Category: Building Christian Character

As Christians, people should be able to look at us and see Christ. People should be able to see who we serve in the way we act.

Peace Cannot Be Stolen

Posted on by Wendy
Peace from the Holy Spirit cannot be stolen.

Yesterday, I made a quick trip into Athens, to purchase a couple of Christmas gifts for two ladies who I have come to hold dear. I had been thinking about what I wanted to get them and then I had been given an unexpected gift card. I took it as a sign and I went on my little shopping trip.

As much as I dreaded the holiday traffic, it was unbelievably light and I was thankful for some time to pray. My morning had been hectic. I had to help my son get a cooking project together for his Spanish class. I didn’t have any time to read my daily devotion. I ran out the door and was a few minutes late for work.

My day turned out to be as busy as my morning was with zero downtime. As I drove along in the light traffic and the beautiful sunshine, I found myself praying. I also found myself asking God to show Himself.

When I arrived at the store, the items I bought cost almost exactly what my gift card was and there it was. God had given me an unexpected blessing and was allowing me to use it to bless others. I was basking in that revelation as I wound through the parking lot to head back home.

I patiently waited as one pedestrian after another, needed to cross in front of me. Every single one of them smiled at me and gave me a little wave for stopping for them. I felt a deep sense of peace.

As I continued through the parking lot, listening to Christmas music, I ended up in a fairly long line of cars, waiting to get back on the road. I was in no rush and I was enjoying the alone time.

Then I heard a blaring horn. Apparently, I hadn’t pulled up as far as I possibly could to the car in front of me and had partially blocked the entrance to a bank. I pulled up and the man who blew his horn, whipped in and gave me and incredibly angry look.

And then I remembered a conversation I had with our associate pastor one Sunday. I had a headache that day and I asked her to pray for me. She did. She put her hands on my aching head and said a beautiful healing prayer. She also told me she could feel my tension and her next words really stuck with me.

“Your peace cannot be taken from you because it’s given to you by the Holy Spirit. You only lose it when you willingly give it.”

How often do we allow the actions of other people to drive us crazy, make us angry, or bring us stress? A simple drive across town can make us see red if we allow it to. Then there are long days at work, hectic mornings, disagreements with our spouses or kids, financial issues, or health issues. All of those can be peace stealers, but they don’t have to be.

We have a choice. The Bible tells us to guard our hearts. Maybe we should guard our peace too, keeping in mind that we have an enemy who delights in taking it.

Remembering that it’s ours to give our to keep, well that changes everything. An angry man in traffic reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Leaning into the Light

Posted on by Wendy
Our souls yearn for the light of Christmas.

During our sermon last Sunday, our pastor pointed out that Christmas is a time when our joys seem much brighter than usual. He also pointed out that our sorrows are much deeper. I don’t think anyone would disagree with that statement.

Many people feel much happier at Christmas than any other season. Sometimes it’s the lights or the hustle and bustle. Sometimes it’s knowing that family will be coming together once again. People just smile more during the Christmas season.

The other side of course, is that people who are mourning a loss, feel it much more deeply during the Christmas season than any other time. We become deeply aware of what we don’t have. We become deeply aware of what’s missing

I thought about my pastor’s statement long after the sermon was over. Maybe the reason that we feel everything so deeply during the Christmas season is that it taps into our spiritual side. We know that we are spiritual and physical beings, but we tend to give much less thought or attention to our spiritual selves than we do our physical selves.

We think about the spiritual when we are sitting in church and possibly when we pray, but other than that, for most of us, it gets very little thought.

But, Christmas is huge in the spiritual realm. It’s the single moment in time when Heaven touched earth and God became one of us. Angels sang. Prophecies were fulfilled. Darkness began to unravel. How could spiritual beings not feel the spiritual?

And as bright as the story is, darkness will not go down without a fight. We have the luxury of knowing how the story ends; Jesus is the light and the light wins. But, the darkness will try to claim what it can.

So, perhaps during this time of year, when the barrier between the physical and the spiritual feels so much thinner, we need to give more attention to our spiritual side. We need to remember that what our weary souls long for the most is the peace and joy that can only come from Jesus.

Nothing else we seek will satisfy that need. Nothing else we try to create will truly end the oppressive darkness.

If we find ourselves particularly joyous this year, then we should give prayers of thanks. If we find ourselves in despair this year, we need to truly open our hearts and souls to the truth of the baby in the manger. Joy does not come from perfect Pinterest pictures, or Facebook posts, or even from the perfect family.

Perfection does not exist on this side of Heaven, no matter what anyone tries to sell us. Joy comes from Jesus and when we truly accept that on a spiritual level, darkness doesn’t stand a chance.

Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The Peace of Christmas

Posted on by Wendy
Advent calls us to lean into the wonder of the birth of Christ and the peace He offers.

We are in the second week of Advent and our focus as the “Church,” is supposed to be on peace. The concept seems almost laughable at the moment, with protests and division all around us. I’ve read more than one account of families actually cancelling their Thanksgiving dinners because the rift and division caused by the election was just unbearable.

Now that Christmas is so close, I’ve read that there will be families that follow suit with their Christmas plans too. How did we get here? How did we get to a place where the outcome of a single presidential election becomes more of a focus than all we are thankful for or in this case, the celebration of the birth of Christ?

While the entire idea of families cancelling Christmas, parents not seeing their children, grandparents not seeing their grandchildren, families intentionally choosing to embrace bitterness and division just baffles me, I don’t know why I’m surprised.

Jesus said “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10

That sounds kind of like what’s going on with families being torn apart. Destruction is not Jesus’ mantra, but it is Satan’s.

Isaiah 9:6 is probably one of the most quoted verses during Advent. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Counselor, Prince of Peace.”

And there it is. During Advent, Christians are reminded that we are supposed to be preparing our hearts for the arrival of the Prince of Peace. There will still be strife and division. We live in a broken world and on this side of Heaven, there will always be tears and mourning at one time or another.

But, the Prince of Peace offers us a different kind of peace, the peace that settles deep in our hearts and souls and simply cannot be shaken by anything of this world, not sickness, not loss, not even death, and certainly not from the outcome of an election.

Christmas is a time when we are called to lean in very close to that baby in the manger and reflect in awe on His birth and what it means to all of us. We are to reflect on the skies full of angels praising His name. We are called to remember that because of that baby a time will come when, “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 21:4

This year we need Christmas more than ever. We need the young virgin and her story, and the shepherds and theirs, and the three wise men, and all of the angels involved.

But, perhaps most of all, we need to remember that even though man made no room for God, He came anyway. He will always find a way. Perhaps you needed reminding today.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Living with Purpose

Posted on by Wendy
Advent is an ideal time to intentionally do all we do with Jesus in mind.
Advent is an ideal time to intentionally do all we do with Jesus in mind.

As my hubby and I were walking into Walmart last weekend, there was a bell ringer there for the Salvation Army. I have a ton of respect for those guys, standing out in the cold or the rain or sometimes both. They stand there ringing a bell, for hours on end, for a cause much greater than themselves.

But, this guy, well, he was a picture of pure joy. He was wearing a red Santa hat and he had Christmas music playing. He sang along and danced and wished everyone who walked past him, coming or going, a hearty, “Merry Christmas!” He was all smiles too, seriously joyous.

When I walked past him initially, I promised myself I would dig in my purse and find something to drop in his kettle on the way out, but as I thought about it, I stopped right inside the door and felt lead to give right then. I looked until I found something to give. (Isn’t it interesting when we truly search for something to give to others, that we always find something?)

I walked back outside and had a difficult time placing my dollar in his kettle because it was crammed so full. I was not at all surprised. His enthusiasm was contagious and God was clearly blessing him for it.

I thought about that man for the rest of the day and a Bible verse kept springing to my mind. The associate pastor at our church shared it at a recent meeting I attended. She was talking about the different jobs at a church and doing things we are passionate about. She said there was one verse that she tried to apply to her life daily.

“And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17

She said that simply means to do everything that you do like you are doing it for Jesus personally, with excellence. In other words, it doesn’t matter if you’re answering phones, creating spreadsheets, changing diapers, driving a bus or anything in between. We are called to do our daily tasks to our best ability, like we are serving Jesus, openly joyous and enthusiastic, with thanksgiving.

I wonder what the world would look like if all Christians embraced the idea that we are sometimes the only Jesus that those around us get, our co-workers, our neighbors, the cashier at the store, are all part of the mission field where we have been sent. How well are we doing on that mission? Do those who we cross paths with feel a little closer to Jesus after spending time with us? Does our joy and enthusiasm encourage them to maybe give faith a chance?

A Salvation Army bell ringer at Walmart, reminded me of the beauty of doing all that we do with excellence. He also reminded me of that blessings that come from doing so. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Embracing the Wonderful

Posted on by Wendy
What we choose to focus on in life, is a choice.
What we choose to focus on in life, is a choice.

I had the opportunity to watch the movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life,” over the weekend. It’s my daughter’s favorite Christmas movie and perhaps one of the best movies ever made. As usual, she and I were crying like babies at the final scene.

She commented during the movie, that the only thing she doesn’t like about it, is we never get to see the villain, Mr. Potter, get what’s coming to him. I completely understand her point. Although he’s mean-spirited throughout the film, towards the end, he’s a criminal. He takes money that isn’t his and then tries to have George Bailey arrested.

Most of us know by heart, the verse from Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” We want to see Potter get justice.

We love the idea of good always winning, but in the movie, good does win, just not in the way George Bailey had in mind.

Every time Mr. Potter tried to knock George down, something good came of it. When he insisted that George not see the world and stay home to run the family business, George married the love of his life. When he tried to put George out of business when there was a run on the bank, George used his own hard earned money to convince people not to panic and keep the doors of the savings and loan open.

That selfless act planted seeds of mercy and compassion in the hearts of  the townspeople that would sprout much later in the movie when he desperately needed them.

And when George’s hour was the darkest, Mr. Potter kicked him one more time and he decided to take his own life. Meanwhile, the entire town prayed for him. God listened and sent an angel and George decided he wanted to live even if he was going to jail for a crime he did not commit.

But, there was more intervention going on too. (There always is.)  All of those kindnesses and mercies that George had been spreading for all of those years sprouted that night and just about everyone in town showed up at his house on Christmas Eve, with money to donate to replace what was stolen.

While we didn’t get to see Mr. Potter get his, it never was about Potter anyway. The story was about George. The story was about him doing the right thing, even though things never went like he planned or wanted them to go. The story was about him learning to embrace the life that he was given and the people who God entrusted to him.

His story is our story. Very often in life, things do not go like we plan and all Christians have a common enemy who likes to knock us down. But, if we keep our eyes focused on God and not our own Mr. Potter, and continue to sow seeds of kindness, mercy and love, they will eventually sprout, just as George’s did. God will grow something beautiful with all of our perceived failures and weaknesses if we allow Him to.

Who knows, He may send us angels too; the Bible tells us we may have even entertained them and not know it. There’s a lot of negativity to focus on in life. There always is; but focusing on God and all of the good He gives us, is a choice, one we are free to make.

George Bailey reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

Intentional Prayers

Posted on by Wendy
We can learn to pray for God's will not our own.
We can learn to pray for God’s will not our own.

My mama and I were talking on the phone a couple of nights ago about her upcoming trip to Canada. She has never been to that particular part of Canada and was super excited. She was a little bummed when she learned that her dog sledding excursion was cancelled because there wasn’t enough snow.

I completely understood. I mean, for a lifelong Georgia girl, the idea of having enough snow to go dog sledding, is pretty exciting, kind of exotic. We chatted for a while longer and as we were saying goodbye, she asked me to pray for snow, but not a blizzard.

We laughed at that and said good-bye.

I thought about our conversation the next day. She was just joking. She’s actually quite a prayer warrior, but in our customer service driven society, I feel like we often try to get picky and sometimes downright bossy, with our prayers.

We pray for the perfect job, but we don’t want to move or work harder. We pray for rain, but not on Saturday because we have plans that day. We don’t pray for simply enough money; we pray to win the lottery.

We pray for healing both physically and emotionally, but want it to be immediate, involving no work on our own part, even though we often made the choices that put us in the need of healing. We pray about losing weight, but keep eating cookies.

When Jesus’ disciples asked Him how to pray, the prayer we call, “The Lord’s Prayer,” was born. One of the first parts of that prayer has to do with surrendering to God’s will. That’s not easy when we are raised with slogans like, “have it your way” and “you make your own destiny.” Perhaps we should ask ourselves if we believe that God’s plans for us are good. Do we trust in God’s destiny for us?

Jesus also tells us to ask for our daily bread, not for riches. Most of us are not content with that concept either. We want to have and spend as much as possible.

But, God was well aware that life for His people on earth will always have ongoing tension between the physical and the spiritual. We live on the earth for a time, but we are not supposed to be of it. He sent us Jesus to rescue us from our own nature.

Jesus became one of us. Taught us. Healed us. Died for us to save us and then rose for us. We can learn to pray like true children of God because Jesus taught us how in Matthew and still teaches us today through the Holy Spirit.

Advent seems like the ideal time to be a little more intentional about our prayers. Thankfully, we have Heaven cheering us on.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

 

December Reflections

Posted on by Wendy
Perhaps the best gift we can give this season is prayer.
Perhaps the best gift we can give this season is prayer.

Today is the first day of December. The Christmas season is well underway. I’m hearing Christmas songs playing on the radio. I’m seeing houses decorated with lights. I’m seeing cars, with trees strapped to the top. That always makes me smile.

I have seen a huge board outside our cafeteria, full of wishes of children for Christmas, in our Secret Santa program. There is everything from socks to bicycles on that board and all kinds of things in between. I saw many parents take an item at our Thanksgiving feast and then when an e-mail went out appealing for help with all that remained, I saw some of those same parents come and pick another item.

I have seen amazing generosity at the school I am blessed to work in. I have seen God at work in this season.

I have also seen an incredible amount of tragedy this season. Gatlinburg, Tennessee, is in ruins. A wild fire burned a huge portion of it. Many people lost their homes and some even lost their lives. But, I also saw the rain all Southerners had been desperately hoping and praying for that eventually helped to control those mountain fires.

I find it kind of interesting that while a good portion of the fires blazing in the Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina mountains appear to be man-made; it took the power of God to finally get the best of them.

In my own little town, there have been two families who lost a father within a week of each other and another family who lost a daughter. When a co-worker came by my desk with a post it note to ask me to pray for one of those families, I could see God at work. When my pastor’s wife asked me to pray for another, I could see God at work and when a brand new Facebook friend, asked for prayers for the third family, I could again, see God at work.

We live in a broken world on this side of Heaven. There’s sickness, and death, and tragedy here. There are wild fires that sometimes burn out of control. But, there’s beauty here too, and generosity that sometimes brings me to tears. Sure, there’s plenty of hate, but there’s more love and love trumps hate every time.

As I think about the celebration of the birth of our Savior, I find myself wondering if this season isn’t perhaps a season that the enemy seeks to attack us the most. The birth of Christ was really the official beginning of Satan’s demise and since deception and destruction are his mantra, wouldn’t he use this time to target believers?

I feel a deep urge to pray in this season, to pray for the people of Tennessee, and the people who are struggling with sickness, and the people who are struggling financially, and for the people who are mourning.

I pray that those who feel lost and alone, will find the comforting arms of Jesus. Maybe this season, what our country needs more than anything, is some prayer warriors, people who are willing to stand in the gaps for people who are too weary to pray for themselves. It’s possible that in this moment in time, it’s our opportunity to, “Prepare the way of the Lord.”

Perhaps you would like to join me.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

The Gift of Empathy

Posted on by Wendy
Empathy is something the world could use a lot more of.
Empathy is something the world could use a lot more of.

A few weeks ago, a child was brought back to our school on the bus, because no one was at home. This occurrence is fairly common at our school. It’s an elementary school, so if the bus driver sees that no one is at home, they bring them back to the school.

Sometimes when this happens, the child is not fazed in the least. They accept that sometimes miscommunications happen or emergencies occur.

Sometimes the child is really upset and worried. On that particular day, the little boy was inconsolable. We tried desperately to convince him that everything would be okay, but he wasn’t buying it.

He was frantic until we could find his mother and he was assured that all was well and someone was on the way to pick him up.

On my way out the door to an orthodontist appointment, after he was calmer, I chatted with him for a few more minutes. There was a very loud play practice going on to our left. My co-worker was at the window waiting for another bus to come in, when the little boy looked at me and said quietly, “My bus driver told me that as long as there are children at the school, someone will stay with them.”

As my heart shattered into a hundred pieces, I assured him with all of the sincerity in my soul, that he would never be left at school alone. I reminded him that the principal was still there, and that all of those children were still there for play practice, and that my co-worker was still there. We even have an after school program.

But, his words weighed heavily on my fractured heart. He was terrified of being left alone. Haven’t we all been there? If you have ridden around the sun enough times, you have likely felt abandoned at some point. You have likely felt alone.

Whether it was actually a physical state of being alone or an emotional state, it’s a terrible feeling of hopelessness and if we’re not careful, it can scar us. It can lead us to be guarded and defensive. On the other hand, if we allow grace to work, it can teach us empathy, something that is blaringly absent in today’s world.

When we have empathy for others, we try to put ourselves in their shoes. We take the focus off of ourselves and try to understand what the other person is going through, even if that person hasn’t been particularly kind towards us.

God is perhaps the best empathizer of all. He wasn’t content to stay in Heaven at a distance. He sent His son to become one of us. God became one of us through Jesus. So, He truly understands our hearts when we celebrate and when we mourn. He understands what it’s like to be loved and hated, and He knows first hand what it’s like to feel abandoned and alone.

It’s certainly an easier route to close ourselves off to the pain of others. There’s so much of it; it can be overwhelming. But this Advent Season, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, maybe we should ask ourselves, “What would Jesus do?”

The words of a child reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

 

No Matter the Weather

Posted on by Wendy
No matter the weather, God has us covered.
No matter the weather, God has us covered.

Yesterday at work, the most popular topic of conversation was that rain was headed our way. Weather is always a well discussed subject in rural Georgia, but lately it’s been the centerpiece of our thoughts as well as our conversations.

We haven’t had rain in 42 long days here and to add to our misery, a good portion of the north Georgia mountains are on fire. In a state known for its humidity, we have become much more like a desert lately.

Rain is one of those things that we don’t give much thought to unless it is interfering with our plans somehow, like a day at the pool or the 4th of July picnic. The other instance that causes us to really think about it, is times when we need it.

Rain is an interesting phenomenon. Too much of it makes the earth flood and causes all types of disaster and damage. Too much rain will kill crops.  Too little of it results in drought. Crops can’t grow without rain. Trees are weakened without rain. We would eventually run out of drinking water without rain.

It’s all about balance. Isn’t it always?

I found myself pondering the concepts of rain and drought all day yesterday. I thought about how our lives go through times of drought and floods as well.

Sometimes we find ourselves wondering if the rains of change will ever stop. There are seasons where we want more than anything for the earth to stop turning. We long for a day of peace where nothing changes and nothing new happens, good or bad. We get to a point where we truly believe that just one more thing added to our already heavy load, will actually drown us somehow.

We don’t dare ask, “what else can happen?” but we think it. We find ourselves praying for peace and stability and we wonder if God hears us.

But, then there are those seasons where we wonder if anything will ever change. We pray and pray for some spiritual rain, for guidance, for a new plan or the next step, or answers, and we find God is silent. We wonder if He’s even listening to our parched prayers as we send them upward.

He hears our prayers in times of floods and times of drought and in every season in between. He is at work in our lives in every season and those who are willing to stubbornly hold onto faith and stand fast, will see His work eventually. Neither His power nor His plan can be missed if we are always at watch for them.

The Bible assures us that we never walk alone. We get assurances like:

“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up, the flames will not consume you.” Isaiah 43:2

“And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” Philippians 1:6

Our forecast reminded me that the weather, like our circumstances, will always change. Sometimes the change is welcome and sometimes it is not. Either way, God’s got this whatever your this may be.

Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

 

 

A Week of Thanks

Posted on by Wendy
Thanksgiving Reflections
Thanksgiving Reflections

My kids have the week off for Thanksgiving break and I’m going to take the week off to spend with them and enjoy some family time. I pray that as a nation, we will all take a step back from all of the negativity and fighting and reflect upon the many blessings that have been bestowed upon us. I pray that we will remember Who has given us those many blessings and return our hearts and souls to Him. The Bible says that Jesus holds all things together. I pray that if we earnestly seek Him, He will unify us as a Nation.

Perhaps you would like to join me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wendy 🙂