Think About It...

God is concerned about every area of our lives. There is nothing too small or too great that He is not interested in. We only need to ask Him in those spaces in our lives.

Sometimes we feel that we have messed up so much in life, we can't possibly recover. God let's us know thru the stories in the Bible that restoration is possible.

Sometimes we feel the situations in our lives have no meaning or value. God doesn't waste any of our life experiences. He weaves them all together to work together for our good and to bring glory to Him.

There have been many times in my life where I felt off-balanced and not centered. During these times, I have made it a practice to take some time for myself, away from the daily responsibilities of life to just think and talk to God.

Every so often, my husband will mute the volume on a show we are watching to see if we can figure out the story line based solely on the actions of the actors. It’s interesting when we do this because it causes us to pay more attention to what is being done rather than rely on what the people are saying. The Bible has many passages concerning our conduct as Christians and what type of behavior should be a part of our daily Christian life.The Bible says in Matthew 7: 16-20: “16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

As Christians, faith is not something we pull out of our hats when things are not going well. Faith should be the very thing that keeps our resolve in the good times and bad.FAITH IS NOT AN OPTION, IT’S A REQUIREMENT!

Everything in life requires effort. Effort is defined as the use of physical or mental energy to do something; exertion. A difficult exertion of the strength or will; a usually earnest attempt. Something done or produced through exertion; an achievement. What got me thinking about effort, is friendship. Friendship takes the willingness of both parties putting forth the effort to make the relationship work. It’s going to require a little something “extra” on each person’s part. It may mean stopping what you are doing for a minute to pick up the phone, OR taking the time to jot a simple sentence on an email to say hi, OR responding to someone who reaches out to you! Yes, friendship takes effort on BOTH parts!

I was recently talking with my husband in the wee hours of the morning and a thought occurred to me. A lot of us have achieved some level of academic, professional, and personal success. We applaud ourselves at having achieved that advanced degree and wholeheartedly put those letters behind our names whenever we have the opportunity to do so. Like our counterparts, we bask in having achieved such greatness.

Remember when we were children? We didn’t have a care in the world. Most of us didn’t think about how the bills were going to get paid. We just knew we were ALWAYS going to have lights, running water, housing, clothes, & food. We left those concerns up to our parents. Our sole concern was our next cartoon or when we were going to get the chance to go outside and play!

We can’t ask God to put us back in 6th grade because 7th grade seems too hard! There is no going back! You are finish with the 6th grade! The reason why we finished the 7th grade is because we successfully passed all the lessons of the 6th grade! The same way God equipped us to complete the 6th grade, is the system He uses for us to successfully pass all the lessons of the 7th grade!