While life seems to fly by, I still have big dreams that come to my mind each and every day; dreams that seem so close, but still too far to reach just yet. It is aggravating and yet exciting. Most of my dreams are something that can be accomplished while still doing the ministry I am already privileged and blessed to be working. Some of the dreams I hope to see come true are pretty big....meaning that I would think I'd need lots of folks to help me achieve them. Some of them are as simple as playing piano in my home everyday without interrupting neighbors who I can hear even when they sneeze/cough. ha! Several times I have checked myself to see if some of these dreams that keep rising up inside me are dreams/aspirations that would be God honoring and things that would be of encouragement to others. Most of those dreams/aspirations are still with me after a bit of soul searching. So the next question is: what's keeping them from becoming reality?
Many times I will make excuses why I am not pursuing these dreams I have purposefully kept disclosed from this blog post. Mostly, my excuses are; "well, that dream is too expensive for me to pursue" or "I don't have the time or availability right now since I am a stay-at-home mom who works daily to train up my toddler" or "I am not gifted in several areas that are needed for me to accomplish this dream". Some times these excuses are true and logical. However, I shouldn't give up trying all together just because of these circumstances. Even though I may not currently have what I think is sufficient funding or sufficient talents for my dreams to come true, I need to remember I am a work in progress. I do believe God. I believe He has given me many aspirations and dreams to pursue for more than just the feeling of accomplishing them someday. It is the journey....the process to achieving those dreams that I think God wants me to experience most of all.
OKAY, now I must say to all who might read this, women....what are we waiting for? All of us have dreams and great goals we desire to see fulfilled in our lifetime. Many of us have placed them aside for another date (far away from today) when we're "talented enough", "educated enough", "wealthy enough", "organized enough", "sane enough", "available enough", "rested enough", and "confident enough". I am not bringing this up to make you feel worse about your unfulfilled dreams. I am taking a moment to share the battle within me and I truly believe that many women out there feel and fight this same battle I do. So, really, what are we waiting for?
Life isn't going to stop for us. We must trust in something higher......Someone higher than ourselves in order for these dreams to be realized. This achievement of dreams can't wait til things "go our way". The world continues to turn, we get older.....more mature (I like that description better than "older") each day whether our dreams are achieved or not. We must embrace the "now". We must embrace the pursuit....when? Now. Even while we are still working too many part time jobs, while our kids are still at home, while our kids are looking into what colleges to attend or whether to join the military before college, while our husband is pursuing his own dreams, while our fiances are looking for the place to settle down with his new bride, while our current employment is giving promotions or cutting jobs. THE TIME SHOULD BE NOW.
My husband and I work to minister to the college students of West Chester University in West Chester, PA. We spend much of that time encouraging and challenging them to be the best they can be in the here and now.
Several years ago I spoke with some college gals, not necessarily gals that were frequently involved in our ministry, and we were having a great discussion on how they viewed their mom now that they were coming into their adult years. It was interesting that many of them spoke about how their mom was so loving and kind and supportive of what they were doing in school. They spoke of how involved their moms were in their kids' school activities, church activities and extracurricular activities. However, one resounding thing those college gals said in their own words was they wished their moms didn't stop pursuing their own dreams while their daughters grew up in their shadow.
These college girls I spoke with told me how they wished they could have seen their moms pursue their dreams, deal with failure, show their daughters what it REALLY looks like to trust God no matter what happens. They spoke about how they wished their moms would not shy away from showing their daughters what it looks like to be more passionate about what God has given them to do/about honoring Christ with their whole lives than being the best, most attentive/helpful mom to their children. I hope that made sense. These girls were so grateful for such loving mothers, but were frustrated that they didn't have much of a reference to what a godly woman does to pursue her OWN dreams and see them become reality. These college girls knew how to treat people with respect and mind their "p's and q's" in public because they had wonderful, loving moms. However, they didn't know how to deal with failure very well. I don't believe they struggled with these things ONLY because their mom's didn't show them how to pursue their goals and except failures that come along the way. I think that it contributed. These college gals were not blaming their moms for their struggles either. They just stated how they wished they could see their moms truly passionate and excited about their faith to the point that even family activities took second place to knowing God better and trusting Him more fully.
As a mother of a toddler, I really want to strive to keep my pursuit of knowing God, of honoring Him above all else with my heart and my mind. I want to be a lover of the Living God, a follower of Christ FIRST before my role of a wife, a mom, a young women's minister, a daughter, a grand-daughter, a musician, a friend, a sister, a cousin, an employee and a citizen. I want my son to watch how my husband and I live.....I want to refuse to place something else or someone else as more important than my desire to know Christ more each day and seek to honor Him each day. Of this goal I have just mentioned, my parents have given me a great example to follow. I choose to do the same....to set a great example for my son in my word and deeds.
JOIN ME IN BECOMING A WOMAN OF THE TRUTH AND MAY WE RISE UP AND HONOR GOD ABOVE ALL OTHER THINGS. Let us worship the Living God with all our talents, with all our strengths, with all our thoughts, with all our words. Let us show our families the love of God by loving God deeply each day. In doing that the love of God will overflow out of our lives and bless others around us WAY more than we could ever bless them using our own strength, talents, gifts and ideas.
Let's look at a passage in the Bible real quick. It is a passage of a sermon Jesus Christ gave to a crowd of folks who were following him around wanting to know what he thought about......well, everything. ha! Here's a small portion of the sermon Jesus gave. I am going to show it here in the paraphrased version. You are welcome to go to www.biblegateway.com and read it in the English Standard Version for a translation instead of a paraphrase if you would like. But this paraphrased version is written more in our own common language and it helps break the text down a little better for me.
Matthew 6:22-34 (The Message----a paraphrase version of the Bible)
22-23"Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!
24"You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and Money both.
25-26"If you decide for God, living a life of God-worship, it follows that you don't fuss about what's on the table at mealtimes or whether the clothes in your closet are in fashion. There is far more to your life than the food you put in your stomach, more to your outer appearance than the clothes you hang on your body. Look at the birds, free and unfettered, not tied down to a job description, careless in the care of God. And you count far more to him than birds.
27-29"Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them.
30-33"If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don't you think he'll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.
34"Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."
My favorite part of this passage (at least for these days) is,
"Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met. Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."
Wow, that statement in the end of those paragraphs is awesome. As a little girl, my parents helped me memorize that verse (Matthew 6:33) in the King James Version of the Bible. "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." And since the time that I have memorized that verse, I have seen the promise in this scripture come true......not just once, but multiple times. God's Word is faithful. It is never old and out of date. God's Word is living and active (Hebrews 4:12).
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Warmth From Within
Wherever you are, if you are north of the equator, you are probably experiencing some cold days now that it has reached December. Most likely all the leaves on the trees have fallen (except for some of the those, what I call stubborn trees that hold their dead leaves until Spring). The world around us looks very different when the leaves are gone. The sky is bigger since their is not much blocking the view. Things in our surroundings become more exposed when the leaves are gone. And to add to that depressing thought, the air is colder and sometimes down right unbearable! ha ha!
Although my world isn't full of green foliage and warm weather, there can still be a warmth that stays stoked within me. During the wintertime, it is a great opportunity for all Christians to bring joy, good will, peace, warmhearted encouragement, laughter and love into our world. We also need to dig in deep into the love of God as we are going to need it in order for ourselves to get through the drab winter months. Reading the Holy Bible each day will be a great way to keep our fire glowing hot with God's hope, His love, His joy and His peace. God's Word calls His people the temple of the Living God. So, as we go from shop to shop, from school play to school play, from Christmas party to Christmas coffee, from sport to sport, to work and back home again, let us remember that we are (those who believe Christ as their Savior) His temple; that we take Christ wherever we go. He is the one who gives us the strength to bring His love, His peace, His hope, His joy to all the different places we go. Let's dig deep into the heart of God this Christmas time and throughout our whole winter months.
Did you know trees are working hard in the winter, too? Trees are growing their roots deeper into the earth as they sit dormant during winter months. They aren't just taking a nap, but prepping for the next fruitful season. Let us be like those trees and dig down deep into the Word of God while the outside may look gloomy. We can go looking for nutrients for our souls daily so that we are still a great place of encouragement and hope for others around us. Even in winter, trees, while bare of their leaves are great houses and hotels for many animals looking for refuge from the weather. We can learn from that too. Just because things don't look completely vibrant doesn't mean that they are not being a blessing to someone while they wait for the warmth of spring.
"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." -Colossians 2:6-7
Question: What other verses do you know that are an encouragement to you about this topic/idea? I'd love for us all to share a verse that speaks to this idea of being active in our hearts; pursuing God even when things on the outside don't seem so good.
Let us get real and stay real throughout this winter season, dear friends!! We need to shine like stars to the world that we have a hope that doesn't fade, a life in us that is abundant, a joy in us that can never be snuffed out and a love in us that is too deep for us to measure. We know that the "that" is a "who" and His name is Jesus Christ. All praise and honor to our Lord Jesus Christ for rescuing us from darkness/spiritual death and bringing us into the light/life everlasting! Amen.
Although my world isn't full of green foliage and warm weather, there can still be a warmth that stays stoked within me. During the wintertime, it is a great opportunity for all Christians to bring joy, good will, peace, warmhearted encouragement, laughter and love into our world. We also need to dig in deep into the love of God as we are going to need it in order for ourselves to get through the drab winter months. Reading the Holy Bible each day will be a great way to keep our fire glowing hot with God's hope, His love, His joy and His peace. God's Word calls His people the temple of the Living God. So, as we go from shop to shop, from school play to school play, from Christmas party to Christmas coffee, from sport to sport, to work and back home again, let us remember that we are (those who believe Christ as their Savior) His temple; that we take Christ wherever we go. He is the one who gives us the strength to bring His love, His peace, His hope, His joy to all the different places we go. Let's dig deep into the heart of God this Christmas time and throughout our whole winter months.
Did you know trees are working hard in the winter, too? Trees are growing their roots deeper into the earth as they sit dormant during winter months. They aren't just taking a nap, but prepping for the next fruitful season. Let us be like those trees and dig down deep into the Word of God while the outside may look gloomy. We can go looking for nutrients for our souls daily so that we are still a great place of encouragement and hope for others around us. Even in winter, trees, while bare of their leaves are great houses and hotels for many animals looking for refuge from the weather. We can learn from that too. Just because things don't look completely vibrant doesn't mean that they are not being a blessing to someone while they wait for the warmth of spring.
"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." -Colossians 2:6-7
Question: What other verses do you know that are an encouragement to you about this topic/idea? I'd love for us all to share a verse that speaks to this idea of being active in our hearts; pursuing God even when things on the outside don't seem so good.
Let us get real and stay real throughout this winter season, dear friends!! We need to shine like stars to the world that we have a hope that doesn't fade, a life in us that is abundant, a joy in us that can never be snuffed out and a love in us that is too deep for us to measure. We know that the "that" is a "who" and His name is Jesus Christ. All praise and honor to our Lord Jesus Christ for rescuing us from darkness/spiritual death and bringing us into the light/life everlasting! Amen.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Going Steady
Remember that phrase "going steady"? It brings back memories of ninth and tenth grade. haha! I remember talking to my friends about who was going steady with who. Good memories. It was a big deal back then when a girl said she was going steady with a guy. It meant they were serious.
"Going steady" according to Wikipedia is also called courtship. WHOA! In my little world as a teenager, I would have never put going steady and courtship as meaning the same thing! If I knew that, I probably would have found another way to describe peers who were exclusively girlfriend and boyfriend. As an adult, I understand it now and this intro about going steady leads me to my thought for this post. hee hee!
For several weeks now, I haven't been posting on my blog simply because I have been trying to figure out what to write about. I have had so many things that I have wanted to say, some of them quite challenging and deep. Others are just silly stuff that may not go along with the goal of this blog. More than anything, though, I haven't posted on my blog because I didn't feel like I had enough time in my days to really seek the Lord; read His Word, meditate on it and journal about it. I feel when I do those things daily, then I write more effectively. However, that statement leads me to my next thought.
If you are reading this blog for the first time or just began reading it last week because I gave you this web address and if you don't really think you're quite into the idea of reading the Bible at all, much less on a daily basis, it's OKAY. I hope you stick with me and finish reading what I have to say. Give me a chance. ha!
My time in studying the Bible has been off and on lately instead of a steady devotion to my time with my heavenly Father. And honestly, I don't like living that way. I want to be a gal who reads God's Word daily, who takes time to digest what I read and find ways in which to let those words that I've read sink into the depths of me and eventually be lived out in my actions, thoughts and attitudes. I didn't post a blog basically because I felt that you all would be able to discern my lack of deep study of God's Word by how I wrote. Honestly, I felt very convicted these past few days about this silly struggle. I realized the struggle derived from pride.....the negative/sinful kind. And from that I realized some other important things. You ready? Here it goes.
Who am I to judge when I'm "good to go" in posting a blog? I mean, seriously, my blog is titled GET REAL, WOMAN! Good grief, why did I think I needed to wait to write something?? I don't know. Mostly pride is what I figure it is. I wanted to look good in your eyes. I have NO clue who reads this blog. I just know you are reading it from all over the world, in countries that Christianity is not very popular or even almost illegal. And because I knew what countries people are reading this from, I've been very cautious on what I write. BUT that shouldn't be my concern. I serve a living God! He is able to do whatever He wants and share His love and grace with the world however He wants. I, in my finite and very mortal self, cannot stop that or change His strategy. I just need to be obedient to the clear message I received from Him four months ago which prompted me to start this blog. I just need to write when I know I should and let God use it, if He wants, as a way to help bring others to know Him better or to know Him for the first time.
All that to say, going steady in my faith with the living God is more important than anything else. Get ready.... It's more important than having three square meals a day, than having toilet paper in the house, than having a toothbrush to get the fuzz off our teeth each morning and night, than having a car to get places, than having a husband who cares deeply for our needs and even blesses us with things we don't need, than having a family that is consistent in staying in touch with us, than having a job to pay the bills, than having a savings account to help us in emergency situations, than having a beauty that attracts others to us, than having a healthy family, than having all A's on our transcript, than having the latest fashions, than having a retirement plan, than having life insurance, than having relationships/connections with any one human being. We NEED to go steady with God. We need to long for His fellowship, His wisdom, His protection, His guidance, His hope, His peace, His joy, His patience, His might/strength, His grace and some many more blessings He brings that I won't be able to list them all in this post.
Let us get real, women! Why do we hold back our passion for Christ when two thousand years ago His passion for us lead Him to the cross to die in our place, to raise from the grave victorious over death/sin/eternal separation from the heavenly Father. I'm telling myself this too just in case you think I'm preaching only to you. If you are not a believer in Jesus, PLEASE DON'T CHECK OUT OF THIS BLOG POST SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU DON'T AGREE. You need to see that Christians are still very human and still have to make a daily choice in whom they trust, who they look to for guidance, who they believe is HIGHER than themselves. It's daily. It's hourly. It's a lifetime of choices to follow or not to follow. Funny though, that we Christians have every reason to follow Christ.
Christ saves! He restores! He forgives--unconditionally! He rescues us from darkness--confusion, abandonment, abuse and straight up wickedness! He brings us into His marvelous light--hope, peace, joy, salvation, eternal life, abundant life here on earth, grace, understanding and wisdom! So many more reasons to trust Christ and be passionately pursuing Him and His fame on a daily even hourly basis that they can't all be mentioned here unless you want to keep reading for hours and hours and unless I quote hundreds of scriptures that speak of His great blessings to us.
My heart cries out tonight to go steady with the Lord Jesus. Quirky is a good word to describe the image in my mind that I just created with that statement. HOWEVER, we need to be steadfast in our pursuit of Him. He is near. Philippians 4:4-5 tells us this. CHRIST is near----always. Our pursuit of Him begins as soon as we turn to Him and look into His Word and pray, listening for His heart about the things in our lives we face everyday.
Here's a familiar verse:
We as Christian women need to be as passionate about knowing what Jesus thinks about us and our lives, about knowing how He wants us to live and about knowing His Word/hiding it in our hearts...... more passionate about those things than finding the best buys at the stores, cutting coupons to save money for our families, getting our kids to school on time, buying our kids toys and clothes and/or beautifying ourselves each day with cosmetics, clothes or both. WHEW! That was a long sentence that probably could've been it's own paragraph, but I don't have an editing staff for this blog. Sorry if my writing is driving you crazy. I pray that you get something out of what I'm writing about regardless of my bad grammar. Ha!
FOCUS........ Okay, I just hope you feel inspired to be true and passionate followers of our God and King. This post I've just written was inspired by a verse that has been resonating in my mind this whole past week while I have been fighting fear and pride with this blogging opportunity. Here's the verse as a closing thought. Peace to you all this week. I love you all and I don't even know who you are. I will be praying for each of you this week. Pray for me that I continue to seek Christ and trust Him with all my heart and lean NOT on my own understanding. Thanks. God bless you and your family.
"Going steady" according to Wikipedia is also called courtship. WHOA! In my little world as a teenager, I would have never put going steady and courtship as meaning the same thing! If I knew that, I probably would have found another way to describe peers who were exclusively girlfriend and boyfriend. As an adult, I understand it now and this intro about going steady leads me to my thought for this post. hee hee!
For several weeks now, I haven't been posting on my blog simply because I have been trying to figure out what to write about. I have had so many things that I have wanted to say, some of them quite challenging and deep. Others are just silly stuff that may not go along with the goal of this blog. More than anything, though, I haven't posted on my blog because I didn't feel like I had enough time in my days to really seek the Lord; read His Word, meditate on it and journal about it. I feel when I do those things daily, then I write more effectively. However, that statement leads me to my next thought.
If you are reading this blog for the first time or just began reading it last week because I gave you this web address and if you don't really think you're quite into the idea of reading the Bible at all, much less on a daily basis, it's OKAY. I hope you stick with me and finish reading what I have to say. Give me a chance. ha!
My time in studying the Bible has been off and on lately instead of a steady devotion to my time with my heavenly Father. And honestly, I don't like living that way. I want to be a gal who reads God's Word daily, who takes time to digest what I read and find ways in which to let those words that I've read sink into the depths of me and eventually be lived out in my actions, thoughts and attitudes. I didn't post a blog basically because I felt that you all would be able to discern my lack of deep study of God's Word by how I wrote. Honestly, I felt very convicted these past few days about this silly struggle. I realized the struggle derived from pride.....the negative/sinful kind. And from that I realized some other important things. You ready? Here it goes.
Who am I to judge when I'm "good to go" in posting a blog? I mean, seriously, my blog is titled GET REAL, WOMAN! Good grief, why did I think I needed to wait to write something?? I don't know. Mostly pride is what I figure it is. I wanted to look good in your eyes. I have NO clue who reads this blog. I just know you are reading it from all over the world, in countries that Christianity is not very popular or even almost illegal. And because I knew what countries people are reading this from, I've been very cautious on what I write. BUT that shouldn't be my concern. I serve a living God! He is able to do whatever He wants and share His love and grace with the world however He wants. I, in my finite and very mortal self, cannot stop that or change His strategy. I just need to be obedient to the clear message I received from Him four months ago which prompted me to start this blog. I just need to write when I know I should and let God use it, if He wants, as a way to help bring others to know Him better or to know Him for the first time.
All that to say, going steady in my faith with the living God is more important than anything else. Get ready.... It's more important than having three square meals a day, than having toilet paper in the house, than having a toothbrush to get the fuzz off our teeth each morning and night, than having a car to get places, than having a husband who cares deeply for our needs and even blesses us with things we don't need, than having a family that is consistent in staying in touch with us, than having a job to pay the bills, than having a savings account to help us in emergency situations, than having a beauty that attracts others to us, than having a healthy family, than having all A's on our transcript, than having the latest fashions, than having a retirement plan, than having life insurance, than having relationships/connections with any one human being. We NEED to go steady with God. We need to long for His fellowship, His wisdom, His protection, His guidance, His hope, His peace, His joy, His patience, His might/strength, His grace and some many more blessings He brings that I won't be able to list them all in this post.
Let us get real, women! Why do we hold back our passion for Christ when two thousand years ago His passion for us lead Him to the cross to die in our place, to raise from the grave victorious over death/sin/eternal separation from the heavenly Father. I'm telling myself this too just in case you think I'm preaching only to you. If you are not a believer in Jesus, PLEASE DON'T CHECK OUT OF THIS BLOG POST SIMPLY BECAUSE YOU DON'T AGREE. You need to see that Christians are still very human and still have to make a daily choice in whom they trust, who they look to for guidance, who they believe is HIGHER than themselves. It's daily. It's hourly. It's a lifetime of choices to follow or not to follow. Funny though, that we Christians have every reason to follow Christ.
Christ saves! He restores! He forgives--unconditionally! He rescues us from darkness--confusion, abandonment, abuse and straight up wickedness! He brings us into His marvelous light--hope, peace, joy, salvation, eternal life, abundant life here on earth, grace, understanding and wisdom! So many more reasons to trust Christ and be passionately pursuing Him and His fame on a daily even hourly basis that they can't all be mentioned here unless you want to keep reading for hours and hours and unless I quote hundreds of scriptures that speak of His great blessings to us.
My heart cries out tonight to go steady with the Lord Jesus. Quirky is a good word to describe the image in my mind that I just created with that statement. HOWEVER, we need to be steadfast in our pursuit of Him. He is near. Philippians 4:4-5 tells us this. CHRIST is near----always. Our pursuit of Him begins as soon as we turn to Him and look into His Word and pray, listening for His heart about the things in our lives we face everyday.
Here's a familiar verse:
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones." -Proverbs 3:5-8
We as Christian women need to be as passionate about knowing what Jesus thinks about us and our lives, about knowing how He wants us to live and about knowing His Word/hiding it in our hearts...... more passionate about those things than finding the best buys at the stores, cutting coupons to save money for our families, getting our kids to school on time, buying our kids toys and clothes and/or beautifying ourselves each day with cosmetics, clothes or both. WHEW! That was a long sentence that probably could've been it's own paragraph, but I don't have an editing staff for this blog. Sorry if my writing is driving you crazy. I pray that you get something out of what I'm writing about regardless of my bad grammar. Ha!
FOCUS........ Okay, I just hope you feel inspired to be true and passionate followers of our God and King. This post I've just written was inspired by a verse that has been resonating in my mind this whole past week while I have been fighting fear and pride with this blogging opportunity. Here's the verse as a closing thought. Peace to you all this week. I love you all and I don't even know who you are. I will be praying for each of you this week. Pray for me that I continue to seek Christ and trust Him with all my heart and lean NOT on my own understanding. Thanks. God bless you and your family.
"You [the LORD] keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you., because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock. " -Isaiah 26:3-4
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
SO INSPIRED
Friends, I am placing the link for a YouTube "video" that presents a visual aid to one of my favorite songs of all time. I've been listening to this song everyday in my car this week as I drive around running errands. It is so inspiring. It helps me put myself in the right place; knowing I am the one rescued from darkness and that God is the One who is my rescuer. It reminds me to add to the beauty that God has already put all around me; adding to His beauty in an act of gratitude to Him. I hope you are inspired and strengthened. Love you all!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anozSBPJVQA
Thank you, MobileDayspring, for putting this together so that people like me could find it on YouTube and use it on our blog. Blessings to you.
DEAR FRIENDS, I ENCOURAGE YOU TO ADD TO THE BEAUTY OF YOUR WORLD OUT OF THE GRATITUDE YOU HAVE IN YOUR HEART FOR THE REDEMPTION GOD HAS GIVEN YOU.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anozSBPJVQA
Thank you, MobileDayspring, for putting this together so that people like me could find it on YouTube and use it on our blog. Blessings to you.
DEAR FRIENDS, I ENCOURAGE YOU TO ADD TO THE BEAUTY OF YOUR WORLD OUT OF THE GRATITUDE YOU HAVE IN YOUR HEART FOR THE REDEMPTION GOD HAS GIVEN YOU.
Monday, November 7, 2011
A Beautiful Difference
WHAT CAPTION WOULD YOU GIVE THIS PICTURE? AND WHY DO YOU SAY THAT?
IS THERE ANY WISDOM TO GAIN FROM GOD'S CREATION CAPTURED IN THIS PHOTO?
Please leave your thoughts and responses to one or both of these questions in the comments section of this post. Let's see how many DIFFERENT views of this photo can get posted this week.
Blessings,
Becky
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
1000!
Wow! I just want to say that I am totally amazed by the response to this blog! Whether you like what I write about or not, today Get Real, Woman! has been viewed more than 1,000 times since my first blog in the beginning of August 2011. That's amazing!
Women have been reading this blog in several countries: United States, Germany, England, Spain, Russia, and Turkey. I don't know the names of you who read this blog, but I get to see from where in the world you are reading my blog. It's exciting to think that friends from all over the world are reading about being a woman of Truth. I will continue to attempt to write quality posts for this blog. Please don't hesitate to leave comments, questions or push-backs to the topics I bring up. Thanks again for reminding me that I am not alone in my pursuit of being a woman of Truth in my every day life.
HAPPY 1000 PAGEVIEWS DAY!
Hope you have a blessed day and as always........GET REAL, WOMAN!
Love,
Becky
Women have been reading this blog in several countries: United States, Germany, England, Spain, Russia, and Turkey. I don't know the names of you who read this blog, but I get to see from where in the world you are reading my blog. It's exciting to think that friends from all over the world are reading about being a woman of Truth. I will continue to attempt to write quality posts for this blog. Please don't hesitate to leave comments, questions or push-backs to the topics I bring up. Thanks again for reminding me that I am not alone in my pursuit of being a woman of Truth in my every day life.
HAPPY 1000 PAGEVIEWS DAY!
Hope you have a blessed day and as always........GET REAL, WOMAN!
Love,
Becky
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Knowing Versus Knowing
MY MIND IS NEEDING A PERSPECTIVE ADJUSTMENT ON FRIENDSHIP!
Ladies, how often does a gal you know act and speak to you like they know you well and you find yourself frequently thinking something like, "she doesn't really know the real me"? It has happened to me many times in my lifetime of 31 years and I don't think it's just me who relates to this question. I believe that here in the United States the depth of women's friendships are getting more and more shallow. Since I'm writing to women, obviously I'm only going to address women, but I do believe it is both men and women in our nation struggling with the lack of deep and supportive friendships and/or relationships with the opposite sex.
Reasons for this lacking of depth in our friendships/relationships probably are too numerous to be thought up and listed in this blog. I am going to talk about two possible reasons for this. They were the first two reasons that came to mind when thinking of this topic. Is the lack of depth and support because our culture is so fast paced these days and we Americans choose not to deeply invest in friendships/relationships simply for the reason that we "don't have time"? Or maybe the reason we Americans choose to neglect deep and devoted friendships is because it is too vulnerable of a position.
Most of us might think that a deep friendship is too risky because another human being will have a voice into our circumstances and the freedom to give positive feedback or unload negative criticisms. It can be a "scary" thing for many people to allow someone else access into their personal life and I don't just mean access into their life on social networks on the world wide web. I mean real personal interaction. I'm just going to say that stating our problems on websites and blogs and or building friendships through those websites and ONLY those websites is not really very vulnerable and "personal". Face to face relationships is when people prove who they say they are and what they say they feel on those websites and blogs. When we Americans let our lives only be filled with online friendships and no real face to face friendships, life becomes (in my opinion) very shallow. The many shallow friendships happening in our nation these days lead to many people feeling over-burdened about their life's circumstances and feeling isolated even when they are surrounded by folks they consider their friends.
Some of you might say that you don't struggle with this, that you have deep and abiding friendships with other gals in your town or city, that you don't know what it is like to struggle with feeling lonely in a crowd. However some of you ladies know that your symptoms of depression you've had lately and your feelings of isolation stem from your lack of going deep with those women God has placed in your life. Some of you gals out there realize that you need to be more vulnerable, but it is just too much work on your part and so you stay in the friendly acquaintance playing field and continue to avoid the late night chats over coffee in your friends kitchen, the long walks through the neighborhood talking about everything under the sun, the road trips to see your friends' family members who are ill and need support. Although we acknowledge our lack of depth with people, it is rarely the case that we choose to step out and change that situation. We have found a way to exist, to cope with the shallowness. And it is so sad. I do this very thing myself many times. What a powerful force of women we could be if we overcame that struggle and learned to truly embrace each other, cry with each other, love each other deeply, challenge each other to be better, rescue each other from shallow living and together truly live.
Sometimes we will blame our problems and stressful days on exterior things such as the weather, our family's choices of behavior/actions, or our job circumstances when really all we may need is a deeper and more honest group of friendships with the gals we know who can help us see inside ourselves and help us grow to love the person God made us to be. Some of you might really relate to this statement. If so, I'm grateful because then I'm not alone in this struggle. Many women are striving to look strong in the eyes of their bosses and clients by leaving behind their human support team...our friends, and it is wrecking us as a culture instead of bringing us the success we thought it would. We were not made to stand alone on this earth. We need other women in our lives each week, or perhaps in our lives every day. We gals in the U.S. (as a whole) struggle to make enough time in our days to really invest in those that God has specifically placed in our lives. Why that is, I don't really know, but I do know it isn't a good thing.
Ladies (talking to me, as well), God has put certain women in our lives to be more than fair weather friends, but our dear friends----friends who encourage and support us; friends who we can encourage and support; and friends to be pals with---in the times of celebration and times of grief. How many of us have that kind of person and/or people in your daily life? How many of us have "true blue" friends for the "every" day of our lives.
LET'S THINK POSITIVELY!
Women have a great power of encouraging and building others up by using their words and their actions. However, women also have a great power of twisting that spirit of encouragement into manipulation and negative criticisms. There is so much comparison and criticism going on among women that the idea of pursuing a deep friendship with a fellow "daughter of Eve" (like The Chronicles of Narnia puts it) seems crazy. I mean, most of us women would think her to be a little crazy the gal who tries to keep a friendship alive all the while the comparisons, criticisms, belittling observation are flying. If only we women would daily ask our Lord and Savior for the strength and the gumption to use our abilities of observation, comparison and criticism for good instead of selfish gain.
Women, in general, have a difficult time figuring out how to use their skills of observation for good purposes. If we women did do that, it would really strengthen the friendships we have and make our whole world of family life and work life more positively impacted and encouraged. Our culture has gone so long with the lack of strong and devoted friendships that it almost seems negative to have someone around weekly who has "the right" (as a friend) to speak into our lives, "the right" show us our strengths and weaknesses and watch us make successes and failures. We just continue to use that crazy confused mentality as a reason why we don't pursue deeper friendships. We don't want others seeing our flaws, telling us their opinions of how we should live, showing us different ways of doing life, displaying gifts and talents that we don't possess but wish we do. It's a crazy and twisted cycle we women have put ourselves in. I'm exhausted just thinking about all the silly things we women use as excuses to keep ourselves distanced from transparent friendships. WOW. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself, here, but I HIGHLY doubt that.
Lately I am working on being a kind of friend that I would want others to be for me. I am learning, again, what it IS to be a good friend. It is definitely a commitment. As a little girl, I think I did a decent job at being a friend who was "all there"; who was 100% committed to my friends. As time has passed and as I have faced much more struggles, stresses and complicated situations in my adult years, I have began to put the value and importance of being a devoted and committed friend on a back burner of my heart and mind. I don't believe that was a good thing, just in case you haven't caught that by now. haha!
As we grow into adulthood, there are many changes that seem to force us into a more serious perspective of the world around us. And it is a good thing to view our world with a sober mind. However, I don't think that it is ALL good. As adults, we almost need more of those amazingly transparent, deeply devoted and innocent friendships than we had as kids. Even if some of us can only say they had one deep and awesome friendship in our childhood, it is something to be considered now as adults. We need to still be willing to open up our hearts and minds to those friends we have now. It will help us in life in so many ways. I won't list them, but you know how many areas of our life can be strengthened and encouraged when we have a dear and devoted friend to share it with. All you ladies out there with husbands, I am talking to you, too. You (me, included) need a woman in your life that is a deep and devoted friend and we don't need to just depend on our husbands for that friendship support. If you have more than one dear friend, then praise the Almighty God because that is truly a blessing!! If we continue through this life without a deep friendship.......a "bosom friend" as Anne Shirley of Green Gables would say, then we are bordering on the type of pride that is dangerous and sinful before God. To think, as women, we don't need a gal in our lives to be our friend since we are married to "our best friend" is....well, I don't know how to say it........selling ourselves short.
All of us have gifts and talents that can be used to bless others. Can we lay aside the, well frankly, arrogant attitude we get sometimes that says we don't need another woman to really know us? Can we lay aside the attitude that we are too busy and too tired for the amount of time and vulnerability it takes to maintain a good friendship? Can we stop that? The greatest enemy of our Almighty God wishes that we would think that we can be strong on our own. We know we need deep friendships. Let us be willing, starting today, to be better friends to the women our loving God has placed in our lives. Let us be willing to let others speak truth into our lives. Let us be willing to listen to those truths and look into God's Word and let both encouragements and guidance help us become strong women whose characteristics look more and more like our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.
So, I now have been more inspired even as I write these words. I commit today to being a better friend, a more available and a better listening friend to the ones God has placed in my life. And I commit to allowing others to really know me instead of just know about me. I desire to learn from this realization and be a good friend who is a devoted friend; one who is willing to "be there" for the other in a moment's notice; one who is willing to listen before dishing out their opinions; one who is creative in finding things to do and places to go together to strengthen the bond.
Will you join me in this commitment?
Let's start knowing each other instead of just knowing each other.
Ladies, how often does a gal you know act and speak to you like they know you well and you find yourself frequently thinking something like, "she doesn't really know the real me"? It has happened to me many times in my lifetime of 31 years and I don't think it's just me who relates to this question. I believe that here in the United States the depth of women's friendships are getting more and more shallow. Since I'm writing to women, obviously I'm only going to address women, but I do believe it is both men and women in our nation struggling with the lack of deep and supportive friendships and/or relationships with the opposite sex.
Reasons for this lacking of depth in our friendships/relationships probably are too numerous to be thought up and listed in this blog. I am going to talk about two possible reasons for this. They were the first two reasons that came to mind when thinking of this topic. Is the lack of depth and support because our culture is so fast paced these days and we Americans choose not to deeply invest in friendships/relationships simply for the reason that we "don't have time"? Or maybe the reason we Americans choose to neglect deep and devoted friendships is because it is too vulnerable of a position.
Most of us might think that a deep friendship is too risky because another human being will have a voice into our circumstances and the freedom to give positive feedback or unload negative criticisms. It can be a "scary" thing for many people to allow someone else access into their personal life and I don't just mean access into their life on social networks on the world wide web. I mean real personal interaction. I'm just going to say that stating our problems on websites and blogs and or building friendships through those websites and ONLY those websites is not really very vulnerable and "personal". Face to face relationships is when people prove who they say they are and what they say they feel on those websites and blogs. When we Americans let our lives only be filled with online friendships and no real face to face friendships, life becomes (in my opinion) very shallow. The many shallow friendships happening in our nation these days lead to many people feeling over-burdened about their life's circumstances and feeling isolated even when they are surrounded by folks they consider their friends.
Some of you might say that you don't struggle with this, that you have deep and abiding friendships with other gals in your town or city, that you don't know what it is like to struggle with feeling lonely in a crowd. However some of you ladies know that your symptoms of depression you've had lately and your feelings of isolation stem from your lack of going deep with those women God has placed in your life. Some of you gals out there realize that you need to be more vulnerable, but it is just too much work on your part and so you stay in the friendly acquaintance playing field and continue to avoid the late night chats over coffee in your friends kitchen, the long walks through the neighborhood talking about everything under the sun, the road trips to see your friends' family members who are ill and need support. Although we acknowledge our lack of depth with people, it is rarely the case that we choose to step out and change that situation. We have found a way to exist, to cope with the shallowness. And it is so sad. I do this very thing myself many times. What a powerful force of women we could be if we overcame that struggle and learned to truly embrace each other, cry with each other, love each other deeply, challenge each other to be better, rescue each other from shallow living and together truly live.
Sometimes we will blame our problems and stressful days on exterior things such as the weather, our family's choices of behavior/actions, or our job circumstances when really all we may need is a deeper and more honest group of friendships with the gals we know who can help us see inside ourselves and help us grow to love the person God made us to be. Some of you might really relate to this statement. If so, I'm grateful because then I'm not alone in this struggle. Many women are striving to look strong in the eyes of their bosses and clients by leaving behind their human support team...our friends, and it is wrecking us as a culture instead of bringing us the success we thought it would. We were not made to stand alone on this earth. We need other women in our lives each week, or perhaps in our lives every day. We gals in the U.S. (as a whole) struggle to make enough time in our days to really invest in those that God has specifically placed in our lives. Why that is, I don't really know, but I do know it isn't a good thing.
Ladies (talking to me, as well), God has put certain women in our lives to be more than fair weather friends, but our dear friends----friends who encourage and support us; friends who we can encourage and support; and friends to be pals with---in the times of celebration and times of grief. How many of us have that kind of person and/or people in your daily life? How many of us have "true blue" friends for the "every" day of our lives.
LET'S THINK POSITIVELY!
Women have a great power of encouraging and building others up by using their words and their actions. However, women also have a great power of twisting that spirit of encouragement into manipulation and negative criticisms. There is so much comparison and criticism going on among women that the idea of pursuing a deep friendship with a fellow "daughter of Eve" (like The Chronicles of Narnia puts it) seems crazy. I mean, most of us women would think her to be a little crazy the gal who tries to keep a friendship alive all the while the comparisons, criticisms, belittling observation are flying. If only we women would daily ask our Lord and Savior for the strength and the gumption to use our abilities of observation, comparison and criticism for good instead of selfish gain.
Women, in general, have a difficult time figuring out how to use their skills of observation for good purposes. If we women did do that, it would really strengthen the friendships we have and make our whole world of family life and work life more positively impacted and encouraged. Our culture has gone so long with the lack of strong and devoted friendships that it almost seems negative to have someone around weekly who has "the right" (as a friend) to speak into our lives, "the right" show us our strengths and weaknesses and watch us make successes and failures. We just continue to use that crazy confused mentality as a reason why we don't pursue deeper friendships. We don't want others seeing our flaws, telling us their opinions of how we should live, showing us different ways of doing life, displaying gifts and talents that we don't possess but wish we do. It's a crazy and twisted cycle we women have put ourselves in. I'm exhausted just thinking about all the silly things we women use as excuses to keep ourselves distanced from transparent friendships. WOW. Maybe I'm just speaking for myself, here, but I HIGHLY doubt that.
Lately I am working on being a kind of friend that I would want others to be for me. I am learning, again, what it IS to be a good friend. It is definitely a commitment. As a little girl, I think I did a decent job at being a friend who was "all there"; who was 100% committed to my friends. As time has passed and as I have faced much more struggles, stresses and complicated situations in my adult years, I have began to put the value and importance of being a devoted and committed friend on a back burner of my heart and mind. I don't believe that was a good thing, just in case you haven't caught that by now. haha!
As we grow into adulthood, there are many changes that seem to force us into a more serious perspective of the world around us. And it is a good thing to view our world with a sober mind. However, I don't think that it is ALL good. As adults, we almost need more of those amazingly transparent, deeply devoted and innocent friendships than we had as kids. Even if some of us can only say they had one deep and awesome friendship in our childhood, it is something to be considered now as adults. We need to still be willing to open up our hearts and minds to those friends we have now. It will help us in life in so many ways. I won't list them, but you know how many areas of our life can be strengthened and encouraged when we have a dear and devoted friend to share it with. All you ladies out there with husbands, I am talking to you, too. You (me, included) need a woman in your life that is a deep and devoted friend and we don't need to just depend on our husbands for that friendship support. If you have more than one dear friend, then praise the Almighty God because that is truly a blessing!! If we continue through this life without a deep friendship.......a "bosom friend" as Anne Shirley of Green Gables would say, then we are bordering on the type of pride that is dangerous and sinful before God. To think, as women, we don't need a gal in our lives to be our friend since we are married to "our best friend" is....well, I don't know how to say it........selling ourselves short.
All of us have gifts and talents that can be used to bless others. Can we lay aside the, well frankly, arrogant attitude we get sometimes that says we don't need another woman to really know us? Can we lay aside the attitude that we are too busy and too tired for the amount of time and vulnerability it takes to maintain a good friendship? Can we stop that? The greatest enemy of our Almighty God wishes that we would think that we can be strong on our own. We know we need deep friendships. Let us be willing, starting today, to be better friends to the women our loving God has placed in our lives. Let us be willing to let others speak truth into our lives. Let us be willing to listen to those truths and look into God's Word and let both encouragements and guidance help us become strong women whose characteristics look more and more like our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.
So, I now have been more inspired even as I write these words. I commit today to being a better friend, a more available and a better listening friend to the ones God has placed in my life. And I commit to allowing others to really know me instead of just know about me. I desire to learn from this realization and be a good friend who is a devoted friend; one who is willing to "be there" for the other in a moment's notice; one who is willing to listen before dishing out their opinions; one who is creative in finding things to do and places to go together to strengthen the bond.
Will you join me in this commitment?
Let's start knowing each other instead of just knowing each other.
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