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Nov. 10th, 2002
The Rest of the Day
Nov. 10th, 2002 11:42 pm(No pun intended...I didn't get any rest!)
All right, I said that after church I went to a Bible study. I've mentioned (perhaps in a friends-only entry) a friend of mine who does several Bible studies a month with the younger girls she knows, and the particular group I'm in (12-14 year olds...no, I'm not their age, I'm only 6 or 8 years older) meets the second Sunday of each month. Today, she shared on Colossians 3:15a, about how the peace of God should GOVERN our hearts. In other words, when we have worries or concerns (a lack of peace), it may be appropriate to stop and consider whether we are obeying the Lord. Somehow, as she was talking, I started thinking about all my worries and concerns. I mentioned some of them in my previous post--the whole youth group, fun, etc. issue, in addition to other things. I tend to be focused on PROBLEMS (and, necessarily, solutions). But wait a minute! God is sovereign, God will work all things together for the GOOD of those who love Him and keep His commands. He's got the circumstances under control. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. If I find myself burdened by concerns for people, it should turn my to prayer, instead of to worry. Oh, let me rephrase that (to make it clearer). If I feel like the burden's still on my shoulders after I pray, then I'm NOT LETTING GOD'S PEACE GOVERN MY HEART!!!
Come to think of it, I need to let her know how that encouraged me.;-)(Maybe I should just send her here...) See, last night (early in the morning, actually, shortly before I went to sleep), I was thinking about how often I end my day by evaluating how I've done that day, and I often feel like a failure, and have a strong feeling of condemnation. I've struggled with this for a LONG TIME, and I know it's not right for me to feel this way. Of course, when you're "there" is when it's hardest to discern the lies that are keeping you from genuine freedom. I prayed, though, that the Lord would show me exactly what was the problem. Of course, I still need to grow...and I'm far from perfect, but I need to CAST ALL MY CARES UPON HIM, even my need for growth and maturity. I also need to evaluate my actions and come to a clear sense of what is right and wrong, so that I will not experience condemnation in what I do. [Funny, I was reading a dieting book recently, and that was the thing that stuck out to me.]
All in all, if I am letting God's peace (His rest and quietness) govern my thoughts and feelings, I think it will go a long way towards relieving this other problem.
When I got to church, instead of finishing a letter to a friend (I'm not sure what to say to her since she is an old friend and I haven't heard from her for a long time), I picked up a book by Beverly LaHaye. I think it's something like "The Spirit-Filled Woman." If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. I've only read half, and plan to finish it next week (at church). We get to church an hour before I have to play the piano for the kids. Anyway, BL addressed ALMOST EVERYTHING I've been thinking about lately, and from a very balanced perspective. The books was copyrighted in 1976, so it's kind of old (in other words, she doesn't get into the radically conservative trends we have today; she gets her ideas solely from Scripture), which I appreciate. She talks about the four types of personalities, and the weaknesses of each one (I fit ALL of those) as well as the strengths. She talks mainly about the worldview (though I don't think she says that) of the Christian woman, addressing just about every pertinent subject one can imagine.
AWANA was good; council time was not remarkable, although I enjoyed it as much as usual.:-) In church the pastor spoke on the role of pastors, telling us that Scripture says very little about it. The guiding principle for organization in church, he believes Scripture teaches, is that it should be to meet needs. But as far as pastors are concerned, so little is said about them that we would be in danger of imbalance if we should try to outline any ideas of what role they fill. We left the service about midway, to finish up the supper that we were making (with another family) to serve after church tonight. The supper was great!
Unfortunately, I am coming down with a cold, and several other family members already have it. Some of them did not go to church today. Oh, well. I hope it goes away soon, but it's not too bad.:-)
God bless you all!
All right, I said that after church I went to a Bible study. I've mentioned (perhaps in a friends-only entry) a friend of mine who does several Bible studies a month with the younger girls she knows, and the particular group I'm in (12-14 year olds...no, I'm not their age, I'm only 6 or 8 years older) meets the second Sunday of each month. Today, she shared on Colossians 3:15a, about how the peace of God should GOVERN our hearts. In other words, when we have worries or concerns (a lack of peace), it may be appropriate to stop and consider whether we are obeying the Lord. Somehow, as she was talking, I started thinking about all my worries and concerns. I mentioned some of them in my previous post--the whole youth group, fun, etc. issue, in addition to other things. I tend to be focused on PROBLEMS (and, necessarily, solutions). But wait a minute! God is sovereign, God will work all things together for the GOOD of those who love Him and keep His commands. He's got the circumstances under control. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. If I find myself burdened by concerns for people, it should turn my to prayer, instead of to worry. Oh, let me rephrase that (to make it clearer). If I feel like the burden's still on my shoulders after I pray, then I'm NOT LETTING GOD'S PEACE GOVERN MY HEART!!!
Come to think of it, I need to let her know how that encouraged me.;-)(Maybe I should just send her here...) See, last night (early in the morning, actually, shortly before I went to sleep), I was thinking about how often I end my day by evaluating how I've done that day, and I often feel like a failure, and have a strong feeling of condemnation. I've struggled with this for a LONG TIME, and I know it's not right for me to feel this way. Of course, when you're "there" is when it's hardest to discern the lies that are keeping you from genuine freedom. I prayed, though, that the Lord would show me exactly what was the problem. Of course, I still need to grow...and I'm far from perfect, but I need to CAST ALL MY CARES UPON HIM, even my need for growth and maturity. I also need to evaluate my actions and come to a clear sense of what is right and wrong, so that I will not experience condemnation in what I do. [Funny, I was reading a dieting book recently, and that was the thing that stuck out to me.]
All in all, if I am letting God's peace (His rest and quietness) govern my thoughts and feelings, I think it will go a long way towards relieving this other problem.
When I got to church, instead of finishing a letter to a friend (I'm not sure what to say to her since she is an old friend and I haven't heard from her for a long time), I picked up a book by Beverly LaHaye. I think it's something like "The Spirit-Filled Woman." If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. I've only read half, and plan to finish it next week (at church). We get to church an hour before I have to play the piano for the kids. Anyway, BL addressed ALMOST EVERYTHING I've been thinking about lately, and from a very balanced perspective. The books was copyrighted in 1976, so it's kind of old (in other words, she doesn't get into the radically conservative trends we have today; she gets her ideas solely from Scripture), which I appreciate. She talks about the four types of personalities, and the weaknesses of each one (I fit ALL of those) as well as the strengths. She talks mainly about the worldview (though I don't think she says that) of the Christian woman, addressing just about every pertinent subject one can imagine.
AWANA was good; council time was not remarkable, although I enjoyed it as much as usual.:-) In church the pastor spoke on the role of pastors, telling us that Scripture says very little about it. The guiding principle for organization in church, he believes Scripture teaches, is that it should be to meet needs. But as far as pastors are concerned, so little is said about them that we would be in danger of imbalance if we should try to outline any ideas of what role they fill. We left the service about midway, to finish up the supper that we were making (with another family) to serve after church tonight. The supper was great!
Unfortunately, I am coming down with a cold, and several other family members already have it. Some of them did not go to church today. Oh, well. I hope it goes away soon, but it's not too bad.:-)
God bless you all!