2009: The Year of Me!

I have been hesitant to create any new year's resolutions this year because I never follow through with them beyond February. Instead of defining and working on specific goals, I am looking to change attitudes and beliefs about myself this year. After listening to the testimonies of other people, I have finally come to believe that if I change attitudes and beliefs about myself then my behaviors will line up with my goals for my life. I know this may sound silly but I have decided that 2009 is the Year of Me!

I am going to do whatever it takes each day to continue to learn to love myself the way God loves me and to care for myself in a way that will be pleasing to Him. Each day I will do something for me regardless of how little, small, and insignificant it may seem. I truly believe that God wants me to be whole, healthy, and happy in spirit, soul, and body.

What will I do? I might read one page in a fun book (I bought a Smallville novel almost six months ago that is calling my name). I could spend five minutes working on a puzzle (I got 12 of them for Christmas). I can exercise (even if it is only 10 sit-ups and 10 push-ups). Oh, here’s a favorite, soaking in the hot tub. I could write in my journal, drink a cup of my favorite tea while faithdreaming, or eat one Oreo cookie. J Whatever it is, I will spend at least five minutes a day on myself.

We serve an awesome God who wants us to prosper and be in health even as our souls prosper. The interesting thing is that no one can take care of us except us. Let’s make the choice together to learn how to see ourselves the way God sees us, as His dearly loved children. Let’s learn together how to take care of ourselves in a way that increases our overall health…spirit, soul, and body. Let’s look forward to what God could accomplish in us as we learn to value ourselves the way He values us.

So what do you say? Could 2009 be the Year of You?

“I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Emotions and The Will

We can let our emotions control us or we can take control over them by exercising our will.

Feeling hatred, bitterness, and anger? Choose forgiveness then act forgiving.

Feeling mean? Choose kindness then be kind.

Feel like giving up? Choose to stay committed and act devoted.

Feel discouraged? Choose to be happy then smile and enjoy life.

Our problem is that we have allowed our emotions to rule over us and dictate or heavily influence our behavior. Start exercising your power of choice by using your will. Take charge of your will and stop letting your emotions take charge of you.

Supernaturally Changed

I can remember the days when I begged God to change me. At times I cooperated with God to answer that prayer to change by doing what I believed I was supposed to do only to fall back into doing nothing except feeling miserable and crying out to God to change me. Every attempt at being different and trying to change failed. Even so, I kept trying and I kept doing and I kept praying for God to change me until the day came when the pain of not changing became too much to handle and I stopped. I stopped trying and settled for life the way it was and for me the way I was. Without realizing it, I tucked that pain away in a corner of my heart and for over a decade I never thought about it. Until two years ago.

Two years ago a situation forced me to resume my change efforts. I had something very important at stake in my life and I decided that I would do whatever it took to get through it. As a result, I pulled the pain out from the corner of my heart and added it to the pain I was experiencing and gave it all to God and told Him that even if I have to live with this pain for the rest of my life I was going to change. Looking back, I realize that for the first time in my life, I had the courage to make the effort to change instead of just wanting to be changed. I did what I was supposed to do and it was hard at first. So hard that sometimes I cried and asked God to find a different way. But there was no other way for me to change than to forgive those who had wronged me. There was no other way than begin to show love toward the one who had hurt me to so much. There was no other than to surrender my will to God's will and just do what He wanted me to do. There was no other way than to do it through Jesus' strength and not mine.

For two years I have been in the process of changing. I was willing to be changed my entire life but it was only when I worked the change process that something miraculous happened. For two years I have been so focused on being the woman God wants me to be that I was not aware of the change was taking place. It like fall colors. Some of are so focused on just living from day-to-day that we don’t notice the fall colors around us. Then one day, for whatever reason, we look up and see the beautiful fall colors and we realize it is fall. Fall colors that God has created and blessed us with. When this happens to me I am amazed about the fact that fall has been around me and I have not even noticed.

Today, I look at beautiful colors God has added to my life and I see that I have changed and I know the change is supernatural. It is supernatural because only God could change me like this. I'm still doing the same things I started doing two years ago. I forgive. I love. I am obedient. The supernatural change that has occurred is that I am now a forgiving, loving, and obedient person. I don't have to fight with my emotions anymore to be the person I want to be. I don't have to fight with my will anymore like I used to. I just do God’s will with faith and belief that He gives me the ability.

God changed me on the inside. And now changing and being changed is not something that I'm trying to do on the outside, it is a desire that comes from the inside. I work the change process and seek to change not because I am in pain and need to relieve my pain, although that is part of it. I work the change process and am obedient to change because I love my Heavenly Father and my Lord Jesus and I want more than anything to be like them.

Poem by Author Unknown

I want you to face the mountain
so that you can see,
when the mountain is out of the way
all there is left is Me.
Only I can move the mountain,
only I can push it away,
only I can conquer the problems
that you face today.
Your only job is to believe, to listen
to My voice,
and when you hear what I command,
obedience is your choice.
But I will not make it too difficult for the victory
is already Mine,
and I will fill you with My Spirit and through
you My grace will shine.
Not when you are perfect,
like you think you need to be,
but when your heart is willing to become more
and more like me.

You're Special

Author Unknown

You’re special—in all the world there is nobody like you. Since the beginning of time, there has never been another person like you. Nobody has your smile. Nobody has your eyes, your nose, your hair, your hands, your voice. You’re special.

No one sees things just as you do. In all of time there has been no one who laughs like you, no one who cries like you. And what makes you laugh and cry will never provoke identical laughter and tears from anybody else, ever.

You are the only one in God’s creation with your set of natural abilities. There will always be somebody who is better at one of the things you’re good at, but no one in the universe can reach the quality of your combination of talents, ideas, natural abilities, and spiritual abilities. Like a room full of musical instruments, some may excel alone but none can match the symphony sound of the Body of Christ when all are played together because God set the members, every one of them, in the Body as it hath pleased Him.

Through all eternity no one will ever look, talk, walk, think, or do exactly like you. You’re special.

You’re rare. And, as in all rarity, there is great value. Because of your great value you need not attempt to imitate others. You should accept—yes, celebrate—your differences. You’re special. Continue to realize it’s not an accident that you’re special. Continue to see that God created you special for a very special purpose. He called you out and ordained you to a calling that no one else can do as well as you. Out of all the billions of applicants, only one is qualified, only one has the best combination of what it takes. Just as surely as every snowflake that falls has perfect design and no two designs are the same, so it is within the Body of Christ also. No two believers are the same; and without each member, the Body would be lacking and God’s plan would be incomplete. Ask the Father to teach you His divine plan for your life and that it may stand forth revealed to you as it should, unfolding in perfect sequence and perfect order in such a way as to bring the greatest glory to His name.

The Freedom Trail

I ran the Freedom Trail in Boston today. The Freedom Trail is a red line marked on the sidewalks and streets in Boston that will take you from the Boston Common to the Bunker Hill Monument. The trail contains historical sites that are part of the history of the events that are known as the American Revolutionary War.

As I ran the Freedom Trail today, I thought about the revolutionary war’s historical figures and their passion for liberty. I started my run at Bunker Hill Monument thinking about the thousands and thousands who died in this first battle of the revolution. The trail then led me to the Charlestown Navy Shipyard where I saw the U.S.S. Constitution, the most celebrated ship in Navy history. She is considered to be the ship that “has never failed us!” (Commodore Bainbridge) yet many men failed to return home alive from her battles. As I passed their homes and churches and the places where their businesses used to be I thought of the Sons of Liberty; James Otis, Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Sam Adams to name a few. They risked everything to forge the path of independence for the colonists.

As I ran past the Old State House, I remembered how the Declaration of Independence was read publically for the first time from the balcony. And then it happened like it usually does. My mind turns to spiritual things and I thought of another declaration of independence that was also stated publically. It wasn’t spoken from a balcony. It was spoken from a cross. This declaration was “It is finished.” This declaration forged a freedom trail of another kind.

The freedom trail Jesus created was of a spiritual nature. And it was for “whoever will believe.” Jesus’ trail started in a manger when He was born into the human race. The end of this freedom trail leaves behind an empty cross and an empty tomb. The Prince of Heaven agreed to liberate the sons and daughters of men held captive by sin. He willingly sacrificed Himself so that we might spiritually live. The Bible tells us that Jesus was sinless yet He took the penalty for sinful man on Himself. But God delivered Him by raising Him from the dead and now we who believe in Jesus are sons and daughters of liberty.

The Freedom Trail. The one in Boston occurred in the realm of men and led to the birth of a new country. The one in Christ, occurred in the realm of the spirit and leads to the new birth of human souls.

God's Timing

A friend of mine sent me a card with the following poem:

When the time was right,
the worlds were made, the flood subsided,
the sea was parted, the walls fell down,
the lion’s mouths were shut,
the storm was silenced, the blind could see,
the lame could walk, the captives went free,
the tomb was forever emptied.

God’s timing is always right,
His power is great,
His plan for you is good,
His hold on you is secure--
and He’ll see you through.

This card prompted an immediate meditative mode on the subject of God’s timing. I admit up front that I do not understand God’s timing and I will probably never understand God’s timing. I do my best to be patient and persevere as I wait on God and confess to finding this extremely hard to do at times. I do my best through quoting Scriptures and trying to have an attitude of patience, including trying positive thinking, but it’s seems like I have to work incredibly hard. When I become impatient I get frustrated. When I get frustrated I begin to question and doubt. I know that whenever I begin to question and doubt that something is not going right in my heart and mind.

As I prayed for a new perspective on God’s timing and my role in waiting on God, I began to see that my be-patient approach is attempted more in my own power than it is in God’s power. Hence the challenges and frustration. I also began to realize there is more than just a need for a patiently-waiting response from me. Submitting to God’s timing also requires trust. I am to trust God’s timing just as much as I am to be patient while I wait for Him.

Instead of focusing more on being patient, I have focused more the last couple of days on trusting God. I have noticed a difference in my ability to be patient and am beginning to see that patience is a by-product of trust, not the other way around. I know that I am doing all that I can do on my part in faith and obedience. When I have done all I can do, I am to continue to trust God and exercise faith and patience.

God is trustworthy. We can trust Him even if He doesn’t operate on our timetable. God's timing is always right.