Praying for Difficult People

Hello, everyone! Happy New Year! Yes, sadly this is my first post of 2013. I feel like such a slacker.

A lot has been going on in the Mustion house lately. We started the new year with Jimmy taking a trip to the emergency room and then being admitted into the hospital for a two day stay. Needless to say, things have been hectic.

Unfortuntely, not only was Jimmy's illness uncomfortable for him and down right scary for me it has also caused other unforeseen complications. Namely that my boss doesn't understand the concept of taking care of family and making sacrifices for your spouse. Since I have returned to work after Jimmy recovered, she has done nothing but pick at me over the smallest details and tell me that I need to shut out the rest of my life when I am as work because work is the most important.

It has literally been one thing after another for the past two weeks. I feel like I am constantly tip toeing around on eggshells, and I have shed more tears in the past two weeks than I have in the past two years. It's incredible how stressful this environment can be.

But I had a realization today...

During my quiet time I was reading about love from the book of Romans chapter 12. Up until this point, I have been focusing on how miserable my boss has made my life and all the stress that has put on me and my marriage when I bring the stress home from work, but never once have I stopped to pray FOR MY BOSS. I have prayed about the situation--mainly that God would deliver me and make it stop--but I have never prayed for HER.

It made me think. What must be going on in her life that would make her treat someone this way because they took time off to be with their husband while he was in the hospital? Maybe she doesn't understand what family is like because her whole world is her job and her two cats. Have I missed an opportunity to bless her because I haven't prayed for her earlier?

It gave me a different perspective when I stopped to think about it. I may not love my boss or the way she is treating me but God loves her. She probably really needs God's love right now. So I stopped and tried to genuinely pray for her and not just that she will stop being mean to me, but actually that God will genuinely touch her and bring peace to her life.

It wasn't easy and I am no saint. Still I realized today that praying for people that are difficult is important. It is a realization that I will have to make a conscious effort to employ. But I am sure that God will be more than willing to help me with it.

Grace and Peace,
Christiana

Girl Talk with God Review

Overview:
Girl Talk with God by Susie Shellenberger is designed to teach teenage girls about having a real, viable prayer life. It teaches that prayer is more than just ritual “it’s actually all about talking to Him and listening to Him talk back.”

My Thoughts:
Girl Talk with God allows you to eaves drop on conversations God is having with His teenage daughters. These conversations cover many relevant topics including: entertainment choices, what it means to be a Christian, the language you use, eating disorders, and cutting. The writing style is almost script like as you read the prayer dialogue between God and the girl He is talking with. It honestly made it a little hard for me to get into as I prefer to read a single narrative or a more continuous writing style. The chapters are short and easy to manage. They are written in a way that is easy to understand and that I think any teenager will get. Some of the chapters are almost too simple or they just seem a little too perfectly packaged because teenagers (and adults alike) just don’t listen that well. I would also have liked to see some more added material in addition to the actual “conversation”.

One thing that I really, really appreciated is that each conversation with God was packed with scripture. It wasn’t just the references so that you would look it up later. It was the actual written word right there on the page. Which is good because we are often too lazy to look it up later and it’s important that those scriptural truths be read because they directly deal with what the conversation is about. It also makes for an easy way that teen girls can share scriptures with their friends. If they are talking about sex, just turn to the chapter that deals with sex and you have several scriptures ready to go that talk about sexual purity and what God intended sex to be like.

Overall, Girl Talk with God was a quality book and teaches strong lessons that we all should learn. I would read it again and I will probably recommend it to several of the girls in our youth group.


This book was a free copy provided to me by Thomas Nelson Publishing for review purposes.

Dream Big

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21



This weekend is our church’s DNOW (Disciple Now) weekend. Every year as Jimmy and I plan for DNOW, we sit back in expectation of what God is going to do. This year’s theme is EPIC. We are fully expecting God to come and do Epic things in our lives, the students lives, the adult workers live, and in our church. We are claiming the promise of God that He can do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”! I don’t know about you but I can dream pretty big. Still He is able not just to exceed these dreams, He can do IMMEASURABLY MORE than what I can imagine! I can’t even fathom that but I’m not supposed to be able to get it otherwise it wouldn’t be beyond imagination.

How many times have we robbed God of what He wants to do just because we don’t dream big? Seriously, how big is your God?! My God is HUGE! Do I always have faith? Heck no! In the last few years, I have had major struggles in belief and faith. I am just starting to come around and realize that God’s faithfulness has never changed. He is still there waiting for me to ask Him to do big things in my life and in our ministry. Yes, He can do them without me asking Him to do them, but I believe that He wants us to be faithful in asking and He delights in answering our requests. Does He always give us the answer He wants? Heck no! But rest assured God always answers. Sometimes He says “No” or “Wait” and we use our selective hearing and claim that He didn’t give us an answer, but He always, always answers.

So what are you asking God for? Is it in-line with His will? Are you dreaming big? Do you have faith that God can do even more than you can ask or imagine? Try it. Trust God. Believe He can and will answer your prayers. Be faithful in listening for His answer. Be obedient in the things that God asks you to do. Just wait, He’s going to blow your mind!

“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.” 1 Chronicles 4:10