Serving

Has God ever given you a job you did not feel qualified for?  Something you dread?  Do it, he will appreciate it, you will be happier and content and at peace by following God’s will rather than your own. 

I am not a singer.  I have grown up knowing I did not sing well.  From music teacher eye rolls to crying children, I have had my lack of musical ability confirmed.  The only time I sing out is in church. 

A few years back when one of our worship leaders moved away.   Our pastor’s wife asked if I would help her lead the worship music.  I laughed.  I told her we would lose members if I were given a microphone.  She continued to ask occasionally and lead the music on her own.  Then God began to work on my heart.  I felt guilty.  I felt torn and unhappy.  I would never want to stand up there on my own as she does every Sunday… Finally, I agreed.

I was so nervous; I continually ran a mantra in my head.  “I am singing for you Lord, just for you, not for these people, just for you.”  At this point, I have lost track of how many years I have been singing.   We have a small congregation and I claim that I am singing by default.

As people have joined our little church, I have often thought I should try to pass on this responsibility.  I would be a much better Sunday school teacher if I did not have to go over music before church; I could be more focused on that one task…

Well, today I can’t breathe.  I have asthma and seem to be getting very sick.  Singing is out of the question.   I barely have enough air to talk, let alone sing.  As I sit in church listening to the music, watching the pastor’s wife again on her own, hearing the worship flow around me, I realize that singing is my service.  Sometimes it takes these little setbacks for us to see God’s will clearly.  God has given me this job to do in our church body.  My voice, whatever form it comes in, was given to me to serve God.  God will take what we have to give.  God desires our service, he desires our voices, our hands, our hearts, ourselves.  We are happier when we give ourselves over to God.  I am happier when I am singing for the Lord!  It doesn’t feel right to not be singing when the air around me is filled with praise.

Lord, I will stop trying to pass off this service.  I will encourage others to join us (Melissa), but I will no longer deny that you want me to sing.  I will sing, and praise your holy name!

Romans 5:3-5  We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance.  And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.  And this hope will not lead to disappointment.  For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Proverbs 20:24  The Lord directs our steps, to why try to understand everything along the way?

Psalm 37:5 Commit everything you do to the Lord.  Trust him and he will help you.

Romans 12: 6,7 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you.  If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well.

What is God asking you to do?

Integrity

How do you pass down integrity?  Don’t wait for life lessons to happen, pre-teach them.  Be an example.  One night I tucked in my son while my older son was in the shower, tucked in the girls, began talking to my husband and picking up the kitchen.  My oldest son walked through and I told him I would give him a few minutes and be right up.  I forgot!  After at least 20 minutes I raced up the stairs.  He said “mom, where were you?  It feels like you were taking forever.”  I told him I was sorry, but I wanted to give him plenty of time and I was working on the kitchen.  Tucked him in with extra hugs and went to bed myself.  I tossed and turned.  That was very close to a lie, it was true, but I conveniently left out the part about ‘I just plain forgot’ so it wouldn’t hurt his feelings.  But I then did not want him to think I lied, because I never lie.  I tossed for half an hour, what finally sent me up the stairs was the drive to set a good example.  Here was an opportunity for an object lesson.  I checked and he was still awake – barely- and confessed and asked his forgiveness.  He gave it, I told him why I had not wanted him to know I forgot, and my original forgetfulness didn’t bother him a bit.  But he appreciated the fact that I respected him enough to be honest and apologetic.

How often do we apologize to our children?  How often do we apologize to our spouses, family members, or colleagues?  How will our kids learn to ask forgiveness if they never see it?  How will they know how much it means to hear ‘I am so sorry’ or ‘can you forgive me’ if they never experience it themselves?  We are parents; we screw up all the time.  Asking for forgiveness does not undermine our authority, it increase our respectability.  I used to teach a self-contained class of students from kindergarten to 5^th grade that have emotional or behavioral disorders.  These students were placed with me at the point there was nothing that could be done to keep them in the regular classroom setting.  They were a danger to their peers, literally.  Most all of them came from questionable backgrounds or were already in foster care or had been adopted out of foster care. ( I had only 2 students in 7 years that was being raised by their natural parents in a solid home.  I was able to transfer both of those students back to the general class within one year.)  The rest of my students struggled daily.  On a side note – the signs in the bathroom about alcohol and drugs during pregnancy are VERY  true!  I have met many students teaching in that room who were adopted out, but drug use during pregnancy had already changed the course of their entire lives!)  Any way, my students – you should have seen their faces the first time I apologized to them for something.  No one in their lives had ever apologized to them.  For an adult to admit they made a mistake and truly apologize for it was beyond their rehlm of comprehension!  The simple act of showing them respect won their respect.  They began to enjoy coming to school, they did their work, they smiled, they joined in the group.  It took time, setback after setback, but most of them made it back out to the general population. 

My oldest step daughter has only lived with us full time for the last 2 years.  She moved in at the beginning of 7^th grade.  Watching her change and grow has been phenomenal!  Things were pretty rough that first year.  The honesty thing was coming hard for her and she came up to ask about playing video games because she was done with her reading time.  I miscalculated the time I had been upstairs and told her there was no possible way she was done.  When she was gone, I recalculated and realized my mistake.  It was hard!  It was hard, but I knew I HAD to apologize.  So I did, I told her I was sorry, I had made a miscalculation and I was wrong, and yes she could play a video game now (they purchase their videogame time with reading time).  The very next day, she and my youngest son were debating some bit of trivia.  Convinced she was right, she looked up the bit of information to prove it to her wayward little brother…  She was wrong, he was right.  She called him over and apologized and admitted she was wrong using the EXACT SAME procedure and words that I had used the day before!  It was like feeling God pat me on the back and say “See, see, you swallowed your pride and taught her that apologizing feels good, and that it’s okay to be wrong, and it’s okay to admit you are wrong!”  I was very proud of her.  She watched, she learned, she applied!  Our kids are ALWAYS watching, learning, and applying, it is your actions that you will see coming out of them.  What do you want to see come out of them?

Proverbs 22:6  Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.

Deuteronomy 6: 4 – 9 Listen, Oh Israel!  The Lord is our God, the Lord alone.  And you must love the Lord you God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.  And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands I am giving you today.  Repeat them again and again to your children.  Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed, and when you are getting up.  Tie them to your hands, and wear them on your forehead as reminders.  Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Control your Mind

You have control of your attitude.  You choose what kind of day you are going to have.  You choose your life’s course.  Joyce Meyer, you are awesome.   I ordered Joyce Meyer’s Battlefield of the Mind message DVD from Netflix.  We are now ordering it from Amazon because no one, NO ONE, in our house wants to send it back!   That ‘no one’ includes our 14 year old daughter, our 13 year old son, our 12 year old daughter (Happy Birthday Karrie), our 10 year old son (almost 11), my husband, myself, (and our cat Tiger, but he watches anything that is on the TV)!  It is fantastic and every one of you should read it or see it if you haven’t already.

Basically she discusses the fact that our mind is in constant battle.  Our decision to accept Jesus, and live in him, is under continual attack by the devil.  

 Now, I want to give credit to Mrs. Meyer.  I also do not want you to think I am quoting her, because I don’t want to misquote her.  Some are her ideas, some are my thoughts created by her thoughts that were conveyed in her message.  So basically, I am trying to pass on a few things I have learned and relearned from her, focus on a few points, and share that peace with you.

She said that we tend to set ourselves up for a bad day before we even get out of bed.  Think of what goes through your mind before you get out of bed… Some things I catch myself thinking include: I hurt, oh I hurt, I don’t want to exercise but that is the only way to get rid of this pain.  Or, I am so tired.  I wish I didn’t have to go to school today.  Or I start cataloging all the things I need to get done, and think that there is no way I will ever catch up….  Wow, that just sounds great! (sarcastic tone – sarcastic tone).  What kind of things are you poisoning your attitude with?  Take those thoughts captive AND THROW THEM OUT, give them over to God and be rid of them!  2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV) says We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.   (biblegateway.com)

I recalled a turning point in my life from several years ago, a starting point.  I had made plans for 4^th of July, I was excited, I had my kids excited, then the plans were ruined.  I made the choice (a very good choice actually) but I (we all) were still disappointed.  I thought “now my day will be awful, I’m just going to be sad and end up pouting all day.”  Then it occurred to me, “No I will not!  There is no reason for that!  I can control what kind of day we all have, we will do something else and we will have fun doing it, now plaster on a smile, get the kids, and have fun!”  It was a conscious choice to have fun, my choice – I had taken my thoughts captive without even knowing what that meant.  And you know what – God blessed it!  We had a fantastic day!  We made so many cherished memories that day!

Last night, we sat down to supper (yes I am sorry, we were in front of the TV, everyone wanted to finish the Joyce Meyer DVD) and my youngest began to pout because one of his grilled cheese slices had ended up on his sister’s plate.  You’d have thought the world would end, he began to pout and whine – I said “hey” and pointed to the TV… at that very moment Mrs. Meyer said “Jesus did not die for you so you could sit around and cry and whine!”  WOW!!!!!!!!! He instantly started to laugh, we all started to laugh!  We backed up the DVD and watched that bit again.  God is Good, God is here with us, listening, all the time!

Every negative thought that pulls you down is Satan working on you!  Don’t let him in!  And don’t beat yourself up about times you have let him in, because that is him getting BACK in!  Let go, and let God!  Pray and accept peace!  I have not even begun to scrape the surface of what that DVD brought to my attention!  Please go find it, Netflix if you have it, or Amazon if you don’t…

Phillipeans 4:13

For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.

Don't Hide Under the Covers

Ellie’s eyes popped open.  What was that?  Her heart started thumping rapidly in her chest.  She pulled her covers over her head slowly, gently, with great care, so that whatever had made the noise would not see her.  Once safe under the light summer quilt, she reached around until her hand sunk into a soft squishy object.  There he was.  She pulled her special Teddy close to her chest under the covers and strained her ears for another sound.  Bump, thump, screech.  It found her!  There covers flew as Ellie lost all secrecy and tore from her little bed, Teddy trailing right along, dangling by his right back paw as Ellie’s feet flew down the hallway to her parents room.

“Daddy, Daddy” she called as she skidded to a stop on the braided rug that lay next to her parent’s bed.  “Daddy, help me, something’s trying to come in my window!”  The Daddy in question pried his eyes open a crack.

“It’s just the tree Ellie.”  As sleep left him, and Ellie’s fear did not, he pulled her close and explained further.  “Remember, the big oak tree behind the house, when the wind blows hard enough the branches hit your window.”

“The tree Daddy?”

“Yes, just the tree, nothing to be afraid of.”

Ellie nestled into her father’s embrace, her heart returning to its normal rhythm.

“I’m glad you came to find me sweetie; you can always come to me when you are afraid, and for any other reason.”

“Thank you Daddy.” Ellie murmured as she drifted back into peace in her father’s trustworthy arms…

Who do you relate to in that little story?  Little Ellie, or the parent?  I have many memories like that.  I had a lot of nightmares as a child, enough that I was often afraid to go to sleep at night and would keep myself awake as long as I possibly could.  I remember running to my parents room many times.  Sometimes I wouldn’t even wake them up, I would just sit on the floor by their bed, feeling safe in their presence.

I also relate to the parents.  With four kids I have experienced the nighttime and tuck in time fears frequently, and have had to be the fear chaser.  I do my best to empower my kids.  I tell them to pray, take their fear to God, and repeat scripture verses.

Look over Ellie’s story again.  Change Ellie to you, and her father to God, and her fears to your fears.  That’s how it works!  We have a fear, we run to God in prayer, share it with him, crawl him into his arms, and accept his peace.

At least, that’s the way God intends it to work.  And you know what, he WILL NEVER say, “oh just go back to bed!”.  He is always there for us!  Sometimes we tend to get in the way of the process.  Sometimes we stay huddled under the covers trying to deal with the fear ourselves.  We may think God doesn’t care about the little things and would just tell us to “Just go back to bed!” (as we are prone to do).  We may thing that God isn’t listening, or ‘my problems are not important enough’…  Well, pick up you ‘Shield of Faith’ (Ephesians 6:16) and turn away those fiery arrows of Satan!  Pray!  Give the fear to God!  And have peace!

1 Timothy 1:7   For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self – discipline.

Isaiah 41:10 Don't be afraid, for I am with you.  Don't be discouraged, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you.  I will hold you up in my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41:13

For I hold you by your right hand

– I, the Lord your God.

  And I say to you,

 “Don’t be afraid.

I am here to help you.”