How do we respond??

“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1

This proverb is so true, but how hard is it to live by?  When I was growing up I was always told “Attitude is everything”.  Sometimes if it seems like I’m frustrated with everyone around me I stop and ask myself, could it be me?  Could I be the one who is talking with harsh words and am I stirring up anger?  It’s always good to stop pray that your words are gentle.

The biggest area our society has this problem in is electronic dialogues.  Emails and texts do not convey your attitude.  Sometimes the way we write an email can invoke anger because the person reading it has to place the emotions into the email themselves.  When I’m in a hurry and need information from someone I know, I remind myself that typing a personal comment is important so the other person doesn’t think all I care about is my needs.  Smiley icons can be abused, but sometimes I think it’s necessary.

So the next time I am in a frustrating situation I need to remember that “a gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

It's not the end of the world.......

The Day and Hour Unknown  Matthew 24:36 - 51

³⁶ “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,^[f] but only the Father. ³⁷ As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ³⁸ For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; ³⁹ and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. ⁴⁰ Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. ⁴¹ Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
⁴² “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³ But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴ So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
⁴⁵ “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? ⁴⁶ It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. ⁴⁷ Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁸ But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ ⁴⁹ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. ⁵⁰ The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. ⁵¹ He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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A lot of people are joking about how one person has declared today the end of the world.  I don't want to joke about it because the sad thing is man does not know when the hour will come, only God the Father.  Jesus doesn't even know.  So I pray that because of this people will dig deeper to see what it’s all about.   So remember, do not fear because man says the world is coming to an end.  Live your life for Christ.  Be a light in the dark world; be a servant doing their duty for the Lord.  To read further about the end times, go to Matthew Chapter 24 and Revelation Chapter 21 – 22. 

Praise God in the storm....and rain......and wind.......

God lets out all the stops, he holds nothing back.
No one can mistake that voice—
His word thundering so wondrously,
his mighty acts staggering our understanding.
He orders the snow, 'Blanket the earth!'
and the rain, 'Soak the whole countryside!'
No one can escape the weather—it's there.   Job 37: 5 – 7 The Message Bible

Currently I am reading the Bible in Chronological order.  Right now I am reading in Job. In the verse above, a young man is rebuking Job’s whining.  These verses hit me today because I have been whining about all the rain we are getting. 

Then further on I read God’s comments to Job which begin:

"Why do you confuse the issue?
Why do you talk without knowing what you're talking about?
Pull yourself together, Job!
Up on your feet! Stand tall!
I have some questions for you,
and I want some straight answers.
Where were you when I created the earth?
Tell me, since you know so much!
Who decided on its size? Certainly you'll know that!
Who came up with the blueprints and measurements?
How was its foundation poured,
and who set the cornerstone,
While the morning stars sang in chorus
and all the angels shouted praise?
And who took charge of the ocean
when it gushed forth like a baby from the womb?
That was me! I wrapped it in soft clouds,
and tucked it in safely at night.
Then I made a playpen for it,
a strong playpen so it couldn't run loose,
And said, 'Stay here, this is your place.
Your wild tantrums are confined to this place.'  Job 38: 2 – 11

So, today when I am tempted to whine about the rain, I will remember who is in charge.  Who it is that brings the rain, and while I don’t know His reasoning, I don’t have to know, because He is the one in charge.  He knows why we need this rain, even if it’s to remind us that He is in charge of our life and our schedule and our environment, not us.  We need to praise Him in the storm, and boy is it storming around here!

Hear us O Lord - Your Mercy is Great

“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” - 2 Chronicles 7:14

Hear Us From Heaven

By Jared Anderson

Lord, hear our cry
Come heal our land
Breath life into these dry and thirsty souls
Lord, hear our prayer
Forgive our sin
And as we call on Your name
Would You make this a place
For Your glory to dwell

Chorus:
Open the blind eyes
Unlock the deaf ears
Come to Your people
As we draw near
Hear us from heaven
Touch our generation
We are Your people
Crying out in desperation

For those of you who are friends of mine on Facebook, you know I love when music lyrics closely follow scripture.  The song “Hear Us From Heaven” by Jared Anderson so closely matches the sentiment found in 2 Chronicles 7:14.  These are reminders that we need to pray for our nation, leaders, and people.  Tomorrow is the National Day of Prayer.  May we all stop and say a prayer for our Country.  May the Lord hear our cries and heal our land and our souls. 

Don't you get frustrated when you see yourself in scripture and it's not a good thing?

Romans 12:11-13 (King James Version)

¹¹Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord;

¹²Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer;

¹³Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.

Romans 12:11-13 (New International Version, ©2011)

¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Romans 12:11-13 (The Message)

^11-13Don't burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don't quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.

How many times do I read a Bible verse written in the Message translation and wonder – where does it say that in the Bible??   It’s wonderful that we have the technology to then change the translation to something else to see the words in another way.  They all mean the same thing; the translations are different because it they are for a different time.  The word translation means the rendering of something into another language or into one's own from another language.  These translations were written in different times.  Each one went back to the original Greek and Hebrew to translate the Bible so that modern man could understand better. 

When I read the first two translations I say “hey – I’m not slothful and I have zeal.  When I read the Message translation I say “oh no, I do get burned out!  It’s hard sometimes for me to hang in there in hard times and sometimes helping is tough.” 

This is why I have 6 different translations of the Bible at home and why I like Biblegateway.com.   It’s good to delve deeper into the Bible and what it says.  Commentaries and footnotes are helpful if you are trying to study on your own.  I also like to attend Bible Study with a group where I am held accountable for my study and I do Bible Study on my own too. 

So the next time you read scripture, and you just aren’t sure what it’s saying, go to www.biblegateway.com and check the same passages out in another translation.  If that doesn’t help, you can look for commentaries on the passages.   These are great ways to go deeper into your faith!

May God Bless you with His Word.

I know my Redeemer lives.......

"Oh, that my words were recorded,
that they were written on a scroll,
that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead,
or engraved in rock forever!
I know that my redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!  Job 19:23 - 27

What a wonderful blessing this is to read.  Job, who went through hell and back, praised God because he knew his redeemer lives.  This is amazing when you consider the fact that Job is in the Old Testament.    In the reading plan I have started Job falls in day 4 after the tower of Babel event.  There is no promise to Abraham, no Israel, and no exile and then return, yet Job know his Redeemer lives. 

How wonderful to be so sure that God lives when you don’t have all the proof found in scripture. 

Another blessing is the reminder that someday we will all see God.  Someday the troubles of this world will fall away.  So whatever you are going through, you can know that someday all will be good.  It all goes back to my favorite verse in the New Testament:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  Revelation 21: 3 – 4.

Whatever you are going through, remember, some day we will all rejoice and shed no more tears, have no more worries and most importantly, that our Redeemer lives.

My journey with God……….

I have started this blog as a way to share my journey with God with others who seek him.  Here’s my story:

I have been a Christian my entire life.  I grew up in a Christian household.  I thought I had all the answers and new exactly what God wanted me to do when I grew up.  At the age of 12 I thought “God wants me to be an accountant.”  My dad is a CPA and I was good at numbers so that’s what God wants me to be.  Now how many 12 year olds really know what they want to be and for that matter, how many 12 year olds want to be an accountant?  When I was 13, I thought maybe God didn’t’ want me to be an accountant.  Maybe God wanted me to go into the ministry.  It was during my final 2 weeks before I was confirmed.  I felt that God was telling me that accounting wasn’t the place for me.  Maybe, just maybe I was to minister to people.  I loved God (and still do) very much and I truly did Love to Tell the Story!  The only problem was, I was a girl!  At the time there weren’t many ordained women in our Synod, at least that’s what I was told.  I was basically told men do the preaching and women help with the other stuff.  Not in those words mind you, but that’s the gist of what I understood based on my surroundings. 

So I went to college and studied business and accounting.  My favorite classes were New Testament, Christian Ethics, and Creative speaking.  When I graduated I took the CPA test 10 times and only ever passed 2 sections.  When I was at the exams, during breaks, I would be evangelizing in my own way and talking about God.  I had more fulfillment doing that then anything on the test!  Over the years I had 3 jobs in accounting but they were not fulfilling.  I was laid off in 2005 due to a reorganization of the company I worked for and started seeking God.  At the time I couldn’t believe God would let this happen, after all I worked for the Church!  Then opportunities came up for me to grow in my faith.  I volunteered through our Lutheran church and I started attending Bible studies.  I was (and am) truly seeking God.  Over the past 5 years, God has lead me on an awesome journey.  I have worked with a lot of wonderful people. 

My time spent helping out in these areas showed me that God really does have a plan and I needed to listen to what his plan was and is for me.  I didn’t need to listen to anyone else but God.  I took a year off from a lot of my volunteering because I wasn’t sure I was in the right place.  Then I was asked to be the Youthfest coordinator and I had the chance to go to Synod Assembly in 2007.   I accepted the position and headed to the assembly.  While at the assembly I read over the paper explaining the lay training and the Aaron’s ministry.  I told Pastor Held I would love to do this but I didn’t think I could.  He asked why and I said my son is so young, can I do this?  When my husband picked me up, I told him about it and he asked why I couldn’t do it.  I said about Tommy being so young and he said – he’s potty trained so I can take care of him.  (You have to know Dennis!)   So I said I would pray about it.  The more I thought about my past and what I liked to do and when did I feel the most peace, I realized it was during the times I was working for God.  I signed up for the classes and felt at peace.  I was finally home.  The classes taught me so much.  I would get so excited when I was in the classes and I never want them to end!  I became a trained worship leader and enjoyed leading worship.  The classes helped me get a better understanding of the Bible and what it said and meant.

In January 2010 we started attending Cornerstone Ministries.  Our son was missing the Bible Study he had gone to before kindergarten started and asked us to find a church whose teaching format was the same as Community Bible Study.  He said he wanted to learn more about God.  I finally understood the old saying “you attend church where your kids get the most spiritual growth.”  It amazed me he wanted to learn more and more about God.  I asked around and was told that Cornerstone Ministries was the place to go for such a format.  We have all been so blessed by the teaching at the church.  Dennis, my husband says “if you don’t squirm some during the sermons, you aren’t listening.”   

I have had many people ask me over the years if I would consider going to seminary.  I told them yes I would and I have.  Right now, however I have a 7 year old and I feel that God wants his education and journey to adulthood to come first.  I am where I need to be.  I tell people that when it is time, God will open the door.  I’ll be ready to walk right through when He does!