Prayer

Every so often I am reminded of the obvious, I need to have a better prayer life. Even Jesus prayed, yes the Creator of the world, the Son of God felt the need to pray.  My pastor said a few weeks ago "Nothing great has ever happened to advance the kingdom of God without prayer."

 I have the opportunity to advance the kingdom of God at my place of employment but it will require much prayer. As you may know I work at a high school. My cover is campus supervisor but I am really there to minister to those who feel disenfranchised. While my "target group" is black and brown girls, I am open to all and have chosen a white boy to encourage. I do not know anyone who has a good thing to say about this young man but I know God and his parents love him. I have met the parents and have let them know that I know that he is a piece of work. The mission, some say an impossible mission I have accepted, is to show this young man that there is someone in the school that cares for him even though he displays no likable qualities. If he changes for the better everyone will know that it was only by the grace of God.

Using Colossians 1:9-11ESV as a basis, my prayer is that I may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. That I may  be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.

I've come to realize that any worldly accomplishments that I may achieve are meaningless if I am not fulfilling God's unique purpose for me. I welcome your prayer support.

Better late than never?

When older beloved joined the football team as a freshman in 2002, I found out about the Varsity Mother’s night. The mothers of the varsity players wore their sons jersey and received hugs from the boys on the field. I said to myself, “Self, you have two years to lose enough weight to be able to get into that jersey”. Older beloved decided not to play his junior and senior year. A year later younger beloved joined the freshman  football team. So I said to myself, “Self, you have two years to lose enough weight to be able to get into that jersey”. I did not lose any weight by Mother’s Night of his junior year but I did lose a couple of pant sizes by the time of his senior year. However, it was not enough to wear the jersey. I will say that there were several moms who could not wear their son’s jersey. Younger beloved graduated FIVE years ago and not until now can I wear the jersey.

 As I reflect on the regrets that I have over postponing weight loss, I try to meditate on these two verses when dealing with the past.

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (‭Philippians‬ ‭3‬:‭13-14‬ ESV)

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭28‬ ESV)

In applying these verse to my life experiences, I need to let go of any negative emotions of past experiences yet learn the lessons from them. When we learn, we grow and growth leads to transformation.

I want to live a transformed life.

Enlarge my territory

Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request. (‭1 Chronicles‬ ‭4‬:‭10‬ NIV)

In the 90's the prayer of Jabez was big. You would see it on cups, plates, t-shirts, bookmarks everything. Almost always the text was misapplied and was used as a name it and claim it verse. Bless me, protect me and give me stuff.

But Bruce Wilkinson in The Prayer of Jabez, Breaking Through to the Blessed Life gives a different application. He suggests "enlarge my territory" could be prayed like "please expand my opportunities and impact in such a way that I touch more lives for your glory. Let me do more for You!"

While I may not take full advantage of it, I believe my opportunity to work in the public school has expanded my potential impact on others. There are staff, students and parents that I interact with daily who are from a variety of ethnicities, religious beliefs and socio-economic levels. My goal is to positively impact others, but sometimes others positively impact me. A couple of years ago I had a co-coach on the step team, a cute, twenty-something, Italian babe ( not even dark Italian) whose pants size is in the single digits. Not me, except for the cute part. I thought the only thing we would have in common would be the step team, I was wrong.

I have come to see for myself that you can have quality life affirming relationship with someone who is not like you. So I had to think about some things differently because of this relationship and this thinking has given me the opportunity to grow as a person. I think growth is good, especially at my advanced age. She has renewed my interest in crocheting, silk ribbon embroidery, sewing, jewelry making, and painting. I even thought for a minute about canning after she gave me a jar of mango-chia sugar free fruit spread that she made just for me.

When all is said and done, I hope she will say "Susan touched my life in such a way that I know God loves me and He can transform lives".

There's a new guy in town

My husband thought today's sermon was pretty good. He does not pass out good marks casually. He is the kind of guy who anytime he reads Scripture he uses at least two translations, often the Greek is nearby. He has a score of Bibles on the bookcase on his side of the bed. If money were no object, he would go to seminary just for the fun of it.

So it was a very good thing that he thought the sermon today was pretty good for we have a new pastor. Today was his first sermon with us. I noticed the parking lot was fuller when we drove up. People wanted to see and hear the new guy. I am at the Welcome Center for the second service every first Sunday, a great place to feel the excitement in the air today.

Will this prove to be true? "When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord." (‭Acts‬ ‭11‬:‭23-24‬ ESV)

It is my belief that churches grow when people are excited about their church. I'm expecting growth, soon we may need a shuttle bus for those who must use remote parking. :)

Just starting my journey

I have been overweight, obese or morbidly obese for fifty years. Even when I achieved triple digit weight loss 25 years ago, I was still considered overweight. During that weight loss journey, I remember saying to a group at church that if I had the same struggle with crack as I did with food, My husband would not have been permitted to be a deacon. I think because there were others in the room with food issues no one agreed with me. I will say however, after that discussion our Sunday night fellowships started to include veggie trays along with the cookies.

Evangelicals are often hard on crack heads, alcoholics, weed and tobacco users but seem to be ok with obese pastors. I Corinthians 6:19-20 "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;  you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." How should we apply this verse to our lives? It is very much understood that we do not need crack, beer and weed to live but we do need food. But friends, we do not need Cinnabonns, kettle potato chips, fried Mac & cheese or white rice with chicken fat sweetened with white sugar to live. Those of us who have food addiction have processed foods and/or sugar in our diet.

We are not saved by works, eating a whole food diet, but we should make choices as those who have transformed lives. I Peter 1:15 "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do".

My friends, I know I need to change the way that I view food. There are some foods I may never have again but that is ok. A McRib will not add quality to my life but kale, avocado, hemp seeds, chia seeds and raw almonds will. God has been gracious to me already with improvements in my blood pressure and blood sugar. I can testify that in less than a week I did not have the hunger pains that I had when I was limiting my calories but still including processed foods.

I have a dear friend who has coached, encouraged me through  a reduction of three pants sizes over the years. A couple of years ago he suggested that I rethink my diet. I was not ready to receive the wisdom. It took unbearable knee pain for me to see the light. I have just started my journey along the road of healthy eating and would love to talk more about it with you.