All right, I know I said I loved Chapter 9 but now I'm changing that: I liked Chapter 9, I LOVE Chapter 12. I don't even think I could give a summary much justice, but all of the things she said about worry just really spoke to me. She said worrying is a sickness and the only cure is truly resting in Jesus. Wow, amen.
What things do you worry about? Do you find it easy to give these worries to God?
In the study guide for Max Lucado's new book Fearless, he asks which theme of fear you are most prone to - rejection, failure or calamity. So along with Caring for Carleigh's question, I'm going to say my general constant fear is of rejection. I worry A LOT that people are mad at me or that people don't like me. I also worry about this for my husband and my kids (yep, I worry FOR them). And like Lynnette had experienced a bad X ray with Anna and then she'd worry every time she needed another X ray, that's me too. If I feel physical pain at a certain clinic or dentist or whatever, I'm scared to go back and I'm even scared to take my kids to those places too.
The second part of this question, again, I'm just like Lynnette: it takes work to make the decision to trust God. At first when I'm crying in fear, God's the last thing I'm thinking of, and then I remember OH YEAH, God wants to help me! Also, this is going to sound so far out, but I have read The Shack a bunch of times and I love the character of Jesus in the book, so a lot of times when I'm worried and upset I will "imagine" in my head that the Jesus from The Shack is with me and it is really comforting, and then I remember OH YEAH, the real Jesus is with me.
I feel like I experience more than my share of trials (even if they're all little teeny ones, they just kill me). I'm doing a Bible study on Facebook on the book Heavenly Minded for Earthly Good by Karen Chaffin (the author is leading the study, SO COOL!!!!), and just this morning there was a question about what the goal of trials is. This is what I put (according to 1 Peter 6-7) - The goal of trials is to prove that your faith in Jesus is genuine and results in glory, praise and honor to him.
What memories of your childhood make you smile?
I actually just emailed my parents and brothers and sister about this very thing last week. (They're trying to guilt me into going to Illinois for our high school's very last Homecoming and my father's 70th birthday but I don't want to go, long story, but they thought sharing some of their good memories would make me want to go, so I wrote back the few good memories I had.) I remember we had a black dog who I loved playing with and he was so well behaved; I also remember a bunch of different funny things my dad used to say; I remember vividly the time my brother played his 45 record of "Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)" by Michael Jackson and me and a neighborhood friend danced in the living room; I remember accidentally leaving my favorite stuffed monkey Mickey out in the mulberry bushes where I'd been playing and then later that night it started raining (which really upset me, his "mommy") so my two brothers and my father got umbrellas and flashlights and found Mickey for me.
Fearless sounds like a book I could benefit from reading :) Thanks for sharing today! Oh, and I was once a dancing diva to the late great Mr. Jackson as well :)
ReplyDeleteI agree with April, the fearless book sounds like a good one. I enjoyed The Shack and it really put God's relationship with us on a more personal level I think. I think that trials do test our faith and they can make us stronger. They certainly aren't a walk in the park but God never promised us our lives would be.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, you noticed I don't answer the questions. lol I did at first but lately I'm feeling a little burn out so I skip it to save my sanity in that moment. Lord knows, all the other things I've been skipping lately too.