relationship – Page 3

Praise God on Mother’s Day

May 5, 2021May 4, 2021by Liz GossLeave a Comment

“Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds. Exult in his holy name; rejoice, you who worship the Lord. Search for the Lord and for his strength; continually seek him. Remember the wonders he has performed, his miracles, and the rulings he has given.” – 1 Chronicles 16:8-12 (NLT)

Sunday is Mother’s Day and I want to take the first sentence of this post to say: let this day be whatever you need it to be… but remember to be grateful. See, when I asked some friends about this yearly celebration I got feelings all over the map:

Love for my child and so much gratitude for being a mother.
Grief over a mother I am missing.
Struggling with mental health and have mixed feelings about being a mother.
Pain due to the mother daughter relationship I had.
Envy over those picture perfect moments that fill my social media feeds.
Empty ache over a child I lost even as I am grateful for the children I have.
Painful reminder that I’m not a mom yet.

Whatever Mother’s Day is or isn’t for you, it’s all okay. There’s room and space for the joy and the grief. It’s okay to talk about and feel all the sides of Mother’s Day. But because Mother’s Day is a day of celebration I challenge you all to spend some time preparing your heart to glorify God because of the gift of motherhood. We can all bring praise to God because of someone who personified a mother in our lives. There are three great ways (that popped into my brain) to carry out this exercise. So choose one or choose them all, but don’t forget to thank God for some aspect of moms this weekend.

WRITE – Put your thankfulness down in words. Thank your mother. Thank someone else’s mother. Be grateful for the ways you have been able to mother. Praise God for the ways he has mothered you. Pen to paper. Text. Write an email. Comment on this blog post. However you want to write out your thank you… do it.

ADVICE – We learn things from mothers and one amazing way to exalt motherhood is to share the advice we have received. Mom advice is priceless so glorify God by sharing some of it with others.

LAUGH – Being a mom can be… ridiculous. We do dumb things. Our kids do crazy stuff. We witness other mothers being off the wall geniuses. Let’s share some of this treasure trove and praise our good God for the laughs he’s brought along the way.

Sunday is Mother’s Day. If you need to cry today, cry. If you need to celebrate, celebrate. If you want to do both, do both. If you need to hide on Sunday and pretend it’s not Mother’s Day, that’s totally okay. From one woman to another, I give you permission to love yourself enough to ask for what you need from your loved ones for this day. But in the midst of all the things this world throws at us, let’s not forget to praise our God for the blessing of motherhood. Because through it all he is always good.

“Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives from everlasting to everlasting! And all the people shouted “Amen!” and praised the Lord.” – 1 Chronicles 16:36

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An Underrated Blessing

April 28, 2021April 27, 2021by Guest Blogger1 Comment

As things continue to return to normal, I have been reminded that normal…is….busy! Run, run, run! Go, go, go. Some days there is barely a moment to catch your breath!

Because normal = busy, time seems to fly by. I blinked and I was graduating high school. I blinked and I was saying good-bye to my 20s. I blinked again and all 4 kids were in school. And I made the mistake of blinking again and my oldest is now almost 17 years old and when he stands up straight, he is looking me right in the eyes!

As I approach the halfway point in my life, I want to take the wisdom I have acquired, some of it which came at great cost (life’s tough lessons often don’t come cheap) and I want to apply that wisdom to the days that I have left. One of my goals for my second half is to fight twice as hard to give my time to my family. If I trade in my family time in order to be successful at work? That’s actually failure. Family must be first.

But there is an overlooked aspect of life, a blessing that God intended us to have, and with all of the things going on, it is often easily neglected. That neglected blessings is friendship. I have had this thought running through my head for a while now: “Friendship is a gift you give yourself.” Making time for friends, pursuing a quality person in friendship seems like a selfish thing to do. I feel like I almost have to give myself permission. With so much competition for time, you could feel guilty for creating some space to enjoy your friends.

Another reason we might neglect friendship is because relationships are messy. We can step on each other’s toes. We can get offended. Sometimes friendships end badly. I have had seasons where I have had walls up, because I didn’t want to get burned again. I look back on those seasons now and I wish I had taken the walls down sooner. I was missing the blessing that comes from friendship.

David in the Bible had a wonderful friend in Jonathan. David’s life was stressful! One minute King Saul wanted to hear David play his music, and the next minute, with no warning, he tried to kill David. Since he was in the service of King Saul there wasn’t much David could do about it. In this rough season of life, David found support from Jonathan, who was like a brother to him. Jonathan was a true friend.

Here are some characteristics of a true friend:

They always tells you what you need to hear, not what you necessarily want to hear!
They will be genuinely happy for you when blessings come your way. They won’t grumble about ‘how nothing good happens to them,’ they will celebrate their friends happiness!
They will hang in there with you, when you need them the most, even if it is unpopular. King Saul was not pleased with his son’s loyalty to David!

In this marathon called life, it isn’t good to run alone. Prioritize godly friends, and you will enjoy the journey!

By: Matt Larson (senior pastor at journey church)

liz goss

Easter Resolutions

April 14, 2021April 13, 2021by Liz Goss2 Comments

When 2021 came around it was universally accepted that we were out with the old and in with the new. Of course we hoped to be “out” with masks, social distancing & eating outside and “in” with hugs, parties & traveling. We made personal resolutions to stop eating so much and spend more time at the gym. And whether any of the outs really out-ed or ins really in-ed was never exactly the point, it’s the ferver with which we HOPE things will change when the calendar does that wins our hearts every year.

Easter is the Christian new year. Lent begins the holiday season and by Easter we are always primed to make our spiritual resolutions. This year I will stop taking Jesus for granted and have a relationship with God. This year I will trust God with my finances and start to tithe. This year I will put down the idol that I’m so drawn towards (drinking, food, shopping, relationships, money, etc.) and focus on letting God fill my emptiness. In the final Easter sermons we are primed for repentance.

But as Paul says to the Galatians, who cut in on you? I’m guessing that already (April 14th) you’ve messed up your resolution. I know I have! Galatians 5:7-8 says, “You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom.” See, like pastor Matt on Easter, Paul made it clear to the Galatians that in Christ they were truly free. Free from the power of sin and free to live under God’s grace. Just like us.

So why would we ever want to give up the freedom we found in Christ that refreshed our hearts on Easter? Bondage is subtle. Our New Years resolutions and our Easter resolutions often fall to a slow dependence on behaviors, substances and attitudes that give us security. But… as we turn our lives over to God, he will graciously give us the power we need to overcome.

Last Sunday Pastor Kyle at Journey Church, reminded us that we don’t need a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night to guide us. While it seems super helpful, we actually have something better as Paul reminds us in Galatians 5:16-17: “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

Resolutions aren’t bad. They are usually the prompting of the Holy Spirit, showing us where we could be living better for God and his kingdom. But in our own power we are usually unable to keep them. So let me encourage you in this… God desires a relationship with you. He didn’t die to make you better behaved. He didn’t die so that you’d finally follow the rules. He died because he loves you. He wants to know you, do life with you and spend forever enjoying you. Because he made you.

If you felt God stirring your heart this Easter I hope you resolve to be HIS this next year. Spend time with the one who knows you best and loves you most. Everything else you could possibly resolve to do will come in his timing, if you let the Holy Spirit guide you into doing life with God.

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Love is a Highway

April 7, 2021April 7, 2021by Susan Collins1 Comment

Life is a Highway, I wanna ride it all night long! ♫♩♯

This song was originally recorded by Tom Cochrane in 1991. The song was originally conceived in the 1980’s with the working title “Love is a Highway.” Then was made popular again in 2006 by its use in the movie Cars.

Highways are interesting things. They are so common to us that we don’t see them as an invasion of the environment, but that’s exactly what they are. They are envisioned, created, and maintained by humans for our convenience.

Sometimes religion is like that. Religion can be so much a part of our interactions with God, that we fail to see it as an invasion of that relationship. In the Resurrection message, Matt talked about how God was robbed of the relationship He had intended to have with humankind. Then he set out on a journey to reconcile that relationship.

Like most highways, that journey has lots of ups, downs, twists and turns. Several side roads that eventually make us turn around and go back to where we started.

Human nature is to want the road to look like this:

Or I at least want other people to THINK this is what my highway looks like!

For most of us it actually looks like this:

As I contemplate what Jesus went through from Palm Sunday through Resurrection Sunday, I think of a bumpy, curvy, unpredictable road. He knew what was going to happen, and He still willingly went into the journey to restore the relationship between humans and God.

When I think of the working title “Love is a Highway” as it relates to God’s love for me it becomes very personal.

Jesus didn’t make a turn down a side street then find out it was not where He wanted to go. He intentionally and deliberately set off on a journey down the most dangerous highway imaginable because He loves you and me. Religion can be a vehicle on the highway to God, but it is not the Way, the Truth, and the Life. That is Jesus.

God has given us the relationship that restores what was stolen from Him and us in the garden. Will you accept the gift? It comes completely free….that’s Amazing Grace!

liz goss

Satan is a One Trick Pony

February 17, 2021February 16, 2021by Liz Goss2 Comments

**St. Michael expelling Lucifer and the Rebel Angels**
Artist: Peter Paul Rubens (ca. 1622)
*Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid*

In Isaiah 14:12-15 we read why Satan was thrown out of Heaven. Oh yes, he was an angel once but… “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.” Satan wanted to be like God.

But enough ancient history, let’s look at how humanity fell from the perfect relationship with God we once shared in the garden. We all know it was Satan who tricked her but what exactly did he say? Do you know? I mean most people brought up with the Bible know the story but I bet you can’t quite put your finger on what he tempted her with. It wasn’t just a delicious apple. Genesis 3:5 tells us that Satan told Eve, “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” It was a calculated, diabolical move that Satan knew would get us separated from God like he had been once before. Satan convinced Eve she could be like God.

And Satan is a master at gaslighting humans. He manipulates the world in such a way that leads us to question our thoughts, memories, and the events occurring around us. His greatest weapon is… forgetfulness. Because if he can get us to lose track of EXACTLY what happened in the past we just might fall for it again. Oh and he loves to try his one trick on us all, whispering:

Do you really need to tithe when you could use that money to buy new clothes? You don’t need to follow what God says, you can decide what’s right just as well as God can. ☠️

Gluttony is not a sin in 2021. It’s been a hard year. It’s called self care. Okay so it’s in Proverbs 23 but those are “proverbs” not laws. You do you. ☠️

Sexual immorality? That whole phrase is super vague. I mean… in Matthew 5 it says that if you LOOK lustfully at a woman you have committed adultery in your heart. Don’t you think that’s an impossibly high standard? ☠️

Every time Satan suggests that “it doesn’t really matter this time” he is asking us to believe we are just as good at judging right and wrong as God is. Friends… this the the ultimately audacity of blasphemy straight from Satan. We are not like God. We were created to be in close relationship with Him but that does not mean we are on His level.

Satan is a one trick pony. He has one trick. Just one. And that is to convince you and me and all of humanity that we are just as good as God. It’s what caused him to fall from heaven and he’s good at spreading his fall by causing us to forget. But we won’t! Remember that you will do what is right because God is God and we are not. He is our loving Heavenly Father who would never withhold any good thing (Luke12:32). We can trust his heart. He is for us (Romans 8:32). So next time you wonder if choosing the right really matters… it does. For the love of Christ compelled us (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

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Receiving Service

February 10, 2021February 8, 2021by Susan Collins1 Comment

Sister, let me be your servant.

Let me be as Christ to you.

Pray that I might have the grace to

Let you be my servant too.

As I was praying and contemplating what to write, this kept running through my head. It is a simple chorus to a traditional song, yet the words are compelling.

God made us for a relationship with Him and with each other. Many of us get the serving part down pretty well. We want to feel useful, involved, and connected. We volunteer and do lots of things to build up other believers. Those are all good things and generally come from a place of reverence and response to the grace that God has poured out on us.

For me, the tricky part is being as responsive to the second part of that chorus as I am to the first. We all have times of need. There is nothing weak or unacceptable about accepting the grace of God through the hands of His daughters.

Several years ago, I had the opportunity to be involved in a local community of The Walk to Emmaus. These are spiritual renewal weekends that are organized by Upper Room Ministries in Nashville, TN. The 72-hour experience is very structured and requires many people working together to make a truly unique and life-changing experience. The basic idea is to set up an environment where the participants receive tangible gifts of service and sacrifice all weekend to simulate a New Testament community and the reality of God’s grace. This is done through acts of kindness, talks presenting different aspects of the Christian walk, meeting physical and spiritual needs, and insulating the participants from outside issues while they are there.

I was involved in numerous renewal weekends over 5 years. One thing that I witnessed consistently was people’s discomfort with being served. Through this experience, God taught me and reminds me that allowing others to serve me is as much a part of His plan as my service to them.

Luke Chapter 10 gives us two parables about accepting service, but many times we do not look at them in that light. What would the story of the Good Samaritan be if the injured traveler refused his help? How would God be glorified in the traveler refusing help and insisting he could manage on his own? The story of Martha and Mary is precisely what the song refers to. Martha is being the hands and feet of Jesus through service, while Mary shows grace and reverence to Jesus.

Service is not gender-specific. There are times when we share it and times when we receive it.

Would you deny a sister in Christ her act of obedience by refusing service?

The Servant Song

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Time For God

January 27, 2021January 27, 2021by justicepoole3 Comments

How often do you make God a priority in your life? Do you give Him the time and attention you give to other priorities in your life?

A relationship with God is the same as any other relationship in your life; if you want it to grow- you have to put in some effort. If your spouse or partner all of a sudden stopped talking to you for a couple of days- you’d probably be super worried about your relationship. And yet we cut the communication line to God all the time. Then all of a sudden life gets rough and we call on Him like a genie in a bottle.

Our God is THE God of relationships! We clearly see this in one of the most famous verses in the Bible: John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God created us for relationship with Him. In the beginning, Adam and Eve walked with God in the garden and talked with Him every day. They screwed up (as we all would have) and now we have to deal with the consequences. We can’t see when God is with us and we don’t get to directly hear His words. That doesn’t mean He isn’t with us or talking to us- but we have been separated from God because of our sin and now we have to put in some extra effort in our relationship with Him.

This is all a lesson I’ve been learning myself. I knew I needed to spend more time with God and I didn’t know how- so I did some research and here’s what’s worked for me:

Journaling- just writing down your thoughts, thanksgivings, prayers, etc. Write it out to lessen distractions.
Waking up early- the biggest distraction I face is a busy household that has T.V’s, phones, and conversations all on. Now I wake up early in order to spend some quiet time with God and God alone.
Bible Plan- Having a set plan before you makes reading your Bible SO much easier. Instead of just flipping to a random page you have a goal in mind.
Accountability- I’m in a great Discipleship group and we meet once a week and discuss what we’ve read. I know I’ve got to read a certain amount of chapters every Tuesday and the group is a HUGE motivation.
Devotional- As someone who recently read the Bible in a year- I didn’t feel like I was getting a spiritual workout when reading through again- so I bought a devotional book called ‘New Morning Mercies’ by Paul David Tripp. It’s been amazing to see a different outlook into the scriptures and be able to apply verses to my own life that I might not have given the time of day before.

Don’t be afraid to try something new if you feel like your time with God isn’t fruitful! But put in the effort that God deserves!

amy oberg

Chatting with God

January 6, 2021January 6, 2021by amyoberg15 Comments

Would you be willing to write a prayer to help a friend?

Don’t you ever wonder what other people pray like? I know I do!

What if there was a place you could turn to have some extra prayers in your pocket? That is exactly what I would like to do.

Prayer is a simple.
Prayer is a conversation.
Prayer is processing.
Prayer is part of relationship.

Recently I heard that we need to be processing with God. Because I am a verbal processor it has always helped to process with people, bounce ideas off of them, get feedback and then come to a conclusion with confidence. My warning in this statement is that I have not always chosen the best people to process with and it usually leads to a bad conclusion or worse…judgement. So, process with someone who loves you unconditionally, won’t judge you, willing to have honest conversation and will lead you down the right path…oh only God can do that! So process with God.

To have a simple, honest, processing prayer time does not take hours on end or even a certain time of the day. I have found that having a few prayers on hand helps moves me toward a thought where I can process with God about a certain topic.

Here is a prayer from a friend about acceptance:

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for loving me. For forgiving me of my sins and my flaws. Thank you for allowing me to bring them to you. Lord, I’m struggling to accept my circumstances. I know you’re in charge of them but I want to fix and control my circumstances. I also know I’m failing at that control. Father, would you lay your hand on me to show me how to accept my stuff, no matter what, so that I can be in your will, so that I can learn to trust you with all of my life. Please help me to grow a bigger faith in you to allow acceptance to be second nature. Then I can testify to your glory and what an amazing God you are. Lord, I love you. I want to accept the things you do in my life, good and bad. Show me the way. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Would you offer a prayer for your sisters to help them process with God?