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"Faith isn't a static condition. As long as we live in this world, our faith will be tested; these tests are invitations to grow in intimacy with [God]. . . . . Never underestimate the importance of believing that God's Word is truth. This is our foundation for faith. Without it, we will let circumstances determine our perception of who God is and whether He can be trusted. But if we believe that He never lies, we'll rely on His promises instead of our own plans and resources."
~ Deborah Bate on pg. 30, In Touch - March 2010
"I can't live by what I feel but by the truth your word reveals"
-- line from a song "Praise You In This Storm"
Let's see a show of hands on this....how many of you often live according to your feelings and circumstances instead of relying on the goodness and faithfulness of God?
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I like this Mark Batterson post on Holy Anticipation.
Will today be my day?
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I think I got this great quote from Carmen's Facebook awhile back. I liked it so much I saved it!
"God doesn't just put up with our differences, He savors them. Lets be real. We may know in our head that each Christian has a unique assignment from God. But when the assignments produce radically different lifestyles and approaches to spirituality, we have a difficult time validating both. God, help me not to take my personal preferences and make them gospel."
Keeping this in mind will cut down on legalistic tendencies. Personal preferences do not equal "thus saith the Lord," right?
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Check out the quote from the article on page 24 of this magazine.
Accept each other. I truly started
enjoying time spent with all of the adult
women in my family, my grown daughters
included, when I followed Richard Foster’s
healthy rule for all Christians: “Lay down the everlasting burden of always needing to manage others.” Other people’s faults and quirks and habits and choices are, in the end, a matter between each adult individual and God. Or, as Foster goes
on to say in his classic Celebration of
Discipline, “When we genuinely believe that inner transformation is God’s work and not ours, we can put to rest our passion to set others straight.” My job, meantime, is simply to love them.
Have you ever struggled with trying to set everyone straight? *lowers head to hide her guilty face* I blame it on The Oldest Sibling Syndrome combined with my personality type and being my father's child. (Notice I did not blame it on being a sinful person which is the true reason.) Hehehehe. He's an oldest sibling as well sooooo... ;) (My mom is also, but she's not driven like my dad and me. She's much more laid-back about things.) I love the message of the above quote. I guess I like things that challenge me in areas where I struggle. That's why they are noteworthy enough for me to take the time to copy them here. I think what this lady says is applicable to not only my own life, but among people of all nationalities and religions. How often do I gripe about how some religious people want to micro-manage individuals and make them conform to their interpretations of "what God really means"? I read things on blogs that would make your hair curl! You see what they did to me*, right?
Again this so good:Other people’s faults and quirks and habits and choices are, in the end, a matter between each adult individual and God.
And if we truly believe this, we know we cannot change people. Only God transforms lives! We are free to love them and leave the changing up to Him. He's better at it than we are anyway.
*Picture is of me in the third grade. I love laughing at that one. :) I think I'm 8 in this pic...so Michael's current age.
Also I think this post is "special" only because of how oddly it posted.
12 comments:
Congratulations on your 500th post!
I haven't started Matthew yet either. Hopefully by Monday!
"Have you ever struggled with trying to set everyone straight?"
Yes!! *nodding*
Cute photo. You looked like a sweet, happy child. I like seeing pics!
congratualtion on the 500 post. I love your posts a lot, even though i don't comment on each but i read them all. Thank you for sharing so many beautiful things with us :)
Now ( Let's see a show of hands on this....how many of you often live according to your feelings and circumstances instead of relying on the goodness and faithfulness of God? ) , i can say that i do 50/50 .But if i have to be precise, i may tend to live more according to my feelings and circumstances a bit more but i like to rely more on the goodness of God.
and this is my number one quote :-( Accept each other. I truly started
enjoying time spent with all of the adult
women in my family, my grown daughters
included, when I followed Richard Foster’s
healthy rule for all Christians: “Lay down the everlasting burden of always needing to manage others.” Other people’s faults and quirks and habits and choices are, in the end, a matter between each adult individual and God. Or, as Foster goes
on to say in his classic Celebration of
Discipline, “When we genuinely believe that inner transformation is God’s work and not ours, we can put to rest our passion to set others straight.” My job, meantime, is simply to love them)
and i am still guilty, but i don't try to set people straight depending on religious views or such things, mostly i like to set people's straight on the human issues and how to be open and accepting and loving . cuz i dream of a world full of that :)
and i love love love this :-
( Other people’s faults and quirks and habits and choices are, in the end, a matter between each adult individual and God.)
and i love your pictur so much, you seems to be a nice and funny kid, were you ?
sorry for the long comment, it's your fault after all :P
Yep, that's the quote. I actually wrote about it here too.
http://cjsauce.blogspot.com/2009/08/too-busydoing-church-to-be-church.html
I enjoyed this post. I'm always challenged by you, Susie! That's a great picture of you too. I don't see you in many busy prints now so I enjoyed the plaid shirt/dress. So cute!
Wow. 500 entries already. That's a lot of typing and yakking. Uh, I mean talking and sharing. Yeah.
I have 290 at my current blog. I have no idea how many entries were at my Yahoo360 blog. I wrote there over a couple of years.
Sarah, thanks! :) You can read through Matthew slowly if you want. I'm trying to read it more slowly than usual to absorb things I never considered before. And I want to see what jumps out at you and what questions strike you. It will be fun to compare notes though I am nervous since you are so much smarter than I, Ms. Scientist! :D I'm glad you like the picture. Isn't that one funny? Me and my big ol' hair! :P
Wafa', thanks for your sweet comment and I like them no matter how long! LOL that it's my fault! :-D
I want to live by trusting God's goodness, but I often go by my feelings. I think I'm getting better--hopefully so! :)
Glad you could relate and/or enjoyed many of the quotes. Of course I did as well. That's why they are here on the blog. :)
Hopefully I was a nice enough kid. I'm sure I had my moments where I wasn't so nice. I'm glad you liked the picture. I appreciate your comment as always!
Carmen, thanks! Yes, now I remember that wonderful post! Thank you for referring me back to it. :)
Yeah, I tend to wear more plain shirts now except for t-shirts. I just don't do horizontal stripes much any more. :) But I have tried to get a few scarfs with some print/texture so hopefully that is better. I do have a few "busy" skirts, but you rarely see those in pics. Thanks for your comment!
Niki, I think I followed you from Yahoo to Blogger so, wow, I have been talking up a storm! :-D
Well, I have no life so I have to talk to myself. :)
Thanks for your comment!
our faith will be tested; these tests are invitations to grow in intimacy with [God]. .
"I can't live by what I feel but by the truth your word reveals"
“Lay down the everlasting burden of always needing to manage others.”
When we genuinely believe that inner transformation is God’s work and not ours, we can put to rest our passion to set others straight
As you can see, I've copy and pasted some items that popped out at me,,that I'm dealing with, struggling with or learning to grow through them I guess.. awesome post sweet sister.
Thanks, Angela! I'm glad you enjoyed those quotes. :)
I love the quotes! Thank you so much, S!
And that photo is just gorgeous. You have always been so beautiful!
"Have you ever struggled with trying to set everyone straight?"
Oh yes! My father was the oldest. Mother is the oldest. Husband is the oldest and I am the oldest :D AND I have very wavy hair!
Congrats on your 500th post! Yay! Like Wafa I too read every post and take back so much with me although I don't always have something valuable to say.
BTW, setting everyone straight reminds me of this comment I just received - http://acheloisunplugged.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/my-astrological-reading/#comment-1221
Enjoy! :D
Suroor, you always leave such sweet comments. Thank you! :-) :-) :-)
I had to laugh when I followed that link...hehehehe. Well, they are just making sure you are a good Muslim. ;)
I appreciate your kind words very much!
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