Five Fingers of Prayer

I found this in "The Vendor", it does not say who originally wrote this, but I loved it and felt the need to share it with you!

1. Your thumb is nearest to you.  So begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you, your family, your friends and your close associates.  They are the easiest to remember.  To pray for our loved ones is, as C.S. Lewis once said, a "sweet duty."

2. The next finger is the pointing finger.  Pray for those who teach, instruct, and heal.  This includes teachers, doctors, and ministers.  They need support and wisdom in point others in the right direction.  Keep them in your prayers.  It is also better to pray for these people than to use this finger to point at them judgementally.  Yes, they make mistakes, but remember they are mere humans.

3. The next finger is the tallest finger.  It reminds us of our leaders.  Pray for the President, leaders in business and industry, and our administrators; these people shape our nation and guide public opinion.  They need God's guidance.  Sometimes it seems we live in days where nobody cares about God's leadership, but remember, even when people don't care, God is still in charge.

4. The fourth finger is next.  Surprising to many is the fact that this is our weakest finger, as any piano teacher will testify.  It shoudl remind us to pray for those who are weak, in trouble, or in pain.  They need our prayers day and night.  You cannot pray too much for them.

5. And lastly comes our litle finger, the smallest finger of all.  Which is where we should place ourselves in relation to God and others.  As the Bible says, "The least shall be the greatest among you."  Your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself.

By the time you have prayers for the other four groups, your own needs will be put into proper perspective so that you will be able to pray for yourself more effectively.  Should you find it hard to get to sleep tonight, just remember the homeless family who has no bed in which to lie.

Blessings in Christ,

 

Sharing God's Word

Matthew 4:17-19:

And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.
And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

This is just one place in the Bible where we are told to go spread the word of Jesus and His teachings to others.  But to what extent?  Do we have to in order to enter heaven?

I do not feel like I have to verbally tell people about God.  I feel that the way I dress and act carries more weight than any words I could say.  That doesn't mean to say that if someone asks me a question I won't answer it.  Sure, I will give it by best to answer, but I will not walk up to someone and start a conversation about God and try to share The Word with them.  Maybe that is not the right way to do things, but to me, the best way to turn people towards God is not by talking to them but rather by showing them. 
Isn't the phrase "a picture is worth 1000 words"?  If I can live a Godly life, then I believe that will be more beneficial to others than all the words that I could say to them. 

Blessings in Christ,

 

Addictive vs. Authentic

I found a comparison of addictive love and authentic love in a book I was reading "Learning to Trust Again".  

Addictive love says...
1. I can't live without you.  You give my life meaning.
2. You make me feel valuable.  When I'm with you, I am somebody.
3. I can't make it on my own.
4. I want you to be a total part of my life, and I want to be a total part of yours.
5. All of the hard times are worth the good times.  I will be here forever, no matter what happens.
6. I can't bear to think of you sharing your thoughts and feelings with someone else.  You are the the only one who has ever understood me.
7. You should be sensitive to my needs.  I have feelings, you know, and I need you to take that into consideration.
8. If you really care, you will treat me the way I need to be treated to feel good.

Authentic love says...
1. I can live without you, but I choose not to.
2. I am a valuable person, and you affirm that value to me.
3. I can make it on my own.  Having you as part of my life makes it easier.
4. We are two separate people with individual lives to lead.  I encourage you to puruse your interests, and I will pursue mine.  This kind of space and diversity is good for us.
5. Love should seek another's highest good.  To the best of my ability, I will do that for you.
6. We are richer for sharing our lives with other people.  I encourage you to have other close relationships.
7. Mutuality is the glue that holds us together.  I enjoy you, an din that enjoyment many of my needs for importance, belonging and intimacy are met.
8. I will accept the way you show me you care about me.  Sometimes I may have to ask you about your actions, but generally, I will take at face value what you say and do. 

I would have liked to see this written out prior to now, but I am thankful for seeing this at some point in my life.  I think of addictive love as loving another person before God and authentic love as loving God first, but then loving someone else too.  I think it is too easy, at least for me, to rely on other people rather than always relying on God first and foremost.  Maybe relying on and loving are two different things, but they seem like they kind of go hand-in-hand to me.  It is something that I have been working on but also something that I know I will continually need to work on. 

Blessings in Christ,

 

Separate from the World

For all of us living in the US, we know what 2012 is without needing to even read a newspaper, listen to the radio or watch the tv.  It's election year.  Most of us could hear about this just from being in the store with others, so many people are already set in their minds of who is the "best one for the job" and nothing really hasn't been decided yet.  Although many of us will read something in a newspaper or even possibly hear something on the radio. 

I, personally, have found people are so hot in debate about this election already, and cannot wait to share their thoughts with others.  So my question to you, how do you view the election?  Do you get involved in politics in any way or do you completely remove yourself from it?

I try to remove myself from it and pray that God will put the person in office whom He wants there.  Unfortunately, not everyone understands that nor will they let the conversation go at that.  I've been told that nobody should be allowed to "get away" with not voting and even been told by a gentleman that he will personally pick me up to get me to the polls in order to vote. 

I want to tell people to just let me be to live with my own convictions but since most of the these situations come up at work, I don't think I ought to.  I simply smile and say ok, have a good day! 

I know as Christians we are supposed to live a "separate life" but I wonder how some of you do it?  How do you define separate?  Do you try to explain to people your convictions or do you just let it go?  (To be clear, I am in no way trying to start a political debate with this post.)

Blessings in Christ,

And Still Searching...

Do you ever feel like you should just give up?  I certainly do.  And I'm at that point right now with trying to find a church. 

I don't really feel like I belong in most Mennonite churches because I am not that close-minded.  But then the ones that are more open-minded, I am more conservative than them.  I have found several churches on-line that looked like they would be a good match for me; however, after more praying and searching, it appears that they may be a bit left-field for me and perhaps not even Christian.  It is so hard to tell, all these churches claim to be Christian, but what I understand to be Christian is obviously different than how some define "Christian". 

I've considered home church, but in the area I live, there are not many who do that. 

To me, searching for a new church, while I am also searching for a denomination that I agree with is difficult.  I don't know how other people do it.  I think if I knew which denomination to search within it might be a little easier, but I don't even know that. 

How do you do it?  Look for a new church that is. 

Blessings in Christ,

 

The Homemaker's Salary

I read an article on yahoo last night, "How Much Is A Homemaker Worth?".  Quite interesting!  The whole article is here, but here is a quick breakdown.

Private Chef (including grocery shopping): 52,260 per year
House Cleaner: 6,136 per year
Child Care: 31,200 per year
Private Driver: 4,168 per year
Laundry Service: 936 per year
Lawn Maintenance: 1,560 per year
Grand Total: $96,261 per year!!!

When I saw that total, I was blown away!  Granted being a stay at home mom/wife is not something we get paid for, but you could think about it as saving your family that much money.  Or at least a portion of that sum!  Looks like God did know how important a woman can be and how much money she can save her family by following His teachings that a woman should be a "keeper at home".  (Yes, I know God knows everything well before we realize it!)

The contribution that a woman makes to her family is invaluable.  I don't think there is a real price tag to be put on it.  But I still found this interesting and thought maybe some of you would too. 
Blessings in Christ,

Altering Our God Given Glory...

I know I have raised the question before of trimming one's hair.  To many women, the word "shorn" (1 Cor 11:6) means "to cut".  However, I believe shorn means "to shave".  The greek word used for "shorn" translates to "shearing or cutting short the hair of the head".  To me, when I hear the word shorn, I automatically think of how you "shear" a sheep in the spring, cutting the wool so close to the skin that it is practically shaven.  That being said, I will trim my hair and I personally believe that is okay.  As of now, I have not felt convicted otherwise. 

However, if you do not agree with cutting your hair, would you consider altering it in any other way?  Such as, coloring it, taking vitamins to make it thicker, having it thinned, etc? 

I have a friend who has told me that cutting our hair is sinful because that's what shorn means, but then she recently told me she was considering starting to take a thyroid medication because it supposedly thickens your hair.  I see two problems with this, the first being if you do not have a thyroid problem and start taking something for it, nothing good will come of it for your body.  However, there are other products out there (ie. prenatal vitamins) that are known to give women thicker hair.  The second problem I see with it is if you are not cutting your hair because it is God's glory to a woman, then should you alter it in any other way?

My opinion is no, but I would like to hear what someone else thinks about this. 

I also think some of this has to do with the individual's motives behind wanting thicker hair.  Personally, I cannot think of a reason which would give necessity to having thicker hair, the only ones I can think of are for personal gain or out of envy. 

But I also suppose, it depends on each of our own convictions of what 1 Corinthians 11 is meaning.  Does it mean that we are only to not cut our hair, can we cut it but not short, can we do other alterations to it?  Literally speaking, the passage only speaks of a woman needing to cover her head unless she finds it okay for a woman to be shaven or shorn.  But is more implied?  What do you think?
Blessings in Christ,