FAST FOOD

I’ve really been doing some research lately about the lack of nutritional value of some of the food our family eats. Sad to say, because of poor planning on my part in failing to bring nutritious food along with us when we are out running errands, we eat fast food way too often.  Although there are a few healthy choices at fast food restaurants now I’ve learned that most of the meals we get going through the drive thru may slowly be killing us because they aren't even real food. Unfortunately, there have been hundreds if not thousands of times over the years that we have grabbed some sort of fast meal on the go because of our hectic schedule.  Even though I’ve always known that fast food is not the best option for us to consume, the draw for me has been that we can get our meal quickly, consume it in the car and be on our way to accomplish more important tasks.

Although I’m now finally learning the dangers of trying to survive on too much fast food, I believe that for years some of my hesitation to visit a drive thru was plagued by my most perilous but memorable trips picking up a quick meal.  That particular day will go down in history as one of the most embarrassing moments of my entire life!  For this very reason, I know that God would definitely want me to share this special memory and what He has taught me with all of you.

Of course my husband was out of town at the time and the kids and I had just spent a couple of hours at the doctor’s office.  It was Prayer Meeting night at church and since I was the Pastor’s wife I felt slightly guilty about missing part of it even though it could not be helped.  We were doing our best however to hurry to get there, but we were all hungry so we decided to quickly run through the KFC drive thru on the way to church.  Our van had been acting a little funny that day, but that was to be expected as the odometer was nearing the 400,000 mile mark. 

As we sat in the drive thru waiting to receive our food, we began to smell some interesting odors coming from our van.  All of the sudden we heard a loud boom that sounded like an explosion and a huge cloud of black smoke began towering from the engine.  I thought the van was going to blow up right there in the drive thru!  All the kids and I quickly jumped out in fear that the whole thing was going to go up in flames.  I’m not very mechanical and I don’t know much about cars, but when you see a river of black oil pouring out all over the pavement, something must be wrong.  All of the KFC employees scurried out of the restaurant to see what was going on and expressed their need to immediately call the fire department. By this time, since we were on the main road in our small town, our situation was drawing some attention. 

As I mentioned before, my husband was traveling for business at the time. Feeling a little vulnerable and helpless having four young children, a baby and a van that had virtually exploded right in front of our eyes. I stood in tears in the drive thru as I attempted to find the positive besides the fact that we all escaped this catastrophe without harm.  This situation wouldn’t have been so horrible to me if it hadn’t occurred in such a public place, and the drive thru of all places. Needless to say, I had to interrupt Prayer Meeting to call one of the deacons of our church who was a talented mechanic.  We were so thankful that several guys from the church came to assist us, got a tow truck to haul off our beast and gave us all a ride safely home. 

I must admit for a few years after our KFC incident, I was slightly apprehensive of going thru drive thru's to pick up fast food.  I finally eased back into the practice once the trama of possible car explosions or fires had passed.  As I have been recently investigating the perilous consequences of consuming so much fast food, the more I started making the connection between how we eat our physical food with how we consume spiritual food.  Not only is it important for us to examine the nutritional quality of our meals, it is essential that we contemplate as Christians how we are feeding ourselves spiritually. 

We are definitely living in a society that simply wants a quick fix in every area of our lives.  Sadly, Christians have even adopted this fast food “drive thru” mentality when it comes to spending time with God.  We allow our schedules to become so full and are way too busy that we often fail to plan in cultivating the most important, fulfilling and enriching relationship we could ever hope to have.  Often we make the excuse that we don’t have much time to spend with God so we grab some fast spiritual food for a few minutes whenever we can fit it in to make our consciences feel better.  We can’t expect to survive, thrive and have a healthy strong relationship with our Savior if we only get our “quick fix” for a few minutes a day.  If we are truly panting and thirsting after God, we won’t be satisfied with fast spiritual food.  Many times we grab a quick spiritual snack and believe that it will sustain us but we don’t even realize that we will become so nutritionally deficient that we will eventually starve.

If we truly “know” God then we will be desperate to be consumed with learning more and more about Him. Just as in our earthly relationships, when we desire to have a deep relationship with someone, a few minutes here and there will not be sufficient in allowing us to really know them intimately.  How much time we spend with someone reveals how important they are to us.  

In Psalm 42:1 we see how David describes how we are to yearn for God, “As the deer pants for the water so my soul longs after you O God.”  Are we filled with the joy of His presence as we soak in His majesty and glory through prayer and reading His Word?  Psalm 16:11 “…You will fill me with the joy of your presence…”  We will be blessed if we hunger and thirst after God and His ways.  We're also told in Matthew 5:6, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled." 

If we claim to have a personal relationship with Christ and we do not hunger and thirst after righteousness and His Word then there is something wrong.  If we claim to be a child of God, yet we are not obsessed with knowing more about Him then we are in danger of drifting away spiritually into apathy. If we are content with spiritual fast food where we try to fit God in somewhere to ease our conscience, do we really value our relationship with Him? If we do not desperately seek Him and hunger and thirst after Him, do we really even “know” Him at all?

 Please understand that I was an apathetic and lukewarm Christian for many years. I spent a few minutes with God every day to check it off my spiritual “to do” list and call myself a good Christian. My unconfessed sin of bitterness, envy, and silent anger caused me to become lukewarm and careless in cultivating my relationship with the Lord.  I John 2:6 says, “He who says he abides in Him should himself also walk just as He (Jesus) walked.”  Sin blinds us and makes us stagnant and causes us to backslide spiritually.  We may simply “appear” to be healthy spiritually by going through the external motions by feeding ourselves spiritual fast food.  Until we confess the sin, our soul will not pant after God and we will never be filled with the joy of His presence.

Jesus Himself longed to spend time with His Father as we’re told in Mark 1:35, “Early in the morning while it is still dark, Jesus went to pray.”  I’m pretty sure Jesus didn’t view His time with His Father like we do many times. Jesus was dedicated to His time of prayer and fellowship with God in making it His top priority by getting up while it was still dark outside.  He didn’t rely on spiritual fast food by hurrying through the time He spent communing with His Father so He could move on to more important tasks.  Too often, we have such a carnal attitude and outlook toward the time we spend with God.  Sadly, we fulfill a few minutes of fast devotions out of duty so we can get on with our day.  We may even at times allow excuses to steal that time away altogether.  

Since God got a hold of my heart several years ago, I have noticed a drastic change in how I view my time with my Savior every day.  I long to meet Him daily and look forward to Him teaching me all of the new discoveries He has for me to learn about Himself.  I’m not interested in any more spiritual fast food. I am not saying that we should never ever go through a drive thru whether physically or spiritually, there may be times when some food is better than no food.  Sometimes in an emergency situation we find ourselves thankful to grab any time we can with God, but that should be the exception not the norm.  If it is, our health will definitely begin to suffer.

Our Almighty Creator God and Savior desires for us to pant after Him.  He wants us to hunger and thirst after His ways.  We could spend hours and hours a day for the rest of our earthly lives searching God's precious Word and meeting Him in prayer and we would never even scratch the surface of who God really is. We could never begin to learn in our lifetime how much He truly loves us and be able to fathom ALL of the amazing things He has done for us.  God tells us in Deuteronomy 4:29, "...You will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul."

How about you, have you been content with grabbing a little spiritual fast food lately?  Do you wonder why you're not being filled with the joy of experiencing His awesome presence?  I pray that each of us will hunger and thirst to know Him more deeply and intimately. Life is too short to spend so much time in drive thru’s and trying to survive on fast food. 

HELP, I'M STUCK!

Have you ever found yourself stuck somewhere that you never intended spending much time?  I have gotten myself into some pretty crazy situations in my life and have been locked out of our home and car several times leaving me stranded outside or at a gas station waiting hours for help to graciously arrive.  Although I have learned many lessons from these situations, apparently my special attraction to these nutty predicaments has now been passed down to the next generation.  One of our teenage daughters, who will remain nameless, recently managed to accidentally lock herself not outside but “inside” the main bathroom of our home.  It was late at night and we were all getting ready for bed when we heard frantic banging and yelling coming from upstairs.  We all scurried to see what the problem could be, but no matter how hard my husband and son tried, the door to the bathroom just would not budge and our daughter was definitely stuck inside.

In their optimism it seemed like an easy fix and they thought they'd be able to free her within a matter of minutes.  We gathered some tools to try to get the door open but nothing was working from the outside at all.  We soon realized that it would also be impossible for us to slide any tools under the door to our daughter because it was sealed so well at the bottom.  She tried to be resourceful as she found a pair of scissors in a cupboard and attempted to take out the pins in the hinges of the door but with no victory.  My husband and son worked on the lock for about an hour and a half before they realized that all of their efforts had been in vain.  The later it got, the more hopeless the situation seemed.  As with all of these 'special' family events, we’ve learned that we need to stop and pray for God’s divine intervention.  We've also realized that the sooner we truly grasp what God intends for us to learn, then hopefully the sooner He would free us from the situation and move us onto the next lesson.

It was late in the evening and we knew that a locksmith would not be available to help.  Besides the ultimate utter embarrassment that it would cause our daughter to have some strange guy come and rescue her from her very own bathroom, we knew it would cost money to call a professional anyway.  Although we are surely not against calling in additional help, we were really trying to keep this little event contained to our own family.  After praying, we realized our only other rescue option at that point was for us to go in through the second story window from the outside with a tall ladder. This solution was not the most desirable but there was no other alternative other than waiting until the next day.  We do live way out in the country where it gets very dark at night, and to top it all off, it was also beginning to pour down rain and storm.  Always striving to look at the bright side, I thanked God once again that at least we do not have close neighbors nearby who can watch us or videotape all of the ridiculous shenanigans we find ourselves in.

Although our daughter is usually quite a calm person, there seemed to be some evidence of panic and fear resonating in her voice as she desperately demanded  several times to be set free.  My husband attempted to comfort her by letting her know that we would surely be able to get her out in the morning when we could see clearly outside and the storm would be over.  Needless to say, she was not very thrilled about the possibility of spending the night sleeping in the bathroom.  This is exactly the kind of incident where parents may wish that they had trained their children to be better survivalists.  As much as we tried, there was nothing we could say that was going to comfort her or make her feel better about the whole situation. Her fear and panic turned to tears and we knew we simply had to get her out!

Dead set on liberating our helpless child from the recesses of the bathroom and demonstrating their protective manly abilities, my husband and son were determined to brave the nasty weather and dark of night.  Thankfully, our teenage son was small enough to climb up the ladder to the second story and climb inside the window.  (Because this has now happened a few times, our sons are quite skilled at climbing tall ladders, sliding through second story windows and saving the day.)  Once inside the window, he was then able to use the screwdriver and within a few minutes was able to disassemble the inside of the door knob enough to finally get the door opened.  Even though our daughter had resigned herself to the possibility of sleeping with towels on the cold bathroom floor, she was so relieved to be free at last!   Now we could all get a good night sleep knowing our fiasco had ended and all was well.  All in all, we were thankful that our daughter was only “stuck” in the bathroom for about two hours instead of overnight. 

As I finally drifted off to sleep, I wondered what valuable lessons we should all be learning from this whole situation. Since we seem to frequently lock ourselves in or out of our house, maybe God wants us to keep a ladder handy just in case we need to climb through a second story window?  As I began to ponder the crazy events of our evening, God impressed on me the many times when I had been spiritually stuck somewhere in an undesirable situation.  Although I desperately desired to be set free from being "stuck", it was my own pride that kept me locked up there for so long. 

We all have those periods when we have felt stranded as we endure difficult times in our lives and just want to be rescued from our difficult trial.  At times we become weary of struggling, feeling like we’ve endured enough and are figuratively banging on the door in an effort to be removed from our trial.  God has been teaching me lately that those are the times when He wants me to quiet my soul and realize that He is in complete control of everything.  He desires that we come to the point where we abandon our own selfishness and bow our will to His, eagerly learning what He has for us to learn. 

 I have come to cherish Psalm 46:10 that tells us exactly what to do when we feel stuck spiritually.  I’m in such desperate need of this reminder that I even have even plastered it our living room wall above our fireplace.   
Whatever kind of trial we may be enduring, we always pray that there will be a quick resolution to it all.  We want the pain of the situation to end as soon as possible so that we can get back to living a more carefree existence and carry on with our own plans.  We must realize that our God's ways are almost always different than ours.

I have learned that God loves us so much that He will not remove any tribulation from our lives until we have fully gleaned the spiritual insights that He intended for us to learn.   Maybe the lessons we need to learn will not be fully accomplished through a short trial.  Sometimes it is necessary to endure longer periods of being stuck to grasp the godly characteristics our heavenly Father desires to teach us.  We must have faith and trust God with a willing teachable heart in every situation in our lives.

We may even continue to remain “stuck” at times because God is trying to get our attention.  There may be some areas of sin that we need to deal with and confess before we can move on and live the joyful abundant life God intends for us. Many of us find ourselves “stuck” repeating the same lessons over and over because we refuse to humble ourselves and learn what God wants to teach us.  Wouldn't it be better if we would just take ourselves off the throne of our lives and put Jesus back on it where He belongs.  Refusing to let go of our foolish pride only brings more destruction to our lives.

We must not fear or doubt God’s purposes in permitting times of upheaval in our lives.  Our Father has a specific reason for lovingly allowing every single trial we face.  He uses those times of chiseling to bring us to the place where He wants us to be in our relationship with Him.  Job 23:10 assures us that, “He knows the way that I take and when I am tried I will come out as gold.”  When we feel stuck or locked into enduring our suffering, we must realize that God knows our path and desires our ultimate good from it all as He receives the honor and glory.   

Have you found yourself stuck in a trial that never seems to end? I most certainly have had many seasons like this in my life.  Like me, have you ever begged God to end your difficult situation but refuse to open your heart to learn the purpose for those difficulties?  If you haven’t humbled yourself in the midst of your tribulation, the time is now.  Sadly, if you never bow your will to His, you will continue remain stuck until you let go of your pride.  The next time you feel stuck spiritually, remember to be still and pray for God to help you learn the lessons He has for you, without delay.     

TREASURES DON'T BELONG IN THE TRASH

Used to be a knotty pine dresser from the 90's

One of my favorite hobbies is finding old seemingly worn out items from garage sales and thrift stores and giving them a brand new identity and purpose. I’ve even taken things from other people’s trash (with permission) and with a little bit of work have been able to transform them into valuable treasures. If you were to visit our home, you would find that I've painted and altered most of the wood furniture that we've owned for many years. I get a kick out of the times when movers have been apprehensive about moving our “expensive” looking furniture and have taken extra precautions not to cause any scratches or nicks. They're surprised when I tell them the armoire or dresser they're concerned about is actually an outdated relic that's been repurposed and any ding or dent will only add priceless character to them. 


Repurposing has especially become a favorite pastime of mine since we’ve moved to our acreage last year.  I’ve been enjoying the discovery of some hidden treasures on our property that I’ve been able to renew and reuse.  We found an interesting old wooden gate in our woods that I’ve decorated with greenery and a “Home Sweet Home” sign that now greets visitors driving up the lane to our home. 



Everything on our porch has been repurposed and will be enjoyed by our family for years to come.

When we moved in, we had nothing to put on our huge wrap around front porch. I didn't want to spend money on buying anything so I took on the personal challenge of attempting to furnish our deck with free repurposed items.  I prayed and God worked!  We found two very dirty Adirondack chairs hiding out in our little cabin in the woods that most people would’ve probably thrown away. All that those chairs needed was a deep cleaning and now look as good as new for us to enjoy.  There was an old rotting bench that the previous owners of our home did not want, so they just left it here. I painted it black and a dingy accent table from our cabin perked right up after a good cleaning and nice coat of glossy white paint. 



 My favorite discovery in our woods was a large wooden table. Judging by the cut marks and blood stains, someone must have  used it to gut animals on after hunting. I pressure washed the table for an hour and then applied ebony colored stain to it. We now have a nice picnic table for our family to enjoy in the summertime.

We've renewed and painted my grandmas old rocker and Richards grandmas antique ladder which have both served valuable purpose on our front porch.  I also found a free rug that matched our colors and another accent table we spray painted black to set between our two "new" white chairs.  I recently came across an interesting quote that explained my sentiment exactly.  It said “In the old days people didn’t just throw things out that were broken, they actually took the time to fix them.”  Although I don't enjoy collecting clutter that I do not find useful, I cannot deny a new life and purpose for an old item that I see has great potential.


I began questioning myself about the reason behind my slight obsession for repurposing. I must admit that I do like having things around my home that have some sentimental value.  Maybe I feel as if I’m rescuing and giving those things a second chance that otherwise might be thrown in the garbage. I do believe my passion for repurposing is mostly driven by the fact that I too have been graciously given another opportunity by my Creator to be useful in this life. 

Several years ago God took a broken, used up person who seemed to have no eternal purpose and sanded off my rough edges, cleaned up all the dirt and gave me a fresh coat of shiny new paint.  My fervor and enthusiasm stems from how I’ve witnessed God radically change my own heart and life when I seemed to have no hope.  My Savior has breathed new life into me and set me free to serve Him and others in a more passionate way. I’m so driven to transform old, dirty, grungy looking things because of how I witnessed the extreme transformation that God did on my heart.  2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, ALL things have become new."

Our all sovereign God has the almighty power to accomplish the MOST stunning and spectacular makeover on anyone.  It does NOT matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from or what you have done, our Creator specializes on changing the inner heart of even the most wretched sinner. Our Savior is the God of second chances. He is in the business of making old things new again and giving us a fresh start.  Our makeover begins when we come to God in meekness and ask for forgiveness for all of the wrongs we have committed against Him.  He is faithful to forgive, cleanse us and make us brand new.  Lamentations 3:22-23 give us an amazing promise of hope for those of us who are plagued with feeling used up. "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.  They are NEW every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." 

We are precious treasures to God and He never ever throws us in the trash. Our Enemy tells us the lie that we are too dirty, filthy and used up to ever be of any use again. We cannot continue to believe those lies from Satan who only seeks our destruction.  The God of second chances is lovingly and patiently waiting for our repentance so He can repurpose us for His glory. I KNOW He can transform anyone because He changed even me!  I love the verse in Luke 1:38 that tells us, “Without God Nothing will be impossible.”

 

Have you felt lately that you have needed a spiritual makeover?  Do you believe that you are useless because of past failures in your life?  Our God can take the most seemingly torn and tattered, broken sin cursed life and make an absolutely stunning masterpiece out of it. Trust me, I know personally what God can accomplish.  Please don't wait another minute to make things right with the Lord.  Life is a vapor and we never know when we will draw our last breath here on earth.  Come quickly to Him, listen to His prompting.  I promise that you will come out sparkling clean, shining like gold and once again become the useful treasure that God desires to use for His glory.  

     

LOSING YOUR MIND IS A GOOD THING?

Have you ever had a day where you thought you might truly be losing your mind?  During those crazy unexpected calamities, have you yourself ever gasped, hung your head low and uttered that probable phrase, “I think I am about to lose my mind!”  I can’t say that there’s ever really a dull moment around our home but last weekend tops off any other stressful event in my recent memory. It's actually been a while since anything extraordinarily catastrophic had taken place so I knew something was bound to happen soon.   I know that God definitely allows some of these situations to help me learn valuable insights that I would not discover any other way.  Although I sincerely appreciate these lessons and even pray for them at times, I must admit that in the midst of these ordeals, I definitely feel as though I am about to lose my mind.  

I will spare you with the nitty gritty details of each seemingly earth shattering incidents from last weekend, so I will summarize this word picture with a few short but descriptive phrases.  Our latest indoor upheavals involved mud, vomit and overflowing toilets.   I usually tend to be a “go with the flow” kind of person (no pun intended) with these sort of situations, but when they come in groups of three within a 24 hour period, my mental state seems to become a little more fragile.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but the mud ordeal would soon seem the least of my concerns. Once that mess was cleaned up, I thought we were home free until our youngest, unbeknownst to us, had secretly gorged himself with half a tray of brownies while we visited with our large group of company. All was well for several hours after our friends departed but the amusement was only about to begin.

The gallons of vomit that soaked our sons bedding didn’t even win the prize. The throw up that was trailed throughout the downstairs, onto the carpets and into our main floor kitchen were NOT even the most disgusting occurrence. I knew the situation couldn’t possibly get any worse but I was sadly mistaken!  

Just hours later we began to realize the serious consequences of our third floor toilet overflowing.  May I add that this was not CLEAN water!  It was UNCLEAN water that ended up leaking down through to the main floor. I'm sure you get the picture.  We discovered the leakage dripping down on us while sorting clothes in our laundry room, which is located beneath the upstairs bathroom.  Our enjoyment did not even stop there!  When we found toilet water all the way down in our finished basement, it was almost enough to finally throw me over the edge! If you know me, anything to do with bodily fluids being outside the realm of where they belong is NOT my cup of tea.  This is precisely the reason why I gave up aspirations of a nursing career years ago. The tears began to flow freely as I was convinced I had definitely lost my mind.

 I can honestly say that cleaning up the huge unsanitary messes were not even the worst part of the whole ordeal. The mounds of smelly laundry that resulted from these catastrophes were the most stressful part. Our washing machine is not large enough to properly clean all of the vomit and other matters out of the sleeping bags, comforters, pillows and towels. Out of necessity, we had to take our not so pleasant laundry to our local laundromat.  Might I add that it was a balmy -13 degrees below zero as we hauled all of these baskets in and out of the cold.  Three hours and thirty dollars later, we were finally finished cleaning and sanitizing all of our soiled bedding, clothing and towels.

I must admit that I was frustrated at the fact that we had to spend so much extra time, effort and money to clean up everything when all of these situations could have been totally avoided.  One of my daughters, who had noticed my not so positive attitude, pointed out that I should probably deal with my sin of frustration which is actually anger.  She was so right but it took me a few minutes to agree with her assessment.  The Holy Spirit began to prick my heart through her words.  I had been feeling sorry for myself and chose to be frazzled and anxious instead of asking God what He desired to teach me in allowing these things to happen in the first place.  I certainly wasn't viewing my circumstances in proper light. 

As my heart was convicted of the several times I mentioned how I was going to “lose my mind”, I was reminded of the fact that God wants us to lose our mind.  What?  Yes, God actually desires for us to give up our own mindset and selfish attitudes and trade them for His mind and His attitudes about the situations that He allows us to go through.  God reminded me of Philippians 2:5, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”  We MUST replace our mind and attitude for Christ’s. 

We must always have His outlook on our circumstances, whether we see it as good or bad. 

In Phil. 2: 5-11 we see Christ’s attitude and mind described for us and how He is our ultimate example of humility.  He left heaven to come to earth to serve us.  He made Himself of no reputation and came in the likeness of men. Verse 7 tells us,”… He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”  This passage shows us that our mindset, our attitude, our temperament and our disposition ought always to be the same as that of Christ.

 

God never intended for me to be stressed out during the mud, vomit and overflowing toilet issues.  He used those unpleasant situations to remind me once again to “lose my mind” and take on His, to be thankful that I have a precious son that I have the privilege to model the love and patience of Christ to.  I can be grateful that I even have a toilet that can be flooded.  I should be appreciative that I have several children that were able to help clean up all of those messes.  God desired for me to allow His mercy, grace and love to flow through me in this entire situation to teach our kids the biblical way to handle stress, but sadly I didn’t fully pass the test.  I had to ask for forgiveness for not totally responding the right way and then we all sat down and named the lessons we had learned through these situations.  Thankfully, God is not finished with any of us yet. 


I need to humbly “lose my mind” daily and replace it with the mind of Christ.  Will you join me in losing your mind as well?  I challenge each one of us to remember to exchange our mind and attitude for that of Christ’s every day.  The next time we are faced with unpleasant circumstances and we’re tempted to utter the words, “I’m going to lose my mind!” may we do just that. 

 

OVERPACKING MAKES HEAVY BAGGAGE

Are you one of those people like me who tends to go overboard when packing your bags for a trip?  My problem is that I sometimes have a hard time with the thought of leaving behind something that I could end up needing.  I am that person who is sitting on top of my overstuffed suitcase as I struggle to try to get it completely closed and zipped shut.  I’ve learned over the years however, that I don’t ever end up using all those things I thought were necessities to bring along.  Over packing can also make it seem like a living nightmare when you have to lug your heavy baggage through the airport, trying not to miss your next flight. 

I must humbly admit that I have been an over packer my entire life.  It all began around the age of two when I remember thinking that carrying a purse was a dire necessity.  A few years ago when I flew in an airplane across the country, I stuffed my carryon bag as full as I could get it.  I also brought the largest purse I owned and filled it to overflowing.  When we finally landed from our six hour journey, the flight attendant noticed as I struggled to get my bags out of the overhead compartment.  In an effort to help, she asked if she could hold my purse for me and commented on how she should get my picture because I was carrying the biggest and heaviest purse she’d ever seen in all the years she’d been flying.  How embarrassing it was for me that so many people noticed that I had a problem with over packing.

Even more troubling was my tendency to hold onto all kinds of baggage over the years that I simply did NOT need to carry around with me everywhere.  Let me tell you that my baggage was extremely heavy and burdensome to haul around every day but I refused to let it go and it began to cause many problems in my life.  The baggage I chose to hold onto was extremely ugly, not the pretty animal print luggage that I would prefer to carry now.  I became exhausted from hauling the needless baggage of bitterness, envy, fear, anger and guilt for decades.  I gripped firm and would not let go of them despite the awful destructive consequences that were bringing to my life.

When someone hurt me I never forgave them.  I was envious of other people who had looks, talents and possessions that I thought I deserved to have.  I was often frustrated inside and impatient when things didn’t go my way.  Fear ruled my heart as I struggled to humanly understand why certain circumstances came into my life.  The weight of guilt I carried was unbearable because I rarely ever confessed the sin in my heart to God.  I chose to lug all of this heavy baggage around everywhere I went.  I didn’t dare loosen my grip and I felt like a victim who needed affirmation for continuing to carry all of that pointless destructive baggage.  I needed to let go of all of that wretchedness before I my life was ruined by it.

I’m so thankful that my eyes were opened to the truth and that I could be free from all of my baggage because of God’s Word.  Instead of being bogged down with the weight of my filthy sin, I could find the rest that I so desperately needed. I could have the joy that was once in my heart return because my heart was made pure through confession.  Anyone can find true joy and be freed from all of that baggage is we are simply willing to make some very key changes.

*We must be willing to humble ourselves and admit that we have been carrying heavy luggage with us everywhere and it’s time to lay it all down.   We can’t find freedom from our load of sin when we will not come clean with the fact that we’ve been carrying it around.  “He who covers his sin will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” Proverbs 28:13

*We must bow our heads and confess the fact we’ve been holding firmly onto our heavy weight of sin.  “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  I John 1:9

*We must realize that Jesus wants to take our baggage of sin away from us and replace our envy, bitterness, anger and guilt with peace and joy so we can live the life that He died to give us. “I have come that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 

Do you have the tendency to over pack your heart with heavy unnecessary baggage and wonder why you are always so exhausted? We must realize that we do not ever need to carry any of those heavy suitcases again because we have a Savior who is waiting to take those burdens from us.   Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, ALL you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

We do not ever have to struggle with carrying around that horrible heavy baggage of sin any longer. Jesus desires for us to come to Him and finally unload all of our burdens which will allow us to find the rest in our souls that we are all so desperately searching for. It’s time for us to readily forgive others, be thankful for who God made us to be and trust that He has a special plan for our lives and wants to use to fulfill His purposes for His glory.  Absolutely no more over packing for me, how about you?

A “KISS” FOR THE NEW YEAR

For the past 24 years my husband and I have faithfully celebrated ringing in the New Year with a kiss at the stroke of midnight.  This year however, our family enjoyed attending the New Year’s Eve service at our church which was followed by games, food and fellowship. We had planned to head home around 10:30pm since we needed to stop and pick up a few items at the grocery store nearby.  Because our family was having such a wonderful time playing Scrabble and talking with friends, we didn’t end up leaving the church until a few minutes before the New Year was to begin.

My husband drove up to the door and I ran quickly into the store in hopes of arriving back to our car to kiss my husband at midnight.  For some reason there were a lot of people shopping for groceries at that time, making our wait in the checkout line extraordinarily long.  I kept checking the time but could not make it back to our car until 12:07 am.  I then kissed my husband 7 minutes later than our tradition had been for the past 24 years.  It was disappointing but hopefully next year we will have better timing.

I did feel slightly guilty that I had not been able to keep up our tradition but it did help me realize some of the changes I needed to make in the coming year.  As I began reflecting over 2013 and planning my “New Year’s” resolutions for 2014, the word “kiss” kept resurfacing in my mind.  My husband would definitely agree that he would like more kisses from me in the coming months but that’s not the kind of kisses I’m referring to.  Several years ago I recall hearing someone mention the acronym for “KISS” which is “Keep It Simple Sweetie”.  I believe that “KISS” should be at the very top of my resolution list for 2014 because I definitely need to work on keeping things more simple.

When we look at the Bible and how God handles things, the word “simple” comes to mind. After all,  God has made His message of salvation so simple that even a young child can understand it and be saved.  It is man and the philosophies and beliefs that humans have conjured up from the beginning of time that has blurred the simplicity of the gospel by adding good works to the equation.  Acts 16:31 tells us the requirement for salvation, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”   If the MOST important message ever given to all mankind is that simple, then maybe we need to reevaluate how complicated we tend to make our everyday lives.

So many times we find ourselves stressed out and overwhelmed by life that we often feel like giving up.  This is not the life that God has intended for His children at all.  God’s Word is very clear, simple and precise in how it teaches us to live a more abundant life.  God does not make a complicated difficult puzzle for us to figure out in order to live a life overflowing with blessings.  It is possible for us to enjoy better health, deeper more meaningful relationships, greater spiritual fulfillment and infinite joy and peace if we are willing to follow and obey the simple commands that He has lovingly written for us in His Word.   

Too often we get so wrapped up in the things of this world that we ourselves complicate our lives to the point where we are confused and feel defeated.  We see in I Corinthians 14:33 that “God is not the author of confusion.”  Confusion and stress comes from our Enemy whose goal is for us in 2014 is to concentrate on so many different things that we do not to accomplish much for God’s kingdom.  We often adapt the world’s belief system by believing the lie that we need to fill our schedules to overflowing with activity that may not even be God’s will for us to participate in.  Even if our time is filled with running here and there for “good” things, ALL of those activities may not be what God wants us to be accomplishing. I believe that the majority of people today glorify a busy jam packed life and we are missing out on many opportunities to make a greater impact for Christ with the time He gives us.

 We Americans tend to fill our houses to overflowing with earthly possessions that do not bring us happiness and joy but only cause us to spend more time cleaning, dusting and taking care of those material things.  Of course we must take care of what God has entrusted to us but if we hoard an overabundance of possessions that require extra time to tend to, those things can actually detour us from fulfilling God’s plans for us.  Do we really need to store five crock pots in our kitchen cupboards just in case we might need them all or could we give a few away to people who may need them and be blessed by our gift?   Learning how to keep things simple and focusing on the main goals and objectives God has for us to follow will allow Him to accomplish the impossible through us for His glory.

We also fill our minds with all kinds of entertainment that steal hours away from time we could be spending with our Creator.  Our prayer life suffers, our devotional time suffers and possibly even our church attendance is affected.  When we substitute communion and fellowship with our heavenly Father for various types of entertainment such as music, television, movies, books or social media we will most definitely experience a decline in our spiritual lives which is exactly what our Enemy has planned for us.  Our God given time is precious and the moments we spend on this earth are so fleeting.  The Bible talks about the brevity of our time in James 4:14, “For what is your life?  It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.”  The time we have each day does not really belong to us anyway for it is God who lends us each minute we enjoy for us to accomplish HIS purposes for creating us.  Every breath we take is His gift to allow us to fulfill His plan. 

I believe that our God would be honored and glorified greatly if each of His children would strive to simplify our lives and adapt the motto in 2014 of “Keeping it Simple.”  I have so many areas to work on in my life, but this year I am choosing to make things more simple which will free up more time for me to devote to my Savior and serving others.  My goal is to surrender more of my time, talents and treasure so that God can work the impossible in and through me.

WAYS TO FIND SIMPLICITY IN 2014:

1)      Going to God early each morning to seek direction and wisdom for God’s schedule for my day and for our future ministry.  This involves spending time in His Word, praying for the needs of my family, friends and even strangers and praising God for ALL of the AMAZING things He has done in my life.  When our day begins with God, everything else will fall into proper perspective.

2)      Guarding our family’s schedule and praying about extra activities and opportunities that arise.  We do not want to be filling our time with what we think we must be accomplishing that may not even be included in God’s schedule for us.  This personally includes limiting time I spend on various types of entertainment such as social media.

3)      Getting rid of some earthly possessions that are not necessary to me fulfilling God’s plan.  Being sensitive to God’s leading in giving away more material things in order to be a blessing to someone who needs it more than I do.  After all, what are the things I truly need?

Maybe you are like me and God has been pricking at your heart about your need to simplify your life?  Life is too short to be stressed out because we spend too much time taking care of too many possessions, whittling away our time on self entertainment that we could be ministering to someone or packing our day so full with unnecessary activity that we often long for a vacation.  My prayer for 2014 is that God will transform me and conform me more into the image of Jesus by learning to keep things more simple.  If we honor our Savior in all that we do and seek Him fully in everything, He will bless us richly and use us to accomplish more for Him.   Jesus sums up how we will be blessed by keeping life more simple in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and ALL these things will be added to you.”  If we follow God’s will and ways for our lives in 2014, He will accomplish “exceedingly abundantly above ALL that we ask or even think.”

TRUE WARRIORS

We all know them.  They are those true warriors that understand fully that their real strength in battle comes not from themselves but from the power that is drawn from the throne room of God through prayer.  Many of us have witnessed these prayer warriors in our families or churches and have seen where they turn to find answers in the most difficult times.  But it is not only in those hard times that these saints humbly kneel before God’s throne for intercession.  These prayer warriors have come to realize how important it is to bring even the smallest of requests to the Almighty in prayer.  If you have never been privileged to know of one of these praying saints, we are given many examples in Scripture for us to learn from and pattern our lives after.

One such example is recorded in Luke 2:36-38 where we see the summary of the life of Anna.  She had been married at a young age and had become a widow after only 7 years of marriage.  We may wonder why Anna’s life was recorded for us in Scripture?  God is showing us the tremendous, life changing ministry that Anna was able to have even after she had endured the heartache of losing her husband.  She was not a famous public speaker or travel the world with a Christian ministry.  She simply committed herself to fasting and prayer out of her love, devotion and commitment to God.  God used Anna in a mighty way to impact the world as a prayer warrior during her earthly lifetime.  Anna is also an example to us today, to show us that anyone CAN be used GREATLY by our God to make a difference in our world for the kingdom of God.  We don’t have to be public speakers or talented teachers to be used in an amazing way by God, BUT each one of us can pray which one of the greatest ministries we can ever have in impacting others lives.

Just in case you were wondering, Anna was not a young lady who had lots of energy to devote to serving God.  When we see this example of Anna she was 84 years old.  A lot of people might be worn out by that point in life and maybe feel as if their best years of ministry to the Lord were behind them.  Not Anna, she faithfully and quietly carried out a world-impacting ministry which hastened the coming of Jesus Christ.  God greatly blessed Anna for her faithfulness by allowing her to see baby Jesus in the temple with her very own eyes!  That was an AMAZING reward! 

Anna’s prayer ministry was faithful.  Luke 2:37 says that “She did not depart from the temple…”.  Her prayer ministry was focused on serving God.  The greatest way we can serve the Lord is to have a ministry of prayer.  Anna’s prayers were frequent as she “served night and day…” and were fervent through “fasting and prayers.”  This special lady is our example to not let the tragedies and trials we experience in our life to make us bitter and give up on serving the Lord.  We need to let God use those heartaches we experience to turn our hearts toward serving Him like Anna did.  No matter what season of life we each may be experiencing by being single, raising a young family, the empty nest years or when we are in our golden years like Anna, we can ALWAYS serve God and others by having faithful, focused, frequent, and a fervent ministry of prayer. 

Can you think of those godly saints in your life like Anna whose prayers directly impacted situations and outcomes for you?  I definitely can!  My grandma was like a mother to me.  She not only led me to the Lord, discipled me by teaching me many Biblical truths BUT she was also a godly example of to me in her prayer life.  My grandma prayed for me several times every day while I was growing up and throughout my teenage years for God’s protection over me and guidance in making the right choices.  I would often stay with my grandparents on Saturday nights and then go to church with them on Sunday. 

I began to notice how tired my grandmother was every Sunday morning and when I asked her why she was so exhausted, she explained how the H.S. had prompted her to pray for me while I was out with my friends the night before.  My grandma earnestly prayed for me to go to Bible College, marry a godly man and commit my life to serving God.  Without her example and influence, I honestly do not know where I would be!   

My grandmother not only prayed for her three children who all ended up serving the Lord in the ministry, she fervently prayed for her 10 grandchildren and their spouses every day, naming each of her great grandkids by name.  When one of our children rebelled against God about 6 months before she went to heaven, she prayed all day for them to come back to the Lord.  She encouraged me to keep praying and have faith that the Lord would bring our wayward child back in fellowship with Him. 
After my grandma’s funeral, all of our extended family went back to clean out her house.  The first place I went was to her recliner rocking chair in her living room where her Bible and devotional books sat next to our child’s 8 x 10 photo where she cried out to God on his behalf several times a day.  I sobbed as I remembered her godly example and I will NEVER forget her prayer ministry in my life.  My grandmother’s prayers have radically impacted me and it’s the GREATEST legacy and wealth that I could have EVER inherited from her.

What about us? Will we ever be a godly example to others through our prayer lives?  For this amazing ministry to take place we must first make sure that God will even hear our prayers.  Psalm 66:18 says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”  Harboring unconfessed and unrepented sin in our hearts is grievous to our Father and blocks our prayers to Him.  We must regularly humbly bow at God’s throne and clean our hearts out from our filthy sin if we expect Him to accomplish the impossible through our prayers.  For years I was blinded to the fact that my prayers were being hindered by my sin.  When I prayed, I never felt like God was actually hearing me and my prayers were not getting answered.  As soon as I finally humbled myself and confessed all of the sin I was holding onto, It was absolutely AMAZING how God began answering my prayers to the most seemingly impossible situations.

Are we willing to follow the examples of godly prayer warriors like Anna that have had amazing prayer ministries which led to them to be used greatly by God?  We can be instruments in God’s hands to make an impact on our world now, our church, our families, our marriages and on future generations to come if we are simply willing to serve the Lord by having a ministry of prayer.  Are you known as a faithful prayer warrior who goes to God in prayer for everything, even in the little things?  As you closely examine your prayer life, do you see your requests being answered?   If not then you may have some heart cleansing to do.  May each of us follow the godly example those True warriors have left behind.  We also need to recognize the value of leaving a godly heritage of prayer to future generations that will follow us into eternity.