Project 365 grateful

Several weeks ago I was reading a blog post from someone somewhere (unfortunately I cannot remember as to provide a link) and they were speaking of a friend of theirs who posted a photo onto Facebook each day of the year of what she was thankful for.

This gave me an idea. So often I too am not thankful for what I have. I grumble, am not content, and always what something better while I am really not in any situation to do any of that. I am so richly blessed. So now, using Instagram (which one of my friends has been strongly encouraging me to get for a very long time now), I am challenging myself to stop, think and then take a picture of something that I am grateful for.

To think about something that God has given me and to remind myself that I have no reason to complain at all.

I just googled '365 grateful' and came up with a lot of links to blogs and such but I still think it is a really great idea. It makes us all stop and think of what we have, what we are grateful for and how great  and awesome our God really is.

Risking All that we Have

As Jesus looked up, he saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "Truly I tell you," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave gift out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on." Luke 21: 1-4

This story from Luke 21 is a illustration of complete dependance on God. An example of risking everything for God. This widow gave everything that she had financially to God, she risked all her money for the service of God. Reading this we may see her actions as irresponsible and foolish. However, we are called to take risks in the service of God. Life itself is a risk and if we want to serve God we must continually step further out of our comfort zone to grow as a child of him. We must continually take risks

Now I could keep talking about this but most of what I want to say would be paraphrasing what John Piper says on the matter. See the link below for his sermon on Ch 21 of Luke. There he talks about taking risks for the service of God, how we must take risks in our lives for the service of God, we don't need to be comfortable, but what we do need to do is to serve God in everything that we do, and to take risks for him. Financial risks, relationship risks and risks for ministry.

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/risk-and-the-cause-of-god-today

Training

"Train yourself to be Godly. For physical training is of some value but Godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present and the life to come." 1 Timothy 4:7-8

Training. Not a word that I particularly like. It's something that I would associate with discipline, hard work and commitment. Things that I find difficult (especially when they are put all together). At the moment I am trying to build my fitness up, I'm not training for anything in particular but I try to run or workout every day, and that is really hard. My lazy human nature doesn't like the idea of pushing myself to to extra work each day. In the text written above (1 Tim 4:7-8). Paul talks about the value that training in Godliness has for us. There is value in training our bodies but even more value in training our hearts and souls to be Godly.

In her book Having a Mary Spirit, Joanna Weaver talks about training in godliness. She makes the comment that we like to be changed but we don't like to be challenged. We would love to be fitter, healthier and (probably) lighter than we are at the moment but we don't want to work at changing that, all the commitment and discipline that comes with the training scares us away. Even more so, we want to live more godly lives but we are lazy and don't want to work at changing our current lifestyle. We want an instant fix.

Singular purpose

Today I took out some library books. Not that that is really that amazing of an accomplishment but what I noticed is that they are all due back on my birthday. That means, in exactly three weeks time, I turn 22. Depending on who you ask, 22 is either a young and with my whole life ahead of me, or if you speak to my youngest brother, really old.

Mindless, of the fact that I'm going to be old or young, the point of this post is the comments and ideas lots of people around me have about being single at 22. Yes I did go to uni. I now have a degree, have done some travelling and am hoping to begin my career. That doesn't mean that I don't want to get married or find an amazing guy to spend the rest of my life with. I'm not saying that I hear these comments from everyone around me, I have an amazingly supportive group of friends and a great family who don't drop these hints at all.

Still, it's something that I think about a bit more now than I did a year ago. Some of my friends think and talk about it even more than I do and as a result we all get that little bit more discontent with where we have been placed in life. So what do I say to them? What do I say to my friends who are yet again talking about meeting guys or finding a boyfriend? What do I say to the well-meaning people in my Bible Study group who make comments regarding 'single females travelling and focussing on their career'? What do I say when someone makes a comment about 'homemaking' in contrast to a career? What do I tell myself when I start to doubt the plan God has for me?

To be honest, I don't know at all. But what I do know is God has an amazing plan for my life. Right now that plan does not include someone else and that opens a doorway for a whole variety of service in a different manner. Right now I might not be serving God in the role of motherhood and for all I know that might not happen for a while, but I can still serve God as an active single member in the congregation, reaching out to those in need. I can serve Him in the work place, witnessing to others of the great God I serve and doing everything to His honour and glory. I have the time and resources to volunteer in my local community, helping people and giving of what I have. I have opportunities to minister to people in other countries as I don't have any big commitments here. There are lots of other ways in which I can serve God without worrying about who 

Sometimes...

Sometimes things don't go according to the plan we have. Sometimes it's more than just sometimes that this happens. But then it's the fact that these things didn't go to plan that makes us stop and realise that God has a plan and his plan is amazing. 

I'm not really a planner but I did think that I had this year planned out. I would go travelling for the first half of the year and get an understanding of what is out there and then come back home, relax a bit and then get a job. The first bit of my plan went well but then I hit a bit of a bump. A pretty big one in the fact that I haven't got a job. It's been some time since I came home (over a month now) and the only work that I have done is write a dozen cover letters, some responses to selection criteria and some shifts where I worked while I was studying. Then today I got an email saying that the job interview that I had on Monday was unsuccessful. Yep. A big bump in the road. 

But then, when things don't go according to plan it's when we realise that God's plan is so much more amazing than ours could ever be. We are held in His hand and his plans and those plans are amazing. Nothing happens to us without the will of our heavenly Father. He controls everything. So instead of worrying about your plans and how they are turning out (or how they aren't) we should put everything in the hands of the Lord. It was a good reminder to have that today. The Lord is in control and his plan is amazing.

Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken. Psalm 55:22

Let your requests be made known to God

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Phil 4:6,7) 

It is so easy for us to worry, to be anxious and stress over what is happening in our lives. We worry about our relationships with friends, family and significant others; we stress over our studies and career or part time work, food, fitness, health, money, getting enough sleep, food, finding time to do everything, being happy, other people, and lots more things. The biggest thing that I worry about right now is finding a job. Our lives are full of stress and worry. We become anxious because we feel as if our life isn't working right and it all is going wrong.

But, we shouldn't worry. Paul tells us here in Phil 4 to be anxious for nothing. Nothing. Instead of worrying we should pray and lift our problems to God. In one of the books I am reading right now (A Praying Life, by Paul E. Miller), the author writes about how our worries should turn into prayers to God. Instead of worrying about our job we should instead lift it up to God in prayer. We should let all our worries and fears be made known to God.

By lifting our anxieties up to God we acknowledge that he is greater than our problems and we give them over to Him. We cant do anything with our problems but God can. He holds us in His hands and takes care of our worries and supplications. When we do that and when we rest in that knowledge we can stop worrying. The peace of God will guard our hearts and minds and we learn to trust in someone much greater than us.

Love your Neighbour

I was just going to write another post on loving our neighbour unconditionally. I wrote a part of it and then I realised that I had already written most of what I was writing. So instead of repeating myself, I have decided to think of a list of practical ways in which we can show love to our neighbours.

Loving our neighbours isn't easy to do. It is a big challenge to love unconditionally, to love those who don't show love in return. But if we start in the small ways then our love to others can grow.

Here I've listed three general ideas to begin with, and then following are some of my ideas for practical things that we can do

1. Reach out to others. Don't just talk to the same people that you always talk to - your friends. Step out of your comfort zone and be a friend to others. After church or Bible study, speak to someone that you might not normally talk to. Be a friend to them.
2. Listen. Listening to others is a great way to show that we care about them By this I don't just mean pretending to listen to others and then forgetting what they said, but actually take it in. Show that you understand and even empathise with them if they are speaking about something that might be bothering them
3. Look for needs that can be filled. It's easy enough to talk about filling need but actively look for people that you can help. Things that you yourself can do. Maybe it's mowing the lawn or making a meal or even just giving someone company.

Jesus told us to do unto others as we would have them do to us (Luke 6:27). Its not an easy thing to do but with the help of the Holy Spirit working in us we can. Some of the practical things that this can look like include:

• Smile. At others. It's amazing how a smile can change someones day, show them that someone cares.
• Buy a meal for a homeless person (don't just think about doing it) OR keep snacks in your bag so you have something to give them right there.
• Learn how to change a tire. Instead of thinking that we should help the car stuck on the side of the road, stop and help them. Carry jump leads for the same reason.
• Offer to babysit
• Mow your neighbours lawn
• Bake extra and give it to someone else.
• Pay for the person behind you in the drive through (or the person buying coffee after you etc..)
• Sit next to someone new in your Bible study group. Ask them how their week has been
• Pray for others
• Hold the door open for the person behind you
• visit a local nursing home and spend time with the elderly. They love it!
• Find somewhere local that you can volunteer at. Give as much time as you can however short or long it might be. For WA I found this website that might be helpful http://www.volunteeringwa.org.au/ otherwise your local church might also have some outreach programs set up.
• Ask questions when you talk to people, don't just talk about yourself
• Give up your seat on the train/bus
• Open up to others so they feel they can open up to you. Show that you are also vulnerable
• Be patient with others no matter how long they take
• Donate blood
• Help toursits or others who look lost (I've been on the receiving end here and it is greatly appreciated)

Step out of your comfort zone and reach out to those who God places in your path.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour other, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 

Unconditional love

We are saved because of God's great love for us. His great unconditional love for us. We didn't do anything, we cannot do anything that makes Him love us yet he loves us all the same.

In that same way we should love others. Because Christ laid down his life for us, because he loves us unconditionally, we should share that love. Christian love then is unconditional. It exceeds boundaries and has no expectations. We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). We love our brothers and sisters in christ, we love our friends in the work force, we love those who God puts in our path because of the wonderful gift of love that God has given us. 

How do we show that love? How do we show to others that we love them because of the love that we have been given?

God's artwork

U

The past several months I have had the amazing opportunity to travel and see some amazing sights. It was truly a real blessing and a wonderful experience. I was able to spend time in Thailand where I was in the magnificent jungles and on some beautiful tropical beaches. Then later in Europe I could see some amazing coutryside in Ireland, Germany, Turkey and Italy. The breathtaking Swiss Alps and the rugged coastline of Northern Ireland (including the Giants Causeway).

Now I love art. I took almost every opportunity I could while in Europe to see the artwork of others and to take as many photographs as i could to inspire my own art. But the beauty of what others have done and what I try to recreate cannot even begin to compare to the magnificent splendour of what God has done. Not only in Europe or Thailand or the amazing places that we have here in Australia, but all over the world he has given us so many different masterpieces and they are all there for us to enjoy.

What a great and awesome God we serve!

Learn to Discern

I will never forget one of the faded dog eared posters that we had hanging in the English classroom at school. I can still see it sitting there with the faded yellow words "Test the Spirits" on it. To be honest I'm not really sure why I remember it maybe it was because of the long hours we spent in that classroom or because we did have a large number of our TEE exams in there throughout year 11 and 12 and I would look around the classroom for inspiration and too see if anything had changed.

The words are important though. We must learn to be discerning,to test what we learn and compare it against what we know. We should all be able to evaluate what we hear, read and see and hold it up against the light of God's word. 

That is not to say that we should look over something because it may possibly have something contrary to our beliefs and understanding of Gods word, but rather we should look at these things and compare it with what we know as right. There may be parts of it that we find are not true or accurate but we can pass over them while still learning from the rest of what we have. Books, movies, speeches  and articles all present us with a collection of themes. We may not agree with all the themes but we can take and learn from those that we do agree with and pass over what we don't agree with.

God has given us the wonderful gift of his word. Study that and know it well so that you can use it to shine light upon what ever else you may read, watch or listen to.