Sunday, September 20, 2015

Light of the World

I

"You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16

Have you ever met anyone who just instantly brings light into the room or you would use the phrase "a ray of sunshine" to describe them? I have met a few people like that and by a few I mean very few. Just speaking briefly to them you instantly feel encouraged. Just as it says above in verse 15 "they put it on a stand and it gives light to everyone in the house." Just their cheerful disposition affects everyone in the room.  "A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit." Proverbs 15:13. Some character qualities I have noticed that these people posess are compassion, kindness, patience, humbleness, gentleness, joy, basically all the fruits of the spirit. That's the power of Jesus, but sometimes if your like me we don't let Him shine that brightly through us. I've noticed the one I struggle with the most is compassion, so often I just don't think to call someone when they are sick or send them a card or send flowers to someone who has lost a loved one so I am definitely praying that the Lord will help me to be more compassionate towards others. It's not that I don't care I just never put that thought into action.  

I am also guilty of focusing on the negatives in life, often blaming others for the way I feel. When we we allow that darkness to creep in our life it dims our light. I have learned that if we truly love God we can't help but to love others,but I struggle with letting that show sometimes. I have figured out that the reason why I have this love for others on the inside, but don't always show it on the outside is because I had a very low self-esteem. I wasn't content with who I was. I  was very self conscious and that hindered me from expressing love to others for fear of rejection. There's a difference in being self-absorbed & being confident, but for the longest time I saw them one in the same. But really, by not being confident I was being self absorbed. I wouldn't show love or kindness to others at times when I could have because I was too worried about me and if I would make a fool of myself or not say the right thing. When we truly love who we are and who God created us to be then can we show love to others without fear of rejection. Sometimes too who we surround ourselves with affects are attitude. If you are constantly surrounded by people who always focus on the negative or always seem to have something bad to say about others those types of thoughts will infiltrate your mind as well. So it is important to surround ourselves with postive people. People who are going to support and encourage us & who we can support & encourage right back! 

On the lock screen of my phone the picture says, "Today I choose joy." I put that there becasue usually when I wake up in the morning I look at my phone to see what time it is. So, the first thing I see everyday is "Today I choose joy" and it serves as a reminder of how I am going to go about my day. Although Jesus lives,rules, & reigns in our hearts when we are saved we are still human & we still have free will. We can choose to have a negative attitude & negative thoughts or we can choose joy, happiness, & postive thoughts. God has so richly blessed me & I have no excuse for having a negative attitude.

I just hope and pray that the Lord will help me to be one of those people who just instantly brightens the room & can encourage others. Truett Cathy said, "How do you know if someone needs encouragement? If they are breathing." Everyone needs encouragement & love and it seems like the number of people who are willing to be the encourager is getting smaller and smaller. 


"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." 1 Thessalonians 5:11


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Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Pride


Pride is a sin that I didn't realize I struggled with terribly until recently. And let me tell you pride is an abominable sin. God hates pride and unfortunately it's a sin more Christians deal with than any other. I'm not an self absorbed person by nature so I just always assumed I didn't have a pride problem, but boy has God showed me otherwise the last couple of months. It all started with me having a prideful attitude with my husband and saying that I thought I could drive better than him and not two seconds after that came out of my mouth I hit crammed the side of our new van we had only had for a week into the side of huge concrete pillar. Talk about a wake up call. And from there I have had little circumstances come up in my life that have really made me reevaluate my prideful attitude. I realized that I've been going through life thinking I had everything figured out. Thinking that I knew up from down, but turns out I was wrong. I don't know it all. I've learned to quit trying to have it all figured out all the time and take life day by day. Isn't that what Jesus said to do anyway?
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34 

I was taking pride in breastfeesing and having judgemental thoughts about others who didn't breastfeed. Only to come down with Bells Palsy & be on medication where I could no longer breastfeed & had to formula feed my daughter.  I was taking pride in being a  "co-sleeper" because that's the only right way. Wrong. My daughter sleeps so much better in her own bed and so do I. I was taking pride in home schooling because your not a real Christian of you don't home school. Wrong! God finally slapped me in the face and said wake up! Your child will be so much happier at a preschool where he could play with kids because that's all he ever wants is somebody to play with. 

God has really knocked the pride out of me & I praise him for that. I can't truly love others if I'm thinking judgemental thoughts about them. And I've seen it play out in my own extended family, if you want to tear your house down be a judgemental Christian. It's not going to turn out pretty, trust me. 

I had set such high standards for myself in my head that weren't even obtainable. If you haven't read the book Real Christianity I highly recommend it. One phrase in the book really got me. It was saying we can never be enough, do enough, pray enough, etc. for God that is the whole point of Jesus! When you quit trying to climb a ladder to God and quit having prideful thoughts about every "good work" that you do, you finally get to enjoy real Christianity. There's no room for judgemental thoughts in real Christianity. There no room for a prideful heart in real Christianity. It's about love. The two greatest commandments: 1. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind & strength & 2. To love others as yourself. When you start focusing on those two things & get off that ladder you start seeing life in a whole new perspective of joy, peace, & life. Before I was doing all these "good works" or what I thought were good works, but I was exhausted, miserable, & bitter. I was jealous of every Christian who I thought was taking the easy way out like sending their kid to preschool or putting their baby to sleep in their own bed. I wanted everyone to be as miserable as I was. I was just going to through the motions hoping that when I got to the top of that ladder I would find this joy, peace, & life everyone was talking about. Life is short & I don't want to get to the end with a big pile of "good works" because it's not enough for God. Jesus is enough.  That's all God wants me to do is to have a relationship with Him not perform for Him. 

"Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32
I did not feel free. I was saved, but I felt trapped still in bondage not of sin, but of feeling like I had to perform God to be a good Christian until I realized that wasn't even biblical! This verse is spot on when biblical truth finally sets in it sets you
 free! 
Now I'm focusing on my relationship with Jesus not a list of do's and dont's. I'm focusing on loving others & being patient and kind. 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30 
If your following Jesus and your burden doesn't feel light like mine didn't maybe it's time to reevaluate. It's not us working for Jesus. It's Jesus working through us.