Born Different

I would rather be what God chose to make me than the most glorious creature that I could think of; for to have been thought about, born in God's thought, and then made by God, is the dearest, grandest, and most precious thing in all thinking.  George Macdonald

Have you ever wanted to look different from the way you are?  To many times I think we want to look different and in the process we want to look like someone else.  Why?  We are surrounded by magazines, television, books and any number of sources that place great importance on looking different from the way we do. 

If we depend on the world to define who we are and what we look like, we will pursue that until we die.  When God created each of us, He did so with a purpose in mind. You are not an afterthought or a mistake.  The way you look is not a mistake either.  God doesn’t look at the outer shell of who we are to determine if we are worthy.  He looks at our heart.

We need to learn how to give up what the world thinks we should look like and worry more about what God thinks.  If God created each of us with a purpose in mind, don’t you think He created you with the same care he did when he created Miss America, Miss Georgia or any other beauty queen or super model the world accepts as beautiful. 

When we decide we are not good enough for the world to accept us, we are basically saying that we are not happy with the way God created us.  Accept the person God created you to be.  You are beautiful and you don’t need the world to define who you are in God’s eyes. He created you as a work of art.  You are a priceless treasure in His eyes.  Don’t let anyone take that away from you.  We are each born different and that is what makes us the same. He created you in His image.  There is nothing more beautiful than that.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You created me in Your image.  Each person on earth is different.  There is not one of us who is the same.  Your creation of each person is unique.  Help us to see that we are beautiful in Your eyes.  I see so many young people who are concerned about self-image when each of them was created in Your image.  There is nothing more beautiful than that.   

       

Scripture: Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”  So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:26-27

Reaching Out to Others    

Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence, or learning.  Frederick W. Faber

Want to snatch a day from the manacles of boredom? Do overgenerous deeds, acts beyond reimbursement. Kindness without compensation. Do a deed for which you cannot be repaid.  Max Lucado

Sometimes reaching others for Christ is not easy.  The people who are the hardest to reach are those who had someone in their lifetime who told them they weren’t good enough, or others who preached to them instead of loving them and guiding them. 

Since I was an introvert and shy in my early years of life, I always thought I would never be able to talk to others about God and how amazing He is.  The older I get the easier it is for me to talk to him. Maybe because the older I get the more I place my trust in Him and not the people around me. What has helped over the years is kindness.  It is extremely hard for someone to reject you when you are kind.  That is not to say that some won’t reject you anyway, but the beauty of God is that He won’t reject you.  There is peace in knowing that.  The other thing that helps is loving others just the way they are.

Last week there were hundreds of workers from different companies at the event we attended.  Some worked security, others set up displays, many picked up trash or directed traffic throughout the week.  There were hundreds of vendors and the one thing I noticed most often was the times that many of the vendors either yelled at the guys in the parking lot or just ignored them altogether.  The same thing happened with the workers who picked up the vendors trash. 

I wonder how we would feel if God ignored us.  How would we feel if He didn’t give us the opportunity to redeem our sinful selves? 

Throughout the week my sister and I took every opportunity to be kind to the workers at the event.  We brought coffee to the ones standing out in the cold every day directing traffic.  I met and talked every day to the security guard where our trailer was parked.  He was out there 12 hours a day until the event closed.  I asked him if there was anything I could bring him to drink.  He said “a water would be nice”.  It cost me time and effort to walk back to my booth and get water and then walk back across the convention center to bring it to him.  What did I get out of it?  Joy.  The simple joy of seeing someone’s face light up because I did something kind and thoughtful to one of God’s children.

 

What else did I get?  At the end of this event there is utter chaos with everyone trying to get booths broken down, forklifts hauling product and all the other things that go with breaking down a 400 vendor event.  I was walking back to our booth from our trailer when I remembered I had forgotten to get something from the trailer.  I turned around to go back and the security guard had come back to see us and tell us goodbye and to have a safe trip home.  That evening he had been working security over at Reliant Stadium and he walked all the way over across this huge parking lot to our building just to tell us goodbye.  The joy I felt in having touched his life in some small way was priceless. 

Take the time to extend kindness to someone else.  Jesus did it throughout his lifetime on earth.  Follow in His footsteps.  He died so that we can live.  Show someone else this amazing gift by your actions through kindness and generosity.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I was so blessed by the people I met at last week’s event.  I understand what it means to be joyful by helping others.  I want to reflect You in everything I do.  Help me to see others as You do.  Help me to slow down and take the time to be kind and generous to others.  I praise You for giving me a heart for giving to others.  It brings me great joy.  

   

Scripture:  But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:4-10

Katherine

Forget yourself and live for others, for it is more blessed to give than to receive. A.B. Simpson

Last week we had a lot of amazing God things happen so I want to tell you about the one that touched me the most. 

We had a little girl named Katherine who came into our booth last week.  She was the prettiest little girl with big blue eyes and long blond hair.  She is ten years old.  That in and of itself isn’t really amazing but the rest of her story is.

When Katherine was four years old she was burned over 70% of her body.  I didn’t ask the details but I also found out that her dad had been burned too.  They had to take grafts from her scalp for other parts of her body.  Her mother told us that they had the hardest time with her feet. The scars on her feet would get dry and crack.  I am not sure how they did it but they were able to get her hair to grow again and it was down to the middle of her back and she said she wanted it to grow to her feet. 

I looked at this little girl who had scars covering most of her arms and the majority of her body and I thought about how blessed I am.  I also thought about how strong she is.  I looked into her blue eyes and saw a survivor.  Many of you know that we give candles to cancer survivors.  It is just a small thing but I can’t tell you how many times we have acknowledged another person’s survival and the person just starts crying.  We had several of those last week. 

My Mom and I decided to give her something different.  I leaned over the table and told her that she was a survivor just like me and that we wanted to give her something.  We told her to pick out a lotion that she liked.  I wish you could have seen her face light up. That alone was worth the trip.

I have been blessed to have the opportunity to touch other people’s lives through my parents business.  My favorite time is when we give something away for free.  Many would say that we are giving away our profit.  I would say we are showing others who Jesus is and no amount of money can replace that feeling of joy when you bless someone else with kindness when it is least expected.    

    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for giving me the opportunity to bless others through my parents business.  Katherine is a special little girl and I pray that You will  fill her life with blessings.  Her attitude showed me You all over again, and I for that I am grateful and thankful. 

      

Scripture: Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”  Luke 6:38

Chinese Fire Drill  

  

Blessed are the single-hearted, for they shall enjoy much peace... If you refuse to be hurried and pressed, if you stay your soul on God, nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit which is life and peace. In that stillness you know what His will is.  Amy Carmichael

My Mom, Dad, sister and I were at an event in Houston this past week selling Purple Ranch products.  On Thursday night we returned to our hotel around ten and went to bed.  At 3:00am the fire alarm in our hotel went off.  To preface this story I will say that it was raining and 32 degrees outside with a north wind blowing.  I don’t know what everyone else was doing but I do know I jumped out of bed landed on two feet and said “what is that?”  It wasn’t one of my brighter moments, but what do you expect from someone who has had too little sleep. 

So we are running around trying to find coats and socks, anything we could get our hands on that would be warm if we had to go outside.   I always wondered where the term “it was like a Chinese fire drill” came from because we were in the midst of one.  It was believed to have originated in the early 1900’s when a British ship run by a Chinese crew practiced a fire drill in the engine room.  The bucket brigade would take their buckets to the starboard side and draw water, run to the engine room and throw water on the fire then a second crew would haul the accumulated water to the main deck and throw it over the port side.  There was a problem in translation between the parties so instead of dipping the water on the starboard side, running to the engine room to throw water on the fire, they totally bypassed the engine room and threw the water over the port side. 

We were having a Chinese fire drill in our hotel last weekend.  Have you ever had that circumstance occur in your Christian life?  You are so busy running from one side of your ship to the other doing pointless things, that you totally bypass God in the process.  There is a reason why God tells us to be still and trust in Him.  All the running around we do won’t bring us any closer to Him. Take refuge in Him.   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, there are times when my life becomes like a Chinese fire drill.  I run every way but to You.  When I don’t rest in You, I lose the very thing You want me to have. Peace in knowing that I am Yours and that You will take care of the details. Thank You Lord for loving me. 

Scripture: God the Refuge of His People and Conqueror of the Nations

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling.  There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.  The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved; He uttered His voice, the earth melted.  The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.  Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire.  Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.  Psalm 46:1-11

Never a Dull Moment

We often think of great faith as something that happens spontaneously so that we can be used for a miracle or healing. However, the greatest faith of all, and the most effective, is to live day by day trusting Him. It is trusting in Him so much, that we look at every problem as an opportunity to see His work in our life.  Rick Joyner

Life is funny isn’t it?  If you look at it from a heavenly perspective, the things we worry about don’t always happen and the things we never thought of do.  I have come to the conclusion that in this world if I wait long enough something interesting will happen eventually.

Last night I was going to the store to buy trouser socks. It is getting cooler here in Texas so I was wearing trousers and needed trouser socks to wear with my trousers.  So yesterday I spent 15 minutes trying to locate two matching trouser socks.  Have you noticed that when your trouser socks get to the laundry room they break up?  It’s like they have a great relationship in the package, but once they hit the laundry room the relationship is over and one of them disappears never to be found again.  I personally think they met up with a towel or sheet and now they are static clinging somewhere together. 

Anyway, after I left work I stopped by my sister’s house to pick up something.  My “Green Machine” was running great at that point.  I had to stop at Home Depot, not for trouser socks, but for lights and bulbs.  So I go into Home Depot, come out put the key in the ignition and click.  Nothing, notta, no go.  So as most wives do I called my husband.  He tells me to look behind the seat for the wrench and go tap the battery cables.  By the way, my new car is still in the shop with its guts on the ground.

 

So I open the hood and one of the Green Machine’s battery cables is corroded.  So I decide to go back into Home Depot to buy a Coke.  Not because I am thirsty but I will pour it on my battery cables to clean them.  Since my Green Machine didn’t stop running at the auto parts store I used what was available.

As a side note I did go into Home Depot at my husband’s suggestion to ask them if they sell the spray to remove acid and the two extremely young clerks looked at me like I had grown two heads.  When I saw the deer in the headlight looks they gave each other I moved on to plan B.  Do you sell Coke here?  The young girl’s face lit up.  “Oh, yes we do, over in the case behind the register.”  I am not sure what they are teaching kids these days in school but they are missing out on the important stuff.

   

I get back to the Green Machine and pour the Coke on the cables.  It starts foaming and cleaning the cables immediately.  I get back in the car and try to start it.  Nothing.  So I call my husband and he tells me he is on his way.  To make this extremely long story shorter, he drives up, gets out of his truck, pops the hood, taps each of the cables with a wrench and the Green Machine starts right up. 

    

What is the moral of this story?  I didn’t get my trouser socks, Coke will eat the acid off your battery cables in a pinch and things are going to happen in life that will frustrate you and make you ask yourself “Why am I here?”  The answer is we are here for God’s purpose.  That’s it.  It’s not some complicated formula that we need a Master’s degree in rocket science to figure out.  We are His to be used for His purpose.  Make the most of every circumstance that comes your way and use it for His Glory. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I praise You for the challenges in my life because they show me glimpses of You.  There is a great peace that comes over me when I leave it up to You to work out the details of my simple life.  I love you Father.    

  

Scripture: Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.  For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.  2 Timothy 1:8-12

Where Do You Go When You’re Afraid?

Faith, which is trust, and fear are opposite poles. If a man has the one, he can scarcely have the other in vigorous operation. He that has his trust set upon God does not need to dread anything except the weakening or the paralyzing of that trust.  Alexander MacLaren

Where do you go when you are scared or afraid?  When I was young we always went to our parents because we knew they would protect us from anything that might harm us. 

I think many times we underestimate our Heavenly Father’s protection.  We often place Him in the same category as our earthly parents so we miss the amazing protection He provides to us on a daily basis. 

Each of us has times in our life when we were afraid.  If you look back on those times can you see God at work protecting you from harm?  He doesn’t always take away the trials that come our way.  We wouldn’t learn wisdom without the trials.  We won’t grow closer to God if we don’t turn to Him when we are scared.  In my lifetime, God has been there for me over and over again. 

The definition of trust is the firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something. Do you trust God?  He is reliable, truthful and he has the ability and strength to protect us.  There is peace in that place where we trust God to protect us from what makes us afraid.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You are my Rock.  You are where I go when I am afraid.  You protect me under the shelter of your wings.  I sing praises to You, my heavenly Father for being my shelter in any storm. 

Scripture: Assurance of God’s Eternal Protection

Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You,
When my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

For You have been a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in Your tabernacle forever; I will trust in the shelter of Your wings.

For You, O God, have heard my vows; You have given me the heritage of those who fear Your name.  You will prolong the king’s life, his years as many generations. He shall abide before God forever. Oh, prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve him!

So I will sing praise to Your name forever, that I may daily perform my vows.  Psalm 61:1-8

Why Are We Surprised?

No sin which we are capable of committing has ever taken God by surprise for He knew we were just like that.  Alan Redpath

Within each of us exists the image of God, however disfigured and corrupted by sin it may presently be. God is able to recover this image through grace as we are conformed to Christ.  Alister McGrath

Do you ever rebel against God?  Every one of us since God created Adam and Eve have rebelled against God.  It is that rebellion that caused the fall of the world.  When Adam and Eve failed we were born into a family of failures. It’s kind of depressing when you think about it.  The sad part is we continue in our ancestors footsteps. 

I can’t even count the number of times I have failed and rebelled against God. One of the things we often forget in a world filled with sorrow, pain, suffering and troubles is that there are times when we bring some of our own pain on ourselves.  There will be times when bad things will happen to us that we have no choice in the matter. Living in a fallen world means that Satan is going to be throwing some stuff our way that we need to be prepared to handle.  But more often than not we are our own worst enemy.

Here are some examples.  If I choose to smoke 2 packs of cigarettes a day, I shouldn’t be surprised if I get lung cancer.  If I decide to eat foods that are bad for my health or never exercise, I shouldn’t be surprised when I get the diseases that come from eating the things that are bad for me.  If I never exercise I shouldn’t be surprised when I become a couch potato. 

God created us in His image.  Our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit living in us and how many times do we desecrate that temple.  Why do I expect God to protect me when I don’t take care of the body he gave me for the Holy Spirit to reside in? It’s like knowing you have a leak in your roof but doing nothing about it.  What happens?  Before you know it you have a bucket catching the drip, a stain on your ceiling and mold in the attic.         

When we understand the part our sin plays in our life, the first thing we should want to do is get rid of it.  God can help us get rid of the sin in our life, but we have to want it first.  Sometimes it is easier to lie than tell the truth, other times it is easier to blame someone else for our failures and other times we are stubborn and rebellious and want our way instead of God’s. 

If we understand our sin, remove it from our life and lean on God, the things that Satan throws our way will not surprise us.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am guilty of sin.  I am guilty of rebelling against You over and over again.  I decide I know what is best for me instead of letting You decide. Help me to give up the sin in my life and allow the Holy Spirit to live in me.  When things of this world throw me a curve, I will be able to handle it and lean on You during those times.  Thank you for loving me enough to want me back even when I rebel. Remind me that I am not my own, I am Yours. 

Scripture:   Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

Changing From the Inside Out

Patience is like good motor oil. It doesn't remove all the contaminants. It just puts them into suspension so they don't get into your works and seize them up. Patient people have, so to speak, a large crankcase. They can put a lot of irritants into suspension.  Cornelius Plantinga

Have you ever tried to change something in your life?  I’m not talking about changing your socks or your hairstyle.  I’m talking about character change.  How do you make permanent change to your character? 

If you are an impatient person you aren’t going to become a patient person overnight.  Gentleness and self-control aren’t just going to appear like a fast food burger.  For the fruit of the Spirit to live inside us we are going to have to change from the inside out.  We can pretend to have the fruit of the Spirit, but eventually our true character will come out. 

God is the one who produces the fruit of the Spirit living in and through you.  We have to want the fruit of the Spirit living in us to be able to obtain it.  It takes effort on our part. I think too many times we don’t want the work that has to be done to have the fruits of the Spirit.  It is so easy to get impatient with others when they aren’t doing it fast enough for us.

Recently I have been working on my patience.  Sometimes God allows things to happen in our lives to make us slow down and think.  Many of you know that I have a new car.  You also know from a previous devotional, that my new car is in the shop.  Yes, my new car has been in the shop for almost three weeks.  The mechanic at the dealership sent me photos last week of my car jacked up and the engine, transmission and all its parts laid out on the ground underneath it.  Now, I could handle this situation a lot of different ways.  I could become impatient, yell and scream at the mechanics working on it, and I could show up at the dealership and make a scene so that other people in the dealership might reconsider buying a car there. 

If I did any of these things, what kind of character would I be expressing?  If I acted like this I would knock out at least 6 of the fruits of the Spirit.  Peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control.  We need to remember that we don’t all of a sudden wake up one day and our life is filled with the fruit of the Spirit.  It takes time to be changed.  I didn’t get the way I am overnight, so why should I expect to be changed overnight. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I want to have the fruit of the Spirit living in me.  Remind me that it takes perseverance and time.  I will not be all the things You want me to be if I don’t have the patience to pursue You and to continually work on the bad character traits in me that have taken me a lifetime to create.  I want to change from the inside out.   

   

Scripture: The New Man

This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

But you have not so learned Christ, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.  Ephesians 4:17-24