Expect darkness

"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 NLT)

A friend came to visit this week and shared about her newlywed struggles. She and her husband have been married over two years and are noticing how HARD marriage can be.

I thought of this verse... "here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows."

Here's the deal. I think we often let the world sway our thoughts. We let the world tell us that life should be good, peaceful, and happy. We think our days should be filled with blessing, good news, gifts, and bliss. As if we were already on the other side.. Living out eternity. True, the kingdom of heaven is here with us right now and so we can experience Christ's peace but we still live in this sinful world. So... The norm will always be pain and trial. Suffering.

The exception is ease.
Expect pain and sorrow. Expect suffering. Expect darkness.

This is why we must encourage one another and spread the light of Christ's hope. This dark world will always give us great suffering. But take heart, He has overcome the world.

Until soon,
b.

Remembering the good things

"Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me.
He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases." (Psalms 103:2, 3 NLT)

I imagine the author of this psalm (song) repeating this line to himself over and over again.

"may I never forget the GOOD THINGS... the Good Things... the good things..."

The BAD things are what he mentions in the next line- sins and diseases. We live in a constant awareness of sins and diseases. Personally, I live daily in my sin. I am always aware of my human limitations and how far I have to grow to be like Jesus. I also live in my diseases. These are my addictions and the affects of the sin on my life.

I like to think about the "fruits of the Holy Spirit," or the characteristics of a godly life. They are: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). I PRAY that I would live constantly in these good characteristics but I fall short, so short. I pray to be loving- because I expect love from God and others. I pray to be patient- because I expect patience from God and others. I pray to be gentle- because I expect gentleness from God and others...

I fall so short.

So let us remember the GOOD THINGS. God is in the business of (daily, constantly, always) forgiving our sins. He is in the business of (daily, constantly, always) healing our diseases. He is in the business of making us new.. renewed each day.

So let ALL THAT I AM praise the Lord.
Let the good and the bad of me praise the Lord.

Let my sins and my diseases...
the good character and the bad...
the trying exceptionally hard and the half-assed part of me...
the faithful and the faithless parts of me...
let ALL THAT I AM praise The Lord.

Amen and until soon,
b.

Writing Retreat continues here!

To my Writing Retreat friends:

Well, I apologize for being so busy! I have decided to offer some prompts here on a regular basis. I know it's not the same as a comfy room and a warm wood stove but maybe, just maybe, it will be a good option for us. Please feel free to share your journal entries below or email them to me! Let's write together! Don't forget the wine and cookies!

How would you draw a little girl's laugh? What colors and shapes would you use?

until soon,
b.

Love your enemies... Ugh

“But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you." (Luke 6:27, 28 NLT)

Ugh. This is one of those verses that I don't like to "listen" to. The truth is, we don't often use words like "enemies." I don't even have people that "curse me" or even "hate me." I just have people in my life that bug me... or piss me off... or get on my nerves... or that I try to avoid... or have hurt my feelings...

Let me tell ya.. This is why I don't have Christian bumper stickers on my car! Besides being cheesy, I don't want other drivers to know that I'm supposed to be loving them and praying for them... Instead of cutting them off and giving them nasty looks. Just saying.

You think those annoying, mean people would still apply? Of course. Because just like I said a few sentences ago, I can be just as annoying, mean, cursing, hating, biting as anyone else. It's not supposed to be that way because I have the Holy Spirit within me but I still sin. As much as I hate the sin, I still live in it. Ugh.

You too? Well, pray for me. I'll pray for you. We need each other and some day we will all be in perfect peace with the Father. That's a "yay!"

Until soon,
b.

Does God tweet?

Did you know that a Bible verse has about 25 words on average?  That's about the same amount as a Tweet or Facebook stat.  God has been Tweeting us for a long time!

Here's a challenge for you.  Take any random verse- only one- and meditate upon it.  Can you find anything in that one verse that may apply to your life?  Or some new insight into the character of who God is?

Here's one that I tried:

"And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21 NLT)

I picked it apart and this is what I found...

Everyone has a job.  Mary will give birth.  Joseph (to whom the verse is spoken) will give the child a name.  Jesus will save the people.  The people will sin.

It's our job to sin.  It's what we're good at.  Mary and Joseph were sinners as well and God was making quite a gamble by giving them such a risky job.

Fun, huh?

Try one for yourself!  It's the best Tweet you'll read all day.

until soon,
b.

Happier

I found this new app that I just love: Happier. It makes me think about the positives in my life and steers clear of the Facebook negativity. It really makes me happy!

Today I read through some other posts that also brightened my day. One woman was happy to be talking to her father after his heart attack yesterday. Another woman saw people picking litter off the highway. One man said he loved his wife's cooking.

I loved the weather today. Playing with my baby ducks and chicks. Seeing the colorful birds on the feeders. Hearing my son laugh while reading. Spending the morning with Eric.

Hoping you feel Happier today!

Until soon,
b.

Things I too often forget...

I have an amazing chiropractor and massage therapist. I look forward to visiting them every month (just for maintenance- which works great!) for health reason but also for fun and great conversation. My massage therapist always offers great advice and life counsel along with my body work. During one session, she was having a particularly hard day and said, "You know, it's times like this when I envy people like you- people of faith. I just can't comprehend believing in God, believing that you can just give problems away to someone."

I was reminded of this a few weeks later when I was having a particularly hard day. Her words came back to me.

I've been a follower of Jesus for a long time and how often I forget this simple, wonderful truth.

I have God.

Faith is hard. I don't always give my problems away! I like to keep them and struggle with them on my own! But how true, and how beautiful, that I can give them away and He takes them.

Good news.

until soon,
b.