A Baby Changes Everything

So, today I listened to Christmas music for the first time of this holiday season. Before Thanksgiving?! I think that might be a crime, but the song was called "A Baby Changes Everything" sung by Faith Hill. It really got me thinking about the baby aspect.

I don't really like thinking of Jesus as a baby. That's not my first mental picture of him and somehow maybe even makes me uncomfortable (you know that's just where He wants you - THEN He can teach you something!). So, I thought, "Well, is this really all that important?" But obviously it was or God wouldn't have specifically done it that way. It is no accident that Jesus came to earth as a baby.

This evening, twelve hours later, I was faced with the baby issue again. This time it came from the Oswald Chambers devotional, "My Utmost for His Highest." In it, Chambers warns against the pride of wanting to appear deep spiritually. He challenges that it is not our deep devotion to God that makes us refuse to be shallow, but our wish to impress other people with the fact that we are not shallow. This is a sure sign of being a spiritual snob. "Beware of posing as a profound person; God became a baby."

Whoa! Did that point out some pride in my heart! See, I knew I was uncomfortable with the baby issue. But Phillipians 2:5 says that our attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. What was that attitude? One of humility. He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but lowered himself completely to our level, became an obedient servant on our behalf and offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins. What a Christmas story!

So this Christmas season, when you see the baby who changed everything, think of humility. What might humility change about this Christmas season for you? How might you become other-centered and God-centered instead of self-centered? What a gift that would be to our Savior!

CHALLENGE: For the next 25 days, specifically do something other-centered as a gift to your Saviour and write it down in your journal. You might even want to post some of the blessings you have received as a result of taking the focus off of yourself. Merry Christmas!

A Facebook Challenge

I think I need to make another confession. I like Facebook. Some of you already know that about me because you like Facebook, too.

There has been an unintended but welcome consequence to me joining Facebook. Reading people's status reports has increased my prayer life. I am honored to pray for others.

Sometimes, I praise God for how He is working in people's lives, but there is not a day that goes by that I don't find myself before the Lord on someone's behalf because of something I read on Facebook.

Does your Facebook look like mine? Do you know any of these ladies?

• the girl who missed the bus and is hoping her dad will get up and take her to school
• the college freshman who procrastinated too long on a final project
• the wife whose husband won't talk to her
  
• the friend who is having to file bankruptcy
• the girl whose heart is broken over a boy
• the little girl in the hospital fighting for her next breath
• the middle schooler who sits alone at lunch every day
  
• the young lady whose mysterious medical condition leaves her unable to control her own body and with major memory losses
  
• the young mom experiencing another miscarriage
• the teacher writing substitute plans again because her little boy isn't getting better
• the young girl whose two fish died
• the high school girls who shamelessly post provocative photos
• the friend fighting cancer again
• the widow who can't pay her bills
  
• the teen who can't figure out her homework and calls herself stupid
• all the ladies who suffer with allergies, migraines, depression or insomnia
  
• the young mom whose husband works out of town - a lot
• the out of work
• the lonely
  
• the lost

You know them, don't you? They hurt. You hurt.
We live in a fallen world. Sin is a nasty thing.

Last weekend, my husband and I attended the funeral of my sister's ex-husband. He committed suicide leaving behind four children. The emotions were intense.
Grief. Anger. Sadness. Abandonment. Guilt. Bitterness. Pain. Loneliness.
The unanswered questions were as unending as the emotions.

My husband, who always seems to know the right thing to say, stood up to speak. He reminded us all that no matter how dark the moment seems, God is always good. He is always faithful.
Sometimes, it is hard to see. If you haven't known God too long, it may be hard to believe. If you don't spend time in his Word, you may forget. So, let me just remind you like Jeff reminded me.

God is good all the time.

God is faithful.

God never changes.

"Don't be deceived, my dear brothers (and sisters). Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:16-17

Thanksgiving is coming up. Let's do ourselves a favor, shall we? Let's remind ourselves every day this month of God's gifts. I want to remember every day the great God we serve and I'm praying you will help me along.

So, here is our challenge. Let's make our status reports every day in November start with the words, "I thank and praise God for..." Let's give God credit for the good he is working in this fallen world.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." I Thessalonians 5:15 - 18

I'll be watching to see what amazing things God has blessed you with!

• I thank and praise God that she cares enough to want to get to school
• I thank and praise God the final project was turned in on time
• I thank and praise God she is faithful to love her husband unconditionally
  
• I thank and praise God she has a family who loves her, a job and a roof over her head
• I thank and praise God she is realizing what a jerk he was anyway
• I thank and praise God she is receiving amazing medical care
  
• I thank and praise God she knows Jesus is her friend
• I thank and praise God for her family's love and support
• I thank and praise God she knows with zero doubt that the life the Lord knitted together in her womb is living in heaven with Jesus
  
• I thank and praise God for his comfort and healing
  
• I thank and praise God for Facebook so she can share her sadness with friends without being yelled at to get off the phone
  
• I thank and praise God there are people in these young girls' lives teaching them about purity and praying for them daily
  
• I thank and praise God she knows the Lord and will rest in Him when her battle on earth is over
  
• I thank and praise God for being her provider, the husband of widows
• I thank and praise God for the brilliant brain He gave her and the friends who remind her of that.
  
• I thank and praise God for being the healer
• I thank and praise God every time he comes safely home from a business trip
  
• I thank and praise God for the generous
  
• I thank and praise God for the neighbor
• I thank and praise God that He came to seek and save what was lost
  

Come and Listen!

Come and listen, all you who fear God;

let me tell you what He has done for me.

I cried out to Him with my mouth;

His praise was on my tongue.

If I had cherished sin in my heart,

the Lord would not have listened;

But God has surely listened

and heard my voice in prayer.

Praise be to God who has not rejected my prayer

or withheld His love from me!

Psalm 66:16-20



Hey gals, I have something to tell you!

I want to tell you how the Lord was so faithful to me.

I really and truly did cry out yesterday driving home from work.

I just needed to be saved from myself and the horrible, critical running commentary going on in my head and I just cried out to God. Sobbed out. Probably looked a little pathetic -hey, that's heading towards critical again!

He changed my focus from critical thoughts of myself and my failures to focusing on His truth and His love and His plans for my life. As I stopped staring at all my obvious faults and started magnifying His amazing strength and love, I was given peace. Oh how I needed His peace!

What was the sin in my heart? It was pride. I don't like to mess up and look incompetent. I was so obsessed with how I looked, that I wasn't really considering how He looked in my life. I wasn't concerned for His reputation, just mine. That is pride. That is putting me above Him, and that is a miserable place to be.

So I confessed that sin. Called it by name and asked for forgiveness. And with that mess out of the way, He could speak truth into my life and answer my prayer.

Praise the Lord who did not reject me or give up on me or withhold His love from me. Some days it feels like the world does that, but never Jesus. He is faithful. Always. Praise be to God!

Pay Attention!

It is back to school time. The season of daydreaming and mindless wandering is over; it is time to turn your brain back on and start paying attention.

My daughter, Allison, just started her first year in middle school. Here in Stafford, kindergarten through seniors are all in one school, so thankfully she doesn't have to start off in a new building. However, she does have a couple of classes over in the high school hallways, so before school started we walked around and confirmed where each classroom was located. This is important, of course, because nobody wants to get lost in school. It is a dreadful, horrendous, flustering, tormenting, shameful, atrocious, discombobulating, and down right embarrassing experience. One would have nightmares about being lost for the rest of their lives after going astray in the halls of a new school.

Does it sound like I am speaking from personal experience? You bet!

My first embarrassing moment occurred because of my freshmen inability to read a schedule. I knew I had choir; I was very proud that I had found the choir room and the bell had not even rung yet. But when I realized the small class was full of juniors and seniors, I knew I had made a mistake. Yep. Wrong time. I definitely did not qualify for the honors choir.

Okay. So that wasn't dreadful or horrendous. The teacher gave me directions. The upperclassmen snickered a little bit, but I didn't really know any of them so I didn't care all that much. After that, I was able to find all my classes on time and things were looking good.

Then came Mr. Crane. Okay, so it wasn't really Mr. Crane's fault. He just asked me to do a quick errand for him at the beginning of science class one day. "Theresa, please take the attendance slip to the attendance office." No problem, I thought. I grabbed the slip and went out into the hall. I looked right and I looked left. Which way should I go? I had no idea where the attendance office was, so I took off to the left and searched the lower level of the building and could not find it. I knew the main office was on the upper level, so I went up there and searched some more. Frustrated, I slowly walked past the main office looking at all the doors for the sign "Attendance Office" with no luck. Continuing slowly down the hall with the slip still on my hand, I must have been a sad sight. I didn't know where else to look and I was irked with myself.

Mrs. Lyle, the very kind librarian, noticed me wandering the halls like a vagabond and asked me if she could help me find my class. "Oh," I told her, "I know where my class is. The thing is I'm looking for the attendance office and I've looked everywhere and I just can't find it." Mrs. Lyle gently told me, "Go down these stairs, turn right and go down to the end of the hall. If you get to the commons, you've gone too far. The attendance office is on the left hand side right across from Mr. Crane's science room."

Yep. You read correctly. Right across from Mr. Crane's room. I don't mind telling you that I felt like a complete idiot. I had just spent ten or fifteen minutes roaming around this vast high school when all I had to do was take five steps across the hall.

So, I went down the stairs, turned right, walked down the hall, looked to my left and there right before my eyes was a professional, very easy to read sign clearly stating "Attendance Office." I delivered the slip and returned to class.

Class was is full session with Mr. Crane before the class imparting his knowledge of physical science to a room full of uninterested freshmen. I slunk back to my seat and started taking notes. Needless to say, Mr. Crane never asked me to run an errand for him again and I don't think he ever felt very highly of me. And who can blame him?

Why didn't I just look up and pay attention to what was around me? Seriously, all I had to do was open my eyes and look at what was right in front of my face. Instead, I looked right, I looked left, I wandered around and around and up and down. I never asked for directions. I never asked for help. Thinking back, I had a map of the school and if I had just spent a few minutes studying it, I would have known the exact location of the attendance office.

This reminds me of a story Jesus told in Matthew 22. A king prepared a wedding banquet for his son and sent out personal invitations to his guests to come and enjoy. The guests, though invited three times, "paid no attention and went off - one to his field, another to his business." I don't want to ignore the invitation. I don't want to miss the feast. I don't want to be off in the field or sitting on my computer when I could be enjoying what the Lord has prepared for me.

⁷ But I, by your great mercy,
will come into your house;
in reverence will I bow down
toward your holy temple.

⁸ Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness
because of my enemies—
make straight your way before me.

Psalm 5:7-9

The Bible mentions "paying attention" 79 times. Sometimes God is telling us to pay attention to Him and to his Word. Other times, God warns us what will happen when we don't heed his Word.

Here at Lovely Branches Ministries, we are spending the month of September focusing on becoming lifelong learners. Learning and growing in the Lord takes place constantly whether one is in school or not. I know that I learn more when I am simply paying attention. Look up! Look where you are going! Study the map! Ask for directions!

I have a wonderful friend from college, Christina. Many months or even years can pass in between visits, but Christina also asks me the same thought-provoking question when I see her. "What is God teaching you?" If I know I'm going to see or talk to Christina, I send some time thinking about what God is doing in my life and what He is trying to get through to my thick scull and sometimes hardened heart. It is a good question to ask yourself, too, because God is working in your life and He is trying to teach you something. Have you been spending time in the Bible? Have you been paying attention to what is going on around you to see his work?

We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. Hebrews 2:1

It is easy to get lost in this big, scary world we live in. Please know that we are praying for you. We pray that you will continue to pay attention and allow God to form you into his image. Pay attention to the work he is doing through you and around you. God bless you and your school year.

Go for the good!

First of all, Happy 1 year Birthday to Lovely Branches Ministries! What an exciting year of growth and pruning. Both are healthy, but that's a whole other blog article in itself!. Today I want to focus on relationships because female relationships are part of the focus of our ministry.

Recently, I have been reading in Romans and a section of verses really stuck out to me about the way we are to live. That section ended with the verse Romans 12:21 which says, "Do not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good."

So let's face it. Relationships can be complicated and sometimes female relationships can be downright ugly. I remember high school days that ended in tears due to something a "friend" had said to me (or behind my back). What's your first response when someone has gossipped about you, told a hurtful lie, or stolen your boyfriend? ANGRY? REVENGE? POKE HER EYES OUT? But this section of verses tells us to live very oppositely and then commands us not to be swallowed up by evil, but get rid of evil with GOOD.

Sound puny? Only because you haven't tried it. There is power in doing what is good and right and walking in love. There is freedom in it, too.

Here's the MESSAGE version of these verses:
Love from the center of who you are; don't fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle. Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality. Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they're happy; share tears when they're down. Get along with each other; don't be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don't be the great somebody. Don't hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you've got it in you, get along with everybody. Don't insist on getting even; that's not for you to do. "I'll do the judging," says God. "I'll take care of it." Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if [she's] thirsty, get [her] a drink. Your generosity will surprise [her] with goodness. Don't let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good.

What amazing advice for our relationships! Chew on this. Look at it in different versions and let me know the parts that might require more doing for you so I can pray along with you for extra grace!

Please check back for "Young Hearts" August message.
If you haven't had an opportunity to read previous blogs we invite you to do so.

Authority Issues

I have authority issues. I'm being really honest with you now. The truth is I just don't like someone else telling me what to do. Even if it is something I want to do anyway. I have authority issues.
I remember this time in freshman English class, Mr. Gibson was teaching grammar. I think the assignment was to rewrite twenty sentences changing the verb from present to past tense. I distinctly remember I was supposed to rewrite the entire sentence, which is completely ridiculous. Seriously, what a bunch of busy work! I just needed to show that I knew how to convert the verb into past tense, so that is what I did. I just wrote the verbs. Then, I wrote on the bottom of my paper, "I don't feel like writing sentences." Like I said, I have authority issues.
Well, you can imagine Mr. Gibson's response. The paper was returned to me with a fat, red, capital F on top. I'll have you know that I did redo the assignment and wrote out every one of those sentences, but I didn't like it one bit.
When I became a Christian, I was a bit concerned about getting too involved in a church because it seemed to me that people in church liked to tell you what to do. Did I mention I have authority issues? It has taken me a long time to recognize that my real bondage, the real restriction in my life came from sin. Here I thought I was just doing I wanted, when in reality I was a slave to sin.
Here's an interesting little verse out of Galatians 5. ¹It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Jesus did not sacrifice himself so that he can tell us what to do. As Creator, he already had the authority to do that. No, Jesus paid the ultimate price so that we would have the ability to follow him. The choice to follow, however, remains ours. I like that about God because I have authority issues and I don't like being told what to do. What I do like is that God is not forcing me to do anything. Instead, he loves me enough to send his Son to die for me so I can choose each day to love him right back and to follow him. That is just so cool. The freedom in Christ is just so... freeing!
I was reminded of all this yesterday as I was painting my basement. A song by Ginny Owens came piping out of my iPod and I'd like to share the words with you.
The song is called Free.

Turnin' molehills into mountains
Makin' big deals out of small ones
Bearing gifts as if they're burdens
This is how it's been
Afraid of coming out of my shell
Too many things I can't do too well
Afraid I'll try real hard
And I'll fail
This is how it's been
Till the day You pounded on my heart's door
And You shouted joyfully
You're not a slave anymore!

CHORUS:
You're free to dance
Forget about your two left feet
And you're free to sing
Even joyful noise is music to Me
You're free to love
'Cause I've given you My love
And it's made you free
I have set you free!

My mind finds it hard to believe
That You became humanity and
Changed the course of history
Because You loved us so
And my heart cannot understand
How You accept me as I am
But You say You've always had a plan
And that's all I need to know
So when I am consumed
With what the world will say
Then You're singing to me, as You remove
my chains

Free from worry
Free from envy and denial
Free to live, free to give, free to smile

Watch the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1-2RcZqnIo