Never give up; you never know until you try.
The last couple months, I've been participating in a women's Bible study at a friend's church. Our study guide is "Wonderstruck," by Margaret Feinberg, which is divided
into 7 sections: "The Wonder of Divine Expectation," "The Wonder of God's Presence," "The Wonder of Rest," "The Wonder of Prayer," "The Wonder of Friendship," and "The Wonder of Forgiveness," with 5 homework lessons for each section, and a final "Celebration Gathering" to wrap things up. It's been a good experience; I recommend this study for everyone.
Last week's section was on friendship, and it was an amazing time of sharing, encouragement, and reflection. Each night's homework was about a different facet of cultivating and maintaining healthy friendships, and all were thought-provoking, but the lesson on choosing our words carefully really hit home for all of us.
I've written before cautioning us all (again) to "watch" our words, because they can cause great harm, as we all know. We've all been wounded by someone's careless words, and we've all been guilty of crushing someone with our words, sometimes not even knowing the destruction we've caused. Most of the women laughed when our facilitator posed the question of why we should be careful of our words and what can happen if we aren't, and I answered, "Mass destruction!" We spent a few minutes discussing various Scriptures relating to how our tongues can cause so much trouble. Proverbs is a great place to study up on the subject, but the verse that always comes to my mind when regarding the destructive power of the tongue is in the Book of James. The tongue really is a fire, and it's so easy to get "burned" or to "burn" someone else.
http://bible.cc/james/3-6.htm
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Try Not To Think Too Much
Never give up; you never know until you try.
I wrote a post a year ago entitled, "Think!" Now, I'm telling you to not think too much. What's up with that? The other post was about . . . (Hey, go read it!) This one is about . . . (Keep reading!)
As anyone who really knows me knows, I readily admit to liking "chick flicks," especially holiday-themed ones. One of my favorites is "Undercover Christmas," wherein an FBI agent ends up taking a witness he has in protective custody home to his parents' house for Christmas. You know how these movies always turn out, so I'll spare you the details. Today's post title comes from something the witness, Brandi, says a couple times in the movie, and I think it can be good advice.
Like overworking dough, oversteering a car, or over-medicating, over-thinking can lead to bad results. I've written about it before--that dreaded malady of "analysis paralysis." I could break the writer's cardinal rule to avoid clichés and not say avoid the malady of thinking too much like you'd avoid the plague, but I won't. You get my point.
Check out the movie "Undercover Christmas" if you're a fan of Christmas, romance, or any of the actors in the cast: Jami Gertz, Shawn Christian, Cameron Bancroft, Tyne Daly, and Winston Rekert.
http://www.mylifetime.com/movies/undercover-christmas
I wrote a post a year ago entitled, "Think!" Now, I'm telling you to not think too much. What's up with that? The other post was about . . . (Hey, go read it!) This one is about . . . (Keep reading!)
As anyone who really knows me knows, I readily admit to liking "chick flicks," especially holiday-themed ones. One of my favorites is "Undercover Christmas," wherein an FBI agent ends up taking a witness he has in protective custody home to his parents' house for Christmas. You know how these movies always turn out, so I'll spare you the details. Today's post title comes from something the witness, Brandi, says a couple times in the movie, and I think it can be good advice.
Like overworking dough, oversteering a car, or over-medicating, over-thinking can lead to bad results. I've written about it before--that dreaded malady of "analysis paralysis." I could break the writer's cardinal rule to avoid clichés and not say avoid the malady of thinking too much like you'd avoid the plague, but I won't. You get my point.
Check out the movie "Undercover Christmas" if you're a fan of Christmas, romance, or any of the actors in the cast: Jami Gertz, Shawn Christian, Cameron Bancroft, Tyne Daly, and Winston Rekert.
http://www.mylifetime.com/movies/undercover-christmas
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
We Never Know
Never give up; you never know until you try.
A woman I know is dealing with the sudden death of her mother, whose own mother died suddenly from the same type of accident. My acquaintance didn't know the circumstances of her grandmother's death, which occurred many years ago, until after her mom's tragic death. What are the odds that the same thing would happen in the same family twice? They're probably better than most of us would think.
The story is an example that you never know what circumstances someone is facing or has faced in her life. Some people--and families--seem to be protected from even the slightest hint of trouble, while others seem to be cursed to spend their lives struggling to survive. It's a challenge to us all to give everyone a break and use a little empathy, because unless we know someone and she shares her personal issues with us, we never know what pain may be lurking in the shadows of her heart and mind. We just never know.
A woman I know is dealing with the sudden death of her mother, whose own mother died suddenly from the same type of accident. My acquaintance didn't know the circumstances of her grandmother's death, which occurred many years ago, until after her mom's tragic death. What are the odds that the same thing would happen in the same family twice? They're probably better than most of us would think.
The story is an example that you never know what circumstances someone is facing or has faced in her life. Some people--and families--seem to be protected from even the slightest hint of trouble, while others seem to be cursed to spend their lives struggling to survive. It's a challenge to us all to give everyone a break and use a little empathy, because unless we know someone and she shares her personal issues with us, we never know what pain may be lurking in the shadows of her heart and mind. We just never know.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Dug In With God
Never give up; you never know until you try.
My last post was nearly 3 months ago, when I was hanging by a thread emotionally. 2012 ended on a decidedly uncertain note, and 2013 began with several crises in rapid succession--BOOM! BOOM!! BOOM!!! I could handle 1, 2, even 3 issues, depending on the gravity of the situations, but I was hit with several major things practically at once. In the consoling words of a dear colleague, I was at rock-bottom, with nowhere to go but up. She assured me that God would lift me from the muck.
While I've been dug in, hunkering in this bunker with God, I've felt confused, scared, angry, hopeless, hopeful, abso-freakin-lutely nuts . . . I've also held onto faith that God has a reason for everything and a plan for my good. I knew He would lift me in His timing; I was just wondering when that timing would occur.
In ways, He has lifted me, though I'm still mired in something. The initial barrage of issues has been resolved, so I'm so relieved that "relief" isn't even the right word. There are still 2 issues still stubbornly refusing to be resolved, though, so I'm still plowing my way through. I've dug in with God, too stubborn to give up.
When I started blogging, I had 1 thing in mind: I hoped that by using my gallows humor, willingness to openly share my (like everyone's in this fallen world) screwed-up life and struggles, and my creative (sometimes offbeat) descriptives, that someone might stumble onto my blog and recognize herself and feel more hopeful about her situation. I wanted to take lemons and make lemonade, if you will. The experience helped me, and I hope it helped someone else, too. I've missed it, but I've been too busy unscrewing my life to keep up with blogging.
I hope I haven't lost everyone out there in my absence; I have no idea how many people ever paid any attention. I do know God has paid attention, as He always will. My words today are what they always were: I know God can. Just dig in with Him and let Him do it His way, in His time.
My last post was nearly 3 months ago, when I was hanging by a thread emotionally. 2012 ended on a decidedly uncertain note, and 2013 began with several crises in rapid succession--BOOM! BOOM!! BOOM!!! I could handle 1, 2, even 3 issues, depending on the gravity of the situations, but I was hit with several major things practically at once. In the consoling words of a dear colleague, I was at rock-bottom, with nowhere to go but up. She assured me that God would lift me from the muck.
While I've been dug in, hunkering in this bunker with God, I've felt confused, scared, angry, hopeless, hopeful, abso-freakin-lutely nuts . . . I've also held onto faith that God has a reason for everything and a plan for my good. I knew He would lift me in His timing; I was just wondering when that timing would occur.
In ways, He has lifted me, though I'm still mired in something. The initial barrage of issues has been resolved, so I'm so relieved that "relief" isn't even the right word. There are still 2 issues still stubbornly refusing to be resolved, though, so I'm still plowing my way through. I've dug in with God, too stubborn to give up.
When I started blogging, I had 1 thing in mind: I hoped that by using my gallows humor, willingness to openly share my (like everyone's in this fallen world) screwed-up life and struggles, and my creative (sometimes offbeat) descriptives, that someone might stumble onto my blog and recognize herself and feel more hopeful about her situation. I wanted to take lemons and make lemonade, if you will. The experience helped me, and I hope it helped someone else, too. I've missed it, but I've been too busy unscrewing my life to keep up with blogging.
I hope I haven't lost everyone out there in my absence; I have no idea how many people ever paid any attention. I do know God has paid attention, as He always will. My words today are what they always were: I know God can. Just dig in with Him and let Him do it His way, in His time.
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