Friday Matters

Everyday The Cross

Debbie Griffith

Everyday The Cross

I’m a mom of four adult sons and I husband I’ve been married to for 32 years. I’m so grateful. Recently at Easter we were all together and after church went out for pancakes, French fries, and bacon and there we talked about the meaning of “The Cross.

And all of us in agreement know we are made worthy, NOT by what we do, or how we perform, and certainly not by our righteousness but we’re made worthy by God’s great mercy. The sacrifice of Jesus washes away our sins and His resurrection secures our future. We are forgiven and set free to live with no condemnation or fear. Our faith walks may look differently but we know our righteousness comes from what Christ did on the cross. Paul speaking to the Colossians said, “God reconciled everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ's blood on the cross.” Receive this gift Jesus offers you too with the hope to live …everyday.

Thursday Matters

Everyday Judging

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Judging

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.

Wednesday Matters

Everyday Sacrifice

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Sacrifice

How do you know when you’ve given enough to get to God? You don’t. Yet many people believe that there are many roads to God and that true spirituality is just to love your neighbor and help the poor. What about the people that have been taught to hate? Are the poor just virtuous? That sounds right, but it is not what Jesus said.

Jesus said you cannot earn salvation by taking the executioner's cross yourself. We instinctively know this. If a soldier drapes his body over a grenade to save his friends, we recognize it as a sacrifice. Something we honor, but not something we can pay him back for. In fact to suggest we could pay Him back is an insult to His sacrifice. The same is true with Jesus. He loves us for who we are and not for what we do. The good things we do, like soup kitchens for the poor, are out of our love for Him but no matter what He loves right where we’re at by His grace…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Recompense Payback

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Recompense Payback

I get to share Cindy’s breakthrough in giving real forgiveness. I had been mentoring Cindy and even though she said she’d forgiven her father she continued negatively talking about him and avoided him. “I did forgive him, but you don’t know how much he hurt me.” She had become bitter. So, I told her; “Based on what the Bible says it really doesn’t matter how great the offense was. We serve a God Who is greater and if we will handle the offense in the right way, He’ll bring justice and recompense when we allow Him to.”

God says in Isaiah 61:7, “Instead of your former shame you shall have a twofold recompense.” A recompense is a reward. It’s payback for past hurts. Think of it like worker’s compensation. You work for God and as long as you do, if you get hurt on the job, HE WILL PAY YOU BACK! Cindy finally let go and forgave her dad. She’s set boundaries but they’re reconciled. Remember God is your Vindicator…everyday.

Monday Matters

Everyday God Speaks

Debbie Griffith

Everyday God Speaks

Are you listening? Jesus is speaking. Hear His voice; “You are forgiven. Today is a new day. God’s Word from Lamentations 3:23: “Great is My mercy. It’s new every morning and great is My faithfulness. Everyday I try to “be better” by choosing what I should think on and how I should behave which often means I remain silent, shut my mouth and pray. Just think of the amazing gift God offers us! We have an opportunity to receive God’s forgiveness which means our soiled sin rags are washed and made t white by the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:14)

Don’t be discouraged. There’s a whole lot of us who so wanted to be faithful, but who at times got defeated, beat-up by life and tested by trials. We have the bloodied garments of life’s tribulations, but through it all we clung to the faith. This is the Gospel of Grace. So with me, let’s celebrate. Let’s raise “a glass of hope,” receive and share this love and grace with others. Carry on Christian Soldiers, onward and upward…everyday.

Friday Matters

Everyday Spouse

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Spouse

“Mom, I decided that I’m gonna do what Dad did and let God choose my wife for me,” said our son Joe when he was a teen. And that’s still his plan as a young adult. God definitely chose my husband Dan for me. I love Dan always and I like him… but not always. Dan has always called me his “Pretty Debbie” and I call him my, “Cute Husband.” We have been in places for better and for worse. It’s with respect, honor and grace that we carry on (no matter how short our hair gets or what the scale says.

When we married, I was more selfish and so I allowed God to change me and then our marriage changed for the better to. I thought, “How can I serve over being served?” Asking that question was great along with talking less and listening more too. Making a covenant with God and committing to His love makes a marriage strong. As Tim Kellor said, “To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved, is well, a lot like being loved by God…everyday.

Thursday Matters

Everyday Old

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Old

I am sitting in the coffee shop getting to know a new friend and I’m literally stunned to learn that she’s only 38 which means I’m twenty years older…like I could be her mom. “I thought we were in the same age zone,” I said as I headed to the bathroom. When I come out Shana asked, “Does this age difference bother you?” “Oh, I’m fine but I guess there’s part of me that hasn’t accepted the older me even though she’s wiser and more experienced.”

Real friendships of lasting value really aren’t about age; they’re about connection and give and take. I want my new friend to know that what she sees is someone that is genuinely interested in who she is regardless of really…anything. God’s friendship with us is one with no condemnation and He sees the worst of us but chooses to focus on the best of us. We all have varying degrees of decorating our outsides but just as much time, if not more, should be focused on our insides and living and walking in the grace God give us…everyday.

Wednesday Matters

Everyday Life Changing

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Life Changing

When I’m travelling alone at a hotel, I often surf the channels on TV. Inevitably I will come upon a shopping network or paid product advertisement where I sit mesmerized and convinced that if I order in the next ten minutes this product will change my life.

One of our sons walked into the room when I was using this wand laser thing and zapping my face to get rid of the wrinkles. He tried it on his face but couldn’t stand the sting. “Mom, you’re crazy. Why do this?” “I feel it’s working,” I said. Honestly, my attitude was better because I believed this wand was making a difference by erasing years off my face. (Did I mention the whole commercial was in Spanish?). After my son left, I thought; “What really transforms me is renewing my mind from what God has to say about me. If I approach others with the love and grace God gives me, that truly is a game changer. There’s nothing wrong with primping and prep so we feel and look our best but, God sees the heart and that’s what I want Him to work on…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Junior High

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Junior High

A couple of years ago I went to my old Jr. High bathroom with the full-length mirror upstairs and cried. I cried remembering my pain at 13 years old. This was the smoker’s girl bathroom where Jenny Baker appeared out of one of the stalls and said, “You don’t have to look. You know you’re pretty? Huh? I was examining my crazy skinny body with no curves except for the curve of my scoliosis. I felt ugly.

My friend Stephanie seemed to be a friend I could hold onto so I would go to Friday night football games with her. Five minutes later she’d disappear and scout for boys. I was left with some loose group of kids sitting by myself when inevitably someone would come up and say, “Ya know, after the game, Jenny wants to beat you up?” I eventually saw who I was and who Jenny was too. The sad thing is Jenny thought she knew what I felt about myself, but she didn’t. We all need to know we’re beautiful and unique in the way God created us. We just can’t always see it…everyday.

Monday Matters

Everyday Biker

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Biker

As Nathan was training for America’s largest mountain bike racing series, he was thankful that biking had kept he and his brother, Kyle, connected through Kyle’s drug addiction. And thankfully in the last two years of Kyle’s life he overcame his addiction via a 12-step program and a relationship with God. Kyle died in a freak car accident which was crazy tragic. Yet there’s peace and hope that replaced the tragedy because they knew they’d see Kyle again.

The night before the big bike race Nathan made a dedication and said, “I let go of all performance pressures and made up my mind to ride for the love of God, Kyle, and the sport itself.” No matter what the results I was giving this race to God because I realized more than ever that it wasn’t about me. It was about what God was doing in and through me. When Nathan walked up to the podium for his first overall win at this huge race, he never heard such cheering. “Sure, the prestige and prize money are great” said Nathan, “but relationships and loving others is what lasts…everyday.”

Friday Matters

Everyday So Cool

Debbie Griffith

Everyday So Cool

I remember asking our four sons, “Who decides who’s cool? I don’t get it. You’re cool. I’ve decided it.” But we all decided that it’s “cool” to stick up for someone who’s being made fun of just because they’re different. My boys think Brandon’s cool. He was a rock star/popular football player but what also made him “cool” was his treatment of others, like Josh.

Josh’s mom, Cindy, was ready to pull him out of public school and home school him due to excessive teasing and bullying from peers. Josh had a mild case of autism. Brandon, the popular football player, who had stood up for Josh in the past, heard that his mom was considering pulling him out of school. So, he talked to his teammates and friends and stood by Josh’s side until the teasing stopped. That’s cool. We all want that feeling to belong, to know someone is for us. As Romans 8:31 says, “If God is for you, who can be against you?” You are loved. Stand in confidence and security and help others to know they’re loved too…everyday.

Thursday Matters

Everyday Blue Days

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Blue Days

Sometimes I get stuck in blue, like I’m feeling down, sad and crabby. I wouldn’t say it’s depression but I lately I’ve been stuck a little longer in “The Land of Blue,” than I’d like. I texted my aunt this and she wrote back; “I’m sorry you’re blue. I hate that. I fight stupid insecure feelings all the time. Lies…but they feel real. Don’t feed them. Starve them.” She’s right. Feelings are powerful and sometimes so powerful that we don’t trust God’s voice and we listen to lies. So how in the world is it possible to receive a word such as “I love you,” if the lie, “I’m unlovable” thunders louder?

Ultimately, we must make a choice; either my relationship with God is real or it’s not. Setting our minds on truth, God gives us the grace to talk to Him by prayer and or sometimes singing songs aloud helps bring freedom and relief. God hears and understands you and He’s not surprised by your days of sorrow that might be blue. Psalm 16:8 says, He is right beside you all the way through…everyday.

Wednesday Matters

Everyday Billy Poetry

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Billy Poetry

I’ve never met Billy, but he subscribes to the email of Everyday Matters and often sends poems from the verses I share. He is confined to a wheelchair and has a head injury. There are things he can’t do but he sure can write a poem to make you smile and reflect. Billy wrote, “This poem is dedicated to all my friends who love me without seeing me.”

When men look at us

Immediately they judge.

From the color of our skin

To the sweet taste of our fudge

And seldom do they ever

Make judgments right and pure!

For in their hearts is not

The reason or its cure

But Our Father up in Heaven

Judges all His children well

For He knows what’s in their hearts

What else is there to tell

And when He looks, He knows.

If Jesus lives in there

And He can see if love is home.

In your heart beyond compare

So please, just open up.

Your heart to God’s own Son

And then you’ll have everything

For then the victory’s won.

Thanks Billy…everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Live Love

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Live Love

St. Frances of Assisi said, “Preach the gospel always, and if necessary, use words.” I think what this means is “live a life of love” by how you treat others. Telling the list of rules to my non-believing friends along with statements like; “You shouldn’t do that” don’t mean a hill of beans when they don’t know and trust your love and sincerity for their lives. It doesn’t work for me either. God will judge sin. His command to us is to LOVE one another. I don’t disagree that sometimes love means speaking up, but first it’s about showing my love and building a relationship and trust with a person. This does not mean we ignore what is right or wrong, but it’s not just about saying the words. We are commanded to live it.

2 Timothy, Chapter 2 has good guidelines; “Be kind, don’t quarrel and gently instruct another when the time is right in hope that person will come to know God’s love and ways. A relationship over the rules is always what’s most winsome…everyday.

Monday Matters

Everyday Supposed To

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Supposed To

Many of us are not fans of the words; “You’re not supposed to do that.” Sometimes, hearing those words only makes us want to do what we’re told not to. I remember my friend Karen saying, “Today I went down the road that had a sign that said; “No thru traffic” and I thought of you. I didn’t know whether to be proud or mortified.

What it comes down to is this; I don’t want to be a predictable cookie-cutter Christian, but I do what to be known as a predictable loyal and sincere friend. We all want what’s unique and special about us to be appreciated and so for many of us it is not doing things like “we’re supposed to.” The one thing I do try and do is said by Jesus in Matthew 8:22; “Follow Me.” “Yes, I'll go where He wants me to go and do what He wants me to do because He is God. He knows you’re unique and He created you for a specific purpose now and into eternity…everyday.

Friday Matters

Everyday Teen Parenting

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Teen Parenting

Admittedly I’ve played the drama-queen parent to our four teenage sons. I’ve failed enough times to know what doesn’t work. Fortunately, I’ve found what does work is keeping my relationship with God grounded by trusting what He says more than what I feel. God is the model parent and out of His love He sometimes disciplines and sets boundaries for us. God wants us to succeed. He wants us to know His grace is continual and His love unconditional. The best parenting advice is to help your child know a personal relationship with Christ. We’re less likely to go against His rules when we trust the One giving them and the grace we receive to follow them.

I try to be a good example because “more is caught than taught” but Christ alone is the perfect example. The best endings to conflict are when my sons and I have stopped talking (or shouting) and listen to each other—and PRAY. Sometimes taking away the phone was an answer too. Parenting isn’t for wimps so let’s keep healthy relationships that are based on love, grace and respect…everyday.

Thursday Matters

Everyday Heaven

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Heaven

The older I get the more focused I get on sharing the Good News of the Gospel with others. I blurted out to my husband the other day, “we’re all gonna die.” What we do now is, of course, important, but nothing matters as much as knowing and accepting what Christ DID for us. We’re all sinners. There will never be enough good works we can do to merit heaven. Heaven is not getting angel wings because we don’t become angels. We are created in the image of God. It’s crazy to think that we continue living with a purpose and there’s eating and laughing and dancing. Heaven is perfect with no more tears or pain. The alternative place of eternity is hell, it’s not where all your friends will be because it’s eternal loneliness and despair.

By accepting the atoning sacrifice of Jesus going to the cross and paying for your sins you’re forgiven and free. There’s a complete physical resurrection for us too, just like Christ. You are created for purpose, and you’ll continue with purpose in eternity in having a relationship with Christ (and not a religion)…everyday.

Wednesday Matters

Everyday Susan Prayer

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Susan Prayer

Susan was the coordinator of speakers for a conference in New York City. I was one of them. We developed a friendship of email praying, and this was way back in the day, in 2006, before texting and the smart phone took over our lives. I’m glad this memory is written down. I sensed God wanted me to pray for her husband, so I wrote, “I’m praying for a husband for you.” I then proceeded to pray for a godly and good man to enter Susan’s life. Susan was very thankful for my emails but with my husband prayer she wrote, “Actually I’ve been married for 17 years but since my husband is a pastor and he’s preparing a message for this Sunday, I know he’ll appreciate your prayer.” Embarrassing.

God did ask me to pray for her husband but not for a husband. God wants my obedience not my analysis or theories as to why He asks me to pray. It’s like the classic joke; “What’s the difference between you and God? Answer: God never thinks He’s you….” everyday.

Tuesday Matters

Everyday Look Up

Debbie Griffith

Everyday Look Up

Although there are downers in this life there are also lifters and in Psalm 3:1-3 the Psalmist says that despite his distressing situation he is not despairing or becoming depressed because his confidence is in the Lord, the lifter of his head. When I’m depressed it seems everything around me is falling apart. I seem to lose strength in all areas of my life and my head, hands and heart all hang down and even my eyes are lowered. I become downcast because I’m looking more at my problems rather than at the Lord.

The Lord encourages us throughout His Word to lift our heads and our hands and look to Him. In Genesis 13:14 God told Abraham, who had been shortchanged by his nephew Lot, to lift up his eyes and look around him in all directions because God was giving him all the land, as far as he could see, for his inheritance. Whatever your life is now you have only two options; give up and quit or keep going. If you’re gonna keep going you've two choices, live in depression and misery or lift your head to live in hope and joy…everyday.

Monday Matters

Everyday God Comfort

Debbie Griffith

Everyday God Comfort

I know you’ve been disappointed, hurt or mistreated. I get it. There’s a loss and an ache that you just can’t explain because maybe you don’t get it either. 2 Corinthians 1:3 says that God wants to help by comforting you and sometimes that means going to counseling to work through turmoil but nevertheless God gives us the Holy Spirit to guide us. He’s actually called the Comforter/Counselor. He’s available 24/7.

In the early years of my marriage, I’d become angry with my husband Dan when he wouldn’t comfort me the way I thought I needed. But when I began reading the Bible consistently, I began to see a change in my marriage and in ALL my relationships because God was changing me. If our expectations are in the wrong place, we’ll always be disappointed. Of course, God uses other people to reach us, but He promises to always be our comfort and sometimes it’s through a song, a circumstance or a direct word from scripture. Seek Him. He sees you and wants to bring you comfort and hope …everyday.