This has been a season where God has really been opening my eyes to the hurt that exists in the world and also to how fragile and precious life truly is. Last month, a very loved member of our church passed away from a heart attack. I had really only met him a few times, but I can truly say, the entire church body has mourned this loss during this time. He was one of those people that was constantly ministering to others, just simply loving others through conversation and by his example.
Ever since his death, I have been thinking of my own life, and how God orders my steps and I don't know what the next day holds. This can be exciting, or terrifying, depending on how you look at it. When God helps you understand his sovereignty, and how you are not in control, He can really also shape inside of you the desire to truly put pettiness and "worldly behavior" aside.
Truthfully, most of the "pain" I have experienced in life has been through the actions/behaviors of myself and others. I think it is very easy for people to forget how much they have the potential to hurt other people through what they say or do. I also don't think people realize how GREAT their potential is to LOVE other people and influence them through what they do.
To put it most simply, believers need to understand that, as believers, you really should be developing the heart to love each other, sinful behavior at all, because you are asking God to make you forgiving and selfless. Like, don't gossip about each other. Or allow yourself to get jealous of one another. For the love, don't de-friend each other on facebook due to a disagreement. Or walk in anger with another.
God has taught me a lot about confrontation in the last few months. Yes, I work in a ministry, and he has been teaching me about this! Each day, I pray for any areas in my heart that are unclean. Any areas where I have unresolved feelings for another person. Yes, I get crazy feelings sometimes - I admit it. Sometimes, my feelings are due to things another person said or did, and I've also found that it is possible to fabricate feelings or situations in your mind about another person that really aren't even true! Regardless of why you feel negatively about another person, it is important to address it head on.
In my experience, I've learned that it is better to walk to someone directly and say, "Hey, you really hurt my feelings by what you said," or "Hey, you know, I was a real jerk when I said such and such. See, I'm stressed out, and I let things get to me, and I'm sorry for what I did." It really can be simple if you pray about it beforehand and let the Holy Spirit lead you.
By ripping the band-aid off and talking things out, we make ourselves extremely vulnerable, but the end results are that you develop a greater understanding of each other's hearts and are actually demonstrating God's love rather than allowing the enemy creep in to develop anger, jealousy or even fear. This is really important in marriages, too. I think a lot of marriages could likely be saved if spouses learned to communicate in a better way.
I read a great example in the Bible today in the book of Acts 15. Paul and Barnabas had been traveling together ministering and preaching to the Gentiles. In verse 17, Barnabas wants to ask Mark to join them, and Paul disagrees, because apparently Mark had "abandoned" them in the past - or in other words, ticked him off. So they parted ways. BUT if you read the notes in your Bible, and look in 2 Timothy 4:11, Paul asks for Mark to join him in his final days. He says "He is helpful to me in my ministry."
I like this. Eventually, God reconciled the two men. I would like to think that God mended whatever disagreements or discomfort they had. At the very least, he showed Paul that Mark was valuable.
So, there it beauty in reconciliation. My charge today - just love others that are trying to walk with God as you are. Address conflict head on, in a reasonable way, and see what God does with it. At that point, you will be more effective in helping the hurting than being the one getting hurt in the midst or even doing some hurting of your own.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Perfect Preparation
This morning, as I reflected on a few things I've been praying about for awhile, I really sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit and heard the following: "The perfect preparation of the Lord takes time."
As I think about my son's upcoming first birthday, it amazes me how much he has grown in the last year, but in light of what I heard this morning, I find myself thinking today about that time period of preparation while I awaited Owen's arrival. For nine months, he grew in my womb, and God was developing every detail - every eyelash, every finger and toe, his heart and other organs, etc. (Yes, I am a little bit emotional this week.) My son is a beautiful reflection of the work of God's hands. "For You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13.
Our God is a God of details.
As I've mentioned in an earlier blog, Will and I want to move into a new home in the coming months or year, and we've been praying fervently about this. Well, when I think about the things I just said, I have a peace knowing that God is working out every detail on our behalf, and this time period of preparation will be well worth the wait. He has to line up the buyer for our townhome, line up the perfect house for us to be listed on the market, give us wisdom and favor to work out our finances, prepare our hearts, prepare the seller's hearts, prepare our realtor, etc. This kind of stuff takes time.
Yes, God can move in a second. But in situations past, I know I've definitely thought to myself - wow, the hand of the Lord has been on this for months and had this not happened at such and such time, then this wouldn't have happened later on. It all just seems to work out in the end, and not by coincidence. The waiting is never fun, but when God sweeps in and takes action, the end results are worth it!
This was just a beautiful reminder this morning, and I encourage you in whatever God is preparing you for and whatever you are waiting on. It may be that perfect soulmate, that perfect job, financial provision, something to do with a friendship, etc. "Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens." James 1. These things take time sometimes. Remember today that the perfect preparation of the Lord takes time!
As I think about my son's upcoming first birthday, it amazes me how much he has grown in the last year, but in light of what I heard this morning, I find myself thinking today about that time period of preparation while I awaited Owen's arrival. For nine months, he grew in my womb, and God was developing every detail - every eyelash, every finger and toe, his heart and other organs, etc. (Yes, I am a little bit emotional this week.) My son is a beautiful reflection of the work of God's hands. "For You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb." Psalm 139:13.
Our God is a God of details.
As I've mentioned in an earlier blog, Will and I want to move into a new home in the coming months or year, and we've been praying fervently about this. Well, when I think about the things I just said, I have a peace knowing that God is working out every detail on our behalf, and this time period of preparation will be well worth the wait. He has to line up the buyer for our townhome, line up the perfect house for us to be listed on the market, give us wisdom and favor to work out our finances, prepare our hearts, prepare the seller's hearts, prepare our realtor, etc. This kind of stuff takes time.
Yes, God can move in a second. But in situations past, I know I've definitely thought to myself - wow, the hand of the Lord has been on this for months and had this not happened at such and such time, then this wouldn't have happened later on. It all just seems to work out in the end, and not by coincidence. The waiting is never fun, but when God sweeps in and takes action, the end results are worth it!
This was just a beautiful reminder this morning, and I encourage you in whatever God is preparing you for and whatever you are waiting on. It may be that perfect soulmate, that perfect job, financial provision, something to do with a friendship, etc. "Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens." James 1. These things take time sometimes. Remember today that the perfect preparation of the Lord takes time!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Don't settle...
Hebrews 2:1 says - "We must pay more careful attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away."
I believe God calls believers to be alert, cautious and discerning at all times. Something we must be aware of today is what we fill our minds with on a daily basis. We know the basics. Read your Bible. Pray. Love one another. We know that these are the right things to do.
But I believe God calls us to do more than this. Part of growing intimate with God is to become more of a stranger to the world. This can even mean being weird at times.
One area that really stands out to me is the choices we make with movies and media.
I love comedy. But it has become increasingly obvious to me that there are going to be less and less available "good shows" to watch. I used to LOVE How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, just to name two examples. The first few seasons are hilarious and the writers are genius in my opinion. It seems to be a growing trend, however, that in order to maintain viewers, more and more jokes about sex and one-night stands must be incorporated into the writing, especially the later the season of the show.
As Will put it - the first few seasons, the writers can keep you watching with their wit alone. But after that, they rely on sex to keep people watching.
There is a new show, Mad Love, which stars the girl from Scrubs (her name is escaping me now.) So, the show has only had like 3 or 4 episodes. Will and I happened to catch an episode a couple of weeks ago, and already, the main premise of the show was that the sister of the main girl comes into town and sleeps with the creepy friend of the main guy on the show and then everyone lies about it. Then the cat comes out of the bag, the main girl gets mad, then she apologizes and everything is okay.
Wow - how disappointing. We are only a few episodes in and ALREADY relying on sex for the main joke of the show.
Okay, so am I the only one who doesn't want to watch a show without a scene of someone in the bed with someone else, with nothing on but a blanket?? This is also in like EVERY movie you will ever rent now. People - this is not real life. Or, at least, not real life as God intends it to be.
So why has this become the norm? Why do we keep paying to see this? Why are we settling for mediocrity?
I ask you, as my friends, and as someone who is actually taking the time to read this, to OPEN your eyes if they are not already open to this. Again, "We must pay more careful attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away."
Don't just accept reading your Bible as enough. Not only should we be filling our minds up with good things, but we should refuse to put less than good things in. Make choices about what you choose to pay attention to. Even if this means turning the TV off or not watching the rented movie all the way through. I encourage you today to not settle for less in your life. Take a stand and refuse the norm.
I believe God calls believers to be alert, cautious and discerning at all times. Something we must be aware of today is what we fill our minds with on a daily basis. We know the basics. Read your Bible. Pray. Love one another. We know that these are the right things to do.
But I believe God calls us to do more than this. Part of growing intimate with God is to become more of a stranger to the world. This can even mean being weird at times.
One area that really stands out to me is the choices we make with movies and media.
I love comedy. But it has become increasingly obvious to me that there are going to be less and less available "good shows" to watch. I used to LOVE How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory, just to name two examples. The first few seasons are hilarious and the writers are genius in my opinion. It seems to be a growing trend, however, that in order to maintain viewers, more and more jokes about sex and one-night stands must be incorporated into the writing, especially the later the season of the show.
As Will put it - the first few seasons, the writers can keep you watching with their wit alone. But after that, they rely on sex to keep people watching.
There is a new show, Mad Love, which stars the girl from Scrubs (her name is escaping me now.) So, the show has only had like 3 or 4 episodes. Will and I happened to catch an episode a couple of weeks ago, and already, the main premise of the show was that the sister of the main girl comes into town and sleeps with the creepy friend of the main guy on the show and then everyone lies about it. Then the cat comes out of the bag, the main girl gets mad, then she apologizes and everything is okay.
Wow - how disappointing. We are only a few episodes in and ALREADY relying on sex for the main joke of the show.
Okay, so am I the only one who doesn't want to watch a show without a scene of someone in the bed with someone else, with nothing on but a blanket?? This is also in like EVERY movie you will ever rent now. People - this is not real life. Or, at least, not real life as God intends it to be.
So why has this become the norm? Why do we keep paying to see this? Why are we settling for mediocrity?
I ask you, as my friends, and as someone who is actually taking the time to read this, to OPEN your eyes if they are not already open to this. Again, "We must pay more careful attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away."
Don't just accept reading your Bible as enough. Not only should we be filling our minds up with good things, but we should refuse to put less than good things in. Make choices about what you choose to pay attention to. Even if this means turning the TV off or not watching the rented movie all the way through. I encourage you today to not settle for less in your life. Take a stand and refuse the norm.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Updates...and Prayers Please
Wow - time flies when you are having fun. Owen is now ten months old now, and I can't even BEGIN to describe how different our lives are now. When people ask me what it's like to be a parent, I can only spout off awesome things. Owen is such a beautiful boy, truly the joy of our lives. When you love a little one unconditionally, the sleepless nights, temper tantrums, etc. just sort of take the back burner.
Anyways, I am going to try to be better about my blogging. I want to provide some updates on what we've been up to, and also, we would like to ask for your prayers. Inspired by Will's amazing Uncle Pete and Aunt Ruth, missionaries in France, Will and I want to begin sending out monthly prayer requests to our network of closest friends and family. If you are willing to commit to praying for us, please let me know. Also, we WANT to pray for YOU, so please let us know how. You can message me on facebook or through my gmail. Prayer works, and I know a lot of you reading this believe that as well. We've found as we have gotten older and busier that it is hard to see friends and family as often as we'd like, and I believe praying with and for one another will help us stay more connected, even if we cannot see each other face to face as often as we want to.
So here are some updates on us and our prayer requests.
1. We are on a journey of becoming debt-free. We have a budget in place and are being pretty strict to stick to it. We are currently listening to Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University audio CDs and I have just re-read Financial Peace: Revisited. We are committed to being wise with the funds God has given to us and to working hard so that we can save, GIVE, provide a college-fund for Owen, have retirement set aside, and also so that we can leave an inheritance for future Mitchell generations. There is money in the world to be made, and we hope that through our humility and hard-work, God will pass money through us to impact others.
We are learning a lot through this process. For example, we still eat out. But we do so with gift cards from friends and family (we are still using Starbucks gift cards Will received from his students for his Christmas.) Or we budget to eat out maybe once or twice a month, then use buy one get one free coupons from our Citipass coupon book. We just bought a Costco membership and are already saving a ton of money this way. It has become almost like a game really - how can we still have fun and spend the least amount of money?
We ask for your prayers for wisdom during this process and that God will reveal himself to us through it all.
2. We want to sell our town-home in 2010 if at all possible and move into a home. Now this is going to be a way for God to truly show his power in our lives for sure. I hope that at some point in the next year I am referring back to this very blog post bragging on God.
See, we met with our realtor yesterday, great guy by the way, and received the news that there about 8 properties in our subdivision that are either on the market as short-sells or foreclosures, meaning they are SUPER cheap. There is no way, on paper, that we are going to be able to sell our town-home for what what we purchased it for this year.
So, we are waiting and praying. We are not going to sell and lose money and be stupid. BUT, we do believe God has told us we are moving this year, so we are not sure what he's going to do to make this possible.
Please pray for us...that these other homes would get off the market and that we would be able to sell our home to the right buyer for the right price. Nothing is impossible through God and, quite frankly, over the last year, God has taught me that things might not always look so good on paper, but that he always provides a way. Remember, the Bible says He can move mountains. I publicly admit that I do not doubt that at all.
3. Will is turning into quite the chef! As part of our journey to seek financial peace, we eat at home a lot. We eat mainly organic foods and lots of fruits and vegetables, but we find we can afford to do so because we don't eat out very often, mentioned above. We don't like putting junk in our bodies (except coffee...which is bad, but hey, we are still new parents.) So Will has been making tons of new recipes and they are GOOD. This isn't really a prayer request, but we do praise God for good health, for both me and Will, as well as Owen.
4. Will and I are both working - me at Mercy Ministries and Will as a second grade teacher at St. Paul. We praise God for these great jobs, both of which are very mission-driven and where we see fruit from our work on a daily basis. We ask that as part of your prayers for us, you would pray for both of these organizations. For finances to flow, as these are both non-profits that rely on donations, for those that we serve, and for our leaders.
5. We are continually in prayer for Owen and, if you are going to pray for us, then we ask most of all for prayers for him...specifically that he would continue growing and developing as a healthy young boy. We know God is going to do great things through him, whether his hands are anointed to work a calculator, play a guitar, or even sign documents as President. Really, who knows what he will grow up to be, but we just ask for your prayers and that God will give us wisdom to be good parents.
Well, that is pretty much it for now when it comes to us. Thanks for reading and for your support of our family. I will try do better with my blogging!
Amanda
Anyways, I am going to try to be better about my blogging. I want to provide some updates on what we've been up to, and also, we would like to ask for your prayers. Inspired by Will's amazing Uncle Pete and Aunt Ruth, missionaries in France, Will and I want to begin sending out monthly prayer requests to our network of closest friends and family. If you are willing to commit to praying for us, please let me know. Also, we WANT to pray for YOU, so please let us know how. You can message me on facebook or through my gmail. Prayer works, and I know a lot of you reading this believe that as well. We've found as we have gotten older and busier that it is hard to see friends and family as often as we'd like, and I believe praying with and for one another will help us stay more connected, even if we cannot see each other face to face as often as we want to.
So here are some updates on us and our prayer requests.
1. We are on a journey of becoming debt-free. We have a budget in place and are being pretty strict to stick to it. We are currently listening to Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University audio CDs and I have just re-read Financial Peace: Revisited. We are committed to being wise with the funds God has given to us and to working hard so that we can save, GIVE, provide a college-fund for Owen, have retirement set aside, and also so that we can leave an inheritance for future Mitchell generations. There is money in the world to be made, and we hope that through our humility and hard-work, God will pass money through us to impact others.
We are learning a lot through this process. For example, we still eat out. But we do so with gift cards from friends and family (we are still using Starbucks gift cards Will received from his students for his Christmas.) Or we budget to eat out maybe once or twice a month, then use buy one get one free coupons from our Citipass coupon book. We just bought a Costco membership and are already saving a ton of money this way. It has become almost like a game really - how can we still have fun and spend the least amount of money?
We ask for your prayers for wisdom during this process and that God will reveal himself to us through it all.
2. We want to sell our town-home in 2010 if at all possible and move into a home. Now this is going to be a way for God to truly show his power in our lives for sure. I hope that at some point in the next year I am referring back to this very blog post bragging on God.
See, we met with our realtor yesterday, great guy by the way, and received the news that there about 8 properties in our subdivision that are either on the market as short-sells or foreclosures, meaning they are SUPER cheap. There is no way, on paper, that we are going to be able to sell our town-home for what what we purchased it for this year.
So, we are waiting and praying. We are not going to sell and lose money and be stupid. BUT, we do believe God has told us we are moving this year, so we are not sure what he's going to do to make this possible.
Please pray for us...that these other homes would get off the market and that we would be able to sell our home to the right buyer for the right price. Nothing is impossible through God and, quite frankly, over the last year, God has taught me that things might not always look so good on paper, but that he always provides a way. Remember, the Bible says He can move mountains. I publicly admit that I do not doubt that at all.
3. Will is turning into quite the chef! As part of our journey to seek financial peace, we eat at home a lot. We eat mainly organic foods and lots of fruits and vegetables, but we find we can afford to do so because we don't eat out very often, mentioned above. We don't like putting junk in our bodies (except coffee...which is bad, but hey, we are still new parents.) So Will has been making tons of new recipes and they are GOOD. This isn't really a prayer request, but we do praise God for good health, for both me and Will, as well as Owen.
4. Will and I are both working - me at Mercy Ministries and Will as a second grade teacher at St. Paul. We praise God for these great jobs, both of which are very mission-driven and where we see fruit from our work on a daily basis. We ask that as part of your prayers for us, you would pray for both of these organizations. For finances to flow, as these are both non-profits that rely on donations, for those that we serve, and for our leaders.
5. We are continually in prayer for Owen and, if you are going to pray for us, then we ask most of all for prayers for him...specifically that he would continue growing and developing as a healthy young boy. We know God is going to do great things through him, whether his hands are anointed to work a calculator, play a guitar, or even sign documents as President. Really, who knows what he will grow up to be, but we just ask for your prayers and that God will give us wisdom to be good parents.
Well, that is pretty much it for now when it comes to us. Thanks for reading and for your support of our family. I will try do better with my blogging!
Amanda
Monday, February 14, 2011
Thoughts on Love and V-day
This post is in honor of my husband...don't kill me, Will.
Will demonstrates God's love to me on a daily basis, and today on Valentine's Day, I want to share a little of our story with others. I'm not bragging, just blessed and very grateful.
It really is all in the little details. Sometimes, when it's all in the details, it is easy to overlook things and take things for granted. Today, I choose to recognize all those little things and define the ways that Will has shown me true love.
Love is...
-not keeping record of wrongs. Will, thank you for always forgiving me when I mess up.
-taking care of your household. Will, thank you for working hard in the classroom every day. Also, thank you for your commitment to running alongside me with "gazelle intensity" so we can get out of debt.
- being there in sickness and in health. Will, thank you for all the fun times when we are well. I love riding in the car with the sun shining, windows down and music playing. Thanks for rushing out for crackers and soup when I'm not well...and also for that time you held a trash bag open for me while I lost my morning smoothie when I was pregnant.
- sharing humor. Will, I love our thousands of inside jokes. I hope others do not think we are obnoxious.
-making bottles, changing diapers and snuggling with our precious boy. Will, I hope Owen grows up to be like you.
-God. Our God is love. Will, thank you for seeking God and for reading His word and for saying prayers with me and Owen every night. I know God blesses our family because of it.
Will demonstrates God's love to me on a daily basis, and today on Valentine's Day, I want to share a little of our story with others. I'm not bragging, just blessed and very grateful.
It really is all in the little details. Sometimes, when it's all in the details, it is easy to overlook things and take things for granted. Today, I choose to recognize all those little things and define the ways that Will has shown me true love.
Love is...
-not keeping record of wrongs. Will, thank you for always forgiving me when I mess up.
-taking care of your household. Will, thank you for working hard in the classroom every day. Also, thank you for your commitment to running alongside me with "gazelle intensity" so we can get out of debt.
- being there in sickness and in health. Will, thank you for all the fun times when we are well. I love riding in the car with the sun shining, windows down and music playing. Thanks for rushing out for crackers and soup when I'm not well...and also for that time you held a trash bag open for me while I lost my morning smoothie when I was pregnant.
- sharing humor. Will, I love our thousands of inside jokes. I hope others do not think we are obnoxious.
-making bottles, changing diapers and snuggling with our precious boy. Will, I hope Owen grows up to be like you.
-God. Our God is love. Will, thank you for seeking God and for reading His word and for saying prayers with me and Owen every night. I know God blesses our family because of it.
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