The thing about a worst-case scenario is that it’s just that – the worst-case scenario.
Here’s the deal – my God is not a worst-case scenario God.
My God is about redemption.
My God Is about victory.
My God is about splitting seas wide open
My God is all about rolling immovable stones out of the way.
My God lived out the worst-case scenario so that we would never have to.
So when fear creeps in, and there doesn’t seem to be a way through whatever it is that you’re going through, open up your Bible and begin reading.
Read about Esther.
Read about Lazarus.
Read about Isaiah.
Read about Jesus.
There’s your hope.
There’s your victory.
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.” John 16:33
“Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”
-Hebrews 12:3
I’ve been thinking a lot about discipline lately. That’s no surprise considering that I teach 6th grade and it’s the end of the school year. But seriously, the topic of discipline comes up all the time in popular culture from everything to raising children to self-help plans. The general consensus seems to be that more of it is a good thing, right?
Recently, I participated in a Bible study on the book of Hebrews. The next to last chapter of this great letter focuses on the topic of discipline, specifically about God’s discipline of His children. It really got me thinking about my attitude towards God when He disciplines me. Honestly, I don’t like it when God disciplines me, so I started to dig a little into my attitude through prayer, study, and discussion with my group. Hopefully some of my thoughts can help you when facing a moment of hardship that you view as discipline from God.
First of all, God thinks about discipline differently than we do. Proverbs 3:11-12 tells us to not take “lightly the discipline of the Lord” because “the Lord disciplines the one he loves.” Sometimes, I struggle with Christian “karma.” You know this idea-if I am obedient, then my life will be fine-no bumps, no hurts, no struggles. But that idea is just flat out wrong. It’s not biblical. The Bible is full of examples of people who followed the Lord but endured many hardships.We don’t necessarily have to sin to experience His discipline, either. Look at Paul’s example. He was preaching the Word but had to endure trial after trial. Prison. Shipwreck. Sickness. Isolation. During a trial have you ever stopped to think about why it was happening to you? What is God’s purpose for your suffering ? I encourage you to keep digging and talking to God during these times. We may want to run from Him during hard times, but that is the moment we should draw near and pour our hearts out! Pray out loud. Sing. Cry. He will speak to us in our most painful moments.
Secondly, God’s discipline grows us in ways we couldn’t imagine. The author of Hebrews goes on to say “He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.” This idea really got me going-Me sharing in Jesus’ holiness? Wow! Jesus is the picture of obedience and lived a sinless life, yet he suffered the discipline of the cross on our behalf to complete God’s plan for salvation. One of our main tasks as believers on earth is to become more Christ-like. God uses discipline to further us on that path. This thought of Christ going ahead of me in discipline changes my attitude because I want to be more like Him.
Lastly, God’s discipline is rewarding. Rewards from pain? Yes. Check out what the author of Hebrews tells his audience in 12:11, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” I don’t know about you but peaceful anything sounds wonderful right now. Our world is so chaotic. People are seeking peace. People are also seeking righteousness. As a result of God’s discipline, I am more patient, less judgy, more faithful. I still have a long, long, long way to go, but looking back at times where I know He was disciplining me helped me to see the “fruit” He is growing in my life. Think about your path. What fruit do you see God growing?
God knows us and loves us. Spend some time in thought and prayer about His discipline.
“It is for discipline that you must endure. God is treating you as sons.” Hebrews 12:7
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.–John 15:12
Let us love one another for love is of God. And everyone that loveth is born of God. And knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God; For God is Love. –1 John 4: 7-8
The definition of unconditional reads, “absolute and not subject to any special terms or conditions; it’ll happen no matter what else happens.” This past year was difficult for everyone on the planet.
Period!
Being a teacher for over 16 years, I have learned that unconditional love requires an abundance of grace. It requires inclusion, patience and loving others as they are, not as you wish them to be. As a follower of the Christian faith I became increasingly disappointed this year with our response to the pandemic crisis which brought forth division in our country.
This division revealed a need for us to do better at loving one another. My purpose in writing this is to inspire you to do two things; (1) Take a deeper look at how you love others (2) Choose and commit to loving someone unconditionally.
Take a deeper look at how you love others
As we dive into the first commitment in looking at how we love others, let this quote sink in and resonate with your heart.
“You cannot accept God’s grace for your life until you let go of your own righteousness.”
The definition of righteousness is to act in accord with divine or moral law; to be free from guilt or sin. The later part of that definition is where we need to be honest with ourselves. None of us are free from sin. Is there righteousness, judgement or exclusion for those who look different from us or love, believe or think differently from us?
As Christians we don’t get to pick and choose who to love. One of my favorite quotes by Maya Angelou reads, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Let us not forget that our job is actually quite simple…to love one another. Everyday we have an opportunity to decide to live with an open heart. To choose to offer a warm hug, a friendly pat on the back or an encouraging word. That is Christ-like love!
Choose and commit to loving someone unconditionally.
As a child I always thought about people who lived in underdeveloped countries. The burning questions in my mind were… “What if no one tells them about God? What if the messenger never arrives? How can they be saved if they don’t know about the savior?”
With age comes wisdom and I know now that the answer is this….God is within us. Not just in some of us but in all of us. God is in every part of the earth, in every living creature, in every soul. So what should we do if we meet someone who is searching for inner peace and looking to nurture their soul? Maybe they are looking for spirituality, a higher power or something to believe in. Couldn’t we become the messenger simply by showing them love?
Providing a long list of all the things they need to do in order to become a Christian is not where we start. It starts with a genuine message that they are loved as they are and from there to model acceptance, grace and tolerance. To be an example not just in our word but in our actions.
We can say we believe that light and love can drive out hate, but are we showing love in action when confronted with hate? Do we show love in everything we do? Or are we stopping to wonder whether or not they are worthy of love? Not just love but unconditional love? I challenge you to choose someone this year to love unconditionally. This person should be someone who is not easy to love. It could be a coworker who doesn’t share your political views, an acquaintance who has a negative attitude or maybe it’s a complete stranger who needs someone to show them unconditional love.
I realized this year that it’s easy to love others when everything is going great but what about when things aren’t so great. Choosing to love is not easy. It requires a disciplined heart that chooses love over hate, light over darkness and compassion over judgement. In times of struggle and division we must realize the importance of being good to people and contemplate what is best for all of us, not just some of us. May we not let the circumstances of our lives harden us so that we become increasingly resentful and fearful. But instead let them make us kinder, more open to what could be, to choose wisely how we respond and more importantly…. how to love unconditionally!
As I stumbled to the coffee pot at 5 am I heard the most awful noise coming from the hallway. It was Megatron – the English Bulldog. I’m not gonna go into details but just imagine the worst scenario involving a sick dog and his kennel.
Yup.
It threw off my whole morning routine and apparently followed me all the way to my parking spot at work where I realized my computer was at home on the counter.
Awesome.
Still haven’t had the first sip of coffee.
Went home.
Got the computer.
Went back to work.
Did car duty.
Still no coffee.
I sat down to for a meeting and raised my coffee cup to take that first sip and would you believe my Apple Watch band snapped in half? Like what even?
Alright Monday – I see you.
I see you trying your best to alter my mood. I see you trying your best to make me lose my mind. I see you trying your best to make me behave like someone that I’m not.
I see you.
The thing is it’s not Monday – it’s the devil. And he would love nothing more for me to lose my mind. To lose my witness.
Every single day – every single moment – we get to choose. Who will we let win today?
I hope you choose Jesus.
I hope you choose grace.
I hope you choose laughing when you want to cry. And I hope you choose some Jesus-filled friends that “have been there” and “done that”.
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16
““Then Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts, and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. And he said to them, “It is written, ‘ My house will be called a house of prayer, ’ but you are turning it into a den of robbers!” Matthew 21:12-13
I recently came across a phrase that said “Flip Tables”. I immediately fell in love with the message behind this. But, what does this mean? In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus sees actions going on in the temple that He doesn’t approve of.
What does He do? He doesn’t sit in the corner and judge silently. He doesn’t turn a blind eye and pretend He doesn’t see it to avoid conflict. No, He flips the tables over so these sinful actions cease to continue. Jesus doesn’t do this to cause a commotion or to be seen of men. He does this because the people selling things were going against his Father’s word.
So, how does this apply to us? How can we be like Jesus in this scenario? Well, we as Christians should want to see others succeed, do good, and live in Christ. We can’t do this by sitting quietly and allowing others to live in sin.
No, we need to be bold in our faith and stand up for the cause of Christ. We should love our fellow Christians enough so that when we see a problem, we hold them accountable. Not because we feel we are better than them, but because we want them to spend eternity in Heaven.
We see this in James 5:19-20 when it says, “My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back, he should know that the one who turns a sinner back from his wandering path will save that person’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.”
So, “Flip Tables”, love your neighbor, and let’s help one another in our walks as Christians.
Last November, December & January our family suffered the loss of my niece and two uncles. It felt as if grief wouldn’t stop coming, waves on waves. I didn’t have time to get my mind around one loss before another came along. During this time the word that I connected with the most was heavy. I felt heavy. Life felt heavy. The air around me felt heavy. Everything took enormous effort. Then one morning during this time, God gave me the phrase “the gift of grief”.
That’s confusing right? Gifts are good things. I should know, I’m a gift girl. It’s one of my love languages. I love a nice personalized, thoughtful gift. I don’t need expensive gifts, although I’d never turn my nose up at some nice jewelry. But even my favorite jewelry is personalized. I have a bracelet with 6 discs, each disc has handwriting from my most important people – my husband, my 3 boys, my momma and daddy.
So, if my definition of a gift is good, thoughtful and personalized, grief doesn’t fit the bill. Or does it?
Is it good to grieve? I think it is. God created us with emotions. We have to feel our feelings. We don’t have to be defined by them. We can take them to God and He is faithful to walk with us through them.
Is grief personal? A hearty AMEN to this one! There is no one way to grieve, we all do it differently. There may be stages of grief but there are not steps that we all complete one by one in the same order.
How about thoughtful? Death isn’t thoughtful. It’s quite rude actually – uninvited and unwanted. But grief brings with it lots of thoughts, it causes reflection. It arrives with loads of questions. Most of them start with why and they can drive you crazy.
BUT GOD…
But we do not want you to be uniformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others who have no hope. 1 Thessalonians 4:13
As believers, we are to grieve differently. We are to grieve keeping in mind the hope we have in Jesus. The gift of God’s love, grace, mercy and eternity with Him. We can take the questions that haunt us to God. He is attentive. He is faithful to comfort us and be near. For me, this meant bringing to mind memories, happy and sad. When the memories were sad and regrets started me spiraling, I had to be intentional about thinking about who God is, His character and what He says about me.
Perhaps grief is a gift intended to draw us closer to God. Perhaps grief is a gift to show us God the comforter. Perhaps I’ve learned to rely on God through my grief. I will never choose grief but when it comes I’ll try to use it to remember the life and impact of my loved one and the goodness of God.
Friend, if you’re grieving today, take it to God. He is faithful to comfort you. It’s not a quick process. Stay with Him, keep praying. Please don’t take this to say that you need to grieve alone with just you and God. I had people around me, listening to me, holding me up, loving me through this grief. And it’s ongoing. It does come in waves and on unexpected days. If you are feeling pulled under by your grief, please reach out to both God and people around you or to me. Grief must be witnessed because love must be witnessed.
At this point in the 20-21 school year my tired is tired – like never been this tired before in my life.
So I can only imagine how tired our teachers are. They have truly been heroes throughout this pandemic. Last March – with the flip of a switch – they had to learn and relearn their entire career.
Pedagogy, technology, differentiation, and how to deal with students’ social-emotional ups and downs through a pandemic are just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s not forget this was a brand new situation that they had never faced before – teachers basically just wrote their own handbook on how to teach during a pandemic.
Teachers are resilient.
Teachers do whatever it takes.
It’s hard to understand exactly what teachers have gone through this past year unless you’re in education. They’ve risked their physical and mental health because they love our kids so much.
Teachers deserve a raise.
Teachers deserve praise.
Teachers deserve grace.
It’s Teacher Appreciation Week. I encourage you to reach out to your students’ teacher with a kind word and maybe some coffee. Most importantly, pray for our teachers.
God, thank you for teachers. Thank you for the love and heroism they’ve shown this past year. I pray God that you will give them the endurance that they need to finish this race. Let them know they are truly doing a great work for you. I pray that this summer will bring them the rest that they mentally and physically need. God, thank you for teachers. They are truly the hands and feet of Jesus. In your name I pray. Amen.
“Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him.” Psalm 62:1
No, I didn’t write those words, but I’ve whispered them, sang them, prayed them, cried them…and actually this was the first hymn I learned to play on the piano!
2017 was a tough year for me. My trust was sorely tested or maybe my trust was strengthened?
On Jan. 3, my precious mother at the age of 89 stepped into the arms of Jesus.
“Not a shadow can rise”
On April 19, my 93 yr. old daddy (who was still mourning the loss of his bride of 65 years) fell and broke his leg…and would be in the hospital for 4 months.
“Not a cloud in the skies”
On June 18, one of my brothers was diagnosed with cancer.
“Not a doubt or a fear”
On August 23, that same brother slipped into a coma unrelated to the cancer and would be in that coma for 3 weeks and in ICU on life support.
“Not a sigh or a tear”
On August 29, my husband got a boat ride for his birthday. He was rescued by boat from our flooding home. We lost our home of 21 years and everything we owned, with no flood insurance (and I remember praying, Lord, take it all, but please spare my brother…for this was when he was in the coma).
“Trust and Obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
Psalm 112:7 tells us “He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.”
I would be lying if I said I didn’t hurt that year or have fear or that I didn’t cry. I cried a lot – I hurt a lot. But each time I cried I heard His voice “Trust me, my child”. I SAID He was my savior, I QUOTED scriptures, I SHARED my testimony…now was my time to step out in faith and truly trust Him. And as bad as everything seemed I KNEW God was with us…we were NOT alone. He was there with me in the hospital waiting room…He took the form of friends who prayed with me or just sat with me. He was there at the flooded house…He took the form of friends and church members who helped us get the filth out. He took the form of a friend who provided a place for us to live for 8 months when we had no place to live. We never felt alone. We never felt abandoned.
In this life we will face good times and bad times…times on the mountain and times in the valley…but in Hebrew 13:5 He reminds us that He will never “…leave you nor forsake you.” Doesn’t mean we will not face trials and tribulations, as a matter of fact the Bible tells us that we will indeed experience those but that again…He will see us through if we will but TRUST Him. Psalm 34:19, James 1:2-4, Romans 8:35
My friends I pray that as you face your “2017s” in life that you will lean into our Father, for He loves you so, and He will guide your steps…He will make a way!
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3: 5-6
Our story didn’t end in 2017…
We rebuilt our home with the help of our church, friends and family; my father and brother both are well today; and my precious mother is singing with Jesus…
As humans we tend to seek what makesus happy, those things or people we can see, to fulfill in us a void that we long to fill. We seek those people, places, or things that bring us instant gratification and seek to continuously find new people, places, or things to ensure our gratification endures in order to believe that the unfulfilled need is not there.
We seek so many things, places, or people that we don’t stop to realize that all of those “continuous gratifications” are temporary. These are all temporary solutions to an unfulfilled void that so many try so hard to deny its existence. Like most, dealing with temporary solutions, they are frustrated to a point of such aggravation that it will manifest and grow negatively in their lives. Those that love the unfulfilled person will not understand, for the most part, because in some ways they too have the same or similar struggles that they try to deny as well.
SO WHY NOT SEEK A PERMANENT SOLUTION?
God teaches us that if we seek first His Kingdom and His Righteousness that all of your needs will be fulfilled. With that we have assurance that any unfulfilled void can be permanently filled!
Yes, seeking His Kingdom and His righteousness takes work! It takes us wanting a relationship with God by spending time with Him, reading His Word, praying, fasting, and a willingness to Honor Him in all that we do, say, or think. Most of all it takes us loving Him with our whole mind, body, and soul. Don’t give in to the Devil’s lie that the permanent solution is too hard or you aren’t worthy. Jesus died on the cross to ensure it can be done and that you are worthy through Him!
And the more you talk to Him, the more you’ll hear Him talking to you.
How do you talk to Him?
▪️Praying
▪️Reading His word
▪️Praise and worship
God did not intend a relationship with Him to be complex, so don’t over complicate things. It’s really quite simple – just love Him with your whole heart.
Simply talk to Him today.
He wants to hear from you.
He wants you to hear from Him.
“The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.” Psalm 145:18-19
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