When You’re Good, You’re Good

You need to know something about yourself...you’re good! Over the past several years, I didn’t know that I was good. I would walk in to a conversation hoping some of others’ goodness would wear on me (I don’t think it ever did). I grew up not realizing that I was good. It wasn’t necessarily anything my parents did or did not do, it was probably just a part of growing up.

The problem with that is we may be teens that do not realize we’re good and then we transition into adults that do not change their mindset. They get into “real life” and forget to realize that they are still “good”.

I ran across this quote that pertains to this subject matter and I think it hits home the fact that “when you’re good, you’re good”. The quote is by Roberta Bondi, “Before anything else, above all else, beyond everything else, God loves us. God loves us extravagantly, ridiculously, without limit or condition.”

Texts like Ephesians 2:10 that tells us we are His workmanship and Psalm 139:14 that tells us we are fearfully and wonderfully made, help remind us how good we actually are, in God’s view.

If/when you are going through a time you find yourself not looking very highly at yourself, remember these verses. They are useful in helping us realize that we are good. God loves us so incredibly much that it is practically unfathomable, which is why we need to wrap our minds around the fact that we are “good”

Be encouraged you’re good and when you’re good, you’re good!

Stressed Out: Instant Gratification

“Calgon, take me away!!!” – Remember that phrase?  It was a phrase used for a bath product during the 1980s (at least that is when I remember it, but I think it was older, even). It was advertised to help people who wanted to “get away” from their busy and hectic life by taking a bath, using this product. The commercial would have various stressors shown and the woman would say “Calgon, take me away!” with a connotation it was pleading with the product.

The woman in the advertisement wanted to be taken away from all of this stress very soon. Who wouldn’t? Stress is taxing and not good on the body, so why not have it taken away as soon as possible.

The reality of life is that those stresses are still there, but we aim to get away through immediate, yet temporary means. Sunday, we looked at the third in our four-part series called “Stressed Out” and specifically looked at how wanting something ‘right now’ can cause one to be stressed out.  Here are some applications to choose from to use this week…

• Adjust Your Time Table ~ When I am traveling (or when someone is coming to see me) I like to know when I will arrive. The quicker to get from point A to point B is what I am shooting for. However, as situations may come up, I may not make it to point B as quickly as I was hoping. So, I can adjust my time table to say I will be arriving at a different time, still arriving. In life we can take on that similar mindset. When something is not getting here as soon as I would like – answered prayer, phone call, mail, etc. I can learn to see that God will take care of it in His time.
• Take Advantage of the Wait ~ When things are delayed, brainstorm other ways in which you can utilize your time. De-stress yourself by looking at the bright side of the time that is made available to you, in the wait, to do something useful. Send someone a note/text of encouragement, call someone to see how they are doing, take on another useful project, or find something else to do while you wait.
• Be patient ~ Simply said. Also, understand you cannot always receive what you want and when you want.

Enjoy the time that you are not receiving “instant gratification”…you never know what God is using you for in that time!

 

Surge Ahead So You Don’t Miss Out

I recently took a “test” that determined what my top five strengths are out of thirty-four possibilities. It was a book I was given called “Strengths Finder 2.0”. As I am in ministry, it is not a religious book. I found the top five accurate, in the sense that I can see myself in these strengths.

One of the strengths that came up was “Learner”. I won’t get into the details, but when I read this week’s quote, I went back to this strength to maybe see why this quote “spoke” to me…here it is…

The limit of your present understanding is not the limit of your possibilities.  ~ Guy Finley

If I were to ever have let my present conditions or understanding be the “iron fist” of my life, I know I would not have been able to do some of the things I’ve done. I cannot say that I have never succumbed to that “fist”, which has caused me to miss out on things in life.  I wished I wouldn’t have, so that my life may have been better.

I like to “put myself out there” and see what will happen. If I get a “no” or no response, that is OK, but what if I get a “yes”!  I shoot for “yes” and accept the “no”. But, so I don’t miss out, I surge ahead to see what will happen. May you do the same…expand your possibilities…full-speed ahead!

Rest Assure

I recently read that someone had come up with the phrase “Rest Assure” for themselves for 2011. It is simple. It is catchy. It is calming to the Christian.

As I read about her explanation, I thought about the song “It is Well”. To me, that song reminds me to rest assure. To know that there may be storms that come about in life, but “rest assure” that “it is well, with my soul”.

If your soul is even a fraction like mine, you need to know how much God is there with us each day. A few days ago, when I entered my car to soon find out it wouldn’t start, I needed this phrase. The sound the car made was not something I had ever heard. And my “mechanic” brother-in-law was not sure of the sound either. The fact that he didn’t know what it might be would also increase my need to “rest assure”. My sea was “billowing” as car repairs can mount up in dollars in a quick second, I didn’t know what we were going to do.

Luckily, the next morning my brother-in-law was able to work some “coincidental” magic, the car started. It has started ever since then with no repairs made to the vehicle. We had it ran for “codes” and no issues. There are some “could have been” possibilities, but may never know.

Life can be a “Disney vacation” at times and it can be “The Perfect Storm” at others. We probably will tend to lean toward the second movie title to describe life, rather than the first description. We tend to have a life that goes up and down, water splashing over the sides, being tossed back and forth, before coming to a settled point for a while before another storm comes.

When life brings about some wavy times this year...Rest Assure...He’s still here and the calm is coming.

Stressed Out: Unplanned Situations

Your child comes to you to reveal they are going to be a parent (regardless of gender). You get up and go to work to find out it was your last day. You go out to start your car and it doesn’t start. You have a busy day and get a call from a close friend who just lost a spouse and needs to talk.

Just a few examples of unplanned situations. All of which will probably bring about some sort of stress in your life. How do you deal with these situations? Do you stress and try to initially get through it yourself? Do you turn to God initially, eventually, or at all?

Sunday, as we examined our second part of our Stressed Out series, we looked at being stressed in unplanned situations, especially when they can be beyond our control.  Here are some applications to choose from to use this week…

• Reactions are Natural ~ As the concept is to turn to God, it is not out of the question to have an initial reaction before turning to God. Disappointment, frustration, anxiousness, and anger are possible initial reactions we are going to have. However, hopefully, those are short-lived before turning things over to God.
• Stress is Heavy ~ If you saw a 50 lb bag of something sitting in your house, you wouldn’t probably be drawn to pick it up to carry it around for the rest of the day. However, “invisible” weight, like stress, can be just as wearing but we generally elect to carry it around. Why is that? Giving your stresses to God (which may take more than once per stressor) allows Him to carry the load for you. Also, asking for help from fellow Christians.
• Give Regularly ~ Depending on your nature you may have a tendency to give God your situation initially, but then fade out in your giving as the situation unfolds. May we remember to give it to Him more than once. Maybe your situation causes you to confront someone, give that stress to Him as you enter into it, too.

Stresses come all the time. May we learn to lift up the situations to Him!

The Mission of Life

A few years ago, my wife and I went to a local concert together. It was held at one of the local churches, so to be supportive and hear Christian music I was interested in going. My wife and I like the Contemporary Christian genre of music. This was Southern Gospel and advertised as “Gaither-like” music. I was a bit torn but wanted to be supportive.

I was somewhat excited to go, she was being supportive to me. We seated ourselves and waited for the event to begin. From the very beginning it was dreadful. It just wasn’t the type of genre I was even able to handle. About midway through the first part, I communicated that I wanted to leave at intermission.  She couldn’t have agreed more!

So, at intermission we left and it was great to get out of there! That brings us to this week’s quote…

In order to succeed, life must be a mission not an intermission. ~ Unknown

Intermission is a time of pausing, which means not moving along with the show. If we treated life, as a whole, like one big pause, we’d arrive nowhere. Pausing along the way is good, but to stay “paused” is not good.

Life is in constant motion. Hopefully in a forward direction. A mission has a goal; an intermission does not. A goal shows there is an endpoint to strive toward, not just a point to remain.

Be in motion in a forward direction…keep your eyes on the goal(s) in life. Live life with a mission!

Stressed Out: High Expectations

When I was attending the university I was a student athletic trainer (sports therapy). During my first year there (I came in as a junior), the softball coach, who had been there several years was requiring that his players weigh in regularly. So, they had to come in to the Training Room and tell the supervising student trainer their weight. This weight was recorded, and, presumably, compared.

Long story short, two of the coach’s players became anorexic. Not just a bit, but severely anorexic. To the point of noticeably pale skin, passing out multiple times, and going to therapy. I remember witnessing these two females working out, wrapped up in hoodies to burn off extra body weight. Was this coach’s expectations of them too high? Or did the coach make a mistake in judgment trying to create a competitive team?

Sometimes we may view the “ideal” of what God expects of us like these girls viewed their coach’s request. No doubt the girls, more than these two, were under stress to try to maintain a status quo on the softball team. Being expected to do things beyond our presumed abilities will create much stress in our lives, possibly causing us to be “stressed out”. That brings us to what we talked about Sunday in the first of our four-part series. Here are some applications to choose from to use this week…

• When God “Expects” He Assures ~ Genesis 12:1-3 is not the only place that we can find God providing assurance. There are multiple places that God gives us all the assurance we could possibly need to follow His directions. This section of text we highlighted showed God telling Abram (not yet Abraham) to go to the unknown land. But he follows it up with statements of assurance. Make Abram into a great nation. He and others will be blessed. There will be protection. Also, Abram will be influential. God doesn’t just abandon us when He asks us to do things, even walk through life – He’ll be there!
• Assurance Doesn’t Mean “Clear Sailing” ~ If you were to pray for something risky and it worked out, you’d probably have an increased faith and appreciation in God. However, if it didn’t work out, would your faith and appreciation descend? In several people it would. If we think that just because something doesn’t work out that it is a result of God “picking on us” or just not in favor of us, we are immature in our thinking. Start looking at any result as positive. God knows if you need it or if there is something better for you in the future. Thinking this way will help take some stress away.
• Don’t Just Sit There ~ Abram would have never been able to see his “promised land” if he would have remained where he was at. Getting up and heading toward a destination is a key to getting us somewhere in life. Also, to see what God has in store for us, we must move. Moving is key to arriving at a destination.

God’s expectations are not as “high” as we tend to think. Going against what God is asking us can be too energy-expending that we waste the time that could have been spent on doing what God expects of us.

Use less energy and reduce stress by doing what we see as God’s expectations…

Here is a key verse in this lesson…

Give all [my] worries and cares to God, for he cares about [me] (1 Peter 5:7 NLT).