Know it All!

Having a 21 month old daughter I can already tell that she is going to think she knows it all. In fact many times I believe she already does think that.  Being her mother, I may not know all the answers or have the perfect solution but I know more than her; just as my parents know more than me (don't tell them I admit that).  Our current issue is sleep, she is under the belief that she does not need a nap.  I have tried making her take a nap to no avail, I have allowed her to take a later nap just so she wouldn't be in a bad mood to only find she will not go to sleep until 1 in the morning then, and I have also made her stay up all day to be in a bad mood later yet go to bed nicely at a reasonable hour.  None of my solutions have worked and we are still dealing with the sleep strike!  So as I said I may know more than her but I don't have the solution YET! :)

I am so grateful that as a daughter of Jehovah God I do not have to worry about if He knows everything of if He has the perfect solution to my problem.  One thing I know I can be sure of is that He does know everything and He has the solution before the problem ever arrives! My Lord has reminded me of this once again this week.  Lately things have been pretty "dry" I guess you could say.  We have been really discouraged in ministry and some things in life.  Like a know it all child, I have tried fixing things myself and that got me no where! Just when I felt that I was at my wits ends God sends a very on time word!  We are having what I like to call a "spontaneous" revival this week, because until last Friday we didn't know we were having it.  I know that God had this in the works long before Friday though.  God opened the door for an evangelist to come to our church and the word that God is speaking through this man is exactly what we have needed.  

Each service has hit the nail on the head, and each service God has just revealed a little bit more of His plan.  Last night (Monday) at the end of the service I couldn't stop crying because I saw things happening around me that I have only been able to slightly hope for.  Yet my all knowing heaven Father knew they were so possible!  Not only were things happening around me, but in me as well.  I had been holding on to things that I needed to let go.  I thought holding on to them would solve the problem, but I had to let go for God to solve them for me.  I may be young but I can only think of the song "He is an on time God!" 

I know God has even more in store for us these last two nights, but it's not going to stop Wednesday with the evangelist leaves! God has brought His refreshing Spirit to us so that we may continue to do His will! 

When my knowledge and logic fail me I have a God that does "know it all"!

Job 37:16

Do you know the balancings of the clouds,
the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge.

Positive Verses Negative

I find myself the morning slightly annoyed at many people in the human race...something that I have been working on is becoming a more positive person.  So I guess in my mind everyone else should be working on this as well and I just don't see that happening, lol.  I began to realize that sometimes my humor could be seen as rude and hurtful so I began to try and filter the things I "joked" about.  I still want to be a fun person to be around, but is the only way to be fun picking on people? I don't know, I am still trying to find a balance there.  I was always told, "I pick on you because I love you." Yeah, I guess every now and then about some things, but after a while of getting "picked" on or "joked with" about the same thing they do begin to hurt.  So in thinking about that, it led me to the thought of the person I am joking with may be tired of it too and I never want to be the person who finally hurts them after years of playful joking.  In this I have had to catch myself not to judge others who don't see things my way, make sure I don't become offended if someone does "joke" with me in this way, and learn to respond gracefully to it.  My goal is to lift other people up by encouraging them and complimenting them, not possibly bring them down by a joke.

Then another soap box that I too struggle with is just being a positive person in general rather than a negative one.  I would say that I am naturally a "glass half empty" kind of person.  So typically I can find what is wrong with a situation, person, outfit, whatever the subject may be pretty fast.  In my goal to be more encouraging I have realized that being encouraging and negative kind of contradict each other.  So I have tried to limit my complaining and criticisms.  That old saying "if you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all" has always been a weak point for me.  Because usually I have something I want to say, so now I am working on it being nice.  Now yes, there is a time a place of critiques, but must our life always be critiquing others?  And just because we wrap our negative comment in something nice or positive, that doesn't mean the negative isn't seen or heard very clearly.   I guess my point is, I wish I could people lifting each other up more period, and not just saying something nice to get to the bad part.

As a Christian I believe that my life, words, and actions should reflect Christ.  Do I think Christ had a sense of humor, yes I do.  But I always believe He knew the perfect way to use it without even the possibility of hurting someone.  Since I am not Jesus, I want to be more careful with my jokes.  Another thing I believe is, that if people outside the Christian realm are constantly seeing us pull each other down and talk bad about everything around us they are going to want nothing to do with our wonderful Savior that we should be sharing with them.  I think my life verse this year is Ephesians 4:29, "Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear."

Well I hope this wasn't too negative, I am very sorry if it was! Keep in mind a kind word can go much further than you could ever imagine!