Tuesday Matters

Everyday Step In Fait

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Step In Faith

In the Old Testament as the Israelites were soon to enter into the Promised Land they were faced with crossing the Jordan River during flood season with the Ark of the Covenant. Hey this is Debbie Griffith with Everyday Matters. God told them to go forward right into the middle of the river before the water would go down and because of the faith the people had in God they obeyed and trusted God. We read in Joshua 3:17 that; “All Israel passed through until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.”

I know I would’ve first wanted to test the water with my big toe to see some evidence of God’s promise of the water going down before I stepped into the middle of the river. But often God provides no solution to my problems until I trust Him and move ahead with what I know I should do. Sometimes God wants me to step forward into the unknown because it’s an opportunity for me to know Him better and trust Him with my faith and not my feelings...everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Forget the Lies

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Forget the Lies

The letter began, “Debbie I’m struggling. I’ve been unemployed since September; I have an aunt who is in the hospital and my husband is constantly reminding me that he’s the one who’s paying the bills. I feel frustrated and far away from God.

Feeling far away from God and like He doesn’t care is what the devil wants you to feel and think. Satan is keen on feeding us lies and his two favorites are the “forever” lie and the “never” lie. He tells us about the negative things in our lives will never change and will forever be the way they are. He says the way you are right now will stay that way “forever.” Lies. The truth is God is good and He has plans to bring you wholeness from your brokenness of pain and regret. Trust in God because bad things ultimately give way to better things. Ecclesiastes 3:1; TO EVERYTHING there is a season, and a time for every matter or purpose under heaven…everyday!

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Cake MERCY

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Cake MERCY

“Dan, c’mon, please pay the bill. My allowance won’t cover it.” I was asking for grace from my husband as I handed him the bill for spending too much at J. Crew Clothing. Whew…he forgave and paid the bill. But when I went home, I discovered that a stick of butter, my special cake plate and a container of frosting was missing. My nephew had baked a cake while I was away. I called and scolded him for not replacing my supplies.

When I hung up the phone, I realized I was acting like the ungrateful servant in Matthew 18. A king was about to punish this servant for a debt of millions but instead had pity and forgave. The servant, not grateful, instantly found his friend who owed him thousands and had him thrown in prison. I got the memo. God gives fresh mercy to us so how can we afford to withhold mercy from others …everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Bouquet Love

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Bouquet Love

I was absent one summer, for an extended period of time, and even though I’m not a “flower person” I cried when I came home and saw this large bouquet greeting me on the kitchen table. It was special and apparently so for our teenage son Joey. He seemed to be continually asking me, “Mom, aren’t those flowers from Dad beautiful?” “Yes. Yes, they are Joey.” And yes, the best thing we can do for our kids is to love our spouse. Unity. If our children see a crack in the foundation, they often find a way to slip through. Of course, we have disagreements and we have had our share of fights but it’s how and where we choose to handle conflict, especially with our spouse.

It’s important for our children to see unity, not division and so we often have to “agree to disagree” while privately we try and work things out. But of course, with the personalities of my husband and I they’ve seen us passionately argue too but they also see reconciliation. Jesus tells us that, “A house divided against itself cannot stand. When your marriage stands strong so does your family…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Not Fair

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Not Fair

If you’re a mom you’ve heard; “I don’t want to. It’s not fair.” And if you’re like me your sure-fire response has been, “Life’s not fair.” BUT “back in the day,” when our four sons were young, I’d respond, “I understand you don’t think it’s fair and I’m sorry you don’t want to. But right now, I’m not interested in what you want. I’m interested in your obedience. I’m not open to discussion, I’m the mom and I’m in charge here.” I was confident and I wanted to help our four sons develop character to walk in obedience and respect and at the same time I wanted to walk in what I knew to be true rather than go with an emotional response.

“Yep” … my oldest responded, “Thanks Mom,” when I read Proverbs 30:17 “The eye that scorns obedience to his mother will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley.” Thankfully, (through it all) my children still have their eyesight. The message should be clear; in obedience and trust to God we receive our blessings …everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Popular

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Popular

I don’t get why Jenny is so popular? She’s not that nice but people seem drawn to her? Maybe if I try act more like Jenny and dress and wear my hair the way she does I’d be liked more and more popular? Have you been stuck in the shadows where you don’t realize the beauty of how God created you? He doesn’t want us to compare ourselves to another and be something we’re not because He didn’t make a mistake with you.

Life can be hard and I think we’ve all had those moments thinking the grass is greener on the other side but guess what? That grass has to be mowed too. When I read Ephesians 12, I see that I’m God’s workmanship and He’s created specific things for each of us to do by the way He created us. Comparison is the thief of joy. Focus on being the blessing God created you to be with the gifts He’s given you…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Useful Words

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Useful Words

Two most useful words that we need to actually use more often are “okay” and “no.” Many times, we’re trying to be such people pleasers, so we say YES instead of NO, or we try and fix ourselves and others when it’s better to say, “Okay” and accept what’s happening. It could go like this, ““No, that is not who God says I am,” or “No, that is not where God wants me” followed by, “No, I will not be an approval addict.”

The other useful word “Okay” can work like this; “Okay, you see it this way and I don’t.” “Okay, I am sick right now, but it will pass.” In scripture we read where Jesus didn’t answer at all but allowed people to follow their own folly and He mostly used the word “no” when speaking to the religious leaders. Do you trust God to the extent that even when it's hard, you’re at peace to say, “Okay” and “No?” I’m not there but I know with Him it’s possible and useful in moving forward…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Earth Experience

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Earth Experience

This earth is not our home. Good…because it’s so stinkin’ hard some days. I so often have to look up and find the hope to move forward. Hope is basically the belief that something good is going to happen, there’s something better that’s ahead. We need hope for this earth experience now, but we also have an eternal hope when we confess and profess that Jesus is Lord and the only one who can remove our guilty sins.

One of the most helpful things I can do is to go public with my struggles while sharing the hope that I have. When I openly share my hard places and say a promise, say from Philippians 1:6, where God tells us, “He Who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it until the day He returns,” I find that I’m not alone because someone else needed to hear exactly the same thing. The earth experience is hard, but God is always good. Keep on keeping on…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Humility

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Humility

Remember that song, “Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in everyday way?” We laugh because like yeah right, “as if.” But sometimes we’re so busy pointing out the faults of others that we don’t take time to look at our own that we need to address. My mentor friend Barb wrote, “True humility is not a denial of your positive attributes. It isn’t a humble person who says, “I’m not good at anything.”

This is an expression of pride which says, “Look at poor me. I just have to have special consideration because I’m so weak. Please pity me...treat me well.” On the contrary, the truly humble person recognizes their strengths and weaknesses and so rather than a concentration on yourself, humility leads you to look around you for opportunities to encourage and help others.” When you understand humility that way it helps you to be confident in the gifts God’s given you rather than feeling bad about what you don’t have. Happy and free people are humble people…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Sick Day

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Sick Day

Ya know how sometimes you get physically sick, like the flu and it's not because you're not reading the Bible enough or doing enough acts of service, you just get sick. Well sometimes you get emotionally sick and it’s not because you’re a “bad Christian.” There can be all kinds of factors that play into all kinds of sicknesses like lack of sleep, an infection, a damaged relationship and sometimes we need medication to get well. It’s okay.

Remember that no matter what emotional or physical state you’re in, God loves you as you are. We’ll go through challenging seasons where it doesn't make sense but it’s in the hard places where we grow. God tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “that His strength is perfected in our weakness.” Sometimes, the hardest thing to do is just let go and let God take care of us or by asking someone for help or taking medication. He works in many different ways and through many different people. In every place and time, He wants you to know how much He loves and values you…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Marriage Hope

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Marriage Hope

Unfortunately, I hear from a lot of people sharing how their marriage is breaking up due to a spouse finding someone new. “I wish my spouse would give up this other person and want to reconcile, but they have no desire for me anymore. I’m trying to focus on God, but I want deliverance from this pit,” someone wrote me. I ache for this person, but I told them; “With Jesus there is always hope.” The enemy wants us to believe lies and fall into despair.

Proverbs 1:31 is also pretty clear about the person who continues in sin; “Therefore, they must eat the bitter fruit of living their own way, choking on their own schemes.” But if we choose to trust what we know of God Proverbs 1:33 is pretty clear; “But all who listen to Me will live in peace, untroubled by fear or harm.” Go to the Bible for comfort, read aloud, lament, cry out to God. He knows and cares about hurting heart and He knows how to give you hope…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Vegas

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Vegas

Susan had turned her life around by turning to Jesus and now she was on talk radio with three other women still in the “business” discussing lifestyle choices in Las Vegas. The host and others on the panel were repeatedly asking Susan, “Where was God when you were in this business? Why didn’t He save you?” And Susan replied, “God was always with me. It was I who left Him. The others clearly did not have a relationship with Christ, they didn’t know of His great love for them, and so they had no respect for God or His ways but Susan understood completely and she said; Christ gives us all a free will but it’s our choice whether we want to have Him in our lives or not.”

Without knowing the relationship that brings love and freedom a person is only going to see God’s laws as bringing judgment and bondage. We may turn our backs on God, but He will never turn on us or stop loving us. The wisdom of Proverbs 28:5 says, those who seek the Lord understand fully…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Stuck

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Stuck

Okay there’s this kind of Christians who is “stuck” outside the tension between law and grace – and specifically I’m talking about those who don’t know they need grace. I have been that girl at various times myself.

When you don’t know you need grace you come to the counseling room in righteous indignation. You come with your “rights” and “it’s not fair because there’s a sinner worse than you. This may include the spouse who drags their partner along to get fixed, the partner who doesn’t think they need fixing, the person angry with God for failing to fulfill their dreams and the one who simply cannot forgive. They know they’re right and they want you to know it too. Accepting Christ means acknowledging deep sin and a need we have for grace, in all areas of our lives for a lifetime. Jesus desires to confront the blackness of our hearts and change us to be set free. PRAY for yourself and others who need to KNOW and SEE how much we need His grace, because without it we can’t really be free …everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Easter Celebration

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Easter Celebration

Easter doesn’t get the attention Christmas is about Jesus coming to earth as a baby and angels and giving and receiving presents from one another. But Easter is the bigger gift. Isaiah 53:10 reveals that it was God’s will for Christ to die: “It was the Lord’s will to crush Him and cause Him to suffer, and . . . the Lord makes His life an offering for sin.” It’s not that God actually put Jesus on the cross or pounded the nails, but the cross was God’s plan to redeem humanity. What a wonderful celebration.

If you haven’t experienced a relationship with God then it’s all about religion and while that may bring some sort of good feelings it’s the Good News of what God did for us. Romans 3:25 says that “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of His blood." Repentance isn't about asking God for anything but it's about turning to Him and receiving what He has done for us. What a wonder to think about…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Having Fun

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Having Fun

Do you wanna have fun? I think most of us do especially when the earth experience is hard. It’s not just the girls who wanna have fun. There are events or responsibilities that we all have that aren’t always pleasant so try to find fun wherever you are. I kinda have this motto that works, “If it’s not fun, I’m done.” If we go into a difficult situation or experience with an attitude to find the humor in it, we find the difficulty less emotionally draining. This has been a game changer for me; to find a person in the moment to connect to or by asking God to see the blessing or lesson in the situation and find the “funny” helps to actually see that “nothing is wasted” with Christ. The way we respond to difficulties with an attitude of hope or humor is a greater testimony to others than us preaching to them.

Let His love of kindness, patience and truth we read about in 1 Corinthians 13 cause you to live with hope and freedom, drawing others to you and Him with joy and laughter…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Sharpened

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Sharpened

Do you know someone who’s served in the military? I know many and one of them is my husband, Dan. Military people serve as an act of love for others. I remember Dan telling me that in the army they were constantly drilled that they needed to keep their weapons clean and ready for use. A useless weapon not only made the soldier useless, but also a liability because now someone else needs to pick up the slack. In Ephesian 6 God gives us a list of armor, but only one weapon—the Bible which is the Sword of the Spirit is the only offensive weapon of the six God’s calls us to “put on.” Our knowledge of the Word is its sharpness.

There are so MANY things screaming for our attention and I’m sure, like me, you are being pulled in many directions. But God never changes no matter what the direction of our day is. So Let the Word of God be in your head and heart; sharpened…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Fully Loved

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Fully Loved

I remember a discussion with girlfriends’ right out of college and the advice was given, “Love when you’re ready, not when you’re lonely.” Another friend, who had been through a few relationships added, “Debbie, you become who you choose to spend the most time with. Choose wisely.” Girlfriend added, “I mean, if I line up all my ex-loves in a row, I can see the flow chart of my mental illness.” Advice taken.

In life’s journey we all want to be known and loved, and Jesus knows us better than anyone and still loves us. He knows me, my pain, my ache, my disappointments, my shame, anger at myself and the part of my heart that hasn’t fully forgiven others. He knows. HE IS here, waiting to make use of what has happened. He is always on the move. He isn’t wasting time, thinking about all the trouble He has with us or how awful we feel about where we are with ourselves and our troubles. God loves us unconditionally…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Confess Forgive

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Confess Forgive

Do you feel rejected by a friend or family member? Let me tell you...YOU ARE NOT ALONE. James 5:16 is a verse that is helpful to apply because it says when we confess our own sin and pray for one another that we will be healed and THEN our prayers will have tremendous power. Most often I need to confess my own sin and hurt of wanting the other person to hurt because they’ve hurt me. We need to pray to see others as God sees them.

Let’s stop inserting into your head that sad CD which plays back all the hurtful things caused by broken relationships. When Jesus forgives us, He clears us of all unrighteousness. Our righteousness is not based on what we do but by knowing who we are in HIM! He asks us to forgive; not as a rule to earn favor with Him but for the purpose of being set free and reconciled.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Grief

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Grief

The message read; “Oh my dear friend how I needed those words of encouragement tonight. It’s been less than a month that my sweet husband went to be with Jesus. He had a massive heart attack at age 52. My world will never be the same.” “Oh, that is so hard.”

Janice continued; “Thank you for sharing the post you did. It has kept me glued together tonight.” I’ve only met Janice through Facebook, but we’ve been friends for years. Knowing Christ, the Comforter doesn’t take away the ache; instead, it supports you in the middle of the ache. And the grieving process is not so much a matter of getting rid of the pain but not being controlled by the pain.” “Grief Devotionals by Dr. Larry Crabb is a source of hope for those dealing with loss. It’s hard. I am sorry if you’re in that place. Sit with people in their ache because simply having someone love you where you’re at is what helps more than you may know…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Kid Training

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Kid Training

“I absolutely get what you’re saying,” shared one mom to another about raising a strong-willed child. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way they should go. When they’re old they’ll not depart from it.”

It’s not a verse that needs interpretation, said Beth, “but our oldest daughter determined to do everything the hard way no matter how we trained and directed her. Why didn’t this verse apply to our family? All scripture is breathed by God. He cannot lie. Are we parents who’ve failed in raising a follower of Jesus which is what we thought? Of course, we didn’t do everything right, but our daughter chose to go her own way. It’s not that she departed from the way she was trained; she just never arrived there in the first place, said Beth. God’s way is perfect, but we all have freewill and choices. We haven’t given up on her, and God certainly hasn’t given up on our daughter either. He knows the way. We hold on in hope and faith that someday our daughter will walk toward Him but no matter what, we love her and He loves her…everyday.