Category: Confession

Posted on

Just Wrong

Wrong

How are your holiday preparations coming along this advent season? Are you feeling stressed by any chance? With my daughter’s wedding coming up right around the corner, I have a little extra on my plate this year. If you know me, you know that I don’t do well with chaos. I need order!

Not Quite Right

In my attempt to get my gift shopping done as efficiently as possible, I placed a “ship-to-store” order with JCPenney last week to complete my shopping. When I picked it up, brought it home and opened it yesterday, it was WRONG. I had ordered two similar items, one for my son and the other for my father-in-law. The only differences were the size and color. The gift for my son was correct, but it seems my father-in-law is getting a BRA for Christmas! Someone at Penney’s sure did get it wrong. I’m sure he/she was in a hurry just like the rest of us this time of year.

Same

A dear friend of mine got me a devotional for advent and dropped it off here on Monday morning so I wouldn’t get behind with the readings. Well, guess what? I took me 5 days to get past the cover page and Week #2 begins tomorrow. This morning I was able to make up for lost time and read through the devotional and accompanying scripture passages. Guess what I learned? Just like the Penney’s employee, I also got it wrong! It happens every year. I get so caught up in my list of things to do that I run myself ragged trying to get it all done. It’s easy for me to lose focus on the reason for the season–Jesus, and instead be consumed with checking things off my list. I have a feeling I’m not the only one. Perhaps you need reminded of that today, just as I did.

Let’s get it right this time and stay focused on preparing our hearts for the Ultimate Gift, Jesus, this advent season.

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Matthew 1:23

I’m off to Penney’s…it seems Pappy isn’t going to be able to use that 36A bra that was in the bag!

_________________________________________________________________________________

*In a separate matter, I haven’t had the opportunity to write as much as I’d like. I recently became aware that only a handful of “subscribers” to my blog were getting the email notification. I’m not sure when that issue cropped up. You may have missed some as a result. The link to “subscribe” wasn’t even working. I am using a new plug-in as of this post. I hope that resolves the problem. Earlier today I manually “subscribed” all those who were on my previous list. Because that list was incomplete, I took the liberty of adding some others. If you are not interested in receiving notification of my posts, please feel free to unsubscribe.

Posted on

Predetermined

Hmmm…..

What should I wear?

Does this match?

Which of these look best with this?

I get these questions frequently from my husband, Todd, when he chooses his outfit for going out and about. For someone who says he doesn’t care what anyone else thinks, he sure puts a lot of thought into what he wears! Now that our outings are limited, I haven’t been asked those questions recently. Surprisingly, he hasn’t even asked me which mask to wear!

The Test

In our 30+ years of marriage, I can tell you how this scenario generally plays out. “Whatever you want” or “I don’t care” is my answer to the open-ended question. If we proceed to the next portion of the test, my odds of answering correctly increase, or so you would think. That’s because we move to the true-false (yes/no) or multiple choice section. Guess what? I rarely pass this test! If you would like to know why, read on.

Who Has the Answer Key?

You see, long before the first question is asked, Todd already has an answer set in his mind. He is just looking for confirmation from me. This is a subjective test and Todd holds the answer key! When I don’t give his predetermined answer, my test is marked incorrect. That leaves me feeling frustrated, wondering why he ever bothered to ask if he already had the answer.

Who is the Teacher?

Now that I’ve poked fun at Todd, I will assure you that he’s not alone. Just recently, while reading my current reading plan in YouVersion, I was convicted of having predetermined answers too. The plan is called “Trusting God – A Prayer Journey” and trusting God’s communication was the topic of the day. It became evident as I read that I sometimes do the same thing with God that Todd does with me when choosing his outfit. The situation is magnified by a horrific role reversal though—I appoint myself the teacher and God is the student!

I’ll pray about some concern that is heavy on my heart and ask for God’s direction in the matter. But, when it comes right down to it, do I really want His answer? Or do I just want God to affirm my predetermined answer? After all, I have the answer key. This has far more significant consequences than choosing an outfit! Ugh.

Who is Right?

Dare I get my red pen out along with my pride and mark God’s answer wrong when it doesn’t match the one on the key? Or do I humbly surrender to His will, knowing His answers are 100% correct. He NEVER got one wrong. Ever. And never will! I have gone the former route more times than I care to admit, but, as I continue to grow closer to God, I find myself choosing the latter more and more.

Voice Recognition

As you and I spend time with God, the perfect teacher, we will more readily recognize His voice. It can be heard in a variety of forms. For me, the struggle is to be still long enough to hear what He wants to say. That is probably a lesson for a different day! Nevertheless, it’s hard not to act on my predetermined answers. The beautiful thing is that God will redeem even that. His answers come as we listen along our journey.

“You will hear your Teacher’s voice behind you. You will hear it whether you turn to the right or the left. It will say, “Here is the path I want you to take. So walk on it.””

Isaiah 30:21 NIRV

Leading From Behind

God is ready, willing, and able to provide direction. But, isn’t it curious that He leads from behind? I believe that’s because He has no intention of ever taking away our free will. He will tell us which way to go, if we tune in, but, ultimately, that decision is ours to make. When we make a wrong turn, our route is recalculated to get us back on the path. The trip just takes longer. Just ask the Israelites! They wandered around in the desert for 4 decades when their journey to the Promised Land could have been measured in days, weeks, or months. I’m thinking they made a few wrong turns along the way. But they made it nonetheless!

We will reach our destination too. ETA is TBD. It all depends on how many wrong turns we make! Remember, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

Posted on

Misplaced Expectations

Have you ever expected more from people than from God? That doesn’t generally end well, does it? Though for the most part not intentional, people hurt people. Why? Because, other than Jesus, we are all sinners and fall short of His glory. We must be cautious of misplacing our expectations.

Over the summer I experienced a string of events in a short period of time that could be classified as hurt/rejection/disappointment. Call it whatever you like. The point is I didn’t handle these incidents very well. I expected too much from people and ended up disappointed. The first couple people probably never even knew they let me down. I believe that is often the case. We shrug it off and get over it in time without even a discussion. Though the third episode was purely accidental (and also an admittedly minor offense), it was that one that caused the greatest reaction from me. The accumulation of hurt feelings caused me to react more strongly to the one that should have been the easiest to overlook. That, and the fact that this person realized I was hurt and opened the door for me to address it.

As I worked through this with God over the next few days, He led me to this verse:

“A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.”

Proverbs 19:11 NIV

My lack of wisdom led to a knee-jerk reaction. In short, I blew it when I failed to overlook the offense. Thankfully, over the course of a few days, we had both forgiven one another and moved forward. The relationship was restored; the lesson was learned. However, I’m sure I’ll get opportunities to relearn it along the way.

Misplaced expectations lead to disappointment, even though that’s the very thing I’m trying to avoid. As a defense mechanism of sorts, I tend to keep my expectations of God low so as not to be disappointed if things don’t work out as I wish. That is warped thinking for sure, not to mention a serious lack of faith! The truth is, He’s the only one who WON’T let me down. He knows me, loves me and knows what’s best for me. Even when things don’t work out as I had hoped, I can be assured that they work out in the way that is best.

“And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

Romans 8:28 NLT

Posted on

(un)FAITHFUL

There were more takeaways from that Pirate game that I wrote about in my last post, so I thought it deserved a Part II. If you recall, the gist of that post was that even though I had some serious doubts about their ability to overcome a 3-run deficit (twice), I still possessed enough faith to stay tuned. In Part II, I’d like to focus on my lack of faith instead for that seems to be a stumbling block for me at times. Can you relate?

To be honest, sometimes I struggle to demonstrate as much loyalty to God as I do the Pirates. Yet He, unlike the Bucs, has NEVER given me a reason to walk away. In essence, I’m turning my back on Him each time the “control freak” in me tries to do His job for Him, thinking I know best or that “I’ve got this!” It’s not easy for me to admit how desperately I need Him, but I surely do!

Lately, I’ve been beginning my quiet time by naming several attributes of God as well as some of the many roles He plays in my life. I say as many as pop into my head at the time as a way of praising Him for who He is. While I believe every one of those characteristics/roles accurately describes God, in the next breath I find myself confessing that I struggle to grasp that He is all that.

It seems I often sell God short by placing human limitations on Him because that’s what I know. That’s what I can see right here in front of my face.

Faith is described this way in Hebrews 11:1 —-

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Ugh. It is I that comes up short every time I sell Him short. Perhaps you can relate to my struggle to be faithful to Him. If so, I have good news for us both—-

“If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny who he is.”

2 Timothy 2:13 NLT

Even when we fall short, He will not. He is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do simply because—He. Is. God.

“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.”

Hebrews 10:23 NLT

One of the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness. I’m praying that the Spirit works in me and through me to display that fruit because I know I can’t do it on my own. After all, it’s not called Polly’s fruit! It’s His to bear and I’m certain nothing would delight Him more. I would be happy to include your name in that prayer if you have similar struggles. Just send me a message and I will get on it!

Add New