Everyday MattersThere's a reason for everyday.
Despite the bad and the good, everyday matters. |
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10/21/2020 God LOVES EveryoneWednesday Matters-October 21, 2020
Everyday All of Us It’s it easy to sit back and find the faults of everyone else and build excuses about our own junk that we need to clean up?.. 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 grace 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. Serve up love to the one God puts in front of you…everyday.
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10/14/2020 Finding Joy in SicknessWednesday Matters-October 14, 2020
Everyday Cancer Dancing After my pastor friend Dave and his wife Barb received the news of his cancer and were walking through the atrium at the Mayo clinic they came upon a group of ladies singing hymns around a piano. Two young women, one in a wheel chair and her partner were "dancing" and doing hand motions while singing to the music. Dave wrote, “Debbie, it was probably the most beautiful choreography I’ve ever seen. You can well imagine we joined in - to the extent I could with tears running down my cheeks. We learned later that the girl in the wheel chair is in a lot of pain, but does not feel any when she’s dancing.” Cancer journeys are hard. Once Dave and his wife accepted the assault to his body they were free to laugh, cry and live in the season they were in. Jesus knows. Psalm 30:5; “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning”…everyday. 10/7/2020 Community GatheringWednesday Matters-October 7, 2020
Everyday Church I love people. I love traveling and meeting new people in everyday random places like gas station. You can have church anywhere. 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. 9/30/2020 Relationship RestorationWednesday Matters- September 30, 2020
Everyday Reconciliation It’s so hard when someone has hurt you and, “It’s not fair. Why is this happening to me?” I want payback now!” God IS taking care of things in HIS timing. He’s God and we’re not. Romans 12:19 is the promise from God saying. “I’ll take care of it because it’s Mine to avenge.” But you’re having a hard time waiting and you’re angry. You know God loves you but your anger prevents you from rational thought. You’re not alone here. We’ve all been “there.” Remember too that there’s an enemy and he uses others to get us riled up and sometimes in our anger we become sinful and downright mean. Let’s try to get in the habit of asking this question to ourselves, “Have you prayed about it as much as you’ve posted about it. Let the person be taken off your hook and placed on His…everyday. 9/23/2020 PeaceWednesday Matters- September 23, 2020
Everyday Umpire of Peace The umpire in a ball game decides if a player is “in” or “out.” Peace is to be the umpire that decides if something in our lives should be in or out! It makes total sense especially if you look at the Bible in Colossians 3:15 “Let the peace from Christ act as umpire in your hearts deciding and settling all questions that come into your mind.” I mean really do we receive the peace He has to give or do we count on our feelings? When the answer is “no” I KNOW because I don’t have peace. “Do you think I should take this additional job?” was the question asked me by a young mom. Things were tight financially but the long hours would affect her family. My first thought was, “Yes,” But later, I thought, “Would this choice bring peace?” Rhonda didn’t have peace. She refused the job and almost immediately help came in a way she never expected. God is so good…everyday. 9/16/2020 Connection & RelationshipsWednesday Matters- September 16, 2020
Everyday Best Friends Everywhere “We’re best friends now!” that’s my “go-to” line when I’ve connected with someone in a significant way. I take a “selfie” with the person too and get their information to stay connected. Gigi and I are best friends now too. I met her at a retreat and like all people she had to story to tell. Gigi shared her wild child past living in Brazil and as I listened to her I found what is true with so many others, we make harmful choices when we live in darkness and hopelessness. I know that there’s hope no matter who we are and what we’ve been through and that’s what pulled Gigi out of her pit. There was hope, there was Jesus who knew and knows and loves her as she is. Our past does not have to define our future. Our best friends are those who know that the hope is there and His name is Jesus…everyday. 9/9/2020 Jesus and The CrossWednesday Matters- September 9, 2020
Everyday Jesus’ Sacrifice How do you know when you’ve given enough to get to God? Don’t you just have to perform a bunch of good deeds? I see Jessica helping the poor and marginalized all the time so she must be close to God. And aren’t there many different roads that can lead to God? But what about the people that have been taught to hate and are the poor just virtuous? That sounds right, but it is not what Jesus said. Jesus said you cannot earn Him taking the executioner's cross for you. 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. 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 and others acts of kindness, are out of our love for Him…everyday. 9/2/2020 Celebrate the Gifts of OthersWednesday Matters- September 2, 2020
Everyday Compliment Like Crazy “It’s not fair. They don’t deserve my kindness and I’m certainly not going to compliment them on anything because they already tell me how great they are anyway.” Very often those difficult people in our lives are family members. We think; “How can they be so clueless to their own junk and continue to point out mine?” But here’s the deal; we may not think they deserve our love or kindness but neither do we deserve God’s grace and kindness toward us. The advice given me was; “Debbie, just lavish them with love. Compliment and see what happens in your heart and in theirs.” Guess what it works. Love someone with simply acts of kindness by praising the good of who they are and you’ll be amazed at how God changes your heart and theirs. Truth from God in John 13:34; “Love one another as I have loved you.” It’s hard at first…really hard. But the change, the blessing, the beginning of healing in a broken relationship…oh you’ll be thinking; “Why didn’t I do this sooner…everyday.” 8/26/2020 He’s a God Who Restores MarriagesWednesday Matters- August 26, 2020
Everyday Broken Marriage I get many messages from women with such grief from broken relationships. Recently Bonnie wrote; “I'm going through a divorce, after 36 years. I'm not doing well. Can you send me some scriptures about depression and self-esteem?” “I’m so sorry about your divorce. It’s so hard,” I wrote. The only way you can walk away in peace is resting in the One who is Peace. The main scriptures I’d focus on are ones that remind you of who you are in Christ. You know it’s nothing you have to do for His love but it’s receiving what He did for you. It’s about knowing who you are in Him. It would help to repeat the truth of who you are; “I am a daughter of the King” (Romans 8:17), “He has good plans for my life” (Jeremiah 29:11) and “He will work all things for the good.” (Romans 8:28). This should help you get on the track of hope and choosing what you think on…THE TRUTH in the midst of pain makes all the difference…everyday. 8/19/2020 Blessings come in hard placesWednesday Matters- August 19, 2020
Everyday Blessings when Hurting Jan wrote; “I try to be compassionate and kind with a sense of humor but today I was feeling small-minded, hurt and mean spirited. Jan had commented on my Facebook post about loving others, “When people are less than kind it’s then that I have a hard time 'loving' them....mostly at work. The office can bring out the worst in people…including me.” Oh my, I so get it. Sooooo, when someone hurts me I try and pretend their “nasty” aimed at me was only a sneeze and I respond (mostly under my breath) with “Bless you!” and guess what? It works! God tells us in Luke 6:28 to bless those who curse us. Because if Satan works through a person to hurt us and we end up hating that person back because we’re hurt than the enemy’s job has been accomplished two times over. But if we respond to another’s curse with a blessing then we’ve gotten Satan back and he’ll wish he never laid a finger on us. God bless you…everyday. |
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