How to Break a Bad Habit

1 Corinthians 4:2 says that it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. I have one area where I've been struggling with good stewardship. Here is my story and how I got victory.

Do you feel as guilty as I do when you waste food? I opened my fridge the other day and a foul odor assaulted my nose. Each week I go to the grocery store with good intentions, but I often end up not making good on a promise I made to myself to prepare a marvelous meal. I end up eating a simplified version of what I planned. Sometimes I just forget what I have in there until the molded version reminds me.  So, I sigh a prayer of apology to the Lord like I've done too many before; however, this time I did something more than just say I was sorry. I decided to change. Isn't that the first step if we want to do and be better?

What do you want to change in your life? Your weight? Your negative thought patterns? Letting fear win? Being on time for work or church? Overcome an addiction? It doesn't matter what the habit is, desire to change is not enough, is it? We must decide we don't want to live like this anymore. It's got to be strong enough to move us from desiring to deciding to doing.

Ask yourself some questions: How do I keep falling into this habit? Is there a constant that accompanies this habit? What can I do to be proactive in arriving at a better outcome?

Take my food decay dilemma for example.
I asked how I kept falling into the habit of throwing out spoiled food?

Answer: I don't pay close enough attention to what's in the fridge. I lose track of how long certain items have been there.

Question: Is there a constant that accompanies this habit?

Answer: Yes. I am too tired to cook what I planned so I put it off until the food spoils.

Question: What can I do to be proactive in arriving at a better outcome?

I can be realistic about the amount of cooking I will do during the week and buy accordingly. I read an article years ago that said we need to grocery shop according to who we really are and not how we think we should be. So no more planning three course meals unless I have days off to actually prepare them.
One more proactive thing I did was buy freezer bags to put prepared food on ice before it was too late. Freezer bags was one of those things I didn't think I needed so I never had them on hand when I did need them. I needed to change my thinking, didn't I?

As the mind goes the body follows. My body and mind are much happier now that they are are not engaging in the unlawful neglect of food and the consequent guilt that followed.

Will you join me in the dance of desiring, deciding and doing? Please share, if you are so inclined, how you answered those questions I shared today.

Know of a friend who would benefit from this post? Please feel free to share.

Encouraging Words on God Speaking to You

Isn't it amazing that God speaks to us? I mean, pause a moment and let that sink in. God, Who created the earth and the planets and the galaxies speaks to YOU! No dropped calls (though some go unanswered by us) and no misdirected messages (though at times I feel a message for me would be better carried out by the girl next to me). This idea of God speaking is an exciting one. How can you help but be curious about what He wants to say to you?

I think we are all afraid we will misinterpret what He's saying. May I offer you encouragement about that fear? Remember when God told Abram to go to a land He would show him? (Genesis 12:2) Do you think Abram might have been a little frightened that he might go in the wrong direction? I do too, but then we must remember that Abram started in A DIRECTION. The Bible doesn't tell us that he started in the wrong direction and God had to say, "No, go here instead," but this very well could have happened. Perhaps he ran across a battle going on between two armies and had to re-route. I am not big on Bible maps but if there was a sea in one direction and he had no boat, it was a safe bet that God was not leading him across the sea. Are you following me? You don't have to be afraid of getting your signals crossed and scrambling up His message to you. If your heart's intent is to obey Him, no way will He let you get too far down the wrong path before He lets you know to turn a different way. So loosen your grip on the steering wheel, Girl! Let some blood flow back into those knuckles that are white from being choked of blood supply. You are not big enough to screw up God's plan and He loves You too much to let you. Don't forget, this is a relationship and not a robotic system that can malfunction. Half the fun is the interaction you get to do with God in figuring out what He's up to. Ask Him, "Lord, did You mean for me to go this way?  No?  Lead me, Father. I want to follow You." It's wonderful!

This leads me to the idea of our fear of failure. I liken it to a door we need to walk through, but our fears are on the other side roaring and snarling like a lion and pit bull rolled together. When we open the door, we discover a kitten with a snarl and roar recording. Your fears are designed to play mind games that keep you stuck. What's really waiting in the other side of your fear-of-failure door is growth and a testimony for God's glory. Guess who has NO interest in either of those happening?

You and I must develop a Queen Esther mentality: "If I perish, I perish." (Esther 4:16) Staying where you are is not an option because disobedience is a hot seat a child of God finds torturous. Besides, aren't you tired of the same old same old? Yes? Adventure lives on the other side of that door. Say a prayer, swallow hard, and twist that knob. I would absolutely love to hear what you find on the other side.
P. S. If you found this blog encouraging, why not share it with someone you want to encourage?
Blessings,
Georgia

How to Love Someone You Hate

How do you love someone you hate? Too shy to use the word "hate"? Let's just say you strongly dislike their guts, shall we? The bottom line is they have ways and means that always rub against your grain. Perhaps they did something or are daily doing something that squeezes the ugly out of you. Love is the last thing you want to mention in a sentence with their name unless it's, "I would love to see___________ get <<insert painful thing here.>>As children of God, we feel the tug of the Holy Spirit rebuking us about those feelings and yet the fire won't go out, not for long anyway.

What to do?

First, find comfort that the commandment to love your enemy is not a call to a feeling. Emotions are merely the smoke that belongs to a fire. Douse the fire of not loving and the smoke will be gone too. So, what is love if it's not a feeling? It is a choice. Yes it is. It is a deliberate act of your will to behave lovingly toward your enemy.  If you're like me, you may act lovingly toward them but your facial expression will give you away.

This  brings me to the second truth: loving an unlovely is a supernatural act. Love is a fruit of the Spirit so if the Spirit in you doesn't do the loving then it won't get done. Yes, you must be willing, but the real work is done by God through you. Ask Him to help you rearrange your facial expression as well as empower you to be loving.

Third, loving an enemy or a nerves-grater is like forgiveness. It has little to do with their deserving to be loved and everything to do with the love you have received from God. "We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). God is not asking you to concoct love in your heart for them but to pass on the love He placed there.

Finally, if you struggle with hardness in loving the difficult to love, prayer is a great softener. What do you pray? Besides asking God to change their ways, ask for the same you are praying for yourself. I don't understand how it works, but Jesus was sure it would! "Pray for your enemies," He said (Matthew 5:43-48).  A closer look at the text implies that something happens to the one praying: a maturing. That's what I love about God! He has benefit installed in even the most difficult of His commands.

There you have it--how to love your enemies. It's a practice none of us embraces, but one that will hug us back when we do.

Our Little Hearts Can Love Big God

What do you love about the love of God?
As a young Christian I remember being told I should love God. I struggled with the idea of loving Someone so big. Why, I couldn't even put my arms around Him! How could I love Him when I couldn't see His face with eyes by which I could gauge His feelings for me? Besides, human love seemed it would dwarf in the presence of a huge, majestic, all-knowing God. Reverencing God seemed easier to do. He was my Creator and therefore the Boss of me. I had received Him as Savior and Lord; therefore, it was understood I owed all my allegiance to Him. That I could do. The obedience thing was a struggle at times but understanding that I should do it was not. But love Him? There seemed to be some ingredients missing for love to be what I thought He wanted of me.  Then someone told me that loving God is different from the love we have for people.

I wrestled with this loving God thing for a long time. I didn't understand it so I stuck with what I did know: obedience and worship of Him. I wanted to please Him. I wasn't afraid of going to Hell. I knew that was settled. I just didn't want to make Him angry. I'd heard about sin making God sad. That  idea was odd to me too. Anyway, I didn't want to do that to Him either. For years and years I went on obeying and worshipping. Then something happened. I can't recall what the catalyst was, but something began to awaken in me. Was something missing? Yes. It was passion for Him. I was afraid of having those experiences that made people jump pews and say stuff nobody could understand. I didn't crave that. I did want the kind of ... of... love, yes, that was it... I wanted the kind of love I'd seen in other people. They'd hold their arms crisscross over their chest and talk about loving Him. I recall journaling that whatever that was I didn't have, but I wanted it. I wrote God that I obeyed Him because I didn't want the consequences of not doing it, but I didn't know how to love Him.

Oh!  It's coming back to me now. The catalyst was a devastation that occurred. I became disillusioned with heroes falling off pedestals. My heart ran to God for a place I couldn't name. My insecurities were floating in the air like dust too thick to breathe in. So much of what I'd depended on was no longer there, and I was lost. God seemed the logical place to go. I am so thankful for the volcanic blast of trouble that blew me into His arms. The blast also uncovered sin I'd buried but never gave a proper funeral.  I was driven to dig into His word for answers to questions I never had before. The God I knew mainly as Judge, and Ruler, and Master slowly became the Wooer and Lover of my soul.  Had I not witnessed it in a few key people, I would have been afraid of it. It was like a burning. A deep yearning to reach up to the sky and cup His holy face in my hand. It didn't matter anymore that it was too big, my passion would not let that detail matter. Why? Because I'd caught glimpses of Jesus in man-size loving me and in God sized proportions. I was ruined for reverence only. He was so much more than a God to be respected- He was One Who touched parts of my soul nobody else could. Those parts were reserved for Him alone and the intimacy was a holy and yet all-consuming one. This love birthed a courage I never had before. Fear had been my title, first, and last name, but His love called me out. I recall feeling like the ugly girl being picked by the captain of the football team.

Just when I think I love Him all I can, He knocks out another wall and expands it again. It makes me want others to see what they're missing. It makes me want to trust Him to do more through me. Is that what the Apostle John meant when he said  in 1John 4:18, "perfect love casts out fear"? If you are going around fearing that God is mad at you, then you can't fully absorb His love. You are uncertain of it and you can't let your hair down with Him. You won't worship Him with passion and abandon because all you see is your Judge. Your salvation will feel like a legal contract, but God offers so much more!  His love makes the obedience something you embrace instead of the unfortunate price you pay in exchange for accepting that thing He did on the cross for you.

  So let me ask again. What do you love about the love of God?  Where do you believe He's calling you to experience something deeper?  Did you once love Him more than you do now? Is there an elephant in the room it's time to talk to Him about? This is the perfect time for a love that's always in the air. Take hold of it, My Friend, and let it take you to places you never thought possible!

How to Love the Hard-Hearted

Dear Friends,
You know what? Love can melt a heart of granite. Have you seen it? Hard times sometimes harden people. Some tragedy happened to them or someone they love.

The pain is unbearable. They swear they will never hurt again so they cement all their soft and vulnerable places. They put on a sour face as a camouflage to keep anyone from coming closer. In keeping people out, they have to notice they've locked themselves in. They are lonely. Afraid to risk the company of fellow humans, they try to find companionship from other sources: alcohol, a hobby, television, the internet, pornography, books, or any number of inanimates. Those things can only do so much. There you stand on the periphery of their life. You smile and they turn away, determined not to make a connection. You keep smiling and making friendly gestures. They may become irritated because you are chipping away at that concrete ever so slightly. It was easier to be left alone, but the yearning to be cared for is knocking the scab off some sore heart-places they convinced themselves were fully healed. Your gentleness continues. They become suspicious. You must have some dastardly ulterior motive. Nobody is that nice for no reason. They want to avoid you. The deeper the hurt, the fiercer the fight to keep you away. They may not even know they secretly hope you won't give up on them. For some, the language of love is so foreign they don't even recognize it. It doesn't matter. Keep speaking it in your unique way anyway.

 Then comes your big chance: they find themselves in need and you step in and meet it. I don't mean with just money. Sometimes the need is an acknowledgment of how hard it is to be in their shoes. Sometimes it's a gesture that says you noticed something out of the ordinary was going on and you wanted to reach out. Do not underestimate the power of this. People feel invisible in this culture and saying you noticed ________ tells them they are not alone or invisible. It's the kind of love that melts walls built up for years.

Sometimes the melting is more like an erosion that's here a little and there a little. Don't grow impatient with the process. It's the way relationships are built anyway. Sometimes I think we get in such a hurry to seal the deal with a "profession of faith" or  "one more soul snatched from the fires of Hell" that we forget these are real

people who get just as weirded out as you or I would with tactics that try to rush things. Some will profess whatever you want just to get you out of their face. I've seen it happen. No, I believe there is a better way: be a friend, genuinely care and let the Holy Spirit build a case for falling in love with the Son.

Don't complicate it by straining to be what you can't. God is asking you to do and be what you can through Him. Get yourself out of the way and it goes much smoother (experience talking here).

You likely already have a person in mind who is so encrusted with that cement they can barely move their lips to crack a smile. Your first assignment is always to pray for them. Then let God decide when your practical part in their story begins. I would love to hear if you have a concrete-cracking or mountain-melting story to share. It doesn't have to be dramatic. Oftentimes the deepest work is done in the quietest settings; sometimes so subtle you don't see it at first.

Time for bed. Goodnight, My Friends. May God use you to break through someone's pain in such a way you'll beg Him to use you to do it again! 

You Can Show the World Real Christianity!

Every now and then I scroll through the TV  channels and I land on something that rocks me to the core. I wanted to change the channel but I couldn't. Well, a couple of times I did, but I kept coming back. It was a documentary about the Oklahoma City bombing. Isn't it sad that that wasn't the worst attack we've had? This goes to show that the enemy is never satisfied. You may think he's done a doozy on your life, but he's always dreaming and plotting to do more. This is why it's critical that you and I hold on to Jesus daily. A full-time devil can only be fought with a fuller-time God. Ain't you glad you got One? 

Anyway, the horrifying part was the white supremacist group behind the attack. There were pictures of these people deep in the woods sitting in a church with Bibles on their laps and crosses hanging on the wall. The recordings were the worst of all. I was not so much offended by the supremacist rhetoric as I was that they dared attach the word "Christian" to it. Something grated on my liver every time they said the word. How sick to think that Christ would sign off on anything they were doing. It made me mad. "Go find another name to use for that crap," my spirit shouted, "leave my Savior's out of it!"

Then this got me to thinking: I wonder how many people hate Christianity because this  is the only sort of Christianity they know? I don't mean just the radical deviance like that group. I mean the kind that only judges and never extends grace. The kind that blends in so well with the culture that there's nothing to make it attractive. Friend, real Christianity is attractive!! If it's not that to you, then you either need to put it back on the shelf and reach for the real thing or quit nibbling at what it offers and eat it whole so it can change you like only it can.
Sorry, I keep chasing rabbit trails. Back to my point. Could it be that some (not all) of the people who want nothing to do with Jesus have had bad representatives of Him? How many have encountered fronters and fakers?

The world is hungry for the real Jesus. They want so badly to run across someone  who is as loving as He is. They are looking for someone like you! Don't look away. Remember, perfection is not a requirement otherwise we all would have to go home. No, you are just the person God can use to stop someone in their tracks and take a second look at this Christianity thing. Yeah, I know, many are not interested in real Christianity at all; they want one that lets them do whatever they please. I'm not talking about those people. There are still those who would come to Jesus if they really saw Him. Let them see Him in You. 

This gets scary unless you remember He is going to do the attracting if you will do the yielding. Please stop saying you are not perfect. They already know that. Your goal is to present them with Someone Who IS perfect. The only way they will believe He's real is if they see something coming out of you that couldn't possibly have been from you. Am I making any sense? I've had times when I wore myself to a frazzle trying to be a good example to those around me, but all I ended up being was legalistic and that is a turn-off. A better, less exhausting approach is to give Jesus full access to your heart, your soul, your mind, and strength. Let Him animate Himself through your limbs, your smile, and even your bad days. Then watch out, Girl. Influence can't help but happen. Glory will get got and it'll come from them and go straight to God ( Matthew 5:16). You have the joy of being used by the only One of Whom it's a privilege to be used.

  The world is full of sick and twisted variations of what they call Christianity. Let's you and I do our part to show what real Christianity looks like. 

How to Keep a Thankful Heart

Thank God for all that is. There may come a day when what is is no more. So much of what we enjoy as Americans is a luxury elsewhere. For example,three meals a day is unheard of by many. Then there are the CHOICES of what to eat: Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Thai, buffet, drive-through, Hibachi, TV dinner, meal at church, cold chicken from your fridge, and on it goes. 

Plenty has a way of numbing our thankfulness if we don't watch it. It can be soil for entitlement to grow. You know you're there when you lose a blessing and you get mad.

When Job lost it all, his response revealed that he hadn't lost sight of where it all came from: " The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord" (Job 1:21).

How do you keep your head about all that is good? May I suggest it is done by recognizing each blessing as if you just received it? Jeremiah said that the Lord's mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23). Why not thank God for it newly every morning? There is a child-like wonder that happens when we do this. I know you're probably thinking, "But won't that get old really quickly?" No, not if while your lips are listing what He's given, you let your mind imagine what if it weren't there. 

Try it. 

I thank God for my job, my house, my husband, and the ability to read. If God decided not to renew either of those tomorrow morning, my life would change dramatically. See what I mean?

 Somebody will go to bed tonight with one less family member than when they woke up. An accident can change a whole family even without loss of life. A phone call, a doctor's visit, or a pink slip can be God's debit card to remove what has been there for so long.

 This thinking is not a push to drown us in the what-ifs but a pull to our perspective on all we enjoy. Every day that we have what brings us happiness was an intentional act on God's part, so let's be intentional in our gratitude too. 

"Thank You, Jesus, for letting my car crank."

"Thank You, God, for the water that comes from my faucet."

"Thank You, Lord, for inventing coffee."

"Praise you, Father, for hot doughnuts when the sign is on."

It's a wonderful exercise that makes gratitude fun. It keeps our hearts aware of how blessed we are. Most of all it gladdens the heart of our great and generous God.