Turn It Around!!

I have had the priviledge of attending the Beth Moore Bible Study, Esther this summer. I was able to go on Tuesday mornings. Oh I how enjoyed sipping on coffee and listening to Beth share with us while Austin had a blast participating in the childrens' activities. We really looked forward to Tuesdays. I look forward to whatever study our church has for women next year. This has been a great time to be able to spiritually prepare myself for the new school year.

I'm just like everyone else. I have bad days. There are days at work that are so tough I want to throw in the towel. My child has fits in the store just like everyone elses, and sometimes they are so bad that I leave feeling like the worst mother on the planet. I argue with my husband just like everyone else. I fall behind on the laundry, forget things we need at the store, and sometimes order a pizza rather than cooking dinner. But you know what? I know that no matter what, my Lord is there for me. He's there for everyone who believes in Him. Because remember, I'm not anyone special. I'm just a sinner saved by grace. I happen to be able to hold it together enough to maintain a job, keep a house that won't wind up on TV for being the messiest in America, work daily on my marriage and always strive to be a better Mom. But I couldn't even hold it together with the few stitches that I do without my Lord.

Sometimes though, the Lord needs to grab me by the collar of my shirt and give me a good shakin'. You see I become too confident in myself. Then I tend to not reflect that He is Lord of my life when I'm faced with adversity. I find it quite easy to fly off the handle and say terrible things when people are mean to me and attack me personally. It just feeds my sin nature to tell someone off. So, ever so gently, the Lord took me by the collar this Tuesday, and threw this excerpt in my face:

It is from The Queen and I by Ray Stedman

"When, because of your faith, your life becomes perceptibly different; when your reactions are quite opposite to what the situation seems to call for and your activities can no longer be explained in terms of your personality; that is when your neighborhood will sit up and take notice. In the eyes of the world, it is not our relationship with Jesus Christ that counts; it is our resemblance to Him."

How powerful is that? Well, I've got a lot of work to do to resemble Jesus in my every day actions. Thankfully, Beth gave us a list of verses to help. It's called Turn It Around Scenarios. She made the scenarios applicable to women, starting each one with "It's Tough Being A Woman", but regardless of the start of the sentence, these situations apply to everyone. So here are the turn it around verses. As Beth suggested, I have the scenarios on one side of an index card with the corresponding verses on the other. I plan to keep them in my Bible as a reminder. Perhaps I will even print them out and post them where I can reference them easily at work. All of these verses are from the NIV version of the Bible.

It's Tough Being a Woman....

1. In Another Woman's Shadow

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty" Ps 91:1

2. In a World Where Beauty is a Treatment

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; Yet they cannot fathom what God has doen from beginning to end." Ecclesiasties 3:11

3. In a Mean World

"I give you these instructions in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding onto faith and good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith" 1 Timothy 1:18-19

4, Thrown a Giant Sized Weight

"Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" 1 Peter 5:7

"However the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam but turned the curse to a blessing for your, because the Lord your God loves you." Deuteronomy 23:5

5. In the Tight Fist of Fear

"...who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? He is your shield and helper and your glorious sword. Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample down their high places" Deuternonomy 33:29

"Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters, your wives and your homes" Nehemiah 4:14

"See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me." Isaiah 49:16

6. Who can balance passion with patience

"Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you, He rises to who you compassion. Fo rthe Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for Him." Isaiah 30:18

7. Who feels responsible for the how...

"if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgement, while continuing their punishment." 2 Peter 2:9

"for He knows how we are formed, he remembers we are dust." Psalm 103:14

How powerful God's word is, and what a reminder of how much I have to learn!