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Social media addiction has actually become a thing. A recognized problem by many people. Chances are we have all had to deal with it to some degree, at one time or another, if not currently. I sure have, and it's embarrassing to admit it. I've often felt the presence of a monster beneath the need to check facebook and tune out the world for a little bit. Like the social media drive was only the ripple on the surface: the evidence of something darker lurking beneath the surface, ready to devour the soul of as many people as possible.  And now, thank Jesus, I know what the beast is. It has been identified. And its name is... Selfishness Why the constant drive to see what's happening in the world, to see how my likes have built up and the comments are flowing in? It gratifies me. It feeds my pride and makes me feel good about myself, while also giving me a chance to escape, for a moment, from whatever might be going wrong in my life. Usually Selfishness is not by itself, but side by side with its best friend. Selfishness and Pride, are as close to each other as blood brothers. They enter into your heart through a breach in the wall, fighting back to back, each protecting the vulnerable part of the other. A formidable pair, for sure! And they go so much deeper than just a social media addiction. I feel selfishness raising its head and controlling so many other parts of my life. My quiet time. Time spent with my kids. My thoughts about others. The lie that my body is mine, to give or take from my husband at the smallest whims. It's a long, long list. A sad list, really. Can you identify? I hope you can't, but if you can, then stick with me, cuz there's more. I've spent a lot of time asking God to not let me have any idols before Him. I've gone "idol hunting", searching my heart for the one that is keeping me from a sold out, radical relationship with Him. And I've missed it. Until now. I thank God for His grace and patience towards us - it is truly unfathomable! He has gently shown me what the idol of my life is. And it hurts. Because I am my own idol. It's not what I expected, and it's definitely not what I wanted to hear. It is a mortifying thing to find out that you have exalted your own self over God. And it is a painful thing to throw yourself down from the self-made pedestal. In fact, it is impossible. But completely necessary. I cannot do it, but God can. It does take work from me though. I have to immediately, and I mean immediately, quit sacrificing my precious time to the idol of me. No more stolen moments from God, from my husband or kids or friends. It takes time, spent on my face, before God. Am I making too big of a deal out of this? Just take a look at what God has to say about His people that would not leave their idolatry behind.  "Hear, oh My people, and I will admonish you; You shall have no strange god in you; you must never worship any strange god. But My people would not listen to Me. So I gave them up to their own heart's lust and they walked in their own counsels. Oh that My people had listened to Me. I would have quickly subdued their enemies and turned My hand against those that torment them. The haters of the Lord should have submitted themselves to Him; I would've fed My people with the finest wheat; and with honey out of the rock would I have satisfied you." {Psalm 81:8,9,11-16, paraphrased} This passage begs the question: "are there any idols in my life that are causing God to withhold His most abundant spiritual blessings from my life?" The scriptures are full of passages where God laments the fact that He cannot pour out His richest blessings on His people, because they have another god before Him. Oh let that not be our story! Let us take time to look beyond the ripples on the surface of the water and deal with the evil monster below the surface. It is time to tackle our selfishness and our pride face to face, through the power of the Lord, and reclaim the precious ground that they have stolen! Are you with me??   If you liked this post, you might like these:
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A child's prayers are so sweet and innocent. I love listening to my 3 year old's random prayers, that span everything from heart felt requests and thanksgiving, to hints that God thinks it would be ok if I let her watch her favorite Veggie Tales movie. ;)  I never want to take that free openess towards God away from her. Raising our kids is such as a joy as I get hands on experience and a front row seat every day as to why Jesus said we are to be as a little child. <3 But I do want to gently encourage my kids to be intentional in their prayers - to learn to pray with purpose! They are obviously too young for a prayer journal so I've been tossing different ideas around in my mind to bring a little more focus into our daily Bible/prayer time. And then I was inspired to create prayer cards with the prayer requests drawn on them. We had so much fun creating them together! We came up with several different prayer requests and then drew {a very simple} figure on cardstock and cut it out. I wrote the request on each one to help me remember, but our little girl has pretty quickly got each one memorized.  I tried to add some defining features to each one to help it stand out as the prayer request it really was. We had a lot of fun creating these, and the delight on my little girl's face was so sweet! She loves picking a couple out and very fervently praying over them.
It is such a privilege to raise our children to love Jesus! I encourage you to really put some time and thought into it, whether you use these prayer cards or go with something else. <3 Blessings to you, Mommy!  If you liked this post you might also like these!
Us ladies are known for liking to talk. I don't think most of us ever quite live up to the reputation that precedes us, but we do have a need to process our thoughts and our tongue is usually our handiest and most used tool! The need for conversation is God given, but the flow of our conversation is our responsibility. I've been giving a lot of thought recently to the spirit that my words carry along with them. Every time I join in a conversation with somebody it carries a spirit along with it, which is often then spread to those around me.  Filtering my words is not only a God-given responsibility, but a command! "... Avoid worthless, foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior. This kind of talk spreads like cancer... if you keep yourself pure, you will be like a special vessel for honorable use. Your life will be clean, and you will be ready for the Master to use you for every good work. {2 Timothy 2:16,17 & 21} Girls, we simply cannot afford to let our speech spread evil, because once it starts, it is so hard to stop. It does to our soul what cancer does to a body: it ravages and destroys. And it will take drastic measures to stop it, once it gets started. In fact, our words are even more lethal than cancer. Because they are contagious. The words we speak and the attitude we carry with our conversation can jump from our mouth and into the hearts of those around us, sucking the radiant life of Jesus right out of them. And our spiritual life will last beyond this earth and into eternity. We cannot afford to lose the life of Jesus! Now we live in an evil and fallen world. We are going to hear and see evil things that bother us and burden us. We are going to see our friends make wrong choices and do things that are not right. We may be tempted to respond in disgust or anger. And, sadly, the first impulse many of us have is to spread the word. We feel an overwhelming "need" to share the story, talk about the sin, deride the fallen. And we have become so good at doing it in such a "holy" way. But we must be careful, because too often this results in "foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior."  Let us not given in to that false "need" any longer! Let us rise up and be the stopping point. Let's be a rock and when the gossip comes our way let it come against us and shatter into a million little pieces of nothingness. Do not pass it on. So then, what do we do when we do need to process information and talking is what's going to do it? Take it to God. Talk to Jesus about it and then be still and let Him calm your heart. Turn those gossipy thoughts into prayer requests, shared only between you and God, and maybe your husband. This is such a huge undertaking. It can feel like an impossible mountain to tackle. But it's not! God does not demand perfection in a day, or even a week or year. Even the Apostle Paul says "I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me." If a man who wrote a good part of the New Testament has not attained, there is hope for us! But the key is to "press on" . I can't expect God to someday magically make me perfect when I have not even tried. It's an uphill battle. It's a daily battle. But the victory is there for the taking! Let's press forward to the high calling!  If you liked this post you might like these:
 She woke up and slowly pulled herself to a sitting position. She looked around her surroundings and smiled. It was a humble little room to be sure, but it was hers. She had moved in just yesterday and the thrill was still in her heart. Her own home! She was under nobody's authority - there was no one to tell her what she could or could not do. Her heart swelled with gratitude towards the Mayor of the city. It was to him she owed her gratitude for her own place. She marveled at his generosity. All the young people in the town had their own little domains because of him. Whenever a young person became old enough to live on their own, the Mayor had a little meeting with them and they would come to an arrangement. In exchange for delivering messages to and from the city counsel, the Mayor would give them their own room in his special apartments. It was the perfect plan. As the weeks went on the young girl quickly fell into her new routine. Breakfast at the Mayor's sumptuous table every morning, check to see if he had any messages for her to deliver, finish her tasks and then do whatever she pleased. The Mayor provided everything she needed to be comfortable and happy. It was a good life. Except for one thing. There was a man that would stand on the street by the marketplace every day and try to talk with the messengers. He never tried to stop them from their job, but simply wanted to talk with them. He was dirty, like he had traveled many miles. He was not particularly handsome and there was nothing charismatic or exciting about him. But that wasn't the problem the girl had with him. It was his words she did not like. He tried to convince the Mayor's young messengers that their benefactor was not who they thought he was. The traveler told them that the Mayor was a trickster. He did not have their good at heart. In fact, he was evil. And he was out to destroy them. It made her laugh to hear the traveler talk. Did he really think she would believe him? As if! It was the Mayor, after all, who gave her everything she had. Her home and her meals came from him, as well as her entertainment, for he was always bringing in great entertainers for the amusement of the people. The young girl took to slinging dirt and mud at the stranger, as well as insults, just like all the other young people did. The Mayor kept threatening to do away with the man and she wished he would. He was a nuisance and a pain. When the Mayor did take action against the stranger, she was right there with the crowd, hurling insults, curses and stones. As the man crumpled, lifeless, to the ground, she laughed. The next day, her life was changed. With the threat of the stranger gone, the Mayor revealed his true self. He called a meeting and informed all of his messenger that he was grateful for their loyalty in the past months, but it was time for them to know something. They were not free as he had led them to believe - they were his slaves and they would never escape. She didn't know she was a slave. At first the girl resisted. But soon, beaten and sore, her spirit broke and she gave in. For her rebellion she was kicked out onto the streets, banned from the feasts, but still expected to carry messages. Many other menial tasks were also given to her and she felt alone and overwhelmed. She was trapped - trapped into a life she had chosen for herself because she was deceived by the sparkle of having her own home and being her own boss. Now she had nothing. And then, it happened. One day as she sat, begging by the gate, hoping for even the smallest morsel of food, he came back. The traveler. She knew him instantly, even though he looked nothing like he had when she had last seen him. He was alive. He was well dressed. He was riding a white charger. He was...a King. Their eyes met and she knew that he knew her too. His eyes pierced her soul and she knew that he could read her heart. She wanted to run, but couldn't. And where would she go anyway? She knew the mayor would kill her someday - why not just die at the hands of the stranger? And then the Mayor came out of his palace, angry and afraid. He quailed before the stranger, but glared at the girl. "Get out of here. Now!" She turned to run, hoping to avoid the blows, when the words stopped her. "She's mine." She turned and stared. Her tormentor glared at the stranger. "You know the cost of a soul." "It has been paid. My life, for hers." Chills ran down the girl's back. His life? His life? She had helped throw the stones of death, yet he was willing to buy her back from this evil fiend that ran her life? And, in her heart, she knew it was true. She knew he was true. She was His. She watched in amazement as he got off his horse and the Mayor scuttled back to his palace in fear, yelling curses as he went. He walked up to her and wiped the mud off her face. He gave her a robe of the purest, most perfect white, with his regal mark on it. He put a crown of pure gold on her head. He placed his hand on her shoulder and called her... His child. The daughter of the King.  Who is this young woman? She is me - she is you. It was my sin that Jesus chose to die for. His life in exchange for mine. Let us never, never let His love and His sacrifice grow old in our eyes. <3 We live, only because of HIM!  If you liked this post you might like these:
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I am on a journey to know Jesus better, and be the wife, mommy and friend that God created me to be, all within the walls of my own little home. <3
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