Weeds

I'm so excited to have a yard with flower gardens now that we have our own home. I haven't done much gardening before but I'm willing to learn. In the spring I planted a few plants in the yard but didn't do very much with it. Now it's midsummer and I haven't had much time to tend to the flower garden. When I do have time it's been to hot and humid to do anything outside. So I've discovered I am very good at growing weeds. Lots of them!! My flower garden has been overtaken by them so much that I can't see the few plants I did plant. My sweet daughter wanted to surprise me and her and her friend pulled weeds in half of my flower garden for me. So now half of my garden has short weeds and the other half has tall weeds. Almost as tall as me.

I decided I'm going to tackle these weeds and went out in the morning before it got hot. I was focused on the tall weeds because it's such an eye soar for me. When I looked at them it seemed overwhelming. I couldn't even see the boundary of the flower bed. Where would I start? Finally I started grabbing whatever was in front of me and started pulling. Even if I didn't get the roots at least I could get it short enough to see where the weeds were growing out of the ground. To my amazement, some of the weeds came out easily. I began to see why. The excessive heat and lack of rain caused the plants to start to turn brown close to the ground. With the stubborn weeds I got a shovel and broke their roots under them, then pulled them out.

As I was working it made me think about the Christian walk. When we start on our journey to become set apart for the Lord it can look overwhelming or even scary. We may give some or parts of ourselves to the Lord, like having a half tended flower garden, but when He asks us for the rest we just don't want to go there. Who knows what's lurking in those tall weeds.

Other things we hold onto to tight. We don't want to give them up, just like those stubborn weeds. We think we'll be losing out by giving up whatever God is asking us to give up. Really those weeds are hurting us, not helping. In order to blossom and be fruitful for the Lord we must let the weeds of self die. He may dig to break the root but He'll get it out of there… if we let Him.

Have you ever felt like you dealt with an issue only to find yourself dealing with it again months or years down the road? Perhaps that is like when I started to pull the weeds. Even if I didn't get to the root, cutting it down was a step in the right direction but you must come back and deal with it on a more thorough level to get the roots. Without getting the roots you'll just be growing those weeds back. God wants us to get to an even ground that can be tilled and made fertile so the right things can be planted and grow to be beautiful, fragrant flowers. It's not always easy to die to what we want and do what God wants but it is necessary. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. John 12:25-26 We must die to ourselves and follow Jesus.

Who are you?

I am reading a book a dear friend of mine gave me called Becoming Spiritually Beautiful by Sharon Jaynes. The book is about seeing yourself from God's perspective. It's a very good book. I've been getting a lot out of it. The last chapter I read jogged a memory of mine.

A few years ago I did a Beth Moore study called Believing God. In it she talks about believing we are who God says we are. What a breakthrough moment in my life. I had gone through a divorce only two years prior to this study and, though I was a Christian, I felt worthless. As if I had this mark on my life because of my past, with no hope of restoring me to be able to be used by God. For some reason I thought I had to be blemish free for God to use me. I forgot about the many examples of people in the bible who God used in a mighty way. God loves to take the least of people and make them into powerhouses for His kingdom.

Isaiah 43:18 says, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past."

Phillipians 3:13b-14 says, "…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Of course, at the time I had not thought of these verses. Anytime we're believing lies of Satan, scripture is not in our mind because scripture shatters any lie Satan is trying to feed you. The key is John 8:31-32 "Jesus said to the Jews that had believed in Him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples." We must daily, continuously be in God's word. Putting it in our hearts and minds and putting it into practice in our lives. We need to take note of who God says we are so that when Satan comes at us with his poison of lies we quickly recognize it and respond with the truth of who God says we are.

Within this last year I remember going through a rough time of being anxious. As I was struggling to find the root of it all, I was dwelling on negative thoughts I had in my head about myself. Out of nowhere the Lord said to me, "Who told you these things?" I thought for a minute not sure what He was talking about. He continued, "Who told you you're unworthy, unlovely,…(long pause)... Because it wasn't me. Would you like to know what I think about you?" Boy, that stopped me in my tracks and made me realize I was listening to the lies of the enemy, Satan. He's always trying to take joy and productivity away from the believer in Christ. He'll take anything he can from you. We need to learn who we are in Christ and know the promises God has given us as His children and act like who God says we are. WOW!! If we all did that, we would be powerhouses for God.

So, who does God say we are? What does He think about us? Well, to Him you are precious, beautiful, dearly loved, co-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17). As Beth Moore explains in her Believing God bible study when we look at Ephesians 1:1-8 we see God says we are blessed, chosen, adopted, accepted, redeemed, and forgiven. We are loved! We don't become the sin. We confess it and we're forgiven. I am redeemed! Realizing that was a breakthrough for me.

There are several different lists out there showing us our identity in Christ. There was one in the Spiritually Beautiful book I'm reading. I'll name just a few she mentioned. I am valuable to God (Matt. 6:26), I am free from condemnation (Rom. 8:1), I am the fragrance of Christ (II Cor. 2:15), I am a saint (Eph. 1:1). You could probably do a search on the internet for some more statements like these if this is an area you'd like to look further into. Your pastor probably has one too.

I encourage us all, as believers, to learn who we are in Christ. Believe what God says. And act like we believe Him. We can all defeat insecurity, inadequacy, and inferiority by knowing who we are in Christ. How God sees us. Then we can be the dynamic warriors God made us to be.

Purpose

     A few years ago I came back to the church I grew up in after having been gone almost 15years.  I reconnected with a few people I knew from growing up there.  Most of them are the parents of people from my youth group.  Ahhh…my high school youth group…good memories!  I loved that youth group!  My youth pastor was/is awesome.  You can see the love of Jesus in his eyes and glowing around him as he smiles.  He has this tone of voice as he speaks of the Lord that's so loving yet honest and firm.  He truly shined Jesus for me (and still does for so many).  I looked forward to Wednesdays and hated it if I missed. 

     As I talked to the parents of the kids that were in youth group with me I discovered many of them are now on the mission field or in ministry of some kind.  It didn't take long before I grew frustrated with myself.  That I wasted so many years in my late teens and early twenties living for myself.  Years I could have invested in growing in the Lord and doing things to grow His kingdom.  Where did those years get me?  What have I done with my life?  I did come back to the Lord and He has taken me from where I left off with Him and has been growing me quickly.  The Lord has blessed me with children and a wonderful husband, though I took the long way around to get there.  Still I thought, "I am just a wife and mother.  Nothing extraordinary about that.  Not like being a missionary.  Other then vacations, I've never even left the city I was born in." 

     After what seemed like weeks of being frustrated and hard on myself it's almost like the Lord had enough of my wallowing.  In firmness and love He showed me something I will not forget.  He showed me two cups.  One made of gold and adorned with jewels that shined.  The other a simple wood cup that was worn down.  The gold cup was extraordinary and valued.  This is how I was seeing the church value missionaries.  The wooden cup was an ordinary cup that gets everyday use.  That symbolized me, a wife and a mom, a very common life.  The Lord showed me that both of these cups had equal value to Him.  If you lost either of these cups you would know it.  The gold one has high value but the wooden one is used daily and would be greatly missed if it was lost.  He showed me that raising these beautiful children was a blessing and an honor and He highly valued the time, energy and effort I am putting into raising them in the ways of the Lord.  Bringing them up to shine the light of Jesus into the next generation.  Tending to them day by day.  This is highly valued by the Lord. 

     He showed me that even the churches value system can get messed up sometimes.  Missionaries are important!  Absolutely!  As are pastors, ministers, deacons, elders and other leaders in the church.  In God's eyes, everyone is important.  Everyone has their place in the body of Christ.  Jesus shed the same amount of blood for every person.  Not one person had a higher or lesser price to pay for their salvation.  We are all equal value.  He loves us all equally.  He showed me that living in the city I was born in is exactly where He wants me right now.  Being where God wants us to be is vital. 

     A peace and a joy came over me as I was assured that God is in control.  He knows why He's fashioned one for noble purposes and the other for common uses.  He knows where I am and is not disappointed.   That assurance was awesome but God showed me the wooden cup again.  It began to turn just slightly and I could see God was still working on this cup.  He was fashioning beautiful details on it and more that I couldn't see clearly.  "I'm not finished with you yet."  He whispered in my heart. 

Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common uses.  Romans 9:21                    

What is seen

     I was going through some of my old journals and found this entry.  I thought it was a good reminder of how we should be looking at ourselves. 

     Today at church my 4 year old son had to go potty.  So I took him and his baby brother into the ladies bathroom.  While waiting for my son I saw myself in the full length mirror.  I haven't lost all my baby weight yet.  It bothers me that my clothes don't fit right.  I was mentally critizing myself and not happy with what I saw.  Then I saw something else.  This beautiful baby boy in my arms was also looking in the mirror giving me the biggest smile.  My attitude changed.  The reason I look the way I do is because four months ago the Lord blessed me with a healthy baby boy.  My fourth child.

I can exercise and lose weight plus time will help.  The important thing is my healthy child (children).

     Interesting how the child I was holding was looking in the same mirror but saw something entirely different.  He saw a mommy that loves him very much and that's all that matters to him.  

     I love that entry.  It was a good attitude check for me.  I love how unbiased babies and small children are.  They look at things in such a pure light.  They don't care about bank accounts or your title or if you don't measure up to your idea of perfect.  They look at you through eyes of love.  They remind me that I need to keep a clear head, see myself through God's eyes.  We all effect more people then we realize.  For moms of younger children, you are so important to them.  You're their world. 

     So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.   II Corinthians 4:18