Perspective

As I started thinking about what I wanted to post today there were so many thoughts going on in my head.


• I thought maybe Nehemiah 4:14-"After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."" Having a 13 year old in your home is challenging and a fight is unfortunately not uncommon, especially when he makes a few poor choices. I remembered this verse when I realized I didn't want to fight with him, I wanted to fight for him against an unseen enemy. This enemy isn't annoyed when we are getting to where God wants us, he gets MAD. So my mantra is "Fight for him, not with him." Satan will not have my family.

• When Steve and I were walking on Saturday morning, he pointed out this shell on the beach. I went to pick it up, expecting it to be a piece of a larger shell but when I picked it up, a whole perfect conch shell came out of the sand! It was amazing. First I thought, this is why God says "Get out of bed and walk with your husband." Then I got to thinking about 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." What we are seeing right now in life is temporary. It is such a tiny piece compared to what we will have in eternity.

• On Sunday morning, our pastor asked me to share a story about sharing love in the community. That's easy, I'm a nurse. It's how I roll. Riggghhhhtttt. Not so much, but I have witnessed God do some pretty cool things so I shared. We are going through a series about "God is..." and yesterday was "God is Love." The post below is what I read to everyone. But what's crazy is that God would have me, who just a few years ago reeled at the question "How do you know God loves you, Joy?" speak at this particular service. This didn't occur to me until the worship time because all week I had been dealing with the above mentioned teenage. My main concern was sharing about being loving in my job but feeling I was doing a lousy job of being loving at home. That is a whole other post.

• Yesterday, we took our kids to lunch at a new restaurant Steve and I thought was really great when we went to it. Actually restaurant isn't the right word, beach shack, maybe. Anyway, we were so excited and 3 of the kids did not love it. They were not great, they were, well, awful. It was a miserable experience. It wasn't that they didn't like the place. It was how they acted. They want all these "grown up things" like cell phones, tvs, facebook, etc. And yet they still act like kids. As if! I know they are just kids. I also know it's me who has given them those privileges (except not for the teenager right now!). I was just thinking that must be what Paul was talking about in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?" Regarding the teenager (again!) I have been worldlier this week than spiritual. I am working on it and we are working through it together. I am thankful to be blessed with a son that has a large measure of forgiveness and grace built in to him.

So that's what I've been thinking about. So many things that seem "little" but I think it's all about what we choose to see in life. We can see the struggle or we can chose to see what God wants to teach us about Him or ourselves. We can convince ourselves we are alone or we can choose to see His presence in the little things.

I pray that all of you will have eyes to see and ears to hear the message God wants you to see and hear today.

Love you,

joy