Archive | September 2012

‘Hit publish, if you’re feeling brave!’

Sep20

‘Hit publish, if you’re feeling brave!’

The words above were the final ones in the online tutorial for using WordPress. I have hit the publish button (several times already) prior to doing the tutorial a few days ago, but today, now that I have read those words and feel there is an expectation of bravery, that goes along with publishing these blogs, I find it harder than ever to get writing.

I would never consider myself to be brave.

It just isn’t a word that would spring to mind if I was asked to describe myself. The thought of things changing around me is often enough to cause apprehension and the discomfort of uncertainty will often cause me to become nervous. My confidence is often left in tatters by something as small as an unpleasant driver pushing past me in a queue of traffic filtering into one lane.

In terms of bravery, I am slow to put myself forward for anything new and reluctant to move out of my comfort zone.

The message from God comes loud and clear! there is no need to be anxious, He has got it all covered.

How ever far away I head off track, in an instance He is there to take me back, how ever I am feeling, he already knows, how ever concerned I become about others, He hears my prayers for them and answers according to His will. When I face new challenges He is with me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzhF3f3v7C8

So as another birthday passes, I feel no more confident in myself than when I was 30 years younger, nethertheless I am becoming more and more aware of the greatness of my Father God.

Any bravery that I may display in my life is only because I have a great big God backing me up all the way!

Hope you have His greatness seeing you through each day too!

Every blessing for the challenges you face today.

Managing your distractions

Sep16

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It was about three years ago when I first came across this expression ‘managing your distractions’ it was during my time as a teaching assistant at Forestdale Primary School and the context was for helping children who were easily distracted (by their peers, surroundings and other influences) to learn how to spot the distractions, and manage them, so that they didn’t loose focus on their work.

However, more recently I have been thinking about this with how distractions can keep up from walking in a Godly direction, or set us back from our vision and goals for our lives.

The first thing may appear obvious, but knowing what ‘is a distraction’ is key to being able to manage it, and deal with it accordingly.

So to identify my distractions I would ask myself a few questions.

Is this going to bring me closer to God?
Are my actions Godly ones?
Who will be blessed by my choices?
Does this fit with how I want to live and what I believe in?

Once I’ve worked out what is stopping me from staying on track that’s when I start to pray! I know that in my own strength it is likely that, things will continue just the same. So I start seeking God for wisdom and solutions and ideas for what I can do to change things.

Here’s an example (of the obvious…) if my distraction from going to my exercise class was tv or other evening social gatherings, I would ask God for his help in making the choice of which is best for me or if he would reveal another option that I could take.

What is God saying to you? What gets in the way of His plans for your life? Can you pray and seek God to help change things for the better?

Don’t let a temptation become a sin, keep yourself in check, stay close to God, through Jesus and His Spirit, looking always to living out His Kingdom on earth.

1 Corinthians 10
v13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

Hanging by a thread

Sep13

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As I left the house early this morning I noticed a spider by my front door hanging by a single thread with no sign of a web. It somehow looked wrong and I felt slightly doubtfully about the spider’s ability to survive.

There are times when things appear to be going so wrong or not as I would have liked that I feel all that is left is barely enough to keep me going. It’s like Im’ hanging by a weak and fragile thread that could readily break at any point.

The reality is very different, there is more than just one thin fragile thread holding me up, but I am at times unable to see the bigger picture and all that I do, or think about, is the one thing that can’t be changed or reversed.

I am good at action replays, analysing and mulling over a situation, looking at it lots of different ways and making up many ‘what if’ sinerios . All fairly time consuming and none of which will ultimately change anything. This is when I need to expand my vision, see the bigger picture and refocus away from the troublesome event or incident. I have sometimes referred to this as changing the channel in my head.

If only we had a remote control that changed our lives to a new chanel each time there was something going on that we didn’t want to play out. Ho hum, life is never quite that simple.

God doesn’t promise an easy life and like the caterpillar that needs to strengthen it’s new wings to break free from the chrysalis all the struggles and hardship are part of a far bigger and greater picture. God knows the beginning, and end, for each one of our stories and has promised that

‘All things work together for those who love the Lord’

Yet still, I find myself, from time to time, looking in the wrong direction. Slow to offer the problems to the Lord in prayer and almost insisting on letting the world weigh me down, until I find something new to distract me away from the current issue.

Meanwhile, my old, loving faithful friend, guide, comforter, and example is patiently waiting for me to turn back to Him and seek His wisdom and purposes for my life.

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Thinking more about the spider, the web must have a beginning, the first ‘leap of faith’ so to speak;The point when you start something new, the moving in a different direction, the unfamiliar, or unknown. The certainty is however, that God already knows and is right there with us, there is nothing to fear.

Romans 8
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
17 and if children, then heirs-heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Adopted by God, so we can call him Father, heirs in His Kingdom, you don’t get better life support than that!

Trust God. Take the next step, the blind leap of faith, because God will catch you if you fall, pick you up again, he hasn’t started a work in you and forgotten about you!

Philippians 1
‘And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ’

Preferring Others’ Needs

Sep4

I started to write a piece this morning and by the time I got to the end I managed to hit the delete button and loose it all. For a short while I was annoyed, but not enough to become angry or frustrated that I had wasted my time.

I didn’t feel it was right to try and repeat it, because by the time I had reached the end of it, I had come to the conclusion that God was teaching me about how to love others.

So this time the focus in on that instead of what it had originally started out as. Here goes my explanation.

When you are faced with others dropping their problems on you, it can be easy to loose focus and find yourself getting burdened with the difficulties that they face, feeling sad about what you are hearing and concerned for their well being.

God gives us the opportunity to to lead others to Him, sharing the truth about Jesus and the direction of God’s words in the bible. However, I often doubt if I am able to do this, if my words are true to His teaching and if they are having any impact at all. I found myself, unintentionally, judging and not loving them as God would want me to.

God led me to the passages in Corinthians reminding me about love. Teaching me to be patient with them, honor them and not to become cross with them for their wrong doing but to remain truthful to His word and His teaching.

God, by His Spirit mends the broken hearted, brings peace and leads us to a better place, raising us up out of the miry pit and bringing us into His Glorious Kingdom, NOT ME! I can take others to Jesus but it is up to them to form their own relationship with him.

I am to remain faithful in my words and actions because God is working His purposes out, not mine, and although I may not be seeing what I had hoped for, He is in control, knowing all and seeing all things.

My part is to love as God would love, preferring others needs above my own and seeking His wisdom to provide good counsel and helpful support.

“There is nothing in the law of God that will rob you of happiness; it only denies you that which would cost you sorrow.” –Charles Spurgeon

Proverbs 3:5-6

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

Sometimes I feel that there is no more I can do to help or direct someone, having prayed with them, guided them with scripture and given them a considerable amount of my time, listening and supporting them, it is at this point God tells me not to stop loving them!

If I Have Not Love – Phatfishwww.youtube.comTaken from Phatfish’s latest album ‘In Jesus’ available now from http://www.phatfish.net

If this has been, at all, helpful please fell free to leave a comment, thank you.

 

Slugs, Snails and Foxes Tales…

Sep1

Coming home late during the summer months requires extra care. Walking from our car to the house when dark, (descending the forty six steps) you encounter numerous slugs, snails and by early morning the evidence of foxes. We carefully work our footing to avoid squashing one of God’s little creatures or placing our feet in something that will leave us with a nasty, smelly, mess on our shoe! The occasion crunch underfoot and you realise, that a snail, if lucky, has become homeless, if unlucky is no more.

If only we could avoid crushing others like we try to avoid the snails on our pathway. Yesterday I was speaking to a hardworking lady, who said to me that she was feeling low because no one had time to ask her how she was, they just, commented, in the main, negatively about the work she was doing. We had a short conversation about people and manners but it got me thinking again by the time I was walking down the steps to my house.

She wasn’t looking for much to change her feelings, just a kind word and a little appreciation for all the good work (voluntary, I would like to add) rather than being viewed so negatively. Taking a little time to stop and think before opening our mouths would help, looking at what lies ahead to avoid crushing someone’s feelings or causing destructive, hurtful, unnecessary criticism.

I have seen myself do this on numerous occasions, putting my foot in it then feeling that I made a mess of what I had said because I was too hasty to judge and didn’t take enough care of the other person. There will be times when we feel we need to express something negative but we need to take care not to crush the person’s character in the process.

A simple way of doing this is to adopt the ‘three stars and a wish’ approach. For example if you know there is something, perhaps more challenging you need to say, find three good and encouraging things first to build them up, then, when you can, move on to the more tricky comment. You won’t knock them down so far, or leave them feeling so crushed and worthless or even better just ask them if they had thought about…whatever it is you need to say. Be open to hearing their view, you may find yourself surprised by their way of thinking and that they weren’t wrong but just different from yourself!

I spotted this quote today ‘Kindness is a language that the deaf can hear and the blind can see.’ Mark Twain.

Kindness is a Fruit of the Spirit of God and as Christians we are known by the fruit we display in our lives. Think about your words today, are they kind and thoughtful or will they crush and hurt others?

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Luke 6
43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit,
44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.
45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.