People Matter

A few years ago, I was driving through my town when I came upon a traffic jam at an intersection. The light was green, however, the cars were at a standstill. As I peered out my window, I saw a group of slow moving turkeys in the middle of the road. Now, when you see a turkey, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Stupid is what comes to my mind.

 As I craned my neck further out the window to see the commotion, I noticed five turkeys walking in a choreographed line. They were moving at a snail’s pace, inching their way across the intersection. But what captured my attention, was the reason for this dawdling caravan. One of the turkeys had a broken foot and was unable to hobble correctly. Instead, he had to hop one inch at a time to make his way through the intersection.

What really impressed me about this injured turkey and brought me to surprised emotion, was the fact that his buddies did not leave their crippled friend. They too, inched along at the pace of their friend. They were protective, worried, patient, and clearly putting their buddy’s interest above their own. In that moment, my understanding of turkeys changed.

Who they really are and what they are made of, came out in how they took care of their friend.

It was obvious that these four overprotective birds had their friend’s interest above their own.

Things sometimes are not as they seem. At first sight, I saw a group of turkeys, lowly and weak compared to other birds. But when I looked closely, I saw that they are much smarter and caring than you think. In that moment, my perception of turkeys forever changed. In fact, I might have to switch to chicken this Thanksgiving.

Imagine the opportunities we have as Christian women to change the perception the world has of what it looks like to be a Christ follower. The biggest way we can influence our world is the way we live our lives and faith out. Especially, when it comes to our relationships with other Christians. We demonstrate this by the ways we love and serve one another, treat and take care of one another, and build unity and peace in our relationships.

As you care for others and put your own interests aside, the world watches and their perception changes as you exhibit Christ’s qualities of unity, peace, love, compassion, forgiveness, and grace.

And yes, as Christians, the world sometimes looks and judges us as turkeys. But you have an opportunity to show the world the essence of your faith by the ways you care for others!

Do you have relationships in your life where God is calling you to put their interests above your own? Maybe it is taking the first step towards reconciliation, extending grace to someone who has let you down, serving someone when it is inconvenient, or be willing to lay aside your plans for the day to help someone in need?

Philippians 2:1-5 says, Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Replacing Lies with The Truth

Sometimes my worst days are when I spend time in my head. I can easily give the enemy a foothold to come in and tell me how I am not good enough, how I let others down, how God must be tired of dealing with the same old stuff with me, and how everyone else has it going on spiritually, and why I don't. I obsess and obsess…giving in to the lies. Such a waste of time.

Maybe you find yourself having a day like this?

Recently, the Lord gave me this great visual of what to do when I find myself caving in to the lies of the enemy. Think of the game, Dodge Ball. The goal of the game is to take people out by throwing balls at them. And I mean pegging them to the point of pain. That's what the enemy does all day long. He throws all kinds of lies (balls) at us. The enemy works to keep us self-focused and absorbed in our minds, that we forget God is available to take the enemy out in a second and Game Over!

God wants us to respond to the lies of the enemy swiftly, and replace them with His truth. 

Next time you find yourself obsessing and entertaining lies in your mind, bounce them up to God. God does not want you to hold onto these balls another second. God will catch these balls of fire, and replace them with living waters of truth, to extinguish the chaos in your mind and give you the inner peace you need.

 2 Corinthians 10:5 says, We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. (MSG)

Not About Me!

I am a decent and kind person and for many years what people saw was ME.

"Oh Lisa, you are so amazing. You are so good with kids. You are so positive. You are so giving. You are so good. " And while deep down I knew the real truth of who I was apart from Christ, I seldom gave credit where credit was due. For many years, people saw me, not Jesus within me. A dear friend passed this quote by Arthur Custance and it had a profound impact in the way I looked at myself and God's purposes for my life. He says,

"It often happens that a man (woman) who has a certain natural ability and is filled with high ideals and is known for his (her) good works, will, when he (she) is converted, become for a season a far less admirable and effective individual. The good old man is slowly undermined because it is good only in an accidental way. This form of natural goodness has to be replaced by a supernatural goodness. It is the work of special Grace to convert natural goodness, which is counterfeit in the sight of God, into supernatural goodness that is genuine because the motivation has been freed from the bondage of sin, and brought into conformity to the will of God (Romans 6:18). In a real sense, all goodness in the natural man is simple self-indulgence."

Wow! I thougth about that quote for days. This began a long process of understanding what God was up to in my life and faith during that time as I looked at some of the very difficult circumstances I found myself in. Our move out of the Bay Area up to Sacramento was God's time to begin the stripping process of what I had relied so much on for all those years. Natural goodness! Through a series of trials and personal events; Without a home church, rejection from people, no ministry to serve in, my husband lost his job, no family to have help us with our 3 kids under 3 at that time, and post-partum depression. I saw everything that had defined me for so many years taken away. And it was in my vulnerability and self awareness that God graciously began to teach me that my sole purpose for serving people was to draw people to God not to Lisa.

I encourage you to think about this quote and reflect on the following questions:

1. When others look into your life, who do you want them to see?
2. What gets in the way of others seeing God's supernatural work in you life?
3. Can you begin to look at those things that have defined you throughout your life possibly competing with the ways Jesus want to define who you are?

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-1