Tag: family

Posted on

Life Advice

We had lots of adventures in that apartment.  There were a lot of frozen burritos, Power Bars and Walmart brand Diet Coke consumed.  Dairy Queen runs for Blizzards right before they closed.  Late night studying and study groups.  Boyfriends came and went and came again.  (For more about this read, Rush a Club, don’t rush a marriage) There were birthday parties, engagements, and late nights of Billy Blank’s Tae Bo workouts (in order to burn off the Dairy Queen Blizzards).

At the ripe old age of 20, I was ready to be completely independent and take on the world.  Well, almost.  I’d already lived in a dorm and an on-campus apartment but this was real.  I had a real landlord and real bills.  Of course, I was rolling in money with all that I’d saved from my summer job and the amazing hourly wage from my on-campus job.  When my parents moved me in it was probably as big a milestone for them as for me.  I’m certain my mom was way more apprehensive than I was.  However, my dad seemed to keep the apprehension under wraps and stepped in with some solid advice.

“Two important things to remember,” he said.  “Number 1, Lock the doors and double check them. Number 2, Take out the trash.”

Solid, logical, practical dad advice.  These pieces of advice were important but I didn’t realize how important until I had long moved out of that apartment on 20th St.

Lock the doors.  This seems like adulting 101.  Keep your doors locked to keep people out and protect your stuff.  Locked doors will keep you safe while you sleep.  Locked doors keep unwanted visitors (both animal and human) out.  However, as I’ve thought about this practical advice, I’ve taken it as spiritual advice.  I want to keep out the enemy out of my life?  Lock away what he wants to access.  The enemy has come to seek, kill, and destroy me, so I have to lock him out.  He wants my peace.  He wants my joy.  He wants my confidence.  He wants yours too.  How do you lock the door on those?  Through truth.

When the enemy threatens my peace, the response is “Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your instruction; nothing makes them stumble.” Psalm 119:165.

When he wants my joy “You reveal the path of life to me; in Your presence is abundant joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures. ”  Psalm 16:11

When he wants my confidence, “God is within her, she will not fall.” Psalm 46:5a  Combatting his attacks by locking out lies with truth will work every time.

Take out the trash– This seems so obvious, right?  Of course, we’re going to take out the trash.  That’s just gross not to take it out.  However, the more I was around other college students, I realized how some people don’t take the trash out regularly.  I also realized when we were the ones responsible for it EVERY TIME, it seemed like such a time-consuming burden that could easily be put off another day.

When I take this lesson as a spiritual one, it can cause deep exposure.  Trash in our life is the sin.  Sin needs to be dealt with on the daily.  If you ignore the little sins, they pile up and soon jobs are lost, relationships ruined, and you sit and wonder exactly what got you to that point.  Most believers don’t wake up one day and go, “today is the day I cheat on my spouse” or “today is the day I gamble with my company’s money and lose”.

Most of the time it begins with small decisions, small sins, that pile and stack in the corner until the stench of them overtake the whole house.  So, take out the trash.  Stay committed to time in God’s presence.  Stay committed to dealing with the small temptations and taking thoughts captive (putting them in the right spot in your brain).  If we deal with the little sins, God is faithful to keep us from temptation we can’t handle.  “God is faithful, and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation,

He will also provide a way of escape so that you are able to bear it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13.

Solid adulting advice from my dad became solid spiritual advice as I grew up.  I still check my doors every night.  I have a wonderful husband who usually takes out our trash, but I take it out if I see it needs to be taken out.  Whether you’re full on adulting and need the spiritual reminders or you’re brand new to living on your own and need practical advice, remember this: lock your doors and take out the trash.

Posted on

New Year, Same Me

Oops, I did it again.  I’ve already failed at my new year’s resolution.  Most years, I make resolutions.  My resolutions are the usual suspects: weight loss, exercise, read more books (for information, not just pleasure), etc.  2019 is similar to most other new years for me.  I plan to lose at minimum the weight gained between October and December, read for personal development, but this year I added a different resolution.  I want to take more pictures. I want to mark the experiences my family has so for years to come we can look back and reminisce about all the good times we had as they’ve grown up.  This seems like a reasonable goal, right?  Well, it’s January 5.  My family took a mini-vacation to Florida.  We went to Universal, the Mall at Millenia, and visited with family.  Any idea how many pictures I took?  3.  I took 3 whole pictures in 5 days.  My resolution is off to a great start.

A few days ago, before the dawn of 2019, our oldest girl was poking fun at all of the social media posts about “new year, new you”.  They are all over this time of year advertising things from weight loss products to organizational items to time management products.  So, she coined the phrase “new year, same me”.  This sparked a thought for me.  A new year is meaningless.  Just because the calendar now reads 2019  that changes nothing in me.  I am still who I was.  I still have the same habits.  I still have the same job.  I still have the same family.  I still have the same stress.  I still have the same friends.  I still have the same God.

My family went through some major changes in 2018 and in 2017. Change has been our middle name for a while.  Yet, God remains the same.  He is unchanging and he is faithful.  The Old Testament book of Malachi tells us, “For I am the Lord God, I change not”.  How thankful I am that He doesn’t start every year or month or every Monday with the thought of “new day, new me.”  He is unchanging.  He is reliable.  He is unwavering.  He is steady.  He is God.

There’s security in knowing who God is and knowing who I am in him.  He can produce change in me that I never can.  He can be unwavering in who he is while he is changing me to be like him.  I’m still going to pursue my health goals for this year and my resolution to take more pictures.  However, it’s not a new year, new me mentality.  I want to rest in the stability of who God is and hold on to him through every change and know that he is working in me and that he is working all circumstances for my good.

Posted on

Turnaround

laettner

I love basketball.  My jump shot is terrible.  My dribbling skills are worthless.  But, I love the game.    In my house, all sports were a part of life. We watched everything, even Nascar (which I don’t consider a sport, but maybe it’s like marching band, those who participate in it consider it a sport).  I was probably the only 9 year old girl who could tell you about Freddy Couples’ putting struggles or about Spurrier’s challenge to find a good QB1 until Danny Wuerfel came on the scene when all our prayers were answered.  I became a fan of certain teams because of who my dad was a fan.  He liked the Celtics, I liked the Celtics. He liked Dale Earnhardt, I liked Dale Earnhardt.

Then, sometime around 1990, I really discovered my favorite game.  My cousin had become a fan of Duke.  Coach K had been there just a few years and was really beginning to build a great program.  So, my dad started paying a little more attention to Duke Basketball.  Even though we are Florida fans through and through, we became Duke basketball fans.

A couple of years later, Duke had made it to the Elite 8 in the March Madness tournament.  Kentucky was the team to beat.  They were a powerhouse at the time.  The game was close the whole way.  Then, in the last few moments it was tied.  With 2.2 seconds on the clock, Duke had the ball.  My dad was on the edge of the couch, my mom was intently staring at the screen, I was standing on the couch, perched with anticipation.  There had been a turnover, Duke was getting the ball at the opposite end of the court, Grant Hill passes the ball to Christian Laettner where he’s standing near the foul shot line.  Laettner catches it, turns around, shoots, and nothing but net.  Duke wins the game and advances to the Final Four and ultimately to win the championship.  Kentucky fans are still bitter about this.

The elation in my house was unreal.  We were all ecstatic at what we had witnessed.  The simple turn around shot of Laettner changed the whole game.  I was reading the book of Esther the other day and got to the point in the story that there is what Bible teachers call divine reversal.  The story is headed one way, then it completely turns.  In the climax of Esther, the story is Haman has built gallows to hang the queen’s cousin and made plans to annihilate the entire Jewish population from the Persian Empire.  But one night, Esther has invited Haman and the King to dinner, she reveals the plot and suddenly Haman is the one hanged on the gallows he built for Mordecai and Mordecai is made the king’s trusted adviser.  In what seems like a split second, the whole story changed.

Have you ever sat with what seems like limited time on the clock?  Where it seems like 2.2 seconds are all that is left and if someone doesn’t make the basket, you end up like Kentucky.  Lost and headed home defeated.  I have.  We as Christians say God is not limited by time.  He has no shot clock.  That “he’s on on-time God”.  Which is true but often our circumstances are controlled by time.  There are decisions to be made.  Pending actions of others that require our action.

Esther fought the clock.  She knew time was limited.  Mordecai even says to her, if you don’t do what you need to do, God will find someone else.  It’s like Coach K saying to Laettner, if you’re not willing to take this shot, I’ll get somebody else.

I sit in a place waiting on a divine reversal.  It’s like life has been on a timeout and suddenly the timeout is over and there’s a clock that has 2.2 seconds left.  Somebody’s got to pass the ball and somebody’s got to turnaround and make the shot.  I need God’s turnaround.  I need his divine reversal for as the book of Genesis puts it “the saving of many lives”.  This situation is pinnacle and it seems there is only limited time.

So, my question is what’s my role?  Am I Hill or am I Laettner?  I’m Hill and I’m trusting that Jesus is Laettner.  So, in this 2.2 seconds that is left in this particular game, I’m in bounding the ball to Jesus.  My advocate with the father.  I’m trusting that if I pass my control off to him, he’s going to turn the situation around and score with nothing but net.

Posted on

Request to Testimony

Have you ever waited in a long line for something you really wanted?  Maybe the latest iPhone or maybe a doughnut.  I have.  Usually while standing there, the anticipation is high.  Oh this (fill in the blank) is going to be great.  It is so worth the time in line.  Then, you finally get that thing you’ve been waiting for and it really is that good (this isn’t a blog about disappointment, but I know sometimes it isn’t as good as you’d hoped).  You feel justified.  Vindicated.  Validated.  You knew the product you were waiting on was worth the wait.  You shift from hopeful to fulfilled.  There’s nothing like that feeling.

Music has this effect on me sometimes.  There are certain songs that I’ve sang in seasons that have been the absolute desperate request of my heart.  Every time I would sing that song, my heart would just plead with God to do the very thing that song was mentioning.  It was like waiting in line for my request to be answered.  Then, that season would pass.  The song would lose consistency or popularity.

Then, I would hear it on the radio or it would come up on my playlist and all of the sudden, I would remember what God had done for me.  How at some point between the last time I sang that song and now, he had answered my prayer.  The song then became a testimony.

I can now sing “Made Me Glad” as a testimony because looking back, he was

My shield

My strength

My fortress

Deliverer

Shelter

Strong Tower

Ever present help in time of need.

He was all of those things and he answered every prayer uttered during those times of worship.  I can now sing Waymaker as a testimony because he has been my

Waymaker

Miracle Worker

Promise Keeper

Light in the Darkness

I can reflect and I can testify that God answers prayer in the seasons that a song someone else wrote may be the only prayer you can pray.  That someone else’s testimony is your prayer.  It’s why we share what God has done.  Someone may need to know that this God that they are asking to bring some sort of miracle is so very trustworthy and consistent.

Songs have seasons.  I like old songs and I like new songs.  Sometimes they’re prayers, sometimes they’re testimonies.  No matter what season you’re in, it’s okay to sing someone else’s testimony believing that God is going to make it your testimony as well.

 

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; “

Revelation 12:11

error

Stay Connected!