March Joy Dare 18

3 Gifts Red

• Blood of Christ
• Rose
• Sunset

March Joy Dare 17

A gift turned, a gift folded, a gift hung

• my resolve back to God
• a note
• clothes

Lent and the giving up of something

I have never before practiced or observed Lent, as a Christian I have never belonged to a church that has even talked about it.  But I decided this year that I would try the giving up of something for Lent, in hopes that it would revitalize my relationship with God.

But I didn't want to just give up something superficial, I wanted it to really mean something, so I googled Lent and the giving up of something and browsed through some websites to figure out what to give up.  I found a website (I don't remember the address) that suggested giving up some different type things than some of the others I found, and from that website I finally found my idea.

I thought about it and decided that this year was the year to give up worry.  Now those who know me know that I worry about everything, and then worry if I have nothing to worry about, so  this was not going to be an easy feat for me. 

As I started it was easy to simply continually, sometimes every 5 minutes, release my worries to God, and I felt a great peace in this, and I felt lighter.  It was increasing my ability to trust God.  Although at that time things in my life were going fairly smoothly.

The last week or so, I've failed though.  I forgot to turn every worry back to God.  I started to try to plan and take things and try to work them out for myself.  It's been a rough week, and it has taken it's toll on me.  Today is only day 25 out of 40, and I am renewing my commitment to release my worries and concerns and give them to God.  Learning to trust Him implicitly with everything.

It has been a great growing experience, and it has brought me closer to God and I look forward to seeing how I feel at the end of Lent.

March Joy Dare 16

3 Hard Eucharisteos

• Problems & Trials
• Circumstances that we can't control
• Family (even the problem people)

March Joy Dare 15

3 gifts given away

• Time  & Attention
• Love
• Myself

March Joy Dare 14

3 gifts found in Silence

• Peace and Quiet
• Time to reflect, and just be
• God's guidance

March Joy Dare 13

3 Gifts Round

• Sun
• Earth
• Circle of Life

March Joy Dare 12

a gift in wind, in water, in white

• Cool breeze on a warm day
• Refreshing, cool, life (from baptism)
• Purity

Worn Out

You will surely wear out both yourself and this people with you, for the thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it all by yourself.  Exodus 18:18

How many times do we wear ourselves out, because like Moses, we try to take on things that are too heavy for us?  I know that for me I often try to do things by myself, and try to take on things to make people happy, and just to do things that need to be done.  But then I feel weighted down by the responsibilities of things and often end up feeling worn out.

Then in my reading yesterday I found the verse above.  It really struck a cord in me.  The thing is too heavy for you; you are not able to perform it all by yourself.  It reminds me that I need to be in community, which for me means finding a new church where I belong and can serve.  It also reminds me that at work, I need to lean on others for support and not try to fall back into the superhuman role of thinking that I can handle everything and that I can do it on my own.

How often I have wore myself out, trying to meet everyone else's expectations of me, instead of relying on my knowledge of me and what I can realistically handle.  Having a mental illness I know that I need to take certain things into consideration, things that others need not consider, it doesn't make me handicapped, it just means that what I can handle may not be the same as what others can handle.  It also means that I need to rely more on God to get me through the day.

What do you do to keep from getting worn out?

March Joy Dare 11

3 Gifts Read

• The Word of God
• Letters/Emails from friends
• Inspirational things

Grumbling

Some of you know that I recently did the Made to Crave bible study with Melissa Taylor.  Well today, catching up on my reading through the bible in two years (which I seem to stay behind in), I was reading about the Isrealites.  They were in the Wilderness of Sin (Exodus 16:1 Amp) and they were grumbling about the food that they missed from when they were in Egypt.  This got me to thinking that God places a great importance on food to mention this and have it recorded in the bible. 

How often do we crave food?  A particular flavor, or choice dish.  I know I'm guilty.  We grumble and complain about not getting the food we want, instead of being simply happy with the food that God provides.  Just like the Isrealites in the Wilderness, we want what we want, and we want it now.  How often God must wonder if we will ever learn.  We buy junk food, and crave for fast food, and we are not content to just let God provide each meal.  We buy more than we can eat, and we often throw things away that are not eaten fast enough.

When will God be enough?

We forget to be thankful for our daily supply of food, confidence, way out of problems etc., and we go into the Wilderness of Sin, and began to worry and plan and store up ways to deal with life, and we forget to let God be God in our moment of weakness, in our time of trouble, in our day, week, month.  Does this make you think?  It makes me think, and I realize again, that I often miss the mark, that I need to trust more and buy less, trust more and worry less, trust more and just be.
 

March Joy Dare 10

3 Gifts in Christ

• New Identity
• Acceptance
• No Condemnation