Tag Archives: Jesus

10 Things that make me happy

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Happiness and joy are two different things. I’m a major supporter of that.
But still, some things bring me great happiness.
1. A freshly sharpened pencil
2. My husband’s cologne
3. When a troubled student has a good day or moment in class
4. Shooting in manual mode like a rock star
5. When I can wear jeans to work (borderlines on joy)
6. Sleeping in
7. Traveling
8. Learning
9. Cute tennis shoes
10. Warm covers in winter

Things that give me joy:
1. Jesus
2. God’s providence
3. My husband’s example of God’s love
4. God’s beautiful canvas: the sky, in particular
5. Seeing students grow throughout the school year and even after moving on from high school
6. Persistence paying off
7. The deep and simple Truth of God
8. Capturing joy in my camera lens
9. Working together
10. Delicious food

Joyfully,

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A piece of advice

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Listen.  Despite everything you try to do on your own, you were born into a world wrought with sin. Sin sounds like a terrible word. Well, it kind of is. Except that we don’t initially earn sinfulness. In the same way, we don’t earn unsinfulness. Is that a word? Anyway, my advice is to take the only route out of the eternal falling: believe in Jesus. Believe. In. Jesus.
That’s it.
Then you’re saved from dieing eternally. Like, I mean constantly. Imagine burning forever without ever reaching death. That’s kinda what hell will be like.
So take my advice.
Believe.

Love,
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A Turnover.

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I love basketball.  Especially University of Kentucky men’s basketball. While I was never an all-star basketball player, I certainly love watching the game.

One of the most exciting or frustrating aspects of the game is surprise turnovers.  They happen near the basket, mid-court, as a team is throwing in, or at any given moment.  If in favor of my Cats, the moment is hands-down exciting.  Of course, if in favor of the opposition, the moment is disappointing, to say the least.  The key to resisting a turnover is to control the ball.

A turnover can be the start of a major change in the game–good for one team but bad for the other.

I can become very anxious at the possibility of a life change.  And control isn’t a sure bet to keep change from happening.  Nothing we can do will prevent all change.

And there we have it.  Our desire to control everything leads to anxiety over changes that we cannot control.

No matter what we’re facing, we can very easily fall into trap of anxiety.  We wonder what the next step will look like, what will happen, how difficult it will be, who we’ll be around, or how quickly this change will happen.

Let’s look at the capital-T Truth found in the Bible:

Psalm 37.5 says this: “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.”

Let’s break it down.  That’s right, phrase by phrase:

Commit your way…: Our way is our future, our past, our present, our path.  We must commit it.  To whom?
…to the Lord…: We must commit our way to God. To Jesus.  To the Holy Spirit.  And not to me.
…trust in Him…: Instead of trusting our path to ourselves–controlling everything ourselves–we need to remember to trust God. To trust Jesus.  To trust the Holy Spirit.
…and He will act…: He’s not going to do nothing.  He won’t leave us hanging.  He will act.  He will do something.

The next verse speaks of God as doing good things for those who commit their way to the Lord.

Lord,
Thank You for the many blessings and opportunities I have.  Help me to trust You.  To relinquish any anxiety to You.  To plan wisely, but to trust that You fill in the details perfectly and wonderfully.  Help me to remember the promise that You will work through me in wondrous and beautiful ways for Your purpose.  I long to serve You and not myself.  To grow in You first and foremost.  To be lost in You and not this world.
In Your name I pray continually…

For the Love.

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Last week we celebrated Valentine’s Day.  Ladies around the country received roses, lilies, carnations and other flowers.  Chocolates, stuffed animals and maybe even jewelry were gifted and received.

For many, it was a beautiful day.

But I can’t help but worry about our society’s view on love, relationships, and marriage.

Before I continue, I must confess: I am watching The Bachelor as I type up this post.

I have watched the series off and on.  Usually, I wait until later in a season to start watching–after the riffraff is weeded out a bit.  This season, though, I’ve tried to watch from the beginning and am using Hulu to play catch up.

This season’s bachelor, Sean, is a professing Christian.  Last season, he was a bachelor on The Bachelorette.  Emily chose otherwise (bad choice, IMHO) and he has embarked on another search for love.  I hope the best for him because I know how awesome it is to be married to my best friend.

So many people are looking for the perfect recipe that will lead them to their forever love.  We read books, scour blogs, rip through magazines, and listen to advice from well-meaning people.

Bottom line: There is no one-size-fits-all recipe for finding the love of our lives.  Some of us find our forever love online, at a wedding, in kindergarten, during college, at the workplace, or anywhere else.  I love asking the question, “How did you two meet?”

We even see a variety of meetings between husband and wife in the Bible.  I wish I could count the ways men and women became wed in the Bible.

Let’s start at the top: Adam and Eve.  I mean, God created Adam’s wife.  Literally.  As Isaac was mourning the death of his beloved mother, his slave went out and found Rebekah (who was beautiful and a virgin) to marry Isaac.  David married a woman with whom he had committed adultery.  Queen Esther was forced into a harem from which King Xerxes chose his bride.

I don’t know about you, but not one of these methods of finding forever is similar to another.

That must be why Jesus never told us exactly how to find that forever love.  Instead, He spoke about mercy, forgiveness, money, heaven, hell, and a myriad of other things.

Even though the thought of finding that forever love can be consuming, we must focus on our love for Christ.

Mark 12.30 says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul and with all your strength.”

For some, this is a cliché verse, but at its root is truth.  I mean, it is the Bible after all and, furthermore, these are Jesus’ words!

Before I leave you until the next post, I feel it’s important to point out one more thing.  The next verse in Mark is quite poignant.  Verse 31 says, “…you should love your neighbor as yourself….”

Lord, help me to love those around me as I love myself–maybe even better since I fail at the “loving me” part so often.  I want to seek You first and help those around me to keep you as their primary focus, even when those around them seem to be in happy relationships.  Help me to always love You well.  In Your name I pray continually…

 

Sliding.

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It’s been cold in central Ohio over the past few days.  Before that, it was t-shirt weather.  A little tease from Mother Nature.

To clarify: by cold, I mean sub-zero windchill.  I mean a -11 windchill.  That’s cold, folks.

On my way to work the other day, the rain from the previous evening had frozen to the roads.  I was fine for most of the drive; on one of the last roads, though, I noticed the Jeep in front of me start to slide.  I was thinking, “I’m in a Camry! What am I going to do!?”

I left off the gas and hovered over the brake as I slowed down.  As I slowly started to put the brake on, I slid on the ice by a fire hydrant.  My front tires slid to the right, tapping the entrance curb and stopping gently.

No big deal.

But it got me thinking.  Sliding on ice is kind of like trusting in God. Sometimes.

I didn’t plan on going to the far right of my lane.  I would have preferred to have absolute control of my automobile.  But things ended up okay.

I don’t plan to miss the mark.  I would prefer to have absolute control of every aspect of my life.  But, with Jesus, everything ends better than okay.

I have a lot on my heart this week.  I must bring these thoughts and cares to Jesus.

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
-Psalm 37.5

Lord, let this be my mantra.  Help me to trust you–to trust that You will take me where You can serve others through me best.  Give me a heart to honor You always with my actions, thoughts, and words toward others.  
 

RejoicingRebecca