Of course, I know in my head what kindness is but had a hard time defining it, so off to my handy dictionary I went. The dictionary defines kindness as “compassion, generosity”. That is God isn’t it?

God shows Love through His Compassion

He had compassion and mercy on sinners. Titus 3 tells us that it was because of the God’s goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared. God shows his kindness and mercy to fallen man by sending His Son to save us. That is kindness and compassion.

In Romans 2 God’s Kindness leads us to repentance. It is through his kindness and mercy that he has compassion on sinners and leads us to know Him. He wants us to repent and it is a kind act that brings us to that place of understanding.

In the Old Testament, three men refer to God as having great kindness. Nehemiah, Joel, and Jonah each use basicially the same phrase to describe God “thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness,” Jonah is specifically talking about God’s compassion on the people of Ninevah. God showed his mercy and compassion on these wicked people. God showed his love through kindness by sending Jonah to minister to them.

God shows his kindness through his generosity

Isaiah 54:10 For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee. His kindness and mercy never ends. Hard to imagine in a world where we celebrate random acts of kindness. The kindness of God is not random. It is fervent and never ending. His kindness can be seen everywhere.

David exalts the kindness of God in Psalms 145. In verse 17 he says “The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works. Now for a short Hebrew lesson. The Hebrew word used here is “Hasid” which means kindness or “hesed” which means steadfast love. This definition moved me. The word kindness was also His steadfast love. God show his love through his kindness to his creation. Think of the generosity of God in your life.

God is Kindness.

He delights in giving us good things. Like anyword we use to describe God, the truth is that He is the definition. He shows us kindness because God IS kindness.

God's Kindness

I often feel like I deserve something. The truth is that I deserve nothing. What I have, I have because of a kind and loving God who blesses me.

• It is because of His kindness that I was born to Christian parents who showed me Christ in their lives.
• It was the kindness of God that I met a loving husband who works hard and loves me.
• It was the kindness of God to give me two healthy and hilarious children.
• It was the lovingkindness and mercy of God that called me unto Himself at the young age of 5.

This list list could go on for pages and I don’t deserve these things, but he gives them to me because of His Kindness, which is just a unique part of His Love.

Reflect

Today, take a moment and meditate on how God shows His love to you through His Kindness. I have no doubt that if you make a list like this you will be encouraged. If you make a list, w

ould you encourage the rest of us who read this blog with how God has shown His lovingkindness to you.

Yes a parent is obligated to care for their children but the love you feel for your child is something very different. As a mother you have an overwhelming desire to care for and love your children. This makes the acts we do for our kids much more than obligatory in nature. It makes those actions come from our hearts.

So this gives us a truer picture of God’s love for Christ. He did not just send Christ down to do a job. It was difficult. Can you imagine your child sitting in a garden on the last night before they would be betrayed, beaten, and killed and asking you to spare them from this torment? It would be pure agony for me as a mother to allow that to happen to my son. Even though it was what they are created for. I would still want to save him.

Imagine the torture of watching your child being abused and then taking all the sin of the world on Himself, and because of God’s holiness He must turn His face away. It’s would be true horror to a parent.

As mother’s, I know understand the explanation of a father and His child. It is a human relationship that parents can completely understand. The Bible repeatedly uses familial terms to describe relationships between God and His creation. Think about marriage. Paul tells us it is like Christ and the church. God is the Father and Jesus is His Son. It is one of the unexpected gifts of motherhood. We see Christ as God’s son and it gives a new wonderful appreciation for what has been given to us.

It is truly one of the gifts of Motherhood!

One of the biggest mental obstacles I’ve had to face as a mother is relinquishing the control of my children to God. I am a control freak. I was born the boss, yet even though I want to control everything, I simply cannot control everything that happens with my kids. The first couple of weeks at home with Ethan I would not sleep at all during the night. I was scared Ethan would get sids. This fear was exaggerated since the only way he would sleep was on his tummy and the Dr just scared me to death about letting him sleep that way. So for endless nights I would lie in bed awake and then go check on him incessantly.

One night as I was laying there freaking out, I realized something; I am not in control when we have to sleep. Yes, I need to be prudent and aware but I have to sleep and so does Ethan. So I began to meditate on Scripture. One verse that was a comfort to me was “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” God cares about my children more than I do, and ultimately He is in control. God knows more about them and cares about them in every way. He will protect them. This is a hard one for Mom’s. Children are our responsibility and we take it seriously as we should. However this care we give our children should not be overcome with fear for their well-being.

Having children gives women a glimpse at the Father’s love for His Son. Imagine how much you love your child and care for him, and then multiply that times infinity and you would have just some of God’s love for His children. Entrust your little ones into the hands of the Almighty. He will care for them in the best possible way.

If you have a chance to download and listen to this message, I think you will be blessed!

After I paid he started pushing the cart and I was leading him to our car. As we are getting ready to walk across the parking lot, I see Micah and the cart just kind of free rolling into the road. I grab the cart. I’m wondering of course what has happened. For the first time ever, I see the grumpy man smiling. He says “I got it!” and then stands up and starts pushing the cart again.

Now, what he was reaching over to pick up? One nickel. Seriously. He let the cart roll away for a nickel. He did not care about anything at that moment but picking up a stray nickel. I was stunned that a nickel was more important to him than the well being of my child and doing his job properly. Let’s just say he will not be getting a pat on the back for the job he did today.

Yes, what he did was odd but it revealed what was important in his life at that moment was a nickel. While this played out very obviously today it made me think of the times I let go of what is really important for those things that are insignificant. Yes there is value in a nickel, but the amount of groceries he was responsible for was worth way more than that, not to mention the priceless life of my child.

Matthew 6:19-21
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also

I am quick to judge this man because he did not share a love for what I valued. However often I am guilty of the same thing. I want my treasure to be in heaven but so often I drop what needs to be cherished for something trivial. This speaks volumes about my heart. Anything that makes us break the greatest commandments of loving God and loving people is moving our hearts away from where it should be.

My judgment of the bag-man quickly turned to judgment of myself. There are areas where I know I’m leaving what is truly important for the insignificant.

So, while I might be avoiding this particular bag-man in the future, I am thankful that the Lord used that instance to teach me a lesson about myself. I need to avoid the nickels along my path and treasure the truly meaningful.

While I’ve been meditating and studying what Scripture says about the tongue, I read the verse“a fool uttereth all His mind.” It is foolish to say everything we think. James tells us to put a bridle on our tongue. We need to control it. This is where I think my attention has broadened from simply my tongue to my mind as well. A fool often has foolish thoughts. Yes, it is foolish to say everything we think, yet what we think shapes what we say.

So I’ve been focusing on a few areas of my mind. One, I am trying to think with love. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that love thinketh no evil. I am trying to conscientiously focus my thoughts on goodness of the evil of another person. This can be so hard to do sometimes. Sometimes it’s hard to think of something positive, yet love should override our thinking. I’ve been asking the Lord to show me the good in others and to make that my focus. Obviously, I would not want someone to focus on all my negatives (and there are plenty) so I should not be focusing my attention on someone else’s problems. Our Love for God and love for others is the basic commandment from Scripture. If I am acting in obedience to Christ, I will show love to my fellow man by thinking good.

Another action I am focusing on is renewing my mind. Romans 12 says we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds. It seems an impossible task, but it is not. We have a powerful gift in the Holy Spirit. When we are Spirit-filled, the transformation of our minds is possible. When our minds are transformed then our lives and actions are changed as well. It starts with our mind! We must ask for the Spirit’s help. Without His help how could I ever think the kinds of thoughts that would make for good conversation?

And so it becomes a battle. My spirit is willing and my flesh is weak. I want to focus my mind on things above but it is a struggle without the work of the Holy Spirit. Negative thoughts easily slip into my mind without any effort and replacing that negativity with positive thought takes a purposeful decision. It takes true love that comes from the Lord.

A prayer for today:

Change my mind to hopeful thinking. Let my focus be on the grace and mercy You have shown in my own life.

I sent the boys outside to play while I cooked dinner. I threw a pizza in the oven and was doing some general cleaning work in the kitchen. I saw the boys were playing nicely but then saw them going over to a muddy area of the yard. I instructed Ethan not to get into the mud because I did not want a huge mess right before dinner. He said “Ok” and I went back inside.

I guess his agreement with my command was just words because a few minutes later I see Micah covered in mud. Ethan has some mud on himself as well.

I was hoppin’ mad! “There will be no dessert or cartoons tonight! Get in here!” I hollered at them.

Of course then I had second thoughts as they got closer to the door, I couldn’t let that mess into the house. So I had them stand on the patio while I ran up the stairs to retrieve the towels. At this point Micah is crying because he has mud in his eye but has nothing clean to wipe it with because he is covered.

So I take off all their clothes in the backyard (we have a privacy fence so no one could see) wrapped them in towels and went upstairs to the bathroom. On the way I do think to turn the oven off in hopes that dinner will not be completely ruined. I started Micah in the tub but I could not get the mud out of his hair so I had to go to plan B which included me getting into the shower with him.

I am really upset at this point. Why would these kids disobey me? Don’t they understand what No means? Why am I failing as a mother? Now my dinner is going to be ruined!
As I am getting Micah redressed the thought occurs to me, this is not personal against me. “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child” This is childish behavior and has very little to do with me. Yes, I need to teach them to obey but they are kids and kids get muddy.

This thought progressed to my relationship with the Lord. Paul tells us in Philippians that “He humbled himself”. God came down to our level in human flesh. I have wronged him in far worse ways than my children wronged me this evening. Yet He does not yell at me. He doesn’t look down his nose and me and say “How could you?” Instead He teaches me over and over again the right thing to do. He is full of love, mercy and grace. These are things I need to show my children. Yes, discipline is necessary but I need to show love, mercy and grace to my children just as Christ showers me with these everyday.

In the end, I made the kids a peanut butter sandwich to make up for the burned up pizza and drove myself out for some fast food. We had a nice evening and the kids went to bed without any issue. Hopefully I’m starting to learn my lesson in grace and the kids are starting to learn their lesson in obedience.

Regardless of whether you voted for him or not, I believe for Christian’s regardless of political persuasion we should see opportunity. Obviously people are attracted to a message of hope, peace and change. As Christians we have the answer to all those desires in Christ. However, at the root of the issue a politician is not the answer that Christ is for the hurting heart. A politician cannot solve the problems that plague souls in need of a Savior. All Christians, regardless of political persuasion need to get busy sharing Christ with the world around them. I believe the Bible gives us a prescription for sharing the love and hope of Christ in our world.

We are to be a light in a world of darkness(Matthew 5:14). That means that we show Christ to the people we meet who do not know him. How we do this is by our good works and by displaying the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

I’ve been trying to analyze the good work I do that will show others Christ, to be honest it’s embarrassing. I need to be doing more for the world around me. Not just work within the church although that work is important, but work for the poor, needy, widows, and fatherless. That is real religion (James 1:27). That is how the world sees our light

The world should also see the fruit of the Spirit working in our lives. What I mean by that is that we are a people of love and peace. Often conservative Christians shy away from those titles because it just seems too liberal. However that is a type of liberalism that God requires. In three passages in the New Testament we are admonished to submit to our authority and to make peace and do good works (1 Peter 2:13, Romans 13, Titus 3) . This is something God takes seriously. We must do it, since it allows us to show God to those looking for hope and change.

Christians must change from a worldy attitude of cynicism and evil-speaking to one of love. We must not only speak kindness but must show real sacrificial love to the needy around us. That does not mean we back down from our morals. We show love for God when we stand for what God calls right. However when at all possible we must avoid the desire to speak hate against those who disagree with us, and instead speak truth in love and promote leaders who share our moral values.

Christians are to be a people set apart to peace. People without Christ react with hostility to those who do not agree with them. What causes people who don’t know Christ to see the difference in our lives? If we claim that Christ has changed our lives yet react the same way as everyone else, why would someone believe us? They shouldn’t. If we choose to live in the Spirit and love peace people will see the difference in us. They might be attracted to that difference and come to know Christ. When we respond to the world with anger, cynicism, and mockery simply because we don’t “get our way” we are giving into the flesh and are not living by the Spirit.

Christians in the community should be leading the way in the areas of doing good instead of relying on politicians to do it for us. We should not wait for our government to do what the Lord has already commanded of us. For conservative Christians who did not vote for Obama, I ask you to examine your life. Have you been doing all you could for a needy in a lost and dying world? Or are you of the mindset that “they need to work harder”, or “it’s not my responsibility”. I think as Christians we have been corrupted by a world view that says we should work hard for as much as we can and let everyone else fend for themselves. While that world view is “The American Dream”, it not the Bible’s view. The Bible teaches us to be self-sacrificing, work for the good of others, and give the glory to God. Blessing is the recompense for these actions, but “blessing” does not always mean financial reward (2 Corinthians 9).

In light of these observations, I will mirror Obama’s call for community service but for different reasons. We should help the needy not just because we should serve those around us, but because there are lost souls who need to see the change a Savior can make. They see that change clearly through Christians who are God-loving and People serving.

As a Christian we possess the real Hope. Don’t let secularism take away our chance to share truth. Let’s reclaim Hope and change within the Church and make a difference to the World. The call for Christians everywhere is that we embrace change in our own lives. Regardless of your political leanings and the result of the recent election, if Christians live with our minds set on Christ, our actions will follow and positive actions will result.

God Bless America.

I feel so sorry for Hagar. She was a slave and had no control of her life at all. She did not ask to be Abraham’s concubine, her master, Sarah forced her. So this woman became his concubine (similar to a wife). As his concubine, she becomes the mother of Abraham’s first son, Ishmael. As a result, she is despised by the woman who forced her on Abraham.

The first time Hagar is left alone is found in Genesis 16, it is because she escapes Sarah. At this point, she is fearful for her life. While she is at a spring an angel of the Lord finds her and tells her to go submit to her master, Sarah. Even though Hagar was in a miserable situation, God told her to go and submit and she obeyed. Sometimes in a relationship, we don’t want to submit, we want to flee because it is too hard. Yet when God tells us to submit we must do so. I find it striking that even though Hagar is not an Israelite, God loves her, protects her, and even blesses her through a powerful son. She submitted, God protected, and God blessed.

The story of Hagar has a second part found in Genesis 21. Sarah does eventually give birth to a son, Isaac. He is the one through whom Abraham’s line will be blessed. After he is weaned, Abraham throws a big party, and Sarah sees Ishmael having a good time. She insists that Abraham send Hagar and Ishamael away. Sarah does not want them around. She wants Hagar and Ishmael out of her life. God permits this by telling Abraham to do as Sarah says. He does so with a heavy heart but Sarah and Abraham abandon Ishmael and Hagar. Hagar is effectively divorced from Abraham, but again God protects her, loves her, and renews His promise to make Ishmael a great nation. Even through divorce, God never fails

In the 1 Peter 3:1, Peter addresses a situation where a woman is married to someone who does not obey the Word. He tells her to stay with her spouse and show him the Gospel through her good works. The fact that a husband may not be led by Christ, is not a biblical excuse for a wife to leave or treat him poorly. She is to stay and win him with her goodness. That verse is a hard pill to swallow, but true because God’s Word commands it.

Paul also shares thoughts on divorce in 1 Corinthians 7, and tells women that if the husband leaves, and is an unbeliever, the wives should let them go. For the women I know who have dealt with divorce or separation, the loss of their husband is extremely painful because it is the death of their love. The one they trusted and wanted to spend their life with has left them.It is devastating.

Now, I know that this situation is not exactly the same as a divorce in our society. I don’t know any families who have a slave or a concubine. What I do think is that just like Hagar was abandoned by her provider and family, so have some women I know whose husbands have divorced them. These women like Hagar have been left to fend for themselves, but like Hagar, God has not forgotten them. God watches and loves them continually, His love is never failing.

I don’t know the circumstances of the women who read this blog, but I’m sure some are in a similar situation. Either they are in a relationship where they want to run or they have already become divorced. Whatever the situation though, there is hope in Christ. He loves you and wants the best for you.

In addition to this physical goal I decided I need to make some spiritual goals as well. Once I started thinking about these it became somewhat overwhelming. I lack in so many areas that it is hard to pick just one to put my focus. So instead I am currently focusing on quite a few in hopes that I will grow in these areas. I’ve thought some study in each topic or passage a month might be a good way to start for me. Some of these words come easier to me than others. Many areas are in dire need of attention. I hope the Lord will give me some help in all these areas. Some of these words bring passages quickly to mind. These are some of the areas that came to mind.

Love
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;[it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things; endures all things. Love never ends.

Living in the Spirit
Ephesians 5:18b but be filled with the Spirit
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Prayer
1 Thessalonians 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

Boldness
Ephesians 3:12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

Wisdom and Strength
Isaiah 33:6 And wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times, and strength of salvation: the fear of the LORD is his treasure.

I hope that this year I can sow in these areas. I know I will fail, but the pursuit of Godliness is one worth the effort.

Happy New Year.