PUT OUT INTO DEEP WATER

This is a post I originally wrote on my other blog, Thearle Girl, back in March 2014. I have been thinking about encouragement and words (as I often do) so thought I'd share these thoughts with you here.

I’m a ‘words of affirmation’ kind of girl.

Words, the right words, for me, bring life. No words, do not bring life.

I have been trying to decide if to write this blog or not. Trying to decide if to put my heart, my content, my being, my creations, my words, out there. It’s a scary thing. People think things. People don’t always say things.

Rod and I have been thinking a lot about encouragement lately. Sometimes life sucks courage, rather than giving courage. It can be disheartening. Encouragement is in short supply. Not saying the encouraging thing can be as bad as saying a negative thing. Silence is deafening. One of the most hurtful weapons a person has, is not nasty words, but silence – that doesn’t speak up when it could speak up.* I feel this deeply; he’s learning this (for me and for others). We want to be encouragers of people – he doesn’t need it, I crave it. But we both realise the importance of it. And instead of him not giving it because he doesn’t need it in return, and me not giving it because no many others are handing it out, we’re learning more than ever that we need to take the first step and encourage. Maybe then someone will encourage us. But we don’t want to worry about that; we want to give life.

Life cannot be given solely through words. For all of us, we need the Word to bring life. When we aren’t encouraged, we need to know what the Word thinks and says about us. Then our encouragement for others will flow freely. And what we need will become less about us, and more about him.

Words bring life. So use your words (and your likes and your comments) to bring life.

* We watched a Hillsong TV sermon by Brian Houston called 'I Feel Better Now'. Some of these thoughts are from his thoughts.

Identity hang-ups

Thursday, May 19, 2016

I don't read my Bible enough

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

One thing that gives me life is reading God's Word and journalling.

But I don't do it enough.

There I said it. I don't read my Bible enough. I'm not good at being a read-your-Bible-everyday kind of Christian. There's too much pressure for me, there's too much guilt for me, and there ends up being too much reading and not enough understanding, not enough applying, not enough doing. I don't like just ticking boxes.

I like getting deep into God's Word. I like journalling. I like imagining how I'd write a sermon around the passage. I like comparing translations. I like small chunks. I like achievable goals.

I've found a way that works for me, yet it's still a struggle.

A couple of weeks ago a girl in our life group emailed (thank you!) and suggested we read Genesis together by ourselves. I love together by yourself. There's the accountability without the guilt. There's time to catch up. It's where introverts and extroverts unite.

We're reading through Genesis in 30 days. It's not much but it's enough. Often I get so overwhelmed by the enormity of the Bible that instead of doing something, I do nothing. I've learnt that something is better than nothing... but I'm still learning.

Knowing what I have to read each day and having one page in my journal to write on a verse or two is freeing for me. It's life giving. It excites me. It makes me want to read and it makes me want to share.

I want to be excited by God's Word and I want to share it with others.
I can't do this if I'm not reading it but I find it just as hard if I'm doing it to tick off a duty.

My way won't work for most of you. And your way – I have found – usually doesn't work for me.

If you can read your Bible every day, please do, and keep telling me to, because I want to. But don't judge me or make me feel guilty or let me not be able to be open with you because it's something I don't do.
I want a real relationship with God, not to tick off a list.
I want to connect with God, not have some words go in and out.

I admire my friend who wakes at 5:15 each morning to spend 30 minutes getting ready and 30 minutes with God before work... but I can't do that. And I'm not her. So let me be me and connect with God and allow my relationship with him to be really real and ask me what he's saying to me. Because he's still talking. And the Bible is still important. It just might look different to me than it does to you.

So here's some freedom: find a way that works for you to connect with God.
If you read the Bible every day and get through the Bible in a year, I respect you, thank you and need you in my life.
If you have a Bible verse on your mirror and read that each day, I respect you, thank you and need you in my life.
If you study the Bible with commentaries and different versions and the original text, I respect you, thank you and need you in my life.
If you sing in the shower and you're real with Jesus, I respect you, thank you and need you in my life.
Don't allow this freedom to let you disconnect, but let it help you dig in.

Let's be real with God. Let's embrace the freedom he offers and remove the guilt we feel.

Looking forward, looking back

Affirming words

Identity hang-ups

More questions than answers

I don't read my Bible enough

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