Have you?

Rather than boycotting him, have you prayed for Tony Hayward? Have you prayed for God to touch his heart, to bring him to repentance, and to give him wisdom? 

Rather than being satisfied with a shallow sympathy, have you prayed for those living along the coast? Have you prayed for their endurance, for their provision, and for their response in all of this to be astoundingly Christlike?

Rather than forgetting them, have you prayed for the families left behind of the 11 workers who died? Have you prayed for their peace and comfort? 

Rather than giving in to worry and anger, have you prayed for His creation to be restored to reflect His glory? Have you prayed for Him to reveal what method would work best and to send the right workers?

Oswald Chambers once said that we "act like pagans in a crisis." We don't pray about these things; we turn to worldly means of coping: boycotts, protests, etc. All I know is that our Father has told us to pray about everything. He has commanded us to love our enemies and to bless them. Of course I think the Gulf Coast, environment, and the oil spill are extremely important to the Lord. I also believe that He is concerned about our reaction to those things and how we choose to move forward.

Will we move forward just as Jesus would? Or will we move forward in the traditions of this world?

Seriously, don't read this unless you WANT some conviction.

"There is a common attitude among modern wives that says we must stand up for ourselves --- to make sure our husbands never take us for granted, to make sure we are receiving just as much as we are giving. We fear that the moment we choose to give up the control position in our marriage, we have signed away our life and our identity. We think that when we humble ourselves to serve our husbands, we will lose our respect and dignity as a woman and become nothing but a doormat. But, as a great Christian woman once said, 'Christ became even lower than a doormat.' Christ did not scrape and grasp for His rights, His power, His control. He willingly sacrificed them in order to meet our greatest need. There is no greater love than the One who stooped so low and sacrificed so much for the sake of His Beloved. Christ was not worried about what He would receive from us. He simply gave --- He willingly poured out His breath and blood because He loved us (Philippians 2:6)."



"This [see above for what 'this' means] is how we are called to love our husbands. Not holding back --- pouring ourselves out for our man with abandon. Not scraping for our own rights, not grasping for our own agenda, but humbling ourselves daily, seeking our spouse's good above our own."



"Many modern messages for women urge us to look out for ourselves. They say that we shouldn't become so busy meeting other people's needs that we forget to meet our own. But what does Christ say? 'Take no thought for your life' (Matthew 6:25 KJV)....Look at Christ's example when He was here on earth. He was so busy pouring out for others that He scarcely had time to sleep or eat. He was not self-focused or self-protective....For some reason, I just can't imagine Christ taking time away from His ministry to 'pamper Himself.' The only personal area of His life that Jesus diligently protected was private times of prayer."



"Well, sorry to be so blunt, but most 'normal, everyday' Christians in the Western world are living pleasure-seeking, self-absorbed lives. Just think about it. Are we, as the majority of American Christians, pouring ourselves out for the lost and the least, or are we lying on our couches, eating pizza, and watching reality TV? Millions of hurting, destitute, hopeless people are crying out for someone to help them. But sadly, we are frighteningly similar to the wealthy Christians during the Holocaust who sat comfortably in church singing hymns at the tops of their lungs to drown out the anguished cries of the thousands of Jews who passed by in cattle cars on their way to death camps."



"Here's the publisher's description of that popular women's book Captivating. 'The message of Captivating is this: Your heart matters more than anything else in all creation.' And what is meant by the term 'your heart'? According to the author of the book, 'The heart is who you are. The real self. Me. My heart is me. The real me. Your heart is you.' So in other words, you matter more than anything else in all creation.
Really?
Do you matter more than the 143 million orphans around the world, starving, scared, abandoned, and alone? Do you matter more than the millions of Latin American street children who hide in alleys and old buildings to escape the 'death squads' of corrupt policemen who hunt them down for sport? Do you matter more than the millions of elementary school-aged girls kept as slave prostitutes in South America? Do you matter more than millions of starving kids who live in dumps and eat buzzard soup or dead dogs to survive?...While American Christians are preoccupied with healing their own inner wounds, being set free to be their true selves, and fighting to be noticed and appreciated for their own unique qualities, staggering numbers of people around the world are living in such misery, squalor, and pain that we cannot even imagine."



"Most of us would be horrified at the thought of ignoring a cattle car of screaming Jews as they were hauled away to their deaths. But we do it every single day when we turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to the millions of destitute and dying who urgently need our help. We do it when we spend all our living on self-indulgent pleasures instead of rescuing abandoned children. We do it when we go on luxury cruises instead of outreaches to the poor. We do it when we have movie marathons instead of prayer vigils for the oppressed. We do it every time we make our own comforts and happiness the highest priority."



"Our hearts are NOT the most important things in the world. The Down syndrome boy in Mexico City who sleeps on the street and begs for food is the most important thing in the world. The nine-year-old girl whose virginity is auctioned off to a roomful of [men] is the most important thing in the world....Scripture says that God is no respecter of persons....All of us are valuable and equal in His sight. However, there are some people who...are extra close to His heart. They are the poor, the lame, the weak, and the outcast."



"These people have a claim on your life. They have a claim on my life. They are a priority to Christ and therefore must be a priority to us. If we are so preoccupied with self that we will not show the practical, life-changing, hope-giving love of Christ to them, our faith is dead."



"God might not call every one of us to...Hong Kong...or...India....It is true that He has unique roles for each of us to play...and that each of us are called to different things. But not one of us is 'called' to live the self-indulgent, pleasure-seeking, comfort-craving life of the typical American Christian. If you think that God has called you to merely live in a nice house with a well-paying job and be part of a Bible study group, then you aren't very familiar with what His Word says....those things are not the essence of the Christian life."



"There is a sacred claim upon each of our lives that is not to be ignored. Christ makes us whole so that we can be poured out for Him. Not once a year. Not even two or three times a week. He has called us to be a living sacrifice --- to live a lifestyle of serving and sacrifice for His kingdom."



"...you cannot assume that someone else is going to take care of it. You need to act as if you are the only one who knows of the need, and that God has specially chosen you to meet it. (And if it is impossible for you to meet the need practically, it is never impossible for you to meet the need spiritually by laboring...in fervent prayer.)"

all from Set-Apart Femininity by Leslie Ludy

A change I can live with.

Something crazy is happening. This morning I actually looked in the mirror and thought to myself that I'm pretty. Not in a vain way, mind you, but in a God-thank-You-for-making-me-the-way-You-wanted-to sort of way.

I cannot recall ever having such a thought about myself. Ever.

I don't even know how to explain it. It still doesn't make total sense to me. I have on absolutely no make-up (I don't wear it anymore), I've been pretty run down with bronchitis for a week, and I had just gotten out of bed. Yet the first thing that entered my mind upon seeing my reflection was..........positive.

Guys may not understand this, but the ladies will. I may not have put quite as much effort into it as other women, but I have spent almost my entire life trying to be something I'm not. Magazine covers that you spot at Walmart morph into "goals" that you need to try to meet. Advertising assaults us with worldly standards of Good Enough and then tells us to waste our money on their never-ending products because "we're worth it." What am I worth? For as long as I can remember, I've been worth how even my skin tone looks. I've been worth $10 foundation. I've been worth mascara + eyeliner + powder + blush + bronzer + eyeshadow + concealer. I've been worth endlessly searching for a right color. I've been worth Never Quite There.

When I looked in the mirror this morning, I noticed that I actually have freckles. I honestly didn't know that I had them. You might be thinking, "How could you not know something like that?" I'll tell you how: when I didn't have a pound of stuff on my face, I would not look at myself closely. I couldn't really stand to.

All other things aside, I cannot even begin to express how good it feels to not hate my face. I never thought it was possible. The thought never even crossed my mind. I never knew it all these years, but I feel like I must have been carrying around a 200-pound sack of concrete for about 20+ years. I literally feel lighter. As sappy as it sounds, I truly could cry thinking about the difference; that is how incredibly strong this sense of freedom and gratitude is.

May I never cheapen the blood of Christ by believing that I can improve on what He has made. May I never cheapen Christ's death by believing that He has been unable to deliver the sound mind His Word says He's given me. May I never allow any thought about myself to exalt itself against the knowledge of God.

I am worth far more than what the world says I am, and so are you.

How can scary change feel so great?

Yesterday my husband and I went on a hunt for some good frozen custard. Rita's downtown was closed, but we managed to make it to Andy's. Their frozen custard was pretty tasty. :) And how blessed am I to have such a loving husband? I've been sick with bronchitis, and he didn't hesitate to drive me all over Fayetteville to find frozen custard for my sore throat. I love Gerry a lot.

Anyway, yesterday's outing was a bit of an experience for me since this was my first time wearing a head covering (kind of like this one, only mine said, "Think Green!" all over it) in public. Pair that with a long skirt, no make-up, and a modest shirt, and I felt like everyone (okay, not everyone) was staring at me. It was..........a tad uncomfortable.

I suppose I'm coming out of the closet here, for lack of a better way to know how to put it. Something within me has been crying out, insisting that there must be a whole lot more to living as a Christian than I've been led to believe. I've been doing a lot of thinking, reading, etc., about the early Church. I feel strongly pulled in this direction. Something tells me that modern Christianity has become extremely watered down. I need to try to get back to the source. I want to know how the first Christians did this thing called life.

41 Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. 42 Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins.

43 Jesus called His disciples to Him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. 44 For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

(Mark 12:41-44)

I see so much more than Jesus addressing money in this lesson. I wonder to myself how I can be more like this woman who gave everything she had. What do I have to give? A lot of people in today's churches give a whole lot of things: they get involved in beaucoups of ministries, they expand churches, they make sure they listen to new Christian music, they have Christian t-shirts (and bumper stickers, and jewelry, and décor, and books, and on and on and on). But what about the rest of their lives? Are they putting Christ first in everything? What about in their entertainment choices? (Even something as seemingly wholesome as "The Princess Bride" uses God's name in vain.) What about in every dollar they spend? How many have thought about selling that 2,000 square-foot house and downsizing..........just to give whatever is made from the sale, back? How many girls have considered giving up tight Christian t-shirts for something that isn't revealing how much they've "got"?

God, I want to give you everything, every part of me. There are countless things that are so worldy that I've set my eyes upon. Help me, Father. I want to live a life of sacrifice. I thank You for all the things You've been teaching me through Your Word and through Your disciples here on earth. I never imagined that the freedom I'm finding in obedience would feel so..........freeing! And it is such a wonderful, undeserved thing. Help me to press in and press on. I don't want to look back like Lot's wife. I want to keep my eyes only on You. Please help me to give everything I can possibly give to You....

1Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

(Colossians 3:1-3)