To Be Grateful

I was thinking about this this morning that I have a lot to be grateful for.  Sure technical I am in the poverty level for the United States but compared to a lot of other countries I have it really good.  My car is broke down and it is getting fixed but at least I have a car to fix.  I have a roof over my head.  I have a bed to sleep in.  All of my needs are always taken care of.  My health is for the most part good.  So I thank God for taking care of me.   It is when I remember what I am grateful for that I can praise him more fully and understand that even in my struggles he has never left me or forsaken me.  It is when I am grateful that I get a glimpse of heaven.

Faith in the Darkness

Joshua 1:9 ^" Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."

In the past few weeks life has been really hard for me and my family.  First my grandma died from dementia after a two year struggle with it.  She was like a second mom to me so this loss was very hard on me.  Then my boss wouldn't let me have the time off to go to her funeral so I quit my job.  After my grandmas funeral our car started having problems and it needed 1300 dollars in repairs and we didn't have the funds to pay for it.  On top of all of this there was other medical stuff going on with my spouse and I.  Normally when stuff like this would take place I would blame God and lose hope.  This time I didn't do that.   Instead I remembered all the times it was bad before and then it turned out OK.  I choose to have faith.  Then yesterday happened.  My mom called and said that she was going to have my car fixed and we could pay her back.  I got a job later on in the day within walking distance from my house.  And we got a gig over the weekend that is going to pay 160 dollars for 2 days of work.   That will pay for the tags on my car.   I knew God would make everything better and he did. 

The Puzzle Pieces Have Come Together

I have finally finished the puzzle that I started months ago, literally months ago.  Now I just have to get poster mounts and I can put in on my wall.  And just in time because Part 1 of Deathly Hallows is being released tomorrow.  Yay! 
What else have I been up to?  I am still working on that afghan.  Unfortunately I am only about a third done with it so far, but at least I have made progress on it.  It takes some time to do an afghan of that size.

In my personal life I have just been notified that I was accepted into Grand Valley State University for next fall.  Also, I was given so much in grants and loans that I actually have 3,000 more than what I need for the first year.  This is good because I have an old car and it will probably need repair at some point.  God has been so good to me!  Also, I received a promotion at work and now I am an optician instead of a door greeter.  That is a big pay difference, better hours, and a lot better job duties!

It is evident that God is working in my life.  My faith is growing everyday as I see that God is in the details of my life.  I never imagined that my life could be this good or that I could be in this place, and its just getting better.  I am so grateful!

Not Going To Worry

Recently I feel like the world and the people that are in it have really been in a state of constant worry.  If you turn on the news, or even just talk to a group of people about gas prices, the middle east or heath insurance coverage you will get the same message that I am getting.  That message is that this world is going to hell and that we should all be scared out of our minds.  You can't get through the day without the message of fear creeping in, in someway.  I am not writing this to make people feel bad for be scared.  But I am writing this because I know there's no reason to be scared if you are a Christian.  I believe that the God that pinned my sins on a cross and has called me his, also safely holds me even while the world goes crazy around me.  What does the Bible say about worry.  “Then Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?’” (Luke 12:22-26, NIV).   It is true.  Worry does nothing good for my life.  By worrying I have never prevented anything from happening.  In fact worry actually causes health problems.  Stress can lead to heart disease, anxiety disorders, and a multitude of other problems.  But can it prevent anything.  I have never prevented anything from happening by worrying about it.  However, I did waste precious time that I could have been spending doing God's will.  The Bible also says this about worry. 
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
 
I cannot do anything about the gas prices, the middle east, the rising cost of living, the politicians in Washington, or even the people around me.  But I can do something about how I respond to it.  Jesus calls us as Christians to respond with faith instead of fear.  Let the world see that we are not scared.  Won't that send a message.  Maybe they will want what we have if we respond in faith to this rising fear.  Remember Jesus has already won this war.One of the things that I notice about this verse is that I will have peace that transcends understanding.  What does that mean?  I think that means that I will have peace that makes no sense.  I will have peace when others are not in peace.  When it would make sense for me to worry and be fearful I will be peaceful instead.  And how do I get that kind of peace?  By praying to God instead of worrying. 

Why I Don't Go To Church

I have never written about this for the pure reason that I have not wanted to offend my other Christian friends but I think its time just to put it out there and be real about it.  There are some things about church and my fellow Christian brothers and sisters that really disturb and upset me.  It upsets me so much that I would just rather stay at home on Sunday than be around them.  I feel I get more out of the connections with my friends in AA than I do with my Christian brothers and sisters anyways. 

Here's the number one reason I stay home.  I find that other Christians are terribly judgemental of everyone.  If I remember from what I read in the Bible the most important commandment was to love God and then to love our neighbor.  This is what the Bible says:
One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (NIV, Mark 12:28-31).
Also in 1 Corinthians 13 it says in verse 4-6 it tells us that love is not arrogant or boastful and that it is patient and that it hopes all things.  To me that sounds like the opposite of judging.  And then it goes on to say its the most important thing and that without it we are nothing!

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [2] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Yet when I am around my Christian friends I find that they are terrible judgemental.  Have you ever noticed that when you walk into Church late everyone turns and looks at you.  I can guarantee they are not thinking how wonderful it is that you made it to church.  They are probably thinking something along the lines of how wonderful they are for making it to church on time when you couldn't.  When I am late for an AA meeting people are genuinely glad that I made it.  They even say you are never late for a meeting.  Its a shame I can't be accepted like that at church.
Also, there's this lady I work with.  She goes to church every Sunday.  She professes to love Jesus more than anything in the whole world.  Yet if someone comes in the door and they smell bad or are dressed bad I can guarantee you that she is the first person to talk about that person and how horrible it was for them to leave their house like that.  Well, excuse me I think its horrible for you to leave your house without the compassion of Christ.  Don't claim my saviors name if you are going to hurt people with your words.
Jesus came for sick people.  If we were well he would not have had to die.  Why is it when you go into a church everyone insists on acting like nothing is ever wrong in their lives.  You know that on the way to church in the car they were screaming at each other.  You can see the tear streams still etched on their face.  Yet when you ask how they are, they respond with life is wonderful and God is blessing us.  Don't lie.  Let your brothers and sisters in Christ help you.  That's why people go to drugs and alcohol to fix their problems instead of churches.  Churches don't seem like a place where sick people go.  To me that's sad.  That is exactly why Christ died on the cross.  To save the sick.  Not to be a resort club for the perfect.
I just wish there was a little less judging, a little more honesty, and a little more acceptance in the body of Christ today.  Do you want people to come to Christ.  You have to show them love first.  If you judge them first they will die before they come to Christ and they will die in their sins.  No one ever became a Christian because someone told them that they were scum.  You've got to show people love.  The Bible says they will know us because of our love.
"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35

I try to ask myself would someone be able to identify me as a Christian based on this statement.  

"Having A Mary Heart In A Martha World" by Joanna Weaver

This is one of the books that I recently finished reading.  I really gained a lot of insight into my own life through reading this book.  Joanna Weaver really wrote a book which gets to the core of having a passion for God in a world where we are told that we must do, do, do.  This book explains that we aren't put here on earth to just complete one task after another.  We were put here for a relationship with God.  That is the one thing that matters.  That is our sole purpose.  While service and good works is important, it is important that we first find our rest in Christ.  We are meant to have intimacy with God and that starts with slowing down enough to spend some time with him.  This book helps show you how to do that.  I really love this book and found it very helpful.  I highly recommend this book to others!

Book Review; "What Good Is God?" by Philip Yancey

For those of you who want a good book to read I highly suggest this book.  It answers some tough questions about Christianity.  Philip Yancey goes to where there is the most pain in the world and finds God in those places.  Places like Virginia Tech, 9-11, Communist China, the Middle East, South Africa before it was integrated and after, India, Columbine, and into the depths of alcoholism and addiction and asks the question what difference does God make?  It is eye opening and thought provoking.  I definitely recommend this book.
Also, for all of my recovering friends there is a chapter in here about why Philip Yancey wants to be an alcoholic.  I thought that this was a really cool chapter.  Another reason to read this book!

Don't Quit 5 Minutes Before The Miracle

Recently a few of my freinds have been going through some hard times and as I am watching them struggle it is reminding me how important it is not to lose faith.  Sometimes in life it can seem like hope is gone and we are as far down as we can get.  I have been there and I know how that feels.  But something that I have learned from being in that spot is that usually when I am at the darkest spots in my life, those are the times that I am closest to a new dawn.  I don't know when I am in the darkness that God is going to make the sun shine again, but he is. 
When I was at the Unity festival this summer one of the artist talked about one of my favorite bible verses.  Phillians 4:7 "And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus"  What this artist pointed out is something that I had never thought about before.  See I had always focused just on the peace part of this verse.  What I failed to see was that at some point in my life there would be a time that God would give me peace when it would make no sense for me to have peace.  That is why it transends all understanding.  At some point my life may be so bad that no one will understand why I am at peace when everything in my life is going haywire.  Now, how can I have peace like this.  I think I know the answer to this today.  Because the God I worship has conquered this world.  Nothing in this world can hurt me.  John 16:33 ""I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." 
So don't quit before the miracle.  And don't lose your faith.  God has come through before and he will come through again.  Maybe in the struggle you will find your blessing.

The First Hat for Charity

Here is the first hat that I have completed for the charity challenge.  It only took me one and a half hours.  I just used old yarn that I had laying around the house.  Finally, I have something I can do with all of that left over yarn!

I also want to include a picture that I took last night on my lunch break at work.  It had just gotten done raining and I was able to capture the prettiest rainbow ever.  It is good to know that God still keeps his promises.  What a picture of hope!  Maybe this was God's way of telling me that my hat project is a good idea?