Bike Ride With God

I was doing my bible study homework and came across a quote that struck me as "highlighter worthy". I don't know about you, but most of my books have lots of pretty colors in them. This is what it said: "sometimes we don't mind something (someplace) new, we just don't like the vehicle that God's using to drive us there in" . That is so very true! Quite often God takes us where we want to be, but he takes us there in a jalopy when we're dressed in our finest clothes. Or maybe he takes us there in a lightening fast convertible with the top down, when we've just got our hair done and all we want to do is roll up the windows and take it slow. The important part is that regardless of what he takes us there in, that we always let Him drive, cause only He knows how to get where we're going. After sharing this with a friend of mine, she shared this awesome poem with me. So I thought I should pass it along to you. If you're familiar with it already, take the time to reread it, for me, it's something I need to be constantly reminded of.

Bike Ride With God

When I first met Christ it seemed as though life was rather like a bike ride,

but it was a tandem bike, and I noticed that Christ was in the back helping me pedal. I don't know just when it was that He suggested we change places, but life has not been the same since. When I had control, I knew the way, it was rather boring, but predictable...It was the shortest distance between two points. But when He took the lead, He knew delightful long cuts, Up mountains, and through rocky places, at breakneck speeds, it was all I could do to hang on! Even though it looked like madness, He said, "Pedal" I worried and was anxious and asked,"Where are you taking me?" He laughed and didn't answer, and I started to learn to trust. I forgot my boring life and entered into the adventure and when I'd say, "I'm scared," He'd lean back and touch my hand. He took me to people with gifts that I needed. Gifts of healing, acceptance, and joy. He said, "Give the gifts away; they're extra baggage, too much weight." So I did, I gave them to the people we met, and I found that in giving I received, and still our burden was light. I did not trust Him, at first, in control of my life. I thought He'd wreck it; but He knows bike secrets, knows how to make it bend to take sharp corners, knows how to jump to clear high rocks, knows how to fly to shorten scary passages. And I am learning to shut up and pedal in the strangest places, and I'm beginning to enjoy the view and the cool breeze on my face with my delightful constant companion, Jesus Christ. And when I'm sure I just can't do anymore, He just smiles and says..."Pedal."

God at work

For many years the relationship I had with my mom was a bit tumultuous, and somewhat strained. I have to tell you though, since God has really started working in her life she and I have become closer. She's a joy to be around and to talk to. I love watching her excitement for Christ grow. I so completely see that fire for the Lord just growing in her and she hungers for what He has to offer. She's blessed with the gift of hospitality, a trait she most certainly didn't pass on to me. So when she gets God led ideas they usually are in the realm of hospitality. I love watching her be excited about doing things for others in ways that I would never dream to do. In my opinion the giving of self in that respect is such a wonderful, humbling gift because our time is so important and valued and most of us complain we don't have nearly enough of it. She, however, gets so much joy from spending her time doing things, baking or cooking for others. Isn't it awesome how God made each one of us so different to fulfill His purpose.

Tell Someone

Does the thought of opening your mouth to speak about the Lord God Almighty outside of the safe walls of your church make your stomach do flip flops? You wouldn't be alone in that respect in the least. I think as Christians we have to ask God to help us overcome that fear so that we can tell the world about Him without hesitation or fear of persecution. We only have to look to the Bible to see great accounts of Christians with such great love for their Lord that they were willing to die rather than not speak His name. There are some really awesome opportunities out there to be had if only you'd ask God to give you the words. I'm very blessed because I have very little trepidation when it comes to talking to others about God. I am so excited when I find a way to work God into the every day conversation because I cannot wait to share what God has done for me. Very rarely do I get the tummy flip flops or the heart racing because of anxiety or fear. Mind you, I've been very blessed to not have come across anyone who has challenged me. When that happens I know that my God will give me the words I need at that moment.

On the subject of Evangelism, I want to share something amazing and so "of God" that happened to me this week. On Monday, my husband and I went out for lunch at a place here in town. Our waitress came to our table and began to tell us about the specials. In mid-sentence she stopped to tell me just how much she loved my necklace. It wasn't anything fancy, just a scrabble charm necklace I made with a silver cross on it. I thanked her and we went on about our business. We got home from lunch and I heard God say to me "why didn't you give it to her?". I thought well, why didn't you tell me to do that when I was there!?? LOL So I went about my afternoon, and later He said it again, "why didn't you give it to her?". So I put my shoes on and went back to the restaurant but by this time it was 4:00 and she was gone for the day. So I found out when she worked again and made a point to stop there on that day. When I got there it was lunch time but the place was pretty empty and she wasn't busy. When I spoke to her, I reminded her about us eating there on Monday and how she'd commented on my necklace. I told her that since then, I'd been told to give her my necklace. She just looked at me funny and said "why?". I said "when God tells you to do something, you just do it". She paused and then said to me, that she had just started going back to church the Sunday before. That she'd been praying to find the motivation to get back to church and had finally found it. She began to tear up and then hugged me. I was so filled with joy because I know that through God I was able to witness to her and may have helped her in a time when she maybe was having some doubt.

Our God is an awesome God and everyone needs to know Him. I wholeheartedly take on that responsibility of sharing Him every chance I get! I hope you do too!

No one told me to

Right now my 14 yr old daughter is struggling with self-esteem issues and it breaks my heart because she's such a beautiful person. It makes me sad that she doesn't see it herself.

Last night I was talking with her and asked her, "Why don't you like yourself?". She replied "because nobody ever told me I had to." Wow!!! Totally the kind of flippant answer Melissa would give, however, what an insightful answer as well.

We spend all kinds of time telling our children how proud we are of them, how beautiful/handsome they are. How smart and talented they are and what awesome people WE think they are. We also tell our children how important it is to be nice to others, to like others, to treat others well. Some how in all of this we just assume that by doing these things it will MAKE them like themselves. If I had to guess I'd say that Jerry and I are not alone in not thinking of needing to tell our children that they should to like themselves too.

I can't help but wonder if this pain she's going through right now may have been avoided if we had told her when she was little how important it is to like yourself. How you need to love yourself before you can properly love others. It's hard to say for sure, teen years are such a difficult season of life to go through.

Make sure you tell your children how important it is to like themselves. God planned them, He knew everything about them before they were even in their mothers womb. God doesn't make mistakes, and He made no mistake in making each and everyone of us just the way He needs us to be.

Prayer Life.

Prayer seems to be the reoccurring theme this past weekend. Not only was it brought up in Pastor's sermon on Sunday, but also in my devotional this morning. At church we watched a small video, called Coffee with Jesus. What a great video, and so describes how I pray sometimes. We come to Jesus with this long list of wants and needs, yet never take time to listen, or to just praise Him or thank Him. God wants us to have conversations, with him, not just give him this grocery list of things we'd like him to do for us. We need to talk to him like we'd talk to our best friend. Something Pastor said on Sunday that just seemed so beautiful to me, "Prayer is to the soul, what breathing is to life. Your soul needs to communicate with God in order to thrive and to grow. Just like your earthly friendships would wither and die if you never talked to one another, the same is true for your relationship with Christ. Your earthy friendships would never grow and mature if you always did all the talking, and never took time to listen, neither will your relationship with Christ grow if you don't take time to listen to what He has to say to you. I often think of how blessed the disciples and the people of that time were to be able to walk and talk on earth with Jesus. What an amazing experience that must have been. I'm in no hurry to leave this earth, but I look forward to the time when I can talk to Him face to face.

All About Me

Ok normally this isn't something I would put here, but there's no other way to say it. I'm taking this class at church that is lead by our pastor and it's wonderful!!! It's all about learning what my strengths and weaknesses are and how to hone them and use them in the best possible way. I have learned so much about myself in just the last 3 weeks, it's amazing. We've done several different personality/gift type tests and they've all told me things I already know about myself, but in such an in depth way that I'm beginning to better understand myself. I can recognize now that my struggle with self dicipline (and other things) isn't imagined, it's all part of how God designed me. Doesn't mean that I can use that as an excuse not to be, but it helps me to better accept that part of me and feel a little less guilty about my inability to do it easily.

Another fabulous thing that I'm learning in doing this, is what personality traits others have as well. By being able to recognize different personality traits in others I can use what I know of these different personalities to better understand how to communicate with them. This is especially useful if I have to deal with someone that I have a hard time with. Thankfully that doesn't happen all that often.

Learning all these things will help me to be a better servant of God. It will be helpful to me as a small group leader because I will be able to make better connections with people. It'll help me to learn what ways I am better suited for His service. I can't wait!! I'm so excited about it all, I've learned so much and I can't wait to learn more and put it all to good use.

Keeping the Fire

Lately I've been feeling that my Fire for the Lord is being challenged. I'm sure it's mostly in my head, but it's enough to give me pause. I've been this excited for God for the last 2 years and I only see it getting stronger as I learn more about Him. I've been more immersed in Him and His word and His presence now since joining my church. My hunger to know Him and have a deeper personal relationship with Him has only grown. How do I keep this fire burning strong? By surrounding myself with Him and His love. I start my day with worship music and prayer, I listen to worship music or christian podcasts through out the day. I read my bible, do my bible study homework and I interact with other Christians and share and witness when ever possible. I end my day in prayer and sometimes more worship music or podcasts or a devotional. I go to church every Sunday, bible study every Wednesday, Coffee Fellowship every Thursday. I started a personal growth with God type class with my pastor and 4 others tonight, and my husband and I have started going to a home group. We also help out with the youth group and vacation bible school. Seems like a lot I'm sure, but this is what is important in my life. This is what helps me keep my fire burning. I think that if being on fire for God is something you want with all your heart, soul, and mind, it's something that you will make every effort to do. Nothing brings me more joy than worshiping my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Everything I do is better because I have made Him a priority in my life.

Don't get me wrong, as I've posted here, there are times that I don't feel His presence like I want to, but those are the times that I have to pray and worship Him the most. I don't ever want this fire to go out, it's just too awesome!