Coffee Talk Chapter 4

Chapter 4 of "What Happens When Women Say Yes To God" covered how we will never know how God will use us until we let him. 

This chapter really stretched me while I was reading it.  Gave me a lot to chew on, think about and pray about.  I had to ask myself the question, "Do I praise God in all that happens, good and bad?"   Do I trust God with my daughter, with my family and friends, with my finances, with my job, etc.  With every aspect of my life, do I trust God or do I have it all under control until I get overwhelemed, frustrated, or scared?  Is God my go-to person in all things in my life or only when things get hard? 

Really, truly, and in all honesty.

Sometimes I get it right and sometimes I don't. 

But God knows that.  He knows that I'm going to run around like a chicken with my head cut off and that I'm going to get overwhelmed and that I'm going to doubt and that sometimes I'm going to miss it.  Just like we as parents know that when our children try to walk, run, ride a bike, drive a car, manage a checkbook, go off to college, etc. that they are going to make a mistake.  Do we expect it, yep.  Do we love them less because of it, no, No, NO.  We don't.  We love them through it. And that's exactly what God does with us.  but we have to trust Him and His plan for our lives.

Lysa and Art had one of a parents biggest challenges when their daughter became very ill.  They had to give her to God and "we had to get settled in our hearts that we will love God no matter the outcome".

No matter the outcome.

You lose your job, you lose your car, your home. You become sick.  A loved one becomes ill.  Pain, regrets, mistakes.  No matter what the outcome. 

Settle in your heart that you will love God no matter the outcome and see how that changes your perspective.  

Sounds easy to say but it is hard to practice but it is so much better to live a life that says yes to God every day and deciding now that you will love God through it all, then it is to wait until it is tested to decide that you will do it.   Satan wants to worm his way into our thoughts, and undermine our belief, not only in ourselves but in our God as well.  

"I got mad at DD and WH today, lost my temper and said some awful things.  What kind of Christian am I?  How can I profess to have Christ living in me when I can't even control my temper?" 

Ever had those thoughts?  God knows it, He knows we will never be good enough on our own, and Lamentations 3 tells us "His compassions are new every morning."  Every morning I get a new day, a new chance, and yesterday is gone.  Instead of allowing my thoughts to run rampant with "I'm not going to get a gold-star in Christianity today." I need to ask God for forgiveness, those that I offended and hurt for forgiveness and move forward.  Satan loves nothing more then to get us immersed in the quicksand of our mistakes and short-comings so that we are not able to step out onto the path God desires us to walk with Him on. 

God wants to use us my friend.  We all bring to the table a plethora of experiences, life-lessons, and stories of how God worked in our lives, how His promise and love are real, and He will use ALL of our experiences, not just the 100% gold-star, yeah I'm a good Christian moments, but also the "I messed up, I was wrong, I'm sorry, major oops, moments of our life too."  

There are people all around us that have bought the "I'm not good enough, God can't love me, I've made too many mistakes" that satan has been feeding them.  It's a lie. 

Did you hear me? 

IT IS A LIE!!

Don't believe it for one more second.  Don't waste one more day buying into it'  I did for too many years and all it got me were ulcers, gray hairs, and worry lines (not attractive at all).  Say yes to God starting right now, this moment.  Settle it in your heart.  I may sound bossy but I truly believe that it is that important. 

God, 
You are awesome, amazing, astounding, and we love you.  God thank You that Your compassion is new every morning and help each one of us settle in our hearts that we will love and trust You no matter what we are going through.  God, help me to continue in my pursuit of You and Your desires for my life and God no matter what You would have from me, give me the strength, the courage and the ability to say yes to you every single day.

Amen

.

Coffee Talk Wednesday

When Obedience Becomes Radical

Today is week 3 of our Coffee Talk and we are on chapter 3 (neat how that works, but pay attention because we are going to be changing things up soon).

Lysa challenges us to become radical in our obedience to God.

Be Holy (1 Peter 1:13-16)

3Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."

I am going to write this verse down and leave it in several places so that I can write it on my heart. I want to prepare my mind for action and self-control is something I strive for as well. I don’t want to conform nor do I want to live in ignorance any longer. I want to be holy in all I do. Wow, that’s a tall order. It certainly is radical.

Lysa talks about the Lord instructing her to turn off the television. (There is more too but I’m not going to give it all away here).

We made that same choice about two years ago. A lot of people see that as being radical. I’m not against television. I enjoy movies and we do occasionally watch a movie or play a video game, but we have, as a family, become very intentional about it. Now watching a movie is an event, a special time together and we are very selective with what we watch. A lot of my friends and family don’t understand it but that’s okay. I am not sitting on my holy high horse saying, “television is evil”. It was, we felt, instruction from God for our family and we were obedient.

Lysa talks about God stirring in your heart to give up something, either permanently or for a season. In studying this it almost seemed like baby steps, it’s a lot easier to give something up that you already have then it is to take a step into the unknown. We had television, we knew what watching t.v. was like, so by giving it up we were letting it go and I think that is a wise place to start if you want your obedience to become radical. Take that first step by looking at your life, your habits, and your day-to-day living and ask God what is good and what is best. God only wants what is best for His children and that may require us to give up something that, to us, is good but to God is not nearly as good as His plans for us.

A lot of our discussion last night revolved around a four-letter word, FEAR. Scriptures dealing with fear and how to overcome fear weave in and out of the Bible. Perhaps because God knew that just telling His children one time wasn’t going to be enough. Almost everything that comes against us has it’s root in fear. What is God laying on your heart? What has He challenged you with doing that you just haven’t been able to say yes to yet and why? What is holding you back?

One of the statements in Lysa’s book is, “ We need not fear what our obedience will cause to happen in our life. We should only fear what our disobedience will cause us to miss.”

I know I have missed out on God’s best due to fear time and time again. I’m not willing to settle for that anymore. I want the best for my children. I don’t want fear to keep my kids from following God’s leading, so it’s time to face my own fear(s) and know that my Father is with me no matter what.  As long as I am walking with Him, I am headed in the right direction and that’s the best place of all to be.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Your love and desire for us to be all that You created us to be overwhelms me at times. I want to be radically obedient and follow close behind you Father. I want to see You in my day to day life. I want to hear Your voice and know Your will because I know that You only want what is best for me. Thank You for all You have given me and help me to discern what is Your best in my life. Amen.

Coffee Talk Week 2

I’ve been a bit busy this week, you know that whole Christmas thing, well, actually, I don’t HAVE to do anything and Christmas will come but there are so many expectations that I feel like I have to meet. My WH even said that he was actually getting to the point that he dreads Christmas, not because of what it means (the celebration of the birth of our Jesus) but what it has turned into.

I’ll be honest, I have had very little time to spend with my Lord this week and I am really feeling the impact of it. Last night we had our Coffee Talk and I had been attempting to read my chapter for the past week and with frequent starts and stops. I finally was able to absorb some of it. I realize now why Satan really didn’t want me to read this particular chapter because it helped open up eyes to how to hear from God. Do you hear from God, do you recognize His still small voice?

We played a little game last night. I had asked two of my girlfriends who didn’t know each other very well to participate and they were willing (I wonder if they will do that again?). I had seen my pastor at C3 do this before but I sorta tweaked it a bit.

I blindfolded one and then set up an obstacle course. The other volunteer stood mid-way down my walkway and guided the “blind” through the path. However, the rest of us stood around screaming out opposite instructions. The one who was blindfolded was not really familiar with the person’s voice that she was supposed to be listening for and she had to really focus and concentrate to hear her voice over the screaming around her. Once she made it through my impromptu obstacle course, (water bottles and candle luminaries) she removed her blindfold. She shared how she had to really focus on the voice of the one that she was to listen to. That it was distracting and hard to concentrate with all the other noise going on around her. Do you see where I am going here? How often do we get distracted by all the voices? How does our crazy pace make it hard to hear when God calls our name?

The second chapter in “What Happens When Women Say Yes to God” talks about discerning God’s voice and how to know if what you are hearing is God’s voice. But you have to be able to quiet the noise of all the other voices around you so that you can hear His voice. I haven’t been able to do that very well this past week and the lack of time with Him has shown up in all aspects of my walk. Feelings of being overwhelmed, the disorganization, inadvertent shortened conversations (sorry Renee), and a short temper has my life feeling like it is spinning like a top and I’m just holding on. I had to stop the spinning and get on my knees. I had to shut off the music, shut down the computer, put away all the lists and turn off the phone and be quiet.

Being quiet for me is difficult (those that know me are nodding their heads right now). That was the other challenge for me from this week’s chapter. It is only logical that in order to have a relationship with anyone that yes, you talk, but it is important that you stop talking and listen. I get so excited about God and the changes He has made in my life that once the mouth starts going, it’s hard to shut it up. Well, my heavenly Father loves to hear my praise, I know that but my heavenly Father has all the answers to my questions and wants to hear my prayers. He’s just waiting. But if I come to Him in a hurry, frantic pace, rushed and inattentive, and am not willing to hush and listen, I am like a young child who runs to her father crying with a problem and then runs out before he can fix it.

I have to stop. Completely and totally stop. Take a deep breath and bring Him the needs of my heart and then I have to wait. To be quiet and listen and slow down so that He can fill me up with His love, guide me with His direction, and replenish my waning energy with His power. It’s all there, I know that, but I keep running by it full tilt, mouth on fast forward. How about we all slow down, grab a cup of decaf (cause I certainly don’t need any more stimulation) and just listen for His still small voice.

My wonderful, patient, heavenly Father,
I want to hear you, I want to know you and I want to know that I am following your instructions in every aspect of my life. Help me to turn off all the distractions and the noise in my life, and the distractions and the noise in my mind, so that my soul can receive the peace, beauty and stillness that I long for. Amen.

I'm celebrating the creating of my belly button!

Today, 40 years ago, I entered the world. I had no idea how fast the time would pass, no idea the many adventures I would embark upon, nor how much heart ache and tears I would shed over the past 40 years. I’ve been a bit apprehensive about this birthday. It’s like a pinnacle in some respects and no I don’t mean that it’s all downhill from here, it’s more like now I am officially 100% an adult but I don’t feel like one. I certainly don’t feel 40. I don’t feel like those adults I saw as a kid who looked and acted so old. Yes, the hair is a bit gray, and there are lines on my face that weren’t there a few years ago. My eyes have officially become 40, I look like I’m playing with a yo-yo when I answer my phone in order to see who is calling. But, I still wanted to sit on Santa’s lap when I saw him at the store yesterday and tell him my hearts wish and my secret wants. I still get excited about seeing my friends and spending time talking with girlfriends. I recently reconnected with my oldest friend, the sister of my heart, and it has felt like a piece of my heart has been put back in place and that makes me feel young.
There have been a lot of challenges throughout my 40 years, but now even though I don’t feel very mature in some situations, I have matured, matured in a way that I didn’t know I would or even could. My faith has grown up. I no longer feel like a child in my walk with God. I no longer need to be spoon-fed and I don’t need someone to hold my hand and walk me through passages of scripture. I have gone through the rebellious period that teenagers go through when God wasn’t cool and I could do it all myself. I think I was spiritually stunted in my growth for a long time because it took a while to turn back to my Heavenly Father. But I have grown, grown to the point that I can be thankful for everything that I have experienced.

Every. Single. Thing.

I still have questions about things, the intricacies of certain scripture passages and how to apply it to my life, but now I have more then just a religion. My faith is 100% totally based on my relationship with the amazing God of the Universe. I never thought that the trials and tribulations of my past would be something I would ever be thankful for, but now I can speak to others, share my story, and tell them how much God loves them too but more importantly, because it’s the hardest thing to understand, I can explain to them how He forgives them as well. Knowing that someone is forgiven opens the floodgates to healing and finally peace and joy.

Growing up in my faith has taken years but now I know how to battle Satan and I know how to forgive others and how to forgive myself. But true growth comes from the fact that now I can be thankful for all that I have been through and all that is to come. I know, no matter what, that now I’m growing up in God and maturing the relationship with Him and this is better then all the wishes on all my birthday candles coming true.

Over the next 6 weeks I am going to be doing a “coffee talk” using Lysa TerKeurst book, “What Happens When Women Say Yes To God.” This is one of my favorite books and did a lot to help me grow in my relationship with God. I'm still growing and not just older so some of my girlfriends are going to be coming to my house on Tuesday nights (starting 12/15) for a couple of hours to discuss the chapter that they read and how they are going to be saying “yes to God” in their life. If you are in the neighborhood and want to join us, just let me know.

I will also be blogging about each chapter on Wednesday morning so we can do a “coffee talk” here as well every Wednesday so if you aren't close by and want to join us, just let me know.  I'll be doing some fun stuff on the blog as well while we take this journey.

I am giving away one copy of “What Happens When Women Say Yes To God?” today for my birthday. Please leave a comment on the blog answering the question:
“What was your favorite birthday?”

Contest closes at 12:00 Monday night. Please leave email address so that I can contact you on Tuesday morning!