My Prayers don't work!

What do we do in our lives when we are confronted with people that are frustrating to deal with?

We have some of these people in our lives. They make poor decision after poor decision. They have taken many wrong turns and now are far from God. They live in a land of self indulgence and substance abuse. They do not take good advice from people who have succeeded in the way that they want to and then complain about their situation. I continue to forgive them as God has forgiven me.

However, I still find them frustrating. I know that as a christian person, I should be kind, patient, forgiving and accepting of all people. But I find it hard with these people.

My husband's approach is to accept these people as they are - 'Each to their own' he says.

So I tried.

Then I started to pray for them. I prayed that they might grow up and take responsibility for themselves. I prayed that they would stop their substance abuse. I prayed that they might gain inner strength and the drive to succeed. I prayed that they would find God and gain some inner peace. I prayed that they might conceive a child and be spurred into being responsible through this gift from God. I prayed for these and many other things. Nothing changed.

So I asked my husband. 'What should I do? I have prayed and prayed for these people and nothing has changed. My prayers are not working'. His answer was simple and I was grateful for his wisdom. "Pray for yourself. Pray for God to give you the strength to deal with them.'

Simple - Pray for yourself. You can't change some people no matter how much you try. If they have turned from God's way and refuse to let his light shine through them There is not much you can do. You can continue to pray for them, but also pray for yourself. Pray that God will give you strength. I am sure he knows you need it, otherwise you would not ask.

The Lords prayer.

'Give us this day our daily bread'.

Let us unpack this a little.

What do I take from this? I like to believe that we should only take what we need daily from the world. Our 'Daily bread' refers to the simple foods that we need daily to survive. We ask the Lord for enough food to survive - our "Daily Bread".

This is all we ask for and all that we really need. The glutony and overindulgence that we see in the western world directly opposes the words of Jesus.

The huge servings of food at restaurants, the Christmas lunches with 5 meats and 6 desserts, the upsizing, the supersizing, the king size chocolates, the half litre cans of V and all the rest are just wrong.

Next time you tuck into a huge serving of some food that you do not really need, think of the simple things that you really need to survive. Also, spare a thought for those who do not even get their 'Daily bread' next time you clean out your fridge and toss out a stack of food that has gone off due to your 'need' for a different meal each night.

Remember the old saying 'Waste not, Want not'.

Please be advised that I am not without my own spoils, however, I have been reflecting a lot lately on what I consume as opposed to what I really need to eat to survive. This is the reason behind this post.

365 Grateful project

I just love this story. A lady named Hailey Bartholomew was having a rough time. She kept on telling herself that later on, after this or after that, her life would get better.

She was always looking to some random point in the future and expecting her life to change at that point. I am sure we have all thought like that once in a while. eg - after the holidays, or next year, or when the bills are all paid, or when I get that payrise, or that new job or after the wedding or when we get a new car etc. I have heard many people testify that their life will get better after some random event, that will probably not really be life changing anyway. This was the case for Hailey who never felt gratified after events that she thought were to be life changing.

With this in mind Hailey went to speak to a Nun about her life. The Nun suggested that gratitude and reflection were the secret to happieness. Hailey then started to take one photo every day of something that she was grateful for. She made a blog called 365 Grateful. She learned that her life was full of goodness as it was and that she was truly grateful for the things that were in her life every day. Her project was such a success and changed her life so much that her story is being made into a documentary..

So the point of this post is to challenge you be grateful for what you have every day, don't think that some gain of a new possession or that a single event will change your life.

Be grateful for what you have and reflect on how lucky you are daily and you will be happy.

What is a Christian?

Since using term Christian in my blog web address I have challenged myself with the following questions.

What does it mean to be a Christian? Who is a Christian? Am I really one of them?

Is a Christian simply any and every person who as a baby was baptised, christened, dunked or dubbed by their parents to be of 'insert denomination here' religion?

Does the simple act of the parents choosing that their baby will be 'made' Christian by the church really make them a Christian?

Is it as simple as filling out the forms for your child and the deed is done? Like ticking a box? A splash of holy water and then a nice lunch? Is that all it takes to secure a place in Heaven?

Does that mean that we should just fly some planes accross areas where non Christians live and drop some holy water over them to make them Christian and to save them from hell, regardless of what they want or how they live? Would that work?

I think not.

Is being Christian about being a good person? This is what many would like to believe. But, I think there are plenty of good athiests out there, plenty of good Muslims and Buddhists, right?

They are good people, but not Christians. So therefore simply being good does not make you Christian either.

So if it is not about ticking a box you are oblivious to when you are a baby and it is not just about being a good person, then there must be more.

I believe that it is about actually living your life as God intended. About being loving and forgiving and faithful. About attending church. About sharing the word of God with others. About serving God by serving others. About living by God's word every day. Not just when you have a bad day, or some stress, or medical problems but on the good days too.

We have all heard of the submarine Christians - I know many - They only surface when they have to. Usually at Easter and Christmas. They are there to tick the 'Church' box before they return to their real life where God and his word has little place. I pray for these people.

My intention is to raise my children in a different way to people such as this. I intend to raise my children with an ongoing religious dialogue. Where God is in our home all the time. I hope not to just call ourselves Christians but live our life following the word of the Lord.

A Christian is one who lives by the bible and the teachings of the church rather than a simple box ticker. This is what I strive to be.

Forgiving and Forgiven. I have forgiven my debtors as God has forgiven me my debts.

Possesions

A thought for the day.

Try to value yourself for your self worth, rather than what you own and the worth of your possesions.

If you are a worthy person with good values, the value of your assets is unimportant.

People will love you for who you are, not what you own.

Crossroads

Think about when you are driving your car. You will often come to a fork in the road or a T junction. At this point you need to make a decision on which way to go. If by chance you take a few wrong turns, you might end up a long way from your intended destination.

You might end up lost.

This is how I view my life. It is like a journey. I know where I want it to lead and each small decision that I make every day is made with the final destination in mind. I do not want to end up lost and asking - "Where is God? I somehow lost him along the way while I was making poor decisions and taking the wrong roads".

It is with this in mind that I carefully consider my daily decisions and reflect upon them regularly. I am not saying that I make the right decisions all the time, nobody does. We are all sinners. However I do make a conscious effort to make the right decisions with the knowledge that if I make a wrong turn, I can ask forgiveness from the lord and try to steer my jounrney back towards the intended destination which is heaven.

The Christian Tightrope

While at church recently, the Pastor discussed a 'Christian Tightrope'.

An interesting thought.

The sermon discussed how we are all walking a Christian Tightrope - That to live and act as a good Christian person is a difficult balancing act, just like walking a tightrope.

That it is no mean feat to be able to walk a straight Christian line.

That is hard to keep on the straight and narrow and do the right thing without falling sideways off the rope into the evils of the world that surrounds us.

We need to be strong in order to not give in the those evils.

I have made a resolve with myself and to my Lord that I will try my very best to stay on the tightrope.

This blog is for me. It is a place where I will discuss what God means to me and how he is impacting my life as a Christian mother. It is a place where I will discuss my own personal journey on the tightrope.

I hope you can join me.