"Never once did we ever walk alone, never once did you leave us on our own, you are faithful, God you are faithful"
Those are some of the lyrics to a worship song from Matt Redman that we have been singing recently at church, and it is such a powerful song. As I was doing my devotional from The Message//Remix:Solo today, my thoughts went to these lyrics. I was reading Joshua 1:1-9, and verse 9 in The Message says: "Don't be timid; don't get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.
We are not alone, no matter where we go and what we face each day. Whether we feel happy, sad, irritated, nervous, hurt, lonely, or overwhelmed by what is going on around us, remembering that God is with us brings peace that lasts longer than peace we could receive from any other source.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
New Things Ahead
There are so many things coming up in the month of September that I am absolutely excited for. The biggest thing, however, is the leadership conference on the 8th. I cannot wait to attend this event, especially now that Chris and I have been officially approved to lead our eGroup on the book Not A Fan. It is going to be such a fun and challenging experience.
One quote from the book says this: "Following Jesus isn't something you can do at night where no one notices. It's a twenty-four-hour-a-day commitment that will intefere with your life". I have experienced this so much in the past month...lately I have felt a constant need for more of God lately. More and more of my conversations at work are faith-related. My desire to read the Bible or a Christian Inspiration book has outweighed my desire for some of the other things I used to do in my free time. I do still watch TV, browse the internet, etc, but the time I spend doing these things has greatly decreased. I want to be the true follower of Jesus that I am meant to be. I want to remember to ask for guidance from the Holy Spirit on a minute-to-minute basis. And I want to learn how to sit in silence and wait on God. That is my biggest challenge. Just a couple nights ago, I tried this for the first time in a while, sitting for ten minutes. In those ten minutes, I felt very aware of the music that the crickets make at night. With the tv or radio on, you can easily miss it, but when you eliminate all of the distractions you realize how soothing the sounds of nature are.
Pastor Steven announce this past week that Elevation will be having a 12-night revival starting in January. I have never been to a revival in my life, but I am super excited to find out how to be a part of this one. 12 nights of worshiping Jesus and listening to preachers pouring into us so we can pour into the people in our lives sounds good to me!
One quote from the book says this: "Following Jesus isn't something you can do at night where no one notices. It's a twenty-four-hour-a-day commitment that will intefere with your life". I have experienced this so much in the past month...lately I have felt a constant need for more of God lately. More and more of my conversations at work are faith-related. My desire to read the Bible or a Christian Inspiration book has outweighed my desire for some of the other things I used to do in my free time. I do still watch TV, browse the internet, etc, but the time I spend doing these things has greatly decreased. I want to be the true follower of Jesus that I am meant to be. I want to remember to ask for guidance from the Holy Spirit on a minute-to-minute basis. And I want to learn how to sit in silence and wait on God. That is my biggest challenge. Just a couple nights ago, I tried this for the first time in a while, sitting for ten minutes. In those ten minutes, I felt very aware of the music that the crickets make at night. With the tv or radio on, you can easily miss it, but when you eliminate all of the distractions you realize how soothing the sounds of nature are.
Pastor Steven announce this past week that Elevation will be having a 12-night revival starting in January. I have never been to a revival in my life, but I am super excited to find out how to be a part of this one. 12 nights of worshiping Jesus and listening to preachers pouring into us so we can pour into the people in our lives sounds good to me!
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Final Answer
After months of waiting and praying and hoping, I was given the answer yesterday about Corporate's decision on allowing my managers to hire me. Their answer was no. However, I still have my job as a temp.
I took the news calmly in the HR office, but once I got back to my desk discouragement started to set in. Even though I know God is providing for us, and this is the source of income I have been given, I let the negative points settle in...I won't get paid holidays. I won't get paid vacation. Anytime I want time off, my paycheck will suffer. I won't feel free to ever just take an afternoon off to go to a doctor's appointment because I'll always have to make up the time.
It's easy to let all of those details seem bigger than the fact that I have a job. I didn't walk out of work yesterday to rejoin the unemployment lines. I really believe that this is teaching me to trust God, not my job title. Proverbs 3:5 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding." My own understanding says that this isn't fair, I deserve the full time job with benefits and sick time and vacation and holiday pay. But God says that this is how He is providing for us...I have more than enough income to cover the bills. I can save up some money in a reserve to make up for the pay I would miss when I want to take a vacation day or two, or when a holiday comes up.
I was reading Jon Acuff's book Quitter this morning, and I came across a passage that was very encouraging. It said, "Every decision you make, every path you take, has the ability to contribute something you need to suceed at your dream." I'm still not 100% sure what my dream is. I'm not sure what it is in life I'm going to be doing, besides being a supportive wife to the most amazing husband in the world. But based on what I've seen so far, I'm going to take things one step at a time, and I will be exactly where I am meant to be. I'm learning a lot at this job, both professionally and personally, that I would not have been able to learn by just walking into a job and never going through layoffs and company downsizing, never having to face unemployment and the uncertainty of what comes next.
God is providing for our needs, and although I know I won't be at this company for the rest of my life, I'm there right now, and I'm surrounded by a group of wonderful people who have become an extended family.
I took the news calmly in the HR office, but once I got back to my desk discouragement started to set in. Even though I know God is providing for us, and this is the source of income I have been given, I let the negative points settle in...I won't get paid holidays. I won't get paid vacation. Anytime I want time off, my paycheck will suffer. I won't feel free to ever just take an afternoon off to go to a doctor's appointment because I'll always have to make up the time.
It's easy to let all of those details seem bigger than the fact that I have a job. I didn't walk out of work yesterday to rejoin the unemployment lines. I really believe that this is teaching me to trust God, not my job title. Proverbs 3:5 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding." My own understanding says that this isn't fair, I deserve the full time job with benefits and sick time and vacation and holiday pay. But God says that this is how He is providing for us...I have more than enough income to cover the bills. I can save up some money in a reserve to make up for the pay I would miss when I want to take a vacation day or two, or when a holiday comes up.
I was reading Jon Acuff's book Quitter this morning, and I came across a passage that was very encouraging. It said, "Every decision you make, every path you take, has the ability to contribute something you need to suceed at your dream." I'm still not 100% sure what my dream is. I'm not sure what it is in life I'm going to be doing, besides being a supportive wife to the most amazing husband in the world. But based on what I've seen so far, I'm going to take things one step at a time, and I will be exactly where I am meant to be. I'm learning a lot at this job, both professionally and personally, that I would not have been able to learn by just walking into a job and never going through layoffs and company downsizing, never having to face unemployment and the uncertainty of what comes next.
God is providing for our needs, and although I know I won't be at this company for the rest of my life, I'm there right now, and I'm surrounded by a group of wonderful people who have become an extended family.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Psalm 88...and 89
Psalm 88 spoke to me the other day...but not in a way that made me say, "ah, yeah I've been there, I know that feeling." I haven't been there. Sure, in my life, I've had my share of hard times, and I've had seasons where I felt discouraged and hopeless...but not to the point where I feel like God has forgotten me. I have never experienced something where I could quote the second part of verse 5, "I am forgotten, cut off from your care". I'm scared that there will be a day where I will face feeling like that...but what's interesting is the fact that where Psalm 88 is the voice of someone in pain crying out to God, Psalm 89:1-18 describes characteristics of God: God's love, faithfulness, promises, might and power. The Psalm opens with praise that God's love is unfailing. Psalm 89:1 "I will sing of the Lord's unfailing love forever! Verses 14-15 say this:
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Unfailing love and truth walk before you as attendants. Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
Further on in Psalm 89, it talks about God's promise to David in verse 22 & 24, "His enemies will not defeat him, nor will the wicked overpower him...my faithfulness and unfailing love will be with him, and by my authority he will grow in power." Finally, towards the end, the Psalm goes into crying out in pain to God in verse 50: "Consider Lord, how your servants are disgraced! I carry in my heart the insults of so many people." Yet, the end of the Psalm still says in verse 32 "Praise the Lord forever!" Things don't have to be good before we can praise God. We can praise Him even when we're struggling. It takes a change of heart, but that is something God can work on if we just submit our hearts to Him.
I know it was not a coincidence that these two Psalms are back to back...and the uplifting words come after a psalm full of pain and sadness. After all, when something goes wrong, we it's easy to forget all the stuff that's gone right. Tough circumstances seem to overshadow the good. We need to be reminded of God's goodness and faithfulness when storms come into our lives.
That's not to say that you won't ever face adversity with hope and strength...I'm not saying that at all. But when problems in life start to take us down, we have hope and strength from God to lift us back up.
I pray that if there comes a time where I do feel like Psalm 88, that I also remember to read Psalm 89.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne. Unfailing love and truth walk before you as attendants. Happy are those who hear the joyful call to worship, for they will walk in the light of your presence, Lord.
Further on in Psalm 89, it talks about God's promise to David in verse 22 & 24, "His enemies will not defeat him, nor will the wicked overpower him...my faithfulness and unfailing love will be with him, and by my authority he will grow in power." Finally, towards the end, the Psalm goes into crying out in pain to God in verse 50: "Consider Lord, how your servants are disgraced! I carry in my heart the insults of so many people." Yet, the end of the Psalm still says in verse 32 "Praise the Lord forever!" Things don't have to be good before we can praise God. We can praise Him even when we're struggling. It takes a change of heart, but that is something God can work on if we just submit our hearts to Him.
I know it was not a coincidence that these two Psalms are back to back...and the uplifting words come after a psalm full of pain and sadness. After all, when something goes wrong, we it's easy to forget all the stuff that's gone right. Tough circumstances seem to overshadow the good. We need to be reminded of God's goodness and faithfulness when storms come into our lives.
That's not to say that you won't ever face adversity with hope and strength...I'm not saying that at all. But when problems in life start to take us down, we have hope and strength from God to lift us back up.
I pray that if there comes a time where I do feel like Psalm 88, that I also remember to read Psalm 89.
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