- What does it mean to be beautiful? or What does the world say is beautiful? (I usually ask my youngest first and move up to the oldest.)
- Read 1 Timothy 4:8
- What is God's attitude toward physical exercise? Toward godliness?
- What can we do to be spiritually "healthy"?
- Which is more important to you, physical health or spiritual health? Why?
- Talk about exercise for health benefits, staying fit in order to have energy and good health to serve your family and your God!
- Read 1 Samuel 16:6-7
- What did God tell Samuel not to look at?
- By what standard does God judge beauty?
- Talk about the things we do to make our outer self beautiful vs. the things we do to make our inner selves beautiful.
- Which do we spend more time on? Why?
- Read Psalm 139:14
- Watch Dove Evolution You Tube video and discuss the images the media show us and how they are altered. http://youtu.be/iYhCn0jf46U
Sunday, June 19, 2011
True Beauty Devotion
Monday, May 30, 2011
Behind, Beside, and Beyond
Two Recipes for Success- Which do you want to make?
Colossians 3:1-4
Living as Those Made Alive in Christ
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.- We are easily distracted. We live in a world with too many distractions.
- Sometimes the "good stuff" we do can get in the way and keep us from God's "best" for us.
- Am I defining my world and my circumstances by Christ and His plan and kingdom or by my own thoughts, feelings, or the world's leading?
- Am I seeking His agenda or my own?
- Which is more important? My Lordship and my plan or His Lordship and His plan?
- Am I choosing to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2) or do I still think I know quite a bit and interject my "wisdom" into all my decisions in spite of what God thinks?
- How am I defining success?
- The world says "what you see is what you get" meaning if you "look" successful on the outside (a good job, stylish clothes, nice car and home, pretty family, financial security...etc.) then you are successful.
- But what does Jesus say about success?
- How is success measured in the kingdom?
- When I stand before God will He be impressed by this outward "success" or is He looking for something entirely different and I have been "duped"?
- What will be important then?
Colossians 3:1-4 (The Message)
He Is Your Life
1-2 So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.-4Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ.Thursday, May 26, 2011
A Real Nice Gal
1. (n.) The state or quality of being humble; freedom from pride and arrogance; lowliness of mind; a modest estimate of one's own worth; a sense of one's own unworthiness
2. (n.) An act of submission or courtesy. Low in rank or status-"a humble position"
My favorite definition, in fact the only one that has ever been helpful to me, is:
"True humility is not thinking less of myself, but instead, thinking of myself less." C.S. Lewis
Mother Teresa chose to become a nun and lived in the convent for many years teaching in a school on the same grounds in India until one day the Lord called her to give it all up to serve the poorest of the poor on the streets of Calcutta. What I love about this book is that it tells us she was normal. Her first experience with these "untouchables" was in a hospital where an infants foot had been nearly chewed off by a rat. The baby was too undernourished to cry out for help. This case and others like it scared and disgusted her and she vowed she would return to the convent and never come out to the streets again! But soon she sensed God reminding her of the passage from Matthew 25
42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
What I love about this is the acknowledgment that she was a normal human being as opposed to some unique, one-of-a-kind super-human! Was she special and unique? Oh yes! But was she "special" in some sense that you or I couldn't do the same thing when filled and submitted to the power of Christ? No! She felt the same disgust that any of us would feel in that same circumstance. The difference is, she allowed God to change her, to grow her into a woman who looked past the outer and loved the people in spite of their sickness, their smell, their imperfections.
Because, many times, I think we decide that people like Mother Teresa are "different" than we are and that's why they are able to do these awesome works for God. We make excuses..."well if I had___.", or "if I was ___.", as though there is something fundamentally different in her biological makeup that enables her to do hard work and love it and we just don't have that "special something".
We don't just do it on the BIG scale though, we do it in the smaller areas too. Like marriage, we say "I know the Bible says I should submit to my husbands leadership and I would BUT..." Then we explain why Sally can do it because her husband is the pastor and he is a great Godly man and "if I was married to him..." We say it about weight loss and physical fitness. We see a star lose weight and we say "sure, I could do that too if I had a personal trainer and a chef!" Really? Does that make it easier not to eat the brownies at midnight? Do they sleep with you and hold you down? Mother Teresa compared herself to a "pencil in the hand of God". Let's just admit that God would be pleased to do equally amazing work through you or I if we were but willing to surrender to the same degree. Ouch.
In addition to her humility, which was so beautiful to see in action, here are some other points I learned from her life:
- God doesn't force us into His service kicking and screaming. He allows us to be involved and if we will obey we will find ourselves LOVING it! He always blesses our sacrifice. She didn't tolerate this work, she lived for it!
- She did not set out to cure the worlds poverty problem or build some kind of ministry empire. She simply saw a need and began to meet it one day at a time.
- She did not make long term plans or goals. She did the work that was in front of her today. When she saw a new need she began to move in the direction to meet it too. She didn't know how or when it would happen, she just moved in faith that God would supply.
- What she was doing seemed like foolishness to many.
- She didn't have money and that was never a concern for her.
- She drew near to the people she wanted to serve. She chose to become an Indian citizen, she lived where they lived, how they lived, dressed as they dressed, ate as they ate.
- She didn't "recruit" helpers or supporters in an active way, she was too busy doing the work itself. She trusted God to handle all the details.
- She worked hard! She slept 2-3 hours per night and prayed 2 hours each morning.
- When she had a need she went directly to her knees. She never tried to handle things herself, she depended on the Lord.
A man can counterfeit love, he can counterfeit faith, he can counterfeit hope and all the other graces, but it is very difficult to counterfeit humility. --D. L. Moody
How do we know if we have a servant’s heart? By how we act when we are treated like one! Unknown
Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. --Martin Luther King, Jr.
Friday, May 20, 2011
A free invitation card by Smilebox |
We are super excited because all 3 girls will be singing in the choir for this performance and Morgan even has a speaking part!! This is her first time to participate in a play so we are looking forward to seeing how things turn out!!