Monkey's Colorblind!

This weekend we took my dear husband to his brother’s house to catch ducks about an hour away from home. While we were there, Monkey and I needed to find something to occupy ourselves so we decided the best use of our time would be to go shopping. We found a store I used to frequent when I was a child in Mississippi growing up, Roses.

I loved Roses as a child; it seemed like a huge department store where we could afford everything! This Roses had tiny cramped isles, wasn’t much larger than a big Dollar Store and I realized it was probably about the same as the Roses of my youth J

Monkey, however, thought it was a marvelous store indeed! Worthy of spending at least an hour, perhaps more! Each isle brought new wonders and then we reached the toy isles. She oohed and aahed over all the toys. None were no-no’s because of price. Everything was within her reach! It was almost too much for her to comprehend! We spent half of our time at Roses in the 5 isles of toys deciding upon which toy would be the perfect one. And then she saw it…well, she saw her. A beautiful baby doll. Not just any baby doll, this baby doll was the only baby doll of African American descent. It was decided. She was the newest member of our family.

We moved on to the next section of Roses; house wares.  I’m not certain if I’ve told you of Monkey’s affinity for “Floor Petting” but Roses has carpet! We were petting floors when suddenly Monkey spotted a woman whom she must have thought she knew. Immediately she began the incessant waving and shouting, “HI! HI!” This didn’t stop until the woman turned and acknowledged her. A big grin crossed her face as Monkey raced across the small isle with her knock-kneed gait and holding a box containing her newest treasure. “I have a baby!”, and she held it up with pride for the woman to see. This woman, whose features resembled the baby we now call Roses Baby, looked at the baby and got a look of shock on her face as she looked at me. Monkey walked back to the cart oblivious to the differences between her and her new baby. I said, “She doesn’t see color.” Monkey’s new friend said, “She must be such a blessing to you.”

Wow! She said a mouthful there, didn’t she? My little girl is certainly that. She is more than just a blessing to me though. She is a blessing to many. As we wandered the isles of the Roses during the remaining time before our departure we ran into the lady once again. She pressed a dollar bill into Monkey’s hand and insisted she take it, “to help pay for her baby”.  Her eyes had tears in them. She was genuinely touched by the innocent love of my daughter.

Monkey is 11 years old and yet she has taught me many things in her short little life. God has used her to show me so much and not just me; He’s used her to teach many people many things. On this day, He used her to teach this lesson.

All of us are created in His image and we should all be colorblind. Not respecters of people.

“My brothers, as believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, don’t show favoritism.” James 2:1 NIV

Winds of Change

Sometimes it seems that change comes quicker than I can keep up with. This past year has been so full of change that if you had told me in the beginning of 2010 what my world would look like today I would have been completely shocked. And yet the changes have come and we have endured the storms and they have made us stronger.

Romans 8:28 is true. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

This new change is one that is both an end and a beginning. I stood at the end of a long relationship today and said some very difficult goodbyes. God has called us to move on from the Church we’ve been in since 1998. That is a very long time. There are people there we love dearly. But I know that we will have all eternity with them and loving them is not a good reason to be disobedient to Jesus. He must have a good reason to call us from there so we will go.

Tonight I am a little mournful because it feels more like the end than the beginning but I know deep in my heart that truly this is more the beginning than the end. We’re following the leading of the Spirit of God and how can that be wrong? The mournful feeling is just my flesh. When I pray about it I become excited because I know that our Father has new and wonderful things for our family. I’m asking God for wisdom and knowledge as we follow His leading.

“And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.” Daniel 2:21

I’ll keep you up to date on our adventure as we look for our new Church home. I ask that you would pray for us as we go on our journey.

Here we stand, at the beginning and not the end…

Keeping Up With The Kardashian's Part Deux

Yesterday I wrote about comparing ourselves and coveting what others have. Today I’d like to continue exploring the world of the Kardashians and look at other reasons why we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others.

To start it’s really very simple. For women who look at the standards that the world holds up on the TV and Fashion Magazines and tries to meet them; We will fail miserably or we might abuse our bodies trying to meet these standards for a while but they are unrealistic. And then we’ll feel badly because we aren’t thin enough, or pretty enough, or tall enough, and our skin isn’t clear enough. Our husbands will watch television and see women in their 20’s who have perfect bodies and women in their 40’s who look like they’re in their 20’s due to surgery and airbrushing and I know I can’t compete with that! I’ve noticed there will always be something that ISN’T ENOUGH. 

For the men, your muscles will never be big enough; you won’t be strong enough; your masculinity will never be quite manly enough.

These are LIES straight from the pits of HELL to keep us from focusing on who we really are in Christ Jesus! The Bible says, “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalm 139:14 NIV.

When we compare ourselves to others and become depressed because God made us the way He chose to make us it’s a slap in HIS face. Think about that. Do you really want to be slapping your Maker in the face? Let’s stop slapping our Creator and start focusing on what He created us to do.

We should also not conform ourselves to others expectations. People are just that, people, and people, even Christians aren’t perfect. Is there someone in your life who is always telling you about your inadequacy? I’m going to tell you a little secret about criticism. The only criticism that is ever constructive is that which is told in love and is meant to build you up. It is only told face to face and NEVER behind your back.

Romans 14:10-13 AMP “Why do you criticize and pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you look down upon or despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. And so each of us shall give an account of himself to God. Then let us no more criticize and blame and pass judgment on one another, but rather decide and endeavor never to put a stumbling block or an obstacle or a hindrance in the way of a brother.”

There is a promise in Isaiah 26:3 NKJV “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”So, if you are someone who has been listening to other people as they try to conform you to their expectations, take heart, this promise is for you. Keep your mind on Him and He will keep you in perfect peace. And if you’re one of the people who has a critical spirit, and we have to be realistic, we all do sometimes, well, when we keep our mind on God and not on someone else THEN He’ll keep us in perfect peace too.

So now let’s turn our focus on what God has for us. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 NIV

Think about that, He created us and He prepared the works for us to do in advance. They’re just waiting for us to do them. Let’s not become distracted by comparing ourselves to each other because if we don’t do the good works He has prepared for us to do either they don’t get done or He’ll find someone else to do them instead.

We can sugar coat it all we want but these scriptures have clearly told us not to do it, don’t compare ourselves in any way to anyone else. To do so is sin. Are you guilty of comparing yourself to others? Have you coveted others belongings? Have you looked at others gifting and wished they were your own? Have you looked at others ministries and thought, why doesn’t God use me like that? Do you look at others families and think they have less problems than your own? Or are you feeling puffed up with pride because your child is on the honor roll and your neighbor’s child is on drugs?

If you’re struggling with this don’t say I shouldn’t be struggling with this, confess it as sin and ask the Holy Spirit to help you overcome this, because face it, we can’t produce fruit on our own. There’s nothing righteous in us, without the Holy Spirit we’re hopeless but we have HIM living in us and He has promised to never leave or forsake us. He has also promised “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 So, let’s walk in the good works that God has prepared for us, living the abundant life that Jesus died to give us, and stop comparing ourselves to others.

Keeping Up With The Kardashians

Have you ever flipped through the channels and seen something that caught your eye? When I was working, one of my co-workers and I were watching a show, Keeping Up With The Kardashians, and I was shocked by how unhappy these people are. They are incredibly rich, they have everything money can buy, and yet they appear miserable. Money can’t buy happiness. Yet they are what the media holds up as the America’s “Royal Family”. Why? They have the things we want. Perfect bodies, beautiful faces, designer clothes, fast cars, mansions, the list goes on and on…

So often we re tempted to look around us and see how others are doing, what they have, what they’ve been given, how they look, and compare ourselves to them. I know am guilty of this. I believe we all are at one time or another. That’s why the Apostle Paul spent so much time talking about comparing ourselves to others. He wrote these words of wisdom to the Church in Galatia.

“Do your own work well, and then you will have something to be proud of. But don't compare yourself with others.” Galatians 6:4 CEV

I’ve noticed in my own life how Satan tries to steal my joy by getting me to compare myself to others or getting me to conform myself to the expectations of others. These are both deadly traps that will steal the joy that God has for me. Whether in ministry, at work or at home, we are not to compare ourselves to others and yet we find ourselves looking around to see what our neighbor has or is getting or is doing. It seems that we’re never happy or content with what we have or what we’ve been given.

There are reasons why God doesn’t want us to compare ourselves to others. He didn’t just say this arbitrarily. It’s for our own good and I’d like to look at a few of these reasons a little more closely in this blog over the next 2 days.

One reason is we are not to covet what others have. It’s one of the Ten Commandments. Seems like a no-brainer, really, doesn’t it? But all you have to do is turn on the TV and you’re inundated with advertisements telling you that not only do you need this, you deserve it! Everyone else has it! You’ll be a loser if you don’t get it, and all of a sudden, the thing that you DO have that worked fine up until you saw that commercial, is no longer good enough. I mean, sure, it works but, it’s not, that OTHER THING. That “other thing” is so AWESOME! Well, next thing you know, you go out and buy it. And you have it, and you’re happy with it, until the NEXT new thing comes out. It’s a vicious cycle. Before you know it, you get the credit card bill and you’re in debt. God does not want us to be in debt. Seems like this might be a problem with our whole country right now.

“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” Proverbs 21:5 NIV

“If you love money and wealth, you will never be satisfied with what you have.” Ecclesiastes 5:10 CEV

Another reason we shouldn’t compare ourselves with others, is that there will always be someone out there who is doing a better job than we are. If we are putting our value and worth as a person in how good we do our job then when someone does a better job than us we’ll be devastated. We’ll be discouraged. And what if we LOSE our job?

Conversely, when we find someone who doesn’t seem as effective as us at their job we’ll be puffed up with pride.

Our worth and value as people should come from the fact that Jesus Christ came to die for us. Not from how we perform. We are now a Chosen People and the Bride of Christ. That is where our worth comes from. Both of these attitudes will rob us of joy. Neither of these attitudes shows the love of Christ to a lost and dying world, and isn’t that what we’re called to do?

Today I’ve written to my brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, however, if you don’t know Jesus as your personal Savior, today could be the day you meet Him. Jesus came to earth, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, and He chose to die a sinner’s death on the cross for you and me. He is the Son of God and He loves you so much He died for you. Eternal life is a free gift that has already been purchased for you. All you have to do is accept it. For more information please visit this website http://www.knowjesus.com/

Tomorrow we’ll look at some more reasons why we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others. I hope you’ll join me.