Introducing: Blog Bites!

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cookie 11-3

Good afternoon, blog friends!

Just want to quickly share with you two new additions to my blog. First, I have incorporated a new page called “About this Blog” which explains how I write for this blog and where you can find various posts. When you have a moment, check it out here!

Second, there have been many times I’ve wanted to share a quick thought without taking the time to write a full blog.

Thus, introducing Blog Bites!

Every so often, I’ll be sharing some tasty little morsels of Scripture, quotes, or truths, that are made to be swallowed in just one or two “bites.” Nothing heady, nothing long. Just good stuff to ruminate on. In fact, if you have a sweet treat to share, pass it along!

Shall we start now? Ok, here goes the first Blog Bite . . .

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” Gen. 28:16, NLT

I wonder how many times we go through seasons in our lives unaware that God is in “this place;” in our circumstance.

We think He’s forgotten about us. But He’s been there all along.

All we have to do is wake up.

Staying in the game

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bowling

I recently spoke to a young man. He was struggling. He told me he felt like he was always letting God down; that no matter what he did, he couldn’t turn his life around. He wanted to give up, maybe even resume some old bad habits. (Really bad ones.)

I told him no. Giving up was not an option.

In fact, staying the course is EXACTLY what our faith is all about. It’s not about being perfect; that’s God’s job. It’s about staying in the game; finishing the race; enduring to the end.

 “but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” Matt. 24:13, NIV

“if we endure, we will also reign with him…”                  2 Tim. 2:12

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 2 Tim. 4:7

“You have persevered and have endured hardships…and have not grown weary.” Rev. 2:3

I wonder how many Christians still hold onto the idea (if even subconsciously), that they have to “toe the line” or not sin in order to stay under God’s grace, keep Him happy, or ask for His help. They forget it’s not possible. Yes, we obviously want to do our best and act as Christ would – a true Christ follower would want to honor Him that way.  But in the end, we will still fail.

Maybe that’s why, after Jesus died and before He ascended into heaven, He challenged the disciples on one thing and one thing only:

“He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself!…’”  (Luke 24:38, NIV)

The disciples hadn’t believed Jesus. That’s what He scolded them for. He didn’t get mad that they had all abandoned Him; He didn’t rebuke Peter for denying Him three times. But He did point out they had not believed Him.

Do you believe God? Not in Him, but Him, period? Do you believe that even if you fail you can pray bold prayers and ask for His divine help? Do you believe that He’s covered every sin – past, present, and future – and that all you have to do is believe Him and stay the course? Try again? Stay in the game?

I think that’s real faith: keeping on keeping on. No matter what.  

I don’t know about you, but when I think about how good God is – that I can trade in my junk for His righteousness, over and over and over again – it makes me want to serve Him and do right all the more. And I find myself wanting to stay in the game – even if for just one more day.

Finding Rest

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Finding Rest“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll  recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest.”     Jesus

Recently, I began memorizing the above Scripture. It was apropos for my life; it was needed. I’ve been burnt out. I’ve been tired. Thus, the infrequency of my blog posts.

However, as beautiful as Matt. 11:28-30 is in the Message version as stated above, I memorized it in a different translation. And as I did, something jumped out at me that I had never noticed before:

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest  for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

          Matt. 11:28-30, NASB

The thing that I love about memorizing Scripture is not just that I’ll have more verses in my back pocket, but the actual process of ruminating on it over and over again. More often than not, God reveals little nuggets of truth that I might not have seen otherwise. Such was the case with this verse, for sandwiched between “learn from me” and “you will find rest,” lie eight words that changed my life:

… for I am gentle and humble in heart…

Gentleness. Humility.

It was as if Jesus was saying,

Do you want to find rest, Sherri? Here’s what I want you to do: be gentle. With yourself. With others. Be sweet, mild and calm; even amongst the chaos. Learn from Me.

And be humble. When you’re proud, it only causes anxiety because you think you’re in control–or you want to be. You cannot be critical of others, hold onto anger, or be jealous and have peace. Pride and rest cannot coexist. Learn from Me.

Up until now, the part of this verse I always focused on was “Come to Me.” I assumed that if I just came to God with the things that were stressing me out, I could hand them over and I’d stop being stressed. But no sooner would I dump them on Him that I’d be back to freaking out again!

Jesus didn’t stop at Come to me, learn from Me. He went on. He showed me what I was to learn. Gentleness. Humility. He’s showing you too.

When I began to let these traits of Jesus guide me, be my yoke, I began to really relax. Try it. It’s hard to be gentle in spirit, tone, and attitude and be stressed. It’s very calming to be clothed in humility.

Aren’t you thankful we have such a practical God who’s eager to teach us
how to really live? Praying we find true life and rest for our souls as we follow His example!

And we’re off!

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And we're off

Happy New Year, friends!

I am so excited to start a new year, I can hardly stand it. I guess because I’m a person who loves change, I look forward to new adventures, different experiences and new growth opportunities. (Remind me of this when a challenging new “opportunity” to grow knocks me upside the head.)

Because one of my highest values is personal growth, each year I ask God to give me a word to camp on for the entire year – one that I might need to ruminate on and incorporate into my life at a deeper level. Sometimes that word is extended over two or even three years, such as when He gave me the word “freedom.” In that case, it seems I had many, many, many, many, many, many, many things I needed to be free from so that word stuck around for a good three years. Yippee.

Nonetheless, those words have always steered me right and helped me stay attentive to what I needed to work on.

The other day, the word that came to mind for this year was “proactive.” Boy, is that a loaded word. I think it’s a term we don’t often think about and even more so, don’t put into practice. But then we wonder why we keep going round and round the same dumb mountain until we’re ready to throw up. Can I get a witness?

So, this year I don’t want to wait until I’m in crisis to initiate change. I don’t want to wait until I’m completely stressed out to put into practice the things that help de-stress me; like taking walks on the beach or putting the fireplace on and reading a good book. I don’t want to wait until I’ve gained five more pounds before I decide to eat healthier and exercise more. And I don’t want to wait until I “feel” like memorizing Scripture again. I want to start now. I want to be proactive.

Perhaps you need a word to camp on too. Maybe like me, your word should be proactive. Maybe it’s time to stop thinking about the things you’d like to do and accomplish in your life and actually start doing them.

Maybe your word should be freedom, as there are issues that have been keeping you down for far too long that God wants you to finally deal with and be free from.

Or perhaps it should be…

Courage

Perseverance

Be still, or

Listen.

Whatever it is, I encourage you to think about it. Maybe instead of focusing on your New Year’s resolutions, ask God to give you your own personal word that you can focus on throughout the year – one that will actually support and help you achieve those resolutions.

And if you feel bold enough, I’d love to hear your word. I will  commit to praying that God will remind you of it throughout this year and do great things as you continue to submit your growth process to Him!