggest checking out Parts 1 (Here) and 2 (Here).

We'll start off by looking at the belt that this scripture is referring to. Roman soldiers wore a belt as sort of the 'anchor' for their armor. The belt was used to hold up their long robes so they could run and fight and was most likely the first piece of armor they would have put on. Also, they wore the belt even when not in battle. The belt had a spot for them to keep their sword and metal strips in the front to protect their... uh... manhood. (Hence the phrase "gird your loins with the belt of truth".) So the belt was a really important piece and like I mentioned, kind of a staple for them.

In marriage, truth is vital. We know it's important to be honest with our spouse but we're going to be talking about more than that. We're going to be looking at GOD'S truth for our marriages. It's simple but without it, we don't stand a chance. I know it can be really hard to filter the lies of the enemy in marriage so let's break down some of the ways we can put on the truth as wives.

The first thing is to realize that truth and facts are different. Facts are subject to change. Truth is not. For example, I can be sick today but tomorrow I can be well. The fact is that I'm sick today. That fact might not be the same tomorrow. The TRUTH is that God is healer. That will be the same tomorrow. I can't change that. It's constant and unchanging and unaffected by the facts. The fact might be that you have been a nagging or rude wife. The TRUTH is that God created you for good works which he set out before you. Here's the tricky part though... the enemy will use those facts to tell lies. The facts are neutral and the enemy will always use them to bend your mind HIS way. If the fact is that you've been a nagging, rude wife, the enemy will tell you that you're worthless, that you can't change, that it's your husband's fault you act that way, that it's the kids fault, that you're justified in it, that you're undesirable because of it, that your husband won't want you because of it, that your marriage won't be better because of it... You get the picture. It's all doom and gloom. It's all hopeless. It's all negative.

When you have that SAME fact that you've been nagging and rude and look at it through the TRUTH of God, it starts to look a whole lot different. God says, I have cast your sins as far as the east is from the west, go and sin no more, I have made you new, I make beauty from ashes, I can speak life into dry bones, marriage is from me, I am your healer, you can hope in me, trust in me, you are clothed in my righteousness, you are forgiven. It's all hopeful. It's all loving. It's all good.

When you don't know if you're believing the truth or a lie, just start looking at the fingerprints. The fingerprints of the enemy are doom, gloom, and destruction. The fingerprints of God are love, forgiveness, and hope. The enemy will lie about you and your value and also about your husband and his value. It's a messy thing when we start listening to him. When we do, we start believing his lies and speaking them out. The Bible talks a lot about the power of the tongue (the tongue has the POWER of life and death). When we start speaking the death stuff with our powerful tongue, it's not such a great situation. But when we start speaking out the TRUTH with that powerful tongue, it's amazing what can happen. The truth empowers both us and our husbands. It gives us hope and helps us remember we were created for more than what the enemy has been telling us. It reminds us that our value is based on God, not on what we do, and that allows us to live in freedom, not in bondage.

I want to encourage you to explore the lies you have been believing about your marriage. Have you been believing that your husband's pornography addiction means you are unattractive and worthless? LIE. Have you been believing that your sharp tongue or lazy tendencies can't be helped? LIE. Do you believe that you married the wrong person? LIE. Do you believe that your problems are too big for God to help? LIES! Take some quiet time in your prayer time and ask God to search your heart and reveal to you what lies you have been believing. I want you to write them down and counter them with the truth of what GOD says about each of those things. Not facts, just truth. Incorporate that into your prayer time every day and see what starts to happen as those mental strongholds start to crumble. "Take every thought captive to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5.

So belt up, ladies! Put on the first piece of your armor every morning and wear it all day long. You got this.

We're so in love.

War and Marriage: A series for wives Part 1

I’m here to tell you that marriage is a war. Pat Benatar was right when she said that love is a battlefield, although, contrary to public opinion, the war isn’t against your spouse. In the Bible, God tells us that we don’t struggle against flesh and blood but against the dark forces and principalities of this earth (demonic forces.) We have a real enemy and he isn’t our husband. And he’s out to get us. And our marriages.

Before we get much farther, I really want to talk about who this enemy is. It’s important to know your enemy and how he operates. Let’s start with the WHO. Our enemy is the devil and his nasty little demons. Now, one might think that sounds pretty scary but that that’s not all he is… he’s also DEFEATED. Yep. Already beat and humiliated over it. When you think about your enemy, don’t for one second forget that he’s already lost and is already a loser. So, now we know we’re fighting against an evil, defeated enemy. Next, we need to know how he operates. He’s a liar. That’s pretty much what he does. He just tells us lies about ourselves, our spouses, and even God. He’s a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44) Our enemy is a defeated liar.

Here’s who our enemy is NOT: our spouse. No matter what his failings might be, he’s not our actual enemy. Our enemy is not flesh and blood. Even if our husband is listening to the enemy, HE is not the enemy and this is SO important to remember because if we start getting confused about WHO our enemy is, we’ll get this whole thing backward. Have you seen the movie Face Off? Through a crazy chain of events, an FBI agent and criminal end up having face transplant surgeries and look like the other person (FBI guy looks like criminal and vice versa.) As you can imagine, it gets a little tricky when people don’t know who the real enemy is. It’s kind of the same in marriage. Our REAL enemy lies to us and tries to convince us that our spouse (the one we love, that God has given us and blessed us with) is our enemy. If we believe him, we start to destroy our spouse and marriage and because our focus has changed, we leave our real enemy alone. Seriously. Don’t forget who your enemy is not.

Next, we need to look at who our God is. OUR GOD IS AMAZING. Not only has he completely and utterly defeated and defamed our enemy, but he loves us with the most perfect love. He is love and truth. He is all knowing, operates outside of time, is all powerful, sovereign, and holy. He is our creator, savior, comforter, shelter, rock, healer, and strong tower. He gives grace and mercy and never stops loving us. God sent us a perfect savior and the Son of God himself became a HUMAN and operated within the time he created and lived in the earth he designed so he could save us from the punishment we deserved. That’s who our God is.

Finally, let’s look at who we are. We are the beloved of the Lord. We were created in his image and knit together by his hands. Because of what Jesus did for us, we are the redeemed of the Lord, blessed, righteous, filled with power, love, and a sound mind, and perfectly loved. He has given us authority over the enemy. He literally gave us authority and power over demons on this earth. Woah. You know what’s even cooler than that though? He tells us that that authority is nothing compared to the victory we have in eternal life with him.

Us then and now

Our enemy is a powerless liar. Our God is perfect in power. We are given authority and perfectly loved by God. I know I haven’t really talked about marriage yet but YOU GOTTA KNOW THIS.

Marriage is something incredibly special and unique. There is no other human relationship like marriage. In marriage, two human beings join themselves together in a covenant and bind together as one. It is a lifelong covenant designed to mirror the love of God for his people. In a marriage, we not only radically change each other but often are able to influence our children and our children’s children for generations to come. A strong marriage has the ability to enact powerful change in the world. Our enemy does. not. want. that. God designed marriage FOR us and for his kingdom. It's meant to be amazing.