So What Are YOU Giving Up For Lent??? :)
Today is 'Fat Tuesday,' which means Lent starts tomorrow. When I was younger we always decided as a family what specific things we should give up (candy, t.v. shows, gum, etc.). And of course there was the obligatory no meat on Ash Wed. or Fridays. Taht was never any big deal to me, give me chocolate or cheesecake or shrimp for dinner and I couldn't care less about meat. That was until you went out for Pizza or Mexican food and everything good was composed of meat. One year one school we had to write down something we should give up each day as a class and the teacher would pick a different one each day. One time she pulled out the paper that said we won't watch our favorite show that evening - which was the night my favorite show was on. I think I forgot about it when I got home. :)
I haven't done the Lent thing in a long time. It's kind of like New Year's resolutions, I'd make a big commitment and then forget about it in the next few days. Plus, it's usually something I always 'try' to work on anyways. But today I was thinking maybe I should use this time to be more intentional about the season.
I remember hearing a message at church a few years ago where the pastor talked about the verse "Holding every though captive..." I believe it's somewhere in Corinthians. The thing that stood out to me was that we should give no one the power (including ourselves) to bring us down or determine our moods. Only God has that God like power over us, or should. It is so easy to feel the joy and peace of God in your heart. be all set to love others and do His will, then, BAM!, someone is rude or critical to us, we're reminded of past experiences and realize there are a lot of people out there who don't like us due to one thing or another (a lot of times for reasons we don't understand). The enemy's goal is to steal our joy and keep our focus away from God. And he does a pretty darn good job of it, for me anyway.
However, we have the power (through Jesus) to no keep this from happening, to stop focusing on our the thoughts the enemy is putting in our minds and put our minds back on God and how He loves us and created us for a purpose in His world. He knew us before we were even born.
This is my 'Lenten' resolution. To stop allowing these negative and defeating thoughts to bring me down and to no longer let myself be convinced I'm an unlovable and unvalueable human being. To start seeing myself, and others through God's eyes and to remember we are ALL made in His Image. God is for us, so why should anyone be against us.
I haven't done the Lent thing in a long time. It's kind of like New Year's resolutions, I'd make a big commitment and then forget about it in the next few days. Plus, it's usually something I always 'try' to work on anyways. But today I was thinking maybe I should use this time to be more intentional about the season.
I remember hearing a message at church a few years ago where the pastor talked about the verse "Holding every though captive..." I believe it's somewhere in Corinthians. The thing that stood out to me was that we should give no one the power (including ourselves) to bring us down or determine our moods. Only God has that God like power over us, or should. It is so easy to feel the joy and peace of God in your heart. be all set to love others and do His will, then, BAM!, someone is rude or critical to us, we're reminded of past experiences and realize there are a lot of people out there who don't like us due to one thing or another (a lot of times for reasons we don't understand). The enemy's goal is to steal our joy and keep our focus away from God. And he does a pretty darn good job of it, for me anyway.
However, we have the power (through Jesus) to no keep this from happening, to stop focusing on our the thoughts the enemy is putting in our minds and put our minds back on God and how He loves us and created us for a purpose in His world. He knew us before we were even born.
This is my 'Lenten' resolution. To stop allowing these negative and defeating thoughts to bring me down and to no longer let myself be convinced I'm an unlovable and unvalueable human being. To start seeing myself, and others through God's eyes and to remember we are ALL made in His Image. God is for us, so why should anyone be against us.