As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.
Romans 14:1-3
When I don’t agree with something, you will know about it. I may not always say it, I usually would do though, but I think my face gives it away most of time! So if you see my eyebrows furrowing when you’re talking and I’m still silent, I’ll apologise now because it’s probably because I don’t agree with you. I will keep quiet though, not because I know better, but because I will respect you and you have your own opinion.
For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Psalm 139:13-16
Our God is an intentional God. When He does things, it’s not by accident. He intends to do them. This also applies to ourselves. I was not made by accident. I was not some random passing thought. God intentionally created me. He intentionally created you too.
I know what you might be thinking (coz I think this too sometimes)…
Hang on a minute. Me? He intended to create me? God created me on purpose?
Yes! You are not by accident.
I find this hard to grasp at times depending on what I am feeling and what situations I go through. On a good day I’ll accept He fearfully and wonderfully made me just the way I am. He will use me just as He intended to further the works for His Kingdom.
I’m joining the Five Minute Friday word prompt for this week and today’s prompt is the word “simplify”. This should be fun, because my life is anything but simple!
It’s at this point in the year where we start to struggle with the New Years resolutions that we have made, especially if we have made unrealistic ones. I decided not to do one this year, and I’m so pleased that I didn’t. I get too bogged down with feelings of guilt when I realise I can’t carry on with resolutions I have made.
It’s come to the time of time of year where we start to think about the different traditions we do when celebrating Christmas. Something which is familiar to us that we have always done. Maybe it is a particular decoration that is hung in a certain place in the home, or the type of food we eat.
I love to go to the midnight service with my husband at our church on Christmas Eve, something we do every year and is now very familiar to us. This is always then followed by the mad dash of getting the remainder of the Christmas presents wrapped before we go to bed, with a glass (or two) of sherry on the side for help. This is something else that is very familiar, but we try and change it each year (and I’m referring to wrapping the presents really late – not the sherry drinking!)
~oOo STOP oOo~
Let’s put Jesus at the centre of our hearts.
Familiarity brings about a sense of security. It’s about knowing who we are and where we have come from. It’s comforting. When people lose familiarity, they sometimes also lose a sense of identity and control.
I struggle with this time of year because of the familiar stress Christmas brings (and I’ve gone and done it big time this year with extra EXTRA things going on). I am finding that the familiar stress that Christmas brings is what causes me to lose my identity and control.
However, over the last year or so I’ve had a longing to make things different. Something special. I have needed something to focus on to slow me down in this hectic period to get me focused on what is the most familiar reason for this season.
Maybe you feel this too?
Let us knock on the door to The One that matters most!
So, to overcome this familiar stress, I am creating a new familiarity to be intentional about focusing on the real reason for this Season. After all, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas if it wasn’t for One person…Jesus!
Somehow, this kind of gets forgotten in all the hustle and bustle of organising and preparing for the big day. I’ll admit that myself too, that I am too busy wondering what presents I need to buy and who am I going to send cards to. I forget, momentarily, that we celebrate Jesus coming to this world.
I want to change that.
Angels sound the trumpets at the arrival of the Messiah!
I’m still going to buy the presents and write those cards, but what I need to prepare most is my heart.
To slow myself down and create a new familiarity – one that will prepare my heart – I am going to be reading “Come, Lord Jesus” by Kris Camealy. This is a very timely book that is much needed for anyone who is in a “waiting” period, and also for anyone who wants to prepare their hearts over the advent period.
And what is better still, Kris is hosting a book club for her book where we can gather together with other like minded people who want to be intentional about preparing for Christmas.
“Come, Lord Jesus: The Weight of Waiting” is available to buy at Amazon.
I wrote this post as a response to the Five Minute Friday word prompt “familiar“. Click here to see what other people wrote when they were prompted with this word.
Stand in silence in the presence of the Sovereign LORD, for the awesome day of the LORD’s judgment is near. The LORD has prepared his people for a great slaughter and has chosen their executioners.
Zephaniah 1:7
We live in a world filled with noise from the moment the alarm wakes us up in the morning with that irritating ring tone, to the kids screaming and shouting at each other about who got dressed first!
We leave the noise behind in the house only to be greeted by the hum of the traffic on the roads of people rushing to work. We switch on the radio to fill the void of emptiness in the car, only to be met with the noise of the world in the news.
When at work we are then bombarded with the noise of busyness around us…phones ringing…typing on keyboards…radios blaring in the background…machines turning away to produce things, as well as the noise. Noise is never ending!
I often pray to God in the midst of my noise to help me, but often I am confronted with noise inside my head and I end up hearing nothing. I think God is silent and He doesn’t want to speak to me.
When times get really hectic and the noise around me, and in me, gets too much I know it’s time to be in silence.
I take myself outside and go somewhere for five minutes to a place I know will be still. It’s only when I am alone with Him in the silence do I then hear Him the loudest.
I don’t need to shout above all the noise to be heard by God. God hears the faintest whisper of my heart. He hears yours too.
Why not take yourself out to be in silence. You might just be amazed at how loud God speaks in that moment.
You can find me on Instagram logging my time spent with God using the hashtag #5minutesabbath
I wrote this post as a response to the Five Minute Friday word prompt “silence“. Click here to see what other people wrote when they were prompted with this word.
