My Heart to Yours

About a month ago I found myself in the ladies restrrom at the St. Louis Airport. As I opened the door to the stall, three women huddled together in front of the vanity mirror above the sinks.

“Sally, would you look at these pants! Can you believe the way I look in them?”

As I stepped in and shut my door, I heard Sally respond, “Oh, Helen, you look perfectly fine in those pants. Quit your complaining.”

Well, Sally didn’t believe her friend Helen. I over heard a long drawnout sigh before she spoke these words. “That’s what you say! All I know is if I could loose these last ten ponds, everything would be so much better.”

Inside the stall I screamed the longest silent scream ever heard of. It was something like AAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You see, Sally and Helen had to be pushing 80 years old, if not 85!! Good grief!! My thirty something soul asked, “Does it ever end?”

I have one thing to say to the Helen’s and Sally’s of the world- be they 80 years old or 16!!! Three words that have the power to change your life!

Let(one) It(two) Go(three)!!!

That’s right, Let it go!! Say it with me now, right there at your computer: Let it go!!! Now, how about a little let it go housekeeping:

* Not a size 12 or 14 or 16. Let it go!

* The academic bumber sticker on your car reads, “I have a C- Student at Anywhere Middle School. Let It Go!

* A dust clothe hasn’t touched your baseboards in five years or more. LET IT GO!

*You don’t even know what a dust cloth is. LET IT GO!!

It is high time we women got over the business of hanging on to lies, assumptions, attitudes, perceptions and limitations: and mov on to letting it go and LIVING!!

I am taking a stand for living!!!!
Living- regardless of our hip circumference or bra size!
Living- with the good the bad and the ugly. For all of life is comprised of the good, the bad, and the ugly!
Living- allowing people to come in and out of our doors, no longer tethered to a vacuum sweeper or some Martha Stewart image of perfection!!

LET IT GO AND LIVE!!!! Whatever it is that you are holding on to or that has you captive LET IT GO and Experience the freedom God intended for you to have.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10, NIV).

Abba, show us the “thieves” that are robbing us of the abundant life You came to give! Help us to truel, “let it go,” and experience all the riches that freedom brings. Amen

I thought this was interesting.

Behind every successful man, the saying goes, there’s a good woman. And that’s often the case. But have you ever considered that behind almost every successful woman, there’s a good man?

Read More!!!

Aren’t you all thankful for your “good men”? I know I am!!!

by Ruth E. Van Reken

Holiness. What a strange word. Sounds a little fanaticle. What does it even mean? As a teenager, I would have answered that question, “No dancing, no drinking, no movies. Read the bible in the morning, pray every day, and you’ll be fine. The rules are clear, Keep them and thou shall be pronounced holy.”

My ideas of holiness, however, didn’t stay that simple. I have seen those “rules” for “How to be the World’s Best Christian” cited as examples of legalism by fellow Christians. After all, didn’t King David dance before God? (2 Samuel 6:14)? And didn’t Jesus turn water into wine at a wedding (John 2:1-11)? As I consider these things, my perspective on holiness has begun to change.

For example, as a young mom, I felt relieved to learn God didn’t require a specific time for devotions, such as first thing in the morning. With my new freedom I soon went from feeling guilty if I missed my morning quiet time to often going to bed without having spent much time at all with God that day. How easy it was to slide from legalism to license!

Yet, in the midst of my liberation, unease gnawed at my soul. If holiness only means keeping certain rules and now the rules are gone, is the idea of holiness extinct? If not, what does it mean to be holy without being legalistic? Is such a thing possible?

What do you think? I have more to come tomorrow but for now would like to know what you think about holiness and what that means for us today?

……………….. So I asked my friend her thoughts on holiness. She instantly replied, “It attracts me like a magnet.” I was shocked. This obviously hadn’t been my picture of the word. When I asked her why, she replied, “Because it is so beautiful. Holiness shines in the darkness to remind us of how things should have been and what they will be one day.”

Back to square one for me! If holiness was indeed beautiful (as Psalm 29:2 also says) rather than oppressive (as I’d thought), I needed to ask God for fresh eyes to see it.

First Peter 1:16 says I’m to be holy as God’s holy. If holiness relates to purity and being set apart, how could I achieve it? May-be the rules of my past were correct after all. But going back to them didn’t feel like the right answer. Scripture clearly teaches that I am to live a life distinct from the world (James 4:4). But such a life is far different than keeping a few rules. Why?

First, holiness starts with God- not me. I enter the realm of holiness by accepting Jesus as my Savior. In this process, God not only forgives my sin (John 1:29), but he tells me I’ve been bought with a price- the precious blood of Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:20). God set me apart for himself and moves me from the world’s kingdom into his kingdom (John 3:5).

But then there is my part in the “holiness plan.” While true holiness originates with God, He asks for my response as well. Initially I’m asked to receive God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ (John 3: 16-17). But that is not all. My actions matter. God wants me to live a pure life according to HIS standards. Why? because as His follower, I represent God to those who don’t yet know Him. God designed His kingdom- made up of His followers- to reflect his character. For example, while the world says to curse my enemies, God instructs me to bless them because His character consists of blessing people. He declares that greatness is found in servanthood, not in human power. God says my body is His temple, and I’m not to use it for immorality. His principles for how I am to live are clear and definite, but most significantly- they aren’t specific rules for every possible situation.

That takes me back to my first question. If holiness isn’t about following a group of rules, but it does relate to my behavior, what is the practical difference between holiness and legalism?

Holiness calls me to live by faith, not by sight. Because God gives us principles rather than specific rules for living a holy life, his kingdom can be lived in some measure here on earth in all generations, in all cultures, in all times. How these eternal principles are applied will look different in different circumstances, but God’s principles never change. One person may be a vegetarian, for example, while another eats meat, yet both honor God (Romans 14:2-3). To live a holy life means I must completely go back to God for direction on how to live out these principles.

Legalism, however, occurs when a legitimate application of a certain principle is turned into an absolute. Soon this rule replaces the principle itself and one of two things happen. First, those who faithfully follow the rule can become self- righteous, easily forgetting to consider further applications of the underlying principle. Or when the lagalistic rules themselves are exposed as the non- absolutes they are , it is easy to believe there are no absolutes. Not only is the legalism discarded as irrelevant, but the eternal priniciples initially behind are is often discarded as well.

Being holy isn’t always easy. God often exposes an area in my life in which I still hide sin. He shows me I need to repent. Other times holiness is liberating. Because this is about life in God’s kingdom, not mine, I can afford to forgive those who have wounded me, to share with those who can never repay, and to overcome evil with good. As a Christian, my job is to be obedient, while God’s job is to figure out the rest.

My friend and the Psalmist are right. There is beauty in holiness. It is the beauty of seeing God’s kingdom grow here on earth as God’s followers live out his intended plan. In that process, living a holy life makes us the light that shines in the darkness and the salt to preserve the good (Mathew 5:13-16). Holiness is important and relevant. And it still matters in our world today!

“I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He
lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet
on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my
mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put
their
trust in the LORD.” (Psalm 40:2-3 NIV)

This poem helps me to understand the value of patience.

Two frogs fell into a can of cream
Or so I’ve heard it told
The sides of the can were shiny and steep
The cream was deep and cold.
“Oh, what the use?” said No. 1
“Tis fate—no help’s around!
Good-bye, my friend!
Good-bye, sad world!”
And weep still, he drowned.
But No. 2 of sterner stuff,
Dog paddled in surprise,
The while he wiped his creamy face
And dried his creamy eyes.
“I’ll swim awhile, at least,” he said
Or so it has been said…
“It wouldn’t really help the world
If one more frog was dead.”
An hour or two he kicked and swam
Not once, he stopped to mutter
But kicked and swam and swam and kicked, then hopped out, via butter.

Don’t give up! Just give in and allow God to take control! He will
turn that pit into an altar on which your broken spirit can be laid as
a sweet sacrifice of praise!

Years ago, in a large southeastern city, the great pianist, Paderewski,
was scheduled to perform. The city was alive with excitement and the
day finally came. In the crowd at the great concert hall that evening
was a young mother clutching the hand of her small son. Hoping to
inspire him to practice, she had brought him to hear the master
perform. As they sat and waited for the concert to begin, she turned her head
to look at the people as they filled the auditorium. The little boy saw
his chance to escape. He quietly slipped from his seat, walking down the
aisle toward the stage. Just as he reached the orchestra pit, a
spotlight hit the grand piano and he gasped at the beauty of the
instrument. No one noticed the little boy as he slipped up the side
stairs to the stage and climbed up on the piano stool. No one noticed
him at all, until he began to play “Chopsticks”. The concert hall fell
silent. Then people began to shout,”Get him off the stage!” Backstage,
the Master heard the crowd and grabbing his coat, rushed to the little
boy’s side. Without a word, he bent down and placing his hands on
either side of the boy’s, began to compose a beautiful counter melody
to “Chopsticks”. As they played together, He whispered in the little
boy’s ear, “Don’t stop! Keep on! Don’t quit!”

Our Father says it this way:

Philippians 1:6 And I am sure that God who began the good work within
you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task
within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns.

Right now…right where you are…your Father is standing beside you,
with His arms wrapped around you. Listen…as He gently speaks, “Don’t
stop! Keep on! Don’t quit!”

I know that sometimes the music of our darkened souls may be filled with chaos
and dissonance, but even now, the Master is composing the “rest” of our
song. And one day very soon, it will be a song of beauty and light!

PRESS ON!!!!