Month: January 2020

29
Jan
2020

Do you choose to believe the truth?

There are so many lies out there that we start to believe about ourselves. We have no value. We are not good at anything. We are not good enough. No one likes us. No one loves us. If I was happy then everything would be good. And the list could go on and on. Where do these thoughts come from?

We tend to be influenced by what we perceive the world thinks is valuable.

We should rather be feasting on the truth of what God’s word says about us.

While Jesus walked on this earth, the people that seemed to have value according to the world’s standards were the religious leaders and the wealthy. Yet, who did Jesus spend all of His time with? The tax collectors. The fishermen. The ill. The homeless.

After Jesus went back to heaven, who was it that God used to change the world with His Gospel?

The fishermen. A murderer. A tax collector.

What is the truth? God can take anyone and use them for His honor and glory and to proclaim His message which has more value than any message the world tries to get us to believe.

The question is who do you believe?

If God can take fishermen, a murderer, a tax collector, those that were ashamed of Him, and someone willing to deny Him, then what does that mean about you?

God saw these people as so valuable that Jesus came to earth to spend time with them. He came to earth to live with them and to teach them the truth.

What about the woman at the well? She was a Samaritan-that race of people that the Jews hated-Jesus spent time with this woman teaching her the truth. Not only was she a Samaritan, but she had been married multiple times. She obviously did not feel as if she had any value. If multiple men had rejected her as their wife, then she must have had no value. YET, Jesus spoke to her. The Son of God spoke to this woman who had been rejected by her multiple (5) husbands.  If anyone has any reason to believe they have no value, this woman did. YET, Jesus spoke to her. She did have value. (John 4)

God wants to speak to all of us through His Word. He wants all of us to know that we have value.

He loves us so much, He demonstrated His love for us. (Rom. 5:8).

We all have a choice. We daily choose whether we will believe the truth about who God says we are or the lies that the world and Satan try to get us to believe.

What will you choose?

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22
Jan
2020

You Were Bought With A Price

When my parents were kids, they used to go to the Dime Store or they also had a Five and Dime Store. With the increase in the cost of living, the Dime Store is now Dollar General or The Dollar Tree. Now if you have been in Dollar General, you know that not everything in there is $1.  However, you know that the quality of things that you find in Dollar General is not the same quality you would find if you went to Macy’s, Nordstrom’s, or William Sonoma. The quality and the cost are different at these stores.

Cost vs. Quality

We tend to equate cost with quality. If something is expensive, the general consensus is the quality is also very good.

So a piece of cookware bought at Dollar General and a piece of cookware bought at William Sonoma will not have the same cost. We would tend to value the cookware from William Sonoma higher than the cookware bought at Dollar General.

Let’s transition this.

What kind of value do you or any of us for that matter place on another human being and on ourselves?

Do we think of the cost? Or do we only value a human being if they have something valuable to offer?

What does Scripture have to say?

“For you were bought with a price…” (I Cor. 6:20).

What was that price you were bought with?

Christ laid down His life for us. He gave up His life so that we can have eternal life.

Christians that are struggling with who they are, say they have no self-worth, and they have no self-esteem, are forgetting the most important thing. Christ paid for you with His life.

“You were bought with a price.”

When we sit around and mope because we feel no one likes us, do we remember “we were bought with a price?”

When we feel sorry for ourselves because there have been other people who told us we were worthless, do we remember “we were bought with a price?”

When we feel valueless and see nothing good in ourselves, do we remember “we were bought with a price?”

Thoughts vs. Action

Too many Christians get so caught up in what others THINK of them, they forget what God has DONE for them. Wouldn’t you rather have someone show you how much they love you rather than just tell you they love you?

As we continue this series of blogs I am writing about our identity, we must remember the most important of lessons. “We were bought with a price.”

So on the day when no one will sit with you at lunch, remember you are so valuable dear Christian that “you were bought with a price.”

Or maybe it’s when others make fun of you for something, remember that you are made in God’s image and “you were bought with a price.”

Too often the world sucks us into thinking that we are only valuable if the right people like us, we wear the right clothes, drive the right car, live in the right house, have the right friends…Who actually defines what is right?

When the end of our days draws near, the friends we had in high school will be a distant memory. Unfortunately, we let those school friends impact our thinking about who we are. I have.

Rather, when the end of our days draws near, we should be focused on the God who loved us so much He sent His Son to pay the price for our sins. Why not start living this every day, right now?

“YOU WERE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE…”

Posted by ddykema5@gmail.com in The Seasons of Motherhood, 0 comments
15
Jan
2020

A Year in Review, and A year Yet to be Seen

It is the beginning of a new year and with that so many of us start with new goals or a new resolve. This will be the year… We have tried to change things in our lives and we always start off with the best intentions, but then something happens. We get sick, or extra work from our jobs sets us back, our kids get sick, or we wake up one morning and are so tired from the days before we just don’t have any motivation.

This is the exact moment when the rubber meets the road.

This is when we determine what kind of person we are going to be.

So what are you going to do?

Call it quits on those goals you had at the beginning of the year and determine that it’s just not doable? Label yourself a failure and figure they were stupid goals anyway.

Last year, I wrote a list of goals that I thought were very doable. As I went back through my goals and the things I accomplished, I realized a very important truth that we all have heard many times:

“If you aim for nothing, you hit it every time.”

I realized that the goals that I had set for last year helped me to accomplish some things that I would have never done if I had not set any goals. I may not have been successful at every one of my goals, but in every one of my goals, I MADE PROGRESS.

Isn’t that what you are hoping for? Don’t you want to say at the end of the year, I made progress? Maybe not as much progress as I had set out to accomplish, but I did make progress.

One of my goals was to read 10 pages of a book every day. That would have given me a total of 3650 pages. I was short and only read 3289, but if I had not set this goal I would not have read 3289 pages.

Another one of my goals was to work on my daughter’s crosstich every day for 30 minutes. Again, I did not work on it every day, but I did work on it as you can see from the picture I took last year to the picture I took this year.

I have these things as goals for this year again, and I am excited to see how much I will accomplish.

I set the goal of reading 10 pages per day, because I want to become a certified Biblical Counselor. In order to do this, I needed to read 1,000 pages from a list of books given to me by those who will certify me. I worked last year at many of the requirements to become a certified Biblical counselor. I have one more thing to accomplish and that is to start counseling people under the direction of my supervisor.

Another of my goals for this year is to actually become a certified Biblical counselor. I am excited to see where God will direct my steps in relation to this.

However, if I did not have goals, I would not have been able to accomplish any of this.

There are things that I have been doing for years that I don’t need to write down as goals. These things have become habits. They would not have become habits if I had not consistently made them a part of my life. I was determined to have these things be habits in my life.

So the purpose of goals is to accomplish some things, but it is also to develop habits.

 

My encouragement to you is to set goals. Make them doable goals. Remind yourself of these goals as often as you need reminding so you don’t forget. I wrote my goals down in my calendar this year. This way I can go over them and keep them fresh in my mind so I can accomplish them. On the days, you are tired and don’t feel like accomplishing your goals, keep the future in mind. You will happy you put aside the feelings of failure or apathy and took on the feeling of accomplishment through determination.

Be determined. Be motivated. Accomplish your goals every day. When you miss a day, don’t let that be what stops you from keeping on. Resolve to stay committed.

Posted by ddykema5@gmail.com in The Seasons of Motherhood, 2 comments