Dear Lord, don’t touch that! (Cafe Chat)

I love to pray – really. To have conversations with God and just tell Him about stuff. Nothing is off limits. I talk to Him about everything – that I feel He needs to know. And that’s the problem. There are just some stuff that I just won’t let God touch. It’s funny, but it’s true. This week’s Cafe Chat question just brought a rueful smile to my lips.

There is nothing too small or too big for God to concern Himself with; my parents told me that and I honestly belive it. But how come there are some things I’d rather not talk to Him about? Before I go much further, let me share this week’s question:

God’s Word tells us that we can pray about “everything”; however what are some things in your life that you do not pray to God about? (You can tell about a specific situation, or give a general answer). Why don’t you pray to God about what you named above?

OK. First I’ll mention what I don’t like to pray about then maybe you could share what you don’t like to pray about?

Whenever I’m in trouble because of my foolishness, I stubbornly refuse to pray. I have this funny (and frankly stupid) idea that since I got myself in, I should get myself out. And then I proceed to try to do just that until it’s almost too late. Why do I do that?

I honestly don’t know. I think it’s tied to the fact that I am something of a control freak, I like to think that I can handle things myself. So I decide to pray, and I pray about the state of the nation (yep, truly), then I pray for my parents and my family, my friends, ask for leading for the day and meanwhile I am in hot water but don’t mention that.

Then sometimes I just feel there really isn’t much He can do. No I’m not being blasphemous. The thing is I got myself into trouble so I feel I deserve the consequences. There are some processes it’s just impossible to reverse…

So many reasons but I think they are just the reasoning of a foolish heart. Maybe it’s pride at the heart of everything…who knows? But I know so with His help, I’m working on it. What do you need to work on in your own life?

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Real Peace – no matter what

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

when sorrows like sea billows roll;

whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

courtesy Hymns.me.uk

I have always loved that hymn; over the years it has meant so much to me. I’d close my eyes and sing or hum it; and as tears roll down my face, I’d feel the peace of God sweep over my being. What a privilege to be able to say in the midst of troubles, sorrows and deep chasms of confusion ‘it is well with my soul’. That no matter what I face, I know my soul is fine.

The past week was particularly hectic and as a whole, the past couple of months have brought me close to breaking point. Just when I am about to get to that point where I can sigh and say it is well with my soul (and truly mean it), I take another hit. But you know what? I know my Redeemer lives. And even if I cannot bring myself to sing it right now, I know deep in my heart, it is well with my soul.

Something for the Week – Seeking Rest

• Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28 (NLT)
  

Lately I’ve been feeling so tired and I can’t even explain why. I am trusting the Lord to renew me in my inner man. This week, I am trusting God for rest; I don’t know how possible that is going to be because this week I am away from home trying to get new clients for my blogging business. Things look promising but it’s going to be a lot of hard work. That’s why it has to be the a miracle from God. He can do anything. When I was at school I used to pray that He double (and even triple) the hours I had to sleep. I don’t know how to be specific this time around but I’ll just trust him to keep renewing me.
For the curious: I’m still doing the 30 Day Neatness challenge and strangely it’s no longer stressful for me. I don’t even need to have my cup of coffee first – imagine!

Honouring a Blogger

Rosheeda's Beauty for Ashes

This is a blogger that really inspires me; she displays an openness and availability to the leading of the Lord. Reading her blog, you feel a nagging desire to get to know the blogger better. I followed up on that desire.

I found her to be like her blog; warm and full of encouragement. She is a sister in every form of that word – ready with a word of encouragement and down-to-earth, honest-to-goodness advice.

Knowing her has been a prvilege and I wanted to use this blog to let her know -

Girl, you are an inspiration!

Facebook Group – Being Mrs V

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies

Mrs V is the nickname we (my friends and I) gave to the lady in Proverbs 31 – Mrs. Virtue. We met once a week to study her life. At the first study, we came to the conclusion that it was not possible for any woman to be that perfect. Then we decided to take a second look especially in relation to our own mothers and discovered that they were living the Proverbs 31 life!

For the modern woman with all the gender issues and women’s lib, it’s really hard to take on all that work and stress especially if the man does not pull his weight – I don’t know if it is possible for me anyway. But we decided on two courses of action; we were going to:

1. Try
2. Trust God to make us that way

Anyway, we left university some time ago and went our different ways  – until Facebook. Through facebook we have been able to continue our studies and encouragement of each other.

I would like to invite you to join us on facebook as we share encouragment with each other. If you are not yet on facebook, it’s real easy to join. Just click on this link.

Doing Church – on Betrayal

vintage church pews: ours are not this bad. Honestly

I decided to spend Saturday night at my parents. They were alone in the house and I just thought to keep them company. It had been a hectic week for me and I was praying that by some miracle, I’d be able to sleep in. No such hope. The next morning, my dad came and pounded on my door and reminded me that Church was in 30 minutes so I needed to get ready. Oh yeah, now I remember why I don’t spend Saturday nights at home.

I smiled wryly and stood up, very grudgingly getting ready for Church. I let them go ahead and took my time to savour a cup of coffee. It’s not that I don’t like Church, I just don’t feel it has to be mandatory. But I’m always conscious of that ‘honour thy parents’ thing and I would never disobey a direct instruction without first letting them know why I would not be obeying it. So I went to Church.

The text was from Luke 22:24-62 – Peter’s denial of Jesus. From what I got, it is so easy to betray a loved one. The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines betrayal as:

1. to lead astray
2. to deliver to an enemy by treachery
3. to fail or desert especially in a time of need
4. to reveal unintentionally

If you’ve ever been betrayed, then you know the hollow feeling it comes with. The Pastor gave a few reasons why he felt it was easy for Peter to betray Jesus.

• Over-confidence. This was the first one. Even when Jesus had warned him, he was just too sure that he could never do such a thing.
• Confusion and Disappointment. At that time, Peter did not know what part of all Jesus had said was true. I mean, the guy had just told them that He as the Saviour, surely a saviour would not allow himself to get treated that way!
• Distance. When all that was going on with Jesus, Peter who was supposed to be like his best friend kept his distance. He followed ‘from afar’.
• Location. If he had not sat by the fire of those people in the first place, he probably wouldn’t have had that experience. He was at the wrong place, with the wrong people; folks who were mocking his master

Going through the list I discovered that it’s really easy to betray the Lord and even a close friend. Sometimes, by not standing up for that person, by keeping quiet when we should have spoken, we become guilty of betrayal. I’m timid. I’ve finally come to accept that. I was not always that way, but I am now. I will not go out of my way to talk about Jesus (and maybe that is a betrayal too), but I don’t think I’ll hear people mocking him and keep quiet. No.

Still, I had quite a lot to digest by the time I got home from Church. I had to say a quick prayer of forgiveness. I even learnt 3 things to do so that I don’t fall into betrayal

• Keep close to Jesus (read my Bible and Pray)
• Avoid bad company
• Divine positioning – putting myself where God wants me every-time.

I might have gone to Church grudgingly, but I was grateful by the time I got home. That doesn’t mean though, that I’m not going to try to get out of going to Church next week. I think I have enough lessons to last me two Sundays.