I realized the other day that it's been a long time since I've shared something that God's been teaching me with you guys. So I thought today would be a great day to do so because I'm at home sick.
Lately God has been teaching me what it means to be broken. I believe that brokenness is something that God wants from us. Makes sense, because if we're not truly broken over our sin, we're not truly repentant. It says in Psalm 51:17 that God will never despise a broken and contrite heart. (Contrite is just a fancy way of saying "repentant".) God has a plan for all of us, but I don't think He wants to use someone unbroken. God wants to use the broken. And sometimes God does whatever it takes to break that person.
The story of Esau and Jacob from Genesis comes to my mind. When they were born, the Lord expressed part of his plan for them by saying that "the older shall serve the younger" (25:23). But as the story progresses, we find out that Jacob (and his mother) tried to take this plan into his own hands by tricking Esau out of his birthright and their father's blessing. Now Esau was furious, so Jacob fled to live with his Uncle Laban. It was here that Jacob was broken. Jacob learned what it was like to be tricked out of something, by ending up with the wrong daughter after their wedding night. Uncle Laban tricked him into working 3 times as long as he had originally intended to. Talk about being mistreated. Talk about being broken. Finally, later on in Jacob's life, we find another time when God broke him. Quite literally. God dislocated Jacob's hip.
Now that may seem drastic, but it doesn't seem outrageous to me. That might've been the only way to get Jacob to finally become broken and repentant before the Lord God Almighty. Sometimes redemption requires discipline. Hebrews 12:6-10 says, "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness."
What a promise! God breaks us and disciplines us so that we may share his holiness.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Sunday, February 24, 2013
#9: Influences
#9: List 10 people who have influenced you and describe how.
I'm not gonna lie, this one was really hard. There have been so many people who have influenced me, it was really hard to pick just 10. The thing about my influences though is that I'm just as easily influenced by famous people as I am by people around me, so I'm gonna do a little mixture of both. These are in no particular order:
1) My father
I mean, how could he not influence me? He's my dad. Just watching him live has influenced my life. He's an extremely hard worker, which has influenced me to be the same at my jobs. I guess he's taught me to work hard at my jobs, even if I don't like them. Sometimes you have to pay your dues before you get to where you wanna be, but it's all worth it in the end because you're not working for men, you're working for the Lord. Which brings us to the main influence my dad has had on me. He's just totally in love with Jesus, and you can tell. Jesus is his life. He just sets such an amazing example of what being a Christian looks like.
2) Jesus Christ
I think this is self-explanatory. Jesus is the reason I live. Quite literally.
3) Joylyn
She is the most amazing friend in the entire world. She's my best friend. We've known each other since grade 6, but we only became best friends in grade 11. I'm so incredibly thankful to God for her. She's always been there for me, even during those times when I felt like no one else was. She laughs at my jokes, even if they're really bad. She listens to my rants, even if they're super long. She comforts me when I'm upset, even if it's over the stupidest thing in the world. She's the greatest friend in the entire world. I love her so much.
4) Abby
She's so much more than just a Sunday school teacher. She's a friend and she's a mentor. Regular Sunday school teachers only really care about one hour out of the whole week on Sunday morning, but Abby… she did life with us. She endured those awkward junior high years. She listened to us complain about boys. She answered incredibly awkward questions about things that a 14 year old shouldn't even know about. She tried her hardest to stay up all night just to play Guitar Hero with us. She always beat us at Dance Dance Revolution. I admire her relationship with God. I admire how she never gave up on us girls, even though I know sometimes it would've been really easy to. I also admire her mother-ness (if that's a word). She's a natural.
5) Adam Young
I know some of you just laughed, but it's true. I'm a dreamer, I like to daydream. And I'm pretty sure that it was Young's music that influenced me to be a dreamer. As he says... reality is a lovely place, but I wouldn't wanna live there. He's also just such a positive person. He views life in a way that no one else does. Like every cloud has a silver lining times infinity. As he says... I'd rather waltz than just walk through the forest. Because just walking through life is boring, so dance your way through it instead.
6) Missy (Melissa)
She was my youth leader for so many years. And now, after all those years, she's turned into a friend. (Or a proud mother when it comes to Capernwray.) I think the way she's influenced me the most is she was the person that first introduced me to the concept of loving singlehood. She's married now, but a couple years ago, she had a conversation with us girls about how wonderful it is to be single. And how God has such special plans for you when you are. I absolutely admire her relationship with God.
7) Taylor Swift
I give you permission to laugh. There are some things that I don't agree with that she does, like bouncing so often and so quickly from guy to guy, but there are some ways in which she has influenced me. Don't care what other people think. Be yourself. Speak out. Stick to what you believe is right and don't waver. Be strong. Be fearless. When you fall down, stand back up. Keep trying.
8) J.R.R. Tolkien
This might be a strange one, but whatever. I really enjoy his books and I really love the kind of person he was and represented. His books have influenced me. I really love fantasy books (among my favourite genres), but the thing I love about Tolkien's books is there will, out of no where, come the most profound thing you could read. So real to reality. For example, in the Fellowship, this appears: "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends." Like how profound is that? Other influences: Be adventurous. Don't be afraid to take a risk. Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone, you never know the things you can learn when you do so.
9) My grandfather
Before he died, he taught me a lot of stuff about God. To my recollection, he didn't really ever sit me down and teach me about God (like bible school did), but he taught me by his life and by his love. I was pretty young when he died so I don't remember much of him, but I just had to add him to my list.
10) Steve... Steve... Steve...
Steve Thiessen. He was my favourite lecturer at Capernwray. I love how crazy he is and how absolutely ridiculous he was, but I love how much he loved Christ. When he taught, it was like he was teaching us stuff that he was just learning himself. He was real. He was learning about Christ and applying it to his life just like we were, and it was cool to watch. (Not to mention, those crazy intense blue eyes that just kinda pierce into your soul...)
So there you have it. This took a long time to compile and to pick who I wanted to add in there. So no one feels left out, here a few more people that have influenced me: my mother, Mo, Karen, John Lennon, St. Peter, Matt Mclean, and whoever else that I can't think of at the moment. If you're following this blog, or have taught me anything ever in my life, consider yourself on this list.
I'm not gonna lie, this one was really hard. There have been so many people who have influenced me, it was really hard to pick just 10. The thing about my influences though is that I'm just as easily influenced by famous people as I am by people around me, so I'm gonna do a little mixture of both. These are in no particular order:
1) My father
I mean, how could he not influence me? He's my dad. Just watching him live has influenced my life. He's an extremely hard worker, which has influenced me to be the same at my jobs. I guess he's taught me to work hard at my jobs, even if I don't like them. Sometimes you have to pay your dues before you get to where you wanna be, but it's all worth it in the end because you're not working for men, you're working for the Lord. Which brings us to the main influence my dad has had on me. He's just totally in love with Jesus, and you can tell. Jesus is his life. He just sets such an amazing example of what being a Christian looks like.
2) Jesus Christ
I think this is self-explanatory. Jesus is the reason I live. Quite literally.
3) Joylyn
She is the most amazing friend in the entire world. She's my best friend. We've known each other since grade 6, but we only became best friends in grade 11. I'm so incredibly thankful to God for her. She's always been there for me, even during those times when I felt like no one else was. She laughs at my jokes, even if they're really bad. She listens to my rants, even if they're super long. She comforts me when I'm upset, even if it's over the stupidest thing in the world. She's the greatest friend in the entire world. I love her so much.
4) Abby
She's so much more than just a Sunday school teacher. She's a friend and she's a mentor. Regular Sunday school teachers only really care about one hour out of the whole week on Sunday morning, but Abby… she did life with us. She endured those awkward junior high years. She listened to us complain about boys. She answered incredibly awkward questions about things that a 14 year old shouldn't even know about. She tried her hardest to stay up all night just to play Guitar Hero with us. She always beat us at Dance Dance Revolution. I admire her relationship with God. I admire how she never gave up on us girls, even though I know sometimes it would've been really easy to. I also admire her mother-ness (if that's a word). She's a natural.
5) Adam Young
I know some of you just laughed, but it's true. I'm a dreamer, I like to daydream. And I'm pretty sure that it was Young's music that influenced me to be a dreamer. As he says... reality is a lovely place, but I wouldn't wanna live there. He's also just such a positive person. He views life in a way that no one else does. Like every cloud has a silver lining times infinity. As he says... I'd rather waltz than just walk through the forest. Because just walking through life is boring, so dance your way through it instead.
6) Missy (Melissa)
She was my youth leader for so many years. And now, after all those years, she's turned into a friend. (Or a proud mother when it comes to Capernwray.) I think the way she's influenced me the most is she was the person that first introduced me to the concept of loving singlehood. She's married now, but a couple years ago, she had a conversation with us girls about how wonderful it is to be single. And how God has such special plans for you when you are. I absolutely admire her relationship with God.
7) Taylor Swift
I give you permission to laugh. There are some things that I don't agree with that she does, like bouncing so often and so quickly from guy to guy, but there are some ways in which she has influenced me. Don't care what other people think. Be yourself. Speak out. Stick to what you believe is right and don't waver. Be strong. Be fearless. When you fall down, stand back up. Keep trying.
8) J.R.R. Tolkien
This might be a strange one, but whatever. I really enjoy his books and I really love the kind of person he was and represented. His books have influenced me. I really love fantasy books (among my favourite genres), but the thing I love about Tolkien's books is there will, out of no where, come the most profound thing you could read. So real to reality. For example, in the Fellowship, this appears: "Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement. For even the very wise cannot see all ends." Like how profound is that? Other influences: Be adventurous. Don't be afraid to take a risk. Don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone, you never know the things you can learn when you do so.
9) My grandfather
Before he died, he taught me a lot of stuff about God. To my recollection, he didn't really ever sit me down and teach me about God (like bible school did), but he taught me by his life and by his love. I was pretty young when he died so I don't remember much of him, but I just had to add him to my list.
10) Steve... Steve... Steve...
Steve Thiessen. He was my favourite lecturer at Capernwray. I love how crazy he is and how absolutely ridiculous he was, but I love how much he loved Christ. When he taught, it was like he was teaching us stuff that he was just learning himself. He was real. He was learning about Christ and applying it to his life just like we were, and it was cool to watch. (Not to mention, those crazy intense blue eyes that just kinda pierce into your soul...)
So there you have it. This took a long time to compile and to pick who I wanted to add in there. So no one feels left out, here a few more people that have influenced me: my mother, Mo, Karen, John Lennon, St. Peter, Matt Mclean, and whoever else that I can't think of at the moment. If you're following this blog, or have taught me anything ever in my life, consider yourself on this list.
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