Bored with God

My (Aimee’s) pastor made a really challenging statement on Sunday that has been stuck in my head and my heart ever since.  He said (I’m paraphrasing): if you’re bored with God then you don’t know Him very well.

I have to admit, there are times that I have been bored with God.  It’s connected to those times when you feel like God just isn’t enough.  But it’s also looking for other things to do instead of reading my Bible, or spending time in prayer, etc.  The thing that’s kind of funny is the fact that I really enjoy spending time with God and spending time in His word.  After all, I’ve devoted almost a decade of school and a horrendous amount of money to an education that was all about getting to know Him and His word better.  Yet, there are still those times…

Then I started thinking about people all over the world who are so hungry for God’s word that they plow through their Bible from cover to cover several times a year.  People who go to church every day.  People who spend hours and hours every day in prayer.  And, not to forget, people who are so devoted, so full of God’s awesomeness, that they face humiliation, torture, imprisonment, and death all for Him.  They definately aren't bored with God.  And that's because they recognize God for who He is: an awesome, loving, powerful, merciful, God who is actually so many things that we can't even fully grasp it all!  Our God is absolutely amazing!!

It all makes me feel rather unworthy, and slightly pathetic.  But it also motivates me to seek out more time with my Lord and His word.  I still struggle with God being enough for me.  I still struggle with Jesus being the love of my life.  I’m encouraged by the fact that this is my failing and not His.  And I’m even more encouraged by the knowledge that God can help me with this problem.  I just have to turn it over to Him.

Gambling

The only way to win big in gambling is to bet big.  If you are gambling, and you bet small and if you win you will get more back than you put in.  But not as much as if you had bet more to begin with. 

It’s a basic concept.  Not difficult to understand.  The bigger the bet, the bigger the win … if you win.  The problem with gambling, of course, is the fact that you don’t always win.  Plenty of the time—if not most of the time—when you gamble, you lose.  Hence, it's not recommended.

However, there are other ways of gambling that are good. 

Gambling big on God always pays off.  The bigger you bet, the bigger the return for the simple reason that it's not really a gamble; it's a sure thing.  It's a guarantee—just read your Bible if you don't believe me—that the more you give to God the more He will turn around and bless you.

There’s no guarantee anywhere in Scripture that God will give you everything that you want.  But we are told that God will provide for all our needs.  We only have to trust Him (a topic I’ve brought up several times before, I realize).

I’m gambling on God.  I was invited to join Sherann and her church on a mission trip in October.  I have no money to pay for my expenses.  I mean it.  No money.  My savings is run dry and I still have no income.  But, all the same, I said yes to the trip.  I’m trusting that God is going to provide because I believe that He wants me to go.  I’m gambling on God that it’s all going to work out.

Have you gambled on God before?  Lately?  Ever?

If not, why not?

If so, when?  Did it pay off?

What’s your story?

Anger Management

What do you do with anger?

Do you bottle it up?

Do you express it?  How?

Anger is a touchy subject.  Some Christians think that a "good" Christian never experiences anger.  But, not many.  After all, Jesus got angry.  We should feel anger at injustice, for example.  So then, the question really becomes, what should we do with our anger?

Recently, there was an incident in my (Aimee's) family.  I am feeling betrayed, hurt, and disrespected for both myself and my mother by someone within our own family.  I still love this person.  There really isn't anything that this person could ever do to make me or my mother stop loving them.  But, the fact remains, that I'm angry.

Exploding won't help.  When everything first happened, believe me, I wanted to spew words like a volcano all over that person.  I wanted to hurt that person like they had hurt me.  And spewing emotions like lava would burn.  But even in my anger I knew that exploding wouldn't help.  It might make me feel better for a minute or two, but that feeling would fade quickly only to be replaced by regret.  So, the question: what do I do with my anger?

I've been praying about it.  I've been asking God that question.  I've been asking God to show me what He wants me to do.  I am currently much calmer than I was.  I know that's Him working in me.  I'm not strong enough to hold it in all on my own.  But I still don't have the answer to my question.

What do you think?

What do you do with your anger?

The Love of My Life

My prince charming is here!

He's been here all along; I just only started to see Him in that way a year-or-so ago.  Don't you just hate it when that happens?  So much wasted time.  So many unnecessary heartbreaks.  

He's been in my life for as long as I can remember, loving me, caring for my best interest, protecting me.  He's absolutely perfect!  He loves me just as I am.  He always thinks of me before Himself.  He's not afraid to be honest with me, but always does so in a loving way.

He's everything that I could ever want, and more than I could ever imagine that I might want.  No one else can ever take His place in my heart.

He is the love of my life.

Someday, I may meet a man that I can fall in love with.  And I may get married.  And that will be a great love.  But, that man will have to recognize that he is not the love of my life.  In fact, if that man does not have the same Love in his life, then our relationship will never work out.  It's funny how it works that way, but it is how it works.

Jesus is the Love of my life.  He is perfect.  And He loves me more than life, itself.  He's already proven that.  And no one can, or should, ever take His place in my heart.

Drama-Rama!

Drama happens.  Let's be honest.  Sometimes we're the source.  Sometimes it's others around us.  Even if we try not to be drama queens (or kings) ourselves, drama still finds us at times.

How do you deal with drama?

How do you help others to deal with drama?

God's Love

My Godkids call it the pig book.  It’s one of several children’s books that I (Aimee) own and keep handy to read to them if they’re at my house at nap time or bed time.  And it’s easily my favorite of all that they have to choose from.

Sidney and Norman: A Tale of Two Pigs, is a beautiful story about God’s love told by the enormously talented Phil Vischer (creator of VeggieTales).  If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend it.  It’s not some silly kid’s book (although, as evidenced by my Godkids, children enjoy it very much).  It’s a great story for anyone of any age, but perhaps adults most simply because we get it faster than kids do.  The point of the story is not lost on us.  And the point is love.

I don’t want to give it all away.  So let me just say that Sidney and Norman are two very different pigs, but God loves both of them anyway.  When they receive that news, it affects each of them in a very different and specific way.  When you read the story, you’ll most likely find yourself identifying with Sidney or Norman, and so, the change that takes place in them touches your heart as well.  (Personally, I’m a Norman.  When you read the book, you’ll understand.)

God loves you just as you are.

You can’t earn His love.

He doesn’t love you more or less than He loves anyone else. 

God doesn’t play favorites.

You don’t deserve His love.

And so, you can never cause Him to stop loving you.

God loves you just as you are.

What difference does that knowledge make in your life?

What’s your story?

Slavery

In the 6^th chapter of Romans, Paul talks about the idea that we used to be slaves to sin, but now we are slaves to God.  Romans 6:16 says:

Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Slavery means total and complete submission.  It means always seeking the will of your master over your own.  It means that you don’t get to choose for yourself.  Your master chooses for you.

Once, we were slaves to sin.  Sin controlled our lives.  It made the decisions for us.  It sought its own best interest rather than ours.  And we let it.  We submitted.  We had no choice.  We weren’t strong enough to fight it.  Sin had the upper hand because it was inside of us.  All of us.  All the time.

And then God sent his Son to destroy the power of sin in our lives.  We no longer have to be a slave to sin, which does not care for our well-being.  The power of sin has been broken.  And, in loving gratefulness for everything that He has done for us (done out of His own love for us), we turn in obedience to God.  When we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and we ask Him into our hearts, we willingly become His slaves:

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:22-23)

I’ve (Aimee) found myself thinking a lot about Romans 6 lately.  Most of you know that I had been very concerned with getting a new job.  I have bills to pay and my job working with children ended for the summer.  I knew that God would provide for my needs, but that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t worried.  I’m human.  I still worry.

Well, I haven’t written a blog in so long because I got a temp job and it was eating up all of my time.  I got the job quite suddenly and started just a couple of days after the interview.  It wasn’t what I expected, in good and bad ways.  It was a very interesting job, but the hours weren’t very great.  Some days were so long that I found myself getting home, eating dinner, and going to bed, just to get up and go straight back to work.  Not ideal, to put it simply.  I had almost no time for my own time with God (although, of course, He is with us everywhere and always, so I could talk to Him anytime that I wanted, but I didn’t have time for special quiet time with Him), or for my responsibilities at church.

I found that I was allowing myself to be a slave to my paycheck.  I was putting up with it all for the sake of the paycheck.  And do you know what that says about me?  It says that I have a price.  And it says that I value money over my relationship with the Creator of Heaven and Earth.  I didn’t like that.  So I quit.

Don’t hear what I’m not saying!  Working long hours does not always mean that you are a slave to your paycheck.  It all depends on the person and the job.

What I am saying is that, for me, this wasn’t working.  Also, what I am saying is that we need to give consideration to the work that we do, knowing that all Christians are called to have a relationship with God and all Christians are called to ministry (not all are called to go into ministry as a profession, but all are called to minister to others).  If the work that you are doing is not allowing for one or both of those things, then you need to re-evaluate how you go about work.  Whether that just means changing your approach, or if it means changing your work, only you and God can tell.  So give your work to Him.  Put it in His hands.  And seek the will of your Master.  He loves you and wants what’s best for you.