It's Been a While...

Four months and nine days to be exact. I haven't missed writing, but at the same time I have. Over the last four and a bit months I've been painting, reading, sewing, crafting, being a mum, holidays, attending Colour Conference in Sydney, and generally spending time being by myself and reconnecting with a lot of the things that make me happy.

Being by myself does mean that I've been hibernating a little too much, but I think I've needed to do that. In my times of hibernation I've been hearing God speak to me about a lot of things in my life, and that makes me happy. Knowing that He is with me 24/7 is comforting, and has reconfirmed that only He will be by my side forever. People come and go, but Jesus remains.

I'm going to commence Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Life today. My lunch time reading and purpose actually. It's been many years since I first read through his book and recently found a newer copy at a second hand store, so I snavelled it up and will dive into it today. I need some new direction and purpose at the moment, and believe that this is the means by which I will discover it. I'm really looking forward to what I will discover over the next forty days.

I hope to post more often, and also share what I've been creating over at my art blog page too!

Here's hoping that all my blogland friends are well!

How to Overcome Discouragement...

It's been a while since I posted a devotional from Rick Warren, but I found the following in my Inbox this evening and I had to share it as it sums up exactly how I'm feeling at the moment - discouraged! And, amazingly enough, all the steps he talks about below are exactly what I know I have to do to overcome this latest hurdle in my life.

How to Overcome Discouragement

by Rick Warren

Then the people of Judah said, “The work crews are worn out, and there is too much rubble. We can’t continue to rebuild the wall.” Nehemiah 4:10 (GWT)

*** *** *** ***

Discouragement is curable. Whenever I get discouraged, I head straight to Nehemiah. This great leader of ancient Israel understood there were four reasons for discouragement.

First, you get fatigued. You simply get tired as the laborers did in Nehemiah 4:10. We’re human beings and we wear out. You cannot burn the candle at both ends. So if you’re discouraged, it may be you don’t have to change anything. You just need a vacation! Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is go to bed.

Second, you get frustrated. Nehemiah says there was rubble all around, so much that it was getting in the way of rebuilding the wall. Do you have rubble in your life? Have you noticed that anytime you start doing something new, the trash starts piling up?

If you don’t clean it out periodically, it’s going to stop your progress. You can’t avoid it, so you need to learn to recognize it and dispose of it quickly so you don’t lose focus on your original intention.

What is the rubble in your life? I think rubble is the trivial things that waste your time and energy and prevent you from accomplishing what God has called you to do.

Third, you think you’ve failed. Nehemiah’s people were unable to finish their task as quickly as originally planned and, as a result, their confidence collapsed. They were thinking, “We were stupid to think we could ever rebuild this wall.”

But you know what I do when I don’t reach a goal on time? I just set a new goal. I don’t give up. Everybody fails. Everybody does dumb things. So the issue is not that you failed – it’s how you respond to your failure.

Do you give in to self-pity? Do you start blaming other people? Do you start complaining that it’s impossible? Or, do you refocus on God’s intentions and start moving again?

Finally, when you give in to fear, you get discouraged. Nehemiah 4 suggests the people most affected by fear are those who hang around negative people. If you’re going to control the negative thoughts in your life, you’ve got to get away from negative people as much as you can.

Maybe you’re discouraged because of fear. You’re dealing with fears like, “I can’t handle this. It’s too much responsibility.” Maybe it’s the fear that you don’t deserve it. It’s the fear of criticism. Fear will destroy your life if you let it. But you can choose to resist the discouragement. Say, “God help me get my eyes off the problem – off the circumstance – and keep my eyes on you.”

© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.

Living Happily Ever After...

"Don't bother me. I'm living happily ever after."

I read the above on a Mikey's Funnies daily email that I receive. I had a chuckle because that's what we should be doing; living our happily ever after now! We, as Christians, know that we have a heavenly happily ever after to live, but what are we waiting for while we're here on earth? Retirement, a better standard of living, to not have the daily grind? What exactly? If we spend our lives waiting for something better then we will soon find that our life on earth is over!

God wants to use us right here and right now for His glory, so that we can get more of His children to go to heaven and live their own happily ever after there with Him. I am so very thankful for the life that I have lived. Yes, there have been tough times, and times that I would much rather forget, but THANK YOU Lord for sticking by me and getting me to where I am today.

Rick Warren has it exactly right in his book, Purpose Driven Life, which helps us examine and determine exactly why we are here. God has a purpose for all of us, but we must forget self and learn what He wants us to do. He wants us to be happy NOW, He wants us to enjoy life NOW, He wants us to serve our purpose for Him NOW! Not in the "happily ever after" time that fairy tales tell us will happen when we meet 'Mister Right', or get that pay rise, or buy that brand spanking new house. It's NOW!

Rick Warren writes that "One of the wisest men in history, King Solomon, who ruled the nation of Israel after his father, David, was confused about his purpose in life. He once wrote, “I, the Teacher, was king of Israel and I lived in Jerusalem. I devoted myself to search for understanding and to explore by wisdom everything being done in the world. I soon discovered that God has dealt a tragic existence to the human race. Everything under the sun is meaningless, like chasing the wind” (Ecclesiastes 1:12-15 NLT)." We must not be confused, we must not waste time chasing the wind and we must not think that something or someone will get us to 'happily ever after'. Only God can do that. Jesus is our Prince Charming and God is our King. We must never forget that and focus on something or someone else.

God has plans for us; His eternal plan (Ephesians 1:3-14). We must seek God out through His word and pray and meditate on it so that our purpose - how we can live 'happily ever after' - can be acted out now. If you haven't already read Rick Warren's book, I suggest that you do. I have and plan to make it a yearly read. All it takes is 40 days. Until then I plan to run through the End of Chapter Questions and Answers periodically to make sure that I am living my happily ever after correctly for God.

Paul speaks of the depth of God's love for us in Romans 8:31-39. How could He not love us when He sent His only son to die for us?

"31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:

"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Are you living your 'happily ever after' now for God, or are you living it for something or someone else? Do you know what your purpose is...for God? Ask Him to show you. Ask for His guidance so you can be all that God planned for you to be...for Him.

Dear Lord, thank you that you love us enough to send your only Son to die for our sins. I pray that I will seek out your purpose for me every day and in every single thing that I do. Thank you for showing me that a fairy tale mentality will not get me the true happiness that only you can provide. In Your Heavenly Name, Amen.