Random Thoughts

Random thoughts on a winter day.

When my kids were little, I remember getting excited when I got a little break from the day-to-day.....a night out with my girlfriends, a weekend away with my husband.  Now, I get excited when I get to spend time with my kids.  They basically live away at college or in their bedrooms, and I CRAVE rare minutes spent with them.

I wish everyone had a job that they loved as much as I do.  I work with amazing, godly, fun people and it really is a blessing to be a part of a team with common purposes.

There is so much power in thinking about the “wholeness” of the Bible.  All of the little stories are amazing and important and meaningful, and for years that is pretty much all I saw.  But when I look at the whole thing as one big story of God’s relationship and pursuit of us, it is INCREDIBLE!  

Turning 40 was fine and no big deal.  But I can’t think of any part of turning 50 that I am looking forward to.

I think it would be fascinating to have a conversation with 20 year old me.  I’m pretty sure it would be 2 very different people talking to each other.  Thankful that God makes things new and is always faithful!

I am more and more convinced all the time that people are horrible at evaluating themselves...seeing their faults, their sin, their potential.

Bad habits are super hard to overcome.

I kind of stink at this blogging thing.

One thing I would really like to get better at is encouraging people.  Not just an occasional compliment, but genuine life-giving encouragement.  I think that is a rare thing in our society.

I've learned that there are two big things that can suck the joy out of your life.  Regrets about your past and worries about your future.  The key is in remembering that the grace of God is huge and will take care of both of these things.  And THEN, I can find the joy in today.

Bring on a burden!

It seems that so many of our prayers are requests for our lives to be easier. Prayers for material things, prayers for better jobs, prayers for our health, prayers for people in our life to be happy. Basically we want to make our little corner of the world as comfortable as we possibly can. I’m not going to get into whether these are the things we should be praying for today, although I have an opinion. My point is actually to consider praying for something entirely different. I was really challenged with this thought when I read Craig Groeschel’s book Weird.

I have begun praying for a burden. Not like so many prayers I have had in the past to have God remove some kind of burden. Instead, I am asking him to give me a burden! How crazy is that??

Here is what my man Craig says...

“Most of us feel good when we avoid burdens, after all isn’t life hard enough? Why ask God for more trials, trauma, and tears? It’s normal to want to avoid pain - human even. But God didn’t put us here on earth just to feel good and enjoy ourselves. He doesn’t give us our lives so we can master techniques in avoiding pain. He puts us here to make an eternal difference. He puts us here to show everyone around us how much he loves them. He puts us here to be his hands and feet, his body and his heart.”

He then goes on to have you ponder some questions. What breaks your heart? What makes you angry? What do you care about more than most people?

I care that people don’t know God and will eventually be eternally separated from Him. But “care” is not always enough to drive me to action. To the questions above... I am praying that my heart is broken for people who are not saved. I want to get fired up that people don’t know the truth and no one is telling them! And I want to care SO, SO deeply that I have no choice but to respond and take action.

Basically I want to tip the scales. On one side is my absolute faith and knowledge that God is real and awesome and Jesus is the only way to God. On the other side of the scale are all my fears and insecurites...the parts of me that stay quiet because people might think less of me if I share my faith. Too often the scales lean the wrong direction and my weaknesses win out. But I believe that through prayer and an ever increasing love for God, the scales will pull the other direction. I think a burden will be the difference.

I want to see people the way God sees them. With such love that I can’t bear the thought of them going through this life as an enemy of God, and eventually eternity in hell. I can say that I agree with these words, but maybe if I truly believed them and had an actual burden, I would get out there, open my mouth, and just maybe make a difference.