"Trust 101," From the Lesson Book of God

I really enjoy a great time floating down the river with cousins, Uncle Jason* ,  Auntie,  Pepere, and the rest of my family. It's wonderful when so many of us can meet on the same continent at the same time, but even then we are missing three of the little girls, Auntie Annie, and Memere...too bad Africa lies so far away. Well, that will make heaven all the better.

Anyway, I put my retainer in my pocket while we ate lunch on the riverbank, and then totally forgot about it.  Oh:(( I swam the rest of the way down the river, and yea, you figure out the rest of the story.
.. The retainer slipped out somewhere in that big river, and it's gone.

I have a great family though. This morning, when they found out how much $$$ it would cost me to replace it they all decided to do  a grand search of the river.  A ridiculous idea? Yep! I really have a great family though, and that with faith. We have faith in a God who knows the end from the beginning, and who cares for His children as a father. We all knelt down to pray.  One of my little cousins prayed this, "Dear Lord,  Could you please give us a good swim? and if it your will could you please find us the retainer?"

You know you are loved when:
 Your whole family forms a search party for your missing retainer.
 Your Uncle nearly freezes in water far colder then his normal body temp. limit.
Oh yea, and your Grandfather, Pepere, stands on the bank and cheers everyone on.!

The water seemed colder then ever.

Sadly, we didn't find that ol' retainer.

I had to run to the orthodontist and set down the $$$ for a new one. ick!!

I still trust my Father in Heaven, though! He somehow saw best not fix the problem like I would have planned it, but I am told that "He has a thousand ways of which we know nothing", and that "He would never lead His children otherwise than they would choose to be lead if they could see the end from the beginning and discern the purpose for which they are fulfilling as co-workers with Christ".

I asked the Lord, last night, to teach me to trust Him more. He's answering this prayer. This is just more page in the lesson book of God, entitled, "Trust".

When You Face The 'Deep' Hard Things

I've wondered what I should write for my second blog post on this journey to do hard things. I've had so many ideas swirling around in my brain but just to be able to take a moment and get them down on paper in some kind of meaningful notation is the challenge. I don't like fessing up. It's a hard thing for me, but I faced a challenge yesterday that showed one of the most difficult things in life- at least for me. That is character defect. I don't like being found "in the wrong" or  "at fault"- definitely a pride issue. The thing hit pretty deep yesterday as I didn't want to be "wrong", didn't want to admit I was "wrong",  and didn't want others to think I might have been "wrong".  After mulling over it for quite a long time (oooh, like two hours) I realized a much bigger problem lay under this little thing that I was so ready to defend. I had a heart problem. "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."

What do you do when you realize you've done wrong? What do you when you feel like everybody knows when you've "messed up"? What do you do when you have to say, "I'm sorry"? 

These are hard questions. Why? because they dig deep into the heart.

Prayer Meeting last night was excellent-just what I need to hear. We've listened to the Ivor Myers series about the art of spiritual warfare. Every message inspires, but for some reason the DVD player wouldn't play any of the sermons except the last one which dealt especially with 'our warfare stance'.  Pastor Ivor paralleled our spiritual warfare with that of other types of fighters. Stance is very important to most fighters because without a good stance they are easy prey to the enemy. They are "Push-overs", and that is all it really takes to bring down someone who does not have the right stance. Just push them over (hint: plz. don't try it). So, what is the correct stance? According to Ivor, it is low with the knees bent.

Did you see that, LOW with the knees BENT!

Jesus say, "Come unto me for I am meek and LOWly in heart."

Oh to be more like Jesus! To be willing to come low,  to spend more time with our knees bent in prayer. I believe that if we were to pray more we would become more humble.

This is what I dealt with yesterday-the hardest of hard things- coming face to face with pride and self! No, this is not the first time I have met or surrendered them and I have heard that it is the work of a lifetime, but I have chosen to spend more time "low' on my knees in prayer and study of the life of Christ. I pray, Lord help me to learn to be more humble. Help me to learn to do these most important hard things!

Do Hard Things

I highly recommend this book: Do Hard Things, by Brett and Alex Harris.
It’s very inspiring- a must read for all teenagers. I borrowed it from a friend of mine and I just finished it.  This is not a book that you can read and forget quickly- at least not for me. It is a challenge to meet the high calling which God has placed within the reach of youth today. It’s a challenge to do hard things, not just the great but also the small.  Oh that we would reach for the highest bar of success!!


I am  trying to implement the five ‘hard’ things that this book talks about in my life.

1. Things that are outside your comfort zone (doing what’s hard for you)
2. Things that go beyond what is expected or required
3. Things that are too big to accomplish alone (big hard things:)
4. Things that don’t earn an immediate payoff (Wow!! stuff like making your bed, driving the speed limit??!! Also things like fighting sin, doing schoolwork, and obeying parents)
5. Things that challenge the cultural norm


What hard things will we do today??


You can find this book on their web site:
http://www.therebelution.com/books/