Tuesday Matters

Everyday Flea Market Patience

As I stood in a hut, waiting in a crammed line to buy a necklace from a flea market vendor, I decided to pray for the artist rather than sigh with exasperated impatience. I thought; "Being patient isn't so much about the amount of time I wait but more about my attitude while I wait." Besides this was another opportunity for me to develop my fruits of the spirit and the fruit of patience is far from being ripe. When it was finally my turn at the counter the artist's mother who was helping said, "I've been watching you wait in line, and you weren’t impatient by all that was around you. There’s something different about you. You have peace."

It's not always what we say but how we behave that makes an impact. And it’s not always easy but from 1 John 4:16 we can rely on God’s love for help. Because when we live in God, He lives in us…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Heartsick

It's so hard when I’ve been hoping and praying for something, and it doesn’t happen at all like I expected or wanted. How true is Proverbs 13: 12, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick.” But even with heart sickness and prayers unanswered my way I know God has the way to work all things for the good. In the meantime, it’s good to recognize the disappointment because it’s part of the recovery process. Of course, we can always find someone that’s worse off than us or a reason why, we shouldn’t complain but I think the healthier response is to actually acknowledge the letdown, express our emotions and then move forward with God’s plan.

Proverbs 18:15; "The human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear it if the spirit is crushed?" My aunt always says, “I rather have sickness in my body than sickness in the mind or spirit.” And I agree. But thankfully there’s a God who’s there to help and heal us through all our sicknesses…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Scooters

I remember when I was the substitute teacher for 2nd grade gym and oh how excited the eight-year-olds were for “Friday Free Day” which meant hula hoops, balls and scooters. Unfortunately, for Caleb, there weren’t enough little floor scooters to go around. So, after 10 minutes I asked Megan to give her blue scooter to Caleb. She was about to do when she noticed a red and orange one rolled to the side. But as I led Caleb to the scooters he stopped me, tears coming, and sniffled; “I know it doesn’t matter and all colored scooters are the same, but I just need a blue one.” Megan obliged giving up her blue for red but wondered; “Why?” “Oh, just because,” I said. God gets out “crazy” too. Psalm 55:2 says, “Attend to and answer me; I’m restless and distraught in my complaint and must moan.”

No matter how little your need is, it matters to God because you matter to Him, absolutely and completely…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Gentle Answer

Sometimes I talk too much. Even if I’m talking about good things, it’s still better if I follow the advice of Proverbs 10:19; “Don’t talk too much, for it fosters sin. Be sensible and turn off the flow!” I know that the mouth that blesses, praises and prays can also irritate, hurt and harm.

I remember a time when I was home from college and having a heated argument with my dad, who’s an unbeliever. I was so frustrated, and I wanted to lash out and say something to prove my point but from experience I knew my brilliant but angry words would not change a thing. It’s crazy but I actually said aloud Proverbs 15:1; “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” It was weird but the argument stopped immediately, as soon as I spoke the Proverb. God had the last Word. My prayer is Psalm 19:14, “May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to God and I’ve discovered it’s in listening more than talking that healthy relationships are maintained…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Free Will

It all comes down to free will. We have a choice to choose good and evil actions. I have made bad choices whether it was lying or taking something that wasn’t mine but I’ve also had the same bad things happen to me, someone lying and stealing from me.

C.S. Lewis said, “If a thing is free to be good it is also free to be bad. And free will is what has made evil possible. Why, then, did God give them free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. I have to really stop and think about that but it’s true. It’s the freedom of choice that makes love real. Being forced to love God is not real love at all. It goes back to the basics of what being a Christian is. Accept God’s love, His grace and HIS work on the cross. It’s not about our good works. When we understand His grace, we can really start loving others freely…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Detach

Loving someone who has an addiction problem can be very challenging. I remember hearing the story of a woman who was married to an alcoholic and every night her husband would come home drunk, collapse on the floor and fall asleep. And every night this woman would somehow get him up and put him to bed. She became worn out and frazzled from rescuing her husband. A friend suggested she attend Al Anon and there she learned about “Detachment.” The next night when her husband came home drunk and fell asleep on the floor, she simply put a blanket over him and left him there. She loved him by covering him but by not picking him up she was detaching. She did not rescue him. She created a loving boundary and let go.

Sometimes love calls us to let go completely. It can be a scary and uncertain time but God will guide you always (Isaiah 55:11). And He’ll often send others to help who’ve been through a similar trial. Reach out. You are not alone...everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Relationship

If one of my four sons were to say, “My mom is pretty religious,” I’d be bugged. I don’t practice a religion; I have a relationship with God. Jesus defined what a relationship with God is when He said in Matthew 16:24, “If you want to be a follower of Mine, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow Me.” Surrendering my strong will to do God’s will isn’t always easy but it’s always worth it. God loves me. He fully knows me, and He fully loves, and He know what’s best.

God not only sees the big picture, but He sees the whole picture. Can you see why religion is so irrelevant to God? Having a relationship requires us to be intentional, to spend time getting to know someone and with God it’s about knowing the Bible because He is the Word Himself. Going to church is an activity that is important for community and accountability but if it’s a religious activity then it’s based upon rules whereas a relationship is about knowing Jesus intimately and personally…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Dreams

When we look at things only in the natural world, we will always be defeated. How do I know? Let me tell you a story about spies. In the Bible in the book of Numbers, Chapter 13, God told twelves spies to go into a foreign land and discover who was living there, then come back and report. Ten spies reported, “Great land, but the people are too big, too powerful, we saw it all.”  Two of the twelve spies disagreed and said, “If God is pleased with us, He will give us this land.” Two different reports … one saw the reality, the other saw God. Faith is the reality of things hoped for and the evidence of the unseen.

If all we see is the reality, we will never take a risk to conquer, with courage, the land of our dreams. But it’s important that the dream I have is God’s will for my life too. God recently reminded me of Proverbs 16:3, "Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established". This verse encourages trusting in God's guidance and plan, rather than solely relying on my own efforts or plans…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Deepest Longings

“Where are you looking to satisfy your deepest desires and longings?” John 4 tells of the women at the well with whom Jesus spoke. She had been married five times and was living with a man who was not her husband, yet Jesus doesn't give her a lecture on immorality. He spoke to her about her thirst. Someone shared this quote referring to John 7; "Christ enters the ‘Tuckered Towns’ of the world, stands at the intersection of ‘Worn-Out Avenue’ and ‘Done-In Street’ and compels, ‘If you are thirsty, come to Me! If you believe in Me, come and drink!’ For the scriptures declare that rivers of living waters will flow out from within."

Only Jesus can satisfy that ache in your heart. If you're eating the junk food of the self-centered life, you'll never be satisfied. God is in the filling business, and He wants to satisfy your deepest desires. He can fill your emptiness. Look to Him. He will bring you fulfillment and hope…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Backbone

I don’t sew, bake or volunteer for craft projects at school. I could feel like a lousy mom because don’t the good moms have all of those skills? But let’s try and remember that God doesn’t make mistakes and He created us uniquely and for a specific purpose. Sure, we get stuck wishing we were someone else or had their skills but how productive is that? How about we try this: If you experience a setback or failure don’t fall apart but believe God will use the experience to train you for the next step. Look at Ephesians 3:12 and we read that through faith in God, we can approach Him with freedom and confidence. He loves us. “Plenty of people have wishbone but there are too few with not enough backbone.” “Wishbone is wishing you were like somebody else, and backbone is going forward in confidence with the gifts God’s given you.

Once we’re rooted and established in His love, we move forward in freedom to be best of who He created use to be…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday God is Bigger

God is bigger. We may know this in our heart but it’s acting it out like we believe it that makes the difference. One of the hardest things to do is to forgive someone who isn’t’ sorry for what they’ve done because “it’s so not fair!” And because it’s not fair we want them to know how wrong they are. What does God want? Go to 1 Peter 3:9 and read; “Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That’s what God asks, and He’ll bless you for it.”

Do you think God tells us to be good to those who’ve hurt us just because He wants to watch us suffer? No. The enemy works through people to hurt us and if we end up hating that person because they’ve hurt us then Satan’s job has been accomplished two times over. But if we respond with love then we’ve gotten Satan back and he’ll wish he never laid a finger on our lives…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Judge Not

It’s so easy to judge others, isn’t it? We often do it when we feel crummy about something inside of us, so we find someone else’s problems to judge. When we begin to sinfully judge others it is characterized by a feeling of superiority or resentment. Sinful judging often involves deciding what others’ motives may be. It reveals the absence of genuine love. We get together with others to discuss someone’s problems when instead we should be praying for them.

A listener wrote to me about this problem with, "The sad truth is that when we judge someone’s heart, perhaps because we’re angry and hurt, there is often gossip involved. The one judged, becomes what I call, ‘boxed and labeled’ by the accuser and the gossip-hearers.” Exactly. God promises us vindication. Isaiah 54:17 reads; “No weapon turned against you will succeed.” Wait on God and He we will silence those voices who stand to accuse you unjustly. God promises redemption and vindication…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday On Fence

Here’s the deal from 2 Corinthians 5:17; "If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has gone, the new is here.” However, that doesn’t mean our flesh isn’t at times screaming for what is pleasurable from our old life. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can we let the past be the past.

It’s not what we do, but what God does in and through us that sets us free. Our “do” is our choice to listen to His voice and His Word. James 4 tells us that if we choose to be a friend of the world, we take our stand as an enemy of God. Wow. We may say, “I’m a Christian,” but are we really “saved” when we choose to follow what the world has approved but God calls sin? We may still struggle with sin, but it’s important that we ask God to move in and change us. Confess, repent, and stop riding on the fence. I still sit on the fence, I must confess. But by receiving God’s grace I get better …everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Husband Flowers

I still remember the “just because I care” flowers from my husband sent a few years ago. I had called my husband at his office to lament about some unresolved drama that I had …so Dan told me to come to his office. I did. But… then out of nowhere a “stress arrow” hit my husband and he began speaking from his book of Lamentations.  He began talking about our finances, his workload, and health stuff. It was unusual for me, but I sat SILENTLY and prayed while tears ran down my cheeks. 

I left the office with a hug and knew that everything would work out and be okay. I know God knows my hearting heart and that helps too.  An hour later a beautiful bouquet of flowers arrived and a card from my husband saying, “I love you.” At the same moment a friend called and said, “I was praying and thought you might need to talk.”  That’s JUST like God, supplying what we need when we need it…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Debates

Aren't you just about crazy with all the political ups and downs, with debates, with labels. How about self-righteous behaviors, unkindness and anger? I'm here to tell you I don't have a spotless record when it comes to the above-mentioned. I’m not always patient or kind and I need to be very mindful of Psalm 141:3, "Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips." I get so frustrated with myself that I become unsettled so quickly. Even though, most mornings, I've been hearing God say to me, "I, your Heavenly Father, knoweth," from Matthew 6:32.

Our Heavenly KNOWS, sees & understands. I hear Him say: “I know your frustrations, I know your struggle with the circumstances, about the post you're commenting on, your good intentions and the grace that you need from Me and need to give to others. God knows what you’re going through because He’s been through it too. God gives us perfect love for the victory and so we might have hope and a peace.

You're not alone and your Heavenly Father is not going anywhere. He loves you. He knows…everyday.