Time Spent Worrying

I have wasted a lot of my life worrying. Another way of phrasing it is that I have lost a lot of my life worrying. There are a lot of minutes or days that could have been spent more wisely if worry would not have been present.

Some worries were brought on by myself (i.e. procrastination) where as other moments were not (weather, bad news). Either way it has caused me to lose time that will never be gained back. However, worry for any reason causes one to focus on themselves and their desires too much.

Worrying often points back to how "I" will be able to accomplish something. Some things may be valid, within this context, but there are a lot of situations in which worrying does nothing to help the situation, but God does! That brings us to this week's quote...

Often times worrying is trying to figure out what to do to save yourself rather than trusting in God for deliverance. ~ J. Meyer

How much time have you wasted in worry? Probably more than you should have. How many of those times of worry did you gain anything? Probably not many.

As you can see there is a lot of truth found in the quote. With life situations that are basically "out of your hands" you should be trusting God He will take care and accept the outcome. It is probably easier said than done.

Now it's your turn...How does the verse impact you?

The Other Prodigal Son

There are times which a story has a “main character” and any “supporting characters” are not given as much attention in lessons. To notice the supporting character in a frequently overlooked Bible text is one of the most thrilling parts of being a student of the Bible.

In the story of the Lost Son (aka Prodigal Son), the younger son, who squanders his property is often the one who is looked at as the “main character” and the lessons hinge on his part of the story. The older son, also has traits of being a prodigal, so referring to him as “the other prodigal” is not out of line. There are some valuable lessons found in the “older son” and today, here are some applications to choose from to use this week…

• Enjoy Your Reward, as Well as Theirs ~ It can be easy to think we should be the ones that are rewarded. Recently, we went to a public gathering in which prizes were drawn. For the second year in a row, our children didn’t win anything. Because the “luck of the draw” was not on our side, it could be easy to be bitter at the others who won. However, even if we did not “win” we can enjoy the victory that was experienced by others.
• Look in the Mirror ~ It is easy to look at someone who you label with a judgment. There are many labels that someone could be given. Basically the label is meant to demean the person, no matter the label. May we look in the mirror to see ourselves as a faulty mortal, just as the one who we are forming the opinion about (aka judging).
• Wrong View of the Father ~ To fully understand God (aka Father, Heavenly Father) is an undiscoverable mystery. Because He is totally undiscoverable, we often put our suppositions in for what God must be doing in a situation. This supposition is usually based on how we’d operate in a given situation. To skim the surface on understanding how God is dealing with any given catastrophe is still beyond our capability. Most of which is because we are not Him, some is because we are not in that situation. To form a judgment on how God deals with a situation would be taking a wrong view of God. May we try to “mind our own business” when we see how God deals with peoples’ situations.

We are all prodigals, no matter which side of the line we stand. May we not overlook the last son because of the shadow created by the first son.

Stressed Out: Loss

Of all the things I have lost, that were tangible (wallet, keys, etc.) the thing that probably stressed me out the most was losing my computer. Actually it was stolen, not misplaced or set somewhere and taken, but my office was broken into and I lost it, along with a few other things. I thought someone had played a trick on me, initially, but once the reality set in, I was stressed!

That computer had a lot of information on it. I had just downloaded a lot of useful information and it was now all gone. I didn’t know where or to whom it went. I was devastated! (not to mentioned stressed).

However it worked out. Luckily, though it was a relatively new computer, I had a previous one that still had a lot of information on, just not the most recent. So, I was able to pull off some of the information that I needed.

Sunday, we examined our final lesson in our short series called “Stressed Out”, this one focused on “loss”, which could be of any area which one loses something. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week…

• Weighing the Loss ~ As God provides everything for us, may we take that into account when it comes to losing something. This is especially true of losing things that we had little to no control over, not negligence. God provided in the first place and He’ll provide in the “second place”. Keep Him above what you lose and our perspective will be much better.
• Moving Forward ~ Sometimes stress just paralyzes you. Some may sulk as a result. Some may sit and drown their stress. May the choice be made that we do not allow stress to be a “rest area” but rather motive to move forward with our life and doing things for Him, while increasing our faith.

Losing things can be very stressful, but how we react to those losses will make all the difference! May we simply use it to glorify Him!

E-mail Encouragement: Don't Lose Character

The week is coming quickly to a close. How has your week been? Have you had any "surprises" that God sent your way? If so, do you like to share?

Being lost or losing something is almost always a negative concept. That is no different with today's quote. Hopefully when you lose something or have been lost, you learn a lesson for any "next times". That is the positive result - learning the lesson. Certain things that we might lose are more important than other things. Some things are replaceable, whereas others aren't. That brings us to today's proverb...

When wealth is lost, nothing is lost;
When health is lost, something is lost;
When character is lost, all is lost!
~ German Proverb

Character, similar to trust, may take a while to develop, but seconds to lose. Look at celebrities - be it a singer, actor, athlete, etc. - they may have lots of money and/or good health, but none of that matters if they have a bad character. Pete Rose, a very talented baseball player, hasn't made it into the Hall of Fame due to poor decisions which defamed his character. The list could go on and on with people who lost character by making different decisions that were poor ones.

We can learn a lesson by other's mistakes which will help us not lose our character. As Christians we are going to be looked at through a looking glass. So if our character is marred, then our influence for Christ will be marred.

Among other things in life that are important, do everything to maintain a good character!

Have a great end of the week!

Peace & Grace ~

E-mail Encouragement: Strength

I hope you've had a good week, thus far. With last week being so busy, it has nice to have a "less busy" week.

We've all had our share of struggles. From the smallest to the biggest, the least frustrating to the most, struggles are struggles. However, most struggles help us learn lessons, which help us cope with life. Think about this as you read this week's quote...

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength. ~ Arnold Schwarzenegger

You simply cannot be strong all the time. You might be able to appear strong, but you will wear yourself out trying to be strong. In order to become strong in muscular strength you must perform some type of exercise which exerts tension on muscles. This causes the muscle to actually tear, but is replaced by more muscle cells. When we go through hardships and don't give up we may "tear" but it is replaced by more "cells" to enable us to get through the situation and/or learn from it for the next time.

Our hope is not hardship, but not surrendering to the inevitable will develop strength.

Having a hardship this week? May God bless you as you seek Him through it all and become "stronger" in the end!

Blessed by Him ~