Lies !! That's Why !!!

   " Feeling like I'm not good enough, will my friends stay, am I good enough at being a wife ...a mother, I don't measure up to the ladies in my life group, I have a passion for speaking to women but do I have my own act together, why do I have issues maintaining a healthy weight,I love to sing but I have to work hard at it so do I deserve to be doing it ? I love my job ,but am I compassionate enough to be doing it ?"


              A friend challenged me the other day . she told me to list all my fears , but after just the few that I wrote above I was extremely overwhelmed. Am I afraid of rejection? well obviously ! Ha! but why? I have an amazing family , a home ,wonderful friends, an amazing job and so much more. So why do I constantly live in fear of rejection? Lies that's why ! satan doesn't want to see us prosper and grow in Christ. He don't want to see us sharing God's love and leading people to God . He is an expert at getting us to believe this crap that he feels our heads with. What aggravates me is how easily he succeeds.
              God wants us to live in Freedom with Him. Look at what Galations 5:1 tells us :
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. "(Galatians 5:1)

            Scripture is very clear that God does not want us to be a slave to satan's lies. God places people in our lives and He gives us His word through scripture to remind us constantly of His love. I truly believe with all my heart that God uses a friend's words as a tool. especially when they speak truth into your life. God's truth !! But what I have learned is that without staying in God's word, we allow satan to convince us that what we are hearing may not be true. He causes us to doubt ourselves and our ability and therefore the fear of rejection starts to set in . What scares me the most about that is if I sit back and allow fear to take over than I am allowing it to hinder my growth , my friendships,and  even worse, am I going to allow it to affect my relationship with Jesus???


          Here's the kicker ! when I allow  satan to stump my growth with his lies that I'm not good enough to live out the dreams that God has entrusted to me that He gave me a passion for ,its like I'm telling God that I don't trust Him and the plans he has for me. But God clearly says in His word that He has my back. He already knows the path He needs me to follow before I do. He gives me all the markers I will ever need to stay on track and  In being obedient ,in staying in His word  and by realizing that satan's lies are just that ....LIES. How can I possibly let lies like fears of rejection take over my mind? How could I possibly not feel wanted,needed,loved? The creator of the universe predestined my life before I was even born !! When I focus on that truth satan's lies don't have a chance !!!
Here's what Jeremiah 29:11 says .......
"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

     

          

Learning to be me: "That tea is too sweet"

Learning to be me: "That tea is too sweet":               On my days off I enjoy taking my daughter's to school. It's always an adventure of some sort and today was certainly n...

"That tea is too sweet"

              On my days off I enjoy taking my daughter's to school. It's always an adventure of some sort and today was certainly not any different. The girls love for me to stop by Mcdonalds and get a large tea that they can carry to school with them and then we stopped so that Ash could run into the convenient store and get gum. Haley and I were having a conversation when suddenly I turned and knocked the full large sweet tea that Ash had set on the middle console without my knowledge and it turned upside down right in the middle of my pocketbook . The whole sweet tea !!! Haley said mom get the stuff out quick, but I only thought that tea is too sweet , surely everything is sticky and stuck together so there was no use trying to clean in out in the car. I wanted so badly to be mad at Ash. She put that tea there dangit! She could've told me , but  because  I only had one morning off this week. I couldn't bear the thought of turning my few minutes with them into a fight about stupid sweet tea. So I just closed my eyes for a moment and prayed for God to help me control my tongue and the incident was not mentioned again.

          After arriving home and carrying my drenched purse into the house. I got a towel and dumped the contents of my sticky sweet purse onto it. It didn't take very long at all for me to realize that most of the contents just needed to be tossed away. That tea was too sweet ! Trying to clean and dry everything would just be too much trouble and that's when it hit me. How often do we feel that way about situations in our lives? I mean think about going into a restaurant and ordering tea, sometimes it is so sweet it makes your teeth ache just to take a drink of it, most of us would either push it out of our way or trade it for something that we can be assured will have to taste better than the tea with way too much sugar. Isn't that how we view things sometimes? How many friendships have failed because the situation was just to sticky to try and clean up. It was easier to toss it away. How many marriages end because" the tea was too sweet  " and trading it for something else just seemed to make more sense at the time? How many times have what should have been a fun family outing turned into a heated debate or flat out ruined day because of a silly sticky argument probably about nothing, but we toss what was meant to be a wonderful memory out the door because we let anger and hurt and pride come together in such a sticky mess that we don't think the situation can be reversed. I could've ruined a 15 minute car ride and probably mine and the girl's entire day, but because of God's grace and His love for me I was able to control that anger. I have to admit it wasn't easy but boy was it worth it to see the relief in Ashley's face when she realized I wasn't mad.

          We tend to just give up on things so easily. We think that it is easier to give up on people rather than try and fix the situation or problem. I have wondered sometimes what would happen if we always talked to God about our situation before we made a choice how to handle it. I know that God has the perfect recipe for making the tea less sweet without having to toss the whole glass out. I think sometimes if we 're more slow to anger and we put more thought before we allow our tongue to possibly ruin the taste of something that matters.

 Proverbs 14:29 ~"Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding,
but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly."


 James 1:19~ "Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry."

Duck Feet

           When I was a little girl, probably around 6 or 7 I used to spend a lot of time with my aunt Toonie. She didn’t have any kids of her own so she loved having her nieces over anytime. Sometimes she would come get us in the summer and keep us for what seemed like days. She had this huge yard so we spent a lot of time helping her water her plants or picking weeds or just running and playing. One of my most vivid memories of my time with her was around Easter time and we had been decorating her yard and after we were up on the porch rinsing our feet before we went inside and I began to point and laugh at my Aunt Toonie's feet. Soon all my cousin's joined in and we were pointing laughing and calling her duck feet. We even made up a song about her duck feet. For the rest of the day we would sing "duck feet duck feet Toonie has big ole duck feet quack quack quack." Toonie laughed with us about it and even chased us down and tickled us. She never got angry or demanded us to stop .

               This morning as I stepped out of the bath and looked down as I was drying my feet I started to hear a familiar song in my head in my own child like voice singing "duck feet duck feet Heidi has duck feet quack quack quack." Instantly, I was hurt! I have over the years developed the wide Hamrick feet with stubby toes known as Duck Feet. I wanted to burst into tears and then I wanted to slap myself for even thinking that stupid little song that I made up over 25 years ago.

             My first thought was to call my Aunt Toonie and apologize to her for making fun of her , but then I realized it was 5:30 in the morning and she would probably kill me Ha! but I felt so bad for that full day of what must have been torture for her. She never showed anger, she never told us to stop, she just took it and took it and took it for an entire day. I just thought why in the world did she let us treat her that way. She was so good to us and she loved us so much. Wow she loved us so much so she never stopped the mocking , the humiliation that she must've felt . And then it hit me!

JESUS LOVES US SO MUCH THAT HE DIDN'T STOP IT EITHER!

 Matt 27:27 Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. 28 They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, 29 and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said. 30 They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. 31 After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.

Jesus suffered so much physical pain. The crown of thorns, the nails driven into his hands and feet, being hung on a wooden cross, the beatings. But in addition, the amount of emotional pain must've been unbearable too. I mean sometimes we get hurt an offended when someone looks at us funny or says something that we deem inappropriate but WOW Jesus was constantly being mocked spit at made fun of stared at by crowds and crowds of people all the while enduring the most unimaginable torture ever. and he never said stop! He never showed anger! I know I have asked why more than one time. But the answer is really simple. LOVE ! HE TRULY LOVED US !

        We use the term love so loosely in this generation, but real true love is the love of Jesus. The love God has for his children. And what has taken me over 25 years to understand myself is that when we hurt someone's feeling on purpose because Jesus loves us so much is that we are hurting Him too. So today be intentional with your words. God's greatest command was LOVE . Love God and Love People!! How often do we take that command so lightly. 

 Have a very Happy Easter!!!

Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35 NIV)

John 15:131”Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

Jeremiah 31:3” The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness”

1 John 4:16”And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.”

                 I woke up this morning with a scene from one of my favorite movies in my head that I couldn't get rid of. It was from the movie " Princess Diaries " when Anne Hathaway stood up to make her speech at the ball her "queen" grandmother had thrown in her honor. I dont know every line but the part that stands out the most is where she realizes how many times she uses the word "I" to make decisions for her life. Not only for big decisions like accepting the title of "Princess of Genova", but for everyday decisions. She realized that sometimes things were bigger than "Me" they weren't always about her. Sometimes you have to remove the word "I" even when it means that you'll be making huge sacrifices in your own life for the sake of others.

                 After I had that moment of thinking "oh how cool, wonder what made me think of that movie?" The question entered my mind ."How many stupid times a day do I use the word "I"?

Wow ! ok that silenced me for a moment . And that my friends is not an easy thing to do!I let my toes heel for a moment from the God Sized foot that had just stomped on them and I started reading my bible. Ok I dont know about you, but sometimes when I get disiplined from God and I know it , I kind of stumble about trying to think of just the right thing to read or pray asking Him for forgiveness of whatever sin I am being convicted of . But this morning I had to just stop and put into perspective what I had just experienced. This was so much more than a " little white lie" I told or "gossip" that I may have talked. I realized that  on a daily basis I have been asking God what can "I" do for you today that wont be to hard for me to do ,or I don't know God if "I" can handle that task today God. "I'm" really tired, or "I" didn't really have the money to give to more than one person in need , or "I' will do this God if "I" get recognized doing it.
Even as Christ followers I don't think at times we realized that when it comes to fully giving ourselves to God there is no room for the word "I".
              "I" actually had so much more that "I" wanted to write today but you see it is so much not about me. My church will open its doors this morning for a service at 10:30. A place of worship focused on one thing. Bring in lost people because "THEY" matter to GOD !
There is no "I" in either of those words. Whatever purpose or plan that God has for me does not revolve around "I". Sometimes we can get a little over confident even serving and forget why or who we are doing it for. It's ok we are human and God is our Father and He loves us so much that He will lovingly disipline us and He will forgive us and in the process teach us so that we can pass it on to others . "Others" who may not realize these things until they are shared. "They" may not realize just how much they are loved and how easily God forgives. Thats what "we" are for . To share "our" experiences with them to show them that "they" are not alone. and there are no "I's" in those words are there? I hope you all have an amazing Sunday and if you wake up and you wonder what in the world your gonna do today? You could come hang out with us at Revolution Church at the central YMCA on West Franklin in Gastonia . Service starts at 10:30 in the gym and our  "Revolution Kids" start at the same time!!! I  would love to see you there !!!! Have an awesome day!!!!!

Lots of Love,
Heidi

Matthew 22:34-40

The Most Important Commandment

³⁴ But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees with his reply, they met together to question him again. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in religious law, tried to trap him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” ³⁷ Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’^{[a] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[b] 40} The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”