Showing posts with label Faith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Faith. Show all posts
February 7, 2011
Self-Sufficient or Surrendered?
5:00 AM | 
Posted by
Unknown
Recently in church my pastor talked about the story of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus, earnestly seeking to walk with God, and asking "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus' response is found in Mark 10:21,
"One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
The man turned away sad, because he loved his wealth, his success, the life he had built seemingly on his own, more than he loved God. He was self-sufficient, unwilling to surrender everything to follow Christ.
How often am I like this? The message is convicting because I have had tremendous success in my career, marriage, parenting and financial life. I do love my beautiful house. My kids are seem too good to be true a lot of days. (Not when living room floor is covered in socks and toys and the noise level is deafening, but it's true, I feel like I won the kid lottery.) It's easy for me to live daily as if I'm self-sufficient, thinking I love the Lord but relying on the life I've built.
My pastor called it "The Lack Factor", reminding us that we need to ask ourselves if we really believe that everything we have is His. Would we be willing to give up not only our money, our houses, but our husbands and kids as well? Would we be willing to go it alone for Christ? That is what living a truly surrendered life, the life Jesus calls us to, is all about.
My kids are probably the toughest for me to think about giving up. But if I understand scripture, they are His and I am only a steward of His blessings. To follow Jesus I need to pray and give them back to Him, to surrender everything.
The reward of a surrendered life is promised by Jesus in verses 29 and 30.
"I tell you the truth...no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this age...and in the age to come, eternal life."
Ask yourself, are you truly surrendered to God or living self-sufficiently?
My personal blog: Water Water Everywhere
Find me on Twitter: MainlineMom
Labels:
August 20, 2010
Distractions
12:00 AM |
Posted by
Maggie
Distractions
Do you ever notice how easily distractions can move us away from the path we set out to take? Often we don't even realize we have abandoned the original plan until we are pretty far down the road. I can relate to this in a big picture sort of way, but also on an everyday smaller scale.
I am a planner. I usually have a specific plan in mind for each day and then a broader plan for the week ahead. I desperately try to stay the course, despite distractions. Some days this is more difficult than others. This week happened to be one of them.
As you read from my previous post I am on a mission to organize my life -- My Extreme Life Makeover. My plan this week was to finish my office and move on to tackling my meal planning/grocery shopping system. About 3:30 yesterday I realized that the week was quickly coming to an end and I was no where near the path I started out on. God used some distractions this week to remind me of a few things:
1. Sometimes (maybe I should say often here) God has plans for our time that are not the same as our's. What we think of as distractions are often Him trying to get our attention. We should not be so focused on our own plan that we fail to see His.
2. Relationships are work, but they must ALWAYS take the priority in EVERY situation.
3. Absence does not make the heart grow fonder. Distance leaves room for hurt feelings, suspicions and misunderstandings.
I've often heard the phrase "you can't take it with you when you go" and that is the harsh truth of the reality of death. I have vivid memories of the day my mom finally received complete healing from her cancer. After hospice pronounced her dead they said that someone would need to go in and remove her jewelry. "Her jewelry! But she wears that everyday! I've never seen her without it on!" is what I was thinking. I had the same feelings a few months later when my sister and I did an Estate Sale and watched every last thing she owned be sold, leaving only an empty house. There it was, the harsh finality of death, right before my eyes. She was gone and took nothing with her.
My focus this week became some relationships that needed mending, rather than organizing my office. What I thought were distractions, God showed me were actually priorities.
I was in the last stretch of my homeschool planning this week and God redirected me in a BIG WAY (or should I say two little ways)!
Visit me at my personal blog: A Bokros Kind of Life
Follow me on Twitter: @abokroslife
I am a planner. I usually have a specific plan in mind for each day and then a broader plan for the week ahead. I desperately try to stay the course, despite distractions. Some days this is more difficult than others. This week happened to be one of them.
As you read from my previous post I am on a mission to organize my life -- My Extreme Life Makeover. My plan this week was to finish my office and move on to tackling my meal planning/grocery shopping system. About 3:30 yesterday I realized that the week was quickly coming to an end and I was no where near the path I started out on. God used some distractions this week to remind me of a few things:
1. Sometimes (maybe I should say often here) God has plans for our time that are not the same as our's. What we think of as distractions are often Him trying to get our attention. We should not be so focused on our own plan that we fail to see His.
2. Relationships are work, but they must ALWAYS take the priority in EVERY situation.
3. Absence does not make the heart grow fonder. Distance leaves room for hurt feelings, suspicions and misunderstandings.
I've often heard the phrase "you can't take it with you when you go" and that is the harsh truth of the reality of death. I have vivid memories of the day my mom finally received complete healing from her cancer. After hospice pronounced her dead they said that someone would need to go in and remove her jewelry. "Her jewelry! But she wears that everyday! I've never seen her without it on!" is what I was thinking. I had the same feelings a few months later when my sister and I did an Estate Sale and watched every last thing she owned be sold, leaving only an empty house. There it was, the harsh finality of death, right before my eyes. She was gone and took nothing with her.
My focus this week became some relationships that needed mending, rather than organizing my office. What I thought were distractions, God showed me were actually priorities.
I was in the last stretch of my homeschool planning this week and God redirected me in a BIG WAY (or should I say two little ways)!
Visit me at my personal blog: A Bokros Kind of Life
Follow me on Twitter: @abokroslife
June 18, 2010
Faith Filled Friday: What's holding you back?
12:00 AM |
Posted by
Maggie
God is doing something BIG in my life. I don't know all the details yet but He is revealing things to me. It started with my dear friend's journey to Africa. My daughters and I diligently prayed for her every day leading up to her trip. Once her travels began we gathered around the table each day at breakfast to read her blog chronicling every detail of what she saw. I tried to read her daily posts out loud to the girls, but it was difficult. Some of it was just too horrible for their young hearts, but more often than not I could not read through the my sobbing hearing her account of the people who live their lives day in and day out in such extreme poverty. The more I heard the more paralyzed I felt, the more sickened I felt at everything I have that they do not, the more hollow I felt, the more wasteful I felt. Wasteful with my money, wasteful with my time, wasteful with my energy, wasteful with my life. All of these feelings hammered at me, until I felt nothing but empty.
And then God stepped in. First a dream in the night and then just a crazy idea spoken out loud and then a passionate conversation between friends and shared with spouses. Now here I am (we are).....on the edge of something HUGE. I can't turn back now.
I don't know all the details yet, but this is what I am sure of. I know that I SIMPLY MUST allow God to fully vent everything He has planned for my life. I CANNOT be happy with the American Dream when 40% of the world's inhabitants struggle just to eat every day.* I CANNOT continue to live in a life so full of STUFF THAT DOESN'T MATTER that I have NOTHING LEFT FOR THE STUFF THAT DOES.
"He chose David his servant
and took him from the sheep pens;
from tending the sheep he brought him,
to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
of Israel his inheritance.
And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;
with skillful hands he led them." ~Psalm 78:70-72
Is He calling you to something today? Are you answering or is something holding you back?
My personal blog: A Bokros Kind of Life
Follow me on Twitter: @abokroslife
On my personal blog I am wrapping up a week of guest bloggers. Stop by for the details of my giveaway!
* When Helping Hurts, Fikkert & Corbett
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Our Featured Friend
Praying For Penny
Seeds Banners
Facebook - Twitter - RSS - Email Us
Please Visit Our Wonderful Sponsors:
Seeds Site Administrators
Seeds of Faith Founded By:
Site design by Tracey
