It is a beautiful Fall morning as I sit at the kitchen table peering out the window at the colorful leaves painting a canvas on the ground and what leaves are still left on the trees, fluttering with the breeze. I'm here in my pj's sipping some Starbucks and listening to my little girl walk around the house pushing her corn popper.
The Fall is much different here in Indiana than it was in New England. I miss it, however I know that this is a season God has brought us to - a season of rekindling. I am currently 20 weeks along with our second "bun" as I like to call them, and serving on staff as the "Preschool Administrator" at Grace A/G.
When I first took this position at Grace, I thought "I can do this! I've done all of this before!" However, I've never tried to schedule over 100 volunteers for 5 different classes in 15-18 services/month! Of course, this isn't the only thing I do in the office, however it is what involves the most thought and prayer.
For a while, I was trying to manage all of the scheduling myself, until one evening in a class I've been attending at church, we were talking about trying to do things on our own and how we can't do anything on our own - simple concept, yet often forgotten.
I had a dream the other night that I was at war - on the front lines with a rifle. The rifle was loaded, but I had no idea how to use it and as I stood there scared to death, I just started firing as much as possible until all of my ammo was gone. Every shot I fired went up in the air and back down - affecting nobody. I then realized that I was out of ammunition and ran and hid behind a trailer.
As I woke up from this dream, I realized that God was trying to teach me something through it. I'm not big into trying to interpret every dream as something "from the Lord," but I knew that this one was. This whole time, I have been trying to fight the battle before me in my own strength and ignoring the power that I possess through Christ Jesus. He has put strengths and giftings inside of me, that if I don't tap into, I will never be effective. It is completely rediculous as a Christian to try to attempt anything on our own (without prayer) and then run and hide when we can't handle it anymore. When we have the Creator of the Universe living inside of us, why do we walk around defeated?!
God has recently been challenging me in certain areas of my life and I'm excited to see what is going to come of it as I rise to His challenge. Dave and I have had the priviledge of being mentored by our senior pastor and his wife and are also benifiting greatly from that. We are trying to take advantage of this golden opportunity and learn all that we possibly can before our time here runs out and the season changes. I'm so looking forward to what God is going to do in that next season!
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
The Forgotten Word
Recently God has been dealing with my heart about some decisions I have to make for Him. Where do I start?...How about 2004?
Back in 2004, I was sitting in a church service at my home church in Indiana and there was a word spoken that was supposed to be directed at a specific female in the congregation, and although her name was never spoken I wrestled with the thought of the word being directed towards me, but I convinced myself that it was for someone much more mature in the Lord, possibly an older woman.
That same day, as I was putting away my parents laundry, my mother brought up the word that was spoken and asked if I thought it was for me. Of course tears welled up in my eyes as I froze in shock in my parents closet. I was so flooded with emotion that I don't even remember my response, I just knew that I didn't want my mom to see me because I have a rather expressive face.
Without revealing this "word" spoken, I contacted Global University and decided I should enroll in some classes. Little did I realize, that I was biting off more than I could chew at the time, as I was a full time college student. My books lay in the corner of my room just collecting dust and it wasn't before long that they were forgotten. That word was also forgotten.
Two weeks ago, I was sitting in a church service here on Cape Cod and for a moment it was as if the Pastor wasn't even speaking because all I could hear was God reminding me of the forgotten word. It only took me 6 years to remember what was forgotten!
I am happy to announce to the blogging community that I contacted Global University to reactivate my classes and have officially began my first of hopefully many classes: Old Testament Survey. Feel free to ask me how these are coming, I'm sure the accountability wouldn't hurt. :)
Back in 2004, I was sitting in a church service at my home church in Indiana and there was a word spoken that was supposed to be directed at a specific female in the congregation, and although her name was never spoken I wrestled with the thought of the word being directed towards me, but I convinced myself that it was for someone much more mature in the Lord, possibly an older woman.
That same day, as I was putting away my parents laundry, my mother brought up the word that was spoken and asked if I thought it was for me. Of course tears welled up in my eyes as I froze in shock in my parents closet. I was so flooded with emotion that I don't even remember my response, I just knew that I didn't want my mom to see me because I have a rather expressive face.
Without revealing this "word" spoken, I contacted Global University and decided I should enroll in some classes. Little did I realize, that I was biting off more than I could chew at the time, as I was a full time college student. My books lay in the corner of my room just collecting dust and it wasn't before long that they were forgotten. That word was also forgotten.
I find it so odd that when God speaks to us, if we don't respond quickly, the passion and emotion we felt in that moment dies down. The voice we heard grows faint, until finally it becomes so far removed that we convince ourselves it never even existed.This is what I have allowed to happen.
Two weeks ago, I was sitting in a church service here on Cape Cod and for a moment it was as if the Pastor wasn't even speaking because all I could hear was God reminding me of the forgotten word. It only took me 6 years to remember what was forgotten!
I am happy to announce to the blogging community that I contacted Global University to reactivate my classes and have officially began my first of hopefully many classes: Old Testament Survey. Feel free to ask me how these are coming, I'm sure the accountability wouldn't hurt. :)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Like Father, Like Daughter
Hi, my name is Daphne and
I have often wondered why I am like this. The only conclusion I can come u with is that I feel as though I can't rely on people. I know what you may be thinking - "Wow this girl is arrogant!" I know for a fact I'm not the best at most things and if you truly know me, I mean TRULY, you will know that I am far from perfect.
I believe this has all stemmed from people letting me down. Too many times people have said they were going to do something and not followed through, therefore rather than depend upon more people (who could also potentially not follow through), I prefer to do it myself to ensure that the job gets done.
Another reason behind this could be because I favor my dad an awful lot. He is a workaholic who always has to be doing something and knows how to stretch a dollar. Whenever my dad tries to teach someone how to do something, he usually ends up doing it himself, which is unfortunately a trap I fall into as well.
Honestly, it never even crosses my mind to ask for help with things. This is probably because I'm so used to doing things all by myself. It is easy for this attitude to carry over into my spiritual life as well. My life is sort of like a soap opera and I have problems that I encounter every day. What do I do about these problems? I think about them all day long! I often don't even think about praying about certain issues because I convince myself that it is MY problem that I have to solve.
The Bible says we shouldn't be anxious about anything, but that we should pray about EVERYTHING. If only I could remember this! Recently, God has been revealing His power to me. God is bigger than every issue that arises.
Last summer, my car got broken into and the person took my wedding set and pearl earrings (it's a complicated story as to why those were in my glove compartment). Shortly after that, I gave birth to my beautiful baby girl and had to stay home with her each day in the same house that has the driveway that my car was parked in when my car got broken into. Many fears flooded my mind and I immediately started thinking of safety precautions that we should take just in case we had a repeat offender. I considered things like motion lights and an alarm system. I used to allow fear to overtake me to where I had a hard time sleeping at night, with thoughts of someone breaking into my house and harming my child.
I felt like God spoke to me and told me "Daphne, I'm bigger than an alarm system or motion lights." This is so true. God can offer more protection than even the highest security alarm system. I was reminded of this concept today as I was praying about another one of my daily issues. God is so much bigger than any measley problem we have. I am making a diligent attempt to truly "pray about everything" instead of trying to solve all of my own problems. Regardless of how many people let me down, I know that there is always going to be One who will never let me down and with Him
I'm a "do-it-all."You may be wondering what that means. The definition for the label that I just made up would mean that I never ask for help and try to do everything myself.
I have often wondered why I am like this. The only conclusion I can come u with is that I feel as though I can't rely on people. I know what you may be thinking - "Wow this girl is arrogant!" I know for a fact I'm not the best at most things and if you truly know me, I mean TRULY, you will know that I am far from perfect.
I believe this has all stemmed from people letting me down. Too many times people have said they were going to do something and not followed through, therefore rather than depend upon more people (who could also potentially not follow through), I prefer to do it myself to ensure that the job gets done.
Another reason behind this could be because I favor my dad an awful lot. He is a workaholic who always has to be doing something and knows how to stretch a dollar. Whenever my dad tries to teach someone how to do something, he usually ends up doing it himself, which is unfortunately a trap I fall into as well.
Honestly, it never even crosses my mind to ask for help with things. This is probably because I'm so used to doing things all by myself. It is easy for this attitude to carry over into my spiritual life as well. My life is sort of like a soap opera and I have problems that I encounter every day. What do I do about these problems? I think about them all day long! I often don't even think about praying about certain issues because I convince myself that it is MY problem that I have to solve.
The Bible says we shouldn't be anxious about anything, but that we should pray about EVERYTHING. If only I could remember this! Recently, God has been revealing His power to me. God is bigger than every issue that arises.
Last summer, my car got broken into and the person took my wedding set and pearl earrings (it's a complicated story as to why those were in my glove compartment). Shortly after that, I gave birth to my beautiful baby girl and had to stay home with her each day in the same house that has the driveway that my car was parked in when my car got broken into. Many fears flooded my mind and I immediately started thinking of safety precautions that we should take just in case we had a repeat offender. I considered things like motion lights and an alarm system. I used to allow fear to overtake me to where I had a hard time sleeping at night, with thoughts of someone breaking into my house and harming my child.
I felt like God spoke to me and told me "Daphne, I'm bigger than an alarm system or motion lights." This is so true. God can offer more protection than even the highest security alarm system. I was reminded of this concept today as I was praying about another one of my daily issues. God is so much bigger than any measley problem we have. I am making a diligent attempt to truly "pray about everything" instead of trying to solve all of my own problems. Regardless of how many people let me down, I know that there is always going to be One who will never let me down and with Him
I don't have to be a "do-it-all."
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Pet Peeves
Ok, so there are certain things that frustrate me to no end. I have decided to compile a list of the "TOP TEN THINGS THAT GET UNDER MY SKIN."
10. When people who know me misspell my name (this includes first AND last names).
9. When I'm in the grocery store and the whole entire aisle is vacant except for one person completely blocking the only section that I need a product from.
8. When people claim to be Christians but their lifestyles deny it.
7. When I clearly qualify to park in a "Customer with Infant" parking space and someone who is definitely ineligible zips into the space before me.
6. When I tell someone about a problem I'm having and then they tell me how they went through the same exact thing only 10x worse, as if my problem doesn't matter.
5. When wealthy people aren't generous.
4. When people don't clean up after themselves.
3. When people feel the need to be in constant competition with others.
2. When people make fun of my hands, feet, height, or call me an amazon woman.
1. People who think the universe revolves around them and do whatever they can to be the center of attention.
I feel better now... :)
10. When people who know me misspell my name (this includes first AND last names).
9. When I'm in the grocery store and the whole entire aisle is vacant except for one person completely blocking the only section that I need a product from.
8. When people claim to be Christians but their lifestyles deny it.
7. When I clearly qualify to park in a "Customer with Infant" parking space and someone who is definitely ineligible zips into the space before me.
6. When I tell someone about a problem I'm having and then they tell me how they went through the same exact thing only 10x worse, as if my problem doesn't matter.
5. When wealthy people aren't generous.
4. When people don't clean up after themselves.
3. When people feel the need to be in constant competition with others.
2. When people make fun of my hands, feet, height, or call me an amazon woman.
1. People who think the universe revolves around them and do whatever they can to be the center of attention.
I feel better now... :)
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Just the beginning...
I have decided to start a blog as some form of escape from life's daily demands. Ta da! You just happen to be reading my very first entry! If you can't tell, it's entitled
Why add the word "ramblings" to the title? One of many definitions of the word rambling means to stray from one subject to another, which is exactly what I plan to do. It seems that a lot of blogs out there carry themes such as: cooking, pets, nature, music, etc. My blog has no theme. I'm a girl with a lot on her mind and this is just one way I'm choosing to express myself. Welcome to my modern day soap box!
"Soap Box Ramblings."Why? Well...years ago soap used to be delivered to stores in sturdy wooden crates (soap boxes). These wooden crates were often reused for Soap Box Derbies, where children attached wheels to the bottom and raced them as cars. They were also used as a makeshift platform for public speakers to stand on so they could be heard above the crowds.
Why add the word "ramblings" to the title? One of many definitions of the word rambling means to stray from one subject to another, which is exactly what I plan to do. It seems that a lot of blogs out there carry themes such as: cooking, pets, nature, music, etc. My blog has no theme. I'm a girl with a lot on her mind and this is just one way I'm choosing to express myself. Welcome to my modern day soap box!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)