Category: Christianity

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The least is the greatest

I have the honor to be a part of an amazing ministry that goes out every week and feed the homeless of Dallas – both physically & spiritually. It has become something that I cannot go without. Why? Because serving people makes you happy.

I spoke a few weeks ago about loving oneself as yourself (Wonderfully Made). I believe every word of this post, but I also believe that to love yourself fully & experience true happiness, we must cease self-serving behavior/thinking. We must not always think about yourself & your situation.

Am I calling everyone reading this post selfish? Well, yes I am. I am calling myself selfish too. You see, because we are all sinners, we all have a tendency to err on the selfish side of life. We must keep that tendency in check. How? By serving others without anything expected back.

Ponder this scripture:

For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭13-14‬ NLT)

I challenge you this week to serve someone. It doesn’t have to be way out of your way. Serve your family in a way you never have. Give a lonely person a gift or card. Make a selfless gesture in someone’s life without expecting anything in return. I fully believe that you will find great joy in this.

If your not careful, you may find yourself becoming addicted to it.

Be blessed.

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Through the fire

In grade school, I remember watching a movie about nature. In that movie, it showed an entire forest burning. As we watched trees that stood as tall as buildings fall, the narrator described how fire – death – creates new life. The ashes of those before actually fertilize the ground so new things can thrive. Old things must pass away for fresh, new things to start growing. Through this fire, the forest life will actually be stronger.

Spiritually, this happens, too. We all go through the fire. There are seasons where it seems like everything that we hold dear is taken from us. It is scary and makes no sense. But there is great purpose in these seasons.

Take a look at these two scriptures:

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. (‭Isaiah‬ ‭43‬:‭2‬ NLT)

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. (‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭2-4‬ NLT)

God is with us, even in the fire. He is refining us so that, in our next season, we will be ready for the new things that are He is going to bless is with. Never get discouraged when trials come – great things are always around the corner. Keep your faith strong & never give up.

Be blesse

d.fire

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Wonderfully made

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’

A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” (‭Matthew‬ ‭22‬:‭34-37, 39-40‬ NLT)

When I was in grad school at DBU, one professor spoke on this scripture. It has resonated with me because she posed a different perspective that I never had seen up to that point – in order to love people as ourselves, we must first love ourselves.

The concept at first seems selfish, at least it does for me, but when you start to look into the human psyche – our souls – you will find that we simply reflect out what we have inside.

That is why people have that saying – “When people treat you bad it isn’t about you, it’s about them.”

Ultimately, then, in order to serve & love others properly, we must first take care of ourselves. Not in a selfish or cruel way. Not because we are better than someone else. Not because I’m a Christian & they aren’t. Because we have a responsibility to be the best us we can be – because God made us as we are for a reason.

Ponder this scripture:

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me! (‭Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭13-18‬ NLT)

We are all, each one of us, His creation; therefore, if one person needs to take care of themself, then we all do. To the one who we are to love with all our hearts, our minds & our souls, then we need to make sure they are worthy. Allow God to show you your personal value & worth. Let Him help you understand why it isn’t selfish to take care of you.

Be blessed.

th

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The Race

Are you a people pleaser? Well, I am. I absolutely hate when someone doesn’t like me. Odds are, I am going to come into contact with a number of people who will not approve of who I am and what I do.

There was a time in my life that this idea would consume me – so much that I would do everything to make sure it didn’t happen. That way of life is a slippery slope and I found myself in a place where I no longer knew who I was. That is not just a problem for me…but also for our Creator. He “knit us together in (our) mothers’ womb(s)” (Psalm 139:13). We are to work & please Him only, not others. (See Romans 12:2).

Now, my goal is to make Him happy. Do I still fall into the pattern of my past? Of course, I am human. But I don’t let it control me or change who I am. We are all too precious to compromise who we are in Him for someone else…who isn’t Him.

No, this post is not a post encouraging rebellion against authority. God has commanded us to list to authority and follow their commands – see Mark 12:17. We cannot make false gods of them, though.

One of my favorite quotes by Mother Teresa reads:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.
Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.
Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten.
Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.
Give your best anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God.
It was never between you and them anyway

Also, ponder this scripture:

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! (‭Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭1-3‬ MSG)

We are to live for the One who gave His life so that we can live. Follow His lead. Live like that & I truly believe you will know what it is like to be happy. Be you & trust Him – it is enough.

Be blessed.

starting line

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Confessions of a Control Freak

Trust – one of the most beautiful things in this world. There is something about someone giving you their trust – it shows you how much they value you. It is also one of the hardest things to give to people and yet is the one of the few components in a relationship that you need to be in relationship with someone. I think our society, especially, has an issue with trust as we are so independent. We take care of ourselves and then take care of those around us. Eat or be eaten, right?

How this is so far from the message of Christ. One thing that strikes me in the story of the time between when Christ is captured and before He is crucified is how He just takes it (see John 18). He doesn’t give His accusers the satisfaction of saying that they are right, but He also doesn’t try to run. He knows His assignment and puts up with whatever He needs to do in order to get His job done.

I am all for independence and fighting for what you believe in, fighting for your boundaries, and keeping your dignity. God does not want us to be miserable. He desires for us to be happy and content, living well. Is this always the case? No, it isn’t. Unfortunately, because we live in a world where there is turmoil everywhere – we will have to face trials.

If you are like me, when you go through trials – you try to figure things out. I can actually make myself sick trying to figure things out. I want to know what is going to happen when I take the turn in front of me. I don’t want to put myself at risk for being hurt or to be put in a more precarious position that I already am in. The issue with this mindset is that I do not control the universe. I didn’t speak the world into existence. I am not omnipresent or live absent of time. I am here on this Earth, walking this thing out, living day to day. I do not have the capabilities of controlling such things. I MUST trust God.

There are times when I will struggle with this for days. As a result, I must repent. Why? Because not trusting God is actually a sin. We are telling Him that we know better than He does – with is rebellion. That is the original sin. I am making more of this situation than I need to – all is asked of me is to trust Him and follow Him. Simple, right?

Ponder this scripture: When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. Isaiah 43:2 NLT

For all you fellow control freaks – know that whatever you must endure, God will not allow it to consume you, but will be right there beside you (Matthew 28:20). God has it all planned out. Just trust Him!

Be blessed

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We are all Anne Frank

I was recently watching a movie where, for one scene, they visited Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdame. I have read her diary and learned her story, as many have, but while watching the movie, a concept hit me that I have not given much thought – Anne, someone who is pretty much known world wide as giving a voice to the victims of one of the world’s worst genocides – died at the young age of 15 not knowing how great her impact on this world will be. It is all because her father decided to publish her diary that we now know who this old-soul is.

Very few of us will have this type of world-wide legacy, but do we fully understand how Our Father can use even the simplest of things we say & do without us even knowing it? I don’t think so. I honestly don’t think we understand the authority God gave us when he created us in His image (both male & female). See Genesis 1:26-27.

How often do we say or do things without thinking, especially when we are around people we don’t know? A lot, at least for me – if I am perfectly honest. Are we considering the fact that God may be bringing people into out lives for even just a moment so we can show them Him? Or how He can use us to answer a prayer? Like Anne Frank, our impact on people’s lives may never be fully understood by us, but to those we, even briefly, come into contact with are potentially changed forever because Our Father is using those little, somewhat insignificant things to change the world.

I dare say that we have a responsibility, first to God and then to each other, to always be us and don’t waiver because we had a bad day or people wouldn’t like it.

Ponder this scripture:

“You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father. (‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭14-16‬ NLT)

No matter how small the thing is – a smile, holding the door open, a thank you – it can be used by God because we are made in His image & there is no thing that He does that leaves a small aspect.

Be blessed.

anne