Lesson on Balance

Can you balance on a beam? I can't. My daughter however can. She had an accident and broke her left arm and it's in a huge cast right now. With that cast on, she can still balance easily. I absolutely can not balance like her!

So do you have balance in your life? I try. It's hard to do sometimes. But I think being a balanced person is a great witness for God and Christianity. Would you agree? Do you drive through your town looking at the pretty scenery and wonder why all of those churches can't just have one big building and party together? I do that a lot. It makes me sad that people who all believe in one God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit can't agree long enough to worship and fellowship together.

So today my mind went through all sorts of conversation with God about it all. And I think I understand it more clearly now. He used the example of my daughter being able to walk with balance even though she's injured while I still can not walk with good balance.

We're different, have different levels of skill. And, we're still both able to balance to some degree.

Some Christians can't walk a good walk for Christ without having all of those legalistic rules in place. While others can't even breathe for Christ under those restrictions. And the really awesome part is...they're both saved, both going to Heaven someday and both equal in God's eyes!! It's a matter of walking YOUR walk with Christ, not someone else's walk.

I fall into the category of "the more rules, the more rebellion". And I still have old church hurts because of legalism. But I'm thinking that God is showing me a way to heal from all that hurt without resenting the people involved. He wants me to become more balanced. And I accept that project from Him. He's worth all of the effort I put into it.

Treating Others Like Ourselves

I feel strongly about fair treatment. Do you? I think you do, but I think we fail to live by those standards from time to time. Failure is inevitable, but striving is the important part.
I wasn't treated fairly this week at work. I'm a target for some reason at my job. And I'm not being a person living in denial when I say, I'm clueless as to WHY I'm the target for these idiots. But, the treatment was completely emotion-driven and wrong 100%.
What do I do about that? I'm stuck at my job because I've used my credit cards too often and need my job to help me pay that bad debt off. I can't earn what I earn anywhere else right now. I enjoy my WORK but not the people. The owner won't do anything about the unfair treatment, actually did the same thing which was even more humiliating.
So what do I do? If I report the company, I get the only lady owner in trouble and she wants to do something but is not permitted. If I report the company what retaliation will I get? I realize there are laws against that even, but it won't stop it from happening and possibly getting me fired. The weekly check would be gone and the credit debt will still be there! So for my family, reporting the company is NOT an option at this point.
So what do I do?
I chose to pray about it. I'm standing on God's promises that He declares in His Word and I'm going to start letting God deal with them. I am quite blunt with God. I tell Him if I'm mad at Him, in love with Him, hurt by Him, and then I let Him work on me. I let Him know that I hate this boss of mine and I would love to see him burning in hell one day. Now how "christian" does that sound?? It doesn't!!! So I'm going to say God's not going to allow that "desire" to be given to me, but I think He's all about giving me grace to walk through the pain and anger of all this mistreatment. I think He's all about getting me some recompense too.
What a bunny trail that was!!! Here's my real point in "blogging". The golden rule in school is to treat others the way you would have them treat you. It's in the bible as well, but if you're a nonbeliever in the bible...what do you care what it says? So just go with the idea of it all. If we treated every individual the way we want to be treated, how awesome would this world be?!? I doubt racism would exist, don't you? I doubt religious debates would take place, don't you? Or terrorism. Imagine the happy days all of us would experience if we just took the time and used the patience to treat others as if they were us standing there next to ourselves!

So let's take one "treating others" flaw out of our napsack and fix it the next few months. Watch and record your behavior towards others for a week or so, it might take some of you much less time to find the flaw you want to fix the most. Then, make a conscience effort to fix that flaw and change a person's life somewhere. It's like a smile. If you smile at someone, they smile back. Now treat someone with a smiling action and watch them do it for someone else, and that cycle can keep going on.

Should We Really Focus On Revelation or Salvation?

I've been a person that's believed in God all of my life. I have never truly questioned whether or not He exists. I still get confused. I still question His plan. And I still ask "why" way too often. But I don't question whether or not He's really there, ya know?

I started walking my beliefs about 8 1/2 yrs ago though. (In other words, I got "saved" 8.5 yrs ago)

The beginnings of my walk were wonderful. I learned a lot of information about God and the bible that I had never heard before. But in the process I also got to hear about the book of Revelation and how it's all about the end of our world as we know it. It's quite scary to read with that in mind. I don't want to burn up in fire or be taken away from my children, etc, etc. I want to walk in the clouds and be happy 24/7 though time will no longer exist. (I chuckled at that for just a second, but it's truly what we think lol)

So I eventually stopped listening to any of it. I got irritated easily if a preacher or pastor started to teach on that subject. And one day it hit me upside the head...why are we trying to "preach" to "the lost" with the book of Revelation and all the end of the world stuff? Why aren't we TEACHING people about God and His love for us? About Jesus? About forgiveness? About GRACE? About flaws in ALL of us? Why aren't we teaching those that have been hurt by churches or their congregations about how humans are not perfect but God is?? That it's a personal relationship with Christ that matters?

I find all of that information in all of the books of my bible, not just in one or two. All of the biblical stories have deeper meanings than what we first read. It's not about scaring people into "salvation", but it's about loving people through the LONG process of growing in God.

I don't want to stand on my "soap box" too long because I'll fall, I promise that much. So I'll wrap this all up nice and pretty for you, ok? If you're a "practicing Christian" and this is your approach to "winning people for the Lord"...stop it. It's not winning them, it's scaring them. Scared salvation will not sustain a bad storm. If you're someone who agrees with me...awesome. I think you are truly walking in love and you'll be abundantly blessed in life for it. Let's stop worrying about when the end will arrive, or how it will arrive and let's start focusing on the process of living for God. If we stop focusing on others, it's a guarantee, we'll start seeing more success stories for God.

Let's Get This Started Out Right!!

Ever been intimidated?? I have. Recently too.

I decided in February of this year that I was going to start a college online. Sounded cool enough, lax enough and seemed like the thing to do to further myself in life. I struggled with it costing money per month while we were trying to get debt free...but honestly, what's so bad about this debt IF I make it through and get a better job? It's a struggle I had, but I went for it.

I got through their "entrance exam" with no problems. My confidence was high. I got my first two books (they're small paperbacked books) and felt a little intimidated, but it's just butterflies I do believe. I passed those two "exams" with no real issues, but a lower grade than what I had wanted.

My second round of books showed up about the second week of February, I looked at them and got excited..then freaked out.

I just picked them BACK UP for the FIRST TIME two days ago. (It's May in case you're not paying attention to the date here lol) I passed my first books "exam" with a 92. My confidence is building back up.

I'm still scared, but I can't be intimidated anymore. It's gotten me NO WHERE in life and I'm tired of being no where.

So, my advice, take it or leave it, is to not allow fear, rejection, failure or intimidation stop you from living life FULLY. Get out there and do the very thing you've been stopping yourself from doing. I have practiced this "philosophy" in baby steps for the past couple of months and it's a freedom I am truly starting to fall in love with.

This was rantle #1 and I hope it's something you appreciate. If not, send me mail (I think that's an option you can do through here) and tell me to rantle about something you want to hear about. :) My next rantle will be about church, faith and religion. ;-)