Called and Stalled... Game On!
Hey y'all! Its Saturday night, what's going on? Me? Oh I'm just sitting at home, chilling with my kiddos, thinking about all things I should be doing but can't quite get the energy and motivation to actually get up and do them...
You know, the usual.
I had a bit of a busy weekend! I, and a couple of fellow children's ministry workers in our church, attended a VBS preview this weekend. This is our third year attending and it has been a great way to kick off the planning for our Vacation Bible School we will have in June. Stretching out the praying, planning, and preparing over the next 6 months proved to be very effective and helpful last year, so we are at it again.
The theme we are doing this year is Game On! We will be talking to the kids about the "game of life" we are all in and will be teaching them how to win the battle....
You know, that word has come up an awful lot in my life the past week or so. Battle.
For those of you who may not know me very well, or even at all, you can ask those that do, I am a lover not a fighter. I do not do confrontation well, I am a pushover and I just let things go and hardly ever fight back.
Complacent. Comfortable (even when I'm not really comfortable).
But I am learning quickly that we are all in a battle. A battle that will forever wage as long as we have breath in our lungs. We have a very real enemy. We cannot see him, but he is real and active. Satan is constantly throwing his arrows at us to get us off track. To mess up our lives so we lose focus on Christ and focus on our problems. He attacks our marriages, friendships, ministry, jobs, finances, children, anything to get us frazzled, stressed out, and disconnected with the Word.
Friends, its game on. What are we going to do about this? Fight back?? But how??? We try and try to fix everything. We try to spend more of our time doing the good things, to talk things out, use our words and even finances to get everything regulated, but there always seems to be more things that pop up and throw everything off again. Have you ever said the phrase, "its always something"?? Yeah, guilty as charged. In fact, I said this yesterday. Here I was at this preview/conference for VBS, a ministry that I am passionate about. I just finished an awesome time of worship and I was heading into my first class of the day. I get a text from my husband, and its a strange picture of my son (11) who is on a UIL trip to compete. Usually, I follow the school buses up to the competition and sit with my kiddo while we are waiting for his team to go in a do their thing (music memory), but this year, my preview conflicted. So I click open the text and I see my sweet boy, beaming with his pearly whites showing... but something was not quit right. His front tooth (permanent tooth!!!) was missing a bit on the bottom corner. He broke his tooth. He says he slammed his tooth on the table (what? how? huh???) and he hit it so hard that a bit of his tooth broke off.....
My first though was, of course this happens when I am not there!!! I can't go anywhere without things falling apart! (or teeth, haha). I showed my sweet friends who were with me, and then the words came out of my mouth.... "its always something."
Well, hello! Yeah its always something! First of all, with kids, its always something, haha. And second of all, we have an enemy! He doesn't quit, he prowls the earth, strategically watching and plotting ways to capture us from God's side and bring us to his.
And sometimes, it works.
Let's face it. Its easier to do whatever you want. Its easier to give it to what feels good and what makes you look good. Its easy for me to look at this incident with my sweet boy and his tooth and think, "Well, if I were there, I would have been engaging him and playing with him and spending time with him and he would have never had a chance to hit his tooth on the table and we wouldn't have to be deal with this."
OH WHATEVER!! get over myself right now!
Guys, its game on!! We are in a war, and its not with the people or circumstances around us. Its with Satan and he has his minions battling over us. The good news is, God has already won. We have a victory to claim, and we are sitting around trying to figure out how WE can win. But God has given us the tools to live in our victory. We have a STRONG armor that belongs to God! And He is letting us use it! And we have a direct line to our Commander! Through prayer we can change our thinking and our point of view when the enemy attacks ( not if, when).
So what does all of this have to do with my title? Called and Stalled? Game On? Where are we going with this Candi? And what ever happened to you trying to cook through that cookbook? (I'm getting there, I promise).
We all have a calling. We all have a job. If you are a Christian and are a part of the Body of Christ, God reveals to you what He wants you to do.
I have no doubt that my calling is children's ministry. He called me to it as a youth, and confirmed that calling soon after I have my youngest kiddo, 2 1/2 years ago. I was zealous for my ministry. I had ideas, desires, goals, and a mission statement. I was going to revamp the whole children's department and bring these kids in so they could know Christ! Awesome! And I did some of that. Over time we started to see results of what God was doing in our children at FBF. And we still see the results! However, I feel like I have lost my spark! I have a tendency to get excited and gung ho about a new endeavor, and then when I get going on it, and it seems to be a little more than I bargained for, I become more complacent, more lazy. I can see that this is what I am doing with my ministry work. I am trying to complete the job in my own strength. I am trying to plan everything out and steer this ship the way I think it should go, and only going to God when things get rocky. I'm stalled. Stuck. Already, with the new year having just begun, I made a few goals for myself in my personal life outside of church work. Cooking through the cookbook this year, doing about a recipe every three days. Starting to do yoga everyday to stretch out my body and get some strength in my body (lets face it, I'm not getting any younger). Bible reading plan as well as writing in my prayer journal everyday.
I'm stalling. And then when I start to get going again, I find myself trying to play catch up and checking things off instead of really enjoying it and soaking up the moments, which was the intention for these goals. I even was on a roll getting my house cleaned up and cleaned out, and just ONE DAY of the unexpected kinda threw me off for the day and the next two to follow.
But here is the good news, y'all. Our God is a God of grace and mercy. Of chances and of redemption and restoration. And when we find ourselves stalled or stuck, or struggling, He is right there with us. Waiting for us to ask for His help under the hood to get this car back on track. Instead of wasting your time looking at all the pieces and trying to figure out how to put things back together to make it work (in my case, playing catch up and checking off my tasks), ask the Expert. Get the mechanic! He knows what He is doing! And He will protect you and ward off the sleazy used car salesman (Satan) who wants you to trade in what you've got for a "better deal'. Don't do it. Don't give in. Fight back. Game on.
And as for my Pioneer Woman endeavor.... stay tuned ;) update coming soon!
5 recipes down, 115 to go!
You know, the usual.
I had a bit of a busy weekend! I, and a couple of fellow children's ministry workers in our church, attended a VBS preview this weekend. This is our third year attending and it has been a great way to kick off the planning for our Vacation Bible School we will have in June. Stretching out the praying, planning, and preparing over the next 6 months proved to be very effective and helpful last year, so we are at it again.
The theme we are doing this year is Game On! We will be talking to the kids about the "game of life" we are all in and will be teaching them how to win the battle....
You know, that word has come up an awful lot in my life the past week or so. Battle.
For those of you who may not know me very well, or even at all, you can ask those that do, I am a lover not a fighter. I do not do confrontation well, I am a pushover and I just let things go and hardly ever fight back.
Complacent. Comfortable (even when I'm not really comfortable).
But I am learning quickly that we are all in a battle. A battle that will forever wage as long as we have breath in our lungs. We have a very real enemy. We cannot see him, but he is real and active. Satan is constantly throwing his arrows at us to get us off track. To mess up our lives so we lose focus on Christ and focus on our problems. He attacks our marriages, friendships, ministry, jobs, finances, children, anything to get us frazzled, stressed out, and disconnected with the Word.
Friends, its game on. What are we going to do about this? Fight back?? But how??? We try and try to fix everything. We try to spend more of our time doing the good things, to talk things out, use our words and even finances to get everything regulated, but there always seems to be more things that pop up and throw everything off again. Have you ever said the phrase, "its always something"?? Yeah, guilty as charged. In fact, I said this yesterday. Here I was at this preview/conference for VBS, a ministry that I am passionate about. I just finished an awesome time of worship and I was heading into my first class of the day. I get a text from my husband, and its a strange picture of my son (11) who is on a UIL trip to compete. Usually, I follow the school buses up to the competition and sit with my kiddo while we are waiting for his team to go in a do their thing (music memory), but this year, my preview conflicted. So I click open the text and I see my sweet boy, beaming with his pearly whites showing... but something was not quit right. His front tooth (permanent tooth!!!) was missing a bit on the bottom corner. He broke his tooth. He says he slammed his tooth on the table (what? how? huh???) and he hit it so hard that a bit of his tooth broke off.....
My first though was, of course this happens when I am not there!!! I can't go anywhere without things falling apart! (or teeth, haha). I showed my sweet friends who were with me, and then the words came out of my mouth.... "its always something."
Well, hello! Yeah its always something! First of all, with kids, its always something, haha. And second of all, we have an enemy! He doesn't quit, he prowls the earth, strategically watching and plotting ways to capture us from God's side and bring us to his.
And sometimes, it works.
Let's face it. Its easier to do whatever you want. Its easier to give it to what feels good and what makes you look good. Its easy for me to look at this incident with my sweet boy and his tooth and think, "Well, if I were there, I would have been engaging him and playing with him and spending time with him and he would have never had a chance to hit his tooth on the table and we wouldn't have to be deal with this."
OH WHATEVER!! get over myself right now!
Guys, its game on!! We are in a war, and its not with the people or circumstances around us. Its with Satan and he has his minions battling over us. The good news is, God has already won. We have a victory to claim, and we are sitting around trying to figure out how WE can win. But God has given us the tools to live in our victory. We have a STRONG armor that belongs to God! And He is letting us use it! And we have a direct line to our Commander! Through prayer we can change our thinking and our point of view when the enemy attacks ( not if, when).
So what does all of this have to do with my title? Called and Stalled? Game On? Where are we going with this Candi? And what ever happened to you trying to cook through that cookbook? (I'm getting there, I promise).
We all have a calling. We all have a job. If you are a Christian and are a part of the Body of Christ, God reveals to you what He wants you to do.
I have no doubt that my calling is children's ministry. He called me to it as a youth, and confirmed that calling soon after I have my youngest kiddo, 2 1/2 years ago. I was zealous for my ministry. I had ideas, desires, goals, and a mission statement. I was going to revamp the whole children's department and bring these kids in so they could know Christ! Awesome! And I did some of that. Over time we started to see results of what God was doing in our children at FBF. And we still see the results! However, I feel like I have lost my spark! I have a tendency to get excited and gung ho about a new endeavor, and then when I get going on it, and it seems to be a little more than I bargained for, I become more complacent, more lazy. I can see that this is what I am doing with my ministry work. I am trying to complete the job in my own strength. I am trying to plan everything out and steer this ship the way I think it should go, and only going to God when things get rocky. I'm stalled. Stuck. Already, with the new year having just begun, I made a few goals for myself in my personal life outside of church work. Cooking through the cookbook this year, doing about a recipe every three days. Starting to do yoga everyday to stretch out my body and get some strength in my body (lets face it, I'm not getting any younger). Bible reading plan as well as writing in my prayer journal everyday.
I'm stalling. And then when I start to get going again, I find myself trying to play catch up and checking things off instead of really enjoying it and soaking up the moments, which was the intention for these goals. I even was on a roll getting my house cleaned up and cleaned out, and just ONE DAY of the unexpected kinda threw me off for the day and the next two to follow.
But here is the good news, y'all. Our God is a God of grace and mercy. Of chances and of redemption and restoration. And when we find ourselves stalled or stuck, or struggling, He is right there with us. Waiting for us to ask for His help under the hood to get this car back on track. Instead of wasting your time looking at all the pieces and trying to figure out how to put things back together to make it work (in my case, playing catch up and checking off my tasks), ask the Expert. Get the mechanic! He knows what He is doing! And He will protect you and ward off the sleazy used car salesman (Satan) who wants you to trade in what you've got for a "better deal'. Don't do it. Don't give in. Fight back. Game on.
And as for my Pioneer Woman endeavor.... stay tuned ;) update coming soon!
5 recipes down, 115 to go!
Love you!
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