But.... I can't! {For the Jeremiah's in the World}

One of my favorite books is in the book of Jeremiah. I feel like him a lot.

At first he's all, "I can't do that God... I'm just me. I'm nobody special."

And God was all...

"I made you. All you have to do is open your mouth. The words will come."

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I'm paraphrasing of course. Jeremiah wrote it much better than I could, but the idea is the same.

Jeremiah never saw himself as much, but God chose him to tell everybody about Him.

And did Jeremiah have it easy because he did it? Nope. He was laughed at. Mocked.

Can you imagine the people in his little hamlet rolling their eyes when "Bible Thumping Jeremiah the Christian" came walking by? I bet that was really fun....

Or the glares... or the constant worry that he'd be arrested, beaten or killed?

But he did it. He wasn't happy about it all the time, but he did it.

God could have called a more 'qualified' person-- someone with a huge following who could get thousands to crowd around- to get people excited about being in the 'in' crowd and not care anything about the message being delivered.

He could have picked a politician who had influence over laws.

He could have picked someone better looking (not that I know what Jeremiah looked like.. he could have been very handsome for all I know), taller, skinnier, more muscular-- better...

But God chose Jeremiah for a reason-- He knew that Jeremiah would do what He told him to do.

Read the entire chapter here...

That is a huge quality to God. Think about it... do you love any of your kids more than the others? There are some that get on your nerves at different times (I have 3 girls.. I know :) ) but you never would think of them as any better or any worse than another child.

I think we forget that a lot about God. He doesn't' care if you have a million dollars or $1-- He doesn't' care if you run a million person church or if a small group meets for church in your living room every Sunday. He loves each of us equally....

And here's the rub... As parents, we see qualities in our kids that they don't see in themselves. WE see ourselves as we 'THINK' we are... God sees us as what we 'TRULY' are, what we are 'CAPABLE' of, and what HE MADE us for.

Maybe we should start seeing ourselves as God sees us. He wouldn't be telling you to do that think you KNOW He's telling you to do... if He didn't think you could do it.

~Kelly

Day 8: Anger Leads to Hate....

Ephesians 4:26-- And "don't sin by letting anger control you".  Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry for anger gives a foothold to the devil.

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Ah--- anger.

That most disliked and possibly most used emotion.

No one likes it when someone is angry at them, but it is so easy to become angry and stay angry with someone----- Even yourself.

There are a million ways to be angry with yourself.
*You think you say the wrong things.
*You aren't a size 2.
*You say something you regret.
*You aren't "perfect"
*You broke someones heart.
*You think you let God down.

And the hard part is that its actually easier to forgive someone else than ourselves.

Anger--in any form-- is dangerous.  Yoda was right when he said, "Fear is the path to the Dark Side.  Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to Hate.  Hate leads to suffering"  And it's not always you who does the suffering for your fear... and for your anger.... and for your hate.

I know this isn't really uplifting and encouraging today... but it's something I think we all need to think about.  Our actions have a direct relationship with everyone around us.  Our hate... our love.  Our anger... our graciousness.  Our fear... our giving.

Hate and anger fester like some sort of weird little bump on our skin (um.. ewww).  Take a splinter than has wedged itself under our skin (just like a little annoyance we might have).
Maybe a:
*Gossipy friend.
*An unattractive habit of our spouse
*Scoffing at ourselves in the mirror

Then, after a while if we don't deal with the splinter, it grows... gets infected.  The anger rises...
*Will my friend just stop talking!
*I can't STAND being around my spouse!
*Ug!  I detest my body!!

By that time, if not dealt with, the splinter has gotten so infected, so nasty that it's big.. and green... and ugly (as hate often is.  There is nothing pretty about hate.)
*A Friendship ended by harsh words
*A marriage ended
*Non-existant self-esteem

The Fear, Anger, and Hate are usually followed by another emotion... another dirty one.  Suffering.
*We suffer because we lose a close friend and now have no one to talk to
*The kids suffer because our marriage ended
*Our self-worth suffers because we think more about some photoshopped celebrity than ourselves

Anger is a normal emotion. It is!  We all have it.  But we have got to be watchful to forgive whatever it is that has caused our anger (be it another person, ourselves, circumstances, etc) and not let it control us.  We can't dwell on it.  If we do, it will start eating at us.

Don't let anger control you.  I know its hard... I KNOW it's hard.  Believe me.  But it will make us happier in the end.

God Bless you!!!!!

Kelly