Stop pushing against God

 Our daughter was fussing in church, and she was giving definite signs that she was hungry so I got up to take her into the bathroom to nurse her and quiet her down for the rest of service.

My mom arms have definitely acclimated to holding our 22-pound 7-month-old, but she can still make it difficult sometimes when she is squirming, or planking, or just trying to wriggle out of my grasp.

I was standing in a stall with the door open --- I figured I didn't want to just stare at a door but wanted to be able to close it if someone came in --- and was looking at us in the mirror while she ate. My arms were starting to get tired, and I realized that it was because while she was eating, she was pushing against my chest with one of her hands. Had she just rested and snuggled in while I was providing her with what she needed, it would have been easier and more relaxing for the both of us. However, she's an independent little gipper and she doesn't snuggle in regularly.

It kind of hit me in that moment how much that is like the human relationship to God.

God can provide us with all that we need, if we let him. However, we are so "independent" and think we can rely on ourselves that even when we humble ourselves enough to let him "help" us, we're still usually pushing back and trying to take on some of the work. When really, if we just leaned in to him and let him provide, it would be much easier on the relationship and on both of us.

I'm guessing that God so often looks at us the way that I looked at our daughter --- "If you just rest, I'll still give you everything you need. You don't need to keep pushing against me."

It's often hard to humble ourselves enough to just rest in the moment and let God take care of us. We're really not as independent as we often think we are.

It's not Thanksgiving, but let's still be thankful

 What if you woke up today with only the things that you thanked God for yesterday?

As I was packing our house and unpacking our new apartment, I came across a couple of sayings that my mom had written down for me several years ago. She made a bookmark with the above statement, and I decided to keep it in my daily devotional book, because it makes me think.

What do I need to make sure that I'm thanking God for more regularly? What is right in front of me that I take for granted, that I would be sad if it weren't there tomorrow?

So this morning, I started off by thanking God for the things in my life I would be devastated if I didn't have.

Obviously, my little girl and my amazing husband. Our dog. Our home. Plenty of food in the refrigerator and warmth from the cold. For our salvation and the grace and forgiveness of Jesus. For breath and life, for a new day that is laid before me. For financial stability in hard times. For health. For an extended family that also knows the love of God.

If you were to truly thank God for everything that is good in your life, how long would it take you? It would take me hours! Perhaps that's why 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says "Pray without ceasing." We should be constantly taking note of what God has blessed us with, ask him how we can use that for others, pray for those we come across and continually be thanking God for what is in our lives.

One more sign that my mom made that is now hanging on our fridge reads, "Dear God, I just want to take a moment, not to ask for anything, but to simply say 'thank you' for all I have."

It's not Thanksgiving, but let's remember to be thankful for all that we have this season.

Two things I'm thankful for today

Two sentences hit me hard and caused me to be overcome with thankfulness in an unexpected way today. 

"[God's] will is preeminent and will be done."

God's will is over all. God's ability to accomplish his will doesn't depend on if Christians do what they're supposed to, when they're supposed to do it. It doesn't depend on the right President getting elected to office. It doesn't depend on a terrorism attack getting stopped instead of happening. It's doesn't depend on anything.

Think about the salvation of mankind. God decided that to save the human race, his son would have to come to Earth, live a perfect life and die for our sins before rising again and beating Satan and death. Accomplishing that purpose didn't depend on any actions of humans --- God simply used what humans did to complete his already established will, his already planned out plan.

"It is only by grace that we celebrate a lordship other than our own."

I so often look at people on social media, those who have huge followings and who think of themselves as quite something, and I judge them. Why do they think they are so important? I mean, I know that I'm not the center of the world --- now, I may sometimes act like it, unfortunately, but that's a different story --- why don't they see that they really aren't all that high and mighty?

That's where this quote hit me.

So many people see themselves as the end-all-be-all because they don't have anything else. They don't believe in a God who created this universe, who is bigger than them, who saved them from sin, who they can rely on for anything. All they have is themselves to solve problems, to make the best life for themselves, to strive to be the best they can be. They are their own lords.

And that made me realize that it truly is by grace --- undeserved mercy --- that God revealed himself to me. I should be celebrating daily that I know the truth, that I know that God exists and that I know there is someone out there much bigger than me that I can take all my problems to, that cares about me, that gives me purpose.

I don't think I've ever thought about how blessed I am to have that knowledge before.

So today, I'm thankful that I am not my own lord and that my Lord's will doesn't depend on me or anyone else, but that it will always be done.

Quotes from "New Morning Mercies" by Paul David Tripp.

Free to love

 So many mornings, I put our daughter in bed with me and watch some TV while we both wake up.

OK, while I wake up and while she plays a bit with some toys I give her.

Usually, she sits/lays next to me against the pillows, but the other day she wasn't happy just being next to me. She wiggled her way over until she was leaning against my stomach with my arm on her and then she stopped fussing and began playing.

She just wanted to be touching me, snuggling with me, instead of just next to me.

It was the first time she ever wanted to actually snuggle with me, and it made me smile. It made my heart melt because it was her choice to be near me instead of me placing her by my side.

Someone asked my husband this week why bad things happen in this world if there is a God. He responded because of free will. But why would God give us free will if it leads to bad things? There are a lot of ways to answer that, but I think one of them is illustrated by what my daughter did.

God created his children, and he wants his children to love him. However, he doesn't want to force it; he wants them to choose it.

As sweet as it was having our girl snuggled against me as a baby, it wasn't her choice. I just picked her up and held her. It was a whole other thing to have her wiggle her way over to me and snuggle me by her choice. She chose to love on me in that moment, and that made it so much sweeter than when I just love on her.

God could force us to be perfect and to not give us any choice but to love him. However, he wanted the joy of us realizing that we need him and choosing to love him with all we have. It's so much sweeter when your kids want to be by your side, and God knew that.

What organization doesn't thrive when it has two leaders?

If you know me, you know that I'm passionate about the traditional view of family with the woman as the helpmate to the husband, who is the leader. That's hard for a lot of women to accept, and I could go back to the fall of mankind and the curse that was placed on Eve to desire to be her husband's leader but I won't go into that right now --- well, beyond that. Instead, I want you to watch the video above and see Oscar's comments on the stupidity of a corporation having two branch managers.

"It doesn't take a genius to know that any organization thrives when it has two leaders. Go ahead, name a country that doesn't have two presidents, a boat that sets sail without two captains. Where would Catholicism be without the popes?"

It sounds absurd, doesn't it? A company with two CEOs? A country with two presidents? A boat with two captains? Duh, who would make the decisions?

So why, when we look at a family, is it so repulsive to think that there should be one person who is the head?

In the Christian view, the man is the head of the family, but that does not make the woman any less. Let me repeat that --- the man is the head of the family, but THAT DOES NOT MAKE THE WOMAN ANY LESS.

Charles Swindoll put it this way in his Living Insights commentary on Colossians: "...Christ serves as the perfect example. Though equal in nature to the Father, sharing in the same divinity, power, glory and authority, the Son submitted to the Father's will to accomplish God's plan of redemption, humbling himself in obedience."

That's what it means when a wife is supposed to submit to her husband.

The big issue is often pride. Christ, in humility, submitted himself to the will of the Father to die on the cross for the sins of mankind. He didn't say, "But I'm God. I'm too good to do something like that. I'm not lower than you, lower than mankind. I can make decisions myself."

Instead, he humbled himself in submission.

Wives, you're not a lowly woman who has to submit to her husband. You get to submit, to show yourself humble, to put your husband above yourself so that the will of God can rule in your family's life. You're not told to submit to any man; you're not to make yourself lower than men in general. You're to submit to your husband.

Wives are to be a helpmate, just like Eve was created to do. The President has his cabinet to help him make decisions, but in the end, he makes the decisions and is held responsible. The pope has cardinals and bishops to help in making decisions, but in the end, the pope makes decisions and is held responsible. The CEO of a company can consult with managers, vice presidents and other leaders, but in the end makes the decisions and is held responsible.

Wives, give your husband good counsel. But in the end, in humility, submit to God's plan and to your husband's leadership and let him make the decision. He will then be held responsible for that decision, both on Earth and in heaven, as the leader of your family.

Because a corporation doesn't run well with two leaders. A country doesn't run well with two leaders. A church doesn't run well with two leaders.

And neither does a family.

God loves them

 I think in times of uncertainty, we often think the worst.

With the uncertainty of the election right now, I have thought the worst of what could happen to this country. My mind jumps ahead to religious persecution and destitution. Then I think, there are Christians all around the world who are in that right now. There were Christians throughout history who lived under tyrants, despots and those who did atrocious things to the faithful.

I have read many stories of Christians who not only stayed faithful during horrific times but also showed love to the leaders, soldiers and guards who hated them, beat them and even killed them.

Why?

Because God loves them.

I am currently editing a sermon my former pastor gave on Jesus' crucifixion, which is awful to try to edit or even read about, and he addressed the fact that God the Father didn't do anything while Jesus was put through such hell on Earth. He didn't smite all those involved.

Why?

Because God loved them.

He loved Judas. He loved Pilate. He loved Herod. He loved the Roman soldiers and the members of the Sanhedrin. He loved them so much that he wanted to save them from their sins but sending an atoning sacrifice, and the only perfect atoning sacrifice that could take the place of all those sins was the sacrifice of Jesus, God's own son.

But it wasn't just them. I am sinful. You are sinful. We all are sinful. We all deserve to die and spend eternity in hell, as far away from our perfect God as our mistakes have brought us. But we don't have to, because of God's grace.

Why did he give us that grace?

Because he loves us.

So when we are faced with people who hate us, who want to persecute us, who want to strip away our rights and freedoms, remember that God us and God even loves them. And it's up to us to show that love.

Eyes but no sight

 To start, it's been a long time since I've blogged. We just moved across the state, and I have a six-month-old --- that's about all the explanation that's needed!

However, I've been trying to continue digging into God's Word and that always makes me think of things to write. Writing also helps me process what I've been reading.

Today's devotional encouraged reading Psalm 115. In the passage, David (I'm assuming David wrote this one) talked about idols.

"Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouth, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them..." (Psalm 115: 4-8).

When I look at the messy world around me, I often see people who don't know God and think, "Why can't they see the truth? It's so obvious!"

Verse 8 says "Those who make them become like them." Obviously, the election is on my mind, so I thought in frames of that. If someone is making hatred of Donald Trump his or her idol, what he or she focuses on, what rules his or her life --- they start to become like that idol. That hatred can't see, can't hear, can't smell. That means, that person can't see truth before them, can't hear what rational arguments. As obvious as I think something is, that person is so consumed with hatred that truth will not sink in.

If you dislike Donald  Trump and can't hear that way of framing this, think instead of someone who idolizes material goods. Say she loves expensive purses. It is what she thinks about, spends her money, prioritizes. Those purses can't see, can't hear, can't smell, can't move. When someone suggests that perhaps $1,000 might be better spent on say family time, food or electric bills, she can't hear the logic in that argument. She can't see that anything in life is better than getting the next great purse.

We have to be so careful not to let things around us become idols. Not only will we be focusing on the wrong things, but it can actually be hard to come back from because we will be so blinded, so deafened by the idol that we can't see or hear the logic to get out. We become like our idols --- useless, stagnant and ultimately worthless.

Instead, we should focus on things above, on Jesus and on his kingdom. If we become what we focus on, what we idolize, then focusing on God will make us righteous, set apart, of great value and able to make a difference. That sounds so much better than blind, deaf and stagnant.