Getting Alone

It seems that our lives get more and more busy everyday. Just as I think “Ok, after this or that is completed things will slow down”, but reality is that another “this or that” begins. My New Year’s resolution was to eat healthier, exercise more, and spend more time with my Savior. The hours in the day begin to run together and the next thing I know is that one of those has not been accomplished.

Time with the Savior should be top priority. Unless I allow time to be truly alone with Him, how can He speak to me? There is so much I have to learn and so much that He wants to teach me but this cannot happen if I am not listening.

I am going to pray that each of us will stop and take time to be truly alone with Christ. When we do this our relationship with Him will grow deeper and we will begin to hunger for His Word more and more.

“Jesus can expound nothing until we get through all the noisy questions of the head and are alone with Him.” - Oswald Chambers

A dear friend of mine sent me an article she wrote. As I read it I realized this is exactly my prayer for "the church". She shared with me that there were many times that she sat through prayer meetings listening to others share prayer needs, but felt that if she shared hers it would make her family the brunt of gossip. It is time that we stop "playing church" and start "being the church". She shared with me that prayer preceded every victory during their struggle and that prayer is what will preced the continued victories in their family. As we continue throughout this Christmas season let's be "the church" that Christ was born and died for.

With the permission of my sweet friend I am sharing her article with you. As you read it think if there is someone you can reach out to.

…Reflections…
Reflecting on my life over the past two years, I have seen God's grace carry me through the most difficult days of my entire life. It comforts me to know that I never lost a sense of God's presence and steady hand holding on to me. The spiritual battles in my family during the building of our church were deeply troubling, but God was also faithful. Many times my only goal was not to cry at church. Stepping into the sanctuary for our first worship service was emotional for me, as if a high price had been paid for something precious. But isn’t that how Jesus feels when He looks at us? Didn’t He pay the highest price because of His love for us?
I can say that the sorrows in my life have made the victories sweeter. When I see my sons praising God with their instruments, I am speechless with thanks to Him. The song inspired by Job 1:21 speaks my heart: "Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise, and when the darkness closes in Lord, still I will say, 'Blessed be the Name of the Lord.’ “
“Reflecting The Light”....this year’s theme for Women’s Ministry... makes me ask myself this question: If I am a mirror reflecting God's light onto others, how do they see themselves when they encounter the God in me? Do they walk away seeing themselves as a person that God values? Even broken mirrors can still reflect light if they’re clean, so I’m asking God to forgive the smudges and restore the shine I have lost in the struggle. I trust Him for even the strength to turn to Him, for He has proven Himself to be my trustworthy friend and Savior.

I was thinking about things that make me feel “safe” when talking to someone and I thought about a psychologist. When one confides in such a doctor they share intimate details about their life knowing that it will go no further than that little room. So, maybe we should keep this type on confidentiality in mind when someone comes to us with a prayer need or a hurt or temptation they are dealing with. We should just listen and then let it stay at that place. Even, if the future at some point, if that person does something to upset us or make us angry; what they told us still stays right where we left it. We do not bring it back up again to get back at them or tell someone else to make ourselves look better.

So, we ask ourselves, “Am I someone that will keep what I know in the little room?”

This is just something to consider. Let me know your thoughts on the use of our tongue and how it could affect the “safety of others”.

Blah, blah, blah....

Words… they can heal or hurt. When we talk about ways to make others feel safe, we need to consider our words. Are they positive or are they negative? Do our words lift others up or do they tear down? The best available numbers show that we use about 16,000 words per day.

Wow! 16,000 words per day? What are those words used for? Praise, adoration, gossip, self-glorification, slander, instruction, discipline, encouragement, prayer? I have always heard that God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth for a reason. What would we do if we didn’t get all our 16,000 words said in a day? Sometimes, the best thing is to hold our words.

Being Real With You

We have been talking about being real and so today I am going to practice what I preach.

I have been working on the blog for today and have not been able to focus. A dear friend of ours lost his daughter yesterday morning in a head on collision. She was only a senior in high school. She was a sweet girl who loved the Lord with all of her heart. So, my heart has been heavy for he and his family causing my concentration to be at the level 0. If you don't mind please lift up a prayer of comfort and encouragement for the Brinkman family. He also has a young son that is grieving the loss of his big sister. I think he is 13 yrs. old.

Thank you for understanding and for praying for this family. I will be looking forward to next week and would love any discussion that you might want to add between now and then.

A Safe Place

I John 4:7 “Dear friend, let us love one another, for love comes from God.”
I John 4: 11-12 “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
“ No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.”

Wow! I think the Lord has made it clear for us that we should love one another. His love for us is not conditional. Therefore our love for one another should not be conditional. This is the first thing we must understand in our walk of “being real” with one another. We need to offer a place of safety for others to come to us and share their burdens, trials, temptations, and joys. When we do this, we have also made a safe place for us to do the same.

What makes a place of safety? Well, that would be a place where there is no judgment or ridicule, but accountability through love and compassion. Where what is said is held in confidence and not made subject of gossip or “prayer request”. Where there is a shoulder to cry on and ears to just listen. Sometimes we feel like we need to “fix” the problem or the person with the problem, this is our human nature. But, we need to rely on God’s wisdom and let Him give direction. We need to remember that words are not always necessary.

Where do we start? I think the best place is with family and friends. God chose our families for us for a purpose, and even though we may not see eye to eye with them all the time, I believe He gave us our family as a place of refuge when we feel like there is no other. So, I guess we have to ask ourselves if we have made it a safe place for each of our siblings, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc… You may be asking “does this include my spouse’s family?” I think it does. Matt. 19:5 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” God has chosen this family for us too. We should treat them the same. Then He blesses us with friends. These are people we are drawn to through our love for Christ, similar interests, etc… To grow this friendship we must be willing to “over look” certain characteristics. We seem to do this easier with our friends than we do our family. Why is that? Anyway, when we can make a place of safety in these two areas then we are able to start to open ourselves to our church family and those we encounter on a daily basis.

What a great way for us to show God’s love for one another. I know it is scary to do this and that will be our topic for next week.

Here's to Being Real

Well ladies it has been a long time since I posted last. So much has changed in my life. We have moved our ministry to Merkel, Tx. Todd is now the pastor of First Baptist Church. Everyone is so nice here and we are excited to see God’s purpose unfold.

Someone said to me the other day that I have such a blessed life. This caused much contemplation. We all have many layers to our life; many of which we do not let others see. We only let others see what we want them to see. God’s word says that we are to “carry one another’s burdens”, Gal. 6:2. This can not be done if no one knows our burdens? We must feel safety from judgment from our fellow brothers and sisters. I would like to look at this question over the next few weeks. Please join me and let us discover together how to share our burdens with one another so that our load may be lighter.

Hope to see you next Wednesday.

Darla