The Witness

I recently read The Witness on my Kindle. A Kindle is a perfect gift for a reader, and now that I've discovered sources for free e-books, I download quite often.
This book is in the Christian Fiction genre.  The story line is quite riveting and action packed for a Christian book - I didn't think I would find murder, mystery and intrigue in this type of book. I was pleasantly surprised.


Synopsis: Amanda Griffin is deep in hiding, using various aliases to fly under the radar of nefarious criminal interests. When she witnesses a multiple murder, Deputy Chief of Police Luke Granger befriends her. He fails to convince Amanda to come out of hiding, however. Three years later, Amanda's story and that of two newly minted millionaire sisters come together, and Luke finds his interest in Amanda becoming more personal. 


In the midst of all the action, there's plenty of soul searching (see excerpts below) and without giving away the story line we are able to see God's grace in difficult situations.

• When the main character is asked, do you still trust God? She answers, "I understand the doubts that surface when you look at someone and can't totally be sure if what you are seeing is the real story.  But is it trust that is the problem, or is it discernment?"
• But this is earth, not heaven. And the reality on earth is its the good days that are the exceptions in this life, not the bad.
• Now God hasn't changed, he's still loving and righteous and in charge. And evil and free will still exist. God could change this, but it doesn't necessarily mean He will.
• That's been by God's grace; accepting where I am limited and figuring out there will be some way through the latest wrinkle.

What are your thoughts on the quotes above? Is it hard to trust God when your circumstances seem difficult and unfair? How do you reconcile a loving God with your circumstances?

He'll Do It Again

This song by Shirley Ceasar has accumulated so much mileage as it gets me through literally and figuratively.  Literally - when I'm on the elliptical or treadmill, it inspires me to finish. Figuratively, whenever I'm going through difficult situations, I remember what He's done for me in the past and am encouraged by what He will do.

Life goes in intervals, doesn't it? One minute you're coasting and the next you're holding on for dear life. God is always there even during the times you're coasting, but it's during the difficult seasons, you really know He's there as you call on Him more, rely on Him more and your faith increases.

Be encouraged by God's faithfulness, and wherever you are, remember - He'll Do It Again.

Judges 5:11 - there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD.........

How did the New Year start for you? Are you going through or are you coasting?

Goal Setting & Chocolate

It's the new year and it seems the natural thing to do is to make resolutions. I wrote about compromises on my first post for 2012 and how our resolve fails because we compromise on the outcome.

Through the eyes of an 8 year old I saw the power of setting goals. Every year, my daughter's school has a chocolate fundraiser, to raise money for the school and missionaries overseas. If you participate, they are great incentives for selling. On the first day of the candy sale, she looked at the sheet that listed all the prizes. Realizing that she didn't have a bike, she declared,  "I want to sell 16 cases so that I can get a bike." I asked her if she was serious and she said yes. The adults in the room looked at each other and tried to figure out how we could facilitate her meeting this goal. I sent out emails to everyone I knew asking for donations or sales, even though I felt I was being annoying. I asked family members to sell cases for her. She suggested we go to the grocery store and sell. I came up with a schedule for selling. To make this work, I had to come out of my comfort zone - I had never done anything like this before; I also had to constantly encourage her and remind her of the expected outcome. If we compromised, she wouldn't meet her goal.
Once out selling, it became relatively easy and when she wanted to quit, I reminded her of her goal. Wouldn't you know it, she sold 16 cases and got her bike. As a matter of fact she exceeded her goals by two cases. And when she got the bike she had the widest ear to ear grin.

This made me think - if an 8 yr old can do it, why can't I, why can't all of us?

I can't tell you what goals to strive for, but I do think your goals should enhance your character and your walk.

Some thoughts from the scriptures on setting goals:

Philippians 3:13-14 - Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.


Psalms 37:4 - Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.


Matthew 6:33 - But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.


It's always a good time to set goals and strive to be better.
My goals as we start 2012:

• Re-establish self discipline as it pertains to my quiet time.
• Become more effective at working from home
• Be open to whatever the Lord has in store for me - trust more.

Do you have any goals you wish to share? We can hold each other accountable.

Compromise

Not all compromise is bad - for example if my husband and I are undecided in our choice of movie for a date night, he may compromise and see a chick flick because he knows it would make me happy, even though he would rather see an action flick.

However, compromising on our core spiritual values will not have the same beneficial effects. To illustrate, let's look at Daniel and his three friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 1.  For three years, Daniel and his friends were in training, being indoctrinated by King Nebuchadnezzar.
They were 4 areas were Daniel and his friends were challenged, and in one of them he did not compromise (v 4-8):

1. Their language was changed  - they learned a new language.
2. They served King Nebuchadnezzar - Nebuchadnezzar was considered a political genius of his time so this became beneficial to Daniel in the long run.  This is similar to working in Corporate America and learning the ins and outs so that you can eventually branch out on your own.
3. Their names were changed - They accepted their new and it's how we commonly refer to them.
4. Eat the king's meat - this seems like the easiest thing on the list, but this is where they would not compromise. Apparently in ancient times, food was sacrificed to false gods before it was eaten by the Babylonians. To Daniel and his friends this would be akin to worshipping false gods, or serving another god besides the true God. So on this point they said no.

This no was not easy, but very hard and potentially life threatening. Instead Daniel suggested that they would eat vegetables and drink water for ten days. In the compromise, they had favor with the official who handled the food (v 9). God intervened.

At the end of ten days here's what happened:

• They received knowledge and wisdom - they were 10x better than all the king's magicians.
• Daniel was blessed with the ability to understand visions and dreams
• They were elevated to a position of power
• Daniel was granted long life
• In addition they were fitter and stronger than the men who had eaten the kings meat. Eating vegetables and water for 10 days will not build up muscle and make you bigger - it was a supernatural intervention.

Many people resolve to be different or better at the start of the new year. We're well intentioned and, this time we won't fail. But what happens? If we say we're going to lose weight we start off well and eventually we compromise the foods we're eating and before we know it we're back at square one.

As Christians, we sometimes compromise the core values of our faith. God loves me and He died for me but He's not serious about me not gossiping, lying, fornicating, sowing strife, being involved with an unbeliever in serious dating relationship, or a host of things that we think are harmless but really aren't, is He?

Don't compromise on the core values of your faith; be like Daniel and his friends who became ten times better than all the learned men. This didn't happen over night; it took three years, but it was worth it.

What areas will you choose not to compromise in? Do you know the core values of your faith? How will you strengthen your faith this year?


PS - my pastor taught this message on Sunday and I had to share it with you as it really blessed and challenged me.