Strong Tower

"The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe." Proverbs 18:10

God's values, my values

I haven't really been reading the Bible for a couple months. I'm pretty sure that's why I haven't been handling things right, especially relationships. My family, co-workers, friends. They've all had to deal with me while I was thinking that I could handle life on my own.

I'm realizing that I can't, because I keep failing to do things right and because even when my family was here, I didn't have a lot of joy. Even when I was off work and with the people I love the most, it wasn't enough. I was happier, but I knew that it would be over soon. And then I'd feel like life was meaningless once again.

So I'm finally back and I intend to stay that way- truly. It's hard to read the Bible consistently and it's hard to face my problems and change, and it's even harder to depend on God every day, but I'm going to do it. And I'll tell you about some of it.

Today I read Proverbs 17, and the thing that struck me the most is the difference between God's values and my values in relationships. I tend to think that I should state my opinions/ how I feel, tell people when they're wrong, be my own person, not let people tell me what to do, and show them that they can't treat me badly. God says to cover an offense, that rebellion is evil, quit before the quarrel breaks out, love my friends at all times, by loving strife I love transgression, I can benefit others by my JOY- not by showing how I really feel- I should RESTRAIN my words and have a cool spirit, and I should keep silent! Wow- it's radically different that the things I have- secretly or explicitly- believed about my interactions with other people. I really want to change and with God's help, I will.

You're Not Alone

Job 6:14, 21

“He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty...
For you have now become nothing; you see my calamity and are afraid."

These verses show just how much Job felt his friends' accusations. He felt that he was all alone, with no one to defend him.

While Job believed that God was holy, righteous and powerful, he did not believe that God was good and loving. It's hard to blame him when you consider everything he suffered, along with the fact that he didn't have any humans showing love to him. And it's really hard to believe in God's love when you don't feel loved by people.

So I'm learning about being a friend to people who are suffering. Basically, two things: 1. Sit with them quietly and/ or listen to them 2. Show them love. That will say to them "God still loves you/ God is good"... more powerfully than words will.

Sympathy (Should) =Silence

Job's friends had it right at the beginning! When someone is sad, you should sit with them quietly, hug them, just be there. Why, oh why did they have to open their mouths?

Why I Write About My Bible Reading

I have a sort of feeling that if anyone is actually reading this (doubtful) they might think it's weird or inappropriate for me to write about my Bible reading every day. The thing is, I need motivation. I want to have a better relationship with Christ, and I want to study/ meditate on the Bible for that reason. But... so far I have really been struggling. I know I need to be in the Bible- I need it desperately! But most days, getting up early to read it is the LAST thing I want to do. Writing motivates me, because I love doing it, even when it's just a short post about what I read. Writing publicly gives me a sense of accountability. I've tried accountability with individual people before, and it never lasted long. I'm not going to write anything too personal on here, this isn't my diary. I'll just write something I learned from the passage every day. I don't care if you read it, or if you comment, although you can, if you want to. I don't think it will be a great blog because again, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it every day. I'm just doing it for me. Together we will get through the Bible, my blog and me. Hopefully in the process I'll become a more Christlike person and a better (if you ARE reading this) sister, daughter, friend, co-worker, student, and church member and more encouraging to YOU. :-)

Apart from Me, You Can Do Nothing

Genesis 11:4, 8
Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” ...So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.

The story of the tower of Babel reminds me of the passage in John 15 about abiding in the Vine, Jesus Christ. He said, "apart from Me, you can do nothing."

The people in the land of Shinar had no interest in obeying God or abiding in Him. They wanted to be great. They wanted to thwart God's plan to disperse them throughout the earth. That's why they failed. God came, confused their minds, and that was it. Game over. They were forced to abandon their plan.

Think about a group of tiny, weak humans who looked God right in the face and said, "No. We're going to do what we want to do." They're laughable.

Until... I remember how often I stand in that group of helpless little beings on the plain of Shinar, looking up at my almighty Creator, and telling Him exactly what I'm going to do.

I can't do anything without Him. I'm laughable... crushable. BUT. He's good. He's loving. He doesn't stomp on His defiers. He thwarts their plans, shows them that He is in control. And He forgives them when they ask Him.

God's Favor

"Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord... Noah... did all that God commanded him." Genesis 6:8,22

I admire Noah because he did what was right, regardless of the people around him. I'm sure he subjected himself to tremendous ridicule. You might think "he didn't care what people thought about him", but he could have. He could have been a sensitive person, a people-pleaser who felt the mockery like a whip lash. Either way, he cared MORE about what God thought about him. He trusted and obeyed. And the Bible tells us that THAT'S the kind of person who earns God's favor.

Blinking Light

First post! I'm going to write about some of the things God is doing in my life, as well as things I learn from the Bible, on this blog. I can tell you now that it won't be as good as iwriteontuesday.blogspot.com. I spend an hour to two hours on every post there, edit multiple times, I can't do that every day. But it will be from my heart.

God showed me today, again, that He cares about the music I listen to. I don't believe in telling other people what music to listen to, but I do believe that God shows us these things. I guess I had fallen back into that place where I didn't think He cared that much. He must have more important things to think about than the radio station I'm playing right now. Right?

So I've been listening to some pretty worthless, not-uplifting-in-any-way music. On my phone. At work. Today my phone died and I could NOT get it to charge. Normally, when it's dead and I plug it in, a tiny red light begins to blink in the corner. It didn't. I asked one of the IT guys, he tried several chargers and outlets. He couldn't do anything with it.

I left it connected by usb charger to my open laptop in my locker. I do that sometimes so that it can charge in a safe place. Ten minutes later I opened the locker again, hoping to see that tiny blinking red light. Nothing.

So I pretty much decided that I didn't have a phone anymore. I was losing a TON of information, downloads, audiobooks, contacts, texts... it was really depressing. If you've ever lost or broken a phone, you know what I'm talking about.

I stood in front of my locker with my phone resting against my forehead. I closed my eyes and told God that if He would give me back my phone, I'd honor Him in the things I listened to. I'd delete my radio app because of a certain magic station that tempts me away from the straight and the narrow. I'd listen to the Bible, to sermons and to books, "redeem my time." I pulled my phone away from my forehead. And the second after I did so, I watched a tiny red light begin to blink.