I GOT THE JOB!!!!!

I seriously could not be any happier. :)

I know I've been a slacker...

I've been looking for work. Online all day sending out resumes and calling people...ugh, is there anything worse?? But...today I have an interview at a bookstore. I WANT this job! Please send up a prayer today that this is where God wants me to be. Because I really want to be there!

Lessons from the kitchen table...

I named this blog for my Grandpa. About 10 years ago, I would go over to his house every Tuesday night and we would go through the Scripture line by line and we would discuss each passage. He gave me insights that he had learned through years of study. Insights that always made such perfect sense to me. I was thumbing through my bible looking for a verse that would set me off on a tangent that I could translate to a blog entry and instead I started noticing all the notes I had. Of course, I was in Romans and anyone who knows Foy Martin, knows that Romans is his favorite book. He's the one that first explained grace to me. Anyway, so I thought I'd write about my notes.

I'll start with Romans 3:23-24, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Grandpa told me that justified meant "just as if I had not sinned". So basically those verses mean that we all have sinned but with God's grace, those sins are gone as if they had never happened.

"Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produce perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." Romans 5:1-5. That's just a really good verse!

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:38-39. Although I do believe that the one thing that can separate us is ourselves. We can choose to not accept that love.

To be continued...

Collectivism

Collectivism is a term used to describe any moral, political, or social outlook, that stresses human interdependence and the importance of a collective, rather than the importance of separate individuals. Collectivists focus on community and society, and seek to give priority to group goals over individual goals. The philosophical underpinnings of collectivism are often related to holism or organicism - the view that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Specifically, a society as a whole can be seen as having more meaning or value than the separate individuals that make up that society. (Wikipedia)

I agree with this line of thought. Think about a society on a much smaller scale, your family. What's more important? That you or your husband or your children are happy or that the whole is happy? I know that means compromise and someone not being happy 100% of the time but the goal is to make sure that everyone is happy. I've seen the Nanny 911 shows where from the outside the kids are having a ball because they rule the roost but when you delve deeper, the whole family is miserable so what has to happen for happiness? The parents have to stand up and consistently work on the kids setting boundaries, following through, etc. And the kids? They are just generally unhappy because while their little minds crave boundaries, having to actually live in them is another story. So what's better for the family? Thinking only of yourself and being miserable or thinking of others and being happy? I would think that's a no-brainer but obviously after watching SuperNanny and Nanny 911 and shows like that, today's family has not one clue how to do that. How to put others above themselves. It's that verse again, isn't it?!?

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

Philippians 2:3-4

I belong to a public group who interacts through a message board and one of those message boards is called Hot Topics. The kind of topics that will create a debate and once I discovered that place, I was hooked!! I love debating! I love getting the different insights into different topics and the topic that brought about this whole entry on my blog was about legalizing prostitution. I was just going through in my mind the reasons people had for legalizing it and I came to this conclusion, if we treat people as bodies or entities then we don't have to worry about their soul. And for right now, I'm not talking about the soul that needs to turn to Jesus, I'm talking about the flame that makes us who we are. Yes, by all means let's legalize prostitution and let's let generations of women know that we don't care what they do to their bodies, our job is to only make sure they are disease free. We don't care about the spirit. What about abortion? That's another spirit killer that we've legalized. Thousands of women every day go and abort their children because all we care about is that it's their body and their choice. We don't care that they are cutting out a piece of their heart that they may never get back. We have to care about others because they don't care about themselves!! Don't you think that's why Jesus went to the woman by the well? Who else was going to talk to her about Him? What about the woman who was going to be stoned? Jesus came to her because NO ONE else would have. We have to put others above ourselves. We have to try to take care of the ones who can't take care of themselves.

I know it's so hard to do that but you know, small steps lead to bigger steps. I took a small step yesterday and I didn't do it so I could point out what a great Christian wife I was, I did it because that's what my God wanted me to do.

Okay, I think this post is getting away from me because I can't gather my thoughts anymore, they've splintered off into 20 different directions and I've noticed that the more I get into God's word, that that's what happens!

A Valuable Lesson

I had a new experience this weekend both as a Christian and as a wife. I submitted to my husband on a choice that I didn't agree with but I knew that I didn't have a choice if I want to live the way I want to as a Christian. I'm not going to go into the whys and whatnot but I will just say that he feels one way and I feel the polar opposite. And I was mad and my feelings were hurt and I wanted him to know every feeling I had. But I knew that I didn't want him to change his mind to make me happy. I knew that he wouldn't ask me to do something unless he felt strongly about it and just because I don't feel the way he does doesn't make his feelings any less. I felt like I had a very valid argument about why I should be able to continue what I was doing and I informed him of some of them but he remained firm in his opinion and that's when I knew I had to submit. I whined about it for a while and this morning when I woke up and still felt incredibly resentful, it came down to realizing how incredibly selfish I was being. I knew that what we were disagreeing on was in no way more important than him and I was placing more importance on something than it deserved. I knew that God could change my heart on this if I asked him too and I did and He did. And in a heartbeat all my anger, my resentment was gone. In a heartbeat. One minute I was crying and feeling so sorry for myself and the next I felt totally at peace with it all. It's not about wanting my way, it's about putting Chad's feelings over my wants. And his feelings will win out every single time.

For Heather...

I hate that I have to be a part of something like this but at the same time it warms my heart when a community rallies together to help a friend in need. I'm not a close friend to Heather but she is one of the co-founders of the Moms of Grace website that I found a couple of months ago that has been such an asset to my life. If you go here you can read about Heather's story from her blog and if you click on the button it will take you to the blog that is raising money to help Heather out. Please, on April 18 (that's next Wednesday) if you can spare anything it would be such a blessing to Heather and her family. I am challenging all my readers to donate at least $1. Everybody can afford $1 and together it adds up to so much!! It would also be wonderful if we could raise Heather and her family up in prayer every chance we get. Thanks.

Grace Based Parenting

I finished this book last night and if you are a parent, I urge you to go get it and read it yourself!! I just have to get down a couple of points that I felt were so important.

• He defines love as "the commitment of my will to your needs and best interests, regardless of the cost." He then goes on to say that when we are talking to people we love that our honesty must be delivered with its effect on the other person in mind. Grace requires that we deliver words about touchy subjects with a commitment to help - even heal- the other person. And that it works both ways - that we speak this way to our children and that we let them speak this way to us. (italics are passages straight from the book)

What I love about this book is that it teaches us how to be grace based Christians on top of being grace based parents. We should do this with everyone not just our kids but it's so important that we do treat our kids with grace. We are such a huge influence on our children just think of the influence we'll have on them if they know first hand how much difference the grace of God makes in their life.

• Another thing I really liked was this quote by Dr. Dan Allender about dishonesty... "Because dishonesty, or living a in denial, is actually an attempt to dethrone God. It is an attempt to become as God with the power to construct the world and reality according to our desire...God does not play by our rules nor resolve our wound and ache as we desire; therefore, we leave God's world and create one that is more palatable to our taste, even if it robs us of life and love."

Wow.

I love stuff that I can tuck away in the back of my mind and pull out when I need it and this book is full of that. It makes me want to treat everyone I know with grace and I know that's what God wants for me too.

Some more thoughts on Grace...

I came to a realization today. Do you know why we can be gracious to people and put them above ourselves? Because we are children of the King and we are already so highly valued by God that it just adds to our value when we act like him. One very important thing to remember when we read Phillipians 2:3-4 that says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." is that we in no way lower ourselves or our worth when we do this. Do you think Jesus thought of himself as less than us when He died for our sins? Of course not. I'm just saying that we can't use this verse and let ourselves be doormats or allow others to tell us that it demeans us to consider others better than us. In our society today, this mindset is totally foreign and I don't want to stumble because Satan tells me that I should look out for myself because no one else will. Well, I have God looking out for me when I strive to do His will so I think I can be satisfied with that!!

Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
Ephesians 5:1-2 The Message

Isn't that beautiful? His love was not cautious but extravagant. I looked up the meaning of extravagant and it said, "going beyond what is deserved or justifiable" Sounds like grace again, huh? The creator of the Universe didn't love us to get something from us but to give his whole self to us. How lucky are we?

I'm really thankful today amid all the Easter eggs and chocolate and baskets that I can tell my children that Jesus died for me and for them and that today we get to celebrate his resurrection. I am 35 years old and this is the first Easter that has really resonated in me - where I have been aware that today is the day Jesus conquered death.

I just praise God for all his blessings.

Grace

I wish that churches taught about grace more than sin. Or that when people talked about Christians it was about how graceful they are instead of how judgemental. I'm reading a book right now called Grace Based Parenting by Dr. Tim Kimmel. The premise is to treat our children the way Jesus treats us. But of course, I got to thinking and I'm just gonna let my thoughts wander.

Grace is defined as the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God. Unmerited means that we don't deserve it. Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." That's grace, that's like having your child spit in your face and you reach down and grab him and hug him and tell him you love him. We do it because we love them and so we won't go to prison for child abuse!!

But seriously, I'm really striving to be graceful to everyone. It's hard though, I get annoyed at little things that my kids do and snap at them. I get my feelings hurt by my husband and pull the old, "What's wrong, honey?" "Oh, nothing" dialogue when it's more than obvious there is something wrong. I get mad and feel justified at letting my words fly. But Phillipians 2:3-4 says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." (emphasis mine) Now the Christians that are reading this are nodding their head and going, "that's right, that's right" but if you don't believe then you may be reading this going, "What?? Why should I consider others better than me? They aren't better than me!" But you know what? If everybody did that, then you would have everyone you know and interact with on a daily basis looking out for your interests. Your husband, your kids and your friends. Ahhhh...kinda makes it sound better, doesn't it?! It does to me too! And the neat thing about it is people mimic the people around them, so maybe if I go into it with the attitude that if I change, I can cause positive change in those around me it won't seem so hard.

Happy Easter!

I remember listening to this over and over again in high school and it's just as powerful now as it was then. I hope y'all enjoy it as much as I do.