A View From The Pew: I Believe In You!

Today was Pastor Todd’s first week back since his summer break. So that was cool. He did a sermon on things he believes to be true for everyone. It was interesting.

He talked of not being afraid of God’s plans for us. I think often a lot of us are afraid, or perhaps more so we don’t like giving up the control we think we have over life. But we need to give up that control to be able to reach our full potential and also be fully happy. Sadly I think that’s easier said than done.

Most of the time we want to know it all and know it now. I think this is typical of most people. It seems to be very common among our younger generations as well. That’s a whole other post which really has nothing to do with the sermon. But yeah sometimes we just have to accept that it isn’t all known to us and that we’ll have to wait to see what we get.

Once again for me it seemed the sermon came back to personal responsibility. Taking responsibility to make changes as needed. Taking responsibility to live properly. It’s always about being responsible.

What I found most interesting is Pastor Todd says we all need a hobby. We all need to be more than what we think we are. For instance I’m not just a mom. I’m a writer and a photographer and that’s okay. No matter what people want to say or think, having outside things, that don’t involve your main function in life, is good for you. Some people are of the belief that if you’re a mother you can’t spend time doing things outside of being a mother. That 100% of your time must be focused on your children.

Now I agree that the bulk of our time should be focused on our children. We don’t get the luxury of going out to party (not that I ever really did that). We don’t get the luxury of being too spontaneous but we can give ourselves a little free time, something outside of being a parent. It keeps us sane and keeps us from stressing too much.

I just thought it was interesting how somehow this weeks sermons tied into the actions and judgements of others that have been going on this week. These women who call themselves Christians but then act in such a manner that makes you wonder. But that’s all I’m going to do is wonder.

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Different Faith

Dr. Laura talked about this with several people a week or two ago. What do you do when your husband is a different faith as you? In the situations that Dr. Laura was addressing the women had both converted and wanted to start attending church. Dr. Laura basically told them that they had to intice their husbands into attending church with them since they wanted the children to go.

I was a bit amazed that a husband would have to be bribed to go. Brian is agonistic and has a hard time believing in God due to some pretty crappy stuff happening to him. But he still manages to pry himself out of bed and go to church with me on Sunday. I don’t know why he goes, whether it’s because he wants to go with me, or he’s looking to find community, or he’s looking for something to believe in. I don’t press him on it. He’ll come to his decision on his own. I’m just glad he goes with me.

Some find that marriages with those of different faiths can’t work. I don’t believe this. I think that often a common consensus isn’t reached between individuals. I never expected Brian to become a believer. I knew he wasn’t one and that was fine with me. We did agree that I could go to church and the children could as well. Kaylee was dedicated as well and Annabelle will be dedicated in the fall.

I think Brian likes the community found at church. He just has a hard time with God. I know it’s a process to be worked through and whether one day he decides to believe or doesn’t, that’s okay with me.

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A View From The Pew: Romans 8:17-25

Today’s sermon was once again interesting. I got a comment on Facebook last week about how weird it is that it seems each week that these sermons address something directly in our lives. In a way it is odd, but then again perhaps it’s just God’s way of trying to tell us something, by having us be able to relate these verses to our lives.

Pastor Rick asked this question today:

Are you hopelessly lost or lost in hope?

I can say right now I’m hopelessly lost. But hey, that’s okay. Because we’re supposed to be able to go through these down periods, where we are sad and so forth. Heck Pastor Rick said that during these times we should even talk about it and let people know! So to all those who get annoyed at my “woe is me” posts, they’re okay and part of the process.

From what I got out of the sermon is that we need to go through these struggles in order to better know the Lord and experience true joy. Knowing that this is so doesn’t make the hard times easier, at least for me. I think Pastor Rick was trying to express to us that during your worse times if you understand the joy that will come from them, that the stressful times won’t be as bad.

I used to think sort of like that, that things are never that bad and what was the worse that could happen. Of course Pastor Rick went to the worst case senario, that somehow you died. But the reward is being with the Lord. Now for me that may be something that brings me comfort but when I think of my child, I just can’t gain comfort from that. Perhaps because I want them to experience a full life and not be taken soon in life. So it’s hard to not worry when you don’t know how you’re going to get medication and so forth for your child.

He was right though that often it’s not as bad as it seems and that the Lord will provide in some manner. At the end of August we will have run out of our savings. And there was an option which gave us a bit of relief but was taken away (that’s a whole other post but seriously if you know me my biggest pet peeve is making promises you never intend to keep). But instead of the option to get total relief, we’ll get two months of help so that we can remain in our apartment and get our basic bills paid.

Then I also have an interview on Monday for a job which will allow us to have enough income (mine and Brian’s unemployment) to cover all the bills, even the credit cards which we haven’t been paying. The only thing is, the job I’m interviewing for doesn’t have benefits because it’s a temp to hire position, not direct. So at the very least Brian and I will be without insurance. The girls will be on Medical most likely. If I work and start bringing in an income that income will disqualify myself and Brian from getting Medical. But the girls are able to get it so that’s important.

So God has provided options for us to be okay for at least until the end of October. And by then hopefully Brian will have found a job. So perhaps a change in attitude will help the situation here in our household. I think Brian is depressed and just not happy in general, and this is causing sleep issues and energy issues for him. I know for sure I’m not happy (although it’s not like that bad I’m just not happy with people screwing around with us especially Brian and especially when it’s family doing it). I think Kaylee is stressed out, which is causing her sleep issues as well (although changing out her night light last night worked and she didn’t come into our room).

I know that this is a temporary situation and sooner or later, probably sooner, it’s going to improve and be better. It’s just keeping the faith that God doesn’t put too much on us and that He knows our limits.

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A View From The Pew: Romans 8:1-4

We focused on verse one of Romans 8 today.

1 So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus

It was a relatively simple sermon. Stop condemning yourself because Jesus died for us and thus we are no longer condemned. Obviously this is probably easier said than done, even the pastor admitted to this.

He mentioned that Satan plants these seeds of self doubt or thoughts that belittle ourselves. I agree but I don’t agree with the way Satan was used. This has always been one of my major belief differences from the typical church goer. I subscribe to the Old Testament belief that Satan and the Devil were descriptors of a person, not a physical being. I guess I have a hard time with the there only being one God and then having Satan exist as well. I mean if Satan is powerful enough to persuade us and so forth, doesn’t that almost rank him up to God’s level? Since I believe that God is all powerful and there is no one other than Him that controls things, I don’t think Satan or the Devil are real “beings”.

I believe Satan and the Devil are us. The “evil” within us. Our sinning nature, our self doubt, etc. That’s who Satan is. So when Satan plants the seed of self doubt, it’s just you doing it. So it’s important to realize it and not let it consume you and dictate your actions. Also it’s important to recognize that God doesn’t condemn us, otherwise what was the point of Jesus dying for us?

But of course we do a lot of it. We hold ourselves to the standards of others (mother’s tend to do this a lot). We gauge our self worth based on what others think about us. And we shouldn’t. We should be holding ourselves to God’s standards, and only His. We should base our self worth on what God thinks of us. And God loves us unconditionally.

You hear the words, when you are condemning yourself just remember that God doesn’t condemn you so you shouldn’t be doing it, but often applying that isn’t easy.

It is something though that we can all work on and I’m glad this sermon was done. I have to stop comparing myself to others, and thinking I’m doing things wrong with my children. I’m not. I know I’m not. They’re loved and taken care of. And that’s what God intends, I can tell you that for sure. So why am I beating myself up over things when God isn’t beating me up?

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There’s Nothing to See Here…

I know there is something I wanted to write about but at this moment I can’t remember it and frankly I have nothing else to write about right now. Although I do want to speak on something that happened today.

We went to a camp that my friend was doing. She did it as a child and wanted to do it for her kids so she put it together this summer. We had tons of fun, I like that Kaylee gets to learn about the Bible and get together with friends and so forth.

I’m not sure whether the church that my friend goes to is a bit more conservative than Discovery church or what, but I’m not used to it for sure. They are obviously of the belief that kids can make the decision about whether to be saved. I know there are denominations that believe children need to make this decision sooner rather than later and other parts that believe that until a child can understand the difference between right and wrong that they can’t make the decision to be saved.

I am of the belief that until a child understands right and wrong, they can’t make the decision. I believe this because I see the decision to become a follower of Christ as a decision to also recognize that you are a sinner and repent from those sins and so forth. This is not something I believe a 4 year old can even understand. They don’t understand the concept of repenting at all. I mean my 4 year old hardly understands that taking a toy from a friend hurts them. You can explain it and they have some empathy and understanding but it’s still very limited because the 4 year old is thinking in mainly terms of how does something benefit her, not on how it harms or benefits others.

Kaylee luckily didn’t take them up on their offer cause it would have been a bit embarrassing to stop her. Maybe it’s because I know full well that at this moment she doesn’t fully understand Jesus or why He’s important. She’s learning about Him and is new to the concept of God. She doesn’t at this moment make the distinction that God is real (and I know not everyone who reads this believes this but we do). Right now she puts Jesus up there with Disney princesses. She can’t see Him so she assumes He’s pretend, like Disney princesses. So she obviously can’t give her life over to Jesus when she doesn’t technically believe in Him. I’m hoping that with going to church and so forth she’ll come to believe He is real.

Of course I wouldn’t necessarily have to stop her but I’m not sure I’d be okay with just letting it go. Kaylee enjoyed the time though and had fun so that’s what is important. It got me thinking that it would be nice to have some sort of Vacation Bible School at Discovery. I mean I know why they probably haven’t done one, but I think it would be popular.

On a side note they were raising money for a mission trip and asked the kids to bring in money for them. Kaylee, in true form of total honesty, said, “We don’t have any money!”

Yes Kaylee we don’t have any money to give. We do have change around and I’m gathering change for Sarah’s House which provides help and care to homeless pregnant women. It’s something Discovery is promoting and I liked the cause so I want to help out. I’m all for mission trips and all but I find helping homeless pregnant women a bit more along something I’d want to help with.

Those were my thoughts today.

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