Be More Reliant, K?

So about a month ago, the youth pastor at our church talked to the kids about their "summer resolutions." He was referring to all those promises that they make when they're at different youth camps or other youth events. In talking to the youth he mentioned 3 different things that we have to be in order to carry out those resolutions. The one that stuck out to me was that we need to be reliant on God to see us through. He posed the question, "On a scale from 1-10, how much do you rely on God each day?" He said that if most of us were honest with ourselves, we would probably rate a 5.

I thought about that for a good while afterwards. Honestly, I don't know that I would even give myself a 5 on most days. There are the given things that I rely on God for....those things that we take for granted and don't even think about. God gives us breath, He allows us to wake up every morning. I learn about God and He teaches me through His word....but I don't really consider that being reliant on Him. To me, being reliant means that I am leaning on Him, on His Word, to get me through my day.

Five out of seven days I spend 9 hours at work. And I can say that, when I am at work, I really don't rely on God to get me through that day. When I get frustrated with people, I vent....either in my head to myself or to other co-workers. Instead, 1 Thessalonians 5:14 should repeatedly run through my mind until the frustration is gone. I should remember that I am to be patient with everyone. This is just one example from God's Word that I can use to be more reliant on God throughout the ho hum of everyday life at work.

God has been teaching me a lot lately, and my prayer is that I use those things, as well as Scripture, to rely on Him more and more. Hopefully, I will then fall closer to the "10" side rather than the 5 and below.

My first homemade pie...

With inspiration from Megan Lawing I made a strawberry pie tonight. Didn't get to actually taste it because I didn't put it in the oven until a few minutes after midnight, but it was fun.

First I got all of the ingredients laid out. 4 cups of strawberries, 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of flour, and 1/8 teaspoon of salt.

Next, I cut the pie crust into strips and put them over the top in a basket-weave pattern. I used a fork to press down the edges and kitchen shears to cut off any excess dough.

I baked it all at 425 degrees for 25 minutes and got a beautiful result....complete with oozing strawberry juices! I can't wait to taste it, but for now....off to bed!

Our Purpose, God's Glory

In reading Don't Waste Your Life, there are lots of little "nuggets" of knowledge that stand out as Piper lays the foundation of the book. Here is an excerpt that stood out to me in today's chapter:

God created me--and you--to live with a single, all-embracing, all-transforming passion--namely, a passion to glorify God by enjoying and displaying his supreme excellence in all the spheres of life. Enjoying and displaying are both crucial. If we try to display the excellence of God without joy in it, we will display a shell of hypocrisy and create scorn or legalism. But if we claim to enjoy his excellence and do not display it for others to see and admire, we deceive ourselves, because the mark of God-enthralled joy is to overflow and expand by extending itself into the hearts of others. The wasted life is the life without a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples.

Throughout this passage, there is one tiny, 3-lettered word that stands out the most to me - "all." In most areas of my life this isn't a problem, but after reading this I was really burdened about how I know my attitude can be at work. It's only natural that people will bother you, get on your nerves, or make you angry. In my job these feelings come from co-workers a small percentage of the time and, for the most part, from the public. It's very hard to show the love and joy of Christ to people when they're cussing you out or wanting to yell at/complain to you about how horrible this or that part of the court system is (I'm not the one who makes the rules, people!).

1 Corinthians 10:31 tells us that whatever we do, we should do for the glory of God. How does this fit into my work? In what ways do I need to change? I'm not completely sure yet. All I can resolve to do at this moment is to look for ways to change so that I'm displaying the excellence and majesty of God in my life.

You learn something new every day....

This is a statement that's been in and out of my mind for the past few weeks. Do I really learn something new every day? I'm not really talking about things I learn as a result of my job (who's getting divorced, who got arrested, etc). I'm talking about those things that are actually meaningful - things that affect my job, my attitude, my thinking, my life.

I teach the youth girls Bible study at our church on Wednesday nights. About a month ago, I did an open-ended lesson with them on heroes (this came about because I was writing devotions for camp and this summer's theme at camp is heroes). I asked them about their Biblical heroes as well as other spiritual heroes in their lives. In mentioning my other spiritual heroes, I named somebody who was a hero to me because of the vast amount of knowledge they had concerning spiritual matters and the fact that they continue to have a thirst to learn more. This is when the question "do I continue to learn" first came to mind.

Throughout the past few weeks the thought has come and gone as I toyed with the idea of picking up this book or that book to read. Then it was even more pressing today as I was reading through a friend's blog 'notes' on facebook. Just seeing a few things that she mentioned from what she was reading kind of convicted me that I don't need to keep asking myself "do I learn something new every day?" I just need to make sure that I do!

One thing that I have a lot of trouble with is wasting time. My primary culprit: television. So, in response to my new quest to learn things, I've decided to finally read Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper. I started to read this book several years ago, but never finished. I know that the things I find in this book will challenge me (I'm pretty sure that's why I stopped reading it back then), but I know that that's what I need. If I'm not challenged, I won't learn and I won't change. As I learn, I will share. Pray for me in this journey!

The First Post....

So I don't have a lot to say for my very first post, but I thought that I would share quotations from one of my favorite books. It is from these quotations that I made my blogspot address.

"The spiritual area of our lives should be the one on which we spend the most time. It should be the epicenter of our existence. The spiritual fruit that we display to the world will be the result of the type of spiritual life that we nurture, so we need to decide what type of fruit we want to grow and then plant accordingly....Whatever fruit you want to bear, you have to plant that seed in your spirit."

"If we are afraid to wait on God to give us the best, then we don't really believe that He'll do what He says He will do....When push comes to shove, our lack of patience simply means that all our great talking we do is just that. . .talk. We don't really trust that He is able."

~from the book A Jewel in His Crown by Priscilla Evans Shirer