Monday, April 28, 2014

Raining, pouring

How did I see God today?

In the rain outside.

God has promised that seedtime and harvest will always exist. We will never be stuck in perpetual winter but will always have these seasons.

There's hope that the snow will melt and that winter will end. The weather is warming up and we have hope that a sunnier time is coming.

It's not just literal seasons either. When we go through a time of dark skies and cold in life, we have a hope that sunnier skies will return someday. And though it's cold, God is always with us.

Rain might not seem like the makings of a beautiful day, but it's a promise of what is in store in the future.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

God is at work

I was trying to think, what should I focus on to get me back into my blog again? I decided to start focusing on the little ways that I can see God in everyday life. That's what the name of my blog is about anyway, those everyday moments that don't seem to mean anything but in reality are what life is really about.

I see God at work in my marriage. It's a wonderful thing, and that's why I know my husband and I are going to make it. We are committed, and it's not just because we haven't been married very long. I can see that we both are making decisions to better the other person and our relationship, and that's only because we know that God has put us together and wants us to stay together.

The other day, I was feeling crabby. It wasn't really for any reason, other than PMS, and I started to ask my husband to do several things. I wasn't saying it in a mean way, but I also had a tone that I was annoyed about these things.

Nate asked if I was grumpy, because he didn't think he had done anything wrong, and I said I was and that I was PMSing.

Instead of him getting annoyed back at me or even ignoring me, he pulled me into a hug.

It just brought tears to my eyes (I know, this time of the month). But it's so special to have someone who loves you so much that they overlook your shortcomings and just love you some more.

God is at work in our marriage, in our lives. I'm so appreciative that he has brought us this far and that we can rely on him to bring us through anything that happens in the future.

Monday, April 14, 2014

Christian swearing

The pastor preached one of those sermons yesterday that will reach just about everybody in the audience, everybody that is listening that is.

He talked about 1. The way we handle sex and money must be notably different than the culture around us; 2. Our speech must be notably different than the culture around us; 3. Failing to take this seriously may have eternal consequences.

The part that hit me most was that our speech should be different than those around us. I grew up very averse to swearing, even asking people not to swear around me. (I know, I sound like a little goody-two-shoes). Then you grow up, and swearing doesn't seem like a big deal.

I don't swear often now, but those words do come out every once in a while.

It wasn't really swearing that the pastor talked about though. It was what he called "Christian swearing." That means when we replace "Oh my God" with "Oh my gosh" or when we say "Fudge" or "Crap" instead of swearing. Everyone knows what we mean. Often, they hear the real word in their head anyway, so it's not saving anyone by us using those fake replacements.

What would be really amazing would be if we didn't need to say those words at all. In moments of trouble, what if we didn't say anything? What if we learned true self-control and didn't have to spout something out? Or what if we really relied on God and the first things out of our mouths was a prayer?

When I thought about how I should clean up my tongue, my first thought was exactly that --- what do I say in those moments of anger, annoyance or pain? I have to say something, so shouldn't it be something that is a little cleaner than swearing?

I think it might be my next challenge to see if I can replace those exclamations with prayers, telling God that I need help instead of relying on some meaningless word to get me through.

I'll let you know how it goes...

Monday, April 7, 2014

Forgive and forget?

The struggle between forgiveness, retribution and vengeance is a confusing lot.

I won't go into details, but someone hurt my husband, and this man was found innocent by a court. I had prayed that this man would be held accountable for his actions, because that only seems fair, right? I was upset at that, but then I remembered the verse that says "vengeance is mine, says the Lord." So I know that this man will be held accountable eventually.

However, forgiveness is another matter. I can pray for this person, and ask that God will use this situation to turn their lives around, but do I want to walk up to him and start a conversation? No. Do I want to act like everything is all right? No. Can I let go and let God? Yes. I'm not sure where the line lies between forgiving and acting like everything is just fine.

I thought, this person deserves to be punished. He doesn't deserve to get off scott free. Then listening to the pastor's sermon yesterday, he pointed out that we don't deserve to get off scott free either.

How many times have I hurt someone? Maybe it hasn't been physically, but I've emotionally injured people by being harsh or criticizing or being downright mean. I don't deserve for them or God to forgive me for those actions, but I have been forgiven. If I have been forgiven, I need to also forgive.

Does that mean I should give up wanting this person to be held accountable? I don't know.

I guess I want to do what's right, but I still want this person to be held accountable. I don't know if this means I'm not completely forgiving or if it's OK to want this person to feel bad about what happened and repent. I mean God asks us to repent, right?

This is one of those blogs where I don't have any answers. I'm just putting it out there that I'm honestly not sure what to do about this issue.

I need to pick back up with my blogging. It's spring, and everything is becoming new again. Why not my blog?