Strong-Willed?

I don’t think so.

You see I was just visiting Mr. FullCup for lunch when a co-worker of his (and a friend of mine) gave me a little quiz. By little I mean not overly large. But it did have 40 questions.

The quiz was on whether or not you are a strong-willed wife. I very calmly and politely took the 2 sheets of 8.5×11 paper from her, quickly scanned the title and promptly said, “No.” Not “no, I won’t be participating” but “No, I don’t need this because the answer is most definitely not.”

And Mr. FullCup smirked. Yes, he did. He smirked.

I guess the guest on Focus On The Family today was talking about this quiz and my dear friend had to find the dern thing and print off a copy for me.

For me?? Really??? Is she out of her ever-livin’ mind? Well probably but that is quite beside the point because you see, Mr.FullCup smirked about it.

I read the quiz and let me tell you, I don’t qualify.

Well, except there was the one question, “I feel exhausted because I seem to be doing everything myself.”  I mean I’m not exhausted all the time unless you count from the time I open my eyes in the morning until I close them at night as being all the time.

It seems I think I’m the only one who can really walk the girls to piano and ballet lessons. I’m the only one who can cook supper.  (But that’s only because I have Jimmy Johns on speed dial.) The only one who can really do the laundry, including hanging clothes outside. Do the dishes? Oh yeah, as long as it’s daylight, I’m the only one who can get them done. (Now when the sun goes down, I’m simply to exhausted to care if they’re done or not. ) I am the only one who can sweep the floor, vacuum, mop, water plants, homeschool, teach the fifth grader math and grammar, and spelling and history, and science.  I am the only one who can raise my children as I see fit. The only one who can teach them the things of God.

Sheesh I’m exhausted just typing all that out. No wonder I’m tired much of the time. (And no wonder I just yawned.)  But you know what? I don’t have to do it all. I don’t. I’m not called to do it all.  God has blessed me with people in my life and in my family who are more than capable and more than willing okay we’ll stick with capable to help when I ask.

And the hard things I am called to do, the things that are my responsibility, He promises to be there to help me. He promises that if I exchange my burden for His, if I take His burden in exchange for my to-do list (that I never get around to making anyway because it would scare me), He promises a lighter burden. He says, “Come to  me, all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29)

Friends, that is good news! We don’t have to think thoughts like, “If I don’t do it, no one will.” We don’t have to live our lives exhausted every second. We don’t have to be a slave to our schedule, or to-do list, or phone, email, facebook, etc. We don’t.  No, we are free to rest.

I think that is what I’ll be doing the rest of the day…and hopefully the rest of my life. What about you?

Just Thinking Outloud

That would make a really great name for a blog…but alas I’m happy with the one I have. Although I’ve thought I really should have named my blog, “Another dumb girl”, which was my first nickname…I guess.

You see when I was born my uncle was in the second grade. As the story goes, the day after I was born was show and tell day for that particular second grade class. The teacher stood there before her students and asked my uncle, “Do you have anything for show-and-tell today?”

My uncle stood, feet spread far apart, fists jammed into his pockets, and said, “Yeah, I got summthin’ ta say, my sister had another dumb girl.”

Of course he denies it to this day, but the teacher was so touched (probably by the sheer silliness of it all) remembered it and told my grandmother.  Now that I think about it, this is the same uncle who many years later would drop a 10-pound weight on my head.  But that is another story for another day.

This morning I was reading a devotional (that I promise has nothing to do a dumb girl, or dropping weights on heads of dumb girls) and one of the verses they recommend reading was Genesis 50:20. You’re familiar, I’m sure, with the back story. Joseph has been sold into slavery, his brothers go to Egypt to get food because they are starving to death. Joseph eventually reveals to them that he is Joseph. In Genesis 50, Jacob had died and the brothers were still fearful of Joseph and wanted to be sure he let them live a nice long life.

In verse 20, Joseph says, “What you meant for harm, God meant for good.”

I got hung up by the words “God meant”. I stopped and began pondering what those mean. God meant…

God meant it for good. Does that mean “God caused it”? Or does it mean more like Romans 8:28 that God used it for good?

Now I know God is sovereign and nothing happens to His children without His permission, I guess my question this morning is this:

Did God cause the brothers to sell Joseph into slavery so good would be the result? Or did God merely allow them to sell him because He could make good come from it?

Maybe it’s all just semantics and really it’s both.

I think when someone meant to do something they intended all along for it to happen. It was their plan. But when they use something that happened for another purpose I think it’s different. They didn’t mean for it to happen it just did.

So did God mean for Joseph to be sold for good, or was Joesph sold into slavery and God used it for good? I know God knew from before time immemorial that Joseph would be sold and it wasn’t a surprise at all.

I was hoping by the time I reached this part of my outloud thinking, I would have thought my way into an answer…but alas I haven’t.  I’m no closer to knowing which one it was, but I do know it really doesn’t matter and my curious mind will have to let it rest.

Beginning Prayer by John Killinger

from barnesandnoble.com

Prayer is probably my biggest difficulty in the Christian life. Yes, I struggle with sin. But communing with God is difficult. When I saw the book Beginning Prayer by John Killinger I knew I had to read it.

Published by Upper Room Ministries (which as far as I can tell through research is a division of the United Methodist Church), Beginning Prayer is an easy read book, the flavor almost reminds me of an old book. It is written in an almost conversational tone, or at least like a college lecture with your favorite professor.

It doesn’t matter at all in the grand scheme of things but at times I wasn’t sure if it was written by/to Catholics or by/to Protestants.  It could work very well with either group.  It lends itself to be very liturgical in nature.

The only thing I did not like about the book was he talks about chanting our prayers like one chants a mantra. Just a word or phrase over and over. He tells the story of one man who was given the task of praying “the prayer of Jesus” over and over, at first having to say it 30,000 times in a day. Within it week it was nearly tripled. Now he spends hours a day just chanting that one phrase.  He also talked of prayer in silence and said we need to “rid our mind of everything.” That to me sounds a little too much like transcendental meditation. Which I’m not interested in at all.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of review.

 

Our adventure

I promised a post about our recent adventure and well here goes.

Our high on Monday was 83 degrees!! 83! Completely unheard of for my part of the world the end of April. I walked my 10-year old, “Beanie”, to an orthodontist appointment and managed to get a little sunburn. Yay!!

Yes I am celebrating a sunburn because I don’t normally tan or burn. I am pasty white all year. Strange I know because I most definitely do not stay inside during the day in the summer and I don’t always wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts. I would blame it on my incredibly fair skin, but I would think I’d burn more readily. But anyway….that really has nothing to do with our adventure.

Tuesday we were put under a “winter weather advisory“, not a warning but it didn’t go into effect until 6pm. So I had the brilliant(ly stupid in hindsight) idea for the 4 of us to travel to a neighboring state to shop at Whole Foods and on the way home stop at the state we have to drive through to get to Whole Foods and shop at Sams Club. Now in the city with Whole Foods there is a Sams Club but we don’t like that particular store.  We like the store we shop at normally, it’s bigger and just feels better and cleaner. And we know where everything is.

We hit rain in spots going there but soon drove out of it. Yay! Our venture to Whole Foods was not in vain. It was Mr. FullCup’s first time being in Whole Foods so of course we had to show him everything. I had not yet purchased anything from Whole Foods except a run through their salad bar and a few Naked Juices. (Have you had those? Oh my! If not, you really should.) This time we shopped. When we left I was absolutely giddy with delight.

On our way back out of that town and towards our favorite Sams Club, we again encountered rain. Then when we crossed one state line the rain changed to a rain/snow mix. When we reached the town with Sams Club it was white with snow and the snow continued to fall. I’m not at all a fan of driving in snow and really would rather not. But Mr. FullCup was there and he is a most excellent driver but it didn’t stop me from offering to return to Sams Club another day and just driving home. He would have none of that nonsense. He truly is the hunter when it comes to shopping. He left home for two reasons, Whole Foods and Sams Club. He was not going home until he had accomplished his mission. We did decide to divide and conquer though. He took Beanie to Barnes and Noble for shopping and the 12-year old and I knocked off Sams Club.

No, not that  kind of knocked off.

We left that town and headed for home. Home that was a mere 1.5 hours away. A home we should have been at by 9:30, 10 at the very latest. Do you have any kind of an idea how long it takes you to drive 30 miles (give or take) when you’re only driving an average of 30mph?

A very long time. Okay, it takes you an hour. An hour after heading for home we had made it about 30 miles, to the first stopping place available…a rest area. As we were approaching the rest area I squeaked out, “Could we stop?” Mr. FullCup was very obliging, apparently he isn’t to fond of driving when you can’t see the road or anything else except snow coming at you. We pulled into the rest area and all heaved a big sigh of relief.

We were pretty clueless as to our next step. The rest area truly is in the middle of nowhere. We were about 15 miles from the nearest town, and we had friends there. It was tempting to call them and see if they could come lead us to them but that would mean them getting out in the nastiness too.

Soon another car pulled into the rest area and I hopped out to go see which direction they had come from. (Mr. FullCup was talking to our friends in the nearby town) The people had come from the north, the direction we were going and said it was nasty.

Back in the van I hear Mr. FullCup say he is inclined to stay there all night. And I wasn’t at all upset. Soon that was our decision. I had been texting a friend and I told her our plan. We rearrange a few things in the van inform the girls that we’re sleeping in here, right here for the night and all attempt to get some sleep.  At one point I nudged Mr. FullCup and said, “So this is what it feels like to be homeless. …It feels like you’re very thirsty and have to use the restroom. ….Please don’t lock me out.”

My friend sends me a text that another friend of hers is also out on that road and they just passed the rest area, they told her it was better and if we were going to leave we should leave now. It was currently 32 degrees but it would be colder over night and everything would freeze and it might be noon before we got out. We decided to try the roads again and see.

The snow was better, the slush was still on the road at times making us slide. (There was no ice at all.) We were again averaging 30mph.

I sang and prayed all the way home. At times praying God would calm the storm and have it snow lightly just until we got home.  I know at times He did because the snow would be lighter but then it would pick up again. And He said, “Trust Me.”

All in all the trip home should have taken us 1.5 hours actually took us over 4. (not counting the stop at the rest area) But God is ever faithful. He guided us home and brought us here safely.

The Bare Naked Truth by Rebekah Joy Martin

image from amazon.com

The Bare Naked Truth is a hard-hitting, soft touch book about purity. Namely purity for girls. Author Rebekah (Bekah) shares funny personal stories to aid in getting her point across. Namely that girls do have a choice and there is only one right choice.

By “right” I don’t mean to alienate anyone who has made other choices, but by “right” I mean there is only one right choice without nasty consequences.

Each chapter is based on 10 lies girls believe about sex. They include:

• I have all the sex facts
• Waiting is for wusses
• Guys won’t want me it I’m not experienced
• Sex is Okay as long as it’s safe
• I’m the perfect virgin
• It’s okay to have sex as long as you’re in love.

Even though I’m well into my 4th decade of life, married with two children I enjoyed this book. I plan on using it in discussions with my children. Bekah uses stories and analogies I had not thought of on my own.  The book is an easy enough read for pre-teens, although the subject matter on  some chapters might be better suited to older teens.

The one thing I was confused about in the book was the tone seemed to be geared toward 8-12 year olds, but sometimes it seemed geared more toward girls in college or even post-college.  The subject matter on most chapters I would say is not for girls under 12. I have a 12 year old myself and I’m not sure I’ll hand her my nook and have her read the book on her own.  However, I do think it would be a great book for a mom and daughter to go through together.

At the end of each chapter, Bekah has a short multiple choice quiz. She calls it “The (Un)Scientific Quiz” and some questions for the reader, with space to answer.

The book doesn’t officially release until next Tuesday, May 7th, but you can pre-order it on amazon.com.

I received a free copy of this book for the purpose of review. All opinions are my own.

The Fourth Fisherman by Joe Kissack

from http://www.barnesandnoble.com

In 2005, 5 fishermen set sail from San Blas, Mexico for what they believed would be a regular job of net fishing. When a storm blew in and they lost their net, the captain would not return to port for rest and more fuel. He wanted that net, worth over $1000, and refused to rest until it was found. They crisscrossed the area until they ran short of fuel. Soon they were adrift.

Joe Kissack spent most of his adult life struggling to please his earthly father. He quickly rose in the ranks of television syndication.  He bought fast cars, fancy houses and still felt incredibly empty. He turned to alcohol and drugs and watched as his life unraveled.

The Fourth Fisherman is the story of both, Joe Kissack and the three remaining Mexican fishermen.  It is also the story of faith in God who pursues us.

The three fishermen spent 9 months adrift, floating out of control for 5,500 miles. They were found off the shores of Taiwan.  For almost all that time the only thing they had was each other and their faith in God. When Joe lost all his “gods” and discovered the only God he really needed, he found that God to be enough.

Joe tells the story will candor and a little humor. You will be captivated by both stories. I know I was. I liked the whole book, from the front cover to the back cover, with one exception. I did not like the way he treated his wife. He wasn’t abusive per  se but he did  not keep his promises and it didn’t seem to bother him. His wife went through a lot for him and because of him.

If you’re looking for a good story about unwavering faith in God, read this book!

 

I received a free copy of this book for the purpose of review.

 

Life

For the first time in a long, long time I have no book reviews to do. At least I don’t think I do. I am reading a book or two or fifty, but I’m in the process of reading them. I have learned that publishers generally want you to read the book before you have read the book.

But since I have no book reviews you’re stuck with the thoughts in my head.  I don’t know whether to tell you to check your twitter account, facebook, the stock market, or stay here and suffer the consequences.

Well with a thought like that how could you possibly leave?

On Sunday our pastor used Ephesians 5. He reminded us we are to walk in light and also to walk in wisdom.  He brought out that we are to walk in light because we were once darkness but now we are light. We aren’t THE light, that is Jesus. But we are light. We are to shine our light brightly and not hide it under a bushel basket. We aren’t supposed to attempt to put it out. We are supposed to live in such a way that our light shines and when people see us they really see Jesus.  When we do that we’ll have to be prepared to give an answer for the hope we have or the light we spread.

But that isn’t all we supposed to do. We are also supposed to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. We are supposed to have no fellowship with them; we are to expose them and we are not to speak of them.

So, why do we?

We not only fellowship with them, we refuse to expose them and we speak of them loud and long.  Why?

I have noticed a movement in the church that says we are not supposed to ever tell anyone what they are doing is wrong. Why? Is that not exposing the unfruitful deeds (works) of darkness?  Im Florida, failure to tell your neighbor his house is on fire is illegal. Why would you not tell your neighbor that? It’s a pretty important thing to tell your neighbor, especially if he is inside his house.

Why do we not tell people what sin is and what the cure is? Hell is a lot more dangerous than just your house being on fire. But if we don’t tell others we are condemning them to a life apart from God forever. And forever is a very long time.

We also aren’t even to speak of them. We aren’t to name the things people do. Why? Because it’s shameful. For many of us, not only are we speaking of it, we’re practicing the very same things. People, this should not be! Have we no shame? Have we really forgotten how to blush?

I am not at all saying we are to let the world “go to hell in a handbasket“. Not at all! I am saying we are to be light, exposing dark places. Those dark places inside of us and in the world. Now we aren’t to beat the world over the head, “You’re a dirty rotten sinner and you’re going to hell!” We are to walk in love, in light and in wisdom.  We are to be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks us about the hope we have. We are not to keep it to ourselves. Light was meant to be shared!

So go share your light today!

Get Back Up by Sheryl Giesbrecht

Sometimes life knocks us down. We get bloodied, bruised, and dirty. So often when this happens we feel unfit for service, we feel we are a broken pot not fit for anything. We take ourselves out of ministry. That might not be God’s desire, not His plan. His plan is restoration.

Sheryl Giesbrecht knows what it means to let God pick her up, dust her off, heal her wounds and use her for increased ministry. She shares her story in Get Back Up, Trusting God when Life Knocks You Down. 

She gives a list of questions for the reader to answer at the end of each chapter. My only “trouble” with this was some of the questions seemed to me to be too focused on the “bad” thing that happened and not the grace and love of God. I’d rather focus on Him and how He can heal, than whatever issue I might have experienced. If we focus on the things of life that are hard that is all we can see. But when we focus not on troubles but on Jesus that is when we find true healing.

If you are struggling with some of life’s hard knocks, this might be a book for you. It’s an easy read and mostly biblically sound. I did find a few places she took a few liberties with the Bible, and we know I’m not a fan of that at all, but for the most part it’s Scriptural.

For me the book didn’t really teach anything. (and I shudder to say that.) It almost seemed more a list of “this happened to me and God did…..”. Which is good! I love hearing how God works in other people’s lives. I was expecting a more hands-on approach to trusting God when life knocks me down than I found in the pages.  She does give some very practical suggestions and does encourage the reader to focus on Jesus. Which is a VERY GOOD thing!

I received a free copy of this book for the purpose of review.

gods at War by Kyle Idleman

Do idols still exist today? In Western culture? We all know about the idols in India and Japan but what about right here in America? Do they exist in Christian circles? Do believers worship idols?

from kobobooks.com

Kyle Idleman maintains that we do. And I’d have to agree. We don’t have large gold buddhas in our living rooms that we bow down to every day at 3pm. But we do bow down to idols. We worship money, sex, fame, romance, love, family, achievement and the list goes on.

He soft-shoes on our toes in his attempt to get us to recognize our own idols. He speaks with grace. A pastor friend of mine says, “Truth without love is harsh, love without truth is wishy-washy.” This book is neither harsh nor wishy-washy. He speaks the truth with grace, love and humor.

It isn’t an easy book to read. Not that it’s a hard book to read, in fact it’s a very easy read except for the subject matter. It’s not easy at all to read about the idols in our lives. It’s not easy to read that we all worship something other than Jesus.

As he says in the book it’s easy to see someone else’s idols and not so much our own. It’s easy to see a businessman and conclude he worships the gods of money, fame, and achievement. While it’s not quite that easy to see that we worship the same gods. Or maybe our gods are different.

Kyle saves one god for last. The last chapter is devoted to the god of “me”. He says our worship of other gods all boils down to our worship of me. Not me the blog writer, but the me that lives in each one of us. He says: “The foundation of reality is there is one God and you are not Him.” We’ve all heard it before but I wonder how much we actually believe it. I say that because every time we set something else up as god in our life, we are saying in essence, “I am god” and we worship a god we create which equates to a worship of self.

This book is a must read for every Christian today. You will be challenged. You will be challenged to be better, to worship God more.  You will be challenged to find out who God is so you can worship Him as He demands.  When we do this we will find He is God enough. We will find peace, joy but more importantly the life we’ve always wanted, abundant and full. We will see all other gods as nothing more than slave masters, joy stealers, life takers not givers.

Check out this link to be graced with a Matt Bayless song used in the book. http://www.godsatwar.com/index.php/be-still

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of review.

Get Off Your Donkey by Reggie McNeal

We all know we need to help others. We know that there are those less fortunate than us that need our help. We also know it doesn’t matter where we are economically speaking, there are those who are in need of our help. We know that.

We know we need to get up and help them. We know that. And for many of us we are doing that. But for others, we just don’t. Maybe we expect someone else to do. We claim we don’t have time. We “gave at the office”. We don’t know what to do. So we do nothing.

Get Off Your Donkey by Reggie McNeal addresses this issue. If you’re thinking this is play on words, substituting “donkey” for the King James version of “donkey”, you’d be right.

This book is a hard-hitting, pull-no-punches book. That can be both a good thing and a bad thing. You might want to read it for yourself to know which you think it is.

I had a few problems with this book. First, it seemed to be written with the mindset that no one is doing anything. Which is completely false and I’m sure is not at all what Reggie McNeal intended.  Second, it came across to me as very harsh. He mentioned in the book that he has learned a few things about himself. One being the very way he talks often drives people away. He said he has learned to add “sensitivity (on occasion)”. This book was not one of those occasions. Third, he states at the end of the book the “reason” we are to help those less fortunate, so they will have a better life. Not so they will have eternal life, or the abundant life Jesus promises, but a good life. So America will be turned around. So there will be no more “gloom and doom” forecasted for this country. In my opinion if we are only helping others so they will have a better life, we’re missing the boat entirely.  If we’re helping those less fortunate by saying in essence, “I’m okay, you’re okay”. We’re helping Jesus right out of the equation. And fourthly (or lastly), I did not like the title. I know it seems petty. But honestly, I don’t think it’s funny. I find it rather offensive. Why do we think it’s okay to talk like this world’s culture by changing a few words, and giggling like school girls because “we’re saying something bad? If the author intended to say “Get off your ass” then he should have said that and not used a “more acceptable” word. But that is my opinion and yours might be different.

 

(I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of review.)