Out With the Old....In With the New

My.... how that title fits the changing of this year. Typically, my blogs are more "spiritual" but today I am just going to blog about the "stuff" in my life. On December 20, 2008, I lost my precious Sadie Girl. It was one day after her 6th birthday. It just went by so fast. I am simply devasted. She was my love, my comfort and my joy. I looked forward to any time I had off just to be at home with Sadie and Jake. For those of you who aren't dog lovers, I don't expect you to understand. I guess because I don't have kids, I have filled my need to nurture with my fur kids. We now have two new puppies named Daisie and Duke. So, the passing of 2008 is symbolic of her passing and the new lives we will now pour into.

The year 2009 will bring my 40th birthday which, to me, symbolizes the passing of my youth. That is probably a twisted thought but it is a little sobering to think I could have very well spent half of the years I've been given to live. Have I been a good steward? I don't feel like I've done enough or attained the spiritual level of maturity I think I should be at by now. My...how the years have "raced" by. Seriously, I have NO IDEA where the last 10 years went. It is a weird feeling to feel the same inside yet look in the mirror and see how the outside has changed. I hope that spiritually that is not the case. The Word says that while our outward bodies are perishing, our spirits are being renewed day by day. I hope my spirit man is being renewed and changed. I was thinking today that if I gave the Lord half of the attention I give my dogs......! I feel that I still struggle with junk that I struggled with 20 years ago. UGH! Nothing is ever good enough...I never measure up. Same old story. The story of my life. A spirit of condemnation. Lord, loose me from these chains that keep me from joy and freedom.

I really want to learn to enjoy my life as well as all of this newness I will be experiencing. I want to see these things as a blessing not a burden. I've read all this stuff on the internet about how shouln't raise two puppies at the same time. Why didn't I do my homework? Actually, I didn't want two. My husband did. So now I'm scared to death it's going to be a chaotic nightmare. I'm not very good with change. Actually, I hate it. I am completely a creature of habit - very boring, too serious, too analytical and very predictable. I'm thinking "what was I thinking - getting two puppies?" I was already on the edge of insanity. This is sure to send me over. Training one dog much less two is A LOT of work and takes A LOT of time. I surely didn't have much of that to spare to begin with....but dogs are so much comfort. Is that selfish? Will this cost me more time that I should be spending with God? I always think/feel that God is not pleased with me. I guess I put so much pressure on myself that I can neveer just enjoy the moment(s) I'm in and then I blink my eyes and those precious moments have gone.

"This day is fragile, soon it will end
And once it has vanished it will not come again
Let us share love, let us share God
Before this day is gone

This day we're given is golden
Let us show love
This day is ours for one moment
Let us sow love

This day is fleeting, it will pass by
And before it's too late to recapture the time
Let us share love, let us share God
Before this day is gone"

Mary or Martha?

Luke 10:41-42 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her".

In this story, Mary had the attitude, "I can eat later; right now Jesus is talking and I want to hear Him". More often that not, I find myself saying, "I can spend time with Jesus later; right now I have so much to do". How many times have I neglected fellowship with the lover of my soul when I hear Him whispering, "leave that behind and come away with me"?

Once again, I have busied myself with the temporary to the neglect of the eternal. I want to blame my attitudes and frustrations on everyone else around me even though it is really due to a lack of my own refreshing - not renewing my mind like I know I should. I have replaced my time of fellowship with Him with the works of my hands and therefore I have spent all of my strength. I often reason that I just don't have time but the truth is we all have time for what we MAKE time for.

I realized after a lot of reflection this weekend how very SELF-CENTERED my thought patterns have become, how sorry I feel for myself, how negative and critical I've been. I can say that I trust in the Lord when all of my circumstances are within my control, when all of my loved ones are acting like I think they should act, when my body is healthy and my job is secure, etc. I also realized how much work it is to maintain the appearance of anything....your body, your house, success, being "spiritual". We can be so busy keeping up the outward appearance that the inward part of us is a mess. Keeping up appearances drains us of the energy we need to change. Our culture rewards achievement and appearance, but God rewards faithfulness and substance.

If allowed, the demands and pressures around you will always usurp your priorities and disorder your day. Why do I continue to allow that? Why do you?

Your Past Is Not Your Future

"You can spend your whole life figuring out why you are messed up and still be messed up once you've figured it out."

I jokingly say from time to time, "why can't everyone be normal like me?" But in truth, aren't we all messed up? When we look back and try to make sense of all that has happened in the past, we are bound to be frustrated. Constantly replaying, reviewing and rewinding is like trying to walk forward while looking backward. Our past, no matter how tragic or terrible is GONE! We can never reach back and change it. Even the good parts of our past are gone. Trying to live there drains our lives of the present. It only wastes time and energy. We can spend our lives trying to figure out why we're messed up, who's fault it is and still be messed up once we've figured it out. After all our searching, we figure out the WHY, but knowing why doesn't produce the power to change. We must know the WHO. You don't go to the problem for the answer. Jesus is the answer. We must move from the problem to the answer. Our answer is Jesus. The question is, do we believe what He did was enough?

God doesn't say, "I want you to remember your shame and learn from it." He says, "forget about it because I have." God won't remind you of your past so don't let anyone else - forget about it. He is a God of restoration and delights in turning the old into something new.

I have watched my husband restore a couple of corvettes and have been amazed at what the car looked like when he got it and what it looked like when he finished with it (although, ironically, he says he's never really finished). What was old and ugly turned into something new and beautiful. It took months and months and lots of patience to get even the tiniest detail replaced. He often gets comments about how beautiful the car is and sometimes I think "it didn't always look like this". I believe that is the way it is with us. God just keeps working on us one part at a time until all the parts have been restored and replaced and we are the beautiful creation HE originally intended us to be.

Window of Opportunity

Upon turning the ripe old age of 39 this week, I have been thinking about how small our window of opportunity is to make a difference in this world. Each of us will walk this planet for a certain amount of days. You and I have been given a specific number of breaths and heartbeats to expend and we all have the opportunity to make a difference in our lifetime. Take a moment right now to think about what you will do with the minutes, days, weeks, months and years God has given you. I hope you'll take the time to consider this thought. It just may be one of the most important questions you'll ever ask yourself.

God has given you incredible potential, a purpose and vision designed especially for you and He has equipped you to fulfill it. This is an amazing truth that most christians fail to really grasp.

We live in a phenomenal time in history and the urgency of the times in which we live is evident. The clock is ticking and it is vital for us as Christians to discover and then get on with the vision God has for our lives.

There is no escaping time. Despite the best efforts of our culture to halt time through skincare regimes and plastic surgery, time passes for all of us. We are each entrusted with the opportunity to decide how we'll spend the time we're given. Yes, God has entrusted you and me with time! What will you do with the time you have?

Today, each of us can make choices that impact the fulfillment and fruitfulness of our time here on earth. Some people drink their life away, some allow unforgiveness to eat their life away and others still will spend their life as victims of circumstance. Then there are those who have decided to spend their time living both saved and called....a decision that shapes how they live out everyday. They have committed themselves to the greatest cause of all - the cause of Christ!

Weariness

....well, that's what I've been lately......weary, worn out, sick and tired, fed up, aggravated and anything else you can think of along those lines. I have felt like I don't have the energy to go on one more day. I question the "call", my motives, my ability and my "want to". Why does everthing have to be so hard - so much work? It would be a whole lot easier to be average, complacent or even down right LAZY. (I did get to enjoy a wonderful, rainy day this past Friday. I curled up on my couch under an electric blanket, read a book and watched a movie ALL DAY!!!)



I guess that reminds me, as the Bible says, that WIDE is the gate that leads to destruction and NARROW is the way to heaven and few there be that find it. My flesh can come up with every excuse to not DENY myself, take up my cross and follow Jesus. We truly are a self indulgent society - there is very little we have to "deny"ourselves of in this culture. I don't want this mentality to affect my spirituality.



I'm thankful for my brothers and sisters in Christ that "spur" me on and remind me that I MUST finish the race....and so I run, with eternity set in my heart.



2 Corinthians 4:8-10 I'm pressed but not crushed, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed..........



I am truly blessed. God has been so good, so faithful and so merciful to me - the very least I can do is live my life as an offering to Him.

Psalm 133 v. 1&3
"How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along! Yes, that's where God commands the blessing and ordains eternal life."

Unity is the most essential element in a successful church. Unity doesn't mean conformity - because we're not all alike. Unity is HARMONY. There is diversity in harmony. Harmony is DIFFERENT notes BLENDED together that make a more beautiful sound than one note could ever make by itself. Harmony is a hard thing to learn. For me, it's easier to sing the lead note or main melody. I have to work a little harder at harmony. Sometimes I hear the harmony without much effort and sometimes I have to work at it or memorize it until I can remember how it's done.

We have to be careful not to impose our opinions at the expense of unity. Our opinions may differ but we can still blend those different "sounds" to create a beautiful harmony that will lead our church toward DESTINY!

I believe that as sure as we have a destiny, we also have an adversary and that before the church can GO anywhere, we have to have people who will STAY somewhere. It is so much easier to run away or retreat than press through hard things. It's easier to bike downhill than uphill but God didn't ask us to take the easy way. He asks us to run the race, resist our adversary and press on toward the prize.

If you feel like you're at the end of you're rope, tie a knot in it and HANG ON~

Fighting To Be Different

"Fighting to be different to make a difference".....Pastor Craig Crosby

"Breaking tradition to mend the broken".....Pastor Ric Edgar



I love both of these quotes. I believe tradition is ingrained in us from the time we are children and is influenced by culture, race and gender. I believe who we are, what we believe, even the way we worship is mostly learned behavior. Most people never deviate very far (at least for very long) from how they were raised. Whether you are Baptist, Pentecostal, Charismatic, Methodist or AME.....we learn how to worship (or what is acceptable in worship) by watching those around us.

Because of that, I find myself challenged in how we do church. Obviously, whatever the "church" has been doing for the last 50 years has NOT been reaching the masses; therefore, we find ourselves looking for relevant ways to reach the lost - changing the METHOD but not the MESSAGE. My prayer is that as we do that, the name of Jesus is still high and lifted up and that we remember that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world - that we shine like a city on a hill! I don't want to be the one who says "we've never done it that way before". Lord, help me keep in mind your passion for the lost and be willing to do whatever it takes to reach them.

Amazed

Yesterday's worship time was INCREDIBLE! I am so amazed at what God is doing as well as the unbelievable people He has placed together on our team for such a time as this. I am so thankful for all of the talented singers and musicians we have and for the new people He is sending us. What an awesome privilege to be entrusted to lead this amazing group of people.

I stand in awe when I think about all of the events that have transpired in my life to bring me to this exact place at this exact time for His perfect purpose in my life.....so much that happened while I thought I was running from God. His Word clearly states that He works ALL THINGS TOGETHER for our good - not that all things are good - but that it all works together for our good. I can see that so clearly. Even in the places I was most miserable, I can see how He has used those experiences to prepare me for where I am.

I think about the precious Pastor that watched me grow in his church from the age of 13, mentored me and invested in me to be the Worship Leader I am today and the precious Pastor I currently serve under - who so believed in the call of God on my life and wouldn't let me say "no".

So much of what I do isn't even about the music (although it is a big part) but about investing in the lives of these people that I do life with. That is the biggest deal to me. Besides the musical gifts He has given me, He has truly given me a heart for people. It is the most rewarding thing to watch lives being transformed right before my very eyes - knowing that it has nothing to do WITH me but about Him working THROUGH me.

May I keep my eyes fixed on the prize and never stop running this amazing race through His amazing grace!

Complaining

Are you a complainer? Complaining is so easy to see when others do it and hard to see in ourselves. What are your most common complaints? Mine seem to be mostly about the amount of work that needs to be done and not having enough time to do it, how hot it is outside, gas prices and the condition of the dirt road and how sorry our neighbors are who don't do their part to maintain their portion of it.

Philippians 2:14-15 says "Do all things without murmuring or complaining, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation...."

The strongest muscle in the human body is right behind your teeth. What we say comes straight from from the heart, pours through our lips, and sometimes damages relationships.

Being a complainer indicates that the Spirit of God is not in control because everything coming out of your mouth is from the human point of view.

According to Numbers 11:1 our complaining angers God. I believe it is because when we complain we are doubting God's character and that He is at work. By choosing to complain, we cling to the idol of a perfect life and therefore forfeit the grace and strength we need to get through whatever we are facing.

"Lord, help me to recognize complaining when I hear it. Soften my heart to what complaining means to You and to others. Protect me from being poisoned by others' words and by my own attitude. Change my attitude toward complaining. Help me to do it less and tolerate it less. Forgive me for forgetting your faithfulness to me. Stir faith in me to trust you in both good and bad.