Moved our small group session at S&R because of their yummy pizza!
Think Tank
I observe in my life that I act on my own and set God aside when I don't trust Him. I wouldn't exactly verbalize that so I guess this is more effective:
I wouldn't take matters into my own hands if I really, truly trust God.
I wouldn't be easily upset if my sister doesn't give her fair share of the house payments had I trusted that God is the One who provides.
I wouldn't "borrow" my tithes to pay for an immediate bill had I trusted that God again provides.
Had I known that my lola and tita would be saved a few years from now, would be deeply transformed and would bear fruits of the Spirit, if I had known this I would be totally patient with them as they attack my father today.
But of course it's not for me to know that.
But if i really truly trusted that God works things out for the good of those who love Him, I wouldn't be sucked into the family's feud.
Reading through John Piper's blog, I had a rather interesting picture of what happens when I take matters into my hands because of distrust.
I am like the person who's faced with a dilemma.
My "brain trust" team consists of only two persons.
God and the enemy.
Both present their cases on how to solve my problem. And underestimating and distrusting God looks like something like this to me: in the face of this committee I am literally throwing at God's face that I don't trust His counsel right now nor His ideas or His wisdom so I'm gonna go with the enemy's idea, which usually sounds less painful
Just a thought. Or a realization.
I wouldn't take matters into my own hands if I really, truly trust God.
I wouldn't be easily upset if my sister doesn't give her fair share of the house payments had I trusted that God is the One who provides.
I wouldn't "borrow" my tithes to pay for an immediate bill had I trusted that God again provides.
Had I known that my lola and tita would be saved a few years from now, would be deeply transformed and would bear fruits of the Spirit, if I had known this I would be totally patient with them as they attack my father today.
But of course it's not for me to know that.
But if i really truly trusted that God works things out for the good of those who love Him, I wouldn't be sucked into the family's feud.
Reading through John Piper's blog, I had a rather interesting picture of what happens when I take matters into my hands because of distrust.
I am like the person who's faced with a dilemma.
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My "brain trust" team consists of only two persons.
God and the enemy.
Both present their cases on how to solve my problem. And underestimating and distrusting God looks like something like this to me: in the face of this committee I am literally throwing at God's face that I don't trust His counsel right now nor His ideas or His wisdom so I'm gonna go with the enemy's idea, which usually sounds less painful
Just a thought. Or a realization.
Effective communication
Their sentence construction is pretty much a broken English. Kinda like this, "I go eating finished playing," which means, "I will play when I'm done eating."
One day, I taught him different games using playing cards. It's so hard to explain the object of the game I had to get a pen and paper to write the instructions in a halting English so as not to confuse him more. After teaching him three different games, I noticed that he picked up faster if I show him how we actually play it instead of communicating the mechanics.
This is a simple analogy but it weighs deeply in my heart on how true it is that action speaks louder than words, that we follow the example more than the talk.
And my prayer for myself is that I act and behave in a way that does not obscure or worse negate the reality of Christ in my life. Because I tasted how good the Lord is I want my loved-ones to experience Him too and I doubt if they would be convinced that the Lord is indeed that good if they will wonder if there is really a Lord in my life in the first place.
