Life Is All About Me.....Right?

I have had 6 different physicial issues since the first of the year.  Just when I would get one issue taken care of, another one would pop up.  Each one has been a struggle to say the least.   And beyond the struggle, they have all been quite annoying.  I just want to be healthy.....healthy so that I can live this dual lifestyle that I live and love so much.....being active in my families' lives and in the lives of my friends on the reservations.

 

Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, with my focus slipping off of Jesus and onto my physical issues during this last five months, life became all about me.  All about me in a negative way that I wasn't really noticing.  And again, unfortunately, God had to point the situation out to me.  And, in His loving, gracious way, He pointed it out to me in a physical way.....darn.  Just what I was hoping to avoid.....more physical issues.

 

As I was lying on the ground in my backyard, rolling around moaning after a fall that I took with no apparent cause, He pointed the situation out to me.  I now know that I fell because He wanted to get my attention:  He wanted to point out to me that my attitude on life had gotten out of control without my noticing.  Now let me tell you, it doesn't feel too good to be convicted of a sin that I wasn't even aware of.  But, let me tell you also, that it does feel good to be convicted. 

 

Weird huh?  Being convicted doesn't feel good, but then again, it does feel good.  It feels good because I am reminded that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me.  A Heavenly Father who loves me enough to discipline me.  A Heavenly Father who will speak to me in my weakness and direct me back onto the right path; the path that will take me back to righteous living.  Righteous living so that my relationship with God will not be broken, but will be healthy and complete. 

 

It's not been easy.  Bad habits are difficult to break.  But with the help of the Holy Spirit, I am catching myself.  Correcting the sinful attitudes.  Working on being that living testimony that God wants me to be.  Because of God's conviction, I am working on living out Romans 12:1-2....."...offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - this is your true and proper worship.   Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good and pleasing and perfect will."

 

As I sit tonight writing this, recovering from a very minor medical procedure as well as strained shoulder muscles from my fall, I am so thankful that I have a Father God who loves me and wants His best for me.  I am thankful for his correction and redirection in my life.  I am thankful for his grace, mercy and forgiveness.  I am just plain thankful!

 

What are you struggling with?  Come on.....it's ok.....be honest with yourself.  Whatever it is, lay it at the foot of the cross.  Let God correct and redirect you.  Or maybe it's something different.  Maybe you need comfort.  Maybe you are sad, abused, depressed, hurt.....whatever it is.....God wants to be in the middle of it.  God wants to rain His grace, mercy and forgiveness down on you.  Will you let Him?  Will you pour your heart out to Him and then go to His Word for direction?  His Word brings life.  Life to the fullest!

And then, No.....life isn't about me!

 

Encouraging You In Christ!

All Praise, Honor and Glory to God!
www.eoaiRocks.com 

 

 

  

How Is Your Foundation?

Original Blog posted March, 2009.

 

I just returned from spending a few days on the Choctaw Indian Reservation in Mississippi.   I stayed in a brick building that was built around the turn of the century and was originally a girls dorm for an agricultural school where young girls were taught how to maintain a plantation home and young boys were taught how to run a plantation.  The dorm was a beautiful huge brick building with 10 bedrooms, several bathrooms, a big kitchen and living room.

 

One morning I walked around the grounds where the old agricultural school used to stand. As I wandered around, I came upon the ruins from the main building of the school. All that was left of the main school building was the brick/cement foundation. The foundation was in very good shape. As I snapped this picture of the foundation, God put an analogy in my mind.

 

 

As I looked at that foundation, God showed me a picture of how Jesus is our foundation. And, like this foundation, He is very strong and sturdy. Like this foundation, He stands firm. Like this foundation, He is there to hold us up.

 Then God showed me the picture of a Christ Follower who has never grown in their walk with the Lord. They look just like this empty foundation. Jesus is right there walking along side of them, holding them strong and sturdy, but they haven't built anything upon their foundation. Their foundation is all that is there to their Christian walk. Like this foundation, their foundation is not being used.

After snapping the above picture, I wandered back to the girls dorm and snapped the following picture:

 

  

As I snapped this picture, God showed me the picture of a Christ Follower who has grown in their walk with the Lord. The Christ Follower who has grown in their walk with the Lord looks like this beautiful house. Much has been built upon Jesus, their foundation. They use their foundation every day. Their faith is strengthened and they live in obedience because they understand that their foundation needs to be built upon in order to come into the fullness of the life that God wants them to live.

 

Building on Jesus, our foundation, is what God desires for each of us. As we build upon our foundation, we deepen our personal relationship with the Lord. As we deepen our personal relationship with the Lord, other people notice. As other people notice, we begin to make a difference in their lives. And as we make a difference in other people's lives, our lives get richer and fuller. And, ultimately, we come to understand I Peter 2:9 that says, "we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God" and then we can fulfill our purpose in life at the end of that verse that says, "that we may declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His wonderful light."

I've asked myself this week, "How is your foundation, Sherry? Does it stand empty? or Have you built upon it to make it into a beautiful picture? Will your foundation pass the test found in I Corinthians 3:12-14 which says, 'If any man builds on this foundaiton using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will received his reward.'" To God Be The Glory!

 

 

 Encouraging You In Christ!

All Praise, Honor and Glory to God!

www.eoaiRocks.com

I John 3

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!   And that is what we are!  The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.   Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.   All who have this hope in Him purify themselves, just as He is pure.  Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness.  But you know that He appeared so that He might take away our sins.  And in Him is no sin.  No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning.  No one who continues to sin has either seen Him or known Him.
 

Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as He is righteous.   The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.   The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.   No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.   This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
 

 

For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.  Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother.  And why did he murder him?  Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.  Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.  We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other.  Anyone who does not love remains in death.  Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
 

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.  If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?   Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
 

This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence:  If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and He knows everything.  Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases Him. And this is His command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us.  The one who keeps God’s commands lives in Him, and He in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit He gave us."
 

 

Be Encouraged!

All Praise, Honor and Glory to God! 
Encourage One Another
Website:  www.eoaiRocks.com   

Encourager or Discourager?

I recently took a short Encouragement Trip to encourage some of my brothers and sisters in Christ.  On my encouragement journey, I heard stories and saw the effects of brothers and sisters in Christ encouraging and being encouraged by one another.  I saw people living out I Thessalonians 5:11 which says, "Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up just as in fact you are doing."  Because encouragement was being poured into them and they were being built up, they were filled with the joy of the Lord and were then encouraging others. 

 

As I sat and listened to my brothers and sisters in Christ share their Christian journey with me, I was reminded that we are all part of a family, the family of God.  God is our Daddy and He wants the very best for us.  So, like any good Daddy, He tells us in His Word what He expects from us as a family.  And like any good Daddy, He is very clear about it; He wants us to love and encourage one another in order to be unified. 

 



In Ephesians  4:2-3, He tells us to "be patient, bearing with one another in love.  Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace."  And then in Philippians 2:2-3 He tells us to "be like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose.  Do nothing out of selfish ambition, but in humility consider others better than yourselves."  And then in Psalm 133:1, God tells us if we obey Him and live in unity with one another, "how good and pleasant it will be."

Then I heard other stories; stories about brothers and sisters in Christ living with divisions amongst themselves.  Stories of brothers and sisters in Christ judging and condemning one another.  Stories of brothers and sisters in Christ hurting each other through their words and actions.  My heart was heavy as I listened to these stories and saw the pain on the person sharing.

Jesus dealt with this situation when He said in Matthew 7:1-5, "Do not judge or you too will be judged.  For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.  Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?  How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye, when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  You hypocrite!  First take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to remove the speck in your brother's eye." 

God does not want us to condemn one another as He tells us in Romans 8:1 by saying, "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."  If God does not condemn us, we as Christians should not condemn each other.

God showed me two sides of this Christian walk on my Encouragement Trip this past month that have two very different outcomes.  He showed me the encouragement side that brought joy and  a smile to my brothers and sisters in Chist; then He showed me the discouraging side that brought pain and sorrow to my brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

I ask you today; how are you treating your family members, your brothers and sisters in Chirist?  Are you sharing your life and scripture with them?  Are you known as the Encourager in the family or are you known as the Discourager in the family? 

 

God has shown me so many ways that I can encourage my brothers and sisters in Christ and build them up.  Ways like sharing an uplifting scripture; living a righteous life as an example;  eating a meal together and listening to what is happening in their life; giving a small gift or simply a picked flower that says "You are valuable to me."; spending time together doing something fun; talking about what Jesus is doing in your life and so much more.

 

Sharing a treat with a brother or sister in Christ

can be encouraging to them.

 

Sharing a flower with a brother or sisters in Christ

can be encouraging to them.

 

If you are the Encourager, good for you; keep it up.....you are doing exactly what God wants you to do.  God is using you in a mighty way to bring Glory to His Kingdom.  As you encourage your brothers and sisters they will go out and encourage their brothers and sisters and then their brothers and sisters will go out and encourage their brothers and sisters and then..............

 

If you are the Discourager, you can change; repent.....God is a God of forgiveness!  Embrace I Thessalonians 5:11 and become the Encourager that your brothers and sisters in Christ so desperately need.....and when you do, I am positive that you will receive encouragement in return!

 

Encouraging You In Christ!

All Praise, Honor and Glory to God!



 Encourage One Another

Website:  www.eoaiRocks.com