Power in the Ring

A few years ago I took my oldest daughter on a weekend getaway to go through a CD/book on "Passport to Purity."  I really enjoyed some one on one time with my daughter but it wasn't all fun as we discussed what she would call "embarrassing topics."  At the end of the weekend I presented her with a necklace with her name inscribed on the back.  This was just a reminder of the beautiful gift God has given her.  Later my husband replaced it with a purity ring.  Some of you may ask "what is a purity ring?"  Well this is exactly what a few classmates asked just recently.  A few nights ago I went on a walk with my daughter and as we were talking about the day she said "Mom, I need to get my ring cleaned."  I went on to ask her if she had anyone ask her about why she was wearing a ring.  She said "yes, two girls asked her at school and she told them her dad gave it to her as a reminder to keep herself for her husband"  then she said her friends were going to ask their dads to give them a ring and that one of them had a boyfriend who was pressuring her to have sex.  I was speechless just thinking that such a small thing could speak so loudly to her classmates.  She went on to tell me that a few boys asked her about it and she gave them the same response and they just turned around in their chairs.  I am so grateful to have the opportunity to share with my daughters the importance God places on them!

Hands and Feet

I am so humbled and grateful for the people God put into my life these last few days.  I pulled into the gas station yesterday around 5:30 p.m. filled up with gas and got in the car.  As I started the car up nothing happened, so I checked to make sure it was in park and tried it again..still nothing happened.  I looked at the gages wondering what could be wrong and tried it yet another time..nothing.  I was by myself on my way to pick up my daughter at a friends house and there I was stuck at the gas station, all filled up and unable to start my car. I began to pray, Lord help me I don't know what to do.  I noticed a sheriff there and he came along with another man and helped me move my car out of the way.  As they were looking in the hood of the car along comes a man I know and then a lady I know and they were all so willing to help.  I was so thankful for the body of Christ and seeing it function the way God intended it to.  When one part of the body is hurting the other members try to help take care of it and this is where I was at, lost and not knowing where to go.  God came to my rescue by bringing His Hands and Feet and I am so thankful.  This is for you Mr. E if you are reading this..Thank You!

Conflict

This seems to be an ever occurring theme in my life, can you identify?  I have to say that the past few weeks have been exhausting in this area and to the point where I wanted to flee from it all.  Interestingly enough this weekend our message in church was on Conflict and how to deal with it in a Biblical way. The most Natural way to deal with conflict is Aggressive- Head on or Passive- Flee.  Well I am here to tell you that I have tried both approaches to conflict and neither of these ways work for very long.  They always find a way to resurface and make more conflict then if it were dealt with properly the first time.  In the message on Sunday, Todd said "God is more concerned about growing you up then giving you a problem free life."  Wow! Wow! Wow!  I have never looked at conflict this way, in all honesty I usually looked at the other persons issues and would pray for them after it was all over.  I never really looked at it from this point of view, where God could be using this very thing to work on me.  But, what if the other person is 100% wrong?  God is still more concerned with me and how I handle conflict, whether I do the most natural thing that comes to me or I take that time to see what God has to say about it in his Word.  Sometimes conflict can be avoidable and other times it isn't but too often we look at the other person involved and say God please fix them instead of looking to God to see what we are to learn out of it.  I was reading this morning in Psalms 34:19 "A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all."  We are never promised a problem free life but we are promised that the Lord will deliver us from it, we cannot look to ourselves to be delivered by fleeing from it or lashing out.  Sometimes conflict last awhile, or it comes and goes but do we really take God at his Word?  It's easy to lose hope but Psalms 27:5 says "Wait on the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."  I am preaching to myself here because I needed to be reminded of these truths lately and I hope that they also encourage you!