More on Hearing God's Voice & a Winner

Thank you so much for sharing your heart with me the past few days as a result of my devotion on hearing God's voice.  

It seems many of us long to have specific direction from God about our plans.  I wonder if this isn't increasingly due to the number of choices we have these days.  I can stand in front of the deodorant display for 15 minutes!   I am often on information overload, and an tired of making decisions.

I think there's also a common fear that we will make a mistake and follow our own sinful inclinations.  That's possible.   A sweet friend (thanks Sharon S.) gave me a devotion book that I've started reading.  It's called "Experiencing God Day by Day" and it's by Henry and Richard Blackaby. 

Yesterday the devotion spoke directly to my heart about this.  Specifically about a difficult relationship in my life; one I can't walk away from.  Nor do I want to.  It's my daughter Ruth, who was born in Africa and sadly deals with many challenging issues that often overwhelm me, to the point of despair.  So I find myself frequently and desperately seeking God's direction on how to respond and what to do next to help her grow into a godly woman.  Sadly, my responses are not always a good role model for her.

The devotion yesterday was based on Psalm 24:3-4a:  "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?  Or who may stand in His holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart."

I was convicted right down to my toes.  God challenged me to examine the deepest reaches of my heart and confess sin regarding my thoughts, words and actions.  I was undone.  Even though God spoke to me gently, it was still tough.  Here's the takeaway for me:

If I want to walk in intimacy with the Lord and hear His voice, I need to be sure that I'm not harboring any unconfessed sin. 

Even though the promise of walking closer with God is amazing, it's still hard to dig in deep and pull out those thoughts I'd rather pretend weren't there. 

So that's what God spoke to me this morning.  It's not easy. It's uncomfortable.  It's embarrassing at times.  But it's a journey.  And I'm choosing to focus my eyes ahead and keep on walking.

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Now, on to the winner of Lysa's book. 

There were so many deserving comments that I decided to generate a random number (http://www.random.org/), and it was 60.  So the 60th post is the winner, which is Robyn. 

Min: 1
Max: 151
Result:  60
Powered by RANDOM.ORG

However, as I double checked the comments to make sure I counted right, I realized that somehow Robyn's comments posted twice.  I'm sure that was a bloggy glitch.  But, I decided to give a book to the 60th person as well as the 60th post.  And that winner is Joyce Ashley.  

If both winners will contact me personally (editor@proverbs31.org), I'll get your addresses and get your books mailed out.

Thanks so much for for joining me on this journey. It's an honor to be your sister and friend.

In His Love,

Glynnis

The antidote to complaining: perspective

Today I've got a devotion running on Proverbs 31 and Crosswalk on Controlling a Complaining Spirit.  If you have found your way to my blog from there, I'd like to welcome you to my little corner of the Internet. 

Life is tough.  It really is.  I've met a lot people in the past two years who've got real troubles.  They've lost jobs, homes, marriages or health.  I know people who have lost loved ones.  The list could go on.

If anyone has a right to complain, it's someone who has suffered. Right?

What if that isn't right? What if there was a way to deal with life's troubles without complaining?  Have you ever met someone who had every right to complain ... but didn't. 

Those people seem to have a secret.  How can they deal with the pain of life and yet not complain?  Even more than not complaining, they have hope.  Yes they experience sadness, grief and pain.  But they don't lose hope.

Year ago my pastor said something that stuck with me.  He said when you have lost something, focus on what you have left.  Not on what you have lost.  I wonder if that's the secret some people have. 

Here's what that means to me.  When I lose something, especially if it was something I love, I grieve. Different losses mean different levels of grief.  But grieving is healthy.  Acknowledging what I've lost is healthy.  Telling God how I really feel is healthy.  Not faking it is healthy.

Then after a time of healthy grief, I get perspective and thank God for what I have left.  It doesn't diminish what I've lost to do this.  It's a way to move forward.  This isn't easy, don't get me wrong.  But if I make a choice to thank God for what I have just a little more today than I did yesterday, I'm making progress. 

As I've read Scripture, I've discovered that God can handle my honesty.  He can handle my pain.  He can even handle my unhappiness with Him.   But He doesn't like when I complain to others.  Maybe it's because complaining doesn't move us forward.  It keeps us in a place of pain.

These are just some thoughts of mine today on complaining.  What are your thoughts?  Let's start a conversation about how you handle complaining.

In His Love,
Glynnis

I Gossiped

Yesterday I gossiped.

It's been eating me up since. I repeated something that didn't need to be repeated. It was critical and it wasn't necessary.

It was something that the person I was speaking to didn't need to know, and sadly, probably colored her attitude towards the person I spoke about.

And, truth be told, it probably colored her attitude about me.

What frustrates me most is I don't know exactly why I did it. We were speaking about a certain topic and I shared something I knew along the topic ... about someone else. It broke every rule I've ever set for myself, and every value I hold for myself.

Yet it showed me there's this little place inside me that still longs to be "in the know." So, I traded compassion and grace (values I treasure), for a moment of satisfaction. It wasn't worth it.

I've been confessing this since the words came out of my mouth. And fighting the feeling that I slimed myself. I should be so far beyond that sin ... but there it was.

It also showed me that as a sinner, I have the potential to sin every day. Which isn't a surprise.
What I should have done was be more self-aware of my potential to sin in that situation.

Maybe if I had prayed that morning about my words ... my thoughts ... my actions ...

Maybe if I had asked God to place a guard over my mouth ...

Maybe if I had prayed more for the person I gossiped about ...

It just struck me that today is Maundy Thursday. The day of the last supper our Lord and Savior had with His disciples. The day before Good Friday.

That night he got down on his knees and washed His disciples feet. He told them to become a servant to all.

Then He broke bread and poured wine and told them to remember His sacrifice.

He knew He was going to die the next day ... for them ... for their sins ... and for me.

And my sin.

So, there it is. His good, and my bad.

I am so thankful today that I don't have to wallow in that slime of my sin. That God has forgiven me, loves me and yet challenges me to go and sin no more.

In His Love,

Glynnis

Becoming a Woman of Dignity

Today I've got a devotion running on Proverbs 31 and Crosswalk about becoming a woman of dignity. I'd like to wish you a warm welcome if you are visiting my blog for the first time.

Seems there's often a battle going on within me about the woman I want to be and the woman I actually am.

You see, I have this vision of the woman I would like to be all the time. I'm her some of the time. But then "something" happens. Like, say, someone leaving something somewhere it's not supposed to be ... again. When that happens, like it often does in my house, the woman I want to be high-tails it for safer ground, and an undignified, blow-things-out-of-proportion woman shows up.

Where does that woman come from, I ask you.

I've realized she comes from some unidentified place down within me. That place where she's still a little girl stamping her foot and demanding her own way. She comes from that place where she has to have the last word, and be right all the time, and make sure everyone knows the "correct" way to do things, which is ... obviously ... her way.

And in that place down inside me, that undignified woman holds tightly to her own will, for fear that she'll be unappreciated, overlooked, disregarded, and irrelevant. And she's afraid, but it's hard to identify it as fear for the frustration and annoyance that covers it up.

It seems to be easier to lose my cool at times, than deal with the real issue: I like to be in control. And in reality, there are things I just can't control, as much as I would like to.

It comes down to a choice. One I have to make daily. I need to choose to submit my desire to be right and need for control to God.

Submitting those desires to God doesn't mean I care less about what's going on. It just means I'm choosing to trust God to watch out for me. He will be my defender when I feel taken advantage of. He will give me my worth when I feel unappreciated. He reminds me of my potential when I feel irrelevant. I don't have to grasp for those things by lowering my dignity and giving in to emotion.

So what are some way I keep my cool when things get tough? Well, when I do things right, here's what helps:

1) I prepare myself in advance through prayer. God's Word has amazing power to bring clarity to a situation.

2) I decide in advance how I'm going to respond to common triggers. For example, when a child whines that she is bored. Instead of giving her a lecture, I am ready with some suggestions on what she could do. That's much nicer than the, "When I was a little girl ..." speech.

3) I don't take things personally. I make a choice to believe the best about another. The truth is it's not all about me. It just feels like it sometimes. People don't always care about what I care about, and their priorities are the same as mine. But they aren't against me. I need to remember that God made people different for a reason.

4) I keep things in perspective. In July 2004, my niece was killed in a car accident. We miss her daily. As frustrated as I might get with someone I love, at least he or she is alive. That thought brings me to a place of persective faster than anything else.

5) I keep my mouth shut. Proverbs 18:7 says, "A fool's mouth is his undoing, and his lips are a snare to his soul." Yep, sometimes it's best not to say anything.

Proverbs 31: 25 says, “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.”

I may not be there all the time, but with God's help, I pray I'm becoming more a woman of dignity every day.

In His Love,

Glynnis