Through my re-reading of the Bible, I am currently reading the book of Proverbs.  I love the book of Proverbs.  I love how simple the pieces of wisdom Proverbs gives readers.  I gain more and more knowledge and wisdom from every read of this book.  A verse that stood out to me recently was Proverbs 12:1, “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.”  This verse stuck out to me for a few reasons, and I will admit that this verse is very direct.  The using of the word stupid is harsh, but it does give a very good warning that taking correction is very important. 

I am a teacher, which is something that I mention often.  As a teacher, I have definitely had many moments with students who accept criticism and correction well.  Then I have had many examples and experiences of students who do not take correction well.  I always appreciate when my students listen to criticism and then make corrections. I appreciate their humility in knowing I am doing my best to teach them to be the best people and the best students they can possibly be.  

This is always good for me to sit back and to reflect on whether or not I am good at taking corrections.  I would love to say that I can listen to the best intentions of others and therefore listen to any constructive criticism or thoughts they would like to give me.  However, I know I often want to get defensive when I first hear something I should fix.  I don’t necessarily get angry or upset, but I am also not jumping up and down in order to fix those corrections either.  Sometimes after I spend a minute or two in thought, I can realize that the constructive and helpful criticism I am being offered was not made maliciously or even unkindly, but that it will actually help me benefit a lot in my life.  Then I seek to make the necessary changes.  Either that, or I will just completely ignore the advice and act as though it really doesn’t apply to me.  

As we continue to grow closer and closer to God, we are going to be blessed with more and more blessings which is his overall goodness and glory.  The more that we get to know about him, the more we should want to know.  In the New Testament of the Bible there is a metaphor that is used with this concept as being able to adapt to mature food, as opposed to baby food.  Hebrews 5: 13-14 says, “Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”  

The Lord offers great ways for us to take helpful and constructive criticism through living out his word.  He provides wonderful pieces of wisdom for his people.  There are, of course, the proverbs that are filled with knowledge, but then there are also examples of many people or Christian leaders and how they lived their lives.  The big thing is that we need to be willing to read his words.  There can be times when we can feel overwhelmed and too busy to even spend a bit of time in God’s word. It can help making the time as opposed to finding a time. I have found the best way for me to do this is to set aside a bit of time every morning.  For others, it may be listening to it audibly on the way to work.  Or, you may need to read it right before you go to bed with your family.  Whatever gets you in the word is good.  

Another valuable thing to do, and I bring this up often, is to create around yourself a good group of Christian believers who want to be there to support and help you grow closer to God.  It is highly important to not surround yourself with yes people.  These are people who are going to tell you that you are always doing amazing.  Yes, we need to have people around who are going to encourage us, and uplift us when we are feeling distraught.  But we also need those around us who are going to be willing to, kindly and lovingly, tell us the things that we need to work on.   These people want to see us thrive.  They don’t want us to be stuck in the places that are stunting our growth. 

One challenge for you this week is to be aware of corrections and criticisms from those who love you.  How do you respond?  Is your response going to help you grow or is it going to stunt your growth? There are going to be pieces of advice from others that are planning to be hurtful, but from those who really love you and want you to grow, I hope that you can hear their thoughts and their encouragement.   

I have started to look at a devotional book from the Daily Grace company about the different hymns that have been created and written to give praise to our great Savior, Jesus Christ.  The hymns, like many of the texts and the psalms, found in the Bible are speaking from the heart and are praise to our great Lord.  They are written by man, but they are written with the guidance and support from the Holy Spirit.  Because of this, there is a lot that can be learned, as well as provide us with guidance to our own praise.  

The very first hymn that I was given to look at was, “Oh what a Friend, we have in Jesus,” by Joseph M. Scriven. Some of the song lyrics are, “Oh, what a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear.  What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer.”  One of my favorite things about friends is that I can go to them whenever I am upset or whenever I am hurt.  I love that they will be a listening ear and will give me advice for the different situations and different problems that arise in my life.  However, friends are people, and they will not be perfect.  There are going to be times when our friends will not be available or will not be able to help.  Even the absolute best friends are not able to fix everything or to be present at all times.  God, though, is completely perfect, so he will always be willing and available to listen or help us.  It is such a complete blessing that we can go to the Lord in prayer for everything. 

I will not lie when I say I have had some struggles in the past with friendships. I have had moments of being hurt by my friends, and I have felt defeated. However, then I read this hymn, and I can remember that while I love my friends, they are not where I should put my whole identity or where I should find complete comfort. In fact, I read this devotional on the very day I woke up to find myself hurt that others were hanging out without me. I felt a bit crushed and embarrassed. Then I read this devotional in the absolute perfect time. The Lord wanted me to remember that morning, that while having friends on this side of heaven is wonderful, they are not the main priority. He is. The best way to have good friendships is to focus on him first, and then people second, including our neighbors and friends.

Throughout looking at this hymn, we also looked at some verses that match well with the meaning of this hymn. One such verse was Psalm 25: 14 which says, “The Lord confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.” What I love about this verse is it shows God has a desire to have a relationship with us, his people. We are his creation, and he created us for his own enjoyment and his own joy. This shows that he doesn’t just want our friendship because he knows it will be for our benefit, but he wants us to come to him, so he can tell us about himself and so he can share his goodness.

The Bible actually has a lot of thought and a lot of verses with the focus of good friendship, discipleship, and fellowship.  The Lord wants his people to have other friends who are focused on growing in the overall friendship and love with Jesus.  Yes, God wants us to travel throughout the world, preaching God’s good news and being his missionaries, but he also wants to make sure that we have a solid friend basis to help us grow and become closer to God.  Again, this can only be done through God first.  We need to make sure we are seeking him first, and then we will be blessed with Godly friendships that will help us grow closer and closer to him.  

The Lord, through his example, also challenges us to be good friends.  Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”  God wants us to be his light to everyone, including our friends.  Our friends are going to go through tough times, and we are called to be the ones that are there for them.  We are called to be a guiding light for them to see their truest friend, Jesus.  It is important that in all ways, we are good friends-kind, loving, sacrificing, humble- and that we are leading them to the maker of the universe and their own personal saviors.  We are called to be as good of friends that we, as man, can be, but then through God they can receive so much more.  

Like in all things, God has blessed us with friendships. These are supposed to be used for our own good and to give him glory.  However, like in all things, we can start to focus more on the blessings rather than the giver of those blessings.  It is important to remember to focus on God being our number one best friend and learning multiple different lessons from his example of how to be a good friend.  I hope that this week you can find at least one person you want to be an extra good friend to.  I am going to end our time with a short prayer to our best friend.  I hope you all can feel these same thoughts in your heart. 

Dear Lord, 

Thank you for being my friend.  Thank you for being there for me in my highest highs and my lowest lows.  I love that you want to be my friend, a sinner and a piece of this earth.  You want to share your covenant and promises with me because you see me as a friend, and I wholeheartedly praise and thank you.  

Thank you for my friendships on earth. Thank you that I have many people to talk to and receive help/guidance from. I pray you will help me remember to not become too obsessed with what is happening with my friends but rather to focus on you. Please help me to not become overly concerned about the thoughts of my friends, but rather focus on your thoughts. I pray I can be a Godly example of a friend to all those around me.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen

There are a lot of lessons that can be learned from the people of the Bible, especially the women in the Bible.  The Bible is filled with complex characters.  If you really want to learn how to write a character in a novel, turn to the Bible.  There is no shying away from the character’s flaws and good pieces of their character.  I was recently reading the book, “The Women of the Bible Speak,” by Shannon Bream.  I am reading this book with another woman, so we have the opportunity to discuss the lessons we have learned.  This week we read about Rachel and Leah, and Shannon has definitely given me great perspectives when it comes to this relationship with Leah and Rachel.  

Rachel and Leah did not have the best sister relationship.  There was a lot of hurt and jealousy between the two, at least when we encountered them in the Bible.  Rachel was considered the beautiful and popular one who could get any guy she wanted.  Leah was not described that way. She is described with weak eyes.  When Jacob arrives, he falls in love with Rachel, and he wants to marry her, no matter the price.  He even offers to work for her soon to be father in law for seven years in order to win her hand.  Then he ends up being tricked and marries Leah.  He still wants Rachel, so he makes a deal where he can have both of them as wives for another seven years of hard labor.  

When we read the beginning part, we can easily want to say that Rachel is the winner in this battle.  She is the apple of Jacob’s eye, and the one that he wanted to marry the most.  However, then Leah was able to become a mother, while Rachel struggled to conceive a child. Rachel was so hurt by this.  It is a classic story of “the grass is greener on the other side.”  Rachel was the one loved by her husband, but she was not able to conceive, while Leah was able to conceive but was the unwanted wife of her husband.  Rachel was so desperate to have a baby.  She whines to her husband and even starts to bargain her way to conceiving with God and with her husband.  The very first marital strife that we read about in the Bible had to do with an argument between Rachel and Jacob because she was not able to conceive.  

We can learn a lot from how the women name their babies in the Bible.  Leah put great thoughts into the names of her children.  Her first son was named Reuben which in Hebrew means, “Behold, a son,”  it was such a blessing that she had a son and that she was able to give this to her husband.  Her second son was named Simeon which meant that the Lord saw she was unloved, and the third son was Levi, and it was named for a hope that her husband would finally become attached to her.   All of these had a relation to her certain situation which was that she felt incredibly unloved and unwanted by her husband.  She knew her sister was the favorite, and she was the other wife that he became committed to.  Her fourth son, Judah was named in relation to praise to God.  She believed that now that she had provided her husband with three sons that she would have an attachment from him.  That doesn’t exactly happen, but she still found a way to give praise to God, regardless of the feelings of her husband.  

This can remind me that we are not always going to get the things that we ask for.  We are taught that God can answer our questions in one of three ways.  The three ways can be yes, no, or wait.  There is an option for no.  There are times that God will choose to say no.  He definitely knows best.  He knows that there are reasons we should not achieve or have a certain item.  He knows that it can either be harmful or filled with problems if we receive the certain things that we want, so there are moments, for our benefit and growth, he chooses to say no.  We may not always understand the reasons, but we can know they are there.  Leah may not have known all the reasons she was not chosen to be the favorite of the wives, but God did.  

It can be easy to want to bargain like Rachel.  It can be easy to want to blame everyone else for our problems or not receiving our desires.  However, sometimes there should just be an acceptance that life can be tricky and we don’t always get what we want.  Sometimes, we just need to lay aside our personal desires and speak praises to the Lord for the beautiful blessings he has given us.  The story gets better in regard to Leah.  Her son, the one that was named Judah that means praise is the son in direct lineage to Christ.  Even though Leah struggled amidst her marriage and her insecurity by her husband, she was blessed with having the Messiah, the Savior of the world be in her lineage and in her family legacy.  That is incredibly special.  This goes to show that not only does God pick those who are not necessarily the most popular or the biggest named to truly be used for His story, but it also shows that God has a plan that will work out for those who love Him and seek to give Him praise. 

The Bible often speaks of giving praise to the Lord.  It is a major theme throughout the book.  This is through the highs and the lows of the stories in the Bible. I want to end this blog with one more highlight verse from the book of Isaiah about praising God.  Isaiah 42:8 says, “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.” The Lord is the one who should be praised, not the other items in this world such as awards, titles, or human relationships.  Those can all be lovely, and they can be gifts from the Lord above, but they should not receive praise over the Lord, the giver of all things.   My challenge for you this week is to give God one prayer of praise amidst struggles.  Even when you are in the midst of anger, frustration, or even pain, lift up a prayer up to the Lord.  

My life has certainly revolved around running these last few weeks.  I trained hard and completed my half marathon recently, and I have been in a heavy competition season with my cross country team.  We had the conference meet and recently districts.  I am a very happy and proud coach to say that the girls team made it to state.  We also had a boy individually qualify.  I am so excited to get the chance to cheer for them this upcoming Friday.  I am very pleased that the girls team’s dream of making it to state came true.  At the beginning of the season, if you would have told me that the whole girls team was going to make it to state, I don’t think any of us would have believed you.  No one knew the capability of the girls, until they started competing and winning against big schools, little schools, and improving their times consistently each meet.  

However, pressure started to come halfway through the season for the girls.  They didn’t want to think about the potential of having a bad race because then that would hurt our chances of winning or where we were ranked in the state. On the drives over, they started to look more and more at other team’s ranks and times, comparing it to their own.  As a coach, on the one hand, you love their drive and their competitiveness.  They were checking out their competition and were getting ready to seize their race.  On the other hand, though, you were noticing that they were starting to feel the pressure of doing well.  They had a growing concern they would let everyone down if they did not live up to their desired expectation or potential.  

This was incredibly noticeable before the district meet race.  This was it.  This was the race to decide whether or not an individual, or hopefully, a team could make it to state.  This was the race for all the marbles.  All of the other accolades and medals were wonderful, but this was the desired prize.  This was the moment they would find out if one of their dreams was going to come true, and the girls were nervous.  (So was I!) I wanted this for them so badly, and I was nervous there was going to be another team that was going to seize the opportunity away from them with their own skill and competitive nature.  I wanted their dream to come true, and I wanted them to have the opportunity to run at the state meet.  I knew this would be a highlight from their high school career, one they would share with people in their futures.  

However, in the end, I needed them to run their own race. The only way they were going to make it to the state meet was if they did their personal best, not focused on what other teams around them were doing.  I talked to them and I reminded them to run like it was that first meet of the season, when they didn’t have any pressure or didn’t know what they were completely capable of.  They just went out and ran and did their best, and then all of a sudden they were rewarded.  Think back to the time where they didn’t know they were ranked or had many eyes looking at them.  Think back to the time when it was just them and a cross country course, a finish line, and a personal best for that particular race.  

I think we can often in life get the same way.  We can start out on our course, but then all of a sudden, we are looking beside us and are seeing someone else out ahead.  We try to console ourselves by trying to find others who are farther behind, but it just doesn’t feel the same as it did when we focused solely on where we are in life and where we are in our personal race. We can start comparing ourselves, until suddenly we are not as happy with ourselves or with our lives as we were before.  

Galatians 6:4 describes how we should run our own race and live our own life, “Each one should test their own actions. Then they can take pride in themselves alone, without comparing themselves to someone else.” Everyone in the world has a different path from one another.  There will be some who will be called to work in a big business, making huge decisions, and there will be some who will be called to work on a mission field in a country far, far away, and everything in between.  While it is fine to be inspired by others and their stories, it is important that one doesn’t start desiring they had one another’s life and comparing the life stories.  This will not help to make one’s life better. 

I know Friday will come, and it will be a hard race.  There will be a lot of fast girls in the race.  My hope for my team is they enjoy the experience, and they do their absolute best.  I pray they will run their own race, not be wishing for someone else who seemingly is running it better.  My challenge for you all this week is to spend time in thought and possibly even journaling about where your race and your life is taking you.  Spend time thinking about your personal journey that God is blessing you with, not where God is taking others.  Then I challenge you to pray to God with praise and a thankful heart for the journey he is taking you on that is completely your own. 

I work with the cross country team at my school, and this has been an exciting season.  We are having a lot of success.  I love cross country, even when we are not having the most successful season.  However, it has been really good because we are a very small school, and we often do not have full teams.  We didn’t have a full girls team last year, but we have competed with a full girl’s team consistently this year.  It has been exciting for the girls’ team, having a great and impactful season.  I think they are encouraged by their abilities and their potential. I don’t know if they completely understood what they were capable of, at the beginning of the year as they are now.  

Something I do really love about the girl’s cross country team that I get to help coach is how humble they are.  They are really hungry about being competitive.  They are desiring to have a good team and to do their absolute best.  However, they have never been too arrogant or full of themselves even amidst their success.  They are really taking to heart 1 Peter 5:6.  This verse says, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.” 

They are excited for their success, but they are even more excited for one another’s successes or achievements.  They know there is no “I in team”.  The team remembers that they need to work hard at the next race.  Even if they have beaten a team before, or even if they are ranked, they know that a race is not won on paper.  A race is new every time you go there, and it is trying your best.  They do not get cocky, even amidst their accolades.   They know that this takes every single individual running a good race, so every time a team member sets a new personal record, there is great joy coming from amidst the team. 

They follow this through their compassion and support of each other.  They care about being good teammates. They spend time together outside of cross country watching movies and conversing with each other.  It fills my heart with joy that they care about being friends outside of the sport they are competing in.  Because of this, they are interested in each other’s well- being and supporting one another.  They lift each other up with encouraging words and listening ears.  I know this as the person who drives the van for them.  They are talking non-stop to each other and listening to their life stories.  It is always an interesting ride to and from the meets.  

Recently, I was asked to join in their prayer circle at one cross country meet.  I didn’t know that while they were in their huddle, they were actually spending time in prayer.  I love that so much, I can’t even describe it.  They were so bold in their faith.  They didn’t care that they were at a school event where others could see. Some would be ashamed to pray or even ask to pray together at a school event in front of so many people.  They weren’t though.  They were willing to be bold in their faith and willing to ask the Lord to achieve what they know they can’t on their own.  This is having complete boldness and humility.  

The heart of their prayers was awesome.  It was not a cry or an ask to win.  They prayed to do their best, and they prayed for a safe run, yes.  But their main prayer was that they are running for more than themselves. There was an emphasis on living and running for God.  They know their main motivation and their main success is only possible through God, and they want their running to be a part of their testimony to God, not a separate entity.  

Hebrews 11 is considered the Faith chapter.  Not only does this chapter provide a definition of the word faith, being “confidence in what we hope for, and assurance in what we do not see.” (11.1) This chapter also dives deep into many heroic stories of those in the Bible who conquered their fears through their faith in God and through God’s help.  This includes Abraham, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses.  Faith is their common denominator, and it is what made them all heroes of the Bible.  

One verse from Hebrews 11 that really stood out to me was verse 6 which says, “And without faith, it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to Him, must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”  My girls were showing faith in going to Him before the cross-country meet.  They are speaking their faith amongst their teammates and in front of many other athletes.  I have been inspired by my cross-country girls, and this is a good reminder for me to be continuously bold in my faith as well as humbly coming before God with any of my concerns. 

I love to run.  I love to put my headphones in my ears and enjoy the atmosphere around me.  I love when the weather is temperate and I can feel the fresh air.  I don’t just love the feeling of running after I finish, but the actual feel of running itself.  I love setting running goals and achieving those running goals.  Because of this, I have decided to run another half marathon.  Just like in many things, training is about as hard as the race itself.  Spending time to prepare your body for the event coming up takes time and work.  I have also found that there is even more importance in the mental workout it takes to finish the long runs, and the attention to an appropriate diet and hydration.  

With God’s help, I have been able to achieve some long runs over the last few months.  My longest one was 11.5 miles.  I was so nervous to embark on this long run.  I didn’t know if I would be able to make it.  I prayed to the Lord both before and during, and I know he helped me achieve it.  However, halfway through, I was tired.  This did not make me feel good.  There were so many miles left that I almost started to panic.  Maybe I should just run 7 or 8 miles?  I can do 7 or 8 miles.  There will be  adrenaline when it comes to the day of my half marathon anyway, so will it really matter if I run 11.5 miles today?  However, then I prayed and I remember to focus on one mile at a time. Mile after mile was completed and all of sudden, I had completed 11.5 miles in a fairly good time.  The Lord had helped me slowly achieve what I, at one time, thought was impossible.  

The anxiety I felt when running my 11.5 miles often is experienced in other life situations.  I have struggled with anxiety in the past, and I have struggled with the way I talk to myself in the past.  Sometimes my thoughts do not match those of a Christian woman.  I can get sucked down with disbelief in God and disbelief in the spirit that is in me.  Proverbs 23:7 describes this feeling perfectly, “For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” The way that we think says a lot about what we are and says a lot about what may be our future.  How we choose to view ourselves, our-bodies that God has created for us and our life situations can have a positive or negative impact on our future lives.  

Satan is very good about making us doubt ourselves.  He is very good at picking through our insecurities until we are completely bogged down with how we feel about ourselves and with Jesus Christ, our Lord as well.  As a woman who struggles with anxiety, it is amazing how I can go from a normal day to a day of pure chaos.  I can wake up in the best of spirits, and soon I will hear some bad news and suddenly I have no belief that God is in control or that he has a plan.  Suddenly, I am believing the absolute worst situation is going to happen.  

Sadly, many others are also struggling with their mental health and their increasing anxiety.  As a teacher, I see so many of my students struggling through their anxiety and their declining mental health. It is so sad to see them being paralyzed with fear of the future or being discouraged by their inabilities.  I try to encourage them even amidst their fear or their discouragement.  

When I want a strong reminder, I think of this verse, Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.” There are many negative items coming in from the world.  Bad things happen which then lead to bad attitudes and ultimately even worse future consequences.  When we choose to think about the noble, right, pure, and lovely, we are looking at the items that are not of this world.  These are the beautiful creations we have from God.  

I will never claim that with positive thoughts everything in life will be perfect.  However, I am reminding us all that when we focus on Christ and possess a more positive mindset, we will be able to achieve a lot more than we could otherwise.  I am going to end this blog post with a prayer, one I am hoping each one of you will take to heart each day as you are about to conquer your tough situations, distraught and imperfect co-workers, an impossible task to be completed, or anything else that you feel you are not ready to face. 

Dear Lord, 

Thank you for the abilities and the experiences you have given me today.  Thank you for the opportunity I have to be a light for you on this earth.  I pray for confidence in my ability to complete all you have set out for me today.  Please help me avoid being discouraged by the devil in his scheming and undermining ways.  Please help me to conquer thoughts of insecurity and doubt.  Please help me remember, through your spirit, to have a strong mindset.

Update: Yesterday I did in fact complete my half marathon. It took me two hours and 10 minutes which was 20 minutes faster than last year!

Today is October 9, which is my grandpa’s birthday, even though the last couple of years have been his heavenly birthday.  Today if he was alive, he would have been 73 years old.  This would be kind of nice because his birthday would have landed on a Sunday.  We would have probably gotten together as a family to celebrate.  I would have hand-made you a card to tell you how much I love and appreciate you.  You certainly were one of a kind, and you were the best grandpa in the world.  

My grandpa loved roads.  He worked on county roads for years, and he loved to teach so many people, especially me, my mom, and my aunt Cindy, who were his daughters, about the creation of roads.  There are special techniques and important items one needs to know if they are going to create a perfect road.  One that can receive awards from the state for being smooth.  My grandpa received such awards for his special ability to make our northwest Iowa country roads enjoyable for all drivers. 

Our school had been doing road construction. This was recently finished, and the road is now smooth where it used to be rough and had many potholes.  I bet my grandpa would have loved to have seen that work completed.  I bet he would have enjoyed hearing that now my school has a new road.  We would have definitely had to test drive over it the next time he would have been in town.  He would have had to rate whether or not he thought it was good road quality.  

One thing you need to know if you ever want to work on roads and to just have basic knowledge about how roads work is that cement is an ingredient in concrete.   Many times people will use them interchangeably, but they aren’t the same. Cement, rock or soil or gravel, and water are the only three ingredients that make up concrete.  Cement is the main binder between all the other ingredients.  Cement is the ingredient or the glue that keeps everything together.    

I believe we can look at cement as a main ingredient in concrete in our Christian walk.  Cement is like love.  I know, I know,  this may sound weird, but when we think about our Christian walk and the reasons we are walking with Jesus, the main ingredient we need in this hard, not one with the world walk is love.  Love is going to be the main ingredient that holds everything else together.  Without love, the other items of the Christian walk would easily fall apart.  

This idea of love being the main ingredient is mentioned endlessly in the Bible.  There is the first and second commandment, where we are called to love God with all of our hearts, minds, souls and body and then we are also called to love our neighbors as ourselves.  Jesus will later state that these two commandments are the two most important and the ones held in the highest regard.  This is because all of the other commandments will fall under these two commandments.  The main component and ingredient in this walk of Christian living is to love.  

I say this because I believe we as Christians can get stuck at times in the walk of legalism.  Legalism means here that we only do things such as pray, read the Bible, go to church, and follow all the rules that we can think of in the Bible out of obligation, not with a desire.  It is important to become reflective and think about how we approach this life and this Christian walk.  Are we living from a place of love or are we doing it because we know that would make our families proud or we feel it is the right thing to do, or we are trying to impress someone else?  None of those reasons will keep us sticking to God.  None of those concrete mixes have cement in them.  

It is highly important to follow God’s commandments.  They are there for a reason, but it will be so much easier to follow God’s commandments when we love the creator of those commandments.  This is even said in John 14:21, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me, the one who loves me will also be loved by my Father and I too will love them and show myself to them.”  This directly says that whoever loves God will keep his commandments.  They will not be easily followed without the love of God there as the main component.  Just as cement is the main ingredient in concrete, so the love of God is the main ingredient in the Christian walk. 

I have watched/listened to two recent events that have led me to realize we sometimes can try to force God’s promises to happen.  We can know God’s promises, and instead of trusting that he will keep his promises, we instead believe we need to somehow do the work that only he can do.  Neither one of these moments have been my life experience, so I can easily start looking at character’s choices as wrong and bad.  However, I soon came to realize that I can do the exact same thing. 

The first one is me watching the show, the bachelorette.  Yes, I love that show.  Is it the most Christ-centered show, absolutely not.  Why do I like it?  I don’t know.  However, there are moments where I can get so frustrated with the people on the show.  One of the bachelorettes of this season (this season there were two bachelorettes-never been done before for those who have never watched the show) was a woman who was so focused on getting married and particularly getting engaged by the end of the season.  She became so focused that she broke it off with a wonderful man because he wasn’t ready to propose at the end of the show. 

This made me realize how much some people will put into marriage and that it is somehow needed to be there in order for others to feel accepted into the world.  Why does she feel the only way to be complete is to have a man promised to her forever?  Why couldn’t she be content with a boyfriend till the timing was right? She gave away a chance with a guy she could love forever and really have it work out, but she decided she had to be engaged at that moment. She couldn’t wait a month longer.  This bachelorette did end up getting engaged to a different guy, and she would end up having a broken engagement.  

The second event happened when I met with my discipler.  We are reading a book about women of the Bible.  The two women that we focused on this week were Sarah and Hagar.  These two women were very flawed. Rachel wanted a baby, with a dying passion.  She wanted to be a mother, and culturally at the time, she wanted to be away from the shame of being barren.  Even though she was promised that she would be a mother, she decided to take matters into her own hands and decide to have her slave bare her a child through her husband instead.  What a choice! That is surely a way to take matters into your own hands.   

Believe it or not, this did not end well.  Jealousy, anger, and insecurity reared their ugly head.  Sarah believed Hagar was hoarding her pregnancy over her.  Because of this, Sarah became very harsh with Hagar even while she was pregnant.  Hagar would run away from the home, and only the love of God brought her back home to Sarah and Abraham. God had promised Sarah a baby, and she would receive her promise.  Fourteen years later, Sarah’s dreams came true when she, in her very old age, would become a mother.  She would have a baby, and like she agreed with God, she would name him Isaac.  

It can be easy to look at these two examples as complete extremes. We are not in these usual life experiences.  We are not on a reality show, and we most likely don’t have a woman we would choose to have a child with our husbands. However, we can all get so tired of waiting for God’s promises or waiting for God’s timing, that we start to stress over how we can achieve certain things on our own.  I know my particular struggle is whether or not God will really use me in the place of work that he has set aside for me.  The Lord has promised to use me to advance his word.  I need to remember to lean into the areas where he is leading me and know he is helping make ways for me to be a light for him.  

One verse that really highlights waiting for the Lord is found in Psalms 27:13-14, “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.  Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”  This was a psalm that was written by David.  David, while he was a king, did not necessarily always have a good life.  He had many enemies, and he had many who were after him, wanting to kill him.  He made mistakes, but he never lost faith in the Lord.  He alway stayed close to the Lord, which is why he was considered a man after God’s own heart.  This Psalm is a good reminder for all of us, to continually look for the good in the world, even when there are dark moments and there are dark people, to look for God.  There is also a song by Hope Durst called “Promise Keeper” that references the verses of Psalm 27:13-14.  Some of the lyrics to this song are “My eyes are gonna see, miracles and victories.  You are a promise keeper, and your word will never fail.”  How beautiful! 

God has never changed.  He is the same God who was with Sarah when she believed there was no way she could be a mother at such an old age.  He is the same God who promised her a child and provided.  He is the same God who provided a Messiah that was prophesied all through the Old Testament in order to save you and me.  He will also be the same God who will keep all of his promises that he makes to his people.  My challenge for you this week is to think about something that you are struggling to wait for God in.   Leave it at the altar and the hands of Jesus.  Bring him your concerns and the promises that you do not believe are going to be achieved.  Then, as challenging, as it can be, wait for God to fulfill his promises.  

Recently I have been reading the book of Job in the Bible during my devotionals in the morning.  I knew the book of Job was a good representation of how to act when in suffering, but rereading this book after I have experienced some of my own trials, I am even more invested and have learned more and more from Job. I will mention three main lessons that I personally learned from the book of Job.  There are countless others, but these are the three I want to highlight.  

One verse that stood out to me was Job 27: 3-4, “As long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils, my lips will not say anything wicked, and my tongue will not utter lies.”  Job had everything taken from him.  He all of sudden lost most of his livestock, his workers, his children and his health.  He was completely devastated.  This would be so easy to speak with hostility.  It would be so easy to start spewing hate or curses.  Job had to feel as though he was cursed, yet he refused to let those cursing thoughts go from his mouth.  He refused to say anything against God, and he refused to let his character go downhill, even though his life situation had. 

I will be very honest when I say, I struggle with my words.  I try so hard to get control of them, but when I am angry, I will often swear a lot underneath my breath or even vent and talk ugly about someone/something that has angered me.  This is not something I am proud of, and I am hoping it is something I can grow in.  Even this last week, I had a terrible day at work.  I was upset a majority of the day, and I swore a lot.  After I said a few of the swear words while venting, I decided to keep going.  Who cared?  I already swore today.  Then my mood just continued to get worse and worse.  I realized I did not care about the promise that Job made and not allowing any wickedness to pass through my lips and my tongue not giving any lies.  I want this verse to become a new mantra for me in the future.  

Another verse is Job 19: 25, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.”  Again, Job has been through every bad item. He has gone through so much, yet he was so filled with joy about his future to come.  He knew, no matter how much he had suffered, that his redeemer, which is God himself, had a plan and knew he would ultimately be victorious over any evil in the world. Even though his life was ruined, he can look towards the real part of life that matters, and this would be the redemption and the saving of God, his Father. 

Something to realize about this particular truth of Job is that this was written before Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins.  He did not have this particular story of Jesus dying and winning over evil.  All he had was the prophecy that one day a redeemer would come. Job had complete faith, and it shows, even amidst his extreme suffering.  Job had complete faith that evil would not win.  The evil and the pain of the world would not persevere because God was in complete control.  I will admit that I often can forget how much sovereignty my God possesses.  However, I can see that if Job was able to have faith in trying times, then so can I.  

Another truth that came towards the end of this book was found in Job 42:3, “You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without my knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”  Job admitted in that moment that he does not understand all of God’s plans, like none of us do.  Job described God’s plan as something more wonderful than even he could understand.  Job knew that even though he was not enjoying his life in the present moment, he knew that God was in complete control.  

The best part of all of this was that God really blessed Job towards the end of his life, even more than he had initially blessed him before everything was taken from him.  This can serve as an encouragement that God has a plan that is filled with more wonderful things that we could ever know.  I know I personally have been struggling a lot with believing in God’s sovereignty.  Sometimes I can only see two steps ahead of me and when those steps seem bad, I can become discouraged.  There may be dark times in the future, but I can not even comprehend the wonder in the ultimate future.    

I have known the book of Job is a book that showcases dependence on God amongst the struggles and pains of life.  However, I had no idea that the story of Job showcased how to also create your morals even in the midst of struggle.  I had no idea it could be used as a way of looking to God for complete sovereignty and complete faith.  Life is not always easy.  There can be trials, sadness, tears, but through God we can learn to all experience joy.  There are things we do not understand, but God wants us to trust him so we can have complete love and hope.  My challenge for you is to read over the book of Job.  I am challenging you to find any life-truths that are in this book of the Bible. 

I love to read! I enjoy holding a book and enjoying the story that envelopes from the pages.  One of the many reasons I love to write is because I want others to be as inspired by the words I put on a page as I have been with countless other authors and writers.  I have grown in my love of reading over the last few years, and I am incredibly grateful for it.  While I used to only see myself reading books of fiction and make-believe, I have grown to love and adore works of nonfiction.  My favorite being memoirs.  These are not fake stories, but rather these are true stories of what has happened in a person’s life and what life lessons they have learned from them.  I would love to give you a little glimpse of just what I have learned about the world through my last few books I have completed.  I know that not every single person who reads my blogs is a book reader, but I hope through this blog post, you too can see a bit of a glimpse of what is happening in the world around us.  

One of my favorite books I have read recently is called, “The Girls in the Wild Fig Tree.” This is about a young woman named Nice Leng’ete.  She was from a community in Kenya. While she loves her people, she does not agree with some of the customs and traditions of her culture.  One of these is genital mutilation done to young girls.  She also fights and speaks against marrying young girls off, accepting abuse towards wives, and limited availability for future education for those young girls.  She has created “A Nice Place Foundation” which saves many girls from genital mutilation and has increased many young girls odds to getting future education and living independent lives.  

This book opened my eyes to a different culture.  Her book highlights the intelligent and wonderful items of her culture, but she also creates awareness to some traditions that are very present in many different places that are hard on young girls.  As a woman, myself, and as a teacher to many young girls, I could not imagine that happening to any of the young girls I interact with.  The world can be hard enough without the acceptance of abuse and no hope of furthering education. I want my students, all of them to succeed.  I never want them to feel they can’t achieve anything.  I do especially want my female students to feel they can continue in their education and have smart contributions to bring to the table. 

This last book, “The Girls in the Wild Fig Tree” was a good reminder that we can love a culture, a country, a group of people, yet disagree with certain ways some items are handled.  A book that is a good reminder of the problems in the United States is the “Invisible Child, ” by Andrea Elliott.  This book was following one particular family fighting through poverty in New York City.  This originally started as a newspaper article that would gain a lot of attention, and then would be extended to this book.  This book follows a young girl named Dasani Coates and her family.  She is smart, strong, and independent, but she and her family hit many struggles with poverty and addiction.  

Often we can judge those who are stuck in poverty.  We can believe they are the ones who have gotten themselves in this position.  They choose the place they are currently in life.  I will not deny that I believe Dasani’s parents did not necessarily make the best choices, but there were many times they were given the worst chances and received very little assistance.  This is also a good reminder that the parent’s mistakes should not go to the child.  The children are not in poverty for any choices of their own making. 

The last book I want to highlight is by pastor, David Platt. The book is titled, “Something Needs to Change.” David Platt cares a lot about fighting for the poor.  However, he is very honest about his challenging trip to the Himalayas.  He saw so much hurt, both physical and spiritual.  He heard about a village that has no young girls because they have been taken into sex trafficking, young boys chained up in the barn of their parent’s household, and villages almost being wiped out by diseases like chlorea-a totally preventable disease with good running water.  The story I am hearing from David was heartbreaking to read, and I could not imagine experiencing or hearing these stories that he did in person, myself.  

This book is a good reminder that God has called all of us to help the poor and the powerless.  There are struggles and there are many hurting in the world.  There are many who are away from God, who are sick, who are being enslaved or someone held against their will.  David highlights a Christian’s call to love and care for those around the world.  We are called to care for their physical needs, but more importantly we should be incredibly concerned about helping them with their spiritual needs.  We need to be more determined with bringing them to God and teaching them that Jesus is the way to ultimate salvation.  

In conclusion, it does not have to be reading, but I believe it is very important for us as God’s followers to be aware of what is going on in the world.  This is even mentioned in the Bible, in Proverbs 1:5, “Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance.”  This verse is a reminder that God loves when we take time to grow in wisdom.  With that wisdom we seek to gain, we can receive more guidance from Him for our next steps.  I know, not everyone reading this likes to read.  However, I do want to challenge all of you this week of finding something new about the world around you.  This could be a social justice issue, a mission group in a certain country and who they are seeking to help, or learning about a completely new and different group of people that share the world with you.