our blog
May
VIDEO BLOG: May’s Focus
This month on the MYONEWORD.ORG blog we have been talking about how to “embrace the struggle” as you continue to use your word this year. In our latest video blog, Mike Ashcraft, (pastor at Port City Community Church), reveals how taking the path of least resistance can be a roadblock to the spiritual formation you are seeking this year.
To read more blogs about “embracing the struggle” this year click here.
May
Learning Math
Life can be rough as a kindergartener, especially when you are trying to learn math. After breezing through the alphabet, handwriting and reading, my oldest daughter faced adversity for the first time in her young educational career. She went from looking forward to homework to dreading the time when we took out her folder and got down to business.
Knowing her numbers wasn’t the issue. The disconnect came when someone had the audacity to take away 3 apples from her bushel of 5. She couldn’t wrap her mind around subtraction and addition. Her brain, which often goes a million miles a minute, screeched to a halt.
It was only a matter of time before frustration would get the better of her as she stared at the sheet of math problems. Dropping her pencil and head, she felt completely defeated. In her eyes, all hope was lost.
Sensing the desperation, Jenn went into Super Mom mode and swarmed in with a handful of M&M’s. They went through each problem by taking away and adding back some of those delicious chocolate treats. By being able to see the problem, our daughter suddenly began to understand her homework and tackle this new subject. Confidence replaced the uncertainty.
When it comes to my One Word experience, I’ve had moments like my daughter where I’ve felt lost, frustrated and confused. Trying to grasp new behaviors and the heart change required of them felt like I was learning a foreign language or attempting to grasp math for the first time. Things just didn’t compute.
Finding myself in a rut, I could sense I was on the verge of buying into the lie of mediocrity where I justify my frustration by saying ‘That’s just the way I am.’ This is the equivalent of saying that I give up! I have resigned myself to be like this for the rest of my life.
“Just the way I am” rationalization has caused pain, embarrassment, resentment and worse. In the midst of the struggle, I had to get to the point where I was confronted with the question of ‘What is going to change?’ Can something different ever become normal?
With discouragement, setbacks and temptations trying to sabotage my plan for change, endurance and intention were necessary on my part. The same is true for you. Process is never easy so we must stay focused and struggle in the right direction. When you focus on something long enough, things are bound to change. And this change becomes normal.
- Read Romans 7:14-24. Write down the places and situations where you are most tempted to give up on your One Word. Where have you met the greatest resistance and what steps do you need to take to respond differently? Since it is not a matter of “if” but “when” you will face the temptation to quit, it is critical to come up with a game plan on how to prepare for those situations where struggle most often occurs.
- Rather than endure, we often come up with excuses as to why growth is just too hard. As long as we have a reason why we don’t change, we have an excuse to remain stagnant. Write down in your journal every excuse you’ve used to justify giving into the struggle. Over the upcoming week spend time in prayer being honest with God about those excuses and asking him to change your heart.
Are you looking for a way to keep your word in front of you all year long? Register for a My One Word account! One of the key features of a MOW account is an online Word Journal that allows you to capture your thoughts to reflective questions like you see above. You can go back at any time to read your completed journals to see how God has been moving in your life through your word in 2010. If you already have an account, the questions from this blog have been posted to your Word Journal — log in to your account to start your Word Journal today!
May
Simply Believe
Finding God to be trustable requires faith. Faith requires obedience. So many times we want this in reverse. God you show me and I will believe You. His purpose is always the same: helping you trust Him. He will not spend your life trying to convince you. He is in fact inviting you to experience the very depths of what life really is.
Psalms 139:1-7 (NASB)
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. 3 You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. 4 Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O LORD, You know it all. 5 You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. 7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?
Take a moment and reflect on this passage. What does it say? God is intimately acquainted with all my ways. He has closed off my past and placed His hand on my future. These are all acts of tenderness and gentleness. He knows us and acts this way towards us anyway. I can relate to verse 6.
So the only option is to surrender. Quit trying to run and hide. Quit trying to control and seize. I find the last question in the passage interesting. Where can I flee? Why would I want to run from such tenderness? Because if He really knows me, then I need grace and grace is not easily received. We’ve worked way too hard earning a living to be desperate—so we run.
But the obvious answer is found in next few verses. It says what you think. You cannot go anywhere where He is not going to be with you. Calling you. Inviting you to find Him faithful. When will you lay down your efforts and stop running and obey? Don’t obey because you have to. Obey because inside the fullness of it all what you want is finding Him faithful. He knows. He made you. He loves you. Such knowledge is too high, I cannot attain it. So don’t try. You don’t attain, you simply believe.
Lord, help me to continue to know You. Let me discover more about Your goodness and Your character as I learn to walk with You deeper and deeper. I confess that You knowing me makes me a little uncomfortable. I am not used to being that open with anyone. However, I will take a simply step of faith and embrace Your understanding of me. Let it open me up to be honest with You. And in doing so take our relationship further that I may discover all that You want for me. I will watch for this today. Amen.