Tag: bible

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What To Do When You Don’t Know What To Do

I hope you had a good weekend and are looking forward to the start of another week. Many people experience what we call “the Monday Blues,” at the beginning of the work week. There are so many challenges; so many things require us to make important decisions, some of which may be really difficult.

In the story below, I would like you to put yourself in the character’s place, and consider what you would do.

“When I called, you answered me; you greatly emboldened me.” – Psalm 138:3, NIV

Todd was facing pressure at work. A project his firm had promised a client was very far behind schedule. He was responsible for the project so he brought it to his boss, looking for advice on how to handle the situation.

Unwilling to anger their biggest client, Todd’s boss advised him to lie. He wanted Todd to tell the client that not only was the project on time, it was being completed under budget too. He even gave Todd the falsified expense reports.

Todd struggled with what to do. He wanted to come clean with the client. He didn’t see how any good could come of lying.

But he was also concerned about what his boss would do. Would he retaliate and fire Todd? He thought of his family, of his wife with their new baby. How could he look her in the eye when he’d promised he’d always take care of their family?

Todd showed up to work early Tuesday for the client meeting. When he felt squeamish about lying, he thought of his newborn. Right before he was scheduled to go into the meeting, he received a text message from a friend with Psalm 138:3 in it.

Curious, Todd looked up the meaning of embolden and learned that it means “giving someone the courage or confidence to do something”.  The verse was just the reminder he needed. He paused to ask God to embolden him. Then he went into the client meeting and told the truth with courage.

God, thank You for the gift of courage. When I’m facing a test of integrity, please embolden me. Show me how to handle these moments with wisdom and bravery.

Can you do what Todd did, or would you chicken out and do what your boss wants you to do even when you know it’s wrong? Making the wrong decision can cause you a lot of stress. Think of all the scenarios that could follow a bad decision and write them in your journal. And maybe you can share them, and any other thoughts you may have, with us.

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When Everything Seems Too Hard

The gateway to the gospel near Joppa

Have you ever wakened in the morning, looked at the clock, groaned and covered your head, wishing you didn’t have to get up? I daresay it happens to many of us–especially if it’s Monday morning. Yep, like this morning. I’m not making fun of your struggle, but sometimes life seems just too hard.

It was hard

If you have been reading this blog for a while, you would know I just returned from a trip to Israel. And while it was a bucket-list trip for me, it was hard. Someone calculated on his smart watch that we had walked 28 miles in 10 days! And the watch didn’t say anything about how many hills we climbed, and how hot the weather was. In one place, the mercury reached 100 degrees. Yes, it was hard!

What kept me going

But what kept us, kept me going, was a sense of purpose. Visiting Israel, walking in the footsteps of Jesus, was a bucket-list accomplishment for me. That is what made me get out of my bed at 5. 30 every morning, get dressed and board the bus. Would I do it again? You bet I would!

The apostle Paul’s difficulties

The apostle Paul, speaking of all the difficulties he and his companions endured while they were in Asia, said, “We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (2 Corinthians 1: 8 – 9). 

Rely on God

If trying to achieve your goals seems difficult right now, here’s what you need to do: Rely on God. If you read the New Testament, you would see Paul’s recounting of the hardships he endured –beaten, stoned, left for dead, imprisoned, shipwrecked, bitten by a snake– the list goes on and on. But all of these things happened that they might learn to rely on God and not on themselves. Trying to lose weight? Get rid of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, whatever? Medicines may help, but you must also trust God. He made you, He knows your body and He wants to help you.

Keep your purpose in mind

Paul and his companions had a purpose–to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. They were not just going for a visit. In the same way you must keep your purpose in mind. Write your goals down and look at them every chance you get. Pray about them and watch God bring them to pass.

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Decisions

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay

Whether it’s what to have for breakfast, what blouse to wear, or who to marry, life is full of moments when we have to decide. Some decisions, you’ll agree, are more difficult than others. For example, when it comes to breakfast, if all you have in your refrigerator is a loaf of bread, then that’s all you can have – a slice of dry toast and a cup of coffee, but if you are like most women, you may go through a rainbow of choices before selecting a blouse. And when it comes to deciding whom to marry, a lot of considerations come into play.

So, how do you make decisions? One suggestion is to list the pros on one side of a sheet of paper and the cons on the other side. Whichever side outweighs the other will determine your decision. It’s not a bad method, and it’s one that I have tried in the past, but as I have grown older, I have found that what I once thought was a pro or a positive point has now changed to a con or a negative.

So now I’ve come to rely on the truth of God’s word to help me make decisions. His word never changes. Listen to what the Bible says in Joshua 1: 8. “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” And again in Psalms 119 it says,  “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path” (v 105).

You might be thinking that you only need to depend on the Bible for big decisions, like whom you should marry, but God is concerned about everything that concerns us, even the food we eat. Especially the food we eat. In the Old Testament, God said,  “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” The first inhabitants of earth were vegans. Later, He went to great pains to lay out His dietary laws for Moses to pass on to the Jewish people. (Leviticus 11) They were allowed to eat meat, but God specified which animals should be eaten.

The choices we make always have consequences. One bad decision can set us back many years, and in some cases, we never recover from those choices. In your Bible study, you will see that God teaches us how to decide on every major issue – work, family, finances, health and others. Isn’t it worth your time to study this great book that remains relevant up to today? I hope you will give it a try.

And if you need someone to help you make important healthcare decisions, just fill in the form below and I’ll be happy to help you.

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MONDAY MOTIVATION – KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE

Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3: 13 – 14

Forget the past

With the new year just under a month old, some of you may still be thinking about what goals you can set for your health this year. Or, if you have already set them, how can you achieve those goals? Usually, when we are trying to achieve something worthwhile, doubts may crop up in our minds. And with the doubts will come memories of past failures. You joined a weight loss program a few years ago, lost a few pounds then gained them back with a few more. You took out a gym membership, went faithfully for the first couple weeks then a new work schedule sent all your efforts into a tailspin. On and on, your mind keeps spinning out these negative reminders until you throw up your hands in disgust and say, “Why bother?”

Don’t give up

If you have read this far, know that it is always too soon to give up. The verse above is a quote from the apostle Paul telling the church at Philippi to forget what is behind and strain toward the prize that lies ahead. In other words, forget the failures, forget the efforts that didn’t produce the results you’d hoped for and “press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” This does not apply only to health and fitness, but to anything in your past that may be hindering you from moving forward.

Press on

Does God want you to be fit and healthy? You bet He does. He  doesn’t want you to be sluggish and burdened by all kinds of diseases. He wants you well so you can serve Him and others and be all He created you to be. So, today, forget what is behind, press toward that goal of radiant health and see the changes begin to take place in your body. God bless.