Last Days?

I often wonder just what "last days" means...seems like we have been in the last days for about 2000 years now, but God's time is not relative to our time.



My husband and I have been making new commitments and trying to keep those commitments. We find that in the past we make decisions and last for just a minute-can't keep it up. Right now we are working on diet and exercise as well as growing together spiritually. We have been using a couples devotion for devotions before we go to bed and we are reading individually from the same book in the Bible. We are in 2 Timothy.



Sometimes reading confirms what I already know, other times it takes me by surprise, and yet other times it challenges my thinking altogether. I find it true that whoever looks into the "perfect law of liberty" should be changed in some way. That is the amazing thing about being a Christian; it isn't the outside but the inside that changes which in turn reflects on the outside. That inside is changed to produce fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Not that all of that is always visible, but we should be growing in them and I would like to think that we are.



In 2 Timothy 3 we are told what it will look like in the last days: Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof

and then the exhortation: From such turn away 3:2-5

I read that considering and asking, are we there yet? I look around and wonder, how close are we? I know or have experienced first hand nearly everything on that list...and the longer I live, the more those verses ring true. This generation says and does things that were taboo for non Christians a few generations back, and yet...is accepted among Christians today. Hmmm....wonder what does God see from His perspective. How grieved He must be especially at the time of year when we celebrate His great gift of salvation. He provided deliverance, but not just deliverance from an eternity in hell, but also deliverance from a life lived contrary to the truth of His Word. Lord....give me ears to hear.

Loving It When...

I absolutely love it when God changes my plans to accomplish His. He does that quite frequently, probably because I am definitely a planner. I plan out my days (in my mind usually). For example: Last Thursday was my hubbies birthday. I was feeling pretty down because I had such a full day and wasn't going to be able to spend it with him. I whined a bit and then headed towards conquering my ridiculous schedule. I dropped Caitlyn off at the sitter, headed to SCA to spend a few hours there. That was incredibly productive, but time to go....jumped in the jeep to check off the next box of the to-do list...which was Bryd High. I have a bunch of bunch of bunch of observation hours this term, and Byrd is where I am assigned. I get there, praying for a parking spot because parking there is ridiculous! Yay, a spot, but....it is pouring. I am just not a big fan of being wet. I had class that night and a midterm, and it was Steve's birthday, and there I was sitting in Byrd's parking lot weighing the options looking out at the pouring rain!

The rain wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to walk so far carrying so much "stuff" AND an umbrella in dress clothes KNOWING I am going to be soaked no matter what I do. After a few minutes, abandoned idea and headed home. I got home in time to take some steaks out of the freezer and make steak for lunch for my hubbie. Sweeeeeet....that was amazing...that I got to spend lunch with him and study for my midterm. I was so much more relaxed and probably did better on that test, not to mention, I completed a few assignments which so needed to be done.
Whew...much better plan.

Today, had a similar plan: Get up, get to Byrd by about 8:30 and make up some of those observation hours. I got there, drove around, searched for a parking space (which again-ridiculous!). I ended up parking behind the school, behind the football field, which meant quite a walk, AGAIN in the rain. Hmm...sat there a minute, read my Bible, shot up some needed prayers, and considered my options. I opted to skip out AGAIN! (Only 6 weeks into the quarter, still got time to get those hours in). I get home where it is so quiet.

My plan was to reverse the order of my day, come home and get some stuff done, go to Byrd, then to work, and home again. However, still raining. I have gotten a lot done today including some school reading and a pop in on Gary Smalley. The articles dealt with issues specific to me, which I would not have read if I had not been here. As I am sitting here, my sister pops in. She is off on Mondays and needs to go to LSUM to drop off records. For her to do that, she is going to have to walk a zillion miles in the rain. Darn rain! So...I am here, no immediate plans, think I will run her over there so I can loop the parking lot while she runs in and neither of us get wet!

God's plan much better than mine...loving it....

Life Management

Sometimes I just don't feel like blogging. Sometimes it is because I don't want to open up myself to criticism; other times it is just because life is completely overtaking me, and I can't think straight. This is one of the latter.



I have had so much to do lately that down time has been almost non-existent, but I do steal away for a few minutes to read (something other than education). My "snatch" read selection right now is Elizabeth George's Life Management for Busy Women. I read it when I am taking a bath, sitting in the bathroom while Caitlyn is in the bath, or in between moments when I need a break.



The book is broken into areas important for the Christian woman to manage, ie...marriage, health, family, fiances, etc...Right now, I am in the family section. She references from Titus 2:4 that we are to love our husband and our children, and she uses Biblical women as examples for us to live our life by. She also addresses extended family relationships. Once in awhile, I really question myself. I try to live by the truth of God's Word, but sometimes I am just not sure I have gotten or am getting it right. Sometimes I KNOW I have missed it, but the area of family is so important and the area I have struggled in the most lately-well the last few years anyway.

I had this vision of what it would be like when my kids were grown and married. I raised my kids with the importance of family. I went out of my way, often, to include our extended family-both sides, his and mine, even though we lived so far away. Steve's family left such an impression on me when we were first married. His family was so unlike mine. I didn't even know what our family didn't have until I met his. My brother told me the other day that my problem was that when I saw what a family could be, I was so eager for everyone to have that experience, unfortunately, it is not what everyone wants. Or they want family but in a conditional sense, as long as it doesn't cost them anything. That is the area I have had trouble grasping.

In this chapter as she addresses all these relationships, she says one thing that connects all of them: As Christian women, we must "nurture our relationships..." with our parents, our in laws, our siblings, our children, our aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, grandchildren. "These family connections, ordained by God, are important to Him. Nurturing them is not optional. No, it is commanded. And our spiritual maturity is revealed by whether or not we get along with parents and in-laws" (pg. 214). "Our relationships with sisters and brothers, with other in-laws, and with extended family are still relationships with family that must be lovingly, willfully, and thoughtfully nurtures and cultivated. Don't worry so much about whether or not you hold the same beliefs or see eye-to-eye on every issue. Instead, spend time in prayer for each one, asking God to show you the how's of love" (pg. 214).

Wow...I haven't always gotten along with my parents, extended family, or inl aws. Sometimes I still don't, but after a moment to regroup, I reach out again. It is my responsibility despite my pain, my confusion, my anger. My inability to set boundaries doesn't reflect them, it reflects my maturity. It doesn't mean I can't have a relationship with them, despite our differences. I don't have to get my feelings hurt. I can accept them, all of them, in God's grace and because of God's love!

I am so proud of Katherine. We were sitting at Starbucks last night discussing relationships, and she reminded me that I have always taught her to be the better Christian, do the right thing because it is right, keep an open door and reach out. She is doing that in her own family and in her in law relationships. She is building a relationship with her mother-in-law even though she is very different from me. I am glad for her, for her husband, her mother-in-law, and her future children who will benefit from those relationships.

Life management....working on that. I am glad God continues to point me in the right direction. I am glad He continues to teach me and enable me to grow in His grace, through every trial and every pain. I am so thankful for my husband and who he is in my life!

Friendship and Grace

I really struggled today with the concept of "grace." Grace-getting what we don't deserve and not getting what we do. That idea is so central to our faith in Christ, but yet seems to allude so many I know...not so much the grace we experience at the point of salvation, but the grace we need on a daily basis, and the grace we need to extend to others.

Today was also Katherine's bridal shower. There she was, my little girl, having her hurrah moment, being the princess, surrounded by two very beautiful women.

This picture of them is only one in a line of many. These girls have grown up together. They know each other, their strengths and their weaknesses...but they love each other-grace. It has been said that you can count the number of true friends you have in a lifetime on one hand. Those are the people that know you completely, love you any way, and extend grace when you least deserve it. I don't know that I can fill up one hand yet with those kind of friends, but I do know there have been some very special people in my life. Only a few, but those few have kept me a float. They have allowed me to vent, allowed me to be unreasonable and demanding, have allowed me to cry; they have been there when I needed them to be and just loved me. They have given me grace and in so doing have taught me how to love, how to give, how to sacrifice.

My daughter is one of those people. She can love; she can give; she can extend grace-and those young women that are sharing her day with her-they too are those kind of women. Toni, Tonia, Kayla...you too have taught me grace. I love differently today just because I have known you. I understand more fully what it is to sacrifice just because I have known you. I know what grace means because you have shared your lives with me, because you have been graceful to me, and you have modeled grace in your lives. Thank you ladies, all of you for being the beautiful women you are!

Trusting

Just a reminder this morning that it isn't how I feel, it is what God says. Sometimes I feel like quitting, other times I feel like I could soar...but either way...God is God, and it is in HIM I am trusting.

July 18-19, 2009

When God Doesn't Seem Just

Deuteronomy 32:1-4

Have you ever felt that a situation in your life was an exception to the promises of Scripture? In today's passage, Moses declares that the Lord is faithful and all His ways are just, but we have all been in circumstances that seemed wrong and blatantly unfair. And because God did not intervene, we've struggled to reconcile our experience with Moses' statement about Him.
Scripture is filled with examples of godly people who faced hardships that seemed totally unfair. Joseph was sold as a slave, David was hunted like an animal by King Saul, and the apostle Paul suffered with a "thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor. 12:7-10).

Situations like these can cause us to question whether God is good and just. If left to fester in our minds, these doubts may give way to discouragement. We can easily start thinking, What is the use in serving the Lord? Look what it has gotten me--suffering!

It's important to remember that what we know about God from His Word is more accurate than what we feel. Scripture tells us that God is good and just, so we can know with certainty that He has a fantastic purpose for us in whatever we experience.
God allows each of us to face some trials that we won't understand to our satisfaction this side of heaven. Our job is not to comprehend everything He does and permits, but to know how to respond. He'll make all things right in eternity. In the meantime, trust the Rock when all else is shaky.

In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley