Restoration

A few years ago, my kids and I were learning about the Japanese internment camps in the USA during WWII. These camps had many affects on those involved. Some good. Most not so good. But one of the most signifcant results from these camps was the break down of the family unit. What caused this breakdown? The dining hall. You see, the family dinner table is a place where the family connects. Everyone in the family is together at the same time. They commune and communicate. They are bound together during these times of sharing. But with the dining hall style meals in the internment camps, children often went to eat with their friends. Likewise, women sought out the company of other women and men congregated together. Without that time to connect as a family, the family unit began to fall apart. After four years in these camps, families did not leave the same as they came in. This might not seem significant to most families. However, breakdown of the family unit has many consequences in the lives and futures of the children. It affects who they are and who they will become.

As I think about this off and on over the past year or so, I realized that we are becoming more and more like the Japanese families, only we are doing it by choice. How many families eat dinner on trays around the TV, or grab something quick in between activity after activity. Or, like us, come up with some other excuse not to eat together as a family. Our excuse-no dining room table. Our kitchen table is a two seater, making it difficult to dine with our family of 6. We have a dining room table, but when we moved to this house three years ago, we had to leave the dining room behind. Our dining room table is now pushed against the wall in the storage/utility/dog room and piled up with junk. I missed dining as a family and I certainly didn't want to see the breakdown of our family unit. So, when we got our income tax return back this year, we invested in a portable folding table. Tonight we pulled it out for the first time, set it up in the only free space in the house (in the middle of the living room) and had a family dinner together. It was nice! Really nice! Thank you, Lord, for restoring our family unit. Thank you for our table.

A Reason To Celebrate

I wrote this a while ago in my journal. Just thought I would share it on here.

During church worship, once, I was thinking about how differently people celebrate God...some shout, some dance, some raise their hands, some sing out loud... I was also thinking about the message series we are currently studying called "Celebrate". I then noticed that I seem to have some anxiety during worship and don't feel free to "celebrate" God during worship as freely as other people do. I wasn't sure why I felt that way but it is not a new feeling, just a new revelation. I was thinking about why I don't feel like I can celebrate Jesus freely and thought of many possiblities: perhaps it is because I sit in the front row (thanks to my husband), and I am so tall, and I am married to J. (enough said)....-I don't feel comfortable celebrating because I stand out...people may be watching me. Perhaps it is because I am just a shy person and like to celebrate more quietly. Perhaps it is because I don't understand some of the lyrics to the songs. Perhaps it is because I can't sing.... But then I realized how self centered all of those thoughts were. So in the middle of one of the songs, I asked God to teach me how to celebrate him. And he told me very clearly, "You need to have a reason to celebrate."

I was thinking, "What are you talking about. I know the reason. I was raised in the church. I know all about salvation." As our conversation continued and I learned that I haven't yet fully accepted his unconditional love and freedom. I never fully grasped the extent of what He did for me. I was raised Catholic, and when I chose to follow Christ as an adult a few years ago, it wasn't a drastic conversion. I have always had a knowledge of God and his mercy and grace. But when I accepted Him I wanted to follow him and be more like him. So that is what I did. I learned to pray, I learned how to study the Bible, and I tried to be more Godly in my role as wife, mother, steward, friend, and servant.

But God told me that night during worship that I struggle with celebrating Him because I spent so much time trying to be a better Christian, that I haven't stopped to think about why I do all of that. I haven't fully accepted the completeness of His gift to me on the cross. I told God that night that I was sorry for not celebrating Him and for not fully accepting His mercy and grace. I even told him I would go to a prayer team after service to repent and seek his forgiveness. That is when he told me "You still don't get it. You don't have to do ANYTHING! I love you even if you don't do anything for me. I love you just how you are, right now, unconditionally. There's your reason to celebrate."

Celebrate-to praise or "honor widely" (the random house dictionary)

I can sing to Him (though it isn't pretty), I can pray to Him, I can live for Him, I can serve Him. But I can not celebrate Him if I don't have a reason to celebrate.


I may not dance and sing out loud. I may not shout or raise my hands. But now I know that if I am not celebrating Him it is because of my own selfishness. Now I have a reason to celebrate! It is now up to me to overcome myself in order to "honor Him widely."

A Matter of Perspective

As I watched my toddler playing, I realized just how many lessons that God teaches me through my children. On this particular day, my little guy was playing with a toy truck and he just couldn't get it to work the way he wanted it to. He wanted to push it forward but something was in the way. He reacted in frustration by crying, screaming, and kicking. His entire world at that moment was focused on that toy and how things weren't working out they way that he had planned. From his persepective, life was awful. I watched him throw his tantrum, debating whether or not I should jump in and help him. After all, from my perspective, the problem was tiny. All he had to do was move the block. Once I helped him with his problem, his entire perspective on life changed. All was well, once again. While watching him throw a fit over what I saw as a tiny problem, I realized just how often I do the same thing. I get frustrated over a circumstance in my life and my entire world is focused on that problem. I kick and scream and cry. From my perspective, life sucks. But God sees things differently. That circumstance that seems like such a huge roadblock to me, is nothing to God. And he is just waiting to help me. No matter, what the circumstance or how big it seems to us, it is just a little thing to God. It is all a matter of perspective.

Mindset of a Slave

I am not sure where I read this, but I remember reading about the Isrealites after they were set free from slavery in Egypt. According to this author's interpretation, the reason the Isrealites had to wonder around in the dessert for 40 years was because they of their mindset. They were raised as slaves for generations. They thought like slaves, worked like slaves, and acted like slaves. They could not grasp the reality of their freedom. They simply couldn't think like free people. Even though they were no longer slaves, they were still enslaved in their mind and heart. It wasn't until after that generation died off before the Isrealites thought of themselves as free, capable, and chosen. A generation that grew up in freedom in the dessert. They weren't trapped in a mindset of slavery. They were truly free.

How often I find myself trapped in a mindset of slavery even though I have been set free. Although these are not chains in a physical sense, they still try to hold me in captivity all the same. These chains are have different names.... fear, unforgiveness, poverty, sin, pride, shame. Like the Isrealites, sometimes I cannot think like a free woman. The shackles on my hands and feet have been opened. Yet sometimes I still allow them to keep me bound. I am tired of living as a slave. The Lord has set me free! Change my mindset, O Lord!

Dirty Theology

A great sermon.

God loves dirty people. God uses dirty people. We are called to love dirty people. We are dirty people.

The Pharisees were legalistic, rule following, religious people. While we often look down them for their attitude and actions, how many of us are guilty of the same thing. After all, they were only trying to be holy and pleasing to God. However, in their efforts to be holy, the forgot the most important part of who God is and who we are called to be-love.

Lord, help me to love people like you do. Forgive me for becoming a modern day Pharisee.

http://www.rivertreechurch.org/index.php
bottom left corner, click on weekend sermons, then click on Dirty Theology

Update on Surgery

Well, J. saw the dentist and would be clear for heart surgery. However, the dentist highly recommended that J. get his wisdom teeth pulled before his heart surgery. He will need it done eventually because they are giving him problems sometimes. If J. waits until after the heart surgery to have it done, he could have issues due to the blood thinners he will be required to take after heart surgery. Needless to say, he is frustrated with all of the waiting and new things "wrong" with him. He just wants to get this done. I know that God is in this, and am thankful for His perfect timing. Keep the prayers coming :)