Authentic testimony

When we are born our parents have hopes and dreams for how our lives will turn out.  Over the years we begin to develop our own dreams.  Sometimes those dreams align with those of our parents and sometimes they don't.  Either way, we set out on a path to achieve our dreams.  No matter what those dreams are...somewhere along the way you are bound to face challenges that run the chance of shifting your perspective and quite possibly adjust the path to achieving your dreams.  So often there are experiences that change the course of our lives.  Whether it's not getting in to the school you hoped to or the career you've chosen not working out.  There are so many things that affect us.


So what happens when we are faced with a challenge we don't thing me can possibly overcome?  We survive!!!  How?  Through our relationship with God.  For some this is hard to believe.  I know it was for me.  I had to experience going through hardship and surviving that hardship in a way that was supernaturally beyond my capability and could have only been the result of God working in my life.

I recently read the book "Work Love Pray" by Diane Paddison. A lot of what she wrote about really resonated with me.  For those of you who haven't had a chance to read this book, I really recommend you check it out.  While the focus of the book is "practical wisdom for young professional christian women,"  I believe that this book is an excellent read for just about anyone.

While the book focuses primarily on what it means to be a Christian woman in the workplace, she also shares some personal aspects of her own life.  One personal aspect that I really appreciate and respect her sharing was her experience of going through a divorce.  Diane talks about how she was hesitant to share this part of her life because of the pain she still feels, the ongoing perceptions that one faces by being divorced, and because of how easy it would be to paint her ex-husband as a monster.  But she admits how he wasn't actually a monster, just that they shouldn't have gotten married in the first place.  That the plans they each had for their lives didn't align with one another.

I really appreciate how Diane summarizes her decision to share such a personal aspect of her life by saying, "Perhaps the greatest lesson I learned from my divorce is that with God's help, I can face anything and come out on the other side a better person.  You can too.  But only if you allow yourself to be exactly who you are.  To be authentic, not just when everything in your life is going as planned, but when things go horribly wrong.  And they will.   I was tempted to hide this part of my story from you, but I chose to follow the advice I've always tried to live by: just tell the truth.  Sometimes it will help you.  Sometimes it won't. But it's always the right thing to do."

Have you ever faced something challenging in your life that was difficult to share with others.  Maybe it was something you were currently experiencing.  Or perhaps it was something you experienced at some time in the past.  Either way, we all have aspects of our lives that we are tempted to hide from others.  It isn't always necessary that the first thing we share with someone is a deep personal part of our lives.  Sometimes it is good for them to get the chance to know us first.  But we need to not be afraid to share how we are who we are with others.  Diane sharing about her divorce might not directly impact many of her readers...but for those of us who have gone through that kind of an experience or know someone else who has, her encouragement and demonstration of overcoming that aspect of a time in her life is a powerful example and motivator.  

It is a challenging thing to share the personal aspects of our lives with others.  Fear that you will be looked at differently.  That you will be respected less.  It is so easy to worry that people will see the worst in us.   But is important for us to share our testimonies.  By sharing the challenges we have faced, we reduce the hold that the negative aspects of these experiences have over our lives. 

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior"   Isaiah 43:1-3

Following

Last week I started digesting what it means to follow God's will.  And I ended with the question: "So how do we know that the path we choose is God's will?"  I have come to know many people who have made major life decisions because they believed that God had instructed them with a certain direction for their life to take.  That instruction came in many different forms.  For some it was a truth revealed in scripture, for others it is the council and wisdom of others,.  There is also the very popular saying "when God closes a door He opens a window."  This also kind of ties in to the theory that if we are seeking God's will then he will open doors thereby revealing his will to you.

Standing at the doorway we must "live by faith, not by sight." (2 Cor. 5:7).  We must expect that God will guide us.  To trust that God will guide you it is essential that you are in relationship to God.  It is important to work on this whether things in life are good or bad because it takes but a moment for things to shift in our lives.  When we trust that God is leading us, we will truly benefit.

How often have you dropped by to visit a friend and the door to their home is closed?  Pretty often right.  What do we all do next?  We either ring the door bell or knock on the door right?  Then think about the occasions when some one has come to visit and you are in the middle of something.  You can't make it to the closed door, but because it is unlocked what do we typically say..."It's open, come on in!!!"

 It is important that we stop and reflect when we reach a doorway...because not all doors are opened and closed by God.  Sometimes the devil will try to derail us from following God's path.  When we knock on the door, our relationship with God enables us to hear him call to us and let us know if the door is open.

This past weekend I had the wonderful opportunity of attending the Believers in Business conference.  It was an incredible experience to share in fellowship with some amazing Christians.   It was jam packed with amazing speakers and tidbits of information that will take me a while to fully digest.

One of the speakers talked about how "The foundation of a focused and inspired vision for life is revealed as we humble and boldly walk in God's plan and pursue His opportunities to be a blessing."  It made me stop and realize that the less I told God what I wanted Him to do for me, the more likely I was to actually hear him tell me what I should do in my life.



Another speaker shared one of my favorite quotes of the weekend. "Never live beyond your means, instead live below your means so you have the luxury to make decisions when God calls you."  I really related to this!!!  Before my husband and I got married we had a discussion about whether I would quit my job and move to Connecticut to be with him.  I really wanted to be with him, but I really struggled to trust that we could manage it financially.  I had a house with a mortgage and a job that barely covered the cost of the mortgage.  I didn't have enough in savings to cover a year of mortgage and was worried that even if I found renters they might fall behind on paying their rent and how in the world would I manage to cover the expenses associated with that.  Not too mention the concern about finding a job in Connecticut.  Rationally I was convinced that I should remain in Colorado.  In this particular situation, God had other plans.  Very shortly after reaching the decision to remain in Colorado, I was laid off from the very job keeping me from being with my husband.  In this case God very much closed a door and opened a window.  Because I was close in my relationship with God I knew it was him acting and that I could trust everything to be ok.  I was upset the first evening after my layoff, but as early as the next morning I felt a wave of optimism sweep over me because I knew everything would be okay.

Yet looking back, I might have been able to see God's plan for me to be with my husband in Connecticut if I had adhered to the concept of leaving below my means.  The benefit of being in that position would have removed me from having to experience being laid off and all the emotions that go along with that experience.

I wanted to leave you with two additional valuable pieces of information as I wrap up this week's blog:

"True greatness comes in direct proportion to the passionate pursuit of a purpose beyond money."

"Yesterday has already passed, and it is not yet tomorrow, so how am I going to maximize TODAY."

God's will

When I first became a Christian and people talked about following God's will, I didn't really know what to think.  I mean...how did they really know that it was God's will and not simply their own desires convincing them that it was God's will for them to do something.  At the time I compared to reading a horoscope, going to a fortune teller, or getting a fortune cookie.  You find out that something in your life is going to happen in a certain way and then when something that comes close to what you think will happen you say that the prediction was right.  Or in some cases, in particular with fortune telling, you are presented with making a decision and because of what was told to you by the fortune teller you might choose one path over another because it aligns with the prosperity foretold to you if you make a certain type of decision.

But as I grew in my faith walk I came to realize that for me, following God's will meant learning how God desires for me to live my life.  Thinking about how his commandments for me aligned with decisions I was trying to make.  That the path I would choose would be in alignment with God's purpose for my life.  For some of the easier things in life this was simple.  Figuring out what to do on a day to day basis simply meant examining how my choices would reflect myself as a Christian to those around me.  Should I sacrifice a beautiful sunny Saturday going on a hike to help friends in need move?  Should I take some of my free time to help watch a friend in need with taking care of their children?  Should I stay home and watch TV in my pajamas or go to discipleship group?

Starting with our senior year in high school and for the next few decades after that we face some pretty major life decisions.  Which college, what major, where to go after graduation, job choices, car purchase, relationships, family, pets, lifestyle, the list goes on.  Each decision for each question shapes what the next question will be.  And when we make a decision and things don't quite turn out how we expect, we are faced with unexpected questions.  Some us will face the loss of a spouse, loss of a child, or loss of a parent.  Others might phase the loss of a job, their house, or all of their belongings.  The world tells us to examine a rational decision and move forward.

But Christianity tends to be a little different from the norm.  Sometimes we choose the job that pays less, sometimes we quit a powerful job to stay home with family, sometimes we give large sums of money to mission fund or we choose to live life not for ourselves but for others.  We sometimes choose the irrational path because it is "God's will."  The longer you are in the Christian world, the more often you can actually see God's will in the decisions people make or the decisions you make for yourself.  But how do you explain God's will to non-Christians?  Sometimes we are even asked to defend our choices to our Christian brothers and sisters.

I'm sure we've all experienced having to make some pretty major life decisions.  I've often shared with fellow Christians the events of my life and it never fails that someone will ask, "Have you sought God's will in this?"  I appreciate my friends asking this because it shows me that they care and want to make sure that I have examined the choices with the greatest of care by seeking my heavenly father's guidance and direction.  And if I haven't had a chance to seek God's will or I am still waiting for direction it gives me a chance to ask for prayer as I pursue God's will related to the matter at hand.

So how do we know that the path we choose is God's will?  Look for more on this topic next week and it anyone has any comments on this topic I would love to hear them.

Adoption

When I first moved to New Haven this spring, my husband and I tried a few churches together and because our time in New Haven would be for just about one year, we wanted to settle on a church and feel like part of a community.  We were fortunate to find a great church community a short walk from where we lived and met quite a few wonderful Christian people who opened their arms wide to accept us in.  We learned about their lives and even had dinner with one of the pastor's and his wife.  Out of the couple of churches we visited we selected our church mainly because of the people, but also because the worship music was more aligned with what I had experienced at my home church in Colorado.  The sermons were biblical based and did an excellent job of focusing on interpreting passages of scripture.

Having spent a few months attending we felt content with calling this church our community and home during our time in New Haven.  Not because it was the perfect church, but because it was good enough and we wanted a place to call home while we were living in the area.  The only problem was that neither of us felt like we DESIRED to be there each Sunday.  We left feeling like it was a good sermon and we would often have decent discussions about what had been shared, but something was missing.

When we came back from Christmas break, neither of us was very excited to go to Sunday service.  We realized that maybe it would be good to find a different church.

So a few weeks ago we tried a new church.  The first week we were there, the pastor spoke about living an "authentic" Christian life.  He defined this as "living, practicing, and spreading authentic Christian relationship in the community of other believers."

You might remember the REM song, "Loosing My Religion" which contains the lyrics:

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep a view
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no, I've said too much
I haven't said enough

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

Every whisper
Of every waking hour
I'm choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt, lost and blinded fool, fool
Oh no, I've said too much
I set it up

Consider this
Consider this, the hint of the century
Consider this, the slip
That brought me to my knees, failed
What if all these fantasies come
Flailing aground
Now I've said too much

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream
That was just a dream

All too many of us can relate to these lyrics.  We're confused about faith.  Did we do too much or too little?  What are the requirements God has for us in order to be rewarded?  We are bound in our confusion.  So many of us want a checklist to live our faith by that will guarantee happiness and satisfaction.  We are bound up by the idea that if we obey God enough He will love us.  And we distance ourselves from God when we don't obey.  Yet we are told that:  

  

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we 

might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21

It is guaranteed that we will sin, but God won't refrain from being in relationship with us because we sin, He is right there with us.  Ready for us to seek Him.  God himself built the bridge back to him by giving us Christ.  The thing to take away from this is that God loves me regardless of whether I obey his commandments or not.  When we grasp this concept, then obedience will spring out of a transformed life.  

 

     "For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received 

     does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought

     about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children." Romans 8: 14-16

I can definitely understand the concept of adoption.  When I was 2 days old, my parents adopted me.  They took me in to their home and claimed me as theirs.  They choose me.  I became their child and they became my mother and my father.  Even though I am not biologically theirs, they are my "real" parents because they adopted me.  But the thing that is so amazing is that my parents loved me before I could offer them anything thing more than a dirty diaper.  I couldn't tell them that I loved them, I couldn't show them that I loved them.  And they loved me anyways.  And later on when I would do something or say something that was hurtful, they still loved me in spite of that.  It is much like this that God loves us.