Friday, March 16, 2007

No Particular Reasons

I haven't read my Bible for two days and I am begining to feel drained physically and spiritually. If got me to wonder how the physical man and spiritual man are connected. I am not the person who believes that God will punish or discipline for not reading His Word daily but I do know when I am not in His Word my body feels it. Is this just physchological or is there truth to it. Obviously those who are not saved have energy and on the physical level feel normal, even thouugh they are in reality empty, and feel normal while in their vanity. This is strange, because even as I am writing I think that I have come to my own conclusion; For me, I think, that my physical body becomes exhausted because I know that when I am not in God's word, that I am doing things in vain and that it is exhausting to do mundain things without His word guiding me through the day. Just another reminder how much strength that Christ gives to His children and how much we (especially me) need it.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Let's Give them Something to talk about!

So last night at small group we continued our discussion on Calvinism with help from 'The Five Points of Calvinism' and we talked on the subject for a hour and half! It was crazy! The girls really seemed to be understanding what the points of Calvinism were and could articulate it back to us! I think that this had to be one of the first times that this has happened! We are thankful to God for giving us His Word and other resources that helps guide us to know why we believe, and we are also thankful for SKH for teaching on this subject!!

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Enjoying the Process pt2

So here it is another month and hence another blog about etp-ing. It has been crazy thinking how much God has blessed me with and He has been showing me so many things to be thankful for. It has helped me with the fact that my husband has been SOOO joyful the past months that it has not only made our life at home better but has also freed me up to enjoy this process called life.
At staff meeting this past Saturday I shared how Curtis and I have been focusing on enjoying the process as a family. However, last week....in fact it was last Thursday where I attempted to blog about enjoying the process while potty training and doing taxes, but I couldn't because I wasn't etp-ing. It has been said that you attitude is a reflection of your heart....my attitude STANK......and I was having a STINKY heart. I was upset about our taxes and I felt like a failure through potty training. But, my husband is great and put things in an eternal perspective for and by the next day I was enjoying the process again. I am reading the book "Loving God with all your Mind" again. It is one of my favorites. This is a small section where the author reminds the reader about all of the promises that God gives to His children. As I was reading my heart was filled with so much joy. And I thought that how could I or any believer be discouraged while actively reading God's Word. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, we are made for a purpose, if and when we go through trials He has promised not only to be there for us but also promises to not to put us through something that we cannot handle. How crazy is that!! God is faithfully on our side and that brings about GREAT joy....oh how my cup over flows!!

Elisabeth Elliot and Calvinism

Jesse Martin inspired me to read after he shared at our staff meeting this past week. So, today I had some free time and I thought that there was no better time then the present. Curtis and I are starting a diet together as soon as he gets back from L.A. so I thought that a book on displine would be a great starter for me. I picked up Elisabeth Elliot's "Discipline; A Glad Surrender" I got a chapter or two into it and thought to myself, "This is kind of weird, she is refering alot to free will. So, I decided to scam through the upcoming chapters hoping to find a chapter refuting the first chapter. I stumbled on the chapter entitled "A Sovereign God and Free Will" I was horrified to read on and discover that she is not a Calvinist. In fact I was so upset that I called Mo to make sure that I was understanding her rightly. Mo said "Oh yeah, most definity"! So, that was pretty disapointing but on the flip side if it wasn't for Sean's messages on Calvinism I definitly would not have picked up on it so quickley. Thank you Sean!-**************************