Everyday Matters by Debbie Griffith

8/31/2022

Genuine Friendship

Wednesday Matters- August 31, 2022
Everyday Real Friend

"How do we love and accept difficult people?” Someone asked me that question. I know…right? Hey this is Debbie Griffith with Everyday Matters. God loves us ALL and we are all created in His image. The ONLY way to love others genuinely is by the love God gives to us. 2 Peter 1:9 really made me think, “For whoever lacks the genuine quality of love is blind to what they have been given from accepting Christ. Jesus has wiped off, erased from the books, our own sinful lives.” He has cleared us. We’re free.

I KNOW it’s hard. You’re hurt. It’s unfair. The “other person” has the problem and not you. BUT love covers. God covers you; He sees and knows all the stuff you shouldn’t have done and the things you should’ve done and He still loves you. He wants you to show that love to others. Forgive others just like He loves and forgive you. You can do it with Him…everyday.

8/30/2022

God’s Perfect Way

Tuesday Matters- August 30, 2022
Everyday His Thoughts

Well, what in the world are you up to God. I. Can’t. Even. We can’t know the mind of God. Isaiah 55:8 says; “His thoughts are nothing like our thoughts.” Hey this is Debbie Griffith with Everyday Matters. But we can know the heart of God. We can TRUST and hope in His promises. I know it should be obvious to us that His ways are past finding out. He wouldn't be a very big God if we could fully comprehend Him with our finite minds. Walter Wangerin wrote, "We chirp theories because we can't stand the silence." I guess that’s how it is when we try to fully understand the purposes of suffering. It’s better to admit, "We don't understand, but we believe that God loves us and, that 'our Redeemer Lives'."

Someone has suggested that in the margins beside many of our life's experiences is simply written: "to be explained later." Success for each day is not waiting for an answer to our whys but walking in the hope that He is making a way and there’s a purpose for it all…everyday.

8/29/2022

Humility

Monday Matters-August 29, 2022
Everyday Mother Teresa

It’s so much easier to point out what’s wrong with everybody else rather than look at our own junk to clean up. Hey this is Debbie Griffith with Everyday Matters. But we are all sinners, and we all need help which is why our first step toward reconciliation is to confess our sins, receive God’s pardon and walk forward in a restored relationship with our Creator.

We cannot do anything to merit grace, and yet we look at someone like Mother Teresa and think surely, she entered into heaven because of what she did. If we emulate her sacrificial love in some small fashion, we are lulled into a false sense of security that persuades us that we have no need of repentance today. When the little saint humbly confessed her brokenness and her desperate need for God, either we were uncomprehending, or we secretly suspected her of false modesty. Yet she got it, and by the love she received, she gave in great amounts to others. Real love, real grace, receive it and then walk forward and give the same to others…everyday.

8/26/2022

Questions

Friday Matters-August 26, 2022
Everyday Mom Questions

I remember the season well in life when I had four sons under the age of 7 years old and it was constant busy and constant questions. Hey this is Debbie Griffith with Everyday Matters. I love my boys, don’t get me wrong but some days I thought I might explode if they asked me one more question with the sentence beginning with the word, “MOM______!” I remind young moms now, “The days are long but the years are short.”

But no matter how many questions they asked I always wanted them to be sure that they knew they were being heard and, no matter what I would never stop loving them. The same is true with the love of Christ. There isn't anything about us or our questions that would cause Him to withdraw from us. He welcomes are questions and He’s okay with where we’re at. But never forget the life changing answer He gives us in John 14:6, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me…everyday.

8/25/2022

God IS on the Move

Thursday Matters- August 25, 2022
Everyday God IS Alive

God’s not dead. He’s surely alive. The Newsboys sing about this. I like to talk about this. God’s living and actively concerned for our joy and well-being. Hey this is Debbie Griffith with Everyday Matters. Jesus is God and as Author and Pastor Timothy Keller explains, “Most people love those who love them, yet God loves and seeks even people who are His enemies.”

The opposite of love is not anger, but indifference. “The more you love your son, the more you hate in him the liar, the drunkard, the traitor,” (E. Gifford). To imagine God’s situation, imagine a judge who also is a father, who sits at the trial of his guilty son. He knows his son deserves the punishment and as Judge He cannot let the crime go unpunished. So, He offers his child a way out. Admit the wrong and accept the Judge’s pardon, or ignore the Judge’s offer and suffer the punishment. Jesus is the pardon, but only if accepted—Everyday.

8/24/2022

Carrying Burdens

Wednesday Matters- August 24, 2022
Everyday Burden Carry

“Debbie, how do you apply scripture to your life and live it out?” This was a questions asked by a teenage friend who wanted to know how to live out God’s Word. Hey this is Debbie Griffith with Everyday Matters. Anna had shared how she was feeling so exhausted all the time but then it dawned on her she was trying to do and fix everything on her own strength. So she decided to surrender all her burdens to God. It was only a matter of days before a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. So I said, “Anna you’re applying God’s Word from Matthew 11:28. Jesus said, "Come to Me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest."

He won't give you more than you can bear although it can sure feel like it. If that’s the case you’re carrying more than you should so release the load that you weren’t meant to carry. Christ truly gives the right amount of grace every morning for what He calls us to carry…everyday.

8/23/2022

August 23rd, 2022

Tuesday Matters- August 23, 2022
Everyday Success Key

“A key to success is playing the hand you were dealt like it was the hand you wanted.” I had to really think if there was truth to that. Hey this is Debbie Griffith with Everyday Matters. Yes, I may not have wanted what was dealt but “here it is” so what am I gonna do with it? My choices; scream, cry, complain and hide or I make the best of the situation and find the lesson, and blessing in it. We can let experiences change us for the better or ruin us. Character more often is developed in crisis when we stop focusing on the hurt and search for the good where success may be hidden.

During my recovery of scoliosis back surgery, 14 years ago, I was miserable yet I don’t regret what I went through. God taught me things I couldn’t have learned another way. I received a blessing and a lesson going through that difficult season. In brokenness we can find beauty and success in Christ…everyday.

8/22/2022

Don’t Give Up

Monday Matters-August 22, 2022
Everyday Keep On

Do you have prayers where you cry about all that is wrong and list what needs fixing, it’s not you but everybody and everything else? Yep. Been there…done that. Hey this is Debbie Griffith with Everyday Matters. God gets you. It’s okay. He cares about our pain and all that happens to us and knows about it even before it hits us. Sometimes we stop praying and give up because God didn’t answer the prayer like we thought – our sick friend got sicker and the marriage we prayed would stay together ended in divorce. That’s hard.

I’m sorry if that’s been the outcome for you. But remember, GOD WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON YOU. Nothing you do or don’t will cause Him to withdraw His love. There’s something redeemable in your mess and pain right now. Get up, bring a gift to someone this day, a card of encouragement or a muffin, something. Be a blessing and you will receive a blessing you never expected. Help someone to focus on what’s hopeful and you’ll be hopeful too…everyday.

8/19/2022

Relationship over Religion

Friday Matters-August 19, 2022
Everyday Jesus Follower

I’ve been in Christian group settings where Christians say, “I am a follower of Jesus” instead of, “I’m a Christian,” because of the stigma it may bring. Hey this is Debbie Griffith with Everyday Matters. Sometimes we get bogged down about being right and then putting down others who do “it” wrong. We end up talking issues, rules and programs and what’s missing from these discussions is the simple message of the Gospel with is; love God, love others and do stuff to show His love in action.

Author Carl Medearis writes; “The Gospel is not a ‘what.’ It is not a ‘how.’ The gospel is a ‘Who.’ The gospel is literally the good news of Jesus. Jesus is the gospel.” HE still lives. He claims to be the way, not just show the way. There is an enormous difference in religion and the relationship Jesus offers. It’s not based on what we do but what He’s done. Are you living is such a way that shows Jesus has changed your life …everyday?

8/18/2022

Jesus is Enough

Thursday Matters- August 18, 2022
Everyday He IS Enough

“Not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith,” that’s it! Hey, this is Debbie Griffith with Everyday Matters. Words of truth from Philippians 3:9. Be like Jesus. I be like Paul so MANY times.
In the beginning Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees and outwardly keeping the Law of Moses, self-righteous with a religious mind-set. Paul’s righteousness was works-based righteousness, but only true and cleansing righteousness comes from God’s work on the cross. Paul had to come to that truth, that all we need to come to, that his sin was inherited and only by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ could cleanse his heart and wash away his sins. By God’s grace, He sent His only Son to pay the full price of our sins. Believe and receive what Christ has done for you and be clothed in the righteousness of God and never again be enslaved by sin. Oh, how free and hopeful this is…everyday.