Well, good morning! Welcome to my corner. I am having an absolutely beautiful morning. My husband flew back late last night from a business trip in Seattle...I am not ready for him to be gone from me so long. That, and my dogs got accustomed to sleeping on the bed (it helps me feel safe), so it was slightly sad watching their faces go from sheer joy from seeing their daddy, to mopeyness from sleeping on the hard floor. They think they have it so bad...silly things.
There has been so many studies done on whether dogs have emotions or not. If I was just reading a study and had no personal experience, who knows where I would stand on that. But my pups...they definitely have emotions. Frisbee thinks she is the best thing to ever happen. And Moxie thinks everything is out to get her. There is never a dull moment at our house! Especially when I bring out this red puppet named Harry that I've had since I was a little girl and chase the dogs around the house. Have you ever seen a Rottweiler/German shepherd mix quiver in fear. Well....you would if you saw her reaction to this puppet!!! I know my dogs realize they are completey safe with me and Zane. But how quickly they forget to trust us when something beyond their control happens.
So, this very well could be the 2nd to last blog regarding So Long, Insecurity. My women's biblestudy only has one meeting left which will be discussing the last chapter, as well as how God has been working in our lives to make us more secure. I have enjoyed every moment of learning our insecurities together...not because it is refreshing to learn that I am not the only one with security issues, but because we were all so open to share and have a hunger to be secure in Christ. And through these last several months, we have shared in each others experiences as we battle through our insecurities, and learn that we have absolutely nothing to fear.
Just to quickly tie in this entry with the latest "Sphere of Influence," please be reminded that we have a responsibility to our peers, our daughters, and the generations to come to live differently. Appropriately. Securely. It overwhelms me when I start thinking of the battles my children will one day have. Oh I just want to save them from everything! But if I did that, I would cripple them. I want them to be able to live in this dark world as a light...which means they will make mistakes, and God-willing, learn from them and step into His glorious riches. Beth Moore discusses how culture really gets in our way of letting our children be children for as long as possible. She says "there are a few things I genuinely hold in contempt. one is our culture's propensity to force our children to grow up too fast. Another sits in tandem beside it: teaching our daughters from the earliest age the high priority of sensuality..." and following up with "I don't expect advertising to improve, but we'd better start saying a few things to ourselves and our girls at significantly higher volumes." Well, I couldn't agree more. While I will most assuredly try and protect my children from the images that advertising displays these days, I can't do that unless I am to lock my child in a dungeon. Which, I won't do. So, me, and you...we will have to learn to better teach our kids that sensuality does NOT equal value. That they are beautiful and valuable the way they are. Following in society's advertisements will only chip away at your core, making you less and less secure by the moment. "Try as we might, we are not likely to change our culture. But we can let God change us, and vital change will happen within our culture." Remember, we will never know how far God reaches through us as the lives we live ripple throughout our sphere of influence.
But as long as we are self-absorbed people, we will recline on insecurity's chest as blind as possible. We must pour ourselves out to others, that we can leave this world better. Fuller. Securer. Christ showed us that giving, rather than getting, is the means to receiving. "To find yourself, your true, secure self, you must lose yourself in something larger...pursuing a life of purpose is one of our strongest guards against buying the superficiality that feeds security." And the only way to find our purpose, and be secure, is by the grace of God. We MUST learn to trust Him. Not trust Him to get my husband home safe from Seattle...but you better believe I was praying it! But trust Him to comfort me and grant me peace even if my husband didn't make it home safe. "Believe that He loves you and has you covered and takes every one of your hits as if they were aimed at His own skin." Whatever frightens you, lay it at the thrown of mercy. Give it to God, and trust His perfect will. Trust God with yourself. With your husband. With your job. With your health. With your family. With your friends. With your threat. Isaiah 33:6 promises us that "He is your constant source of stability." Amen! Mrs. Moore perfectly sums that up as, "we can drop the conditions off of our trust and determine that God will take care of us no matter what. Let me say that again. No matter what."
Let me paraphrase her: God has promised that His grace will be given according to our need...if we trust Him and hold on to Him for dear life...we will also thrive...we can give ourselves to purpose. In Psalm 112:7-8 we see the psalmist write "He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is secure, he will have no fear; in the end he will look in triumph on his foes." That means we can be free because we know that in the end we will look in triumph on our foes. God will work all things, no matter how difficult or devastating, out to our advantage. And in the end, it will be beautiful.
Hold fast to this passage from Isaiah 58:6-11 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and He will say: Here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail."
--Inspired by Beth Moore's So Long, Insecurity.
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