Merry Christmas

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Hope everyone has a blessed holiday and that this next year be filled with many blessings.

Chapter 2 Musings

Hi ladies! Chapter 2 has been very challenging for me. Being a woman I find it so easy to let my feelings rule. On pg. 50 it says that "we trust what we feel to be true, rather than what we know to be true." Very interesting and insightful. When I think of God loving me it is difficult to think that He would love me without doing anything for Him. I guess it goes back to my wanting approval from my earthly father and when I did something he was proud of he showed it by letting me have or do something I wanted. Praise Him, I do not need to do anything to merit His love! On pg. 53 it says, "Discomfort and unrest are impossible to souls who come to know that God is their Father." As I grow older I can relate with that more because when I was younger I worried so much about so many things. As I spend more time reading God's word and memorizing it, I am learning that I truly need to cast my cares on Him and He gives me a peace that transcends all understanding. What peace to leave everything in His capable hands! As it says on pg. 55, "obedience is the pathway to freedom." It's wonderful and scary to live in the age of "grace". Wonderful because God does not punish us the way we deserve and scary because we can continue in disobedience and not stop, because we're not punished like we deserve. We are free to choose to disobey, but that will come with consequences, as the author says on pg. 56. On pg. 58 she states that "God is not removed or detached from our problems. He uses pressures and problems to mold and shape our lives and to make us like His Son Jesus, who "learned obedience from what He suffered." Isn't it reassuring to know that God has a reason/purpose for our problems? He sees the big picture and we need to trust Him. :)
Until Chapter 3! Joan

Chapter 3 of Lies

I am posting this early as I will be traveling back to Dallas tomorrow from a nice vacation in NM.

I really enjoyed this chapter and could identify with a lot of things the author wrote. The first lie that spoke to me was #8 I need to learn to love myself. Reading her words made me realize something I already knew but I just didn't want to accept. Now, I don't believe we need to take the truth/lie to the extreme and not spend any time to ourselves or for ourselves, but we do need to be more aware of others. We need to realize that no matter how much time we spend on ourselves or loving ourselves we will never be ready to fully help others. It's true we are selfish people and waiting until we love ourselves enough to be there for others is an unrealistic and foolish line of thinking. It will never happen. As she says, "...we need to give others the same attention and care we naturally give ourselves."

Lie #9 was more of a reinforcement of us being responsible for our own choices. This redeemed the author in my eyes since I had such a hard time with her previous comment about leading others to sin.

Lie #10 was confusing, I am not certain if it is because I have been so influenced by society and expect my rights. However, in my mind I don't think there is anything wrong with expecting your spouse to love you, or to be valued. Sometimes these things have to be worked towards but I don't feel we need to go through life settling for less and allowing ourselves to wallow in self doubt or low self esteem.

Lie #11 I really liked how she pointed out that no where in the bible does it say that outward appearance doesn't matter, but the excessive time spent worrying about beauty is the sin. I had also never thought of a lack of taking care/time of our physical beauty would embarrass our husbands. He's supposed to accept you no matter what but I can see how it would be hard for him to want to go out with you if you are an embarrassment.

Lie #12 about unfulfilled longing was also something that I can find applicable. Too often our society is about instant gratification. My weakness is wanting to buy that book right away and not wait to see if I can get it from the library or wait until the next check. However, I do realize this issue in my life and am sometimes successful with resisting the temptation and waiting until a better time to purchase the item. Learning to live and be content with unfulfilled longing will be harder though. I want what I want now.