Life as a Christian Woman

Satan is pretty smart.

He knows just what to do, just what little tweak to throw into your soul, to get you off the path that follows God. And he is a master of disguise. He comes at you in the form of a nice, warm bed on a Sunday morning when you need to be at church.

“It’s ok, just this once sleep in.”

Or perhaps God has convicted you to take a path that isn’t one you would have chosen, to follow Him in service in an area that you don’t particularly enjoy, but it is where He wants you.

But here comes Satan. He becomes a little voice in your head telling you that you must be mistaken, God wouldn’t want you to go there, would he?

And if you go so far as to follow God, follow the path He is leading you on, Satan is never far away. He will throw roadblocks at you, things such as dissatisfaction, anger, hardship, all to discourage you on the path.

Oh, and perhaps the most insidious part? He disguises himself so well, you don’t even know it is him! You just start thinking that the service you are in is too hard, that you aren’t cut out for it. He makes you question yourself, your motivation.

If it sounds like I know what I am talking about, it’s because I do. Satan threw all these things at me on Sunday. When the alarm went off for church, I was tired. I hadn’t slept well, and of course we had the time change (spring forward!). So I rationalized myself straight back to bed. Only I didn’t go back to sleep… I watched a basketball game, relaxed, picked up the house. I didn’t worship.

Satan 1, Linda 0

Later, I was dreading going to the Sunday night children’s program at church, where I help lead in one of the areas. I was struggling, and frankly had several times over the week where I felt so inadequate, like such a huge failure, that I was sure that I was not in the ministry that God intended… even though I knew that I was. I walked into the church with a heavy heart, wishing I could get out of the evening.

But this time I prayed.

And things went great. I reaffirmed to myself that this is where I am supposed to be, what I am supposed to be doing.

Satan 1, Linda 1

Oh, there were lots of other small battles fought during the day. Satan never retreats, he just keeps coming at us in new and ever more inventive ways.

But while I kept my little scorecard in this blog, here is the beautiful thing. God doesn’t keep score. He knows our sinful ways, our weaknesses. He knows, and He forgives. He asks us to do our best, understanding all along that our best is far short of what it should be.

We are even told in scripture:

“… Love keeps no record of wrongs.”
I Corinthians 13:5

God is love. God loves us. God forgives us.

We live to fight another day!

Beautiful

Bethany Dillon

I was so unique
Now I feel skin deep
I count on the make-up to cover it all
Crying myself to sleep cause I cannot keep their attention
I thought I could be strong
But it’s killing me

Does someone hear my cry?
I’m dying for new life

[Chorus]
I want to be beautiful
Make you stand in awe
Look inside my heart,
and be amazed
I want to hear you say
Who I am is quite enough
Just want to be worthy of love
And beautiful

Sometimes I wish I was someone other than me
Fighting to make the mirror happy
Trying to find whatever is missing
Won’t you help me back to glory

[Chorus]

You make me beautiful
You make me stand in awe
You step inside my heart, and I am amazed
I love to hear You say
Who I am is quite enough
You make me worthy of love and beautiful

A friend has turned me on to Christian singer Bethany Dillon. Her songs are achingly true to the world we exist in, our search for God through the daily grind. A mere 18 years old, her songs go so deeply into the heart of emotion that it is, well, stunning.

Just reading the lyrics takes me back to a time when when my confidence was undermined by society’s views of what I should be. The line from the song “Beautiful,” where she sings that she is “Fighting to makea the mirror happy” is so telling. Who among us hasn’t fought that same battle?

And yet, after reading the verses that are filled with a pain, a searching and a longing, you come to the chorus: You (God) make me beautiful.

Until we learn to get our view of ourselves from above, and not from those that we walk among, we are going to live a life of heartache and uncertainty, emptiness and longing. The reality is, the world expects us to be perfect, whatever the definition of that word is. The world, and those around us, will raise us up only to pull us back down.

Yet God loves us in our imperfection. No matter what the mirror says, God looks at us and says, “You are beautiful.”

I’m no fool, while this all sounds so wonderful in theory, it’s hard to put it into practice (hence, our imperfection!). But God knows our hearts, our insecurities.

He is only a prayer away.

Click here to listen to Bethany Dillon sing Beautiful

³³ Teach me, O LORD, to follow your decrees;
then I will keep them to the end.

³⁴ Give me understanding, and I will keep your law
and obey it with all my heart.

³⁵ Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.

³⁶ Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.

³⁷ Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
preserve my life according to your word. ^[a]

³⁸ Fulfill your promise to your servant,
so that you may be feared.

³⁹ Take away the disgrace I dread,
for your laws are good.

⁴⁰ How I long for your precepts!
Preserve my life in your righteousness.

Psalms 119: 33-40

What is God teaching you this week?

We try to teach our children that there is so much to be learned in everything that we do, whether it is school, on the playground, at church.  But sometimes we forget that God uses teaching moments, too. In fact, one can argue that in virtually every moment of each day we can learn something from God, if we will only open our hearts up and hear Him.

Which brings me back to the point: What is God teaching you? As I look at my own week so far, there are dozens of lessons that He is trying to teach me, but I will admit that I have been cutting class on some of those lessons! Right now, He is trying to teach me patience and understanding.

Let’s just say I am flunking the course at this point, but I’m still hoping that He grades on the curve!

The best way to open your heart to God’s lessons is to open your Bible, spend time in the word, and combine that with spending time alone with God through prayer and quiet.  Reflect. Look back over your day. Be honest with yourself, and with Him (after all, He already knows what happened,what’s going to happen, and how you feel about it!).

Only after study and reflection will God’s lessons become more clear.

Now, that doesn’t mean once the lesson is learned that it is mastered. As I said, I am still in the learning curve on this whole patience thing, and I’m in about, oh, my third or fourth decade of studying the subject.

But we can’t learn the lesson if we don’t follow the lesson plan, and study the course material.

Guess it’s time to do a little homework!

As you found out from yesterday’s blog (Going to the Chapel), in the Williams’ household we are in the midst of wedding-mania. And weddings always seem to make couples re-evaluate their own status, either together or separately.

As we ate dinner tonight, my husband and I were talking about Sarah and Devin, what the future holds, and what attributes we would pass to them if we could. Of course items like patience, the ability to listen and really hear your spouse, empathy and friendship all came up. But as we talked about the role of God in our marriage one thing became very clear.

Without God, we wouldn’t have a marriage!

When we first talked on the phone (before ever meeting face-to-face), often the conversation came back to our faith, how we were raised going to church, our beliefs. I mentioned off-hand that I read my Bible daily, but also enjoyed reading other Christian books that gave me insights into life in our world. Little did I know that the first time Doug came over, he scanned my living room, to see if there was a Bible (there was, on the end table, along with the book Boundaries by Henry Cloud and John Townsend).

I passed.

As he told me later, he had to make sure that I wasn’t just handing him a line to reel him in!

Throughout our dating stage, into engagement and marriage, God has been at the forefront. Sometimes it was Doug making sure we were on the right path, other times it was me… but God was always front and center, the rock that we built our relationship on.

We have been through some tough times, some emotional times. But not once did we ever bail out on each other. We made a vow to God that we were in it for the long run. And God, through His word, made a promise to us that if we would make Him our foundation, the home we would build would be strong enough to weather the storms that life brings.

If I could give any young couple a gift, it would be the gift of the Rock. Don’t build your relationship around Him. Don’t make God a peripheral in your world. Firmly plant your feet as a couple on His Rock.

And watch your relationship grow!

My step-daughter Sarah will be getting married in less than three weeks, and as you can imagine, our house is in an uproar. Let’s start with my five year old, who is convinced that on the big day absolutely no one will be paying attention to the bride, they will all be looking at her as the flower girl.

Somehow, this seems poetic justice, since on my wedding day to her father 10 years ago, Sarah (who was a junior bridesmaid) told me, “No one will even be looking at you today, they will all be looking at ME!” I have reminded her of this repeatedly over the past few weeks, just in case she was getting too full of herself!

Then there is my husband, who goes through emotions ranging from “I’m losing my daughter to this guy” to “I’m losing my IRA to pay for this wedding.”

Anyway, I digress. As part of the process, Sarah and Devin are required to go through pre-marital counseling through the church. This has become more and more common over the years, in every denomination. When Doug and I married, we actually went through counseling through two denominations, Catholic and Baptist. While our service was Protestant, we had a Catholic priest give a blessing (Doug was raised Catholic). My mother commented that she was pretty sure I was just trying to cover all the bases and make sure Doug couldn’t possibly get out of the marriage (she might have been right!).

As Sarah and Devin have been meeting with our pastor, I have been reminded of our experiences. The purpose of pre-marital counseling isn’t to ensure that your marriage will be perfect or will not fail. It is, however, designed to make sure the couple is as close to being on the same page as possible.

Face it, the last thing most young couples think about is what the future holds. We all imagine riding off on the white horse into the sunset. But, as my wise mom used to say, what happens when the sun comes up the next day?  Reality can really bite you when babies are screaming, bills are going unpaid, illness hits, or any of a number of other things comes along. There’s a word for all of that:

Life.

Try telling a young couple who has it all figured out that, well, they don’t have it all figured out. Situations change. Things change. And people change.

Marriage, at it’s easiest, is hard work. All those cute little habits start driving you crazy after awhile. I always refer to the quote from Billy Graham’s late wife, Ruth, when asked if she had ever considered divorce.

“Divorce? No,” said Ruth. “Murder? Yes!”

There’s no easy pass in marriage. Once you take that vow before God, you are promising that you will do every thing in your power to make it work. You won’t trade in your spouse for a new model just because she gained weight, or he lost his job.

When Doug and I had our first meeting with the pastor for our wedding planning and premarital counseling, the pastor laid it on the line:

“I’ll do whatever type of Christian service you would like,” he said. “You choose the scripture, music, whatever. The wedding is not my concern, nor is it God’s. And it shouldn’t be the most important thing to you, either. The wedding lasts for a few hours, the honeymoon for a few days. You must prepare for the marriage to last a lifetime.  The marriage is what concerns God.”

He closed with this: “The wedding? That’s for you. The marriage? That’s for God, ordained by Him. It should be lived so as to honor Him.”

“Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior” (Ephesians 5:22-23).

“Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Ephesians 5:25).

“In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church” (Ephesians 5:28-29).

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Ephesians 5:31).

I love XM Radio. I am old enough to remember the days when you would pray for a radio signal while you were driving, and when you found a station you liked, you would cling to it through increasing static. Now, you can get in your car and drive coast to coast without ever changing the station.

The other night we were driving back from a weekend trip. Although my husband tried valiantly to drive for the entire four and a half hour drive, he only lasted… 60 minutes. In his defense, he is not a night person. So I took over, he fell asleep and our daughter soon followed. So I tuned in XM Radio and listened to the Laugh Channel.

Often they will feature Christian comedians. One of the funniest bits that I heard was by a woman who was talking about trying to find a husband in church (after a search on YouTube, I found her name is Kerri Pomarolli). Anyway, she talks about a good looking guy sliding into the pew in front of her, and how she starts singing louder to get his attention… and the song was “Shout to the Lord.” But after a few minutes, in which she is busy planning her wedding and picking out china patterns, the man’s wife and kids slide in beside him. And at that point she claims that the rest of the service was a waste for her, because now she had to “Pout to the Lord.”

Hilarious!

Now, while this was just a comedy routine, there is a very real truth to be found. We all let our minds wander while sitting in the service. It’s inevitable, I guess. My friend says that society as a whole suffers from AD-LAK (Attention Deficit-Look a Kitty!). But often we enter the service with an agenda… not one born of God, but one that comes from our human-ness, our sinfulness. We walk into the church angry with someone, or we don’t like the music or the person sitting in front of us. We get angry. We lose focus.

Not a good thing.

We need to find a way to focus, to work through it. The only thing that works for me is prayer. When I notice my mind moving away from where it needs to be, I say a prayer and try to refocus. I won’t claim that it always works, but it’s worth a try. And I try to enter the building agenda-free.

It’s the least we can do as we worship our God!

To listen to Kerry Pomarolli on YouTube, click here. Trust me, she will make you laugh!

Prayer is perhaps the most wonderful tool in the toolbox that God has given us. It is our direct link to Him, no waiting, no busy signal. He is there.

But most of us tend to wander around in our prayers, lose focus, get sidetracked. There are nights when I crawl into bed and realize that I haven’t communed with God all day, so I start praying, only to nod off to sleep about two sentences in!

Recently I was reminded about the ACTS pattern of praying, and I have been using that to teach my little girl to pray, and to guide my own prayer time. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with the ACTS pattern of prayer, here it is:

A: Adoration. We open our prayer by spending time in awe of God. We praise Him for who He is. We enter into His presence humbly and reverently, quietly. In my own prayer time, this is when I like to sit, to listen.

C: Confession. We must confess our sins before we can move on. We need to acknowledge what we have done, and clear the air between ourselves and the Father. He will forgive, if we only ask. Most important in this area is to take time, don’t throw out a blanket “Forgive me for my sins.” Be specific. Think. Pray not just for forgiveness, but for the ability and strength to end the sin and not repeat it.

T: Thanksgiving. We need to thank God for all of the blessings that He has given us. Sometimes this one is hard, especially when going through a life-changing event such as death, illness, job loss or such. But He has blessed us far beyond what we deserve, even in our darkest times. And He is always with us, to comfort us and love us. That alone deserves recognition and thanks!

S: Supplication or Intercession. Finally, we ask God to fulfill the needs of ourselves and others. Again, be specific. Pray for those who are lost, that their eyes will be opened to Him. Pray for family and friends who may be in need. Ask for wisdom for our leaders, both locally and worldwide. And finally, pray for your own needs, too. It isn’t selfish; in fact, in our model for prayer, The Lord’s Prayer, Christ encourages us to do just that.

It’s so easy, and yet so important. How amazing that Our God is there to listen to us, to our needs, our fears!

I had an interesting experience a few weeks ago.

I was sitting with my husband and my friend, Theresa, in church, when it came time to read from the scripture. My hubby and I pulled out our Bibles, but my friend whipped out her iPhone. I have to admit, I was a little bit bugged by the situation. I mean, most people would probably consider it rude to text message or read your email while in the middle of a church service.

But after looking closer, I realized that she had opened a program on her phone called “Bible.” And it is just like it sounds, the full Bible on her cell phone. Not only that, but she can use any of a number of different translations, too!

After the service, Theresa was showing me all the features: You can bookmark your favorite passages, or jump directly to a specific book or verse. And there is even a daily devotional that you can study, along with one of those ubiquitous “Read through the Bible” systems.

In short, it was The Truth, The Whole Truth, and Nothing But The Truth, right there on her cell phone! She explained that she prefers to read from a real, page-turning Bible, but that particular morning she had left hers at home and thought, “why not use my cell phone?” when it came time to look up scripture during the service.

I downloaded the program that afternoon, and it has been so cool, having the full Bible right there with me, all the time. The beauty of it is that if I have a few minutes, I can worship. I don’t have to carry anything extra with me, it’s all right there. The other day at the doctor, I had a long wait. So I pulled out the cell phone and right there did some Bible study.

Let’s face it, in our society we tend to keep our cell phones on us close to 24/7. What a wonderful little discovery, that in addition to all the email, games and music we can download to the phones, we can bring along the word of God.

Oh, and one other thing…

It’s free!

Those of us that grew up going to church camps in the 70’s remember a popular tune sung around the campfire:

It only takes a spark to get a fire going.
And soon all those around can warm up in it’s glowing.
That’s how it is with God’s love,
once you’ve experienced it.
You want to sing, it’s fresh like spring.
You want to pass it on.

I was reminded of this song thanks to a series of events that have occurred over the past week. There is a group of young girls, ages 5-11, who compete on a dance team. Prior to each competition, the girls draw names and buy gifts for their secret sister for the competition.

Last week, one of the little girls (let’s call her Emma) told her mom that she didn’t think she wanted to participate, that she would rather give money to the local food bank. Now, while this little girl had just learned the day before exactly what a food bank was, she had heard her parents and others talking about children that were not getting food to eat except at school. In other words, on the weekends they were hungry. Because of the downturn in the economy, more families were needing help, and the local food bank was running perilously low on supplies.

The mom relayed Emma’s wish to the dance teacher. One of the other moms overheard, and built on the idea. She requested that instead of Emma’s name being withdrawn, how about letting one of the other little girls draw her name and purchase food for the food bank?

An idea began to grow.

The second mom took it upon herself to make a special basket with Emma’s name on it. And she made sure that her own daughter, “Chloe,” drew Emma’s name. So off the mom and Chloe went to buy food supplies at the store. At first, Chloe wasn’t too sure about the whole thing. Let’s face it, it is a lot more fun to buy a toy than a bunch of non-perishables! But over the course of an afternoon, she suddenly got it and it became an adventure…. an adventure in helping others.

After the food was bought, Chloe got to thinking. How about, instead of a one-time thing, this became something the girls did for each competition? In fact, Chloe went on, what if their dance studio joined up with other dance studios in the area and raised money?

So one little spark has become a pretty good little fire, and I have the feeling that the potential is there within their hearts to have a roaring blaze of giving to others.

In the spirit of the dance team, I’d like to challenge those of you that are able to go to your own pantry, grab a few canned goods, and take them to your area food bank. The need is greater now than it has been in years, and we need to take care of each other.

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25: 31-40

Sometimes life leaves you speechless.

About a week ago, a friend I hadn’t spoken with in nearly 15 years found me on Facebook. For those of you that don’t know, Facebook is called a “social networking site,” where you can keep in contact with people easily. You can post pictures, home movies, all kinds of stuff for all your friends to see.

One of the neat features is that people can “look” for you. I have been back in contact with several friends from high school that I hadn’t heard from since, well, high school! All these years later (and no, I won’t say how many!), we are catching up, sharing pictures and laughing together, even though we live all over the U.S.

As I said earlier, a dear friend of mine recently found me on Facebook. I knew “Bill” when I lived in Virginia and he was a Naval Flight Officer stationed there. We met through friends and got to be good friends through our mutual love of sports, movies and… marching band. Face it, band geeks find each other everywhere!

He moved from Virginia around 1995, and we lost contact. Until last week when I had a “friend request” on Facebook, and there was my old friend. We caught up through posts… we are both happily married to the loves of our lives, and have daughters who would rather take ballet class than eat (two for him, one for me). And then he told me his story… that he is recovering after a year long battle with cancer. He directed me to his Caringbridge site (more on that later), and I read his story. It’s a common story for those who fight life-threatening illnesses, but always harder to stomach when it is someone you know. But the upshot is that he has been declared cancer-free and is doing great.

Then tonight, another bombshell. He asked me if I remembered another old friend “John.” Seems John’s 17 year old son has brain cancer, and is not expected to live to see his graduation this spring.

Wow.

Once again, I read through a Caringbridge site full of radiation stories, chemotherapy, sickness, love and hope. I marveled at the strength of this teen. And I prayed.  But something else seeped through the lines that I read, both on John’s site and Bill’s.

God’s love and comfort.

Both of these families are strong believers in our God and His son. And their faith hasn’t wavered in the face of their battle. They take comfort in His love. They turn it all over to Him, and willingly accept whatever He delivers to them.

And that is what God is about. While He never promises us a miracle of healing, He does promise to stay with us through the dark night. He does promise that He won’t forsake us. And finally, He promises that, at the end of whatever journey our life takes us on, He will be there to meet us at the gates.

Our God is an awesome God!

*NOTE: Caringbridge is a wonderful website where those who are ill or their loved ones can have a direct site where others can come to get updates on treatments and health. It is a way for families to communicate with their friends and extended families all over the world. For more information, or to make a donation, visit Caringbridge.org.

¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:14-16

These are tough times. Most of the world’s economies are suffering through a deep recession, and the jobless rate continues to climb weekly. Recently a report was released regarding the high number of suicides in the military.

It times such as these, people look everywhere for a glimmer of hope. They want to see the proverbial “Light at the end of the tunnel.” People want to know that no matter how bad it gets, eventually it will get better.

Believers in Christ have that hope inside of us, and we need to share that hope with those around us. Millions are walking around just needing a ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on. As Christians, we need to let our light shine on all around us, by sharing the hope that is Christ Jesus.

As children many of us sang the song “This Little Light of Mine.” Remember the lyrics?

This little light of mine,
I’m gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine,
I’m gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine,
I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel? NO!
I’m gonna let it shine.
Hide it under a bushel? NO!
I’m gonna let it shine.
Hide it under a bushel? NO!
I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Don’t let Satan blow it out,
I’m gonna let it shine.
Don’t let Satan blow it out,
I’m gonna let it shine.
Don’t let Satan blow it out,
I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Let it shine till Jesus comes,
I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine till Jesus comes,
I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine till Jesus comes,
I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Now is the time to “let it shine!” We may be at a tough point economically, but spiritually, Christians have hope beyond the darkest fears, because we know our Redeemer lives! And what a better message to send out to those around us.

Today, let Jesus light shine through you. Take a few extra minutes to chat with a clerk in a store. Call a friend you haven’t talked to in awhile. Look around you, look for a need. Try to fill it.

Let it shine!

Southern Hills Church of Christ, in Abilene, TX, has posted a unique and entertaining video on youtube. (Click HERE to watch the video)

The video starts with a man walking down the street, mindlessly eating a cookie, when he happens upon a stethoscope laying on the sidewalk. He picks it, sees no one around, so he puts it on, and, with nothing else around, listens to the cookie. Much to his surprise, when he places the stethoscope on the cookie, he hears the old Archie’s song “Sugar (ah, Honey Honey).”

He jerks the stethoscope off his head, walks a little further, then leans on a post and decides to try again. He places the stethoscope on the post, and hears “Lean on Me” by Bill Withers.

Now he’s getting into it!

Next up? The hood of an old Ford. And the tune that comes blaring out? The old Rolling Stones hit “Start Me Up.” Then comes my personal favorite. When the man places the stethoscope on a fire hydrant, the Baha Men hit “Who Let the Dogs Out” is playing.

Other interesting “listens” include a Don’t Walk sign that plays the Supremes’ “Stop in the Name of Love,” a pile of earth that plays “I am a Rock” by Simon & Garfunkel, and a Slurpee singing Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby.”

Finally, the man takes a deep breath and decided to listen to something entirely different… his own heart. He actually seems a little bit nervous as to what he will hear.

And what song is playing inside of his heart?

The Hallelujah Chorus.

We are left with the scripture from Colossians 1:27:

And the mystery is that Christ lives in you, and he is your hope of sharing in God’s glory.
(Contemporary English Version)

After viewing the clip, I thought about various meanings. We all have things running around inside of us… memories, thoughts, dreams, ideas. And we have often talked about what we put into our brains remains there, so we must be careful (remember the old “Garbage in, garbage out” theory?).

But think about this. Christ lives in us. He lives in us! When we accept Him, He takes up residence in our beings, He fills our soul. He doesn’t say “Thank you very much” and then head on to the next conquest. He stays with us for eternity. What a wonderful thought!

What tune is singing inside of you today?

Two friends of mine recently got into a big fight. I mean really big. Tears. Yelling Hurt feelings. The whole nine yards.

These two women have been close friends for about several years. They are both strong-willed women, good-hearted, but they don’t take any guff. What started as a simple misunderstanding quickly escalated in scope.

Those of us that know both of them didn’t know what to expect. We ached for them that they were both hurting, but we didn’t know what to say. We loved on both of them, let them know we cared and provided a shoulder as well as an ear. We hoped for the best, prepared for the worst.

But there was one thing that none of us (I am embarrassed to say) took into consideration. Both of these women are strong Christian women, imbued with the values that ring throughout the Bible. They both, separately, prayed over their friendship, prayed for healing.

And the friendship was healed, made stronger, by the bonds of Christian sisterhood.

None of us should ever take lightly our friendships. Our network of “lady friends,” as my grandmom used to say, are there to lift us up in our darkest hour, rejoice with us in our happiest times. In fact, scripture elevates friendships into it’s own plane:

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.   Proverbs 17:17

Another verse regarding friendship is one of my favorites:

Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.  Proverbs 27:6

That line of scripture speaks to the fact that our enemies, those we can’t trust, will try to deceive us with false praise. However, while our friends may wound us with careless words, the intent to harm isn’t there. Things can be said out of place of hurt or raw emotion, things that aren’t meant. Those wounds heal. In fact, once a wound heals, the scar that remains is often stronger than the surrounding flesh!

Sisters in Christ have benefits… and responsibilites.

The benefits of having sisters in Christ are many. These are the women who not only rejoice and cry with you, they pray with you and for you. There is no greater tool given to us by God than prayer, and to have others lift you up is indeed an amazing and enriching experience.

But the responsibilites, while similar, are also handed down from Christ. We must hold each other accountable. We must aid our sisters in their faith-walk, never putting roadblocks in their path.

And we have to bury the hatchet… preferably not in each other’s backs!

Take time today to say a prayer for those sisters that God has placed in your life. They are your special gift from Him.

No bow needed!

I keep hearing a phrase that I personally don’t like: The Corporate Church.

First, the church is the people, by definition. Not the building, not the staff, not the money, the people. And while I understand the financial needs that exist, and the paperwork involved in maintaining a tax exempt status, I bristle at the thought of the church being a corporation, a business like any other. It isn’t. Walmart, McDonald’s, AT&T, etc. are in business to make money. While you as a consumer are receiving a product or service, they are making money on the deal. It is less one hand washing the other and more one hand getting washed while the other gets a whole bath!

But the church exists to bring others to God. Yes, money changes hands, but in the ideal world (I know, I’m dreaming again!), our dollars are funding mission and outreach, service to God’s people, for God’s people and on God’s behalf.

And that makes the church way more accountable than Xerox or General Motors!

The leadership of a church is responsible not just to God, but to the people, the church, that is being served. To that end, the leadership cannot afford to hide behind closed doors, or conduct business in secret.  If the church is the people, then the people must be involved in each step of the process. When the people are taken out of the process, the body becomes more, well, corporate

Think about it. In a corporation, orders flow from the top down. The board of trustees doesn’t have to answer to the secretary in the mailroom.

But in a church the opposite is true. While our God is the head of the church, the pastor, staff, deacons -everyone in a leadership position- must be open and forthright. I, as a member, should be able to ask any question and get a straight answer. Nothing should be hidden, no agenda other than God’s can drive the ship.

The leadership of a church is responsible not just to God, but to the people, the church, that is being served. To that end, the leadership cannot afford to hide behind closed doors, or conduct business in secret.  If the church is the people, then the people must be involved in each step of the process. When the people are taken out of the process, the body becomes more, well, corporate.

I hear so many people complain that all churches want is money, that they always have their collection plate moving up and down the pew. And it’s true. And 99.9% of all churches use that money to further God’s work on His earth. But if you have questions, if you feel that something isn’t quite right, speak up!

After all, YOU are the church!

We are almost to that magical six week mark.

Let me explain. I am a longtime member of a gym here in town. Every January, there is an incredible influx of members. It makes it hard to find a parking place, much less actually get on a treadmill or bike. And forget getting into a class! But as all of us who have been members for a few years know, those “newbies” will generally only last about six weeks. After that, the resolutions begin to fade, the desire to be fit is outweighed by other factors.

In short, parking is going to be a lot easier in a week or two.

Now, while I don’t pull for anyone to be unhealthy, I admit I look forward to the short-timers falling away so that my workouts can run a little faster, a little smoother. Selfish, I know.

But as I was waiting tonight to use the weights, I started thinking. How many other things do we start off like gangbusters, only to quit mere weeks into our venture?

Personally, every January I make a commitment to read the Bible through, cover to cover. I start out on fire. And then… I fade in the backstretch. I will spend the year in fits and starts of reading, until I will finally give up in late summer, vowing to myself that “next year” I will make it through, a fresh start.

Along those same lines, I love the beach. I’ve loved it since I was a child. Immediately after graduating from college, I got a job in Virginia Beach, Va. I got an apartment just a few miles from the beach. This was it, I would be sunning myself on the white sands on a regular basis.

I lived there 12 years. I probably went to the beach about a dozen times. I reasoned that it was going to be there the next day, and I just didn’t have time. Now I live nowhere near the beach and, you guessed it, I want to go. Badly.

All of this points to two facts of our humanness. First, many of us take the easy way out, the lazy way. There is always something else to do that is more exciting that sitting and reading our Bible, or following a Christian study guide.

And second, we always want what is harder to get to, but if it is placed right in front of us it begins to lose it’s luster.

There is an old country song called “Stuff.” My husband loves the line, “It’s a treasure until it’s mine, then it ain’t worth a dime.”

God is with us. He is everywhere, His love envelopes us moment by moment. Yet we often treat it like it is ordinary, not the precious gift that it is. Imagine if we didn’t have His love, His forgiveness. Imagine how we would work to achieve His attention then! Yet because He gives to us so freely, we end up pushing Him to the back burner.

After all, He’ll always be there, so there is no rush, right?

Something to think about…