Posts Tagged: loved by the Father
The Hamster Wheel of Busyness
We have been fed this lie that being busy is a good thing. I think as a society we have become addicted to being busy. We think we have to be busy all the time. It is to the point when someone asks us “How are you doing?” A common response has been “busy.” When has this answer become ok. And in my opinion it is a masked answer for how we really are doing.
There are seasons where we will be busy and this is enviable. But when busy becomes part of our lifestyle is where we get it wrong. Because if we are always busy there is a time where you will burnout from always being so busy. You can only go so long before you will crash from being busy. You will not have time to do the things that fill you up. That help take care of you and your sanity. And we don’t have time for the relationships that are important for us.
Resting and not being caught in this hamster wheel of busyness is good for you as a whole especially emotionally. Being in the hamster wheel of busy there is an anxiety that comes with it because you have to always think about what is next. You miss the small blessings and miracles that are right in front of you in your day to day life. I can say this from personal experience. If I am not well emotionally, it throws the rest of my life off track and not seems to works well. If we are always busy, we are not taking the time to process what is going on with us and around us. I know when I do not take the time to process emotionally it is a recipe for disaster. Maybe not right away but eventually.
When we are always busy, things get missed because we can’t do everything well. When we try to so everything, we usually are operating outside of our gifts because we are trying to do everything.
The other thing about buying into the lie of having to always be busy, we rely on ourselves much more than we are suppose to. We don’t take the time to see if there is someone else in your life that would be better suited for the task than you. And we also tend not to take the time to seek and trust God. What if God doesn’t give you an answer before you need an answer? We tell ourselves it is easier to rely on ourselves and not on God or anyone else. We are created for community with God and others.
When God created the earth, He put a day of rest in for a reason. He knew that we need to rest so that we can be productive for the rest of the week. He even to took a day of rest when He created the earth.
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” Genesis 2:2-3
So is your busyness for a season or is it a lifestyle? And is it a mask to cover up something else you don’t want to deal with?
5. Joy and Excitement
Joy and excitement … it’s not something that is familiar to me recently or even in the last year. My feelings in the last year, I think for the most part have been nonexistent/numb to keep status quo or there has been sadness as I process things that had happened or that were going on inside of me. Don’t get me wrong, I have had moments of joy and when they happen I try to take note of them.
At church recently we sang a song called “Raise a Hallelujah.” And I was overcome with joy as we sang this song.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2XtRuPfaAU&w=560&h=315]
I had a friend make a comment to me in the last year about my smile. He said to me “Your smile is different tonight.” I commented back him “I always smile.” He replied with “Tonight’s smile is different. It’s been a while since I have seen that smile.” As we talked about it more, I told him that a sense of joy came the night before and had not left yet. He wondered if there was anything different that would have caused the joy. I could not remember anything different that would have caused the joy to come. But it was refreshing to have it. In some ways his comment caught me off guard initially. But it got me thinking how often to I smile and it is a cover up or it’s just something out of habit. Or how often is my smile a genuine smile. A smile of happiness, joy and excitement.
Last night we had an amazing sunset and I got to capture it. And as I was walking back to my car, I caught myself smiling and feeling excited because I knew that I got to witness and capture one of God’s amazing wonders.
I would have moments of joy at my former job with participants completing their own goals working towards self sustainability. This is one example a participant found a full time job with benefits that would lead to self sustainability for her and her children eventually.
During this transition of leaving a career that I was in for 10.5 years, the most common question that I got “are you excited for what is next?” And I would generally reply with “I don’t feel the excitement yet.” And that is expected when you are leaving something you love. It’s been two weeks since I left my career in social work and I would say the excitement is still not here.
Being excited is living in a place of expectancy and eagerness for what is next. I live in a place of trust and expectancy for God’s plan for my life even when I do not know the next steps. And maybe someday the excitement will come but for now I will take the moments of joy that come and live in this place of trust. It is in this place of trust that I feel safe to continue to process what is going on inside of me even when I do not understand myself. But I know that I have a Father who knows myself more than I do. He is leading me through this season of life that seems so unfamiliar to me in some ways but yet so familiar in other ways.
***This is part of a series of blog posts of me sharing about burnout and things I have been learning through this. They are numbered in the order that they are written in and to indicate that they are part of this series.***
Unexplained Tears
Last night I experienced something at church that I did not understand but yet there was a peace and sweetness about it. When worship started, I felt the need to walk away from the crowd and find a spot to sit against the wall. At my seat I started to get teary eyed. But once I sat down against the wall on the floor in the back of the room, the tears started and did not stop. As I sat there in my Father’s presence, I could not figure out why I was crying. Rather than getting frustrated I just sat in the presence of God and let the tears fall.
During the time of me being present with my Creator, the only word that came to me was healing. And two images came to mind. The first image was my Father standing there with His arms open for an embrace. The next image was me laying my head against the Father as if I was an embrace with Him.
While I was sitting there, I remembering wishing someone would come to pray with me. I then felt the need to go to the next steps room for prayer during worship and I told God “I am not sure what I am asking for prayer, since I do not know why I was crying and I don’t know what is going on right now.” A still voice said to me “You don’t need to know. I know and I will give the person the words to say.”
I walked up to a friend, she hugged me and asked me “if everything is ok?” I explained to her that I have no explanation for my tears, I can not stop crying and that I am not sure what was going on but I feel the need for prayer. The Holy Spirit was right! He did give her the words to pray and the exact words that I needed.
All this to say, sometimes God does something that we have no idea what is happening but through it there is a peace and sweetness. I still am not completely sure what happened last night and I pray that I will understand someday. But even if I never know what last night meant, I would do it all over again just to spend time in His presence. There was a peace and sweetness in His presence that I want to experience over and over again!
Jesus Loves You More!
Recently I was thinking about the saying “I love you more.” This is commonly said among those in a romantic relationship or parental and child relationship. As I thought about it, I was reminded that Jesus loves you more. This love is greater than anything in our human mind could even begin to comprehend. It is so great that Jesus laid down His own life for me and you so that we do not have to take the ultimate consequence for sin. The ultimate consequence of sin is separation from God, our Creator, eternally.
The amazing thing about this love is that there is nothing we can do to change this love from God and Jesus! “I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.” – Romans 8:38-39
There are times that we do things that we may think we have messed up and God is not going to love me or forgive me or give me grace anymore. This is where we are wrong! And the fact that we are wrong is a beautiful thing. God created us and as the Creator He has gigantic love for His creation. A love that our human mind can only comprehend a fraction of. Think of a time when you have created something. You are proud of and love this creation that you made and the purpose that creation was created for. This isn’t much that creation can do that would not cause you to love it. Now take that love and pride that you have for your creation and multiple that by an infinite amount of times. This is the love that God has for you!!
This is the simple gospel. A Creator who loves us so much that He wants to show us this love in something as simple as having a relationship with Him. As in any relationship the more time you spend with someone and get to know them, deeper the love you have for this person. This is how it is with God. We need to put aside the things that we think we need to gain His love. And just get back to the basics of building a deeper relationship with our Creator.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY_TDm5jS0M?ecver=2]
Love
Why do we feel the need to always give our opinion or give our take on a situation or a person? (I know its ironic that I am asking this questions on a blog.) But today I read a Facebook post that someone made a judgement about a different religion. As far as I know the person that made the judgement did not know the people they made the judgements about. It got me thinking why do we feel the need to make judgements about others just because of our differences. Too often we use our differences to make judgements to put a divider between us and the person we make judgements about.
When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandments, this is how he answered this question. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:36-40 Jesus did not say that you don’t need to love the person that believes different than you. Or you don’t need to love the person that looks different than you. Or you don’t need to love the person who has hurt you and does not deserve your love. Or you don’t need to love the person the homeless person that crosses your path. Or you don’t need to love the person who decides to love differently than you. There were no exceptions in this commandment. God made every person on this earth different. We are called to love others. Too often we find a reason to not show God’s love to others. We should take time to get to know someone who we may want to pass a judgement on. If we did this we would find the person is not as different as we think. And most likely we would find this person is amazing and they can add a great value to our life.
Another thing to remember is that our words have impact. Too often we say words without thinking about the impact they have. Too often the words we say carelessly have an impact for a lifetime. It is up to us if we want our words to impact positively or negatively.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHcVTbyJqis&w=560&h=315]
Betrayal
“While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.
Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend.”
Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him. With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.
“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”
In that hour Jesus said to the crowd, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me? Every day I sat in the temple courts teaching, and you did not arrest me. But this has all taken place that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.” Matthew 26:46-56
I read this passage this morning in my devotions. And after I read it, I started to think about the emotions Jesus went through in this moment. Jesus built a friendship with a man who He knew that was going to betray him. Jesus did this to fulfill His purpose on earth.
I had to think if I knew someone was going to betray or hurt me, I would stay away from this person and not build a friendship with this person. But then I think to myself what if I knew building a friendship with someone who is going to betray/hurt me, will lead them to be introduced to His love or the friendship will lead them or me to their or my purpose in life. Would this make the hurt and the betrayal worth it if this would happen? While I am not advocating for us to willingly put ourselves in situations that we are going to be doormats and we are going to be abused. What I am saying Jesus still chose to build a relationship with Judas, so that our sins can be forgiven.
Sometimes we are asked to do hard things in life. Like show mercy and grace to a person who has betrayed us over and over again so this person can see the unconditional love of Jesus or to adopt a child that might have medical issues because of the choices of the biological parents. While God does not call us to an easy life, we can have the comfort that He is with us in those hard moments of life. And we are not doing it alone.
So what hard thing in life is God asking you to do?
Dreams
Last week my Pastor was preaching on the woman at the well (John 4:1-18). He was talking about her history and where she was at that point in her life. This woman was ridiculed by people in her community. Because of this she would go to the well when no one else was there.
One thing that my Pastor brought up was this woman may have quit dreaming and thinking that her future could be better than what it was. But one day Jesus met her at the well and changed her life. My Pastor then asked us “did you quit dreaming.” This question got me thinking. I realized in the last couple years I somewhat quit dreaming. And when I did dream I would think of a reason why it wouldn’t work. I also had become complacent in my life especially professionally. I put my own ceiling on my career and my life. But by doing this I put limits of myself and on God.
But with some changes in the last couple, this has caused me to start dreaming again. And this week, I was challenged to reflect over the last couple years and where my mindset was at that time. This reflection has made to start dreaming with limits because I serve a God who is limitless. I am no longer going to look at my dreams through the lens of my past failures and hurts. I am excited to dream again and continue making my dreams come true.
What dreams are you not pursuing because of your past, your current circumstances or the limits you put on yourself? So start dreaming, let the Father run with your dreams and take you to places you never imagined.
Words
“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” – The Christian Recorder of March 1862
I remember hearing this saying as a child and I am sure I used it several times myself. But as an adult, I started to think about the meaning and the implication of this saying. Reality is that words can hurt and can be painful. And once said they can not be unsaid.
This week there was a wildfire in Gatlinburg, Tennessee that destroyed many acres of forest, homes and businesses. There was a lot of damage done by this fire and the damage will take a long time to clean up from. While fire is something that can be so beautiful it can be so devastating also. I liken this to our words we say. Words can be used to encourage and build up others or ourselves. But they can also be used to tear down and hurt others. And if words are used to tear down and hurt others, the affects can be there for many years. Sometimes we replay those words ourselves and we still hear them many years later. In many cases healing can take many years. James talks about this very thing.
“A bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. This is scary: You can tame a tiger, but you can’t tame a tongue—it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer. With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. Curses and blessings out of the same mouth!” – James 3:3-10
When speaking to others, we should be speak with purpose. This purpose would be to speak in love to others and to point others to our Father.
God thoughts
Ever wonder what God’s thoughts are when He is creating the world? Well I did a little while ago on the way to work. It went like this. “I am going to create to give this woman a compassion for others. So one day she can use that compassion to help those in need and she is going to make an amazing mom. She is going to resilient so she can have the courage to make it through the craziness life sends her way. And I am going to give her a love for football to distress.”
“I am going to place this creek here. Because without it here there would not be enough of water in the area to provide for all the animals and the plants. And this is going to provide a peaceful place for one of my created beings to find rest.”
“I am going to give this dog a desire to protect those he loves but also is gentle with a child. And he is going to love chewing on wood and dig holes for fun!”
“With this man, he is going to love compute numbers and design things. So he can create a bridge that is safe to drive over in his community. And he is going to be silly and goofy so when his little girl wants him to dance; he does it and he doesn’t care how he looks. He just wants to make her happy in that moment!”
“I can’t wait to paint the sunset because I know it’s Marilyn’s favorite time of the day! And it’s her reminder that I love her.”
“This tree is going to be a home for animals but I am going to add these beautiful flowers that are pink with a white center. So someone can come along and enjoy the beauty of this tree in the busyness of life.”
“I am going to put this colorful rainbow in the sky so my daughter and son can smile and find joy in the midst of life’s roughest moments. It is my reminder to them of my promises and that I am sovereign over all on this earth.”
I could go on and on with this and it is fun to think what God’s thoughts might be. It amazes me that God’s creative inspiration doesn’t run dry. Each person, animal, plant, snowflake, sunrise, etc are all different. There is no two created beings or things exactly the same! This thought alone blows my mind let alone the other amazing things God does!
But I also know another thing He created was a redemption plan for mankind. When we deserved spiritual death, God sent Jesus to take our sins so that we may have eternal life and freedom! And all we have to do is accept this gift.
Psalm 19:1 “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
Marilyn
I took this picture last week while I was on vacation in Cottonwood, Arizona.
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