Follow Instructions

My sister Crystal recently asked me how my blog was going.  I told her I was taking a break because 1.) my internet connection at home sucks and it is a pain doing anything online and 2.) I am spending most of my spare time writing my book.  Don’t worry; I am not abandoning this blog!  It has been quite some time so I am going to give a word that has been on my heart for a while.  An issue I often struggle with because I am just so extremely confident in my own abilities to handle life’s issues.  I am sure you may have this issue to.

FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS

I love being a parent.  Hearing the word “Mommy” escape from the lips of my children is the most amazing sound.  Okay, yeah, it can be annoying at times when I am focused on my work and someone wants a snack or someone wants me to read a book or someone just wants attention.  However, that word, coming out of my children’s mouths, makes me feel important, necessary and loved. 

With that said, my children are often calling upon me to help them with pretty much everything.  Assembling toys, completing homework, and building furniture are not my favorite pastimes but I find myself engaged in such activities pretty much daily.  And this, friends and family, is how I complete those tasks in three simple steps. First, I look at it and determine what it is and how the finished product should appear.  Second, I put it together and realize I did it the wrong way.  Third, I look at the instructions and re-do it based on how it is supposed to be done.  Simple right? HA!

Now honestly, how often have you attempted to assemble a piece of furniture or a Christmas gift or assist your child with their “hard math” by just winging it?  And how often do you find that you messed up and had to deconstruct the entire thing and start over?  How much easier would it have been to just read the instructions in the first place and avoid wasting time and energy to do something the wrong way?

The Word of God (The Bible) is life’s instruction manual.  Its pages provide steps to guide us in every aspect of our lives.  From childhood through old age, in relationships, in business, in the way we carry yourselves, God’s Word provides guidance on how to live a life which is pleasing in His sight and will put us in the best position to live a good life. 

Now you may say, “Michelle, you are full of crap.  I have lived my life according to God’s Word for such and such amount of time and my life stinks.”  Well, my answer to that would be, “I feel sorry for you because you obviously have no understanding of God’s Word.”  The essential part of following instructions is to have an understanding of the words.  If I am attempting to build a dollhouse and the instructions are in French, I will not be able to follow the instructions because I don’t understand French language.  The same goes for God’s instructions.  If you read The Bible and you aren’t able to comprehend the words, you need to get the “simple language” version of The Bible (I prefer NIV, NIRV or NLT versions over King James any day) and find yourself a good church home and attend Bible study regularly.   When you fully understand God’s Word and follow His instructions, you set yourself up to win!  Following God’s instruction manual clearly states that it won’t make us immune to hardship and pain but it will help us overcome those obstacles with grace and peace of mind.  There are so many illustrations in the Old Testament of people who were in relationship with God and proclaimed their faithfulness and devotion to Him.  Then somewhere along the way, they became entangled in lives snares and lost focus.  They failed to obtain a full understanding of God’s instruction or they just outright turned away from God.  Their mistakes had severe consequences.  Their stories should serve as examples to us of the consequences of failing to follow God’s instructions.  Learning from their mistakes can help us avoid making bad decisions in life. 

Have we learned anything today?  I hope so!  My prayer is that I stop living life according to the desires of my flesh and start living life according to God’s Word.  I pray that I stop making foolish mistakes that could have been easily avoided had I just used God’s Word to make better decisions.  I pray that I continue to be content with the cards dealt to me and be a mirror image of Christ so that my children will have a positive role model of how God prevails in all circumstances.  I pray that God’s Word reaches your heart and mind and that you are filled with understanding of His Will for your life and that you follow His Will, experiencing the joy that comes with having an intimate relationship with Our Father.  May His Word bless you and keep you all the days of your life.

‘Til next time…

Put God First

What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

What occupies your idle time throughout the day?

What is the last thing you do before you go to sleep?

Since I was first introduced to my iPhone, I have been addicted to it.  From the moment I awake until I fall asleep, I found myself glued to that thing.  I was always texting, playing games, checking emails, ordering products, the possibilities were endless!  I felt like the iPhone was my lifeline; like it held all my desires and needs.  Then I saw the movie “Wall-E”.  I felt like I was becoming one of those futuristic fatties who were glued to their electronic communication devices 24/7.  Instead of going to visit friends and family, it was sufficient to just send them a quick text or post on Facebook.  Instead of playing with my son, I was playing games on my phone.  I can’t even count how many times I burnt up dinner while I was busy preparing some virtual meal on my Restaurant Story app.  The iPhone, slowly but surely, became my idol.

I always thought of idols like those described in the Old Testament.  Animals created from gold and precious jewels that people would actually pray to and worship, literally.  I never considered the idea that an idol could be anything that robs my time from God.  Anything that has priority over God is an idol! 

Needless to say, I had to quit my iPhone addiction cold turkey.  I replaced my iPhone with a less sophisticated phone and the only app I have downloaded is a bible app.  The first thing I do in the morning is read a daily devotional scripture.  I pray to God before I leave the house every morning.  I do these things so that I will begin the day with a godly state of mind.  Throughout the day, if I have down time, I may watch a little tv or socialize with friends and family but mostly I will take time to read the Bible and work on a project which would bring glory to God.  At night, before I go to sleep, I thank God for helping me make it through the day unscathed and for helping me make the most of those 24 hours. 

I have noticed I have much more peace and much more joy when I make God the priority in my day.  I feel less stress and I feel so much more hopeful.  There is a reason the first commandment is to love God with all your heart and put no other gods before Him.  When God comes first, all the struggles of the day seem small and you actually accomplish a lot more.  Devoting your minutes to God instead of social media, prime time television, secular music and activities, brings so much more fulfillment to life than any of those distractions the devil places in our path.  What is your idol today?  I challenge you to replace your idols with God’s word.  See for yourself how putting God first will transform you into a better person.

Parenting

My two children are my greatest blessings.  God gifted them to me at just the right time in my life and they have brought me great joy.  Since becoming a mother, I find that I have more motivation than ever to be the best I can be so that my children will have a positive role model in me and be inspired to accomplish the goals they set for themselves in life. 

One of my faults in parenting is that I often think of my children as my personal possessions.  As a child, I loved playing with dolls.  I cared for them like they were human.   I always kept their hair brushed and made sure they were well dressed.  I even talked to them like they were real and assured them of my love on a regular basis.  After my son was born, I treated him exactly the same way as I treated my dolls.  I always made sure he had nice clothes and shoes to wear, even if that meant I had to go without quality clothing and footwear.  I spent a good portion of my hard earned income on healthy food and quality child care.  I smothered him with my love and showered him with any worldly possession imaginable to make sure he was always entertained and well educated.  I always told him how much I loved him and I proved it by using all my resources to give him things and opportunities that I did not have when I was a child. 

I do the same with my daughter.  As a small child, I was very timid and shy.  I was often bullied and teased so eventually I learned to be tough as a means to defend myself.  After my husband and I were married, I prayed to God night and day for my daughter.  Before she was even born, I knew she was going to be the most beautiful, intelligent, confident little girl in God’s creation.  From conception, I called her my princess because I want her to be the beautiful, carefree child that I was not.  I always call her “my pretty princess” and have begun building the foundation for her to be the woman I want her to be.   

Then suddenly I realized I was making a terrible mistake.  I was imposing my will on my children instead of allowing them to seek out God’s will for their lives.  I was attempting to live vicariously through them, stealing their opportunity to make their own choices, and forcing them to be what I wanted them to be. 

After much prayer and meditation on God’s word, I am trying to transform my idea of parenting to allow God to have His way with my children and stop interfering with God’s plan.  I know I must trust God with my babies because they in fact are not mine.  They are not possessions like the dolls of my childhood.  They are God’s creation.  God allowed my husband and I to be their parents but that does not make us their owners.  We are to teach them God’s word and show them how to live godly lives.  We are not to dictate every step of their lives.  We must trust God to order their steps just like God has ordered ours.  I am confident that if God could do wondrous things in my life, He can do the same with my children.  No matter what God has in store for my children, I have to believe that they will be better off in His hands than in any plan I could ever possibly imagine.

Throughout the Bible, there are a multitude of stories of parents and their children.  I would recommend everyone to read those stories and be inspired.  The story I am most inspired by is Mary and Jesus.  Mary knew Jesus’ destiny the moment He was conceived.  How painful it must have felt to know her first born son would have to succumb to such a painful, torturous end!  How powerless she must have felt to stand there and watch her child murdered at the hands of those He was sent to save!  Yet she was obedient and never imposed her will upon her child.  She allowed God’s good and perfect plan to transpire and in part of her faithfulness and trust in God, we all are saved by His sacrifice!  Let us all be inspired to trust in God to direct the paths of our children for they are our future and only He knows their destiny…    

Be Quiet

When I am angry, upset, frustrated, stressed, I tend to make bad decisions.  During those moments, I often find my mind overwhelmed with thoughts and negativity.  In the chaos of those thoughts and feelings, I sometimes lash out and say or do things I regret almost instantly.  Then I have to humble myself and apologize to those I offended, something I am not usually excited to do...  I have wrecked countless relationships based on some wild words loosed from my lips in a fit of rage.  Sometimes the damage done in anger can be costly beyond what we can immediately repay.  Sometimes the damage done is irreparable. 

Between the busyness at home and at work, it is difficult to find a quiet place to just relax and clear my head so I can hear God’s voice in the midst of the chaos.  I have to constantly remind myself to use my time wisely.  Instead of having a large chunk of time to devote to God at a single point in my day, I find it easier to find God in multiple small moments during the day.  While I am in the shower, in the garage after I come home from work, while I am cooking dinner, and when I go to the spa to get my nails done, I pray and ask God to be my strength when I am weak and give me restraint when my flesh wants to cave in to evil.

Before I lash out in anger, I need to remind myself to be quiet and allow God’s peace to cleanse me of those negative thoughts and feelings before they pour out of my mouth or manifest themselves through my actions.  As a follower of Christ, we all need to remember the old way of doing business has to become extinct.  We can’t continue to have petty squabbles with our loved ones.  We can’t curse people out when they are mean and nasty to us.  We can’t allow the devil to drag us back to where we came from.  In the midst of the tumult and clamor, we have to take a second and really ask ourselves, “How can I resolve this in a manner which would make God proud?”  Or even take the classic saying, “WWJD?” 

Even a fool is assumed to be wise when he is silent.       

Call For Service

This past work week was a spiritually challenging one for me.  Each day, I handled calls for service regarding troubled youth.  It’s typical for me to respond to situations where children are behaving badly however this week was different.  It made me question my effectiveness not only as a police officer but also as a Christian.

I will start with Sierra.  A morbidly obese teenage girl with gender identity issues.  She is a habitual run away who is known to hang out with adults who will feed her cigarette and alcohol addictions.  Sierra was sexually assaulted multiple times and after the most recent assault, she made threats to commit suicide.  Sierra attempted to runaway yet again and her parents were forced to physically restrain her in an attempt to keep her home.  They were afraid she would make good on her threats to kill herself and felt helpless to stop her.  So they called me.  When I arrived to their home, Sierra stretched out her arms, ran towards me and hugged me tight.  I usually don’t allow people to hug me while on duty but I made an exception for Sierra because she looked like she needed it.  With her snot and tears covering my uniform, I thought to myself, “What can I possibly say to make her okay?”   As a patrol officer, I have a limited amount of time for each call for service.  It’s an overwhelming task to try and effectively fix a lifetime of pain and bad choices in a matter of minutes.  I did console her as best I could but I left her feeling like what I gave was not enough…

The following day, I met Lisa.  She was in foster care because her mother was serving time in prison.  Her extended family would not take her due to her anger management issues.  Lisa’s foster mother called for police assistance because she was she was tearing up the house in a fit of rage.  When I arrived at the home, Lisa burst into tears.  She said she was angry because she felt unloved and no one wanted her.  She said she wanted to go home over and over as she cried on my shoulder.  My heart cried with her as I once again searched for an encouraging word to leave with her.  When I left her, she appeared to be calm and in better spirits however I didn’t feel I gave her what she truly needed…

Last but not least, there was John.  At the end of my emotionally draining work week, memories of him came to mind.  John was one of my friends in high school.  We hung out occasionally in our neighborhood, laughed together during our brief moments away from home and school life.  He lived in an abusive home environment, often beaten by his father and older brothers.  He didn’t talk about it much but his wounds were obviously visible.  I wanted to offer him comfort, an escape, a safe place.  But I was a kid too and I didn’t believe I had anything to offer other than my time and attention.  John committed suicide in 11^th grade.  Whenever I think of him, I feel so much grief.  I wish I could’ve been his lifeboat in that raging sea he was drowning in.  I wish he could’ve received the help and the love he longed for so desperately. It eats at me that I did not save him…     

In our lives, we are sent to calls for service daily.  Some we are overly prepared for and some take us by surprise.  This is why prayer and bible study is so important!  You never know when God will guide you to a soul who needs to be saved and you will be called to lead them out of darkness.  Showing love, patience, kindness and sympathy can go a long way in the life of a person who is longing desperately for a ray of hope.  Extending yourself to someone in need of a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen can be that lifeline they needed to come out from that dark place.  Failure to immerse yourself in God’s Word will leave you tongue tied or cause you to utter empty, cliché words. 

It is my prayer that the Lord gives me the ability to answer His calls for service in such a way that I can be a vessel of His love.  I pray that God uses me to bring light to someone who is in a dark place and encourage them to find strength in Him.  I pray that God uses you, no matter where you are in life, to be aware of His Voice, answer His Call and be a beacon of light in this dark world.  We need each other.  In order to be a source of hope and comfort to each other, we need God. 

Answer His Call.

You Sent Me The Stars

I remember the sun
I remember the day
I remember the heat
From Your Glorious Rays
I could hold my head high
I could smile happily
I could feel confident
Because you were with me
Your Word deep in my heart
Songs of praise on my lips
You said You'd never leave
I had You in my grips
But then the sun sank down
Slowly the darkness came
Suddenly all alone
Why did You go away?
In the blackness of night
I sat sobbing with grief
My instinct to survive
Caved in to disbelief
I saw the wolves and snakes
Their glowing teeth and eyes
I felt myself transform
Into one of those guys
I knew that wasn't me
Because I'm not like them
I needed a way out
I needed Light again
So I cried out to You,
"Please show me that You're here
I need You back with me
I need You to be near."
My head was lifted up
My eyes were opened wide
I stood on my two feet
And then I realized
You had never left me
To suffer all these scars
All I needed to do
Was look up at The Stars...


Back before maps, flashlights, GPS, and other similar technology, someone looked up all the stars and made an ingenious discovery.  The stars are patterned in such a way, one could be guided from here to there just by following the stars.  The Word of God is a Light in a cold, dark world.  God's Words are our stars. 


You are never alone.  You are not a victim of your circumstance.  You are not a failure.  You are not defined by your mistakes.  God's Love is greater than all those obstacles in your path.  God's Love is strong enough to lift you up, wash you clean, and set you on The Path to Righteousness.  And even when you are distracted and lose your way, you can be guided back to Him by meditating on His Word.


All of creation has a purpose.  Temptations are built to strengthen our faith.  There is no struggle we can't overcome with God.  Have faith and...


LOOK UP AT THE STARS!

Forgiveness

When a person harbors unforgiveness, it can have grave physical consequences.  It causes muscle tension, digestion becomes inhibited, blood flow becomes restricted and the immune system is weakened.  Psychological and medical studies have shown multiple benefits of forgiveness.  Forgiveness can result in improved mental health as it reduces feelings of anger, anxiety, fear and depression.  Counselors have used the power of forgiveness as a tool to assist victims of sex related crimes, substance abusers and cancer patients overcome a negative outlook on life and pursue positive thinking. 


So now we know forgiveness is a tonic to the mind and body, but what about the soul?  Let's take a look at a couple real life examples of the power of forgiveness.
Saul of Tarsus.  He was a vicious man.  He was taught that Jesus was a fraud and Christians were terrorists.  Saul made it his business to extinguish all Christians from the planet to end the spread of Christianity.  Until one day, Jesus sought out Saul and made Himself visible to Saul.  Upon seeing Jesus and hearing His voice, Saul repented of his sins and became the most prolific prophet in the New Testament.  He even changed his name to Paul in an attempt to put his past life behind him.  Jesus' sacrifice on the cross made it possible for a murderer like Saul to turn from his wicked ways and be recreated into Paul, one of the biggest proponents of Christianity.


Jeffrey Dahmer.  He was a pedophile, murderer and cannibal.  Anyone who remembers his story would recall Dahmer as an evil, disgusting, wicked human being.  He lured young men into his home, drugged, raped and tortured them, then murdered them and ate their flesh.  The worst part is he was found to be fully conscious of his actions.  He was not considered insane; he was just evil and filled with hate.  After his conviction, Dahmer was sentenced to prison.  While in prison, he was inspired to attend church services and eventually accepted Jesus as his savior.  The Word of God transformed this evil man into a born again believer.  He was murdered while serving time in prison.


One of the biggest issues I faced when I rededicated my life to Christ was forgiveness.  It was nothing for me to forgive others but for some reason, it took quite some time for me to accept God's forgiveness.  I wasn't into such heinous acts as Saul and Dahmer however the life I led before Christ haunted me for so long, it was just difficult for me to accept that I was worthy of forgiveness.
I have learned there is nothing we can do that is so terrible that God cannot forgive.  With God, all things are possible, including unlimited forgiveness.  When we repent (admit we were wrong, seek God's forgiveness and turn away from ungodly habits) God erases our sins from His memory and cradles us in His loving arms!  It's an amazing feeling to know how gracious and merciful our God is!
In return for His forgiveness, we must forgive others who commit evil against us. As children of God, we must follow His lead and mirror His steps.  As Jesus hung dying on the cross, He cried out to God for the forgiveness of those who wrongly persecuted Him. 
Forgiving others has positive effects on our souls because by mirroring God's grace and mercy, we become closer to God.  Our actions will inspire others to desire a relationship with God.  So let's shed any hatred, any bitterness, any burdens and choose to let go of unforgiveness.  Let's celebrate in the power of God to forgive each other and accept His forgiveness!