Everyday MattersThere's a reason for everyday.
Despite the bad and the good, everyday matters. |
3/14/2024
AnxietyThursday Matters- March 14, 2024
Everyday Anxiety The earth experience is hard but it’s not our home. Knowing what we need to do and then doing it are two different things. I sometimes get these crazy anxious thoughts and then have a physical response by having an anxiety attack, but courage is to go forward despite it. I know I need to turn to God 100% to get to the other side. Turning toward God and from the direction you were going is what “repent” means. In God’s holiness He must punish sin but, in His love, He didn’t want to punish us. Christ proclaims our infinite worth and His eternal love for us aside from any human standard, even our own. We will live forever in a community of equals – saints and sinners, all, saved by grace. Remember Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” Our temporary imperfection is a quality which actually connects us to others rather than a secret shame which sets us apart. I still get anxiety attacks, but in faith I trust Christ…everyday. 3/7/2024
LaughterThursday Matters- March 7, 2024
Everyday Laugh Don’t you just love to have a good laugh or the kind of laugh that triggers the giggles where you can’t stop? Sometimes laughter comes when you’re not supposed to be laughing like in a meeting or at church but it’s such good medicine. Laughter draws people together in ways that trigger healthy physical and emotional changes in the body. Laughter strengthens your immune system, boosts mood, diminishes pain, and even protects you from the damaging effects of stress. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humor lightens your burdens, inspires hope, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded. It also helps you release anger and forgive sooner. Ecclesiastes 3:4 tells us there’s: “A time to cry and a time to laugh.” Let’s find ways to put more laughter into our diets instead of obsessing on everything that bugs us. You really can find humor in a hard place and it’s so freeing and truly one of the best medicines for overall health…everyday. 2/29/2024
Jesus is EverythingThursday Matters- February 29, 2024
Everyday The Great I AM Think about how crazy it was for Moses to hear God speaking from a burning bush. It seems a little weird too. God speaks in love but He’s direct when He tells Moses, “Get to Egypt, get my people and GO!” And when Moses asks “What should I say to the people when they ask me your name?” it seems that God didn’t want to spend a lot of time telling Moses all the things He was, so He simply said in Exodus 3:14, “Tell My people I AM has sent Me to you!” “Okay, whatever that means”, Moses must have thought but upon “seeing” who God really was, Moses probably realized that I AM meant everything! God IS saying, “What you need… I AM! I AM your navigator, speaker, provider, comforter, and strength …I AM EVERYTHING YOU NEED when you need it. That gives me incredible hope to carry-on, and I hope it does for you too…everyday!” 2/22/2024
Trust IssuesThursday Matters- February 22, 2024
Everyday Love and Trust Is trusting and loving someone interrelated? Well, we can love without trusting. We can and should love someone imprisoned for theft as Hebrews 13:3 points out; “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” That does not mean we have to give them access to our bank account just to prove we “love” them. We show compassion for an alcoholic by offering our help. We also show compassion by not “enabling” the alcoholic by protecting them from consequences for their bad actions. Many times, consequences are the “severe mercy” that is needed to get their attention. The caution is to make sure we have not elected ourselves their jury and judge. It's the Holy Spirit who guides and directs us in how we should move forward in love which might be setting a boundary or not continuing in conversation with someone when they repeatedly spew out garbage to us. Trust in God who loves us no matter what…everyday. 2/15/2024
Fruits of the SpiritThursday Matters- February 15, 2024
Everyday Good Fruit What kind of fruit do you like? I like bananas but only if they’re slightly green. In the Bible we can read about bearing good fruit in our lives which is delicious like the fruit of love, joy, peace and patience. But how is this fruit developed and how does true change in us happen? Fruit only grows quickly in time-lapse photography. Truth needs cultivating and it actually starts with us knowing and playing “the CD of truth” in our minds until it becomes more prominent than the old negative CD we were all born with. “God loves me right where I am and not where I think I should be.” I don’t have to earn His love.” Play that repeatedly in your mind. Christ proved His love and acceptance ONCE on the cross by His death and resurrection. We have that same power available to us now, through the Holy Spirit. WOW! We can bear good fruit that will change us and those who come in contact with us…everyday. 2/8/2024
ChurchThursday Matters- February 8, 2024
Everyday Be the Church I love people. I love traveling and meeting new people in everyday random places like gas stations. You can have church anywhere, a gathering of others and sharing the grace of God. Cuz when church stops being about us, it can be about God again. Church is meant to crush our selfishness and church without God does none of that. Often our evangelism becomes winning people to our doctrine or our denomination instead of reaching the people next door who have no direct access to freedom in Jesus. As I travel speaking, I get a reality check every “church person” would benefit from. Our job is to get people to know Jesus personally. People need God desperately and not in a Pollyanna, “it’s all for a reason” sort of way. Jesus came to save the lost by letting them know they are loved right where they are at and not where they should be. Don’t just go to church, be the church…love without conditions…everyday. 2/1/2024
Loving YourselfThursday Matters- February 1, 2024
Everyday Accepting You Sometimes I get disgusted with myself. It’s when I’m in this place of self-pity and I feel stuck. The way to peace begins with accepting the truth of myself—the whole truth. My struggle to cope with certain people has a simple explanation: they represent to me precisely those things that I have refused to acknowledge and accept in myself. To accept the truth of my brokenness is unbearable if not impossible, without turning to Jesus. If my vision of myself is not purified by the mercy and compassion of Jesus, I have to get dishonest, camouflage my warts, and present to you a self that is mostly admirable, fault free, and superficially happy. When I accept the truth of me, shipwrecked and saved, and give it over to the person of Jesus, I am at peace even if I don’t feel it. The peace that comes from God and surpasses all understanding, (Philippians 4:7) was provided by Christ on the cross and doesn’t depend on our shifting feelings …everyday. 1/25/2024
ForgivenessThursday Matters- January 25, 2023
Everyday Help to Forgive “The fact is, I need God to help me love God. And if I need His help to love Him, a perfect being, I definitely need His help to love other, fault-filled humans,” this is wisdom from Francis Chan. In order for genuine love for God to grow in our hearts the Holy Spirit has to move in our lives. Lately I’ve been talking to God and asking for His Holy Spirit to move in me. I haven’t been able to really let go, like God, and forgive completely. Sometimes it helps to think about Corrie ten Boom’s who personally forgave the Nazi officer at the Concentration Camp she and her sister were held. She said, “The will can operate regardless of the temperature of the heart.” We can choose to forgive even though our anger and hurt make us feel like we can’t. The truth of Philippians 4:13, “We can do all things through Christ’s strength.” Let’s pray, “Jesus’ help. By Your Holy Spirit give us the strength to let go and forgive…everyday. 1/18/2024
AngerThursday Matters- January 18, 2023
Everyday Offense Taken We can say we trust in God to avenge us but as soon as we take matters into our own hands and try to avenge ourselves or someone, we love we obviously aren’t putting a lot of faith in the power of who and what God says. I think a big challenge, for many of us, is not to pick up the offense of a friend or family member who’s been hurt. I’m guilty there. But when we take on someone else’s offense we’re sucking the poison of their garbage sin and we become bitter along with them. I’ve seen this happen when a parent’s anger towards someone passes on to their children. Remember if only one side of the story is presented you don’t have the whole truth and may have a cocktail of lies. It’s the enemy’s plan to ruin relationships. God’s plan is to restore. Follow Deuteronomy 30:19 which tells us to make the choices which bring life so that we and our descendants may live meaningful lives…everyday. 1/11/2024
Freedom in ChristThursday Matters- January 11, 2024
Everyday Barrier I remember my husband explaining to our four sons’ what forgiveness really is and I loved his explanation. When we forgive someone who’s sinned against us the barrier in the relationship is removed. The power to forgive someone who’s maybe not apologized can only come from the power of the Holy Spirit in us. Once forgiveness is given, we can again see the person as God sees them rather than looking at the hurt of the sin every time we picture or see them. God doesn’t ask us to forgive others to earn any favor with Him. There’s nothing we can do to earn His love. He loves us as we are. And when we realize it’s an act of our will and a choice to forgive rather than something we let our feelings decide it can make the process a whole lot easier. I know from experience that it’s my anger and hurt that makes me FEEL like I can’t forgive, or I’ll never see justice. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can I let go and trust God to work in me to truly forgive and avenge me as He says He will…. everyday. |
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