When We Are Tempted to Worry

 

Waiting......

I am waiting to see if I passed my counseling certification exams.

I am waiting to see if I have life changing health-related test results.

I am waiting to see what God has in store for our future.

I am waiting on my article edits to see if I need to make corrections once again.

I am waiting on the school year to end so I can enter into the home school journey with my son.

So many things I am waiting on and this is not an all inclusive list. There are other things, lurking in my mind. I am sure you can relate too. For we are all waiting on something.

I can easily be tempted to agonize over these waits. It is tempting to worry or fret over these things. Some of the issues seem more worrisome than others, of course. Life altering test results can be a heavier burden than an article edit. But waiting seems to look the same for each one.

If worry could speed up the time process of the wait then I would say go for it! However, God says something different. Worry is essentially forgetting that God has promised the best for us.

Sometimes that is hard to accept when the test results come back less than expected or you are rejected by a peer. These things are painful, however, God promises that we will be more like Christ as we look to Him and His promises in the midst of them.

This is a great Scripture to meditate on when you are tempted to worry.

"You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast because they trust in you" (Isaiah 26:3, ESV).

When I feel myself losing my peace, I am not trusting in God. My worry is taking on the problem in my own strength instead of God's.

This happened after 40 days with the children of Israel. God was clearly present because He was on the mountain with Moses. Yet, Moses stayed up there too long for the people to stomach so they gave in to fear. Fear, worry and anxiety are all connected. When we give into these things we are not trusting God's best for us. We are saying that God is not good and I can figure out a better way. If we give into this worry, we will do stupid things.

The children of Israel did this. They thought God was taking too long with Moses. They forgot how God saved them from Egypt. despite the great miracles He performed for them over and over again. Not only the rescue but also sustaining them in the desert. But as they daily depended on their manna, they still forgot God's goodness.

After they deemed that God took too long with Moses, they decided to make something they could worship. Something they could control and make with their own hands. It was a golden calf. And Aaron, their leader went along with it, in fact he oversaw it. 

 It is devastating that we would ever forget God. Just thinking of the fact that Jesus came, lived the life we could not live perfectly and then died for our sin on the cross is enough for us to not ever worry. God was so good to send His son to take the punishment for sin that was owed to us. Jesus stood in our place. That is enough for us to know His goodness. 

Yet God does so much more in His goodness toward us through all of the promises He gives us in His word.   God poured His love out on us so that we never need to fear. Yet, we forget. We try to make our own idols to worship. Idols that we can control. Things like a impenetrable schedule, or anger that continually bugs or harasses the people with the answers we need, or impatience so we step in front of God in stepping on others for that new position. There are many subtle ways we do this that we do not consider idolatry but it is idolatry. 

Do you think of worry as a subtle form of idolatry? Have you ever considered it to be sin? What are some ways you cope with worry?
 

Living with Teenagers!

First, I must say, I love my family. I would die for any of them. They are the greatest gift that God has given me. They are the best gift I could ever get in this life.

However, great gifts don't always come without great difficulty. Our family dynamics are vast, interesting and intentional. Yes. I said, intentional.

God gives us everything, including our family members, in our lives that will be used to shape and mold us into Christ-likeness. He does this because He is a good Father. He has a foreknowing of what we need to stop being brats. He knows what it will take in our lives to cause us to lay down our lives freely, like Jesus. Then with the laying down of life comes real resurrection power and the life we were meant to live.

Jesus gave us the example and did not leave us alone to navigate the here and now. In fact, if we are found in Him, He lives in us! How amazing is that?!

Now with that said, I have to come clean about my attitude about teens. I love teens. I loved working with that age group before I have my own teens. It was my absolute favorite age group to work with. I mean, these are younger image bearers who are figuring out how they want to live their lives. It is awkward and messy and weird at times. It is frustrating at times but powerfully beautiful seeing them overcome the many obstacles of life in their generation. It is definitely an interesting and exciting time of life.

Yet, as much as I love working with teens, it is an entirely different thing when you live with teens. The full "24/7 in each others space" pressure that pushes the sinfulness out of our hearts kind of real is what we get in this phase of life. It is raw and rough at times. Think toddler hood, round 2. Except now these precious growing humans have an ability to freely express their minds.

Though, life is messy now, I love it. We have a great ability to reason with our teens that we didn't get when working with toddlers. Now, they are able to really understand the why to our rules. Also, we get to move more into a coaching role as we let them have more freedom and make more decisions on their own under our safe space.

However, while these precious ones are blooming into adulthood, most of us have aging parents to also think about. That adds more pressure to this stage of middle age. It really exposes you for who you are. You can chose to embrace it, repent, and rely on gospel grace or be grumbling and miserable. God is really shaping and molding us as these challenges come our way.

I don't like the typical teenager they cast for roles on television shows. I think they get it wrong. Teens don't hate their parents. They truly don't. They do crave attention and direction. They will seek this out wherever they are accepted and can find it. We can offer this in the home to them. If we don't then they will become distant. They need you now more than ever.

Think of it this way, they are seeing things in this world for the first time in a new lens. Part of growing up is figuring out who you are, what you want to do with your life, and who you are without your parents. This is incredibly stressful. It is a time of searching and introspection. We have the opportunity to influence that. We have the responsibility to help them grow into the people that God would have them be. Not who we want them to be but who God made them to be.

What is your biggest challenge with your teens? Or what have you observed and stereotyped? How can you help this next rising generation? What are your fears? What are you joys in this stage?

When you Grumble, You Are Forgetting God

Life is hard. I get it. It is very tempting to grumble and complain. I must also make a confession, I really need to grow in this area. I need His grace. If you struggle like me, I hope this will help encourage you like it did me.

Romans 1 speaks about the wrath of God. Not a really fun thing to think about but apart from Christ's intervention, we all deserve this wrath. Yet, because Christ stood in our place and we find ourselves in Him, we are no longer in danger of this wrath.

Despite this truth, we live and place ourselves in the same kind of picture that those addressed in Romans experience. The downward spiral of the wrath of God.

They Knew God but Didn't Love God
First, in Romans, God makes Himself known to the people but they refuse it. They don't love God. So in a response of not loving their loving Creator, they live for themselves. Christian, we must guard ourselves if we believe we are in Christ. In Romans 1:21, it states two things, they knew God but did not honor Him as God and they did not give Him thanks but became futile in their thinking.....

Later in Romans, Paul is making an appeal to the people of God to live as living sacrifices holy and acceptable to God because it is our act of spiritual worship (12:1). We do this by not conforming to the culture and renewing our minds (12:2).

God loved us so much that He sent Jesus to die on our behalf to make us right with God. When we forget this, we start to walk in dangerous territory of disobedience to God. We hurt the others around us and don't bring God glory (Philippians 2:14-16).

Essentially we are saying, God is not good. God is not giving me what I want. God does not love me. It is the classic attack from the enemy in the garden. Doubting God's love and goodness. Then we grumble.




Grumbling is an outward expression of what is going on in the deeper recesses of our hearts.
 
I have been reading through Exodus and I was baffled at how the children of Israel could grumble against God's goodness just 3 days after they escaped Egypt. They saw all the miracles against Pharaoh, crossed the Red Sea on dry ground, followed God who appeared as a cloud and pillar of fire yet, three days after they were finally free, they started complaining. Read it in Exodus 15:22-27.

God was still gracious to them. He continues this pattern over and over. He does things to test them. And testing is worthy of a new post. It is a good thing. It exposes the dark places of our hearts.

When I Grumble I Forget God
I should not be surprised at the children of Israel's grumbling, especially when I do it too. I have seen the greatest miracle, Jesus death and resurrection. I have the Holy Spirit living inside of me. I know that He is making all things new and coming back for us at the proper time. I know I am rested securely in God's love. There is no reason for me to grumble. But I do it.

God is still gracious and long-suffering when we complain. When we see this in our hearts we are free to repent and walk in the right direction again. There are a lot of strategies that God gives us through His word to help with this, worthy of another post. I am praying that God gives us the grace to stop our complaining and to remember God.

What do you often feel tempted to complain about? How do you deal with that? Have you even considered that grumbling is a sin?

Leave a comment, maybe we can help each other out by prayer and reminding each other to remember the goodness of God.

Book Review: The Pastor and Counseling by Pierre and Reju

Confession: I am not a pastor. I was simply curious about this book because I am passionate about the need for pastors to understand the basics of biblical counseling.

This book hit all the basics that it could in its short format. It is very easy to read and very practical in its application. I spent two years earning my biblical counseling certificate from CCEF (Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation) and I think this book hits all the highlights of my education well.

It is not going to cover everything obviously but it is a great resource book when a pastor is unsure about counseling his people.

I highly recommend this book for all pastors. It guides you through the initial meeting and beyond. There are extra helpful resources in the appendix, including an information gathering intake form.

This is a good book. Even if you are in the field of helping people but not a pastor, this would be helpful for you to understand the basics of biblical Christian counseling.

I received a copy of this book at no charge from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review.

You can get a copy of this book from Amazon.com here. (aff. link)

Book Review: Finding Your Voice by Grant

I really like Natalie Grant's music so I was excited to take a look at this title. Sadly, it did not live up to my expectations. It felt like words/advice that were okay to be said but then those words were made to merge with Scripture. It seemed too forced and did not take Scripture at the level of seeing it as an entire picture of redemptive history. It instead was person centered instead of God's bigger picture centered. That is what made it hard for me to read.

This happens through out the book. I first noticed it in the first chapter when the book states, "In short, He believes in you, and He wants nothing more than for you to believe in Him and His beautiful creation--you" (pg. 31). This is a very cultural sounding statement that aligns with just believe in yourself. It is missing the richness of Christ. The only reason that God would believe in us would be because of His Son.

I was willing to give the benefit of the doubt here but Scripture was even used in this way. Regarding the story of Peter walking on water toward Jesus this application came about, "He gave each of us a voice and a message and was so convinced that we could fulfill the plans He has for us, He sacrificed His own Son so we could have a chance to see them through. Read that again. God believes in who you are--your accomplishments, values, and dreams--with such intensity that He sent His only Son so YOU might live abundantly and with holy purpose" (pg. 45). This is very ME centered. Christ did not die for my voice to be heard.

He died so, We would live for Him.
"And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again" (2 Corinthians 5:15).

So that we could be restored to a right relationship with God.
"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit" (1 Peter 3:18). 

So that God's wrath would be appeased.
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!" (Romans 5:8-9).

Now again, I think the author meant well. God did say He came so we could have an abundant life. But it must be centered on HIM and bringing HIM glory not ourselves. He gives us a voice to glorify HIM. He gives us dreams to glory HIM. This is where I think this book falls short. It does have good things to think about here and there throughout. My caution is that after reading it we are too self focused over being Christ focused. It can be a thin line. That is my caution on this title.

I received a copy of this book at no charge from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review.

You can get a copy from amazon.com here. (Aff. link)

Book Review: Love, Henri by Nouwen

Sometimes it feels a little like trespassing when reading another person's intimate letters. It makes me think about my own letters or emails and how I would feel if people were reading them in a book. That is a scary thought for me. However, if they could help someone learn to be more encouraging or a better friend, then it would be worth it. What an honor that we have a collection like this from a faithful saint.

This book is a small glance into the life of Henri Nouwen. These letters are helpful to us because they give us a glimpse of Christian fellowship and friendship.  They are authentic and real. They encourage others to follow the Lord.

Prior to each letter, there are explanations so you can understand why it was written. This helps the reader understand the context of the letters.

This was a book that was well ordered. The hardback is sturdy and made with thick paper. It was made with good quality.

I received a copy of this book at no charge for the purpose of an honest review.

You can get a copy of this book from Amazon.com here. (Aff. link.)

Book Review: Different by Clarkson

I had the privilege of reviewing this book through the publisher, Tyndale. I was thankful to read it because we live with special needs in our home. I am always curious to read the stories of others who have walked this road before me.

The book is structured in the format of a son and mother telling their personal stories. I found this insightful because the actual struggler (Nathan) was sharing his own internal experiences with us. After that, his mother (Sally) would share some things too.

They were both authentic and honest in their writing. They both spoke of how they experienced God in their personal stories. I found great encouragement in that.

This, by no means, is an instructional book about working with your child's special needs but it is a book of encouraging stories from which we can learn. It is written as if we are sitting across from them while we are drinking coffee and asking questions. This style also made this extremely easy to read for the busy mom.

Though the special needs that were dealt with in this book were different from the ones I deal with daily, there was enough similarities to make this book helpful and hopeful for me. I do recommend it for encouragement.

You can get a copy of this book from Amazon.com here. (aff. link)

I did receive my copy of this book at no charge from the publisher for the purpose of an honest review.