the Super Bowl and Other Things that Cause Stress

Last night was Live Out Loud Student Ministries fourth annual Super Bowl Party. Our youth, college students, Jimmy and me, and a few of our adult leaders all gathered at the Nelson's house to watch the big game or play cards or play wii or just have a good time. It is usually one of the most laid back events we have every year. We gather at the church and bus the kids to the house. The kids bring drinks and any special snacks. We provide the  Game, the Wii, and pizza. Simple enough.

On the outside this year seemed just that simple too. Behind the scenes things were quite a different story. Over the past year our group has been going through some difficult struggles and transitions. Attendance has been up and down and tensions have been high. So as we called Little Caesar's Pizza to order 12 larges we prayed that there would be enough people there to eat them. In fact, the stress was so bad that Jimmy couldn't get a good night's sleep the night before.

I tried to tell him that everything would be fine and that kids would show up. Hey! It's the Super Bowl. There's free pizza! And although we do a devotion instead of watching the half-time show, most teens feel this is a non-threatening environment where they are not going to get preached out. So they would come.

But the whole week leading up to the party, we got phone call after phone call after Facebook message after text message of students who weren't coming--even some of our dependable regulars! It was discouraging and added to the already mounting disappointment.

Finally Super Bowl Sunday gets here and the phone calls start again. Only this time they are students who haven't been in months who wanted to let us know they were coming. It was a total 180. In the end, we ate 10 out of 12 pizzas. We had so much fun routing for our teams. We had about 30 or so students and adults, but most importantly God provided! He blew our minds and made us feel foolish for stressing out in the first place instead of trusting that He would take care of it. Even if it was just a Super Bowl Party. There was no need to stress. God is in control and always has been.

"Look at the nations and watch--be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." Habakkuk 1:5

Tangled Web of Emotions

I don't know about you, but for me today was one of those days when my emotions took me on a whirlwind ride. I was happy. I was sad. I cried and cried and cried some more. It started early in the morning and lasted all day. I was an emotional wreck and there seemed nothing that I could do about it.

I wanted to share with you this little clip of Patsy Clairmont. She is one of the funniest Christian speakers I know and I relate to her. She speaks in a way that I can understand and that touches my heart. In this clip she talks a little about emotions. I wanted to find the full clip but wasn't able to, but if you want to hear more you can always check out her book I Second that Emotion.

Anyway, the most important point she makes is that God created us to have all these different emotions and He accepts us no matter our emotional state. God wraps His arms around me on days like today when I can't stop crying because we had another unsuccessful month of trying to get pregnant and all hope seems lost. He rejoices with me when I am over joyed with a great personally victory and He is there with me at every emotional stop in between. Nothing I can do will surprise Him. There is no emotion I can have that His own Son did not experience (although I know Jesus handled all his without sinning!).

Prayer for today:
Thank you, God, for creating me with the full range of emotions. Thank you for being there with me as I go through these emotions. Please help me to share my joys with others and allow others to build me up when my emotions are not so good. Most of all, God, help me to cast all my cares and emotions on You.  Amen.

Birthdays

December is a month of birthdays in our circle of friends and acquaintances. My birthday was the 4th, my husband's the 5th, Dustin's the 1st, Rebeccah's the 13th, Shelby's the 19th, and most importantly Jesus' on the 25th! There are five or six others that I don't even have the time to mention, but you get the picture. It seems like everyday we have something or someone new to celebrate. For some of us, like Nicholas and Noriah, we celebrate new milestones as they turn 2. For others like Aunt Steiny we celebrate a full life as she turns 70 on the 29th. I was thinking about this today and one particular verse came to my mind...

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The LORD is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I will hope in Him.'" Lamentations 3:22-24 ESV

Especially in December I can find myself getting so caught up in what I am doing, what I want to do, what I still have to do, and the next thing to celebrate that I lose track of the things that really matter. I should be celebrating the Christ of Christmas everyday because His love and His mercies are new EVERY morning. They are perfect and without end. It's no wonder that we are commanded to, "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (1 Thess. 5:16-18 ESV)

So admist this season of rejoicing and celebrating don't forget to enjoy the gifts of God's unfailing love which is new every morning and to rejoice always for this is the will of God.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!

A Word from "She Seeks"

Today I wanted to share with you an article which really spoke to me. I am a regular reader of the "She Seeks" blog which is a compilation of many different female writers who take turns writing and vlogging (video blogging) about the things God is teaching them in their lives. The article really struck a chord with me today and I would like to share with you what Ali has to say.

Lonely but Not Alone

a real, raw, and honest inspirational entry

I was at Starbucks the other day, minding my own business, when I was suddenly surrounded by what I could only describe as a big flock of lovebirds. In every direction couples were walking hand in hand, strolling the mall, laughing, smooching, and just… being together. I felt like pulling out a giant megaphone, standing on the table and making a special announcement: “ATTENTION ALL LOVERS: please withhold any physical display of affection or else leave the premises. Thank you.”

I pretended to be disgusted, but the feeling registering deep inside was that of loneliness. I wondered if that would ever be me — with someone else. I have been waiting ever so patiently on God’s timing, and most of the time I honestly feel fine. I am enjoying the special blessings that come along with the ‘season of singleness.’ But then there are those moments when it feels like things are moving along at a snail’s pace. You know, those times when you just want to march straight up to heaven and shout at the top of your lungs, “Hurry up already!”

So what are we supposed to do when our desires – and emotions that come with them – bubble up to the surface of our souls like the foam of a root beer float? Pretend like they are not there? Shove them under the rug and ignore them? Put on a smile and feign happiness?

Then as in now, I am reminded of Jesus, and how he dealt with periods of waiting. His journey on earth wasn’t a bed of roses, but of reality – living in a fallen world ridden with pain and darkness. Rather than having an artificial response to these earthly experiences, Jesus was real, raw and utterly honest about the deep well of emotion He felt. He wept. He cried. He expressed anguish and anger.

If Jesus, the Son of God, experienced such valleys of intense emotion while He waited for God’s purposes to unfold in their proper time, how much more us? Through His example, it is clear, not only that we will face moments of “long-suffering,” but also that God does not expect us to suppress our emotions. He wants us to express them-to Him.

I love the words from the Psalmist who wrote, “Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge” (Psalm 62:8). Part of showing our trust in God is pouring out our hearts to Him. This is something very practical we can put into practice each day. All it requires is that we be real with God, approaching Him with a raw honesty like Jesus did. Feeling down in the dumps? Tell Him why. Is your heart troubled? Share it with Him. Tired, weary, lost or alone? Invite Him into those deep crevices of your soul and allow Him be your strength, comforter, healer and friend. He is just waiting to put His arm around us in those tougher moments and say, “My child, I am here with you. It’s going to be alright.” He desires nothing more than to be a part of our world – but it’s up to us to let Him in.

I left Starbucks that day with a feeling other than loneliness in my heart. No matter how low or lonely I felt, I could rest in the fact that I was never truly alone. And dear sister, so can you.


Resources…
The Bible
“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” (Hebrews 5:7)

“…but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

“The spiritual life does not remove us from the world but leads us deeper into it.” — Henri J.M Nouwen

In Need of a Faith Booster

It's that time again! Summer has ended. School has started. Flu season is coming soon, and my faith has run dry.

I don't know about you, but things have been though for me lately. Life has run me through the ringer and sadly I have come out worse for the wear. During the summer things seemed to be going so great! We did vacation Bible school at our church and we had a great turnout. We then took our youth on their hardest mission trip yet and I was do proud to see how they served God in the inner city and how they let God speak to them. Then we started getting ready for school and everything went crazy! I hit a spiritual dry patch. Students stopped coming to church. People I thought were my friends turned around and betrayed me. Jimmy and I found out that even after another abnormally long cycle, we were STILL not pregnant! What else could go wrong?!

All this stuff left me more than a little wanting in my walk with God. Then as I was running around doing errands this week, I saw that Walgreens is already advertising their flu shots. It made me stop and think... "Boy, I wish I could just go in and get a spiritual and emotional booster shot!" Why isn't there a quick and easy fix for the way I am feeling?

The honest answer is...THERE IS! The problem is believing that it is the answer.

Rejoicing in the Lord and believing in His plan for my life are just the booster shots I need. However, rejoicing in the Lord when you don't feel like there is anything to rejoice about is a lot easier said than done. Also, it's easier to believe that God doesn't have a plan or doesn't care than to believe that He planned for me to go through these things and feel this way. But He does and He promises that He will work all these things for the good of those who glorify Him.

Well...I haven't been able to truly take these Spiritual and Emotional boosters yet, but I am working on it. I hope this will help you to take heart if you too are feeling more than a little spiritually dry and emotionally drained. There's hope! You're not dead yet!

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" Philippians 4:4

Strawberry Festival

This week at the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home (where I work) things are very hectic. We are in the midst of preparing for one of our three festival fundraisers. Strawberry Festival is on Saturday, June 5th, this year and it is always an all day affair. We have craft venders, a quilt auction, craft auction, food, and campus tours. It is fun but completely and utterly exhausting!
Strawberry Festival is the oldest of the three festivals MBCH holds each year. When it first started 120 years ago, it was the main source of income for the Baptist Orphans Home (now MBCH). It all started when the orphans grew, harvested, and sold their own strawberries in order to keep the home open. Over the years it has changed and evolved. However, in the last 25 years the festival has changed very little. It has stopped adapting to current trends and is stuck in the rut of tradition. As a result, the festivals have become less and less effective in their post of providing major funding for the operation of MBCH. In fact, there were no major changes allowed until last year. I just wonder if it’s too little to late.
Sadly, many of us have a “festival” mentality. As baby Christians we established a pattern of provision for our walk with Christ. We knew what we needed to reach our spiritual goals and we worked hard to meet those goals. As we continued to grow, we would change and adapt our strategy to keep things current and effective. However, just like the festival, many of us get comfortable and stop keeping tabs on the things we are doing and their effectiveness and we get ourselves into a spiritual rut. While we are in this rut, we do the minimum to keep our Christian walk afloat but we never really are as good as we could be. Eventually we will tank if we don’t get out of this rut. Will we learn to grow and change again or will it be to little to late? I guess we will just have to wait and see.
Get out of your rut and start reaching your potential!

When Life Throws You a Curve

It was Sunday afternoon. The stress had been mounting. Then the pain started…and Jimmy’s back went out. This hasn’t happened in the past four years, but when it happens it is horrible! When his back goes out Jimmy can’t do anything without pain. Sitting causes pain. Standing causes pain. Laying down causes pain. Reclining in his chair causes pain. Going to the bathroom…well you get the picture.

As a result, I was put in charge of leading youth last night. Trust managing twenty-five teens virtually on your own is not at the top of my “Fun Things to Do” list. Truth be told, I got so stressed out about it that I felt physically ill by the time 7:00 rolled around, and I had a bad attitude about it all afternoon. I wished that two of our most experienced college helpers weren’t out of town for a funeral. I wished Jimmy was well enough to go with me. I wished that the adult who sometimes fills in for us didn’t have to be in prayer meeting last night. In short, I was really selfish and whiny about the whole situation.

Then God got my attention. He brought to my mind one of the verses I memorized a long, long time ago. “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.” (Phil. 2:14-16) Okay, God. I get it. I feel convicted. I have been doing exactly what this verse tells me not to do. Plus, my attitude is keeping me from being a shining light, a representation of You, to the people around me. All they see is a grouch with a frown on her face. If they knew I was a Christian I am sure that they wouldn’t want to be one! What a shame.
But God didn’t stop there…

After convicting my sinful attitude and actions, God reminded me of another memory verse. “And me know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified he also glorified.” (Rom. 8:28-20) I couldn’t believe it! God took the time to encourage me and to remind me of His promises even though I had messed up! Even if we don’t get to go to the Cardinals’ sluggie game on Friday or go on our anniversary trip to see our friends in Arkansas, God has it all under control and He is working it together for good. Why? He predestined it! It is our destiny. God knows the beginning, middle, and end or our story. Nothing escapes Him. He has called us through it and justified us in it. In the end, He will get all the glory from the good outcome He will bring to us. Yes, we may not see the good that will come from these momentary troubles until many years later, but rest assured…God ALWAYS keeps His promises.

So when life throws you a curve, STOP complaining and START looking forward to the good that will come!

A Test of Patience

Right now, I REALLY want to throw my computer against the wall. There are, however, a few essential flaws to this plan. Number One, this isn't my computer (it belongs to my school, oops). Number Two, how is that going to help me get my assignment done. Hmm maybe I better think about this again.

I don't know about you, but I find patience to be one of the hardest fruits of the Spirit to apply to my life. I get angry when other people aren't patient with me, but do I really put in the effort to show patience to others? Honestly the answer is "No". I don't spend enough time practicing patience. I hurry from one thing to the next and stress about traffic and the time it takes the computer to render my 3D objects that I need to turn in so I can get out of here.


I wonder how my life would be different if I were a more patient person?

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." Galatians 5:22 & 23