Thank You!

Thanks to everyone for your emails and prayers for my mom. She's home and growing stronger because of those prayers to a faithful God.

Have you ever thought about that fact that people that you may never meet could be praying for you?

Sometimes, when I see an auto accident or a person walking I ask God to "touch" them. I often pray for their day, their work, their families - all in about two minutes. Those people will never know that I prayed for them, but God knows and He heard that intercessory prayer uttered in faith.

Today, thank God for those people that have prayed for you; and those that are praying for you now. People that you don't even know love you and are praying for you often...I know I am.

Thanks for reading, love ya...
Teri

Trust is all you need...

I was just thinking. Life moves in swoops and strokes. Sometimes life can be calm - or at least calm for us - and then [SWOOP!] it can change in a moments time.

The other day, my mom was rushed to the hospital on a heart attack scare. Praise God she didn't have one, but she's remaining for a battery of tests. Several years ago, this very trial would have tossed me into a tailspin of worry and anxiety. You see, most of my immediate family died suddenly of heart failure. So you can understand why fear would grip my life at the very thought of losing my remaining family members.

But God.

Jesus Christ has shown me time and time again that He's in control of my life. He's handling my destiny. Nothing, absolutely nothing, takes Him by surprise. Isn't that wonderful?

When troubles arise, God is not in heaven running around with His hands in the air screaming "What are we going to do???" No, He's resting on His throne protecting us, guiding us and comforting us by the power of his Holy Spirit. Our job is to simply trust Him and stay close in times of doubt, pain and weariness.

So, I trust Him.

"Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, Lord have never forsaken those who seek you" Psalm 9:10

Doing Life with Good Friends

"Doing Life"

This term is synonymous with prison terms, but recently I heard it used another way. Karen Robinson, the executive director of Solomon’s Porch Society and my adorable cousin, used this term at a women’s conference at my church. She wasn’t talking about incarceration, but about the rich fellowship that happens between people who share their lives with one another in real and meaningful ways.

The other night, I had an opportunity to "do life" with a few of my girlfriends. Each woman is significant to me in a specific way. For instance, Brenda is wise and deeply in love with Jesus. Her very presence makes a lunch better and a room brighter. I'm blessed to know her. Like me, she's a busy bee, but through the years, we have maintained a close connection that enables us to pick up right where we left off every time we see one another.

Like Brenda, Rachelle has been my friend for many years. She doesn't say much, but what she does say always has depth and meaning. I love to spend time with her and exchange God's goodness in our lives. She balances my energetic personality very well. Then there's Cheryle Ann - as I call her. Cheryle is as close to a sister as I have on this earth and our twenty year friendship has stood the tests of time. I always call us the Golden Girls because we have done life for so long and- God willing- will do so until we're both old and gray. I'm very blessed to have these ladies in my world.

It's a beautiful thing to have people with whom to share life's struggles and joys. These women were each involved in some of the most challenging transitions of my life. They each comforted me through change, encouraged me through struggle and pointed me to the cross the entire time. Brenda did so once at the "Grand Street Cafe" as we ate yummy food. Rachelle and I have gone through so many deaths, struggles and challenges, I don't remember them all. And Cheryle is just...family...there forever. I admire her and love her incredibly.

I thank God for my friends and the joy of "doing life" with them. I praise God for the kindness of sending good people my way. I am also thankful for the great evening of movies, cheesecake, key lime pie, cake and pizza we enjoyed last night!

Top 5 Challenges: #4 "I'm too sexy for my...OWN SELF"

It's Everywhere!

This particular 2010 challenge affects just about every Christian woman in one way or another. Either we are caught in the web of it's deception ourselves or we are worried about girls struggling to define their own identity. Either way, it is part of our reality.

Big business has discovered - all too well - that sex sells. Sadly, the suggestivetive sex-charged messages become ingrained into our culture and socialization process. The result is confused young people, disgruntled older people and a booming cosmetic surgery industry.

What amazes me is the ubiquity of it all. We can't live twenty minutes of our lives without a sensually charged message on the radio, television, bill board or other media. It's everywhere and in my opinion worse than ever. It's affecting us. It's affecting our husbands, children and families.

A few weeks ago, I visited Girl Scouts troupe. I created an activity to help them dispel the pressures of conformism beauty. Here's what I did: I brought tons of magazines for them to use to create a collage of beauty. Then I'd somehow link it to scripture. Well, what I found was that the magazines (Ladies Home Journal, Woman's Day, Vogue and others) had tons of sexually-charged images in them! All of them where advertisements for items as simple as perfume! Wild!

The Symptom and The Result
You may have heard the new excuse...I mean buzz word in our culture - "sexual addiction". Most every man that cannot control his impulses cry this newly coined disorder. Frankly, I find the issue more spiritual than anything else, but I'll leave that to another topic. Still, no one can deny the culpability of sexually charged media and how they affect us all - particularly our men.

According to the XXX Church, a Christian website helping those struggling with pornography, forty seven percent of families say pornography is a problem in their home. Not a small number; but a serious issue that escalates from what seems innocent to what can cause lasting damage.

Nothing About Being a Sex Machine
The word of God gives numerous admonishments for the Christian woman. According to I Timothy 2:9 we're advised to focus more on the inner than the outer. In chapter 3, we learn how our persona and representation is linked to her husband's ministry. We have a place in the kingdom.

But ironically, no where, absolutely nowhere in scripture are we advised to be sexy, physically alluring or arousing. But still so many of us hinge our very self worth on the ability to attract and draw attention. Even worse, the media perpetrates this frame of mind by limiting women to objects defined by prominent body parts and sensual behavior. It's easy for us, as Christian women, to fall right into society's rhythm of sex appeal as power and status.

Nothing New Under the Sun
The world of God defines me - and you - by a much higher standard of Christianity. For instance, I must repeatedly tell myself time and time again that my ultimate sense of worth is rooted in who God is creating me to become in Him. My ability to think, ponder and conceptualize is a great strength to the Kingdom of God. My desire to give to my community [and even the world] is a beautiful thing. How about my (and your) ability to care and pray for the hurting - wow, that's a beauty mark for sure! I must remind (and recondition) myself to be who God tells me I am - not the Super Bowl commercials or the latest fashion wave.

A few scriptures are the cornerstone of my self identification. One of them I quote often here at GodsyGirl.Com. Romans 12:1-2 answers the 2010 challenge of living in our erotic society:

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." (NIV)

This helps me when I'm tempted conform to this world's pressure of how I should look and present myself. I hope it helps you too as you deal with this 2010 challenge.

Remember, the Christian Walk is a Process

I received an email from a person that is experiencing what many of us struggle with. This is my response. I am posting it because I pray that it encourages all of us as we journey through life as Christians.

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If this post encourages one person our struggles are not in vain. If you feel led to do so, post a comment to encourage this person. They may see it and be blessed!

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"I can totally relate to how you feel. When I was younger in Christ, I struggled just as you are describing. But I finally found the right church and good, sound teaching and the result was liberty. Every single has dealt (and deals with) the feelings you are experiencing.

Remember this Christian walk is a process. Hebrews 12:1 tells puts emphasis on "endurance". That's because there will be times you may "feel" like giving up. But stay on track! During those times, remind yourself that you are not alone and that all you have to do is endure. Sometimes, I think more emphasis should be on enduring than how we run the race. Sometimes, I crawl in the race, but I'm still in it. Other times, I sprint. The running is not as important as the hanging in there.Just because you have committed and recommitted your life to Christ doesn't mean you will be perfect.

Take the pressure off yourself and allow God to do His perfect work in your life. Stay close to Him through reading His word and prayer. He will use those vehicles to change you and conform you into His image. Get into a good church. That's an important part of the process. Sometimes, we want to rush that maturation process and try to do it ourselves and that's when we [all] fall flat on our faces. :) Allow Him to work in you, through you and in you. You stay close and you'll soon find that the things you used to do don't seem quite as appealing, that's when the change will occur.

I have a personal example. For me it was a particular man. I couldn't say away from him in my twenties. He was bad for me and I knew it, but I just wanted to be with him. Once I got serious about my walk with Christ, things began to change almost effortlessly. The closer I got to God, the stronger I became in His word. I soon saw him for what he was - a doggie in a Mercedes. God did what I could never do; he made him and the sin disgusting to me. Does that make sense?

Don't worry about how you feel. Feeling is a sense that should be applied to earthly things, not spiritual things. We live by faith; it's the cornerstone of the Christian walk (Read 2 Corinthians 5:7). Those times when you “feel” alone remind yourself of scriptures like Deut. 31:6 and Matthew 28:20. Feelings are not always true and reliable. You may feel alone, but the truth is that your Heavenly Father is right there with you, ahead of you, along side you and behind you – all at the same time. He's always there, even when you don't feel Him. It's similar to oxygen, you can't feel it, but it's keeping you alive.

Finally, don't give up. If you fall, get back up and begin again in grace and forgiveness. Stay in the Christian walk, God will blow your mind with victories and more testimonies than you could imagine. The key is to endure and stay in it.

I've prayed for you today and will continue to do so for a while.

Stay in touch.
Teri
GodsyGirl
P.S. I may post this as a blog entry WITH YOUR NAME REMOVED. :) So many people feel the way you feel. So, hang in there."

What an awful bug!

A terrible "bug" has swept through my house. At one point, it seemed that my husband and I were sneezing in perfect synchronized unison. Thankfully, he's over his and I'm well on my way.

Always looking for the "up" side, I can say the rest has been a blessing. Even creatively, it's good to "shut" down when possible. Let your body rejuvenate and your mind regroup.

In all things...God's good. Amen?

Top 5 Challenges: #3 Submission to Husbands

Challenge # 3: The issue of submission and head of household.

Did you know that some Christian women have more power and influence at work than in their own homes? Really. It’s ironic, because we live in one of the most liberating generations for women. Today’s woman has options and choices that our grandmothers only dreamed of having. Women are educated, fiscally independent and taking their place in today’s world.

At the same time, some Christian women contemplate scriptural concepts to make peace with Biblical expectations of submission in today’s marriage dynamic. The perspectives of man as head of the house and feminine submission hinge on scriptures found in Genesis 3:15-16 and Ephesians 5:22 and 25.

“My salary pays the majority of the mortgage, I run the home, a department in a corporation and yet I am expected to submit to my husband?” Is it fair for this woman to be expected to submit ‘head of household’ to her husband? Similarly, what if she is more competent than he is with life issues? How does it work then? Some mean cannot make a simple decision, much less a complex one.

How does today’s independent Christian woman adapt? Should she have to?

“I just felt powerless.” Her eyes dropped downward. As her friend, I almost felt guilty asking her to re-live the pain of her marriage. She grew up in a denomination that taught that men should have unchallenged authority in the home and the woman’s role was that of servant to the male head. “The hardest thing is they justified my mistreatment with the Bible”. This young woman is now divorced from her husband and has since remarried another man.

On the opposite side of the spectrum, some wives support the concept of male superiority in marriage. One friend of mine said she feels liberated in their [male-led] marriage. “Submission for me is not oppressive; I don’t feel oppression is God’s plan for any marriage”. Partnership is the word used by this Christian wife. According to her, she and her husband collaborate on household issues. But should there be an issue that they disagree on, he has the “winning vote”.

Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Is the concept of the male-dominated home archaic or is it part of God’s timeless plan? What do you think of this challenge facing the 2010 Christian woman?