Love bears all things; believes all things

God's kind of love bears all things. What burdens are you bearing today? A sick child, spouse or parent? A strained relationship with a fellow believer? The loss of a loved one through death or divorce? Ridicule from unsaved family members and friends? The loss of income? The grief of a prodigal child? A chronic or terminal illness? The pains of growing older? The daily challenges of meeting everyone else's needs and/or demands?

If you've lived long enough, you understand that life on this earth is a series of challenges because we live in a broken world.  Either you are in a trial now, or you're just coming out of one, or you're about to face a new one.  1 Peter 4:12 tells us not to be surprised at our perpetual trials.  It has been proven time and again that our faith grows, our trust deepens, and our character is fortified in times of suffering.

So how do we bear all things with God's kind of love? 1 Peter 4:8 sheds more light on the subject. "Above all, keep your love for one another at full strenth, since love covers a multitude of sins." To bear all things means to choose to cover the pain with God's mantle of love, wrapped in forgiveness.  And remember to look for a blessing each day because there is always something good going on simultaneously with the suffering.

The second phrase "believes all things" doesn't mean to be gullible and believe anything and everything that you hear.  It refers to a person who believes all that God says in His Word - all of God's truth and all of His promises.  it's someone who embraces Romans 8:28: "We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose."  Believers model God's kind of love when we acknowledge every person is made in the mimage of God and has value regardless of appearance, actions, or circumstances.  It is the unshakable knowledge that through Jesus Christ transformation is possible for all who receive Him as Lord and Savior.

How will you translate God's kind of love into your life today?

--taken from Journey, by Anne Alexander (freelance writer from Atlanta, GA)

Avoiding Burnout - Walk in Obedience

If you have looked on my website lately, you will notice that business is great! I'm very thankful - very! But sometimes us moms can get overwhelmed at times. I read this devotion this morning by Cindy Wood who also wrote "The Frazzled Female" and thought women would appreciate this little post!

One morning a couple of years ago, I was sitting at my computer trying to stay on the task of finishing the manuscript of "Two Blessed for This Mess". I new the Lord had called me to it, and I was determined to get it done.  But this particular morning I was overwhelmed with life and all the things that lay ahead in my realm of responsibility for that day - and the days ahead. I cried out to the Lord saying, "Father, I know You want me to write this study for You, but I just can't seem to get it done right now."

King Jesus did what He has done time and time again.  He rushed to show me His love and His encouragement.  My Bible was in front of me and had fallen open to Psalm 57.  Through tears, here's what I read: "I will cry to God Most High, Who performs on my behalf and rewards me - Who brings to pass His purposes for me and surely completes them!" (AMP).

I taped that verse to my computer for continual reference as I wrote. Meditating on that Scripture kept me encouraged and focused when the enemy tried to distract my thinking.

It's God's promise that He WILL complete what He has called you to do! You just need to walk in obedience step by step until it's done.

It continues to amaze me that God is interested in the diddly-squat of things of life (now that's spiritual, huh!) and is concerned over the minutest details.  I think that just might astound me more than the fact that He is the God of big things and events.  He does care when my life is crippled because of the piling up of little things, such as: dirty clothes to wash, bills to pay, house to clean, phone calls to make.

You see, ALL of life is important to Him - not just the big things.  Knowing this draws me to love Him more and more.  There's absolutely nothing that He is not concerned with that has to do with me!

Busy Being Busy

The other great article I enjoyed reading was published in House Tops, which is a Baptist Record supplement produced by the MS Baptist Convention Board's Communication Services on Dec 3, 2009 and was written by Dr. Jim Futral, executive director-treasurer of the MS Baptist Convention Board.

Busy Being Busy

I was on my way somewhere with the radio tuned to a Christian station when one of those little one minute or so devotional thoughts came on, and it just so happened to be Jill Briscoe. She was having a conversation with the Lord during her quiet time. He wanted to know where she had been. She explained that she lived in such a hurried world that she had not had time to visit with Him. She had been so busy being busy that she missed the opportunity to be blessed.

I am not sure that I know of anyone who does not feel the drain, strain, and even the pain of this time of the year as we are so busy being busy. Probably some, if not many, or the things that we are doing and places that we are going, if push came to shove, we could do without. Since we do not feel that we do not have sufficient reason not to go, not to do, or not to buy, we just press on in the fog and rain clouds of busyness. While the busyness of life may manifest itself more at this time of year than at any other, it is an all-year event for most of us.

Why is that? What creates that in so many of us? Well, for one thing, many of us want to be the best we can be and to do it all. We do not want to be lazy, to give any remote hint of being uncommitted whether it is to a job, the church, a sports team, to family, or neighbors. We constantly hear the message from some teacher, preacher, motivational speaker, parent or even a musician singing a tune that sticks with us and forces us to climb every mountain, ford every stream, spread your wings, and fly. Always stay busy! If we are not, we fell as though we are doing something sinister or evil and we must then live with the struggle of guilt and maybe depression.

Just being busy is not a virtue, while pausing to rest and recoup is not a sin. Jesus lived in perfect balance and found absolute harmony in working hard, going long hours, and then finding rest and relaxation. There were moments that He had to be in the midst of everything and all of the swirl of life and controversy. There were other times when He had to get away from it all. He was perfection and was able to keep it in perfect balance.

A second reason why we stay so busy being busy is that many of us try to do all that anybody ever wants us to do. I have had people to tell me that I did not have the word, "NO," in my vocabulary. That is really not true because I do say no to some engagements, but more often than not it is because I already have something else scheduled or it is totally impossible for me to get to where I am being asked to go. I want to be a servant of the Lord and I want to be a servant to others, but sometimes we say yes instead of no only because we do not want to struggle with the consequences of saying no.

How o you go about determining when you should say yes and when you should say no? There is not a simple answer. One thing that I have become aware of through the years is that oftentimes people want me to rearrange my schedule to fit their needs and they are totally unwilling to rearrange their schedule to fit my scheduling needs. Sometimes when I struggle wiht that kind of thinking, I am able to say, "I am sorry, but I just cannot do it." The consequences of saying no can be unpleasant, for when you do not do what people want you to do they can let you know of their anger, deep disappointment, or degraded evaluation of you. Occasionally, they can be downright rude and sometimes even mean. Still, there are times that the right thing to do is to say no.

My final thought has to do with trying to find that approach to life that is busy enough to be fulfilling and not so busy that it just crushes you. It is the effort to seek sensitivity and to know the Lord's yes, no, or later in your life. If you can find that and keep that in perspective day by day, you can live with the yeses of life even if it extends you, stretches you, and calls for the deep resources that only God can provide in your life. You can live with the consequences of whatever may come in saying no. If the Lord does provide a maybe or a later, you can deal with them also at the proper time and in another way.

My prayer and hope for you is that you will be able to figure this out a whole lot better than I have and walk in the wonder and daily delight of following the Father like Jesus did. I would encourage you not to try to make New Year's resolution but rather ask the Lord to help you implement His time plan for you just for today.

Let us try it today, and then we will give it a renewed effort tomorrow.

The author can be contacted at jfutral@mbcb.org

Never Enough Time - What's on your to do list?

There are a couple of articles I have recently read that interested me about being busy. Hope these are also interesting to you.

Never Enough Time - What's on your To Do List
by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and taken from Journey

There is virtually never time in a 24-hour day for me to do everything that is on everyone else's "to-do" list for me. There is seldom time to do everything that is on my own "to-do" list. I cannot meet with every person who wants an appointment, call every person who wants to talk, counsel with every person who has a need, tackle every project that people think I would be good at, read all the books I'd like to read, spend the kind of time I'd like to spend with my friends, and keep every room in my house presentable for guests who drop in. It's just not physically possible.

What a relief to realize I don't have to do all those things!

The truth is that all I have to do is the work God assigns to me. What a freedom it has been for me to accept that there is time for me to do everything that is on God's "to-do" list for my day, for my week, and for my life!

The frustration comes when I attempt to take on responsibilities that are not on His agenda for me. When I establish my own agenda or let others determine the priorities for my life, rather than taking time to discern what it is that God wants me to do, I end up buried under piles of half-finished, poorly done, or never-attempted projects and tasks. I live with guilt, frustration, and haste, rather than enjoying the peaceful, well-ordered life that He intends.

It is important to keep in mind that God's "to-do" list for my life is not the same as His list for anyone else's life. Jesus said, "I have glorified You on the earth by completing the work You gave Me to do" (John 17:4) - not "the work which You gave Peter or John or My mother to do." The work God has for me to do is not the same as what He has for you or for my friends or co-workers. What God has called you to do as a mother with three toddlers will not be the same as the "job description" He has for your husband, or for a single young woman or an empty nester.

Further, there are different seasons of our lives, and God's assignments for me in my 40's will not be exactly the same as what He gave me to do as a teenager or what He will have in mind for me as an elderly woman.

By the way, there is another, related lie that women in our generation have bought into. In a sense, it is the opposite of the lie that we don't have enough time to do everything we're supposed to do. It is the lie that "I can do it all" - that "I should be able to be an ideal wife and mother, keep my house clean and organized, prepare healthy meals for my family, be active in my kids' school and my church and community, stay physically fit, keep up on current events, and have a full-tie job outside my home".

Women who subconsciously believe they are supposed to be able to juggle all these roles are likely to end up exhausted and overwhelmed by all the demands on their time.

The truth is, no woman can wear all those hats effectively. Sooner or later, something (or someone) is going to suffer.

Frustration is the by-product of attempting to fulfill responsibilities God does not intend for us to carry. Freedom, joy, and fruitfulness come from seeking to determine God's priorities for each season of life, and then setting out to fulfill those priorities, in the power of His Spirit, realizing that He has provided the necessary time and ability to do everything that He has called us to do.

Is Five Minutes Enough?

Psalm 46:1-41

Be still- stop doing everything & listen to God.

Is 5 minutes enough??

I was challenged by our pastor's recent sermon on Sunday night by taking 15 minutes of our time each day to stop everything and be still and learn to listen to God.  Then I thought- 15 minutes sure doesn't seem hard until I go home and try it as a mom.

Finding time to be still-stop doing everything- is hard as moms with the sounds of "mom!!!!", children scuffling, tv blaring, doorbell ringing, dog barking, & phone ringing. So is 5 minutes of stillness enough time for God?

I think God understands our positions of being a parent but we still need to find time to be with Him. Whether it is 5 minutes a day or 5 minutes 3 times a day He will listen and we can learn to listen to Him.

Be still and know that I am God.

This image was taken just down the hill from my house. I love it and it paints a perfect picture of how to become still.  I cannot look at this image and not stop for a second and marvel at God's beauty - or as someone recently commented - "He is the master painter"!

Into the Deep.....

I was reading my devotion just now and it just reminded me of my photography business and how much a true blessing it has been in my life - especially meeting the wonderful new clients that come into my life and the connections that each have with other clients of mine.  It's neat! Anyway - I have been truly blessed and believe that it is all through God that I can be successful doing what I love to do and working strictly from home and on location. It truly amazes me daily! I would like to share some of what I read....

taken from "At His Feet" 2003, by Walk thru the Bible in Journey, March 2009 by Lifeway.

"Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Luke 5:4

A lot of us have limited vision. We base most of our activities and plans on what we've learned from experience and the interests, talents, and abilities we know we have.  We are reluctant to get in over our heads because of the discomfort we feel in such situations.  We don't like having demands placed on us that are beyond our resources.  

When Jesus calls us to follow Him, He always pushes us beyond our experience and beyond our abilities.  Peter had been fishing all night with no results when Jesus' instruction came to put out into deep water.  All of Peter's intuition told him that the exercise would be fruitless.  But Jesus doesn't call us to do the same things we've always done in the same ways we've always done them.  He calls us to launch out further and deeper, to places where we cannot depend on our own experience and abilities.  He puts us in places where we must depend entirely on Him.

Next time you feel helpless in a situation and know you're in over your head, remember the sovereign Lord who places you there.  He has intimate knowledge of the deep.  He is master over all the elements of His creation.  He knows what awaits us there.  He is Lord of the wind and the waves, the harvest, the loneliness, or whatever else might face us "in the deep".

The deep water can be a scary place to be.  For Peter, it seemed like a pointless place to be.  We are helpless there.  But we cannot avoid it and be obedient to Jesus at the same time. This is the way to bear fruit - and it always involved going beyond our own expertise, our limited vision, and our resources.  He calls us to launch out into places where we have no choice but to depend on His instruction and His power.

"God doesn't call people who are qualified.  He calls people who are willing, and then He qualifies them." - Richard Parker

Mind Control

I was reading my devotion this morning and wanted to write a blog post about it because I think it is a very important and sometimes overlooked topic - depression.

Depression Statistics - taken from www.upliftprogram.com

Depressive disorders affect approximately 18.8 million American adults or about 9.5% of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year. This includes major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, and bipolar disorder.

Everyone, will at some time in their life be affected by depression -- their own or someone else's, according to Australian Government statistics. (Depression statistics in Australia are comparable to those of the US and UK.)

Pre-schoolers are the fastest-growing market for antidepressants. At least four percent of preschoolers -- over a million -- are clinically depressed

The rate of increase of depression among children is an astounding 23%

15% of the population of most developed countries suffers severe depression.

30% of women are depressed. Men's figures were previously thought to be half that of women, but new estimates are higher.

54% of people believe depression is a personal weakness.

41% of depressed women are too embarrassed to seek help.

80% of depressed people are not currently having any treatment.

92% of depressed African-American males do not seek treatment.

15% of depressed people will commit suicide.

Depression will be the second largest killer after heart disease by 2020 -- and studies show depression is a contributory factor to fatal coronary disease.

Depression results in more absenteeism than almost any other physical disorder and costs employers more than US$51 billion per year in absenteeism and lost productivity, not including high medical and pharmaceutical bills.

My Devotional taken from Journey - A Woman's Guide to Intimacy with God

Depression has a way of intensifying our emotions, turning thoughts that we'd ordinarily brush off into all-consuming obsessions, throwing us into the depths over things that aren't even true.  Sometimes the cause is physical, sometimes it is spiritual; sometimes it's a combination of both.  If the depression is more than just a temporary feeling, it's time to see a physician.

Paul understood the power of thought as he sat alone in prison, chained to guards with no release date on the calendar.  There were probably times he experienced the enemy's attack - Satan.  "Everyone has abandoned you including God. Just give up!"  But Paul practiced the truth that set him free - that when we set our minds on the promises of God's Word and the many ways He has kept them, we step on the path to peace.

Taking control of our thinking takes a conscious effort, especially in the exhausting battle of depression.  But God is faithful when we call to Him and ask Him to fill our minds with His goodness.

~teresa