Saturday, December 12, 2009

Kindred Spirit

I have takin a break from the blog world for awhile and that was intentional...
I have spent the past couple of months being intentional and learning about how I need to communicate with others and how I function best when others communicate with me. Tonight I am going to take the time to post a blog that I wrote way back in October. I have learned throughout the past month that communication is key. Whether you are communicating through the joys of life or the "stuff" of life there are some people in your life who are willing to work through it all. They are willing to communicate with you even when it is not easy and even when it’s not the most comfortable thing to do. When you have someone like that in your life, let me tell you something, hold onto them. They don't come around very often and they truly are a rare find. Now with that being said I dedicate this blog to my Kindred Spirit. The one person who has shown me over and over again that through commitment, communication and prayer that true friendship really does exist.

Kindred Spirit: is a term for someone who shares similar thoughts, feelings, and is close in temperament and nature to yourself; one with whom you have a rare spiritual link that is very special and inexplicable.
It’s not very often, if at all that one has someone in there life who “just gets it”. The person that is your Kindred Spirit knows your thoughts and can finish your sentences…”Talk to me…” stop singing the rest of the song kindred. A Kindred Spirit is a rare find… it is someone who understands how you tick and more then likely they are similar. They are close in temperament and nature to you. It is someone who loves you through the ugly and through the beautiful. They walk with you through life. They neither walk in front of you or behind you. They are someone who you can have deep conversations with for hours at end. They are someone you can laugh with, someone you and cry with and someone you can just be with… They are a true friend. It is for me a friendship that I just can not put words to even though I try…
I wanted to take some time to thank my Kindred Spirit for making my life a better place.
Thank you for being you. There is no one like you in my life and for that I am so very thankful. You are you and for that I am grateful.
Thank you for challenging me to become a better person.
Thank you for seeing my weaknesses as an opportunity for growth.
Thank you for walking through life with me.
Thank you for being okay with me and all my singleness, knowing that someday I am going to be seeking your advice about my future husband.
Thank you for letting me into your life.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to love your family.
Thank you for understanding that we all have our issues.
Thank you for seeing me for me and not putting me on a pedestal.
Thank you for not placing expectations on me.
Thank you for caring about me as much as I care about you.
Thank you for taking the time to get to know me…even if it meant breaking through a big brick wall…
Thank you for your love and your support.
Thank you for taking the time to care.
Thank you for having your actions speak just as loudly as your words.
Thank you for just hanging out with me.
Thank you for being my dear sweet blessing.
Thank you for understanding.
Thank you for communicating.
Thank you for making me smile, laugh, cry and think.
Thank you for everything my dear sweet Kindred Spirit. Words fail to really measure up to how thankful and grateful I am for who you are in my life. When I moved back to WI after moving away I had no idea that my life would be changed forever. As I have shared with you before its crazy to think about God’s master plan. How he knows all and he orchestrates our lives. I thank Him daily for placing an amazing person in my life. You are someone that no one could ever replace. I value the time that we are able to spend together knowing that perhaps it is limited by the mere fact that life changes. So please know that I value you and I value the time that we are able to hangout. There is no one like you in my life. You are irreplaceable and I can’t help but look back and see where I thought I was going to be and see where I am now and simply say “Thank you God!” even though thank you just does not seem like enough. Know that you are worth it! I would go to lengths to make sure you feel encouraged, loved, supported and uplifted. Please know Kindred that I love you and there is no one like you!

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

The other day I was in Target and ran across this old lady who just needed to talk… at least that’s what I thought at the time. Now that I can take a look at the situation from a different point of view it has given me the opportunity to switch my pair a dime.

You see this lady was a sweet old lady who had the gift to gab. At the time I thought “ I don’t think this lady is every going to be quiet.” However now that I can look back I think about how that opportunity was the perfect opportunity to live out scripture. We are commanded to love one another…not just when its comfortable or in the right timing for our life. We are to love at all times.

Thanks to that sweet old lady in Target I have taken some time to think about the practical ways that each of us can love the people around us. Whether they are close friends or just people we pass by on the street… We are called to Above All Love…

Ways to love the people around us…
Smile.
Crack a joke.

Help the carry out person wrangle a couple stray carts. Write a real paper and pen note to someone you will never really know how much that can mean to someone. Call your parents and tell them you noticed how much smarter they got after you went to college.
Hold the door for someone.

Let the person behind you go ahead of you in line…even if they have more items than you do. Volunteer to take someone to the airport – and pick them up when they return. Don’t go through the shirt pile at Target like a hog rooting for truffles…find your size and stack the rest neatly back. Pay attention to body language – if the words say “I’m fine” and the face says, “I’m not fine”, ask what’s wrong. Then listen.

Develop eyes for the “invisible people”…they are created in the image of God.
Hold someone’s hand.

Send someone in need an anonymous gift card with a note, “God will never let you down.” Don’t go slow in the fast lane. Help someone change a tire.
Mow your neighbors yard…

Offer your God-given talents to the church and community. Make the cashier at WalMart laugh. Hug. Visit someone in the hospital. Clean up your mess.

Own your mistakes. Say “I’m sorry.”

Forgive.

Ask someone, “How can I pray for you?”

Then pray.

Give an I-Tunes gift card with a note, “Buy the music that speaks to your heart.” Stop being grouchy. Compliment other people’s kids. Take out the trash without being asked.

Leave a big tip.

Be patient with kids.

Buy a bag of groceries for someone, put them on the step and do a “ring and run” (it’ll be a rush and you’ll feel like a kid again.) Rake leaves for an elderly person who wishes they could but can’t. Give a single parent a break by entertaining their kids for an evening. Pay compliments to those who least expect it…”Something I always notice when I come here is how clean it is. Thanks for scrubbing those restrooms. You do a great job.” :)

Make those who feel insignificant feel significant. Make those who feel unloved feel loved. Call out the obvious talent you see in someone and spur them to develop it.

Stop being prideful. Apologize.

Call a long lost friend in another state, tell them to go outside and look at the same moon while you talk about old times.

Play a practical joke. Make a memory.

Be thankful.

Be grateful.

Live your life as a gift to God.

Point people to Jesus.

“This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” –
1 John 3:1

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Self Reflection...

So I was on vacation these past couple of days and I challenged myself to spend sometime in silence and solitude with God. During that time I reflected on a number of Scripture passages, taking time to truly meditate on each of them. But the most rewarding part of this time was when I sat and just listened to God as He spoke to me directly. What follows are His words. Although much of it pertains particularly to me, I know I'm not alone in many of my struggles, so I pray you might also find encouragement, peace, conviction, and love in these words:

Stop striving! Stop trying to earn what you already have! You're making yourself tired by taking on guilt and shame that aren't yours to carry.


Why are you so afraid to be still and silent before me? Why do you use my Word as an escape from really experiencing me? I love you! You have the right to come before me, to sit at my feet and listen as I reveal myself to you. Yes, you will learn things about yourself as well, but you don't need to fear that. There will be conviction, but there will be no condemnation. I know that you will fall; I'm not asking you to be perfect; I'm asking you to be obedient. Know that I will pick you up when you fall. There is only grace and forgiveness here. I'm holding your hand, and I will never let go.

There will be celebration here as well. Have you looked back to see how far you've come? Or are you just looking at how far there still is to go? You are different; you have been growing.You have stepped out in faith not knowing what it was I was calling you to. You are no longer the cowering child who clung white-knuckled to whatever made you feel safe and comfortable.

You are a woman of faith who has walked out onto that tightrope, holding on to nothing, but trusting that I would not let you fall. Your footing is sure—I will establish your steps as you move forward.

Sitting in silence before God was/is one of the most encouraging things I have done in a long time... So many times we seek to spend time with God but when was the last time that you allowed God to spend time with you? We all have a "life" that we live that we hate to have interrupted with pointless moments of silence but look at it this way, with a world that has us going in every direction how do we expect to follow Gods lead as a Christian if we never take the time to listen to Him?

Monday, April 27, 2009

“God will not give you more than you can handle.”

I’ve heard people say, “God will not give you more than you can handle.” That’s a nice sentiment, but I don’t think it’s true. It’s meant to be reassuring, and it sounds that way, but if it’s not true, it’s worthless.
The sentiment misquotes 1 Cor 10:13, which says, God “will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.” The mistake is to conflate temptations and burdens when we should keep the two distinct. Temptations can certainly weigh a man down, and burdens can certainly birth temptations, but while they may be connected, they are not identical. In the case of temptations, I think God promises to guard us from them because failure in the face of temptation is sin. Failing to resist temptation damages our relationship with him. This is not always so with burdens.

No, I believe, God will give you more than you can handle. Sometime burdens will be heavier than you can carry.

I think Paul would agree. In 2 Cor 12:7-8 he wrote, “I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me. . . . Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away.” That burden—that thorn—was too much for Paul. So how can I believe that God won’t give me more than I can handle? I get the impression that God’s not necessarily interested in proving that I’ve got what it takes to make it in this world. No, I think God’s interested in giving us opportunities to screw it up trying.

How can God be glorified by a bunch of failures? It doesn’t make much sense. But that seems to be how it is. Plenty of others have faced more than they could handle too: Joseph got stuck in a prison, the Israelites got stuck between a river and an army, Ezekiel wasn’t allowed to weep for his dead wife—the disciples bailing a sinking ship, Stephen stoned to death, Peter stuck in prison. They couldn’t hack it. They needed a God who could.

I find that a whole lot more comforting. I like knowing that God will give me more than I can manage. Why? Because it will force me to depend on him more. Instead of pushing me away from God the way sin does, burdens can pull me closer. That’s what I think God is more interested in—more than making life easy. And honestly, you have to work really hard to make life easy. Even then, there’s no guarantee.

Like I said, there’s an important difference between temptations and burdens. Now, burdens certainly do sometimes tempt me to abandon God. And even if God gives me the burden, that doesn’t mean he’s tempting me. “Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.” The burden is not the source of temptation, it’s how my heart responds to the burden. That’s why James can say, “When you are being tempted, do not say, ‘God is tempting me.’ . . . He never tempts anyone.” My heart’s the problem. It’s just bent on making burdens into temptations.

As for burdens, when God gives us more than we can stand, he doesn’t leave us to struggle. God offers us his strength—not our own—to bear it. Instead of transforming the burden into a temptation, my heart can draw near to God for strength. Drawing near. That sounds like something God would want.

It’s not necessarily about escaping the burden but about relying on God more for strength, and knowing him better (loving him, even) in the process. Burdens can pull us into deeper dependence on him, allowing us to discover that “God is faithful.” That’s 1 Cor 10:13. We get a chance to see God in action—a personal sort of knowledge. The God who can hack it. Paul saw it too. After all his begging, God assured him, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”

If I had to pick between hearing those words and having burdens I could manage on my own, give me those words any day. Give me that assurance. Those words describe, I think, how God can be glorified by a bunch of failures, hearts bent in the wrong direction, and clinging to God for all they’re worth.

Believing that God won’t give me more than I can bear is a dangerous thing to believe because when that burden has me pinned to the ground, I will begin questioning God and maybe even give up on him—let go. All because I don’t have the right expectations of God, believing he’s promised something he never did.

As burdens go, Jesus himself said a few words about them. “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”

You don’t have to carry your burdens alone. And hopefully you don’t think that you can. You can’t make it in the world, and Jesus is ready for you to stop trying and get some rest. God will give you more than you can stand. But Jesus came along to take the load off your shoulders, to carry the weight, and pull you along toward God. Oh sure, you may be holding on to God for all your worth, but don’t think you’re really the one with the good grip.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Thoughts to ponder...

What is beauty? Is it merely defined as something that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye? I think this is probably the easiest and quickest definition. There is also the saying ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder’.
What about a newborn baby? Or an elderly couple who still have eyes only for each other after 50 years of marriage? The person who stops to serve a complete stranger? Or a Savior willingly giving His life for His creation? These are all demonstrations of true beauty in action. Not the aesthetically pleasing kind, but the innocent, selfless, and truly magnificent kind. Some people strive their entire lives to become beautiful. It can even be paid for. This beauty, however, is temporary.

As I am preparing to lead worship for a women’s retreat with the soul topic being beauty it has made me think about what the world really see's beauty as. We live in a fallen world, one that tells us that beauty lies in the size pants that you wear or if you are wearing the hippest clothes, or if you look in the mirror and have a flawless complexion... However those lies could not be farther from the truth. Gods Grace is a perfect example of what true beauty really is. It has nothing to do with what size pants you wear or if you have a flawless complexion. True beauty can only be attained when we allow the grace of God to work itself in our lives. When we surrender all control we think we have and give it all to God, we truly become a beautiful masterpiece. A masterpiece created and someday finished by the One who started it all, the one and only Creator of the universe.

“And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.” (Psalm 90:17)

Beauty is far more then what meets eye. It’s not about what appears to look good on the outside it is a matter of the heart. And the heart of the matter is that we will never be a fair judge of what true beauty is because we don't have the ability to search the heart. So when you are having moments of self doubt and you feel that you are not beautiful remember beauty is not what you see when you look into a mirror beauty is formed from the inside out.

Monday, March 16, 2009

What are you thankful for today?

The other day I heard this joke:
A woman woke up one morning, looked in the mirror and saw she had 3 hairs on her head. She said, “Praise the Lord! I think I’ll braid my hair today”. She braided her hairs and went about her day.
She woke up the next morning, looked in the mirror and saw she had 2 hairs on her head. She said, “Praise the Lord! I think I’ll part my hair today”. She parted her hairs and went about her day.
She woke up the next morning, looked in the mirror and saw she had 1 hair on her head. She said, “Praise the Lord! I think I’ll put my hair in a pony tail today. She put her hair in a pony tail and went about her day.
She woke up the next morning, looked in the mirror and saw that she was bald. She said. “Praise the Lord! I was running out of things to do with my hair!”

Oh my goodness, I thought that was so funny! And what a wonderful reminder that we can be thankful, and should be thankful, in every and all situations. God has blessed me with so much. Little things. Big things. And I’m sure He’s blessed you too.
Often there’s something in our life that we don’t have - that we long and pray for.
…a loved one to come to Christ
…to find a spouse to love and cherish
…to have a child
…to find a job you love
…reconciliation with a loved one
…peace
And it’s often the things we don’t have - although good things - that cause us to forget what we do have.

1 Thessalonians 5:16 instructs us:
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Being thankful doesn’t mean that we don’t mourn or pray for things. But we also must be careful to not lose sight of all that we already have. All that we are blessed with.

Today I’m reminded to be thankful for:

Kindred Spirit
My jobs
My home and the ability to pay the heat bill as winter comes along
A reliable vehicle
The Sun set
Getting together with old friends
Doctors and health care available any time of the day
Water
Cell phones and the ability to talk to anyone at anytime no matter where I am
God’s Word and the freedom to read it and worship when and where I want and share my faith and thoughts when and where I want

What are you thankful for today?...

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

"What Does Keeping Your Word Say About You?"

1. You can be trusted. When you honor your word and keep your promises, people will trust you; and trust is the basis of all relationships. Your word matters so it should not be given lightly. Others respect you when you hold true to your word. Break it and it will be meaningless.

2. You have integrity. Keeping your word demonstrates quality state of being. It shows that you have a true inner self and you walk the talk. So think twice before you compromise your integrity.

3. You are honest. The words that come out of your mouth reveal a lot about you as a person. By being accountable for your words, you show to others that honesty is your best and most valuable policy.

4. You are responsible. It means you don't go back on your promises even if you have to pay a higher price to keep them.

5. You are generous. A generous person does not alter promises for self fulfillment. When you keep your promises, it shows others that you give unconditionally.

6. You honor your relationships. When you are a person full of honor and self respect, it shows that you care about pleasing others and you take them seriously.

7. You are inspiring. When you do what you say you'll do, you model the behavior for others to follow which will result in you being a courageous leader.

8. You can communicate. By matching your actions with your words, it demonstrates that you know how to communicate effectively.

9. You are a problem solver. When you keep your promise, it means you focus on the solution and not the problem that a broken promise has created. Get in the habit of keeping your word and your life will be balanced, focused, and your goals accomplished.

10. You are successful. Being successful means you don't allow your thoughts, actions, and words control you. Positively speaking, thinking, and visualizing about your goals will result in actions that will lead to success.

Have you ever had someone break a promise or commitment to you?

Have you ever made up excuses just so you could get out of a commitment without thinking how it will affect others?

By not honoring your word you may cause upsets, regrets, disappointments, and disharmony to your life and the peoples lives around you. People loose respect for you and good relationships turn sour. Remember to always say what you mean and mean what you say and you will be rewarded.

Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise...