Go Spend Some Time With God!

Last night I had a bit of a wobbly and found myself feeling really sad for no apparent reason. Dave said the classic line, that I never ever want to hear when I'm sad but the thing that needs to happen. "Go spend some time with God." 

I've learnt that when I'm connected with God and under his covering I'm happy. When I'm not, and I remove myself (often subtly and unintentionally) from his presence and his covering I get sad. I know now that feeling sad is a warning sign that I need to do something to get myself closer with God. I love God, and I love spending time with Him, I love being in his presence, I love having conversations. 

So why is it when someone says.. "Go spend some time with God." My heart sinks. I don't want to. 

I thought about it. I asked God about it and I've come to this conclusion. 

Something deep inside me thinks God is boring. 

I think something deep inside a lot of people think God is boring. 

What do you think of when I say "Go spend some time with God"? Reading the bible? Praying on your knees? Listening to a sermon? Honestly. Sometimes. That's not what I want to do. They're all really good, really useful things, vital things in fact. But sometimes I want to do something else. I want to do something different. I want more.

Imagine you're a child and you say to your father, "I want to spend some time with you." and he gives you three options. You can read a book that he's written, have a chat or listen to someone talk about him. If they were the only ways you could spend time with your Dad you'd get bored. 

God's interested in your interests. He wants to do things with you that you like. Be that painting, drawing, gardening, baking.... Whatever. He is your Heavenly Father and he wants to spend time with you doing things you like, just like a Dad playing with his child. 

I've drawn and coloured with God before and he's spoken so clearly through the things I've produced, I've got some life changing revelations from them actually. So last night Dave said "Go spend some time with God." and I told God "I don't know what to do." and He said "Make some bracelets with me." My mood instantly lifted and I wandered off to the bedroom with my loom bands, bible and journal to make some bracelets. 

I let God choose the colours. For each colour he told me something about myself and gave me a bible verse to back it up. (I've written them all down in my journal so I don't forget.) I spent about two hours doing this and I only stopped because Dave came in and told me what the time was... (Past bed time.) I got caught up creating, chatting with and listening to God that I lost track of time. I wasn't bored, I wasn't distracted, I had fun, dealt with things that needed dealing with and felt so much better for it. 

So be encouraged! God want's to do things with you that you enjoy doing. Think in terms of relationship "I want to have some fun with my Daddy." rather than religious, guilt driven "I HAVE to spend time with God today." Relationship building over box ticking. 

So.... Go spend some time with God.  ^_^

Peel Off Your Stickers!

I was having a discussion with a friend about a sermon she'd heard about anger and it prompted me into thinking about emotions and what the Church teaches about them.

As a teenager/ young adult I was struggling with a lot of repressed memories of various traumatic events playing through my mind and this triggered a variety of emotions in me.
I was sad, angry, confused and shocked about what had happened to me or what I had witnessed and the only teaching I was ever told on the subject of emotion was "Leave it at the cross." "Give it to Jesus and decide to be happy." "If you're a Christian and you're unhappy, it's like throwing what Jesus did on the cross away."
So that's what I tried. I said "Jesus I'm handing it over to you, I've decided to be happy." and off I went on my way, deciding I was happy.
Problem is. What I'd just done was the equivalent of sticking a smiley face sticker over a warning light on my car dash board and pretending like it wasn't there. You can stick anything you like over a warning light. It's still there underneath.
Emotions aren't sinful. We need to stop looking at them that way.
Jesus felt emotion. He wept, (John 11:35) He got angry, (Matthew 21:12), He felt agony, (Luke 22:44). Jesus felt emotion. Jesus was sinless. Sinless. He felt emotion and was open about it.

For me, after years and years of walking around with a fake smile plastered over my face, things started to get bad, my engine over heated and exploded. I withdrew from everyone I loved and tried to cope by punishing myself with various was of self harm. On top of it the teachings that had been engrained in me as a young adult "Just give it to Jesus and decide to be happy." Still echoed in my head. So on top of everything that was going on I felt guilt, shame and condemned.

Eventually, I decided I needed help and some very wise people taught me the most life changing thing I think I've ever heard.
Emotions are't sinful. They're not bad. They're useful. They're needed. You need to pay attention to what you're feeling and do something about it.
You need to peel the stickers off your car dashboard, look at what it's saying and take it to a mechanic.
Our mechanic is Holy Spirit.
"Holy Spirit, I feel really angry with this person, what does that mean?" *Listen and act of what she says.*
"Holy Spirit, I feel really upset about what happened yesterday, what can I do about it?" *Listen and act on what she says."
It''s really that simple. Sometimes you wont want to do what you've been told, sometimes it's painful, sometimes it hurts, but that's okay. It's like breaking your arm as a child and not seeing a doctor. Letting your arm set wrong. Then later in life seeking medical attention. To fix your arm, it's going to hurt. It'll have to be broken and re set. It's the only way it'll heal.

So! Get rid of your stickers, fix your car and enjoy your journey! ^_^

Burnt Cupcakes

I burnt my cupcakes today.... Asked Holy Spirit if She had anything to say about them.

I got this reply.

"Do to much of the same thing and you'll dry up."

The cupcakes were in the oven for to long and they burnt.. They dried up. The same can happen to us. If we spend ALL our time focused on one thing we'll dry up.... Things'll go wrong.

If we spend all our time eating candy and watching netflix we'll become unhealthy, our teeth are likely to decay and we'll become over weight.

If we spend all day and all night working we'll miss seeing our children and families grow, we'll become frustrated with work and bitter.

If we spend all of our time spending money eventually we'll run out and find ourselves drowning in debt.

Shopping isn't wrong, working, eating candy, watching TV isn't wrong but I think it's healthy to, from time to time, sit back with Father God and evaluate our time. Ask Him "What could I be doing differently?" Listen and be obedient.

Being obedient to Him will never steer you wrong.

Let Him help you be a well baked cupcake.

Worrying

I've been worried, worried about work (or lack of it). Worried about fitness, health and eating habits. Worried about money (or lack of it). Worried about the mess the house is in, the clutter in the garden. And you know what it's achieved?

Anxiety, negative thoughts, bitterness.

Worrying, focusing on your mountains only makes things worse. Last night I decided to stop. I gave it over to God and decided to focus on the AMAZING things he's done for me. The mountains in front of me may be big but God is bigger.

Why don't you try it? Say sorry to God for focusing on your mountains instead of Him. Give your mountains to Him to get rid of. Ask Him what He's going to give you in return. Listen and receive what He has to say.

I still don't have a job as a couple me and my husband still don't have enough money, we still have health issues and things have the potential to be stressful. If we let them. God's done an amazing work in our relationship these last six months and He hasn't got us this far to leave us to nothing. I'm confident in that. 

God hasn't got you this far to abandon you. Listen. Have a good attitude. Be obedient. Stay obedient. You can't go wrong following His directions. 

Be blessed.  

What Lies?

"The way is shut. Now you must die." What lies are you believing? What have you given up on? What binds you? If you have Jesus in your life, you don't need to be bound by anything. He has given YOU authority over all the powers of the enemy (Luke 10:19) You have power to tell the things that control you NO. YOU have the power. YOU have the choice. "I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses, now choose life so that you and your children may live." Deuteronomy 30:19
Go stand in your authority. Go choose blessing. Choose life. Reform the line and pass the blessings down.