Through this sermon, my pastor told a very interesting story.  The story was about baking cake mix.  A company originally set out this cake mix where the people just had to add water. They didn’t have to add anything else.  They just needed to add water and then bake it. It was going to be so easy and time-efficient.  Companies thought for sure this would sell like hot cakes.  They thought this would be perfect for the people who are busy, but yet those who want to bake.  

However, it bombed.  It most likely bombed because people did actually want to feel they put some work into the cake.  Hence why we now have cake mixes where a person needs to add egg, oil, and water.  We essentially baked the whole batter, in a way.  (Not really, but we like to think we did).  This is obviously a very popular item still to this day.  I don’t bake a lot of cakes, but I will bake brownies from time to time, and these brownie mixes are very similar to the cake mixes.  Usually I buy the ones that include eggs, oil, and water.  These are the most popular and they are because the bakers get to be involved, but yet they aren’t working overly hard and having to buy too many different ingredients.  

This is how we like to act with God.  We like to believe we need to do some of the work in order to be a real Christian.  We as Christians add to our lists of things we need to do in order to follow God.  This could be anywhere from needing to memorize 10 verses from the Bible or pray every night before bed and supper, read at least one chapter out of the Bible a day, or volunteer in church for so many events.  We can start to add so many things to our plate, that while healthy for spiritual growth, are not the actions that are going to save us in the long run.  It is not the actions in general that are going to save us.  

Then sometimes we can start to be too prideful of our actions.  We can start to compare ourselves to others, and how well they follow the word, or how much they volunteer, or how much they pray.  We can start to feel better about ourselves if we do more than others, and then we start to feel like a failure or can be filled with shame if we feel as though someone is doing more or is a better person than we are.  It can be hard to keep comparing and competing with others and with ourselves.  

Ephesians 2:8-9 explains this perfectly, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is a gift of God-not by works, so no one can boast.”  The salvation and the righteousness we have been given is through God.  We haven’t done anything to earn our spot in heaven.  We haven’t done anything to gain our way to heaven for eternity.  We have the ability with God’s grace to complete good works for Christ, but this is not because of our own ability.  

My challenge for you this week is to pray the prayer with me written below.   You don’t have to pray the same words I am saying.  There are different words or thoughts you may have in your heart you want to offer up as words to God.  Then the second challenge is for you to enjoy some baked goods using cake or box mixes.  They are fun and easy to make, and it is a great way to share some love with coworkers, friends, family members, or neighbors.  

Dear Lord,

Thank you so much for your great love of us.  Thank you for the gift of salvation you have bestowed upon each and every one of us.  Thank you for allowing us to be your children and for welcoming us into heaven for eternity.  Thank you for the Holy Spirit and the ability to easily work for your good through the Holy Spirit.  

Please help me to not focus so much on my good works.  I know I can have a tendency to focus on what I need to do and get done in a day, and sometimes I can have a belief that these works or this time with you is what will get me into heaven, when in reality, I need to focus on the faith and the salvation you are bestowing upon me.  Please help me to not feel as though I am only saved through my service or through my worship or through my good works, but help me to put complete faith in you. 

In Jesus’ name,

Amen

I was recently continuing to work through my Bible Study devotional book about Revival and this week’s topic was over repentance.  There were many questions about how we feel over sin.  What do we think about sin?  How do we view sin?  One question was about whether we are fearful or regretful over sin?  And if we are fearful or regretful over sin, are we just concerned about the consequences of our sin, or are we sad and upset because we hurt God?  Or are we more focused on ourselves and how the sin will impact us?

This really struck me.  I think if I am going to be completely honest, it is a little bit of both.  I do hate hurting God.  I do hate when I am not acting the new way of Christ, and I am not being the person God has renewed in me.  However, I am also very focused on not getting any consequences or not having consequences.  I am fearful of how I will be punished. I am fearful if I will see the consequences of my actions in the near future.  

In many ways, this reminds me of teaching.  I remember being frustrated when a student of mine was only concerned about the punishment they will receive for doing something wrong, as opposed to actually caring about doing something wrong.  Granted, I understood that they were still developing and learning, but I would still get a bit hurt if they didn’t care about hurting me or hurting someone else, they were just more concerned about their punishment.  In many ways, I am sure God feels just the same way.  He is probably just waiting for us to care more about him and to care more about hurting him. 

I think this is where we as Christians need to realize the reason God hates sin.  He hates sin because this sin separates us from Him.  Isaiah 59:2 says, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”  This is not great.  The Lord created us so we could have a relationship with him.   This is why he created people.  He had decided he wanted man, and then after he made man, he said this is good. 

So when we sinned, God needed to create a solution.  This is why He sent his son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins, so we could be forgiven and have a way to get our relationship with God back.  When we accept Jesus into our heart, it is like a bridge has been created to lead us to God and to heaven for eternity.  So he does all of these acts of love, and then we keep sinning.  It is going to happen, we are people after all.  We are fallen, imperfect creatures.  However, to not put much of God’s thought into after all He has done is insensitive to say the least.  

Have you ever done a lot for an individual and then they don’t respond the way you expected or would have desired?  Maybe they didn’t love the gift you spent a lot of time and energy to get for them.  Maybe they didn’t notice the cleaning you helped them with while you were staying at their house.  Maybe they didn’t care about the times you go and support them in all of their activities.  Point is, have you ever felt slighted by a situation?  It can be hard for anyone.  Usually, we as people can have a conversation with this person and share with them our feelings.  A good friend or person in your life will care that they hurting you.  They will not care about the time you are taking out of their day to have this conversation and about whether this will impact their relationship in the future.  Wouldn’t that be more harmful? Wouldn’t you as a person care more about being cared about and being appreciated, being apologized to?  It would be a lot better than being pushed to the side as a dealer of consequences.   

My challenge for you this week is to first think about whether you view sins with consequences or you view sin as a hurt to God.  Do you care about whether or not you hurt God or disappoint him? Do you believe in sin as a harm or do you just fear the consequences or the punishment that could potentially harm you?  If it is about consequences, then maybe this is something you have to be reflective or willing to change over.  

Then the second challenge for you this week is to spend some time with God and spending time in appreciation over all that God has done for you and what he has forgiven you from.  This could be time spent through reflection such as journaling, extended prayer or through spending time with Jesus.  It is important to remember to think of God and you as a relationship and not just as someone who is trying to get in good standing.  He really does want a relationship with you, even when sins do happen. 

Have you ever spent time investing in others?  Or have you done a lot better in something because of other’s investment in you?  I know personally that many others have invested in me such as my mom and dad and many other family members investing in my overall well-being, both physically and mentally.  There were some bosses I had, especially at the Bridge of Storm Lake who invested their time and energy to make me a better leader and worker especially in the nonprofit space.  I also have had many teachers who have invested time in supporting me and helping me get better in my school work and learning abilities as well as my overall love for school.   

I also have been blessed in my life because I have been given positions such as a teacher, coach, and a leader in a nonprofit.  Through these jobs I have been able to invest in both kids who are growing up and college students to help them be a better leader.  My favorite moments in my life are when I have been able to invest in people or students and to help them be the best versions of themselves.  

I was doing my Bible Study over Galatians with my Discipler (mentor).  There were many questions we had to reflect on over the first 5 verses of the entire book.  One question was, “How does the knowledge that both God and Father and Jesus the Son are invested in your salvation impact your daily life?”  This is a good reminder that both God and Jesus are very much invested in us.  He doesn’t just think of us as a number, but rather he does invest in our relationship with him. 

Besides this Bible Study time with my Discipler from church, I also have been doing my own Bible study over personal revivals to Christ. The idea of revival is to go back to Christ in the times we have been falling away from him or choosing to forgo sin we have picked over our relationship with Christ.  This means we need to be aware of the sins we sometimes fall into.  This could be a habit we started that is really taking us away from Christ or this could be a thought pattern we need to get out of.  This could even be a relationship we have and how we are treating the other person.  This devotional gives real life stories and examples of revival.  These stories all show ways God has been investing in a person.  It is more than just a person becoming a Christian and becoming one with the body of Christ, God also wants to know each and every one of us intimately and to build a better relationship with us.  

There are many Bible verses with the emphasis on investing.  God cares very much about a person’s heart and their life.  One such example is in 1 Peter 3:6 which says, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”  This shows how God cares about us not perishing.  He instead chooses to be patient with us, even when we are always running away from God, and we are trying to seek validation through the things in the world.   He wants us to come to the light and to be redeemed through Christ.  Jesus is always trying to stand up for us and defend us in front of God.  

This is a good reminder for anyone who is in Christ.  This question reminds us as people we are only saved through Christ and through his grace he gave us.  The Lord has led the steps to be where we are right now.  He has led us in the direction of where we should work or where we volunteer or where we go on a regular basis.  He led the people we have in our lives to us. This is because God directed our feet and gave us a life situation of which brought revival and change.  

This also should serve as a reminder about us being good investors.  The Lord very often uses people to invest and to show the Lord to other people.  God very much wants to use us to invest in the lives of someone else.  God will put us in different situations in order to preach to others.  

My challenge for you is to first reflect on the main ways God has invested in you.  What experiences have you had that have brought you closer to God?  Who are the people who have been put in your life who have inspired you and invested in you to bring you to God?  It is good to remember the ways God has invested in you, so you can always be more grateful for every step we have taken. 

Then my second challenge for the week is to think of one way you can invest in someone.  What is something you can do to help others in their walk with Christ?  Can you share more of your story?  Can you spend time praying over missionaries and their walk of life?  Can you invite a friend to a Bible group or read the Bible together?  There can be many different ways we can invest in someone else.  I pray in this next week you feel invested and are able to invest in other people.  

I started doing a Bible Study Devotional in the mornings called, “Seeking Him,” by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth and Tim Grissom.  It has been a very good yet simple Devotional that reminds us the ways we need to seek Jesus.  The second week was about humility and how important it is for our relationship with Christ.  Pride is considered by many Christian scholars to be the worst sin.  This is because pride is a sin that often leads to other sins because when we are prideful, we are more willing to do the things that make us happy, even if they are also sinful.  When a person is prideful, they depend more on themselves as opposed to looking to Christ.  

One of the studies gave us a list of prideful traits and then the other side shares humility traits.  The person doing the devotional was supposed to be led by the Spirit to mark the items of what qualities we have that are prideful and then qualities we have that are humble.  This was very wide-awakening for me.  I was looking through the prideful comments and they are important to highlight. One of the qualities considered to be very prideful is being self-protective of time, rights, and reputation.  I believe there are good pieces in some of this. However, these traits also do highlight areas where we as people or as believers are not dependent on God.  

I do believe it is important in part to be self-protective of our time.  We need to make sure we are setting aside time to do our Bible study.  We need to set aside time to worship God in the way we most commonly do.  Then there is being self-protective of our time of going to church.  We also need to, of course, make sure we are protective of the time we need to be at work, or any other dedications we have made, whether we are a parent or a volunteer for an organization.  However, sometimes we can be too protective of our time. We can start to be very cautious of doing anything we don’t want to, even if this could be something very important for the community or the people around us, even if it is to show care to those around us and shine the light on Christ. 

I personally struggle with this one a lot.  I really am protective of my time.  I have to be better about using my time wisely and for the glory of God.  I need to be better about praying to Christ about how I am using my time.  I want to make sure I am taking care of my well-being, and I want to make sure I am doing the volunteering and helping with the church and ministries I am supposed to.  

Then the second one is to be self-protective of our rights. There are many rights we as people, and especially speaking for myself, as American believe we must have.  Some of these are very good such as the right to have education and to speak our opinions as well as to protest if we so desire.  We also have the right to make our own money and to have our own job and career we so choose for the most part, granted we can make it work financially.  We have also the very big right to be a Christian and to believe however we choose.  This means a lot to us, having these rights and making our own decisions.  

It is important to remember God promised his followers we would have trouble and we would be persecuted.  Some of this persecution may include losing some of our rights.  Many Christian followers have been put to jail in other countries simply because of their love of Jesus and their refusal to follow any other religion or god or to leave their faith in Jesus.  This is to many people a loss of rights, but these followers have stayed humble and know they are doing what they need to do for Christ.  

Lastly, the third one is to be self-protective of our reputation.  Reputation is something very important for a lot of us.  I know I personally really care about my reputation.  I want people to know me for certain qualities such as being a hard and good worker, being kind, one who typically follows all the rules, is a strong Christian, etc.  To some extent, I do believe it is important to care about our reputation because we need to make sure we are showcasing Christ to all people.  For example, we need to make sure we are showcasing kindness and goodness and the love of the Lord.  However, I often believe we as people can become far too obsessed with what we look like to others in the sense that we want to be loved by all people.  Sometimes we may want our reputation to showcase more of our greatness as opposed to being a light to Christ.

I do believe we need to be aware of our time, our rights, and our reputation.  However, I believe more strongly that we need to let God handle these three areas.  He should be the one in control of these situations.  He should be the one in control of how others see us and how ourselves is taken into account.  One verse to keep in reminder and the one I am going to end on is 1 John 2:16 which says, “For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life-is not from the Father but is from the world.”

I have started going through the book of Galatians with my Discipler Stacey.  I love the epistles.  I love getting to hear what is going on in the beginning of the churches and the Christian ministry.  I also believe these books provide great wisdom for any Christian to follow.  Something I didn’t know was the book of Galatians was one of the first or possibly the first of the letters Paul wrote.  

Paul was a little bit disappointed and worried for the church of Galatia.  He loved them, of course, but he was also concerned they were starting to listen to other leaders around them.  These are not leaders who were going to help them grow closer to God, but rather these were leaders that were taking them away from the truth of the Gospel.  Through his letter, he tried to reason with the church leaders and members to focus on the good and glory of the Gospel and not try to add to it. 

Within the first chapter of Galatians in verses 6 and 7, Paul says this, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel–which is really no gospel at all.  Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”  Paul saw there were people who were trying to add and change the Gospel to make it sound better to them, and he wanted to warn the church to avoid those people and their teachings. 

We also as people can attempt to add or to change the Gospel.  Throughout history, there have been many churches and church leaders who have added certain rules to the Gospel to make a Christian stronger in their personal beliefs.  Many times each church will create their own sort of laws and rules that soon will be seen as Gospel.  For example, some churches follow Lent which is a season of giving up or sacrificing something before Easter.  Along with this, many Christians will choose not to eat meat on Fridays before Easter.  Are either of these a problem?  Absolutely not! I do believe they have some benefits in their own right.  However, it is important to know that whether or not a person chooses to participate in Lent will not be what gets them into heaven.  

This even started when Jesus was in ministry.  The church leaders would often berate anyone who was caught doing anything on the sabbath.  Jesus was ridiculed because he had decided to heal a man on the day of the Sabbath.  The Pharisees were outraged, and yet at the same time, pleased because they thought they finally caught him doing something he wasn’t supposed to.  They thought they caught him being not as great and glorious as his followers believed him to be. Jesus showed us through this, that it is not about the law itself but rather the intention of following the law and the Father that makes the difference.  

Are the original rules bad?  No, For example, Jesus believed the Sabbath should be honored.  However, he also knew it couldn’t be held in such high regard that we are not willing to do anything to show love or help to others even when it lands on a sabbath day.  It is good to be aware of taking rest and spending extra time with the Lord on the sabbath, but we don’t have to be so legalistic about it to where it becomes hindering.  

Another problem many Christians run into is feeling the need to say yes to every single option and experience. We may feel called to give every donation and to volunteer at every church event.  While we are called to volunteer and to give, we also need to be aware of where we put our money and our time.  We need to have boundaries and we need to have discernment, and we need to be willing to talk to God about all these opportunities.  There may be an opportunity God is not calling us to, and therefore we need to be willing and ready to decline an offer.  

I have been taught the only way to receive salvation is through Jesus Christ, but sometimes I think God will only love me if I pray for so long or if I spend so long doing my devotionals or if I volunteer so many hours in a week. I feel as though I have to follow every single rule or law in order to be a Christian.  While each of those things such as praying, reading of the Bible, singing worship songs, etc. are beneficial to our overall growth, it is important to know these items are not what save us. 

As Paul will often go out of his way to remind the Ephesians, God made the law, so we could have a blueprint but at the same time we need to be aware the only reason we have the ability to go to heaven is because of Jesus Christ.  We don’t have to try to focus on our abilities and what we have the power to control as opposed to the ways the Lord has saved us from falling into more sin and from the evil temptations of the world.   This is only through God, and through his son sacrificing himself for us.  This is the greatest gift that has ever been given to the world.  

My challenge for you is to revisit the Gospel.   There are many versions of the Gospels in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John to choose from.  There are also many sermons and books surrounding the Gospel that a person can also study.   Please remember through your revisiting of the Gospel to praise and worship God, not for validation of an action completed, but because of his wholehearted sacrifice he gave for you. 

I was recently watching the movie, “The Radium Girls.”  I had never seen the movie before, but I had seen a musical play version my students performed while I was a teacher.  After watching the movie, I watched some clips about the real history of the Radium Girls.  This is not the happiest story in America’s history, but I do believe this story can be a great metaphor for our Christian walk.  

For those who don’t know about this part of history, it is about girls from the 1920s who worked in a factory where one of the main elements in the factory was radium.  Radium was an element and ingredient used in many different things in the beginning of the 1900s.  Some people believed this was a miracle cure for certain illnesses like cancer.  During this time, the girls were making watches that would glow in the dark.  This would be used by soldiers during wars.  

Girls were mostly chosen for this project because they had dainty hands, and they would be better at designing the watches.  These girls were instructed to actually lick the paint brushes in order to make better designs as well as to be faster.  They often would get paid by the watches completed.  The only problem was this radium was actually very toxic and the girls would be covered inside and out in the stuff.  They were ingesting it when they were licking the paint brushes, but their outsides would also glow for hours.  They would walk home, and their clothes and skin would be glowing.  They would start to also use it cosmetically on their faces or their fingernails.  It was at the time, very trendy, to have their bodies and clothes glow in the dark.  

This radium would end up causing the deaths of many women.  The factory tried to hide this fact for years.  This would not be a pleasant death either.  They would suffer much pain.  Sometimes the whole jaw of the girls would be removed because the radium would first impact the women’s jaws as they were putting the paint in their mouths.  I’m sorry this was not a great visual, but I also want you to understand just how much this substance really impacted these girls, and how much it really did rot them from the inside out.  The substance the girls really enjoyed because it made them glow was slowly destroying their bones and killing them. 

The scariest thing was many of the girls initially would never really know or understand what was happening to them when they started to feel illnesses and started to lose teeth.  The company, trying to cover it up, would often have the company doctors tell these girls they had syphilis, which was considered a very shameful STD to suffer from at the time. Eventually, there would be word out about what radium can do to your body and the girls started to be more cautious with radium while working near it.   Sadly, it would take a huge court case for businesses where these young girls were working to be more aware of these deaths and make changes to stop it. 

This reminded me how sometimes we in life can become distracted by items in life that can glow.  I feel as though I have brought this topic up a lot, but I know how important it is to be avoidant of the shiny things in this world.  One of the most toxic and biggest distractions, I have recently struggled with, is money.  I have recently been very focused on creating financial security.  I don’t mean to say it is a bad thing to want to be wise about our money, but it is important to not be so obsessed with gaining a lot of money, so I can have just the many clothes and trips I want to go on.  I want to make sure I am wise with my money so I can use it for God’s glory.  

The topic of making sure to avoid the items of the world is a very common topic in and amongst the Bible.  One excerpt is Matthew 16:25-26, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” This is a good reminder that if we during our time of living on earth are more focused on the items of the world and are more consumed with the love of this world, then we will lose all in the end.  

My challenge for you this week is to spend time praying about finding any toxic items in one’s life.  Remember, this could be even something small, but it could be a much larger piece of your life.  For example, it could be a slight toxic obsession to food, to being overly concerned about your finances, to a relationship with someone who is bringing you farther and farther away from the Lord.  Whatever it is, I do hope the Lord makes it very clear to you before it rots you out from the inside.  

I recently started reading a book called, “Women Who Risk,” by Tom and Joann Doyle.  This book is all about women who are Christians serving God in Muslim countries.  The first chapter was about a woman who overcame her demons and demon attacks, when she became a Christian serving the Lord.  Her mother did not initially take this news well at all.  This became so bad she even punched her daughter in the face.  She was not willing to accept her new religion, and she was hostile to her day by day. 

However, she never stopped praying for her mother.  She made sure to only say kind things to her mother, even after her mother cursed her on a regular basis.  She would tell her mother she still loved her, right before she would go to bed every night.  This woman would also spend time praying for her mother to find God and to become a Christian every night while hiding out in her room.  

Eventually, her prayers would be answered and her mother would become a Christian.   I am not going to get too much into the details because I really think all of you should read this book on your own.  However, I can say both of these women becoming Christian has brought them closer together, and they are both filled with more joy, even in a place where they may not be accepted and they may have hostility surrounding them because of their new faith.  

This is a good reminder for me to regularly pray for those who are not Christians.  I was very inspired by this story.  I was especially inspired because she was willing to care about someone who was very hostile to her.  I have a tendency to avoid those in my life who are not great to me.  I don’t necessarily spend a lot of time praying over them, and I don’t always think about what their relationship is with Christ.  This is a good reminder for me to not wish harm to my enemies or even not my favorite people but rather for them to find peace and to find God’s love.  

The Lord cares about people.  He constantly highlights how we should spread love, forgive others, and care about their needs as well as their relationship with God.  This is why the Bible highlights many of those who spread God’s knowledge.  There are also highlights of prayer for others.  Job, even with all of his trials and tribulations in the Bible, spent time praying for his friends and his loved ones, especially when they were not caring about their relationship with God.  There is also a command in the Bible in 1 Timothy to spend time praying over others. 

“I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people–for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior,  who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.”

God wants all people to find God and to find a good relationship with him, so he wants those who are already with him to be praying for them to find God and to also spread his knowledge and his truth.  

I could definitely be better about praying for those in my life who are not Christian.  Sometimes I often forget I have the power of prayer in my wheelhouse.  I forget I can pray for others to find Christ.  I often want them to find God, but I don’t spend time lifting up their lives to the King of all eternity.  

My challenge for you this week is to spend a few days praying over someone who is not a Christian and who you feel God has laid on your heart.  This could even be someone who is not always the most loving to you.  It can be a good reminder that one of our best weapons we have is our relationship with Christ and the power we can give back to the world is our Holy Spirit and the ability to pray.  

Here is a prompt of a prayer you could pray over your loved ones.  

Dear Lord, thank you for your great love and joy you have provided me with since finding you.  Thank you for guiding me in your spirit and for providing me with peace.  Thank you for the love you and the relationship you have given me.  

Please help  (insert name)  find your great name and the great love and forgiveness that you want to offer every single person.  Please help him/her to find this love you have for them.  I know the world can be hard, and yet you offer up the great opportunity for light and peace.  Please guide them in your spirit, and provide more people along the way to help guide them. 

In Jesus’ name, 

Amen. 

Recently, I have been doing some research on famous Christian women in history.  One of the biggest women who inspires me is Hannah More.  Hannah More inspires me for a few reasons, and I believe she and I have very similar interests for being years and generations apart. Hannah cared a lot about education, writing and literature, and working towards equality for all peoples.  

Hannah More loved education.  She loved books and writing in a time where women were not exactly expected to love education. In many of her writings, one will find much discussion about the importance of women and the poor being educated.  She used her love of education for the benefits of her Chrisitan walk through being a big component of starting the Sunday school program as it is today.  She opened so many schools for the poor throughout the country to both assist in giving the children a place to go for a while, but also to teach them about the love of the Lord.  Not every single one of these schools prospered, but many of them did, and it was a good start to the Sunday school program that eventually moved to the United States and beyond.  

Mary Anne Phemister highlights Hannah’s joy over the improvements she sees in the students and the overall community once a new Sunday school had been started. “Hannah wrote to Wilberforce (a very known politician and slave abolitionist) that thirty pupils said their catechism correctly and forty could sing three psalms.  The children learned about cleanliness, decency, and honesty.  She reported that even the most rowdy hard-boiled youngsters came week after week to learn to read. Little by little, the word spread, and as soon as the sisters could find suitable teachers, they opened schools to neighboring localities.”  (Mary Anne Phemister, Hannah More, The Artist as Reformer, page 64) 

Besides her love of education, she also used her love of words to make great strides in both her Christian walk and improving of the world around her.  Hannah wrote many different articles and books centered on her moral and christian beliefs.  She wrote this both with articles about how to best live, and through her fiction novels and writings where her characters had great moral standing and were doing their best to live under Christian principles.

Hannah More did a lot of great things in her life.  However one of the ways she is best known is through her spreading of knowledge about the harm done with keeping slavery around.  She was very much against slavery and often wrote and petitioned against it.  This was the main reason I knew about her, and the part I love the most.  I work really hard to stand up against the injustices happening in the world through my fundraisers and informing others I have against Human Trafficking.  

This is all very much an encouragement to me.  I am a huge lover of education and writing.  I love getting the chance to write what I am learning from either Bible Study/Devotional, church services, or from my everyday life.  This has been a great way for me to learn more and more from writing out my thoughts.  I also am hopeful that I have given others the chance to really grow from my writing. 

I also have a love of education and a love of learning.  I was a teacher for four years where I taught high school Spanish.  Now, I work at a non-profit where I teach K-12 students financial literacy lessons.  I have loved both of those jobs.  I love making lessons for the students.  I love when I can think of a fun activity or make a nice powerpoint presentation.  But, of course, my favorite part is when the students learn something new and they really understand a new concept.  Besides teaching in a school or a job setting, I also have spent a lot of time volunteering in Sunday schools.  I loved Sunday school when I was a kid, and I dreamed I would be a Sunday school teacher one day.  I am glad I have finally been given an opportunity to teach young souls about Jesus and His love for Him.  

There are few important takeaways I want those reading to get.  The first one is to realize the importance of words and education.  Even if you are not necessarily a person who is in love with education, I think it can be very important to still realize the power education can have on the community around us.  It can help us understand the importance of educating everyone from the lower classes to the higher classes.  I also will say it is important to remember to use words wisely.  They can have a lot of power on many different people. 

The second main takeaway is to find someone to inspire you.  Those role models will not be perfect, as no one but Jesus is.  However, it can be very helpful to have other people to inspire us to help us make wise choices and to help us grow more and more of how we want to be.  Then always remember you can be someone else’s role model.  Always spend time learning from others and learning and be willing to be the teacher to someone else.  Listen to the great words from Titus 2:7-8, “In everything set them an example by doing what is good.  In your teaching, show integrity, seriousness and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us.” 

Currently at my career at the Job Foundation, there was an opportunity for me to also volunteer and become a mentor to a sixth grade girl.  The Job Foundation in Cedar Falls has a certified mentoring program, so many volunteers are paired with the kids in our programs.   I am so excited I have been able to be a part of a mentoring opportunity since moving back to the Cedar Falls area.  I had always wanted a chance to mentor and show guidance one on one with a younger student, and now I get to, and it is a part of the job I work at day to day.  

This has been a really great time.  There have been a lot of great moments including teaching her how to ice skate, which we are still in the process of learning, uncovering and solving the pieces of the escape room at the library, and sharing meals and ice cream together.  I have learned that my mentee is wonderful at solving clues when it comes to escape rooms, and she has amazing creativity that she showed in the paintings we created and through going to a fused glass class.  

The best highlight has been to see her open up more and more with me.  She was always a bit more on the quiet end, especially when first getting to know her, but after spending more and more time with her as both the education coordinator and teaching the lessons at the Job Foundation to also being her mentor, I have had great conversations and great opportunities to get to know her better and better.  I do hope I will have more opportunities as the years go by.  

I do want to share through this blog post about the great importance of mentoring.  I know not everyone has the opportunity to mentor or be a part of a mentoring program, but I do believe everyone has the opportunity to mentor someone in their lives.  If a person reading this works as a teacher or somewhere in the school, then you already know about the little souls, maybe one or two in particular that you are always trying to mentor and bless.  If a person reading this works as a hairdresser, they may be able to give great sound advice to those who are coming into their beauty shop every day.

Most other jobs provide an opportunity to mentor, even if it doesn’t seem so obvious.  Every person has known a new coworker to arrive at their place of work, who maybe seems a bit lost, especially initially.  A person who is willing to mentor is willing to look out for them and help them and give them advice.  But even when a person doesn’t feel as though their job provides much opportunity to mentor, then there is always the opportunity to do this through volunteering in some capacity.  In every community or in every church, there is a chance to volunteer.  There is always a need to help and to bless and to mentor many others.  

The Lord cares about mentoring.  This is shown throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, we see Elijah inspire and encourage Elisha who would end up to be a prophet very similar to Elijah.  Then in the New Testament, we see Paul being a mentor to Timothy,  Paul led Timothy through how to be a good steward and minister of the word and how to be a disciple through speaking the word to others.  Besides those examples, we are also given commands such as in 1 Peter 5:2-3 says, “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them…not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”  The flock here is referring to the people God has put in our care.  Anyone God has put in your life could be a part of your flock and maybe someone you can mentor to.  

I have been so blessed with this opportunity to mentor, but I have had other opportunities in my past, and most of the time, they were ones that dropped in my lap.  A couple of times I have been asked to mentor some of the girls in my Bible study who want to learn more about God and have asked me advice questions.  Through these questions and time together, I have gotten the chance to lead them closer to Christ.  

My challenge for you this week is to first pray for a willingness to be a mentor and then second, to pray for God to provide you someone to mentor.  It is all about putting this into God’s hands.  God has a person who needs mentoring in your life, and he will provide an opportunity for you to be that mentor if you are willing and looking.  It may not be the next day, but it will come when you are most ready.  Then my next challenge for you is to be willing to accept this mentoring when it comes to you.  

Another quick point: If you are a person who is reading this who also happens to be in the Cedar Valley, and you want to mentor a child who is a part of the Job Foundation, there is information on our website.  We would love to have more willing and loving mentors for our students! 

In these last few years, there has been more reflection on habits and their importance in our daily lives.  Scientists have done research on how habits become easier and easier in our lives the more we practice them.  Even something you didn’t originally like doing, can become easier after a long time of practice.  Routines take time.  There has often been said that it can take from 21 days to 30 days to start to establish a habit, but it can really start to be more about two months before these habits can become second nature.  However, these habits after time can really be so done that they are in the part of our brain that doesn’t even think twice about doing them.  Our physical bodies just start getting ready to do the habit.  

A few months ago I read the book, “The Screwtape Letters,” by C.S Lewis.  It is a bit more of a complicated book than I was originally expecting.  It is a good challenge and it is getting me to think in different ways about the Christian walk than I ever have before.   One statement that really stood out to me from this book is, “ active habits are strengthened by repetition but passive ones are weakened.”  This quote really shows that it is only through making a habit or an action a priority, it becomes strengthened and easier to do, while when we fail to practice it regularly, it falls to very weak actions.  

Reflecting on this, it is important I don’t fall too far into legalism.  Legalism is focused more on the actions of Christianity, without the love and without the real desire of knowing Christ.  It is caring more about the Christian acts and the Christian religion as a religious sense, besides caring as much about the relationship with Christ.  I do believe habits can become monotonous and  we can lose the reason why we are doing it.  But on the positive side, it gives us the stability in our daily walk and our daily lives that can be for our overall benefit.  When something becomes so much a part of one’s life, then it becomes almost second nature.  It won’t be difficult to make the time to do a particular habit because it has become so much a part of your routine.  

Hebrews 5: 14 says the following, “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”  It takes practice to know good from evil.  This is through spending time in prayer and through spending time with God in his Word.  It is through taking time.  While sometimes we may not want to wake up early or be away from our phones or other distractions for an amount of time, it is the overall thing that can help us grow closer to God. 

I have really started recently to focus on healthy habits I try really hard to do daily in order to grow closer to Christ.  Some of these habits are doing a daily devotional, practicing memory verses, exercise, making my bed, reading, writing, and completing a daily joy or gratitude journal.  Some of these habits are more focused on my daily life such as exercise, but many of them have to do with my overall walk with God.   Some of them, such as writing, are because I really love to write and even when there are days when the words are not flowing, I try to get in the practice to get better and better. My hope being my words can be a glory to God in some way.  

My challenge for you this week is to think of some habits that you want to start to include in your own life.  These could be habits that bring a person closer to God by even spending more time reading the Bible or spending time in prayer.  This could be a habit that brings you out into your community, or this could be a habit that helps you live a healthier lifestyle.  I personally want to be better at eating more fruits as well as overall healthier food.  Remember that starting a habit takes time.  It is not going to be something that happens in a week, but with some time and effort, there can be a new habit for you to prosper in your life.