Frustration

At some point in life we have all been frustrated.  I know life itself seems to frustrate me.  God even frustrates me sometimes.  He never lets me down or abandons me.  Oh but he frustrates me.

The frustration seems to come into play when I'm not getting my own way. When I am trying to bargain.   It doesn't matter if it's work, an argument with my spouse, or an argument with God. My frustration comes from within me. It took me a long time to realize that. However, once I learned that, it became easier to not focus on whatever the issue is.

Does this mean that I won't get frustrated anymore?  Absolutely not.  But it does mean that I can take a step back and re-evaluate the situation.  I never want to be so frustrated that a situation causes me to lose sight of God.

How do you best handle frustration?  Are you quick to go to God or do you stew over the issues?

Bible Study Resources

Do you use resources other than the Bible to study God's word?  I have heard some people say that they only use the Bible itself when studying God's word.  However, I have learned that some books can point us towards verses in the Bible that we need to read.  When we use these books in connection with our Bibles, we can learn a lot.

While reading a book on prayer, I read about Psalms 25:4-5.  I read it there in the book.  Then I looked it up in my Bible.  I wanted to make sure it was not paraphrased.

They say "Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long." These 2 verses spoke to me because they are a gentle reminder that I must continue to ask God every day to keep guiding me through His plan for my life.

Therefore, I will continue to use not only my Bible, but also devotionals and other books to help me to continue to grow as a Christian.  I know that the church I currently attend has several books that I can borrow.  Check to see if your church does.  It can help point you in a direction that you may not have even thought of.

Asking for God's Help

Life isn't perfect.  However, I am finding that life is what we make of it.  I have a warm home, and food to cook for my family.  I cannot let stressful situations in my life dictate whether or not I will be happy.

I have decided to give stress to God and ask Him to handle it.  In his time whatever that stress is, will either go away or be used for His glory.

I know that there will always be difficult days.  However, if I ask for God's help to get through them, I know that I will be happier for it.  Who knows, I might actually smile more 😀

Blessed

For 2019, the word I have chosen to concentrate on is "blessed."  Anyone who knows me well knows that I don't like change.  I don't handle it well.  However, 2019 is going to be full of changes.  I want to face those changes as well as the challenges that I might face head on.  I choose to see the blessings all around me.

So here I am counting my blessings!!!
I am thankful for God's mercy, His grace & His Love.  I am also thankful for my husband & my children.

There are many many more blessings, but I will continue to list them as the year goes on 😀

New Beginnings

Today is New Year's Eve. Lots of people around the world will make resolutions of one kind or another. Everyone's looking for a fresh start. However, the Lamentations 3:22-23 says:
The faithful love of the Lord never ends![a]
    His mercies never cease.
23 Great is his faithfulness;
    his mercies begin afresh each morning.

So if the Bible says that God's mercies are new every morning, then why do we wait until January 1st every year for a new beginning? Every morning is a fresh start to begin anew.  May we remember to take each day as it comes, and start fresh everyday.

Don't say HATE

My husband and I tell people quite a lot that we don't say the word "hate." We even went as far as to teach our children not to use that word. Not when describing how they feel about another person or about a thing.

Some people think that it's very strange that we just don't use that word. However, when Jesus teaches us that we should love one another how can we have hate anywhere around us. Hate grows & festers.  If we hate one thing that hate moves on to other things in our lives. Therefore, we choose to live in love.

Making Progress

It's been a few months since my last post.  It's been a busy few months.  I just finished my first class towards my ministry degree.  I learned a lot about Spiritual Formation.  I think I learned just as much about myself too.

When we open our hearts and minds to the lessons that God wants us to learn, it becomes an amazing journey.  My success through this class just goes to show that Philippians 4:13 is true.

Getting Excited

When I decided not to go back to college 20+ years ago, my aunt said I would never go back.  For a long time I thought she was right.   I was originally going to school to be a teacher.  However, after working in a daycare center, I realized that I don't have the patience for teaching.

So if teaching was not to be my profession, then what do I study?  That was hard to answer.  I just couldn't narrow it down, & until I did there was no point in me going back to school.

So, I just kept praying for God to show me His plan.  He kept telling me ministry.  However, I never listened long enough to find out what kind of ministry.  I did children's ministry.  That didn't work out.  I tried women's ministry.  That kind of fizzled out.  I might try it again as the church has lots of new families.  However, where I am being told to be is preaching His word.

So, with excitement, I start the first of many classes on Monday, September 17th.  I am ready for this new chapter in my life. Who would have ever thought I would be excited about school.  Go figure.

Is there something that you are excited about?  This world can be a depressing place.  Leave me a note to let me know what you are excited about.  Maybe we can be an encouragement to each other.

Peace Beyond My Own Understanding

Why is it that when we want something, it doesn't seem to matter to us whether or not it is part of God's plan?  As humans, we are selfish people.  Our wants seem more important to us than what is actually best for us.

I have been thinking a lot lately about all the choices that I've made without seeking God's will.  It doesn't matter whether those decisions were for big things in my life or little ones.  It often seems that when I don't seek God's will, something goes wrong.  Sometimes I put myself in the way of God's plan.

I am learning that whenever I seek His will before I make a decision, He guides each step that I take.  It just makes things easier.  I am even finding that I am happier in general with God directing my path.

You know, it's strange... God has been showing me that being patient and trusting Him brings such peace in life.  Is everything perfect all the time?  Not even close.  However, when I trust him completely, He brings a peace that is beyond my own understanding.

Is there something in your life that you need to give over to God in order to get peace in your life?  Leave me a message and I will be happy to pray for you.

Being Called Out...

I don't know about you, but I don't like being called out.  My word for this year is positivity.  However, lately I have let my anger get the best of me, & it has turned to negativity.  And I have been called on it.

My husband has called me out on not only the anger, but my lack of patience as well.  When the nurse at the doctor's office called at the last minute to let us know our new doctor was not available for his appointment, I went off on the nurse and it was not her fault.  Since I've been working in the same customer service job for almost 19 years, you would think that I would know better. I know what it feels like to have someone yell at you for something that you have no control over.

God has also been calling me out on my lack of patience.  I've been looking into going to school.  However. I was becoming frustrated when I wasn't finding the school that He wanted me to go to right away.  God told me to just hold on and sure enough an online class within my budget became available. And He called me out again reminding me to wait on his timing and not my own.

I'll be honest with you.  When my husband calls me out I tend to get upset or angry. After all, I'm not perfect and neither is he. I don't take it much better when God calls me out. However, I must remember that both God and my husband are calling me out because they care about me.

How do you handle it when you're called out? Do you take criticism with a grain of salt and learn? Or do you do like I do intend to get upset and then have to go back and apologize? I think it's better to learn from your mistakes and accept the criticism. Otherwise we could go through life just making the same mistakes over and over again.

Joy out of Frustration

James 1:2-4 says "Dear brothers and sisters,[a] when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing."

Does this mean we will jump for joy every time we have a trial in life?  Absolutely not!  However, it does mean that we need to understand that some trials in life are meant to teach us something.  You might learn the lesson immediately.  However, if you are stubborn like me, it could be months or even years before you learn that particular lesson.

A friend recently posted on her Facebook page that there are blessings not only in gifts God gives us, but also in the trials of life.  She is so right.  There have been things in my life that I begged God for... Only to either be told no, or to be told to wait.  I have been frustrated over a lot of things.  However, God's plan is ALWAYS better than mine.

So, how do we turn sorrow & frustration into joy?  It certainly isn't easy, and I know from experience that I can't do it on my own.  However, we have all heard Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." That means that if we seek God's will and ask Him for help, He can get us through any difficulty.

My prayer for anyone reading this is that you praise God in times of trouble.  I find that praise music helps tremendously.  It is very calming.  Use this and prayer to give you strength as you seek Joy out of Frustration.

Grief

There comes a time in everyone's life when we lose someone that we love.  My mom used tell me that nothing is certain in life except death & taxes.  I say that nothing is certain except Jesus, death & taxes.

I had just turned 19 years old when my dad passed away.  Since he passed away just before Christmas, it changed the holiday for me.  It was a sad time instead of joyous.  It remained that way until I had kids and saw the excitement in their faces on Christmas morning.

When my brother passed away, it was a pain like I have never felt before.  Then my mom passed away which brought more pain.  Sometimes it has been more than I can bear.

I share this not to make people feel sorry for me, but to show how the death of our loved ones ones can affect us.  The hurt is real.  There is no time table for grief.  Everyone grieves in their own way.

I know a few people grieving.  I pray for them daily.  I understand their struggle.  If you know someone who is struggling with the loss of a loved one, pray for them.  Send them a private message to let them know that you are thinking of them.  It will mean more than you will ever know.

Life Lessons

I bought a new shirt the othe day that says "Blessed by Jesus & Spoiled by my husband."  Most times I love being spoiled.  However, there are times when my wants get in God's way.  I fnd that when something isn't going my way, I often have to stop & try to think about what God's lesson is in that particular trial.  In fact, Romans 5:3 says "we can rejoice too, when we run into problems and trials, for we now that they help us to develop endurance."

So how do we stay positive and rejoice in troubled times?  How do we keep from automatically becoming that person that wants to have constant pity parties?  It's definitely not easy.

For me, I have to stop and ask God to show me the lesson I am supposed to learn.  Then I turn to worship music.  One of my favorite songs is "Praise You in this Storm" by Casting Crowns.  I also love the song "Blessings" by Laura Story.  Both of these songs give me the ability to look at the situation with positivity instead of negativity.

Leave me a note telling me how you keep from becoming negative when it seems like trials are abundant.

Hope for Tomorrow

In a previous post, I stated that we shouldn't worry about tomorrow.  However, we can still hope & dream.  Hebrews 6:11 says: "Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true." We should allow hope to bring us joy.

God is constantly working in the background.  He is making plans for our future and setting things in place.  We can go for years without seeing what those plans are, but once He shows us those plans, we can start to plan for that future.

God is slowly showing me the plan that He has for me and my family.  There is joy in planning the next steps of His plan.  There is a lot that needs to be done.  However, I am not stressing over any of it.  I know that God will work it all out.  He is showing me that when I say yes to His plans & give Him control that there is no need to worry or stress.

So as I look forward to what lies ahead, I know that there is hope for the future.

Relationship with God

Have you ever moved to a new city, or even to a new school where you didn't know anyone?  It takes time to meet new friends.  It takes even more time to build lasting friendships.  You have to spend time with them in order to build that relationship.

It's the same with our relationship with God.  It's not enough that you invited Christ into your heart.  He wants a relationship with you.  It is not something that happens over night.  You have to spend time in His word.  You have to pray to hear his voice.  Most of all, you have to submit to God's will.

Growing up I was always sad & angry that I wasn't getting what I was praying for, or I wasn't getting it right then.  Most of all, though, I wanted Him to show me the plan that He had for my life.  However, when I see what lies ahead of me now, I know why He waited to show me His plan.  I would have fought God. 

You see, I never thought that God would call me into ministry.  Satan was lying to me.  He kept telling me things like "Women shouldn't preach God's word." I was never the best student, so Satan would use that to make me think that I'm not qualified to preach His word.

All my life I heard the phrase "God doesn't call the qualified.  He qualifies the called."  I thought I understood what that meant.  However,  the past few years He has given me a lot to think about.  He has been slowly teaching me (qualifying me).  He has put it on my heart to bring others to Him.

It started with little things like my Facebook page.  I didn't think twice about sharing a post that had cuss words in it.  Or complaining on Facebook about how things weren't going my way.  God put it on my heart that I wasn't being a good example.  So I cleaned up my Facebook page.

Next he started working on my relationship with Him.  He showed me that just because I went to a Christian school and went to church, that I still had a long way to go in my relationship with Him.  He showed me that memorizing scripture means nothing if I'm not living those truths.

One of my biggest struggles has always been my lack of patience.  However, when I prayed about moving back to NC, the answer was always "just wait.". When we came to the decision that NC was not where we were to be, there was a complete peace about it.  I can tell you with certainty that if the answer was "no" from the beginning, my very stubborn nature would have been to react with anger.  Instead, he waited and let us come to the conclusion that we are not to be there.

In waiting for His perfect timing, we stayed in PA & plugged into a church, plugged into His word, and grew spiritually.  This allowed God to work on our hearts & prepare us for what lies ahead.

So, when it seems like God isn't answering your prayers, remember that sometimes the answer is "no." His plan is perfect and sometimes the things that we want have to go by the wayside in order for his plan to be put into place.  Other times we must wait.  The answer may still be "no," but it could also be "yes," just not now.