Rahab

Last night in our G2 meeting at church I taught on Rahab. Now she is a little bit more known than last weeks lady, but still there was so much to learn about her. Her first "claim for fame" was the fact that she hid the spies who came into Jericho to scope out the city. When the leader of Jericho came to Rahab's house to look for the spies, she kept the spies hidden and sent the leaders away. In doing so, when Joshua & his army came to overtake Jericho, Joshua ensured the spies kept their word and saved Rahab and her family.

When Rahab made the decision to listen to the stories that she had heard about God, she chose to believe the stories about God and put her trust in Him. This completely changed her life. She got a whole new start on life. She got to make a new beginning. Because of trusting God and the stories she had heard about Him she is now in the lineage that Jesus came from.

So what can we learn from Rahab? That God will use those who are willing to be used. No matter what our past it, no matter where we are right now, God will use the willing. We do not have to change completely in order to come to God - we come to God and allow Him to change us. Obviously we cannot change on our own or else we already would have. Instead, we go to God, give everything to Him, and allow Him to do the changing and perfecting in our lives. Rahab knew this. She knew that she would get a whole new life with God and therefore gave everything over to Him. The great thing is that God offers us this same deal today.

When we are willing to allow God to use us - we are opened up to a whole new realm of life that we could never have imagined before. Do not let your current circumstances depict for you what you think God will do for you. Stop telling God who He can or cannot use and let Him show you what He can do. When we limit God, He cannot do much for us. Let's open ourselves up, no matter where we currently are in our lives, and give everything over to God to allow Him to use us.

God uses the willing - are you willing to be used by God??

A Holiday or Not a Holiday???

Okay - so I cannot help myself today....

Today is what the country knows as "Valentine's Day"... Now to me, I think it is a pointless holiday. Don't get me wrong, I love the overall concept of it, but the way that it is played out has me a little bit annoyed.

I must stop and say this - my fiancé, Destry, bought me the most amazing sapphire necklace on Saturday. He took me to my favorite jewelry store to pick out what I wanted...even though ultimately I made him make the final decision. I wanted to ensure I would be wearing what he wanted to buy me and what he liked looking at, since, after all, he would see it more than me since I can't really see my neck! LoL I absolutely love the necklace and the way that Destry made me feel so special by buying it for me... I will wear it proudly for all to see! Now, I have a necklace with my man's favorite color in it.

So, back to my rant about Valentine's Day...

This is only my second VD with someone special in my life & let me tell you, it is the worst to be single on this day! I mean, why do we set aside one day (not even 2 months after Christmas) to tell our significant other that we love them? It is like they are giving guys a day to remember that it's been a month and a half since they told their spouse they love them and how special they are.

I guess I have never understood the concept of giving our guys free passes to purposely forget to tell us how they feel or buy random flowers or presents because we have created this "holiday" to schedule gifts. Like I said above, I absolutely love the necklace Destry bought me and would not give it back (nor the necklace he gave me last year!) but at the same time, the randomness is so much more romantic. (Baby, if you are reading this, please know I am not down-playing your gift... You already know my thoughts and feelings, so I thought it was okay to do this blog...I love you!!!)

Why should we schedule a day to do something that we should already be doing anyway? My favorite gift from Destry was the day he surprised me with a romantic dinner at a restaurant I had never heard of and then gave me a pair of earrings. There was no holiday that day. Not my birthday. It was just because he loved me and wanted me to know how much he loved me. That to me is romantic. Not waiting until Hallmark and the jewelry stores schedules a holiday because their sales are slow and they need more money.

On another note - I don't understand why couples have to announce their love so much that all the people out there who do not have that special someone in their life feels sad and depressed. I love nothing better than walking around the mall or a store, holding Destry's hand and smiling, giggling or hugging one another. But at the same time, being someone who does not have someone special in their life that can be the most annoying thing to see. So, yes, Destry & I went out on Saturday and hung out at some stores doing some shopping and even went out to lunch, but that was it. We did not give into the whole so-called holiday that was created.

When Destry takes the time to tell me that he loves me, just because I am me, for no particular reason at all other than to ensure I know it, that is more special than anything in the world. I would rather us make our own holidays than give into anything set up by the card and jewelry companies to get more of our money. Knowing this, Destry has never given me a gift on the actual day of Valentine's Day...always a day or two before! :o)

Who is Jael???

My church started last year groups called Growth Groups (G2) for our mid-week service. We designed them to be taught by a variety of people, depending on the topic, and can be taught at the church, at someones house or a restaurant. Basically anywhere people can gather is a place a G2 group can be held.

Well I tell you this to tell you that I volunteered to teach a class this time around... I knew what God was telling me to teach on, but it took a while to figure out the title of the class. (I know, the most important part! LoL But I wanted something catchy!) So, over a Chinese buffet lunch, mom & I came up with:

Beauty Shops & Nail Salons: Chatting With Women of the Bible

Thought that would be fun and intriguing. I mean, how often in beauty shops or nail salons are women chatting about the latest stuff going on, the newest piece of news they've heard or just about anything at all that is going on in their life. I figured this would be a great title since we often don't know much about the different women of the Bible, and just chatting about them would help us to get to know them better, and at the same time, learn a lot from them.

Last night was my first class. I decided to teach them at the church on Wednesday nights. Last nights woman of the night was Jael... Now I know many of you are thinking "Who? There's no one by that name in the Bible!" Well, actually there is! I was shocked too! I had not heard of her before and it made me want to learn more, so I kept reading. Turn to Judges 4 & 5. There are like 10 verses maybe dedicated to who this woman is and what she did for God.

Jael is known as a decisive and courageous! Wow... Two very mighty words and they are used to describe a woman from the Bible. Now, she might not be very well known to any of us, but we can learn a lot from her. She knew what God's plan was for her and did not question it when it came time for her complete God's will for her life. No matter how she thought it might be received by those in her tribe, she trusted in God and knew that He would give her the strength and courage to complete His plan for her life.

We could all learn a little bit from Jael and how she conducted her life. When God tells us to do something, we should not question Him or His timing. We also need to remember that He will give us the means and the ability to complete whatever it is that He has put on our heart to do. If we allow God to remain in control of our lives all the time instead of taking control back when things are going good, just imagine what else He could do through us...

As I continue through my day, I continue to think about Jael and how she was not afraid to follow through with God's call on her life, no matter what, leaning on Him for strength. We could all learn a lot from Jael!

God Knows Best!

So this week I have been seriously struggling to do my homework. I have tried and tried to focus and it just does not seem to happen. Even got to the point of me crying and not-so-gently tossing my boos to the side so I didn't even have to look at them. I wish this was not the case, but I have just had a lot of issues with school and it is finally wearing me down to where I was struggling to even want to finish my degree. I only tell you this because I want to be honest... I am not perfect, no where close and even I struggle through wanting to continue with my schooling.

Then this morning I read a friends FaceBook post: 

never, Never, NEVER give up on your dreams! Let no one, I mean NO ONE tell you that you are not worth of good things! God loves and you believed in you so much that He sent Jesus to cover your sin! If that is not a pick me up IDK what is!!!

It was a serious eye-opener to me. This schooling that I am doing is a dream that God gave me... He has given me the ability to go to school for the last 5years, full-time, with no breaks...so why would He quit giving me the ability to finish the last 6months? He wouldn't.

And it does not matter how many people have told me that I cannot do this. It does not matter how many guys say that I cannot do this because I am a woman. Does not matter how many extra assignments & classes they throw at me, I can do this! I can do this because God is giving me the strength to do this. He gave me the dream, He provided the funds, He provided the place for me to live in order for me to do all this schooling. So how can I quit? How can I give up on Him? If no one but God believes in me, and believes that I can do this, that is enough for me to do it to the best of my God-given ability. But...the wonderful thing is that I have so many other people who believe in me too & are praying for me and supporting me while I go through all my schooling.

God is amazing! He knows just what we need to hear at the moment we need to hear it. So for that, I want to thank my friend Kathy for obeying God and posting what she did on FaceBook for me to read. It really spoke to me and helped me in the perfect way...

Now, off to do homework! :o)

Snow in Ohio!!

Yup! You guessed it! There is snow in Ohio! Go figure since today is the first day in February... And yet so many people seem to think that this is the end of the world or the worst thing that could happen to us. It always amazes me at the way people freak out when the weather reports show a lot of snow and/or ice coming our way.

First of all - don't they know that this is Ohio? Snow and ice are a given for winter. You don't like it, maybe you should move to Florida or California (oh, but wait, they have hurricanes, earthquakes and forest fires! Darn!)... If you live in Ohio it is pretty much a given that at one time or another in the winter months you will see snow & ice. Now, I will be the first to admit that I wish it would stay off the roads, but since it doesn't, I will just live with how it falls. God must know what He is doing!

Second - The Weather Channel is not always right...well, we can probably rephrase that and say they are rarely ever right. It is probably the one job that you can have, lie and get everything wrong and still keep your job! LoL I have always been interested in how they can look at all the weather patterns, predict what they think might happen, send the whole nation into a frenzy just to be wrong! Yet every time they say we will get a blizzard, people believe them and get freaked out.

Third - Why would you go to the store and buy all the bread, milk, eggs or anything else frozen or needing refrigeration when you are scared the power will go out? If the power goes out, your fridge won't work and all that food you just spent money on will be ruined anyway!

Fourth - God tells us in Psalm 147:16 that "He spreads the snow like wool, scatters the frost like ashes." If God tells us that He will give us snow and frost - then why are we surprised when it happens??

How about we all change our attitudes? Instead of complaining that the storms may come we praise God that we will survive the storm, and grow stronger to Him in the process? He gives us the chance to decide how we will react to any news that receive in our life... When we hear snow is coming in are we going to get upset about it, complain and head to the store for the last loaf of bread on the shelf, or will we start thanking Him that we will have power throughout the storm and that none of the ice or wind will be damaging.

So as I sit here, looking out the window at the snow we already have, I praise God that He has given us the warm home to be in during the storm, there is food on our shelves and we are protected from the storm.

Make your choice today how your attitude will be... Embrace the seasons that God gives us... Know He will never leave us in the storm... Spring is just around the corner!