Confession 200: Affirmations

In my beauty consultant business, we are taught to develop affirmations we can say to ourselves throughout the day.  We say things like, "I am a booking machine", "I am a powerful and confident saleswoman", "I am a Star consultant", etc....  The idea behind these affirmations is that you become what you affirm.  It's the idea that if you say it enough you'll start to live it out.  And so, I felt a bit convicted yesterday when I was cleaning up a side table and found notes from the Priscilla Shirer simulcast I attended last April.  Within our conference booklet was a page of affirmations, but not affirmations focused on building business or making money, but affirmations focused on building holiness and making a God-centered life.  So, I thought I'd dedicate my 200th blog to some affirmations of the soul.

1. I am created in the image of God and God said I am good. (Genesis 1:27)

2. There is no place I can go where God will not find me; no circumstance in life where I will not know his love. (Psalm 139:7-12, Romans 8:28)

3. God has a plan for my life that is bigger and better than anything I could imagine. (Jeremiah 29:11)

4. I will not be afraid of the trials of this life because God, my Savior, will not let me go. (Isaiah 43:1-3)

5. I can do anything that God has called me to do. (Philippians 4:13)

6. I will not worry about tomorrow, for God will provide all my needs.  I only need to rely on him. (Matthew 6:25-34)

7. God has freed me to love others.  I will love others with the outpouring of love God has shown me. (1 John 4:7)

8. I will keep God's word in my heart and teach it to my children. (Deuteronomy:4-6)

9. Even though I have days where this life will make me cry, God will bring joy to my heart. (Psalm 30:5)

10. I have been redeemed by Christ and am a new creation in him. (2nd Corinthians 5:17)

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

Confession 199: Boys

So, I found a cool new site I'm linking up with today called M.O.B. (Moms of Boys).  As most of you know, I have two boys, ages 3 and 5.  They are wonderful and exasperating all at the same time!  As Christian parents, the most important thing to my husband and I is that our boys grow up with hearts for God.  I just want them to serve God, in whatever capacity God chooses for them to do that.  So, it's wonderful to find a site full of other women dedicated to that purpose.  Here's some basic information for those hopping over:

1. I am a United Methodist pastor's wife.  When we moved a year ago from our past appointment I had to give up my job teaching high school English.  God has taught me a lot about relying on him this past year as I have not been able to find another full-time position. Like always, he has opened up doors I never expected or anticipated.  I recently started my own business as an Independent Beauty Consultant for Mary Kay Cosmetics.  You can check out my webpage here.

2. My boys, Garret and Stephen, are masters of mess and chaos.  It's always something around our house.  Yesterday I caught my youngest washing out his underwear in the sink because he refuses to poop in the potty and apparently he thought cleaning up himself was the more preferable choice.  This same child also flooded a church bathroom this past Sunday by turning both water faucet's on full-blast 5 minutes before the start of worship.  Instead of leading singing, I was mopping!!

My oldest is more subtle.  During prayer time one Sunday he decided to body surf under the pews to the front of the sanctuary.  Just as my husband was getting to the Lord's Prayer Garrett pops out in front of him and says, "Hi Daddy!"

3. I started this blog because I love writing.  Confessions of the Pastor's Wife is not a tell-all of parsonage living, but rather reflections and experiences of my own journey with God through all of life's ups and downs.  It is an attempt to help others connect with God and to discover new facets of God for myself.  I am in the process of writing a devotional book which may or may not ever be finished! :-)  And, I contribute monthly to Seeds of Faith, a wonderful online forum for Christian women throughout the world.

As my youngest has decided to try jumping from the couch to recliner, I should probably end here.  I'm so glad you came to visit me today, and will be by to visit you soon!

Blessings and Peace,
Sara

Confession 198: I'm Going With You

"Father, I don't know where you're going today, but I'm going with you."--Sheila Walsh

Driving down the road, only semi-listening to the radio, these words cut through my to-do list and planted themselves right in the center of my brain.  It took me a moment to tune in to what I had heard, but as I rolled the words around in my head and let them drip onto my tongue, I realized the transforming potential of this small prayer. To begin each day with this, as Christian writer and speaker Sheila Walsh does, is a lifestyle choice that requires some major shuffling of priorities for most of us.  To-do lists might be left undone.  Schedules carved into cyberspace might be deleted.  Our five-year plan might not be there five years from now.  Our agendas must be relinquished for God's agenda; AND, we have to choose to give them up willingly!

"Father, I don't know where you're going today, but I'm going with you."

Can you imagine what the first disciples must have thought when Jesus called to them?  Did Peter have any idea as he was folding away his fishing nets the events to come?  Peter, the rugged fisherman, who said "Father, I don't know where you're going today, but I'm going with you."  Could he have known that he would become "The Rock" on which Christ would build his church, the first of the chosen 12 to recognize Jesus as the Son of God?  Could he have foreseen his spectacular denial of Jesus, chronicled throughout time in all four Gospels, or had a vision of his own bloody death on a cross?  If he had, do you think he would have gone?  Would you?  Would I?

"Father, I don't know where you're going today, but I'm going with you."

I think that this simple prayer embodies all we are to be as Christians.  Our duty, our job, is to follow Christ.  But look carefully at the words above--"Father, I DON'T KNOW where you are going...."  To follow Christ, we have to be willing to take a leap of faith.  We have to be willing to say, "I don't know" when it comes to the what's, when's and where's of our lives.  We have to live on faith, that "confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)   We have to remember that Jesus did not walk the easy road of comfort and luxury.  Jesus sought out those who were poor, those who were sick, those who were oppressed, those who were weary, those who were "untouchable", those who were "sinners".  We have to remember that Jesus challenged the status quo.  He pointed fingers at the institutions (the government and the church) which kept people in bondage, which diminished the value and worth of human beings created in God's image.

"Father, I don't know where you're going today, but I'm going with you."

This is what I want my prayer be.  This is what I want my life to be.  I want this prayer to be my lifestyle choice.  I want to say to God, "I'M GOING WITH YOU!!" wherever that may be.  And even though the road may be difficult, I'm traveling with my Father.  And there is nowhere else I want to be.

Blessings and Peace,
Sara